THE Mountain Path Aradhana Issue 2002 "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

Aradhana 2002

The Real Wealth — Editorial 1 Editor: Ramamani The Absolute of the Buddha — Dr. RJ. Saher 4

Publisher: The Search for Happiness V.S. Ramanan — Prof. K. Swaminathan 5

Foreword to Self-realization Letters and remittances — K. Sundaram Chetty 10 should be sent to: "THE MOUNTAIN PATH" The Ideal of Seva (Service) with special reference to the Sri Ramanasramam P.O., Views of Swami Ramdas Tiruvannamalai 606 603, — Dr. Susunaga Weeraperuma 13 S. India. Is all love bliss? — Stuart Rose 17 Phone : 37292; 37200 Fax : 0091-4175-37491 Bhagavan and I: A Tete-A-Tete — I.S. Madugula 24 e mail: Effort, Grace and Destiny [email protected] — Arthur Osborne 28

Website: The Enlightenment of Buddha Sakyamuni — Lama Anagarika Govinda 32 http://www.ramana-maharshi.org Yoga Vasishta Sara 46

Cover: Manuscripts of Sri Bhagavan 47

Deepam on summit Garland of Guru's Sayings 53 of Arunachala Photo: Ten verses from Sri Sankara's Sivananda Lahari 54 Dev Gogoi Sketches: Methods of Meditation Maniam Selven — I.S. Madugula 57

[Please turn over] Contents (Contd.)

In Praise of a Solitary Life — Dr. Susunaga Weeraperuma 67

Lai Ded (Lalleshwari) of Kashmir — J.L. Raina 77

What's Wrong with the World? — Douglas E. Harding 86

TheMiMwChitta — Hellmuth Hecker 92

Book Reviews — Compiled and Edited by J Jayaraman 95

Ashram Bulletin 103

The Mountain Path

• The aim of this journal is to set forth the traditional wisdom of all religions and all ages, especially as testified to by their saints and mystics, and to clarify the paths available to seekers in the conditions of our modern world.

• Contributions for publication should be addressed to The Editor, The Mountain Path, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu. They should be in English and typed with double spacing. Contributions not published will be returned on request.

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• The editor is not responsibility for statements and opinions contained in signed articles.

• Contributions are accepted only on condition that they do not appear elsewhere before being published in The Mountain Path. They can be published later elsewhere but only with acknowledgment to The Mountain Path.

The Mountain Path is dedicated to Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

ARADHANA 2002

EDITORIAL

The Real Wealth

HE difficulties of life are common to prove his material position implies the Tall with the exception perhaps of the use of all kinds of methods. They may princely class, or those born with a sil• be fair or unfair. The man who is con• ver spoon in the mouth. Even so, the scious of ethical principles will adopt privileged class have their own share of only fair methods for achieving results. life's problems. They are free only from How is one to rise above common certain types of problems faced by the worldly tendencies or trends and culti• majority, who are under-privileged. vate a sane outlook or order of life? How Human activity is not confined to self- to safeguard one's higher life? The way preservation. It aims at self-improvement can be shown only by those who are free or self-advancement. Man's material from even a trace of materialism or per• ambitions therefore soar high. It is not sonal ambition. merely a question of bread-winning! The teachings of Shankaracharya are This is particularly so in modern a pointer and show how man can regu• times. One has to make good in substan• late his life and also reach spiritual tial measure. In an atmosphere clouded heights in spite of the constraints in which by competitiveness no one could possi• he is placed. bly remain satisfied with mere existence! He says: Many of the woes of present day society can be traced to the unbridled material Oh fool! Renounce your endless thirst ambitions of individuals or groups of in• for riches. Learn to be contented just dividuals. This leads to clash of interests with the returns (wealth) you get for or even clash of personalities. your belabour.1 Nothing succeeds like success. There• fore the attempt by an individual to im• 1 Dwadasa panjarika stotram (1). 2 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana We find that the Vedas contain prayers isolation from his duty of doing chari• or rituals towards acquiring name, fame table deeds. Those who are wealthy and and wealth. those who are not so wealthy are alike The Sruti says: expected to give in charity to the needy. May I become famous among people! Avvayar, the great Tamil saint and May I become praiseworthy among poetess says, "Cultivate the desire to do the wealthy. O Adorable One! May I charitable deeds." enter into you, such as you are As The following is a verse of water flows down a slope, as months Shankaracharya: roll into a year, similarly O Lord, may Recite the Bhagavad Gita, the students come to me from all Recite the thousand names of Vishnu, quarters! . . . ? Meditate on the divine form of Vishnu. Now, what is the significance of such Associate with the wise, Give alms to the poor.4 prayers? Is there more to it than mere materialism, or not? The inner spiritual A basic question that arises in this con• idealism contained in such prayers is ex• text is: what is real wealth? Is it merely, plained by Shankaracharya in his gold, silver, lands and the like — just commentary. movable and immovable property? Or, is there something else substantial and Shankara says: everlasting? ... O Adorable One [Lord] let there A number of Sruti texts point to the be nothing but identity between us Self as the real wealth. The prayer for prosperity is dealt with The Sruti says: Dravinagum in this context of knowledge for the suvarchasam (I am the effulgent wealth).5 sake of wealth; for wealth is needed for rites, and rites are calculated to In brief, the commentary of diminish accumulated sins, on the ex• Shankaracharya on this passage is as haustion of which knowledge becomes follows: revealed. ... I am that effulgent (wealth) that is Shankara also quotes the Smriti'm this the reality of the Self. Or, the knowl• connection: edge of Brahman is effulgent, inasmuch as it reveals the reality of the Self. And Just as one sees oneself on the clean sur• face of a mirror, so knowledge arises 2 Taittiriya Upanishad, I.IV.3. for man on the exhaustion of sin/'3 3 Mahabharata, SantiParva, 204.8. Traditionally, the possession of wealth 4 Charpata Panjarika Stotra. by an individual has not been viewed in 5 Taittiriya Upanishad, I.X.I 2002 THE REAL WEALTH 3 it is called wealth, being comparable the obtaining of something not ob• to wealth because of its producing the tained before, for here there is no dif• bliss of emancipation ference between the person attaining

7 The Sruti teaches that the Self is dearer and the object attained. than wealth. To all appearance it looks as though one The Sruti says: obtains the Self afresh. However this is only because of self-forgetfulness. Self-re• This Self is dearer than a son, dearer alisation is just like waking up from a than wealth, dearer than everything dream. This is the taching of Sri Maharshi. else, and is innermost.6 Sri Maharshi says: Commenting on this, Shankaracharya When, forgetting the Self, one thinks, says: That the body is oneself and goes A son is universally held dear in this Through innumerable births world; but the Self is dearer than he, And in the end becomes which shows that It is extremely dear. The Self, know this is only like Similarly dearer than wealth such as Waking up from a dream wherein gold or jewels, and everything else, One has wandered all over the world.8 whatever is admittedly held dear in The same idea is expressed in the fol• the world.... lowing verse of Shankaracharya which was often quoted by Sri Maharshi in his And is innermost The body and the conversations with devotees. organs are inner and nearer to one• self than a son or wealth, for instance, Shankara says: which are external things. But this Self True—the Self is always here and now; is nearer than even these.... yet it is not apparent, owing to igno• Hence the Self is the real wealth. At• rance. On ignorance being destroyed, taining the Self means obtaining the real the Self seems as if it were gained, like wealth. However, in reality, nothing new the necklace on one's own neck.9 — that is, something which was not there — is obtained. 6 Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, I.IV.8.

7 This is explained by Shankaracharya Commentary on Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, L1V.7. 8 as follows: Five Verses on the Self, verse 1. 9 A tma Bodha, verse 44. The non-attainment of the Self is but The allusion is to the story of a lady wearing a the ignorance of It. Hence the knowl• precious necklace, who suddenly forgot where edge of the Self is Its attainment. it was, grew anxious, looked for it everywhere and even asked others to help, until a kind friend The attainment of the Self cannot be, pointed out that it was round the seeker's as in the case of things other than It, own neck! The Absolute of the Buddha

By Dr. P. J. Saher

HE Latin word absolutus is the past concept which Western philosophers at• Tparticiple of absolvere, which means tribute to their 'Absolute'. Concepts relat• 'to loosen, to detach'. Therefore 'absolute' ing to the absolute are purely empirical literally means 'detached', and so the and for this reason apply only to the re• Absolute is the 'loosened, the detached'. alities that are accessible to our senses. In Pali, the language of the Buddhist The Buddha calls the substratum of the Canon, the word vimutta, as the past par• phenomenal world, and hence what is ticiple of vimuncatihas exactly the same termed the absolute reality, the 'realm of meaning, for the verb also means 'to re• Nibbana, free from all attributes' (anupadi- lease, to detach'. Vimutta is, therefore, sesanibbanadhatu). Of this realm he states identical with Absolute. Now this very merely that, however many monks may word is regularly used by the Buddha have become absolute and extinct in it, when he speaks of a monk who has be• one cannot detect either a reduction or come holy, of a Tathagata, of a 'Perfect an increase in it: One'. Just as, monks, all rivers in the world "A Perfect One, released (vimutta) from enter the great ocean and all the bodily form, from sensation, from per• waters of the atmosphere are ception, from activities of the mind, from discharged into it, and one cannot concepts, is deep, immeasurable and un• detect thereby either a reduction or fathomable as the ocean." an increase in the great ocean, so also, however many monks may have Accordingly, the Buddha has pro• become extinct in the realm of Nibbana claimed as the ultimate goal of the holy that is free from all attributes, one course of life (brahmachariya) taught by cannot thereby detect either a reduc• him, that we attain deliverance or release tion or an increase in this realm. (vimokha) and thus become absolute (vimutta). Reproduced from The Mountain Path, April 1973.

To this Absolute of the Buddha the 1 See Grimm's Doctrine of the Buddha, p. 133.

1 concept of being no longer applies, a 2 Udana V. 5. The Search for Happiness

By Prof. K. Swaminathan

VERYONE in the world wants to be through our Ignorance that we derive E happy — at all times, in all places happiness from objects. When the and under all conditions. This quest for mind goes out, it experiences misery. ananda is the universal human desire and In truth, when its desires are fulfilled, the goal of all human endeavour. There it returns to its own place and enjoys are however some persons who are the happiness that is the Self. Simi• happy at all times, in all places and un• larly, in the states of sleep, samadhi, der all conditions and that too without and fainting and when the object de• any desire and without any effort on their sired is obtained or the object disliked part. This strange paradox about happi• is removed, the mind becomes ness — that one who seeks it strenuously inward-turned, and enjoys pure Self- often misses it, while one who is indif• happiness. Thus the mind moves with• ferent to it enjoys it — is explained by out rest, alternately going out of the our failure to distinguish between pleas• Self and returning to it. Under the tree ure or satisfaction on the one hand and the shade is pleasant; out in the open happiness or ananda on the other. We mis• the heat is scorching. A person who take pleasure for happiness and, pursu• has been going about in the sun feels ing it as if it were happiness, end up in cool when he reaches the shade. Some• all kinds of misery. one who keeps on going from the shade into the sun and then back into In Who Am I and in the Talks, Sri the shade is a fool. A wise man stays Bhagavan brings out clearly this distinc• permanently in the shade. Similarly, tion between happiness, which is our in• the mind of the one who knows the herent and permanent nature, and the truth does not leave Brahman. The pleasure which we from time to time de• mind of the ignorant, on the contrary, rive from the satisfaction of our desires, revolves in the world, feeling miser• physical or mental, healthy or unhealthy. able, and for a little time returns to Happiness is the very nature of the Brahman to experience happiness. In Self; happiness and the Self are not dif• ferent. There is no happiness in any Speech delivered by the Professor at the Ramana object of the world. We imagine Kendra, Delhi (sometime in the 1970's). 6 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana fact, what is called the world is only remote and indeed inaccessible in this, thought. When the world disappears, our present life. We are repeatedly told i.e. when there is no thought, the mind and we readily believe that spiritual experiences happiness; and when the progress has to be gradual and that world appears, it goes through misery.1 moksha should wait until we have gone through the other purusharthas. Self-en• Absolute and permanent happiness quiry, the direct sovereign method taught does not reside in objects but in the atman. by Bhagavan, gets continuously post• Such happiness is peace, free from pain poned while we are busy discovering and and pleasure. painfully practising our dharma or, worse Sri Maharshi says: still, we allow ourselves to be lulled into If a man thinks that his happiness is a spiritual sleep by sentimental bhaktiand due to external causes and his posses• so escape from the responsibility of our sions, it is reasonable to conclude that station in life. his happiness must increase with the If moksha is bliss and if bliss is our real, increase of possessions, and diminish permanent and inescapable nature, what in proportion to their diminution. is its relation to dharma? Dharma is not a Therefore if he is devoid of posses• normative or moralistic concept; it is sions, his happiness should be nil. well-being, health and growth, What is the real experience of man? rootedness in responsibility and freedom Does it conform to this view? to play with the light and warmth of Awareness. The tree does not distinguish In deep sleep, the man is devoid of between horizontal and vertical growth, possessions, including his own body. between its loyalties to earth, water, air Instead of being unhappy he is quite and to the sun. It follows its nature and happy. Everyone desires to sleep grows unawares till seed becomes the soundly. The conclusion is that happi• tree and matures into fruit. This also is ness is inherent in man and is not due the human destiny. We are seed sown in to external causes. One must realize the soil and eating matter and warmth, his Self in order to open the store of bound to become fruit. The eater ceases unalloyed happiness.2 to eat and becomes food. The man of For the sadhaka no doubt the ultimate dharmaripens into the mukta. We however goal is the complete extinction of the ego, separate dharma, our empirical nature as when the jiva and the world cease to be prakriti, from moksha, our transcendental and only the brightness and bliss of pure awareness remains. This goal, gained in 1 WhoamI? a matter of a few minutes by Sri 2 Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk No.3, Bhagavan seems to most of us to be too Page 1 (1968 Edn.). 2002 THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS 7 nature as Purusha. Instead of exposing quest for Self-realization, serious ourselves to the sun wherever we are and mumukshutva, goes hand in hand with drinking in its light and warmth, we bold, heroic action. The call to such ac• make elaborate plans of travelling to• tion, addressed to Sri Rama, is meant re• wards it at some future time. ally for us. In outward action or the The traditional view of dharma as that practice of dharma, there is no difference which binds man's social existence to a between the seeker and the realized per• moral order, that which holds, preserves son. The disinterested action which the and protects mankind, can be illustrated seeker performs deliberately as a matter by Kausalya's words to Rama before he of discipline, which is for him a means of left for the forest. She said, "May that discovering his identity with fellow-be• dharma which you have nourished with ings, is for the jnani like Sri Rama or determination and discipline protect you. Janaka the spontaneous expression of such This is the only blessing I can give." Here identity. The sadhanaoi the seeker becomes we have the popular idea of Rama as the the lakshana of the realized person. fullest and clearest embodiment of In recommending and indeed pre• dharma, the horizontal or inter-personal scribing the quest of the Self to all dimension of human growth. The mother thoughtful persons in the adolescent and rightly regards her son as a moral ath• adult stages of life, Bhagavan makes a lete who has with determination and dis• radical and necessary departure from the cipline nourished dharma which in turn letter of the tradition in order to restore is expected to protect him as the mother its spirit. In Ch. 3 of the Ramana Gita, the protects the child. paramount task of man is declared to be But Sri Bhagavan prefers to dwell on 'the discovery of our real human nature the truer and maturer image of Sri Rama which is the basis of all actions and their presented in the Yogavasishta. He cites fruit.' This quest for our real nature, the with approval the preceptor's noble ad• withdrawing of thoughts from sense ob• juration to the pupil who, absorbed in the jects and steady Self-enquiry, is not to be bliss of awareness, is disinclined to act postponed. In Ch. 10, Sangha Vidya, one's in the world of time and space. The pre• duty to one's circle and to humanity is ceptor says, "Holding firmly at heart to defined clearly as organic interdepend• the truth of your being, play like a hero ence to be promoted both by shanti, which your part on the world-stage, inwardly purifies one's own mind, and by shakti, calm and detached, but assuming zeal which is required for the progress of so• and joy, stirrings and aversions, initia• ciety. The attenuation of the ego by steady tive and effort, and performing outward Self-enquiry and the acceptance in prac• actions appropriate to your particular role tice of normal family and social respon• in various situations." In other words the sibilities can alone lead to the 8 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana brotherhood and equality which is the The creative person, spiritually at• supreme goal to be attained by mankind tuned, mentally healthy and morally as a whole. evolved, does not fear novelty, but Bhagavan's comprehensive teaching, recognises and practises the dharma ap• with its stress on the search for the Self, propriate to his unique situation in a fast- helps one to attain adult status and to as• changing world. Having no personal sume full responsibility for oneself. desires of his own, he seeks the univer• Bhagavan is like a father who watches sal welfare, through the pursuit of apparently unconcerned the child learn• truth, beauty, goodness, love. Not self- ing to walk, stumbling and falling and regarding and having no care for 'safety' picking itself up again, but refuses to mol• as a value he contributes clarity and com• lycoddle it and keep it dependent. There passion to the ongoing movement of life. can be no responsibility without self-reli• The unselfish are ever brave, accept lov• ance and there can be no true self-reliance ing responsibility for their neighbours without Self-enquiry. We are responsible and give them a share of their own cour• also, but only in part, to others. At any age and self-reliance. rate, the sooner we cease to be a burden As we climb the mountain path the on others, the better for ourselves and our view widens; new responsibilities come neighbours. Loving the Lord God with all to us and are cheerfully undertaken. We one's heart and loving one's neighbour as are no more inclined to off-shoulder our oneself are not two commandments but burden on others. We find fulfilment in one. We cannot effectively love and serve mastering rather than in evading our neighbour unless we have succeeded svadharma. Such svadharma, disinterested in some measure in loving and obeying action surrendered to the Lord (verse 3 the Father as Awareness. Autonomy is a of Upadesa Sara), purifies the mind and product of increasing self-awareness, points the way to moksha. Through the which includes sensitiveness to one's sur• practice of dharma we become progre• roundings. Once we open and begin to ssively more eligible for the ultimate operate a Both-or-Survivor account with happiness of moksha. In meeting the chal• the Universal Self, our spiritual resources lenge of time we respond to the call of expand according to real need. Instead of complaining against one's circumstances eternity. We learn to live less in the sur• one derives inexhaustible strength from face and more and more in the deep cen• inner happiness (man in Tamil) and says tre of our being. with Thoreau, "I love my fate to the very In any case, at all times and places and core and rind." One's present life is the under all conditions, dharma has to be fruit one has earned and must now eat to practised, whether as duty and discipline the last bite. or as the happy and spontaneous expre- 2002 THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS 9 ssion of Awareness. Self-actualization, in even then one can and must conquer. the language of Abraham Maslow, is the The current induced during meditation royal road to Self-realization. It is only can be kept up by habit, by practising in and through dharma that the happiness to do so. Then one can perform one's of moksha can be reached or manifested. work and activities in that very current Bhagavan could no more help spreading itself; there will be no break. Thus, too, grace and bliss than the sun could help there will be no difference between spreading light and warmth. meditation and external activities. If you meditate on this question, 'Who am Moksha cannot be 'realized' by mere I?'— if you begin to perceive that nei• intellectual effort. It can only be experi• ther the body nor the brain nor the de• enced, and experienced as happiness. It sires are really you, then the very atti• is total freedom from nagging desires, it tude of enquiry will eventually draw is pure Awareness. the answer to you out of the depths of In Bhagavan's own words: your own being; it will come to you of Unless and until a man embarks upon its own accord as a deep realization... this quest of the true Self, doubt and Know the real Self and then the truth uncertainty will follow his footsteps will shine forth within your heart like throughout life. The greatest kings and sunshine. The mind will become un• statesmen try to rule others, when in troubled and real happiness will flood their heart of hearts they know that it, for happiness and the true Self are they cannot rule themselves. Yet the identical. You will have no more doubts greatest power is at the command of once you attain this self-awareness.3 the man who has penetrated to his in• As ends and means are inseparable, most depth. There are men of giant so are moksha and dharma. They reinforce intellect who spend their lives gather• each other in healthy individual and so• ing knowledge about many things. cial life. They are in fact the empirical Ask these men if they have solved the and transcendental modes of our being, mystery of man, if they have con• whose basic nature is the bliss of aware• quered themselves, and they will hang ness, stillness, shanti, broken occasionally their heads in shame. What is the use by ripples of action, movement, shaktL It of knowing about everything else must be remembered that dharma is when you do not yet know who you bound by time, while moksha is the are? Men avoid this enquiry into the boundless bliss of Awareness. true Self, but what else is there so wor• thy to be undertaken?. . . Admittedly the way to it may be harder for those who are engrossed in worldly life, but 3PaulBrunton, The Maharshi and His Message.

Foreword to Self-realization

By K. Sundaram Chetty

consider it a rare privilege accorded His magnetic influence is a boon. One Ito me that I should be asked to write a brief remark of his dispels sometimes a prefatory note to a book on the life and thick cloud of doubt, a heaving heart is teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, the soothed by a short sermon of his, and great sage who is adorning the sacred even the knotty conundrums of abstruse hillside in Tiruvannamalai. In the dispen• philosophy find satisfactory solution sation of Providence, it was my good for• from his simple exposition, emerging tune to have had access to a sage, who forth from the fountain of his intuition. shines in the spiritual firmament as a It is a sorry spectacle, how slow is the bright star, guiding the restless and de• response to the clarion call of this living pressed wayfarer along the path towards monument of spiritual glory and how the haven of true and lasting happiness. few are those who make a genuine at• Dazzled as the majority of mankind tempt to realize what this sage has at• are at the phantoms of this illusory world, tained. His evolution is so far ahead of frantic are their efforts to clutch at them, the average humanity of to-day, that he under a false sense of satisfaction; but dwells in the transcendent sphere of spir- they are ever tantalized in the fruition of their yearning; and late in their span of life, do they feel a pang of regret for hav• ing wasted their precious time in seek• Sri B.V. Narasimha Swamy's Self-realization (pub• ing after shadows, oblivious of the reality. lished in 1931) is the first biography of Sri The life and example of this great saint Bhagavan in English. Sri K. Sundaram Chetty was a Judge of the High Court of Madras. serve as a beacon light to warn us about His Foreword is reproduced here for its histori• the pitfalls in the path of worldliness and cal value as well as its merit as a brief introduc• guide us on the safe path of spirituality. tion to the teaching of Sri Bhagavan. 12 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana itual consciousness, his physical body "Know the T". That is how he would and senses being no impediment to the ask us to tackle the problem of life. The realization of his true inner self. To him, words are simple, but their conception the illusion of the physical world is no has baffled many a brilliant intellect. longer a veil to hide the substratum of Here again, he would say the mere in• all phenomena. It has been a transparent tellectual disquisitions are hardly medium for him. The mind, the arch-jug• enough, but success lies in unflinching gler; is to him a docile and faithful serv• practice, with a sincere yearning for the ant. His favourite sermon is "Retreat ever attainment of the true purpose of life. within thine own self; seek the source Many a sceptic who scoffs at such great whence the restless mind spins out an spiritual personages as visionary and unceasing web of thoughts; brush aside unpractical would begin to doubt his the springing thoughts; concentrate at the own scepticism, if only he tries to visit root of thought; and take repose in that this sage, and remains within the ambit stillness and quietude. So much is thy of his spiritual aura for an appreciable effort, and what next is one for experi• length of time. ence and inner realisation, and does not admit of exposition in words." I sincerely congratulate the author of this book, who has rendered a useful Few have reached the abode of bliss. service to the present generation as also Another gem of spiritual truth which this to posterity, by sparing no pains in gath• holy sage places for our gaze is: "Happi• ering information about the incidents in ness is really an inner attitude, or a subjec• the life of this holy sage and about his tive realization of the mind, though many talks and sayings, which a limited are under a misapprehension that it de• number of disciples and admirers have pends upon external conditions only." The had opportunities to hear, and by em• outer quest for happiness, he would say, bodying it in the chapters of this book in will only be the game of "Hide and Seek." the author's felicitous and lucid style, in He used to say, that by a wise a masterly way. adaptation of the attitude to changing events and environments, it is in our power It may not be out of place, if I should to preserve a state of unruffled mentality. observe in this preface, that the author of Much of the sorrow, misery, and depres• this book happens to be my classmate sion can be averted by the practice of such and colleague at the Bar in my younger an adaptation, which is, of course, based days and that the link of old friendship on wise discrimination. Real happiness is has again brought us together in connec• one that does not depend upon anything tion with his book, dealing with the life external to one's self. It is unconditioned and teachings of a great sage, whom we bliss and therefore permanent. both adore. The Ideal of Seva (Service) with special reference to the Views of Swami Ramdas

