ABSTRACT
Heinrich Zimmer had been interested for years in the Maharshi of Tiruvannamalai, and the first question he asked Jung on his return from India concerned this latest holy and wise man from southern India. The carrier of mythological and philosophical wisdom in India has been since time immemorial the ‘holy man’ – a Western title which does not quite render the essence and outward appearance of the parallel figure in the East. Unadulterated wisdom and unadulterated holiness, the author fear, are seen to best advantage in literature, where their reputation remains undisputed. The Eastern peoples are threatened with a rapid collapse of their spiritual values, and what replaces them cannot always be counted among the best that Western civilization has produced. The wisdom and mysticism of the East have, therefore, very much to say to the reader, even when they speak their own inimitable language.
