Unlike his previous books, this monograph by Wolfgang Smith deals explicitly with man's quest of immortality: with religion, that is, properly so called. As a Christian, moreover, who in his earlier life had identified with the Vedic tradition, he is well situated to speak knowledgeably of both.
Beginning with recollections of his early days amongst Hindu monks-living lives of almost unbelievable yogic attainment-he introduces the reader to the Vedic religion, which he goes on to contrast with the Judeo-Christian, not to exalt one above the other, but to explain the salient difference. Smith argues that the two religions lead to antipodal Ends: the Vedic to what he terms "the nirvānic option," in which "the human" does not survive, and the Christian to salvation, in which it does.
