Astray Trailer

How far would you go for enlightenment? Westerners have long been drawn to the spiritual mystique of India. While many find what they’re looking for and return home, some vanish without a trace or even end up dead. Astray investigates those who pay the ultimate cost in search of spiritual awakening.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's two thousand six and Emily, a twenty one year
old American, is that a retreat center in India, immersed
in a week long silent meditation. She climbs up to
the roof of the retreat center. It's at four in
the morning or so, and wraps a scarf under her
face and jumps off the building to her death. I

(00:27):
was shocked and confused when I heard this story. How
can a spiritual practice like meditation make you do that?
Some would argue that through this meditation, Emily reached some
sort of enlightenment. But if that's the case, then what's
the cost of enlightenment death. I'm Caroline Slaughter, the host

(00:49):
of a new podcast called Astray, and I'm also a seeker.
It's just about living in the light, meaning the truth
of who you are. A lot of people that will
hear this podcast will be seekers. But don't go to
India because this is a venus fly trap for your vulnerability.

(01:15):
After Emily's tragic death, the media linked her to a
phenomenon called India syndrome, a psychosis that befalls Westerners in
India on a spiritual quest. She's not alone in this diagnosis.
In the podcast, I investigate the disappearances and deaths of
other Westerners who have gone astray and what's been called

(01:36):
the spiritual Bermuda triangle. You don't know whether it's a
permanent loss or part time loss, or whether you've lost
them forever or you haven't, or you know it's just
or what is the loss? There's no evidence of the loss.
If we got a call today, he's not gonna be
the same person that left, So like, what does that
journey even look like? And to be honest, maybe maybe

(01:59):
it's better off you get the cool In my own
quest to investigate their disappearances has led me to some
unexpected places, identifying drowned bodies in the Holy River Ganges,
befriending a cannibal hunter, and re examining my own relationship
to this idea of enlightenment. Were you offended by it

(02:19):
at all? I am a little annoyed by it by
the term in death syndrome. To believe that that is
a general definition of a place I feel is reckless
and irresponsible. Astray examines the cost of a spiritual awakening
and asks how far would you go for enlightenment. Astray

(02:43):
is a production of school of Humans and I heart
Radio Listen to Astray launching a Marks three on the
I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts.