C 2.

"Arunachala! Thou dost root out the ego of those who meditate on Thee in the heart, Oh Arunachala!"

— The Marital Garland of Letters, verse 1 December 1997 Jayanthi Issue Vol 34 Nos. 3 & 4

95 Intensity in Spiritual Practice — Editorial

99 Na Karmana Na — Tr. by A.W. Chadwick

100 How I Came to Bhagavan — Major Chadwick

103 The Nature and Function of the Guru — Arthur Osborne EDITOR: Ramamani 113 Sri Ramana, The Embodiment Of Humility — Sri. C.V. Yogi

PUBLISHER: 118 Ramana Maharshi and Seshadriswami V.S. Ramanan — B.V. Narasimha Swami Letters and remittances should be sent to: 125 Emancipation — Paul Deussen The Publisher, "THE MOUNTAIN PATH" 131 Saintly Humour — I.S. Madugula Sri Ramanasramam P.O. 139 The Spiritual Message of Robert Browning's Abt Vogler Tiruvannamalai 606 603 — N.R.S. Manian S. India. 143 Mahatma Gandhi: A Man of God — Dr. Susunaga Weeraperuma Phone : 22491 23292 150 The Significance of Meditation in Buddhism Fax : 91-4175-22491 — Lama Anagarika Covinda e mail: alagamma @md2.vsnl.net.in 159 Sri Arunachalaksharamanamala — Sanskrit translation in Website: http://www.rtanet.com/ramana Sri Bhagavan's handwriting (in Devanagari script)

175 Mother Teresa : A Rare Karma Yogi — Dr. Susunaga Weeraperuma

183 Alan Chadwick: A Western Seeker Who Found His True Home — N.R. S. Manian

188 The Quaker Faith

199 Book Reviews — Compiled and edited by J. Jayaraman

Cover: 207 Ashram Bulletin Lightning over Arunachala.

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93

JAYANTHI ISSUE DECEMBER 1997 Vol 34, Nos. 3 & 4

EDITORIAL

Intensity in Spiritual Practice

T is a well known maxim that practice All this applies in full measure to the I makes for perfection. Whatever be field of spirituality as well. The only dif• the field of human activity this truism ference is that there is no scope here for would apply. innovations, personal fancies or varia• tion in objectives dictated or governed The painter refines his art by constant by the needs of the times. The goal of all practice. The writer perfects his skills in spiritual endeavours is always the same like manner. The effects of rigorous prac• — the apprehension of the ever-present tice in enhancing the performance of reality in man, the core of his being. musicians is well known. Through inces• sant training soldiers achieve the flaw• The Taittiriya Upanishad 1 records the less rhythm which characterises their episode of Lord Varuna and Bhrigu. This exercises — this is so conspicuously no• is of the highest spiritual significance. ticeable during a march past. Olympic Bhrigu approaches Varuna, his father, athletes perform extraordinary physical and seeks instructions on Brahman. feats. The performance of circus artistes Varuna instructs his son as follows: is even superior and reaches nearly incredible levels. Numerous instances Food, the vital forces, the eyes, the drawn from common life could be cited ears, the mind and speech. in this manner. He further adds: It is obvious that repeated practice is That from which these things are essential in order that one may acquire and maintain skills in any chosen area of worldly activity. 1 Bhrigu Valli, Sections I to VI. 96 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December

born, that by which these that are of Bhrigu, son of Varuna. It is estab• born live, that into which they com• lished in the highest vyoman (ether or pletely go back on departing (from space; Brahman). He who knows this this world), try to know That. That is is firmly established . . . Brahman. When it is said that the ultimate reality Bhrigu practised austerities (tapas). is Bliss it should be taken to mean the After doing tapas he came to the conclu• unexcellable Pure Bliss of the Self expe• sion that food was Brahman. He did not rienced by the knower of Brahman with• stop with this. He again approached out interruption and without any effort Varuna saying, "Revered Sir, teach me whatever on his part. about Brahman". The father said, "Try The happiness derived by the to know Brahman through tapas; tapas is ordinary man through perception of de• Brahman". sirable objects or obtaining them is only a fraction or reflection of the Bliss of Bhrigu proceeded further with his Brahman. Even the pure happiness ex• tapas and realized that prana (the vital perienced by the jiva during sushupti force) was indeed Brahman. Having (dreamless sleep) persists only as a come to this conclusion he again ap• memory after waking up. It is not perma• proached his father and asked for in• nent. Therefore Brahman is even beyond structions on Brahman. Varuna again the anandamaya kosha (sheath of bliss). asked him to do tapas. All the five sheaths (annamaya kosha, This rigorous spiritual exercise was pranamaya kosha, manomaya kosha, continued in this manner thrice more vijnanamaya kosha and anandamaya kosha) — that is, till Bhrigu crossed the stages have to be discarded before the Self is of prana (vital air), manas (mind), as well experienced as Pure T. as vijnana (intellect) and, eventually, The great lesson to be derived from came to the stage of ananda (bliss). this episode is that through austerities — unwavering concentration of mind — Thus, proceeding on the basis of the one can eventually know the Truth. definition by Varuna of the qualification Persistent effort, however, is necessary. of Brahman — its causality of the origination, sustentation and destruction The Self is the truth and the whole of the universe — Bhrigu concluded that truth about man. For the man with the gross matter, vital air, mind and intellect highest receptivity hearing this even once cannot be the cause of the world. He is enough to reach the highest goal. But discovered that ananda (Bliss) is for the average man repetition of the Brahman. truth or contemplation on it is neces• sary. Relentless effort is therefore the The passage concludes with the fol• key to success. lowing statement: Sri Krishna says as follows on the need This is the esoteric knowledge (vidya) for practice: 1997 INTENSITY IN SPIRITUAL PRACTICE 97

Fix your thought on Me alone, centre at first, but in the end one is set on your mind and reason on Me. Then, the right road.5 without doubt you will abide in Me. Intense yearning is a pre-requisite for If you cannot fix your mind steadily God-realisation. Sri Ramakrishna illus• on Me, Oh Dhananjaya, then seek to trates this by means of the following story: reach Me by the yoga of constant prac• A devotee asked his Guru, "Sir, how tice (abhyasayoga)2. can we attain God?" The Guru took The Sruti says: him to the sea and immersed him under water. After a short time he Even as a mirror stained by dust released him and asked him, "How shines brightly when it has been did you feel?" The devotee replied, "I cleared, so the embodied one when felt as though my last moment were he has seen the (real) nature of the come — the condition was desperate." Self becomes integrated, of fulfilled Upon this the Guru said, 'You shall purpose and freed from sorrow.3 see God when your yearning for Him Shankara says: will be as intense as your yearning for a breath of air just now."6 Long, constant practice of 'I am Brah• man only' destroys all vasanas born of Bhagavan Sri Ramana's instructions ignorance as an efficacious remedy point to the need for vairagya (rasayana) eradicates a disease.4 (dispassion) to be combined with abhyasa (practice). He says: There is not the least possibility of failure for the aspirant really intent on Abhyasa and vairagya are necessary. realisation. Divine aid is bound to step Vairagya is the absence of diffused in and guide him even though he may thoughts; abhyasa is concentration on commit mistakes. one thought only. The one is the positive and the other the negative Sri Ramakrishna says: aspect of meditation.7 There was a great devotee who started Proper vairagya should end in to see Lord Jagannath, but not know• realisation. Sri Maharshi illustrates this ing the path to Puri, instead of going by the story of Chudala and Sikhidvaja. towards, went away from it. With an anxious heart, however, he asked ev• eryone he met, about the road. Now, 2 Bhagavad Gita. XII, 8-9. on his asking this, they all told him, 3 Svetasvatara Upanishad. II, 14. "This is not the way, take that!" And 4 Atma Bodha, Verse 37. so the pilgrim reached Puri at last, 5 Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 182, Mayavati and had his wishes fulfilled. Thus, if Edn. (1981). 6 Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 185, Mayavati one has the will, even if one be igno• Edn. (1981). rant of the path, one is sure to find 7 Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, p.247 (1994 someone to point it out. One may err Edn.). 98 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December

(King Sikhidvaja and his queen Chudala discursive arguments or discussion of received instructions from a sage simul• metaphysical niceties. The attention be• taneously. Whereas the queen attained ing focussed solely on the Self, that is, Self-realisation by following the instruc• the core of one's personality, the nor• tions the king did not). The reasons are mal or natural concentration of the explained: sadhaka is further augmented and ren• dered highly effective. Sikhidvaja had vairagya even while ruling his kingdom and could have A legitimate question on sadhana is realised the Self if only he had pushed about the duration for which it should his vairagya to the point of killing the be continued. Maharshi answers this ego. He did not do it, but came to the question in the following dialogue: forest, had a timetable of tapas, and Devotee: How long should one yet did not improve even after eigh• practise? teen years of tapas. He had made him• self a victim of his own creation. Maharshi: Until the mind attains ef• Chudala advised him to give up the fortlessly its natural state of freedom ego and realise the Self which he did from concepts, that is, till the sense and was liberated. of T and 'mine' exists no longer.9 It is clear from Chudala's story that Sivaprakasam Pillai says: vairagya accompanied by ego is of no Blessed be the Feet of the One [Sri value, whereas all possessions in the Bhagavan] who says: "Do not slacken absence of the ego do not matter.8 in Self-enquiry but continue it till you The need for intensity in spiritual ef• achieve Abidance in the Self."10 fort is clear whatever be the method that one adopts. However, those who take to 8 Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, p.380, the method of Self-enquiry are placed in (1994 Edn.). a specially advantageous position. This 9 Spiritual Instruction. is because there is no scope here for 10 Sri Ramana Pada Malai, Verse 16.

The milk of the cow in reality pervades the whole body of the animal through its blood, but you cannot milk it by squeezing the ears or the horns. You can get the milk only from the teats. Similarly, God pervades the universe, but you cannot see Him everywhere. He mani• fests Himself more readily in those sacred places which are charged with the spirituality of great souls who have done tapas and sadhana there for long years. In such spiritual centres, one's awareness is spon• taneously and effortlessly awakened to greater intensity and becomes conditioned to concentrated sadhana. — Sri Ramakrishna. Na karmana na ...

(A passage from the Veda)

Translation by A.W. Chadwick

We present below the translation of a passage from the Maha Narayana Upanishad in praise of the Self-realised sage, commencing xvith the words Na karmana na. This used to be chanted before Sri Bhagavan at the end o/Veda Parayana. These moments had a special solemnity; all those assembled, including the priests who did the chanting, used to stand up. At the end, all did a full prostration to Sri Bhagavan. The practice still continues at the Samadhi Shrine of Sri Bhagavan. At the request of Alan Chadioick Sri Bhagavan perused his translation of the passage and made corrections as well.

'Tis not by means of action immortality is gained, Nor even yet by offspring, nor possession of much gold, But by renunciation by some it is attained, The sages who their senses have all thoroughly controlled Attain that Sat of which high heaven's supremacy is less, Which ever doth within the heart its radiance unfold. The adepts by renunciation and one-pointedness Who have become both pure in heart and who have also known The certainty of that one Truth Vedanta doth profess, Attain Self-realization; when ignorance has flown From body and its cause maya they'll gain full liberty. That only as minute akasa what has eternal shone That is within the Lotus Heart, of every sorrow free, Of the Immaculate Supreme, the seat molecular, Within the body's inner core, should meditated be. He verily is Lord Supreme. He is exalted far Above the Primal Word, which is of Veda first and last; In which blends the Creative Cause, so merged in one they are. How I Came to Bhagavan

By Major Chadwick

HAVE been amused since my arrival the personal contact of Guru could carry I in India to find that the general opin• me further on my road. This I was unable ion here seems to be that all of us in the to find in the West; my prayers were in West live in a state of spiritual darkness; vain. There is a saying that when a pupil that knowledge of such things as yoga is is ready the master will appear. I suppose only just beginning to penetrate Europe, that I was not ready. and that a new book, however inferior, One day while I was at a reception at from the East (by which, I find, they Budapest, the strong conviction sudden• mean only India) is acclaimed immedi• ly came to me that I must go to India. At ately as a new revelation. Of course this the same time, I was unable to under• is not really the case. We have had our stand why this obvious decision had not mystics who have written extensively on come to me long ago. This happened in such subjects ever since the time of Christ April 1934 and I planned that I would though the special colour given to reli• put my house in order and leave in the gion by Indian thought, it is true, has October of the following year. Though I been a more recent phenomenon in had not the least idea where I should go Europe; but that has grown increasingly except that I vaguely thought that the familiar during the last hundred years. I Theosophists were the right people to preface my remarks in this way so that contact, and that perhaps I ought to start the reader will be better able to under• in Madras. They, however, refused to help stand how I, an ignorant Westerner, me. They knew of no teacher and could could have found my spiritual way to not see their way to facilitate my search Tiruvannamalai and to the great saint by allowing me to make Adyar my head• whose earthly appearance is found there. quarters while I pursued my quest, even For many years I had been interested though I had become a member of their in mysticism, and in 1919 a friend of Society for the purpose of asking their mine gave me a copy of Bhagavad Gita, help. which has been my constant companion ever since. For a long time too, I had First published in the 1930's in The Sunday Times, prayed for a master, as I felt I had reached Madras, and subsequently reproduced in such a point in my meditation that only January 1981 issue of The Mountain Path. 1997 HOW I CAME TO BHAGAVAN 101 Ten months after I had made this handed it to me, telling me to take it momentous decision to go to India I was away and read it, as she was sure that it still just as ignorant as to my destination would interest me. as originally. In fact, I had not sufficient money to make an extensive tour of India, We had never before discussed such staying at her most expensive hotels, and subjects and it still remains a mystery to even should I do so, I saw no possible me why she should have chosen me from way to achieve my end. among her many guests as a fit person to read this par• So I reluctant• ticular book, a ly came to the work I formerly conclusion that believed would be my voyage must an anathema to be postponed. It her. was too much groping in the Once I had read dark. Perhaps my the book I knew faith had been that my prayers tried enough, for had been an• shortly after I swered. I had no reached this deci• doubt that the sion, I came Maharshi was the across the infor• teacher for whom mation I required I had been search• in the strangest ing for so long. My manner. postponed plan to go to India was One day I was revived, and I attending a lunch sailed as original• party in Spain giv• ly intended, at en by a friend of the beginning mine, an English of October, my lady. While alive, destination being her husband had Tiruvannamalai been a famous near Madras. politician who had been noted for his evangelical outlook and strict orthodoxy, I have since been specially asked to the very last person to have approved of state what I have gained by my residence A Search in Secret India with its esoteric in Tiruvannamalai and all I can rather carvings. He would have considered such surprisingly reply is nothing. Maybe I a book almost sacrilegious. However, have changed from one state of igno• when lunch was finished, my hostess rance to another, but any state which picked up Paul Brunton's book and believes in the intrinsic reality of the 102 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December objective world is a state of ignorance. though perhaps for some that peace is The fact that intellectually one subscribes more provocative of a divine discontent to the belief that all objective existence than the generally accepted tranquillity. is maya means nothing unless one has experienced it for oneself actually and And so with constant hope in my breast spiritually. I am unfortunately not in such I remain here, far from my home and a position. I have still to learn it for myself, friends. No doubt as I pursue my search which can only be done by Self- my hope will increase and so I shall be realisation. So until I realise that state I forced to remain an exile. For although must continue to hold to my statement I know that His grace would follow me that I have obtained nothing. wherever I went, I should find it impos• sible to run away from the Wonder of I have learnt that Self-realisation is a the World. Anyway, if I did so, I should question of discarding beliefs entirely, only be forced to come back. as a snake throws off its old skin. And I am in the constant hope that being in Of himself, I hardly dare speak. He is the presence of the Holy One will help so far greater than I could hope to ex• me to do that more quickly than any press or explain, and the only way that other method. That at least is what I he can be understood is through the understand Him to teach. That love and spirit. Here the intellect will fail us peace permeate his very presence is true, entirely.

Reminiscences

ByK.IL Nambiar

Bhagavan Ramana gave no initiation as such and had no disciples. In fact this was the main problem for many of the foreign visitors who came in search of a Sadguru. Having read Vedantic literature and eager to learn more about Eastern mysticism they came to Tiruvannamalai, to Bhagavan's Presence, hoping to get direct initiation and form a Guru- Sishya relationship, only to find that there was no such thing as formal initiation here. One of these visitors asked Bhagavan: "May I believe that there is nothing more to be known now, so far as the technique of sadhana is concerned, than that which has been written in your books from time to time? This question arises from the fact that in all other systems of sadhana, the Sadguru unfolds some secret technique of med• itation to his disciple at the time of initiation or diksha as it is called." Bhagavan: "There is nothing more to be known than what you find in the books. No secret technique. It is all an open secret in this system." The Nature and Function of the Guru

By Arthur Osborne

AN'S mind is poised between the Understood thus, whatever serves to M Spirit and the outer world which proclaim the reality of the Spirit to man reflects the Spirit. Turned inwards it re• and to turn his mind inwards can be ceives intuitions of the Spirit; turned called a Guru; and in this sense the Sage outwards it receives sense data of the Dattatreya could say that he had many manifested world. gurus.

That is how it should be, but in fact it Those rare persons who are already is apt to become engrossed in the outer near to spiritual awakening can be illu• world according it a fictitious reality and mined by the Inner Light acting directly forgetting that it is a manifestation of with no outer agency, and for them, as the Spirit. That leads to its forgetting the Maharshi said, no outer Guru is nec• the Truth of the Spirit and becoming essary. For those who come near to this, obtuse on the inward side through which reminders coming from natural forces, spiritual influence should flow. There• creatures and episodes may spark the fore the Spirit, unable to penetrate illumination, as Dattatreya indicated. For directly through the inward side, most people, however, the Guru takes manifests outwardly in order thus to the form of an outer individual — a deer attract the attention of the mind and used to decoy other deer. turn it inwards. This outward manifesta• tion is the Guru. The Tamil poet-saint This indicates the need for a Guru Tayumanavar refers to the Guru as a and shows what his function is. For any• decoy: one to whom the Golden Gates do not open spontaneously and for whom some Eating and sleeping, suffering and spiritual discipline is necessary in order enjoying, bearing a name and having a place of birth, it appeared as the Silent Guru, like a deer used to decoy other deer. Reproduced from The Mountain Path, July 1980. 104 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December to make him poor enough to pass that he did not give expositions but that through the eye of a needle, a Guru is they were not his essential teaching. necessary. And the function of the Guru Some of his disciples never asked him is not primarily to teach him doctrine or any questions of doctrine at all — they theory. There is no doctrine or theory knew all that before coming. In the com• that cannot be learned from books; and pilations of questions and answers which yet a book does not normally act as a his Ashram has published2 it will be seen Guru. There was a time when doctrinal that most of the questions are asked by truths were normally kept secret or re• visitors or newcomers. The real function vealed only gradually, stage by stage. D.T. of the Guru is to awaken a spiritual cur• Suzuki quotes a Ch'an Master as saying: rent in you and turn you inwards, impel• "Ask of your self, pursue your self, inves• ling you on towards liberation from the tigate within your self, and never let oth• illusion of the ego-self into realization of ers tell you what it is, nor let it be ex• universal Being. plained in words"1. Not only did he not This implies that the need for a Guru give the disciple an explanation in words is not a specifically Hindu dogma and but he even forbade him to accept one if does not need to be illustrated by quota• offered. This can be compared to an tions from Hindu scriptures. It is a fact arithmetic master not telling his pupils of nature as universal as physical parent• the answers to their sums until they have hood. What is, perhaps, specifically Hin• worked them out. There are some mod• du is the unequivocal equating of the ern arithmetic books in which the an• Guru with God. As the Maharshi said, swers are given at the end, but still the "God, Guru, and Self are the same". This pupils have to work the sums out; the also, however, although concealed for answers serve only to check whether they contingent reasons in most religions, is have done the work rightly or not. There a universal truth and is therefore capa• is no merit in knowing the answers if you ble of exposition outside the technical have not done the work. So it is with the terminology of any religion. expositions of doctrinal theory so easily obtainable nowadays. The Chandogya Being is. Once the illusion of a sepa• Upanishad goes even farther than the rate individual 'me' is dissolved, this Ch'an Master whom Suzuki quotes, for universal Being is felt as the sole reality there the Guru gives the pupils a wrong of me and I call it 'Self. So long, howev• explanation to see which of them will be er, as the psychosomatic instrument ap• taken in by it and which will see through pears to subsist as a real and separate it and come back for a correction. entity I call it 'me' and regard pure Be• ing as 'other', that is as 'God'. It is the It follows, then, that the function of same Being. It is only belief or disbelief the Guru is not to expound doctrine. He may do this incidentally, but the exposi• tions can be obtained just as well from 1 The Essentials of Zen Buddhism, p. 320, Rider. books. This is what the Maharshi meant 2 Talks with Ramana Maharshi, and Day by Day by saying that he taught in silence: not with Bhagavan. 1997 THE NATURE AND FUNCTION OF THE GURU 105

in the reality of the illusory ego which mean that the sum total of all beings makes pure Being appear to be God or added together makes up God but that Self. God or Self manifested outwardly God manifests as all beings without ever in human form as a decoy to lead one ceasing to be the universal Unmanifested back to the Formless Self is the Guru. Self. The nearest analogy (though all Thus God, Guru and Self are One. analogies are incomplete) is a dream, since all the dream creatures are mani• It is said in the Upanishads that he festations of your mind, having no exist• who knows Brahman is Brahman. For ence outside you, while you continue as that matter everyone is, every cat and you were, complete and unchanged, dog is, in the sense that there is no other before, during and after the dream. Ac• than the One Self manifested in all be• tually there never has been a doctrine of ings. This is not pantheism. It does not pantheism. The best definition of the 106 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December

term would probably be: "A Western God who is the way back to God. So it is misinterpretation of Eastern doctrines". with the Guru. Not only his state but his function is divine. As the Maharshi often The difference between the Guru or said: "the Guru is One". In however many Realized Man and others is that the Guru different forms he may appear, it is the is consciously identical with the Spirit, one divine spirit of guidance wearing implying by the word 'consciously' not different masks. merely theoretical understanding but the living awareness or experience with which This, of course, is giving its loftiest one knows that one is a man. Even so, meaning to the term 'Guru', implying saying that the Guru is no different from one poised in constant conscious identi• God does not mean that he has the pow• ty with Universal Being and consciously er of God. There is an important distinc• performing a divine function. It was in tion made by the Sufis according to this sense that the Maharshi always used which a Realized Man cannot say "I am the word. He says: God" but can say "I am not other-than- The Guru is one who at all times God". The former saying might imply abides in the profound depths of the the supreme blasphemy, that the ego is Self. He never sees any difference the Self; the latter denies the existence between himself and others and is of the ego. Illustrating the identity be• quite free from the idea that he is the tween the Realized Man and God, there Enlightened or Liberated One while is another often-used analogy, also im• those around him are in darkness or perfect but nevertheless significant: he the bondage of ignorance. His self- is identical as the water in a tumbler is possession can never be shaken under with that of the Niagara Falls — of the any circumstances, and he is never same substance but differing vastly in perturbed".3 scope and power. A Guru in this full and perfect sense is It is not only in his state of being but a very rare phenomenon. It follows there• functionally also that the Guru is held to fore that many who function as gurus be not other than God. Supreme Being, must have a lesser qualification. A guru as God, is the Source, Father or Creator may be simply one who has been initiat• of the individual. But in becoming indi• ed into that function as a priest has been vidualized the creature loses his aware• ordained into the priesthood. A certain ness of identity. Then God materializes power and grace will flow through him, as Guru to lead him back to the Source although he is not a realized man. Even or Father. This is the basis of the Chris• though he is, the term 'realized' may tian doctrine of the Divinity of Christ mean something very different from the and his identity with the Father. It is no constant state of conscious identity which mere historical accident that Christ was the Maharshi and his followers imply by Divine and One with the Father but the the term; it may imply spasmodic realiza- expression of a profound truth. Christ,

as he himself said, is the Way; and it is 8 From Spiritual Instruction. 1997 THE NATURE AND FUNCTION OF THE GURU 107 tion or merely the realization of some a guru is potent for good? Or, whether higher state of phenomenal being. or to what extent he is realized? By the law of symbolism every person Unfortunately there is no guaranteed one comes in contact with reflects some method. Things are not so easy. Knowl• possibility within oneself; one's relations edge of doctrinal theory is certainly no with him reflect one's inner economy, safeguard. It may afford protection so to speak, that is the ordering or dispo• against some errors but not against a sition of one's potentialities. Just as the false guru; there are cases of people with outer Guru in the full and perfect sense impeccable theoretical grounding being of the word reflects the inner Guru or led astray. The best safeguard is inner Self in the Heart, so the incomplete or purity and sincerity, since inner qualities imperfect guru reflects various potenti• are reflected outwardly in the persons alities in the disciple. He will transmit with whom one is brought in contact. the spirit of guidance, but it may come Impure forces cannot gain a footing through tainted by his individual quali• unless there is some ally in the citadel to ties, like water flowing through an un• give them entrance. But inner purity and clean pipe. The individual strain may sincerity are not easy of attainment; one not greatly weaken or corrupt the spirit in whom they were perfect would no of guidance but it may pervert it com• longer need a guru. pletely. In the Quran Allah is spoken of as He who guides aright and He who If one does not have the rare blessing guides astray. To one with an anthropo• of meeting a perfect Sage such as the morphic conception of God as a benev• Maharshi, it is better to let caution olent old man this would sound blasphe• outweigh enthusiasm in accepting a mous, but once one conceives of God as guru, for the benefit that may accrue is pure impersonal Being it becomes obvi• less than the harm. On the side of ben• ous that both the out-going and the in• efit it is to be remembered than no one coming tendencies express Him. From can lead others farther than he has gone the universal view-point of a man's total• himself, so that if the guide has not ity of lives from the going-out into man• attained the Goal his disciples are not ifestation to the re-absorption into pure likely to either. On the other hand faults Being, like the simultaneous view of the of character are no less infectious than whole course of a river seen from the air, physical diseases. That is why Hindu Sages the course of each lifetime fits into place; warn aspirants so insistently to seek the but from the point of view of the aspir• company of saints and to avoid the im• ant the wise choice of a Guru in this pure. And to the influence of his guru, for good or bad, a man is susceptible as lifetime is of vital urgency. to none other, since the relationship is This raises practical questions:— one which invites such influence. How to avoid the false guru who mis• guides? How to find a true guru? How to Of course, a guru who has not attained distinguish the true from the false? How the Supreme Goal may be wise and be• to recognize whether and to what extent nevolent and a great aid to his disciples 108 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December within his limitations; only not all are: become unfit to bear the weight of a there is the danger. So flattering is it to man? Willing to follow an authorised be regarded as a guru that even an ego and realized guru in any religion, they which has been severely disciplined may look around and do not see one.4 rise up again and develop faults such as arrogance and hypocrisy, craving flattery, They must have implicit faith in God. shouting down opposition or criticism The Guru, after all, is only the interme• or accepting praise which does not be• diary between the individual and God, long to him, allowing himself to be treat• between man's outward-turning mind ed as what he is not. That is the begin• and inner essence. If the submission and ning of a decline which can be expected aspiration are strong enough the Grace to grow worse and to infect his followers. will flow, even without a visible channel. It is no use taking a guru unless one has I have said elsewhere: implicit faith in him, and one should be There certainly are laws regulating the very wary in bestowing implicit faith. flow of Divine Grace, but the Grace is People are caught in a dilemma: on more than the law. Or it might be the one hand, a trustworthy guru is no more accurate to say that a commonly longer easy to find, and on the other applicable law is overridden by an hand they believe that they have no hope emergency law. That guidance comes of spiritual development without a guru. only through regular channels may be I will repeat what I have said elsewhere the commonly applicable law; but about the position of such people: Divine Providence will not therefore leave men without succour in their What of the predicament of those who time of need. To deny this possibility in our times seek an authorised and of overriding the regular law would realized guru and do not find one? As be to attempt to tie the hands of they look around they perceive, not God.5 in one religion but all, an aridity in the channels where Grace once One hears of more and more cases flowed. They hear strident voices pro• nowadays of the Spirit blowing where it claiming themselves gurus but would listeth, of Grace and intuitional under• do well to remember Christ's predic• standing descending directly on some tion that there would be false Christs aspirant without the mediation of an and false prophets to deceive, if it outer guru or the formalities previously were possible, even the elect. Christ's held necessary. And while legalists may saying that he who seeks will find is a still try to bind men with the letter of the universal law; but a law must have law, the Masters themselves bring about some technique, some means of ac• a relaxation. I quote from an earlier tion; what is this in an age when the article: former life-lines to those struggling in 4 the turbulent waters of samsara have Guidance and Orthodoxy, from The Mountain Path, October 1965. been withdrawn or have rotted and 5 Ibid. 1997 THE NATURE AND FUNCTION OF THE GURU 109 If ours is a time of emergency when a its disappearance would make no differ• relaxation has come about in the for• ence to the guidance. merly rigid laws of orthodoxy, the first The initiation that comes thus to his persons to see this and react to it followers is independent of ritual, but it would naturally be the guides them• was in his lifetime also: a sustained, pen• selves; and it is noticeable that all the etrating look, a dream or vision or just prominent gurus of India from the the inner certitude of having been taken time of Sri Ramakrishna onwards have up. Those who have been taken up by diverged from the orthodox him since he left the body are in no less 6 pattern certainty as to his guidance than those One response to the peculiar needs who followed him already in his lifetime. of the time is the possibility of following Formless initiation is one of the relax• a Guru who is no longer physically em• ations of orthodoxy that has come about bodied. One case is Ramana Maharshi; in recent times. It had been used also by another is Sai Baba;7 there may be others Sai Baba and Swami Nityananda;9 per• too. When the Maharshi was a youthful haps by others too. Sai Baba died as far Sage on the sacred mountain of back as 1918 and yet he too appears to Arunachala he always refused to accept his followers in dream and vision and initiation.8 Being identical with its guides and supports them. Source, he could not subordinate him• The Guru is the Spirit of Guidance. self to the channels through which it Ultimately this is to be found within flowed. When disciples gathered round oneself. Whatever awakens it is acting as he refused to designate himself a Guru, Guru. "The purpose of the outer Guru," since for the Enlightened there can be the Maharshi said, "is to turn you in• no others and therefore no relationship; wards to the inner Guru." And yet in this but he explained that from the point of regard also there is no easy formula, no view of the disciple the Guru-disciple guarantee against error, for just as the relationship is a reality. He declared that aspirant may be misled by false outer there is no difference between Realiza• gurus reflecting undesirable qualities in tion with a body and without. For him himself, so he may dignify various inner who is established in conscious Identity urges with the name of "Guru". Con• with Pure Being the body is only an ap• stant vigilance and intelligent purity are pearance and nothing is either gained necessary. or lost by its dissolution. From this it follows that one who is a Guru when 6 From The Mountain Path, October 1965. embodied can be a Guru equally when 7 For whom see The Incredible Sai Baba, by Arthur disembodied. When some disciples asked Osborne, Rider, London, and Orient before his body's death what they could Longmans, Calcutta. 8 See Initiation Rejected, by Nagamma, The Moun• do if he left them without guidance he tain Path, April 1965. replied cryptically: 'You attach too much 9 For an article on whom see, The Mountain Path, importance to the body," indicating that April 1965. Moral Freedom : Its Meaning And Scope

By Dr.T.M.P. Mahadevan

AM one of those who believe that it is from such a theory, in order to expound I not very wise for the philosopher or the doctrine that we believe to be intrin• the metaphysician to welcome any new sically true. I am reminded of Cassirer's discovery in the field of science and ex• words in this context. He, I believe, says: ploit it for the purpose of what he might "Ethics should not be forced to build its imagine as proving his conclusion. Mor• nests in the gaps of physical causation". al freedom cannot be proved to be sig• But at the same time if a certain theory nificant because some of the physicists in physics removes the obstacle in the today are inclined to believe that there is way, we would certainly welcome that no strict determinism in the sub-atomic step. So, it is more a negative view of world. If moral freedom was significant some of the scientific discoveries that we before this discovery of the theory, it must welcome rather than any positive cannot become more significant today. help. The significance of moral freedom must I am interested in understanding the be considered without too much reli• meaning of freedom, moral freedom. ance — I would underline the word "too Freedom certainly means absence of con• much" — on what may happen in the straint. This is the irreducible minimum exact sciences. For the logical difficulty of the significance of the term 'freedom'. would be this: While referring to the mukta, the liberat• Was the concept of moral freedom ed person, or the one who has realized non-significant before and has it become perfection, a text of the Upanisad says: significant now? If tomorrow — or even Even so that serene one when he rises at present — some physicists believe that up from this body and reaches the the principle of indeterminacy does not highest light appears in his own form. mean the absence of determination, are we prepared to say that moral freedom is not a worthwhile concept? But I would welcome the help that we may derive From The Call Divine, January 1971. 1997 MORAL FREEDOM: ITS MEANING AND SCOPE 111

Such a person is the Supreme Person. not put into it artificially. Virtues like There such a one moves about, laugh• truth and non-violence are natural to ing, playing, rejoicing with women, the jnani, to the mukta. That is the mean• chariots or relations, not remember• ing. ing the appendage of this body. As an But I am trying to draw another impli• animal is attached to a cart, so is life cation from this text on this occasion. attached to this body.1 The question is: What is freedom?, Wlw is Now, this is a crucial passage because free? One who is not under the sense of here the Upanisad says that the liberat• any constraint, one who has no limita• ed man may act in any way he likes, even tion, even the distinction that we make in ways which are considered to be not between good and evil, one who has gone only non-moral but immoral. He may beyond even good and evil, is perfectly court with women, enjoy riding in vehi• free. Now from our empirical standpoint, cles, and so on. He can laugh, he may so far as our worldly experience goes, sport, he may use chariots, he may keep whom do we call a free man? One who the company of the people who are not does not obey any rule, one who is errat• respectable. Now fishing out this pas• ic, and one whose conduct cannot be sage, critics of Vedanta say that Vedanta predicted and one who behaves as he does not lay stress on morality. If the feels, one who is not under any compul• perfect man does not obey moral rules, sion, one who is non-conformist — him it means that morality has not any signif• we call free. This is the sub-moral level. icance for Vedanta. That is the criticism In the sub-moral level we know of free that has been made especially by some people. We call them perfectly free in of the Orientalists of the West. Even this empirical sense. They do not Hume, the well known translator of the conform to any rule. They are not afraid Upanishads, makes this criticism in his of public opinion. They do not expect introduction. your approbation. They do not mind your condemnation. They are free, they Our reply is that these words should are sub-moral. Similarly, those who have be taken in a figurative sense. They gone beyond the moral realm are also should not be interpreted literally. The free. So, at the sub-moral level, there is meaning is that the realized one is above freedom with which we are acquainted law, above moral rules. It does not mean only too well, and the Upanisad makes that he can act in any immoral way. It use of this idea in order to indicate to us means that he does not act under the what perfect freedom is, what the nature pressure of any sense of 'ought'. Virtue is of the man who has gone beyond the becomes natural to him, that is what realm of claims and counterclaims. Sankara and others say. Virtue is not in his case some quality acquired through We are acquainted with pseudo-free• effort and preserved through conscious dom; but the real freedom is there when effort, but virtue is natural to him, even as fragrance is natural to a flower and is 1 Chandogya Upanishad. XII.3. 112 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December there is no other self at all; when there is realm. So long as there is a sense of no possibility of constraint, there you 'ought' there cannot be freedom in the have perfect freedom. But in between plenary sense of the term. At the lower the two extremes is the moral world. In level there is an 'is-ness' but there is no the moral world you have freedom and 'ought'-ness, and we say there is free• also constraint, determination and free• dom. At the higher level one has gone dom, because the moral world, I believe, beyond the sense of 'ought'. In between, is necessarily a world which is at conflict in this middle region of morality, we have with itself, and which endeavours by stag• necessarily to face a contradiction. We es to overcome the contradiction. The might say, we have to say, that there is moral world is a world of claims and determinism as well as freedom. In the counter-claims, and therefore so long as moral world there is necessarily 'ought'- we are bound to this world we have to say ness. But when the 'ought'ness becomes that there is this contradiction, and that 'is'-ness, we have perfect freedom. You it may be reconciled in the concept of do not pass moral judgement on infants, self-determination. What does self-deter• the insane and the disembodied spirits, mination mean? Self-determination because there is no real action there, implies the identity of the determining there is no governance by a rule or even self and the determined self. How can an attempt to be governed. That is why these be identical, unless you are speci• we say that the insane and the infants fying selfhood, one part of it determin• are exempted from the application of ing the other part, and how without this laws and rules. The muktas behave like division can you speak of self-determina• children, the insane and the disembod• tion? How can one and the same self be ied spirits. For them there is perfect both the subject of determination and freedom. But as long as we have not the object which is determined? So there reached that goal we have to struggle. is a contradiction, and that is why we The moral realm is a world of struggle, believe that perfect freedom is possible and in this struggle we have necessarily only when one goes beyond the moral to make compromises.

The happiness obtained on the cessation of desire is ever the same. Whatever may have been the varieties of desire that preceded it, the bliss had on the cessation of desire is the same. If a man is affected by some disease, you may ask him: cWhat is the disease you are suffering from?' When he has recovered from the disease and regained his normal health, nobody can ask him: ' What is the health you are now having?' The reason is, though diseases may be many and various, health is ever one and the same. — Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Swamigal. Sri Ramana, The Embodiment Of Humility

By Sri. C.V. Yogi

OME years ago an ascetic had come Sri Bhagavan used to leave the hall S to Tiruvannamalai. He used to give a daily at 9-45 A.M., after reading the pinch of ashes to those who went for his incoming post and again in the evening darshan. The story soon spread that the at 4-45 P.M., after going through the little pinch of ashes given by him was a replies given to these letters. In those panacea for all ills. days, his knee joints used to get very stiff, so he had to massage them with oil. With• Humanity with all its achievements, is out this lubrication, the joints refused to not yet free from the herd instinct. So work and he could not even get down large crowds soon flocked to the abode from the sofa. One day he forgot to of the ascetic, whom people called massage his knees. So when he tried to Vibhootiswami, the saint of the holy get down, he could not succeed. Seeing ashes. that my eyes were fixed on the stiff knee This Vibhootiswami had encamped at joint, he said, "This body requires oiling a distance of about two furlongs from Sri just like a machine. This joint did not Ramanasramam, that is, still further away work because it was not oiled". With these from the town, in a mantapam (a big hall words spoken with his usual charming supported by pillars and open on all the smile, he began to massage the joint with four sides), on Chengam Road. The peo• oil. Just then a group of visitors on their ple who went to Vibhootiswami, had return from Vibhootiswami, entered the necessarily to pass by Sri Ramanasramam. hall to pay their respects to Sri Bhagavan. Many persons would therefore visit the On seeing them Sri Ramana said to one ashram, while returning from Vibhooti- of us: "What are they thinking of this swami's camp, and pay their obeisance Swami (meaning himself)? Perhaps they to Sri Ramana. Consequently the num• say to themselves: 'How can this Swami ber of visitors to the ashram suddenly heal others when he cannot heal increased. Sri Bhagavan was duly in• himself?' " formed of the cause of these unusual crowds. From The Call Divine, January 1958. 114 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December

Sri Bhagavan made this remark with Bhagavan whose heart melted with pity reference to Vibhootiswami only casual• for all creatures, could not bear their ly, but the sharp-witted among the hear• painful wail. Tears trickled down his ers could grasp its hidden purport and cheeks. Gradually this hearty sympathy they felt elated at their master's grand affected the monkeys who were also humility. soothed. Then consoling the monkeys Sri Bhagavan said: "For everyone that is In 1908, Sri Ramana used to stay in born death is inevitable. He at whose Pachaiamman Temple. There were many hands this monkey died will certainly tamarind trees surrounding the temple. meet with death one day. So, you need The Municipality gave to the highest not grieve". bidder the monopoly to collect tama• rind from these trees every year. That The monkeys were fully pacified at year a Muslim had got the monopoly. these words and they went away carrying As these trees gave an unusually rich the corpse with them. yield, the contractor himself was guard• Now it so happened that in two or ing the trees from the monkeys, whom three days, the Muslim contractor was he drove away by throwing stones with a bed-ridden with some serious malady. sling. As he wanted only to scare them The story of the consolation given by Sri away, he took care to see that they were Bhagavan to the aggrieved monkeys not injured. But by some ill chance, a spread from mouth to mouth, till it stone from his sling hit a monkey on its reached the home of the Muslim con• head so hard that it died on the spot. tractor. The members of his family were Immediately a large number of monkeys convinced that his sudden illness was surrounded the dead monkey and began due to the saint's curse. They therefore to wail and lament the death of their went to Pachaiamman Temple and be• dear one. Then by way of a complaint, gan to plead for Sri Ramana' s pardon they took the dead monkey to Sri for the ailing contractor. They prayed to Bhagavan in the Pachaiamman Temple. Sri Bhagavan as follows, "It is certain that These monkeys considered Sri your curse has hit him. We beseech you Bhagavan as their friend and well-wisher to be gracious enough to save him from because he often satisfactorily settled death. Please deign to give us some their internal disputes and made happy vibhooti, so that we will apply it to his compromises between the rival groups body and he will surely recover." and thus re-established peace and har• With a benign smile Sri Ramana mony among them. So, in this hour of replied: "You are mistaken. I never curse grief, they resorted to him for consola• or bless anyone. I sent away the monkeys tion and redress, with the corpse as an that came here, by telling them the sim• irrefutable testimony. ple truth that death inevitably occurs to As soon as they came near Sri Ramana, all those who are born. Moreover I never they burst into bitter cries and tears. Sri give vibhooti to anyone. So please go home 1997 SRI RAMANA, THE EMBODIMENT OF HUMILITY 115

and nurse the patient whom you have beamed with joy. They then returned left all alone." home, after expressing their hearty grat• itude to the sage. But the Muslims were determined and they declared their resolve not to move And it so came to pass that after the without getting the vibhooti So, just to vibhooti was applied to the sick contrac• free himself from them, Sri Ramana gave tor, he began to recover and in a few them a pinch of vibhooti from the burn• days he rose from his bed. ing fire. On receiving it their faces What a world of difference between 116 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December the vibhooti given by the Vibhootiswami was over; an ashramite approached the and that given by Sri Ramana Swami? young man and requested him to go to And what sublime humility went with Sri the dining hall to have his tiffin. Ramana's vibhooti? "I won't", he replied assertively, "un• A frenzied visionary youth once saw a less Bhagavan himself asks me". dream, in which he was asked to follow the dictates of the following teaching of When Sri Bhagavan was informed of the Bhagavad Gita: this talk, he asked: "Is that so? Will he go if I tell him"? Leaving aside all dharmas, surrender to Me, as your sole refuge. How simple like a child's was Sri Bhagavan's question? The way in which In accordance with his own interpre• he spoke these words, shows how hum• tation of this dream, he gave up a lucra• ble he was, in spite of his greatness and tive job and cherished the fond delusion world-wide fame. And really the moment that within six months Lord Krishna Sri Bhagavan asked the youth to go, he would shower His Grace on him and obeyed him meekly and went to the perform some miracle. dining hall.

He fancied that he had totally surren• In the holy vicinity of Sri Bhagavan, dered himself to the Lord just because the young man regained his mental equi• he had given up a comfortable income poise in a short time. He returned home and invited unemployment with all its fully cured, resumed his old service and attendant ills. began to lead his life as a better house• The six months of eager expectation holder and a worthier citizen. soon passed away, but no miracle took Sri Bhagavan was never conscious of place! The shock of this disappointment his greatness. He was widely known in all had a very unhappy effect on his mind, the four corners of the world for the which was consequently deranged. Some reason that he was totally free from ego• well-wishing friend directed him to Sri ism. When he did some work of the Ramanasramam. So he went to the ashram ashram such as cutting of vegetables etc., and no sooner he entered the hall and he was totally unconventional. He regaled saw Sri Bhagavan, he bawled out, "Where and enlightened the devotees working is that Krishna, who has betrayed me? with him by talking as a friend to his Show me, I want to behead him". chums. Whenever any devotee happened Sri Bhagavan's reaction to this out• to meet Sri Bhagavan coming from the burst was his usual genial smile and opposite direction, he would stop and concentrated gaze full of love and stand aside by way of showing reverence compassion for the youth, who was then to him and allow him to pass. At this, Sri sitting at some distance from him. Bhagavan would remark: "Why stop and stand aside? You could as well go". Some time passed in this superb si• lence. By then the morning breakfast In this manner, in all big and small 1997 SRI RAMANA, THE EMBODIMENT OF HUMILITY 117 matters, Sri Bhagavan revealed through to him. I felt very much uneasy on his own conduct, his superb humility, account of my friend's request being childlike simplicity and innocence. turned down. In a voice that betrayed my anguish, I spoke out: "No, Bhagavan From 1945 to 1947, I was running the no. That won't do. It is our earnest prayer Aruna Press at Bangalore, in which all that you shall not sit here in the hot sun. the publications of Sri Ramanasramam We will resume our talk only after you go in various languages were being printed. into the hall and recline on the sofa During this period, some differences there". arose between myself and the ashram brother in charge of publications. The He only knew why he complied with tension went on increasing. Ultimately the request this time and got up. But we both of us decided to go to Sri Bhagavan felt that by rejecting our first request, he to get our differences resolved. brought home to us the impropriety of our insistence on the soft sofa, because The rest interval between 12-00 noon the hard stone couch and soft sofa were and 2-30 P.M. was chosen for going to really the same to him. And by acceding Sri Bhagavan, so that we could be alone to our second request, he gave us an with him. We went to the hall and waited elevating instance of his heart-felt love for his return. As he was coming up, he for his devotees and his inherent saw both of us waiting for him. So, with• humility. out getting into the hall, he took his seat on the big stone couch lying outside the Thus he got up, went to the hall and hall. Immediately my friend launched reclined on the sofa. Both of us then upon his case in a spirited manner. But placed before him our cases. He quietly soon the idea struck him that Sri listened to us and gave his verdict in his Bhagavan was sitting on the uncomfort• language of silence. He maintained com• able stone couch. So he stopped in the plete silence throughout, which was middle of his plea, and with hands folded combined with his charming smile. It in a prayerful mood, he requested Sri was the just and happiest verdict that he Bhagavan to go into the hall, be seated gave, because as we emerged out of the on the sofa and then listen to his case. hall, both of us had a spontaneous im• Sri Bhagavan dismissed his appeal with a pulse to embrace each other warmly. Our smile saying, "What is wrong with this hearts had changed, so we separated with seat? Were there any soft bed and sofa, the resolve to bury the past and treat when I was up there (pointing to the each other with love and friendship. The Hill)? There was then only the bare stone silken ties with which Sri Bhagavan bound as my seat as well as bed". us then, have never snapped till this day.

And he stuck on to the stone couch. In this manner, in trifling matters that happened for countless number of times It was clear that our unseemly haste at the ashram, one could see Sri and over-anxiety to plead our cases, was Bhagavan's childlike simplicity and responsible for causing this discomfort supreme humility. Ramana Maharshi and Seshadriswami

By B.V. Narasimha Swami

IRUVANNAMALAI, it was often said, Kancheepuram. He lived there with his Thad two eyes by which the town was father in the ancestral home. Reciting sanctified — Seshadriswami and Ramana the five hundred stanzas in Her praise Maharshi. The former left his body on known as Mukapanchasati, he used to go 14th January 1929; and the extent of his round Her shrine day and night. When popularity or influence was seen by the he was about seventeen he was initiated spontaneous concourse of crowds that into Sakti (or Bala) mantra, and carried came in their thousands to honour his on spiritual sadhana at dead of night remains. The living Maharshi is similarly alone in a cremation-ground adjoining a honoured especially on the occasion of river and in the shrine of his family deity festivals like the Kartikai. It will be ap• Periandavar. He appears to have had a propriate to note the points of contact vision of the Goddess Sakti and to have between the two and the few striking been deeply influenced thereby. He features of similarity or difference be• quickly lost all touch with domestic con• tween them in attitude and behaviour. cerns and study, and took to wandering and performing japa of various mantras Seshadriswami was an Ashtasahasram with deep concentration. He often spent Brahmin born in 1870 at Vazhur in the whole nights in meditation. He was how• Wandawasi Taluk of the North Arcot ever treated roughly by all about him; so District of Madras and brought up by his he left home and tried place after place. mother's uncle, the devout and learned His choice fell on Tiruvannamalai ulti• scholar and pouranika, Kamakoti Sastriar, mately to which he went in about 1890. from whom (mainly through his mother His relations went there to recall him Marakatammal) he derived his proficien• home, but in vain. He stuck on to cy in, and attachment to, vocal music Tiruvannamalai with hardly any break and puranic lore, especially the national for about thirty-nine years. At the outset epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata. He he roamed about apparendy without aim, had a very plastic and retentive memory. but aiming all the while at completing Even at the early age of fourteen he had his vairagya (detachment) and sufficient mastery over important works in Sanskrit literature, and could express his thoughts in Sanskrit with ease. He was always earnest, and had intense From Self Realisation, Pub: Sri Ramanasramam devotion to the Goddess Kamakshi of (1976). 1997 RAMANA MAHARSHI AND SESHADRISWAMI 119

mantrajapa. His tapas matured in about They had many points in common. ten years and developed in him psychic Both were Brahmin bachelors who with powers such as telepathy, clairvoyance perfect vairagya left home at the age of and prophecy. seventeen or nineteen (just the critical The virtuous alone are capable of last• period of maturity). Each had lost his ing friendship, says Epictetus. Those at• father in boyhood itself. Both were keen• tached to the world are drawn away from ly intelligent and had retentive memory. their friends and hate sometimes replac• Both were natives of places away from es love. Two unattached souls like Tiruvannamalai, but from an early age Ramana Maharshi and Seshadri Swami deeply devoted to Arunachala. Both were might well be expected to be good friends conservative till they left home; but soon for ever. The expectation is fully borne after their arrival at Tiruvannamalai both out by facts of their lives. gave up caste distinction in matters of 120 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December food, etc. In fact both were sustained or expressed. Keenly grateful by nature, mainly on non-Brahmin but vegetarian he tried to benefit his benefactors, those food. Both stuck to their new abode spon• who gave him food or shelter. One taneously. Subrahmanya Mudaliar of Tiruvarur, his mother, Alankarattammal, and wife, Seshadri was the earlier arrival. He Kamakshiammal, were spending their was highly learned. He could compose time, attention and wealth mostly on verses in Sanskrit and had a good com• feeding sadhus since 1908. For thirty years mand of the Vedas, Pancha Kavyas, gram• they offered food to Maharshi and those mar, prosody and jyotisha (astrology), and who were with him as well as to Seshadri was an excellent singer with a good knowl• whenever they could find him. True to edge of the theory of music. In all this his salt Seshadri tried to wean Mudaliar the younger Swami was his opposite. from his worldly activities and turn him Seshadri had been treated as slightly 'off inward and God-ward. So he went up the his mind', with perhaps some reason. In hill and asked Mudaliar, "You see, (my) fact from his eighteenth year, wherever younger brother is earning ten thousand he went, he was regarded by many as rupees, I am earning a thousand rupees; somewhat insane; and he often put on and why not you earn a hundred rupees that cloak when he wished to avoid at least?" Mudaliar understood that by crowds and be alone. Brahmana Swami 'earning' Seshadri meant spiritual attain• never showed signs of insanity, nor posed ment, and by 'younger brother' the as insane, but his deep silence served Maharshi; but he was deeply involved in equally well to keep off indiscriminate his agrarian litigation, hoping to acquire crowds. more land and money. So he answered, "I have no time, Swami; I have my litiga• Seshadri found that the new arrival, tion and troubles to attend to." Seshadri Brahmana Swami, was a soul of rare worth repeatedly pressed him and "rebuked who had transcended sense attraction, each dull delay", pointing out that the withdrawn his senses from external ob• science of the Self was very easy to com• jects, and was deeply absorbed in samadhi; prehend and that by neglecting it so Seshadri tried to extend what help he Mudaliar was incurring Brahma hatya, the could to the junior to save him from the mortal sin of slaying a Brahmana. stone-flinging and pot-hurling imps. He Mudaliar got frightened and went to met the junior again at Pavazhakunru Maharshi in whom he had more faith, and occasionally shared with him the and reported this remark. "Well said," food offered by the mutt at the foot of replied Maharshi, "You are indeed mur• the hill and by visitors. When the junior dering Brahman by not understanding moved to the hill Seshadri went up to that you are Brahman." see him and occasionally ate with him. He endeavoured to be unobtrusive in Seshadri generally prevented people most of his activities; and his purpose, if from approaching him. If, however, they any, was mostly undiscoverable. On some were devotees of 'Ramanaswami', as he occasions, however, his aims were patent called the Maharshi, he discovered it at 1997 RAMANA MAHARSHI AND SESHADRISWAMI 121 once and gave them the needed help, adept in mantra sastra, and by constant encouragement or instruction. repetition of mantras, with due Echammal, who daily fed Maharshi observance of the required conditions and his visitors fed Seshadri also when• had obtained a vision (darsan) of his ever he went to her house. Whenever Goddess Kamakshi, Sakti, or Bala. He the latter met her returning home in the had practised numerous other mantras evening he would inquire whether she also and from his quiver he could pull had offered food to Ramanaswami and out the particular mantra suitable to the escort her to her house. He was, as a particular person who approached him rule, indisposed to give advice on mat• for initiation. When he found that those ters spiritual; but, as in the case of the who approached him had already faith above Mudaliar he made an exception in Ramanaswami he would direct them in her case also. When she asked "What to stick to him to the last, and not infre• are the Mahavakyas (cardinal Vedantic quently on such occasions he would texts) and what is their import?" he lec• either identify himself with Ramanaswami tured at length without reference to any or point out that there was really no book on that subject and made the audi• difference in serving either of the two. ence wonder at the depth of his learning Lakshmiammal (of Tiruchuzhi) had and spiritual insight. Again, when she first visited Tiruvannamalai fifteen years was at her worship, he dropped in one previously, stayed with Echammal, and day and asked her what she was adoring. spent an entire week in serving Ramana "Only your portrait and Ramanaswami's" Maharshi. At the end of the week she was her reply. "Why do you not practise remarked to Echammal, "I have stayed a dhyana (meditation)?", he asked. Though week and not yet seen Seshadriswami." Echammal had already been taught med• The next day as she was going through itation by a Guru and could spend a day the temple on her way to Skandasramam or two in ecstatic trance with total loss of on the hill she found Seshadri (with consciousness, she wished to get further whom it was child's play to read the instruction from this eminent saint and thoughts of people, near or remote, and asked him how to practise dhyana. He sat to avoid, or appear before them, just as down at once bolt upright in the middle he thought fit) at the temple, bowed of her small apartment with legs folded before him, and thought within herself over each other and, keeping a level gaze, that she was not blessed enough to serve sank into samadhi immediately; and as him. In reply to her unuttered thought he rose up from it asked her, "Do you he remarked: "What does it matter wheth• see, Echammal?" He taught her many a er here (you serve me) or there (you truth, consoled her and fortified her serve Ramanaswami)?" Though he never mind when she lost her foster child, asked anybody for anything, he would Sellammal. drop in off and on at the north-east Seshadri always advised people to stick mantapam in the Arunachala temple to the particular path they had chosen where several disciples of the Maharshi for spiritual development. He was an lived and begged their food and, after 122 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December remarking: "I suppose there are no others asked him to "go back to Ramana"; and here (i,e. other than disciples of when Somasundaram still hesitated and Maharshi)", he would sit and take his waited, Seshadri said emphatically, "Go, food. At other places he would scatter go, go at once to Ramana. Do not delay." food; and if his host remarked, "Swami, So Somasundaram started off immedi• this is bhikshanna (begged food); so no ately and went back to Ramanaswami food should be thrown away," he would though it was midnight then. reply: "You see, I am not scattering any; A Sastri of Chidambaram, who was I am only offering some of it to beings often visiting Maharshi and serving at around me." the Asram, was one night at the temple. About 1914 he regularly visited the To assist his spiritual soaring he often Virupaksha cave for some weeks and resorted to the use of the stimulating shared the food with Maharshi. One day, drug ganja (cannabis indica). Unfortu• however, Kandaswami, the latter's atten• nately, on this occasion, the drug used dant, found fault with him for scattering had evidently not been purified. Poor food and remarked, "If you do this I will Sastri was therefore distressed to find not give you any more food." Seshadri that, instead of making him spiritual, who was very sensitive in such matters the drug had made him carnal, for car• never again went up the hill for food. nal thoughts now flooded his brain. Not About this Palaniswami once remarked, knowing what to do, he went and pros• "You see! Seshadri is not a wise man, not trated before Seshadri who at once saw a jnani. He scattered and wasted food how matters stood, and remarked: "I told and when we expostulated with him you to give up this drug habit, yet you about it, he stopped coming up here have taken it." Seshadri had never given again." Seshadri never cared for good or him that advice, but Maharshi had. So bad remarks. But when Palaniswami's Sastri discovered that Seshadri was iden• remark was mentioned to him, as it con• tifying himself with Maharshi. cerned his conduct towards Ramanasram, When a Public Works contractor he defended his action by observing that (A.V. Iyer) stood before Seshadri one should not eat all the food placed thinking of visiting Maharshi, Seshadri before one, being surrounded as one is encouraged him by saying uDarsan of by other (presumably hungry) creatures, Maharshi thoroughly cleanses the mind and quoted from mantras to show that of all impurity". elementals, spirits, Yakshas, Rakshasas, etc., abounded everywhere, usually unseen. A very interesting scene between these two spiritual giants (Maharshi and Somasundaraswami, a disciple of Seshadri) was witnessed in 1908 by Maharshi, left him once, and was waver• Vasudeva Sastri, a disciple of Maharshi. ing in his mind as to where to go. In Seshadri went up to the Mango-Tree-Cave such a plight he waited for Seshadri at where Maharshi was and sat up gazing at the temple. As soon as he came he looked him. A minute generally sufficed to at Somasundaram, read his thoughts, and enable him to read the thoughts and 1997 RAMANA MAHARSHI AND SESHADRISWAMI 123 nature of any individual. But, after long up with the impertinence, stayed awhile, gazing at Maharshi, he pointed to and departed remarking: "If, when you Maharshi and remarked, "It is not clear taste food you see who it is that tastes, what this person is thinking." then you have known Him (Brahman)." Maharshi however kept silent. Then Once a person named Narayanaswami Seshadri, expressing his own view, said: found Seshadriswami near a house ad• "If one worships Arunachala, He will joining the Temple looking at a buffalo. grant salvation." The Iyer asked the Swami, "What is Swa• mi looking at?" Seshadri answered: "I am Maharshi: "Who is the person who looking at this." Iyer then asked, "Is it worships and who the worshipped?" the buffalo Swami is looking at?" Then Seshadri breaking into a loud laugh Seshadri turned to Narayanaswami and said, "That is just what is not clear." asked him (pointing to the buffalo): "Say Then Maharshi expounded at length what this is." The latter replied, "It is a the Advaitic realisation of Unity — of buffalo." everything including God, the world and "Is it a buffalo, a buffalo? You Buffalo! the individual souls. Seshadri patiently call it Brahman" was Seshadri's remark and quietly listened and at the end got as he left the place. up and said: "I cannot say anything; all His advice to Natanananda, when he this is dark to me. I at any rate worship." tried to approach Maharshi, is given in a So saying he faced the crest of the hill later chapter. Arunachala, then prostrated himself ten or fifteen times and went down. He was The high regard Seshadriswami had then evidently keen on maintaining a for, and his occasional identification of personality distinct from God as the very himself with, Ramana Maharshi, explain foundation of his worship. a curious observation which he once made to a clerk, T. V. Iyer, who was deep• But it would not be correct to suppose ly attached to him and in whom he took that Seshadriswami never cared for much interest. Iyer regarded Maharshi Advaitic realisation. He had on the oth• also as a Guru. Once when Iyer was alone er hand expressed that state pithily sev• with Seshadri the latter, evidently to de• eral times (after 1908) to Ramana's dev• velop further Iyer's faith in his Guru otees. Once Echammal was getting (gurubhakti) which is absolutely essential Bhagavad Gita interpreted to her by a for spiritual progress asked him: "Do learned pandit at her house. Seshadri you know there are three lingas (embod• dropped in then once. The pandit, iments or visible representations) of God puffed up with the pride of learning, here (i.e., at Tiruvannamalai)?" pointed to him and remarked concern• ing the difference between book knowl• Iyer: I do not know three. One Linga edge and realisation of the Self, jnana: is the Hill, I know only that. "See this man : not even after seven more Seshadri: No, no; you know all the births can he attain jnana" Seshadri put three. 124 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December Iyer: No, Swami, pray tell me what the fectionate relations between the two other two are. Swamis may be illustrated by reference to a dream. Students of psycho-analysis Seshadri: But you know them. know that one's inmost thoughts are Iyer: No, Swami. often brought to the surface in dreams. Seshadri: One linga they call Maharshi related in March 1930 to his Ramanaswami. disciples that he had, a few days previ• ously, met Seshadriswami in a dream. Iyer: Yes, Swami; now I know the sec• Seshadri (of the dream) was having a ond. Pray which is the third? shave. Maharshi, went up and patted him Seshadri: You know it too. on the back, saying "Hello". Seshadri looked up and, finding that it was Iyer: No, Swami; I do not. Maharshi, got up and held him fast in Seshadri: The third linga they call embrace for many minutes. Seshadri. When Seshadri attained Mahasamadhi Iyer: That is you, Swami: is it not? and his body was about to be buried, Maharshi stood nearby for an hour wit• Seshadri: You know it. nessing the formalities of traditional in• Iyer: I did not. terment, amidst a crowd of thousands of people and added to the impressiveness Seshadri: Yes, it is I. and sanctity of the proceedings by his Before closing this narrative, the af• hallowed presence.

