This is the story of a phenomenon. I will begin by calling him a simply that, rather than "holy man," "mystic," "saint," or "avatar;" all emotive words with mixed associations which may attract some readers, repel others. A phenomenon is always a fact, an object of experience. That is how I shall try to approach Ramakrishna... I am not writing this book primarily for believers or nonbelievers. The sort of person I am writing for is the one who is not afraid to recognize the marvelous, no matter where he finds it, the sort of reader who is always on the lookout for a phenomenon. I only ask you approach Ramakrishna with the same open-minded curiosity you might feel for any highly unusual human being: a Julius Caesar, a Catherine of Sienna, a Leonardo da Vinci. -- Christopher Isherwood "Christopher Isherwood unfolds a fantastic story with a calm finesse... This is a fresh and important contribution to the history of a religious mysticism, a subject of ever-increasing interest in a psychology-conscious age." -- New York Times