Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai
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SRI RAMANASRAMAM, TIRUVANNAMALAI "(Unmoving) Hill, melt• ing into a Sea of Grace, have mercy (on me) I pray, Oh, Arunachala ! " (A QUARTERLY) — The Marital Garland of Letters, verse 17. 44 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. Publisher : T. N. Venkataraman, President, Board of Trustees, Sri Ramanasramam, Vol. V JANUARY 1968 No. 1 Tiruvannamalai. CONTENTS * Page EDITORIAL ; Sacred Poetry . 1 Editor : The Principle of Japa Arthur Osborne, — Prof. Eknath Easwaran • 4 Sri Ramanasramam, Sruti and Smriti — Prof. G. V. Kulkdrni . 8 Tiruvannamalai. The Vedic Hymns — Abinash Chandra Bose . 12 Garland of Guru's Sayings (From the Tamil of Sri Muruganar) # — Tr. by Prof. K. Swaminathan . 19 The Power of the Mantras — M. P. Pandit . 20 Managing Editor : The Yoga Vasishta : Gospel of Self-Enquiry V. Ganesan, — Dr. T. N. Krishnaswami . 21 Srimad Valmiki Ramayana Sri Ramanasramam, — Prof. M. K. Venkatarama Iyer . 26 Tiruvannamalai. The Teaching of Dharma in the Mahabharata — Kamala Subramaniam . 30 The Universality of the Gita — Bhagavan Das 34 The Ribhu Gita — T.K.S. 37 The Yaksha Prasna (From the Mahabharata) 38 The Threefold Scripture — Arthur Osborne . 40 Annual Subscription : The Bhagavata — Dr. W. Radhakrishnayya 42 INDIA . Rs. 5. The Muktikopanishad FOREIGN 10 sh. $ 1.50. — Madguni Shambu Bhat r, . 46 Life Subscription : Hymns from Sri Shankaracharya . 52 Rs. 100 : £ 10 ; $ 30. Sri Ramana Gita — Dr. V. A. Sarma . 57 The Approach through Song — T. P. R. 62 Single Copy : How my father came to the Maharshl Rs. 1.50; 3sh.; $0.45 — Kovai-Mani 64 The Bhagavad Gita — Tr. by Prof. G. V. Kulkarni and Arthur Osborne . 66 mitt m c5b n"<?znyf /. He who is forgetful of the Self, mistaking the physical body for it, and goes through innumerable births, is like one who wanders all over the world in a dream. Thus realizing the Self would only be like waking up from the dream-wanderings. — BHAGAVAN SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI ( QU ARTERLY) Editor: ARTHUR OSBORNE Vol. V JANUARY, 1968 No. I SACRED POETRY Editorial O ACRED Poetry ? Isn't all poetry sacred ? glib. It requires greatest ability to One is apt to say so, but that may not construct a poem than an alphabet. Before be much more than a cliche. A good deal of accepting such a hypothesis one should con• shoddy verse that is written nowadays is sider the mentality of early man and see anything but sacred ; of course, it may also whether he might not have had some reason be anything but poetry. for not wanting to set down his poems in writing. There is ample evidence that he Poetry came before prose in human litera• had. It is authoritatively laid down that the ture. In many languages the oldest forms of Vedas should be chanted with correct into• literature were either religious lyrics such as nation and only by those who have learned the Vedic hymns or symbolical myths such them from a duly authorised instructor. as the Book of Genesis. (And it is worth Similarly, Buddhist scriptures were for cen• noting that the classical Greeks regarded the turies transmitted only orally despite the Homeric poems- as a religious document. existence of a script. And in Islam from the They had not the profound teaching or lofty lifetime of the Prophet onwards there have purpose of the Hindu epics, but they estab• always been Muslims who could recite the lished norms, and there is no doubt that entire Quran by heart. The Druids never did symbolism of the quest runs through the write down their scriptures even though Odyssey.) contact with the Romans must have familia• Normally the earliest poetry comes before rised them with the art of writing. Scrip• the invention of writing. Students of pre• tures had to be chanted and to learn them history are apt to presume that this was from a book (which in any case could not because early man lacked the ability to impart the correct intonation) would be construct an alphabet, but this is rather profanation, In fact, for ancient man to 2 THE MOUNTAIN PATH January introduce a script would open the door to a defeat the aim of remaining conscious in twofold profanation : to the superficial and meditation without thinking. unlicensed reading of the sacred texts and to the use of preserved (i.e. written) langu• The widespread modern objection to age for worldly purposes such as recording ritualistic prayers in a sacred language, and property and settling disputes ; it would indeed to ritual in general, may be partly mark the birth of prose. Such a stage had due to a true feeling that the time has now to come and it was a great step forward in come when inner and more direct means are material civilization, but spiritually it was a appropriate ; on the other hand, it rriay be