GOD IS HERE

As long as a man feels that God is 'there', he is ignorant. But he attains knowledge when he feels that God is 'here'. A man wanted a smoke. He went to a neighbour's house to light his charcoal. It was the dead of night and the household was asleep. After he had knocked a great deal, someone came down to open the door. At the sight of the man he asked, 'Hello! what is the matter'? The man replied: Can't you guess? You know how fond I am of smoking. I have come to light my charcoal'. The neighbour said: 'Ha! Ha! You are a fine man indeed! You took the trouble to come and do all this knocking at the door! Why, you have a lighted lantern in your hand'! What a man seeks is very near him. Still he wanders about from place to place. — The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. Emancipation By Paul Deussen (Continued from the last issue) The Glory of Self-knowledge

ROM the numerous passages in the later Upanishads, which in a way similar to the F speeches of Yajnavalkhya hitherto discussed celebrate the knowledge of the atman as emancipation, a few may here be set down.

Yet he who has in thought conceived himself as the Self, How can he still wish to bind himself to the ills of the body? Him who in the profound defilement of the body Has awakened to a knowledge of the Self, Him know as almighty, as the worlds' creator! The universe is his, for he himself is the universe.

The man who has beheld God As his own self face to face; The Lord of that which was and is to be, He feels no fear nor hides himself in dread.

At whose feet rolling on by days and years time advances, Whom the gods adore as light of lights, as immortality, On whom depends the fivefold host of living beings, together with space, Him know I as my soul, immortal the immortal. 1

The seer sees not death, Nor sickness nor fatigue; The All alone the Seer sees, The All he everywhere pervades. 2

He before whom words recoil And thought, failing to find him, Who knows this bliss of Brahman, He no longer fears aught. 3

1 Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. 4. 4. 12-13, 15-17. 2 Chandogya Upanishad. 7. 26. 2. * Taittiriya Upanishad. 2. 9. THE MOUNTAIN PATH December Only he who knows it not knows it, He who knows it knows it not. Unknown by the wise, Known by the ignorant.

In whom it wakes to life, He knows it and finds immortality; Because he is it, manhood is his, Because he knows it, immortality. 4

The one Lord and inner Self of all living beings, He his one form expands in many ways. He who, the wise, sees himself dwelling in himself He alone, and no other, is eternally blessed.

Not by speech, not by thought, Not by sight do we apprehend him; "He is!" By this word is he apprehended, And not in any other way.

"He is!" thus may he be apprehended, So far as he is the reality of both; "He is!" who has thus apprehended him, To him his essential nature becomes manifest.

When all the suffering vanishes, Which finds a home in the human heart, Then he who is mortal becomes immortal, Here already he attains to Brahman.

When all fetters burst asunder That are woven around the human heart, Then he who is mortal becomes immortal, Thus far the doctrine extends. 5

Yet he who here recognises again All living beings in himself, And himself in everything that lives, He no longer is vexed by any.

4 Kena Upanishad. 11-12. 5 Katha Upanishad. 5. 12, 6. 12-15. 1997 EMANCIPATION Here where the knowing Self Becomes all living beings:- How could error be, how pain, For him who thus beholds the unity? 6

The darkness vanishes, there is no longer day nor night; Neither being nor not-being,—blessed alone is he; He is the syllable Om, Savitar's beloved light, From him knowledge flowed forth in the beginning. 7

He who, his spirit purified by contemplation, Plunges into the atman, — what measureless blessedness he feels That for the expression of which words are of no avail Must be experienced within in the inmost heart. 8

He who still craves for his desires and clings to them, Will through his desires be born here and there; He whose desires are laid to rest, whose Self is prepared, From him all desires vanish here below.

He who beholds that Loftiest and Deepest, For him the fetters of the heart break asunder, For him all doubts are solved, And his works become nothingness.

Like streams flow and disappear in the ocean, Abandoning name and form, So the wise, freed from name and form, Enter into that supreme divine spirit. 9

In the world's false show that has known no beginning, The soul slumbers; when it awakes, Then there wakes in it the Eternal, Beyond time and sleep and dreams. 10

6 Is a Upanishad. 6-7. 7 Svetasvatara Upanishad. 4. 18. 8 Maitreyi Upanishad. 6. 34. 9 Mundaka Upanishad. 3. 2 2, 2. 2. 8, 3. 2,.8. 10 Mandukya Karika 1. 16. 128 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December (The emancipated soul speaks) That which as enjoyment, enjoyment's object, And enjoyer knows the three states, Distinct therefrom, O spectator, Pure spirit I am ever blessed.

In me the universe had its origin. In me alone does the All subsist, In me it vanishes, this Brahman, The timeless, it is I myself.

The smallest of the small I am, and none the less am I great, I am the modey rich universe, I am the Ancient, the spirit, the lord, Altogether of gold I am, the blessed Manifestation.

Without hands or feet am I, yet infinitely powerful, I see without eyes, hear without ears; I am the wise, and beside me None other is wise in endless years.

In all the Vedas I am to be known, I am the fulfiller of the Vedas, learned in the Vedas, Free from good and evil, imperishable, Unbegotten am I, without body or sensation; For me there is neither earth nor water, Nor fire, nor yet wind or ether. 11

The Characteristics of the Wise Man On the basis of these and other passages we propose finally to attempt here to give a brief characterisation of those who have gained release. The knowledge of that atman does not effect emancipation, but it is emancipation; for he who possesses it has found the existence of the universe as well as his own bodily and individual existence to be an illusion (maya). Everything else follows from this: (1) The wise man is akamayamana. Every wish, craving, desire, all hope and fear have for him been destroyed; for all this presupposes an object to

11 Kaivalya Upanishad. 18-23. 1997 EMANCIPATION 129 which it is related. Such an object however no longer exists for the wise man. "In truth, after that they have become conscious of this soul, Brahmans ab• stain from desire for children and possessions and the world, and wander about as beggars. For desire for children is desire for possessions, and desire for possessions is desire for the world; for all together are vain desire."12 "This is the men of old time knew, when they ceased to long for descendants and said, 'What need have we of descendants, we whose soul this universe is.'"13 Gaudapada sums this up briefly and strikingly in the words: — "What can he desire who has all?"14 The wise man therefore no longer experiences fear. "He who knows this bliss of Brahman is not afraid either now or at any time";15 he is no longer vexed by anything";16 "for wherefore should he fear? since fear assuredly is of a second."17

(2) The knowledge of the atman transcends individuality, and therefore the possibility of pain. "He who knows the atman overcomes sorrow."18 "He who is in the body is possessed by desire and pain, for because he is in the body no safeguard is possible against desire and pain. He however who is free from the body is not affected by desire and pain."10 "He therefore who has crossed this bridge is like a blind man who gains his sight, like a wounded man who is healed, like a sick man who becomes whole."20

(3) "And his works become nothingness."21 All works, the good as well as the evil, become of no effect for him who. has attained knowledge, as is often affirmed. For the individuality which gave rise to them is for the wise only a part of that great universal illusion which he has succeeded in pene• trating. (4) For the same reason future works no longer cling to him, as the water does not cling to the leaf of the lotus flower.22 For him to do evil is entirely excluded by his freedom from all desire. "Therefore he who knows this is tranquil, subdued, resigned, patient and self-controlled. He sees the Self only in himself, he regards everything as the Self. Evil does not overcome

12 Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. 3. 5. 13 Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. 4. 4. 22 14 Mandukya Karika 1. 9. 15 Taittiriya Upanishad. 2. 4. 16 Katha Upanishad. 4. 5, 12. 17 Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. 1. 4. 2. 18 Chandogya Upanishad. 7. 1. 3. 19 Chandogya Upanishad. 8. 12. 1. 20 Chandogya Upanishad. 8. 4. 2. 21 Mundaka Upanishad. 2. 2. 8. 22 Chandogya Upanishad. 4. 14. 3. 130 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December him, he overcomes all evil . . . free from evil, free from suffering, and free from doubt, he becomes a Brahman, he whose universe Brahman is."23 "Whereby does this Brahman live? By living as chance may determine."24 His future condition, as far as the bodily state is concerned, which he has cast off like the skin of a snake, is entirely without importance:

No matter whether a man wish for himself A hundred years, pursuing his work; Remain then, as thus thou art, not otherwise, The stain of work clings not to thee. 25

•

(5) "He who has reached this state in truth feels no doubt";26 "for him all doubts are solved";27 "free from doubt he becomes a Brahman."28 Because the knowledge of the atman does not depend on reflection (tarka)P but on immediate intuition (anubhava), therefore he can no longer be shaken by any doubt. The illusion, when once it has been penetrated, can no longer delude. The question of the possibility of a relapse is not and cannot.be raised.

23 Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. 4. 4. 23. 24 Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. 3. 5. 25 Isa Upanishad. 2. 26 Chandogya Upanishad. 3. 14. 4. 27 Mundaka Upanishad. 2. 2. 6. 28 Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. 4. 4. 23. 29 Katha Upanishad. 2. 9.

SRI BHAGAVAN ON RENUNCIATION

Sannyasa or renunciation is not the discarding of external things but of the ego. To such renouncers (sannyasins) there exists no difference between solitude and active life. The Rishi Vasishta says: 'Just as a man. whose mind is preoccupied, is not aware of what is in front of him, so also the Sage, though engaged in work, is not the doer thereof, because his mind is immersed in the Self without the uprising of the ego. Just as a man lying on his bed dreams that he is falling headlong over a precipice, so also the ignorant person whose ego is still present, though engaged in deep meditation in solitude, does not cease to be the doer of all action.* — Self Enquiry. Saintly Humour

I.S. Madugula

OT all saints are known for their Nsense of humour. Some tend to be aloof or inaccessible. Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi never claimed any ex- clusiveness. He lived among ordinary folks the most part of his life as an ordi• nary human being, effecting extraordi• nary changes in the lives of those that came in contact with him. And he did it all in the most charming manner imag• inable. He democratized spirituality, so to speak, and demystified life, using his unexceptionable argument of the Self. One of the tools that Sri Bhagavan used to convey his message was humour, perhaps because that would put his au• dience at ease and bond him to them — as if his unbounded affection for them wasn't enough Furthermore, a sense of humour seems to have been a natural part of his being, no matter how serious the matter on hand. Thus, he could remark about Perhaps even a better instance of his the great merit the ox must have earned inherently playful nature (that is, playful when a devotee announced her just-con• for a sage) can be seen in the incident cluded giri pradakshina in a cart. Or, when when he pretended to stumble as if under a grieving mother in her folly asserted the influence of hashish when the effects that he could revive her dead son, he of that drug were being discussed by would lighten the heavy atmosphere by some people around him. He even ad• declaring his inability to do so and add• mitted the possibility of drug-induced ing that, if he were indeed capable of ananda, foreseeing and providing justifi• the miracle, there would be no end of cation as it were, for the antics of hippies corpses on the ashram grounds. who were to come two decades later! At 132 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December

the same time, while appearing to play• him and had a copy of Akshara- act, he managed to electrify a devotee manamalai (The Marital Garland of with his touch, whom he leaned against Letters) put into his hands. Glancing for apparent support.1 through it, the Pandit was pleased Sri Bhagavan's strategy in responding with its deep devotion and sound to the seekers' questions appears to have philosophy, but felt the need for help been three-fold, depending on the con• in understanding the full import of text and the attitude of the questioner. some passages. Mustering courage, he He would either answer the question stood up, read out a verse and asked pointedly; or turn the question around Bhagavan to explain it. and put the questioner on the defensive, "Look at this", Bhagavan protested. "I so that he or she would more fully un• ran away from school and home to derstand the implications of his or her escape such questions. And here he is question; or give the question an unex• after me, asking the same old ques• pected humorous twist, which would tion, 'what does this passage mean'?" drive home his point with greater effect. It is this third category of answers that Everyone enjoyed the affection be• concerns us here. hind this mock complaint. Like the elders who learnt from Lord Within this third category, one may Swaminatha and Dakshinamurti, the find three sub-types of humour: linguis• school master whose questions were tic, general, and self-directed. An exam• once intended to test the pupil's ple of a self-directed joke would be the knowledge had now turned a disciple one about his Old Tamil teacher who whose questions were aimed at remov• wanted to have some of his philosophi• ing his own ignorance.2 cal doubts clarified by Sri Bhagavan. The latter would bring out the irony of the Another example might be about his situation by commenting that he couldn't lifelong 'sentence' of having to wear only seem to get away from the teacher's in• a kaupina, as a penalty for having refused terrogation, even though he quit school to wear one as a shy youngster when and fled to the hills out of town. asked to do so by an elderly neighbour lady to help with the cooking on an aus• This episode may be recounted: picious occasion, as was the custom. When Bhagavan was living on the hill• If I refused to wear kaupina once, I side, his old Tamil teacher came all am now made to pay the penalty by the way from Madurai to Tiru• wearing it always.3 vannamalai to see for himself the change in his former pupil and pay his respects to the now famous 1 Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, p. 179 (1994 Maharshi. Edn.). 2 The Mountain Path, June 1996.

He sat unobtrusively among the visi• 3 Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, p.387(1994 tors, but soon Bhagavan recognized Edn.). 1997 SAINTLY HUMOUR 133

For a self-taught Sanskritist, Sri Yet another language-based explana• Bhagavan exhibited remarkable scholar• tion that he proffers in answer to a ship in that language, in that he could question is: come up with original antitheses among Visitor: There are several asanas men• philosophical and technical terms. While tioned. Which of them is the best? discussing the concept of yoga, he ob• serves: Bhagavan: Nididhyasana (one-pointed- ness of the mind) is the best.9 Therefore the Path of Knowledge tries to find out how viyoga (separa• Shankara missed the opportunity for tion) came about.4 rhyme when he said that any posture that does not conduce to the realization Yoga (union) is for one in viyoga.5 of Brahman was just self-torture (netarat Again, his interpretation of sukhanasanam). Sri Bhagavan seems to brahmacharya is a radical departure from go one better and provide us with a rhym• the traditional one, and is based on the ing correlative, with the same import. literal meaning of the word: A large number of impromptu com• ments by Sri Bhagavan seem to fall in Brahmacharya is 'living in Brahman.' the category of general humour, of It has nothing to do with celibacy as course not directed at anyone, but high• commonly understood. A real ly appropriate to the context. He would Brahmachari, that is one who lives in often wonder in a bemused manner how Brahman, finds bliss in the Brahman anyone could miss the Self that is so which is the same as the Self. Why near him and so constantly residing in then should you look for other sourc• him: es for happiness?6 What could be more concrete than A real funny one is his contrast of the Self?10 guru with laghu, again based on the denotational meaning of the terms rath• There is no greater mystery than this er than any philosophical import: — viz. Ourselves being the reality, we seek to gain reality.11 Guru is necessary so long as there is the laghu. (Pun on Guru = heavy; In fact, this wonderment on his part could best Yudhisthira's answer to the laghu = light).7

Then he goes on to give the philo• 4 Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, p. 11 (1994 sophical implications of the contrast. Edn.). 5 Ibid., p.140. In an equally funny vein, he stresses 6 Ibid., p. 140. the need for Self-enquiry by pointing 7 Ibid., p.12. out what happens if it ceases: 8 Ibid., p.80. 9 Ibid., p.519. If atma vichara (self-investigation) 10 Ibid., p.83. ceases, loka vichara takes its place.8 11 Ibid., p.130. 134 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December yaksha, which implies that people are ed to know about what might happen at stupid not to beware the end and live a certain future stage before achieving their lives accordingly. Sri Bhagavan deals that stage, or how to reform the world with people missing out on the Self that before reforming themselves first. The lights every inch of their way every minute questions included post-mortem and post- of their lives. enlightenment states, among others, to which Sri Bhagavan would respond by When the question of how to deal asking the questioner to find out what with persistent desires and emotions was the present state was before beginning brought up by a visitor who felt that "one to speculate on the future. must become satiate with the fulfillment of desires before they are renounced.," Sometimes even his sympathy would Sri Bhagavan pointed out the folly of the turn into a light-hearted remark, as when suggestion: he told an American visitor (who was a little hard of hearing) that he didn't need Fire might as well be put out by pour• to worry about his hearing problem: ing spirit over the flames.12 There is no cause for worry. Subjuga• It is quite possible that the pun on tion of senses is a necessary prelimi• spirit was intended, because it is only by nary for Self-Realisation. One sense is seeking refuge in the inner spirit that subdued for you by God Himself. So desire can be subdued, not by indulging much the better!14 it. And at other times, he just couldn't One is not quite sure how effective resist the urge for repartee. When sever• aversion therapy is when we are dealing al people including the American Dr. with age-old samskaras. Sri Bhagavan in• Henry Hand extensively discussed vari• structed Mr. Shamanna as follows: ous philosophical topics, Dr. Hand want• ed to offer an apology of sorts for their Either surrender because you admit being such pests: your inability and also require a High• Hand: Maharshi! Do not think we are er Power to help you, or investigate bad boys. into the cause of misery, go into the cause of misery, go into the source Bhagavan: Do not tell me so. But you and merge into the Self. need not think you are bad boys.15

He queried: "What is the drift of the Similar quick wit can be found in the mind after surrender?" eliciting Sri following exchange between Ramana- Bhagavan's jocular counter question:

Is the surrendered mind raising this 12 Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, p.476 (1994 question?13 Edn.). 13 Ibid., p.334. This was how Sri Bhagavan benignly 14 Ibid., p. 132. corrected a number of visitors who want• 15 Ibid., p.142. 1997 SAINTLY HUMOUR 135 padananda and Sri Bhagavan when they by Siva's motley entourage disguised as meet on the way to the hill: fake bandits, he called everyone's atten• tion to what happened to Siva Himself: Padananda: All right, I have had darsan. . . I shall return. Siva Himself was waylaid in Tiruvudal Utsava and He practiced the same Bhagavan: Whose darsan} Why don't trick on his devotees. Can it be so?18 you say that you gave darsan to me?16 The above illustrations of Bhagavan Sri Bhagavan was never stuffy as a sage. Sri Ramana Maharshi's very fine sense of He could be downright this-worldly, as humour are just from one book. There evidenced by the following discussion would be many more in the rest of the with Mr. Anantachari. The latter claimed Ramana literature recorded by those who that it was easy for people in general to had the good fortune of visiting and naturally understand the statement "I am spending time with him when he was a man," rather than the spiritual asser• bodily present in the ashram. tion "I am That," and added that, if the audience at hand was polled, he would Humour is a tricky area of the human get the majority vote. Sri Bhagavan psyche and even the best professional promptly joined in: comics have a hard time playing it safe without offending their audiences. In the I cast my vote also on your side. . . I case of Sri Bhagavan, it must be noted say also "I am a man," but I am not that he never ever hurt anyone's feelings limited to the body. It is in ME. That by his wit, even as he enlightened them is the difference.17 with his wisdom. This hasya vichara of Sri Bhagavan may be concluded with one last observation that he did not spare even the gods when 16 Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, p.326 (1994 a humourous context presented itself. Edn.). As he was reading the story of how the 17 Ibid., p.556. saint Tirujnanasambandhar was waylaid 18 Ibid., p.153.

When a nail pierces through the shell of a green cocoanut, it enters the kernel of the nut too. But in the dry nut, the kernel is separated from the shell, and so when the shell is pierced, the kernel is not touched. Jesus was like the dry nut, his inner soul was separate from his exterior shell, and consequendy the sufferings of the body did not affect him. — Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna. A Scene from Shakespeare's Measure for Measure

(Act III, Scene I)

Claudio, a young citizen is in prison for having committed an act of youthful indiscretion. Lord Angelo, officiating Duke of Vienna, who has passed the death sentence on Claudio appears before him in the guise of a friar and counsels him to face death with courage. The gist of his speech is that death is not something to be scared about — it should be as welcome as life.

(Enter the Duke, disguised as a friar, Claudio and the Provost)

DUKE : So then you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo?

CLAUDIO : The miserable have no other medicine But only hope. I've hope to live, and am prepared to die.

DUKE : Be absolute for death. Either death or life Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life. If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing That none but fools would keep. A breath thou art, Servile to all the skyey influences That dost this habitation where thou keep'st Hourly afflict. Merely thou art death's fool, For him thou labour'st by thy flight to shun, And yet runn'st toward him still. Thou art not noble, 1997 A SCENE FROM SHAKESPEARE'S MEASURE FOR MEASURE 137

For all th' accommodation that thou bear'st Are nursed by baseness. Thou'rt by no means radiant, For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork Of a poor worm. Thy best of rest is sleep, And that thou oft provok'st, yet grossly fear'st Thy death which is no more. Thou art not thyself, For thou exist'st on many a thousand grains That issue out of dust. Happy thou art not, For what thou hast not, still thou striv'st to get, And what thou hast, forget'st. Thou art not certain, For thy complexion shifts to strange effects After the moon. If thou art rich, thou'rt poor, For like an ass whose back with ingots bows, Thou bear'st thy heavy riches but a journey, And death unloads thee. Friend hast thou none, For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire, The mere effusion of thy proper loins, THE MOUNTAIN PATH December

Do curse the gout, 1 serpigo, 2 and the rheum,3 For ending thee no sooner. Thou hast nor youth nor age, But as it were an after dinner's sleep Dreaming on both; for all thy blessed youth Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms Of palsied eld; 4 and when thou art old and rich, Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty, To make thy riches pleasant. What's in this That bears the name of life? Yet in this life Lie hid more thousand deaths; yet death we fear That makes these odds all even.

CLAUDIO: I humbly thank you. To sue to live, I find I seek to die, And seeking death, find life. Let it come on.

1 drop. 2 a skin disease. 3 mucus from nose or throat. 4 old age.

Tomorrow

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Tis late at night, and in the realm of sleep My little lambs are folded like the flocks; From room to room I hear the wakeful clocks Challenge the passing hour, like guards that keep Their solitary watch on tower and steep; Far off I hear the crowing of the cocks, And through the opening door that time unlocks Feel the fresh breathing of Tomorrow creep, Tomorrow ! the mysterious, unknown guest, Who cries to me : "Remember Barmecide, And tremble to be happy with the rest." And I make the answer : "I am satisfied; I dare not ask; I know not what is best; God hath already said what shall betide." The Spiritual Message of Robert Browning's Abt Vogler

By N.R.S. Manian

OBERT BROWNING, like many other poets, gives expression to his religious Rbeliefs through his poetry. Poems like Prospice, for instance, bring out his belief in 'personal' immortality. Abt Vogler embodies his convictions which are based on Christian doctrine and Platonic idealism. Abt Vogler, the subject of the poem, is not a fictitious character. Georg Joseph Vogler, also known as Abbe or Abt Vogler, was a contemporary of Browning. He was a reputed musician who specialised in improvising music. He was a teacher of music and the author of a book on music as well. We are not sure whether the thoughts are Vogler's. There are reasons, however, for presuming that they are Browning's own. After extemporizing a piece of music on an instrument of his invention (a kind of small organ known as the orchestrion) in an empty church, Abt Vogler is in a state of emotional elevation. This state of exhilaration is so precious that the musician wishes "Would it might tarry". In the following lines he compares the music of his creation to the palace brought into being by Solomon. (The reference is to the story in the Talmud accord• ing to which King Solomon possessed a seal inscribed with the 'ineffable name' of God. With the aid of this seal he was enabled to command supernatural creatures to perform at his bidding): Would that the structure brave, the manifold music I build Bidding my organ ohey, calling its keys to the work, Claiming each slave of the sound, at a touch, as when Solomon willed Armies of angels that soar, legions of demons that lurk, Man, brute, reptile, fly,—alien of end and of aim, Adverse, each from the other heaven-high, hell-de removed,— Should rush into sight at once as he named the ineffable Name, And pile him a palace straight, to pleasure the princess he loved! 140 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December Would it might tarry like his, the beautiful building of mine, This which my keys in a crowd pressed and importuned to raise!

The structure of his music is so lofty in conception. It is comparable to the streams of light which rise high and illuminate the high dome of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. (The reference is to the decorative lighting of St. Peter's Cathedral on festival nights. Browning had actually seen such lighting):

For higher still and higher (as a runner tips with fire, When a great illumination surprises a festal night— Oudining round and round Rome's dome from space to spire) Up, the pinnacled glory reached, and the pride of my soul was in sight.

In order to bring out the superiority of music over other arts like painting and poetry he lays stress on the limitations of the latter. Poetry and painting are subject to laws. You can see the why and wherefore of it all. You can watch them grow — the touches of the artist or the shaping of the poem line by line are so visible.

Music is independent of such earthly limitations. It is pure inspiration and created by a flash of God's Will. The creative art of a musician who combines three notes into a new harmonic unit is as profound and miraculous as the creation of a star:

But here is the finger of God, a flash of the will that can Existent behind all laws, that made them and, lo, they are! And I know not if, save in this, such gift be allowed to man, That out of three sounds he frame, not a fourth sound, but a star. The musician was so lost in his music that he could not recollect the tones that called up or built it. Unlike the palace of Solomon which endured, his own palace of music built up by his inspiration vanished into thin air! He has only a memory of the thing — but not its details (which would help recreate it).

Well, it is gone at last, the palace of music-1 reared; Gone! And the good tears start, the praises that come too slow; For one is assured at first, one scarce can say that he feared, That he even gave it a thought, the gone thing was to go. Never to be again! But then, Abt Vogler is certain that nothing good can be lost. God preserves all the good that man builds up. Pure music is divine and eternal. Therefore, if not on earth, it will be preserved in heaven! 1997 THE SPIRITUAL MESSAGE OF ROBERT BROWNING'S ABT VOGLER 141

... I cling with my mind To the same, same-self, same love, same God: aye, what was, shall be.

Therefore to whom turn I but thee, the ineffable Name? * Builder and maker, thou, of houses not made with hands! What, have fear of change from thee who art ever the same? Doubt that thy power can fill the heart that thy power expands? There shall never be one lost good! What was, shall live as before; The evil is null, is nought, is silence implying sound; What was good shall be good, with, for evil, so much good more; On the earth the broken arcs; in the heaven, a perfect round. All we have willed or hoped or dreamed of good shall exist; Not its semblance, but itself; no beauty, nor good, nor power Whose voice has gone forth, but each survives for the melodist When eternity affirms the conception of an hour. The high that proved too high, the heroic for earth too hard, The passion that left the ground to lose itself in the sky, Are music sent up to God by the lover and the bard; Enough that he heard it once: we shall hear it by-and-by. The last stanza presents a basic philosophy of life. It is an observation on the vicissitudes that one faces (in life), employing the symbolism of music. He discovers that the C Major scale (middle octave) which contains nothing but natural tones (that is, without variations of sharped1 or flatted2 tones) is comparable to the common level and activities of life. One may rise to the heights of celestial joy (High C) from the abyss of misery, but not before passing through the common duties of ordinary life (common chord): Give me the keys. I feel the common chord again, Sliding by semitones, till I sink to the minor,—yes, And I blunt it into a ninth, and I stand on alien ground, Surveying a while the heights I rolled from into the deep; Which, hark, I have dared and done, for my resting-place is found, The C Major of this life; so, now I will try to sleep.

