I still have no idea why reading your book caused such an extreme reaction within me. I don't recall reading of anyone else having a similar experience but if there is such a person I would welcome an email from them...

Ramana Maharishi's mother discovered that Ramana was living in a cave on Arunachala Mountain. She entreated him to return. The Maharishi was in mauna, he wrote these few words on a scrap of paper: Everything that happens, will happen, no matter what you do to stop it from happening. Everything that won't happen, will not happen, no matter what you do to make it happen. The best course of action is to remain silent. His mother dropped everything and moved in to look after him.

Read Erich Von Daniken's In Search of Ancient Gods, some 26 years ago in 1977, when I was 17. In it he said: Imagine a computer with an infinite number of bytes. This computer is all there is. It is consciousness. It needs stimulation there being nothing else in its eternal loneliness. It spreads itself far and wide into space which it creates, programming each byte with a schedule and a command " Go forth and experience life, interact with your fellow bytes, then come back to me so your experiences of interaction could fill my solitude." If each byte asks itself who am I and where did I come from, it wouldn't get an answer, the answer not being in its program. When I read that, zssst I was hit with a gut feeling that Wow, that's it. Now 26 years later after being Ested, Stoned, Jiddued, Lsdeed, Pirsigged, Castanedad and currently being Vipassanad, Zssst, I got the same gut feeling while and after reading your book. Dhanyawad once more.

Would also like to add that I did two 10 day mauna retreats with the Vipassana centre at Blackheath just before my wife was diagnosed with Cancer. She died soon after. I have splurged a bit on books (mostly on Buddhism and enlightenment) a fair bit as there was no Mrs Bhat to curb our spending (my daughter and I spend a lot).

In normal course I defintely would not have bought your book, as it wasn't Buddha oriented and also because I had bought a fair bit and was trying to rein in my extravagance. I started going to a nearby Library as a cheaper option. An option my wife had coaxed me to opt for when she was alive. After 6 months I had exhausted most of the stuff in the Philosophy and metaphysical section and happened to see From Onions to Pearls on display near the exit amidst numerous other biographies. Picked it up by sheer chance. Had it been in a bookshop I would have by passed it. I picked it up some two weeks ago but didn't touch it till 8 April. Couldn't keep it down. On 10 April I had a course in the city, and after the course I wandered to the local New age bookshop and purchased from Seekers to finders. This morning I meditated for an hour as normal, kept quarelling with my mind that I am that, I am Sachitananda, it kept saying well, where are the trumpets and the bliss then? Upon continuing to read the book in the train on the way to work, I read about contractions. Dhanyawad once more.

By the way Ananda has another meaning, it also means contentment which arises out of happiness. A friend rang just before lunch, to tell me that she had no peace, at home or work or anywhere. I advised her to buy the book. She said, I'm on my way to the bookstore now " I guess her tryst with destiny had arrived.