By Dr Susunaga Weeraperuma

WAMI Ramdas (1884-1963) is well re• extraordinary experiences and with illus• Smembered as a remarkable spiritual trative anecdotes about the spiritual teacher. He was a contemporary of quest. What follows is an insightful pas• Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. sage from his writings: In 1923 Ramdas travelled to SEVA Tiruvannamalai where he had personal Life fulfills its supreme purpose when contact with Bhagavan. That meeting was it is imbued with the spirit of service. 7 an unforgettable milestone in Ramdas Service is the very perfume of a true life spiritual unfoldment which, writing in of love and sacrifice. Labour is the natu• the third person, Ramdas has vividly ral form of life, because life itself is ac• described as follows: tivity, but when labour is inspired by When Sri Ramana intently gazed on love, it assumes the name of ser• Ramdas and the eyes of both met, vice. Service for gain, service for reward Ramdas felt he was pouring into him are the terms commonly employed. spiritual power and grace in abun• Here the significance of service loses its dance, so much so that Ramdas was true colour and glory. Real service is thrilled, as his divine light shone on work done out of pure love and com• his mind, heart and soul. Sri passion. Service thus rendered liberates Ramana's eyes always radiated a life and fills it with the joy of the Eter• splendour, which was simply unique nal. The expression "Do all your ac• and irresistible — a splendour min• tions in the name of and for the sake of gled with infinite tenderness, compas• God" connotes that your life's activi• sion and mercy. The few minutes that ties be performed as pure offerings of Ramdas spent in his holy company love and for the fulfilment of love, be• meant a momentous impetus in his cause love is God and God is love.2 spiritual career.1 1 The Divine Life, p. 193: Anandashram, Ramdas was a prolific author whose Kanhangad (1991 Edn.). works abound in detailed accounts of his 2 Ibid, p. 108. 14 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana Swami Ramdas has set forth the high several neatly dressed strangers visit ideal of seva wherein the elimination of them and say, "It is our pleasure to offer all trace of ego sense is of paramount you decent clothes and regular meals. importance. Nearly everyone is willing Your children will have the right to to pay lip service to this ideal, but in prac• attend our schools free of charge. Rent- tice is it really respected? Without hav• free flats will also be provided. Are yo ing an abstract discussion of the problem, interested?" we can examine the following three fairly "Of course we are," replies an elderly typical everyday situations. man with a smile. He can hardly believe First, a whole town is full of feverish his ears and eyes. activity as an election campaign is in full swing. All the candidates in the local elec• "You are so kind," remarks his wife. tions are busy shouting insults at their "And is there anything that we can do in opponents. "You have a duty to vote me return?" she adds. into office," declares a prominent citizen, Then the strangers beg, "Could you "because I was responsible for the con• please do us only one favour? Could you struction of a new water supply system. start practising our great religion and It is only because I pressurized the discard yours?" government into spending more money that you have better roads and houses." Is it ethical to take advantage of the Now, do his good works fall into the cate• underprivileged? Is it genuine seva to al• gory of seva? Professional persons such leviate the sufferings of the needy for the as doctors, engineers or teachers render purpose of increasing the number of con• various services to society and they have verts from other faiths? Seldom, alas, is a right to expect something in return as seva done for its own sake! Besides, why that is their means of livelihood. But those is religion regarded as the mere replace• engaged in seva do so purely on a volun• ment of one set of beliefs by another, when tary basis. They are neither paid nor it should be seen as the lifelong search should they expect any reward, monetary for the Eternal and the consequential de• or otherwise, for all their labours. mise of the individual self? Second, in the slummy outskirts of a Third, there is an extremely unhappy densely populated city there are many and lonely man who frequently feels de• shacks made of decaying wooden planks pressed. He has short periods of happi• and plastic sheets. Here the poorest of the ness only when he gives generous gifts poor struggle to survive. These simple to those who are lacking in the bare ne• folk are illiterate and jobless. They look cessities. Therefore he particularly enjoys pale and undernourished. One day helping refugees. 2002 THE IDEAL OF SEVA 15 "Yesterday evening," he would Jesus taught that "when giving alms, proudly inform his office colleagues, "I do not allow your left hand to know what distributed blankets and bread to hun• your right hand is doing."3 Alms, he said, dreds of homeless men, women and chil• are best given in secret. By tradition, dren who live on the streets. I devote my there was in the Jewish temple a "cham• leisure time to caring for the destitute. ber of secrets" in which the devout se• Do you also do that? You see, I have a cretly left their gifts so that the poor could self-sacrificing nature whereas you chaps help themselves to it in secret. lead such useless self-indulgent lives! Jesus was fond of giving moral lessons When in the evenings you go down to by telling short and simple stories. Jesus your pubs to drink beer or wine and captured the essence of seva in his famous laugh away the time, remember that I'll Parable of the Good Samaritan: be toiling for hours on the pavements. I'm Jesus said, "A man was going down very kind-hearted but you fellows feel from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell no pity for these displaced persons. What into the hands of robbers. They stripped marvellous men you are!" By making him of his clothes, beat him and went such statements he was trying hard to away, leaving him half-dead. A priest create a favourable impression of him• happened to be going down the same self; he was implying that he was some• road, and when he saw the man, he how better than his colleagues who, not passed by on the other side. So too, a surprisingly, resented his superior atti• Levite, when he came to the place and tude. They dislike his offensive and ar• saw him, passed by on the other side. But rogant manner of talking to them. His a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where work mates also thought that it was in the man was; and when he saw him he pretty bad taste for him to brag about took pity on him. He went to him and his social work. bandaged his wound, pouring on oil and It is beyond doubt that seva is widely wine. Then he put the man on his own seen as one of the principal virtues. What donkey, brought him to an inn and took is the nature of virtue? Virtue never pro• care of him. The next day he took out two claims its existence; it is too shy to show silver coins and gave them to the inn• its face; it prefers to remain anonymous. keeper. 'Look after him', he said, 'and The seed of virtue thrives in the soil of when I return, I will reimburse you for solitude and silence. Those imbued with any extra expense you may have.' Which the desire to serve the less fortunate mem• of these three do you think was a neigh- bers of society generally like to stay out of the limelight. Therefore never will they make a show of their care and affection 3 Matthew: 6:3. for the sufferings of the penniless. 4 Luke 10: 30-37. 16 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana bour to the man who fell into the hands from the scene. Acting selflessly was part of robbers?" of his sadhana. He served society, but de• The expert in the law replied, "The manded nothing from it, not even the one who had mercy on him." grateful thanks of pleasantly surprised residents. He did not draw up a list of Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise".4 favours done to people, preferring to for• Perfect karma yogiswho always act dis• get the favours instead. He loved with• interestedly, which means, they do deeds out counting the cost of loving. Some without selfish motives, are as rare as citizens mistakenly believed that certain they are great. In all my travels I have celestial beings were busy cleaning up yet to meet a perfect karma yogi, but I have their little town regularly! In a sense they heard of a dear departed swami of Sri were not wrong because genuine karma Lankan origin. No one knew his name yogis are comparable to gods. for he refused to divulge it even to his In conclusion, we can speculate about very few friends. the spiritual state of a full-fledged karma His behavior might seem strange to yogiwho is involved in seva. Given the fact some. Several hours before sunrise when that all his actions originate in the vast majority were still in bed, under absolute altruism, none of the following cover of darkness and unseen by people, self-centred thoughts would occur to him he would fetch buckets of water from — "this good deed will result in name wells and scrub all the public walls cov• and fame", "these meritorious acts of mine ered with unsightly graffiti; next he will bring me rewards either in this life would clear the leaves out of blocked or the next" or, "I'm so holy that soon I'll drains and clean up the public roads; fi• be on the threshold of sainthood." Never nally, he would clean the public toilets will he think along such egotistical lines. thoroughly. Then before the crack of Nothing but pure actions emanate dawn he would hurriedly disappear from the pure in heart.

THE SEARCH FOR BRAHMAN A thief enters a dark room and feels the various articles within. He puts his hand upon a table perhaps and saying, "Not this", he passes on. He comes in contact with some other article, maybe a chair and again he says, "Not this." He continues his search. He leaves one thing after another till he finally lays his hand on the box containing the treasure. He then exclaims, "It is here." His search ends. Such indeed is the search for Brahman. — Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna. 17

Is all love bliss?

By Stuart Rose

HEN we talk about love it is nor• unknowable Brahman or Absolute Real• Wmally in the context of "love for" ity, along with Sat, as existence or being, someone or thing, as "I love you". We and Chit, as consciousness or awareness. rarely just use the word love without such Bliss, we can conclude, is the non-dual relation. Love, therefore, might be con• (Advaitic) experience of love. sidered as a form of activity in so much By its very nature of being non-dual, as it is a movement or correlation between the experience of bliss is found to be be• the subject "I" and the object "you" or yond any restrictions of time and space, "it". This manner of talking about love which means that it exists always and covers most uses of the term, although everywhere. It can be described (inad• the question which this article attempts equately) as an enduring ecstatic experi• to explore is that there is perhaps one ence, one that cannot be shared and one form of love which falls outside of this which is necessarily the same — however duality of subject and object, a form of differently it is experienced — for all who love which can be experienced but not in encounter it, because this is the nature of the usual way that talking about love non-duality. suggests — in fact, even use of the word "experience" here is incorrect as it im• Through attachments, desires, and plies duality. This love might be called nescience, we usually only see separation; spiritual love, although, to differentiate that is, we each see ourselves as separate it more completely from other uses of the to other beings — in fact, to all else — word love, we may not call it love at all there seems to be little or no overriding but bliss. In this description, bliss is an connection between us. According to the experience that is not encountered for Advaitic view, this is false, an illusion, someone or thing. Bliss is purely a sub• which is created solely by the mind: the jective experience, without activity or re• mind being comprised purely of thought, lation of any kind. So important is this and it is through our thoughts that we experience that, termed Ananda in San• decide — usually unwittingly —upon our skrit, it is given by ancient sages as one separation. But we can ask, "Where do of the three attributes of the ultimately these thoughts come from?" And when 18 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana we do ask such questions, we find that That which IS, is the Self. Where is the the original thought becomes illusive: in question of catching that which IS? That the end — that is, after much inquiry is one's own nature (Swabhava). (Vichara) — it simply vanishes because Devotee: Is that nature also called there was no "substance" or reality to it swarupa (the Self)? in the first place. In its stead, there re• mains an unchanging beingness and B: Yes. There is no difference between awareness, not of anything in particular the two. because that would be based on a D: If it is said that Ananda is the Self thought, simply what we might describe itself, then who is it that experiences it? as Absolute Reality. In this state, there is total freedom because the individual is B: That is the point. So long as there is no longer "fettered" by thoughts which one who experiences, it shall have to be separate or particularize — in fact, there stated that Ananda is the Self itself. When is no thought even of individuality. It is there is no one to experience, where is the nature of this state of beingness which the question of a form for Ananda? It is is described as bliss. only that which 'IS' remains. That IS is Ananda. That is the Self. So long as the In discussing this state, Sri Ramana feeling that the Self is different from one• Maharshi teaches that it is wholly unnec• self there will be one who enquires and essary to lead any other type of life than experiences, but when one realises the the normal one a person might lead; no Self there will be no one to experience. asceticism is necessarily involved for this Who is there to ask? What is there to say? state to occur. What he suggests is sim• In common parlance, however, we shall ply a way of being where the basis of have to say that Bliss is the Self or is our existence is Reality, which is not like our Real Nature (Swarupa). normal multiple i/i?-realities; simply one state of being which is described as pure D: That is all right, Swami. But, how• existence or awareness. This Reality is ever much we try, the mind does not get not of the senses nor of the mind, it is under control and envelopes the Swarupa ineffable, and encapsulates, is over and so that it is not perceptible to us. What is above everything that the mind and to be done? senses encounter. The Maharshi, in con• (Bhagavan with a smile placed his lit• versation, illuminates us: tle finger over his eye and said, "Look. Bhagavan: Ananda (Supreme Bliss) This little finger covers the eye and pre• always exists. It is only the worldly vents the whole world from being seen. things that have to be given up. If they In the same way this small mind covers are given up, what remains is only Bliss. the whole universe and prevents 2002 IS ALL LOVE BLISS? 19 Brahman from being seen. See how pow• Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians. John erful it is!")1 writes (in 4, 16), 'God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in Through further study of our subject, him' and Paul in his letter (13,1-13) also there seems to be a remarkable consist• describes this love by saying that with• ency within many of the writings — reli• out it life is empty (a resounding gong or gious, spiritual, or philosophical — on clanging cymbal), and that love never spiritual love or bliss, an underlying fails whereas all else is impermanent, a unity about what it is, although what is reflection and not the real. said is voiced through many different languages, styles, and sensibilities. The basis of the middle six chapters of the Bhagavad Gitais Bhakti(loving de• We can look briefly at three religious votion). Here, Krishna teaches that, 'He traditions: Buddhism, Christianity, and who in the oneness of love, loves me in Hinduism, for example. whatever he sees, wherever this man The Buddha gave a discourse to his may live, in truth this man lives in me' followers on the practice of love (Metta1), (6.31).5 Later, in Chapter 12, Krishna out• the Karaniya Metta Sutta (Hymn of Uni• lines two paths of devotional worship; versal Love). In this discourse, the Bud• that of the form of God and that of the dha taught his followers as follows: formless, and both paths are shown to have love as their means. Sri Cultivate an all-embracing mind of Shankaracharya in his commentary love points out with regard to the latter that For all throughout the universe, by following the path of the formless, one In all its height, depth and breadth — is already not separate from God; and Love that is untroubled and beyond hatred or enmity.3 In this passage, the Buddha suggests that there is nowhere where love is not 1 Suri Nagamma, Letters from Sri Ramanasramam. and he implies that, with love, a person Translated by D. S. Sastri, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai (1973:378f). will not be affected by any and all of life's 2 Metta is often translated as loving-kindness, and vicissitudes. the term is also frequently used in conjunction Christianity, according to the theolo• with Karma (compassion), being the first two of the four Brahma Viharas (divine states of mind). gian James Moffat in his study on love, 3 Translated by the Indian Pali scholar, the Vene• 4 'may justly be called the religion of love' rable Acharya Buddharakkhita. and there are many passages in the New 4 James Moffat, Love in the New Testament. Testament which give evidence of this, London: Hodder and Stoughton (1930:56). not least from the First Letter of John and 5 Juan Mascaro's Penguin translation. 20 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana God, as Bhagavan has already stated, is touch of bliss existence upon us. Love itself.6 ...And to open ourselves to it is what Across the broad spectrum of philoso• we feel to be the one true happiness, 8 phy, too, there have been numerous im• to live in it the sole real perfection. portant writings about love from such The conclusion of such study seems to thinkers as Plato, Thomas Aquinas, Al- be that there is only spiritual love which Ghazali, and Soren Kierkegaard, through can be regarded as the supreme impor• to such people in the twentieth century tance in the lives of spiritual seekers, all as Erich Fromm, Karl Jaspers, Jiddu else pales into insignificance: and this aim Krishnamurti, C. S. Lewis, Thomas is summarised by the apostle Paul when Merton, Rudolf Steiner, and the current he wrote: Without love, lam nothing.9 By Dalai Lama. Even across this span of this conclusion I mean that although this writers, a congruence of opinion can be love may appear to be reflected in a mul• found to exist. Two short although incom• titude of different ways and situations — plete illustrations may suffice to demon• for example, romantic love, filial love, and strate this homogeneity. Plato, for motherly love — at its very basis, all love example, talks about realising through is the same love, is one love, and the vari• stages the love of absolute beauty which ations that we encounter have much more he describes as unchanging, as true good• to do with our own life paths, experiences, ness, and not a reflection of the truth but and attachments than with love itself. absolute truth, the pursuit of which is It is obvious also to say that love ex• where he suggests life should be dedi• ists whether T as a person exist or not. cated — in fact, he sees such activity as Love existed before I was born and will 7 our prime duty. Likewise, in contempo• exist after I am dead. This person, there• rary times, Sri Aurobindo talks of a com• fore, has nothing whatsoever to do with ing together of the paths of action, its generation. My part in this "play" (my wisdom, and love [in] seeming individuality) appears to be sim• an adoration of an impersonal Delight ply that of a channel through which love and Beauty, of a pure and infinite per• can be accessed. If this is the case and given fection to which we can give no name

or form, a moved attraction of the soul 6 The Bhagavad Gita with the commentary of Sri to some ideal and infinite Presence, Shankaracharya Translated by A. M. Sastry, Power, existence in the world or be• Madras: Samata Books, 1998:304f. 7 yond it, which in some way becomes Plato, The Symposium. Translated by W. Hamil• ton London: Penguin. (1967:92ff). psychologically or spiritually sensible 8 Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of YogaFondicherry: to us and then more and more inti• Sri Aurobindo Ashram 1996:567f.

mate and real. That is the call, the 91 Corinthians: 13. 2002 IS ALL LOVE BLISS? 21 the importance of spiritual love, then ac• to exist between the thinker and the ob• cessing it to the fullest degree might be ject of the thought. considered as life's highest purpose. What is more, all duality is the cause As has been said, this love (as bliss) of suffering, say most religions, and most can be described as pure subject. The if not all such spiritualities talk in united variations which we appear to see stem voice about the ending of suffering by from duality — that between the subject absorption into the one, in whatever way and its object. This is where I use the it is described: resurrection, Nirvana, word bliss, so as to distinguish between Moksha, release. The methods proposed love as pure subject, the bliss or Ananda are various, some involving the living of which is spoken of by Sri Ramana and countless lives, others the living of just in the scriptures, and love as the outcome one, yet others proposing no methods or of the relationship between the subject time scale at all. None of these seem to and its object. In Reality, of course, there make any difference to the existence of can be no such distinction. Perhaps the bliss: using the much quoted analogy of ultimate duality, as far as love is con• the ocean, bliss can be described as the cerned, might be found in theistic beliefs deep of the ocean and all the methods to between God and the devotee, which has approach it simply waves on its surface been depicted in the Greek language as or rivers flowing to it. It can be said, God's love pouring forth to us as Agape, therefore, that diving deep into bliss, together with the highest human love, as without thought, might be the ultimate Eros, which we aspire to give to God. desire of all spiritual people. Such is the These two must, finally, be one and the sublime importance of bliss. same love because, as we have seen, all The Maharshi, in dialogue with devo• dualities have thought as their basis. tees, perhaps sums up best of all our When thought (and thereby individual• subject: ity) is overcome, no such duality exists. Yet bliss remains, in that it is the charac• This morning a Tamil youth ap• terization which has been applied to this proached Bhagavan and asked, state of pure subject. We might ask, who "Swami, it is good to love God, is it has applied it and by what authority? not? Then why not follow the path of However, this question only serves to Love?" demonstrate the inappropriateness of Maharshi: Who said you couldn't fol• language (in terms of rational engage• low it? You can do so. But when you ment) with which to approach our sub• talk of love, there is duality, is there ject — all thought, all ideas, from the not — the person who loves and the Advaitic view, are nothing other than the entity called God who is loved? The result of the duality which only appears individual is not separate from God. 22 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana Hence love means one has love to• be prepared to lose his life even, if nec• wards one's own Self. For this, i.e. lov• essary; so the Self is loved more than ing one's own Self, examples have life. Hence the idea of a person in lov• been given in the Vasudevamananam, ing God, is only with a view to being stage by stage. Man loves money happy himself. He is, however, the most; but he loves his son more than embodiment of happiness and that money; his own body more than the happiness is God. Who else is to be son; his indriyas (the organs of the loved? Love itself is God. body) more than the body; the eye Devotee: That is why I am asking you most among the organs; life more than whether God could be worshipped the eye; and the Self (Atma) more than through the path of love? life. This is exemplified thus: If the son does something untoward and the M: That is exactly what I have been government decide to punish him for saying. Love itself is the actual form it, the parents offer money and even of God. If by saying, 'I do not love this; bribes to set him free. Hence the love I do not love that,' you reject all things, towards the son is more than money. that which remains is Swarupa, i.e. in• If, however, the government do not nate Self. That is pure bliss. Call it pure accept money but say that they will bliss, God, Atma or what you will. That let off the son if the father agrees to is devotion; that is realization and that undergo the punishment himself in• is everything," said Bhagavan. stead, then the father will say, 'Do Another devotee remarked, "The whatever you like with the boy; I have meaning of what you say now is that nothing to do with him.' Hence the we should reject all outside things father loves his own body more than which are bad, and also those which his son. If a man does something for are good, and love God alone. Is it which the powers that be say that his possible for anyone to reject every• eyes must be plucked out, he tries to thing, saying this is no good, that is save his eyes by agreeing to bodily no good, unless one experiences torture; so bodily torture is preferred them?". to loss of an organ. If, however, they decide to take his life by beheading Sri Bhagavan remarked, "That is true. him, he would be prepared to lose his To reject the bad, you must love the eyes or any other organ rather than good. In due course that good also will lose his life; so life (prana) is loved appear to be an obstacle and will be more than the organs. In the same rejected. Hence, you must necessarily manner, a person who desires to have first love what is good. That means A tma-Anandam (bliss of the Self) would you must first love and then reject the 2002 IS ALL LOVE BLISS? thing you love. If you thus reject eve• single most meaningful event on such a rything, what remains is the Self path as it is comprehensively life-chang• alone. That is real love. One who ing. Then, as Sri Ramana describes, all knows the secret of that love finds the the different loves, however appealing world itself full of universal love/' they might seem, need to be passed over — or at least become detached from — (Sri Bhagavan resumed silence.)10 until just one love remains, which is found Love in all its varieties in concert — all to be no different from what I ultimately too often overshadowed or veiled by ac• am (what "I" is), which is Bliss. tivity — must be of supreme importance to the spiritual aspirant. Fully realizing this importance amounts to probably the Suri Nagamma, op.cit:309i.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA'S NARRATION OF HIS SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES God made me pass through the discipline of various paths. First according to the Purana, then according to the Tantra. I also followed the disciplines of the Vedas. At first I practised sadhana in the Panchavati. I made a grove of ft//s/plants and used to sit inside it and meditate. Somtimes I cried with a longing heart, "Mother! Mother!" or again, "Rama! Rama!" While repeating the name of Rama, I sometimes assumed the attitude of Hanuman and fixed a tail to the lower end of my backbone. I was in a God- intoxicated state. At that time I used to put on a silk robe and worship the Deity. What joy I experienced in that worship! I practised the discipline of the Tantra under the bel'tree. At that time I could see no distinction between the sacred falsi and any other plant. In that state I some• times ate the leavings from a jackal's meal, food that had been exposed the whole night, part of which might have been eaten by snakes or other creatures. Yes, I ate that stuff.1 Sometimes I rode on a dog and fed him with luchi, also eating part of the bread myself. I realized that the whole world was filled with God alone. One cannot have spiritual realization without destroying ignorance; so I would assume the attitude of a tiger and devour ignorance. While practising the disciplines of the Vedas, I became a sannyasL I used to lie down in the chandniand say to Hriday, 'I am a sannyasL I shall take my meals here/2 — The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (Entry for September 19,1884).

1 In a certain form of Tantric worship food is offered to the jackals, the companions of Goddess Kali. 2 The chandniis an open portion in the temple garden with steps descending to the Ganga. According to orthodox Hindu tradition, a monk is forbidden to live in a house. Bhagavan and I: A Tete-A-Tete

By I.S. Madugula

never had the good fortune of seeing The following thus is an imaginary I Bhagavan face to face. By the time I dialogue between me and Bhagavan. heard about him at the university where I was studying, it was already too late. I have since read about him, his life and ( Bhagavan looks like one of his later his teachings. I have learnt that he was a pictures, with a benign countenance and person of great kindness and compassion a reassuring smile. His eyes exude grace for one and all, for those that came to him and compassion. I am in a sort of twi• and those who could not. From what I light zone, not quite asleep nor quite have understood, he seems to provide the awake. I sit quietly at a respectful dis• most suitable and the most practical an• tance waiting to catch his attention. I am swers to life's daily dilemmas. His total in no particular hurry. I even think I am openness, accessibility, and warmth have serene in a muddled sort of way. As yet appealed to my nature. He shunned all I have no idea what I am going to say. I forms of show and hype. He never am hoping that somehow he would help claimed to be a great master, nor did he me formulate that ice-breaking question.) ask to have any disciples to propagate I eventually stutter, "Bhagavan, his message. He treated everyone who what's wrong with me?" and wait. I feel came to him as an equal in that everyone relieved that I am able to finally utter shared the same spirit. He was genuine. something. I have often wondered what I would After a period of silence, Bhagavan have asked him if I had indeed seen him looks at me for a few seconds and turns in person. If I have understood him right, his face away. I repeat my question, maybe I can still talk with him because "Bhagavan, what's wrong with me, he assured us that he wasn't going any• please?" where even after he left the body. He lives on in the minds and hearts of all Still no answer. Although I know that those who see him. He can indeed be a he knows what I want, I explain my prob• real, shiny presence any time that pres• lems to him just to get them off my chest. ence is invoked. "My mind wanders. I am restless. I am

26 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana getting on in years. I have a lot of com• B. So, what's stopping you from be• mitments and obligations. I have lived ing free? my life literally like there is no tomor• D. All these attachments, these desires, row. It's finally catching up with me and goals. weighing me down. This is not how I planned my golden years to be. All I B. If they are bothering you, why not want is peace of mind and the right cir• get rid of them? cumstances that conduce to it..." D. Bhagavan knows that it is easier Bhagavan abruptly turns to me and, said than done. I desperately need without any change in his expression, Bhagavan's help to do just that. asks, "You say that your mind wanders?" B. You say you are experiencing all Devotee: Yes, Bhagavan, I did. these problems because you think, you feel, you want, or you act? Bhagavan. Why? Where does it wander? D. Yes, Bhagavan. D. Bhagavan knows it all — a lot bet• B. And you believe you are doing all ter than I can explain myself. Perhaps the things you have done and experienc• you want me to realize all that I have ing all the things that you have experi• done wrong. enced? My senses have held sway over me D. Yes, Bhagavan. far too long. I am attracted to beautiful B. Who are you? things and persons. I cannot stand ugli• ness. I can deal only with the good things D. I am the agent and the patient, the of life. I have lived beyond my means. I actor and the experiencer of all my ac• lack the resources to support that lifestyle. tions. .. I have not been able to fully discharge B. Therein lies your trouble. my obligations to the family. I want to D. I don't understand, I am confused. help people, but I cannot. I want to do B. All thought, both good and bad, charitable work, but I lack the where• emanates from your mind, and all ac• withal. I work hard, but I can show noth• tions, good as well as bad, are performed ing for it. I keep spinning my wheels, by your body. But your are neither, if but I get nowhere. you delve deep into your origins. There The funny thing is that, in the same is a you, separate and distinct from the breath, I want to get away from it all, body and the mind and their functions. into my own world where I am free from And that's the real you, your real self, all obligations, all distractions. . . untouched by any external phenomenon 2002 BHAGAVAN AND I: A TETE-A-TETE 27 or occurrence once you reach into it, as life you wanted. Now you expect me to you do routinely in deep sleep. get you out of the woods? D. I am sorry, Bhagavan, but I don't D. Yes, Bhagavan. That's all I can do get it. now. I have no other recourse. You are my last resort. I surrender. Mahatmas B. Try to journey to the bottom of your have been known to relieve their devo• heart, the core of your personality. In• tees' suffering by their mere wish. quire into its existence. Meditate on it, or get there by any other means that suits B. Well, I don't do miracles. If I did, your temperament. there will be endless lines of people to see me. D. Bhagavan, that sounds like a long term process. (I sit there stubbornly with my head hung in acknowledgment of the re• B. So, what are you waiting for? Start proach. I make no attempt to leave his now. presence.) D. Bhagavan can make all my prob• After a while, in a voice softened with lems disappear in an instant if he so kindness, Bhagavan speaks slowly, "All wishes. right. Go home now, and practise Self- B. Look, you did not consult me when enquiry. All will be well." you made all those commitments, had all Who will not wish to have this as a those experiences, and lived the kind of real experience?

