Patna Book Fair 2025: World’s Costliest Book ‘Main’ Unveiled, Priced at ₹15 Crore

Rajesh Thakur । Patna : Patna Book Fair 2025 entered its third day on Sunday, and the world’s most expensive book became the center of attraction for readers and book lovers. The book had been the subject of intense curiosity for the past two days, and today the suspense finally ended. The world’s costliest book was officially unveiled. As soon as the book—priced at ₹15 crore—was inaugurated, a huge crowd gathered at the Patna Book Fair in Gandhi Maidan to catch a glimpse of it. While some were eager to take selfies with it, others were desperate just to see it once. Many wished to touch it and fulfill their desire. In short, the excitement among the people of Bihar for even a momentary glimpse of this book was remarkable.

The program began by removing the cover placed over the book ‘Main’ (I). The moment the cover was lifted, the sound of conch shells echoed not only across the book fair premises but throughout Gandhi Maidan. After this, the author Rataneshwar recited a few lines from the book : “Within the light I saw blue / Within the blue, white / In the point of white I saw the I / Or the one Supreme…” He shared that on 7 September 2006, during an auspicious Ratna Muhurat, he was awakened. As soon as he woke up, a divine light spread around him, and his ‘third eye’ opened. For 3 hours and 24 minutes, with this awakened third eye, he journeyed through billions of years and witnessed the entire creation of the cosmos. That was when he attained supreme knowledge. What he saw has been written in this text. He remained in a state of sthita-pragya for 21 days.

He explained that the book ‘Main’ is an exposition of the ultimate state of knowledge. ‘When we say that Buddha attained enlightenment — what is that supreme state? What happens when a human is said to have reached enlightenment? This book unveils that mystery,’ he said. He added that earlier seers who attained this state chose silence. This is an occasion where that supreme knowledge is being described.

Regarding the extraordinarily high price of the book, he said that he wishes to inspire every human being to move from merely believing to actually knowing. ‘Therefore,’ he said, ‘I also proclaim: do not believe me; walk the path of knowing.’ During the program, Rataneshwar’s wife handed him the book. He then passed it on to Amit Jha, Juhi Yadav, Punya Pushkar, and Veena Amrit one by one. The event was coordinated by Moni Tripathi and Jayprakash, while Utkarsh Anand conducted the proceedings.