Half of My Soul: Bede Griffiths and the Hindu-Christian
Dialogue. Compiled by Beatrice Bruteau (Wheaton,
Ill.: Theosophical Publishing House, 1996);———,
Vedanta and Christian Faith (Los Angeles: Dawn Horse
Press, 1973); Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977); Ravi
Ravindra, Whispers from the Other Shore: A Spiritual
Search—East and West (Wheaton, Ill.: Theosophical
Publishing House, 1884); ———, The Yoga of the
Christ (Longmead, England: Element, 1990); Philip
St. Romain, Kundalini Energy and Christian Spirituality
(New York: Crossroads, 1991); James Stuart, Swami
Abhishiktananda: His Life Told through His Letters (Delhi:
ISPCK, 1989).
Cohen, Andrew (1955– ) teacher of
spirituality and evolutionary enlightenment
Cohen is an American spiritual teacher in the
tradition of H. W. L. POONJA. His influential pub-
lications and lectures focus on the evolution of
consciousness.
Born in New York City on October 23, 1955,
Cohen experienced a deep spiritual awakening
at age 16, without the help of any spiritual path.
Beginning in his early 20s, he studied and prac-
ticed martial arts, KRIYA YOGA, and Buddhism. He
met his guru, H. W. L. Poonja, in Lucknow, India,
in 1986 and experienced a life-changing awaken-
ing in his presence.
Cohen’s teaching centers around trying to
guide aspirants to a place in which the ego is
tamed, and each individual is more passionate
about the evolution of world consciousness than
about his or her individual liberation. According
to Cohen, the energy of enlightenment wants to
express itself as a force of evolution. Each indi-
vidual can and should serve as a portal for that
energy to express itself.
In 1986 Cohen began giving teachings in
London. He then moved his headquarters to
Marin County, California, and now resides in
Lenox, Massachusetts. He travels the world giv-
ing public talks and holding retreats. His stu-
dents have formed the International Fellowship
for the Realization of Impersonal Enlightenment;
it has centers in Europe, Asia, and the United
States and runs a retreat center in the Berk-
shire mountains in western Massachusetts where
Cohen lives.
Cohen’s magazine What Is Enlightenment?,
founded in 1992, features interviews with spiri-
tual and cultural leaders of the age and addresses
questions of ecology, spirituality, and psychol-
ogy. Since 2000, the magazine has sponsored a
speaker series with presentations by evolution-
ary thinkers from around the world. Known as
EnlightenNEXT since September 2005, it has
become a major publication in the spiritual com-
munity in the United States.Further reading: Andrew Cohen, Autobiography of an
Awakening (Corte Madera, Calif.: Moksha Founda-
tion, 1992); ———, Embracing Heaven and Earth: The
Liberation Teachings of Andrew Cohen (Lenox, Mass.:
Moksha Press, 2000); ———, Freedom Has No History
(Lenox, Mass.: Moksha Press, 1997); ———, Living
Enlightenment: A Call for Evolution beyond Ego (Lenox,
Mass.: Moksha Press, 2002); ———, An Unconditional
Relationship to Life (Larkspur, Calif.: Moksha Press,
1995); Moksha Foundation, What Is Enlightenment?
(Corte Madera, Calif.: Moksha Foundation, 1992).creation myths See MYTHS OF CREATION.
cremation See FUNERAL RITES.
K 116 Cohen, Andrew