The Ashram

Book excerpt: 'A young woman vows to burn to death...voluntarily, ' blared the radio. 'Speaking from her husband's deathbed, she insists upon sitting atop a blazing pyre and with her deceased husband, wants to burn alive to join him in heaven.' Suspecting homicide and seeing a stunning parallel between this imminent death and the recent death of his own wife, the burnt-out American doctor, who is headed out to a Himalayan spiritual hermitage, instead rushes out to rescue the villager. But when he arrives at the pyre, he soon realizes there is more to his journey. Unbeknownst to him, the woman's fate is intricately tied with his own spiritual salvation! A woman's emancipation from oppressive culture and fear of men; a man's inability to cope with death and learning to love. An inspiring tale of two souls' journey halfway around the world toward spiritual enlightenment.