"Author Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, popularly known as ""Rajaji"" or ""C.R"" was a great patriot, astute politician, incisive thinker, great visionary and one of the greatest statesmen of all time. He was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, hailed as conscious- keeper of the Mahatma. As an ardent freedom-fighter, as Chief Minister of Madras, as Governor of West Bengal, as Home Minister of India and as the first Indian Governor-General of India he rendered yeoman service to the nation and left an indelible impress on our contemporary life. Rajaji was closely associated with Kulapati Munshiji and he was among the distinguished founder-members of the Bhavan. The Bhavan had the privilege of publishing 18 books (see page ii) by him so far, the copyright of which he gifted to the Bhavan. All of Rajaji's works, especially of Marcus Aurelius, the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads are popular. In Ramayana and Mahabharata, he has displayed his inimitable flair for story-telling and applying the moral of stories to the needs of modern times. Rajaji wrote not only in English but also in chaste Tamil, his mother-tongue. He was at his best as a short-story writer. The Bhagavad Gita is one of the greatest scriptures expounding the creed, discipline and ideals of Hinduism. And no better exponent of the ideas contained in it can be found than Rajaji who was indisputably one of the greatest of Indian and who has dared to live strictly according to the precepts of that manual of correct living in the face of the challenges of a rife-torn political and public life. Rajaji passed away in 1972 at the age of 94. - from Amzon