From the Publisher
Every work of Raphael is precious because it represents an important means, a relevant "channel". In his writings he is offering us what he has experienced and realized in his own life, through them many could be reached by a voice that especially here in the West, may prove of invaluable help.
The first part of the book is presented in dialogue form. Wherever there is a question there is usually a void that needs to be filled, a lack of knowledge to highlight, a doubt to clarify, hence a truth that needs only to be unveiled, because "all is within ourselves" and that truth will be found in the depths of our being. Based on this certainty Raphael often answers one question with another question, and with an ability akin to Socrates' maieutic art, he forces the inquirer to delve into himself until he finds what he was looking for.
Evidently Raphael's question-answers are the same ones he once asked himself and which were the beginning of his own quest. Even now, though all that is past, the echo of the long spiritual struggle which brought him to the oriental doctrines, and to the Advaita Vedanta and the Asparsa-vada, still resounds in the urgency of his pressing statements.
The second part is in sutra (verset) form. In these sutra Raphael expresses himself in the same modality used by the best known commentators of the Vedanta doctrines. While the questions-answers possess a more conversational tone well suited to the dialogue form, in the sutras we find the incisive certainty of the Teacher who, having attained the realizative synthesis of the Unity of Tradition, knows how to direct those who are still far from man's ultimate goal, onto the path towards attaining it. And he points this way with a strength and a vibration of such power as to shake and penetrate the reader almost physically.
From the Author
Man wanders in the forest of becoming, riddled with doubt, with conflict and a sense of incompleteness. During this entire process of solitude and ignorance he tries to cling onto supports which we call ideals. But with time he is obliged to surrender because, in fact, the true purpose of existence has escaped him. The true purpose is that of comprehending oneself.
To comprehend means to love, to give, to share. Man’s ideal consists in realizing oneself, in living true principial Essence, all the rest is a logical consequence. The flower that has reached maturity cannot but irradiate its perfume so that all those who approach it can experience its fragrance and the beauty of its geometry. An Awakened being is Beauty, he is Perfume, he is Geometry and by his presence alone he imposes a rhythm on space.
But the mind is weighed down by memories, by the past, by erudition, by inhibitions, by fear, by doubts and so on. Mental contents constitute our fatal incompleteness. How can we cleanse the mind of this waste material? How can we dispel the subconscious ghosts that suck our blood and impoverish us from day to day? This is the problem.
And one only needs a heart that is able to unveil itself, a heart that has ceased to desire even the most beautiful, the most spiritual, the most elevated things, a heart that has recovered Quiet without object.
