The Mystics

“First, I shall go deep into history: without a knowledge of that, nothing Indian can be understood. Next, I shall portray the great forerunners – Sankara, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, the men who gave shape to the modern mystics. Lastly, I shall come down to our own times. I aim to provide the Western enquirer, sceptic or not, with the means to distinguish the charlatan, whose aim is to deceive him, from the honest teacher, whose only object is to help.”

So Aubrey Menen introduces his latest book, which is designed for the ever-growing number of people who seek an up-to-date, accurate, and informed account of Hindu mysticism, together with an assessment of its relevance for modern Western man, bewildered and apprehensive in the midst of his technological world. The author ranges from the Upanishads and their origins to the Krishna Consciousness movement, from the great forerunners to the contemporary gurus of Bombay and New York. Mr Menen believes that Hindu mysticism is one of the most revolutionary ideas in the history of civilization. He shows that the honest sort of mystic has, paradoxically, something very simple to say: he alone can teach us how to put our minds at rest without recourse to drugs or drink. The photographs accompanying the text were specially taken in India by a young British photographer and vividly convey the mood of this elusive discipline and the characters and methods of its teachers. With 170 illustrations, 20 in color.