That Brunton always retained a love

and great respect for Bhagavan there seems to be no doubt,

in spite of his quarrels with the Ashram and some of the
petty remarks about his Guru found in his later books.
Bhagavan certainly had a special message for the West
where he was much appreciated. His purely rationalistic
arguments and the lack of sentiment in his teachings had
a great appeal. He never preached or laid down the law,
but always concentrated on turning the seeker back on
himself and pointing out to him that it was entirely up to
him, the Guru could only indicate and guide, for no one
could give Self-realization to another.
After I had been here a day or two Bhagavan asked
somebody to give me a copy of Who am I? and told me to
read it. Here is contained the essence of his teaching,
though given by him as a youth of only 21 it never needed
to be changed. Bhagavan might talk all sorts of philosophy
and explain systems in answer to questions, but his
teaching and instruction for Sadhana was all contained
in Who am I?. Everything else, as far as he was concerned,
was padding or expansion for those who were not satisfied
with the simplicity and straightforward explanation of
this little book. He had always insisted that the book
should be sold so cheaply that it was available to the poorest
and originally it cost no more than half an anna.
This wonderful little book comprises one of the first
set of instructions given by Bhagavan in about I902 in
writing as he was not speaking at the time. They are
direct from his own experience and in no way influenced