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Sri Ramana Maharshi
Welcome
I propose to use this blog primarily to air my occasional musings on any matters relating to the life and teachings of Ramana Maharshi. There will also be occasional contributions about Arunachala, the sacred mountain where Sri Ramana spent all of his adult life.
Articles and interviews on these topics can also be found on my site: www.davidgodman.org.
Articles and interviews on these topics can also be found on my site: www.davidgodman.org.
993 comments:
1 – 200 of 993 Newer› Newest»David/R.Subramanaian/Friends,
Thanks very much David.
Eleanour pauline Noye is a wonderful devotee of Sri Bhagavan,who captured him by sheer love,untainted with any intellectual slant.
I wish to share her beautiful reminiscence from The Golden Jubilee souveneir.I never tire of reading this and sharing her story over and over again:
MY PILGRIMAGE TO
SRI RAMANASRAMAM
By
Eleanour Pauline Noye (California)
A few years ago I reached a crisis in my life; after years of
anguish and sleepless nights, I was in a critical condition. When
things seemed darkest I had an unusual feeling that I should go
away. I discussed it with my twin, Betty, and decided to take a
trip around the world. After making the reservation I became
very ill and had to cancel it. One obstacle after another presented
itself until it seemed as though I were not to go, and being so ill
I did not care if I went or not. Still there always seemed to be
something urging me to go and my sister also felt that I should.
After a few weeks of rest I felt better and made reservation
on another ship that was to sail a month later; but when the
time arrived for sailing I was still not able to leave my bed. The
boat sailed from San Francisco through the Panama Canal
reaching New Orleans a month later. The steamship agent
suggested my going there by train, which takes three days instead
of one month, hoping I would feel better in the meantime.
I had a very trying trip to New Orleans, and upon
arriving I collapsed and was taken to a Christian Science
practitioner’s home, where they put me to bed and took care
of me. They thought I was in no condition to take a long trip,
but I felt as though I must. I could not turn back. Fortunately
the boat was two weeks late; otherwise I would not have been
able to sail. The steamship agent said: “You do not look very
well; if the Captain sees you, I am afraid, he will not take you,
458
as we do not carry a physician.” However, finally he agreed to
my going but said, “Do not let the Captain see you until we
are out at sea.” Though outward conditions were very dark, I
went, knowing that God would take care of me. I felt as though
I were led and if I had not followed that inner voice which
prompted me I would never have had the blessed experience
of finding the happiest part of my life in the presence of
Bhagavan Sri Ramana.
continued....
Friends,
Eleanour Pauline Noye continued...
"The doctor, who vaccinated me before I left, knew that I
was not well. He said: “Why are you taking the trip?” I replied,
“I want to find myself.” I was seeking something I had not
found,Peace. Somehow my mind would always turn to India,
especially during those days when I was in bed.
We sailed from New Orleans to Capetown, South Africa,
a three weeks’ trip without a stop. Providence was with me
again, for had the boat stopped, I believe, I would have
returned home. (But God had other plans for me.) For I was
torn between conflicting emotions and became worse again.
My prayers seemed of no avail. I would have the most dreadful
nightmares and wake up crying. I could not bear it any longer;
so I sent a radiogram to the doctor, “Need help in every way,
especially at night. Cold much worse, filled with fear. Will
write from Capetown.” I don’t know what I was afraid of,
but my mind was never at peace. I felt better for a while but
found it necessary to send a second cable. Therefore, had
the boat stopped on its way to Capetown, I should have
disembarked and returned home. But Providence has always
the upper hand. When we reached Capetown, South Africa,
I felt much better; but as I did not like the boat I disembarked
at Durban, South Africa, where I spent one month waiting
for another boat.
As we approached India I decided to get off at Madras
instead of going on to Calcutta, where the ship would be in
459
dry-dock for two weeks. The people on board gave all sorts of
reasons why I should not get off at Madras. It was very difficult
to leave them; nevertheless I did, so they took me to the
Connemara Hotel, saying it was not safe to stop at a second
rate hotel because of the food, etc. After my friends had gone
I felt lost and went to my room and, with tears in my eyes,
prayed for guidance. All night the heat was intense; so the
next morning I asked the proprietor if he could suggest a cooler
place. He said the hill-station, Kodaikanal was lovely and cool.
So I made my plans to leave Madras immediately. Motoring
there, I found it to be a charming place."
Continued....
Friends,
Eleanour Pauline Noye continued...
The very first day I
met two Hindu brothers and I asked them if they knew any
Seers? I have no explanation to offer as to why I put that
question. I anticipated nothing. They said they knew of one
at Tiruvannamalai, Sri Ramana Maharshi. “People come from
far and near to see Him. He left home,” they said, “when he
was twelve years old and never went to school. He is the greatest
Seer in India. It is difficult to find one that is genuine.” This
is what they told me about Bhagavan; of course, these facts are
not accurate.
I decided to leave for Tiruvannamalai the next day. My
friends helped me in every way, told me to buy some bedding,
etc., but did not tell me that it was the custom to take a gift to
the Holy Man; in fact I knew nothing about life at an Ashram.
When I left Madras I had no idea I would have this experience;
but was eager to go, and felt as though something momentous
was about to happen.
When I told the guests in the hotel my plans, they said it
was not safe to go alone, as the place (the Ashram) was in a
jungle, and I would not endure the hardships and humidity, as
I had been in India only a few days and was not acclimatised.
An English official and his wife insisted upon getting all the
details in order to keep track of me. I bought a ticket for Madura
460
as my friends told me to see the temples there, but I decided
not to go to Madura, as I was anxious to reach my destination.
So I left the car at Kodaikanal Road and took the train for
Tiruvannamalai.
After arriving there I engaged a bullock cart to take me to
the Ashram, where I was greeted by some of the inmates
including Niranjanananda Swami, brother of Sri Bhagavan.
They told me that Sri Bhagavan was on the hill, but would be
in the hall shortly, and graciously invited me to have my
breakfast.
My heart throbbed with expectation as I was taken to
the hall. As I entered it I felt the atmosphere was filled with
Sri Bhagavan’s Purity and Blessedness. One feels a breath of
the Divine in the Sage’s presence. He was sitting on a couch,
clad only in a loin-cloth, surrounded by His devotees. When
He smiled it was as though the gates of Heaven were thrown
open. I have never seen eyes more alight with Divine
Illumination,they shine like stars. He greeted me very
tenderly and made some enquiries about me, which put me
at ease. His look of Love and Compassion was a benediction
that went straight to my heart. I was immediately drawn to
Him. His greatness and kindness is all-embracing. One feels
such an uplifting influence in His Saintly Presence and cannot
help but sense His extraordinary spirituality. It is not necessary
for Him to talk, His silent influence of Love and Light is
more potent than words could ever be. I did not know what
manner of man I expected to find. But once I saw Him, I
said to myself, “Surely, no one like Sri Bhagavan!”
Continued....
Friends,
Eleanour Pauline Noye continued...
I do not
think there is another like Him on earth today. To see Him
is to love Him. After spending the morning with Him, I had
lunch at eleven o’clock and rested until two p.m. Then I
returned to the hall. As I looked upon Sri Bhagavan’s serene
face and into His eyes which beamed with mercy, my soul
461
was stirred. He knew how much I needed Him, while He
looked straight into my heart. Every one who comes to Him
is blessed; the inner Peace which is His is radiated to all. A
beautiful sight is the little children kneeling before the Master
as He blesses them and smiles so tenderly, sometimes taking
one in His arms, reminding me of the painting, “Christ
Blessing the Children.” Later I walked around the grounds,
talked to the devotees. At seven o’clock I had a light meal;
then I had the opportunity to say just a few words to Sri
Bhagavan about my journey. Some time later I went to the
Traveller’s Bungalow, as ladies are not allowed to stay in the
Ashram at night.
I would like to say here, that the one reason why I had
been in such a run-down condition was that I had not slept
well for years, although I had been taking medicine, which
never gave me any relief. Although I said nothing to Sri
Bhagavan about this, the amazing thing was that I slept
soundly the first night and thereafter without taking any
medicine, though I lacked the many comforts I had been
accustomed to. I received “the Medicine of all medicines,
the unfailing grace of the Lord, whose name is Heart”.* I
arose next morning, feeling refreshed, as though I were
born anew.
continued....
Friends,
Eleanour Pauline Noye continued....
Soon after, one afternoon, as I was standing by the gate,
Sri Bhagavan stopped, while on His way to the Hill-side, and
asked me if I had more peace. His loving solicitude made me
feel quite at home; and when He smiled, my joy knew no
bounds.
During those sacred hours with the Master I unconsciously
absorbed the Truth which He lives; it filled all my being. As a
* Self-Realisation, the Life & Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi (4th Edn.)
462
writer has said. “The Maharshi’s life is but one more instance of
that Indian ideal of teaching through life and not through
words...... His life is, in fact, His highest teaching. His teachings
are but a literary expression of His Realisation.”
My love blossomed into deep devotion and I was filled
with ineffable peace; the things which seemed so vital before
were no longer of any importance. I could see things in their
correct perspective; the heartaches of yesterday and thoughts of
tomorrow faded into oblivion.
Every one is struck by Sri Bhagavan’s love of animals.
He knows the history of each one, understands their cries
and calls them ‘children’. Lakshmi, the cow, was quite a pet;
she would go into the hall, and Bhagavan would stroke her
and give her food or plantain fruits. The little monkeys are
very mischievous, looking through the windows to see if
someone in the hall has some fruit. And while devotees sit
meditating, a monkey runs in and takes it away. Or they
search under Bhagavan’s couch to be sure there is nothing
there. The attendants try to keep them out, but it is a difficult
job, as they are sly little fellows. Bhagavan looks at them
with a twinkle in His eye.
