Book Description

In "Earth Pilgrim," Satish Kumar draws on his personal experience as well as his understanding of the spiritual traditions of both East and West. The book takes the form of conversations between Satish and others about the inner and outer aspects of pilgrimage: to be a pilgrim is to be on a path of adventure, to move out of our comfort zones, to let go of our prejudices and preconditioning, and to make strides toward the unknown. Satish Kumar has been a pilgrim ever since, at the age of eight, he joined the brotherhood of wandering Jain monks in his native India. Later he walked the length and breadth of India with Gandhi's successor Vinoba Bhave, persuading landowners to donate a portion of their lands to the poor. In the 1960s he made an 8,000-mile pilgrimage for peace, which included walking from India over the Himalayas to Paris via Moscow. Satish believes that at this stage of human history we now need a new kind of pilgrim, unattached to any form of dogma: Earth pilgrims who are concerned with this world, not the next, and who are seeking a deep commitment to life in the here and now, upon this Earth, in this world.