Customer Reviews

The Power of the Presence (Part One)

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This book is the first of a series in three volumes. It is a collection of reports of meetings with Sri Ramanaji by differen persons from very different backgrounds. The compiler and translator, David Godman, has selected these from articles written in Tamil, Telugu and other native Indian languages with the idea to supply Westernes with experiences of the Indians, who met Ramana Maharshi. David Godman has included footnotes about Indian customs and festivals, in order to clarify the text for Europeans and Americans.

The book starts with the visit of a schoolmate of Ramana's, Rangan, in 1907. Here Ramana Maharshi breaks the silence (mouna) which he has practised for years. In this report we get an inkling of the mental state in which he was from 1896 - 1907.

The last one is from a Dutch devotee and disciple, Wolter A. Keers, whose first meeting with Ramanaji was just a few months before Ramana Maharshi's death. ( Sorry to include it here, as this reminiscence is in the last volume of this series).

This series is a good introduction to Ramana Maharshi's philosophy, and Indian spirituality.What I found most enchanting, were the stories of
the often illiterate female devotees, who daily came with food to Ramanaji, for up to forty years! I also liked a lot the reminiscences of
Wolter A. Keers and Chhaganlal V. Yogi.

If you happen to be tremendously interested in miracles, this book(s)is a treasury of them. Ramana Maharshi downplayed these (siddhis in Sanskrit) as he did not want to sidetract serious aspirants from their main "busines".

I warmly recommend the whole series!