Dogs are also his companions. To quote from a letter I
received from the Ashram, after my return to America,”A
deep sense of gratitude and faithfulness is an inborn instinct
of the dog, and in that respect man has to accept it as the
ideal, for, does not the same Supreme Spirit that is allpervading
subsist also in the dog? It is the same Self that is in
every being, and every thing is in the Self. Those who have
realised the Self know this truth by their experience, and
hence we find the tender love Sri Bhagavan has for all
creatures.”
continued....
Friends,
Eleanour pauline Noye continued...
Here, in the Ashram, far away from the noise
and confusion of the busy highways, silence reigns. It is
broken only by the bleating of the sheep and goats and the
songs of the birds and the shepherd’s song as he takes his
flocks home to rest. Time seems to stand still in this peaceful,
sacred retreat, amidst the beauties of nature, with its lovely
flower gardens and beautiful pools, which are surrounded
by knarred oak-like trees, that greet you like old friends. It
is so primitive, but therein lies its charm. It is truly the Holyland.
The air is permeated with His peace and love.
Looking upon eternal Arunachala, “The Hill of Light,”
one is filled with awe and is overwhelmed by a great Spiritual
Power. Everything is vibrant and speaks to us in Silence. On
full moon night it is especially inspiring to go around the
hill. In this deep silence and quietude one readily hears the
voice of God. In the inspiring words of the Master from
Five Hymns – “Only to convey by Silence Thy Transcendent
State Thou standest as a Hill, shining from heaven to earth.”
One may also say with the Psalmist, “Be Still And Know
That I Am God.” These were among the first words spoken
to me by Sri Bhagavan and the last ones before I left for
America. I had always loved to meditate upon them, but
now they seemed to take on a new meaning and filled my
heart with bliss. I had been at the Ashram for two months,
then made arrangements to sail one month later. I wanted
to know more about India before going home. So I
reluctantly made plans to leave the place. I had grown to
love it and was very sad during those last days. Bhagavan
said, “I will always be with you, wherever you go.”
continued...
Friends,
When the last day arrived I could not stop crying.
Therefore, I did not go to the hall but sat by the pool. In the
afternoon when I sat before Bhagavan He smiled and said” -
She has been crying all day; she does not want to leave Me.” He
was so sweet and tender. Later I went to Him for His blessing;
the pain of parting was almost more than I could bear; with
tears in my eyes I knelt in deepest reverence and devotion before
464
my Beloved Master. May He always be my Father, Mother and
God; and may I always be His child, and whatever I do, may it
be in His name!
I then said good-bye to the devotees who had been so
kind to me. As I drove to the station in the little cart, my
heart grew heavy because I was leaving my Bhagavan, but I
had so very much to be thankful for, having had the privilege
of spending two months in His presence and been blessed
beyond measure. Indeed, I was not the same person who came
to Him two months before. To quote from Self-Realisation
(Page 123): “Even like the sun, which gives physical light and
sustains physical life, the Sage who has realised the Truth
Eternal, imparts the inner Light of the Self to those who seek
his Presence, and sustains their inner Life of the Spirit. In his
Benign Presence the truly humble soul finds ineffable peace
and joy. The Unseen Power which guides the pilgrim evolves
also the conditions appropriate to the true spiritual needs of
each soul, which may not know what is best for itself. An
apparently casual visit may become a ‘benediction’.” As I look
back I am ashamed of some things I did; but Bhagavan laughed,
He understood I knew no better.
When I reached Madras I wanted to return to Bhagavan,
I really did not want to tour India; nevertheless I went from
Madras to Srinagar in Kashmir, then to Calcutta (wherefrom
I expected to sail for America). I had a pleasant trip, stopped
at many interesting places along the way and was led to many
people who were helpful and kind. What I would like to bring
out is the way in which I was guided and protected. I had
some blessed experiences, also two breath-taking ones on the
train, and on one occasion I narrowly escaped death. It was
the hottest season of the year, yet I felt no ill effects. A physician
who was stopping at the same hotel in Agra said it was
miraculous the way I travelled in the heat; he had seen strong
Hindus faint like flies owing to the heat, which did not seem
to bother me. I could hear Bhagavan’s words: “I will always be
with you, wherever you go.” His dear face was always before
me, no matter what I was doing. His presence filled all my
heart.
Continued....
Friends,
Eleanour pauline Noye continued....
Not having much money I ate food and drank water
which I would not have touched in the past, but I did not feel
the worse for it, all the same. When I travelled with my
husband in Latin America, we had all the comforts and the
best food, but most of the time I had stomach trouble. I have
mentioned this only to show how one changes after being for
some time in the presence of Sri Bhagavan. I did not miss any
of these delicacies, as they no longer seemed to be of any
importance. My mind was filled with the love of Bhagavan;
by His Grace I was guided and protected as never before,
sometimes almost miraculously.
My eyes were filled with tears many times as I thought
of returning to America without seeing Him again. One
day I seemed to hear Him say”Come back to Me again”.
During the time I was away from the Master my love and
faith had deepened, and I decided to return to Him as soon
as possible.
I changed my plans. Instead of going back to America by
the next boat, I took the train, leaving Calcutta for
Tiruvannamalai. Queer to say, I felt as though I were going
home! The tender way Bhagavan greeted me, as I stood before
Him, will live in my heart always. I wept with joy knowing I
was thrice Blessed in being able to return to Him. As I basked
in His Eternal Sunshine in those silent hours of communion I
was filled with His Grace.
continued....
Friends,
Eleanour pauline Noye continued....
It is a privilege to have some meals with the Master; to
eat the food which He has handled is in itself a Blessing. He
would arise at dawn and help to cut the vegetables, very often
466
helping also to prepare special dishes which were delicious.
My food was prepared by the devotees especially for me, and
it was wholesome and good. Bhagavan was always considerate
to everyone, He wanted to be sure there was plenty of
everything; and the rich and poor received the same kind
attention, as also the animals; no distinction was shown. One
day I saw Bhagavan stoop down and pick up three grains of
rice. That simple act taught me much more than what I could
have learnt by studying ten volumes on domestic economy
which is so essential in present day life but is so difficult to
practise. Each day brought new lessons and Blessings. He
grew nearer and dearer to me as time passed and my only
wish was to be by His side.
The monsoon was on, the air was fresh and clean and
all the earth seemed radiant. Whenever it rained Bhagavan’s
attendants put a white cloth on His chest to protect His
body from the cold weather. He looked like a sweet child
wearing a bib, and with all His Wisdom and greatness one
is struck by His childlike nature. At other times He looks
like the King of kings; His poise and dignity are
outstanding. When some times at night He would throw a
shawl over His head, He looked like the Madonna, I would
stand outside in silent adoration. Again, at other times He
looked like a devoted father smiling upon His children. I
loved to watch Him as He walked up the hill, just when the
sun was setting. And it was my greatest delight when I could
go with Him.
Continued....
Friends,
Eleanour Pauline Noye continued...
One morning I picked a lovely rose; my first thought was
to give it to the Master. a devotee said: “What a beautiful rose!”
I replied, “Yes, it is for Bhagavan.” I sat in the hall, wondering if
I should give it to Him. After a few minutes I laid it on the
small footstool at His sofa, and he said: “What is that?” I replied,
“Only a rose.” He said, “Give it to me.” He took it and touched
with it His forehead and cheeks. I was so deeply touched, I
wept.
I had the great privilege of being at the Ashram in 1939
for Sri Bhagavan’s Birthday celebration when, as on such
occasions, thousands of people were fed. He is, indeed, a
friend of the poor. A special leaf-covered shelter is erected
for the occasion, so that many devotees who come for the
celebration may sit in the presence of Bhagavan. One can
never forget the Master as He sits there on His couch, so
majestically, amidst garlands of flowers, surrounded by His
loving devotees, who are so happy to be with Him at that
time. It is a day of rejoicing and thanksgiving for everyone,
even the animals.
As I walked along that night and looked at Arunachala,
so silent, I was held spell-bound by the beautiful sight. The
brightest star in the heavens shone directly above its peak
like a great Beacon Light to tell us, as it were, “This is the
Holy Land, the abode of Bhagavan, the Lord of the Universe,
whose greatness and spiritual power have drawn men from
the remote parts of the earth, who come and kneel down
and worship Him, singing songs of adoration and praise to
proclaim His Glory.”
continued....
Friends,
Eleanour pauline Noye Continued...
When I left America I longed for Peace; there was a
yearning in my heart which would not let me rest. Here at the
feet of the Lord of Love, peace and happiness garlanded me
and enriched my being. I know that Bhagavan led me to this
heaven of rest. In the words of Sri Bhagavan himself:
Within the sacred Lotus-heart of everyone,
From mighty Vishnu up in heaven serene, to lowly
Mortal man, the Self, as Pure Awareness, shines
Supreme, Who is Arun-Achal-Raman Himself.
And when thy mind in love for Him doth pine and melt
And reach the radiant Heart, wherein he dwells as thine
468
Own Self, the Lord Belov’d, Lo! then thine Inner Eye
Would open, and, as Pure Awareness, Him espy.*
To quote from another letter from the Ashram: “So
then, Sri Bhagavan will guide you at every step; for, has He
not guided you even before you knew you were really in
search of Him?”
