Ape Tantra

About the Book

Ape Tantra is the story of George Berci, later known as Swami Shivanando, a man born as a Jew in Budapest in 1936 to an upper-middle class family. His father died in a punitive regiment for Jews, in Russia. Berci lived in the Budapest ghetto and his mother in a concentration camp. She survived and became a Marxist.

The book talks about Berci's high-school years and developing sexuality, then later, his job on a stud farm and his relationship with horses. In 1956, during the Hungarian Revolution, he escaped to Canada. He continued his work with horses, mingling with the "super-rich" in New York and environs. After returning to Montreal, Berci found new employment.

He married, and worked in medical research for 34 years. At the same time, Berci ran a hippie commune/children's horseback riding camp for several years.

Berci's wife, a mystic, died in a car accident when she was 28. They had two children, forcing Berci to become their "mother." Berci's rotten second marriage ended with his breaking his back and writing his first memoir, The Posthumous Memoirs of a Sex-Maniac, and a divorce.

Berci and his current wife, Jo-Anne, became a disciple of Osho (Rajneesh). He went to India and twice to Rajneeshuram in Oregon to see the Master.

Sixty-two years, and assuredly, none of it boring. In short: a story of one persons' evolution: from ape to man, or should I say, tantrika.

About the Author

Swami Shivanando (George Berci) currently lives with his love, Jo-Anne, in Quebec.