[{"_1":2,"_3":-5,"_4":-5},"loaderData",{"_5":6,"_7":8},"actionData","errors","root",{"_28":-5,"_38":-5,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58},"routes/_store+/_readers+/email_author.$slug/route",{"_9":10,"_11":-5},"book",{"_12":13,"_14":15,"_16":17,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":23},"currentUser","id","Z2lkOi8vbGVhbnB1Yi9TdG9yZTo6Qm9va1Byb2R1Y3QvNzgwMjI","title","Shiva Stole My Bible","state","published","contactAuthorMethod","email","aboutText","

\"Shiva Stole My Bible\" is the autobiographical-style account of a zealous young evangelical from the American Midwest who arrives in India in his early twenties as a missionary, convinced that the colorful gods of Hinduism are literal demons enslaving millions. Armed with a leather-bound Bible and battle-ready theology, he spends a decade planting house churches, street-preaching, and waging what he sees as spiritual warfare against “principalities and powers.” Yet every return trip to the subcontinent quietly erodes his certainty: the warmth of local families, the serene power of ancient temples, the profound peace radiating from devotees, and the undeniable beauty of festivals and daily devotion all begin to crack the rigid armor of his faith.

Over time, scholarly reading, repeated mystical encounters—most powerfully a lightning-struck vision of a blue-throated, trident-bearing Shiva during a Himalayan storm—and a later guided psilocybin journey dismantle the foundations of his worldview. He moves through a painful deconstruction, a gray period of atheistic void, and finally a luminous reawakening. The very deities he once came to destroy become the compassionate forces that heal his shame, sexual repression, and spiritual exhaustion. Returning to India no longer as a conqueror but as a humble seeker, he embraces non-dual philosophy (“Thou art That”), integrates the mystical essence of Christ with the dance of Shiva, and finds freedom in the realization that the divine is not a jealous tribal god but the infinite, interconnected consciousness already present in every breath and blade of grass.

The novella is at once a raw missionary exposé, a vivid sensory love letter to India, and a deeply moving spiritual memoir. In the end, the author’s “stolen” Bible is not lost to darkness but gently pried from his hands by a far larger, more loving reality—revealing that what he once called spiritual conquest was, in truth, the long, reverse road home to himself.

","authors",[24],{"_12":25,"_26":27,"_28":29},"Z2lkOi8vbGVhbnB1Yi9TdG9yZTo6UHJvZHVjdEF1dGhvci84MzU4NQ","name","Chinmoy Mukherjee","user",{"_30":31},"avatar",{"_32":33,"_34":35,"_36":37},"url","https://d39qdlcrvnra4b.cloudfront.net/avatars/460675/medium/chinmoy.JPG?1758530858","styleName","medium","exists",true,"shoppingCartId","shoppingCart",{"_12":71,"_72":73,"_74":37,"_75":76,"_77":78,"_79":80,"_81":37},"locale","en","readerTheme","light","constants",{"_69":70},"publishers",{"_65":66,"_67":68},"learnerOrganizations",[],"needsLocaleCookieSync",false,"announcements",{"_59":60,"_61":-5},"sentryEnvironment","production","sentryRelease","7f0b0febc2a724bf00c07ddd9bea77aad244a7dd","announcement_store",{"_62":52,"_63":64},"announcement_authors","flag","text","

Kick off your book project, get started with GhostAI, get better at marketing, or spend the day doing all three! Free live workshops on Zoom. Saturday, June 27, 2026.

\n","companies",[],"universities",[],"paypalClientId","AX53Cwz8jR6rVVzzZiZNWWXl0dGagi-GZrjG-S3Ua14E5nrKMn7DxDQ730O4R8LusLPp49ALn6aRVaEy","no-cart","count",0,"free","updatedAt","","paymentGateway","STRIPE","cartItems",[],"loading"]

Email the Author