The author was a Monk of the Vedanta Society of Southern California from the early fifties. After a few years, he felt a need to go to India and experience India for himself. At the least we have a travel story that chronicles his adventures and mis-adventures, and the amazing people he met as he journeyed throughout India. At another level, the book is a memento of the spiritual power he felt in a world far removed from his own.

When the book first came out many years ago, it was controversial. The author’s frank tales offended some people, but others, especially in America loved reading about the author’s experiences. John Yale’s impressions of his Indian trip were first serialized in our magazine ‘Vedanta and the West’, then later came out in book form. Eventually, the book went out of print for many years, and was only recently reprinted in India.