The poem is a unique exposition of the divinity of music and its effect on the human soul. It is also a powerful reminder about the saving power of God and His love for man.

1 When the pitch of a note is raised by the interval of a semi-tone or half-step, it is known as 'sharp'. This is symbolic of ascent to a joyful mood.

2 When the pitch of a note is lowered by the interval of a semi-tone or half-step, it is known as 'flat'. This may be said to correspond to depression.

Mahatma Gandhi : A Man of God

By Dr. Susunaga Weeraperuma

HE teachings of Mahatma Gandhi that they had only a bare minimum of T have profoundly influenced the out• possessions; they loved to make widely look on life of a very large number of known the view that the world has people across the world. The great ma• enough for everyone's need but not for jority of such people of course never saw everyone's greed; in the manner of the great man in the flesh. Some had the Gandhi, they looked askance at machines good fortune, however, of listening to and preferred to wash their clothes with his talks on All India Radio and enjoyed their own God-given hands; they frowned reading his stimulating writings on many on sexual misconduct and maintained subjects. Lucky are those who have come that the solution to the problem of over• across a copy of his Key to Health.1 Admir• population was sexual abstinence; they ers of Gandhi could never forget a broad• fasted from time to time with the inten• cast made by Prime Minister Jawaharlal tion of atoning for the wrongdoings of Nehru soon after Gandhi was assassinat• the world; they helped the poor and the ed by a Hindu fanatic in 1948. Choking underprivileged; as they believed in the back his sobs, Nehru requested that on brotherhood of all human beings they the day of his cremation the nation were naturally opposed to all forms of should pay homage to the great soul by discrimination; they were pacifists who making it a day of fasting and prayer. regarded with disapproval the armaments "The light has gone out of our lives", he industries; they were uncompromisingly said, "and there is darkness everywhere."2 loyal to the principle of non-violence; Thousands attended his funeral on the they viewed all religions as different ex• banks of the sacred Jumna river. pressions of the Divine Wisdom; above all, they regularly prayed to the Divine Ardent followers of Gandhi (most of who is the invisible creator, sustainer and whom had not only been closely associ• ruler of the universe. ated with Gandhi but had even stayed in his ashram) were easily noticeable as they

wore only white clothes made from 1 Key to Health. Pub: Navajivan Publishing House, khaddar, the hand-spun and hand-wo• Ahmedabad, (1948). ven Indian cloth. Their slightly comical After reading this book the writer of this arti• white caps were somewhat similar to cle decided to become a vegetarian and to follow naturopathic principles in times of ill• those worn by hotel chefs. These ness. Gandhians were vegetarians and animal 2 Independence and After, p. 17. Ministry of Infor• lovers; their simplicity of life was such mation and Broadcasting, Delhi (1949). 144 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December Born in 1869 when India was part of ing about private compromises of hun• the mighty and extensive British Empire, dreds of cases. I lost nothing thereby — Gandhi spent his childhood at not even money, certainly not my soul."5 Porbandar. At school he was a less than Soon Gandhi became a successful lawyer average student. "It was with some diffi• with a substantial income but he was not culty," he wrote, "that I got through the interested in the accumulation of riches. multiplication tables. The fact that I rec• He identified himself with the Indians ollect nothing more of those days than in South Africa who had long been sub• having learnt, in company with other jected to political and social repression. boys, to call our teacher all kinds of He became their principal political names, would strongly suggest that my agitator. intellect must have been sluggish, and Gandhi developed his doctrine of my memory raw."3 He used to be haunt• passive resistance which stood him in ed by the fear of thieves, ghosts and ser• good stead when confronting the Raj. pents. Consequently he could not bear "Passive Resistance," he declared, "is a to sleep without a light in his room. Yet method of securing rights by personal anyone who reads his Autobiography or suffering: it is the reverse of resistance The Story of My Experiments with Truth will by arms. When I refuse to do a thing that discover that right throughout his adult is repugnant to my conscience, I use soul- life two of his principal traits were a cer• force. For instance, the Government of tain fearlessness and an undeviating loy• the day has passed a law which is applica• alty to Truth. At the tender age of thir• ble to me. I do not like it. If by using teen he married an attractive girl called violence I force the Government to re• Kasturbai. He was passionately fond of peal the law, I am employing what may her and he used to think of her even at be termed body-force. If I do not obey school. After spending three years in the law and accept the penalty for its London Gandhi passed his law examina• breach, I use soul-force. It involves sacri• tions and became a barrister. He was a fice of self. . . A man who has realized his failure as a lawyer in Rajkot, and in manhood, who fears only God, will fear Bombay the poor man was laughingly no one else. Man-made laws are not nec• 4 called 'the briefless barrister'. But in essarily binding on him. . . We are sunk South Africa Gandhi managed to setde a so low that we fancy that it is our duty dispute out of court. "My joy was bound• and our religion to do what the law lays less. I had learnt, "he stated, "the true down. If man will only realize that it is practice of law. I had learnt to find out the better side of human nature and to enter men's hearts. I realized that the true function of a lawyer was to unite 3 An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments parties riven asunder. The lesson was so with Truth, p.3. Navjivan Publishing House, indelibly burnt into me that a large part Ahmedabad (1976). 4 Eknath Easwaran. Gandhi The Man, p.20. of my time during the twenty years of my Nilgiri Press, Petaluma (2nd Edn. 1978). practice as a lawyer was occupied in bring• 5 An Autobiography . . . p. 100. 146 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December of humanity, may itself be regarded as of the world's great religions originated an offering to God. Significantly, when and flourished — Jainism, Hinduism, he was shot at point-blank range and Buddhism and Sikhism. Foreign faiths fatally injured, Gandhi's dying words such as Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastri- were "Rama, Rama". He breathed his last anism and Islam were introduced into with the sacred name of God on his lips India, which considerably enriched the because it was the subject of God that general ethos of the people. Gandhi preoccupied his heart and mind. taught that religious tolerance was a sine qua non for peace and harmony in a coun• Interestingly enough, a little more try7 with such diverse beliefs. His religious than a year before his death a statement eclecticism resulted in his selecting what by Gandhi was published in Harijan of is best in all religious systems. "I believe," October 6th 1946: "If we have a living maintained Gandhi, "that all the great faith in God, we will realize that it is the religions of the world are true, more or mortal body that perishes, never the less. I say 'more or less' because I believe immortal spirit within. Man is born to that everything that the human hand die. Death is the natural corollary to touches, by reason of the very fact that birth. So, whether God sends us natural human beings are imperfect, becomes death or whether we are killed by the imperfect. Perfection is the exclusive assassin's knife, we must go smiling to attribute of God and it is indescribable, our end. Let us, therefore, pray to God untranslatable. I do believe that it is to vouchsafe to us the living faith that possible for every human being to be• enables one to put oneself entirely un• come perfect, even as God is perfect. It der His protection without reliance on is necessary for us all to aspire after per• any outside help and to remember that fection, but when that blessed state is He never fails His devotees." 8 attained, it becomes indescribable, inde• Once he was asked: "Do you definitely finable. And I, therefore, admit, in all feel the presence of the living Christ humility, that even the Vedas, the Quran within you?" Gandhi answered: "If it is and the Bible are imperfect words of the historical Jesus surnamed Christ that God and, imperfect beings that we are, you refer to, I must say I do not. If it is swayed to and fro by a multitude of pas• an adjective signifying one of the names sions, it is impossible for us even to un• of God, then I must say I do feel the derstand this word of God in its full• presence of God — call Him Christ, call ness." 10 Him Krishna, call Him Rama."9 Those who constantly feel the presence of the One of his favourite books was the Divine are generally regarded as mystics. Bhagavad Gita; he was also fond of the Given his inherent modesty and his awareness of his own imperfections, 8 Why Fear or Mourn Death? p.62. Bharatiya Vidya Gandhi would probably have disliked Bhavan, Bombay (1971). being categorised as a mystic. 9 The Message of Jesus Christ, p. 19. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay (1971). Gandhi grew up in a land where four 10 7M.,p.93. 1997 MAHATMA GANDHI: A MAN OF GOD 147 New Testament, especially the noble in him, must fall back on prayer. But teachings of Jesus which were eloquently prayer is no mere exercise of words or of expressed in his Sermon on the Mount. the ears, it is no mere repetition of emp• However his view of Jesus may displease ty formula. . . It is better in prayer to some Christians: "Jesus ... to me is a have a heart without words than words great world teacher among others. He without a heart13 . . . The man of prayer was to the devotees of his generation no will be at peace with himself and with doubt 'the only begotten son of God'. the whole world; the man who goes about Their belief need not be mine. He af• the affairs of the world without a prayer• fects my life no less because I regard him ful heart will be miserable and will make as one among the many begotten sons of the world also miserable 14 . . . Prayer is God. The adjective 'begotten' has, for the only means of bringing about order• me, a deeper and possibly a grander liness and peace and repose in our daily meaning than its literal meaning. For acts. Take care of the vital thing and me, it implies spiritual birth. In his own other things will take care of themselves. times, he was the nearest to God."11 Rectify one angle of square, and the oth• He set the greatest store on praying. er angles will be automatically right. "Prayer," said Gandhi at one of his prayer Begin, therefore, your day with prayer, meetings in 1945, "is even more essen• and make it so soulful that it may remain tial for the well-being of the soul than is with you until the evening. Close the day food for the maintenance of the body. It with prayer so that you may have a peace• becomes necessary to give up food on ful night free from dreams and night• occasions in order to benefit the body. mares. Do not worry about the form of But prayer may never be abandoned. If prayer. Let it be any form, it should be such as can put us into communion with we provide food for the body which is the Divine. Only, whatever be the form, perishable, then, surely it is our primary let not the spirit wander while the words duty to provide food for the soul which of prayer run on out of your mouth . . . is imperishable, and such sustenance is There is no peace without the grace of found in prayer. The real meaning of God, and there is no grace of God with• prayer is devoted worship." 12 out prayer. That is why I ask you all to There are a number of interesting observe the habit of prayer. Prayer should insights into the purpose of praying in proceed from the heart 15 . . . Prayer is his writings and speeches. "Prayer," he not an old woman's idle amusement. explains, "is either petitional or, in its Properly understood and applied, it is wider sense, is inward communion. In either case, the ultimate result is the same. Even when it is petitional, the 11 The Message of Jesus Christ, p.86. Bharatiya Vidya petition should be for the cleansing and Bhavan, Bombay (1971). 12 purification of the soul, for freeing it Food for the Soul, pp.62-63. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay (1970). from the layers of ignorance and dark• 13 Ibid., p.2. ness that envelop it. He, therefore, who 14 Ibid., p.3. hungers for the awakening of the Divine 15 Ibid., p.4. 148 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December the most potent instrument of action. was venerated by millions as a godlike Undoubtedly, prayer requires a living person. faith in God. God may be called by any As God was central to his philosophy other name so long as it connotes the of life, the following statements of his living Law of Life — in other words, the about the Divine are worthy of consider• Law and the lawgiver rolled into one . . ation: "There is an indefinable mysteri• . heartfelt prayer steadies one's nerves, ous power that pervades everything. I humbles one and clearly shows one the feel it, though I do not see it. It is this next step 16 . . . Prayer is a confession of unseen power that makes itself felt and one's unworthiness and weakness17 . . . yet defies proof, because it is so unlike Prayer means asking God for something all that I perceive through my senses. It in a reverent attitude. But the word is transcends reason. But it is possible to used also to denote any devotional act 18 reason out the existence of God to a ... It seems to me that it is a yearning of limited extent. I do dimly perceive that the heart to be one with the Maker, an whilst everything around me is ever invocation for His blessing. It is the atti• changing, ever dying, there is underly• tude that matters, not words uttered or ing all that change a living power that is 19 muttered ... A man of prayer must changeless, that holds all together, that know no disappointment, because he creates, dissolves and recreates. That knows that the times are in His hands informing power or spirit is God. And who is the Arch Planner and does every• since nothing else I see merely through thing in His good time. A man of prayer, the senses can or will persist, He alone therefore, waits in faith and patience is. And is this power benevolent or ma• 20 always . . . Emptying of the mind of all levolent? I see it as purely benevolent, conscious process of thought and filling for I can see that in the midst of death it with the spirit of God unmanifest, life persists, in the midst of untruth truth brings one ineffable peace and attunes persists, in the midst of darkness light the soul with the Infinite. I agree that if persists. Hence I gather that God is Life, a man could practice the presence of Truth, Light. He is Love. He is the Su• God all the twenty-four hours, there preme Good. . . To me God is Truth and would be no need for a separate time for Love; God is ethics and morality. God is prayer. When the mind is completely fearlessness. God is the source of Light filled with His spirit, one cannot harbour and Life and yet He is above and beyond ill-will or hatred towards anyone, and, all these. God is conscience. He is even reciprocally, the enemy will shed his the atheism of the atheist . . . He tran- enmity and become a friend." 21

Any kind of retaliation against those 16 Food for the Soul, p.6. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, who harmed or insulted him was always Bombay (1970). 17 anathema to his forgiving and loving Ibid., p. 12. 18 Ibid., p.15. nature. Because of his refusal to bear 19 Ibid., p.16. any resentment against his enemies and M Ibid., p.24. his renunciation of possessions, Gandhi 21 Ibid., p.62. 1997 MAHATMA GANDHI: A MAN OF GOD 149 scends speech and reason . . . He is a of independence. The greater the sur• personal God to those who need His render to Him, the greater has been my personal presence. He is embodied in joy 22 . . . God is the hardest task-master those who need His touch. He is the I have known on earth, and he tries you purest Essence. He simply is to those through and through. And when you find who have faith. He is all things to all that your faith is failing or your body is men. He is in us and yet above and be• failing you, and you are sinking, He yond us ... He is long-suffering. He is comes to your assistance somehow or patient but He is also terrible . . . With other and proves to you that you must Him ignorance is no excuse. And withal not lose your faith and that He is always He is ever forgiving for He always gives at your beck and call, but on His terms, us the chance to repent. He is the great• not on your terms. God is great and com• est democrat the world knows, for He passionate. He would not try His ser• leaves us 'unfettered' to make our own vants beyond endurance. As we go for• choice between evil and good . . . God ward in our journey of life, we have al• will not be God if He allowed Himself to ways problems coming up for decision, be an object of proof by His creatures. and they are the hardest when the voice But He does give His willing slave the of Satan nearly approaches the voice of power to pass through the fiercest of God. Only fullest trust (in God) and ordeals. I have been a willing slave to perfect purity and extreme humility can this most exacting Master for more than lead us to the right choice." 23 half a century. His voice has been in• creasingly audible, as years have rolled 22 The Message of Mahatma Gandhi, p. 12. Ministry by. He has never forsaken me even in my of Information and Broadcasting, Delhi darkest hour. He has saved me often (1968). against myself and left me not a vestige 23 Ibid., p.5.

Happy the man who is busy attending to what God is saying in him* He is directly subject to the divine light-ray. Hie soul that stands with all her powers under the light of God is fired and inflamed with divine love. The divine light shines straight in from above, and a per• pendicular sun on one's head is a thing that few can survive. Yet the highest power of the soul, her head, is held erect beneath this shaft of godly light so that there can shine in this light divine which I have oft described as being so bright, so overwhelming, so transcendent, that all lights are but darkness in comparison with this light. — Meister Eckhart. The Significance of Meditation in Buddhism

By Lama Anagarika Govinda

HE pre-condition of every religious ing, if there is something that can be T practice or meditation is the recog• liberated, and this 'something' can be nition of divine or eternal qualities in nothing other than the living power, the man, qualities whose awakening or reali• manifestation of universal forces that zation constitute the aim of religious life. create and maintain the individual If we do not believe in a supreme, all- streams of consciousness. The very fact transcending value, inherent in man and that Buddhism believes in the continuity attainable by him, then the very reason of katmically conditioned, self-perpetuat• and starting point for any kind of spiri• ing conscious forces, moving through tual aspiration is missing. That is why endless cycles of reincarnations, proves the Buddha proclaimed faith as the first that it recognizes an indestructible power prerequisite of the spiritual way: or quality, which is maintained through countless lives and deaths. Wide open are the gates of immortality, The question which arises from this, is not how to destroy that power, but Ye that have ears to hear, release how to lift it from the narrow tracks of a your faith! never ending, ever repetitive cycle into However, the faith (saddha) which the the freedom and all-pervasiveness of an Buddha demanded, was not the blind enlightened consciousness. Due to habit, faith in dogmas, revelations, gods or which is a form of inertia, caused by human authorities (including his own), 'ego-sclerosis', i.e. by calcification or but the faith in ourselves, in our higher nature, and the possibility to realize it, to attain liberation. Reproduced from The Mountain Path, October 'Liberation' can only have a mean• 1971. 1997 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MEDITATION IN BUDDHISM 151 hardening of our egohood at a certain tinction to an unchangeable, self-con• stage of our individual development, man tained and separate soul-substance, as is in danger of cutting himself off from assumed by primitive animism and pop• his universal heritage and to content ular belief. In this way he raised his himself with the lesser, though the great• doctrine to the level of a dynamic world- est of all values is available to him. It is view, in which individuality was liberated the greatest good that the Buddha is from the rigor mortalis of separateness. concerned with. That he did not only Thus we can only arrive at the conclu• believe in it, but actually attained it and sion that individuality is a necessary, realized it himself, is proved by the fact important and meaningful expression of of his Enlightenment. the universe or its inherent divine con• On this the whole edifice of Buddhism sciousness or ultimate reality. is based. For the individual it is the high• Consequently individuality and univer• est aim; for the teaching, however, it is sality are not mutually exclusive values, the starting point. The teaching, there• but two sides of the same reality, com• fore, is rightly called 'Buddhism', the pensating each other and becoming one doctrine of Enlightenment. It is the idea in the experience of Enlightenment. of Enlightenment and not that of suffer• In this experience it is not the mind ing (as so many Western critics of that dissolves into an amorphous All, but Buddhism believe) which gives Buddhism it is the realization that the individual its character; just as medicine is first and itself contains the totality of the universe foremost the science of healing (and the focalized in its very core. Thus, it is the Buddha, indeed, has been called 'the world that hitherto was experienced as great Healer' or Bhaishajyaguru, 'the an external reality, that merges or is in• Supreme Physician') but not the science tegrated into the enlightened mind in of disease — though the knowledge of the moment in which the universality of disease is necessary for the knowledge of consciousness is realized. This is the ul• healing — for the same reason the Bud• timate moment of the liberation from dha had to understand first the nature the impediments and fetters of ignorance of suffering, in order to be able to show and illusion. the way towards its overcoming, the way to happiness. However, the idea of suf• We are still captured by crude similies fering and its annihilation on the path of quantitative magnitudes in place of of morality, renunciation and knowledge, qualitative values, when we compare the is common to all religious systems of ultimate experience of liberation with India. the 'drop that slips into the shining sea'. It would be more appropriate — though What was new in the Buddha's doc• paradoxical from the viewpoint of three- trine was that he recognized individuality dimensional logic — to say that the "sea as a flowing, ever-changing, self-trans• slips into the shining drop". Because, forming living force, evolving or the drop is qualitatively not different developing to an inner law, in contradis• from the sea. All the oceans that cover 152 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December the earth, as seen from the distance of sciousness and even in the simplest bodi• the sun, are not more than a drop in the ly functions, as for instance in the process immensity of space; and a drop, as seen of breathing, which in itself can be a from the standpoint of a micro-organ• subject of meditation, because it reveals ism contained in it, is as vast as an ocean. the very nature of life in its alternate inward and outward movement, in its The demonstration of the universality continual process of receiving and re• of man and of his capacity of attaining leasing, of taking and of giving back, of self-realization in the supreme experi• the deep relationship between the inner ence of Enlightenment — without the and the outer world, the individual and intervention of gods, priests, dogmas and the universe. sacrificial rituals — on the direct way of meditation; this is what the Buddha gave However, between and beyond the two to the world, and which has become the alternative movements, so to say, at the very core of Buddhism, irrespective of turning point between them, there is a differences, created by sects, philosoph• moment of stillness, in which the inner ical schools or scholastic traditions or by and the outer world coincide and be• racial or linguistic influences. come one, since there is neither anything that can be called 'inside' or 'outside'. Meditation, however, does not con• This moment, in which time stands still, cern only the mind, but the whole human because it is empty of all designation of being, including his bodily functions and time, space and movement, but which activities. Therefore the first step towards nevertheless is a moment of infinite po• meditation consists in taking stock of tentialities, represents the state of pure the situation in which we find ourselves. 'being' or 'is-ness', expressed by the word Meditation means many things: it means sunyata, the all-containing void or meta• turning inwards, it means quiet observa• physical emptiness, beyond definition, tion, reflection and awareness of beyond any kind of 'thingness' or con• ourselves, it means to be conscious of ceptual limitation which, therefore, may consciousness, to become a detached be called 'no-thingness' or the primor• observer of the stream of changing dial ground from which everything thoughts, feelings, drives and visions, originates. It is the timeless moment until we recognize their nature and their before creation or, seen from the stand• origin. point of the individual: the moment of pure receptivity that precedes all creative But these are only the first steps of activity. meditation, while in the more advanced stages we change from the role of a more It is the first movement in the great or less intellectual observer to that of an symphonic mandala or magic circle, in experiencer of a deeper reality, namely which our inner world appears as sound of the timeless and universal source of and light, colour and form, thought and all the phenomena we observed in the vision, rhythm and harmonious co-ordi• contemplation of our stream of con• nation, visible symbol and meditative 1997 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MEDITATION IN BUDDHISM 153 experience. This first movement which If sunyata hints at the non-substantial• expression may be taken in the musical ity of the world and the interrelationship as well as in spiritual and emotional sense of all beings and things, then there can — corresponds to the first profound be no better word to describe its mean• meditative attitude of experience, called ing than transparency. This word avoids "The Wisdom of the Great Mirror" or the pitfalls of a pure negation and re• the "Mirror-like Wisdom" (adarsajnana). places the concepts of substance, resistance, impenetrability, limitation, In the light of the Mirror-like Wisdom materiality, by something that can be things are freed from their 'thingness', positively experienced and is closely re• their isolation, without being deprived lated to the concepts of space and light. of their form; they are divested of the The transparency of the mind-created materiality (like the reflections in a mir• body, the vajra kaya or 'Diamond Body', ror, which can neither be said to be inside visualized in tantric meditation, symbol• or outside of the mirror) without being izes sunyata in visible form, thus bearing dissolved, because the creative principle out the above-mentioned interpretation. of the mind, which is at the bottom of all Here 'form' is no more in opposition to form and materiality, is recognized as space, but form and space penetrate each the active side of the Universal Conscious• other in a luminous and dynamic play of ness (alaya-vijnana) on the surface of light and colour. The conception of jiji- which forms arise and pass away, like the mu-ge (Japanese; lit. "each thing no waves on the surface of the ocean, which hindrance") has its origin in this interac• latter, when stilled, reflects the pure tion of form and emptiness, or form and emptiness of space and the pure light of space, which are experienced in the reali• heaven (the two aspects of sunyata). zation of the ultimate transparency of the world: the world as a phenomenon Hui-Neng, the Sixth Patriarch of the of consciousness. Without consciousness Ch'an School once said: there is neither form nor its concomi• When you hear me speak about the tant notion of emptiness. Consciousness void, do not fall into the idea that I determines the world in which we live or mean vacuity.... The illimitable void of the particular aspect under which the the universe is capable of holding universe appears to us; in itself it is nei• myriads of things of various shapes ther this nor that, it is sunyata. and forms, such as the sun and the Thus the Mirror-like Wisdom reflects moon, and the stars, worlds .... heav• with the impartiality of a mirror the na• enly planes and hells, great oceans ture of all things and of ourselves, while and all the mountains .... Space takes remaining unaffected and untouched by in all these, and so does the voidness the images it reflects. It is the attitude of of our nature. We say that Essence of the impartial observer, the pure, sponta• Mind is great, because it embraces all neous awareness, which in Zen Buddhism things, since all things are within our is called satori or kensho: "seeing into one's nature. own nature". 154 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December By recognizing our own nature as form and emptiness, the purity of light sunyata, we realize that it is not different and the infinite modulations of colour from the essential nature of all living are revealed in their infinite interrela- beings; and herefrom arises the 'second tedness without losing their distinctive movement' of meditation, in which we qualities and individuality of expression. realize the oneness of all life, the solidar• This is the 'Distinguishing Wisdom' ity of all sentient beings. This is the (pratyavekshana jnana), in which our 'Equalizing Wisdom' or the 'Wisdom of mundane mind, our discriminating, Equality' (samatajnana), in which we turn judging intellect turns into the intuitive from the cool and detached attitude of consciousness of inner vision, in which an observer to the warm human feeling the 'special and general characteristics of all-embracing love and compassion of all things become clearly visible for all that lives. Already in the without hindrances (asanga; i.e., spon• Dhammapada (Pali) this essential equali• taneously)' and in which the unfolding ty with others has been made the of various spiritual faculties takes place. keystone of Buddhist ethics, when it was said that 'having made oneself equal to Through this wisdom the functions of others' or 'recognizing oneself in oth• the group of discriminating processes, ers' one should abstain from hurting which we sum up under the general term others, which shows that compassion in of perception (samjna skandha) are Buddhism is not based on moral or on turned inwards and become transformed mental superiority, but on the feeling of and intensified into creative transcen• oneness. dental vision (dhyana) — in which the individual characteristics of phenomena If, however, this feeling remains con• and their general and universal relation fined to the merely emotional plane, it become apparent. This Wisdom is repre• may lead to a purely sentimental and sented by Buddha Amitabha, the Bud• one-sided attitude, in which the feeling dha of Infinite Light, who is shown in of oneness deprives the individual of the gesture of meditation (dhyana responsibility, action and discrimination mudra). in a world that is not merely a featureless unity but an organic whole in which dif• The 'fourth movement' of meditative ferentiation is as much an expression of experience belongs to the realm of ac• reality as oneness, and form is as impor• tion and will-power and represents the tant as emptiness, since both depend on 'All-Accomplishing Wisdom' or 'the Wis• each other, condition each other like dom that Accomplishes All Works'. Here light and shade. volition (samskara skanda) is transformed into selfless, 'karma-free' action of life Thus we come to the 'third movement' dedicated to the realization of Enlight• of meditative experience, in which we enment, motivated by compassion and are neither concerned with concrete based on the understanding of both the beings nor with material things, but individual and the universal aspect of where both differentiation and unity, life and phenomena, as experienced in 1997 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MEDITATION IN BUDDHISM 155 the previous three movements. In the Born, who embodies the Wisdom of Vijnaptimatra Siddhi Shastra it has been Equality, expresses the feeling of soli• said that "this kind of consciousness darity and love towards all living beings manifests itself for the benefit of all liv• by the gesture of giving, similar to the ing beings.... in the three kinds of previous one, but with the palm turned transformed actions....", namely those of outwards. the body, speech and mind, 'according The Buddha of the western quarter of to the vow', namely that of the the mandala, Amitabha, the Buddha of Bodhisattva, whose 'body' is the universe Infinite Light, who embodies the Wis• (dharma kaya), whose 'speech' is the dom of Distinguishing Inner Vision, is mantric word, the word of truth and represented in the gesture of medita• power, and whose 'mind' is the universal tion; both hands with palms upwards, consciousness. resting upon each other in the lap. Each of these four movements is rep• The Buddha of the northern quarter resented by a gesture (mudra) of the of the mandala, Amoghasiddhi, the respective four transcendental Buddhas Realizer of the Aim, who embodies the who symbolize these states of meditative Wisdom that Accomplishes All Works, consciousness and experience, and i.e., of selfless action, is represented in occupy the successive places in the the gesture of fearlessness, expressing at mandala, beginning with the east and the same time reassurance and blessing. moving via south and west to the north. His right hand is raised to the height of The position in the mandala, therefore, the shoulder and the palm is turned does not indicate only a spatial position outwards in the gesture of blessing the in the visible diagram, but a sequence in world. time, i.e. in the unfoldment or process It may be noticed that in each of these of meditation. cases the palm of the active right hand Thus the Buddha of the eastern quar• follows the direction of the conscious• ter of the mandala, Akshobhya, the ness. And in this connection it might be Immutable One, who embodies the pure mentioned that the upturned palms in inward-directed awareness of the basic the gesture of meditation (dhyana mudra) mirror-like consciousness, points with his signify a receptivity towards the eternal right hand towards the earth (represent• qualities and forces of the universe. The ing the totality of the past) which the palms are like open bowls, ready to Buddha called up as a witness before his receive the gifts of heaven. Enlightenment with the palm inwards, The passive left hand of all these Bud• while the passive left hand — as in the dhas is always shown in this attitude, case of all the four Dhyani Buddhas rep• because our essential, though uncon• resenting the Four Wisdoms — rests in scious, relationship to the universe is the lap with the palm upwards. common to all stages of meditation. The Buddha of the southern quarter Besides the direction of the palms we of the mandala, Ratnasambhava the Jewel- have to consider the three planes or levels 1997 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MEDITATION IN BUDDHISM 157 stroy both: the Man and the object. veiled by the illusion of egoity and sepa- At the fourth instance I destroy none rateness, freed from craving and of them: neither the Man nor the possessiveness as well as from enmity and object. aversion. Samsara has turned into Nirva• na, the mundane world has turned into This statement, which on the surface a gigantic mandala, in which every form sounds like a paradoxical Zen koan, is in has become an expression of total reality reality a sober assessment of the subject- and every living being a unique manifes• object relationship in the experience of tation of a greater life and a universal the Four Wisdoms: consciousness. In the Mirror-like Wisdom the pure Thus the meditative experience of the objective awareness prevails, while the Four Wisdoms has revealed itself as a notion of the subject ('Man') is absent. tremendous symphony of four move• In the Wisdom of the Essential Equal• ments, in which the pendulum of ity of all beings, the subject ('Man') experience results in the transformation becomes the only conscious reality, with• of all faculties of man, until he has be• out an object. come complete. In the Wisdom of Distinguishing Vi• This completeness cannot be achieved sion both subject and object lose their through negations — for which reason independent reality and are seen in their the Buddha rejected asceticism — nor mutually dependent relationship on the through the one-sided affirmation of the universal stage in their eternal interplay one or the other of our basic faculties. of emptiness and form, in which materi• Feeling has to be balanced by knowl• ality, thingness and the illusion of edge, intuition has to be balanced by separate entities gives way to the trans• clear thought, contemplation has to be parency of creative vision. It was this balanced by action. Those who believe experience, according to the Buddha's that by mere passive sitting they can at• own words, that characterized his En• tain enlightenment are as far from the lightenment. mark as those who believe that they can achieve liberation by mere learnedness In the all-accomplishing Wisdom of or pious recitation of sacred texts. This selfless action, subject and object are was pointed out already by the ancient restored to their functional status of Ch'an Master Tai-hui when he wrote to polarity on the plane of the three-di• his disciple Chen-ju Tao-jen: mensional world of existential — i.e. relative — reality. Thus, "neither the Man There are two forms of error now pre• nor the object" are destroyed, and we vailing among followers of Zen, lay• have returned into our familiar world, men as well as monks. The one thinks where "mountains are again mountains that there are wonderful things hid• and waters are again waters" (to use the den in words and phrases, and those well-known Zen phrase), but where we who hold this view try to learn many see them with new eyes that are no more words and phrases. The second goes 158 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December to the other extreme forgetting that dead. Only when these two erroneous words are the pointing finger, show• views are done away with, is there a ing one where to locate the moon. chance for real advancement of Zen.2 Blindly following the instruction giv• This sound advice is as true nowadays en in the sutras, where words are said as it was then and applies not only to to hinder the right understanding of Zen but to all methods of meditation. the truth of Zen and Buddhism, they reject all verbal teachings and simply 2 Translated from the German version, quoted sit with eyes closed, letting down the by Ohasama-Faust in Zen, der lebendige eyebrows as if they were completely Buddhismus in Japan.

