Publisher's Synopsis
Jack Lee puts ashore, under cover of darkness, in old Bombay. In a fit of renunciation, he leaves his clothes on the ground, and walks away wearing only the om and crossbones, a long black flag with white crossed bones and the Sanskrit symbol 'om' in place of the skull. He had been given this by his outraged spouse when he had agreed to come out of retirement as a 'herb' smuggler and help Bobby Joe and Dev run one last load into the USA, so as to raise money for Joa~o Silva's campaign to help Brazilian street children. He then walks the forty miles to the abode of his guru, although strange events occur along the way and he moves forward as one in a dream. After reuniting with his guru, Sri Rudra Swami, his sadhana, or spiritual practice, explodes culminating with Rudra Swami's bestowal upon Jack of shaktipat; the direct transmission of spiritual energy from guru to disciple, and whereupon Rudra Swami promptly leaves his body. Left also is a newly named, and very stunned, Nageshwar( Lord of Cobras) in the care of Merlyn D'Cruz, a Portuguese Goan lady, who is owner and captain of the sloop Durga. Merlyn tells Nageshwar that she has orders to drive him to the abode of Rajendra Maharaj, a realized being and close friend of Rudra Swami, and Nageshwar, in his blissfully altered state, agrees to go. There in Udaipur, on the edge of the Thar desert in Rajasthan, Nageshwar, at the highest point in his life, meets 'Eightball' Barnett, a former operative in a quasi-governmental dirty tricks outfit that worked in South America to further the interests of U.S. corporations. 'Eightball' is now named Shivanath, and along with him Nageshwar also encounters the great leela, or cosmic play, which comes to its denouement, and brings with it a dark night of the soul to Nageshwar that is beyond his comprehension, and almost beyond his capacity to bear. After the unfolding of the events in Udaipur, Merlyn D'Cruz sails Nageshwar to Portugal , to 'O Fim Do Mundo', where his sadhana (spiritual practice) catches fire and he hurtles forward towards his goal. And there we leave Nageshwar, but not before his connection to 'Eightball' is revealed, and the ultimate purpose of the leela is made clear.
