Shri Mahaswami: The Sage with Eyes of Light: The Diary of a Seeker of Truth

Shri Mahaswami, by his full name Shri Chandrashekharendra Saraswati and popularly known as the Paramacharya of Kanchipuram or Mahaperiyava (great sage), was born in 1894. At the age of 13 he became the religious head of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham as the 68th Acharya.

He was arguably one of the most respected and venerated sages of the 20th century in India. During his long life – he attained mahasamadhi in 1994 – he travelled extensively on foot throughout the country uplifting and guiding aspiring souls as well as giving discourses on sanatana dharma. Because of his unquestioned authority and spiritual depth he succeeded in reviving the traditional Hindu faith and beliefs, and reinvigorated the path of Advaita Vedanta.

The author of this journal, Dr. Serge Demetrian, was born in Romania in 1923. He had his youth a deep interest in India’s culture and philosophy. Escaping his country, at the time subject to communist rule, he came to India in the latter half of the 1960s. On seeing Shri Mahaswami he immediately recognized in his guru. The rest of his lie he dedicated to following the spiritual way under the silent guidance of his Master. Inspired by him to keep a diary, he wrote in detail – with the critical mind of a doctor and teacher at University – of his deep experiences with the sage.

Serge Demetrian, or Narayana as he was known to his friends, gives us here a remarkable record of his total devotion and surrender to his guru and of a perfect master-disciple relationship.

This diary, which is destined to become a classic of spiritual literature, is now being published for the first time, two years after Serge Demetrian’s death in October 2018.