PRESS RELEASE

A HEART POURED OUT

A Story of Swami Ashokananda
BY SISTER GARGI (MARIE LOUISE BURKE)

“Sister Gargi’s new book is a soul-stirring account of Swami Ashokananda, a brilliant and accomplished spiritual teacher in the West. Written in impeccable prose, A Heart Poured Out reveals the Swami’s extraordinary spiritual stature with candor, integrity, and wit. This powerful new biography will inspire general readers while informing students of religious studies. ”

– HUSTON SMITH
author of The World’s Religions and Why Religion Matters

A Heart Poured Out is an engaging biography that brings the reader on a powerful journey into the life story of Swami Ashokananda (1893-1969), a monk of the Ramakrishna Order who developed the Vedanta movement in northern California. In 1948, Sister Gargi, then Marie Louise Burke, met Swami Ashokananda and became his disciple. It is through her vivid insider’s account that we learn about the relationship of this extraordinary teacher to his students in their day-to-day spiritual training.

From the very beginning, as a God-absorbed boy in village India, to his life as a young monk dedicated to the highest ideals of Vedanta and of Swami Vivekananda, the Order’s first leader, we see the commitment and passion of Swami Ashokananda. Later, his courage becomes evident as the editor of the Order’s first English-language journal when he speaks out against some of the political views of Mahatma Gandhi-and again in the 1930s when he brings his teachings of Vedanta to northern California at a time when Eastern religion was considered suspicious.

A Heart Poured Out is the first time telling of the life of Swami Ashokananda as a brilliant pioneer of Vedanta in the West. In this current climate of daily fears and obstacles, we have the opportunity to use the teachings of Swami Ashokananda to strengthen our lives with purpose, courage, and wisdom.