Contents: Preface. 1. Book one: life. 2. Notes. 3. Book two: works. Bibliography. Index.

"Sarmad was a mystic saint of the highest order and had rejected traditional faiths like Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism, and had no use for idol-worship, rituals, canonical laws, scriptures, mosques and temples. He was a lover of the Great Name (Ism-i-Azam), the real name (Ism-i-ba-Mussamma), and the 'unstruck' melody (Saut-i-Sarmadi). He had cried out:

"Whoever gained the knowledge of his secret became able to annihilate space. The mullah says that the prophet ascended to the heaven, but Sarmad declares that the heaven came unto the prophet."

The ramparts of obscurantism began to tremble at this cry but the Mulladom found its opportunity. Sarmad had not denied the ascension of the prophet but Aurangzeb's minions charged him of heresy, found him guilty and committed his judicial murder. This is the subject of Book one of this work.

In Book two, the English translation of Sarmad's 341 quatrains is rendered, with commentary, which hopefully may provoke the reader to think afresh of this great Sufi saint and his quatrains because it constitutes the core of the permanent heritage of the human race.

In this revised edition, the interpretation of the quatrains has been separated from the commentary which is now given within brackets. This will help the reader to understand what Sarmad wishes to say, better." (jacket)