ANANDAMAYI was a simple country girl from a remote village on the easternmost border of India who become a personality of the highest spiritual distinction. Like her great predecessor, Shankaracharya, she encompassed all castes, faiths & creeds on a journey which took her to all four extremities of the Indian subcontinent. Drawing extensively on her won words & advice to followers, RICHARD LANNOY reveals person-ality at once both breathtakingly simple & an enigma of fathomless complexity. His high-speed action photography captures her essence while his text recounts her dramatic spiritual metamorphosis from youthful ecstatic to venerable sage. WORDS OF ANANDAMAYI: Short Communications 1 Question: What are you in reality? Answer: How could such a question arise in your heart? The vision of gods & goddesses appe-ars in accordance with one’s inherited disposition. I am what I was & what I shall be; I am wh-atever you conceive, think or say. But, more to the point, this body has not come into being to reap the fruits of past karma. Why don’t you take it that this body is the material embodi-ment of all your thoughts & ideas? You all have wanted it & you have it now. So play with this doll for a little while. Further questions on this matter would fruitless.