The Mountain Path Iol.Li JANUARY 1965 No
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The Mountain Path iol.lI JANUARY 1965 No. 1 ?RI RAM AN ASRAM AM, TIRU VAN NAM ALAI " Escape this blame ! Why didst Thou then recall Thyself to me ? How can I leave Thee (A QUARTERLY) now, Oh Arunachala ? " — The Marital Garland of " Arunachala! Thou dost root out the ego of those Letters — Verse 5. who meditate on Thee in the heart, Oh Arunachala ! " —The Marital Garland of Letters, Verse 1. Vol. II JANUARY 1965 No. 1 Publisher : T. N. Venkataraman, CONTENTS Sri Ramanasramam, EDITORIAL : Page Tiruvannamalai. Karma Marga . 1 Instruction in Thirty Verses . 6 Be Still — Arthur Osborne . 8 Paths to Self-Realization — Dr. B. V. Radhakrishnan . 9 How I came to the Maharshi - V — Swami Ramdas . 12 Editor : Transcendence of Karma — Prof. K. Suhrahmanyam . 14 Arthur Osborne, The Two Windows — A. Rao . 19 Sri Ramanasramam, The Sequence of the Upanishads Tiruvannamalai. — Shambu Bhat . 20 The True Karma Yogi — Dr. T. N. Krishnaswami . 22 Equalmindedness in the Life of the World — P. C. Goyal . 24 The Artist as Sadhaka — John Spiers . 26 The Poet Saint Tulsidas— T. Krishnaji . 30 Managing Editor : The Modern Revival of Spiritual Healing — Gilbert Henry Gedge " . 32 V. Ganesan, The Spiritual Tradition of Presbyterianism Sri Ramanasramam, — Rev. Johansen Berg . 36 Tiruvannamalai. ARROWS FROM A CHRISTIAN BOW V I " Render unto Caesar the Things that are Caesar's " — Sagittarius . 39 Heartbreak — Ebbana Grace Blanchard . 41 Access to Infinity — Joel S. Goldsmith . 42 Annual Subscription : Varieties of Buddhism in the West — Francis Allen .. 45 INDIA Rs. 5. The Focal Point — Wei Wu Wei . 47 FOREIGN 10 sh. $ 1.50 ASPECTS OF ISLAM — V : Life Subscription : A World-Sanctifying Religion — Abdullah Qutbuddin .. 49 Rs. 100 ; £ 10 ; $ 30. LETTERS TO A BROTHER V '. Single Copy : Only One Self — Nagamma . 51 Rs. 1.50; 3sh.; $0.45. Book Reviews . 52 Ashram Bulletin . 50 Introducing ... 63 Letters to the Editor . 65 THE MOUNTAIN PATH (A QUARTERLY) 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 Hamanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, Madras State'. They should be in English and typed with double spacing. Contributions not published will be returned on request. The editor is not responsible for statements and opinions contained in signed articles. No payment is made for contributions published. Anything herein published may be re• printed elsewhere without fee provided due acknowledgement is made and the editor is previously notified. TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS 1. The official year of the quarterly is from January to December, but a Subscrip• tion can start from any issue. 2. SUBSCRIBERS IN INDIA should remit their annual subscription by Money Order only as far as possible and not by cheques. The words ' subscription for THE MOUNTAIN PATH for year/years' should be written on the M.O. coupon and the full name and address written in BLOCK LETTERS on the reverse of the coupon. Life Subscription should be sent by cheque drawn favouring THE MOUNTAIN PATH and crossed. The journal will not be sent by V.P.P. 3. FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS can send their subscription by International Money Orders, British Postal Orders or by Bank cheques or drafts payable in India, US.A. or U.K. The subscription rates are for despatch of the journal by surface mail to all parts of the world. If despatch by AIR MAIL is desired the following additional annual amount should be remitted : Rs. £ $ (a) Pakistan, Ceylon . 4.00 (b) Asia, Egypt, Indonesia 12s- 1.80 (c) Europe, Africa (excluding Egypt) 18s. 2.70 (d) Australia, New Zealand, Fiji 24s. 3.60 (e) North & South America, Hawaii 30s. 4.50 m tfovmfc putt (A QUARTERLY) Editor: ARTHUR OSBORNE VOL. II JANUARY, 1965 No. 1 KARMA MARGA [EDITORIAL] It is not meant that one should run from house and home, from wife and children and kindred, and flee out of the world, or forsake his goods so as not to regard them ; but he must kill and make as nothing his own self-will. — Jacob Boehme, Mysterium Magnum, XII. 55. Karma marga is the path of action. It is What is spoken of as karma, marga to-day often thought of to-day as more or less is actually a fusion of karma marga with either equivalent to social service and therefore the jnana marga or bhakti marga. Both these can most suited path to modern times, but actual• be followed by a recluse and often have been. ly this is a misconception. As originally They do not necessitate outer activity. How• understood, it meant the path of