Book Review - The Celestine Prophecy -

The Celestine Prophecy
By James Redfield

I will be doing this in two parts, since I actually have a section of the book left to read. I started out by reading the last chapter first (which is not my usual approach), then went back to the beginning. I noticed how long it was remaining on the New York Times best seller list and it was recommended to me several years ago by a master painter whom I was studying with at the time. The only reason I decided to finally read it was that someone lent me a copy that they had already read. When I asked the person what it was about, she just replied, “It’s about religion. I read it over ten years ago, so I don’t remember the details.”

The last chapter was somewhat fascinating, although it struck me as being fairly run of the mill new age mysticism genre, but the first chapter somewhat alarmed me when I saw the obvious incongruities in the plot. He starts out with the premise that a newly discovered manuscript written in Aramaic is unearthed in Peru and causing a stir in religious and political circles. OK, so that is not so unusual for the genre, but he mentions that the Old Testament was written in Aramaic, which does not sound right at all, so I did some research on the internet and it turns out a few portions of it were, but obviously the rest was mainly Hebrew. Then he mentions that the Mayan civilization from 1000 BC was in Peru, which is hardly in keeping with the archeological evidence which does not have them going south of Honduras and not even beginning until the third century BC and reaching a peak in 900 AD. I guess we can forgive those inconsistencies for a work of fiction, but one would think that he or his editor (if he indeed had one, not really sure) would have checked out the facts at some point. Certainly these are minor complaints and really do not have a major bearing on his narrative, and hopefully I am not nitpicking too much by pointing them out.

The story as told of the narrator’s (the author himself, presumably) firsthand account of a trip in search of the controversial manuscript reads very much like a screen play for an action adventure movie, with a frenetic pace and rapidly shifting scenes over the course of just a few days. He encounters various characters along the way, including three Catholic priests, some American scientists doing parapsychological research in Peru, and some of the natives, who explain the mystical teachings contained in the manuscript and guide him through various mystical states of consciousness of his own. One sub theme is that of religious authority imposing a rigid structure upon people and thwarting their innate spirituality rather than stimulating it. Some very new age terms, such as ‘energy’ and ‘evolution’ are leaned upon heavily, although not all that well explained in detail. During one of his mystical trances he describes how he could visualize the setting quarter moon in a projection within his mind several hours into the future becoming visible as a full moon to the people on the other side of the earth. As poetic as his depiction is, it is on the other hand idiotic, since the phases of the moon are not different for different places on the globe on the same day, and take a full lunar month to cycle through. Hopefully he will take that part out or at least change it around in future editions.

The manuscript itself is supposed to bring one through various phases of realization, which he calls ‘insights’. It is also supposed to be a synthesis of both Eastern and Western mystical traditions, although the explanation of that aspect of it is a very superficial and hardly satisfying one.

Overall it is basically a very touchy-feely presentation of some generic new age themes that have been batted about for years, without showing much philosophical depth whatsoever. In a few places I noticed some ideas liberated from scientology mixed into the story. I am curious to see in the remaining section of the second to last chapter if he even gets close to any concept of bhakti. Hopefully I can make some more positive comments in the second part of the review, which I should be able to complete shortly.

I was debating whether or not to complete this review. Perhaps there should be a general discussion instead about the new age genre of books that this falls into: Do they have any relevance to cultivation of bhakti? I think they might have some value, but just how much would depend on the level of the writer and how deeply they probe into the nature of mystical devotion. Redfield, at least in this first book, takes a fairly impersonal stance and the Deity does not play much of a role. Perhaps he develops a more personalistic view in his sequels. Has anyone read them? Perhaps on of his more important contributions is that he touches upon the hermeneutical dimension of religious experience and how it makes the scriptures relevant for the person reading them.

A friend of mine once commented, while I was trying to convince him of the genuineness of The Spiritual Path on the basis of Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi,

'Anyone can write this Spiritual Stuff, it's like pornography, you just get a feel for the genre and it writes itself!'.

Now, I hope no-one is offended when I put this here, because it is not a comment on Gaudiya Vaishnavism- for which one needs to demonstrate a grounding in the tradition's literature and practises to be able to comment on. But isn't it a rather good comment on New Age literature?

Again, I was into Yogananda 30 years ago, and I do not follow his path anymore, but I still respect what he did (His book opened my eyes to the importance of Sri Guru). He had 1000s of disciples, met the US President, made sannyasis, some of his followers were amongst the only westerners ever admitted formally for Darshan of Jagannath in Puri, where his guru's ashram still stands.

