Ramakrishna and His Disciples

This biography of Ramakrishna was written for the West by one of England's most talented authors, Christopher Isherwood. This is simply a great introduction to Sri Ramakrishna. Highly recommend to the reader who is curious about lives of Avatars, mysticism, devotion and Vedanta philosophy. Isherwood lived at the Vedanta center in Hollywood for a time with the senior monk there, Swami Prabhavananda and was a very influential writer in Hollywood and all of the US and the West.

The writing is beautiful in itself, but the story of a most unusual man with unheard of spiritual yearning is what this book is really about.

Excerpt: "This is the story of a phenomenon. I will begin by calling him simply that, rather than "holy man,""mystic,"or "saint"; all emotive words with mixed associations which may attract some readers, repel others.

"A phenomenon is always a fact, an object of experience. That is how I shall try to approach Ramakrishna . . . I only ask you to approach Ramakrishna with the same open-minded curiosity you might feel for any highly unusual human being."

• 368 pages, US paperback