The Transformational Imperative by Shunyamurti is a collection of mind-expanding and life-changing essays geared to accelerate your spiritual process into overdrive. The book will take you from the first tentative steps on the path of Self-realization through all the obstacles of Maya (the backlash of the unconscious, known as the dark night of the soul) through to final victory over the egoic illusions to the Supreme Liberation in life.

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Product Description

Shunyamurti is a modern Dante, guiding us poetically on a thrilling journey through the inferno of our unconscious mind, into the purgatory of psycho-spiritual purification and transformation, and finally to the ultimate ascent of the Mountain of God to Supreme Liberation. The Transformational Imperative represents the culmination of the “perennial philosophy.” It succeeds in uniting all spiritual traditions with the insights of contemporary science and the many varieties of transpersonal and psychoanalytic theory. The penetrating logic of the profound ideas brilliantly stated in this book will bring readers through their own awakening and illumination to final transcendence of the limits of ego-consciousness. In one breathtaking essay after another, Shunyamurti rips away the veils of illusion and reveals the underlying meaning of our lives. This masterful work re-founds human culture on the true Ground of our Being, preparing the way for a planetary renaissance of consciousness.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1434501 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-24
• Released on: 2008-09-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 248 pages

About the Author
Shunyamurti is the founder and research director of the Sat Yoga Institute, headquartered in Costa Rica. The institute’s mission is to accelerate the transformation of human consciousness and contribute to the spiritual and cultural renaissance that is fermenting now on our planet. One project of SYI now underway is to create an ashram/spiritual retreat and eco-village. Shunyamurti’s own spiritual path has included many years of Yogic training, including ten years spent as a formal Yogic monk, and many more years of meditative practice in diverse spiritual traditions. He has also deeply studied other transformational disciplines. Before moving to Costa Rica, he maintained a flourishing private practice as a healer in California for over twenty years, integrating such modalities as hypnotherapy, psychoanalysis, family systems approaches, gestalt, transpersonal and Jungian work, in addition to several forms of bodywork and pranic energy transmission. He functions now as a spiritual guide, retreat leader, and teacher, and he is engaged in spiritual community building, in addition to his ongoing advanced research in the Yogic sciences. Shunyamurti can be reached through the Institute’s website: www.Satyogainstitute.org. The Sat Yoga Institute offers ongoing training and accepts sincere volunteers who seek an intensive process of Self-realization.

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Customer Reviews

A must read for all
I have been on my own conscious Spiritual path since 1986. I have read dozens and dozens of 'self-help' books, have participated in a variety of therapies and have explored numerous Spiritual groups/belief systems. All the above has lead me to where I am now -- ie ready to truly become honest about who I am and what my role in this life is. Reading Shunyamurti's book, "The Transformational Imperative," was like being in a very frank, yet loving conversation with a teacher about the nature of Spirituality and the urgency for each of us to return to our true nature.

I found it to be very complimentary to Ekhart Tolle's book, "A New Earth." Both authors discuss in detail the importance of becoming present to life as it truly is and that, by becoming present we become free of our fears, anxieties and, in the end, our ego.

If you found value in Tolle's work, "The Power of Now" and "A New Earth," I believe Shunyamurti's book is the icing on the cake for those of us that are on this path and seek guidance from a true Teacher. Namaste, Maggie

this book changed my life!
I have read the essays in this book over and over - each time finding another gem of information that eloquently explores life's greatest mysteries including love, higher purpose, and truth. The author gives a complete picture of the current state, fate (and development) of the split human ego and the way to transcend a consciousness that has become fragmented and unloving. He explains why a transformation (of human ego consciousness) is absolutely necessary for the future of our species, our beautiful planet and all of the other creatures that share it with us. On a more personal level, the book delves into many self-destructive behaviors and how to understand and liberate oneself from such actions and patterns that inevitably lead to unhappiness and suffering. He talks in depth about how to form harmonious relationships and communities that will support growth and creativity of each individual. Shunyamurti has highlighted wisdom from many of the world's greatest spiritual traditions making this book absolutely accessible to anyone who chooses to read it. I know that this book will illumine all those who have the opportunity to read it.