TEACHING OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA: GOD IS EVERYWHERE What is knowledge and what is ignorance? A man is ignorant so long as he feels that God is far away. He has knowledge when he knows that God is here and everywhere. When a man has true knowledge he feels that everything is filled with conscious• ness. At Kamarpukur I used to talk to Shibu, who was then a lad four or five years old. When the clouds rumbled and lightning flashed Shibu would say to me, "There, uncle! They're striking matches again!" (Alllaugh) One day I noticed him chasing grasshoppers by himself. The leaves rustled in the nearby trees. 'Hush! Hush!' he said to the leaves, 'I want to catch the grasshoppers.' He was a child and saw everything throbbing with consciousness. One cannot realize God without the faith that knows no guile, the simple faith of a child. — The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (Entry for September 26,1884). Effort, Grace and Destiny

By Arthur Osborne

CRIPTURES and gurus say that an as• endures in the stone; in man alone it not Spirant must make effort on the path only lives but knows that it lives. The but that Grace also is necessary and that difference between man and other ani• in the end Realization is bestowed by mals is not that man has greater ability Grace, not achieved by effort. It is said in (in many ways he has less), but that he the Upanishad that the Atman chooses knows that he is man; he is self-con• whom it will. sciously man. This is through the human This is a hard saying. Those in whom mind which, looking outward, knows the spiritual urge is powerful do not and dominates the world, looking in• worry their heads over it but strive be• ward, knows and reflects Being as the cause they must, because they are drawn essence and source of the world. How• to it without any thought of reward. ever, the ability to do this implies also Those, however, in whom the mind is too the ability not to do it, to regard oneself active and the Spirit too weak, are apt to as a complete autonomous individual be puzzled and ask why they should and forget the inner Reality. make any effort if the final achievement The various religions express this sim• is not to be won by effort but bestowed ple truth through myth, allegory and by Grace. They also ask why the Atman doctrine and are apt to be puzzling. In should choose one rather than another. the Quran it is said that Allah offered the For such people I will try to clarify the trust to the heavens and earth and the saying. mountains but all declined it; only man accepted and was untrue to it. Religions Who is the 'you' that has to make ef• assert that God gave man free will, which fort, and who is the 'God' or Atman''that implies the freedom to rebel. In Chris• chooses and that bestows Grace on one tianity it is said that man is fallen on ac• rather than on another? count of original sin. The Book of Genesis The essence of a man is pure Spirit or, gives the story of how man fell into the which comes to the same, pure Being or pure universal Consciousness. This Spirit prowls in the lion, spreads in the tree, Reproduced from The Mountain Path, April 1973. 2002 EFFORT, GRACE AND DESTINY 29 domain of opposites, the differentiation tion for total effort and therefore, so to of good and evil. All these are allegories speak, the guilt in not making effort. of the simple truth stated above. The effort involves the will and emo• The mind creates an ego, a seemingly tions as well as the understanding and complete, autonomous individual self, therefore has to be persistent, determined which, although illusory, seems to be the and skilful. The ego has put out tentacles reality of one. This is the state known in which cling to the world, and either these Hinduism as ajnana or ignorance, in Chris• have to be lopped off or the ego itself tianity as 'original sin', in Islam, in its more killed. It craves the admiration or sub• violent form, as kufr or 'denial', in its mission of other egos, and therefore hu• milder form, recognising the Spirit as real mility is enjoined. It craves enjoyment of but believing the ego also to be real, as creation in its own right instead of being shirkor 'association' (of other with God). a mere channel through which the Spirit This is the obstruction to Self-realiza• perceives and enjoys, and therefore celi• tion. Therefore it has to be removed. That bacy and asceticism are sometimes pre• is why the masters say that Self-realiza• scribed and self-indulgence is always, in tion is not something new to be achieved all religions, forbidden. The attempt to but an eternally existent state to be dis• lop off the tentacles of the ego has been covered or revealed. Therefore they com• compared in mythology to a battle with pare it to an overcast sky — the clear sky a many-headed giant who grew two new does not have to be created, only the heads for each one lopped off. The only clouds covering it to be blown away; or way to disposing of him was to strike at to a pond overgrown with water-lilies — the heart and kill the entire being, not the water is there all the time and only deal with the heads individually. The has to be revealed by clearing away the campaign must be skilful and intelli• plants that have overgrown it. gently planned as well as ruthless. What wonder if different masters in different To do this constitutes the effort of which religions have prescribed different ways the teachers and scriptures speak. The of conducting it? The goal in all cases is mind has created the obstruction; the the same: the taming or destruction of the mind has to remove it. But merely to rec• ego or the discovery that it never really ognise this, to recognise, that is to say, existed! that the ego is (according to the Advaitin) an illusory self or (according to the dual• Methods such as I have been alluding ist) a creation of the Spirit, to which it to, consist largely in curtailing the ego's should be submitted and totally passive, outer manifestations so as to induce the is far from constituting the full effort re• mind to turn inwards to the Self or Spirit quired. Indeed, it increases the obliga• behind it. It is also possible to proceed in 30 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana the opposite direction by turning inward obstructions; it is hard for it to under• to the Spirit and thence deriving strength stand that it is itself the final obstruction. to renounce the outer manifestations. This The very desire for Realization has to is the path of love and devotion, worship• be carefully watched and can become an ping God, submitting to Him, calling impediment, for it implies someone to upon His Name, striving to serve and achieve something. At the end all that the remember Him with one's whole life; mind is called on to do is to keep still either path can be followed, or both and allow the Grace to flow unimpeded together. A third path is that of question• — but that is the hardest thing of all for ing the very existence of the ego by Self- it to do. enquiry. Till in the end All this is effort. Then what about All battles fought, all earthly loves Grace? Grace is the natural flow of the abjured, Spirit into and through the mind and fac• Dawn in the east, there is no other way ulties. There is nothing capricious or er• But to be still. In stillness then to find ratic about it. Bhagavan said: "Grace is The giants all were windmills, all the always there; it is only you who have to strife make yourself receptive to it." It is lik• Self-made, unreal; even he that strove A fancied being, as when that good ened traditionally to the sunlight falling knight on a flower garden: if one bud opens and Woke from delirium and with a loud not another it is not due to any partiality cry on the side of the sun but only to the ma• Rendered his soul to God. turity or immaturity of the buds. Or if On the devotional path this danger of the sunlight penetrates one room but not supposing that it is the ego who strives another it is simply because the doors and and attains, this warning against desires, windows are open in one and shut in the even the desire to get Realization, is ex• other. pressed in the attitude that true service Why then is it said that the Atman of God must be for love alone with no chooses whom It will and that the final thought of reward. He who asks for re• Realization comes by Grace, not by ef• ward is a merchant, not a lover. fort? In order to remove the insidious idea The impossibility of achieving when that the ego-self can continue to exist and there is no one to achieve explains why a attain something called 'Realization', Guru will never answer the question whereas all it can do is to immolate itself 'When shall I attain Realization?' It im• and be replaced by the realized state of plies the false presumption: "There is an the Spirit, which is ever-present Grace. individual me; when will it cease to ex• The mind makes efforts to remove ist?" whereas the Guru realizes the ulti- 2002 EFFORT, GRACE AND DESTINY 31 mate truth — "There is no being of the achieve because one is That already; the unreal and, no not-being of the Real." Not disciple can't. Bhagavan would some• that the unreal ego will cease to be at such times say that asking the best way to Re• and such a point in time, but that it is not alization is like being at Tiruvannamalai now, never has been and never could be. and asking how to get there, but that Therefore the attitude of mind that ques• could not be the attitude of the devotee. tions when one can attain Realization or He expected the devotee to make effort, whether it is one's destiny to be realized even while appreciating the paradox that in this lifetime is an obstruction sufficient there is no effort to make. In the same way to prevent Realization, being an assertion he could say that for the realized man of the temporary existence of the unreal. there is no Guru-disciple relationship but Similarly, if you assert that you cannot add that for the disciple the relationship attain Realization in this lifetime you are is a reality and is of importance. thereby preventing yourself from doing For the disciple effort is necessary, but so by postulating the existence of a 'you' it is also necessary to remember that ef• who cannot attain. fort can never attain the final goal, since And yet paradoxically, it is also an he who makes the effort must dissolve, impediment to assert that no effort need leaving only the Spirit. The Spirit, which be made, on the pretext that, as "there is is the true Self, replaces the illusory ego- no being of the unreal and no not-being self when the latter has removed the ob• of the Real", one is That now and has structions; and that is Grace. The Spirit therefore no need to strive to become flows into the vacuum which remains That. It sounds plausible, but it is an im• when the ego-self dissolves; doing so is pediment because it is the pseudo-self, the the 'choice' which the Spirit makes. It is illusory unreal, that is saying it. The for the aspirant to create the vacuum by Master can say that there is nothing to removing the obstructions.

SOMERSET MAUGHAM AND SRI BHAGAVAN Somerset Maugham, the well known English author was on a visit to Sri Bhagavan. He also went to see Major A.W. Chadwick in his room. There he suddenly became unconscious. Major Chadwick requested Sri Bhagavan to see him. Sri Bhagavan went into the room took a seat and gazed on Mr. Maugham. He regained his senses and saluted Sri Bhagavan. They remained silent and sat facing each other for nearly an hour. The author attempted to ask questions, but did not speak. Major Chadwick en• couraged him to ask. Sri Bhagavan said, "All finished. Heart-talk is all talk. All talk must end in silence only." They smiled and Sri Bhagavan left the room. — Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk No. 550.

53

The Enlightenment of Buddha Sakyamuni

By Lama Anagarika Govinda

HEN the Buddha after his enlight• This inner struggle is represented in Wenment arrived at the Deer Park the sacred scriptures as a dialogue of the near Benares, he was but a lonely wan• Enlightened One with Mara, the Tempter, derer, a pilgrim like thousands of others on the one hand, and with Brahma who come daily to this sacred city. He Sahampati, one of the celestial gods of was forsaken by his friends and compa• light, on the other. Mara is the advocate nions, given up by his family — nobody of the selfish, small ego, which is only knew of his great victory; no visible sign interested in its own welfare, while was there to convince the world of his Brahma is the advocate of that higher supreme attainment. And even if it had endeavour, which has the welfare of all been possible to impress the world by beings at heart, without regard to one's signs and miracles, the Buddha would own weal and woe. Though conscious of have been the last to use such means. the difficulty of his mission (because 'it And yet, this lonely pilgrim carried in is difficult to find those capable of un• his heart that light which was to illumine derstanding'), the Buddha decided to the world and to leave its imprint upon yield to the promptings of these divine the face of humanity. impulses. Wide open are the gates of immor• tality Ye that ha ve ears to hear, release your When he left Uruvela (now known as faith! Buddh Gaya) the place of his enlighten• ment, he was perfectly conscious of the And after he had reviewed the world immensity of the task before him, because in his mind in order to determine where he had been struggling deep within him• to proclaim first the happy tidings, he self, whether he should return into the decided to go to Benares, India's holiest world and proclaim his newly found knowledge for the benefit of humanity, or whether he should continue to dwell in This was published earlier in The Mountain Path, the blissful peace of his own liberation. in the issues for January 1978 and July 1978. 34 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Amdhana place, and he announced his decision trated and saturated his bodily form. with the following words: Never had a man's expression and be• Now to Benares Town I press haviour revealed a greater power of con• To set the Truth-wheel whirling round,1 viction, sincerity and devotion to truth, In this blind world I go to sound combined with the ardent desire to com• The throbbing drum of deathlessness.2 municate the experience of ultimate real• If the Buddha called upon the people ity for the benefit of all living beings. It of the world to 'release their faith', he did was this sincerity and radiance of his not expect them blindly to accept his whole being that gave his words such an words, but merely to accept his message overpowering effect, an effect that has with an open mind and to let it sink into spanned millenniums and even now their hearts, so as to realize the truth for makes his message reverberate in the themselves. That the Buddha did not hearts of millions of men, as if those speculate upon the credulity of the peo• words were spoken this very moment. ple when he spoke of 'faith' (Pali: saddha, All the happiness which the Buddha had Skt.: Sraddha), may be seen from the fact silently enjoyed during the weeks after that the first proclamation of his teach• his enlightenment in the solitude of the ings was addressed to those of his former forest, is condensed in the solemn excla• companions who had abandoned him, mation with which he addressed those because he had given up the extreme aus• five ascetics in the Deer Park: Open your terities which they regarded indispensa• ears, O monks, the deliverance from death ble to a holy life, but which he had found isfound! unprofitable and ignoble. When now they Strange enough, these happy tidings saw the Buddha approaching through the have never been given the attention they Deer Park, they decided neither to greet deserve, and especially among modern nor to welcome him, but to treat him with students of Buddhism. Partly under the contemptuous indifference. influence of Schopenhauer's philosophy, But, what happened? partly due to the materialistic outlook of science at the beginning of this century, When the Buddha drew nearer, they rose one after another from their seats and went to meet him. The Buddha's face 1 The 'turning of the Wheel of the Dharma' (Skt.: bore the expression of his great spiritual Dharmacakra - pravartana. Tibetan: chos-kihkhor- victory, his eyes had the deep glance of lo hkor-ba) is a metaphor known to every Bud• one who had gone through the myster• dhist, meaning 'setting in motion the forces of the universal and moral law' as embodied in ies of life and death and conquered both. truths of Buddhism. This metaphor is the ori• His whole personality was radiating gin of the Tibetan 'prayer wheel.' happiness, as if the inner light had pene• 2 This versified translation is by Bhikkhu Silacara. 2002 THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF BUDDHA SAKHYAMUNI 35 there arose the impression that Buddhism cation on account of which his compa• was either a pessimistic kind of philoso• nions lost faith in him. phy or a life-negating form of rational• And with a body restored to health ism. Both these views forget that and vigour, he directed his mind inward, Buddhism was not founded on an intel• and lo! it revealed to him a universe, lectual theory, but on an experience of greater than the universe that his mortal overwhelming power. What was this eyes could see or his mortal mind could experience that transformed the emaci• conceive; a universe that did not only ated ascetic into the radiant figure of the extend in space, but in which time and Buddha? space were merged into a higher dimen• The sacred texts give us a very clear sion, so that the past became an integral description of this experience in the Bud• part of the present and the origination, dha's own words, which — if we have disintegration and re-absorption of ears to hear and hearts to understand — world-systems became as apparent as the contain the key to the quintessence of infinite variety of life-forms, in which Buddhism, to its most profound aspect, each single being has its function and is in which millenniums of religious deve• related to all other manifestations of life. lopment are foreshadowed and in which He discovered the universality of a the essential message of all great reli• consciousness of which our human intel• gions is comprised, the discovery of the lect and reason are only small fragments, universality and immortality of the spirit sufficient for the trivial tasks of daily life, that informs all life and that becomes con• but no more than a drop on the surface scious in man, if he bursts the barriers of of the ocean. And as a drop, if separated egohood, that keep him a prisoner of his from the ocean, evaporates and disap• own illusions. pears from sight, so the limited human The Buddha described this process consciousness that separates itself under and the conditions that make it possible. the illusion of its "egohood", will go No amount of will-power, no extreme of through millions of transformations of asceticism or self-torture can force open births and deaths, until it remembers or the gates of enlightenment. We can ap• rediscovers its origin and realizes its di• vine nature in the tremendous all-embrac• proach them only with due respect to the ing experience of universality, in which body in whom the human consciousness the individual human mind serves as a is enshrined and which therefore is to be mirror or a focal point of universal con• looked upon as the temple of the mind. sciousness. This was the first lesson the Buddha learnt, and it was for this reason that he Thus the human mind is not annihi• abandoned the extremes of self-mortifi• lated but subordinated to a higher 36 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana dimension of awareness, it becomes a tive value of individuality. While in Brah- focalizing instrument which not only re• manism nirvana had a metaphysical con• flects but integrates a higher reality, so notation, implying the dissolution or that the metaphor of 'the drop slipping merging of the individual soul in the into the shining sea' could be reversed undifferentiated Brahman, the Buddha into the paradox that 'the sea is slipping used this term in a purely psychological into the drop', which comes nearer to the sense: as the extinction of greed, hatred truth that the infinite lives in the finite, and ignorance. Nirvana, thus, is not the universal in the individual — which the annihilation of individual life, as is the only raison d'etre for the latter's generally assumed, but something that existence. can be experienced in this very life, as This universal experience will at once demonstrated by the Buddha himself, explain the Buddhist concept of anatman who — far from dissolving into the all, (Pali: anatta), which has baffled many stu• — led an active life as a teacher and dents of Buddhism and has given rise to leader of a great spiritual movement, the faulty notion of the 'soullessness' of wandering from place to place for full Buddhism. This notion arose mainly forty years. from the naive presupposition that the The overcoming of greed, hatred and word'attd (Pali) or'atmaii (Skt.), as used ignorance (which latter consists in the in Buddhist texts, could be equated with delusion of imagining one's own self as the concept of 'soul' and that 'soul' was a separate and unchangeable ego-entity, identical with 'ego', and that the 'ego' is but is not to be confused with lack of in• a limited, separate and constant entity. If tellectual knowledge) is the precondition however the Buddha spoke of 'anatta' of enlightenment which, thus, includes 'not-self, 'non-ego', 'egolessness' etc., he Nirvana and at the same time goes be• did not deny the eternal in man, but yond it. This is clearly shown in the merely pointed out that, what we regard distinction which is drawn between a as our 'ego', is not the eternal but the perfect saint (arahanf) and a Buddha. The ephemeral, not a reality but an illusion saint has overcome the above-mentioned which prevents us from discovering the negative qualities and thus gained Nir• universality of our true nature. We are vana, but he is not a Buddha because he like a poor man, in whose house a treas• has not attained the universal knowledge ure is hidden, but who refuses to break of a fully Enlightened One, he has not down the walls that hide the treasure. reached the universality of the highest On the other hand, we have to under• consciousness. The highest ideal of Bud• stand that the denial of separate egohood dhism is, therefore, not Nirvana but En• does not contradict the necessity and rela• lightenment (samyaksambodhi). 2002 THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF BUDDHA SAKHYAMUNI 37 The recognition of this fact gave rise enced the momentariness of that which to the 'Great Way' or 'Great Vehicle'(Maha- appeared eternal and the eternity of the yana) of Buddhism, whose followers were moment, who has reached universality not content merely to escape the endless in the highest state of individualisation cycles of death and rebirth, by abstain• — only such a one knows that the Bud• ing, from all actions which might per• dha's Middle Path is neither a compro• petuate the state of worldly existence, but mise nor a 'sneaking through' between regarded the attainment of Perfect En• the opposites, but the recognition of both lightenment as the only aim worthy of sides of reality without clinging to the human endeavour — and this all the one or the other. more, as it presented the opportunity to When the Buddha introduced the idea help one's fellow beings in the greatest of the Middle Way in his first sermon at possible measure, though it meant tak• Sarnath before his five former compa• ing upon oneself the burden of a longer nions, he was still aflame with the fire of way and sparing the sufferings of innu• his great experience, which reverberated merable other beings. in his triumphant exclamation: "The de• Compared to this ideal, that of the liverance from death is found!"— com• Arahant, who tried to escape the rounds pressing into these few simple words the of birth and death on the shortest way, quintessence of a message and an expe• bent first of all on his own salvation, ap• rience which took him the remaining peared narrow and to some degree self• forty years of his life to explain and to ish, and was therefore called the 'Lesser propagate — a message that even after Vehicle' (Hinayana) by the followers of the two-and-a-half thousand years has not Mahayanato which the Tibetan Buddhists yet exhausted its profound significance. belong. To them the profoundest teach• The Buddha himself underlined the im• ing of the Buddha was his own example, portance of his words, by adding: "Tell his ceaseless striving after realization of me, ye monks, have I ever addressed you the highest aim through innumerable in such terms?" existences and sufferings until he had at• tained Perfect Enlightenment. To them the The monks awakening from their per• Buddha's way (doctrine) is not a way of plexity could not but agree that they had evasion or escape, but a way of facing never heard such words from him — vi• and overcoming dangers and mastering brant with deep emotion; and knowing difficulties. Only one who knows joy and the unquestionable truthfulness of his sorrow to the full, who has tasted character, they began to understand that transitoriness as well as eternity, who has the man who stood before them, was no dwelt in the finite as well as in the con• more the simple ascetic Gotama, but one templation of the infinite, who has experi• who had passed through an extraordi- 38 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Amdhana nary spiritual experience, one who tial nature of a being will result in a had lifted his consciousness to a higher change of its world (i.e. the dimension in reality. which it lives). The essential nature of an individual, however, consists in his con• And now they listened to his words, sciousness, and thus, every living being and they heard the doctrine of the Mid• not only lives in the world which it 'de- dle Way, which is as far from a life of serves', which corresponds to it but ulti• selfish enjoyment as from the self-morti• mately in the world which it creates. fication and gloominess of world-despis• Recognizing this fact, which is only an• ing asceticisms, but which, free from other way to express the law of Karma, these extremes "enlightens the eye, en• the Buddha replaced the dogma of a lightens the mind, leads to peace, to static, immutable self (atman), to which knowledge, to Enlightenment!" the original experience of inner reality This avoidance of extremes applied to had been reduced by the idea of a liv• both the practical and the spiritual life, ing, organically evolving psyche and a gave birth to a new kind of thinking, growing human awareness of his inborn even to a new system of logic and later universality, inspired by a spontaneous on to the greatest philosophies of Asia, impulse for freedom and illumination in which the irreconcilable contrast be• (bodhjhdttci). tween subject and object, between T and Looking back from the experience of 'world7, between 'spirit' and 'matter', highest reality, the Enlightened One saw between 'substance' and 'appearance', the world from the opposite point of view between the 'eternal' and the 'ephemeral' of the ordinary human being, so to say was eliminated in favour of an infinite in a reversed perspective, i.e. instead of living interrelationship between every• seeing it from the point of view of an 'ego', thing that exists. The world that had been he saw it under the perspective of solidified by more or less abstract and static concepts, created by thinkers far egolessness, and lo! this, apparently so removed from life, was again restored substantial, material world dissolved to fluidity by the Buddha's dynamic con• into a whirling mass of eternally rotat• ception of a world in which there was as ing and at every moment originating and little place for dead matter or rigid me• disintegrating elements. The momen- chanical laws, as for arbitrariness, law• tariness of these elements of existence of lessness or merely 'accidental' which everything is composed, makes happenings. Man and his universe, in the application of concepts like 'being' fact, every living being and the world in and 'non-being' 'existence' and 'non• which it exists, form an organic whole, existence' impossible. and therefore any change in the essen• Buddha's instruction is as follows: 2002 THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF BUDDHA SAKHYAMUNI 39 The world, O Kaccana, is accustomed upon Ananda answered that he followed to rely on duality, on the 'it is' and on the Buddha's teaching on account of his the 'it is not'. However, O Kaccana, he own insight into the truth. The Buddha who perceives in accordance with then expressed his satisfaction and told truth and wisdom how the things in Ananda that if he had accepted his words this world arise, for him there is no 'it in blind faith he would not have been is not' in the world. And he, O benefitted by them. He did not want his Kaccana, who perceives in accordance followers to believe in his words, but to with truth and wisdom how things of understand them and to take them as a this world perish, for him there is no starting point for their own investigations 'it is' in the world.3 and experience. The greatest knowledge cannot help us, if we have not made it From this point of view we can under• our own by re-creating the process in stand the Buddha's silence regarding the which it was acquired. existence or non-existence of an Enlight• ened One after death or the existence or All great truths were originally mat• non-existence of God and similar meta• ters of experience, in which feeling and physical questions. The silence of the Bud• inner knowledge were combined; they dha was not that of an agnostic, but was were not discovered by the negative born of a deep understanding of the tran• methods of deduction, abstraction or sub• scendental nature of ultimate reality. The traction. They were found by the posi• non-theistic attitude of Buddhism (so dif• tive process of concentration and ferent from that of atheism) springs from integration in contemplative activity in the deep respect for the mystery of tran• which the whole man was engaged and scendental reality, which is beyond not only the brain or the counting, divid• words and concepts and can only be ex• ing, calculating, measuring and general• perienced. The Buddha, therefore, did not izing intellect. They were neither want to convince people through logical mathematical nor philosophical notions, arguments, but by showing them the way and only if we can convert them again that leads to the point where they can see into something that can be felt and known the truth for themselves through their directly and spontaneously, like heat or own experience. He did not ask people cold or like love and hatred — in other to believe in him, but to "come and see". words, only if we can dissolve them again into the stream of life — only then The Buddha once asked Ananda, do they become our philosophy. A real whether he followed him because he be• lieved his words and venerated him, or because he had understood and realized the truth (dharma) within himself, where• 3 SamyuttaNikayar. II. 17. 40 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana philosopher, in Lin Yutang's words, "is a prejudices and prevents us from seeing man who holds his sensibilities at the things in their true relationship. highest point of focus and watches the flux Lin Yutang says: of life ready to be forever surprised by newer and stranger paradoxes, inconsist• The human desire to see only one encies and inexplicable exceptions to the phase of truth which we happen to rule." perceive, and to develop and elevate it into a perfect logical system, is one Conceptual or intellectual knowledge reason why our philosophy is bound only serves to rationalize our prejudices. to grow stranger to life. He who talks The wise one has no prejudices. In other about truth injures it thereby; he who words: the wise one is not he who knows tries to prove it thereby maims and much, but he who is free from prejudice destroys it; he who gives it a label and — even though he may know little. A a school of thought kills it; and he mind free from prejudice is a mind free who declares himself a believer from the bondage of habitual thinking, a buries it.4 mind which refuses to move along the channels of habit and convention, i.e., an This is why the Buddha preferred si• open and spontaneous mind: open to the lence to words, whenever there was a outer world — in accepting it as it is question concerning ultimate things, (yathabhutam) — and open to the inner whenever there was a problem which vision and the voice of intuition, by which went beyond the direct experience of life. our various experiences are welded to• This is why he warned his followers of gether into an organic unity. the danger of clinging to any extremes in life or in views (i.e. to any partial as• Ignorance (avidya) in the Buddhist pect of reality or truth), and why the Mid• sense — and this is important to note — dle Way, which he taught, is not based is not the absence of factual knowledge on the acceptance of an article of faith or (and can, therefore, never be rendered as the formulation of a philosophical theory 'stupidity'), but the wrong interpretation or any other dogma, but on the impar• of facts or impressions (to which the tial and unprejudiced recognition of the highly intellectual are as prone as the facts of life, as experienced by every unsophisticated peasant is). Complete human being. Each of the eight stages absence of knowledge is not ignorance, of this way of deliverance (generally but either a state of unconsciousness or known as the Eight-fold Path: Skt.: lack of awareness. The most dangerous state of ignorance is half-knowledge, i.e., one-sided and therefore biased knowl• edge, which only creates or supports our 4 The importance of living, p. 490. 2002 THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF BUDDHA SAKHYAMUNI 41 astangikamarga) Tib.: lam-brgyad) is pre• conventional education), which enables fixed with the word samyak{Pali: samma; us to see things as they are and not as we Tib.: yang-dag), which has generally been want them to be. Thus, instead of closing translated as 'right', so that the first step our eyes to what is unpleasant and pain• would be called 'right views' (Skt.: ful, we should face the fact of suffering, samyagdrsti). But what is the criterion of which the Buddha calls the First Noble 'right' or 'wrong'? Truth. By facing it, we discover the causes of suffering and with it the second Noble Most religions would say, 'right' is Truth, namely, that the causes of suffer• what agrees with the teachings or reve• ing are within ourselves and that it is up lations of their scriptures; and conse• to us to overcome them. This leads us to quently 'wrong' is what contradicts them. the third Noble Truth, the recognition of The Buddha is not concerned with reve• the supreme aim of liberation, and finally lations, however old and acceptable they to the fourth Noble Truth, which consists may be, as long as they cannot be veri• in the way towards the realization of this fied by the experience of each single in• aim: the Noble Eightfold Path (arya dividual. He asks the people to face the astangikamarga). facts of life and to examine them care• fully and impartially, i.e., to see them not I only from o#e side or one point of view, The first step on the Eightfold Path, or arbitrarily picking out partial aspects, therefore, is the perfect understanding of but seeing them in their totality, in their and clear insight (samyagdrsti) into these completeness. This is exactly what the Four Noble Truths, which means that they word samyak expresses. It has nothing to should not only be accepted intellectually, do with the opinions of 'right' and but consciously experienced. Even if in 'wrong', but signifies perfection, com• the beginning the full significance of the pleteness, in contrast to something that Four Noble Truths cannot be realized in is partial or one-sided. The epithet Samyak its entire depth and universality (because Sambuddha means a 'completely' 'fully' suffering means far more than our per• or 'perfectly Enlightened One', but not a sonal pains and disappointments, and 'rightly' Enlightened One. liberation means more than our personal Samyag drsti, therefore, means more happiness), yet the fact of suffering and than what is commonly called 'right its immediate causes are so obviously views' or the agreement with a certain demonstrated in every phase of life, that set of established ideas. It means a per• the mere observation and analysis of fectly open mind, free from arbitrary one's own experience is sufficient to con• opinions (an attitude that is not depend• vince any thinking man of the truth of ent on learning or factual knowledge and the Buddha's statements. 42 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana Out of this conviction grows naturally form of a four-fold effort, namely, in over• the second step. coming all negative factors of our mind, n in preventing such factors arising, in pro• ducing instead all such qualities that Perfect aspiration (samyak samkalpa), bring us nearer to our aim, and to culti• namely a mental attitude aiming at the vate all positive qualities of our mind, elimination of the immediate causes of that have already arisen. This is called suffering, like greed and hatred, by cul• the perfect effort (samyag vyayama), in tivating their opposites, namely selfless• which the whole human personality is ness and loving kindness, liberality and engaged and leads to the seventh step. compassion, with a view to attaining fi• VII nal liberation and (according to the ideal of Mahayana) perfect enlightenment. Perfect mindfulness (samyaksmrti) with regard to the body and its functions (in This attitude gives rise to the next which especially the subtle functions of three steps. breathing — the meeting place of physi• m cal and spiritual processes, vital energies Perfect speech (samyak vak), speech that and psychic forces — are raised into con• scious awareness), mindfulness with re• is truthful and kind, that creates unity gard to feelings and emotions, as well and not dissension, that is meaningful as to thoughts and phenomena concern• and to the point; ing both the inner as well as the outer IV world. Perfect action (samyak karmanta): in har• VIII mony with our mental attitude, i.e., The eighth step consists in perfect con• based on love and compassion, on con• centration or absorption (samyaksamadhi), sideration of others. i.e., complete inner unification, in which V the tension between subject and object is Perfect livelihood (samyagajiva), that eliminated in favour of a fully integrated benefits not only ourselves, but others as consciousness. Here man becomes well (avoiding trades and professions 'whole', 'holy' in the true sense of the which are harmful to others and to our word, and the cause of suffering, consist• own spiritual progress). ing in the illusion of egohood, on account of which the world is torn asunder into VI the two opposing principles of 'I-ness' and The sixth step on the Path consists in other-ness' is annihilated. Thus man re• the full employment of all our forces to• gains the harmony and universality of wards the attainment of our aim in the consciousness, in which the break is 2002 THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF BUDDHA SAKHYAMUNI 43 healed, the balance restored and supreme the laws of reality. Morality is the har• happiness is gained. mony between our convictions and our This experience may first be attained actions. Concentration {samadhi) is the har• in momentary flashes or during brief mony between the faculties of knowing, spells of samadhi-experience, but even feeling and willing, the harmonious co• then the gain is immense, as this will now operation of all our creative faculties, lead• form the basis of a new and deeper reali• ing to the experience of a higher reality. zation of the first step and consequently There is nothing in this Path that could of all the following stages of the holy path, not be accepted by every single human which is now traversed on a higher level, being and by every religion. In the Bud• and this is repeated in ever ascending dha's teaching there is no 'thou shalt' or spirals until permanent liberation and 'thou shalt not', but 'come and see', and perfect illumination are attained. if you have seen and convinced yourself of the facts of reality, act accordingly and The Noble Eightfold Path is based on take upon yourself the consequences of three partly overlapping principles: the your actions. principle of knowledge, morality and concentration. Perfect views and perfect According to the Law of Dependent aspirations are based on the principle of Origination (the famouspratityasamutpada, knowledge, the faculty of understanding; through which the Buddha freed man perfect speech, action and livelihood rep• from the fear of and the dependence upon resent the ethical principle. Perfect effort, the powers of gods and demons) man is attentiveness and samadhi (inner absorp• the maker — as well as the unmaker — of tion or unification) are based on the prin• his own fate. This is the law of action and ciple of concentration. It is characteristic reaction, known as Karma. As long as man of Buddhism that it puts understanding, has not sufficient insight into the nature the principle of knowledge, before mo• of life, and especially into his own nature, rality and thus makes it clear that the lat• he will act foolishly and suffer from the ter is more than conformity to rules and results of his actions. But this suffering is customs, but is based on our convictions. not a humiliating punishment, but the It is the agreement between our under• natural effect of his thoughts and actions, standing and our conduct. Only when which will teach him more than the com• our convictions and our actions are in mandments imposed upon him by an ex• harmony, can we succeed in achieving ternal authority. full concentration and inner unification. Thus suffering itself becomes the great Thus we may summarize the mean• teacher (as Guru Gampopa, the disciple ing of the three principles: understand• of Milarepa, says in his Golden Rosary), ing is the harmony between our mind and because suffering forces us to look in- 44 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana wards and to discover the reason for our greater consciousness and from the disharmony. It is the ignorance (avidya) stream of universal life, which alone can of our own true nature, due to which we give meaning to our momentary exist• see world and life under a wrong per• ence, while under a growing insight and spective, namely from the egocentric recognition of the universal foundations point of view of selfish desires. It is like and relations of our being, it may free us looking through the wrong end of a tel• from our self-created limitations by cut• escope, by which everything recedes fur• ting down the fences (and defences) we ther away from us and shrinks into have erected around us. insignificance. It is from this point of view that we The illusion of egohood creates active, have to understand the Buddha's formula but self-limiting tendencies (samskara) of Dependent Origination which says that which perpetuate individual limitations the tendencies of our character, the karmic and characteristics, like the germ of a form-energies, created by our volition seed that is not only the product or sum (samskara) in dependence of ignorance total of a complete cycle of individual life, (avidya) will produce ever and ever again but the force or vital energy which pre• a (rebirth) conscious (vijnana), [sic] which serves and recreates the forms that have creates a psycho-physical organism been consolidated through repeated ac• (nama-rupa) that makes its sense-organs tions or functions of preceding life-cycles. (sadayatana) through contact (sparsa) with The tendencies of the survival of form are their corresponding objects and the re• amply demonstrated in all organic life, sulting feeling (vedana) into instruments but they become intensified in self-con• of craving (trsna, literally "thirst") after scious individuals, in which the form-pre• the things of this world. If this craving is serving tendencies of organic life are satisfied, it results in clinging (upadana) transformed into the directive forces of to the objects of satisfaction. Desire sows conscious will, acting under the influence and clinging develops the seeds which of a widening field of perception and ex• lead to a new process of becoming (bhava) perience, in which suffering has the func• and towards a future form of existence, tion of a regulating principle, like the corresponding to the present level of in• balance in a watch, that checks the accu• dividual development. Thus the cycle of mulated force from spending itself in an birth and death is repeated until suffer• unrestricted rush of energy or in a wrong ing leads to a reversal of our will through direction. the recognition of the causes of suffering However, this conscious will is a dou• and the discovery of an aim that is ble-edged sword: under the illusion of greater and worthier than the mainte• our little separate ego and its petty de• nance of our ephemeral form of existence, sires, it cuts us off from the roots of that an aim that alone can justify the aeons of 2002 THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF BUDDHA SAKHYAMUNI 45 our wanderings through birth and death: potentialities of the human mind, com• the final realization of universality in the pared to which the average human life experience of enlightenment. and its paltry enjoyments were to be re• The Buddha's enlightenment was the garded as suffering, privation, as symp• birth-hour of Buddhism. The aim of the toms of a disease, of spiritual blindness, Buddha's teaching, therefore, is not an due to which human beings are not abstract idea or an imagined paradise, aware of the light that is ever present. nor a philosophical theory, but an expe• Enlightenment consists in the removal rience, and it was this experience that of hindrances that obstruct the light. And gave Buddhism its name and determined as this light exists everywhere, it cannot the whole course of its history and its be created but only revealed. The Bud• spiritual development. To understand dha therefore did not try to explain or to Buddhism we have to view it under the define the light, but to open the eyes of aspect of this experience which represents the people. "There are people whose eyes both its starting point and its aim. It is are only slightly covered with dust", he from this aspect alone that we can assess said, "they will understand the truth." correctly the meaning of Buddhist termi• The light is universal, but everybody nology. Even such a simple concept as must see with his own eyes. Buddhism, that of suffering (duhkha) cannot be un• therefore, is a way to enlightenment, derstood from a merely physical or psy• which is both universal and individual, chological point of view, nor has it and thus able to satisfy the needs of man anything to do with philosophical pessi• in the present as in the past and to mism — as early explorers of Buddhism extend its willing co-operation to all other were inclined to believe — but it has to religions which are striving for the crea• be seen against the background of the tion of a better world and a happier Buddha's realization of the immense humanity.

