Talks With Sri Ramana Maharshi

This is not a book to be lightly read and laid aside; it is bound to prove to be an unfailing guide to increasing numbers of pilgrims to the Light Everlasting. Despite the fact that the great Sage of Arunachala taught for the most part through silence, he did instruct through speech also, and that too, lucidly, without baffling and beclouding the minds of his listeners. One would wish that every word that he uttered had been preserved for posterity. But we have to be thankful for what little of the utterances has been put on record. Sri Ramana's central teaching is: Self-inquiry Instead of wanting to know this and that, seek to know the Self. Ask 'Who am I?' instead of asking about a hundred other things. Self-inquiry ought to be the easiest of all tasks. But it seems to be the most difficult because we have become strangers to our Self. What one has to do is simple to abide as the Self. This is the ultimate Truth. This is one's eternal, natural, inherent state. Sri Ramana's teachings as found in the "Talks" will bring hope to everyone. No one need think that he is beyond the pale of redemption.-DR. T. M. P. MAHADEVAN