Striking the Ego One morning in September, one Maurice Frydman, a consulting and electrical engineer announced himself before Sri Bhagavan. He entered the Hall, hat in hand but with shoes on. The Maharshi ordered a stool for him on which he seated cross-legged for a short time and then he withdrew. After a wash and light refreshments he came back without shoes and squatted on the floor. He stayed three days and was quite social and genial and friendly to everyone who responded simi• larly towards him. He tried to learn our ways and adapt himself to them. His clumsiness often evoked the good-humoured laughter of the Maharshi who always put him right as a father would a child. He tried to learn from Maharshi something about Realisation, raised doubts and had them cleared. Once he asked why there should be illusion if the individual soul is identical with the supreme. Bhagavan gave him the usual answer (the answer is not on record) and then began to chew betel leaves/ In the meantime, Mr. Frydman was ruminating and with dramatic gestures wanted to know why the ego should not be cut down at one stroke and destroyed so as to gain Supreme Bliss. The Maharshi stopped chewing his betel leaves long enough to smile, and then broke out into laughter and asked the questioner to hold out his ego so that the Maharshi could strike it down. Everyone in the Hall laughed includ• ing Mr. Frydman, and at the conclusion of the laughter Mr. Frydman addressed the Maharshi and said, "Yes, now I understand." (This took place in 1935. Maurice Frydman eventually became a resident of Sri Ramanasramam for a period of nearly three years and compiled Maharshi's Gospel). — From The Mountain Path, April 1981. From Our Photographic Archives From Our Photographic Archives

Circa 1932, in front of the Mother's Temple thatched shed. Sitting (left to right): 1. Vasudeva Sastri, Secretary of Sri Ramanasramam, 2. Vishwanatha Swami, 3. (Front) K. Venkataraman (K.V. Mama), 4. Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, 5. Muruganar, 6. Perumal Swami. Standing (left to right): 1. Unidentified, 2. Kumara Guruparar, 3. Ramakrishna Swami, 4. Madhava Swami, 5. Echammal, 6. Tiruchuzi Lakshmiammai.

Enlarged print from original glass negative on Agfa Recorded Rapid paper. White mask around Bhagavan is photographer's opaque on emulsion side of negative. Sri Arunachalaksharamanamala Sanskrit Translation It came as a great surprise to rediscover this authentic Sanskrit translation of Sri Ramana Maharshi's Aksharamanamalai in Sri Ramanasramam Archives, while in the midst of scanning the precious manuscripts onto computer media. It is by Jagadeeshwara Shastri and dated 13th June 1940. The original manuscript has become extremely brittle and discoloured. It is reproduced here in its entirety and in the same size, after converting the initial colour scan made at 440 dots per inch black-and-white line art, utilising photo- editing software. It is clear that more than one hand has penned these pages. Most probably the latter portion (from page 4 and onwards) is in Bhagavan's handwriting. Preserving the entire manuscript archive on compact disks is a mammoth and expensive project. Already 29 works in Tamil, 22 in Malayalam, 16 in Sanskrit, and two in Telugu have been scanned, adding up to a total of some 4,500 individual scans. Most of this material includes what is (a) definitely, and (b) probably Bhagavan's handwriting. In addition there is a vast correspondence in the Archives, the entire Moun• tain Path, and other works to be covered. By a rough estimate, nearly half the work has been completed. We welcome contributions from devotees who may be in possession of valuable manuscripts relating to Sri Ramana Maharshi. Due care will be taken in handling the original papers which will be returned to the owners after the scanning process. We hope to regularly feature Bhagavan's work in his own handwriting in subsequent issues of The Mountain Path. They are of great beauty, each letter perfectly formed, and marked with the quality of penetrating directly into the Heart.

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-ST^rq^^ William Shakespeare and the 'Twins': A Review of The Comedy of Errors

By Rosalind Christian

NE cannot help feeling that The Comedy of Errors is about the re• O Shakespeare has never been put into union of two brothers, identical twins, his proper category in the West. In the long separated. There is no doubt about East he would be regarded as a mahatma the literary origins of Shakespeare's play. or seer of high status. However, he lived The Menechmi of Roman playwright in times when religious persecution was Plautus was the main source. Here a pair the norm and narrow dogmatic views pre• of twins are separated. One grows up vailed. To openly express an inner vision and becomes a citizen of Epidamnum would have been to court disaster. Yet as while his twin, deciding to go in search both poet and mystic he needed to ex• of his brother, comes, at last, to that city. press himself. As somebody said of Here he is welcomed to board and bed Maharshi's Muruganar his poetry was his by a courtesan. An ill-wisher at once re• sadhana. How could Shakespeare express ports this to the citizen's wife, and the the inner world he had entered? Of course citizen himself returning home is sound• the Gospels were to hand where Jesus's ly rated. Deciding to go and consult his experience of the 'kingdom' found ex• friends the citizen leaves the way open pression. Gospel references are far from for his twin to wander in. The drift of his rare in Shakespeare but they are present• conversation makes all his hearers be• ed in a very veiled way. They had to be. lieve that he has gone mad. A doctor is However, there was in folktales a symbol called but the 'patient' escapes leaving language of deep inner meaning which the citizen to be taken and bound! And was there for his use and with which no so it goes on till the brothers are brought one could quarrel. The way Shakespeare face to face. used folktale themes proves his ability to probe their inner meaning. Nowhere is There is no reason to assume that there this more evident than in one of his early is any link whatever between this drama plays, The Comedy of Errors. and the very ancient folk tale of The Two 170 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December

Brothers1. In that story the younger twin own nativity, and likewise long separat• sets out to find his elder who he knows ed. So opportunities for confusion are has suffered a grave mishap. He comes compounded. The play is hilarious but it to his brother's kingdom and is accept• has a melancholy opening and almost a ed by all as that brother. Understanding tragic end — something for which the situation and learning where his el• Shakespeare has often been criticised. der has gone, he sets out to rescue him These passages show us Egeon, father of from the Witch-who-turns-men-to-stone. the Twins, who has arrived alone and Together they destroy 'her'. Nor have we penniless in Ephesus — the city any reason to believe that Shakespeare Shakespeare chooses to set his scene. By knew that story either. However, in his an inexorable Ephesian law Egeon, play he makes it plain that he clearly citizen of an enemy state, is doomed to understands that the function of the die, unless, within a day, he can win a 'Twins' is the defeat of death. ransom. He sums up his condition as one "whom the fates have marked to The key to his understanding may well bear the extremity of dire mishap". have been another play by Plautus, Amphitruo. Here twin sons are bom to Yet if we take a good look at Egeon we Amphitrion a Theban General, but see that his condition is that of each and everybody would know that he is not the every man — whose lifespan is but a father of both — for Zeus, disguised as 'day' in the face of eternity. Death ap• Amphitrion, has slept with his wife be• proaches as inexorably as the Sun goes fore her husband's return. One of these down at sunset. Then it seems wife and twins is Hercules (Greek Heracles). It family are altogether lost, and life, looked would not take Shakespeare long to at clearly, is but an expectation of loss. realise that Hercules carried the divine The duke of Ephesus is personally moved spark implanted by Zeus, The Bright by Egeon's sufferings, but the law can• One. After much struggle and suffering not be altered. So The Comedy of Errors is Hercules, the super-hero of Greek myth, sandwiched between two slices of poten• knows himself to be immortal. And, of tial tragedy. Why did Shakespeare do this? course, there are a number of other I suggest it was because he wanted to Greek myths about twins which make a bold and dramatic statement as Shakespeare may have known, particu• to what the play was essentially about — larly that of Castor and Polydeuces, called the defeat of death. the Dioscuri or Sons of Zeus. To the In his very stage management of the Greeks the 'Twins' were demi-Gods. They play Shakespeare, as it were, throws down had taken the first step towards immor• the gauntlet, and tells us, if we will lis• tality. ten, that this story is about reincarnation The Menechmi is doubtless good com• — as is the very ancient tale of The Txvo edy but Shakespeare manages to double Brothers or Twins. At the back of the stage the farcical element by giving each twin a twin servant, born on the day of their, The Mountain Path, December 1996. 1997 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND THE 'TWINS' 171 there were to be three houses; to the left (think of Poseidon's persecution of a courtesan's house, to the right a reli• Odysseus) but not necessarily so. Two gious house, and in the centre the house basic ideas seem to shape the symbol. of the twin called The Phoenix. In choos• 1) Ebb and flow; what the sea takes it ing this symbol, it seems to me, that will, at last, give back. Shakespeare brings us straight to the concept of rebirth. For the Phoenix is a 2) The sea is a deadly and divisive fabulous Egyptian bird which returns to element to the land-dweller, but to the the place of its birth, Heliopolis (the sea-dweller it gives abundant life. These City of the Sun) and there builds a nest two simple facts lie I believe, behind folk• and immolates itself on the altar of the lore view of the sea and behind ancient Sun God. From its ashes rise the new mythology too. As 'life' is to 'death', so Phoenix. The myth is obscure and 'land' is to 'sea'. Put simply they are variable but this is the popular version different modes of consciousness. Folk that, I assume, Shakespeare would know. heroes are sometimes asked to build a ship that sails on land and sea — that is The twins themselves differ greatly in to win through to the truth that 'life' character. The citizen is a sturdy charac• and 'death' are an ongoing cycle. ter, a man of wealth and well-reputed in the town, but prone to sudden bouts of The sea plays a big part in Shakespeare anger, even rage. Finding his house — supremely so in Pericles, Prince of Tyre locked against him while within his wife — where it always has strong tones of dines all innocently (with the wrong death and loss, yes, but also of return to twin!) the citizen decides to send for a land and re-union. crow-bar to smash down the door. A In Errors the twin from the sea con• friend persuades him to desist for the stantly longs to return there. He quickly sake of his own and his wife's good concludes that Ephesus is a place of dan• names. He counsels him to wait till ger and sorcery. Is anything there real? evening comes and the streets are emp• Is he asleep or awake? A lady, who knows ty. Had this sage advice been followed, his name, and claims to be his wife, takes of course, Egeon would have died at his arm and leads him in to dinner! His sundown. However, other causes of rage doubt is: and violence lie in wait for the citizen. Was I married to her in a dream? The second twin is very different, Or sleep now and think I hear all this? thoughtful, sensitive, almost diffident. What error drives our eyes and ears He arrives from the sea and lays up his amiss? wealth and belongings at an inn. As he becomes more deeply entangled with the He falls instantly in love with this new affairs of Ephesus, the more he longs to 'wife's sister'. She enchants him — ah! take ship and sail away. The 'Sea' in But what sort of enchantment? Does she ancient religion is a very ambivalent beguile him on to the rocks and shoals symbol, sometimes hugely dangerous of rebirth as the deadly sirens sought to 172 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December beguile Odysseus? To escape all this scribed by Dromio with a youthful gutter make-belief and dissimulation (maya?) humour that would have gone down well becomes an obsession. But he cannot. on the playground of Stratford-upon- He is trapped. We, who know the condi• Avon grammar school. But who or what tions of the twins' birth, two identical is this terrible spherical thing into whose parts of a single ovum (egg) realise that power poor Dromio feels he has fallen? willy nilly they must meet at last2. Is 'she' not the world, spherical and We might call this voyager-twin a re• covered with different countries? 'She' luctant returner to the world of bodily means trouble, samsara; of this poor limitations. The core of the situation is Dromio has no doubt. Amazingly, samsara made plain in the words of his own ser• can mean the wife in Tamil!. The people vant, Dromio. He comes from the sea of Tamil Nadu evidently have the same with his master and lays up their goods dire sense of humour as the London at an inn. He is continually being charged cockneys. In their rhyming slang the wife to make things ready for instant depar• becomes trouble and strife — samsaral ture. But he rather likes Ephesus. They Events in Ephesus move towards a cli• are offered a meal, gratis! A goldsmith max of pandemonium as the citizen twin accosts his master in the street and gives (having been taken and bound as mad) him a sumptuous gold chain — and turns the tables on his captor, binds him refuses payment! But then something and douses him with filthy water. Draw• happens to alter Dromio's views. At the ing his sword he dashes out into the Phoenix, where they so strangely dine street. Meanwhile his twin, constantly with the citizen's wife, he finds that he mistaken for his brother also draws sword also has a wife. She knows his name and and, at last, takes sanctuary in the reli• claims him for her own — and she is gious house, observed by the citizen's terrible! "She's the kitchen wench and wife and others. all grease." Put a light to her and she The sun now begins to set and the would burn till Doomsday — and be• Duke in solemn procession enters to yond, quips Dromio. witness the beheading of the prisoner, To his master's enquiry as to her looks, Egeon, when the citizen's wife throws Dromio answers: herself at his feet begging justice against "She's spherical, like a globe; I could the Abbess who refuses her all sight of find out countries in her." her husband. All are utterly disconcert• ed when the citizen suddenly appears (is "Where's Scotland?" he 'borne about invisible'?) and de• "I found it in the barrenness, hard in mands justice in his turn against his wife the palm of the hand." for locking the doors against him. Need

Scotland3 was a poor and wild country 2 One of the symbols of the Dioscuri was the and the Scots became a by-word for tight halved egg which the twins wear on their fistedness. And so master and servant heads, helmet style! rag together and the countries are de• 3 The writer lives in Scotland. 1997 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND THE 'TWINS' 173 we say more? The Abbess is ordered to the reincarnation the play holds togeth• bring forth her charge and the twins are er. Egeon's part is thus absolutely essen• revealed before the astonished eyes of tial, not an aberration or misfit as has so the people of Ephesus. often been suggested. To me the key dialogue is the description of Dromio's With this revelation the law is cast 'wife' — totally spherical with countries aside, death is cancelled. Egeon's bonds all over 'her', like a map. Shakespeare are cut. Even the proffered ransom is was among the first authors to consis• rejected. tently describe the world as round "It shall not need, thy father hath his (Doubtless the inspiration for this char• life" acter came as a spark of wit from Plautus 'Thy father hath his life' — the state• who gives his courtesan a cook with the ment is as plain as that. Essentially on• delightful name of Cilindrus). going life is something man cannot be Shakespeare learnt from Errors and deprived of. Linked incarnations, other early plays that he could say what 'brothers', or closer still, 'twins', mean he liked behind laughter. His audience on-going life. In place of death we find would totter home, their sides aching total rejoicing. The family is re-united. and tumble into bed (for laughter is tir• (Guess who turns out to be the mother!) ing) and just think no more about it. Through all the turmoil and error the But in the light of a Maharshi truth Twins have triumphed. will be out! Behind the sound-barrier of Have I read too much into the words Shakespeare makes many state• symbolism of The Comedy of Errors} ments that marry well with the teachings Certainly if accepted as a statement about of Sri Ramana.

To rise above joys and sorrows is happiness. It is the hankering after enjoyments that is misery. He is the man of wisdom who knows the true nature of bondage and freedom. The fool is he who identifies himself with the body and possessions. That is the true path, which leads to Me; to allow the mind to be distracted is to take the wrong path. The predominance of satlva in one's nature is heaven, of ignorance, hell. The Guru is the true friend and he is none but Me. What is wrong is the disposition to see good and evil; what is right is the habit of mind that sees neither. — Srimad Bhagavatam, Book-XI, Ch.19.

Mother Teresa : A Rare Karma Yogi

By Dr Susunaga Weeraperuma

RICH young man approached Jesus the dying homeless so that they could A and asked him what good things pass away in a dignified manner; she must be done in order to find eternal helped orphans and people afflicted with life. Jesus replied : "If you want to be AIDS or leprosy. Such was her compas• perfect, sell your possessions and give sion that she even saved the lives of the them to the poor and then you will have innocent unborn for she was dead against treasure in heaven" (Matthew 19 : 21) . abortion. "If you don't want a child," she It was to the poorest of the poor that would say, "give it to me." Mother Teresa (1910-1997) dedicated Born in Skopje (a predominantly her life; as regards her possessions, they Muslim area in Albania) in 1910, she was were minimal — two cotton saris, a buck• christened Agnes Gonxha ("Rosebud") et to wash them, a pair of sandals and a Bejaxhiu. Even as a child she was rather Bible of course. frail and susceptible to malaria and This tiny frail woman was a rare karma whooping cough. Her father, a success• yogi. Her sadhana was practising self-ab• ful shopkeeper, passed away when she negation through intense involvement was eight. Her mother, a staunch Catho• in altruistic activities of various kinds. lic, made her conscious of the sufferings Denying herself the pleasures and com• of the poor. She taught her daughter forts of this world, Mother Teresa devot• that good deeds should not be done ed herself to the welfare of the sick, the immodestly, they must be performed poverty-stricken and the downtrodden. without drawing attention to them, as She was very Gandhian in the sense that though one were casting a pebble into what was always uppermost in her heart the ocean. Evidently her mother's advice was the happiness of the down-and-out. was taken seriously because in her life With loving care she provided shelter for Mother Teresa did not seek publicity. 176 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December The girl was very bright in school and sonally took good care of them. Then in she excelled in music. Even before her 1937 Mother Teresa took her final vows. early teens, when she was only twelve years old, Agnes had made up her mind It was while travelling in a train to to become a nun. Her closely-knit family Darjeeling some nine years later that she was a happy one, consequently it was had a profound spiritual experience. with some reluctance that she decided Mother Teresa had what she termed "a to leave her home at the age of eighteen call within a call" — the Lord was in• when she felt that the Divine was calling structing her to continue doing His work her. in a more direct manner. It was a turn• ing point in her life. In 1928 she sailed to Dublin and stayed in the Loreto Convent. The Loreto nuns In 1946 she sought permission to live were already busy working in Calcutta outside her convent walls. Pope Pius XII and Agnes knew that the Lord was plan• approved her decision to leave her con• ning to send her to this city. She trav• vent for the purpose of working among elled to Darjeelhig where she took her deprived men, women and children. As first vows and chose the name Teresa. she had a feeling of personal inadequacy Mother Teresa was named after St Mother Teresa trained as a nurse, de• Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897), a spite her tendency to faint at the sight of Carmelite nun who after much suffering blood, In 1949 she took Indian citizen• died of tuberculosis at the early age of ship. She integrated well into India where twenty-four. St Therese was an advocate she was widely revered as a living saint. of the "little way" that entails trust in and love of God. It is reasonable to assume Once she began a school for slum that the teachings of this saint shaped dwellers. Having neither furniture nor a Mother Teresa's own spiritual outlook blackboard, she used a stick to write the on life. St Therese, a religious contem• Bengali alphabet on the ground. That plative, was deeply committed to the was so typical of her work. Her charita• bhakti marga. She influenced Mother ble projects had humble origins. With Teresa who believed that one becomes the close collaboration of her kind vol• able to care for other people only after unteers and numerous donors, houses the love within the heart gets released. and centres have been established even in Europe and the United States. Homes At first Mother Teresa taught geogra• for the poor were built in many cities, phy and history in St Mary's High School ranging from the slums of Calcutta to in Calcutta from 1929-48 and served as the ghettos of New York. its Principal for some years. From her convent window she could see the dis• The Society of the Missionaries of tressing squalor and suffering in the Charity which Mother Teresa started in streets. Greatly moved by the plight of 1950 is an order that ministers only to the slum dwellers, she sought permis• the extremely poor. The religious Sisters sion to visit them. Thereafter she per- are trained nurses with mobile dispensa- 1997 MOTHER TERESA: A R\RE KARMA YOGI 177 ries. In 1966 there began the Missionar• The poor lady laboured for years, ies of Charity Brothers. These Brothers sleeping only four hours a day, surviving are especially interested in helping on a spartan diet of rice and lentils, find• diseased and dying men. Their religious ing time for both menial tasks and ad• calling requires a lot of self-denial. They ministrative responsibilities, and above take the vows of poverty, chastity, obedi• all, devoting hours to prayer and con• ence and free service to those lacking in templation. She worked enthusiastically the bare necessities of life. For example, even in the evening of her life, despite they search for destitutes and lepers in her curved back and gnarled hands. She the gutters of Calcutta and make sure sincerely believed that the Almighty that they are treated with loving care. would unfailingly provide her with funds So strict are the rules of the order that for her various charitable projects. Her Sisters are not allowed to leave their workload was enormous. In fact it was houses without permission; they must not God's work that she was doing, Mother entertain guests, receive private letters, Teresa being a mere passive instrument watch films or read novels. It is also in the hands of the Lord; she was, so to forbidden to call each other by nick• speak, a pen that God was using to write names. The vow of poverty is very strictly His divine message of compassion. observed. Mother Teresa maintained that Through her deeds she made manifest to be able to love the poor and to know God s love for the world. In her work she the poor they must first of all be poor saw the face of the Lord. She profoundly themselves. The Sisters and Brothers believed and trusted in the unseen cannot work for the rich nor accept any Power. payment for what they do. Her soul was sometimes in turmoil. There were inner struggles that remained It is the policy of her Missionaries of unknown to the outside world. Once in Charity not to preach to those whom her diary Mother Teresa referred to her they help. They do not try to convert 'tortures of loneliness'. The rather non-believers to Catholicism. Impressed stressed expression on her deeply lined by the shining example of Mother face was an indication of her suffering. Teresa's piety, some persons of their own Yet great tenderness radiated from her accord decided to change their religion tired eyes. and follow hers instead. We live in a world that is characterised by strife be• Although she was the venerated tween different faiths. For this reason it founder of a famous religious order, is a tribute to her broadmindedness that Mother Teresa regarded herself as a per• Mother Teresa has upheld the principle son of no importance. As Mother Teresa's of religious tolerance. After admitting will was totally superseded by the will of that she does in fact convert, Mother the Divine, she realised that she was Teresa added : "I convert you to be a nothing more than a faithful servant of better Hindu, a better Catholic, Muslim, the Lord. It was the prior existence of Jain or Buddhist" . this sublime state of utter humility and 178 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December nothingness that enabled God to invest stood their needs and was able to nurse Mother Teresa with His power of love. them with joy as she had this gift of During her lifetime people were lav• infinite patience. Such was her humility ish in their praise of her but Mother that she did not mind toiling in the dirty Teresa remained unaffected by it. She and smelly quarters of Calcutta. It was Sri Ramakrishna who remarked that "the won world-wide fame but she never lost tree laden with fruits always bends low. If her essential humility. She was happiest you wish to be great, be lowly and meek". when she moved among the homeless. Sometimes she befriended the rich but Mother Teresa lived at a time when only for the purpose of getting aid for the greed of human beings was so insa• the penniless. Critics have said that she tiable that societies everywhere were be• had thoughtlessly accepted money from coming increasingly competitive and the affluent without first investigating materialistic. A pillar of spirituality in how they had obtained their wealth. Be our secular century, Mother Teresa dem• that as it may, because we know that onstrated the truth that it is possible to through her numerous good works Moth• be very happy while leading a simple and er Teresa somehow managed to subju• austere life. We all need some money to gate her ego and smash it to pieces. Her survive but it is important to realise that deeds were not motivated by personal money does not necessarily bring happi• gain: her actions were inspired solely by ness. She taught that God has provided the desire to glorify God. enough in the world for all. The prob• lem, though, is that man's acquisitive• "I am unworthy," said Mother Teresa ness makes him unwilling to share. self-effacingly, when she was informed of the Nobel Committee's decision to A very practical nun who refused to honour her. Her audience was spell• get unnecessarily embroiled in theolog• bound when Mother Teresa made a ical disputes, Mother Teresa was often speech without preparation after receiv• dismissive of criticisms that were levelled ing the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Speak• against her. When she was informed that ing from her heart on that occasion, she she had been attacked by the feminist said that she would use the money to author Germaine Greer, Mother Teresa feed the poor and build houses for the simply said : "I shall pray for her" . On homeless and lepers. She accepted this another occasion when several journal• prestigious prize in the name of the des• ists had visited her, Mother Teresa asked titute.. "The poor," she declared, "must them to put away their notebooks and know that we love them". "do something useful" . Actions were her forte, not words. She would probably have Patience and humility are among the agreed with the saying that just one good greatest of Christian virtues. It cannot deed speaks more eloquently than a be doubted that Mother Teresa exempli• thousand useless words. fied these noble qualities. The mentally handicapped and the dying are often The message of Mother Teresa can be very trying. But Mother Teresa under• summed up thus : 1997 MOTHER TERESA: A RARE KARMA YOGI 179

The fruit of silence is prayer In the presence of some of her reli• The fruit of prayer is faith gious sisters who had lovingly gathered The fruit of faith is love around her bed, Mother Teresa died of The fruit of love is service a heart attack at the age of 87 on Sep• The fruit of service is peace tember 5th 1997. It happened in Calcutta. It was in the worst slums of this city that Mother Teresa had these lines nicely she had selflessly helped others for some printed on yellow cards. With a touch of humour she said that these were her 50 years. "I can't breathe anymore" were "business cards"! She offered them to her last words. Then she fell back on her people. bed and passed away. Cardinal Basil Hume, who is the head of the Roman Although she was an indefatigable Catholic Church in Britain, observed that social worker who seemed to have an "it is rather lovely to think that Mother inexhaustible source of energy and an Teresa, who was very friendly with Prin• amazing drive, Mother Teresa's health cess Diana, should have gone so soon to was slowly deteriorating. She suffered a join her". Where indeed has she gone? slight stroke in 1974 which was a precur• Once while discussing the hereafter, sor to her heart attack in 1983 while vis• Mother Teresa said that Heaven for her iting the Holy Father. It was world news will be the joy of being with Jesus and whenever she was taken ill. Then in 1989 Mary and all the other saints and angels. a pacemaker was implanted in her by doctors in Calcutta. It might have given Ironically, Mother Teresa who had her a new lease of life. Yet she suffered renounced all worldly riches was given a physically; but did she really? She might state funeral with military pomp and not have suffered, after all, because once ceremony. Ignoring the monsoon rains, Mother Teresa had declared that suffer• thousands lined the streets to catch a ing is not from God, but suffering acquires last fleeting glimpse of her body that was a positive value when it is experienced lying in an open coffin. It was borne on with God. This means that it is incum• a gun carriage that had previously been bent on every Christian to identify his or used to carry the corpses of Mahatma her own personal suffering with the Cru• Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru at their cifixion, remembering always how Jesus, funerals. People from different walks of the Son of God, suffered and experienced life were paying their last respects to a indescribable agony and thereby re• great soul. Finally the funeral cortege deemed mankind. In April 1990 Mother entered the Mother House for interment. Teresa announced her retirement as There she was buried in privacy. Superior of the Missionaries of Charity. Perhaps it is only a matter of time Despite her poor health she travelled before the Catholic Church decides to to her native Albania in 1991 and estab• canonize her. At present the Church does lished a mission in Tirana. Her presence not regard Mother Teresa as a saint but in Albania helped greatly to bring about millions of non-Christians already treat a religious revival in that troubled land. her as one. The Fear Of Death

By N.N. Rajan

F ALL the fears for a man the fear guidance. At the age of sixteen he Oof death is the most dreaded, and realised distinctly and unmistakably that men who reign over empires, the scho• it is the body that dies, and not the Self. lastic genii and even the mighty warriors, The shell is only broken but the contents, who exhibit their own valour in the bat• the all-pervading Self ever shines in tlefield, are no exception to the perfect splendour. experience of this fear. The bravest war• Self-realisation through vichara or rior flinches when he becomes aware of enquiry as directed by Sri Ramana is the his last fateful moments. Only a man only panacea for all the ills of the world, seeking Self-knowledge can be perfectly including death. The impressions of a free from this fear. He can maintain man's deeds (karma) are clinging to the equanimity even in the wake of worst subtle body which forms the very basis disasters. for his future births and for merits and There is no surer way of escaping this demerits. But a Self-realised person enemy than by annihilating the ego or T escapes this process, and he never returns am the body' - thought (dehatma-buddhi). to the mortal sphere. A realised person rather courts death as In Ashtavakra Gita it is said, "In one his body becomes a burden to him and who is the infinite ocean of conscious• is of no use to him any longer. It is only ness, the souls like waves naturally rise, the ego self (non-Self) that is faced with beat, play and return: wonderful!" this fear. But one who has realised the supreme consciousness by exalting his After Hiranyakashipu was killed by own consciousness becomes merged in Lord Vishnu, Prahlada (his son) was the Self and finally comes out free from afraid that he would also meet with the the cycle of birth and death. same fate one day. Overcome by this fear he surrendered to the Lord. He began Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi to adore Him with puja, japa and actually encountered the death experi• meditation. The Lord was pleased with ence, and thereby got direct enlighten• ment spontaneously without any outside From The Call Divine, January 1971. 1997 THE FEAR OF DEATH 181

his devotion and appeared before the Vasishta was narrated by Bhagavan boy in His divine form. He also warned Ramana, and this, it would be seen, is him that, to be perfectly free from the different from the narrative in the haunting fear of death, he should not Bhagavatham. The unity of the oneness rest content with having His darsan, but of the Self, which is the only Reality ever- he should strive to realise the Atman present is the ultimate stage of Supreme within, which is none other than Lord Knowledge. One should shake off the Vishnu. He also initiated him in the mundane links to know the glory of the practice of this sacred pursuit. As a true Self within and remain immersed in the devotee Prahlada developed his sadhana bliss. The pseudo-Self or the ego dies, and realised the Self (Lord) within. Thus and the aspirant settles in conscious he was freed from this fear and attained union with the immortal Self located in immortality. This episode from Yoga the Heart. Sri Ramana Gita

Chapter Ten ON SOCIETY

1. We record in this, the tenth chapter, Bhagavan: the conversation between Yati Yoganatha 8. Santi is for purifying one's own mind, and Maharshi Ramana, which will rejoice Sakti for the progress of society. Society society. should be raised through sakti and then Yoganatha: santi established.

