The Mountain Path, July 1965
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The Mountain Path Vol. II JULY 1965 No. 3 SRI RAM AN AS RAM AM, "MRU VAN NAM ALA I " Sit firmly in my mind lest it elude Thee, Oh Arunachala ! " (A QUARTERLY) —The Marital Garland of " Arunachala! Thou dost root out the ego of those Letters, verse 7. who meditate on Thee in the heart, Oh Arunachala!99 —The Marital Garland of Letters, Verse 1. Vol. II JULY 1965 No. 3 Publisher : T. N. Venkataraman, CONTENTS Sri Ramanasramam, Page Tiruvannamalai. EDITORIAL : Realization and Guidance 143 LETTERS TO A BROTHER - VI : Modes of Samadhi—Nagamma 147 Reminiscences of Bhagavan Referring to the Self and the Lokas—Krishna Bikshu 148 The Sage and the Saint—N. R. Balakrishnan 150 Editor : The Sat-Guru—Dr. T. N. Krishnaswami 152 Arthur Osborne, How I came to the Maharshi—VII : Sri Ramanasramam, —H. W. L. Poonja 155 Tiruvannamalai. Sacrifice—Harindranath Chattopadhyaya 157 ASPECTS OF ISLAM-VII: Paradise and Nirvana—Abdullah Qutbuddin 159 The Methods and Stages of Ch'an Buddhism —Charles. Luk 163 Metanoesis— Wei Wu Wei 166 Rohatsu—Gary Snyder 167 Managing Editor : Buddhist Meditation in the West—L. H. Ewels 168 V. Ganesan, First Be Stabilised in the Self—Alan Chadwick 169 Sri Ramanasramam, Joel Goldsmith — An Appreciation Tiruvannamalai. —I. G. Schultz 170 Starting the Contemplative Life —Joel Goldsmith 172 ARROWS FROM A CHRISTIAN BOW-VII : I and My Father are One—Sagittarius 177 The Chief End—W. Mc. K. Aitken Annual Subscription 180 Light on the Path—I. S. Varghese 181 INDIA Rs. 5. Climbing Arunachala—Madguni Shambu Bhat 183 FOREIGN 10 sh. $ 1.50. The Search for Happiness —Dr. K. M. P. Mohamed Cassim 185 Life Subscription : Thakur Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath Maharaj Rs. 100; £10; $30. —Prof. Srikumar Bauerjee 186 The Bhagavad Gita—Tr. by Prof. G. V. Kulkarni Single Copy : & Arthur Osborne 189 Book Reviews 196 Rs. 1.50; %3sh, ; $0.45. Ashram Bulletin 203 Introducing ... 207 Letters to the Editor 208 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 Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, Madras Stace'. 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. 2. SUBSCRIBERS IN INDIA should remit their annual subscription by Money Order only as far as possible and not by cheque. 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 Order, British Postal Order or by Bank cheque or draft 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 (A QUARTERLY) f^ifar; ARTHUR OSBORNE VOL II JULY, 1965 No. 3 REALIZATION AND GUIDANCE [EDITORIAL] Once it is perceived that effort and a guide ing to Christian doctrine, he was born with• are needed in the quest of life's Goal, the out original sin, that is to say Self-realized question arises, whichever path one may fol• from .birth. And yet no one in his home low, whether the guide need be a realized town felt that he was a holy man, no crowds man or not. flocked to him, no disciples sought him out, Strange as it may sound, there is no no power flowed through him to effect cures. necessary connection between a man's state In fact, when he went back there later his of inner illumination and the grace that fellow-townsmen were incredulous that the flows through him to strengthen and inspire local carpenter's boy should have turned out others. It is possible for such grace not to a prophet (which confirms, incidentally, that flow through a realized man, in which case he had spent his youth there and that they his high state will not be recognized. It is did know him as the local carpenter's boy). simply not his function—nature—destiny—• The other is the .Maharshi. Realization des• whichever term one may use—to guide cended on him spontaneously when he was others. Indeed, Bhagavan would sometimes still a schoolboy, but his changed state was say of wandering beggars or sadhus: " How perceived by nobody, either at home or at do we know who comes to us in their school.1 It was only later .when power form?" This implies that it is not a man's flowed through him and disciples began to inner state that is recognizable but the dyna• gather round that he was recognized for mic effect of his state. The state remains what he was. the same whether a dynamic effect flows It is also possible for grace and power to from it or not. flow through one who is not realized. On Naturally it is not easy to give examples the exoteric plane it is well known how of this, for the simple reason that such a many powerful religious leaders—the Wes* person would remain unknown ; but there are two that come to mind. One is Christ i Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Know* ledge, Chs. 2 and 3, by Arthur Osborne, Rider & before he set forth on-his mission, Accord• Co., London. 144 THE MOUNTAIN PATH July leys and Luthers of history—have inspired There is no doubt about the grace that others and led great movements without any flowed through Vivekananda. After his claim to higher understanding or inner deve* death, the Mother, Sarada Devi, said of lopment, It is impossible to doubt that in him : " What powers did Naren Swami have many such cases the Grace of God has work• by himself? It was because God acted ed through them. But spiritual guidance of through him that he achieved what he did." 3 the aspirant is in a different category, requir• At the famous Chicago Parliament of Reli• ing esoteric knowledge and insight. Is it gions—famous now only because he took part possible here too for the unrealized man to in it—it was his presence not his arguments act aright through Grace? To some extent that impressed people. He had got no far• it is. It is difficult to find examples here too, ther than " Sisters and brothers of America!" this time for the reason that followers of when a torrent of applause swept the hall. such a one are likely to claim that he is rea• From that point on, in speech after speech, lized. I shall take as an example the con• contact after contact, people felt the power troversial figure of Swami Vivekananda. On and grace in him. A recently published book the one hand, his followers claim realization of tributes, by thirty odd of his admirers, for him, while on the other hand some foreign Hindu and Western 4 shows the overpower• critics are so derogatory as to deny that ing impression he made on people, the sup• he was even rightly guided. In fact one port they derived from him, and the simpli• of them takes it on himself to declare that city and humour that he maintained despite Ramakrishna was deluded by his infatua• their adulation. tion for Vivekananda.2 Let us examine the Nevertheless, to say in general that the case. guru need not be realized would be to sim• Sri Ramakrishna was enthusiastic about plify the question far too much. In the first Narendra Dutt, the future Vivekananda, and place, it is usually harmful for a man to set spoke of him as the person destined tg carry up as a guru before he has attained Realiza• on his work of restoring vigour to a lan• tion himself. It impedes his further progress guishing, almost decadent Hinduism. By on the path by turning his energy outwards the laying on of hands he induced in Naren to the guidance of others when it should still a pre-vision of Realization. When this ex• be turned inwards to his own sadhana. If perience ended he said: " Now I am going not impossible for such a person to make to lock it up in a box and you will have to further progress, it is at least much more go out and do your work without it. But difficult. Not only that, but there is danger when your wdrk is finished the Mother will of his latent egoism being revived, bringing give it back to you." Records of Viveka- him to a worse state than he was in before.