CONCENTRATION IS ESSENTIAL An angler was fishing in a pond. An Avadhuta approaching him, asked, "Brother, which road leads to such and such a place?" The float at that time indicated that the fish was nibbling at the bait. So the angler gave no reply, but was all attention to the fishing rod. When the fish was caught, he turned round and said, "What was it you were saying, sir?" The Avadhuta saluted him and said, "Sir, you are my guru. When I sit in contemplation of the Paramatman, let me follow your example, in attending to nothing else before I finish my devotion." — Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna. Yoga Vasishta Sara (The Essence Of Yoga Vasishta)

Based on a translation made by Swami Suresananda

Chapter VI Meditation On The Self

1. I, the pure, stainless and infinite which (really) exists; I am unable to say consciousness beyond maya, look upon anything beyond this. this body in action like the body of 7. Let imaginary waves of universe another. rise or fall in me who am the ocean of 2. The mind, the intellect, the senses, infinite consciousness; there is no increase etc. are all the play of consciousness. They or decrease in me. are unreal and seem to exist only due to 8. How wonderful that in me, the infi• lack of insight. nite ocean of consciousness, waves of jivas 3. Unmoved by adversity, a friend of (individual souls) rise, sport for a while all the world in prosperity, without ideas and disappear according to their nature. of existence and non-existence, I live free 9. The world which has come into ex• from misery. istence on account of my ignorance has 4. Inactive am I, desireless, clear as the dissolved likewise in me. I now directly sky, free from hankering, tranquil, form• experience the world as supreme bliss of less, everlasting and unmoving. consciousness. 5.1 have now clearly understood that 10. I prostrate to myself who am the five elements, the three worlds and I within all beings, the ever-free Self abid• myself are pure Consciousness. ing as inner Consciousness. 6.1 am above everything; I am present everywhere; I am like space; I am that Reproduced from The Mountain Path, April 1970. W**

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Ten verses from Shankaracharya's Sivananda Lahari were selected and arranged in a particular order by Sri Bhagavan for the benefit of devotees. We present here the Ms. of this group of verses in Sanskrit along with the Ms. containing their Tamil translation. Both the manuscripts are in the handwriting of Sri Bhagavan. Sri Bhagavan has also composed the thalaippu for both the Sanskrit and Tamil versions. An English translation is furnished between pp. 54-56.

Talaippu or sloka suchika is a key verse containing the first letter or two (or more) of the opening stanza followed by similar ones for the rest (of the stanzas). It is an aid to remembering the sequential order of the stanzas in the text. The three flowers appearing in the lower half of page 52 have been drawn on computer for pur• poses of space filling. They are not part of the Ms. 2002 MANUSCRIPTS OF SRI BHAGAVAN 47

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By Muruganar

Quickly giving up attachment To perverse talkers with their wicked ways, Follow, my friend, and walk with Steadfast knowers whose peace can still The movements of the mind. (226)

Since every vice proceeds from false pleasures Of swerving from the Self, the plenitude of virtue Is the perfect peace of pure awareness following The end of the ego by such false pleasures fed. (227)

The truly virtuous are those alone Who abide in flawless awareness, All others are but base. Hence gain new life by living In the company of those who free from falsehood Live in the purity of true awareness. , (228)

Ripened by the incomparable power Of Self-knowledge, the guru has been transformed Into transcendent Being. He who through penance done becomes The target of his glance of grace Attains greatness beyond the reach of speech. (229)

The translation is by Prof. K. Swaminathan. I?

Ten Verses From Sri Sankara's Sivanandalahari

SELECTED BY SRI BHAGAVAN

(See note on flyleaf between pages 46 and 47)

1. Just as in this world the ankola seeds 4. O wise one! can the pot, the lump of approach their tree, the needle ap• clay, the atom, smoke, fire, the hill, the proaches the magnet, the chaste wife her cloth or thread — [terms used in dialec• lord, the creeper the tree, and the river tics] — ward off Death, the Terrible? In the sea, even so when the current of vain you suffer the pain in thy throat by thought approaches the two Lotus Feet loquacious discussion of dialectics. Medi• of the Lord and abides there always, that tate quickly on the Lotus Feet of Sambhu, is termed bhakti. and realize Supreme Bliss. 2. Devotion, that abides in the firma• 5. Fearing if he would not receive the ment of the Lotus Feet of the Supreme kick on his chest, Yama flees from him Lord, causes a shower of bliss like the whose mind is dedicated to Thy Lotus clouds. The entire crop of life of him, Feet, O Lord of Bhavani! Devas worship whose reservoir of mind is filled to the him by the lustre of the precious stones brim with that shower of bliss and of on their diadems. On seeing him Dam• none other, is blessed. sel Freedom holds him for ever in her embrace. What does not come within his 3. Not a little of bliss is obtained from reach in this life? devotion to devas, who are subject to birth and death. Of that there is no doubt. They 6. Let the state of birth be that of man alone, who dedicate their lives to the Lord or deva, of the beast of the hills and for• of the unborn and immortal Form — in• ests, of the mosquito, of the cattle, of the separable from the Mother —, realize the insect, of the bird or such others, — if the Supreme Bliss in this life and are blessed heart longs to revel incessantly in this life indeed. in the flood of Supreme Bliss, thinking of

56 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Amdhana Thy Lotus Feet, what matters whichever the one lotus heart to Thee, O Lord of is the body? Uma? 7. Let one live in a cave, a house or 9. Be one a brahmachari, a grihastha, a even in the open, in the forest or on the sannyasi, or the recluse with the matted mountain peak, in water or in fire: say of hair or be anybody else, what does it what avail is it to reside thus? He whose matter? Thou becomest his whose heart mind too abides for ever at Thy Feet, O lotus is surrendered to Thee, O Sambhu! Sambhu! — such abidance being yoga— the Lord of life; and Thou bearest also he alone is the Supreme Yogi, and he is the burden of his temporal life. the Blissful One. 10. By Thy Grace the primeval igno• 8. The ignorant one enters the deep rance rooted in the mind had fled, and moat, and roams about the desolate and sweet wisdom is realized in the heart. dreadful forest or the wide mountain- Hence, O wearer of the crescent moon! I range for the sake of flowers. Alas! why worship for ever in mind Thy Lotus Feet, does not the world know to be in the state which bestow all wealth and are the of bliss in this life, having surrendered abode of freedom.

WHO IS NOT PURNA1 Dr. Masalawala placed in Bhagavan's hands a letter he had received from his friend V K. Ajgaonkar, a gentleman of about 35 (a follower of Jnaneswar Maharaj) who is said to have attained jnana in his 28th year. The letter said, "You call me puma. Who is not puma in this world?" Bhagavan agreed and continued in the vein in which he dis• coursed this morning, and said, "We limit ourselves first, then seek to become the unlimited that we always are. All effort is only for giving up the notion that we are limited/' The letter further said, "The first verse in the Isavasyopanishadsays the world is puma. It simply cannot be anything else, as its very existence is built on the puma" Bhagavan approved of this also, and said, "There is this typed letter, for in• stance. To see the world alone and not the puma or Self would be something like say• ing. 'I see the letters, but not the paper/ while it is the existence of the paper that makes the existence of the letters possible!" Dr. M. said, "In the letter we see the paper. But we are able to see only the world and we don't see God!" Bhagavan replied : "What happens in sleep? Where did the world go then? Then you alone or the Self alone existed." The letter also said, "Jnaneswar Maharaj has said God will never forsake his bhakta who has undivided love for him," Bhagavan said, "Every saint, every book says so. I have been reading Ram Das's writings. Here, too, so many verses end, 'Ramachandra will never forsake his bhakta!" So saying, Bhagavan read out a few of those verses. —Day by Day with Bhagavan, Entry for 15-3-46. Methods of Meditation

By LS. Madugula

HE chief approaches to meditation "meditation, reflection, thought contem• Tare compiled below. The aim of this plation; especially abstract contempla• article is to show at the end that tion, religious meditation; divine Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi has intuition or discernment; mental repre• given us the most sensible and practical sentation of the personal attributes of a approach of all to meditation. deity."4 1. Meditation is the act or process of The Internet search engine Yahoo reflecting, contemplating, emptying the turned up some 39,100 files in response mind, or praying as a spiritual exercise. to a query on the definition of medita• tion, and the number is perhaps grow• The word meditation is ultimately de• ing, all of which testifies to the fact that rived from the old Indo European root the subject is one of universal interest. med-, "to take appropriate measures/7 One file gives a "psychologically oriented and is etymologically related to medicine,, definition": "Meditation is a set of modest modern, commodity, and empty1 attentional practices leading to an altered The immediate source is the Latin verb state or trait of consciousness character• meditari, past participle meditatus. Syno• ized by expanded awareness, greater nyms of the verb meditateincludeponder, presence, and a more integrated sense of muse, ruminate, cogitate, and study, as well self." This "eventually leads to a tran- as contemplate, plan, devise, and contrive.2 As applied to Buddhism and Hinduism, meditate means "to train, calm, or empty 1 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English the mind, often by achieving an altered Language, 4th ed. (New York: Houghton Mifflin, state, as by focussing on a single object; 2001). to engage in devotional contemplation, 2 Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1996). especially prayer; to think, especially in 3 The American Heritage Dictionary. a calm and deliberate manner."3 In a lim• 4 V. S. Apte, The Student's Sanskrit-English Diction• ited sense, all thought may be said to be ary(Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1970, meditation. Apte defines dhyanam as Reprint 2000). 58 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana scendence of the sense of separateness to satisfied. When we finally realize this, an integration into a larger, transpersonal our external quest turns inward, and we sense of identity." The author of the ar• have shifted into the realm of medita• ticle goes on to say that meditation is tion."7 We will be referring to Patanjali "non-violent, non-manipulative, and later on. non-mechanistic. It allows for the organic A fourth article on the neurophysio• self-regulation, natural self-disclosure, logy of meditation explains the impact and inherent growth potential of the hu• of meditation on the nervous system: 5 man being." "When meditation acts as a constant re• Another article "Tai-Chi Chu'an as petitive stimulus, certain qualitative and Meditation," uses the following defini• quantitative permanent changes develop tion: "Meditation is the process of con• in the nervous system. The neuro• scious, controlled focus of the mind transmitters and neuro-modulators may which, may be, takes place when the stimulate growth of dormant or latent thinking processes, both in pictures and neurons to develop a centre (or centres) in words, have been stopped." The au• which on the evolutionary ladder is/are thor then refers to two kinds of medita• still higher than the present day cerebral tion: " Yin meditation is the clearing of cortex. The brain may develop new con• the mind of all thought, both pictures and nections and plasticity resulting in the words, and the holding of that mind in a capacity to think, to rationalize, and to focussed and alert state, ^/^meditation react in a different way than what is ex• is the concentrated focussing of the mind pected by present day physiologists. For on something. The 'something' can have want of a name, we may label it as 'God almost infinite variety. Common subjects module.'"8 of this type of meditation are: mantras, Shakespeare seems to use the word chakras, colours, shapes, prayers, and "meditation" in the sense of prayer to affirmations."6 expiate sin: Yet another website, devoted to Yoga Forbear to judge, for we are sinners Journal, paraphrases Patanjali and says: all. "...yoga (or union) happens when the Close up his eyes, and draw the mind becomes quiet. This mental stillness curtain close; is created by bringing the body, mind, And let us all to meditation.9 and the senses into balance which, in turn, relaxes the nervous system 5 http://demjnscd.edu/-davisi/tp/mecU ... meditation begins when we discover 6 http://wwwpatiencetaidii.com/meditation.htm. that our never-ending quest to possess 7 http://www.yogajoumal.com/meditation/141_ l.cfm. things and our continual craving for 8 http://geodties.cvm/neovedanta/a2S.html. pleasure and security can never be 9 King Henry VI, Pt. Ill, III, iii, 29. 2002 METHODS OF MEDITATION 59 So does the Bible: Patanjali. After attaining competence in Let the words of my mouth, and the the first five "limbs" of yoga, the aspir• meditation of my heart, be acceptable ant has to tackle the final obstacle of the in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and mind and its wonted wanderings. The my redeemer.10 gradation is from the physical to the mental discipline, the fifth limb, pratyahara St. Francis of Assissi uses the word (the disabling of the connection between somewhat in the yoga sense of stilling the the senses and their objects), serving as heart: the bridge. Where there is patience and humility, Once the senses are muted, one can there is neither anger nor confine the mind to a single sphere of vexation...Where there is peace and thought during Stage I. Stage II further meditation, there is neither anxiety limits the activity of the mind to a single nor doubt.11 object within that sphere, further enhanc• The Encyclopedia of Religion makes a ing the "interiority" of meditation. Stage distinction between meditation and con• III is the summum bonum of all yogic prac• templation: tice, where that object alone shines tran• Meditation is considered preparatory scending the body consciousness of the and contributory to the achievement yogi. Patanjali names these stages, respec• of contemplation. Meditation involves tively, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi}2' It concentration, the narrowing of the is clear, however, that the difference be• focus of consciousness to a single tween these stages is one of degree and theme, symbol, catechism, or doctrine, not of kind, one of focus and increasing yet it remains cognitive and intellec• fullness of identification with the object tual. Meditation is usually rumination of meditation, and of heightening con• on a particular religious object, while sciousness. In samadhi,u contemplation is direct, intuitive see• the goal of complete cessation of the ing, using spiritual faculties beyond modifications of the mind is achieved, discursive thought and ratiocination.12 and a transcendent awareness of one's In this approach, meditation corres• ultimate reality as purusha, or uncon- ponds to Patanjali's dhyana and contem• plation to Samadhi, his dharana being a 10 Psalms, 19:14. prerequisite or preparation for dhyana. 11 The Counsels of Holy Father Saint Francis, A dmo- 2. There are three levels of nitionll. 12 The Encyclopedia of Religion (New York: meditation. Macmillan,1987).

Reference is made here to the three 13 Yoga Sutra, 111,1-3. stages of meditation enumerated by "Ibid 60 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana ditioned spirit, is attained. In this state ity of outlook towards friend and foe. The of ecstasy, the normal ego sense and practitioner chooses a clean place, a firm the experience of a dichotomy between seat that is neither too high nor too low, subject and object is overcome. holds his spine erect, looks one-pointedly The frequently used English terms for at the tip of his nose, and subdues his these stages — concentration, meditation, mind and turns it towards the Lord. As and contemplation — are at best confus• aids to his practice, he should eat and ing, and at worst hint at a qualitative sleep moderately, and be determined to difference. restrain his mind through concentration. More importantly, he should learn to see 3. Diverse are the practices of the Lord everywhere, in everyone, and meditation. in everything. The mind that sees the Having attempted a working hypoth• Lord in everything becomes one with the esis of meditation, it is now appropriate to Lord, as exemplified in the bee-wasp rule look at the different schools of thought that (bhramara kita nyaya). One important dis• have prevailed over time in regard to its tinction between this approach and practice and goals. We have already noted Patanjali's, on which this chapter17 of the that yoga aims to eradicate the distinction Bhagavadgita is in part based, is that one between the subject and the object in should not give up action until one at• samadhi and take the practitioner to the tains competency in meditation. Note realm of purusha, the primal substratum of also that the notion of a personal God is all beings. It accomplishes this objective absent from yoga, though a generic Isvara through the eight fold path involving a is acknowledged. Note further that the strict physical and mental regimen, culmi• chapter ends with Krishna declaring that nating in samadhiand leading to "absolute" dhyana as devotion is superior to action freedom and the establishment of the true as well as knowledge. Shankara however nature of human consciousness.15 clarifies that the knowledge referred to here is not Self-knowledge but book In the following paragraphs, we will learning (sastra panditya). examine other approaches. 5. Better yet, the Self should be made 4. The Lord is the goal of all the object of meditation. meditation. We seem to be shifting emphasis here, Blurring the lines between meditation saying that meditation should be rather and devotion, dhyana and bhakti, Krishna says that the object of all meditation is to

16 know Him, the lord and friend of all. 15 Yoga Sutra, IV, 34. Practice here consists of self-mastery, 16 Bhagavadgita, V, 29. total detachment, equanimity, and equal• 17 Chapter IV, Dhyana Yoga. 2002 METHODS OF MEDITATION 61 on the attributeless Brahman than a per• in his elementary texts for practitioners, sonal God. We will note later that this is he asserts in a hundred ways that Brah• a distinction without a difference, that man is the Ultimate Reality, the world is the personal and the impersonal are illusory, and that we are that highest Self. merely aspects of the same Reality and If we want to experience this great Truth, that each practitioner should feel free to we should constantly train our minds to choose whichever approach he prefers, think that we are pure and free, indivis• based on his background and tempera• ible and non-dual, satyam, jnanam, ment. Meditation on the attributeless anantam.21 Once this idea is firmly estab• Brahman is strictly enjoined by lished in our minds, nescience will be BrLhadaranyakopanishad}* destroyed. This meditation should be carried on in a solitary place, all senses Verily, the Self, Maitreyi, is to be seen, fully controlled, and the mind totally to be heard, to be reflected on, to be detached and concentrated. We will then meditated upon; when, verily, the Self transcend the limitations of name and is seen, heard, reflected on and known, form, and experience the absolute non- then all this is known. distinction between the knower, knowl• In order to help us with this type of edge, and the object of knowledge. Our practice, the Brahma Sutra has provided eyes will be opened to true knowledge, some clear guidelines.19 Upasana (ado• and we will be jivanmuktas. ration) and nididhyasana (meditation) The meditator, that is, the seeker af• must be repeated until the goal is real• ter knowledge in this case, should not ized. All nature and creatures should be waste even a minute without contem• viewed as Brahman. One should medi• plating Brahman and Its all-pervasive• tate in a sitting posture for best concen• ness. Even Brahma, Sanaka, Suka, and tration. One should be motionless. Any other divine personages are in constant location where the mind can be still is meditation. This is the only way by appropriate for meditation. One should which the mind can achieve a state of meditate until one's last breath, because pure awareness and be ready to merge whatever a man thinks of at the time of in Brahman. The practice toward this death, he achieves that without a doubt.20 end includes fifteen steps: control of the One who meditates on Brahman con• senses, control of the mind, renunciation, stantly realizes his identity with Brahman. 6. You are that Self.

