‘Pointers to Enlightenment’ promotes spiritual tourism

Friday, 25 October 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

by Ashanti Gunawardena : Vipula Wanigasekera’s ‘Pointers to Enlightenment’ is launched at a time over 30 million tourists travel out of their countries every year particularly from the West, seeking inner peace through various practices such as meditation, yoga and listening to sermons and discourses of spiritual leaders. Therefore Sri Lanka has a great potential to promote spiritual tourism that could be triggered by this book.

Institutions like Amaravathi in England, Plum village in France, Wat Pah Nanachat in Thailand, Monte Sahaja in Portugal and Tiruvannamalei in India are offering various programs for tourists who visit such places in numbers. These range from just one hour to a week depending on the spiritual resume of the visitor and the travel and holiday needs. Communicating philosophy simplified Wanigasekera says: “Famous personalities such as Eckhart Tolle, Burt Harding, Adyashanti, Peter Russel, Mooji and Scott Kiloby have gained popularity particularly because of their ability to communicate philosophy in a simple and presentable language without involving conventional practices emanating from various cultures.” This book is presented creatively without giving it a religious label and it is similar to the famous books already published such as ‘Power of Now’, ‘Emptiness Dancing’, ‘Before I am’, ‘A new Earth’, ‘Unconditional Life’ and ‘Waking up in time’. These books have cut across the world with the core teachings leading to freedom from suffering because of their innovative and simple presentations. Therefore, the book is expected to have a considerable outreach across the western world and later with translations, into Scandinavia, France and Germany as well as publishing through websites such as Amazon.com.