Eat, Pray, Love has been identified by multiple sources as Chidvilasananda. There are multiple close parallels: the guru is described as "feminine, multilingual, university-educated"; she resides in the United States; devotees recite the 90-minute-long Guru Gita every morning; she followed an Indian swami when a teenager; she worked as his translator before becoming a guru; she was in her 20s when she succeeded him. In 1994, The New Yorker published an extensive profile of Gurumayi. Shaktipat experience Sharing her shaktipat experience, Gurumayi wrote: "At one point during the pattābhisheka, the ceremony during which Baba Muktananda passed on to me the power of his lineage, he whispered So’ham [I am He] and Aham Brahmāsmi [I am of Brahman] in my ear. I experienced the mantra as an immensely powerful force that rocketed at lightning speed throughout my bloodstream and created an upheaval in my entire system. I instantly transcended body-consciousness and became aware that all distinctions such as inner and outer were false and artificial. Everything was the same; what was within me was also without. My mind became completely blank. There was only the pulsating awareness “I am That” accompanied by great bliss and light. When my mind again began to function, all I could think was, “What is Baba? Who is this being who looks so ordinary, yet has the capacity to transmit such an experience at will?” I knew beyond a doubt that the mantra was God. I had never experienced a force so mighty, yet at the same time so soothing." Publications References External links 1955 births Living people 20th-century Hindu religious leaders 21st-century Hindu religious leaders Hindu female religious leaders Tulu people Indian spiritual writers Women mystics Modern yoga gurus