I had been planning to leave the Ashram for five
months; but each time I thought I was going, something
unforeseen presented itself. It was not His Will that I should
go. Bhagavan says, “Your plans are of no avail.” I did not
want to go but felt I should; my twin sister wrote several
times and said there were matters which needed my
attention; and she was very ill, although I did not know it
at the time, somehow I sensed it. That was probably the
reason why I felt I should leave.
continued...
Friends,
Eleanour pauline Noye continued...
As the time to leave drew near I was very sad; I knew this
time I would really go. It had been eight months since I returned
to the Ashram for the second time! Those last days I spent with
the Master were blissful. He was so kind and tender; and when
He smiled at me, tears would fill my yes. I wondered how I
could ever leave the place. When the day of parting came, I
could not stop crying. In the morning I walked on the Hill
with Bhagavan and some other devotees, then again in the
afternoon, when we had our pictures taken with Him. As I
walked down the Hill with Him for the last time He alone
knew what was in my heart.
The little monkeys were all lined up on either side of the
Hill-path. Bhagavan told them to come and say good-bye to
me. He knew I loved them also. When we reached the hall,
Bhagavan read a few comforting passages from Psalms, Chapter
139, verses 7, 8, 9, and 10.
He invited me to have supper with Him, as ladies are not
allowed in the dining hall at night. It was Blessed joy to have
that last meal with the Master. I shall never forget it. Just before
I left I went to Him for His Blessing and wept at His feet as my
heart overflowed with adoration and love. He is dearer to me
than life itself. May I consecrate my life to Him! Then I said
good-bye to the devotees in the Ashram, who were invariably
kind to me.
I have tried in my humble way to tell about the
wonderful experience I had when I was at Sri
Ramanashramam with the Enlightened One, but mere words
can never express the peace and joy one feels in His Presence;
it must be experienced. There one truly has a glimpse of the
Eternal.
continued....
Friends,
Eleanour Pauline Noye continued...
As I am writing this article in 1946 (six years after I left
the Ashram), I would like to say that I have felt the Master’s
Presence more and more with the passage of time, just as He
said I would. My devotion and faith have grown through the
years and will never be shaken under any circumstance. I am
very happy to say that I shall be returning soon to my Beloved
Master. I hear His call!
Needless to say this was the most Blessed experience of my
life, my stay at the feet of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, the
Lord of Love and Compassion. May I be worthy of the many
Blessings and the great Love He has so graciously bestowed upon
me!
“Sri Ramana Maharshi is an ideal held out before
mankind because of His great depth of Peace, His intrepid
flow of Power, His extraordinary development of
Dispassion, His melting Love, His bright Wisdom, which
flashes over the world’s encircling darkness of ignorance,
and His beatific life.”
— Ganapati Sastri.
Let me conclude with a quotation from Self-Realisation,
the truth whereof the meek at heart will know:
“He that has the most noble aim in life to know that God
and the Guru are one, and that they are identical with the Self
Supreme or Brahman, the one, eternal Truth, the Core of one’s
own being, the Heart, that person will be guided by destiny,
independent of his individual effort, to the Benign Presence of
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi.”
Friends,I enjoyed in sharing this writeup of this simple,wonderful devotee of Sri Bhagavan.
Namaskar.
Ravi,
Thank you so much for sharing that story. It brought me no small comfort on this morning when I had been feeling hemmed in by foolish fears and worries.
Friends,
The other Great devotee of Sri Bhagavan who is a perennial favourite of mine is the eighty year old Ms victoria Doe.Here is a beautiful excerpt from the Reminiscences of Sri K K Nambiar:
When I was in England last year, I went to see a
venerable, old lady, by name Mrs. Victoria Doe. She must
be nearing 80 and lives in a quiet house at 17. St. Martin’s
Avenue, Epsom, Surrey, with her only daughter, Miss. Leena
Doe. She has never come to India, never seen Bhagavan Sri
Ramana in flesh and blood. Yet, I was deeply moved by her
devotion to him. She had read about him, prayed to him,
meditated on him, and lives in him day in and day out.
There was something trans-mundane, something related to
a sphere other than the physical world, that occasioned my
visit to this elderly lady, who was a recluse to the social life in
England. It seems she had written to the Ashram that, much
as she would have liked to go over to India to have a Darshan
of Sri Bhagavan, her circumstances did not permit it, and
that she was very desirous of at least meeting someone who
had seen him and had had the good fortune to sit at his feet.
Hence the visit I paid her, on the suggestion I received by a
letter from the Ashram, was, in effect, the fulfilment of her
long-cherished desire. She showed me sheaves of letters she
took from a corner of a shelf, and kissed them with great
reverence before handing them to me. All the letters were
from the Ashram and were meticulously preserved for the
past several years. She had also with her all the English
publications of Sri Ramanasramam. She opened one of the
books and, running her shaky finger along the writing on
the first page “With Gracious Blessings from Sri Bhagavan”
burst into tears of joy and devotion. She said “Mr. Nambiar,
how lucky you are to have been able to be with him, to see
him and hear him speak. Here, we treasure these books and
letters as representing him. Now he has sent you here. I feel
that he is with us now.” Such love, such devotion to the
Sage, so tenderly expressed to me, a total stranger to her till
the other day, moved me to the depths of my being. Verily,
his kingdom is the heart of the devotee, and I have always
found him there enthroned.
Namaskar.
Friends,
After his meeting Ms Victoria doe in the UK,K K Nambiar travels to the USA where he meets Ms Noye.Here is an excerpt from his reminiscences:
After a couple of weeks I had to sail for United States,
and Mr. Bose had to go to Germany, transformed into a
Colonel on some technical mission connected with War
Reparations. While touring the western states I had the good
fortune to meet another great devotee of Sri Bhagavan, Mrs.
Eleanor Pauline Noye who, unlike Mrs. Doe, could find the
means and time to travel to India and to spend several months
in the Ashram. She now lives in a quiet house in San Fernando
Valley, bordering Hollywood in Los Angeles, California,
yearning to sail for India a second time, as soon as a visa
could be obtained for the journey. From my hotel in the centre
of Los Angeles I went to Van Nuys, where Mrs. Noye awaited
me with her automobile. Clad in a simple ochre-coloured
frock, and looking for me eagerly, she burst into profuse tears
as soon as our eyes met. She could hardly speak a few words of
welcome, for such was her emotion on seeing one who had
come from Sri Bhagavan. She drove me to her home where
she lived with her sister and brother-in-law. We spent several
hours talking about Sri Bhagavan. We also wrote a joint letter
to the Ashram about my visit to that place. After spending the
day in her apartments, which had all the air of a hermitage, I
returned to my hotel in the evening. She returned my visit
two days later, and we spent the evening talking about Sri
Bhagavan and meditating on him. After dinner I took her
back to San Fernando Valley. It was half past ten at night. Her
sister had retired. Mrs. Noye and myself sat alone in her
drawing room and decided to meditate on Sri Bhagavan. I
had only a few minutes to spare, for I had to catch the last
street car to go back to my hotel to pack up my kit and with
my colleagues proceed to the Los Angeles Air Port to catch
the plane bound for Nebraska. Well, both of us sat with closed
eyes, meditating on Sri Bhagavan, whose physical body was
more than ten thousand miles away. The peace that I enjoyed
during those few moments was indescribable. Verily, we felt
his benign presence and his peace that filled our hearts. I took
leave of her and retraced my way to the Van Nuys Tram
Terminus.
Namaskar.
Dear Ravi,
These stories are wonderful. Thanks for posting them.
Ravi,
Beautiful.Thank you so much
Gloria
Gloria/m/friends,
Yes.There is nothing more inspiring than reading about Great devotees and their wonderful writings.Here is a beautiful offering from Eleanour pauline Noye:
TO BELOVED BHAGAVAN
THE LORD OF LOVE
Oh Lord of Love, Who dwells within my heart!
May I sing Thy Praise through all Eternity,
Thou, the Adorable One, the All-compassionate,
Whose Loving smile illumines all the world,
Who art tender as a mother and strong as a father,
Thou, whose sublime life is an inspiring sermon
Fill me with Thy Presence, Beloved Master, with the
Nectar of Thy Grace;
May Thy great Love and Light fill my heart to the full.
Resting secure in Thy Presence
And knowing whence cometh Peace,
Guidance and Strength,
May I always listen; for, in the Silence
I hear Thy Voice,—
The Voice of God.
— Eleanor Pauline Noye
(California)
Interestingly Sri Bhagavan never even mentioned the path of 'Self Enquiry' to Ms Noye,nor did she ask him about the path!
Love and devotion spontaneously welled up from the Heart of this great devotee.
Namaskar.
THE LIVING GURU:
One idea that is nowadays very prevalent among spiritual aspirants
is that of a human guru or a living guru,is necessary and this causes confusion in the minds of many people who sincerely wish to practice the teachings of Sri Bhagavan, but who had never had the opportunity to meet Him, when He lived in a human form. Such people often ask therefore, whether a human guru or living guru is really necessary. Sri Bhagavan is such a human guru and the fact that He cast off His human guise more than 60 years ago
makes absolutely no difference to His ability to help us in our struggle to return to our Source.
Even when He was living in His human form, Sri Bhagavan taught us that He is not the human form that we mistake Him to be, and that the real guru is within us.
If we understand the term human guru, then it is specifically a guru who is currently living in a human form, the it is not correct to say that we need such a living guru or a human guru as some other people describe such a person. As Sri Sadhu Om used to say, if we want to depend upon such a living guru, we will end up being disappointed, because that living guru will also one day become a dead guru!
The true living guru is not merely a person who is currently living, in human form, but is ever living reality, which exists within us eternally as our own Self. Only this ever living guru can enable us to transcend the illusory duality of life and death.
contd.
