Vishwanath - Upadeśa Sāra

Humans have been explorers ever since the clan existed. Homosapiens have been around for 200,000-300,000 years, yet the seeking continues till date. Countless discoveries have been made, there seems no satiation. Evolution has made humans the pinnacle of life, still the impetus for searching has not culminated! What is the human search for? What is any human, from the beginning of species, ceaselessly searching? The search which runs as a common thread between humans seems to be have eluded us; well, majority of us!

As long as the desire to seek has been externally directed, history shows us, humans have not been able to end it. On the contrary, as more gets discovered, more is left to discover. Very few, a miniscule proportion of humans directed the same desire to seek, internally. And their search culminated. They proclaimed to the world, there was no longer any need for them to search anything; they have got liberated from this perpetual quest.

One such person was Ramaa, also called a Mahshi the Great Rishi. And called Bhagwan God by people because he represented to them those whose search had culminated, and bringing in the direct perception of the unbroken state of bliss in which such people abide.

Born on 30 December 1879, his life was dedicated to discovering what was the center of his being, which began with the question, what is death? According to David Godman, who has written many books on Ramaa and his followers, 17 July 1896 or a date close to it, Ramaa awakened. He finally cast his body on 14 April 1950.

Arriving at the foothills of Arunachala in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu state of India at the young age of 16 years, the boy never moved out from there till the end and remained there exploring his inner world. His silent penance was determined and gradually as He established in his core, his name began to spread as among the wise knowers of inner Truth. From 1899 onwards, David Godman says, visitors started arriving just to see him and imbibe his compassionate gaze. Through it they felt a deep connection with their own being. Though he remained in silence mostly, rarely he answered questions also.

Ramaa spoke from his experience of Reality. There was no formal training or conditioning of education as we say in modern times. It is rare, indeed very rare to get in one go, an overview of the entire journey from ones existing state to the innermost core of ones being. Upadea Sra shows it in the simplest way the entire route to take, starting from ones ignorant state up to ones liberation. It describes various practices and their results which are commonly employed for spiritual growth as known in society. This helps a person with clarity to choose what is appropriate according to ones capacity and also knowing the final practice that is mandatory for liberation.

The book thus is a beacon light to all the sincere seekers of Truth. I sincerely hope, it adds dimensions to your inner quest as well. Verse 13 of this book was a changing direction for my personal seeking.

No project is complete without help. My sincere thanks to Anupa Lal and Sandhya Mulchandani for their painstaking efforts, while going through every sentence microscopically, editing it. Thank you to Sapna Khandelwal whose genuine intent to get a paperback published, even before any thing was finalised; with her voluntary and whole hearted contribution towards it, this edition has come out sooner than intended. They are all celebrated authors and it is indeed a great privilege to have their contribution to this work.

To my brother Pramit Sanghavi who has been an unconditional supporter. Nothing is ever complete without his input. Above all, I am most grateful to my husband, Vishwanath Tekur to give me the freedom to let me just be. I treasure that above all.

Pra m !

Deepti Vishwanath