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Ecstasy
Ram Das Baba, as his devotees call him, is the son of a devout Brahmin family. He spends a lifetime seeking spiritual knowledge and his journey is filled with illuminating visions, severe tribulations, and an unwavering faith. His destiny as a highly evolved Sadhu is fulfilled through ordeals of monastic bliss, tantric awakening, madness, and transexuality. But as his life nears its end he meets a young man who belongs to a very different India and a profound relationship develops.
- GenresFiction
251 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
3 people are currently reading
100 people want to read
About the author
Sudhir Kakar
56 books84 followersSudhir Kakar is a psychoanalyst and writer who lives in Goa, India.
Kakar took his Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Gujarat University, his Master’s degree (Diplom-Kaufmann) in business economics from Mannheim in Germany and his doctorate in economics from Vienna before beginning his training in psychoanalysis at the Sigmund-Freud Institute in Frankfurt, Germany in 1971. Between 1966 and 1971, Sudhir Kakar was a Lecturer in General Education at Harvard University, Research Associate at Harvard Business School and Professor of Organizational Behaviour at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
After returning to India in 1975 , Dr. Kakar set up a practice as a psychoanalyst in Delhi where he was also the Head of Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Indian Institute of Technology. He has been 40th Anniversary Senior Fellow at the Centre for Study of World Religions at Harvard (2001-02), a visiting professor at the universities of Chicago (1989-93), McGill (1976-77), Melbourne (1981), Hawaii (1998) and Vienna (1974-75), INSEAD, France (1994-2013). He has been a Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton, Wissenschaftskolleg (Institute of Advanced Study), Berlin, Centre for Advanced Study of Humanities, University of Cologne and is Honorary Professor, GITAM University, Visakhapatnam.
A leading figure in the fields of cultural psychology and the psychology of religion, as well as a novelist, Dr. Kakar’s person and work have been profiled in The New York Times, Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Neue Zuricher Zeitung, Die Zeit and Le Nouvel Observateur, which listed him as one of the world's 25 major thinkers while the German weekly Die Zeit portrayed Sudhir Kakar as one of the 21 important thinkers for the 21st century. Dr. Kakar's many honors include the Kardiner Award of Columbia University, Boyer Prize for Psychological Anthropology of the American Anthropological Association, Germany ’s Goethe Medal, Rockefeller Residency, McArthur Fellowship Bhabha, Nehru and ICSSR National Fellowships and Distinguished Service Award of Indo-American Psychiatric Association. He is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, the Board of Sigmund Freud Archives in the Library of Congress, Washington and the Academie Universelle des Culture, France. In February 2012, he was conferred the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the country's highest civilian order.
Sudhir Kakar’s twenty books of non-fiction and six of fiction, include The Inner World (now in its 16th printing since its first publication in 1978), Shamans, Mystics and Doctors , (with J.M. Ross ) Tales of Love, Sex and Danger,Intimate Relations, The Analyst and the Mystic, The Colors of Violence,Culture and Psyche, (with K.Kakar) The Indians: Portrait of a People, (with Wendy Doniger), a new translation of the Kamasutra for Oxford world Classics, Mad and Divine: Spirit and Psyche in the Modern world and Young Tagore: The makings of a genius. His fifth novel, The Devil Take Love will be published by Penguin-Viking in August 2015.
Sudhir with Katharina Poggendorf Kakar
Sudhir Kakar is married to Katharina, a writer and a scholar of comparative religions and artist. He has two children, a son Rahul who is in financial services, and a daughter Shveta, a lawyer, both in New York.
Kakar took his Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Gujarat University, his Master’s degree (Diplom-Kaufmann) in business economics from Mannheim in Germany and his doctorate in economics from Vienna before beginning his training in psychoanalysis at the Sigmund-Freud Institute in Frankfurt, Germany in 1971. Between 1966 and 1971, Sudhir Kakar was a Lecturer in General Education at Harvard University, Research Associate at Harvard Business School and Professor of Organizational Behaviour at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
After returning to India in 1975 , Dr. Kakar set up a practice as a psychoanalyst in Delhi where he was also the Head of Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Indian Institute of Technology. He has been 40th Anniversary Senior Fellow at the Centre for Study of World Religions at Harvard (2001-02), a visiting professor at the universities of Chicago (1989-93), McGill (1976-77), Melbourne (1981), Hawaii (1998) and Vienna (1974-75), INSEAD, France (1994-2013). He has been a Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton, Wissenschaftskolleg (Institute of Advanced Study), Berlin, Centre for Advanced Study of Humanities, University of Cologne and is Honorary Professor, GITAM University, Visakhapatnam.
A leading figure in the fields of cultural psychology and the psychology of religion, as well as a novelist, Dr. Kakar’s person and work have been profiled in The New York Times, Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Neue Zuricher Zeitung, Die Zeit and Le Nouvel Observateur, which listed him as one of the world's 25 major thinkers while the German weekly Die Zeit portrayed Sudhir Kakar as one of the 21 important thinkers for the 21st century. Dr. Kakar's many honors include the Kardiner Award of Columbia University, Boyer Prize for Psychological Anthropology of the American Anthropological Association, Germany ’s Goethe Medal, Rockefeller Residency, McArthur Fellowship Bhabha, Nehru and ICSSR National Fellowships and Distinguished Service Award of Indo-American Psychiatric Association. He is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, the Board of Sigmund Freud Archives in the Library of Congress, Washington and the Academie Universelle des Culture, France. In February 2012, he was conferred the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the country's highest civilian order.
