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VOL. XIX, No. 2 November - December, 2016 `. 10 VOL. XIX, No. 2 November - December, 2016 Cover.indd 7 10/26/2016 12:04:34 PM Original ink sketch of Arunachala by Sri Ramana Maharshi from Kunju Swami's notebook VOLUME XIX ISSUE 2 NOVEMBER - DECEMBER, 2016 CONTENTS Editorial - Transformational Experience Shiromani Vijay 3 Bhagavan on the death of a loved one Neera Kashyap 5 Poems Akka Mahadevi 10 Deepam Day*: An occasion to reinforce our inner quest Dr. Vijay Vancheswar 11 Kendra Bulletin 14 Adi Sankara - Saint Missionary Commentator and Reformer P.N.Vijay 15 The Dance of ‘I’ Dr. Sarada Natarajan 19 Sri Ramana Maharshi seen through David Godman’s Lens Rochie Rana 23 Aksharamanamalai -1 Dr. T.M.P Mahadevan 31 Jh je.k egf"kZ ds laLej.k 35 Jh je.k egf"kZ ls ckrphr 39 ri vFkok riL;k Mk + lq/kk xksjkokjk 43 Editor : Shiromani Vijay - e-mail: [email protected] Editorial Board : Dr. Tuk Tuk Kumar, Neera Kashyap and R. Seetharaman Website: www.ramanakendradelhi.org ; E Mail: [email protected] Final Direct path.indd 1 10/27/2016 11:33:22 AM Letters to the Editor Readers are welcome to express their views on the articles printed (in not more than 200 words) and send them to [email protected] Direct Path team would like to place on record the invaluable contribution of Dr. Vijay Vancheswar as the Editor of Direct Path for the past 10 years. An unassuming personality, Vijay is steeped in Bhagavan’s teachings and it reflected in his editorials and articles. His guidance and contribution would continue to be available to us. We wish him all the best in his pursuit of “I”. SUBSCRIPTION/DONATION Ramana Kendra, 8 Institutional Area, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110 003 Bank Details “Ramana Kendra” A/c No 149801000026733 Indian Overseas Bank, Lok Kala Manch Branch, New Delhi IFS Code: IOBA0001498 Schedule of Rates Direct Path: One Year: Rs 60/- Life: Rs 1000/- Satsang Sponsorship: Rs 1000/- per Satsang Special Events Sponsorship: Jayanthi/Aradhana/Advent/ Karthigai Deepam/Poor feeding Rs 5000/- per Event Please send your articles for consideration to [email protected] 2 November - December 2016 Final Direct path.indd 2 10/27/2016 11:33:23 AM Transformational Experience Shiromani Vijay ecently, the Advent Day, an was born in a royal family that ruled important event in the Ramana Kapilavastu. After a family astrologer Rcalendar was celebrated with had warned his father of the monastic great fervour and devotion. It was leanings of his Prince Siddhartha, the the day in 1896 when Bhagavan King tried to keep the young Prince completed his journey from Madurai secluded from the realities of life and to Tiruvannamalai to reach the feet from the company of scholarly monks. of His Master Arunachala after a However, when he was just 29 years old, transformational experience. the Prince Siddhartha, the heir-apparent Most of us would know about to the throne saw in quick succession the transformational experience an old man, a sick man, a dead body in Ramana’s life but it is worth and an ascetic. From the first three the recapitulating briefly. At the tender inevitability and stark reality of old age of 16, Ramana suddenly felt that age, disease and death were driven he was dying. Unable to fathom it, he home to him. In the peaceful face of decided to dramatize it. He mimicked the saffron-clad mendicant, Siddhartha his own death and lay down totally still saw a possible answer to these sad and ‘lifeless’. He got an experience happenings. At that moment, he left his whereby he felt that his body had gone beautiful wife, his new born baby, the dead but deep inside some life force comforts of a palace in search of answers was throbbing. At that moment Ramana andeventual self-realisation. realised that this body was just an Saint PurandaraDasa, the father envelope and the real Ramana was the of Carnatic music, was originally life-force which resided in him. a miserly jeweller. When one day, Throughout history we find similar knowing fully well that the nose-ring incidents. Take the case of Buddha - he in his safe deposit vault was his wife’s, Ramana Gyan - Direct Path 3 Final Direct path.indd 3 10/27/2016 11:33:23 AM was about to punish her for selling, it in a constant state of self-awareness; appeared mysteriously on her nose. which is tuning ourselves to the inner When his wife narrated the story, I which is throbbing inside each one he suddenly realised that there is an of us.However, in modern life there ordainer beyond our comprehension. are too manydistractions to blow our From then on, whatever he uttered was mind away from introversion and divine music. introspection – exacting jobs, glitzy More recently, for Sri Aurobindo in malls, TV and of course