EDITOR: ARTHUR OSBORNE IB I, No. 4 ctober, 1964 " Was it for Thy plea• sure or for my sake Thou didst win me ? If now Thou turn me away, the world will blame Thee, THE MOUNTAIN PATH Oh Arunachala ! " (A QUARTERLY) —The Marital Garland of Letters, Verse 4. " 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: Vol. I OCTOBER 1964 No. 4 T. N. Venkataraman, Sri Ramanasramam, CONTENTS Tiruvannamalai. Page EDITORIAL : The Two Paths . 195 Resurrection—Muruganar . 197 The Maharshi and the Path of Knowledge —T M. P. Mahadevan . 198 The Forty Verses on Reality Editor : —Sri Ramana Maharshi . 203 The Maharshi and the Path of Devotion Arthur Osborne, —A. Devaraja Mudaliar . 206 Sri Ramanasramam, The World—A. Rao . 209 Tiruvannamalai. The Marital Garland of Letters —Sri Ramana Maharshi . 210 Bhakti Marga in Buddhism —Lama Anagarika Govinda . 215 Jnana and Bhakti—Dr- T. N. Krishnaswami . 222 Silent Teaching—Ethel Merston . 222 Jnana Marga in Christianity—Joel Goldsmith 223 Managing Editor : ARROWS FROM A CHRISTIAN BOW IV : Jnana and Bhakti in Christianity V. Ganesan, —Sagittarius . 228 Sri Ramanasramam, ASPECTS OF ISLAM—IV : Tiruvannamalai. The Sufi Path of Love —Abdullah Qutbuddin . 229 From Tayumanavar—Prof. K. R. R. Sastry . 231 The Essential Identity—Wei Wu Wei . 232 How I came to the Maharshi : IV—Dilip Kum,ar Roy . 234 Annual Subscription : The Name . 236 LETTERS TO A BROTHER IV : Rs. 5 ; 10 sh. ; $ 1.50. Samadhi—Nagamma . 239 Life Subscription : Ch'an Master Hsu Yun —Upasaka Lu K'uan Yu (Charles Luk) 240 Rs. 100 ; £ 10 ; $ 30. Introducing Muruganar . 244 Single Copy : Book Reviews 246 Ashram Bulletin 256 Rs. 1.50 ; 3 sh. ; $ 0/45. Letters to the Editor 259 Sri Ramana Mantapa Nidhi 262 COVER : Design by Sri S. K. Achary ; Blocks by Messrs. Shanker & Co., Bombay. 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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 Readers whose subscriptions end with this issue are requested to take out a renewal in good time. The Mountain Path (A QUARTERLY) Editor: ARTHUR OSBORNE VOL. I OCTOBER, 1964 No. 4 THE TWO PATHS (EDITORIAL) Granted that a path is necessary, the next his predisposition."1 Nevertheless, aspirants question is : what path ? It is held in India do, in the main, follow either the path of that there are three types of path : jnana knowledge or that of devotion, often with a marga, bhakti marga and karma marga, the certain admixture of the other and of the paths of knowledge, devotion and action. path of action. Not completely conforming to any of these, there are also the technically intricate types Starting with the path of knowledge : of path of yoga and tantra. These last are ' knowledge' in this sense does not imply difficult to follow in the conditions of our learning, theory or philosophy but intuitive time. They are not considered here but are understanding. Indeed, it is the indirect left to be dealt with later. paths that require elaborate theory. Only the bare minimum of theory is needed for the path of knowledge : Karma marga, the path of action, is also left for later treatment- For the moment, let Simply that Being is, and you are That ; us consider the two great paths of know• Therefore to know the essential Self ledge and devotion, being and worship, the of you one aiming at Identity and the other at the Is to know all. But not by gazing at, union of two, to one or the other of which an As one can know another, for not two aspirant is apt to be drawn by his own tem• The Ultimate. Knowledge in that high perament. They are not in fact mutually ex• sense clusive, although they may seem to be so Is simple Being, Being alone is true. in theory. " The four margas, karma, bhakti, This was the path that Bhagavan taught yoga and jnana, are not exclusive of one (although, as will appear later, he allowed another. Each is, however, described sepa• rately in classical works only to convey an iThe Maharshi's Commentary on hi§ ' Five idea of the appropriate aspect of God to Stanzas to Sri Arunachala\ Collected Works, Rider & Co., London, and Sri Ramanasramam, appeal readily to the aspirant according to Tiruvannamalai. x 196 THE MOUNTAIN PATH October for bhakti marga also). The method by which The three go together ; if one of them exists it is to be followed is Self-enquiry, the all three do. " All religions postulate the constant probing into the reality of one's three fundamentals, the world, the soul arid Self. " Self-enquiry leads directly to Self- God ; but it is only the one Reality that realization by removing the obstacles which manifests itself as these three. One can say make you think that the Self is not already ' the three are really three ' only so long as realized. "2 It is not the same as meditation, the ego lasts."5 although sometimes loosely so called, " Meditation requires an object to meditate Therefore the bhakta, instead of recog• on, whereas in Self-enquiry there is only the nizing ' That which is ' as the very Self of subject and no object. That is the difference him, the sole surviver after the dissolution of the illusory ego or individual being, between them."3 " Concentration is not thinking of one thing. On the contrary it regards It as the Creator and Sustainer of is excluding all thoughts, since all the individual being, the God to Whom the thoughts obstruct the sense of one's individual submits, the Lover whom he seeks, the Home to which he returns. true being,''4 The effort must be made to suspend thought while retaining cons• THE TWO PATHS ciousness. Usually when thought ceases one goes to sleep ; what one must do is to re• Don't ask if I believe in God ; main awake and conscious and concentrate Not that the query, on the pure sense of being, of ' I am ', that But whether I believe in me, remains when thought subsides. It is not In life and theory. easy at first, but with effort and practice it can be done. If I am then the world is, and above A God that made me, God whose living love Who am I ? " Any answer the mind can Still draws me back to Him, until I yearn give must be wrong," Bhagavan said. In For that last ineluctable return fact the very attempt to give a verbal ans• To Oneness with Him, otherness burnt out wer shows that the question has been In fires of love—and find out thus I am not. wrongly considered a philosophical conun• As though in dream through distant lands drum, when in fact it is a spiritual exercise to roam, The answer begins to come as a current of Then wake where down you lay : that awareness " body-sensed, mind-known, and too a way, yet from both apart/' And therefore good ; for every way leads It is no use thinking that the mind is home, going to absorb or possess the new know• Though roundabout. ledge ; on the contrary, it must let go and For those who go direct consent to be absorbed by it. There is an austere, high mountain path : 1 sought to devour Thee ; to be Come now and devour me, A haven to yourself, a lamp to yourself, Then there will be peace, Arunachala 1 Knowing there is no separate you to pray To be united with a separate God The devotee or bhakta, on the other hand, Outside of you, knowing that there just does not go so far as to conceive of the non• IS.