It is worth bearing in mind that this is fiction, although I understand that it is based upon Jungian philosophy. I read this book about seven years ago, which was lent to me by an ISKCON devotee. It's great success in sales terms, has come about through referall. Friends recomending it to others. Every writer would hope for such a successful outcome, but how many actually achieve it? I deduct that it has come about because it has actually helped a great number of people in their self development.
One thing that I remember about this book, that I have born in mind since, is that we have something important to learn through the people we come into contact with. They are there to teach us something new about ourselves, and thus aid our self development. This approach helps us to develop healthy relationships with others. On the contrary, some sects seem to think that there is nothing to be learnt outside of their group, I would suggest that this is the mentality where pride and prestige arises.
Ananga, If you like this book, you may like to (re)read Jaiva Dharma, This is a somewhat similar plot, in a Gaudiya Vaishnav context.

I like some of the points he makes, but overall I did not really like it that much. I am reserving judgment, however, until I learn more about his sequels and how he develops his thesis over time.

What struck the most resonant chord with me was when he mentions individuals disappearing from the physical realm by what he terms 'vibrating at at high level' and how Dr. Kapoor discusses something that appears to be similar in his biographies of saints in terms of invisible sadhus living in Braj.

What my focus is right not, other than the gutika translation I am working on and posting on the other thread here, is the CC translation by the late Ed Dimock (my friend and mentor from my U. of Chicago graduate studies days), which just came in the mail the other day. Jaiva Dharma is an interesting work, though, and anyone who has not already read it should consider doing so.

QUOTE(Ananga @ Aug. 25 2002,11:48)

What my focus is right now... is the CC translation by the late Ed Dimock (my friend and mentor from my U. of Chicago graduate studies days), which just came in the mail the other day.

Now that's a book I'm interested in reading, Anangaji. Can you give us any preliminary comments on its features? Does the new translation have any special features which devotees might be interested in? Is it easy to read, or is it cluttered with notes? Does it bring out nuances in the text which previous translations miss? Obviously there are several verses, those to do with Raganuga Bhakti many of which are already quoted elsewhere in this website, which the previous published English translation mistranslates because of its ideological position (GMath ideology eh?).

I have great respect for Ed Dimock, too. An objective historian has to note that it was Dimock's book Place of the Hidden Moon which actually sparked an interest in Gaudiya Vaishnavism in the West in the 1960s, before the advent of Iskcon, and this book probably inspired Alan Ginsberg, who went to Vrindavan before he met Iskcon people and brought back the Mahamantra which he spread widely and famously.

QUOTE(adiyen @ Aug. 26 2002,07:01)

QUOTE(Ananga @ Aug. 25 2002,11:48)

What my focus is right now... is the CC translation by the late Ed Dimock (my friend and mentor from my U. of Chicago graduate studies days), which just came in the mail the other day.

Now that's a book I'm interested in reading, Anangaji. Can you give us any preliminary comments on its features? Does the new translation have any special features which devotees might be interested in? Is it easy to read, or is it cluttered with notes? Does it bring out nuances in the text which previous translations miss? Obviously there are several verses, those to do with Raganuga Bhakti many of which are already quoted elsewhere in this website, which the previous published English translation mistranslates because of its ideological position (GMath ideology eh?).

I have great respect for Ed Dimock, too. An objective historian has to note that it was Dimock's book Place of the Hidden Moon which actually sparked an interest in Gaudiya Vaishnavism in the West in the 1960s, before the advent of Iskcon, and this book probably inspired Alan Ginsberg, who went to Vrindavan before he met Iskcon people and brought back the Mahamantra which he spread widely and famously.

It is complete w/footnotes, since it is a scholarly edition. Whether or not it is 'cluttered with them' depends on what you mean by that. I am partway into the section of introductions, which is several chapters. It is impossible to tell which work was done by Ed and which was done by Tony. Nitai Das could probably answer your questions better than I can, as he is no doubt further along in reading through it - in fact he may have already finished it.

So far it has been informative and gives all of the different opinions on controversial matters such as Sri Caitanya's disappearance and questions about his debates w/various scholars at Nabadwip. Although not necessarily written from a devotional perspective, it does lay out the philosophical underpinnings of the Gaudiya tradition in a clear and well constructed presentation.