Chasing Rhinos With The Swami - Volume 1

by Sam Speerstra (Shyamasundar Das)

Hare KrishnaThe Beatles, Hippies And A Spiritual RevolutionA. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad changed the world. When he came to America from India in 1965, few Westerners knew the deep spiritual truths behind ancient Vedic culture and civilization. Within a decade most humans on the planet had heard the Hare Krishna mantra.

˃˃˃ Humorous, Authentic and PersonalSam Speerstra, Shyamasundar Das, became one of the first disciples of the Krishna movement. His astonishing coming of age story is a wild ride through the Summer of Love in San Francisco with its hippies and fantastic music, connecting with George Harrison and the Beatles in London and traveling with the guru and master Bhaktivedanta Swami to India and beyond. These unique eye-witness stories have never been revealed in this special way, and will never be told this way again.

˃˃˃ Chasing Rhinos With The Swami is a trilogy, with book two set for release later in 2018. The books are vibrant, entertaining, touching and speak to the human spirit, about the path to unconditional love at the side of a perfect guide.Scroll Up and Grab Your Copy Today!

Genres: Spirituality

440 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 17, 2017

Reviews

[antony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Giant book about the Authors escapades in an incredible time during the sixties. He knows everyone, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Alan Ginsberg, and he meets and becomes friends with John, Paul, George and Ringo, especially George.

It is a wild and crazy rollercoaster ride which starts out on as many drugs as you can imagine and ends up finding his spiritual master.

Its well written and engaging, its fast paced and funny, as well as meaningful and insightful. I really really enjoyed it. Chasing the rhino means setting out to do something BIG. time and time again he catches the rhino, then sets out for another one.

No-one on this planet sets out to travel from America to England to "meet the Beatles" and then five or six months later finds themselves living at John Lennons place, then a few months later moves in with George Harrison. Sam does, and its all true.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating quick read (yes, even though it's quite thick, it reads quickly) about one devotee's life with the swami, about his journey from drug dealer and hardcore hippie to serious devotee. There were several things in here that made me pause about Prabhupad (and not the first time for that) - sometimes, reading about the history of ISKCON makes me not feel so great about it. This kind of reaffirmed what my spiritual path is for me (and while I find the Vedas intriguing, I think I'm less of a strict Vaishnava and more of a bkahti yogi). Interesting tale for sure, though at times, the non-devotee might find the sacrifices and the blind obedience a bit jarring.

[Matt Kelland · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to enjoy this, but something about it irritated the hell out of me. The hippies came across as a bunch of dumb, stoned, arrogant idiots who thought they knew everything, and the Swami really didn't inspire me. Is this really how meditation came to America?

[Danijel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible story and amazing personalities

[Matthew F · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

Great adventures beget by great devotion! Shyamasundar Das’s story is legendary especially in the annals of ISKCON. I enjoyed it very much.

[Sudarsan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slow starter; had thought out abandoning at 20%. However, gets interesting once Swamiji arrives.