After reading I AM THAT, I expected (based on readers' reviews) this book to be less tedious and more for advanced "seekers". I was disappointed. Maharaji gives us more detailed dialogues about who we really are. We are SPIRIT, not a body. He explains that consciousness comes into the body on birth and exits the body on "death". He tells us death is an illusion. In a nutshell, anything that is not REAL (eternal) does not come from God. Thus the body is an illusion because it does not last forever. If we identify with our real (eternal) Self, our desires leave us and we experience bliss. All of this could have been printed on one page. Many of the dialogues are convoluted and lack punch. Compare with Ramana Maharshi, who says you don't have to do anything, just be your Self. OK, easier said than done, because once we start working on being our Self, the ego takes over, we begin serious meditation, chanting, singing, and whatever. What a waste of time! The trick is, to kill the ego. This is not simple. If you study Ramakrishma, he tells us to love God. If we love God, all else is pushed aside, we become purified. To paraphrase the COURSE IN MIRACLES, as we get closer to God, He helps us by taking the final step.

This book is a collection of some of the later question and answer sessions between Sri Nisargadatta and visitors from around the world. After finishing `I Am That' I read this book. There is a noticeable difference between the words of Nisargadatta in the two books. `I Am That' is unquestionably the better of the books, and the pinnacle of Maharaj's teachings.

During His earlier days, Maharaj was eager to teach, and would continually answer beginners questions. In this book, which collects talks during which He was ill and close to death (the body's death), he stated that he no longer desired to teach, and was a little intolerant of beginners unfamiliar with the basics of his teachings. So this book deals with some of Nisargadatta's more advanced teachings.

Maharaj in this book talks about the necessity of understanding your own incarnation, and what you were before the body was born. He talks about the interdependence of the vital breath and consciousness, stating that both consciousness and the sense of `I-Am-Ness' are dependent on the body. This book gave me a better understanding of the principle method taught by Sri Nisargadatta, which is holding onto the sense of `I Am.' He taught that this method will lead to the realization that you are not the body, but consciousness. However, He also said that this isn't the Ultimate, and that even the association with consciousness has to be given up eventually. If I understand correctly, realizing that you are consciousness is Brahman, and when this is realized you become the totality of manifestation. But the Ultimate, Parabrahman, is the witness of the Brahman and the full and final enlightenment. All of this is elucidated in `The Ultimate Medicine.'

So, while not the monumental work that `I Am That' is, this book is still very worth reading, especially if you want to go deeper, and read some of the more advanced teachings by this great Master, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.