THE LIVING GURU:
Most of our misconceptions about the true meaning of terms such as 'human guru' or 'living guru' arise because we mistake the real guru like Sri Bhagavan to be the human form in which He temporarily manifested Himself. However, Sri Bhagavan always emphasized, the real guru is not the human form that He appears to be, but is the infinite, eternal and ever present Reality, which we all experience as our basic consciousness of our own Being, "I am".
The mistaken notion, 'I am a person' or 'I am this body', is precisely the problem that the real guru teaches us the means to transcend. Therefore no real guru will ever ask is to attach any importance to his human form, because attaching such importance to his own human form, because attaching such importance would only reinforce our mistaken notion that we ourself are the human form that we imagine ourself to be. This is the reason why Sri Bhagavan always emphasized that He was not a human being but is only the eternal reality, "I am".
Therefore if any so called human guru tells us that we need to have a guru who is currently living in a human form, such a human guru cannot be a real guru, because he or she is failing to emphasize that all we need do is t turn our mind within to know our own true Self.
-From Michael James. Article in MP- Apr-June 2007
On 2nd August 1939, I asked Sri Bhagavan: It is said that in Kaivalyzam that even if one attains Jnana, he has to experience prarabdha. But you are telling that all the three karmas are not there for a Jnani.?
Sri Bhagavan answered: Since prarabdham is fixeed even before one attains Jnana, it is said like that. Such a prarabdha is only from the point of view of on lookers. They give a number of examples: 1. An arrow which has been shot, thinking that the target is a tiger but the target
even if it is a cow, it will hit.
2. Electric fan which revolves for some time, though put off. 3. The burnt rope looks like an ordinary rope, though it is of no use. 4. Even the tree that has been cut off, appears like a living tree
for our look, but it is not so.
5. The roasted seeds also look like fresh seeds, but are not fit for planting.
Like these five examples, Sri Bhagavan continued, Prarabdha for a Jnani, is from the point of view on lookers and not in the experience of a Jnani.
[Sri Ramana NinaivugaL - Annamalai Swami]
ATMA VICHARA PADIGAM - SRI SADHU OM.
Tr. Tanmaya Chaitanya.
Verse 2:
The thinker alone is Jiva. The one who merely exists bereft of all thoughts is Iswara. If the thinker Jiva desires to remain still by merely focusing the attention on the sense of pure existence in the form of I am, such Self attention will quell all thinking activity and transform itself into the mode of pure Being, Consciousness. Such a total resolution of the thinker with all his thoughts into the Source, is alone called Siva Sayujya, abiding to the state of Siva.
8. Without seeking the source of Aham vritti shining as I am this body, in everyone's awareness but constantly turning the attetntion of one's mind to the second and third persons which includes our own body is nothing but the play of ignorance. But if you raise the doubt, Is not the seeking of Aham vritti itself a pursuit of ignorance? Why should I then seek after a false entity in stead of pursuing the truth, then do listen to my answer!
contd.
Subramanian
I found an interesting verse in Tattuvaraya's 'Amrita Saram' about the nature of prarabdha.
If the body is a result of karma, then it would mean that the body existed before to perform the karma. If karma is eternal, then liberation will never be attained. The fundamental cause of prarabdha is ignorance. (verse 80)
Dear David,
Thanks for Tattvaraya's verse. It is, I think, one of the typical advaitic paradoxes. Like Verse 5 of Sri Arunachala Ashtakam! It is like churning the mind with mind.
Thanks once again.
Incidentally Sorupa Saram, has it
been translated into English by you or any others? I checked up, the MP from 2005, it is not there.
Dear Ravi,
Thanks for the detailed notes on
Mrs. Noye. I have not been able to readily put my hands into Golden Jubilee Souvenir, 1946. Thanks once again.
ATMA VICHARA PADIGAM contd.
9. The reason for the progressive attenuation and eventual annihilation of the 'I-thought' by tracing the source of the false Aham vritti is just this: The 'I thought' is the scent for finding the true Self as it is nothing but a ray emanating from the Source of our deathless Being. By training the powerful searchlight of our attention and latching it onto this ray without any lapse [pramada], the length of this ego-ray progressively diminishes and finally disappears leaving in its wake the pure "I am" shining without any veil of all limiting attributes. Thus though the 'I thought' is a false entity, it is called a useful 'leading error' as by holding on to it one arrives at the Swarupa of oneself. Sri Bhagavan emphasizes that attention on Aham vritti leads to Aham Sphurti [or Aham Sphurna] which alone bestows Aham Bodha [or aparoksha Jnana, Self Knowledge].
10. Do not ever take up any work with egoistic feeling that 'this duty has to be performed only by me'. There is nothing in the world that happens by your will power nor are you a truly existent entity. Understand this fact right at the outset and weed out the egoistic doership attitude in your daily life. Then you will see that all your duties get carried out by a higher power automatically, while your inner peace will always remain full to the brim.
[From MP Oct-Dec 2007]
'Does not Advaita aim at becoming
one with God?'
Sri Bhagavan: 'Where is becoming one with God? The thinker is himself ever the Real, a fact which he ultimately realizes.'
Sri Bhagavan here, as always, definitely eliminates the distinction between the individual and God, supporting the Srutis by experience. Being means eternal existence, which is God or eternal truth. And as we admit only one existence, namely our own, of which alone we are irrefutably sure, it follows that we are Being - we are now and for ever God Himself or Itself. Advaitins like us are not rattled by dualists who consider the identification of man with God heretical. These have not the foggiest notion of what God is, but make Him in their own image and worship Him as a personality owning, both human weaknesses - partiality, jealousy, injustice, cruelty, petty mindedness, callousness, and what not - as well as omnipotence. And because their senses are all out, they can understand nothing which is not in terms of solid and liquid, of eyes, ears, and noses, and of their peculiar communal beliefs and customs. In this background, Sri Bhagavan's answer
will be clear to the reader.
[Reflections on Talks -S.S. Cohen.]
You can find Sorupa Saram here:
http://www.davidgodman.org/tamilt/Sorupa_Saram_final.pdf
Dear David,
Thanks for the information on
Sorupa Saram.
Talks Dated 27th Sep. 1935:
Q: Since the mind is scattered in
various worldly activities, amidst
it, dhyanam is impossible, it appears.
Sri B: It is not impossible. Your question is answered in Yoga Vasishtam.
1. Walk in the world as a complete
Jivan mukta in your own natural state, where the thoughts about things are totally lost and where such complete experience shines well.
2. Eradicating all the desires inside, without any desire and vasanas, walk in the outside world like anyone else.
3. Be sweet and broad minded, mix with the world but leave everything inside.
4. Inquire all the conditions and states, and understand the purport of the sublime state within and move in the world.
5. Have no attachments within, but in outside world move as if you have attachments, keep cool within and walk outside as if you have anxieties.
6. Have no delusion inside but in the world act as if you are deluded. Be actionless within and in outside world walk as you are an actor.
7. Since all creations are known to you within, keep this cosmic outlook for the outside world.
8. Bring in excitement, happiness, anger, anxiety, efforts and confusion in the outside world and be without any of these within.
9. Without any trace of ego, with cool heart, with the effulgence of Jnana, walk in the world.
10. without any dyads in all situations keep a samatva bhava and attend to your natural work in the outside world.
This is my perhaps, not too perfect translations of Tamizh version where all the 10 verses of Yoga Vasishtam have been given. In English version, it is only a summary. Sri Bhagavan mentions some of these aspects in His ULLadu Narpadu, Supplement.
[Tamil version - Viswanatha Swami]
... answered in Yoga Vasishtam ...
I cannot say that the Yoga Vasistha is my favourite book although I translated it into German but certainly this book influenced me most and summarizes my experience.
So one can say that my passion is not there were my truth lives...
Dear Clemens Vargas Ramos,
Yoga Vasistham is somewhat uninteresting to me also, because of plethora of interleaved stories. And all these stories are ten meters
above my head. There are said to be 55 stories and most of them are supra-normal. But if one could remove these stories and read only the Jnana Vichara portions it will
be quite interesting. That way, I find Ashta Vakra Gita is quite on the points without any story elements.
One day a sparrow refused to go out of the Hall. She sat adamantly and chirped her heart out until she had an audience of Sri Bhagavan. Sri Bhagavan who had utmost concern for all species listened to her complaint with patience and compassion and said: "What can I do? They have disturbed your nest. They will not allow you to build the nest here in Hall. So, please go and build your nest elsewhere."
After checking up with Madhavan, the attendant, He came to know that he had done it. Sri Bhagavan then said, "That is it. That is why the sparrows complained. The poor little ones...'
{Bhagavan Ramana - The Friend of All.]
Studying texts and stiff meditation can make you lose your Original Mind.
A solitary tune by a fisherman, though, can be an invaluable treasure.
Dusk rain on the river, the moon peeking in and out of the clouds;
Elegant beyond words, he chants his songs night after night.
On 05.06.1939, one devotee asked
Sri Bhagavan: "What is the difference between Iswara and a Mukta?
Sri Bhagavan:
Iswara and Jnani [mukta] are one and the same. But Jnani [mukta] forgets his real Self and with the strength of practice, realizes his true nature. But Iswara is not like that. He is nitya mukta and he does pancha-kritya [five fold activities] and therefore Iswara's
vritti is called Brahmakara Vritti. But it is like saying Samudrakara nadhi. [A river which is in the form of an ocean. Where is river in ocean?]. For Iswara and Jnani [mukta], the vritti is one only. But for incarnations, if there is prarabdha, the body will be changing till the end of kalpa. But for Jnanis [muktas] it is not so.
