This book is incomplete without this note of acknowledgement. With sincere gratitude, I wish to thank all those who have helped me make this book a reality.
How could this book ever happen without my Mentor, my Master, and my Guru, Dada J.P. Vaswani, who inspired me to write this book. My search – the quest, the Talaash – was initiated by him, and every single page has directly or indirectly captured the essence of his thoughts. I am indebted to him and grateful for his support in the publishing of this book. Dada, as we fondly call him, always inspired me to speak to other masters and mentors and to be very open in my beliefs. Therefore, various religious texts were studied before writing this book. The Hindu texts from the Vedas and the Upanishads, the Bible, the Quran, the Buddhist text, and scriptures of several religions have been meticulously studied before this book was written.
Beyond just studying the scriptures, this book has been inspired by so many religious and spiritual missions and their publications. To mention a few, the Ramakrishna Mission and books by both Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Vivekananda; the Chinmaya Mission and the books by Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Tejomayananda, and others; the Ramana Maharshi publications with so many books inspired by His Holiness Ramana Maharshi; and books from several revered Sankaracharyas right from Adi Sankaracharya’s original text and the Sankaracharyas of the various mutts have been instrumental in supporting the writing of this book. The invaluable works that are published by these religious and spiritual missions have been very helpful in understanding certain concepts and in either sharing an analogy, story, or simply a truth.
Dada always says, “I am nothing!” I am just a manifestation of the Supreme, the Lord, and so are all those who have inspired me. My Master, my Guru, himself is a manifestation of God, and I believe that God resides as a soul in all those learned authors and philosophers who have contributed through their works and teachings to the writing of this book. I am deeply grateful to all of them for inspiring me and for sharing with me their gems of knowledge that has finally made this book possible.
This book is not the work of an individual alone. It is the team effort of many people who have worked in-house with me to make this book publication worthy by creating the designs and enhancing the content. I am grateful to all those who have helped me publish this book.
Finally, I am grateful to God who through my Guru has inspired me to go on a Talaash and to write this book. It is with the grace of God that I may help seekers, who have a deep love and longing for God, progress on the path of seeking. Ultimately, if it be the will of the Lord, they would realize their true self and realize God.
