Upadesa Saram Or Upadesa Undiyar

The author of this book, B.V. Narasimhaswami (BVN), was the earliest biographer of Sri Bhagavan in any language. He had the privilege to spend some years with Bhagavan and listen as he explained to him some of his teachings. In his Preface BVN presents the salient facts of Bhagavan's life and traces the genesis of Upadesa Undiyar in Tamil, known as Upadesa Sara in Sanskrit, Telugu and Malayalam versions written by Bhagavan himself. Then BVN gives an excellent, detailed summary of the contents of Upadesa Undiyar, which prepares the reader for Bhagavan's terse, powerful thirty verses. BVN shows how Bhagavan has blessed all practices like disinterested action, breath-control, chanting, worship, meditation etc., sincerely and regularly done, though the chief path is that of Self-enquiry which he has taught. BVN's translations of Bhagavan's verses combine the virtues of literal and free translations: they are precise and simple. His detailed notes and footnotes bear the stamp of his erudition and his clear, analytical mind. While BVN's perceptive comments will doubtless be of much help to spiritual aspirants, it is Bhagavan's own mantra-like verses of scriptural quality which have to be regularly studied with devotion and put into practice.