It is 1968. Across America, citizens march for social reform and an end to the Vietnam War. Amid all this, Surya Green⎯a New York-born, self-absorbed, modern young woman⎯is a student at Stanford University, blithely pursuing a graduate degree in communication. Her view of life's purpose unexpectedly starts to expand when she says "Yes" when her Stanford film mentor selects her for a writing job at Zagreb Film in Yugoslavia. Family and friends marvel at her courage, or foolishness. The Zagreb studio may be the renowned producer of the first non-American animated film to win an Oscar, but it is in a country most Americans fear and reject as "communist." Green has no idea that her stay in Yugoslavia will ultimately take her beyond national borders to the outermost limits of her mind.
Surya Green, who grew up in New York City and received degrees from Stanford University (MA in communications) and Barnard College (BA in American studies) is the author of The Call of the Sun: A Woman's Journey to the Heart of Wisdom (Element Books Ltd., UK, 1997). She has published magazine articles and has led gatherings, given workshops, and spoken on transformational themes in the Netherlands, USA, UK, and India. A member of the Dutch Association of Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists, she has also worked as a professional actress and singer. She lives in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where she established the nonprofit foundation www.SunConscious.org in 2000.
"Pensive, engrossing … The author's sensitive, searching prose makes it feel as though readers are eavesdropping on her thoughts, making every page highly personal and captivating…. An impressive portrait of a country in a tumultuous time but also of a young woman in an equally tumultuous time, eventually heading home with eyes open to the absolute need for equality for women, other races, and for the poor and disadvantaged." ⎯Booklist (starred review)
"Surya Green's fascinating book narrates two journeys undertaken simultaneously... . It is often said that travel broadens the mind. In Green's case, immersion in Tito's Yugoslavia served to deepen as well as broaden her knowledge of herself, and the social orders of both Yugoslavia and her American homeland." ―Henry Breitrose, Stanford University
"An important testament. I have not before read an account of the former Yugoslavia made so plain." ―John Grierson, pioneering documentary filmmaker

Once Upon a Yugoslavia: When the American Way Met Tito's Third Way

History

Green, Surya

Europe

New Europe Books

The Call of the Sun is the true story of Surya Green, American-born journalist and writer, whose life changes forever when at age 33 she experiences spiritual awakening. That occurs, astonishingly, at the hands of our Sun in the sky. Without warning the Sun calls out to Surya (then known as Norma), and inspires her to realize: our Sun is much more than appears to the physical eye or to the scientific mind. The Sun has a spiritual identity. This wondrous discovery opens the writer to the Path of the Sun, heading towards a global Age of the Sun. 
The Call of the Sun is organized in four sections: 
The Awakening, The Transformation, The Task, The Continuity 
The Awakening takes place during the writer's visit to India on journalistic assignment. While staying in Pondicherry at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram she is, to her utter amazement, called by the Sun. When she visits the sacred Hindu city of Benares, the Sun starts to speak. Further conversations follow in the holy pilgrimage sites of Sarnath and Vrindavan. Not only does the writer have inspirational meetings with the Sun, but also she encounters such remarkable persons as the Mother of Pondicherry, J. Krishnamurti, and Buckminster Fuller. By her return to her place of residence in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the writer has a new name: Surya, Sanskrit for "Sun". 
The Transformation takes place for the most part in old Amsterdam, where the writer turns her canalside flat into her personal temple to the Divine, much to the skepticism of her friends, acquaintances and journalistic colleagues. But step by step reborn Surya Green goes through a conscious transition "from secular to spiritual", with all the pleasures and the pains thereof. As if by greater design, there appears in her life the Himalayan spiritual Sun-master Sri Swami Purna. Not coincidentally, Sri Swami Purna comes from the Surya-vansa, the solar race of India. Under his unique guidance there begins for Surya a process of spiritual training during which the meanings of soul, karma, reincarnation and Divine Plan become clear to her. 
The Task starts to manifest. Having "spiritualized" her work, Surya has dedicated her pen in service to the worldwide spiritual renaissance and planetary transformation taking place. As a "journalist of the spiritual" she becomes familiar with the many traditions and paths leading to Self-realization, interviewing spiritual teachers of both East and West. Among those who generously give themselves to her tape recorder, camera and notebook, and who appear in this section, are leading spiritual personages as Gyalwa Karmapa XVI, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Swami Ranganathananda, Swami Satchidananda, Martinus, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Their messages of wisdom interweave in the book with the writer's transformational experiences and insights. 
The Continuity marks the next unfoldment in the writer's task. She reaches the stage where she is ripe to communicate the Sun-revelation she has been nurturing over the years. For this purpose Surya receives encouragement from Sri Swami Purna, who confirms it is time to restore the Law of the Sun. He speaks of the Sun-masters who have come to help renew on this planet what human beings have spoiled. Through meetings with Sufi mystic Irina Tweedie, the writer gains further insight into the successive emergence on Earth, age to age, of highly-evolved spiritual beings working for the world's betterment. There is seen to be a continuity in the transmission of the ageless esoteric knowledge and wisdom from ancient days up until now. A door to the future is opened with the writer's introduction of the "Sun Master Maitreya", Sun-consciousness, Sun-knowledge and the Age of the Sun. There comes the pioneering suggestion that humanity can transform and renew planet Earth through the conscious attunement with, and application of, the Sun's spiritual energy. 
This true story of Surya Green's spiritual transformation, her close and profound association with Sri Swami Purna, and her meetings with remarkable spiritual personages is written in flowing, down-to-earth English, and reads like a novel. 
The Call of the Sun, 354 pages, originally published in 1997 by Element Books of UK/USA/Australia, is enhanced by a centerfold of 24 black and white glossy photos and contains notes on the text, glossary of terms, informative list of illustrations, credits, index. Earlier versions of the manuscript were published in German (1993) and Dutch (1994) language editions. 
All of the publishers' stock has been acquired by the non-profit foundation established in February 2000 by the writer and some of her readers: Sun Conscious. The purpose of Sun Conscious is to awaken human beings to the power, knowledge and wisdom of our Sun, helping to generate a collective force inspiring the planetary family to manifest the Global Age of the Sun. 
Following the guidelines expressed in the writings of Surya Green, Sun Conscious offers its services and activities free of financial charge. Sun Conscious maintains that Sun-knowledge has to be shared in the same manner that the Sun shines for everyone. This principle enables all people to have equal access to all dimensions of the Sun's energies. 
Book sales presently serve as the main source of Sun Conscious income. The writer has waived royalties and income from book sales goes entirely to Sun Conscious. 
(c) Sun Conscious 2000

The Call of the Sun: A Woman's Journey to the Heart of Wisdom

Religion & Spirituality

Element Books Ltd.

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