[Sri Ramana NinaivugaL, Annamalai Swami.]
Keeping His lotus-like hands on my shoulder, He would then walk with me from Veda Patasala as far as the dining room. He would also do this with my elder brother Swaminathan and
my cousin Padmavati. Even today, when I think of Sri Bhagavan's sparsa-diksha, my hairs stand on end.
It also brings to mind verse 72 of
Sri Arunachala Akshara Mana Maalai:
Let me not like an unsupported creeper droop and fade. Be a strong staff for me; hold me up and guard me, O Arunachala!
Sri Bhagavan showed to me in this clear and obvious way that He will always remain as my support.
Once, while I was in Sri Bhagavan's Presence, I was reciting Sri Ramana Dhyanam, a work written specifically for children by N.N. Rajan, a devotee of Sri Bhagavan. In the invocatory verse, I incorrectly recited, 'Sri Ramanaya loka guruve..' instaed of 'loka guruve..' Sri Bhagavan twice corrected me, asking me to say, 'loka guruve..'
Each of the eighteen paragraphs ends, 'Blissful Mauna Ramana, I prostrate to you; grace-bestowing Ramana, I prostrate to you,' and so on. I prostrated at the end of each paragraph.
Sri Bhagavan remarked: A single prostration is enough. And then He added, 'I have not so far heard anyone recite this work after memorizing it.'
[M.V. Sabapathy, SRI BHAGAVAN AND OUR FAMILY. Mountain Path, April-June 2006.]
I first heard of Sri Bhagavan from
the book, A Search in Secret India by Paul Brunton. How many people have been drawn to Sri Bhagavan due to this book! As I read Brunton's description of his entering the Hall
and beholding Sri Bhagavan sitting silently, surrounded by devotees, I felt my whole body respond, my heart leaping and hairs standing on end. I knew in that moment, that I had found my guru. I was so certain that I did not stop to wonder if he He would accept me as one of His own. When I saw a photo of Sri Bhagavan, I saw confirmation in His eyes and felt His living presence in the radiance of His glance.
From then on, there was a single focus for my life and my nature seemed to change. Everything I did could now be done as an offering to Sri Bhagavan, the Beloved One. I felt full energy. The Hill of Fire Sanctuary offered endless opportunities for creative service.....
My mind was taken up by thoughts of Sri Bhagavan and Sri Arunachala. Two books were my great joy and inspiration for many years. Talks and the Collected Works. I became attracted more and more to Sri Bhagavan's sublime hymns to Sri Arunachala. Reading them I never ceased to be breathtaken by the beauty of His words, even in translation. Mind became empty as Heart became full. Sri Arunachala Pancharatnam became especially dear to me; so much so that I had a strong desire to be able to read it in the original Sanskrit. Though I had tried previously to learn the Sanskrit letters, I had found the task too difficult. But now, as I studied the words of the hymn, one by one, the letters became familiar to me until I slowly learned to read. When I could read the hymn right through, I found that I wanted to sing it. As I emphasized the long sounds, a tune suggested itself. Many years later, when I heard the hymn sung in Sri Ramanasramam. I was greatly surprised to find that it was the same tune which I had been singing.
When I lay down at night to sleep, I would silently repeat the five verses in English until I drifted into sleep.
Be Thou the Sun and open the Lotus of my Heart in Bliss.
Was there ever a more beautiful prayer than this?
[Kamala Devi, Jnana Becomes Bhakti - Mountain Path, April - June 2006.]
ETHEL MERSTON:
Her time with Gurdjieff was the beginning of her life-long spiritual quest, one which eventually would lead her in 1934 to India, where she would meet Ramana Maharshi, J.Krishnamurti, Anandamayi Ma, Sri
Aurobindo and the Mother. Of all the great sages she met, it was Sri Bhagavan with whom she felt most connected.
In 1938, while in Europe to attend Krishnamurti's talks, Ethel met Pascaline Mallet, who asked her help in the translation of 'Who am I?' The next year, after attending talks at Krishnamurti's Rajghat College near Benares, Ethel, an avid gardener, arranged to manage the village that supplied food for the college. But before settling there she went to visit Sri Ramanasramam before travelling on to study Indian agriculture, attend another series of Krishnaji's talks in Rishi Valley and sightsee in Ceylon. So affected by Sri Bhagavan was Ethel, usually the extrovert, she spoke to no one. "The peace of His little hall, the beauty of the great hill towering up behind the Asramam and the dynamic look an peace of the Maharshi held me." On her second visit she felt 'the peace and relaxation in Sri Bhagavan's presence, His loving care for everyone, the magnetism of His emanations, all aroused one to an effort to self-remember and
inquire within -- watch and pray...The atmosphere radiating from Him drew me yearly thereafter
to His feet.' She finally settled at Sri Ramanasramam, making it her home until her death in 1967.
{MP Oct-Dec. 2008]
Subramanian, Yes Brunton's book "A search in secret India" drew alot of devotees to Ramana Maharshi and for that we have to be thankful.On reading the book years ago I was filled with wonder!
Later on Brunton seemed unsettled and Chadwick also commented "he was a plagiarist of the first order"
ETHEL MERSTON'S EXPERIENCES IN THE HALL:
For sometime, Ethel had noticed that without her asking a question, Sri Bhagavan would make some enlightening comment relevance to her work, whether on radiations, stillness, death or attention. She now found that even when she was not present, a remark addressing her work of the day would me made! Her young friend Ramanananda [Swami Ramanagiri, the Swedish Sadhu?] would often report to her Sri Bhagavan's remarks during the evening talks with the men. One evening Sri Bhagavan had spoken on one perennial subject of Ethel's work - activity of the mind and mind's relationship to the Self. "Quieting the mind and stilling the mind are different," He had said. "A Jnani [self realized soul, living in a permanent state of God-consciousness] is like the screen of a cinema on which the picture [mind] plays; the picture scenes [mind-thoughts] go on, but the Jnani pays no attention to them; just as, to the screen, the changing pictures are immaterial to it, it pays no attention to them."
The next day, Ramanananda told her that Sri Bhagavan had also said:
"In broad full sunlight we cannot see the radiations, which do not mean that it is not radiating, but simply that we cannot see it, we can only see a limited beam of it.
Into the Self, senses cannot come, so with our senses, we cannot see the full sun. This does not mean that the radiations, because sensed, are stronger than the full radiations unsensed. Contrariwise, it is because it is limited that it cannot be sensed."
Ethel understood from this that full light is complete stillness, a vibration so fast it seems still; complete stillness neither heard, seen, nor sensed.
[Mountain Path - Oct-Dec 2008]
Dear hey jude,
Yes. Once a visitor came to Sri
Bhagavan's house at Madurai, and when asked where from he was coming, the visitor simply said: Arunachalam. The word rang the bell in Sri Bhagavan's mind and filled His Heart. The visitor's role in Sri Bhagavan's house ends with that. He does not come thereafter in His life.
Similarly one Satyamangalam Venkataramana Iyer came suddenly to Virupaksha Cave and spent 4 days with Sri Bhagavan. On each day, he wrote a poem and after returning home, he sent another poem to Sri Bhagavan. These five poems have been written even before
Sri Bhagavan writing Arunachala Akshara Mana Maalai and other works. Sri Iyer's role ended there. He never came again in the remaining 50 plus years of His life in Tiruvannamalai.
Similarly Paul Brunton's wonderful book directed many many to Sri Bhagavan. Though he came a few times to Tiruvannamalai, since he was a plagiarist, he was not liked by others and he was even refused to enter the Asramam. His role ended with that one great book. [Later he went to all sorts of places without peace and he did not benefit from the golden chance of meeting Sri Bhagavan.]
Some of these persons play a small but great role in Sri Bhagavan's life and then exit. But they are remembered in Sri Bhagavan's history even today.
ETHEL MERSTON'S EXPERIENCES:
Sri Bhagavan spoke on the death of
of an old devotee: "Why worry whether he has a body or not and what happens to it? You know he is. Speculation about what we can't know only gives material for doubt. The body is more or less transparent, and, finally, so transparent that even form is not seen but lost."
Ethel remembered her childhood conception of death, which, with the intuition of a child, was close to Sri Bhagavan's words -- the people became less and less, until nothing remained to be seen.
The subject of attention had long interested since her Prieure' days. One evening Sri Bhagavan gave Ramanananda lined paper, on which Ramanananda was to transliterate some Sanskrit. Ramanananda asked Sri Bhagavan about the lines, would they not interfere, what he should do about it, but subconsciously, he said to Ethel, he was really asking about passing thoughts, which impede sadhana or real thought.
Answered Sri Bhagavan: "Pay no attention to them and then they won't matter; the blackness of the Sanskrit will make them seem as faint that you won't be aware of them and they won't hamper you."
Two years earlier, His instruction to Ramanananda had been to use lines, which to Ramanananda meant outward scriptural regulations. The day after being told to just see through the lines, the instruction was to use his discretion as to when to used lined paper and when not and when to draw his own.
[Mountain Path, Oct-Dec 2008]
ETHEL MERSTON'S EXPERIENCES:
Ethel was trying to use her will to concentrate. Sri Bhagavan spoke to the men of the danger of strengthening one's will in this way, since the ego can also use it. Speaking metaphorically of the mind chamber, He said:
"It's an open space which first we have to protect by high fencing against outside thoughts -- intruding pigs. Then, when the space is well fenced, we have to chase out the pigs [thoughts] already in, by surrendering them to the Self. In the open space then, within the fence, a bush of Self will each time grow up. When the whole space is covered with bushes, nothing can come in, there is no room."