Shankara, the uncompromising 18IV. 5. 6 Radhakrishnan's translation. advaitin, takes this concept of the universe l9TV.i.l,etseq. being suffused with the effulgence of 20 Bhagavadgita, VIII, 5,6,10. Brahman to its logical conclusion. Even 21 AtmaBodha, 36, etseq. 62 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana silence, appropriate place, proper time, 7. Meditation helps us transcend our comfortable position, mula bandha, bal• ego. anced bodily posture, control of prana, According to Swami Vivekananda, withdrawal of the (lower) self, concentra• meditation "is the power that enables us tion, meditation on the (higher) Self, and to resist all this" and it can be "attained 22 samadhi. [sic\ As can be seen, this list sub• in a dozen different ways" by people of sumes Patanjali's eight limbs of yoga, but different temperaments. "But this is the Shankara explains them as applied to general principle: get hold of the mind."23 meditation on the Self. One way to accomplish this is to first For example, asana is that which facili• eliminate the unconscious baggage that tates Brahman-thought effortlessly and we all carry, and then try to transcend continuously; any other posture is merely the conscious or waking state. A room in self-torture. Erectness and alignment of the house may be set aside for medita• the spine with the neck and head should tion, if possible. This room should not be lead to the thought of the homogeneity used for any other purpose.24 of the Self; mere straightness is no better Do not sleep in that room, it must be than that of a dead tree trunk. The men• kept holy. You must not enter the room tal eye should be focussed on that point until you have bathed, and perfectly where the seer, sight, and the seen melt clean in body and mind. Place flow• into one, and not just on the tip of the ers in that room always; they are the nose. Pranayama is not mere breath con• best surroundings for a Yogi, also pic• trol, but a regarding of all states of mind tures that are pleasing. Burn incense as Brahman. Exhalation should be con• morning and evening. Have no sidered the negation of the phenomenal quarreling, nor anger, nor unholy world, inhalation is the thought "I am thought in that room. Only allow those Brahman," and retention is the resulting persons to enter it who are of the same steadiness of mind. Pranayama performed thought as you. Then gradually there in any other way just hurts the nose. will be an atmosphere of holiness in Dharana helps the understanding that all the room, so that when you are miser• places that the mind wanders into are able, sorrowful, doubtful, or your abodes of Brahman; dhyana is the cease• mind is disturbed, the very fact of less and steady thought of our identity with Brahman, and in samadhi we expe• rience the ultimate knowledge, having to• 22 Aparokshanubhuti, 100, etseq. tally eliminated the lower mind. In this 23 Swami Vivekananda, Meditation and Its Meth• state, silence is the only language that ods, ed. by Swami Chetananda (Hollywood: exists, because there are no words to des• Vedanta Press, 1978), p. 32. cribe the Bliss of Brahman. 2A Ibid, p. 36-37. 2002 METHODS OF MEDITATION 63 entering that room will make you Then, calm...Those that cannot afford a room Sit and meditate on this ten or fifteen to set apart can practise anywhere minutes. Tell your experience to no one they like. but your Guru. Talk as little as possi• ^premeditation must not be practised ble. Keep your thoughts on virtue; where there is fire, on wet ground, in a what we think we tend to become. place full of dried leaves, where there are Holy meditation helps to burn out all anthills, wild animals, too much traffic impurities. or noise, or bad people. One should not Vivekananda had the good fortune of meditate when one is feeling lazy or sick having Sri Ramakrishna for his master, or when feeling depressed. Meditation who initiated him into advaita by touch. should be begun with obeisance to one's The interesting thing in their relationship teachers, ancient yogis, and God. Morn• is that the master, though a great bhakta ing and evening are good times for medi• and a great advaitin realizing firsthand tation, which should be done at least all their practical manifestations, encour• twice a day. Pray to God for "knowledge aged the pupil to realize the Vedantic and light," not for material benefits.25 ideal, probably based on the latter's in• Sit for some time and let the mind run tellectual bent of mind. on. You simply wait and watch. 8. Vichara is the ultimate meditation. Knowledge is power. Until you know what the mind is doing, you cannot As the old cliche goes, we have saved control it...Give up all argumentation the best for the last. We will now see how and other distractions...Things of sub• Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi views tler planes have to be realized meditation and what new perspectives ... Imagine a lotus on top of the he brings to the whole process. Sri head...Think of a space in your heart, Bhagavan is well known for his simple and in the midst of that space think and authoritative (because personally that a flame is burning. Think of that experienced) explanations of knotty flame as your own soul and inside the philosophical questions, a great knack flame is another effulgent light, and that he also brings to the present ques• that is the Soul of your soul, God. tion. He never directly refutes any exist• Meditate upon that in the heart. ing theories, but rather makes them simpler and clearer to one and all, be they Vivekananda suggested that Vedantic meditation, as distinct from the forego• ing j^p/c meditation, seeks direct illumi• nation by thinking of the "glory of that Vivekananda, Op. Cit, pp. 40-41. Being who created this universe..."26 Ibid., p. 86. 64 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana adepts or novices. He is as uncompromis• However, Sri Bhagavan does make a ing in his non-duality as Shankara, but distinction between dhyana and vicharaior at the same time, he is prepared to make practical purposes, saying the former in• some concessions for the sake of slow variably precedes the latter. Intense de• learners. Also, his explanations go to the sire for meditation results in the mind root of the question rather than just re• melting in devotion. With the mind gone peat traditional answers, e.g. his defini• like camphor, what remains is the Self tion of brahmacharya. The traditionalist and Self-realization ensues.28 He stresses would say that brahmacharya is absolute this on a number of occasions. When a continence and chastity, while Sri visitor suggested that meditation was Bhagavan would point out that the more more direct than inquiry, Sri Bhagavan important consideration is to make Brah• agreed that "meditation on a form is man the ground of all thought and action, more easy and agreeable," but added as the etymology of the word suggests. that "Practice of it leads to atma vichara, which consists in sifting the Reality from Let us start with his definition of medi• unreality." To another visitor he said that tation:27 "Keeping God in your mind becomes Meditation is sticking to one thought. dhyana. Dhyana is the stage before reali• That single thought keeps away all zation. Realization is in the Self only. other thoughts; distraction of mind is Dhyana must precede it. Whether you a sign of its weakness. By constant make dhyana of God or the Self, it is im• meditation it gains strength, i.e. to say, material. The goal is the same."29 He also its weakness of fugitive thought gives clarified that "meditation on forms or place to the enduring background free concrete objects is said to be dhyana, from thoughts. This expanse devoid where as the enquiry into the Self is of thought is the Self. Mind in purity vichara (enquiry) or nididhyasana." This is the Self. last discussion arose as a result of a devo• He adds that the peace experienced in tee asking as to how to meditate on the meditation, as it endures, is "true bhakti, Self because it is not a concrete form. Sri true yoga, true jnana." Right away, then, Bhagavan then goes to the crux of the we have the clue to his approach to medi• matter and asks:30 tation: dhyana is bhakti, is yoga, is jnana. Since meditation is a form of vichara, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Three Vols, in which is the simplest approach to Self- One, 10th ed. (Tiruvannamalai: Sri realization, it is also a means to libera• Ramanasramam, 1996), p. 256. tion at its highest level. Herein lies Sri Ibid., p. 133. Bhagavan's famous synthesis of the three Ibid, p. 212. paths of Realization. Ibid, p. 257. 2002 METHODS OF MEDITATION 65 Why do you wish to meditate at all? Concentrate on that one you like best. Because you wish to do so, you are If a single thought prevails, all other told atma samstham manah krtva (fix• thoughts are put off and finally eradi• ing the mind in the Self); why do you cated. So long as diversity prevails, not remain as you are without medi• there are bad thoughts. When the ob• tating? What is that manah (mind)? ject of love prevails only good When all thoughts are eliminated, thoughts hold the field. Therefore hold it becomes atma samstha (fixed in on to one thought only. Dhyana is the the Self). chief practice. The whole point of meditation is to get He continues: established in the Self whether through Dhyana means fight. As soon as you forms or directly through inquiry. If one begin meditation, other thoughts will were to go from one step to the next, crowd together and try to sink the sin• meditation on forms will empty the mind gle thought to which you try to hold. of all contents, vasanas, etc. and make it The good thought must gradually fit for realizing the Self. If one is capable gain strength through repeated prac• of skipping the first step and plunging tice. After it has grown strong, the directly into the Self, then that medita• other thoughts will be put to flight. tion is vichara. This is the battle royal...Peace of mind Along the same lines, on a different is brought about by dhyana alone.

31 occasion, Sri Bhagavan affirms: Again, in dhyana?* Meditation is your true nature now. the mind must be introverted and kept You call it meditation because other active in its pursuit. Sometimes it hap• thoughts are distracting you. When pens that when the eyes are closed the those thoughts are dispelled, you re• latent thoughts rush forth with great main alone, i.e. in the state of medita• vigour. It may also be difficult to in• tion free from thoughts; and that is trovert the mind with the eyes open. your real nature which you are now It requires strength of mind to do so. attempting to gain by keeping away The mind is contaminated when it other thoughts. Such keeping away of takes in objects. Otherwise it is pure. other thoughts is now called medita• tion. When the practice becomes firm, the real nature shows itself as the true meditation. 31 Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, p. 269.

In clear terms, Sri Bhagavan suggests 32 Bid, p. 337. how to actually practise meditation:32 33 Ibid

&7

In Praise of a Solitary Life

By Dr Susunaga Weeraperuma

ANY are the monks, nuns, hermits, ascetics, yogis and mystics who have Mchosen to lead solitary lives for religious reasons. Some persons shun solitari• ness as they fear loneliness. The latter are so fond of the society of friends and rela• tions that the very idea of living alone is anathema to them. It is necessary to be clear about the distinction between 'solitude' and 'solitary life'. The word 'solitude' is often suggestive of the uneasy state of feeling lonely, forsaken and deserted. 'Solitary life', though, has quite a different meaning. As a general rule only some people — only a small minority — are capable of leading solitary lives because of their detached attitude to worldly matters. Hence they pre• fer to spend their days in quiet places that are far removed from the exciting hurly- burly of city life. In this regard, we may pose several questions. Are those who pursue the passing pleasures of the world really happy, or do they simply imagine that they are leading happy lives? Do they bear the ups and downs of samsara with equanimity? Furthermore, are they any the closer to the cessation of the cycle of births and deaths? A recluse who lives in a remote mountain cave might like to believe that his life is a solitary one merely because he has made himself inaccessible to the public, yet if his mind is preoccupied with earthly attachments, is he, strictly speaking, leading a solitary life? Once I met several forest-based saffron-robed 'renunciants' who were heavily involved in politics! One monk confessed that he liked making money on the stock market in order to finance the construction of a meditation centre! But persons who are genuinely interested in leading solitary lives fall into two catego• ries: first, those who have purified themselves of their defilements; second, those who are in the process of purifying themselves in all seriousness. One of my favourite Buddhist suttasis the Khaggavisanasutta of the Suttanipata. Therefore in my own words I have tried to restate as best I can, all the 41 verses. I have done this enthusiastically, since the profundity of this sutta is such that it de• serves to be regarded as one of the great classics of religious literature. In this sutta solitariness is likened to the horn of a rhinoceros. The enormously built Indian rhinoceros has a very prominent horn that is borne on the nose. The 68 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana horn is about a foot in length. Somehow the horn seems rather separated from the rest of the animal's body. This sense of isolation is conveyed in the final words of every stanza — 'one must be alone, like the horn of a rhinoceros'.

1. Cast aside the rod for punishment, Hurt not any living being. Crave neither for a son nor a friend. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

2. Intimate contacts with others Result in affections, then pains ensue. Affection leads to misery. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

3. He who has compassion for his friends Fetters his own mind and ignores the goal. Friendship is fraught with danger. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

4. Like a big bamboo with entangled branches One cares for wife and children. But be like a bamboo shoot that does not cling. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

5. In the forest an unbound deer is free To go anywhere and feed itself. The wise, likewise, have liberty. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

6. Polite demands are constantly made When in company with people. But if desirelessness and liberty are sought 2002 IN PRAISE OF A SOLITARY LIFE 69 One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

7. When friends gather there is fun and games And much affection for children. Although separation from friends is unpleasant One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

8. One should be relaxed anywhere, Not unfriendly towards anyone, Fearless and satisfied with anything. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

9. There is discontent among some ascetics And some householders as well. Be indifferent to others7 children. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

10. The marks of a householder are thrown away, Like the leaves of a Kovilara that fall away. Family ties one should bravely slay. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

11. If one finds a friend wise and bright Who is good and morally right, Defeat all dangers on sight, Then walk together, in mindfulness take delight.

12. If one finds not a friend wise and bright Who is good and morally right, As a defeated king gives up his might, One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros. 70 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana 13. Those with good friends are surely lucky. Of friendships only the best are worthy. If that is not a practical possibility One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

14. On an arm two golden bracelets fine, Skilled work, they strike and shine. See the jewels, then realise: One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

15. If with another I want to associate, Useless talk will then take place. On this risk one can meditate. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

16. Sensual pleasures of various kinds, Sweet or charming, disturb our minds. In sensual pleasures misery thrives. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

17. Sensual pleasures cause damage, destruction, Bad luck and pains; illness, in addition. See the danger in this sore situation. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

18. Cold and heat, hunger and thirst, Wind and sun, gadflies and snakes, These things one first subjugates. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

19. Like a forest elephant of size immense That deserts its herd to commence 2002 IN PRAISE OF A SOLITARY LIFE 71 Its freedom to go from place to place, One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

20. Even temporary release he cannot find Who loves the company of mankind. Ponder over the Buddha's words and mind. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

21. Philosophical views I have transcended, Self-restrained, the way to perfection I have attained, Unled by others, the light has dawned. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

22. Devoid of fraud, greed, desire, detraction, Cleansed of passion and foolish action, Free from wanting any worldly possession, One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

23. Run away from a friend wicked, Who likes to misguide and is crooked. Avoid also the sensual-pleasure-oriented. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

24. Associate with a friend learned, Wise Dhamma adherer, high-minded, Intelligent and clear-headed. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

25. Love not sports, amusements, worldly pleasures, Adornments for oneself and dresses. Speak the truth at all times. 72 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

26. Sever all ties with son, parents, wife, Kin, wealth and corn, all so nice. Also abandon all desires in life. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

27. 'This is an obstacle, without much happiness, Hardly any delight, more of great distress, A fish-hook,' one sees with mindfulness. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

28. After the obstacles are surmounted, Like a net-encumbered fish been freed, As fire never returning to what has burned, One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

29. Eyes looking down, without prying to find, With restrained senses, passion-free mind, Lacking in lustful passions of any kind, One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

30. The householder's marks he removes, Like a coral tree stripped of leaves, Homeless, the yellow-robed one moves. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

31. Free of greed for things sweet, and not unsteady, No supporter of others, begs from all and sundry, Without being partial to any family, One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros. 2002 IN PRAISE OF A SOLITARY LIFE 73

32. Having overcome the Five Hindrances1 Having cast aside all bad qualities, Self-reliant, free from desires, One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

33. With indifference to both pleasure and pain, As well as joy and severe strain, Then equanimity, tranquillity, purity are the gain, One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

34. Strive strenuously for supreme Enlightenment With a mind devoid of attachment. Shun idleness, be firm and strong for highest Attainment. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

35. Neither giving up solitariness nor meditation, Always living the Dhamma with devotion, Seeing the suffering in our samsaric situation, One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

36. Keen on seeing that craving has ended, Be attentive, not silly, but learned, Mindful, replete with energy and restrained. One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros. 37. Like a lion by noise remaining undisturbed, Like the wind in a net remaining uncaptured, Like a lotus by water remaining unstained, One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

1 See page 75 for explanatory notes relating to the Five Hindrances. 74 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana 38. Like a strong-toothed lion that all creatures Defeats, king of animals that victoriously goes To faraway and solitary living-places, One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

39. At the right time having compassion, Kindness, equanimity and liberation, With rejoicing and without others' obstruction, One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

40. Having overcome passion, aversion and delusion, The fetters broken: it means their destruction, Fearing not life's inevitable cessation, One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

41. Out of self-interest people serve and seek society, Friends free of ulterior motives one finds with difficulty, As men know self-profit and live impurely, One must be alone, Like the horn of a rhinoceros.

The refrain of this sutta 'One must be alone, like the horn of a rhinoceros' has sometimes been interestingly translated as 'let one wander alone like a rhino• ceros'. The word 'wanderer'conjures up various images. First, the greatest wan• derer was the Buddha who wandered in central India over a long period of fortyfive years giving expression to those timeless truths that we treasure, which are collec• tively called the Dharma; second, it highlights the monk's austere life of homeless insecurity wherein, braving the elements, he has to beg for food for survival; third, it reminds one of the need to be attentive to the mind's tendency to wander aim• lessly around its various cravings, for such attention is really a very important aspect of meditation; finally, regardless of whether one is a monk, in a sense every human being is a wanderer who has got caught up in the sorrowful cycle of count• less births, deaths and rebirths. Therefore, not allowing our attention to wander outwards, we can observe the inner world of the psyche with all its pride, preju• dices, preoccupations and predilections for this, that or the other. Watching how 2002 IN PRAISE OF A SOLITARY LIFE 75 the restless mind of the T-centred wanderer is given to wandering is itself a form of meditation. THE FIVE HINDRANCES The following five hindrances or Nivarnas are sometimes described as defile• ments or obstacles, which indeed they are. These hindrances get in the way of undistorted mental perception. They have the effect of blinding the mind. They adversely affect our powers of concentration. 1. Sensuous Desire (Kamacchanda) Overcoming this obstacle results in a pure heart that is free of sensuality 2.l\\-vti\\(Vyapada) Overcoming this obstacle results in a pure heart that is free of ill-will wherein love and compassion for all beings will blossom. 3. Sloth and Torpor (Thina-middha) Overcoming this obstacle (sloth = laziness; torpor = apathy or lack of zeal) results in a watchful mind wherein consciousness is characterised by clarity. 4. Restlessness and Worry (Uddhacca-kukkucca) Overcoming this obstacle results in an undisturbed mind and a peaceful heart. 5. Sceptical Doubt (Vicikiccha) Overcoming this obstacle results in the disappearance of doubts relating to the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. This hindrance also relates to uncertainty whether things are wholesome or otherwise, and the lack of eagerness to think things out and come to a conclusion. The Buddha has eloquently expressed the profound truth that the exploration of the inner world within ourselves is an essential prerequisite for Enlightenment. Buddha says: It is in this fathom-long body with its perceptions and thoughts that there is the world, the origin of the world, the cessation of the world, and the path leading to the cessation of the world. What follows is from Anguttara Nikaya (IV.45): By walking one can never reach The end and limit of the world, 76 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana Yet there is no release from suffering Without reaching the world's end. Hence the wise one who knows the world, The one who has lived the holy life, Will reach the end of the world, Knowing the world's end, at peace. He no more longs for this world Nor for any other. Religious recluses understandably feel the need to keep themselves away from the escapist activities and numerous attractions of the outer world with its emphasis on money, power, position, politics and pleasure. Whoever turns his back on this outer world knows that he has suddenly found more time and energy to explore fully the hitherto hidden world of his own mind. Next he lives alone. Then from the elevated vantage point on the mountaintop of solitariness he starts observing with greater clarity all the once-concealed valleys of his subconscious. Totally unruffled by transitory excitements, worldly interests and people, in this special environment of silent seclusion, it becomes possible to delve deeply into oneself. At last the renunciant realises that he is devoting himself to higher pursuits.

CLAY MODEL FOR STATUE OF SRI BHAGAVAN Throughout the day the Sarvadhikari has been inviting all bhaktas to have a look at a clay model of Bhagavan which the Madras sculptor engaged to make Bhagavan's statue, has prepared here. Afterparayana, Mr. Narayanaswami Iyer, retired drawing master, came to Bhagavan and expressed his opinion that the model was not satis• factory. He wanted Bhagavan's opinion. Bhagavan only said, "Don't ask me. How can one know one's own face? How can I judge this clay model?" Poor N. Iyer was disap• pointed. Bhagavan added after a while, "Each person has a different opinion. Rangaswami says the nose is too big, and the sculptor actually measures it and shows it is correct. But R. says, the nose lookstoo big. What are we to do? Supposing some• one produces the most exact possible resemblance, I wonder whether even then if all those who look at the result will give the same unanimous verdict." Mr. N. Iyer again came when we were all starting with Bhagavan for the night meal, and pleaded that he must give his opinion to please his bhaktas. He said he would produce two big mirrors and that Bhagavan could first study his own face standing between the two mirrors and then judge the clay model and give his frank opinion. Bhagavan stoutly refused to do any such thing. — Day by Day with Bhagavan, pp. 227-28. Lai Ded (Lalleshwari) of Kashmir

