Masao Maki

Strange book in which man moves from Japan to the US to make a new start in life. After a period of wandering he begins a sushi restaurant (Colorado) and does well financially to take some time off and do some spiritual centering. Maki goes to Machu Picchu, Peru via stops in India. Maki is able to sniff out a few charlatans but he still falls under their power in a diminished way till the end of the book. I learned a few things about Hinduism from this book, such as its leaders (gurus) can be extremely unethical just like anywhere else although they enjoy the deference of gods. Apparently there are very large gatherings around the gurus of hundreds which give off tangible amounts of positive energy that bring the meditations to a kind of bliss by emanation. Maki says that Jesus was a miracle worker who performed feats of magic like one described in the book about Sai Baba who waved his empty hands in the air and then produced mounds of holy ash which he scattered over the seated students. Jesus never worked miracles for performance although he was asked to do so by Satan himself.
I wouldn't recommend this book to Roman Catholics as it might confuse them with the supposed innocuous practices of other religions. Maki is familiar with Hindu religious mythology, as he mentions the strange Temple of 1,000 Vaginas. However, Maki considers even New Age fads worthless. He seems to use Hinduism for the advantage Transcendental Meditation gives him for clear headed life choices.
In the Catholic Church, Transcendental Meditation is a calming technique for physicality only. We refer to it centering prayer or lower level meditation as it has no actual content of its own. It focuses on controlled breathing and detaching from sense awareness. This stage seems to put Maki in a good ambiance to choose a path in his life when he is unsure about his possibilities.
Catholics would say this lower awareness sets the stage for unitive prayer with God or communing so that God can direct the soul directly to its most profitable place in the process of personal deliberation.
This book is basically about a pilgrimage made to a holy place (Peru) and the necessity of going there by way of India (another holy place to him).… (mer)