decline. due to the anti-spiritual tendency going right back to the Reformation to reduce The ancient languages in which scriptures everything to the mental level, seeing no and sacred poems were composed — Sans• more in prayer than a rational statement or krit, Hebrew, Welsh, etc. — were actually request. There are vibrations that affect the regarded as sacred languages. This implies being in a far more integral way. Before that not merely the sense but the sound was depriving oneself of them it is well to make sacred. The texts not only expounded doc• sure that one is going beyond them and not trine but did so with the help of sound vib• sinking below them. rations having their own effect on those who recite or even hear them. That is why cer• How far, then, should one's mind be fixed tain words and phrases could be prescribed on a mantra that one uses ? How far is it as mantras. They have a subtle power going valid if used without concentration ? Some far beyond their literal meaning. Since the gurus have declared that it confers no benefit principle underlying this explains the effect unless one steadily keeps one's mind on it of both music and poetry on people, it should while using it ; others (for instance Swami not be hard to understand. And it must be Omkarnath, about whom there is an article remembered that traditionally poetry and in our issue of July 1965) that it has an music were not divorced. It was not a mere effect even if uttered without concentration. cliche when a poet spoke of ' singing '. In They are guarding against opposite dangers. traditional communities even to-day sacred The former guards against inattentiveness poetry is not spoken but chanted. Certainly and mental wandering, the latter against the a pious phrase which some one repeats only idea of a mantra as a mere thought-form. for the meaning of it is not a mantra. This It is best to resist both dangers by keeping shows the importance of regular liturgical the mind concentrated but thought-free prayers being said or chanted in a sacred while saying a mantra. language — Sanskrit, Hebrew^, Arabic, Latin, Pali, as the case may be. In fact, it is signi• Sacred poetry does not so much express ficant that Buddhism and Christianity, both doctrine as indicate or imply it. Sometimes of which began without a sacred language, it does this through myths and symbols : both adopted one : Pali in Southern Bud• for instance when it represents Divine Acti• dhism and Sanskrit in Northern ; Latin in vity as the Son or Wife of Divine Being ; Western Christianity and Greek in Eastern. sometimes through cryptic utterances which Parts of the Vedas were chanted before the merely point the way. For instance, it would Maharshi morning and evening in his life• be hard to find a more far-reaching state• time and still are at his Ashram, and it was ment than the Vedic " Neti, Neti", "not and is usual to sit in meditation during the this,. not that " ; but it needs to be under• chanting. When some over-zealous person stood. asked him whether one should learn the meaning of them so as to follow the chant• There is no actual difference in nature ing he said no. Their purpose is only to between sacred and worldly poetry. What quieten the mind and dispose one to medita• happens in both cases is that the poet's mind tion. To think about their meaning would becomes pregnant with some intuitional 1968 SACRED P6ETRY 3 feeling or understanding and this churns him poets. It is only in modern times that the up in such a way that his language becomes tradition has been abandoned. rhythmical and he utters forth an indication, It was the same thing in the various though never an exact account, of what had schools of Buddhism. The early Arahats of moved him. The difference is that with Theravada Ceylon have left poems record• worldly poetry it is some merely human ing the lofty grandeur of their state. The emotion, frustration or desire which has Tibetan Tantric Milarepa is outstanding alike moved him to write. It is impossible to draw as a saint and a poet. In Islam the great an absolute dividing line and examples poets were Sufi saints, outstanding among wrould serve little purpose, because there are them Jalaluddin Rumi in Persian and Ibn innumerable gradations from physical im• Arabi in Arabic. Even Omar Khayyam, who pulse to Divine certitude ; nevertheless the has become so famous in English owing to broad demarcation is clear. It is not a ques• a felicitous paraphrase, and has been consi• tion of difference of subject, as for instance dered a hedonist, is in reality a mystic using when one poet writes about the beauty of Sufi symbolism : the tavern is the mystic nature, another about the squalor of the city fraternity, the wine divine ecstasy, the and a third about the woman he loves ; it is tavern-keeper the guru, and so forth.