The Ultimate Medicine: Dialogues with a Realized Master

The Ultimate Medicine presents dialogues with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897-1981), a realized master of the Tantric Nath lineage who lived and taught in a small apartment in the slums of Bombay. For many years, he supported himself and his family by selling goods from a street booth outside his tenement. His teaching exemplified absolute nonduality of being. Maharaj's instruction is direct and provocative, cutting to essential points without elaboration. His concise statements are noted for triggering shifts in consciousness through hearing or reading them. The book is intended for serious students of awareness rather than those seeking diluted spirituality. The volume includes Maharaj's teachings on nonduality and morality. He argues that a person freed from bondage naturally embodies morality without needing external rules, while someone in an unredeemed state cannot live morally regardless of instruction. He contends that ordinary morality consists of arbitrary, relative rules invented by society to maintain order—often sanctioned by religion—which serve as excuses to avoid pursuing liberation.