This book was originally written as a doctoral thesis for the Institute of Spirituality at the Gregorian University in Rome. However, the author states that it was retouched and enriched with the suggestions of scholars and friends. He has endeavored to place the life of Swami Abhishiktananda (Fr. Henri Le Saux) in the context of the Hindu tradition of sannyasa from the earliest times in the Vedas and Upanishads until the present day. He studies it also in depth showing its significance as a way of “God-experience,” or in Christian terms of “ contemplation.”

Vattakuzhy sees Swami Abhishiktananda as a model of Christian sannyasi who has entered into the depths of Hindu experience of God in Christ. In so doing, he has used not only the published writings of Swami, but also letters and diaries that have not yet been published. He goes further to see the significance of the life and teaching of Swami Abhishiktananda for the life of the Church in India and as a challenge to religious life in general to recognize the primacy of contemplation over all activities of religious life. Although the work retains some of the technical language that one would expect in a doctoral thesis, along with abundant footnotes, it maintains a quality that stimulates awareness of the spiritual dimension of the subject. It is an excellent book and a valid contribution to English-speaking and monastic public.