THE MOUNTAIN PATH SANATANA DHARMA Had Stuck with the Original Sanskrit
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CCCONTENTONTENTONTENTSSS RAMANA ASHTOTTARAM 2 EDITORIAL: Sanatana Dharma 3 A SCIENTIST BECOMES A VEDANTIN: Anonymous 7 KEYWORD: ARUL 12 BHAGAVAN’S UBIQUITOUS GRACE: C. Venkata Subramaniam 15 ULLADU NARPADU VERSE FOUR: S. Ram Mohan 23 JOHN LEVY: Hans Heimer 29 A PHILOSOPHICAL INTRODUCTION TO GUNAS: Rolf Skarnitzl 43 BHAGAVAN & THAYUMANAVAR: Robert Butler 49 LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT!: S.V.R. Somayajulu 67 AN EXEMPLARY DISCIPLE: Prema Nandakumar 70 ADVAITA PRIMER: John Grimes 73 THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPH OF BHAGAVAN: M. Shivakumar 77 ADVAITA & WESTERN NEO-ADVAITA: Alan Jacobs 81 THE MAHABHARATA: Christopher Quilkey 89 BOOK EXCERPT: THE MAHABHARATA: Ramesh Menon 97 OZHIVIL ODUKKAM: KANNUDAYA VALLALAR 102 BOOK REVIEWS 119 ASHRAM BULLETIN 122 Ramana Ashtottaram EDITORIALEDITORIAL EDIT ORIAL 19. Om Pitrupadanveshine namaha Prostration to the one who seeks the Father’s abode, the Father’s presence. From an early age Bhagavan was entranced by the thought of Arunachala. When an uncle returned from a pilgrimage that included Sanatana Dharma a visit to Arunachala and related his experiences to the young Ramana, he was astonished that Arunachala was an actual place and not a myth in his mind. When the transcendent experience occurred at Madurai, Ramana’s mind was absorbed with the Father who then drew him in a final act of union to the holy hill, Arunachala. Withdrawing the mind from outward objects and seeking the Self within is seeking the Father’s abode. “I go in search of my Father,” wrote Bhagavan when he left Madurai. In Arunachala, Siva withdraws Sakti into Himself and stands as pure Being and Awareness. After HE term Hinduism is a recent word of convenience reaching Arunachala Bhagavan ‘does’ nothing. His story is the story Tused to indicate the land and people who live east of the Indus of his subsequent devotees. River. It is indicative of the Indian psyche that it accepted this classification with much the same ease with which it absorbed many 20. Om Indumoulina pitrumate namaha. elements of the Mughals and other Muslim invaders without in the Prostration to the son of the crescent-crowned God. main, losing its own intrinsic identity. In fact, Hinduism is probably Chandrasekhara is an aspect of Siva. Chandra meaning moon the only major religion and culture to bear the full brunt of the reveals the sekhara, tower, the power of Siva. This aspect of Siva extraordinary surge of Islam over the past thousand years and retain symbolises the beauty and strength of Siva. There is another its own character. meaning: it indicates the brilliance of the crown, that is, the light of The people who live from the snows of Kashmir to the shores of the sahasrara. We can see this expressed in the halos round the heads Kanya Kumari should however rather be recognized as adherents to of saintly or divine beings. Bhagavan’s complete self-realisation is an Indian way of life entitled the sanatana dharma. It is an important thus expressed in traditional Hindu iconography. distinction and we should be aware of it as such. By knowing this we 21. Om Pituradesatah sona sailam praptaya namaha. can better gauge and understand the roots of this principle and its Prostration to He who reached Arunachala at his Father’s bidding. relevance to us. Otherwise like the blind we grope at its enormous Bhagavan’s parting letter says “at my Father’s bidding”. The journey structure and make glib conclusions which can mislead us. to Arunachala, like the descent of grace, was divinely ordained; it There is no exact English equivalent for the expression sanatana was not due to any human effort. dharma. One approach could be the term philosophia perennis or perennial wisdom, but really we remain just as perplexed as if we 2 Deepam 2004 3 THE MOUNTAIN PATH SANATANA DHARMA had stuck with the original Sanskrit. Both are technical expressions people of such a diversity unless it resonated with instantly which demand a certain prior knowledge. What we are looking for recognisable truth. That is why his influence has spread not only contrary-wise is understanding. We do require facts but not at the throughout India but also amongst westerners and peoples even expense of insight, for scholarship can obscure just as much as it can farther east such as from Japan and Korea. facilitate understanding. One man, born in an obscure village, of upright but not influential The word dharma is fundamental to our understanding. It is not or powerful parents, Ramana as his life progressed steadily assumed a fixed term but fluid and applicable to