These teaching selections taken from the Aham Sphurana manuscript offer a new rounded view on Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi as a spiritual master. Stories from daily ashram life unveil his multifaceted nature and profound power in ways not previously offered to the public.
Bhagavan, born in 1879, is one of the most famous and most recent of India’s wealth of sages, saints and spiritual Masters. As a young man of sixteen, he had a spontaneous awakening. He left his home in Madurai and made his way to Tiruvannamalai and the holy mountain, Arunachala. Here he lived and taught until he left his body in 1950.
We would like to encourage the reader to be open for an adventure in Silence, for a fresh perspective on Bhagavan’s day-to-day life and for your own deep inner transformation from his detailed teachings on Self-Enquiry, Surrender and Jnana. This Selection of Teachings is a treasure for all devotees of Bhagavan.
Chris –
Aham Sphurana – A Glimpse of Self Realisation is a brilliant and insightful book which is based on a recently discovered manuscript from 1936. It offers the reader the essence of Ramana Maharshi’s teachings, especially the method of self enquiry and the importance of surrendering your ego to your spiritual master. The book is packed with a plethora of dialogues, stories and reflections which makes it a joy to read. It is also carefully edited and visually pleasing. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the teachings of Advaita Vedanta and Ramana Maharshi.
Kathrine –
Amazing book which gives a deep inside in Ramana’s teachings by wonderful dialogs and fascinating stories of the daily life in the Ashram. Far the best book I read from and about Ramana. I felt like being right in the Ashram hall bathing in Ramana‘s energy.
Noach Arc –
Aham Sphurana is the most profound, subtle and practical version of Ramana Maharishi. When you read this book you realize just how diluted, vague and lacking are most of the books published in the name of this great sage of Arunachala.
It is not an easy new age read, it is the real deal with all its subtleties and intricacies. Our role is to develop a profound, sensitive and subtle mind and heart to understand and absorb these teachings.
The persons who wrote and published this book faced fierce objection from many people and are no less than warriors of spiritual truth.
Their devotion and respect to Ramana Maharishi made them fight this war and they deserve our appreciation and respect for making these rare teachings available to us.
Johannes –
Ramana nearer than ever.
It seems this manuscript has captured a huge variety of dialogues and meetings with Sri Ramana – in incredible detail. The book is nicely set out in different chapters so you can read it according to a particular interest, but it also has the character of a diary which really allows a deeper glance into how Bhagavan responded to situations and questions.
I can highly recommend it.
Paul • USA –
One of the best texts by Sri Ramana Maharshi
This book is an edited version of “Aham Sphurana” which only takes the relevant text from Aham Sphurana and leaves out the portion of no interest. What remains is a great text in the style of “The Talks” but immensely better than the more popular Talks.
Reading the comments by Sri Ramana from this book I get the impression that the Talks must have been edited heavily since this book gives more elaborate details of various topics of Sri Ramana’s teachings like Self-Inquiry, surrender and much more. The Talks seems to leave out certain details since there is also content in the Talks from July 1936 which is different than this account.
The author, a lawyer visiting the ashram from July-December 1936, gives an incredible record not only of the teachings but also of Sri Ramana’s reactions to day-to-day life including never before published tales from Major Chadwick and S. Cohen which were present at the ashram at the same time.
This book, or the original Aham Sphurana, is a must for any sincere devotee of Bhagavan!
A.G. –
The book Aham Sphurana is gem of a book, an offering par excellence for all seekers. I am currently reading the book. The editing done by your team is great effort for making this knowledge available for all seekers in a simplified manner. The printing and paper quality is excellent, done with love and care.
Sincerely hoping for the rest of the volumes to be published. By when will all the remaining matter be published ? Please let me know.
Thanks and Regards.
Modestus Lorence –
Simply the best book on Sri Raman’s Teaching
I have read only 10% of this book now. But I already felt overwhelming. The answers or explanations are crystal clear. Every seeker must read it!!
