Raymond Pattison

English-Man, Beggar-Man, Holy-Man Raymond Pattison

In 1965 I left England. aged 17. I spent a year traveling overland until I reached India. I only planned to go as far as Istanbul, but found myself on the "hippy trail".

By the time I got to India I was physically and mentally exhausted. I was probably clinically depressed, and effected by too much cannabis use.

I found myself in a spiritual centre called an ashram. I met my first Guru, (spiritual teacher) - a Swami & sannyasin renunciate in ochre robes. I never had at that time any intention of becoming a monk for 10 years. However I spent 10 years in India, living the life of a monk otherwise known as a sadhu, who sometimes traveled and eventually saw nearly every part of India.

The first few chapters of my book talks about my travel through Europe and Asia, in the days before the name "hippy" was known. (I was a beatnik). My book then moves to travels around India and adoption of the robes of a sannyasin.(A religious ascetic who has renounced the world by performing his own funeral and abandoning all claims to social or family standing).
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