Ecstasy - Hardcover

Kakar, Sudhir

3.53

66 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1585672106 ISBN 13: 9781585672103

Publisher: Overlook Pr, 2002

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Gopal-or Ram Das Baba, as his devotees refer to him-is the son of a devout Brahmin family who has spent a lifetime seeking the ultimate truth of spiritual knowledge. His journey as a mystic is filled with illuminating visions, severe tribulations, and an unwavering faith, and he fulfills his destiny as a highly evolved Sadhu through ordeals of monastic bliss, tantric awakening, madness, and transexuality. As his life nears its end he meets a young man who belongs to a very different India. A profound relationship develops. In an age that dismisses divine vision as hallucination, and the desire for a union with God as a symptom of mental illness, Sudhir Kakar's richly detailed novel explores the mind-bending issues that plague the life of the modern thinker. Here are the struggles between emotion and reason; faith and logic-the fundamental questions that carry one from agony to ecstasy and back again.

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Review:

"One of the great strengths of this novel is its ability to show how mystical experiences intersect with everyday life. . . . With sensitivity and intelligence, "Ecstasy" offers a poetic view of the place where spirit and flesh meet." ("Seattle Post-Intelligencer")

About the Author:

Sudhir Kakar is a distinguished writer and noted psychoanalyst. His books have been translated into many languages and sold throughout the world. The recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, he has taught at several leading universities in India, Europe, and the United States. His many honors include the Goethe Medal and the Boyer Prize of the American Anthropologic Association.

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