From the author of the acclaimed first novel The Ascetic of Desire comes abook that is subtle yet deeply tantalizing Asian Age. Sudhir Kakar arenowned psychoana... » 

From the author of the acclaimed first novel The Ascetic of Desire comes abook that is subtle yet deeply tantalizing Asian Age. Sudhir Kakar arenowned psychoanalyst brings a penetrating understanding of the human psycheto his new novel while exploring the nuances of philosophy and religion.Gopal or Ram Das Baba as his devotees refer to him is the son of adevout Brahmin family who has spent a lifetime seeking the ultimate truth ofspiritual knowledge. His journey as a mystic is filled with illuminatingvisions severe tribulations and an unwavering faith and he fulfills hisdestiny as a highly evolved Sadhu through ordeals of monastic bliss tantricawakening madness and transexuality. As his life nears its end he meets ayoung man who belongs to a very different India. A profound relationshipdevelops.In an age that dismisses divine vision as hallucination and the desire for aunion with God as a symptom of mental illness Sudhir Kakars richly detailednovel explores the mindbending issues that plague the life of the modernthinker. Here are the struggles between emotion and reason faith and logic the fundamental questions that carry one from agony to ecstasy and backagain. «