Tal Brooke's "Riders of the Cosmic Circuit:" the experience of "enlightenment"

The book, Riders of the Cosmic Circuit by Tal Brooke, was my subject two blog posts ago, but now I want to link to this review of it by Elliott Miller that interested me. It's particularly interesting to me because during the 70s I was surrounded by people who followed one or another of the gurus whose lives the book chronicles -- Sai Baba, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and Swami Muktananda -- among others he doesn't cover in the book, including Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who through the Beatles brought us "Transcendental Meditation." The country is now well-sprinkled with the teachings of these and other Eastern religious and occultic influences.

The practitioners of Eastern religions often speak of "enlightenment," which in differing forms is the goal of the practice of all of them, as a necessary insight into the meaning of life that can be gained through the specific disciplines of the religion. A release from the sufferings of this life is the goal of some of them but I may not understand this well enough myself to be characterizing it accurately.

Tal Brooke practiced in India with the Hindu guru Sai Baba and claims to know what the enlightenment experience entails and in this book apparently attempts to make it understandable to others, both Christians and unbelievers. Whether he accurately characterizes it or not is a question the reviewer raises, but it sounds like his analysis is worth pondering.

I'll just quote some of this review and then later probably some from the book:

... At the heart of the New Age movement is the phenomenon of mystical/occult experience, and, resulting from that, the quest for a permanent and com­plete state of mystical “Enlightenment.” Brooke presents case studies of three Indian “super gurus” who have probably been more widely regarded by New Agers as being enlightened than any other spiri­tual leaders of our time: the legendary Sai Baha [typo: should be "Baba"], the notorious Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and the recently deceased “power yogi,” Swami Muktananda.

Brooke provides interesting background concerning each of these “riders” spiritual odysseys. Culminating in what he terms the “Explosion” point, in which Enlightenment is achieved. He demonstrates that in each case the attainment of such a state required a deliberate annihilation of conscience and morality. Thus, by highlighting the evil that predictably concentrates in the most advanced cases of “Enlightenment,” Brooke brings into focus what New Age spirituality ultimately holds for the individ­ual as well as society.

Second, Brooke writes with the authority and insight of one who has been there, both externally and internally. Externally, in India during 1969-71 he served in the inner circle of Sai Baba — his most privi­leged Western disciple. Internally, he him­self had journeyed far on the mystical path, reaching the very threshold of Enlightenment (where he was continually kept back by encountering something “unbelievably sinister to my deepest feel­ing”).

A third quality which distinguishes Riders is that it is written for the unbeliever, in secular style, as few Christian books have been. Thus, its chief value lies in its utility as a book to give non-Christians who are on the mystical path. While most Christian books would alienate them, this one will most likely intrigue them.

The book also offers insight to Christian readers. A particularly provocative feature is its profound analysis of the Enlight­enment experience. The author probes deeply into its spiritual nature and poten­tial eschatological significance.