Jayesh Naithani’s Reviews > Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India > Status Update

To the Bauls a temple or a shrine has little value: it is just a way for the priests to make money and to mislead people. The body is the true temple, the true mosque, the true church.

Tara means “star” in Sanskrit. The modern English word “star” and “Tara” are almost certainly linked through a common Indo-European root, via the Persian Sitara, the Greek Aster and the Latin Stella, all of which have the same meaning. It is even possible that the modern Catholic cult of Our Lady Stella Maris, Star of the Sea, may be part of the same tradition.

"Before you drink from a skull,” said Manisha Ma Bhairavi, “you must first find the right corpse.”

"The gods created man," said Srikanda Stpathy, "but here we are so blessed that we - simple men as we are - help to create the gods."

"Maybe before I am finished, I will get to go back home. That is my last wish, to go back to Tibet and die there."

“What difference does it make if you call Allah by his Hindu names—Bhagwan or Ishwar? These are just words from different languages,” said Lal Peri.

The Hindus also know Lal Shahbaz by a third name: Jhule Lal, originally the Hindu water god and Lord of the Indus River.

The devadasis stand in the direct line of one of the oldest professions in India. The word comes from Sanskrit: “deva” means god and “dasi” means “a female servant.”

"We believe that death is not the end, and that life and death are complementary. So when you embrace sallekhana you are embracing a whole new life—it’s no more than going through from one room to another.”

“When you walk in the hills your mind becomes clear,” he said. “All your worries disappear.”