Maurice Frydman

The Pole Maurice Frydman (1894 or 1901-1976) was an important personality, although not much is known about him. He was a close disciple of Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj. It is to him that we owe the compilation of Ramana's talks in "Maharshi's Gospel" as well as the well-known book "I Am That", the translation of Nisargadatta Maharaj's talks from Marathi into English, which made Nisargadatta famous.

As an electrical engineer, he came to India in the 1930s, where he set up a transformer factory in Bangalore and was a regular visitor to Ramana's ashram at weekends. As he wanted to lead the life of a sannyasin (mendicant monk), he went to Swami Ramdas, who gave him the name "Swami Bharatananda". He had a close friendship with Krishnamurti and worked in his organizations for a time. His activities also extended to Indian politics, as he was significantly involved in the so-called "Aundh experiment" of the small princely state of Aundh and helped it to democratize. He also helped plan the Dalai Lama's escape to India in 1959 and ensured that the Tibetans who had fled were given land to settle on.