Mother of the Unseen World: The Mystery of Mother Meera

by Mark Matousek

“ Mother of the Unseen World is absolutely riveting, deeply searching, and thought-provoking.”—Gretchen Rubin

For readers interested in the mysteries of spiritual awakening, an exploration of the Indian “avatar” Mother Meera, known as an embodiment of the Divine Feminine

Throughout history there have been rare individuals who transcend what seems humanly possible, “enlightened” beings born with knowledge and experience that defy explanation. Kamala Reddy was a ten-year-old servant in rural India when her mysterious powers were recognized; she is believed to be an “avatar”—a divine incarnation in human form—and was soon given the name Mother Meera. Over the past forty years, she has welcomed millions of seekers from all faiths to have darshan (silent blessing) at her homes in Germany and India. Mother Meera has no dogma, offers her gifts free of charge, and belongs to no particular religion. Her transformational work is done using a particular light, she explains, which she transmits through her fingertips when she touches each person’s head during darshan, undoing “energetic knots” and quickening a person’s spiritual development. “Like electricity, the light is everywhere, but one must know how to activate it. I have come for that,” she says.

Mark Matousek was a nonbeliever when he met Mother Meera in 1985. Yet, in her presence, he experienced inexplicable occurrences that forced him to challenge his worldview. Now, in this deeply moving and wise book, he takes us as close as possible to this extraordinary woman. Is divine incarnation truly possible, he asks, as most of the world’s religions insist? Who is Mother Meera, really? Speaking to members of her inner circle, working at her school for the poor in India, and interviewing the elusive master herself, Matousek takes the reader on a mysterious quest into the “unseen world” where the divine and human intersect.
 
Advance praise for Mother of the Unseen World
 
“ Mother of the Unseen World reads like a classic adventure novel, with one exception—much of the adventure goes on inside the reader as we follow Mark Matousek’s everyman journey from pain and doubt to discovery and awakening.” —Elizabeth Lesser, author of Broken Open and co-founder of Omega Institute
 
“Mark Matousek brings us to the feet of Mother Meera in this transcendent, rapturous, astonishing book.” —Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues and In the Body of the World  

“At once a spiritual autobiography and an exploration of one of the most mystical beings of our time.” —Dani Shapiro

“Mother Meera’s message of peace and love has touched me profoundly.” —Ringo Starr

Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Religion, Philosophy, Memoir

224 pages, Hardcover

Published November 28, 2017

About the author

Mark is a bestselling author, teacher, and speaker whose work focuses on personal awakening and creative excellence through self-inquiry and life writing. He brings three decades of experience as a memoirist, editor, interviewer, survivor, activist, and spiritual seeker to his penetrating and thought provoking work with students. His workshops, classes, and mentoring have inspired thousands of people around the world to reach their artistic and personal goals.

He is currently working on a book about friendships and relationships that is set to be released in June 2013. Stay tuned!

Reviews

[Niamh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first came across Mother Meera 10 years ago and have been touched by her light ever since in deeper and deeper ways. She has been a central figure in the transformation of my life on all levels to one of quiet harmony and peace. Her reason for being here is to help humanity by bringing down the Paramatman Light.

So, as you can imagine, I was delighted to hear about the publication of this book and I'm glad to report that I wasn't disappointed by it. The author really does his subject justice in a clear and concise way . He contextualises Mother Meera's presence here in a way that hasn't been done before, relating the story of her early years, her contact with Mr. Reddy, Adelakshmi and the Sri Aurobindo ashram in Pondicherry and her eventual move to Germany. There are lots of lovely details of daily life and insights into the way Mother Meera works in the world, both practicaly and spiritualy.

The author has had close contact with Mother Meera over many years, and his own understanding and appreciation of her changed and deepened as he developed spiritualy, so he was in a perfect position to write this book and convey, to the West in particular, the sublime subject of a living incarnation of the Divine Mother - for those that have the ears to hear it.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard about Mother Meera before reading this book. I found the subject matter very interesting and felt that the author did a good job in explaining who she is and how she impacted his, and other lives. I felt that it ended a little 'open ended' but perhaps there will be a follow-up book.

[Joy D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mark Matousek has written a combination biography and memoir. His book provides a very personal account of his search for enlightenment, and the story of an Indian avatar, Mother Meera, from her humble beginnings to recognition as an incarnation of the Divine Feminine. The author tells the story of Mother Meera’s life, and of his own interactions with her. While I may be “too Western” to believe in the divinity of a living person, I found the book thought-provoking, and Mother Meera’s philosophy to be positive and uplifting. Recommended to those interested in spiritual quests, paths to enlightenment and Eastern philosophy.

This book is scheduled to be released in November 2017. Many thanks to NetGalley and the Random House for providing me an advance copy in return for feedback and candid review.

[Rena Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I look forward to hearing him read from this in a few days: March 1st, Thurs night in Vancouver:
https://www.banyen.com/events/matouse...

The ideas in this book were an easy sell for me because I've had the fortune to be close to attained people who are surrounded by similar mysteries. What is so completely different about Mother Meera however, is that she did little to nothing to engineer her extraordinary level of enlightenment. She was preordained in some fascinating way to bring love, healing and enlightenment to our poor benighted species and we are richer for it. Her life is geared towards an altruism seldom seen and Mark Matousek is one lucky man to have witnessed it close up. He's written a wonderful book about experiences that are very hard to put on the page and I hope it will be read by many. Whoever picks this up will benefit from his powerful insights.

[Helen]

I read bits of the book here and there. It is fascinating how people see Mother Meera as an other worldly person (an avatar), a mystic with powers who is able to transform and make changes in a person's life. She has quite a following of people who go and work at her school in India and try to meet up with her.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matousek's work has given me insight to a spiritual reality I had not considered before this read. Most enlightening story about an exceptional woman. I will reread many times, I'm sure.

[TammyJo Eckhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Matousek states he has two goals in this short book.

The first is to explore "how do you respond when your mind encounters things it can't possibly explain?" In this case he means with Mother Meera, a spiritual figure from India who primarily resides in Germany that he first encountered in 1984 and continued to meet and "follow" for many years. It is a valuable question and she is clearly a figure of importance to a significant number of people around the world.

His second goal with this book is to allow "the facts speak for themselves" with little interpretation. The problem with this goal is that some as subjective as the first goal means that facts are really subjective experiences. Matousek has grounded his book in first hand experiences and the experiences of those he interviewed.

Given how wide spread her following is, I'm very surprised at how short this book is. Do followers simply not wish to spread or is Matousek's first goal in this book really quite difficult to achieve. A Google search shows numerous foundations and organizations that he just touches upon. I got the distinct impression that the book and his involvement ended in the late 1990s so why did it take so long to be published? I would really have appreciated far more interviews up until 2015 or 2016.

I didn't know anything about this movement or this spiritual leader so I thank Matousek for bringing her to my attention.

[TJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funnny the author didn’t mention she was married in 1982 to a German so she could get German citizenship... suppose that pops the bubble of a Goddess ever needing a man... the book was good. It piqued my interest in this lady. I’m always interested how people get googly eyed and fawn over power hungry people. This book was no exception. He did say some critical things of her, even though I don’t think he meant any malice behind them. The guy who wrote this was the former lover of Andrew Harvey (who later denounced Mother Meera after saying she was an Avatar of God) and he said Mother Meera knew about their homosexuality and served them breakfast in bed. He mentions Sathya Sai Baba and Ammachi/Amma as shining examples of God beings on this earth. Any look at opposing viewpoints on these two and you will see what horrible people they are masquerading as piety. Read “Holy Hell” for the revelation that Amma is a real devil. So, the author kind of lost me after that.

[May Ling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea who this person was when I grabbed this book from my laundry room shelf. Now I can only hope I somehow meet her or am able to find her lectures. Matousek weaves a great picture of Meera through his eyes. I think this is super fair, given that any person's telling of a person is always shadowed by their own lens. In this case, that's his point. Meera is other-worldly. How would you explain her.

I especially like the chapter about their mutual gay friend and how he was not going to write about it, but indeed does, but saying so.

All and all, very interest account of how one explains someone like a Meera. I think if one is fortunate enough to meet such other worldly people it is in fact very hard to do them justice. Praise for the humility with which he's able to convey the respect he feels for this amazing woman.

[Tod Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and balanced. I first read about Mother Meera in the early nineties when Andrew Harvey published his mind-blowing book, Hidden Journey. Not many years after, Harvey split with Meera and denounced her as a homophobe and a false guru, which saddened me and I subsequently lost interest in her.

This book, while not the pyrotechnic spiritual tour de force that Hidden Journey is, brings a much calmer journalistic tone to the story of Mother Meera, her character, and the impact she has on those who surround her. I have no idea what passed between Meera and the wildly brilliant and high-strung Andrew Harvey, but it seems clear that Meera is no homophobe, and there is every indication that she is the real deal: at the very least an authentic spiritual adept who is working tirelessly for the well being of humanity.

[Dana Massuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think its an amazing story and makes me want to go to her in Germany. Maybe even volunteer at her school. It was a fast read for me because I'm so interested in what is alive that we cannot see. Also it reminds me of the power of the light, I experienced healing from doing Vipassana meditation and I wonder about the source that is available to us all. The light that comes through Mother Meera I have to wonder is its the same source that I tapped into during the 10 day Vipassana meditation course I did.

[Kera Nielsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an experience book. This book is not what I thought it was going to be. I was looking for books about Hinduism and this is one of the first ones that popped up. Instead, I got a biography/autobiography about Mark's experience with Mother Meera along with a few details of her life. This is not a book of her teachings. If you are reading it, look at it as a human experience between a student and his Guru.

[Shelby Jagoda · Rating 3 out of 5]

My friends and I received darshan from Mother Meera this past Spring. My one friend bought this book and lent it to me for which I am grateful ❤ This book is beautifully written, at times, with so many life lessons to ponder over and also situations the reader can relate to. It was sometimes a slow read due to my ignorance of some topics and persons, but overall it was a good read ❤

[Ian Yarington · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of Mother Meera before this book and I found this book to absolutely compelling. Matousek does a wonderful job at introducing Meera and painting the proper picture of her. What a wonderful impact she seemed to have on people, including Matousek. I love reading about people that seem to have a huge positive impact, I would say feel good story for sure.

[Dan Zwirn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having audio-read and enjoyed his ‘Lessons of an American Stoic’ about Emerson, I picked up this fascinating story of Matousek’s longstanding devotion to this living mystic. Matousek takes the view of an ordinary, curious, and reflective seeker trying to discern whether and how Mother Meera came to be widely known among her adherents.

[Staci Suhy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book for free as part of a first reads promotion

[Roben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally beguiled by this biography of a living avatar. Thinking of how I might have an audience.

[Joseph Dubey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enojoyed reading this book. Almost makes me want to go see her. I think everyone needs someone like her in their life.

[Caitlin H · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is, i imagine, like Mother Meera herself. Small, seemingly unassuming, with an air of quietude. I don't know, because i didn't even know of Mother Meera until i found out about this book (& i forget how i even did that).

My knee-jerk response is "It's too short", but then i remember that Mother Meera herself doesn't do long, drawn-out talks. Much of her work is accomplished in silence, within darshan & beyond. Mark Matousek's brevity, therefore, fits his subject completely. The book seems more to be a tantalizing introduction to a woman who says she is an Avatar of the divine. There's no pretense here. It was a little jarring, going from reading about something like Jonestown to reading this book. Going from reading about a cult to reading about Mother Meera is like night & day. The former is controlling & forceful, whereas Mother Meera never forces or tries to convince. She doesn't coerce, doesn't demand, doesn't put herself above others. She lets her work do the talking for her, & people are transformed by it.

I didn't read to try to become convinced of Mother Meera's divinity. Like Matousek, i'm open-minded, but skeptical. I see it as prudent & realistic. What do i know is, if given the chance, i would absoultely go meet Mother Meera to receive darshan. I can't get to Germany in the foreseeable future, so for now, i'll check for any upcoming US visits. Until then, i'll do the best i can on my own.

(P.S.: I did find it comforting when asked about humanity's fate & how many of us are scared, Mother Meera said we'd be okay & to not be afraid. Although i definitely agree with Matousek with regards to the "Well, I hope you're right" kind of feeling, i found it to be legitimately reassuring that she said what she did.)

[Bonny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down and finished it in two days. I found the story riveting, especially since I'd never heard of Mother Meera prior. I've recommended it as well to several friends, asking if they'd heard of Mother Meera or had met her before.

Just for this alone, I feel this book offers insight that few others can. Recommended for anyone wanting to learn more about spiritual awakening and a living legend, 'avatar' Mother Meera.

My only complaint with this book was the layout / structure; I found it dragged in a few places and didn't end with a feeling of completion or satisfaction. I realize this is mostly memoir and the author's personal experiences, however; I felt the buildup could have led to a better ending.