Divine Distraction:
A Guide to the Guru-Devotee Relationship
by James Steinberg
November, 1991
Dawn Horse Press
out
of print
new edition: forthcoming
This book is both moving and detailed, providing all
the essentials of the Guru-devotee relationship. We often
think of great Spiritual Masters and the religious traditions
that formed around them in terms of teachings, rituals,
and disciplines. This book makes crystal clear that, in
fact, the heart of the relationship between the disciple
and master has always been the reception by the disciple
of a tangible, ego-dissolving Spiritual Transmission from
the Master. Words alone (and even merely human charisma)
could not account for fisherman walking away from their
families and professions to follow a man who said only,
"Come, follow me." Nor could the merely visible account
for the gopi women instantly leaving their cattle to follow
Krishna. Rather, these ordinary people were overwhelmed
and utterly distracted by tangible Spiritual love. The
possibility of such a genuine Spiritual Master being accessible
today — the primary communication of this remarkable book
— is enough to make one's hair stand on end!