An uplifting story of spiritual awakening revealing simple yet profound truths about our natural state of being, set amidst the atmospheric banks of the River Ganges that will appeal to self-help and Eat, Pray, Love readers. It is widely thought that finding peace, happiness and freedom requires tremendous effort – that in order to achieve a state of contentment and harmony in life, a journey must be taken, or someone or something must be awakened or overcome. After a chance encounter with an extraordinary Anglo-Indian man on the ghats of the sacred River Ganges, Ray Brooks discovers through the course of nine conversations that his quest for wholeness has been futile: no such journey was necessary, and, just like a shadow that seeks the sun, he had been searching for a self that had never been lost in the first place. “No new knowledge is required or acquired, Ray. No transcendental experience or higher consciousness needs to be achieved. When the recognition of what you are is seen – nothing at all happens. Why would it? You simply find yourself as you already are.” This book offers no systems of belief or promises. Instead, it clearly points to something that is ever-present yet usually completely overlooked: the ordinariness and beauty of our true nature. After acknowledging that simple yet profound truth, the search for wholeness will be complete.