Autobiography of a Sufi

Foreword It is quite a strange idea to publish an autobiography of a saint, during whose physical life-time, the next-door neighbor did not know, even his name. Why? The answer is perhaps that he was truly a fakir in terms of Tasawwuf of Sufism. In other words, fakir Ramchandra was really the one, who had "annihilated his self".

Born on the auspicious day of Basant Panchami, the 2nd February 1873, named Mahatma Ramchandraji and affectionately known as "Laalaaji Maharaaj", he became such an illustrious and celebrated saint that today, after more than one hundred years, a dozens of missionaries are full-time working in propagation of his tenets and his beliefs. More than one hundred countries are running well established training centers all over the world, in his name.

By adducing this edition, titled as, "Autobiography of a Sufi", I am feeling felicitated. This is because as put forth by Revered Maulaanaa Rum in his Masnavi - "Khush tar an bashad ki shrin dilruban; Ghufta aayad dar hadith-i-digaran."

Preface Sufis do not belong to any particular caste, creed or religion; they belong to the entire humanity. The present book 'Autobiography of a Sufi', which is an account of the life of Mahatma Ramchandraji of Fatehgarh (Janab Laalaaji Maharaj) brings forth this point in the most vociferous way. Mahatma Ramchandraji, who was the first duly authorized Hindu Sufi, at one point of time expressed a desire to convert to Islam, the religion of his spiritual Master Maulana Fazl Ahmad Khan (Huzur Maharaj), but his Master out rightly rejected the idea stating that in all the human beings, the flow of spirituality occurs in the same manner but their way of living differs. Religion depends upon the society and circumstances in which one is born but the soul is the same in everyone. Spirituality is a matter of soul, which is same in every one and it requires no particular religion to be followed.

Mahatma Ramchandraji at one place writes that -"I do not know from where a false thought had entered in my sub-conscious mind that my revered Master, whom I considered as my all in all, my guide and on whom I have cast the burden of my both the worlds and on whose hands I have even taken the initiation, he is a Muslim too.

**Contents and Sample Pages**