In this award-winning exploration of the lives and teachings of Ramakrishna and Christ, Paul Hourihan guides us through Ramakrishna's extraordinary struggle along the various paths to God-realization and opens our minds to intriguing new interpretations of Christ's life.
The author covers Ramakrishna's life from his unique childhood to his remarkable marriage and beyond. Christ's life also is seen in a new way — from the standpoint of India's yoga traditions and Vedanta philosophy.
Hourihan was raised in a traditional Catholic family in Boston, Massachusetts. While inspired by Christ's teachings, the rigid dogma of the Church proved to be an obstacle that contributed to his gnawing dissatisfaction with life in general, and in particular with the faith he was brought up in.
In his search for meaning, Hourihan joined Joseph Campbell, Aldous Huxley, Christopher Isherwood and other writers of his time who looked for answers to life's questions in the sage teachings of the ancient Vedantic scriptures of India.
Hourihan, studying Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Vedanta with respected swamis in New York and Boston, found a spiritual home that also brought him to a deeper, more intimate understanding of Christ, along with an expanded reverence and love for Ramakrishna and other great teachers and incarnations. “Ramakrishna and Christ, The Supermystics” opens our hearts and minds to the knowledge gained by these teachings.
"A finely crafted book that brings sensitivity and psychological finesse to the interpretation of two towering figures in the history of spirituality. In understanding Ramakrishna, we may come to better understand Jesus of Nazareth, and vice versa. This book exemplifies comparative religion at its best.”
— Dr. Georg Feuerstein, author of “The Shambhala Encyclopedia of Yoga”
