Swami Shankarananda, a native New Yorker, brilliant student, master chess player, and young university professor, put his life and career on hold to go to India in search of sages, swamis, and the lure of enlightenment. The year was 1970, and some of his fellow travelers were among the first westerners to partake of—and return with—the spiritual riches of the East. In this in-depth interview with WIE founder Andrew Cohen, Swami Shankarananda recounts his early spiritual experiences, first journey to India, and the transformative encounters he had with some of the most powerful spiritual teachers of the time. Today, Swami Shankarananda is one of the most renowned meditation teachers in Australia, and the proponent of a unique form of spiritual inquiry, called the Shiva Process, his original contribution to the practical application of enlightenment in the world.

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