Hearing this from Ramanananda the next day, Ethel tried visualizing it. She first visualized a fence in the center of which a chalice which grew into a lake. With 'I-thought' Ethel herded the pigs into the lake, for the water led to the heart. A drop of water - meaning a drop of the Self - fell onto the ground, and in time the drops would water the whole ground with 'I-thought'. As Ethel watched, she felt the impulse to attend to the pigs rather than the water center. Only when the pigs intruded should they be noticed. Ethel wondered if this was the meaning of the Biblical story of the Gadarene swine. The next day she continued visualizing the theme, and saw that as one offers flowers in homage and does not smell or savor them, so should the intruding thoughts be offered without toying with them. They should be passed right to the center.
That evening Sri Bhagavan addressed the Asramam peacock: "The wire netting fence is not for you, but to protect you against outsiders. To the outsider the netting makes a crisscross pattern on your body, but in reality, your body is not affected by it, you are free inside the cage."
Ethel thought the netting, the fence, was will; the cage the chamber of the mind, the temple; the peacock, the intellect and highest power of the soul; the peacock's perch, the Self. Outside things attract the peacock who then tries to leave the perch to go to them.
[Mountain Path, Oct-Dec. 2008]
"If you make your outlook that of wisdom, you will find the world to be God. Without knowing Brahman, how will you find His all pevasiveness?"
The 'outlook of wisdom' is that of the Jnani who has realized Brahman, which he finds to be the source of the world, but also its pervader, nay its very self - it warps and woofs, its very stuff and texture. But this all pervasiveness of God cannot be
perceived till the realization of the Self has been fully achieved in Sahaja Samadhi. To tell the unrealized person that the world is God is like writing it on water -- meaningless. Ask him first to realize God or Brahman, and he will cease to puzzle, but will try to understand.
[Reflections on Talks - S.S.Cohen.]
"The world is not external. The impressions cannot have an outer origin, because the world can be cognized only by consciousness."
What is the world? Sri Bhagavan answers, "impressions in the mind."
Do impressions have a source? Modern psychology repudiates, "Yes, the external stimuli," which Sri Bhagavan repudiates. The psychology have no proofs at all of a non-psychical stimulus located in outer space. Yogic experiences has shown that there exists no such thing as outer object or space, for if it were, it would not be known at all. What is not mental cannot impress the mind. Therefore, impressions rise from the consciousness itself, like the dream impressions which rise from the dreamer's mind and are perceived by it. The world cannot stand by itself, but has to depend upon consciousness to be known, or else how can we be sure that it exists at all? It is, for example, in the world we then perceive and the food we then eat were only figments of our imagination, we would be in as much a dilemma to prove it as we would, should such a challenge be thrown at us in the waking state about the Jagrat world as Jagrat food. For, while in dream we take the dream to be real as much as we take the waking to be real while in it.
[REFLECTIONS ON TALKS -S.S. COHEN.]
"Can the world exist without its percipient? Which is prior to other? The Being Consciousness, or the rising-consciousness? The Being consciousness is always there, eternal and pure. The rising consciousness rises forth and disappears. It is transient."
Sri Bhagavan follows the line of argument of the previous text that the thinker, whom He calls the Being consciousness, must precede his thoughts, - the world, -- which He calls the rising consciousness. The thinker is one and fixed whereas his thoughts are countless and ceaselessly change. Thus, the Being consciousness is "the eternal and pure Reality" and the Source of the rising consciousness, which is transient.
[Reflections on Talks - S.S. Cohen]
Hello Folks,
Could anyone help me locate the background music in the following video links of Ramana Documentary released by Ramana Ahram,NY.The song is a sannai/naadaswaram recital.It can be heard two times :
1)Ramana Maharshi - The Sage of Arunachala 1 of 8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx_fMmnS30I
video time from about 1.15 to about 1.53
2)Ramana Maharshi - The Sage of Arunachala 3 of 8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-X7wxmEPqc&feature=related
video from about beginning to 1:24
The recital is very uplifitng, probably suggesting the movements of Lord Chidambara himself.I am looking to get the full Naadaswaram recital of that song.Thanks.
-z
z,
This is neelAmbari raga.you may sample Sheik chinnamoulAnA's nAdhaswaram rendering of this rAga here(may not be the same song):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwfGz51vrp4
Namaskar.
Thanks Ravi.Apparently this Raaga:Neeladri, is meant to put one to sleep; where as the song in that 'The Sage of Arunachala' video is quite uplifting.It's probably the beats.Do you know what Raagas are close to Siva tAndava/Tillai?? Reading wikipedia; apparently there are many types of tAndava.I am not looking at Aahlaada(Vishnu) but at the next level and below Rudra Tandava.I am smiling that I have used the traditional names of vibrations which relate to the discussion we had about Sri Aurobindo naming the vibrations with the different names of Mother:) Thanks anyway.
-z
A typo in the previous post:neelAmbara not Neeladri.I googled around and found this article on 'Mallari':
http://www.carnatica.net/sangeet/nagaswaram-art.htm
Extract from the above article:
***
Each performance weaves a unique type of Mallari. During the Siva Tandava (the frezied dance of Lord Siva), his anklets gave rise to the Jati-s, "Tha dhi Tom Nam". This formed the basis of jatis for several percussion instruments like Mridangam. Further sounds emanating while striking the two hands on the mridangam produced "Dhim Dhim, Tham Tham". This forms the basis of the Mallari presentation, wherein the performer intertwines the Alarippu and the special jatis of the Tavil, "Kunda kundagu - Diruta Kundagu", to the raga Gambheeranata.
***
Apparently Mallari is in 'Gambheeranata' rAga.So Ravi the recital in that video could be Mallari?
It's interesting that when I heard the background sannAi/nAdaswaram recital(Mallari) of the Ramana Video I sensed this must be something to do with Lord Siva's dance though I never knew any of these.
No wonder the Sufis say put the books aside and bring out the instrument.Play this Mallari, increase the volume,sit in your chair, close your eyes,let your head make movements with the music just like the nandi/basavanna with mind totally lost on the music and one could slip into trance just like the whirling dervishes or the juices could rush up.
Mallari Sample:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3jTkRV4kyA
-z
z,
I just listened to the clipping again and it does sound like neelambari,especially the first clipping.
Yes,neelambari is associated with lullabies,but it is more to do with a calm repose than a slumber.A flute and a Nadhaswaram playing the same raga will have a different character,owing to the instrumental tonal colour.
I may well be wrong here as some of these ragas have similiar flourishes either in the ascent or the descent of the scale.
Coming to the type of siva dance music,there is a composition by gopalakrishna Bharati in his nandanar charitra keertanai-Tha Thai yendru AduvAr set to raga sindhu bhairavi(this is another placid raga and one may not associate with any dance like tune,least of all a dance of Nataraja.Yet the composer succeeds here in evoking this feel;after a few flourishes ,it reverts to the traditional feel of this raga)
You may watch Nithyasree mahadevan sing this song,sung as if she is rushing to catch the flight.Yet it will give an idea of the artists's conception of the dance of nataraja:
http://www.fulfillr.com/music/gallery/Tha-Thai-Endraduvar-Avar-Thatthi-Thai-Endraduvar-Sindhu-Bairavi-Ragam-Adi-Thalam-Gopala-Krishna-Bharathiyar-Smt-Nithyasri-Mahadevan-Songs
You may look for other artiste's version of this song.
Yes,music is something that can in a flash uplift one in an easy and spontaneous way.
Namaskar.
z,
You may like to listen to the varieties of mallari here:
http://www.hummaa.com/music/album/Mallari+(nadaswaram)/23269
It is quite well recorded as well.
Namaskar.
Dear Anon.,
The Raga that is most dear to Siva
is called Sankarabharanam. In ancient Tamizh ragas [PaN], it is called, Pazham Panchuram.
Muruganar's Tiruchuzhial Padigam and
Satyamangalam Venkataramana Iyer's
Ramana Sadguru, are in this Raga.
The latter is available in Sri Ramanasramam CD on weekly parayana.
Regarding Siva tandavam, there are 5 types. I shall give you the details soon.
On 10th June 1939, there was Maha Puja for Mother's Samadhi. That night, I went to the Asramam for food. There was a lot of crowd. The people pushed me here and there, and in the process, I lost my upper towel. I thought I could not eat that day, so I was about to return.
One devotee saw me and took me to the dining hall, separating the crowd. I had food. I told Sri Bhagavan about my struggle in the crowd and loss of my upper towel.
Sri Bhagavan said: It is all profit for you. That day onwards,
I decided to wear only a dhoti without upper towel. Who can change His plans?
[Sri Ramana NinaivugaL - Annamalai Swami.]
"The world is the result of your mind. Know your mind, then see the world. You will realize that it is not different from the Self."
This sums up the previous texts. The mind projects the world. In order, therefore, to know the world is by nature, the mind must be looked into. This investigation will ultimately lead to the discovery of the identity of the mind with the Self. So, "see the seer", or "know the knower" is the master key which opens the grand secret of the Self and the source of the world.
[Reflections on Talks. S.S.Cohen.]
"Is the world perceived after Self-realization?"
Sri Bhagavan: "What does it matter if the world is perceived or not? The Ajnani sees the Jnani active and is confounded. The world is perceived by both. But their outlooks differ. Take the cinema, for instance. Pictures move on the screen. Let the pictures disappear. What remains/ The screen alone. So also here. Even when the world appears, find out to whom it appears. Hold the substratum of the 'I'. When the substratum is held what does it matter if the world appears or disappears?"
