Dobson became a dedicated Vedanta follower, but it was a passion for the sky that would lead him to be ejected, an action he felt at the time was worse than death.

One of John's responsibilities at the monastery was to reconcile astronomy with the teachings of Vedanta. That job led him to build telescopes on the side. He took to wheeling them around outside the monastery, fascinating the neighbors who would congregate around him.

"First, I make a telescope and wheel them around the neighborhood," he remembered, "and some kid would see me. He would ask me what it is. I said 'It's a telescope, do you want to borrow it?' Of course he wants to borrow it!

Lecturing on telescope building

In fact, the day the leaders of the monastery kicked him out -- in 1967, after 23 years of being a monk -- John insists he was simply reading just outside the walls of the compound. But the anger of the monastery's leaders could not be overcome. John was kicked out.

"I felt as though the worse of possible things had already befallen me, what can death do to me now," he said. "I felt that way for a long time. But now I feel that this job that I was assigned to do I could not have gotten done if I was still there. I got that job done."

What John did was revolutionize the world of amateur astronomy. Whereas professional astronomers insist on exact readings and precise measurements, the amateur world is generally more interested in the sheer wonders of the sky. Before Dobson developed his telescopes, amateur astronomers could hardly compete with professionals in the observing power of their scopes.

But with John's telescope construction methods -- commonly called 'Dobsonian' -- amateurs can craft their own telescopes cheaply using basic materials that could be fished out from a garbage dump.

John has been teaching the methods of telescope building across the country and has toured with a group of self-described Sidewalk Astronomers. He's toured the national parks in a ratty van full of different sized telescopes to watch the night sky and the sun. His son -- the product of a relationship John had with a woman he met while teaching adult education class in California -- toured with John summer after summer as a child.

Today, as an old man with a strong constitution and an even stronger sense of purpose, he lives humbly and is supported by friends, in the style of an ascetic. He has shown immense care for life: once, he spent all his money supporting a friend who had contracted cancer, driving her regularly to Mexico for treatment. He also exhibits thoughtfulness for bugs and plants. His treatment of his students is a kind of tough love.

No amount of exhaustion could take away John's contribution to amateur astronomy. He has inspired telescope builders worldwide, and greatly increased the power of telescopes used by amateur astronomers.

His cosmology theories have also attracted a following. His theories blend Vedanta spirituality with his experiences watching the sky.

His theories go against standard cosmology. "I'm allergic to the Big Bang," he said.

Tough Love for Students

Some say his cosmology takes away from his aura, and many scientists see his theories as over the top.

He has written "if the world is indeed apparitional, then underlying it there must exist something which is not in space and time, and which must therefore be changeless, infinite and undivided (not in time, and not limited or divided by space). And since it must underlie the apparition, it must show through (just as the length and diameter of a rope show through in the snake for which it is mistaken)."

Says Sue French, a contributing editor for Sky and Telescope magazine: "John's pretty heavy into non-standard cosmology. A lot of that revolves into an Eastern monastic outlook on life. Magical mystery tour. His talks are becoming like a Rocky Horror Picture Show where you could bring the props. When he said, 'In the absence of nothing there must be something,' that threw me."

Dobson believes his theories surpass Einstein's. And though his cosmology -- dense with talk about oneness, illusions, gravity, and electricity -- have not been accepted by academia, for the most part, Dobson says it's only a matter of time before he is recognized as a genius.

Despite critics of his cosmology, Dobson's reputation has spread worldwide. "Sidewalk" astronomer organizations have popped up around the country and around the world.

Dobson's devotion to stargazing is complete. He sees humanity, and specifically his followers, as descendants of a long line of visionaries who with every generational passing improved our capacity to understand. It has that capacity Dobson has written which "sets us apart amongst the watchers of the skies."