This book encapsulates the Advaita Vedanta teachings of Ramesh S. Balsekar. The first part - Gentle Hammer - features a series of aphorisms, each of which sums up one element of his teaching.Once the seeker's ego has been weakened by this gentle but persistent hammering, the Friendly Sword is ready to finish the job.This second part consists of Ramesh's answers to 24 key questions about the spiritual search. The third part- Silent Arrow- is a reprint of an article that Ramesh contributed to The Mountain Path, a biannual magazine published by the Sri Ramanashram.In this article, Ramesh manages to condense his entire teaching into a few pages. It is written with such precision and profound insight that, while reading it, the reader is led to experience silence - the highest form of teaching.The pithy aphorisms, the brevity of the question-and-answer extracts and the zen-like clarity of the article make this book an ideal introduction to Ramesh's teaching.