About the Author Narayana Guru (1854-1928), born in Chempazhanti (Kerala), was a mystic, philosopher, visionary, poet and social reformer, who envisioned mankind's solidarity based on the irrefutable unity of the Self. Writing in Malayalam, Sanskrit and Tamil, his works gave a new orientation to literature. Rabindranath Tagore found in him a continuator of the most ancient of rsis (seers) reliving the message of advaita (unitive wisdom). Vinaya Chaitanya was born in Muvattupuzha - the place of the three rivers - in the foothills of the Western Ghats, before the invasion of rubber plantations, in 1952. He was accepted as a disciple by Nataraja Guru, disciple and successor of Narayana Guru, the philosopher-poet of Kerala. Vinaya has published books in Malayalam, Kannada and English, including a translation of Akka Mahadevi's vacanas, Songs for Siva.