By J. L. Raina

ASHMIR is a beautiful place which and pleased with his devotion for Khas been a resort to many a saint Bhagavati prophesied, "Thine is the and philosopher. Among those who have house where Shaktishall be born." achieved fame in this valley as saints, Lai After a lapse of some time a girl was Ded is truly outstanding. She was a born in the house of Pandit Sahaz Koul. prophetess and was called Ishwari — a The girl was named Gunari. She was fos• dignity earned by few. She was inspired tered in poverty of course but brought and played an important part in reviv• up all the same in the company of sadhus ing and fashioning the spiritual culture of great eminence. Her childhood was of the Kashmiri people. marked by purity, grace, innocence and The capital of Kashmir, Srinagar, is serenity. It is, however, a pity that very situated in the centre of the valley. The little has come down to us about her child• waters of Vitasta have flowed in gran• hood. There is no certainty even about deur down the seven bridges of this city; her name. for the last six centuries or so; the Fifth In those times the Pandits of Kashmir Bridge has enjoyed the honour of being used to get their girls married at an early the saint's birthplace. No authentic record age, to avoid the disgrace of their being is available but there are orally transmit• molested by aliens. Married girls were ted stories. Much could also be gathered safe as it was considered an offence by from her sayings now extant from which the aliens' religious standards to harm one can trace her spiritual evolution. married couples. Every married girl had Sahaz Koul, a poor Kashmiri Pandit, to use a particular garb and head dress was a devotee of Sharika Devi and used called degihura to distinguish her from to pray daily in the morning at her shrine unmarried girls. Pandits also began to as the Brahmins of this place usually do. put their womenfolk under purdah in ac• Many good men visited his poor home. cordance with the times; a new system He would entertain all with great hospi• tality in spite of his limited means. One This was published earlier in The Mountain Path day a saint of great tapas visited his house in the issues for April 1970 and July 1970. 78 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana of purdah and early marriage came into was listening to the story of a girl friend vogue. These innocent girls began to be about hardships at the hands of her married at the age of six or seven (al• mother-in-law. Padmavati forgot her own though the marriage was not consum• troubles and took pity on her. On part• mated till the attainment of puberty). ing, the girl friend remarked jokingly In due time Gunari was also married that Padmavati would get a good meal at the age of seven into a Brahmin house that evening as a feast was to be held in at Padmapur now known as Pampur her (Padmavati's) house. But Padmavati which lies at a distance of eight miles to promptly replied: the South-east of Srinagar. According to Whether a big sheep is killed or a small one; the usage then prevalent she was re• The daughter-in-law is always treated named Padmavati in the house of her slightingly. father-in-law. Like other girls she was The father-in-law of Padmavati over• very submissive from her childhood. She heard her reply and after making inquir• would suffer hardships without demur. ies he found that she was maltreated in It is said that once her mother-in-law felt the house. He also found out about the annoyed for not having been paid suffi• pestle under the rice. This made him very cient money called teth on the occasion of angry with his wife who was repri• a marriage ceremony. In revenge the manded severely for her action. The mother-in-law, who was in fact her step mother-in-law was enraged all the more mother-in-law, gave Padmavati bad and more misery was heaped on the girl, treatment. She would give her less food although she was hardworking. It is said and at times none at all. The girl would that she spun so fine that the thread was be asked to sit at a distance from the other compared to that of a lotus stalk; but in girls of the family during a meal and at• spite of all this work, the mother-in-law tend to the spinning wheel. Occasionally would give her no credit. This gave the a kajawat (a small stone for pounding girl an opportunity for cultivating in her• spices) was put beneath her small share self the great virtue of patience. of boiled rice on the plate so that it might appear that she was served with a large So days, weeks, months and years quantity of food. This practice was often passed. Padmavati grew up and when repeated by the mother-in-law, but the she was about eighteen, started living daughter-in-law submitted to this out• with her husband. In this way a period rage without a word of complaint, per• of a decade and a quarter had been spent forming her daily chores. It was hard in great suffering. This trained her for a work for such a young girl, under the path which even great saints tread with scorching sun and hard snow. Once difficulty. She had powers latent in her while fetching water from the river she which were developing gradually. She 2002 LAL DED OF KASHMIR 79 believed that happiness cannot be de• the household. She was eluding their rived from external circumstances; but, clutches. The mother complained to her if the presence of God is felt pervading son against her. Padmavati's conduct was all aspects of life, then there is happiness now questioned but her serenity and even in suffering. poise remained unaffected. Padmavati was now nearer to her hus• The husband did not or could not re• band. This gave her a chance to cross proach his wife. But constant reminders over an ordeal different from the previ• of his mother had their effect in making ous ones and enabled her to gain more him suspicious. Mother and son were now experience in life. bent upon mischief which the former dis• She had now to serve two hard and played overtly while the other did so by exacting masters. But she loved the Mas• secretly watching her movements. Both ter who is above all masters and in whom expected to find her enjoying clandestine rests the whole world. She was up in the love and made her life difficult in many night busy with her penances and devo• ways. She bore all this patiently. She was tional practices. Her husband did not not affected since she was finding conso• notice much change in her till later when lation in her spiritual life. It is, of course, she seemed transformed. She seems to difficult at this distance of time not to have already developed the power of omit some facts about her life. We have being present at home at her husband's only to build on her sayings which give side while actually at another place in us a clue to the working of her mind. communion with God. During the day The following saying of hers expresses also she would sit quiet in meditation and a profound spiritual truth: often the calls of her mother-in-law were left unheeded as in her absorption she Look upon the mind alone as the ocean did not hear them. While at work she was of existence. If thou restrain it not, the observed lost in contemplation, which consequences of its rage will emerge was quite unusual for a woman of her in angry words of fire. Yet if thou environment. This sort of attitude an• weigh these in the scales of truth this gered the mother-in-law which made life weight is naught. If the fire of wrath even more difficult. burst forth from the ocean of the mind it would leave deadly scar, yet to the The reproaches did not affect her wise it does not matter. much, engrossed as she was in the con• templation of her real Master. She was The limitations of her environment becoming indifferent to censure or praise could now ill contain her. Time was ap• in the happiness of her inner life. How to proaching when her spiritual training control Padmavati became a problem in and evolution were nearing completion 80 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Amdhana Her greatness was becoming manifest to out at night he followed in her footsteps many except the husband and mother- silently. Behold! he was startled to see her in-law, (who were striving to control one walk across the river Vitasta without fear. beyond their reach). On reaching the middle of the river she bathed and returned with an earthen jug Lai Ded was a follower of Shaivism. full of water. This changed the attitude She was very liberal as its exponent with of the hiding husband who now felt he an ultra-monotheistic basis, as is evident should respect her. But doubt over• from her inspired verses. Shaivism bases whelmed him all the same. He was un• its theory on the one Self or Sadasiva, tran• able to believe the evidence of his own scendent and immanent. Siva and Shakti eyes. Perhaps some jugglery was at play. are one in their essence but represent dif• Going behind her, he aimed a stone at ferent aspects of the same Reality. They her jug which broke into pieces. But the are eternally interrelated. Shakti is Siva water, as tradition says, did not spill out in disguise. Her creative function acts as and remained motionless as if condensed. a force of obscuration in order to create This dumbfounded the puzzled husband many out of one. more than ever. On reaching home he "I was one and became many. I found related the story to his mother. Both of Him everywhere, visible and invisible", them were struck with awe. Lai Ded says Lai Ded. came home still with the condensed wa• ter on her shoulder and filled all empty Unmindful of obstructions Lai Ded pots with it; the rest was thrown out went on her way to realise her great long• through the window into a ditch which ing, leading a life that had already be• was also filled to the brim. This ditch is come unconventional by then. At times to this day called 'Lalla trag' but little she would leave the house at dead of water is found in it now. The above night and return next morning when the amazing feature drew crowds of people sun was high in the heavens, to attend to to the place. her household duties. Often she was si• lent, absorbed in herself. Her husband, The neighbours knew already of the whose curiosity and suspicion were in• hardships Lai Ded was undergoing at creasing day by day, did not dare to ac• the hands of her mother-in-law and hus• cuse her openly and scarcely had the band. But she was bearing it all with courage to speak to her. The mother-in- great patience and even now a girl in law, who was furious by now, kept on Kashmir considered to be gentle is ad• goading and rebuking her son for his le• dressed as 'Lai Ded', one who has devel• niency. He therefore determined to fol• oped in her all great qualities. From now low her in the dark at night to catch her on people started coming to Lai Ded and with the object of her love. When she went falling at her feet in reverence. This she 2002 LAL DED OF KASHMIR 81 found disturbing, so one dark night she to her household duties and observed the disappeared into a dense forest without daily routine meticulously. human habitation, to be with nature in Tradition says that on a solitary occa• all its purity and meditate in solitude. sion when Seda Mol visited Lai Ded her After a while her husband went into the husband requested him to admonish her jungle in search of her and succeeded in so that she took more interest in her bringing her back; but it was impossible home. A discussion ensued and the for her now to fit into a life which she points raised were to define the best light, had abandoned for good. She was roam• the best friend, the best tirtha (sacred ing about, her mind fixed on her Beloved, place) and the most comfort-giving state unmindful of rain and snow and the hot in the world. Her husband and Seda Mol sun, leaping from one cliff to another and gave commonplace replies pertaining to caring little for what the world had to worldly comforts. After listening to them offer. Lai Ded, improving upon it, said: Seda Mol used to be the family priest The best light rests in ecstasy, in her parents' home and it is said that God is the best Friend, he became her Guru under whose instruc• To trace him is the most sacred task tions she had started her spiritual prac• Leading to the most happy state. tices. She was advanced through her Once at the bidding of her mother-in- constancy and one-pointedness and was law Lai Ded went to ask Seda Mol to at• nearer Perfection than her guru. Lai Ded tend a religious ceremony at their house. starts her teaching by relating her own She did not enter the house of the guru experience: but called for him aloud from a distance. I went to find Him with longing in my The wife of Seda Mol resented this mode eyes. of calling and rebuking her for it, replied While searching I waited nights and angrily that the guru was absorbed in days. meditation. Lai Ded was quick to retort: But I beheld the sage, the wise "How is he in meditation? He has been Dwelling in my own abode, hit by the horse in the pasture of Nandan And that moment was auspicious. Marg". On hearing this remark Seda Mol It is obvious that the One she found came out and struck by her insight fell at dwelling in her own abode (herself) does her feet apologising for the harsh words not refer to an earthly guru. of his wife. He admitted that while he Lai Ded believed in self-purification was in meditation he was thinking of his through selfless service (nishkama karma) untamed horse left roaming in the pas• and was intent to help others to a life ture land. It was a revelation to him that leading to it. She undoubtedly attended Lai Ded could read other people's minds. 82 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana After returning from the jungle Lai Lalla has worn out her body by at• Ded had grown careless and unmindful tempting to gain salvation by good of ordinary things. She began to wander works, not knowing that these lead half-nude, often dancing and singing in only to further transmigration and are divine ecstasy. She was thus wandering in vain. The only hope of salvation is about when her father-in-law met her and finding out one's identity with the Su• reprimanded her severely for going preme. The wonder of it is: Who lam about in this manner. Her reply is and Who He is? To doubt this identity revealing: is indeed a great doubt. Foulness I burnt from my soul, And again: My mind with its desires died, Then my name of Lalla (half-nude) From what quarter did I come and by spread abroad. what road? To what quarter shall I go Patiently sitting on my bended knees and how shall I know the road? In the I kept my mind from earthly passions. end if I gain good guidance all is well. There is no you and I, For there is no substance in an empty There is no object for contemplation breath. Nor even contemplation. All actions have been lost in My body befouled with mud, Thou forgetfulness. remained hidden from me. The life• Considering the external world to be long day I passed seeking for me and nothing but an illusion she justifies her Thee. When I beheld Thee in myself nakedness by asking 'what garment there was unrestrained rapture. could be better than to be clad by sky In Lai Ded's monism the advent of and air'. Then expressing her attitude of divine Grace plays a prominent part detachment she says: nevertheless. Though seekers must strive Let him hurl abuse upon me, let him to their utmost or surrender totally, yet pronounce blame, ultimately it is through Grace that their Let each one say to me what pleaseth true state of identity with the Supreme him. reveals itself. This could be compared to Yes, let him worship me with the a drop of our striving merging with the offering of his soul or with flowers. limitless sea of Grace; in essence both are Still keep I untouched and undefiled by all this, identical. So what difference does it make? By the mercy of the Supreme Lai Ded seems to have come to the I got awakened and as for myself conclusion ultimately that investigation I did not meditate on anything. (enquiry) is the surest way of attaining I, Lalla, wearied myself seeking for salvation. She says: Him. I laboured and strove even 2002 LAL DED OF KASHMIR 83 beyond my strength. I began to look where the eternal void itself becomes for Him and I saw that bolts were on dissolved then nothing but Bliss re• His door and in me. As I was longing mains. O, thou learned Ones! This is for Him I became fixed and there where the true doctrine. I was I gazed upon Him — myself. Lai Ded teaches that Truth lies in one Human efforts take one far enough to word OM which contains all scriptures. see by Grace that they are of no avail in This is reminiscent of Tayumanavar's the end. Grace alone reveals that the gate "one wondrous word" on which Self-re• barred to all human efforts is a gateless alization hinges: gate. Being fixed that is the mind becom• One Word, a wondrous word exists ing still, one realises that there never were Which in Itself contains any bolts. True Identity is revealed. All other words; by it is purged The soul of all its stains. It is doubtful whether Lai Ded was conversant with the Shaivite philosophy A number of miracles are associated in theory. But in practice Karma Mala (the with the name of Lai Ded but not much round of daily duties) practised in the significance is attached to this feature in households of Kashmiri pandits, is con• Shaivism, regarding them as an ordinary ducive to gaining spiritual insight. Work routine of those who had conquered the performed with detachment, puja, elements of matter. Lai Ded disdains su• meditation, reflection on spiritual matters, pernatural powers which are a tempta• listening to the chanting or reading of holy tion to a seeker and may lead to the scriptures; all these constitute Karma-Mala. enhancement of his ego: Why cool the flames, stop the flow of According to Shaivism the routine of a stream daily life effected in the right spirit and Walk on water, fly in the air? manner, involves both Karma-Mala and These are only jugglers' feats Mayavi-Mala. The bad effects of the latter To deceive people. are minimised by Karma-Mala performed The verse below describing the all- as sadhana. The malas (impurities) appear pervasiveness of the Supreme is an echo in the jiva and his limitations. They can from the BhagavadGita. be eradicated by constant spiritual prac• Thou alone art the heavens and Thou tice till the realization dawns that the jiva the earth and the Supreme Being are not different. And Thou alone art the day and night Lai Ded says: and air, Thou alone art the real offering, the When by repeated practice of Yoga the incense, the flowers, whole expanse of the visible universe All things that have birth, all that is. ascends and becomes merged in void; What then could I offer Thee? 84 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Amdhana Lai Ded's liberal outlook in Shaivism Lai Ded's teaching was clear and sim• consisted in turning the Kashmiri peo• ple, meant predominantly for simple peo• ple away from the rigid ritualism to ple. Her poetry became popular and is which their religion had degenerated quoted freely to this day by people of all under repression. She was not against faiths. Her saying influenced the common rituals as such but against sacrificing true folk and gave them courage. She tried to religion for rituals and against animal draw out their narrowness of mind sacrifices. wavering between their traditional religion clouded with ritualism and the She says: new ideas imposed upon them. She Wilt thou sacrifice a living being to a exhorts them to rely on God and not to lifeless idol? fear men, bringing to their minds the Real worship rests in whatever action value of surrender. you do Yours is a restless mind. Every word spoken is the Mantra. Do not entertain any fear in your She appreciated the value of idol wor• heart. ship as a symbol and reminder, fulfilling He is Himself taking care of you. the need of the less evolved section of the It is only His will that prevails. people. Purity of mind does not depend The highway robbers of desire, lust on externalities. But if she was not an up• and pride should be slain; then the real holder of rituals as the times demanded, and true Lord will be found. Ashes is all she did not oppose their performance. that is. What she advocated was a simple life, sim• ple worship avoiding difficult paths. It is Lai Ded's teaching couched in such enough to remember and practise one simple language expresses her own ex• mantra. Worship of God according to her perience. It is so profound in its simpli• teaching consists in carrying out smoothly city as to touch the heart of the learned people also. Among her followers was a the ordinary routine of life in a detached Muslim saint Ali Sani better known as manner and in a spirit of selfless service. Shah Hamdan. He was greatly influ• No need to abandon the world: enced by her. Another one was Sheikh What use is leaving home and why to Nur-ud-Din who prevailed upon the Gov• woods; ernment to adopt a more humanistic at• Be firm in your faith titude towards the religion of the That alone will lead you to happiness. What use is turning a recluse or Kashmiri people. Lai Ded's sayings and running away? verses Lalla Vakyan were collected and Be wise to know Siva is always with translated into Sanskrit nearly three hun• you, dred years ago by the learned Rajanak Do not run away, times must change. Baskara Acharya. Another collection 2002 LAL DED OF KASHMIR 85 Lalishwari Viakhinniwas made by Baskara Razdan. In recent times Sir R. C. Temple Thine is a song that enslaveth me, was so captivated by Lai Ded's inspired Son of an alien kin and clime. songs and sayings that it induced him to The living words of Lai Ded are in• make a thorough study of Shaivism in spiring and that, coming from the depth the context of Indian philosophy and this and simplicity of her heart, have a uni• work he dedicates to Lai Ded. versal timeless appeal!

DIALOGUE BETWEEN ANANDA SWAMI (MOUNT ABU) AND SRI BHAGAVAN ANANDA SWAMI: It is said in books that the purusha is angushthapramana. What is it that is meant by it? MAHARSHI: Evidently the books must be referring to the upadhi in which the purusha is manifesting. They cannot mean that the all-pervading purusha is angushtha pramana. A.S.: Is that purusha in the heart? M: If you mean the physical heart, it cannot be. But the books describe a heart which is an inverted lotus with a cavity inside and a flame in that cavity and all that. In such a psychic heart, the purusha may be said to abide and the flame may be of that angushtha pramana. A.S.: Is seeing that light Self-realisation? M: Abiding in it and being it, not seeing it, is Self-realisation. A.S.: In nirvikalpa samadhiwhat happens to thepranat M: It goes and merges where it came from. A.S.: I wish to know if there will be breathing then. M: It may not be then in the form of respiration, but in some sukshma form. They talk of mahaprana. A.S.: What is sahaja samadhi? M: It is our svabhava sthiti. It is being in our natural state. Nirvikalpa samadhialso means merely giving up our vikalpas. Samadhiis our natural state, if we give up the vikalpas. A.S.: What is the difference between sushuptiananda and turiya ananda? M: There are not different anandas. There is only one ananda including the ananda enjoyed during the waking state, the ananda of all kinds of beings from the lowest animal to the highest Brahma, the ananda of the Self. The bliss which is enjoyed un• consciously in sleep is enjoyed consciously in turiya. That is the difference. The ananda enjoyed during jagratis upadhiananda. — Day by Day with Bhagavan, pp. 145-46. What's Wrong With The World?

By Douglas E. Harding

EW people would agree with Robert (we want to know) who gives us one na• FBrowning's rapturous exclamation ture, and gives our world the contrary that all's right with the world. Most of nature; who not only fails to match up us, most of the time, feel that something's the two, but actually fixes it so that, terribly amiss. The aim of this article is whereas we need love and security and to find out what's gone wrong, and what success and joy and peace, the nature of — if anything — you and I can do about things ensures that we get the opposite? it. An ambitious project? Yes, indeed! But What have innocent children done to de• let's see how far we can get. serve all the pain and disillusionment, ending in sickness and senility and death We need hardly trouble to list the itself, that is steadily coming to them? things about our world that aren't as they Surely the only appropriate and manly should be, or we don't like. They are too reaction is anger. But the trouble with many and too obvious. So let's move anger is that it is unproductive. It's a straight on to consider the various ways dead end, and gets us nowhere at all. It we can and do respond to the troubles that just adds to the misery. surround us, and threaten to engulf us. n THREE REACTIONS TO THE HUMAN SITUATION The second alternative is rather less negative. It is resignation. Or, if you pre• I fer, realism. Thus we say to ourselves, One very natural reaction is — resent• wryly but very sensibly, "Life is diffi• ment We had no choice, no say at all in cult!" Or, with the Buddha, "Life is pain• the kind of environment we find our• ful, life is suffering." So let's stop selves flung into. We weren't consulted, pretending it could be otherwise than our preferences and needs were — it tragic, terribly unfair, made up of anxi• seems — unfeelingly ignored. We were ety upon anxiety, agony piled upon pitchforked into this blood-soaked arena agony. Let's nobly face this noble but which, apparently, is all set up to hurt dreadful truth: that our world is, and al- and mangle and eventually destroy us. What sort of Creator or Demiurge is it Reproduced from The Mountain Path, April 1983. 2002 WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE WORLD? 87 ways will be, a very nasty place, even Jesus was agonizingly torn between his for the lucky ones. Lucky for how long? own will and his Father's in the end. And if he found this ultimate surrender of his There is a positive side to this kind of personal will immensely difficult when hard-headed realism. It makes a differ• it came to the crunch, what hope for or• ence when at last we give up all our false dinary mortals like you and me? What optimism and wishful thinking, our pa• hope for me, I should say: you may be a thetic pretence that tomorrow or next saint, for all I know. week or next year things will return to normal, and happy days will be here Yet all the evidence I'm aware of, and again. Suffering is the norm, relief from certainly the reported experience of the suffering the exception. Tomorrow's tri• world's spiritual leaders, confirms that als will be at least as severe as today's, here lies the only real and conclusive and a certain kind of peace does descend answer to our troubles. If only we could upon us when we are honest enough to be selfless, totally surrendered, in a word acknowledge the grim facts, steadily and saints. There's the rub. How many of us without bitterness. Life does become are willing and able to transcend and do more bearable, less of a let-down. violence to our deep instinct for survival? To immolate ourselves, to play the role Ill of both sacrificial priest and sacrificial And so to our third alternative, which victim? In a sense, to commit suicide as is that we should actually intend every• humans, in order to be what else we are? thing to be just as it is. This attitude is a And to do so not merely because it's the long, long way from mere acceptance: it best policy, but because we deeply feel it is endorsement, we go so far as to choose is right? what's happening, to say a hearty YES! The answer is: very few of us. And to all that life is handing out to us. It is so even that heroic few who, by virtue of lining up our will with God's or the Uni• Grace or of extraordinary feats of disci• verse's that Its will becomes our will. pline and self-abnegation, manage genu• Then it must follow that everything goes inely to will God's will — even they do as we wish, and in a sense we become not necessarily find that the Universe is, omnipotent. after all, a perfectly happy and beautiful Of course this alignment of our will is scene. With some exceptions, they don't pleasant and easy when all goes fairly see it that way at all. No: Even the saints well with us; very hard when things go are apt to embrace the world in spite of badly; next to impossible (unless we are what it is, rather than because of what it already saints) when disaster threatens is. Some of them haven't a good word to and our very lives are at stake. Even say of it. 88 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana And so, on the face of it, there's no fea• sible solution, for us unsaintly ones, to the problem of what's wrong with the world. We have seen that raging against the Universe only makes matters worse; resignation may help us somewhat, but does little or nothing to improve the situ• ation; and full acceptanceis virtually im• possible for us as we are now. However, there is a fourth alternative, so let us take heart and go into it care• fully, critically, and with open minds. After all, what have we — desperate We have split it into two unequal frag• characters that we are, in a desperate situ• ments called OURSELF and THE REST, ation — to lose? or ME and NOT ME. The result is that we have on our hands not a Universe but THE FOURTH ALTERNATIVE a Duoverse, a Duality and no Unity. And Here is a very different approach from it's hardly surprising that the severed the three we have outlined. I trust you parts should be deficient, tragically and will find that it does hold out hope — incurably sick, so long as that dreadful even certainty — for us rather ordinary wound isn't closed and healed. people — provided we are willing to The Katha Upanishadidentihes the dis• drop our precious opinions, and specially ease: "He who divides the One, wanders our religious prejudices, and dare to take from death to death," and indicates the a fresh look at ourselves and the world remedy: "Tell the mind that there is but we find ourselves in. One." And the Third Patriarch of Zen The proposition we are going to ex• speaks of the health which follows that amine is this: In itself, the world is all right remedy: "When the ten thousand things It isn't the world that has gone wrong or is are viewed in their Oneness, we return unsatisfactory, but what you and I are all the to the Origin and remain where we have time doing to it always been.... One in all, All in one — if only this is realized, no more worry Or let me put it like this: Apart from about not being perfect!" us, the Universe would be alive and in fine shape; it is we who are the trouble. But again, merely understanding and We are inflicting a grievous wound upon concurring with these profound truths it, and it's bleeding to death from that doesn't get us far along the difficult road wound. to perfection. Sure enough, when times are 2002 WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE WORLD? 89 good and the sun's shining and the birds myself — and so bring it again to life, are singing, it's not too difficult to feel the health, wholeness, and perfection. In Oneness of all things, with ourselves in• other words, everythingwill be all right cluded in the Grand Design. Or, meditat• when I am nothing. "Claim nothing; en• ing in the tranquillity of a holy place. joy, do not covet His property," says the Isa Upanishad. In China, around the same We may occasionally sense that/how• time, the Taoist Sage Chuang-tzu taught: ever miserable the parts of the world may "Your body is not your own... It is the be as parts, the Whole is all that our hearts delegated image of God. Your life is not could wish for. Just as the most horrible your own. It is the delegated harmony of slum, viewed from a weather satellite, God. Your individuality is not your own. becomes very pleasant to look at — and It is the delegated adaptability of God." our sad, war-torn planet, viewed from And, two millennia later, the French the Moon, becomes a shining dream of Jesuit De Caussade (1675 —1751) wrote: peace and beauty — so, when we are in "The body and its senses, the soul and exalted mood, our Universe may briefly its energies, the modicum of good you be viewed in its wholeness as wholly have performed — are God's portion. It good. When we're in the mood! How are so manifestly belongs to Him that you we to live in that exalted and rarefied realize you cannot claim one whit of it as atmosphere for more than a few moments yours, nor feel one grain of complacency, at a time? Someone said that life down wiihoutbeinggwltyoftheftandlarcenyfrom here on earth is one of quiet desperation. God!' Another Jesuit father, John Nicolas I guess he was right — except for the Grou (1731 — 1803), having pointed out quiet! "Some day," says Master K'ung Ku "How God is all, and the creature is noth• Chin-lung, "you will realize that the Pure ing," goes on to say: "I am nothing of Land of Serene Light is none other than myself, and I owe to God all that I am.... this earth itself." Meantime you may — If I appropriate these gifts to myself.... / if you're lucky — enjoy that realization steal from God what is His own, I do not in flashes. The rest of the time this earth comprehend my own nothingness, I com• is apt to seem more like Hell. mit an injustice..." Karl Marx, too, seek• So what is our practical answer? I have ing justice, decided "all property is theft," already suggested that it is a very sim• but didn't go half far enough. He excluded ple one — simple, if not exactly easy. So personal property like one's cooking uten• long as I am anything whatever I have di• sils and clothes, and of course one's body vided and therefore spoiled the One The only and mind. He had the right idea, but remedy is to restore its missing parts, to stopped short of the heart of the matter. re-graft the organ I amputated, to hand No wonder Marxism does not set our back what I stole from the One — namely world to rights! It is insufficiently radical! 90 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Amdhana THE FOURTH ALTERNATIVE tion. But you see it as imperfect because AS SEEING RATHER of your mis-identification with the body." THAN BELIEVING That says it all. So I admit I'm a thief, a despoiler of the Still I ask myself: is it true that I'm not world. Thieves, however, are loath to part the body and the mind I thought I was, with their loot — specially when they've and everyone told me I was? Is it a hard held it so long that they've come to think fact that I am, in reality, No-thing what• of it as theirs, and all the world has been ever, that I neither have nor am so much agreeing. Who of us is prepared to re• as a dustgrain? Above all, is it dispas• turn his or her body-mind to the Uni• sionately verifiable! Or is this just holy verse, and be reduced to absolutepoverty! talk, pious uplift, a good thing to believe The only convincing reason I can find because it makes me more comfortable? for this restoration of stolen goods to their I must find out, because only complete rightful Owner — the only consideration honesty with myself will work here. A that would induce me to hand them over trace of self-deception or wishful thinking, willingly and without further delay — and this promising remedy for trouble would be the clear perception that I have does me and my world no good at all. no choice, seeing that they were never Well, I can't speak for you, but I do mine anyway, and my thieving was quite indeed find that this Nothingness — this imaginary. In other words, if I were ac• absence of body-mind right here — is the tually to see — not just believe — that I most obvious of all obvious truths. have never had and have never been a Whether I like it or not, I see — far more body-mind at all, that all along I have clearly than I see anything out there in been exactly No-thing whatever and the world — that right here is Emptiness, therefore problem-free — why then this Space, Openness — Vacant Accommoda• clear seeing really would loosen my fic• tion for the whole world. Whenever I look titious grip on myself. Sri Nisargadatta back here at what's looking, at this mys• rightly asks: "Is it not important to you terious Spot I'm said to occupy, I find it to know whether you are a mere body, unoccupied by me — and occupied in• or something else? Or maybe nothing at stead by all the rest. Here, I am just Ca• all? Don't you see that all your problems pacity, Room at this moment for these two are your body's problems?" And indeed, arms and hands and this busy pen and when I give up my body-mind I not only half-filled sheet of paper, this littered give up its problems, but the world's too. desktop, and beyond them the room, and Asked why a perfect God should cre• the view from the window of grass and ate such a disastrous world, Sri Ramana bare trees, of racing clouds and cold sky. Maharshi replied, "His work is perfec• Plus all my thoughts and feelings about 2002 WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE WORLD? 91 those things: not about me, I emphasize, at all. Not so easy to keep up all the while but about them. I no more am these hands, without a good deal of 'practice', no doubt, or am in these hands, than I am these but renewable always and at will, when• clouds, or am in these clouds. I'm nowhere ever one's attention is turned round to the to be found, and everywhere. I have no Absentee who's attending, right here. body, and the whole world is my body. So this, our fourth alternative, is cer• Never, never have I been part of the tainly the one for me. What about you? world; never, never have I parted or split Why not try it? Again, what have you up the world. I am Nothing — yes; and (who in fact have lost all) to lose? You, All things — yes; never Something, never too, may find that this alternative works any half-way house between these ex• because it convinces, because it's thor• tremes. That great saint St John of the oughly verifiable and actual-factual, and Cross tells me that to be all things I must not for taking on trust just because you be nothing. I don't have to take his word read it somewhere or someone told you for it. I can always check this astounding so. You, too, are likely to find that the fact, whatever my mood or activity of the Universe is radically transformed, once moment, by just taking a look. you clearly see for yourself that you could This clear perception, carrying with it never disturb its perfection by stealing utter conviction, is my best hope and in• so much as a needle from it. deed my only hope of setting myself and the Universe to rights. Let me steadily see I say a needle, because it brings me to What I am — thus restoring to the Whole the conclusion of this article, which is a everything I supposed I was, everything I Muslim tradition about Jesus. The Sufi stole from It — and see what happens. In• poet Attar tells the story. "When you are sofar as I do just this, I do indeed find that, reduced to ashes, including your baggage, in spite of all appearances to the contrary, you will have not the least feeling of ex• the world is^— yes, perfect! It is healed, istence. But if there remains to you, as to and for the very good reason that its Jesus, only a simple needle, a hundred wounds were quite imaginary. thieves will lie in wait for you along the road. Although Jesus had thrown down Continuing to speak for myself, then: his baggage, the needle was still able to whereas I'm wholly unable to make my• scratch his face .... When existence disap• self into any kind of saint (and settle the pears, neither riches nor empire, honours issue of perfection that very difficult way) nor dignity, have any meaning." I'm wholly able to see that I could never be a saint anyway, or any sort of person And then it is (we may add) that all or thing or object! And (I repeat) this in- our wounds — and even mere scratches seeing isn't hard. It's entirely natural, — are healed, and we are safe from refreshing, pleasant, secular, not special thieves and all harm, and enter Paradise. The Bhikku Chitta

By Hellmuth Hecker

HITTA was the son of an elephant wife, who was pregnant, the wretched• Ctrainer. When he was still a youth ness of sensual pleasures was driven he met an elderly bhikkuwho was return• home to him so forcefully that he seized ing from his rounds for alms with a par• a yellow robe and hastened to the vihara ticularly tasty item of food in his bowl. at once. On his hurried way through the The bhikkuhad no desire for it, so he gave silent night all the good seeds planted it to the young lad. Chitta was greatly during his previous monkhood burst into pleased, and under the impression that blossom and he attained to Stream-entry as a bhikkuhe would be fed like that every there and then. day without having to fatigue himself At the vihara, however, his former fel• with work, he joined the Sangha. But with low monks had just agreed among them• such a motivation no ascetic life is possi• selves to refuse a possible sixth request ble, and shortly afterwards he discarded for ordination from Chitta. They felt that the robe to return to his old life. they had been forbearing to a praise• All the same, the spirit of the holy worthy degree, and considered Chitta to• Sangha had left a deep and indelible im• tally unfit for the holy life and a disgrace pression on his mind. Soon he felt dis• to the Sangha. satisfaction with the life of a householder Even while they were so deliberating, and asked for ordination once more. they saw Chitta himself approaching. His Having obtained it, after a time he de• features were aglow with a new bliss, serted the Sangha again. A third, a fourth and his manner was so calm and mild and a fifth time this happened. that they found it impossible to refuse The fifth time, when he was living a him another ordination. married life, he was unable to sleep one night, and while he was looking at his Reproduced from The Mountain Path, January 1973. 2002 THE BHIKKUCHITTA 93 This time he quickly succeeded in the monk's training. He may feel secure in four jhanas and signless unification of mind. the jhanas, but it is precisely this which This filled him with joy, and he felt a leads to his ruin. great urge to talk about it. On one occa• While a king and army, with drums sion some Arahats were sitting together and chariots, are camping in the woods, in conversation and Chitta interrupted nobody can hear the crickets chirping and them again and again. The senior bhikku everybody might think they had been of the gathering, the Venerable silenced. But after the troops have moved Mahakotthita, advised him to wait until on, the crickets can easily be heard again, the senior monks had finished what they although one might have been quite sure had to say. Thereupon, Chitta's friends there were none. said that he ought not to be reprimanded, Later on, Chitta actually did leave the because he was wise and capable of Sangha for a sixth time to return to explaining Dhamma from his own family life. His bhikku friends then asked experience. the Venerable Mahakotthita whether he Mahakotthita answered that he could had himself foreseen that Chitta would see Chitta's heart. Then he went on to ex• act thus, or whether Devashad told him. plain, by similes, that there are states of He replied that it was both. In astonish• mind which may be excellent as long as ment those friends went to the Buddha they last, but are still unable to prevent a and related the matter to him. The bhikku giving up monkhood again. In this Blessed One dispelled their apprehen• connection he gave the following similes. sions by telling them that Chitta would soon return. A cow securely tied up in the byre seems peaceful enough, but turned loose, One day Chitta went to see the Bud• it quickly tramples down the green crops. dha, accompanied by Potthapada, a wan• Likewise a bhikku may be humble and dering ascetic of another sect. Potthapada well behaved in the presence of the Mas• posed some deep questions regarding the ter or saints, but left on his own, he tends different modes of arising [sic] in the three to relapse and leave the Sangha. Again, a worlds. Chitta followed up with further person may be in possession of the four questions as to differentiation between jhanas and signless unification of mind, these forms of becoming, since, having and as long as these abide he is safe; but experienced the jhanas he was familiar as soon as the bliss wanes he goes among with some of them. The Blessed One's people, talkative and unrestrained and answers satisfied him fully and he re• bursting with pride to announce his quested admission to the Sangha for the achievement. Then his heart becomes seventh time which turned out to be filled with greed and he gives up the the last. 94 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana The Buddha gave his consent, and in friends who joined the Sangha. One of a short time Chitta too became one of the them became dissatisfied with the hard• Arahats. ships of a bhikku'sliie, and contemplated In subsidiary books of the scriptures returning to his family. His friend en• as well as in unrelated and later tradi couraged him to make this decision, be• tion we often find significant hints as to cause in his heart he longed to be able how the actions of past lives affect a man's to feel himself superior. This ugly mo• present experiences. Thus we are told just tive had its results much, much later why it was that the Bhikku Chitta, in his during the lifetime of the Buddha last life which was to bring forth Gautama. It subjected this false friend, Arahatship, had to defect from the Sangha now become the Bhikku Chitta, not less so many times. It appears that a long, long than six times to the humiliation of leav• time ago, when the Buddha Kassapa was ing the Sangha and having to petition teaching Dhamma, there were two for acceptance again.