the ever-present Alipore Jail where he was facing sedition internet and mobile. The result is we charges, Lord Krishna appeared in his are just not attuned to hear voices from dreams and told him to go to Pondicherry within to uproot ourselvesfrom the and he should spread His message. grooves in which our minds are stuck. The Magistrate changed suddenly. Many a times even when we hear faint Sri Aurobindowas released from Jail messages, we tend to brush them aside and taken to Pondicherry through for the fear of being ridiculed by others. unknown benefactors. Aurobindo How can we hear the sweet sound of started spreading His message. Krishna’s flute if we our receivers are tuned always to Bollywood, Gmail and These experiences transformed a WhatsApp? prince into an Avatar, a greedy jeweller Some transformational experience into a musical Saint and afirebrand needs to occur for any great change nationalist into a Spiritual Master. to take place. They are most often Such is the power of experience in triggered by inexplicable events, when inner transformation.These great souls we start seeking the grace of the Lord. were already in an advanced stage I would argue that the transformational of their spiritual journeys because of experiences are not the prerogative their Prarabdhaand these experiences of a chosen few; but do happen in acted as a trigger from the Divine for the life of each one of us, albeit in a self-realisation. small way. We need to be ready to In Bhagavan’s presence, scores receive and internalise it to transform of devotees have experienced their our lives. Often, a subtle experience transformation. For them all their maybe gently steering us towards the questions, doubts and concerns search of our own identity and truth, we were laid to rest just by his glance. may not brand it as a transformational Bhagavan always talked about being experience. n 4 November - December 2016 Final Direct path.indd 4 10/27/2016 11:33:23 AM Bhagavan on the death of a loved one Neera Kashyap n India people have always known that there is an unknown design to that to go before your time has life that can be trusted, despite life’s Icome is as great a transgression as sorrows, cruelties and injustices. to cling to life when death has arrived And because this ultimate reality at your doorstep. Hinduism seeks to transcends our minds and intellects, it soften the universal dread of death must be central to all, connecting us by viewing it as an interval between equally to everyone else. Subtly, this lives - likening it to sleep as an interval gives us a sense of equality, self-worth between two waking states. Unlike and interconnectedness. the western view which sees sickness Unfortunately, decades of modern as something foreign and toxic in medical advances with vastly improved the body that needs to be eliminated, medications and therapies have the traditional Ayurveda view sees changed our attitudes towards death sickness as a disharmony between and dying, priming our expectations the body and its environment that to simply live longer. Surgeon, public needs to be corrected so that balance health researcher and author of the is restored. Logically, a good death is New York Times best-seller, Being one that we need to prepare for with Mortal, Atul Gawande said in a talk balance and even-mindedness. at Stanford in March 2015 that well- The Hindu world view of moksha being had become synonymous with a helps to prepare us for this through the longer and more robust life, supported conviction that the ultimate reality lies at every stage by effective medical beyond the body, mind and intellect. interventions, thereby ‘medicalising This offers us a pervasive sense of our mortality’ to the point where hope, even in the most iniquitous even terminally ill patients and their conditions, as it feeds our conviction families look to their doctors for life- Ramana Gyan - Direct Path 5 Final Direct path.indd 5 10/27/2016 11:33:23 AM saving answers. little scope for a peaceful and dignified He reiterated that medicine’s exit. A 2013 study in Economic and typical approach had become to trade Political Weekly states that the cost time and quality of life in the short of the inpatient care of decedents (the term for a longer life in the future. deceased) in India is much higher than “But the trade-off isn’t always a that of survivors at all stages of life. good one. For example, aggressive This is because physicians in private cancer treatment can be debilitating hospitals prescribe more expensive and painful, and often fails to prolong drugs, subject patients to more clinical life, merely making the end of life tests and charge higher for utilizing miserable for patients.
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