Deva Leela

"Deva Leela" ("Divine Play") is the poetic autobiography of Shunyo Mahom, a mystic. It is a love story, a delightful insightful window into the luminous world of mystics and a playful spoof on imaginary religious beliefs.

Dilai Dalai is Hueng Tsiang, a Chinese mystic who in 630 A.D. writes 99 mysterious sutras on yak skin scrolls in Bodhi Cave, near Gazabha, India. Thirteen centuries later, Dilai Dalai's scrolls are still in Bodhi Cave and the sutras have become the cornerstone of a world-wide religion, "Dilai Dalai Jai", whose priests and nuns dress like clowns.

It is now 1848, and a lovely young blonde angel, Bunny, and her suave devil boyfriend, Lloyd, provide comic relief as invisible guardians of two courageous 23-year-old mystics: Deva Leela in Northern India and Mark Trimble in the U.S.A.

Mark's life is rural Missouri is shattered when his ten-year-old brother commits suicide. A mystic, Merschel Whistle, encourages Mark to find a living Master and gives Mark a map to the commune of his enlightened Master, Gopal, in Gazabha. Mark sets out to be with Gopal and confirm the existence of Dilai Dalai's original scrolls. He loses all his money during a wild night in New Orleans and hooks up with a wagon train of eccentric Dilai Dalai Jai priests and nuns on their way to the West Coast. Challenges continue as he is robbed in bawdy San Francisco and arrives in India only to learn that Gopal has been dead for three years! Will his quest end now?

Leela has lived wild and free in the Shrinagar ashram of her father, the enlightened Master, Satchitta. She is devastated when Satchitta is imprisoned for 12 days and poisoned by Northern India's most powerful citizen, Rakan Kailin, a wealthy industrialist and leader of the Rufus religion, a man determined to destroy Satchitta's ashram. Brokenhearted, but resolved to discover Truth, Leela leaves Satchitta and commits to a life of meditation in Bodhi Cave among Dilai Dalai's original scrolls.

Meanwhile, Lloyd concocts a plan to subvert Rakan's wish for world domination. Invisible, he whispers his plan to Rakan's chief priest, Visiog. Visiog convinces Rakan to try Lloyd's plan, and the wheels are set in motion for a steady stream of colorful mystics to support Leela and Mark on their hazardous paths to spiritual freedom.

Will Leela and Mark be lovers? Will Mark find a living Master? Will Lloyd's secret plan save Satchitta's ashram from Rakan's destruction?

Leela and Mark's courage and trust to execute Lloyd's risky plan is their only hope.