Ike riftl It I Arunachala/ Thou dost root^ out the ego of those who meditate on Thee in the heart, Oh Arunachala! vol. p# no. July 19J2 I J? If spurned by Thee, alas ! what rests for me but the torment of my prarabdha ? What hope is left for me, Oh Arunachala ? (A QUARTERLY) —- The Marital Garland of Letters, verse 35. ** 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, Vol. 9 JULY 1972 No. Ill President, Board of Trustees, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai. CONTENTS Page EDITORIAL : Mysticism in Sacred Poetry . 161 The Power of Sacred Poetry — T. P. R. .. 164 Editor : Eight Stanzas to Sri Arunachala . 165 Mrs. Lucia Osborne Siva Puranam of Saint Manicka Vachakar . 167 What am I to do ? Ramana Sri Ramanasramam, — Sqn. Ldr. N. Vasudevan .. 169 Tiruvannamalai. The Song Celestial . 170 On Believing in Mind — Seng Ts'an .. 171 Thayumanavar * .. 172 Songs of Milarepa — Garma C. C. Chang 173 * The Heart Sutra — Wei Wu Wei . 174 To Maharshi Ramana, The Merciful Master Managing Editor i — A.W. Chadwick . 175 Selections from Ancient Irish Poetry V. Ganesan, — Kuno Meyer . 176 Sri Ramanasramam, The Mystical Poets : A Short Study Tiruvannamalai. — E. M. Abrahams .. 178 Elixir of Waiting—'Sein' .. 179 Perceiving the Bull (Poem) .. 181 The Elixir of Youth — Arthur Osborne .. 182 How I Came to the Maharshi — Dr. R. Padmanabhan .. 183 Zen Buddhism and Modern American Poetry Annual Subscription : — Lucien Stryk . 185 INDIA Rs. 6 You Live, O Ramana! — Vasanti .. 187 Kanzan or Han-Shan of Cold-Mountain FOREIGN £ 0.65 $ 1.50 — Gary Snyder .. 188 Life Subscription : Sacred Mystery — Sister Sara Grant . 189 Riverness — Torben Huss .. 190 Rs. 125 <£ 12.50 $ 30 The Light-footed Ones — Poet Faizi . 191 Single Copy : Parables of Ancient Philosophers . 192 I Am What I Am — Norman A. Sugden . 195 Rs. 1.75 £ 0.20 $ 0.45 Great Knowledge — Father Thomas Merton . 196 The Way — paul rePS . 197 The Sapling and The Oak — W. J, Gabb , , 198 CONTENTS— (Con id.) ^\\t fountain JJatlj Page Mysticism in Vedic Poetry — Dr. A. C. Bose 199 (A QUARTERLY) A Beacon Still — 5. P. Mukherji . 200 Vedaparayana . 201 The aim of this journal is to set Garland of Guru's Sayings — Muruganar . 202 forth the traditional wisdom of all Glory of Arunachala . 203 religions and all ages, especially Rabbi Nahman of Bratzlav Teaches the Torah as testified to by their saints and of the Void — Z. M. Schachter . 207 mystics, and to clarify the paths Book Reviews . 208 available to seekers in the condi• Ashram Bulletin . 216 tions of our modern world. Introducing ... — Yogi Suddhananda Bharati 224 Letters to the Editor . 225 List of Life Members — Sri Ramanasramam . 229 List of Life Subscribers — The Mountain Path 230 Contributions for publication should be addressed to The Editor, Contributors are requested to give the exact data The Mountain Path, Sri Ramanas• as far as possible for quotations used, i.e. source ramam, Tiruvannamalai, Tamil and page number, and also the meaning if from Nadu. They should be in English another language. It would simplify matters. 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Spain, Sweden 30s 3.60 is dedicated to (e) North, Central and South America, Fiji, Hawaii, New Zealand 37s 4.50 Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi The Mountain Path Vol. 9. No. Ill, July 1972 Editor : LUCIA OSBORNE JN ancient times sanctity was the central Editorial core of poetry in most of the world's great civilizations. Mysticism in poetry expressed the most profound urges of the human heart, a flowing of man to the Source "Till in the end, All battles fought, all earthly loves abjured, Dawn in the East, there is no other way But to be still. In stillness then to find The giants all were windmills, all the strife Self-made, unreal; even he who strove A fancied being, " — ARTHUR OSBORNE MYSTICISM When through meditation, devotional practices or any other form of spiritual striving the heart is stirred to its depth the language of IN the outpourings of longing and love becomes spontaneously rhythmical and finds expression SACRED in poetry rather than prose. The ancient languages in which scriptures and sacred poems were composed were actu• POETRY ally regarded as sacred languages — Sanskrit, Hebrew, Arabic, Latin, Pali, etc. Sound vib• rations are an integral part of scriptures or sacred poetry. In the earliest times the trans• mission was oral or through chanting. Spiri• tual understanding and above all mystical experience seems to bring out in some seekers not to mention saints a poetic strain seeking expression often in the language directed to the Beloved in a rhapsody of passionate longing and union. In Blake it is expressed as semi-utterances as it were from the depth of that which eludes and transcends speech. 162 THE MOUNTAIN PATH July A strange conformity runs through the letting oneself go in a negative way in a fool's mystical utterances trying to describe incur• paradise of seeming freedom in bondage to sions beyond the veil of appearances by saint- the senses. poets widely separated in time and space. Though the experience eludes mental con• Many great saints were also great poets. A cepts and speech still something of the same supreme example is Ramana Maharshi's nature in those intimations comes through. Five Hymns to Sri Arunachala. Utterances of Truth of sublime beauty and purity, a This so to speak collective testimony should nuptial garland of letters to the Eternal Being, be sufficient proof of their validity for rational flow like a cascade to find an echo in the minds and cannot be brushed aside. They hearts of His devotees. Walking round the give man the assurance of the Oneness of all Hill, Ramana Maharshi wrote these lines spon• life, Oneness of Being where there is no room taneously as they came to Him tears flowing for suffering which is always bound up with from His eyes. These words embodying pray• otherness. ers of seekers at all levels being at the same All great mystics have stressed the inter• time, as Sri R. Sadasiva Aiyar expressed it vention of Grace 'a transcendent factor inde• so poetically, ' a transcendent paean of Self- pendent of the subject which grants as an Realization, a soul-ravishing hymn of pas• inestimable favour the final unfettering of the sionate longing for union' and Self-Realiza• soul' after a period of one-pointed intense tion. " All of a sudden spontaneously they spiritual striving. Bhagavan also said that welled up and poured forth", said Ramana Grace takes over when our effort has reached Maharshi when people asked for an explana• its limit. The seeker feels then that his own tion. " Please interpret them for me your• effort however great is as nothing and in utter selves. Like you, I too must first think over surrender and holy passivity he is overwhelm• their meaning before giving it." An ecstatic ed by the unveiling of his ever-present pri• outpouring compelling chanting like a mantra mordial state of Grace. This has been liken• which is also sacred poetry chanted with cor• ed by poet saints particularly in Christianity rect intonation, its subtle power going far to the loving abandon of the bride to her beyond the literal meaning. In sacred poetry Beloved in the mystical marriage of the soul. it is not merely the sense but the sound also which is of great significance. That is pro• In our rampantly materialistic civilisation bably why Sri Bhagavan explained to some• in which the reign of quantity over quality is body that the listening to the chanting was manifestly evident poetry on the whole has in itself conducive to meditation whether one been brought down to the level of merely understood it or not.