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@ REVIEWS THE SERPENT RISING cosmic game and karma being played out, or _ times throughout history the Mediterranean by Mary Garden was it a cosmic con perpetrated by adanger- _ was a deep basin cut off from the Atlantic Sid Harta Publishers, Australia, 2003 ous mind/energy manipulator? Having Ocean. Legends of the Great Flood may (revised edition; first published 1988) come through it all, Mary tends towards the _well refer to a time when the Gibraltar land- ISBN 1-877059-50-1 (250pp tpb) latter. Spending time at Buddhist Vipassana _ bridge was breached and the ocean waters Availability: Website http://www.users. retreats and with the Rajneeshis on a later rushed in to submerge low-lying areas. bigpond.com/marygarden/index.htm visit to India, she returned to Swamiji's When the Mediterranean was "drained" toa his is the captivating story of a young ashram to take charge of her life at last. depth of 1,650 metres (more than one mile), New Zealand woman who, in 1973 Her story is a cautionary tale for spiritual a landmass adjoining the island of Cyprus to threw away a promising academic career to seekers even today, lest they suspend their the southeast and linking up with Syria pursue a spiritual quest in India. For this mental faculties and lose their own power. clearly emerged. Also revealed was a long revised edition of her 1988 book, The rectangular plain and an acropolis-type Serpent Rising, Mary Garden has rewritten DISCOVERY OF ATLANTIS: The feature about seven miles from the old the narrative in the first person and included _ Startling Case for the Island of Cyprus coastline, just as Plato had described, that additional perspective in hindsight, though by Robert Sarmast i fave been the site “ the fost city of f more is available on her website and perhaps Origin Press, CA, USA, 2004 Cy ants we the : sland los this Onn or a follow-up book is warranted. ISBN 1-57983-012-9 (195pp tpb) yptus being the island lost in a cataclysmic flood and earthquake is compelling; indeed, it may have happened c. 10,000-9,500 BC. Sarmast calls for further research to be con- While her quest extended over seven years, Availability: Order online via websites only a few of the early years are covered in http://www.originpress.com and any detail. Her intended first destination http://www.discoveryofatlantis.com ducted to confirm the history-shatterin was a Hindu yoga ashram in the Himalayan heories for the location of the lost city hypothesis of Discove. 0 Atlantis e foothills near Rishikesh, but instead she and island of Atlantis have captured the yPomesis . rye. _ sidetracked to the Sai Baba enclave, where public imagination and drawn the attention she spent countless hours waiting for the of scholars for millennia, but this hypothesis "avatar" to appear at darshan. Rejection and from Los Angeles-based independent illness (as well as rumours of the guru's researcher and mythologist Robert Sarmast predilection for male disciples) soon gave may be the most plausible yet offered. her the impetus to continue her journey to Rejecting the Atlantic Ocean theories and the intended foothills but, instead, she found _ taking Plato's nearly 50 clues literally, he herself in the clutches of one Swami Balyogi __ went in search of Atlantis in the Eastern Premvarni (""Swamiji"), who had not long Mediterranean Sea. It wasn't until he found before founded the International Yoganta bathymetric data that was yet to be included Foundation. What followed was a path that —_in the NOAA database that he knew he was waivered between joy and fear, bliss and onto something. The seabed mapping was denial, freedom and slavery. not detailed enough, so he commissioned This journey into deep spirituality and specialists to convert it into a 3D computer devotion is soured by all-too-worldly jeal- model of the subterranean topography that ousy, anger and betrayal as Mary and other allowed interactive manipulations. women at the ashram contend with the Images were produced that showed the a changing faces presented by their beloved, region with progressively shrinking water vorw dis coveryotatiantis.com omniscient, "celibate" guru. Was it all justa — levels—an exercise based on the fact that at cosmic game and karma being played out, or was it a cosmic con perpetrated by a danger- ous mind/energy manipulator? Having come through it all, Mary tends towards the latter. Spending time at Buddhist Vipassana retreats and with the Rajneeshis on a later visit to India, she returned to Swamiji's ashram to take charge of her life at last. Her story is a cautionary tale for spiritual seekers even today, lest they suspend their mental faculties and lose their own power. NEXUS +67 FEBRUARY — MARCH 2004 www.nexusmagazine.com