2. Oh Great Sage, what is the relation Yoganatha: between society and its members? Lord, 9. Oh Great Sage, what is the supreme be pleased to explain this for the sreyas1 goal on earth to be attained by society as of society. a whole? Bhagavan: Bhagavan: 3. In a society consisting of followers of 10. Brotherhood based on a sense of diverse ways of life, Oh best of sadhus, equality is the supreme goal to be at• society is like the body and the members tained by human society as a whole. like its limbs. 11. Through brotherhood, supreme 4. Oh ascetic, a member prospers by peace will prevail among mankind working for the good of society like a and then this entire planet will flourish limb serving the body. like a single household. 5. Through mind, speech and body one 12. This conversation between Yoga• should always conduct oneself so as to natha, the ascetic, and the gracious serve the interests of society and should Maharshi took place on the 15th of also awaken his circle to do likewise. August 1917.4

6. One should build up one's own circle This is the Tenth Chapter entitled 'On so as to serve the interests of society and Society' in Sri Ramana Gita, the Science of then make it prosper so that the society Brahman and the Scripture of Yoga, itself may prosper. composed by Ramana's disciple, Vasishta Ganapati. Yoganatha: Progressive improvement. 7. Among the wise some extol sand2, Peace. 3 others sakti . Which of these, Oh Lord, Power. is the better means for promoting the It is significant that India attained indepen• well-being of society? dence exacdy thirty years after this episode. Alan Chadwick : A Western Seeker Who Found His True Home

By N.R. S. Manian

Sri Bhagavan had this to say of Chadwick: ^Chadwick was with us before, he was one of us. He had some desire to be born in the West, and that has now been fulfilled". Coming from Sri Bhagavan (who was not known to make such remarks as to personal matters) it is an exceptional statement. This explains why Chadwick was truly at home with Sri Bhagavan and Arunachala.

OT all Westerners who came to Sri been conscious of it at the time. Now I NBhagavan became as staunch devo• know." tees as Major A.W. Chadwick, later on Genial and popular among devotees known as Sadhu Arunachala. And he was he is remembered as an outstanding the first to stay on permanently in the devotee, a perfect sadhaka and a source Ashram. From 1935 and until his end in of strength for the Ashram administra• 1962 he had never once left India. As a tion. A tall and imposing figure with a Major in the British Army he had seen beaming smile and pleasant greeting for service in theatres of war and was em• everyone whom he chanced to pass by in ployed for some time in Chile. When he the morning hours in the Ashram, he built his own room it became the first was also known to maintain a strict sched• private room inside the Ashram proper. ule of reading, work, meditation and Reading through Paul Brunton's other activities with the punctuality char• A Search in Secret India he decided that acteristic of the West. He would not be Sri Bhagavan was his Guru and stuck to disturbed from his routine on any ac• him steadfastly and loyally ever since. count and once refused to come out and When he first arrived at the Ashram he meet a Governor who wished to see him! felt remarkably at home and this is how The Ashram remembers his name for he describes his feelings on seeing Sri many things of lasting value. One is the Bhagavan: "I felt the tremendous peace starting of a regular Sri Chakra Puja at of his presence, his graciousness. It was the Shrine of the Mother. The other is not as though I were meeting him for the first time. It seemed that I had Reproduced from The Mountain Path, January always known him, though I had not 1972. 184 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December the revival of the Veda Patasala which lous attention to detail) and other Hindu had stopped functioning soon after the rituals was not casual but abiding. He Brahma Nirvana of Sri Bhagavan. Anoth• proved more zealous about these than er achievement of his was his translating many a Hindu devotee. the works of Sri Bhagavan into English verse. At his request, Sri Bhagavan went Chadwick also took to doing through the translations and made cor• namaskaram (falling prostrate in saluta• rections. tion) before Sri Bhagavan as other devo• tees but not before passing through a Even before coming to the Ashram period of hesitation. His point was that Chadwick had practised meditation spo• he was a Westerner not accustomed to radically for quite some years. To quote such a form of salutation and further his own words: "I had argued that since what Bhagavan wanted after all was an God had created the world, it was only attitude of surrender in the mind. Vain out of Himself that He could have done repetition of a mere formality was not so, for if there was some other apart necessary. He therefore simply stood from Himself then He could not be God, before Sri Bhagavan with folded hands. undisputed and omnipotent. So I decid• Other devotees were not satisfied and ed that the seeker himself was God, or as wanted to bring him in line. Choosing a Sri Bhagavan puts it, the Self. My meth• convenient time they got an explanation od of meditation then, was to make the from Sri Bhagavan himself who remarked mind cease from thinking as an individ• that every namaskaram at the feet of the ual and just rest in its Godhead." Here jnani was so many nails driven into the was no beginner but an advanced seeker coffin of the ego which is the trouble who had arrived at the Advaitic convic• with all. This convinced Chadwick. He tion on his own and was ripe to practise did the namaskaram all right but at a the unique method of Self-enquiry as place of his own choice in the Hall and taught by Sri Bhagavan. not right in front of Sri Bhagavan, in the Chadwick overcame many difficulties full view of others. One day however he which a born Westerner faces in India. had to do it just like others since the One of which is sitting on the floor! He Hall was very crowded. Sri Bhagavan devised a meditation belt which consist• noticing this laughed aloud and pointed ed of a piece of cotton cloth brought it out to others making a joke about the round from the back across raised knees. space occupied by Chadwick's tall frame With this support he could sit comfort• while he did the namaskaram. Chadwick ably on the floor for long periods. was rid of all hesitation or shyness and Ashram life he adopted immediately and actually advocated the practice thereaf• with perfect ease, pursuing a rigorous ter. He says: "Prostration done in sincer• sadhana which included wearing vibhuti ity and with real surrender was undoubt• edly accepted in the same spirit. and kumkum. His interest in the Veda, Bhagavan would say They don't know it, particularly its chanting, and puja (which but every time they prostrate to me I he wanted to be performed with meticu• 1997 CHADWICK: A WESTERN SEEKER WHO FOUND HIS TRUE HOME 185 prostrate to them in my heart'. Would not anybody be made humble after SHEDDING LIGHT hearing this?" UPON THE WAY In close contact with Sri Bhagavan A student of the Way from the earliest years one could see Seeks the truth of life and death; him among the little group who stayed For, else, he longs in vain in his presence till 9 p.m. The quite hour To win immortal state. of the night when there were no visitors But he who knows, life's source and when most of the inmates would Discerns death's meaning, too, have retired was very precious and Sri And thenceforth is set free Bhagavan mostly silent appeared even To live spontaneously. more radiant than during the day. The mode and depth of his dedication to the From first to last there is Master could be gauged from what he No dying or being born; said immediately after the Brahma Nirva• From a flash of thought a myriad na of Sri Bhagavan. When others has• False distinctions spring to mind. tened to see the Master's body he re• But when you know just where mained quiet and said: "This is not the Those thoughts arise and vanish, Bhagavan I want to see." But Chadwick's In the temple of the mind. beautiful description of Sri Bhagavan's physical body is no less interesting: Then before you lies the truth "Bhagavan was a very beautiful person; That's there's nothing to be he shone with a visible light or aura. He sought, had the most delicate hands I have ever Of 'themselves' the hills are green; seen with which alone he could express Of 'themselves' the waters flow. himself, one might almost say talk. His Let the mind by night and day features were regular and the wonder of Embrace this single thought— his eyes was famous. His body was well By thought wherein there's no formed and of only medium height but thought this was not apparent as his personality Must one cultivate the Way. was so dominant that one looked upon — Wang Ching-Yang. him as tall." Here is Chadwick's interesting account and temple, and passed through into of the installation of the Sri Chakra Meru the inner shrine where he stood for some in the Mother's Shrine, puja to which is five or ten minutes with both hands regularly done every Friday, Full Moon placed in blessing on the Sri Chakra. I day and the first day of the Tamil month: happened that night to be at his side the "On the last night before the final day whole time. This was unusual as I usually (of the Kumbhabhishekam of the Mother's avoided taking a prominent part in such temple) Sri Bhagavan went in proces• things but liked to watch them from a sion, opening the doors of the new hall distance. However something made me 186 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December stay by him and on account of that I am the future of the Ashram. It was execut• able to testify to his deep interest in the ed in consequence of the ardent prayer temple and especially in the Sri Chakra. of a number of disciples and devotees, It was because of this knowledge that I who having witnessed one protracted lit• was instrumental after Sri Bhagavan's igation were naturally apprehensive of passing away in persuading the Ashram similar litigations in the future, and time authorities to start the Sri Chakra Puja. fully justified this apprehension." When someone remarked how magnifi• Though he was fundamentally a sadhaka cent it had been and what a good thing from first to last he had no hesitation in it would be if such pujas could be per• his efforts to put the administration in a formed regularly, Sri Bhagavan replied: position of stability. It was not material 'Yes, but who will see to this?' As I have activity really since Sri Bhagavan had already said, it is now being done and declared that those who were looking undoubtedly has the blessings of Sri after the activities of the Ashram were Bhagavan." only doing his will. It looked as if the Vedic chanting done Chadwick once asked Sri Bhagavan during Sri Bhagavan's lifetime might about a novel method of suicide which come to an end simply because there he thought would ensure Liberation. "I was no one to carry it on. Since the had been cycling round Arunachala and parayana was a welcome time for medita• on meeting a bus the thought occurred tion its ending was regrettable and to me: 'Why shouldn't I concentrate on Chadwick averted the danger by the Self and, while so doing, throw my• organising a Patasala, a traditional board• self in front of the bus so as to attain ing school, where the boys learn to re• mokshaT I told Sri Bhagavan when I got cite the Vedas as well as English with back, but he said it would not work. Even some general education. It was a great though I tried to concentrate on the expense but Chadwick collected dona• Self, thoughts would spring up involun• tions for it so that it should not be a tarily as I fell; the mind would become burden on the Ashram. It is being run to very active and owing to the thoughts this day successfully. life would continue and I should take another body." A great contribution of Chadwick's is the help he rendered to the Ashram Chadwick's identification with the administration in seeing to it that the Ashram was total. He regarded it his duty Will of Sri Bhagavan was respected and to defend when necessary the position its provisions carried out against a storm of the Ashram. He was quick and sharp of controversy and challenges legal and in his retorts when there was any misrep• otherwise. He recognised the Will as resentation of the Master's teaching. nothing less than the Will of the Master Typical of this is his reaction to an arti• whose actions could not be taken lighdy. cle by Somerset Maugham which con• He observed: "There were strong rea• tained the following passage: "When one sons for making the Will to safeguard considers how full the world is of sorrow 1997 CHADWICK: A WESTERN SEEKER WHO FOUND HIS TRUE HOME 187 and suffering, one can hardly refrain felt Sri Bhagavan's presence. It was again from thinking that Brahman might have a clear 'No' when he was asked whether done better to leave well alone. . . To Sri Bhagavan was helping him. He en• Maharshi the world was a place of suffer• quired about the Ashram President and ing and sorrow." Chadwick says: "Really his family. And just before the end Mr.M, is this your idea of Advaita?. . . Chadwick said in a clear voice, "It is Eas• What absolute rubbish! Bhagavan always ter!"1 When reminded it was not yet Eas• insisted that there was nothing wrong ter he said again in a clear voice with a with the world. All the trouble lay with beaming expression on his face, "I know us. On reading S.M. one comes to the it will be still five days; but it is Easter." conclusion that he has again succeeded His eyes closed never to open again! His as a first class writer of fiction!" body was brought to the Ashram to be interred with rituals similar to those His samadhi is right inside the Ashram observed in the case of a Hindu sadhu. grounds which is something special again. Besides his room is a small struc• Easter is the day of resurrection of Christ after ture, the samadhi of his ego which he the crucifixion. Christ was crucified on a Fri• built symbolising the crucifixion of the day and the resurrection came on Sunday. ego which Sri Bhagavan explained was Resurrection symbolises the rise of the Real the significance of Christ's crucifixion and crucifixion the death of the unreal. The and the essence of Christianity. pure T of Being is resurrection. The lesser T or ego is to be crucified in order that the real His last moments at the Christian T may be revealed. Mission Hospital, Vellore, were as thrill• See Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi p. 86 : " ing as revealing. In a condition of delir• The Master gave the true significance of the ium he could still recognise people Christian faith thus: Christ is the ego. The CROSS is the body. around. When speech had failed him When the ego is crucified, and it perishes, what even the previous day he could clearly survives is the Absolute Being (God), (cf. "I reply 'Yes' when asked by a German dev• and my Father are one") and this glorious otee (Hugo Maier) present whether he survival is called RESURRECTION.

At a distance from the market, we hear only a loud buzzing noise, but entering the market, we hear this no longer, and become aware of the bargains that are being carried on. Similarly, so long as man is far away from God, he is in the midst of the confusion of sophistry, vain argument and discussion; but once he approaches the Almighty, all arguments and discussions cease, and he clearly understands the mysteries of God. — Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna. m

The Quaker Faith

NGLAND 350 years ago was in a state a sudden revelation. Later, he wrote of it E of religious ferment. The grip of the in his Journal: Roman church had been broken in the As I had forsaken all the priests, so I West, the Bible had been rendered into left the separate preachers also, and English for all to read who had learned those called the most experienced their mother tongue. Freedom was in people; for I saw there was none the air: sects and schisms abounded. among them all that could speak to There were also, here and there, little my condition. And when all my hopes groups of quiet folk who met together in in them and in all men were gone, oh private for periods of prayer and mutual then, I heard a voice which said, support. Although they called themselves 'There is one, even Christ Jesus, that by different names, or by none, they came can speak to thy condition'; and when to be known corporately as 'Seekers'. It I heard it my heart did leap for joy. was to these groups that the preaching The truth, Fox discovered, was not to of George Fox made its greatest appeal. be learnt from books nor taught by the George Fox was a solitary seeker. priests; it was to be realised inwardly, by Impelled by deep-seated distress at the the workings of the Holy Spirit in the state of the orthodox church and the heart. Early Christianity did not depend shallow, unspiritual attitude of some of upon church or upon holy writ: when its incumbents, he wandered about the the faith spread across the Roman world country as a young man, searching for a in the first decades after the crucifixion faith that would satisfy him. Discussions the church had not been organized nor with religious persons served only to the gospels even written. True religion deepen his despair: he could find no• was a matter of personal experience — body to understand his need to get to the root of the matter. When, at last, the Reproduced from The Mountain Path, January solutions to his troubles came, it was as 1981. 1997 THE QUAKER FAITH 189 of direct experience of Christ. "This I principles of the Quaker way; 'walking knew experimentally", wrote Fox. From cheerfully over the world' is what Friends this he developed his conception of 'the still try to do. 'That of God', or the 'In• Light within' or 'Inward Light of Christ'. ward Light' or 'the working of the Holy People must be brought back to know Spirit within you' — all these phrases are the reality of the spirit and the possibil• attempts by Fox to define the indefin• ity of direct experience of it; "for people able direct and personal link that the had the Scriptures, but were not in that individual can have with the Divine. This same light and power and spirit which is the quintessence of Quakerism. they were in that gave forth the Scrip• tures; and so they neither knew God nor It offended both the established Christ nor the Scriptures aright; nor had church, with its hierarchy of bishops and they unity one with another, being out priests, and the Puritans, whose faith was of power and spirit of God...." an interpretation of the infallible Bible, the 'Word of God'. Friends were perse• The date usually given for the found• cuted, their meetings banned. They were ing of the Religious Society of Friends is thrown into jail, their possessions were 1652. Fox made preaching journeys all confiscated. Those who were at liberty over England and addressed the large got together to help those in distress gatherings that came to hear him. Some and formed a committee which they of his teaching was startling. Once he called 'Meeting for Sufferings'. That is interrupted a dry and academic sermon still, to this day, the name given to the in Ulverstone Church with an impas• central executive committee of the sioned appeal for a renewal of faith; his Society. final words have become a motto for Friends ever since: The troubles of early Friends were not lightened by the eccentric behaviour You will say, Christ saith this and the into which their convictions led them. apostles say this, but what canst Once the distinction between 'truth' and THOU say? 'notional beliefs' was made, further Another much-loved saying comes insights followed hard, one after another. from one of his outdoor meetings of For, if it were true that we lived in the that time: divine Light at all times, why should Sunday be singled out as being especially Be patterns, be examples in all coun• 'holy'? All days should equally be devot• tries, places, islands, nations, wherev• ed to seeking God's will and doing it. If er you come, that your carriage and we were in touch with the Holy Spirit life may preach among all sorts of wherever we were, why should special people, and to them; then you will buildings be 'consecrated' to God's work? come to walk cheerfully over the The Friends recognized no difference world, answering that of God in every between sacred and secular activity. Nor one. did they see any need for special acts 'Let your life preach' is one of the known as 'sacraments' when the whole 190 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December of life should be lived sacramentally, in The humble, meek, merciful, just, pi• the service of God and for Him alone. ous and devout souls are everywhere George Fox and his followers became of one religion; and when death has the butt of public merriment and abuse taken off the mask they will know one for their peculiar ideas; their appearanc• another, though the diverse liveries es before magistrates were times of pub• they wear here makes them strangers. lic entertainment. They refused to take This world is a form; our bodies are an oath, on the ground that it suggested forms; and no visible acts of devotion the existence of two standards of truth, a can be without forms. But yet the less lower one for ordinary use and a higher form in religion the better, since God one for special occasions. They refused is a Spirit; for the more mental our to use tides or to remove their hats be• worship, the more adequate to the fore officials, saying that the only proper nature of God; the more silent, the subject of honour was God and no man more suitable to the language of a could or should perform empty honours Spirit. to another, since all were equal in the divine sight. Today, the only 'service' conducted in the Society is still that same 'Meeting for This point of view was not appreciated Worship', held normally on a Sunday by the justices before whom they were morning ('because it is a convenient brought. It was one of those justices who time', Friends hasten to point out) in a coined the name that has stuck ever room which is bare, uncluttered, with since. George Fox, under questioning by simple chairs or benches set in a square a certain Judge Bennett, bade the magis• or a circle, a small table in the centre trates 'tremble at the word of the Lord'. holding a bowl of flowers and a book or "So", said the judge, "we are to be quak- two for reference if required. The meet• ers, too, then?" The epithet quickly ing starts when the first person enters, caught on and became widely used in sits down and composes himself for scorn by a delighted public. meditation. Others follow, as quietly as possible. Soon the room is full: without When the 'Friends of Truth', one of a word the silence deepens. The meet• the many names by which they called ing 'centres down', as the phrase has it, themselves, came together for their Meet• as Friends wait in silent prayer and 'men• ing for Worship they sat in silence, 'wait• tal worship': a living silence, without scuf• ing upon the Lord'. Only when the Spir• fling or shifting about. A corporate si• it came upon one of them would he (or lence, which is broken only when a she) rise and speak. There was no litur• Friend is drawn to rise and offer vocal gy, no 'order of service', no set prayers ministry: which may be a short homily or and no formal sermon. William Penn, exhortation, a brief reading from the the most famous of the 'second genera• Bible or some other religious book or tion' of Quakers, has captured the phi• from the Society's own 'Advices and losophy of the meeting in a notable para• Queries', or a spoken prayer. Anyone graph, written in 1693: , 1997 THE QUAKER FAITH 191 present, member or non-member, man or woman, may speak. To the offering The Lord sustains the Universe. there is no response, no applause, no The pseudo-self which thinks it word of thanks. The words tail off into bears the silence which engulfs them. The Is like the grinning figure which speaker resumes his seat, the silent meet• seems ing continues. The meeting is closed by To carry the weight of the temple two Elders shaking hands, a token of tower. friendship which is taken up by others in If a traveller in a cart does not the circle as the group 'comes to life' Put down his baggage in the cart moving, shuffling, coughing. But carries it painfully on his head, Edgar Castle, in his book Approach to Whose is the fault? Quakerism describes the 'feel' of a Quak• — Sri Bhagavan, er meeting thus: Supplement to the Forty Verses.

One of the features of the Quaker way of worship that very soon appealed to I was trying to do they were trying to me was the fact of its strongly social do. It was just God and they and I.... character. By 'social' I mean 'related As the accent in Quakerism is on the to other persons'. It had been my ex• personal response and individual under• perience in a variety of other church• standing of spiritual matters, there is no es, Catholic, Anglican and Free creed, no required statement of belief of Church, that my attention travelled even the widest kind. This has meant along a thread leading from me to the that although in the early days the Soci• priest at the altar, or to the preacher ety was entirely Christ-centred coming in the pulpit, or may be to the organ close to fundamentalism, it has more and the choir, each in turn. But I have recently been able to admit to its meet• no memory of this binding thread ings people with less orthodox Christian passing from me around and through ideas. However, the general discipline of all those who were worshipping with silence and self-education which is me. There was far too much going on, characteristic of Friends is not to every• far too much outwardly attracting my one's taste and is sufficient to restrict interest and even demanding my at• the numbers of adherents. Total mem• tention to permit of a thought for my bership in Great Britain is now (1980) immediate neighbours. But in a Quak• somewhat less than 20,000, although er meeting I found that I was firmly there are as many again who are associ• bound to my fellow worshippers; they ated with its meetings but who do not were the only visible distraction from wish to commit themselves to formal my inward thoughts.... My fellow membership. There are nearly ten times worshippers, known and unknown, that number in the U.S.A., while other were part of me and I of them; what large congregations exist in Kenya and 192 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December

Madagascar, the result of nineteenth- towards the end of the 18th century, century missionary work, and smaller opened the first mental hospital with a groups in most western European coun• modern view of caring for the welfare of tries and in most English-speaking com• the insane. An American friend, John munities across the world. Woolman, spent much of his life seeking amity with the Indians and made long In modern times the Society has em• missionary journeys trying to persuade braced among its members a diversity of his countrymen to abandon slavery. Ed• belief. In a Quaker Meeting for Worship ucation was an early concern. Friends a thoroughgoing, Christ-centred were among the first to open schools trinitarian may sit next to one whose where girls were given just as good an thought is influenced more by Buddhist education as were the boys. Today the philosophy, while a convinced unitarian Quaker schools in Great Britain are next to him is flanked by one who is looked upon as places where character is seeking 'the Ground of our Existence'. developed and where the accent is more There is something that holds these di• on producing well-informed and well- verse characters together in a Society that intentioned citizens than on cramming means a great deal to every member, unwilling heads with information for although nobody has been able to iden• passing examinations. tify what it is. We do not attempt to con• vert each other to our personal views, Until comparatively recent times but we look upon the very different con• Quakers were barred from entering the tributions in our vocal ministry as one of universities — Oxford and Cambridge the most valuable assets we have — we abandoned religious tests for member• think it a great improvement on the ship only in the 1870s — and they were orthodox custom of having a prepared therefore excluded from the professions sermon from the same parson every for which a university education was es• week! Among ministry that I recall over sential. Their energies were thus direct• many years has been readings from The ed into industry and trade. Soon small Prophet, from the Bhagavad Gita and from businesses grew into large ones and many the stories of the Hasidim, as well as from companies that are now world-famous Christian mystics and devotional books. names have had obscure Quaker begin• nings. The 'chocolate trio' come at once Quakers have traditionally been noted to mind — Rowntree, Cadbury and Fry for their social conscience and for their were all Quaker families. Others include forward-looking ideas. They have been Reckitt & Colman, Allen & Hanbury, in the forefront of many social move• Bryant & May, Ransomes, Barclays Bank, ments and lesponsible for a number of Lloyds Bank.... the list could go on. Now- successful ideas for social reform that a-days fewer Friends make their name in were ahead of their time. One thinks commerce: more are teachers and uni• immediately of Elizabeth Fry who gave versity professors, doctors and dentists, up a brilliant social life to devote herself psychiatrists and social workers. They are to those in prison; of William Tuke who, active in many charitable organizations 7997 THE QUAKER FAITH 193 (Oxfam was founded by a group of that which tends to the peace of all.... Friends and others in Oxford) while the All bloody principles and practices we voluntary housing movement in Britain do utterly deny, with all outward wars owes much of its impetus and success to and strife and fightings with outward the involvement of Friends. weapons, for any end or under any I suppose the best known concern of pretence whatsoever.... This is our Friends generally is that for Peace. Quak• testimony to the whole world. The ers have always been completely opposed Spirit of Christ, by which we are guid• to war and many have suffered severe ed, is not changeable, so as once to penalties for their persistence in declar• command us from a thing as evil and ing themselves 'conscientious objectors'. again to move unto it; and we certain• Here, as in so many other ways, their ly know and testify to the world, that testimony, maintained through much the Spirit of Christ, which leads us personal suffering, has influenced na• into all Truth, will never move us to tional opinion so that machinery now fight and war with any man with out• exists in British law to provide in war• ward weapons, neither for the king• time for those for whom the killing of dom of Christ nor for the kingdoms another human being is just unthink• of this world. able. This peace testimony goes right In the complicated world of the 20th back to the beginnings of the Society, century the options are not so clear cut for it was as early as 1661 that George as they were; in World War II many Quak• Fox found it necessary to establish its ers pocketed their philosophy and went position, in a Declaration to King to fight the Hitler evil. But more found Charles II which is now part of Quaker they could not. They worked as mem• lore: bers of the Friends Ambulance Unit and Our principle is and our practices in other welfare operations. The Peace have always been to seek peace and Testimony stands as a central pillar of ensue it and to follow after righteous• the Quaker ideal. It is one of the basic ness and the knowledge of God, seek• convictions that unite the many differ• ing the good and welfare and doing ent people within the Society of Friends.

