20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Meeting a Master's Mandala, December 6, 2004
Ramakrishna is an interesting case-an Avatar of God born and living in an age of imperial rationalism, a master famous for teaching Advaita and for his worship of a personal God, and a man often fearful of women while remaining intensely devoted to the black Mother goddess, Kali. Even his closest disciples found him a mystery, and could not always bring themselves to agree with him (c.f. Narendra's carnivory).
Isherwood, to his credit, doesn't try to explain these paradoxes. He just tells a story, largely based on The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (good reading, by the way), of men he's clearly in love with; Isherwood leaves interpretation mostly to the reader. A biography such as this one, explaining in detail how a teacher's work was received and by whom, helps us understand how a particular body of knowledge works as it does. And Isherwood's prose has the same level of craft as, say, Thomas Hardy's. This is, simply, a fine biography, clearly a work of deep devotion.
Really good teachers teach with their lives as examples, so biographies can be a precious commodity. Want more? You may find Kieth Dowman's text Masters of Mahamudra useful to you; in one volume you get the biographies of eighty-four mahasiddhas.
May your own biography be a long, peaceful, and productive one.
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful book, December 22, 1999
It is one of the best books I've seen about Ramakrisna. It covers his whole life. There are many histories about his childhood very interesting and beautiful. It Talks about the disciples, mainly about Vivekananda. It's one of the best books I've read in my life. Highly recommended.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
informative, July 16, 2001
if you're looking for a book on ramakrishna that's an easy read , this is it . its a good introduction , and one that probably goes down well with a reader not too familiar with hindu thought and hagiography . its a well organised book , covering the life of sri sri ramakrishna in approximate chronological order . too little has been said of his disciples , especially one titled "ramakrishna and his disciples " . don't expect an in depth look at ramakrishna (nor his disciples ), there are other books which delve more deeply . isherwood takes time to explain certain hindu concepts which should prove useful for the neophyte .
anyone with prior knowledge of ramakrishna's life would find this book a decent re-hash of material found in other books ( most notably those by the vedanta press ) . all in all , worth the buy .
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