Just Like You

by Gangaji

After a difficult childhood in the deep South and with her marriage failing, Toni Varner arrived in San Francisco looking for happiness. Joining the counterculture, she spent two decades on a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0964699923
• ISBN13: 9780964699922
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Do Pub Co
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Southern Charm

I thoroughly enjoyed this frank tale of a life in pursuit of happiness; a pursuit that after many missteps ultimately led to fulfillment. Gangaji is one of the few spiritual teachers who seems genuine. She credits her achievements not to hard work nor to brilliant predestination, but to luck. Is such disclosure not to be admired? Gangaji is part of the lineage of Ramana Maharshi, a brilliant Indian sage whose message is disarmingly simple. The enlightenment that Maharshi exemplified does not promise magical powers, it does not hint of immortal pleasures; the truth is one of peace and presence, an ineluctable and very modern religious insight. This message is not for everybody but certainly to be admired and employed in whatever measure possible in the lives of thoughtful beings. It is hard not to like Gangaji because she communicates Maharshi's profound message eloquently and does not duck the more terrifying aspects of life. She confronts death as an important truth for spiritual seekers. Death is not to be glossed over or disproved, it must be integrated as a reality for thus can we become real and live well in the present. Death deflates narcissism; it makes narcissism impossible. How can one think of oneself as more important than any other person if we all share an identical fate? Understanding oneself to be a colorful manifestation, a flicker of fire, allows us to recognize that we all participate in a larger whole and that though our flicker has come and will go, the fire will continue. It is so rare to see a popular guru who does not speak of wonders for children, but rather speaks truth for adults. The book details a very normal life for an American woman of her era. She does not try to glorify her life in any way; if anything, she highlights her shortcomings too much. Such honesty would embarrass a normal person but not a sage. It is a joy to hear this woman and appreciate the message she conveys.

A bullseye!

What a fabulous book this is! Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. It's hard to believe that a book could be so jam-packed with exactly what I am interested in. First, there's the autobiographical part. To me, it was fascinating to read about this woman's life. It evoked so much for me. The tenderness of childhood, the shift to status and popularity as an adolescent, the dissatisfaction with all that as a young woman and turning toward psychedelics and then spiritual understanding as a way to find happiness. No one speaks more articulately about the spiritual search and leaving it behind than Gangaji does. Then there is the transmission of light and love that pervades the book. In her opening Gangaji says, "This is an invitation to shift your allegiance from the activity of your mind to the eternal presence of your Being." By the time I'd finished reading her story and by the time I'd experienced hours of being in her company, so to speak, I knew exacly what she meant by that.

Walking in the mist with a great one

I've read this book several times now. Really. There's something about it that is working for me, or on me, and that is mysterious and intriguing. And positive and fun. It's definitely not that the particulars of my life have been so much like Gangaji's. After all, I'm a man and didn't grow up anywhere near Mississippi. And while our life paths have some similarities, many of her experiences are completely foreign to me. And it's not as if the book has such great explicit instructions, although there is wisdom, worldly and otherwise, gleaned from all the mistakes she made. The authors are careful to point out the danger of copying any patterns or methods to "get" something. Definitely the book is discouraging of following paths or copying anyone to achieve inner peace. "Nothing to be achieved, so stop trying, but do pay attention and do tell the truth." It's more like there's a transmission here of something absolutely essential--call it wakefulness or peace or love--and it's changing me without any discernible effort, except the reading. And the way it's happening is comfortable, like walking for a while in a fine light mist. Eventually you discover you're soaked. I can't say I really know how this is happening, and I don't think it matters if I do know. But it seems I'm drenched, and loving it. So I highly recommend that you try this book, open to the possibility that it may work on you also, and not to worry if it appears not to. It may anyway.

More compelling than chololate

"Just Like You" is very, very wonderful. It made my heart dance with happiness to see a techer who is down-to-earth and pragmatic and at the same time shares the enlightenment of the great spiritual masters. And the book is a delicious read. Once I started it I couldn't put it down.

A fascinating book

In her newest book, Roslyn Moore brings to light the life and teachings of her teacher, Gangaji. In a skillful and graceful way, using interviews, dialogue and some of the letters exchanged between Gangaji and her teacher, Papaji, Roslyn brings forward a life, the life of a woman who professes to be just like you.So it is. There is a story, yes. And to read it is to walk in memory with one's own story, one's own seeking. This offering, however, differs from other spiritual biographies. It is simplicity itself. In an utterly straightforward way the reader receives--both in words and through awareness--the ultimate question and its answer: "The truth of who you are, right now, is already free. The truth of who you are is already at peace. The truth of who you are, at this moment, is already in bliss, in fulfillment. There is no need to search for anything, because you already are everything you are looking for. It is only the distraction of mind that keeps you from recognizing it. Is Just Like You, only of interest to those on the quest for realization? This reader doesn't think so. It is the heartfelt story of a western woman of our time who arrived in San Francisco looking for happiness. Hers is a tale of adventure, of doors opening and doors closing as life's opportunities reveal themselves.It is a woman's story, full of the trials of a woman who joinedthe counterculture in the seventies. And it is also filled with the insights and realizations of a woman who, in 1990, was directed to give spiritual teachings. At its heart is the revelation of universal beingness. Gangaji speaks the truth from her direct experience. She lives that truth. That makes this autobiography a treasure.