Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion

An anthropologist-turned-believer, Stephen Huyler has dared to cross the line of objectivity and produce an introduction to Hindu religion that combines first-person detail with reverential admiration. Ten years in the making, Meeting God is the culmination of Huyler's travels throughout the Indian subcontinent, documenting in vivid photographs the panoply of Hindu devotional practices. What distinguishes Meeting God is its intimacy--through his glossy color photos and vignettes of individual Hindus practicing their rituals, he takes the reader into a world that pulses with the power of faith. The crux of the book is puja, daily devotional practices that anchor Hindus in the divinity of the universe, whether that person is a farmer, carpenter, engineer, or housewife. The remarkable array of different puja don't seem to interfere with modern life in India, and, as Huyler insists, actually enhance it. Given the vacuity of meaning in our own modern world, each page of Meeting God is an inspiration to deepen life. --Brian Bruya