Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj was the disciple of Shri Bhauseheb Maharaj who mainly taught the path of Meditation as a means to realization. During his spiritual practice, Siddharameshwar Maharaj spent much of his time practicing meditation and reflecting on the teachings of great Saints such as Shri Samartha Ramdas, a renowned Maharashtran Saint of the 17th century (author of Dasbodh and Manache Shlok), as well as the teachings of Adi Shankaracharya, Valmiki and Vasisthta, and other great Saints such as Kabir, Tukaram, Eknath, (author of Eknathi Bhagwat), and others. After the passing away of his master Shri Bhausaheb Maharaj in the year 1914, Siddharameshwar Maharaj continued meditating on the teachings of his Master. In 1918, he renounced the world and joined four of his brother disciples to popularize his Master's teachings. In the year 1920 when he was on the tour of popularizing his Master's teachings, he got the idea that one could go beyond the path of many years of long meditation as a means for realization and that meditation is an initial stage to attain Final Reality. His brother disciples disagreed with Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj, saying that their master, Shri Bhausaheb Maharaj has not told them this. He agreed with them, but stated, "Okay! Can one not go beyond that?" He left his co-disciples and returned to his home in Bijapur. While in Bijapur he meditated for nine months continuously without a break. Since his Master had taught him only meditation, he had no other means to find out the way to attain the Final Reality without long arduous meditation. He said, "I will attain the Final Reality even at the cost of my life." By the grace of his Master Shri Bhausaheb Maharaj he attained the realization of Final Reality.

After his realization, Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj began teaching that in addition to the path of long arduous meditation which is often referred to as "The Ant's Way," one can attain Final Reality very quickly through the path of "The Bird's Way," which is the path primarily of listening to the teachings of the Sadguru, as well as utilizing the power of discrimination (Viveka), combined with thoughtfulness and investigation into one's True Nature(Vichara). This is the most direct path to realization. He said that it is through thinking that Ignorance has become firmly established in one's Consciousness, and it is through thinking that Ignorance can be completely dispelled. His instruction as to how this is done is explained thoroughly within the contents of this text. Truly fortunate are those who come across these teachings in their lifetime. It is the voice of the Supreme Self, Paramatman that is found here in these pages. Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj had many Self-Realized disciples. This book was originally written in the Marathi language by distinguished disciples of Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj, Nisargadatta Maharaj principally among them. May the one reading these words attain the realization of the Final Reality with the aid of this text by the Grace of the Sadguru, who is your own True Self.

!! Jai Sadguru Parabrahman !!