Cat Guru

by Naina Lepes PhD

Overview

There is an old saying: when the student is ready, the master will come. In Naina's case, her master — or mistress, in this case — was a black-and-white stray cat she called Sweetie, who crawled through a tiny opening in her sixth floor kitchen window in her rooms at the Prasanthi Nilayam Ashram in India, and gave birth to kittens. But this experience did not adequately prepare her for the whirlwind of being a foster mother to a semi-wild cat family in India. The newness of the experience and the kittens — Bhakti and Samah — caused her to examine her spiritual beliefs and understanding of the world. Through her fourteen-year friendship with Sweetie, her worries, delights, and insights, we not only learn about the basic principles of Hinduism, we also learn to appreciate life and nature's incomparable beauty in all its surprises, big and little. Naina's photographs of the kittens and their mother are included in a color section. It's a charming, affirming story for anyone who suspects that fully-realized beings can wear fur coats and walk on all fours!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780892540990
Publisher:	Nicolas-Hays, Inc
Publication date:	09/01/2004
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.47(d)

Table of Contents

	List of Plates	vii
	Acknowledgments	viii
	Preface	ix
1.	The Surprise	1
2.	The Exit	5
3.	Impeccable Comprehension	9
4.	In Tune with the Goddess	15
5.	The Joy of Childbirth	19
6.	The Unexpected	23
7.	The Universe Expands	27
8.	The Healers	31
9.	The Illusion of "My Space"	35
10.	The Illusion of the Sacred and the Mundane	39
11.	Patience, Patience Just Out of Reach	43
12.	Letting Go	45
13.	Mothering without Stress	49
14.	The Mongoose	53
15.	The Power of Maya	57
16.	The Fall	61
17.	The Screamer	65
18.	A Pile of Feathers	69
19.	Climbing Trees	73
20.	The Victory of Love	79
21.	The Weaning Process	83
22.	The Cycle Continues	87
23.	Goodbye, Roof	91
24.	Repeat Performance	95
25.	The Effects of Good and Evil	99
26.	A New Approach	105
27.	Preparation for Separation	109
28.	The Futility of Planning	113
29.	Surprises Never Cease	117
30.	The Foundations of Life	121
31.	A Rainbow Ending	125
32.	The Final Chapter	129
	Epilogue	137
	Postscript	139
	Poem: "The Silent Oblation"	140
	Glossary	143
	About the Author	150