Sudhir Kakar’s twenty books of non-fiction and six of fiction, include The Inner World (now in its 16th printing since its first publication in 1978), Shamans, Mystics and Doctors , (with J.M. Ross ) Tales of Love, Sex and Danger,Intimate Relations, The Analyst and the Mystic, The Colors of Violence,Culture and Psyche, (with K.Kakar) The Indians: Portrait of a People, (with Wendy Doniger), a new translation of the Kamasutra for Oxford world Classics, Mad and Divine: Spirit and Psyche in the Modern world and Young Tagore: The makings of a genius. His fifth novel, The Devil Take Love will be published by Penguin-Viking in August 2015.
Sudhir with Katharina Poggendorf Kakar
Sudhir Kakar is married to Katharina, a writer and a scholar of comparative religions and artist. He has two children, a son Rahul who is in financial services, and a daughter Shveta, a lawyer, both in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 23, 2016
Very loosely inspired by the lives of Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Swami Vivekanand, this is a fictional narrative set in and around Jaipur and Deogarh. I found it a very absorbing account of mystical and occult experiences, a delving into the bhakti and tantric traditions, against a scenic and historic backdrop. Two characters, very little plot, beautiful descriptions and writing - recommended only for those readers who have an interest in the subject.
September 26, 2017
Beautiful!
That sums up this review. :)
To elaborate none-the-less, although the author has borrowed hugely from the life stories of real life saints (Ramkrishna Paramhansa), the book still manages to enthral and hold your attention. It is mostly due to the magical life stories themselves, with the author having hardly to do much, other than, simply repeating whats already chronicled.
The readers who have already read the auto-biographies or biographies of the mystics, might find this book a waste and boring, an unnecessary repetition, but I, fortunately haven't read them so was really moved. My rating is more for those amazing stories the author has borrowed than for this book per se.
That sums up this review. :)
To elaborate none-the-less, although the author has borrowed hugely from the life stories of real life saints (Ramkrishna Paramhansa), the book still manages to enthral and hold your attention. It is mostly due to the magical life stories themselves, with the author having hardly to do much, other than, simply repeating whats already chronicled.
The readers who have already read the auto-biographies or biographies of the mystics, might find this book a waste and boring, an unnecessary repetition, but I, fortunately haven't read them so was really moved. My rating is more for those amazing stories the author has borrowed than for this book per se.
February 9, 2021
This book is ''A poetic view of the place where flesh and spirit meet''. 🌼
This is my second book by Sudhir Kakar Unlike the previous book- Mad and Divine this one is a work of fiction.
Ecstasy is a story about the making of a mystic and his astonishing experiences on the spiritual path in an age that dismisses divine visions as hallucinations, and the desire for a union with God as a symptom of mental illness. It is also the story of the rare relationship between two very different men brought together by a fateful meeting. Its loosely based on the life of Ramkrishna Parmahansa and Swami Vivekananda set in Jaipur and Deogarh.
"Its a humanising tribute to religion-- without being religious."
This is my second book by Sudhir Kakar Unlike the previous book- Mad and Divine this one is a work of fiction.
Ecstasy is a story about the making of a mystic and his astonishing experiences on the spiritual path in an age that dismisses divine visions as hallucinations, and the desire for a union with God as a symptom of mental illness. It is also the story of the rare relationship between two very different men brought together by a fateful meeting. Its loosely based on the life of Ramkrishna Parmahansa and Swami Vivekananda set in Jaipur and Deogarh.
"Its a humanising tribute to religion-- without being religious."
December 6, 2015
A troubling, in the sense of an angel troubling the waters, account of spirituality, that yearning for the One. Highly recommended for those whose lives abound with questions and doubts. Even more recommended for those whose lives do not.
August 30, 2023
fast paced and very innovative.
April 23, 2017
Fantastic read. The book is almost an adaption of the life of Shri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa. From the eyes of a worldly person, it's not easy to get a sense of what renunciation entails. This book gives an interesting peek into the world of renunciation. Sudhir Kakar has written the book in a non-believer, non-sceptical perspective--simply presenting the reality a renunciant perceives. A scientific mind would probably trash the claims of the sadhu; but I believe a truly scientific mind would be encouraged to question the reality as we know it and ask deeper questions from science.
Having lived in India for a long time and seen religion and faith being misused as an instrument of superstition and exercise of power, its refreshing to see another facet of Vedanta tradition that delves into unique aspects that made Vedanta philosophy the cornerstone and basic building block of one of the richest culture and civilization world has known.
Having lived in India for a long time and seen religion and faith being misused as an instrument of superstition and exercise of power, its refreshing to see another facet of Vedanta tradition that delves into unique aspects that made Vedanta philosophy the cornerstone and basic building block of one of the richest culture and civilization world has known.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews