A travel story of the author that chronicles his adventures, mis-adventures, and the amazing people he met as he journeyed throughout the holy places of India.
- 313 pages, Indian paperback
- 81-7120-908-4
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This is his travel story. It chronicles his adventures, mis-adventures, and the amazing people he met as he journeyed throughout India. The India he visited then is far different today. Back then, many of the disciples of the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna were alive and active. India was to this white American another world with strange food and habits. Nonetheless, he jumped in wearing his white brahmachari dress, and went native as best as he could. He found an India that was welcoming, and people who bent over backwards to make him comfortable. It's a good and inspiring read.
Yankee and the Swamis
The author recorded his visit to India, 1952- 1953, under the umbrella of the Ramakrishna Order. He takes many points of view: a devotee, a critic, a monk in training, a travel writer, an intellectual, a public speaker and above all, a Yankee. The book is a little of everything. This is a zigzag story and the people around him are peripheral. It might have been better to edit the book into two or three shorter books each with a more focused theme. Compare this book to Days in an Indian Monastery by Sister Devamata, who was also an American who travelled to India to pay her respects and record her impressions. Her pilgrimage to India was one long prayer.