About the Book : This is a record of the many achievements of the people of Goa, both in and beyond Goa, principally since the advent of the Portuguese in Goa in the sixteenth century. It is divided into convenient chapters with a prelude to each so as to facilitate in-depth understanding of a specific achievement running through the pages of that chapter. It does not claim to be history or even that the information is complete at a given going in time. A study of this kind is an ongoing process and, conceivably, there may still be some eminent personalities either left out through inadvertence or because of the difficulty of obtaining the necessary data. A future edition, it is hoped, will probably include those besides adding many new ones. About Author : J. Clement Vaz Ph.D. earned his degree from the University of Bombay for us his thesis Eastern Spirituality and Christian Ethics. He is well versed in classical yoga which he had tried to adapt to Christian spirituality in his book Maranatha Oriental Methods of Praver and Meditation First published in 1990 by St. Paula, Bandra Bombay, and in August 1994 by St. Paula Homebush, NSW, Australia. Over the years he has conducted several courses in India. Italy, Germany and Protugal to show how conscious controlled breathing, provided that there is the right motivation, can lead to closer relationship with God. For about ten Years, from 1975 to 1985 he was active in promoting inter-religious understanding in Bombay and elsewhere in association with Rev. Aelred Pereira S.J. and Rev. Albert Nambiaparambil C.M.I. He was Secretary of the Bombay Chapter of World Conference of Religions and Peace that has its national headquarters in New Delhi, and its international headquarters in New York. At one stage in his career, he was Director, Oriental Methods of Meditation at the Centre for Indian and Inter-Religious Studies (CIIS) in Rome; President, Satsangam, a society devoted to preservation of moral and spiritual values amoung the youth in India, and Secretary, International Board of Yoga, Bombay. At present, though advanced in years, he has been associated by Professor Giuseppe De Gennaro S.J., and Italian mystic, with his unique concept of University of Prayer which with his intense faith in God he has been endeavouring to spread worlswide. Already it has travelled from L Aquila in Italy, its birthplace to Rome, Neples, Florence, and even to Spain U.S.A. and Russia. Many years ago, in the early eighties, he co-authored a bok entitles Yoga Today with Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra of the Yoga Institute, Santa Cruz, Bombay.