Foreword - Acknowledgements - Introduction: Religions and their God-Men - BOOK 1 THE GOD-MAN IN THE EAST - CLASSICAL AVATARS OF INDIA - Introduction: The Religious Universe of Ancient India - Vishnu, the Navel of the World - Animal Avatars of the Krita Yuga - Human Avatars of the Treta Yuga - Krishna and the Bhagavad Gita - Buddha, the Deceptive and Compassionate Avatar - Kalki, the Apocalyptic Avatar - Conclusion: Classical Avatars and Christ - MODERN AVATARS OF INDIA - Introduction on Vaishnavism - Chaitanya (1486-1533): The Golden Avatar - Ramakrishna (1836-1886): The Cosmic Conscious Avatar - Aurobindo (1872-1950): The Supramental Avatar - The Mother of Pondicherry (1878-1973): The Leap Year Avatar - Meher Baba (1894-1969): The Silent Avatar - Satya Sai Baba (l926-2022): The Miracle-Working Sai-co-therapeutic Avatar - Conclusion: Modern Avatars and Christ - Epilogue to Book 1 - Criteria for Avatarhood based on Mythemes - BOOK 2 THE GOD-MAN IN THE WEST - THE AVATAR INCARNATES IN THE WEST - Introduction: The Advent of the Avatar and the Gita upon the West - The Avatars of the Theosophical Society - The Avatars of the Arcane School - The Kriya Avatars of the Self-Realization Fellowship - The Avatar of the Hare Krishna Movement - The Avatar of the Baha'i Faith - The English Avatar Movement - Magical Avatars of the Occult - Astral Avatars of Science Fiction - Conclusion: Western Avatars and Christ - AVATARS AND CHRIST - Introduction: Jesus Christ a Western Avatar - Myths of Incarnation in the Ancient Near East - The Incarnation Myth in Christianity - Conclusion - Similarities and Distinctions between Avatars and Christ - Epilogue to Book 2: Mythicization/Avatarization/Incarnationism - Notes - Bibliography - Index