About the book
Treasure Trove of Sri Bhagavan’s Grace, penned by Sri V. Ganesan, is an illustrious addition to the compendium of his classic works such as Ramana Periya Puranam and Meetings with Sages and Saints. Every story is Sri Bhagavan, Sri Bhagavan and Sri Bhagavan! Though many of the anecdotes are like sequels to events narrated in Ramana Periya Puranam, each story reveals one or the other new facet of Sri Bhagavan’s teaching.
Every anecdote of this book is a demonstration of the power of a jñāni. Whoever the devotees may be, whatever be their qualification or quest, we find the strange power of Sri Bhagavan’s mauna and its impact on them . Most of them are somehow made to feel intuitively the adhishṭhāna — the substratum — on which the individuality, the ‘I’, and its world with all its problems appear and disappear, like a mirage in the desert.
The Divine Power – chit-shakti – that emanated from Sri Bhagavan pushed the devotees’ attention away from the actors, actresses, comedy, tragedy, events, and emotions of their ‘movie’ called saṃsāra and towards the ‘screen’ on which all these merely appear to exist. That adhishṭhāna is Bhagavan Sri Ramana himself. That substratum is Arunachala. When one pays direct and unwavering attention to ‘That’, the ‘I’ merges back in the Source, leaving only the pure space of Shivānubhava. This is what Sri Bhagavan says in Aksharamanamalai — “O Arunachala, when will my thoughts subside so that I will intuit the subtle-most Infinite Space, the Divine Nature of Thine?” (Verse 57)
This experience of transcending the mind and merging in the silence of the Self, we find re-enacted again and again in every episode of this book. To open this Treasure Trove is to own that “Great Treasure of Grace” — Tiru Aruḷ Nidhi. Some of us have often sat with Ganeshanna, drinking the ambrosia of Ramana-Amrita for days and nights. The same impact of ‘Ramana Experience’ is evoked by this book as well. Let the reader himself taste this Ramana-Samādhi — the ecstasy of Sri Ramana — by reading this book with his whole Heart is our prayer to Sri Bhagavan.
An apt companion to this Treasure Trove, is Flight of the Flame. A gem of a biography of Sri Bhagavan that reveals how the the fire that burns away all dross and the flame that gives light were both a recurrent theme all through his life.
Last, but not the least, is the bookmark. No ordinary one, it is the jewel in the crown whose four facets bring out vividly and precisely, how the teachings of Sri Bhagavan and Adi Shankaracharya complement each other.
About the author
Born in 1936, upto the age of 14, Sri V. Ganesan grew up in the presence and proximity of his grand uncle, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. His sacred memory of the Master is rich in its content; and, even at that tender age he could see Sri Ramana as the greatest, compassionate human being. On April 14, 1950, the day the Master chose to leave the body, the adolescent Ganesan stood near the entrance to the room where Sri Ramana was lying and was fortunate to see the brilliant flash of light, which later moved towards the top of the Holy Hill, Arunachala.
For thirty five years, Sri Ganesan helped manage Sri Ramanasramam and was the Managing Editor of Mountain Path, the ashram’s journal. For six years, (upto 1994), he was its Chief Editor, as well. In this latest book Treasure Trove of Sri Bhagavan’s Grace matters of great practical interest for spiritual sadhana is made available to the earnest and yearning spiritual aspirant.
It is certain to be of immense help to those who turn to the Direct Teaching of Bhagavan Sri Ramana in attaining emancipation, inner perfection and silence of AWARENESS — with the assurance of Bhagavan’s grace.
Sri V. Ganesan has previously authored Be the Self, Moments Remembered, Purushottama Ramana, The Direct Teaching of Bhagavan Ramana, Drops from the Ocean, Ramana Periya Puranam and Meetings with Sages and Saints.