Launch of Monks in Manhattan—the Novel.
Rupa-vilasa dasa: Jnanagamya Dasa (John J. Partin) is/was my oldest friend. He was an artist and writer of immense creativity, enthusiasm, and talent. Monks in Manhattan started out as a screenplay and went through a number of incarnations as such. In the final year or two before his departure, he turned the screenplay into an entertaining novel about a somewhat fanatical devotee who falls in love with an heiress. This extraordinary novel is filled with humor, romance, and philosophy. Jnanagamya would not object (if he were still with us) to my saying that this book is bizarre, preachy, original, funny, and strange. It is, by turns, unusual, hysterical, wonderful, and highly entertaining. Very few novels have been produced by contemporary members of the Hare Krishna devotee community, and certainly none with the ambition, scope, humor, and philosophical depth of this one. Only he would even consider writing what is essentially a Krishna conscious romantic comedy. It is being brought out as an e-novel: http://www.amazon.com/Monks-Manhattan-Jnanagamya-Dasa-ebook/dp/B01E968KNO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461115714&sr=8-1&keywords=monks+in+manhattan. Please purchase a copy at the very reasonable price of $2.99 and be entertained and enlightened by a devotee sold out to Srila Prabhupada. This was the final effort by the eccentric and kind artist/designer/builder/writer before he passed away in Mayapura, India, on February 17, 2015. He is sorely missed by all who loved him and whose lives were touched by him.
(Rupa-vilasa dasa, April 2, 2016, on the occasion of Jnanagamya Prabhu’s birth, April 2, 1947)