One sympathizes with the questioner. His curiosity is a common weakness. In the beginning of this answer the Master wishes to draw attention to the fact that to the Jnani, there is neither gain by seeing the world, nor loss by not seeing it. What matters most is the Being, which is the man himself -- as he is in himself - self sufficient and perfect, and in this Being the Jnani is firmly established. It thus matters very little if he perceives the extraneous world or not. To speculate about the mental state of the Jnani is an idle labor, for it is anybody's guess, like the state of the Supreme Brahman. For both are one and the same, notwithstanding the appearance of activity on the part of the Jnani. This activity is, truly speaking, inactivity, like the movement of pictures on the screen, which in reality, do not exist. Here is no activity whatever on the screen, but only an appearance of it. As the screen alone is real, and the pictures are unreal, so is the Self alone real, not the action. Activity and the world in which it takes place are thus both unreal. The 'I' is the screen, the sentient seer and all pictures and the worlds are the insentient shows playing in, upon it.
Sri Bhagavan asserts that when you are confused by the sights, turn your attention upon yourself, their seer. Continue doing that again and again and you can bet on your assured success.
[Reflections on Talks. S.S. Cohen]
... Even when the world appears, find out to whom it appears. ...
Another approach with the same result is to look at all objects as simple ornaments in the space of absolute consciousness (like the nondual tibetan teachings or the Yoga Vasistha do). This includes in a natural way the perceiver as well.
It was early hours of the morning. Sri Bhagavan after finishing His bath went to the farther end of the Hall, to take His towel that hung from a horizontally suspended bamboo.
A sparrow has built a nest at one end of it an d had laid therein three or four eggs. While taking out His towel, Sri Bhagavan's hand came against the nest, which shook violently and one of the eggs dropped down and cracked. Sri Bhagavan was taken aback, aghast. He cried out to Madhava Swami, the personal attendant, "Look, look what I have done today!" So saying, He took the cracked egg in His hand, looked at it with His tender eyes, and exclaimed, "Oh!
the poor mother will be so sorrow stricken, perhaps angry with me also, at my causing the destruction of her expected little one! Can the cracked egg shall be pieced together again? Let us try!" So saying, Sri Bhagavan took a piece of cloth, wetted it, wrapped it around the broken egg and put it back in the mother's nest. Every three hours, He would take out the cracked egg, remove the cloth, place the egg on His roseate palm and gaze at it with His tender eyes for minutes together. What was Sri Bhagavan really doing? How can we say? Was He sending with those wonderful looks of gentle Grace, life-giving beams into the cracked egg, putting over new warmth and lift into it? That is a mystery none can solve. Yet He kept on saying, "Let the crack be healed! Cannot this be hatched even now? Let the little one come from the broken egg!"
The anxious concern and tenderness of Sri Bhagavan continued from day to day for about a week. The fortunate egg lay in the nest with its wet bandage cloth only to be fondled by Sri Bhagavan with divine touch and benign look. On the seventh day, He took out the egg, and with the astonishment of a school boy announced, "Look what a wonder! The crack has closed, and so the mother will be happy. She will hatch her egg after all! My God has freed me from the sin of causing a loss of life. Let us wait patiently for the blessed one to come out!"
A few more days passed and one fine morning, Sri Bhagavan found the egg had hatched. The wonder was that the bird understood enough to sit on the egg and hatch it, even after handled by man.
A little bird had come out. With a smiling face radiant with usual light, Sri Bhagavan took the baby sparrow in His soft hand, caressed it with His lips, stroked it with His soft hand, and showed it to all bystanders to admire. He was so happy that one little germ of life had been able to evolve in spite of the unhappy accident to it in the embryo.
Ah, what a concern for the meanest [only from human point of view!] of creation! Is it not heart of a most compassionate Mahatma who had shed His first tears of anxiety at the crack in the eggshell and then tears of joy at the birth of a new-born baby? Could there be any milk of kindness so sweet as this?
*
Karunaiyal ennai aaNdu nee... [Sri Arunachala Padigam, Verse 1]
*
Thaayai mulaiyai tharuvone...[Tiruvachakam, Ananda Maalai]
[BHAGAVAN RAMANA - A FRIEND OF ALL.]
Dear Clemens Vargas Ramos,
Yes. There is somewhat a similar idea in Sri Bhagavan's Sri Arunachala
Pancharatnam, Verse 5.
OZHIVIL ODUKKAM:
Some of you might have heard about this book, which in English means
'Eternal Repose upon Annulment'. This is an ancient Tamizh classic that focuses entirely on the practice of advaitic insight and was often referred to by Sri Bhagavan. The title also accommodates the following meanings:
1. Inherence upon removal of finitude.
2. Inherence in deathless Being.
The author KaNNudaiya VaLLalar, a saint about whom nothing definitive can be established except that he was born anywhere between 14th and 17th century, in Sirkazhi, and that very likely his parents were wealthy, and by his own admission is said to have attained enlightenment merely by contemplation and surrender to Tiru Jnana Sambandhar of Sirkazhi, the child saint and poet, who sang his first song at the age of 3.
This work is quite tough to understand and no complete English translation is available. Commentary by Tiruporur Chidambara SwamigaL is available in archaic Tamizh and is titled in favor of Saiva Siddhantic terminology. Recently a Tamizh book has been published by Sri Ramana Bhakta Samajam, Chennai 600 033, verse by verse, with comparable verse and prose quotes of Sri Bhagavan. In the issues of Mountain Path, 2004, a brief prose translation of the contents has been given by J. Jayaraman, Head of Asramam Library.
The saint advocates the direct path to Liberation which is Self Knowledge. He is critical of pedantry and postures yogic or otherwise, and pokes much fun at false disciples and false gurus, and their indulgent in practices which are touted as aids, but which become the very obstacles to Jnana. It is the ego-mind that sees bondage, nay, is bondage, and it is the ego-mind that seeks to transcend itself. The point is subtle and so the path is razor sharp, fraught with pit falls. KaNNudaiya VaLLalar accords the highest value to the grace of Guru.
In Ozhivil Odukkam, the saint-poet gives some nice similes and metaphors to highlight the points like immature disciple and incompetent guru.
1. Keep off from the wage earners and barterers parading, as gurus;
impostors all! The Supreme Guru is one who awaits the disciple and establishes the disciple in his own state. He does so, like Time, which by overseeing the ever changing moments, provides rhythmic duration. There are no adequate words to sing his praise,
as mind cannot grasp him.
The wage earner is not different from the false guru, who seek charges or profit. [Verse 3]
Compare this verse 271 of Guru Vachaka Kovai.
2. A river was in spate. A mother bear attempting to save her brood which had fallen into it, was swept away by the currents, with the brood clinging to her. A shepherd seated by the banks of the river, took the black flostam to be shepherd and jumped in to
save them, and for personal profit. Mother bear took to be a god send of a wooden plank!
The false teacher deluded by worldly craving, regards unworthy students to be worthy of his self professed wisdom. The unworthy student sees in the 'guru' a comfortable plank for his own survival. The 'guru' trapped by his own actions, cannot forsake the chosen group of students for 'greener' pasture. And even if the 'guru' did try to break free, the students by them are motivated enough, not to let go of a rare opportunity to gain worldly satisfaction that came their way through the 'guru's' grace! They perish together. [Verse 4]
Compare this with Tirumandiram 1680.
You have to merge into existence and become one. Then dive into consciousness, and become one with consciousness. And then dive into bliss.
Up to this, the teacher can teach. Everyone is satisfied when they reach here, but there is more. There is another part of the teaching which is so sacred, so secret, so sacredly secret. The key of this secret is with whom? Nobody knows. But I can say definitely that there is yet another secret. No one has asked. I have neuer heard of anyone going beyond and asking.
Here ends the matter. Really there is no end. lt is fathomlessness. No one has measured the depth. The depth of the ocean has been measured, the depth of the sky-, the depth of the planet, the limitation of the solar system have been measured. But this is not measured so far. The more you go, the more you like to know.
• • •
People say this transcendental experience cannot be described. But this is what I want to hear. Speaking from the yonder shore, describing the indescribable. From the silence, I want to hear some word that has not yet been conveyed.
People say it is beyond words. But still, I am in love with this description. So far I have not been successful in satisfying this, but you are young: you can help me.
POONJAJI, WAKE UP AND ROAR VOL 2
... No one has asked. I have neuer heard of anyone going beyond and asking ...
People - let them be worldy or spiritual - don't ask because they are desperately looking for contentment in THIS life.
OZHIVIL ODUKKAM:
Can a blind wretch panning for gold
in abandoned dirt-heaps be christened Kubera, the Lord of wealth? Can the mother sheep lead for young ones to the delights of the sweetness hidden within the hard cane? Can those teachers who are themselves within the ambit of the 36 tattvas, establish the seeker in the transcedance of mauna, as the Sadguru, who is the embodiment of the grace of mauna itself?
Here in this verse, two similes have been given. One is the blind man who is searching the dirt heaps to find out some gold coin.
He is himself blind, and the searched item is dirt heaps. How can he ever get a gold coin? A 'guru' who is still within the ambit of 36 tattvas is like the blind man. [Sri Bhagavan Himself has said in Who am I?: All the tattvas are like garbage. The Self is beyond that.]
The second example is the mother sheep. The sheep is a short animal and she is herself incapable of reaching the sugar cane. So she cannot chew the hard cane to discover the juice within.
She is satisfied with salty and thorn filled leaves of sugar cane, which normally hangs down from the cane tree. And so at a lower level. Hence she cannot also make the baby sheep to taste the sugar cane juice. But an elephant mother is different. The elephant can reach the cane at a height.
