Nicolae Ceausescu was the tyrant who ruled Romania for 15 years; he was ousted when his army defected to support demonstrators resisting him in 1989. His secret police and economic policies left Romania in a state of near-starvation, both physically and literally.

In 1993, a small group of people located in Pitesti (northwest of Bucharest) founded a cultural association called Sundari. Sundari means flower of consciousness; she is also called The Most Beautiful who manifests divine knowledge and love. This group has created a library with a specific focus — to provide access to works on oriental philosophy and religion, such as yoga, buddhism, martial arts, zen, hinduism, taoism, which are mostly unique to Romania.

The library is small but growing. They receive ten visitors a day and say everyone is welcome. The only requirement is a fluency in English, since most of the holdings are in that language. Their website lists all the current holdings and provides contact information for snail mail, email, and telephone.

It can be expensive to ship books overseas. The person who notified me of this library said that he mailed his books from the U.S. post office using an “M bag.” This is a specific way to ship books at a rate of $1 per pound, and it takes four to six months. Here’s how it works:

At the post office you receive a giant white bag with an “M” Bag tag and a mailing slip. You must pack the books in sturdy boxes and place the box(es) in the bag. Each box must be labeled clearly with the address of the recipient and the sender. You can send as many bags as you wish, but the most economical is to send a minimum of ten pounds at once. It will cost $11 for a weight between one and ten pounds, so you might as well send ten pounds. Anything from ten to seventy pounds will cost $1 per pound extra.

If you happen to have books of that genre that you would like to send, I’m sure they would be immensely grateful to receive them. It is a thrill to open the doors of ignorance and flood a room with the light of knowledge. These people are eager to see. Please help them.