The faith-healers of India order their patients to repeat with full conviction the words, 'There is no illness here at all'. The patients repeat them, and this mental suggestion helps to drive off the disease. So if you think yourself to be morally weak, you will actually become so in a short time. Know and believe that you are of immense power and the power will come to you at last. — Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna. Reminiscences of Meenakshi Muruganar

WAS born the sixth daughter of Sri some time. While he was there he came I Periyakulam Krishna Iyer and to our house in Rayapuram. During his Kanakammal on the fourth day of visit, he gave a copy of Aksharamanamalai Panguni month in Saleevahana Sakabdha (The Marital Garland of Letters) com• 1823 (17.3.1902). When I was eleven, I posed by Sri Bhagavan, to my husband. was engaged to Subramanian of My husband went through this work and Ramanathapuram, son of Krishnamurthy after four days informed me that he was Iyer and Subbalakshmi Ammal. Our going to Thirukkazhikunram. However, marriage took place in Melmangalam instead, he went to Tiruvannamalai. village near Periyakulam. It was a five- When he saw Bhagavan, he felt that day celebration conducted on a grand his whole body was burning. He wept scale. and cried out, complaining of a burning Muruganar, my husband, was a tutor sensation without knowing what it was. to the third Rani's mother in The attendants around Bhagavan Ramanathapuram Palace. After the mar• thought that he was mad. One atten• riage, he served as Tamil vidvan in dant, Sri Ramakrishna Swamy rubbed Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal, Madurai. lemon juice on his head and poured Then we left that place, came to pots of water over him. He stayed there Rayapuram and settled in Kollava for several days doing meditation and Agraharam. My husband was appointed having Bhagavan's darshan. Then he re• Tamil pandit in Northwick School, turned to Madras and his job, but he Rayapuram. had little interest in his work. Meantime, my father took sannyasa Subsequently he began to go to and became one of the leading disciples Tiruvannamalai on all weekends. After of Sri Ramana Bhagavan. His sannyasin the first annual ceremony of my mother- name was Dandapani Swami. Later, my father went to Palani with Bhagavan's permission, constructed an ashram, in South Giri Street, and lived there for Excerpt from The Mountain Path, April 1981. 1997 REMINISCENCES OF MEENAKSHI MURUGANAR 195 in-law, he resigned his job and went to Aksharamanamalai during our Ramanathapuram. I had no information pradakshina. whatever about this. My neighbours Bhagavan never allowed anyone to be telegrammed to my brother about my idle. All devotees used to sit in medita• problem and he came to see me. Both of tion with closed eyes in the hall. I did us went to the school and met the head• not know how to meditate; when I mistress who was an English lady. She mentioned this to Bhagavan, he gave me said that he had resigned his job and instructions. One day I came to the hall left. I began to weep and she consoled wearing nice clothes decked with flow• me by saying that God would help me. ers. I did namaskaram to Sri Bhagavan. Then I went to Ramanathapuram with Santhammal saw this and remarked, my brother. Muruganar came to visit us "Your husband has become a sannyasi, the night we arrived I held his feet and why do you dress up like this?" (It is wept. I requested him to point out my traditional for widows and wives of faults if any that made him leave me sannyasis not to dress themselves up in alone. He gave me no reply. Then I went any way). After hearing this, I removed to Raghava Iyengar, a great Tamil scholar the flowers and went up to Bhagavan in the town and told him about my weeping. I bowed down before him. He troubles. Raghava Iyengar talked to my noticed me and asked, "Why did you husband but this had no effect. remove all your decorations?" I said that it was on the advice of Santhammal. Then Sri Muruganar left for Tiru• Immediately, Bhagavan called vannamalai. After ten days, I also went Santhammal and asked, "Why, has she there. Santhammal also came to the no husband? Why should she not deco• Ashram. I told all my sufferings to rate herself if she wants to? When any• Bhagavan and wept. Bhagavan consoled one comes to the Ashram and takes a me. I stayed in the Ashram for six ladle in the hand, he immediately thinks months. At that time the Ashram was that he is wonderful. (Santhammal was verv small. Bhagavan, Chinnaswamy, and the Ashram cook). While I am consider• Dandapani Swamy used to cook. I helped ing how best to pacify her, you hurt her them in the kitchen and it was a very deeply. Hereafter, nobody should make happy time for me. any remarks about Meenakshi". Everyday Bhagavan used to give me On one occasion, while others were ten verses from Muruganar' s works and doing meditation, I was more interested instructed me to recite them to him the in some coffee which was about to be following day. I did so regularly. Some• served. Bhagavan noticed this, laughed times I helped Bhagavan in grinding and said; "Everyone is doing meditation iddlies etc. Once a week Bhagavan used on the Self, but Meenakshi is doing cof• to go around the Hill with Kunjuswamy, fee meditation". Saranagathi Ramaswami Dandapani Swamy, Ramakrishna Swami, Iyer who came in a bullock cart entered Santhammal and others. I also used to the hall with coffee and iddlies and accompany them. We used to recite Bhagavan asked him to serve me first! 196 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December

On another occasion, someone Then he asked Viswanatha Swami and brought a big plate of prasadam and Ramakrishna Swami to look for Muru• Bhagavan asked Muruganar to distrib• ganar and bring him back. They found ute them. He distributed prasadam to him in Skandashram and brought him everyone except me. Bhagavan noticed back to the Ashram telling him that this and asked me whether I had received Meenakshi had gone to her village. He prasadam and I replied that I had not. came and sat by the side of Bhagavan Then he asked Muruganar why he had and I went before Bhagavan and did not given me prasadam and he replied; namaskaram. Then Bhagavan asked "Since she did not hold out her hand I Muruganar why he had run away instead could not give her any." When he asked, of advising her to do some meditation. "Why did you not stretch out your hand," Muruganar remained silent. I complied immediately. One day, all the devotees were sitting Muruganar stayed near the temple in in the hall. I was in tears again. Bhagavan town with Eswaraswamigal and Gopal asked me, "Why are you crying again? Rao. They used to go begging for their Did somebody tease you?" I said "No one food at noon. Muruganar used to sit talked against me, but I thought of my alone in Subramanya Temple in the miserable life and the tears just came." evening. One evening, acting on Bhagavan said, "Why don't you take my Santhammal's advice, I caught hold of advice? What is there in the family life? his feet and asked, "What mistake have I See, your father has ten children, but done? Why did you leave home? What they are not helping him. What is the will be my future?" There was no re• use? I am always here with you. Nothing sponse from Muruganar. He did not will happen, don't worry." Thus Bhagavan speak to me. He did not even look at me. consoled me. He said, "Go only to the house where they treat you well and call Soon after this incident, someone you 'Meenakshi!' with affection. The brought a piece of verse to the hall and Ashram will take care of you." submitted it to Bhagavan. Bhagavan want• ed Muruganar to read it and said: Another day he called me and gave "Muruganar has been absent for the last ten verses by Muruganar to memorise. two days. What is the reason?" In response In these verses he describes Bhagavan as to this I went to Bhagavan and told him his bridegroom, Muruganar being the what I did at the temple on Santhammal's bride. He complains that Ramana has advice. Bhagavan got angry with me and left the bride in the streets after mar• said, "Why did you act like that on riage without proper care. The verses Santhammal's advice? You see, while he are in Nayaki Nayakabava. The verse says, was here, you could see your husband. "You were once with me my wedded lord, But now he has disappeared, what will but now for a long time you have aban• you do? Hereafter, don't take others' doned me. And if I complain, you call advice and don't give trouble to our old friendship a dream that I had Muruganar". dreamt." In the version given to me, 1997 REMINISCENCES OF MEENAKSHI MURUGANAR 197 Bhagavan changed the last line, "Ramana ganar that he has not left him in the mayavane" into " Murugamayavane" (im• streets, but Muruganar has left plying thereby that Muruganar had aban• Meenakshi in the streets. Muruganar got doned me, his wedded wife). He then up laughing, but Bhagavan asked him to asked me to recite these verses in the give a reply before getting up. However, hall in the evening while Muruganar was he went away without saying anything. there. Bhagavan said, "I tried in so many I sang these ten verses in the hall while ways. It is of no use. God alone can look Muruganar was sitting by the side of after you". Bhagavan. Bhagavan then told Muru• Bhagavan was so gracious to me.

wmmmmmm^—mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

JAI SRI KRISHNA By Dilip Kumar Roy Oh, give me refuge at thy feet, And take me across the shoreless deep. Who but thyself, my Lord, can ever transform Life's thorny woods into sweet flower-gardens?

Thy mystic flute-call has, once and for all, Weaned my soul from the bondage of the world. Why then must thou in this fateful hour of night Still turn thy face away,

I know thou art compassionate : For time and again have I not thrilled To the message of thy flute But thou, alas, hast stayed invisible :

I know thou art not cruel, Lord : For has not thy cascade of blessing flown In ever~new lilts of deep delight for me? In my loneliness I hark to thee and appeal : Oh, teach me to hail thy bliss. And let me havened be At thy dawn-rose feet. Kindle, oh kindle in my soul Thy everlasting Light of lights. How else shall I ever learn to love thee Unknowing thy unutterable Self Of supernal beauty and bliss? <

How I Came to the Maharshi

By Francis Allen

HIS is the story of how Bhagavan, tant to see me disappear, perhaps for T whom I never met, came, I believe ever, into a far away monastic life. into my life. During World War II, I was Months passed, until one evening I posted from England to Ceylon, where I returned home from a particularly try• became so interested in Theravada Bud• ing day at the office feeling tired and dhism that I determined to enter the looking, I dare say, dejected. My mother Sangha. I was informed by monks there greeted me with the words: T can see that they could not give me ordination you are as keen as ever to go back to without first obtaining my parents' con• Ceylon. You have my permission, if you sent. think it will make you happy'. After being demobilized in England I That day was April 14th, 1950. The very joined a small London group studying day that, miles and miles away from Lon• Theravada, another member of which don, Bhagavan left the body. It was not was a lady who, it transpired, had been until I arrived in Bombay that I discov• to Tiruvannamalai. I discovered this one ered this: and imagining that Bhagavan day when I heard her telling a mutual was no more, I went to Colombo friend how she had gone to Sri Ramana• It was another few years before I met sramam with a personal problem. For Ethel Merston who suggested I should the first time in my life I then heard the read Arthur Osborne's book Ramana name Sri Ramana Maharshi. "Bhagavan" Maharshi. After that, with the assistance she explained, had merely smiled and of Ronald Ross, I arrived at Sri Ramana• indicated that she settle herself upon a sramam. mat in His hall. Whereupon, without What, I wonder, would Bhagavan have words passing between them, the solu• advised me if I had visited Him enroute to tion to her trouble had soon presented the Buddhist monastery? Had he warned itself to her mind. This she informed me of what was going to come of it, I her London friend, was nothing unusual should have found it impossible to be• where Bhagavan was concerned. lieve. At that time I had set my heart on I made up my mind there and then to embracing the monastic life, and any break myjourney to Ceylon at Tiruvanna• dissuasion would not have deterred me, malai. Unfortunately, although my fa• yet would have filled me with foreboding ther had agreed to my ordination as a uneasiness. No; I imagine that, simply Buddhist monk, my mother withheld her smiling, Bhagavan would have left me to permission, fearing it was only a passing go ahead and work out in my own way impulse on my part. I had returned to a what was a particularly complicated part good job in London, and she was reluc• of my destiny. 1997 BOOK REVIEWS 199

KARMA AND REINCARNATION: by Muni Narayana India with the ease and insights of the profound scholar that Prasad. 1994. Pub: D.K.Print World, F-52 Bali Nagar, he is. The book is divided into eight sections including New Delhi 110015. Pp.106, Rs.80 detailed bibliography. Of special interest to the serious THE POWER OF THE SACRED NAME: V.Raghavan's reader would be those sections dealing with the proponents Studies in Namasiddhanta and Indian Culture: Ed.by of the namasiddhanta like Bodhendra Srldhara Venkatesa WilliamJ. Jackson. 1994. Pub: Sri Satguru Publications, Ayyaval, Narayana Tirtha, and Sadasiva Brahmendra—the 40/5 Shakti Nagar, New Delhi 110007. Pp.362, Rs.300. Silent Avadhuta as he is described in theSouth and creator oiManasa Sancharare, PibareRamarasam, BruhiMukundeti Two scholarly books dealing in Indian themes, and that etc. Other rewarding features of the book are the entire too in a most systematic manner. V.Raghavan is of course translated version of the Vishnu Sahasra Nama by Raghavan quite well known for his intensely scholarly studies on and the erudite reflections on the Indian concept of the musicology and Indian aesthetics, and Muni's commen• mantra by Jackson. Above all, it is the seriousness and taries on several Upanishads are well rated. In short two dedication spelt out in every word of the book that would merit notable works. the attention of any casual reader. To borrow the words of Karma and Reincarnation, dedicated to Guru Nitya, Milton Singer, who has written a personal reminiscence of forms pa rt of Contemporary Researches in Hindu Philosophy the author, Raghavan carries his academic scholarship & Religion — a series committed to independent studies in lightly and does not overwhelm any of his readers with it. thatarea. The author spent more than two years in Fiji, in the The book remains eminently readable. South Pacific, as he says, reading, writing and occasionally — Dr. S. Murali lecturing to a group of devotees on the Bhagavad Glta. The eighth chapterwas a sort of stumbling block where the Muni TRAVELS THROUGH SACRED INDIA: by Roger Housden. found the reference to two paths of the departed souls, and 1996. Pub: HarperCollins Publ.,7/16Ansari Road, New being steadfast like the Yogis mentioned by Krishna himself, Delhi-110002. Pp.195, Rs.316. the Muni felt deeply disconcerted at the idea of teaching Travel documents about India are legion, and many a certain verses that he had himself not fully comprehended. traveller apparently, is compelled to share his/herexperienc- He meditated on the same for a whole week and came upon es of travelling through this 'exotic' land! However, in more the eye-opening third and fourth verses that clearly discrim• ways than one the book under review is different: it avoids the inated between the imperishable real and the perishable usual pitfalls and over-exaggerations found in most unreal. This distinction formed the basis for the Gita's documentations of its kind, and strives for precision and reference to the two paths as he came to understand. For a brevity. It is personal and informative atthe same time, honest self-realised soul, there is neither birth nor death — the as well as casual. The format is handy and affordable too. It Karmic cycle is only a delusion for the ajnani. Karma and includes a detailed gazetteer of sacred places and a glossary rebirth are there forthe eyes only of those who intendio see of typical Indian terms. Of course, it is intended mainly forthe it! foreigner who takes the Hindu religion and practice seriously. This concise booklet is an exploration into the concept of The book, as the author says "unfolds with the support of karma and rebirth as it is visualized variously in the Vedas, personal encounter and experience. It is the subjective view the Brahmanas, the Upanishads, the Glta and in the Brahma of a foreign eye". Sutras. Throughout the book, Muni Narayana Prasad keeps After Richard Lannoy's The Speaking Tree, a most to his theme in a sort of frontal view, never straying a bit from sensitive and 'commonsensical' book on India it is quite it, and conclusively arguing with the clarity of a Sankara and difficult to find many books on a similar topic, but Housden the virtuosity of a Ramanuja. The clarity and skill in interpre• has been able to bring across with involvement and tation, perhaps, he owes to his Guru Nitya Chaitanya Yati. commitment another document of personal experience that On the other hand, in William Jackson's work, the is perhaps, of serious and abiding relevance. We read: "Nothing more profound than tourism—seeing for seeing's virtuosity and intensity issue from V.Raghavan's highly sake - will take place unless the imagination of the pilgrim is rigorous analytical skill — the source material on to which sensitized to the deeper realities abiding there." If Lannoy's Jackson has worked out his editorial skills. Many are the has been an objective account, Housden's is subjective and chosen ways to muktiand nama sankirtanam (the repetition immediate and atthe same time 'sympathetic' in the primary of the sacred name) one among them. The Bhakti movement sense of the word. He attempts to see India as an Indian of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries produced a does, and to perceive the underlying spirituality that is wealth of devout literature that revolved round the sacred qualitatively different from its Western counterpart. names of the Lord: devotional versions of the Upanishads and the Puranas gained popular currency, and nama• That Housden is a self-reflective 'tourist' one need not siddhanta—the way of salvation by means of the name — take the pains to highlight: it is self-evident. He writes: evolved as a simple and direct path to the Ultimate. "Tourism encourages a culture of observers, instamatic V. Raghavan has written extensively on the thoughts and snappers, consumers of culture, sights, information, places visions of these singer-saint integrative traditions of South of 'interest'. None of us, least of all me, an author of a book 200 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December such as this, are untainted by it... our motivation may well be brahmanda. Its journey runs on several levels viz. as preta that of a genuine pilgrim... Yet however we like to think of (spirit properly disconnected from the dead body) and enroute ourselves, we must know that our visit can only add to the to the p/Yr-world where, as pitr the ancestor, it awaits a pressures on the place and steer it that little bit further suitable physical vehicle; or as devaon the Northern Path of towards being a secular monument instead of a source of krama mukti. Hymns are addressed to Mrtyu to make its awe and veneration." (p.219) Tourism is fine, butthesacred- voyage one of solace and peace to protect the ill-fated one ness of the place is finer. from getting transformed into a ghost (pisacha) unable to The entire account running into more than 200 pages can disconnect from the corpse, tormented by delusions of be read atone sitting - the production is excellent and spelling physical thirst and hunger. A fate, hellish. 'Renting' by some errors few (barring the most notable error in spelling Gandhi, sorcerers may make it extra hellish. Thirst (trshna) being the which has been printed as Ghandi (p.5) ). The cover daughterofKama passion, and Rati pleasure, is delusive to photograph by Judith Bromley deserves special mention for the core. A permanent lesson to pull the mind away from its blood instincts and to seek the self instead. its exceptional clarity in capturing the echoes of light and shadow, which in fact could be seen as a fit illustrative There are interesting discussions in the second book comment on Housden's enterprise. Yama as to how the deities get their names. A scholarly — Dr. S. Murali analysis by its author shows yama and yam/as day and night, MRTYU: Concept of Death in Indian Tradition: by Gian the two children of dawn ie Vivasvat, embracing the sky. She Giuseppe Filippi. Tr. By Antonio Rigopoulos.1996. traces the root meanings of Nirrti, Swapna and Kala Pp.xii+258, Rs.325. (kalyamana, being killed). The name Nirrti, for example, YAM A: The Glorious Lord of the Other World: by Kusum P. combines nir and rti, negation of order, conceived as a Merh. 1996. Pp.xvi+302, Rs.340. malevolent goddess who brings disease and destruction. A Both from D.K.Printworld, Sri Kunj F-52, Bali Nagar, New passage from Satapatha Brahmana which identifies hunger with death is as follows: "Verily there was nothing here in the Delhi 110015. beginning. By death this Universe was covered, by hunger The wise man is not afraid to die, because that is where because death is hunger." the journey from confusion to clarity begins, as evident from the life of a Jesus Christ in the past or a Ramana Maharshi We get an explanation forthe obvious need of sacrifices. of our day. Light follows darkness, joy follows sorrow, so "If one does not offer oblations Death would get hold of him turns the wheel of birth and death acknowledged as a major in every world and if he offers oblations to Death, he wards part of the suffering that has to be borne by all beings, tossed off Death in every world, even hunger." from side to side going up and down the cycle. In this Similar observations are made by Prof.Filippi in his Mrtyu mysterious territory how much is taught, preached and with elaborate accounts of the living rituals and beliefs in traversed in the name of spiritual journey, pilgrimage or holy today's India, including mock sacrifices and comparisons trip! between birth and death rites, between garbhadhana and Death is not quite an end. It is only a disguise for the pinda dana. The use of sesame, its black seeds in preparing beginning of a rebirth process. The repeated metaphor for sweet pindas, the crows representing p/'frand the black ram this phenomenon is that of a snake which frees itself from its sacrificed while practising witchcraft, all agree in ditto with old skin. The entry into a Hindu temple, passing through the the dark world of the dead. In heaven the dead assume a entrance door under the signs of death and rebirth (kala- shining body free from imperfections. These are not Hindu klrtimukha), a vestibule (mandapa) and interior halls upto superstitions, lifted from any unsound belief or ritual prac• the sanctum sanctorum (garbha-grha) symbolises the dying tice. The whole of the first book, in fact, revolves around to the external world and being reborn to a more sacred this single theme of the supernatural to protect us from condition. These are/the consolations of Hindu philosophy unbelief and to honour the Aryan system of worship and that Mrtyu offers us from the start. prayer 'going back to time immemorial'. An added merit is that its original Italian text has been translated into English This study on the phenomenon of death focuses on each by Antonio Rigopoulos, the well-known biographerauthorof aspect of the y/Va; its pinda stage, as Human Life from the Life of Sai Baba ofShirdi. Conception to Birth, the Structure of Human Being, the End of Bodily Life, Transformation of the Deceased into Ancestor The author of the second book seems to be stitching a and lastly its Journey to the Kingdom ofYama, interspersed garland of thousand names of Yama apart from further with chapters of Agony and its Rites, The Last Sacrifice, and elucidations on Yama, the Preacher and Yama, the Law- Funerals without Cremation — tour de force of Hindu Giver. We learn that Mrtyu is mentioned both as a god and samskaras. The infinitesimal egg {pinda) having lost its a goddess in the Mahabharata. "The goddess Mrtyu was individual existence somewhere in the cosmos, when further created by Brahma out of his wrath and was ordered by him contact is made with the seed of life provided by its would-be to kill the creatures. Unwilling to do such a cruel task, she parents, begins to recall its origin. It is like the tiniest particle protested. On being rebuked by Brahma for her disobedience, of black joining the larger blackness. Yatha pinda tatha she wept. As her tears got collected in her cupped palms, 1997 BOOK REVIEWS 201

Brahma transformed those tears into dreadful diseases internal details, the romantic work destroys the history that it which would kill people." is said to recount. Moreover, distinguished scholars had denied credibility to the Acts of Thomas. The historicity of the Dr.Merh's research stretches across ancient commen• tradition that St. Thomas came to India has been rejected by taries of Sayana and Yaska's classification, beautifully tailored scholars like Jacques Basnage (historiographer of 17th to the text as an introductory chapter. The author assembles century), Bishop Stephen Neill (in his History of Christianity passages from Yama mythology and presents to the readers in India, Cambridge University Press, 1984), Dr. A.D. Burnell, Heaven/Hell, Dharma associated with Yama and his parallels Rev. James Hough and others. with Agni, Varuna, Soma and Kala. Her list of comparisons multiplies and the naming of the deities grows thick like a Perhaps, the best known event in St. Thomas' life is the forest. One cannot afford to ignore the plenty of printing one from which the phrase 'doubting Thomas'developed. In mistakesfrom a D.K. Printworld intent on a 'Reconstructing John 20.19.29, he was not among those disciples to whom Indian History and Culture' series. Nevertheless I read these the risen C h rist first appea red .When they told the i ncred u lo us two books with mounting satisfaction. Thomas, he requested physical proof of the Resurrection. It was fulfilled when Christ re-appeared and specifically asked A treasure hunt for the occult readers and lovers of Thomas to touch His wounds. His sudden realization of Vedic tradition. Truth ("My Lord and my God") made Thomas the first person — R.Ramasami to explicitly acknowledge Jesus' divinity.

THE MYTH OF SAINT THOMAS, AND THE MYLAPORE According to the 4th century Ecclesiastical History of SHIVA TEMPLE: by Ishwar Sharan. 1996. Pub: Voice of Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea, Thomas evangelized Parthia India, 2/18, Ansari Road, New Delhi 110002. Pp.290, (modern Khorasan in north-eastern Iran). Thomas' Rs.100. subsequent history is uncertain. But it suited the Portuguese In India, instances are many where symbol creates the Catholic missionaries of the early 16th century to resurrect actual which in turn becomes the symbol. In the form of a St. Thomas and his Indian assignment from the Acts of story, picture or a song, myth touches on man's basic rela• Thomas. tion to his world and fellow-beings, on his original roots, his Tracing the origin of the South Indian version of the St. future possibilities and destiny. Thomas fable, the author, on the authority of T.K. Joseph's But, to fabricate a myth and foist it with sinister design on book, Six St. ThomasesofS. India pinpoints that the story did another's ancient culture is condemnable and needs to be not take its final shape until 1892 in which year one Vargese exposed. It is in this strain that the author has taken cudgels Palayur composed the Rabban Pattu which was supposed against the myth of St. Thomas who is supposed to have tc be a summary of a non-existent St. Thomas Song of 1601. preached Christianity in Malabar and Mylapore and attained The Vatican has since declared the apostolate of St. Thomas martyrdom atthe hands of'fanatic' Hindus in the first century in South India as unverified, butthe authorpoints out that "the A.D. The author also marshals facts from authentic sources Roman CatholicChurch in India then and now is still the only to prove that the KapalTswara Temple in Mylapore (a suburb entity that reaps any benefit from the propagation of the myth of Chennai) was originally situated not in its present site but among Indians". The author is sore that the entry in the at the place where the San Thome Church now stands. prestigious Encyclopaedia Britannica written by a Catholic scholar is built on the alleged South Indian adventure of St. The ulterior motive, according to the author, for fabricat• Thomas. [The author has now received a reply from the ing and sustaining the myth of St. Thomas by certain Editorial Office of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chicago, as• sections of the missionaries are three-fold: (i) the 16th suring him that the information contained in his book has century Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries needed a pious been referred to the editor concerned "so that the article can story of persecution to cover-up their own persecution of the be revised in future printings of Britannica"]. Hindus, (ii) to present Christianity as an indigenous Indian religion, and not a Western import, that can rightly claim in parts II to IV of this book is reproduced inter alia a religious hegemony in India and (iii) to help the community- 20-year-old episode of Acharya Paul (alias Ganesh Iyer) who conscious Syrian Christians to cling to their claim to be Jews was allegedly induced by an Archbishop of Madras diocese or Brahmins, the latter descendants of Namboodiri Brahmins to concoct a thesis with forged palm-leaf scrolls to claim that converted by St. Thomas in the first century. Owing to the St. Thomas had converted Tiruvalluvar to Christianity and myth, San Thome Church, St. Thomas Mount and the Our that Tirukkural was based on Biblical thought; and another Lady of Health Church on Little Mount (all in Chennai) stand article titled The Legend of a Slain Saint to Stain Hinduism sanctified for their holy association with Apostle St. Thomas. by Swami Tapasyananda who was provoked by write-ups in the Madras edition of the Indian Express that gave credence The St. Thomas myth owes its origin to the apocryphal to the St. Thomas myth. Acts of Thomas originally composed in Syriac around 210 A.D. and later translated into Greek. The author quotes The author admits that this Apostle of India' tradition is summarized passages therefrom to show how by its own not an 'article of faith' for Christians and that Protestants 202 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December

reject it outright as a Catholic superstition (p. 109). At this scholars and other reliable authorities to belong to a much point in time, one would rather agree with the more reason• earlier, pre-historicepoch. In his book on this epicthe late Sri able view presented by Papal Chevalier D'Cruzwho writes in C. Rajagopalachariar has stated that the Ramayana is not St. Thomas the Apostle in India that "Catholics who venerate history or biography but part of Hindu mythology and that the tomb are not compelled to believe in its genuineness; and mythology is an integral part of religion. David Frawley has they know well that it is a question of evidence and that they unmasked the fallacy of regarding the devotees of Siva and may be mistaken as to the fact. They regard it, in any case, Vishnu as incompatible sects dominating popular religious in the light of a memorial whereby the saint is remembered faith in north and south India, respectively. and honoured". Even so, one cannot brush aside Ishwar Frawley's book comes as an eye-opener to misguided Sharan's challenging question in this book as to why this Westerners and anti-Hindu zealots of the brand of the manufactured history should find safe berth in speeches of infamous American author Katherine Mayo. There is much India's secular leaders and continue to be pampered in force in his exposure of the moral perversity of many Occi• pamphlets and by the Press for cheap tourist publicity dental writers and religious groups in maligning Hinduism as inspite of apprising the Press of the facts. well as India and trying to prejudice the minds of gullible — La.Su. Rengarajan Indians themselves with the evil motive of conversion to theirfaith. ARISE ARJUNA: by David Frawley.1996.Pub: Voice of — Dr. T. Sankaran India, Ansari Rd., New Delhi 110002. Pp. 228, Rs.100. This book subtitled Hindusim and the Modern World, is PATHWAY TO GOD IN THE VEDAS: by K.D.Sangoram, divided into four broad sections—social, religious, historical edited by B.R.Kulkarni. 1995. Pub: Prof.B.R.Kulkarni, and cultural issues, each consisting of short articles. Hindu• A-4-2, Postal Colony, Hotgi Road, Solapur413 003. ism is in a crisis and is often being grossly misinterpreted, Pp.349, Rs.80. both in and outside India, as an exclusive and intolerant The Vedas are an authoritative, ancient and yet a peren• religion marred by so-called fundamentalism. The author nial source for philosophical concepts and religious beliefs contradicts this distorted view and holds that other religions in India. Most of our cultural traditions and spiritual practices are, in fact, dogmatic, exclusive and fanatical, lacking the are derived from them. Several famous sages, saints and ideological diversity, multifarious approaches to Divinity, scholars, such as Sankara and Sayana, have provided cultural richness and global, nay even cosmological, outlook commentaries and interpretations for Vedic hymns or suktas. promoted in Hinduism. He lauds the efforts of modern There is an esoteric significance in all the acts of daily teachers like Aurobindo and Vivekananda to revitalize Hindu• worship. The intuitive conclusions ofJnanis and the exper• ism and to save it from the frequent onslaught of rank imental as well as experiential findings of scientists are materialism and corrupting alien influences. He citesevidence present in a cryptic seed-form in the Vedas. Sri Ramana's from the Mahabharata that India is perhaps the oldest example of the peacock-egg containing in a potential form civilised and culturally advanced nation in the world. Among all the beauty and grandeur of the adult male's plumage the people of India there has always been a steady presents a similar idea. undercurrent of understanding and acceptance while in the West religious divisions and discords have generally led to Sri K.D.Sangoram, an erudite Sanskrit scholar who was widespread, brutal suppression and persecution. The author also well-versed in English and several Indian languages, also upbraids the hypocrisy of his own country, the U.S.A. had originally selected much of the material, covered in this using (rather misusing) the issue of human rights only posthumous book, and serialised it in Bhavan's Journal against some of the countries, particularly in Asia, which Although the selections are mostly from the Rgveda many of followtheirownindependentdomesticandforeign policies. the hymns appear in other Vedas with some variations. He The Unity of Thought as taught in all religions and the virtue had also consulted classical metaphysical literature like the of tolerance are discussed in the light of practical Vedanta, BhagavatGita, Bhagavata and Mahabharata as well as the followed by an account of Swami Rama Tirtha's views on Bible, besides a number of Vedic scholars. The thoughts Christianity and Islam. Two further articles give a wealth of enshrined in the Vedas were studied by him in comparison information on Prophet Mohammed, Sufism and the Islamic with those of Western philosophers, such as Descartes, attitude to spiritual realisation. The author challenges the James and Socrates. The editor has chosen for this book a myth of the so-called Aryan' and 'Dravidian' races invented wide range of Vedic hymns containing references to God. by British and other invaders to split Indian society and to The texts of all Chapters are mainly English translations, exploitgroup rivalries to further their own cultural, economic interpretations and brief comments based on the hymns. and political interests. He tries to trace the ancestry of Incentives to and preparation for spiritual life are explained in Ravana of the Ramayana and to inter-relate the two hostile the first two of the ten Chapters in the book. In the second camps known as Devas and Asuras in Puranic lore in a chapter Manolaya and Unmana are quoted from Vedic historical context. Here David Frawley treads on slippery prayers (the latter term connoting what Bhagavan called ground because the Avatar of Rama is held by very learned Manonasa). The third chapter is rather dubiously titled 'The 1997 BOOK REVIEWS 203

Problem of God' because if it is earnestly sought as to whom communicate 'something', through means themselves in God is a 'problem' it will be realised that the seeker and the harmony with it. sought have no independent existence and that there is A short stimulating essay by Dr. William Pullen, Reflec• therefore no problem for either! The relationship of God, tions on Suffering, draws attention to our common material Guru and Disciple is discussed in the next two chapters, the destiny and underlines the human species' determination to fifth elaborating on the greatness and glory of Agni as a persist against all odds, while R.Mohan's case for sports supreme teacher. The significance of God's name(s) is argues for its value as an ennobling concept. brought out in the sixth chapter. Methods of meditation are summarised in the seventh. Obstacles to spiritual progress The overall concern that unites all the extracts is the and the ways of overcoming them are dealt with in the eighth abiding sense of the spiritual, that which is for instance while the subsequent one outlines the various modes of reflected in such statements like: Music is but one of the spiritual experience. The last chapter recounts the effects of paths that can point us towards the Great Silence that is God-realisation. The Editor well concludes that the Self is God (p.129); or again: We must find a way to lead our essentially of the nature of God, both being chaitanya, and business life in harmony with our inner life (p. 202). It is, in that the goal of Vedic philosophy is the experience of the Bliss otherwords, the recognition of the interconnectedness of all of Brahman which he terms supernal peace (para santi). and everything that leads us to the ultimate sense of value, and that is spiritual. It is this truth that is upheld by the entire Each chapter closes with selected Vedic hym ns germane book in toto. In a world gone astray underthe powerful sweep to the text. There is an Index of Vedic Mantras and a General of a technocratic-minded generation single minded in Index is also provided. sole pursuit of creature comforts a book like Values would certainly provide the key to a meaningful life! This is a very useful publication for laymen as well as scholars. — Dr.Usha V.T. — Dr.T.Sankaran LIVING WISDOM—-Vedanta in a World Community: Ed. By PravrajikaVrajaparna. 1995.Pub:Sri Ramakrishna Math, VALUES: The Key to a Meaningful Life. (A Vedanta Kesari Mylapore, Chennai 600004.pp. 300, Rs.85. Presentation). 1996. Pub: Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras The relevance of Vedanta as a philosophy and a way of 600 004. Pp.220, Rs.30. life in the modern context is very well brought out by this book A valuable volume indeed, a collector's item! NeatJy which has articles on different aspects of Vedantic philoso• produced in a handy format the book definitely worth more phy, written by 34 authors, mostly from U.S.A. associated than its quoted price is a collection of twenty six essays with Ramakrishna Order. The compendium has been edited preceded by an introduction by Swami Tyagananda and an by Pravrajika Vrajaparna, an American nun of the Vedanta analytic and interesting introductory essay by Swami Society of Southern California in Santa Barbara. Bhajanananda, both of the Ramakrishna Math. The articles are neatly grouped in 4 parts. Part-1 deals The introduction bears an epigraph from the Austrian with different aspects of Vedanta as a philosophy founded on born British philosopher Wittgenstein: "Aterrible business. ancient Indian scriptures. Part-2 provides an appreciation of You can best stammer when you talk about them!" And Vedanta with reference to the philosophy propounded by apparently the producers of this collection considered it other religions notably Judaism and Christianity. Part-3 deals better at least to stammer about values if the alternative with the practice of Vedantic concepts in real life situations. happens to be silence! The topics discussed range widely Part-4 presents some salient features of the lives of from family to public administration, from cinema to medi• Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, Sarada Devi and Swami cine, from society to sports. Vivekananda, besides referring to the concept of Avatar and Mother Goddess in Indian scriptures. In the introductory essay on Values, Yoga and Reality the The articles abound in many inspiring and pithy state• definition offered by Radhakamal Mukherjee is cited: "The ments which are admirable not only for their literary beauty psychological and social sciences dealing with values define but also forthe depth of their meaning. Some are recounted them as mere preferences, as desirable goals, emotions here. and interests. The humanistic disciplines, on the other hand, define them as functioning imperatives or 'oughts'". Society Vivekananda is projected as the prophet of self-reliance, cannot exist without a sense of values, and further, it is not of courage, of individual enquiry and effort. He had two always what the individual considers as valuable, but what messages to deliver: One to the East, the other to the West. the entire society desires, that becomes a pursuable 'value'. In the United States and in England, he preached the In a way, values are the higher normative needs of humanity. universality of religious truth, attacked materialism and While for the Dalai Lama, compassion is the compelling advocated spiritual experiment, as againstdogma and tradi• value, for Alan Arkin the actor, value is the commitmentto the tion. In India he preferred to stress the ideal of social service. theatrical enterprise, a reaching out to the people to To each, he tried to give what was most lacking. 204 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December

Physicists seek a theory which would unify our under• NINE HEADED DRAGON RIVER: by Peter Matthiessen. standing of all the various physical forces, by showing their 1987. Pub:Shambhala, Horticultural Hall, 300 Massa• interrelatedness. What humanity at large needs is a new chusetts Av., Boston, Mass 02115, U.S.A. Pp.288, understanding of self, God, world, purpose, which can serve $16.25. as the basis for creative action and discovery. It cannot be a Though the book under review was published in 1987,1 dogmatic creed which claims to answer all questions and thought it was worth bringing it to the notice of readers. thereby deaden all creative thought and action. It needs to be Matthiessen is a professional writer who has a long distin• open-ended, dynamic, releasing human potential and yet guished literary career behind him. One of his more notable harmonising, unifying while respecting diversity. Religion for books was The Snow Leopard, an account of his journey to the Vedantin lies in being and becoming, not in believing remote northern Nepal which became a meditation on the and proclaiming. ephemeral nature of existence centered round the then The articles stress thatthe finite cannot comprehend the almost mythical snow leopard. infinite. Reason can lead us only to a certain point after which The title of the book refers to the river by which Dogen faith must take over and carry us to the final realisation of built the monastary that became the mother-house for Soto God. Goethe says: "Man's highest happiness as a thinker is Zen in Japan. In this sense it refers to the eternal spring, the to have fathomed what can be fathomed, and to bow down in uncompromising reality of true knowledge which is the reverence before the unfathomable". bedrock of our existence. Religion specialises in the invisibles that science cannot What is fascinating about the author's inner and outer touch. The stage seems to be set for the twenty-first century journeys of discovery is his ability to verbalise the process of to accept religion (and its ally, art) as equal partners to walking it using his powers as a writer. Usually such ac• science in discerning the full range of reality. counts are written by amateurs in this art, so we are fortunate The best among the options provided by the pluralistic in this respect. I wonder what transformation occured in the approach to creation and life is the one that is available last 10 years since the author published it? through Vedanta reinterpreted and exemplified by Sri It is interesting to follow the sense of wonder as each Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. Their approach unconscious thought or attachment is revealed and dropped toward plurality of religions may be called the harmonious in the secure environment of Zen Buddhism as it grew in approach. This approach has the unique advantage of America under the safe eyes of Japanese masters. The fulfilling the aspirations of all concerned without destroying author recounts the gradual transition of an alien tradition into anyone's innate faith. American Zen. It is a painful process, stumbling and quick, Every religion has a special bent, a char acteristicfeature, doubtful and incisive as the Japanese mind welds and a unique trait. In Islam it is the spirit of equality and brotherhood; collides with an American mind that in many regards is its Christianity—emphasis on love and sacrifice exemplified by opposite. Forthis reason alone the book is worth reading, for Christ; Buddhism — stress on renunciation, compassion there is a fundamental question: How can Oriental Spirituality and rationality; Hinduism—its principle of the basic unity of in all its garbs be it Hindu, Buddhist or whatever, convey and the universe in consciousness, the insistence on the need for retain the essence of theirteachings shorn of the accretions. direct mystical experience, the spirit of acceptance and its The process by which Buddhism transited to China from extraordinary powerof assimilation. India and became original in its own right is an historical example. How now America? The author does not and Pico Iyer's article 'Silence' points out that we have to earn cannot be expected to give a solution, rather he presents the silence, then, to work for it; to make it not an absence but a dilemma in such precise, personal observations, with one left presence; notemptiness but repletion. Silence is something the wiser not with an answer, but with insight. more than just a pause; it is the enchanted space in which things open up and surfaces fall away and we find ourselves His story is our story on the way. in the midst of absolutes. If noise is the signature tune of the — 'Peter Picqlmann' world, silence is the m usic of the other world. We babble with COMING HOME: The Experience of Enlightenment in Sacred strangers; only with intimates can we be silent. A thought Traditions: by Lex Hixon. Pub: Larson Publ., 4936, NYS when repeated becomes a tendency, a tendency when Route 414, Burdett, NY14818, U.S.A. 1995. Pp.215, repeated becomes a habit, and a habit when repeated $14. becomes character. In Maurice Maeterlinck's immortal story two children of a All the articles make excellent reading and provide plenty forest woodman go out in search of that most wondrous bird of material for further analysis and contemplation. —the bluebird of happiness — and after many adventures This is an excellent source book for understanding return home to find that it is right there in their own humble Vedanta in its different aspects. It is also a good handbook home. Likewise, throughout the ages, man has gone on a to help us practice Vedantic precepts in life situation. spiritual journey seeking, in all the great mystical traditions of — C. V.Narasimhan. the world, the ultimate goal of all spiritual experience called 7997 BOOK REVIEWS 205

Enlightenment only to discover that it has always been his, The Svetasvatara Upanishad described God or Guru as right here in the cave of his own heart. All his search had been amrtasyaparamasetu orthe prefect bridge between mortal• essentially a 'going away'whereas what was necessary was ity and immortality. The learned introduction by Dr.Atreya is to see the futility of this and to 'come home'—back to the still an exhaustive treatise on the philosophy of the Yoga Vasishta. centre of one's primal divine nature. Sri Ramana says it It requires a very great erudition and semantic skill to present simply: to abide in the Self is enlightenment the powerful dialogue of Vasishta in clear terms intelligible even to a lay reader. Saints of Advaita philosophy like In Coming Home which was his first book (1978), Lex Gaudapada, Gauda Abhinanda, Vidyaranya, Narayana Bhatta Hixon explores the question of what is enlightenment and etc. have repeatedly referred to it in their works. Legends how it operates in the life and behaviourand sayings of great attribute the authorship to Sage Valmiki. There are referenc• mystics and saints — Plotinus, St. Paul, Sri Ramakrishna, es in the textto typical Madhyamika-usages like vijnanavada, Ramana Maharshi, Jewish soul masters of the Hasidic way, sonyavada, madhyamika etc. However its essential Advaita Sufi Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, Heidegger and J. Krishnamurti. character is clearly delineated in its clear exposition of the Showing that however different the various traditions appear concept of non-duality, of Brahman, nescience etc. they nevertheless have a universal core of profound insights into the nature of God and the Godhead, these ten essays Yoga Vasishta starts from man's eternal quest: "What primarily attemptto kindle an intellectual and spiritual awak• are we born for? Why are we born?" The same question that ening in aspirants leading ultimately to the direct revelation entered the mind of young Venkataraman at a very tender age that God is consciousness as oneself—the Self that lights at Madurai seems to have entered the mind of Lord Rama up all sentient beings. aeons ago. Lord Rama, the representative man atthe cross• roads declares, "I therefore want to know if there is any state Illustrating this dramatically are the ecstatic letters of of existence attainable, which is above the sufferings and Yaeko, a twenty five year old Japanese girl, whose experience sorrows of life". Vasishta replies to Rama that true joy comes of enlightenment in various stages is woven into the so-called where there is no desire for any object in one's mind: it is the Ox-herding pictures of 12th Century China depicting the abiding bliss belonging to the very nature of our Self forwhich spiritual quest—the search foran elusive Ox that roams wild we have to go nowhere outside. Fate is nothing but the in the rainforest and which is essentially one's intrinsicTrue inevitable consequence of our own already accomplished Nature; the taming of the Ox and bringing it home, the ecstasy efforts. Hence fate can be easily overcome by our present of enlightenment with the sudden realisation thattherewas efforts. Self can be known by preparing oneself through the no Ox at all and the final resolution where one comes back quality of contentment, peace of mind, association with the to a natural way of living albeit in an entirely new dimension. wise and rational investigation. Like Sri Ramana, Vasishta The chapter on Sri Ramana's Way of Natural Enlighten• also declares "there is no other means of knowing the Self ment shows commendable understanding of the subtle than our own self-enquiry". Behind the panorama of objects teaching, but abounds in concocted biographical details perceived in the world, there is an all enveloping and subter• and careless language ("Ramana was walking with some ranean Unity called Brahman. All perceived objects are the friends"). modification of this all enveloping Superconsciousness. The objective world is a manifestation of mind which is essentially The last chapter suggests a meditation cloned from the a bundle of successive thoughts. Every mind creates its own practical aspects from diverse traditions. world like a spider weaving a web from matter from its own All in all, Lex Hixon's presentation may not be very belly. Mind creates its world through its own thought process. profound but it certainly makes compelling reading. Interestingly Yoga Vasishta says "Every mind being the manifestation of the same cosmic Mind, represents all other — Prema Rao individual minds also as ideas within itself. The common ideas of us all give us the appearance of a common world. THE VISION AND THE WAY OF VASISHTA (Vasishta That is, there are worlds within worlds ad-infinitum." A maze Darsanam): Comp.by B.L Atreya; Tr.by 'Samvid'. 1994. of mirrors! Pub.Indian Heritage Trust, 573 Mount Road, Chennai 600006. Pp.583, Rs. 175. The evolution of an objective world within a mind is like Yoga Vasishta a remarkable book portraying the inner objectificationof an idea in a dream. Every world-evolution is mystical vision of the Absolute with clearexpressionsandin followed by an involution. Echoing the thoughts of the telling idioms is a dialogue between the Sage Vasishta, and Tathagata, Vasishta declares that the dynamicforce behind the disciple—Lord Rama himself. The original compilation the manifestation of all the objects in the world is desire. which can be termed as the mother of the present book had Imagination coupled with desire creates the objective world been published by Dr.B.L.Atreya as a part of his doctoral and the sense organs to enjoy the objects. Schopenhauer thesis as far back as 1928, drawing largely from the Sanskrit would be very comfortable with Vasishta when the Sage commentary by Ananda Bodhendra Saraswati. The present declares "Even if death can bring about the total dissolution translation is by 'Samvid' who has done tremendous justice of a person, it would be a desirable consummation. Death is to the task on hand. only a change of experience and it is only those persons who 206 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December-

have realised identity with the Absolute and become liberated problems and universal values. These values are centered in their life that, having given up their physical body, do not on love,compassion and calmness of mind. He makes the undergo any further experience in the world as there are no point that these are important for all, theists or atheists. At desires to fructify. After death they attain the stage of Nirvana every stage of life we depend on the compassion of others. and merge with Brahman or Absolute Reality. A calm mind contributes to health and can be developed. Vasishta gives a very interesting prognosis that all phys• Says the Dalai Lama,"Each individual human being has in ical disorders have their place in mental disorders: which well himself the potential or seed of these good qualities. The anticipates modern medical theory. ^ question is whether we want to make the effort or not.... We can change our minds through mentai training, just as we Yoga Vasishta is a very radical work in the sense that it train ourphysical bodies".(p.20) regards bondage and freedom only as stages, of mind and determined by it. The two are there because we think we are The Dalai Lama comes regularly to South India to visitthe finite beings. Sri Bhagavan says "Actionsform no bondage. Tibetan refugee communities in Karnataka. He is less often Bondage is only the false notion 'I am the doer'. Leave out in Tamilnadu. Hopefully this new pavilion in Auroville will be such thoughts and let the body and senses play their roles, afocusformutualenrichmentthrough practical and cultural unimpeded by your interference". (Talks 46). exchange. —Sunyata Like Ramana Maharshi (Upadesa Saram, Verse No.9) Vasishta says that Yoga consists of brahma bhavana i.e. intuiting oneself to be identified with the Absolute using (means) upayas, like manonasa, prana nirodha etc. Vasishta BOOKS RECEIVED describes 7 stages on the progressive path of Self realisation. From the fourth 'stage' onwards one is established as RAMANA SAHASRANAMAM: by JagadTswara Sastry. Tr.by JTvanmukta. According to Yoga Vasishta, there is no distinc• A.R. Natarajan. [English transliteration without Sanskrit tion; man or woman, anybody can be a candidate for self- script]. Pub: Ramana Maharshi Centre for Learning, realisation. Bangalore 560 003. pp340, Rs.145. The beauty of Yoga Vasishta consists in the fact that all THE SONG OF THE SOUL: Comp. &tr. Sw. Gabhlrananda these are convincingly explained with appropriate similies, pp.77, Rs16; Pub: Sri R.K. Math, P.O. Puranattukara, metaphors and stories. There are 55 stories in all. Some of Kerala 680 551. [Gems from the scriptures selected from them familiar like that of Janaka, Bali, Prahlada and some of the Upanishads, Glta, Bhagavata, Ramakrishna- them which can be found only here. Vivekananda literature (with Sanskrit slokas), Bible & The present work is a comprehensive abridgement of Koran. Offers lofty themes for meditation & prayers. The the voluminous Yoga Vasishta which contains 32,000 assiduous aspirant after Truth can see the light of Self- stanzas. It has been beautifully classified so as to present a Realization break through every syllable of these systematic flow. The philosophy has been thoroughly expressive stanzas so well translated. Whoever repeats enunciated. The stories have been excluded in this compila• the Song of the Soul in faith is bound to benefit in every tion (except a summary of them in chapter 4 of the introduc• way]. tion). The translation is very lucid. The translator has mercifully GRACEFUL EXITS: Death stories of Tibetan, Hindu & Zen avoided the temptation to use long sentences to be in Masters: Comp. & ed. by Sushila Blackman. Pub: conformity with the prosody of the original text. Another Weatherhill Inc., 568 Broadway Suite 705, NY 10012. remarkable feature is the very clear print, error-free presen• pp160,$12.95. tation and price. The book would definitely be a boon to any [NEEM: A Users Manual (English) pp96, Rs75 (& Tamil serious readerof philosophy. pp188, Rs.25). PLANTS IN PEST CONTROL: (3 Books) — S.Ram Mohan Persian Lilac, pp30, Rs25; Garlic & Onion, pp38,Rs30; Pongan, Tulasi & Aloe (English/Tamil) pp33,Rs25. THE DALAI LAMA IN AUROVILLE: 1994.Pub:Pavilion of TREATMENT FOR POISONS IN TRADITIONAL MEDI• Tibetan Culture, Auroville, 605101. Pp46. CINE: pp66, Rs60. OPHTHALMOLOGY IN This small commemorative volume marks the occasion TRADITIONAL MEDICINE: pp58, Rs50. of the laying of a foundation stone by the Dalai Lama forthe RITUCHARYA: LIVING ACCORDING TO SEASONS: Pavilion of Tibetan Culture, which is to be built in Auroville. (Hindi) pp87, Rs50 It includes talks by the Dalai Lama, an interview with him, a PRAKRUTHI: AN AYURVEDIC GUIDE FOR HEALTH discussion on alternative education and background infor• pp65, Rs75. mation. It shows that the work at Auroville is creative, All by Dr.K. Vijayalakshmi/K.M. Shyam Sundar/ continuing and expanding. It does not detail how this new A.V. Balasubramanian/R. Nanal. Pub: Centre for Indian oavilion will be paid for or what it will cost. Knowledge Systems, 2,25th East St., Madras 600 041]. The talk by the Dalai Lama is concerned with global 1*)

Celebration of 101st anniversary of Sri Bhagavan's Advent at Arunachala

At Delhi Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, former President of India, presided over the function.

A public function was organised by the Ramana He released the special Souvenir entitled Ramana Kendra, Delhi to commemorate the 101st anniversary Gyan brought out by the Kendra, as well as a book of of Sri Bhagavan's advent at Arunachala on Tamil poems by Srimati Mahalakshmi Suryanandan, September 1. entitled Ramana Potri. Speaking on the occasion he Swami Gokulananda delivered the keynote address. observed that Sri Maharshi was a phenomenon and a shining symbol of jnana marga. Celebration at Arunachala Ashrama, New York

The 101st anniversary of Sri Bhagavan's Advent at Arunachala as well as the founding of Sri Arunachala Ashrama, Nova Scotia, Canada was celebrated at Sri Arunachala Ashrama on Clyde Street, Rego Park, New York City, on August 31.

The programme consisted of talks, chanting of Aksharamanamalai of Sri Bhagavan and puja. A speech by Dennis Hartel detailing the history of the Nova Scotia Ashrama over the past twenty-five years was read out on the occasion. All the guests were treated to lunch. THE MOUNTAIN PATH December

25th anniversary of founding of Arunachala. The film was screened at the Samadhi shrine Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi of Sri Bhagavan on August 31 and September 1. This was witnessed by a large gathering of devotees on both Center in Nova Scotia, Canada. the days.

Arunachala Ashrama, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Doordarshan is also telecasting the Tamil and Hindi Maharshi Center in Nova Scotia, Canada observed the versions of this film for a period of thirteen weeks from 25th anniversary of its establishment on August 31. 2-11-97. The film can be viewed on Sundays over Devotees from the U.S. and other parts of Canada trav• DD-1 Channel between 7-30 and 8 p.m. The last elled all the way to Nova Scotia for participating in the instalment is on 25-1-98. Chennai DD-1 will telecast the function. Tamil version whereas other stations will telecast the Hindi version entitled Ramana Dhara. Srimati Sushila Ramanan, wife of the President, Sri Ramanasramam, specially flew in from Detroit in order to be present. Her rendering of devotional songs Extension of Ashram Kitchen on Sri Bhagavan by Manavasi Ramaswami Iyer was heard and Dining Hall with rapt attention by the assembled devotees. Expansion of the present kitchen and dining hall (built The day's programme was elaborate, consisting of in 1938) has become necessary on account of consid• bhajan, talks and puja. All the guests were treated to erable increase in the number of visitors. lunch. A special photo of Sri Bhagavan printed to mark the occasion was distributed to those present. An additional structure abutting the existing one and roughly modelled on it is therefore being put up on the northern side. The plinth area of the new wing is a little Arunachala Self-realisation Center, more than that of the present dining hall. With this Sri Ramana Maharshi Stillness additional facility it will be possible to serve lunch to Society, St. Petersburg, Russia. devotees in one sitting for most part of the year.

A spiritual centre named Arunachala Self-realisation Center, Sri Ramana Maharshi Stillness Society has been formed by the devotees of Sri Bhagavan living in St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Russia.

Satsang under the auspices of the Society was conducted on September 1, commemorating the 101st anniversary of Sri Bhagavan's Advent at Arunachala. The cost of the construction which commenced in August is around 15 lakhs. Work is expected to be Telefilm on Sri Bhagavan completed about the middle of 1998. A telefilm entitled Maharshi Ramana OH in Tamil M/s A.C.C. Ltd., Bombay have supplied the full consisting of 13 episodes from the life of Sri Bhagavan requirement of 100 tons of cement for the project free has been prepared by the Ramana Maharshi Centre of cost — through Dr.S. Ganguli, their Vice-Chairman for Learning, Bangalore. This is by way of celebrating and Managing Director (formerly Chairman and Manag• the 101st anniversary of the Advent of Sri Bhagavan at ing Director of IPCL, Baroda). 1997 ASHRAM BULLETIN 209 Work of Annamalai Reforestation Aradhana Society The 48th anniversary of the Brahma The Annamalai Reforestation Society is doing Nirvana of Sri Bhagavan will be celebrated valuable work in regard to restoration of the ecological at the Ashram on Friday, the 24th April, 1998. balance in the area of Arunachala Hill and its immediate environs. The effects of afforestation are already visible. Mahapuja The Hill is greener now than in the recent past and while The Mahapuja of Sri Matrubhuteswara will walking on it one hears the joyous singing of the birds. be celebrated at the Ashram on Wed-nesday, the 20th May, 1998. Rain water is properly utilised since it is absorbed by the trees planted on the Hill. Earlier the water just ran for the convenience of sadhakas, consists of a small down the slopes — with practically no arrangement for dormitory, library and kitchen. its collection or utilisation. Devotees who are interested in staying at 'Ramana The Society has the capacity to plant 20,000 sap• Griham' for limited periods for purposes of sadhana, lings annually. But, owing to practical difficulties the full may get in touch with: R.N. Khare, Sri Ramana Griham, target is not reached. As part of this year's programme, Annapurna Bhavan, 44, Subhas Nagar (Koilaghat), nearly 5,000 saplings have been planted. Ghazipur, UP.233 001.

Sri Ramana Vidya Trust and Kartigai Deepam Ramana Kendra, Chennai Deepam is one of the important festivals of India Sri Ramana Vidya Trust and Ramana Kendra, which draws massive crowds. This year this ten-day Chennai have, along with similar organisations been festival was held from December 3 to December 12. catering to the needs of the devotees of Sri Bhagavan The celebration is organised by the authorities of the at Chennai by organising various activities. Sri Ramana Arunachaleswara Temple, Tiruvannamalai. Vidya Trust has since merged with Ramana Kendra. Hereafter there will be one organisation named Ramana The lighting of the Deepam (beacon) at sunset on Kendra Trust, Chennai with Srimati Meenakshi the tenth day on the summit of Arunachala represents Anantaswami as Chairperson. not merely the last item in the celebration but the most important one as well. Ramana Griham, Ghazipur The deities are taken in procession each day with different decorations and mounts. The bull mount made Ghazipur (UP) is an ancient spiritual centre some 75 of silver is colourful and picturesque. It is unique for the KM east of Varanasi (Banaras), where the Ganga takes reason that it is the biggest of its kind in India. a turn towards the north. By convention followed since the days of Sri Bhagavan Sri R.N. Khare, members of his family and friends a function is also held in the quadrangle of the Ashram. have built at Ghazipur (on the banks of the Ganga) a Here a small deepam is lit immediately after the lighting centre known as Ramana Griham. This centre, intended of the Deepam on the summit and Aksharamanamalai is chanted. Sri Arunachaleswara on the bull mount 210 THE MOUNTAIN PATH December OBITUARY parts of the world. Her journeys took her to such remote areas as Chinese Turkestan, the Caucasus, the Tien H.W.L. Poonja Shan Mountains etc. For most of World War II she was in India. During Sri. H.W.L. Poonja, popularly known as Papaji was this period she had the good fortune of having darshan absorbed at the Lotus Feet of Sri Bhagavan on Septem• of Sri Bhagavan and living near his ashram. ber 6. In another five weeks (that is on October 13, precisely) he would have been 88. She was fortunate enough to hear from Sri Maharshi himself an exposition on the characteristics of the sage. On account of his simple and unostentatious ways We published an article by her in our last issue. Papaji might have remained obscure. But, thanks to the efforts of Swami Abhishiktananda in the 1970s to• B. Ananthaswamy wards bringing him to limelight, his (1921-97) spiritual stature was made known to the outside world. Sri B. Ananthaswamy, Chairman, Ramana Kendra Trust, Chennai passed away after a brief illness on Hundreds of seekers, Indian as October 31. well as Western, saw in him a competent, kindly and considerate Sri Ananthaswamy was a patron of institutions spiritual master who could transform founded for promotion of charitable their lives. His satsangs held at Satsang Bhavan, Indira and cultural activities; his donations Nagar, Lucknow were lively and purposeful. (to such causes) were very liberal.

Papaji was precocious in the spiritual sense. He used His outstanding achievement is to put one constant question to the saints he met. This the founding of the Ramana Shrine was: "Have you seen God? And, can you show me and Meditation Centre at Alamelu- God?" mangapuram, Chennai. This has He came to Sri Bhagavan in 1944 and questioned . been built out of funds provided him also in similar manner. Maharshi remained silent at solely by Sri Ananthaswamy and fam• first. However when Papaji pleaded for a 'straight an• ily members. (Please see December swer' Bhagavan condescended to give the reply, "I can 1996 issue of 'The Mountain Path' for a full report). enable you rather to be God than to see God". He May his soul rest in peace at the Feet of the Lord. repeated his visits to Sri Bhagavan and became an ardent devotee in due course. H.V. RAMANI His basic instruction to his followers was 'Keep quiet'. Speaking about the attraction of Lord Krishna, he says: (1932 - 1997) 'What was the beauty of this boy . . . ? Only he was It is with deep regret that we report the death of Sri. empty inside, and this emptiness was blown through the H.V. Ramani at Bangalore. He reached the Lotus Feet hollow bamboo stick and shot into the inner core of the hearts of the gopis, driving them mad". of Sri Bhagavan on June 28.

Under his guidance the followers of Papaji have been Sri Ramani was a regular visitor enabled to develop such ecstatic devotion to the Divine. to the Ashram for more than thirty years. After retirement from his po• Ella Maillart sition as Manager of a packaging firm (1903-1997) at Bangalore he placed himself at the disposal of the Ashram. Ella Maillart was absorbed at the Lotus Feet of Sri His work in connection with the Bhagavan on 27 March. She passed cataloguing of the precious manuscripts in the handwrit• away at her chosen retreat, ing of Sri Bhagavan at the Ashram archives as well as Chandolin-sur-Sierre, one of the providing them with interleaves (made of specially highest villages on the Swiss Alps. manufactured light paper coated with antiacid) deserves Ella Maillart was a tireless travel• special mention. He also efficiently managed the work of ler, writer and photographer who had control and supply of materials needed for homas and the urge to learn things and study other rituals during the Kumbhabhishekam at the Ashram the features of local life in various in 1995.