Overview

In a busy London hospital a young nurse cares for people with HIV/AIDS. One night, at the bedside of a dying patient, the veil lifts between life and death, and she glimpses something she has never seen before. Judith embarks on a quest to understand what she saw. She leaves her job, sells her houseboat and buys a one-way ticket to Bombay. Her six-year search for meaning took her to a humble Himalayan ashram, where she embraced the sadhu's life of renunciation. She lives alone in a hut in the remote Parvati Valley and visits monasteries and ashrams, temples and towns where the holy name of 'Ram' spills from everyone's lips. In Lucknow, she met Papaji, her guru--who gave her a new name: Prem Kumari. Many are drawn to India for understanding, but few have delved as deeply into the local spiritual traditions and into their own being as deeply as Kumari did. She allows India to sweep her away, allows her sense of self to be rewritten, and finds herself touching again that vast oneness she felt at the side of her dying patient. But in the process she must also face painful and long-buried truths about her own family. A lyrical and vibrant depiction of India and its people, Tracing the Moon transports the reader into the mystical heart of this ancient and spiritual country. Kumari's honest and moving account of her determined quest for enlightenment will touch and inspire all readers. About the Author: Kumari Ellis's time as a nurse on an AIDS unit inspired her to visit India on a spiritual quest, where she stayed for six years. Originally from England, she now works as a community nurse in Australia. She is a mother of two who writes in her spare time. Tracing the moon recently won the Next Generation Indie publishing award.

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9780995351400

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Reviewed by Mamta Madhavan for Readers' Favorite: Five star review. Tracing the Moon: A Memoir of a Woman's Journey In India by Kumari Ellis is an uplifting memoir that will take readers on a mystical and spiritual journey along with the author. Judith is a nurse who cares for patients with HIV/AIDS. One night while taking care of a dying patient, Judith sees something that changes her perspective about life and death. She leaves her job in search of understanding what she saw. She lands up in Mumbai, India. She gives up everything and stays at a Sadhu's ashram in Himalayas. She visits monasteries, towns, and temples in search of truth and more understanding about the spiritual customs and culture of India. As she allows the mysticism and spirituality of India to embrace her, she also gets a new name, Prem Kumari, which is given by her spiritual guru in Lucknow. The memoir is the honest and courageous account of a person's determination to seek her inner self. The book is a fascinating read and India will captivate readers with its colors and mysticism. The author's story is touching in many ways and the journey Prem Kumari undertakes into her own self is inspirational. The author's narrations are descriptive and she has captured the vibrant essence of India beautifully in her writings. I found the book a good read. It is simple yet profound and there are some excellent quotes and messages that can be learned from it. It is a story that will make readers take a journey in search of their inner self. An exquisite, poetic account of a journey of awakening, Review By Martin Aylward Kumari draws on both her extraordinary depth of experience in India, and her lyrical ability with language, to seduce the reader into a mystical exploration, both of mystical India, and of the reader's own longing for depth and discovery. I lived in India at the same time as this memoir covers, Kumari and I were and remain good friends, and I lived closely with Babaji over 3 years, and remained close to him until his death in 2012. Kumari's writing captures the feel of that time beautifully, and captures Babaji, his language and manner, his ease of being and deep simplicity, in a way that I found profoundly moving. I would thoroughly recommend this book to all those who love India, and also equally, for those who may never have been, but who share that stirring in the soul that invites us to take risk, to explore consciousness, to leave behind the familiar and dare to really find out who we are, to confront the depth and mystery of what it is to be human, to be conscious, to be here.

Author Information

Kumari Ellis's time as a nurse on an AIDS unit inspired her to visit India on a spiritual quest, where she stayed for six years. Originally from England, she now works as a community nurse in Australia. She is a mother of two who writes in her spare time. Tracing the moon recently won the Next Generation Indie publishing award.

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