ritualistic ever the modern tendency is to practice them action such as austerities, sacrifice, formal in the life of the world, and this has created worship, breath-control and incantations. In the type of compound path often referred to this sense it is the least, not the most suited as karma marga. This tendency has been to modern conditions. Whether aspirants seek authorised by spiritual Masters and is there• the Goal through knowledge or devotion, few fore to be regarded as a legitimate adaptation nowadays put their faith in ritualistic activity. to the times and not a form of degeneracy. In its original form karma marga can pre• First the fusion with jnana marga. This was pare a man for the assault on the final peak sponsored by the Maharshi himself. In ancient but it cannot make that assault; it must times Self-enquiry was a path for the world- always fall short for the simple reason that renouncer, to be practised in silence and soli• action cannot transcend action, just as thought tude. When the Maharshi re-adapted it to cannot transcend thought, just as philosophy suit the conditions of our age his instruction may help a man to conceive of the Goal but was to practise it while continuing one's work can never carry him to it. This inherent in the world, coolly and harmoniously, without limitation will be dealt with later in this issue grasping or self-interest, without even the idea in connection with the Maharshi's ' Instruction ' I am doing this '. " There is no principle that in Thirty Verses \ actions can be performed only on the basis of THE MOUNTAIN PATH January the ' I-am-the-doer' idea, and therefore there shirking of duties it is actually pernicious : is no reason to ask whether they can be per• " Renunciation of duties is not right. It is formed and the duties discharged without that prompted by ignorance and is said to be idea. To take a common example, an accoun• tamasic."4 "That renunciation is regarded as tant working all day in his office and scrupu• pure which consists in performing duties lously attending to his duties might seem to because they ought to be performed, while the spectator to be shouldering all the financial renouncing attachment and the fruit of one's responsibilities of the institution. But, know• actions."5 ing that he is not personally affected by the What does this involve in practice ? Not in-take or out-goings, he remains unattached social service. People who follow this path do and free from the ' I-am-the-doer' feeling in not go out of their way to find and relieve doing his work, while at the same time he does social injustices or cases of ignorance, poverty it perfectly well. In the same way, it is quite and disease. On the other hand, they do not possible for the wise householder who earnest• cause injustice or disharmony. They help to ly seeks Liberation to discharge his duties in the best of their ability such as come their way life (which, after all, are his destiny) without needing help. They accomplish their tasks in any attachment, regarding himself merely as life, both in profession and family, as a func• an instrument for the purpose. Such activity tion, a duty, a harmony, obtruding their self- is not an obstacle on the path to Knowledge, will as little as possible. By being harmonious nor does Knowledge prevent a man from dis• they diffuse harmony. If all lived in this way charging his duties in life. Knowledge and there would be no need for social service activity are never mutually antagonistic and because there would be no exploitation of the the realization of one does not impede the weak by the strong, the poor by the rich, performance of the other, nor performance of children by parents or women by men, and one the realization of the other."1 therefore no injustice to set right. This is in conformity with the teaching of This path, as prescribed by the Maharshi, the Gita : " Your concern is only with action, can be called the modern form of jnana not with its results. Do not be motivated by marga ; but since it is performed in the life the fruit of action, but also do not cling to of the world and involves a life of activity it inaction."2 can also be called a modern form of karma marga. So also is the Maharshi's warning that you The late Swami Ramdas is an outstanding cannot find peace by mere physical renuncia• example of the fusion of karma marga and tion, because whatever outer changes you may bhakti marga. In his early autobiography ' In make in your life your mind still remains with Quest of God \6 he tells how, while following you, and it is this that has to be subdued.