Amba –
Profound, touching masterpiece
An absolute masterpiece about the profound teachings of Ramana Maharshi combined with authentic and touching stories from life in the ashram. By reading this book you can directly feel how the pure truth in his teachings is able to penetrate deeper within us – sometimes it seems like he is present while reading. In every little detail you can feel the love that went into compiling the old manuscripts into this extraordinary work. Deeply touched by all the wisdom that lies in this treasure chest, I just want to say thank you – thank you for this enrichment!
Hemant –
Best
Very very good
Olivia –
a gem:)
thank you for sharing this priceless gem.. grateful, always.. namo arunachala ramanaya:)
Louis –
A valuable introduction to the Authentic Ramana Maharshi
What sets this book apart is that it feels like a first hand account of the dialouges and happenings in the ashram.
It is not a strongly boiled down theoretical treatise on spirituality, as many other books published on Ramana. It’s a joy to read and i feel myself travelling back in time and sitting in the ashram myself.
Through the rich descriptions one can get a much more authentic idea of what Ramana was like and how he interacted with his students.
In that sense this book can be a very valuable introduction to Ramana and to the concept of a guru / spiritual teacher which is so unpopular in the west, however much needed. This book makes him available, to anyone i would say.
I bought 2 copies for friends who have never heard of him and they love it.
So I can only highly recommend the book to anyone familiar or not with Ramana!
Solomon Katz –
Newly discovered, essential teachings
I read somewhere that Talks with Ramana Maharshi was considered the prose bible, and Guru Vachaka Kovai the verse bible in the Ramana Maharshi teaching. I broadly agree but would modify that statement by including all of Muruganar’s poetic output. So, In English translation, Padamalai and The Shining of My Lord would be elevated to canonical status on the verse side. On the prose side, in the genre of dialogues, Living by the Words of Bhagavan includes excellent teachings recorded by Annamalai Swami, and now there is this recently published Aham Sphurana, consisting of dialogues with Bhagavan in 1936. If you like Talks and the dialogue format in general, check this book out.
These talks, which were recently brought to light, were recorded in notebooks by a disciple after months spent with Bhagavan in 1936. While there has been some controversy about the authenticity of the notebooks, the voice of Bhagavan and the value of the instruction seems unmistakable. The notebooks from which this book is edited comprise a newly found treasure trove of Bhagavan’s teaching, and his voice comes alive. For any serious student of the Maharshi, this book is essential.
Solomon Katz –
Unexpectedly finding a lost Shakespeare manuscript!
In telling people about this book, I’ve compared it to unexpectedly finding a lost Shakespeare manuscript! The notebooks from which this book is edited comprise a newly found treasure trove of Bhagavan’s teaching, and his voice comes alive. For any serious student of the Maharshi, this book is essential.
Aditi –
I love the book Aham Sphurana, and I also got it for the local library! Somehow the wordings in that book touch deeper than others saying the same thing.
Nick –
Thanks Mr John David ! Iam so blessed that I came across this video. After watching this video, I bought this book and I have completed reading it. I must say that It’s the most amazing book on advaita that I have ever read. I have read most of the books from Sri Ramana Ashram and many more on Advaita. But this book goes into depth and has not only cleared all of my remaining doubts but also added to my knowledge which was not available in other books that I had read till now. Thanks you so very much for this book! Rathar thank-you is such a small word for such big help that I have got from this book! Kindly accept my gratitude for publishing this book!! Regards!
Bernhard H. –
I have just finished reading the book Aham Sphurana and am deeply impressed by this work.
I couldn’t read the book like a novel but had to pause repeatedly to let Bhagavan’s statements sink in, as they have left a deep impression on my mind. Actually, one can only digest this work in small portions if one wants to truly benefit from it. It is full of precious spiritual gems.
In my opinion, it is the most authentic book about Ramana Maharshi because he also becomes vividly human here, and finally, self-inquiry is properly explained—something I missed, for instance, in the Talks.
Now, I saw somewhere that you have published a sequel about Vichara in English (with a green cover), and I wanted to ask if there will be a German translation of it soon? If a German translation already exists, I would like to order it here.
Thank you very much!