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as the dates of many writings are not available. For the sake of the
totality of presentation, I have included several of revised versions
and incomplete writings of the Muni.
 
I understand the need for an English transliteration and
translation, which most readers look forward to. But for the time
being, I have decided to compile the Collected Works of the Muni
concentrating on the original Sanskrit texts with only the Roman
transliteration. However, I feel that the translation of the work will
take its own time, as it is well understood that the translation of
any spiritual writing is not an easy task.
 
Dr. Sampadananda Mishra of the Sri Aurobindo Society,
Pondicherry, a promising Sanskrit scholar in his own right, has
helped me in editing and organising these Collected Works. It is
my great pleasure to say that Dr. Mishra has been devoting a
considrable amount of time with great responsibility of editing the
Collected Works of the Muni. He has not only prepared the Shloka
Indices for first, second and the third volumes but also has taken
the responsibility of checking the correctness of the Sanskrit texts
for all the volumes and preparing the Roman transliteration. For
the second volume he has contributed an editorial in Sanskrit un-
der the title vasisthaganapatimuneḥ sahityam which highlights
the scholarship of the Muni and the poetic beauty of his diferent
writings. I have immense pleasure in having Dr. Sampadananda
Mishra as the Associate Editor of the Collected Works of the
Muni.
 
This volume begins with a stuti titled as śrīramaṇa-
catvārimsat. This stuti has forty verses in the praise of Bhagavan
Sri Ramana Maharshi. The verses of this stuti were composed by
the Muni in different times and were arranged in this form by the
Bhagavan himself. For a clear understanding of the facts related
to this stuti I have provided here a special note on the genesis of
śrīramaṇa-catvārimśat. In this volume except ambikāgītam and
 
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