Introductory Statement

I will state many things which would otherwise remain unsaid. Therefore, it will have many unpleasant results for me. I know this, for I have gradually attained to some knowledge of my fellow human beings and of their habit of condemning what is unusual and unconventional.

So long as a sadhu has to meet the requirements of his practice, he cannot permit himself to transgress the bounds of custom.

But he who is set free from those requirements - free at last to say what he believes to be both righteous and necessary - has the duty to speak out before the world.

So, I must write down what I have learnt to be true and right; I could not face the evening of my life with a quiet conscience if I omitted to do so. There is need of this knowledge; there is too much suffering endured which might well be avoided, too much joy which could enhance life's worth.

So I will meet all blame and annoyance arising therefrom with untroubled mind, and in the hope - nay, the certainty - that many men and women, even of they dare not say so, will breathe their thanks in the privacy of their nuptial chamber.