BHAGAVAN'S INSTRUCTION TO SRIMATI KHANNA

In the afternoon Khanna's wife appealed to Bhagavan in writing—'I am not learned in the Scriptures and I find the method of Self-enquiry too hard for me. I am a woman with seven children and a lot of household cares, and it leaves me little time for medi• tation. I request Bhagavan to give me some simpler and easier method/ Bhagavan.No learning or knowledge of scriptures is necessary to know the Self, as no man requires a mirror to see himself. All knowledge is required only to be given up eventually as not-Self. Nor is household work or cares with children necessarily an obstacle. If you can do nothing more, at least continue saying 'I- V to yourself men•

tally all the time, as advised in Who am I?f whatever work you may be doing and whether you are sitting, standing or walking. T is the name of God. It is the first and greatest of all mantras. Even OM is second to it. Khanna.The jiva is said to be mind plus illumination. What is it that desires Self- realization and what is it that obstructs our path to Self-realization? It is said that the mind obstructs and the illumination helps. Bhagavan: Although we describe the jiva as mind plus the reflected light of the Self, in actual practice, in life, you cannot separate the two, just as, in the illustrations we used yesterday, you can't separate cloth and its whiteness in a white cloth or fire and iron in a red-hot rod. The mind can do nothing by itself. It emerges only with the illumination and can do no action, good or bad, except with the illumination. But while the illumination is always there, enabling the mind to act well or ill, the pleasure or pain resulting from such action is not felt by the illumination, just as when you ham• mer a red-hot rod it is not the fire but the iron that gets the hammering. — Day by Day with Bhagavan, entry for 28-6-1946. u

BOOK REVIEWS

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF HINDUISM by V. Many types of Hindus are differentiated - secular Krishnamurthy. 1994. ISBN:81-224-0628-9 Pub: philosopher, orthodox theologian, rationalist, Wiley Eastern Limited, Ansari Rd, New Delhi scientist-Vedantin and the doubting devotee. A total 110002. pp.334, Rs— of 1023 combinations among the people are The essential features of the inner core of characterised. Hinduism are grouped into 10 commandments and Each commandment is dissected into several elaborated in this book. These are directive facets and explained with the scriptural and other principles of the mainstream of Hinduism, which can authorities that support it. The rationale behind the be listed as follows: varied customs, practices, rituals and symbols 1) The purpose of life is to realise the associated with the religion are unfolded. omnipresent divinity intuitively. All the paths, margas are enunciated on the 2) Purification of mind is the purpose of all basis of dharma The author puts as many as 77 religious discipline. questions and proposes several answers. To quote a few: 3) The divinity inherent in each one of us has a dharma of its own. We should strive to go back to i) Why is the word namah important? God, our source. Every action of ours must be ii) How can Bhakti co-exist with Advaita? concordant with this natural order of things. iii) Who am I? These three are the fundamental axioms. The iv) Is God always a 'He'? remaining seven are, in a sense, consequences of v) Can temple myths be true? these three. vi) Are not science and religion contradictory? 4) Act in the living present, in total detachment and dedication, by avoiding all egocentric desires, Answers are found in the pages of the book. fears and anxieties. If such an action serves another The author's careful approach is to be appreciated. fellow being, it becomes service to God. — T.N. Pranatharthi Haran 5) Freely search for a personal God and seek MAHABHARATA:pp.432, Rs195 RAMAYANA:pp.416, His grace for the purification of mind. Rs195 both retold by William Buck. 2000. Pub: 6) The Avataras are to emphasise on one's Motilal Banarsidass, Jawahar Nagar, New Delhi duties to mother, father, Guru and on truth and love 110007. as the basic core of dharma and unity of all faiths. A profound sense of authority and poetic 7) Remember God's names, chant them. Be madness run through these modern versions of aware continuously of His presence. India's two great sacred epics, not merely edited or 8) Surrender to God in heart, soul and will. Then retranslated, but in the author's own words "retold." our future is His concern. William Buck was only twenty-two years old when he chanced upon a copy of the Bhagavadgfta while 9) Discover the Ultimate in yourself. Allow on vacation from UC-Berkeley, and he spent the intuition and mystic experience to take you beyond rest of his brief life (he died at age thirty-seven) reason and intellect. plunging into the classic versions of both 10) All faiths are valid. It is the attitude that Mahabharata and Ramayana with the aim of making matters - not the rituals. the heart of both stories accessible to modern An acceptance of these ten commandments Western readers. alone help to understand Hinduism fully, says the He succeeded so masterfully that it is not hard author. to imagine that Buck was the reincarnation of 96 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana ValmTki or Vyasa or guided by both. His words and Psychology, Inokashira, 4-11-7, Mitakashi, Tokyo images leap off the page, simultaneously conveying 181, Japan, pp.150. not only the stories of SrT Rama and Sri Krishna, but The present book under review is a translation also the spirit of true bhakti, devotion, without ever from the Japanese. The book purports to serve the descending to sentimentality. twin purposes of guiding the reader through the Like the sage Vyasa himself might have done, theory and practice of yogic meditation with a view Buck once replied to a critic, I've made many to help him reach the superconscious state and also changes and combinations in both books, but I wish help those who want to have a theoretical grasp of to have them considered as stories which they are, yogic meditation especially from the Zen point of rather than as technically accurate scholarship, view. The author, Dr Motoyama, is a philosopher, which I told you they weren't. ...One thing, however, scientist, religious leader, and a yogi. The first is true. Read the stories and you get the real spirit chapter of the book generally delineates the effect of of the original once you're done, and if they're yoga on mind and body while describing various entertaining that's all I ask. asanas and pranayamas which would help They are much more than entertaining. The awakening of superconsciousness. The author stories of God's advent as SrT Ram and as Krishna asserts superconsciousness can be awakened by are two of the great guiding lights of human the negation of the ordinary human consciousness behaviour, of the struggles between right and wrong, through practice of yoga and by transcending good and evil, life and death. The reader is drawn ordinary human consciousness in the state of Satori fully into the passion of human drama, yet is where the subject and object are one, where frequently reminded as well that "all is maya, all is superconsciousness is able to consciously control illusion." All may be illusion, but that does not mean the deep layers of the unconscious and the the illusion is unimportant or casual. Buck reminds autonomic bodily functions, both of which are the reader that even God "will have the adventure. ordinarily regulated by the unconsciousness. The He will take all the gain and all the loss." author very clearly and effectively describes the eight systems of yoga meditations right from moral Having read many versions of Mahabharata and training, through bodily training and culminating in Ramayana and having studied both epics quite a spiritual training. Most of these could be found in bit, I find few that compare with Buck's exquisite general books on Yoga and Meditation in India. What style of storytelling. In describing a demon general's is striking is the clarity with which the author chariot and weapons in Ramayana, for example, he presents his analysis and a rich repertoire of writes, "Things were loaded all over Prahasta's spiritual experiences and experiments which he chariot. He had slaughter-sledges, butcher knives brings into focus to explain the various facets. and meat-hooks, chains and claws and clamps; he carried bombs and rockets and poisons and More interesting is the second chapter which appalling jealousies; delusions and bad dreams, talks about the "Approaching concentration, diseases and ambitions, many crises and Meditation and Samadhi". Dr Motoyama elucidates confusions. Wrong-way road signs and false maps the practice of yoga-meditation from the of mirages were tied on with broken promises. comprehensive stand-points of Hypnosis, ...There were puzzles with essential parts missing Physiology, Neuro-physiology, Psychology, and loaded dice and heartbreak and many first loves Philosophy, and Religion. Dr Motoyama states, lost. It was quite a sight to see!" echoing SrT Ramana Maharshi, that "to achieve the This is divine storytelling at its finest. When goal of superconsciousness a practitioner has to he finished his manuscripts, William Buck completely shatter his ego." He describes the wrote, "Based on the words of ancient songs, various phenomena that the practitioner encounters, I have written books. I tried to make them interesting in the process of shattering his or her ego. He to read. I don't think you will find many other provides a set of specific techniques and books like them." He was absolutely correct. instructions to deal with the phenomena. He clearly describes the various changes which can be — Bo Lozoff effected in the body and mind through asanas, pranayamas, meditation and Samadhi, and the TOWARD A SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS: precautionary step one should take while launching Meditational Theory and Practice: by Hiroshi on the journey over the razor's edge. While one is Motoyama. Pub: Institute for Religious likely to look askance at his description of the 2002 BOOK REVIEWS 97 daemonic state, astral projection, and contact with Three Suitor's' and so on. Harding's deep study of the spirits, one has to agree on his emphasis on the and due respect for SrT Ramana Maharshi, is evident leap into a higher dimension of consciousness in several articles and there is also an interesting which is conveyed by the eradication of the previous comparative note in the essay Ramana Maharshi manner of being. The author has done extensive and J. Krishnamurti (p.201). He commences on a research using various scientific instruments disagreeing note about the common tendency of (polygraphs and the electro-cardiograph) on the finding only similarities in thoughts of different yogic states of renowned yogis in India and abroad. spiritual masters, many times ignoring the Polygraphs of a practitioner who has achieved uniqueness of a particular personality. Harding's awakening of the kundalinf, the authenticity of the lament "It can be the result of laziness or effect of meditation on respiration, GSR, heartbeats superficiality, of failure to listen carefully and go etc have been effectively presented. Of course, it is deeply into what is being said, of fudging boundaries another question whether it is at all necessary to when what is needed is clear and sharp have such detailed scientific knowledge about discrimination" is quite understandable but not something which we have to transcend anyway. Dr always true. Harding himself has attempted to bring Motoyama asserts that the purpose in describing out such similarities in his quotes, in other essays these phenomena that occur in the astral dimension - quotes from Plotinus, Boehm, Hsu Yun, Rumi, is simply to give the practitioner the means of Ramana Maharshi etc. It may not, perhaps, be due recognizing and interpreting these phenomena so to laziness or lack of deep study! Anyway, he has that he can chart a profitable course and realize his brought out with clarity, the basic differences full potential. between J.K. and Maharshi. According to J.K. self- realization, seemingly simple, is extremely difficult. A unique contribution of the author is on But to Maharshi the simplest and easiest of all is to the subject of the psychological and physiological be in the SELF - as SELF. "I see what needs to be understanding of the meditation state. He seen. I see only just what all see, nothing more. The explains this using the electrocardiograph Self is always self-evident." This is one of the finest and plethysmograph conducted during the articles in the collection under review. meditation state of his guru in Kakinada during 1969. Similar experiments had been conducted Harding has tried to make a mystical experience on him in Japan also. The author uses these such as self-realization quite a practical possibility, two developments as authority on the functions in his elaboration in the essay 'Self Enquiry: Some of the Ki-meridians and the corresponding Objections Answered' (p.27-35). He lists out 8 internal organs. The description of the possible objections and effectively refutes each of psychic operation which he performed on a them. To the common complaints that search for woman in the city of Kobe in Japan Self is a selfish diversion, almost a mental illness, is rather fantastic. The author ultimately agrees time consuming and unpractical, depressing and with the Indian philosopher that karma boring, etc. he asserts that helping oneself is really must be fulfilled even after the Satori. helping others. It is never morbid. On the other hand, — S. Ram Mohan "We are all more or less ill till we find by self-enquiry our oneness with everyone else." He also asserts LOOK FOR YOURSELF: The Science and Art of that self-search is a joyous adventure rather than a Self Realization: by Douglas E. Harding. 1998. dull and monotonous occupation. "The Self-seeing Pub: Inner Directions - Encinitas, PO Box man has the grace and charm of one who is free" 231486, California CA 92023, USA. pp236, (p.31). US$16.95 In the last few pages, the author gives details of In this interesting and illuminating collection of his workshop and its usefulness in realizing old 29 essays by Douglas E. Harding of varied interest, truths, the periodical group meetings, to take part in the reader can listen to a common core of self- an activity called 'Look-For-Yourself. Turn the search. In its systematic well-arranged thoughts, the attention from externals to your own inner reality is work becomes almost a science and in its the theme. It is claimed that over the past four fascinating style it touches the sensibilities of art. decades such workshops are extended over 19 The titles of essays themselves are quite countries and have yielded good results. The illuminating, such as The Shortest Path', The Last "exercises" which he has developed over the years Upanishad?', 'Six Sketches for a Portrait', 'Sophia's are all visual and are aimed at making the participant 98 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana see the difference between how one appears to HOW I BECAME A HINDU: My Discovery of Vedic others and how one appears to oneself. The author Dharma: by David Frawley. 2000. Pub: Voice of himself expresses concern about the inapplicability India, 2/18 Ansari Rd., New Dehli 110002. pp. of his method for those without eye sight. 208, Rs 200. The haunting doubt of a sincere seeker is /How I Became A Hindu was given to a Western whether we are making use of a dependable and and an Indian reviewer simultaneously, to offer perfect means (pramana) for self-search? We join perspective to the readers. The MP, Aradhana 2001 the author in his searching question which in itself carried the review by Dorothy Tanous]. contains the answer - "Can you think of anything This is a fascinating story of the making of an else that, if you do it at ail you do perfectly? And can intellectual Kshatriya Prince by the kiss of the Vedas; you think of any more perfect gift that you can hand a 'straight from the heart' narrative of the life's to your friends — to the world that needs it so journey of David Frawley, a book for open minds desperately — than the gift of gifts, which you are and open hearts. David narrates his progress from now fully able to bestow?" (p. 235-36) an exclusive, intolerant world-view forced on him in — A.S.Venugopala Rao his formative years to a universal, inclusive, world- view that he found in Hinduism. His early years were ENTHUSIASM: by Swami Chidvilasananda. 1997. afflicted by Catholic guilt, fears of venal and mortal Pub: Chitshakti Publications, 5 Bishop Wallers sins, purgatory and damnation in eternal fires. At the Avenue (E), Mylapore, Chennai 600004. Pp. 213. age of nine when he started reading biographies of Rs 95 great men, he says "my training that only Catholics Gurumayi Chidvilasananda's talks on various had a monopoly on goodness was already getting a moral, psychological and spiritual themes are severe drubbing". His study of European history and published first in this Indian edition, with a foreword its religious wars "like the bloody Thirty Years War by Dr. Nitish Sengupta and an introduction by of the seventeenth century that resulted in over one Thomas B. Coburn. The author was initiated in third of the population of Germany getting Siddha Yoga Meditation by Swami Muktananda, a decimated", opened his eyes to the darker side of disciple of Bhagawan Nityananda. There are religious expression. His exposure to geography and thirteen chapters. In the first, the reader is asked to ancient history made him realize that "clearly the fill the mind with a constant sense of harmony, love American focus of our education left out most of and happiness. This is achieved by meditation humanity both in time and space". through the grace of the Guru and by satsang. The By sixteen he started reading European second chapter explains the Upanishadic saying intellectuals like Nietzsche and Camus, rationalists that the universe is a product of God's ecstasy and like Kant, Russell and the existentialists. He started desire to become multifarious. The tantric concept writing philosophical poetry, experimenting in of kundalin? and cakras or yogic centers in the counter-culture, participating in anti-war movements. human body is outlined in the third chapter. The From these foundations, he moved on to yoga, remaining nine chapters deal with various negative Buddhism and then to the Upanishads and Vedas, and positive mental traits including freedom an "extensive inner search of many years". His of speech, hatred, constancy, patience, forgiveness, interest in Hinduism includes mysticism, Self gentleness, envy, sacrifice, and gratitude. The Knowledge, devotion to Gods and interests of book closes with some thirty pages covering an Kavyakanta Ganapati Muni. Indeed David has studied epilogue, notes and glossaries of poets, the Muni's works and acknowledges him as a philosophers and sages, of texts and terms, a "model for what I was attempting in all aspects of general index and a list of other books by the author my work". His pen flows from the thoughts of sages and her associates. like Ramana Maharshi and Aurobindo to people in The title of the book may be catchy but is Sangh Parivar and VHP, and writers such as Ram somewhat inappropriate. Does freedom from envy Swarup and Sita Ram Goel. He wields the sword or hatred by itself amount to or generate enthusiasm and shields on behalf of Hinduism and holds the (for what)? Enthusiasm is no doubt a subjective Hindus themselves to be responsible for the open feeling that may arise within oneself but it depends ground that they have given, allowing anti-Hindu on actual or imaginary objects to stimulate and sentiments to wax without fear of debate or sustain it. repartee. On conversion he says "The word — T. Sankaran conversion is a misnomer and a term that I dislike. 100 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana One keeps to the original as much as possible, is there any dramatic conflict in his mind. even if that means bad English, lots of repetitions Whatever the travails and difficulties in his life, and a frequent lack of clarity and focus in the they do not get extensive treatment. The inner life message. The other school feels that the dialogues of the protagonist is apparently an aspect that the should be editorially polished. A diamond cutter reader is supposed to dwell on, though, even this cuts, polishes and then sets precious jewels to is not a matter of debate or conflict for Somu. The bring out their luster so that everyone can be aware devotion he feels towards the two spiritual of their beauty and value. In the same way, this Masters and the final dependence on and school of editing tinkers with the text and polishes surrender to SrT Ramana are unquestioning. While it in order to give the message maximum impact. from the 'outsider-reader' point of view, this might I have edited several books of spiritual dialogues seem uninteresting, especially in a novel, SrT myself, so I am acutely aware of the competing Ramana's devotees would recognise this pulls of clarity versus literalness. Ideally, the Guru's phenomenon as very real. It is an acknowledged words should speak for themselves, since there is fact among his devotees that Sri Ramana's magic always some spiritual power in the original words, works silently and effects a "painless but in practice, they almost always need to be transformation" as Dr. K.Subrahmaniam was wont edited in some way. When the teacher tends, as to say. Ranjit Maharaj does, towards a discursive, stream- of-consciousness style of answering, the case for Sri Ramana draws a parallel between the major editorial interventions becomes much more sleeping man in a moving cart who is not aware of persuasive. the cart's movements and a jnani who is not conscious of the body and its activities. There are Robert Wolfe has, instead, elected for a 'hands self-conscious allusions in the book to this imagery. off approach and the unfortunate result is a series While this seems to be a starting point for the novel, of rambling, incoherent monologues that rarely or the symbolism does not go beyond this reference in only tangentially address the questions that have the narrative. A fictitious character who drives a cart, been asked. This may have been his style of however, becomes a useful device in describing the teaching, but it makes for poor reading. There are happenings in the town of Tiruvannamalai during a gems in the answers, waiting for some expert cutting particular period of time. Since Somu is moving and polishing, but they are buried in pages and around always, he is in the vantage position of pages of dross that should have been excised long seeing the various happenings and responding to before the book made it to the press. them as an ordinary person would. In the process, — David Godman the atmosphere of the period is well brought out, a period during which events of social significance THE HILL (A Novel): by K.Venkataraman. 2000. Pub: happen. The two plague epidemics, the freedom Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, KM Munshi Marg, struggle, the differences between the 'pacifist' Mumbai 400007. pp298, Rs220. Gandhians and the militant Indian National Army Seshadri Swami and Sri Ramana Maharshi sympathisers, the visit of Mahatma Gandhi to were two remarkable saints of Tiruvannamalai in Tiruvannamalai, the temple entry of untouchables the late nineteenth century and the early part of the all became events which touch Somu's life directly twentieth century. For spiritual aspirants, their lives or indirectly. As for the two spiritual Masters, who and teachings are of perennial interest. Much has remain the main focus of the book in the midst of already been written about the two saints, all this, the events chosen for representation are particularly the latter. However, for those who adore, historically true and are ones that bring out the the need to read and write about them is insatiable. nature of the two Masters and their basic So, when almost all is already written, how is one to teachings. retell a known story? K.Venkataraman, who The narrative mode is however, not all that new. obviously has the need to retell, chooses a 'novel' There exists in the west and in India a considerably method to do so. The genre chosen is the novel and significant tradition of writing historical novels and the protagonist is a simple, common man who there are also novels that deal with Indian spiritual makes a living by transporting people in carts. Masters. Those so inclined, might embark on a As novels go, the book is not particularly serious academic discussion as to whether this appealing since there is nothing spectacular particular book can be classified as a historical happening in the life of the protagonist, Somu. Nor novel. 2002 BOOK REVIEWS 101 The greatest casualty in the book is the English Rather than exegesis, he provides a protocol for the language. While an attempt is made to cater to a awakened life vis-a-vis King Janaka's encounter with western audience: using the word pancakes the sage. The author underscores the sage's for dosas, and a typical British expression: admonition that the sadhaka not get overly burdened "Say, how old is Bhagavan?" (p.238), there are with technique but rather only remain "in the firm at the same time, typically Indian expressions: conviction that 'I am the Pure consciousness'...". "Arasi was narrating what all she saw" (p.4); "He Only thereby may one "become freed from all was busy for ten, twelve days" (p.35); "For him all miseries and established in happiness." these distinctions were not there." (p.53). Apart Ashtavakra maintains that enlightenment can be from errors that can be passed over as instantaneous. This is what the author calls the typographical ones, there are others that cannot "quantum flight" from body identification to abidance be excused: "The mother was having fever" in the eternal. Swamiji's "instant recipe for muktr a (p.124); "Some people started enquiring his father la Ashtavakra, consists in what the author calls ..." (p.6); "Well, I will tell myself" (p.79); "to make "three Moksha capsules": 1 Separating oneself from our ends meet" (p.8); mentioned about , etc., to the body and resting in Consciousness through cite just a few examples. Other errors are the use witnessing, 2) the process of "de-hypnotizing lies of vocal chords (p.1) instead of vocal cords, and a "and remaining "in the conviction that you are factual error in referring to the KTchaka episode as liberated and free"; and 3) elimination of the T being from the Ramayana rather than the through cessation of the sense of doership. Mahabharata (p.18). If theory and praxis are sometimes at a distance Still, there are moments of inspired writing and from each other, these three methods while straight flashes of poetry in the style: "The sea of humanity forward enough on paper seem like 30,000 miles on in the temple had turned into a flowing river in the one's hands and knees when it comes to putting streets" (p.5), "Somu once tried to count the them into practice. And yet, so says the author, this thousand pillars, but gave up, his interest flagging is just what the ego-sense would have us believe. and his arithmetic faltering" (p.13); "The man is so The seeming bootstraps maneuver is contained modest that he would be lost in a crowd of one" simply in the "firm faith that we are that ultimate (p. 186). And, while for mere mortals, the end of life self-knowledge which is sought, the very Self and is dust to dust and ashes to ashes, for SrT the Lord". Ramana, the end of bodily existence is "Light to Light". It sounds too simple. But it is precisely this, proclaims our author, for no sadhana can bring us This unevenness in language, style to who and what we already are. Rather the only and emphasis characterizes the book. The 'sadhana' here is remaining in that fundamental overall impression one carries at the end of it all reality of the Self. is that a devotee has made an effort to attempt something different, but greater care While the reader of this little volume might have been show in the process. may stumble upon some few typographical errors and minor copy-editing oversights, they — Pingali Sailaja will not distract him unduly as the spirit, vigour and THE QUANTUM LEAP INTO THE ABSOLUTE: vitality of Swami Shantananda's narrative succeed Essence of Ashtavakra Gita: by Swami not only in making the Ashtavakra Gita "an easily Shantananda Puri. 2001. Pub: Parvathamma digestible capsule" but inspire its hearer to the one CP. Subbaraju Setty Charitible Trust, 13/8, great work of earthly life: the discovery of and Pampa Mahakavi Road, Shankarapuram, becoming established in one's true Self. Bangalore-560 004. pp.48. — Michael Highburger In this little publication, his most recent, Swami Shantananda Puri offers an exuberant introduction AWAKENING NATURE'S HEALING INTELLIGENCE: into the Ashtavakra Gita. Without burdening his (Expending Ayurveda Through the Maharshi readers with unnecessary scholarly details (though Vedic Approach to Health: by Hari Sharma. 1999. careful to footnote his citations with the original Pub: Motilal Banarsidass, Jawahar Nagar, Delhi Sanskrit), Swamiji presents us with an impassioned 110007. pp278, Rs295 exhortation to hear the message of the Ashtavakra This book gives the readers a rare insight into Gita and embrace the ancient teaching of Advaita. the common focus of all natural health approaches. 102 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana It presents a comprehensive frame-work for understanding how nature's intelligence emerges and how it can be harnessed for greater health OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED and well-being. The book shows how both modern RAMANA NAMANA (Kannada Poems on science and the ancient Vedic science of India Ramana): ASV Rao. Pub: Ramana Kendra, point to wholeness as an essential quality of Vasishtha Vidyalaya, Kirti Nagara, Shimoga 577201. existence. pp35,Rs10 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has cast the broad THE SILENT POWER: Selections from The spectrum of Vedic literature into a systematic Mountain Path and The Call Divine. 2002 Pub: SrT and comprehensive understanding which brings Ramanasramam, 606603, India. pp229, Rs.70 the Vedic wisdom into the reach of everyone. All parts of Vedic knowledge contain valuable CHERISHED MEMORIES: by T.R.Kanakammal. insights into enhancing all facets of human life. (Tr. into English by Lalitha Krithivasan). 2002 Pub: Mind, behaviour, life-style, environment, design of SrT Ramanasramam, 606603, India. pp217, Rs50 our homes, sun and moon all influence our DEFINING AUSTERITY (Lectures on Sankara's physiology. The focus is on the underlying Kaupina Panchakam): by Sw. Suddhananda. 1998 wholeness of existence. Pub: Samvit Sagar Trust, Utthandi, Chennai 400119. Disease is viewed as the result of a breakdown pp188,Rs? in the delicate balance of the intelligence that rules SIXTEEN FACETS OF SELF REALIZATION: the functioning of the body. The breakdown results Sw.SrTkantananda (pp85,Rs15) 2000 THE ESSENCE from the disconnection of intelligence from its OF THE GITA: Sw. Saradananda, tr. Sw. Tyagananda. source in wholeness. The concept of wholeness is (pp125,Rs25) 2000; LEARN TO LIVE (vols l&ll) Sw. derived from the Vedic tradition, paralleling modern Jagadatmananda, tr. NT Bhat. 2000 (pp256/ physic's discovery of the unified force of reality 415,Rs40/Rs60). All from: RK Math, Chennai 400004. beyond the sub-atomic level. Maharshi Mahesh SRI VAISHNAVISM THROUGH THE AGES: Yogi's Vedic approach to health treats the whole (pp36,Rs2.50); DHARMA: (pp24,Rs2.50). 1991 both person. by Sw. Harshananda, Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, All aspects of individual life - consciousness, Bangalore 560019. physiology, behaviour and environment are taken POEMS (of Sw. Ramdas): reprint of enlarged into account. It aims to 'avert the danger that has 1984 edn.). Pub: Anandashram, Kanhangad, not arisen' instead of crisis management. Truly it is 671531, Kerala. pp359,Rs50 a multi-dimensional system of health-care. It approaches health from the interface of KARMA & DISEASES (pp31,Rs8); RADHA'S consciousness, mind and body. Also it contains a PREM (pp71,Rs20); PHILOSOPHY OF DREAMS large number of techniques to good health, which (pp95,Rs25). Pub: The Divine Life Society, U.P., are on the level of physiology, behaviour and 249192, India environment. HEALTH & HAPPINESS :by Sw. Sahajananda, The author deserves praise for delivering such ed. by R.W.Zenner. 2000 Pub: Atheetha Ashram, a good book. Readers will be transformed into a Thally, T.Nadu, 635118, India. pp138,Rs100. new and fresh outlook, after going through the BHAGAVAD GITAI (vols. 4&5): (Tamil tr. by pages. Rajalakshmi of Rajneesh's Hindi Geeta Darshan). pp746/428; Rs300/Rs200 — T.N.Pranatharthi Haran. THE ACARYA SANKARA OF KALADI: by I.S.Madugula (revised edition 2001) Pub: Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 110007. pp184, Rs195 (pb) corrigendum in BOOK REVIEWS (p.254) of [Carries a scholarly 22 page preface to this edition. The Mountain Path. Jayanti 2001: Reviewed in The MP, Aradhana 19897 KAILASH MANSAROVAR: Diary of a Pilgrim. The last sentence of the third para of the Jnanesvar 2002. ISBN: 81-7822-060-1. Pub: New Age Books, review should read:" such excursions into the his• A44, Naraina-I, New Delhi 110028. , tory of the Delhi Sultanate may seem irrelevant to the pp98, Rs195. biography of Jnanesvar. The book reads..." Celebration of 122nd Jayantioi Sri Bhagavan At Ashram (31-12-2001)

