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L O V E M A K I N G

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PART 1
The well-known writer Daniel Odier was born in 1945 in Geneva. His travels to different continents have inspired his successful novels.

He signed his works with his real name and also with the pen name Delacorta (Diva, Nana, Lana, Vida). The novel Diva inspired Jean-Jacques Beineix’s movie that received four Cesar awards.

In 1968 he went to Asia to write about Tibetan art. The spiritual experiences he had there transformed his being deeply.

Some of his books that describe his experiences and knowledge are: “ Tantra – The initiation of a Westerner in Absolute Love”, “Tantra yoga – The spontaneity of Ecstasy”, “Lalla – The mystical songs of Kashmir Tantrism”.

Here are some fragments from an interview taken by Jean-Francois Duval from the French newspaper “Building”.

Reporter: Daniel Odier, we last met in 1987 when you published your novel “The kiss of the Cannibal”. Although, your success was getting bigger and bigger, you chose to disappear. When you returned, you published some novels about Oriental teachings, that drew our attention. Where have you been and what have you done during all these years?

Daniel Odier: I left for Asia, New Delhi, in order to write a book about Tibetan art. I wrote a lot and took some pictures, that were stolen from me on the last day, just before leaving...

R: So all your work was gone!

D.O.: Yes! But I took this as a chance. The chance to remain in India and to study the philosophy that I had discovered and that attracted me like a magnet: the Kashmir Shaivism.

I went to Himalaya and I stayed there for one year being guided by a great Tibetan master, Kalu Rimpoche. After one year, he told me: “If you want to discover the philosophical, not the religious, essence of Tantrism, go to Kashmir”.

R: And you did this, didn’t you?

D.O.: Yes, between 1972 and 1975 I wandered through North-Western India trying to meet a great master who could initiate me in the secrets of Tibetan Tantrism and philosophy that are over 7000 years old.

But contacting one of them seemed impossible. I traveled thousands of kilometers...in vain! These great masters people talk about, remained “invisible”. So I gave up.

I reached a far away village and one day, while walking around I saw a cottage. When coming back to the village, a boy told me: “Yes, a yogi lives there, but she is a monster with a red tongue! She killed a man and threw his corpse into the river. Never go there!” Of course I went. I put some offerings near the cottage and eventually the yogi appeared...

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