My idea was to preserve for Bhagavan’s devotees all that took place in the Asramam So, that very day I started keeping an Asramam Diary. The appeal coming from such widely different persons on the first day of the year and all of them approaching me in such quick succession and without any previous consultation amongst themselves made such a deep impression on me that I took it as a call really from Bhagavan. Ramaswami Reddi, who later became Chief Minister of Madras - all urged me to undertake the task as, in their kind opinion, I was best fitted for it besides having the necessary facility of constant close contact with Bhagavan. Sastri, whom I had known since his boyhood at Chittoor, and O.P. When I had drifted on like this for some years, on the morning of January 1st, 1945, within the space of about an hour, three different persons - a lawyer’s clerk, son of Sankara Ammal doing service in the Asramam, a businessman of Madras by name M.V.P.
Nevertheless, whenever I read the ‘Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’, as I used to now and then, I felt how desirable it was that a similar book should be compiled in the case of our Bhagavan. For a long time, however, I was too lazy to make the effort. After I had been there for some months various people who visited the Asramam began to suggest that it would be a good thing if I recorded Bhagavan’s utterances on spiritual topics, either in answer to questions from visitors or in any other context. It was my great good fortune to live for more than four years, from August 1942 till the end of 1946, at Sri Ramanasramam and to have the inestimable benefit of daily contact with our Bhagavan. Ramanan President, Board of Trustees Sri Ramanasramam Tiruvannamalai 606 603 Tamil Nadu India Tel: 91-4175-37292 Fax: 91-4175-37491 Email: Website: Ī word as to the origin of this work may not be out of place.