I was sitting on the couch when I noticed a book on the coffee table. It was Eat Love Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert. My roommate has a guest visiting and she brought it with her from Boston.
I knew very little about the book other than it was extremely popular (a Oprah Book Club book and #1 NYT bestseller). Intrigued, I flipped it open and started reading. Before I knew it, I was on page 95. Two hours later I was already in the second chapter. I finished the 333 page book in 2 days.
Even though I had little to relate to (I’m not married/divorced, not a women, don’t have control issues or an over active mind), I found the memoir extremely compelling. The honesty of the author was admirable.
I especially enjoyed the pray chapter that discusses her spiritual journey during while in India. There were several times I could have puked during the love portion set in Indonesian.
Below are my key takeaways and excerpts that caught my interest while reading.
Eat Love Pray Book Notes
Exhausted by the cumulative consequences of a lifetime of hasty choices & chaotic passions.
Devotion is diligence without assurance
Awareness of our own mortality. Gift or Curse?
True or False: Only the young and stupid are confident about sex and romance.
Object of dependency
The two questions that make human being fight: “how much do you love me?” and “who’s in charge?”
People abandon the comfort and familiar for the hope that something greater will be offered in return for what they’ve given up.
Stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone ought to be.
Eye so caked shut with the dust of deception they will never see the truth.
Numbed, dubbed & stunned.
On Prayer & Meditation
Monkey mind: your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts and you are a slave to your emotions.
Forward / Backward whirling
It was pressing down on my like an invisible anvil.
Ashram Takeaways
Antevasin – “one who lives at the boarder”
Gurugita – A 182 verses, with each being ~ 1 paragraph in length. (takes about 1.5 hours). Excerpt from the Skanda Purana (don’t quote me on the the # of verses because the author says 182, while Wikipedia says 216)
Kundalini Shakti – Dangerous force you play around in if not supervised.
Shaktipat – moment of release – the time your journey begins
Seva – the spiritual practice of self-service