The 122nd Jayantioi Sri Bhagavan was celebrated Thereafter there was group singing of hymns on in the usual elaborate manner atthe Ashram on Sunday, Sri Bhagavan appropriate to the Jayanti day. December 31, 2001. The Ramana Auditorium was As per daily routine, brief puja to Sri Bhagavan specially decorated with garlands for the occasion. (during which milk is offered as naivedya) was Srimati Senthil and Sri K.S. Senthil Murugan performed at seven. Devotees were treated to breakfast. of Tiruvannamalai gave a recital on the nagaswaram Then came the chanting of Mahanarayana on the evening of December 30. After dinner, stu• Upanishad. Special pujato Ramaneswara Mahalingam dents of the Boston Matriculation School and was performed (preceded by special abhishekam Visva Hindu Vidyalaya, Chennai gave a rendering of Ramana Bhajan. This programme conducted by the young students was very impressive and earned the appreciation of an attentive audience at the New Hall of the Ashram. On December 31, Jayanti day, the proceedings commenced with dhanurmasapujato Sri Bhagavan in the early hours. The puja was preceded by Mangala lsai(nagaswaramn\us\c) played by SriT.R.Pichumani and party. During this puja (done on all the days of the Tamil month of Margazhi), songs of Andal, Manickyavachakar and Muruganar are rendered at the time of Arati. This was followed by group recital of Vishnu Sahasranama. 104 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana known as Mahanyasa Purvaka Ekadasa Rudra gathering. Other prominent residents of the area also Abhishekam). Arati, the finale, came off at eleven. joined the celebrations. Devotees and visitors were then treated to special lunch. Aradhana of Chinnaswamigal Amritavarshini group of Bangalore, led by Smt. (28-1-2002) Sakkubhai Srinivasan gave a moving rendering of devotional music in the afternoon. After dinner, Ramananjali group of Bangalore, led by Srimati Sulochana Natarajan gave an impressive concert of Ramana music. This marked the conclusion of the proceedings.

At Arunachala Ashrama, New York Arunachala Ashrama, New York celebrated the Jayanti on January 6, with chanting of Akshara- manamalai, Saranagati song on Sri Bhagavan, and Bhaja Govindam of Shankaracharya. A portion of the forthcoming video film entitled Guru Ramana, his living presence was also screened. Dennis Hartel gave a talk on the film. After Vedic chanting and arati, prasad specially prepared for the occasion was distributed to the assembled devotees.

At Arunachala Ashrama, Nova Scotia, Canada The Aradhana of Sri Chinnaswamigal was Arunachala Ashrama (Bridgetown, NS), Nova celebrated at the Ashram on 28 January, with special Scotia, Canada, celebrated the Jayanti on December abhishekam and puja at his samadhi. Inmates and 30, 2001 with recitation of Lalita Sahasranama and devotees who had assembled for the function were puja. Devotees from Halifax attended the function. treated to special lunch. Dr.S. Swaminathan, Sri D. Srinivasan, Srimati Lalita and other devotees were present. Prasad was Celebration of Sivaratri at Ashram distributed to the assembled gathering. (12-3-2002) At Mumbai Sivaratri \s celebrated at the Ashram in a solemn Sri Ramana Jayanti Celebration Committee, Worli, manner. There are four special pujas at night — in Mumbai, organised atwo-day celebration of Jayantion addition to the pujas as per daily routine. Ekadasa 23 March and 24 March. Dr. Sudha Seshayyan spoke Rudra Parayana is also done around midnight. A good in Tamil on Sri Bhagavan on 23 March at the function number of devotees assemble for the occasion. held at Vashi Tamil Sangham Hall, New Bombay. Dr. It is customary for devotees to keep vigil during the Sudha addressed the English session held on 24 night. Most of the devotees also do girlpradakshina. March at Shri Ramakrishna Cultural Centre, Worli. This function was presided over by Honourable Justice This year Sivaratri came off on March 12. The Sarosh H. Kapadia, Judge, High Court, Mumbai. proceedings were on the usual lines.

At Pachipenta, Andhra Pradesh Sri Vidya Havan at Ashram The residents of Pachipenta Mandal, Vizianagaram (22-3-2002) District, Andhra Pradesh, celebrated the Jayantion 31 December 2001. Sri M. Dattatreya Sastri of Andhra Sri Vidya Havanconducted annually at the Ashram University and Sri P. Krishnajee Rao addressed the in the Tamil month of Panguni'is a day-long function. 2002 ASHRAM BULLETIN 105 regard and also contributed funds for the work. Some other Japanese devotees have also come forward with such assistance. The work was inaugurated at Arayaninallur on 10 February in the presence of Sri V.S. Ramanan, Ashram President and other local dignitaries and devotees. Sri Adi Shankar, Member of Parliament for Cuddalore and the temple authorities have assured all support for the completion of the work.

Function at Panchayat Union Sethupati Middle School, Tiruchuli The Panchayat Union Sethupati Middle School, The rituals are elaborate and take about ten hours to Tiruchuli, has a special importance forthe devotees of complete. Ten varieties of materials are offered as Sri Bhagavan since he had studied there. At a function oblation to the sacrificial fire. The main items of the programme are: Navavarana puja, Lalita Sahasranama Homa, Lalita TrisatiHoma, Kanya Puja and Suvasini Puja. This year the hay an came off on March 22. The function was well attended.

Competition (2001-02) for School Students on the Teachings of Sri Bhagavan At a function held at the Ashram on February 5 under the Presidentship of Sri V.S. Ramanan, Ashram President, prizes were distributed by Swami Ramanananda to the winners in the competition held for school students (of Tiruvannamalai) on the teachings of Sri Bhagavan. held on April 18 at the school, Sri V.S. Ramanan, Ashram President presented fifty benches and desks Sri A.R. Natarajan, Dr. Sarada and Sri R. as well as tumblers and lunch plates for use by the Natarajan spoke on the occasion. students. These articles have been donated by the Ullal Keeni family. Renovation of Atulyanatheswara Temple Arayaninallur, Tirukoilur Local dignitaries and officials as well as devotees from Madurai were present on the occasion. Tirukoilur has a special importance forthe devotees of Sri Bhagavan since he had spent two nights there, Inauguration of Sri Ramanalaya Trust on his way to Arunachala — on 30 August and 31 August 1896. Sri Bhagavan had darshanaUhetemples Rajapalaiyam of Atulyanatheswara (Arayaninallur) and Viratteswara A three day function was held at Ramajaya (Kilur). Mandiram, Rajapalaiyam, Tamil Nadu between 19 April and 21 April in order to commemorate the While the renovation and consecration of Sri centenary of bringing out of Sri Bhagavan's Who am I? Viratteswara temple has already been completed (in and also to inaugurate Sri Ramanalaya Trust. September 2000), this is yet to be done for Atulyanatheswara temple. Professor Yanagida, The programme consisted of a photo session, President of Nippon Ramana Kendra, Japan and his video show on Sri Bhagavan's life and teachings, as assistant Ms. Shunya, have taken the initiative in this well as lectures. at the Ashram on May 9, in the presence of a large gathering of devotees. But for a difference in the choice of hymns for group singing in the early hours, the programmes on Aradhana day are identical with those on Jayanti day. The proceedings actually commenced even on the previous day, May 8, with a saxophone concert by Kalaimamani Sri Kadri Gopalnath. He was accompanied by Kumari A. Kanyakumari on the violin, Sri Danganikottai Mani on the tavil, Sri V. Sri P.R. Ramasubrahmaneya Raja, Chairman, Ramco Group, at Suresh on the ghatam and Sri B. Rajasekhar on the the photo exhibition morsing. The proceedings on Aradhana day commenced in The proceedings were inaugurated by Sri V.S. the early hours with mangala isai— nagaswaram Ramanan, Ashram President. music — by Sri T.R. Pichandi and party of The speakers were: Sri P.R, Ramasubrahmaneya Tiruvannamalai. This was followed by group singing of Raja, Sri S. Balarama Raja, Sri V.S. Ramanan, Sri Arunachala Stuti Panchakam and Ulladu Narpadu of T.R. Dinakaran, Sri Kondal Raj, Sri S. Ram Mohan, Sri Bhagavan as well as Ramana Sadguru of Sri SriT.R. Kannan, Sri T.R. Pranatarti Haran, Maharaja Satyamangalam Venkatarama Iyer. Then came the T.N.S. Muruga Tirtapathy, Sri N.K. Ramaswamy chanting of Ramana Chatvarimsatas per daily routine. Raja, Sri Swami Omkarananda and Sri T.P. Devotees were treated to breakfast. Ramaswamy Raja. Special abhishekamXo Ramaneswara Mahalingam known as Mahanyasa Ekadasa Rudrabhishekam\Nas performed. Simultaneously Maha Narayana Upanishad was chanted. The finale of the special puja, arati, came off around eleven. Devotees were treated to special lunch. The poor were fed on a large scale. The evening concert of nagaswaram music (between seven and eight) by Sri S.G.N. Pichayappa and Sri S.G.N. Ganesan, brothers of Kattimedu was impressive. Following this Smt. Ambika Kameshwar and party gave an impressive concert of Ramana music in classical Carnatic style. This marked the end of the proceedings.

Sri Ramanalayam Trust functioning under the Observance of Aradhana day according to Presidentship of Sri P. Lokanatha Raja has been Western Calendar At Ashram formed with the object of helping spiritual aspirants (14-4-2002) in their sadhana — mainly having in mind the resi• dents of Rajapalaiyam and its surroundings. The main Aradhana function at the Ashram is usually held according to the Hindu Calendar, on Chaitra Plans are under way for constructing a prayer Masa Krishna Paksha Trayodashiday. Nowadays it is and meditation hall and lodgings. observed according to the Western (Gregorian) calendar also. The Aradhana falls on 14 April every year, on Celebration of Fiftysecond Aradhana of Sri this basis. Bhagavan at Ashram Aksharamanamalai o\ Sri Bhagavan was recited (9-5-2002) by a group of devotees before the Nirvana room on The fiftysecond anniversary of the Brahma Nirvana 14 April between 8-15 p.m. and 9 p.m. A good number of Sri Bhagavan was celebrated in an elaborate manner of devotees were present on the occasion. 2002 ASHRAM BULLETIN 107 Celebration by Ramana Kendram, Chennai Erratum At a colourful function got up at Bharatiya Vidya Jayanti Issue 2001 Bhavan, Mylapore, the Ramana Kendram, Chennai Contents Page celebrated the fifty second Aradhana of Sri Bhagavan The sketch of Frank Humphreys printed on on May 5. p. 138 was drawn by an artist of earlier years The proceedings began at nine with prayer. and not Maniam Selven, as indicated. Swami Ramanananda of Sri Ramanasramam was present on the occasion. Kuthuvilakkuwas lighted The cultural festival was inaugurated by Swami in his presence by Smt. Kamala Parasuram and Smt. Ramanananda of Sri Ramanasramam. The pro• Chitra Rangabhashyam. The portrait of Sri Bhagavan gramme consisted of Ramananjali music and dance was garlanded by Smt. Meenakshi Ananthaswami. ballets entitled Jagadeesa Ramanaand Varthamana Ramana. The participants in the morning and afternoon (lecture) sessions were: Proposal for building of Meditation Hall at Swami Gauthamanandaji Maharaj, President, Lake Eiswoog, Germany Sri Ramakrishna Math, Hon'ble Justice A rock situated on the shores of Lake Eiswoog with K. S. Bhaktavatsalam, Sri V. S. Ramanan, Ashram seven springs (near Frankfurt) has been considered a President, Sri R. Venkatakrishnan, Sri S. Ram sacred spot by the local citizens for long. Marion Von Mohan, IRAS., Sri S. Shankaranarayanan, Sri N. Gienanth, a German devotee, proposes to build a Panchapakesan, Pulavar Govindarajan, Meditation Hall at this location. He has obtained official Ms. Ramya, Dr. Sudha Seshayyan and Professor permission for doing so. SharadaBhanu. Renovation and Consecration of The special session between 4-30 and 5-30 p.m. Arunachaleswara Temple was addressed by Sri S. Gurumurti, C.A., writer and scholar. Arunachaleswara Temple, Tiruvannamalai spread over 25 acres is a huge structure. The last consecration The cultural session commencing from 5-30 p.m. was held in 1976. For the past few years elaborate consisted of Ramana Music by Malgudi Subha and renovation work has been made by the temple party as well as a classical Bharatanatyamconcert by authorities with funds donated by willing donors for Smt. Preethi Atreya and Lakshmi Atreya. specific projects. Seminar and Cultural Festival at Bangalore The ashram has renovated the Patala Lingam Shrine where Sri Bhagavan stayed for some time in A national seminar and cultural festival on the life 1896. The thousand -pillared mantapam (hall) spread and teachings of Sri Bhagavan was held on 30 March over one acre has an association with Sri Bhagavan and 31 March by Ramana Maharshi Centre for Learning, and the Ashram has been able to redo the roofing and Bangalore, at Ramana Maharshi Heritage Auditorium, floor of this structure with the aid of substantial funds Sanjay Nagar, Bangalore. received from Arunachala Ashrama, U.S.A., and the The speakers at the Kannada session (March 30) Shantimalai Trust. Sri Anjaneyalu, Ashram devotee were: Swami Brahmananda, President, Chinmaya and engineering contractor for the Ashram has borne Mission, Bangalore, Sri S. Shadakshari, Dr. A.S. the expenses for renovation of Kiligopuram (one of the Venugopal Rao, and Veda Brahma Sri Subraya towers). Sharma. All the nine gopurams (towers) and vimanams The speakers at the English session (March 31) (hemispherical structure overthe sanctum) have been were: Sri V.S. Ramanan, Ashram President, Dr. renovated. Sarada, Swami Chidroopananda Saraswati, Swami The kumbhabhishekam of the temple is to be Virajananda and Sri A.R. Natarajan. performed on June 27. 108 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Amdhana

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GUJARATI First Edition Sri Ramana Smaranamruta Translation by R.T Vyas from the English original of G.V. SubbaramayyaRs. 50 110 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana OBITUARY 7,2001. He was fifty. Sri Ramesh had put in a service of 30 years at the Ashram. Genial by temperament 1 S. Nilakanta Rao and efficient in his work he was an asset to (1915-2001) the Ashram. May his soul rest in peace at the Lotus Feet of Sri We regretto reportthe death of Sri S. Nilakanta Rao, Bhagavan! an old devotee, at Hyderabad, on 28 November, 2001. His marriage with Smt. Rukmini, daughter of S. R. Joshi Satyanarayana Rao (brotherof GridhalurSambasiva We regret to report the death of Sri S. R. Joshi Rao, the well known devotee and former Secretary of at Dharwad on 11 March. He was a staunch devotee the Ashram) was the notable event of his life. Sri of Sri Bhagavan who has been regularly visiting Bhagavan himself approved of the alliance. the Ashram for sixty years and more. Sri Joshi Sri Nilakanta Rao became a devotee and regular used to conduct satsang regularly at his residence. visitortothe Ashram thereafter. He retired as Principal, May his soul rest in peace at the Lotus Feet of Sri Junior College, Tanguturu, Andhra Pradesh. Bhagavan. May his soul rest in peace at the Lotus Feet of Sri Maddali Subba Rao Bhagavan! (1927-2002) R. Sivasubramanian We regret to report that Sri Maddali Subba Rao, (1930-2002) an ardent devotee of Sri Bhagavan, passed away on We regret to report the death of Sri Rajanga 23 February at Hyderabad. He was the son-in-law Sivasubramanian (popularly known as Mani or Mani of Satyanarayana Rao of Nellore, brother of Gridhalur Iyer) on the evening of April 1, at the Ashram. He had Sambasiva Rao — well known devotee and former been a resident of the Ashram forthe last fifteen years. Secretary of the Ashram. He worked at the Ashram Store. An ardent devotee of Sri Bhagavan, Subba Rao His father Dr.M.R. Krishnamurthy Iyer was an was a frequent visitor to the Ashram over the years. outstanding devotee. He was also the Ashram doctor He is the translator of a number of Ashram for long years. He had the good fortune of serving Sri publications into Telugu. Bhagavan in the capacity of doctor. The reverential attitude he displayed while treating Bhagavan was May his soul rest in peace at the Lotus Feet of Sri quite remarkable. Bhagavan! Dr. Krishnamurthy Iyer was an efficient doctor but Shantananda Swamigal on certain occasions when he was overcome by a We regret to report that Sri Shantananda meditative mood he used to give Bhagavan's Vibhuti Swamigal of Sendamangalam Avadhuta Swami (sacred ash) to the patient instead of the relevant Adhishtanam, Pudukottai attained samadhi on medicine. And the patients were invariably cured. Such 27 May at Skandasramam, Salem. He is the founder was his faith in Sri Bhagavan! of Bhuvaneswari temple as well as ashrams at Sri Mani was not a qualified doctor but had good Skandagiri and Tambaram. knowledge of medicine all the same. This was useful Shantananda Swamigal had great reverence for to some inmates who went to him for advice. Sri Bhagavan. He visited the Ashram and inaugurated A major portion of his life was spent in the Ramana Auditorium on May 3,1970. Tiruvannamalai itself. May his soul rest in peace at the Lotus Feet of Sri Bhagavan! Ramesh

We regretto report the death of Sri Ramesh, one 1 For an article by whom, see The Mountain Path, Jayanti of the Ashram cooks, in the early hours of December 2001. 112 THE MOUNTAIN PATH Aradhana \ FORTHCOMING FESTIVALS

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Statement about ownership and other particulars about THE MOUNTAIN PATH according to Form IV, Rule 8. Circular of the Registrar of Newspapers for India: 1. Place of Publication—Madras-15; Periodicity of its publication—Quarterly; 3. Printer's Name—T.V. Venkataraman; Nationality— Indian; Address—Karthik Printers, 12, Aranganathan Subway Road, Madras 600 015.4. Publisher's Name — V.S. Ramanan; Nationality — Indian; Address— Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai 606 603; 5. Editor's Name — Ramamani; Nationality — Indian; Address — Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai 606 603; 6. Name and Address of individuals who own the newspaper and partners or shareholders holding more than 1% of the total capital — SRI RAMANASRAMAM, Tiruvannamalai 606 603. I, V.S. Ramanan hereby declare that the particulars given above are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Date: 31.3.2002 Signature of the Publisher: (SD) V.S. Ramanan

Published by Sri V.S. Ramanan, President, Board of Trustees, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai-606 603, S. India, and printed by Sri T.V. Venkataraman at Karthik Printers, 12, Aranganathan Subway Road, Chennai 600 015. Editor: RAMAMANI (N. RAMASUBRAMANYAN). 2002 BOOK REVIEWS 99 How can we be converted into anything? We The questions that are asked by the students can only be who we are. Understanding who are in reality the various doubts that a normal and we are is the Hindu and Vedic path". sincere seeker has about the 'reality'. There are His description of mystic experiences, questions like 'where do the thoughts come from? particularly the ones that he had in Tiruvannamalai Is the mind separate from the ego?', and so on, and are indeed fascinating. In this publication these perplexing questions are answered in clear his thought is incisive, he speaks his mind and and simple language. Understanding as a path for he hides no punches. For those seeking self realization is what is focused on in this book. knowledge about spirituality this book is a The talks are listed in chronological order. must read. But if you are seeking the one who The book can help to clear some of the purports to know, well...read it anyway. fundamental doubts of sincere aspirants. — G. Kameshwar — N.S. Krishnan DIVINE POWER FROM CHUNCHUNAGIRI: by H.H. ILLUSION versus REALITY (part II): Dialogues with (Prof.) Anniah Gowda. 1995. Pub: Adi Shri Ranjit Maharaj on Stateless State: compiled Chunchunagiri Mahasamsthana, 96, 7th Main, by Robert Wolff, Pub: (as above). Jayalakshmi Puram, Mysore 570012 India. In the late 1970s I was sitting with Nisargadatta pp.126; Rs.200; US$20. Maharaj when an elderly man came in and began to This book is the spiritual biography of the talk to him. The discussions with the visitors, mostly Mathadhipatih of Adi Chunchanagiri, SrT foreigners, stopped while the two of them spoke in Balagangadharanath Swamiji, who took sannyasa Marathi for about ten minutes. After his visitor had in 1967 and became the Mutt head in 1974. He took left, Maharaj explained who the visitor was. birth in an humble, pious family and by his own 'My Guru had declared three of his disciples as tapas outgrew the limitation and attained st enlightened. The first was nominated to be his enlightenment. He is the 71 PTthadhipati and in successor, but he disappeared off to Bangalore tune with the modern times and having understood many years ago and no one ever heard from him the need of the hour, has created awakening in the again. The second was me. I was told by my Guru realms of education and health. that I could teach for as long as I lived, but I couldn't The various activities spiritual and material of appoint a successor because the Guru-lineage the Mutt as directed by the Swamiji are designed to passed to this other man who disappeared. I was promote the spiritual and educational aspects of the also given permission to give out the special mantra society and to mitigate the sufferings of humanity. from our lineage to anyone who asked for it. This This book will quench the spiritual thirst of man who came this morning, Ranjit Maharaj, was the devotees of the Mutt and help others the third. Siddharameshwarar somehow recognised to understand and appreciate the great contribution that he was not cut out to be a teacher, so he told done by the Mutt under the spiritual leadership him merely to go home and look after his family.' of H.H. Balagangadharanath Swamiji. The book That was my introduction to Ranjit Maharaj. also reveals the ardent admiration and devotion Because this conversation remained fresh in my of the author towards the PTtham. mind, I was a little surprised that he decided to teach — N.S. Krishnan after Nisargadatta Maharaj passed away in 1981. I had definitely received the impression that this was ILLUSION vs REALITY (part I): compiled by Robert not what his Guru wanted him to do. Wolff. 1999 Pub: Shri Sadguru Siddharameshwar Adhyatma Kendra, 45, Narayan Building, Dubash Ranjit Maharaj never became a spiritual cult Lane, V.P. Road, Mumbai 400004 . p.220 figure in the way that Nisargadatta did, but he did This book is a master presentation of the manage to attract a small following. In the last few years of his life he regularly visited the West at the dialogues of SrT Ranjit Maharaj with his students invitation of his foreign devotees. A book of his between 1996 and 1999 held in various places. SrT answers to spiritual questions was brought out a Ranjit Maharaj was a disciple of SrT Siddha few years ago, and this new book is its sequel. Rameshwar Maharaj and the content of these dialogues are as taught by the Master who attained There are two schools of thought when it comes Nirvana in 1936. to editing the spoken words of spiritual teachers.