Sri Krishna Prem

<p><em>Sri Krishna Prem: A Wing and a Prayer </em> is an in-depth spiritual biography of a British fighter pilot (WW I) Ronald Nixon (1898-1965). Raised in an intellectually vibrant family educated at Cambridge he had a religious experience during one of his flights as a RAF pilot and when the war ended he embarked on a religious/philosophical journey that carried him to India first as a university professor and then into the religious world of his mentors the university's vice-chancellor G.N. Chakravarti. and his wife Monica (Yashoda Mai). Initiated by Yashoda Mai he joined a movement celebrating the 16th century saint and reformer Sri Krishna Chaitanya (1486-1533) and helped establish the still-functioning Mirtola ashram. Along the way he studied Theosophy and Buddhism and towards the end of his life developed a philosophy of his own that though based on the religious traditions and philosophies he practiced and studied was more universal in scope than the traditions he was formally connected with. Chapple's deep research succeeds in introducing readers to a wide cast of historically important religious figures often with warts and all. </p>