a wide range of conditions. the status of a god among those who fell under the spell of his sagacity Indeed, one could say that to understand dharma is to understand and compassion. Was he unique or was he a familiar product of this life itself. The root of the word is dhri which has the meaning of so-called sanatana dharma? If he could rise to such heights of carrying, supporting or sustaining. Without this concept of stability recognition because of an undoubted integrity why not us? Like we are doomed to endure a maze of rapidly altered states whose only Ramana, do we too need to be born in obscurity and enjoy sports constant is the one of confusion. This root word is almost identical rather than academic life? Do we too need a superb memory that with another one, dhru which means pole. It indicates the unchanging can carry a dreamer over the pitfalls of any exam system be it in the axis around which change occurs.1 halls of academia or on the highways of becoming a ‘success’? And sanatana? It implies duration and perpetuity. It has the quality The answer obviously is no. Each of us is unique and each has his of being indefinite. It cannot however be defined by a specific time or her own path to walk. Nobody can do it for us. Circumstances and place. The term sanatana indicates that dharma applies equally determine the terrain we must traverse to understand who we are. It to all beings and their states of manifestation. Again we see here the is only by understanding this that there is an opportunity to transcend idea of permanence and stability. our limitations. Before we can fly we must confront the obstacles But what is it that binds a Brahmin in Kashmir with one who on the ground. It is only by being true to our path do we adhere to lives in the very south of the country some thousand or more miles our svadharma. This is crucial to an understanding of what the away among Tamils or Malayalis? When we consider the historical sanatana dharma offers us, as a consolation in the face of anomalies conditions of, say two thousand years ago, it is astonishing to find in our personal and public life. And also as an alternative to the that aside from some local customs pertaining to food or dress, they mindless, knee-jerk reactions we tend to indulge in when buffeted have everything in common. One underlying language, Sanskrit; by the demands of the society within which we live. one ritual contained in the Vedas and one outlook which is liberation Is there any criterion, method or medium by which we can judge from the cycle of life and death in this material universe. If they our progress though life? Yes. It is called the sanatana dharma. were brought together they can communicate easily. How was this Some may think this ancient way an anachronism in our smart, possible? How is it that over so many centuries this glue has held modern day and age. It is all very well to have ideals but do they feed together so many disparate people, for the Bengalis distinct from us? Do they fulfil our human desires? In short, according to the Gujarati, the Marathi from the Assamese? And today would the commonly accepted current wisdom, we should ‘wake up’ and ‘get voice of Ramana Maharshi a south Indian born man inspire so many real’ and not indulge in a so-called fantasy. The ‘conventional’ trend of thought can only sink us further 1 See R. Guenon, Studies in Hinduism, Chapter 11, Sanatana Dharma. Sophia into the ‘set of values’ which pervades our present confused Perennis, NY.2001 generation. If we further dare to ask what is the point of this hurried 4 Deepam 2004 5 THE MOUNTAIN PATH and anxious scramble for wealth, status and security? We do it because others do it and we feel accepted. We are reassured that we are on the right track. But are we? The fact that so many people are searching A Scientist for an alternative set of values should tell us something. That being the case what does the realization of a young man in Madurai in 1896 have to do with the focus of our investigation into Becomes a Vedantin the sanatana dharma? What did he discover and what did he realize which totally and irreparably transformed his life and in consequence, ours? What happened to Ramana was not that he discovered something but more to the point, he was engulfed by the power of a living principle. Like the proverbial moth naturally attracted to light or like the astonishing migratory geese who unerringly track the The Effect of Bhagavan’s Darshan magnetic lines of the two polar caps, Ramana was overwhelmed by the surge of his enquiry. He was at one moment sucked out of the skin of his narrow physical world and at the same time, stripped of all illusion and transformed into a complete human being.