Spiritual Canibalism

Swami Rudrananda, (known as Rudi), an American meditation master and devotee of Bhagavan Nityananda, completed Spiritual Cannibalism shortly before his untimely death in 1973. This guide to fulfilling your spiritual potential is the only book that Rudi wrote and published himself. It is a classic that documents his intensity, insight and lived-through experience of the infinite.

The provocative title, Spiritual Cannibalism, puts into perspective the relationship of human beings to one another. When we eat fruit, the skin provides roughage essential to our growth. In human relationships, too, roughage is essential. The total person must be consumed to support life in its depth–to allow for creative interchange between one human being and another, and eventually between a human being and God. “Life must be consumed whole—with all its tensions, pain, and joy. Only by surmounting a situation can we achieve the understanding, the nourishment, that that situation offers,” he wrote.

The book has two parts. In the first part, Rudi teaches that spiritual practice is work and describes his life of disciplined yoga practice and teaching. He uses personal examples and anecdotes to illustrate his teaching in simple but powerful words. He explains the role played by a spiritual teacher or guru, while dispelling common illusions about spirituality. Perhaps most importantly, he describes techniques that are fundamental to his teaching, all the while encouraging us to accept the full challenge of life.

In the second part, Rudi describes an advanced stage of spiritual practice that is beyond time and space—what he called his tantric work. Using parables and a new language he was in the process of developing just before his death, he describes three levels of work. In life we see differences; in spirituality we see the oneness in everyone; in time and space, we are the oneness, and our true nature is revealed.