A word of caution to LGBT people
I haven't been this stimulated by a book on spirituality since "Autobiography of a Yogi" many years ago which still defines my practice in many ways. I came across Shunyamurti's essays at the Sat Yoga Institute's website and then eagerly ordered his book. It validated much of what I've come to believe through my own practice and it clearly defined where I am on my path and the challenging steps I need to take to move forward. After nearly 20 years of meditation practice I've been considering moving to a spiritual community to focus more fully. The Transformational Imperative validated my progression towards this desire and put it in perspective. It gives a stark and sometimes brutal assessment of our narcissistic, ego-based culture and challenges us to break out of the fog, presenting a convincing case that it's imperative to do so.

My bubble of excitement burst when reading one of the final chapters in the book, "After Monogamy: The Advent of Momogamy". Shunyamurti gives a critique of sexual relations and dismisses homosexuality as one of many unhealthy symptoms coming out of dysfunctional heterosexual relationships, dysfunctional because he believes that the true meaning of masculine and feminine have been lost. He suggests that homosexuality and transgenderism are childish evasions from healthy relationships with the opposite sex. "Gender confusion cannot be resolved through homosexual evasion of relationship with the other sex. Nor can it be resolved through so-called "trans-gender" identification - or worse, by surgical shifting of sexual positioning. On the individual level, one must develop the psychological capacity to achieve what adulthood used to mean." (The Transformative Imperative, p. 199.) Shunyamurti does refer briefly to gay rights in the following chapter as 'necessary' but he does not explain his position on homosexuality and transgenderism further, it seems clear that he sees LGBT people as representative of human failing.

Considering Shunyamurti's very impressive background, how brilliantly he writes and how authoritative he seems in explaining the ultimate truth that is at the root of all major religions, I found this chapter to be a bit shocking. Countless species on the planet that are not ruled by neurosis in the subconscious created by the human ego's fear of its own destruction, engage in homosexual behavior and even relationships. It's obvious that homosexuality is part of the wisdom in nature or "god breathed", part of the complexity of life that Shunyamurti suggests has a basis in conscious design. Many past cultures, which Shunyamurti refers back to in positive ways, have given transgendered people a revered place, encompassing both the male and female aspects of god, perhaps a construct of the ego but a useful and tolerant construct and a demonstration of an acceptance of nature. Ironically, Shunyamurti gives a powerful argument that the collective neurosis in human society is destroying nature and ultimately itself, our ego-centered existence blinding us from our own interdependence.

Earlier in the book he writes that we must transcend gender and sexual orientation to evolve spiritually and I agree, however, few people will progress to this egoless state in one lifetime as most Eastern religions make clear. Most people who seek a spiritual path practice a middle way and work towards more meaning in their lives and more selfless love in their relationships; homosexual, heterosexual or some other basis of family and community. The Transformational Imperative is not written for the middle way which was part of my initial attraction to Shunyamurti's essays, but it could have an impact beyond the few who seek to devote their life to a spiritual path.

The Sat Yoga Institute states that they are training people to be spiritual guides through the use of psychological counseling, dream interpretation etc. I find Shunyamurti's views on homosexuality to be potentially dangerous. It is unknown if Sat Yoga will treat homosexuality and transgenderism as symptoms of dysfunction, a result of a narcissistic and ego-centered existence, but The Transformational Imperative certainly suggests that it's a possibility. Shunyamurti has a powerful voice and gives a very effective assessment of our spiritually sick culture, he could have mass appeal. I see the possibility that Sat Yoga could emerge as one more religion of many that treats homosexuality as a neurosis that goes against nature and that heterosexual relationships are inherently superior.