The Saintly Life of Luther Mckinnie: A Great African-american Devotee of Paramahansa Yogananda Paperback – October 15, 2015

Two books published this year – Phil DeCardo’s biography, The Saintly Life of Luther McKinnie: A Great African-American Devotee of Paramahansa Yogananda and my novel, Narada’s Children: A Visionary Tale of Two Cities [also on Amazon.com], honor the life of a relatively unknown man, Luther McKinnie, who passed away at the age of 94 years old in 2002. While DeCardo’s biographical portrait is of a man who came from humble beginnings to follow in the footsteps of his beloved guru, Yogananda, and become a mystic, my fictional work bases the life of a central character on the person - Luther McKinnie. Little did I realize when writing that both the “real” Luther that DeCardo describes and the character of my protagonist have much in common.It needs to be acknowledged that while I met Phil at one of Self-Realization Fellowship’s [the organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1920] World Convocations in Los Angeles in the late 1970s, neither DeCardo nor I have been in touch with one another for well over 40 years. In fact, neither one of us had an inkling that the other was writing for publication nor reflecting on Luther’s life.Phil’s work is especially noteworthy, because Luther was a private person who rarely talked about himself; however, the author describes a very personal relationship he had with him for over 30 years, and shares with us the stories that Luther told him and personal experiences he witnessed throughout their long friendship.Certainly, when I first met Luther while both of us oth lived in New York City, I was too pre-occupied with mental afflictions to recognize the qualities of the man who sat with me and who invited me to the SRF Center. I had recently returned to New York City after living in a relatively small town on the edges of the Ogaden Dessert, in eastern Ethiopia, for two years. Upon my return to the City, I rented a small apartment in Harlem; often walked alone on the streets at night and mentally thought I was going off the deep end.A mutual friend referred me to Luther who at the time lived in a one-bedroom apartment in upper Manhattan. I’d knock on his door talking a mile-a-minute, non-stop. Without directly responding to my madness, Luther would usher me into his sitting room where two straight chairs sat and would gently say, “Woody, come sit down…come sit down,” and gesture towards a chair. “Meditate with me.” I’d eventually close my eyes and together we’d sit in silence for a while until Luther recited a prayer, and begin to play his harmonium [an acoustical keyboard instrument] and chant. It was the weirdest…dare say, oddest experience at first but each time I left his apartment after sitting with him for, perhaps, an hour or more I’d be cooled out; like a wrinkled shirt that had been well ironed.DeCardo writes, “Although Luther was born into a poor farming family, he left this world…a saint – a man of wisdom, love, and abiding joy. Against incredible odds, he overcame the limitations of poverty, racial prejudice, and the weakness of human nature to achieve a blissful soul knowledge that many aspire to but few have attained.” Phil’s book is well written and truly fascinating. It describes the life of one of the few men of African descent who embraced Eastern spiritual wisdom and proved, through the practice of these ancient teachings – taught by Paramahansa Yogananda – that it could transform a life.Narada's Children:: A Visionary Tale of Two Cities