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Moonlight on the Ganga Interview Excerpt by Claire Krulikowski
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Not rated by the Author.
Excerpts from a newspaper interview about my India travel memoir, "Moonlight on the Ganga."
MY INSPIRATION FOR WRITING "MOONLIGHT ON THE GANGA"
Shortly before the original release of my India travel memoir “Moonlight on the Ganga,” I was interviewed by a Washington State newspaper. Here are excerpts from that interview:
"How often have you done something believing you know all the ‘what’s’ and ‘how’s’ and ‘why’s’ and made your plans only to realize there was something bigger calling for your attention? I hadn’t planned on writing a book about India. I hadn’t even intended to travel to India. That country seemed to my mind a land of confusing gods and legends, immense overcrowding, and intense toil, poverty, heat, and exotic diseases. Yet, an opportunity arose to perform work setting up an ashram that had been gifted to an American/woman/non-Hindu – certainly an unusual and controversial trilogy – to help further her work of uniting all religions “as One.” It seemed a work of great vision. Less idealistically, I hoped to sell articles about it, and also planned to “get quiet” and finish in calm surroundings a biography I’d been endeavoring to complete for years. This would be a working trip.
"Saying 'yes,' however, unleashed new forces into my life and, preceding the trip, the phrase 'Leave everything you knew behind' echoed within my mind night and day. Somehow that phrase cleansed the debris of fears and judgments about India from my psyche; arriving in that country where nothing looked at all familiar, I felt completely comfortable.
"Life, however, seemed very different. I began seeing similarities rather than differences, sensed the fragility of the human spirit, the impact of every encounter, and the import of each moment. Daily something called me away from group activities, but at first I didn’t know what tugged me to leave or woke me with a notion that I’d be walking that day. The call seemed always to lead along the revered and sacred Ganges River that is known by any of a hundred names, including Ma Ganga and The Elixir of Life. I soon realized it was the Ganga that was calling me, guiding me, and if I chose to follow her I must trust that whoever and whatever I met while sitting or walking along her was meant for some greater purpose than I might otherwise have interpreted. I viewed a greater depth and breadth to life with each meeting, whether it be a boy with elephantiasis, a sacred cow, a leper, monkeys, or other such meetings.
"Though I kept a copious journal, I didn’t realize there was a book to be written until one day when a man asked me why I was writing. For the first time that day I stated, “ It is a book about this sacred river and about the holiness of the earth and its people…and how we can all experience that.” Where had that thought come from?
"Inspiration nudged again. On one of our last mornings in Rishikesh, several of us gathered on the Ganges banks to offer a pre-dawn prayer. The luminous moon hung low, spreading jewels of flickering light over the swift-running Ganga waters. I’d gazed up at that lunar splendor and told a friend standing nearby, ‘I have the title of my next book – Full Moon on the Ganga.’” In that instant, the book was born.
"The essence of the book, however, desired a new name, and, when I accidentally wrote ‘Moonlight on the Ganga’ in my journal several times, I understood that Ma Ganga was continuing to guide and carry me forward, forever nurturing the landscape of my life." - --[Reprinted with permission of NW Prime Time News.]
(NOTE: India travel memoir, “Moonlight on the Ganga,” has been recently re-released by Open Road Media in both ebook and POD. The book is available through online distributors, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, KOBO, and others. In addition, you can order “Moonlight on the Ganga” on my Author Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/authorclai... -- or use the Facebook search box for: .authorclairekrulikowski )
Personal journals are full of potential, waiting for you to add the color! Pages for you to fill in the blanks with tidbits and trivia about the state of Washington.
MY INSPIRATION FOR WRITING "MOONLIGHT ON THE GANGA"
Shortly before the original release of my India travel memoir “Moonlight on the Ganga,” I was interviewed by a Washington State newspaper. Here are excerpts from that interview:
"How often have you done something believing you know all the ‘what’s’ and ‘how’s’ and ‘why’s’ and made your plans only to realize there was something bigger calling for your attention? I hadn’t planned on writing a book about India. I hadn’t even intended to travel to India. That country seemed to my mind a land of confusing gods and legends, immense overcrowding, and intense toil, poverty, heat, and exotic diseases. Yet, an opportunity arose to perform work setting up an ashram that had been gifted to an American/woman/non-Hindu – certainly an unusual and controversial trilogy – to help further her work of uniting all religions “as One.” It seemed a work of great vision. Less idealistically, I hoped to sell articles about it, and also planned to “get quiet” and finish in calm surroundings a biography I’d been endeavoring to complete for years. This would be a working trip.
"Saying 'yes,' however, unleashed new forces into my life and, preceding the trip, the phrase 'Leave everything you knew behind' echoed within my mind night and day. Somehow that phrase cleansed the debris of fears and judgments about India from my psyche; arriving in that country where nothing looked at all familiar, I felt completely comfortable.
"Life, however, seemed very different. I began seeing similarities rather than differences, sensed the fragility of the human spirit, the impact of every encounter, and the import of each moment. Daily something called me away from group activities, but at first I didn’t know what tugged me to leave or woke me with a notion that I’d be walking that day. The call seemed always to lead along the revered and sacred Ganges River that is known by any of a hundred names, including Ma Ganga and The Elixir of Life. I soon realized it was the Ganga that was calling me, guiding me, and if I chose to follow her I must trust that whoever and whatever I met while sitting or walking along her was meant for some greater purpose than I might otherwise have interpreted. I viewed a greater depth and breadth to life with each meeting, whether it be a boy with elephantiasis, a sacred cow, a leper, monkeys, or other such meetings.
"Though I kept a copious journal, I didn’t realize there was a book to be written until one day when a man asked me why I was writing. For the first time that day I stated, “ It is a book about this sacred river and about the holiness of the earth and its people…and how we can all experience that.” Where had that thought come from?
"Inspiration nudged again. On one of our last mornings in Rishikesh, several of us gathered on the Ganges banks to offer a pre-dawn prayer. The luminous moon hung low, spreading jewels of flickering light over the swift-running Ganga waters. I’d gazed up at that lunar splendor and told a friend standing nearby, ‘I have the title of my next book – Full Moon on the Ganga.’” In that instant, the book was born.
"The essence of the book, however, desired a new name, and, when I accidentally wrote ‘Moonlight on the Ganga’ in my journal several times, I understood that Ma Ganga was continuing to guide and carry me forward, forever nurturing the landscape of my life." - --[Reprinted with permission of NW Prime Time News.]
(NOTE: India travel memoir, “Moonlight on the Ganga,” has been recently re-released by Open Road Media in both ebook and POD. The book is available through online distributors, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, KOBO, and others. In addition, you can order “Moonlight on the Ganga” on my Author Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/authorclai... -- or use the Facebook search box for: .authorclairekrulikowski )
