Sri Annapurani Amma left the safety of home and family to follow the
summons of a long-dead saint. Like Akka Mahadevi and Lal Ded before her,
she chooses to live naked, and sometimes delivers prophecies, but what shines
through is her humour and crazily one-pointed devotion to her path.
Soon after her tenth birthday, Balarishi Vishwashirasini was predicting
futures—in no time she was transformed into a guru. Now in her thirties, this
gifted teacher of nada yoga admits to sometimes feeling she’s missed out on a
real childhood.
Lata Mani, a respected academician in the US, was plunged into the path of
tantra after a major accident left her with a brain injury. Today, she talks of
how the spiritual life is deeply anchored in the wisdom of the body—not
unlike the soaring yet rooted redwood trees of her adopted home.
Maa Karpoori, a feisty young woman, found her calling when she joined
a local yoga class. Through a rollercoaster ride that catapulted her from
marriage to monkhood, she retains her fierce independence and contagious
joy of living.
In this extraordinary book, poet and seeker Arundhathi Subramaniam gives us
a glimpse into the lives of four self-contained, unapologetic female spiritual
travellers. Sensitive, insightful and spare, Women Who Wear Only Themselves is a
revelation and a celebration.