The book is a biography Ramana Maharishi was a sage who lived in the first half of twentieth century, who recommended jnana vichara (self enquiry) as a path to self realisation. The book is very neatly written, choronicling the life of the sage and the people around him. Since it is one of the three biographies that were written at the time when the sage lived, the book provides a rather first hand account of the life of the swami and the also the ascetics who lived in the Arunachala.