So she would taste the sweet juice of the cane in one wrench and gulp! She can give the broken cane to the baby elephant also to taste the juice.
A kriya guru [one who is eager to teach all rituals] is contrasted with the Jnana guru. The former initiates the students only in mantras and tantras, which are like salty leaves of sugar cane tree. The Jnana guru [who is like an elephant] has tasted the cane juice and he can also give it to the mature disciple. [Verse 5]
Here for this verse, the Chennai edition from Sri Ramana Bhakta Samajam, gives a verse in comparison from Prabhu Linga Leelai, Sadhakangathi 7. Here, the verse compares again a goat and an elephant. The goat can only taste the leaves which are salty and thorny. But an elephant can taste the sweet juice of the cane. They will also give to their babies the same stuff that they have consumed.
OZHIVIL ODUKKAM:
In Verse 6, the saint poet asks:
Is it possible for anyone to escape the consequences of the error of instructing another in the way to Liberation, without oneself abiding naturally as a Witness? One shudders even to think of it! This is like the traveler who wished to reach a far-off village he had never been to before. He received instructions from a stranger who had never been there himself. He soon loses way, and finds himself in a wilderness, unable to retrace
steps to his own village, or to find the road ahead.
The "teacher" claiming mastery in a field, he is a stranger to, must pay for his hypocrisy eventually and in full. The 'seeker' pays for his ignorance soon enough.
Verse 7 says that the Jnana Guru is one who watches the ebbing away of ignorance in the disciple, and who, upon discerning the maturing of that self in dissolving in the waves of bliss that arise, fixes him without tremor with the stillness of his mere gaze.
Compare this with the idea expressed in Verse 8 of ULLadu Narpadu.
OZHIVIL ODUKKAM:
Verse 8: This verse speaks about the
nature of transmission of a guru.
Just as a bee drinks the honey from far-away flowers and when full, returns to disgorge it into the cell of the honey comb, so too, in due course the Supreme Bliss of the Master will surely well up and overflow in a sacred transference to the disciple.
As the seasons of the year follow one another, each silently bidding its time, the devotee should serve his master, without demanding this or that, and await the master's initiation. The demand that seeks no object other than oneself is itself tapas. The communication manifesting from the guru's mauna, is the Sruti [Vedas] proceeding from the Self.
The grace could flow through his look, a thought, a touch or, through words of instructions. Sri Bhagavan explaining the Jnani's preferred mode of initiation through look, said that the other modes required the additional effort of manifesting traces of mind and body
Verse 9: As a lighted lamp, or the moon, or the Sun is to darkness, the word of the master transcends even grace in destroying the disciple's ignorance. Know that there is no trace of egoism. It is permanent in effect, like a rain of ambrosia. It is free from personality, like a voice from the sky, and is well intentioned like a good omen as seen from the effec on the disciple.
Verse 10: To the compassionate One, the enemy called ego is as dead as an illusion is devoid of reality. He is he very Bliss of the Self congealed into a form, which looms in front of the disciple, like the shadow person in the clear sky. The words that pour forth from such a one, are like, a] those of a man possessed, b] the cries of a warrior, c] words of an emperor, d] the public declarations of a love-sick youth, or e] the self destructive obsession of a suicidal maniac.
OZHIVIL ODUKKAM:
Verse 11: Through the deflation that Truth brings about over the reality, erroneously ascribed to objective experience, and fixing me therein, Sambandha of Sirkazhi, the pure being, the scholar in Tamizh, the knower of the Vedas, showed me the way, in his grace, as pointed out in this work.
Verse 12: The Self ever inheres as the unopposed, non dual plenum. And many are the means courted by those who are eager to be rid of the misery of the limitation called ego, which obstructs undifferentiated merger in the Self Without any reservations, we spread [our ware] bare, as it is, in order that you shall repose beyond impermanence, as Pure Being.
Compare here, ULLadu Narpadu, Verse 13 of Sri Bhagavan. Also Upadesa Undiyar, Verse 24, 26, 23, 8 and 9. Also, Sri Bhagavan's Sri Dakshinamurty Stotram, Tamizh versification, Verse 1.
Verse 13: This work Ozhivil Odukkam, is the work which truly reveals the Knowledge, which is agreeable to all the three, namely Scripture, the Master's Word, and one's own experience. This Scripture is the seed of all other works.
Dear Subramanian R., you write much. Momentarily 'it' has gripped you, right? Won't you tell us what happens inside yourself?
Dear Clemens Vargas,
What to say? One can surmise it as
ego's mischief. Another one can surmise that I am sharing some advaitic texts and various reminiscences about Sri Bhagavan.
As for me, there is peace inside,
and this peace, if it remains permanently within me, I may perhaps stop writing. And confine myself only to responses, which right now I am doing in another blog. No original post. Only responses.
And finally I may stop everything and only see the Webcam photograph, in Graham Boyd's blog.
Seeing the Hill a few times on a day, I am remembering Sri Bhagavan and His Old Hall & Samadhi Hall, and His sublime life for 54 years in Tiruvannamalai. I am following Verse 5 of Sri Arunachala Mahatmyam. Anyway considering my family problems, I cannot live in
Tiruvannamalai, as per Verse 6 of the same Mahatmyam.
I am only fingers with which Sri
Bhagavan types all the comments.
If there are mistakes, one can conclude that the ego has in between, without allowing Sri Bhagavan to do the typing.
Friends,
An excerpt from Chapter 22 of The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna:
ADVICE TO AN ACTOR
Saturday, May 24, 1884
Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on the small couch in his room. Rakhal, M., and, several
other devotees were present. A special worship of Kali had been performed in the temple
the previous night. In connection with the worship a theatrical performance of the
Vidyasundar had been staged in the natmandir.
The Master had watched a part of it that morning. The actors came to his room to pay him
their respects. The Master, in a happy mood, became engaged in conversation with a fair
complexioned young man who had taken the part of Vidyāand played his part very well.
MASTER (to the actor): "Your acting was very good. If a person excels in singing, music,
dancing, or any other art, he can also quickly realize God provided he strives sincerely.
"Just as you practise much in order to sing, dance, and play on instruments, so one should
practise the art of fixing the mind on God. One should practise regularly such disciplines as
worship, japa, and meditation.
"Are you married? Any children?"
ACTOR: "Yes, sir. I had a girl who died. Another child has been born."
MASTER: "Ah! A death and a birth, and all so quickly! You are so young! There is a
saying: 'My husband died just after our marriage. There are so many nights for me to weep!'
You are no doubt realizing the nature of worldly happiness. The world is like a hog plum.
The hog plum has only pit and skin, and after eating it you suffer from colic.
"You are an actor in the theatre. That's fine. But it is a very painful profession. You are
young now; so you have a full, round face. Afterwards there will be hollows in your
cheeks. Almost all actors become like that; they get hollow cheeks and big bellies.
(Laughter)
"Why did I stay to watch your performance? I found the rhythm, the music, and the melody
all correct. Then the Divine Mother showed me that it was God alone who acted in the
performance in the roles of the players."
continued....
Friends,
The gospel of Sri Ramakrishna continued...
ACTOR: "Sir, what is the difference between lust and desire?"
MASTER: "Lust is like the root of the tree, and desires are branches and twigs.
Passions should be directed to God
"One cannot completely get rid of the six passions: lust, anger, greed, and the like.
Therefore one should direct them to God. If you must have desire and greed, then you
should desire love of God and be greedy to attain Him. If you must be conceited and
egotistic, then feel conceited and egotistic thinking that you are the servant of God, the
child of God.
"A man cannot see God unless he gives his whole mind to Him. The mind is wasted on
'woman and gold'. Take your own case. You have children and are occupied with the
theatre. The mind cannot be united with God on account of these different activities.
"As long as there is bhoga, there will be less of yoga. Furthermore, bhoga begets suffering.
It is said in the Bhagavata that the Avadhuta chose a kite as one of his twenty-four gurus.
The kite had a fish in its beak; so it was surrounded by a thousand crows. Whichever way it
flew with the fish, the crows pursued it crying, 'Caw! Caw!' When all of a sudden the fish
dropped from its beak, the crows flew after the fish, leaving the kite alone.
"The 'fish' is the object of enjoyment. The 'crows' are worries and anxiety. Worries and
anxiety are inevitable with enjoyment. No sooner does one give up enjoyment than one
finds peace.
Money is the source of trouble
"What is more, money itself becomes a source of trouble. Brothers may live happily, but
they get into trouble when the property is divided. Dogs lick one another's bodies; they are
perfectly friendly. But when the house- holder throws them a little food, they get into a
scrap.
"Come here now and then. (Pointing to M. and the others) They come here on Sundays and
other holidays."
continued....
Friends,
The gospel of Sri Ramakrishna continued...
ACTOR: "We have holidays for three months, during the rainy and harvest seasons. It is
our good fortune to be able to visit you. On our way to Dakshineswar we heard of two
persons-yourself and Jnanarnava."
MASTER: "Be on friendly terms with your brothers. It looks well. You must have noticed
in your theatrical performance that if four singers sing each in a different way, the play is
spoiled."
Actor: "Yes, sir. Many birds are trapped in a net; if they all fly together and drag the net in
one direction, then many of them may be saved. But that doesn't happen if they try to fly in
different directions.
"One also sees in a theatrical performance a person keeping a pitcher of water on his head
and at the same time dancing about."
Do your duties and remember God
MASTER: "Live in the world but keep the pitcher steady on your head; that is to say, keep
the mind firmly on God.
"I once said to the sepoys from the barracks: 'Do your duty in the world but remember that
the "pestle of death" will some time smash your hand. Be alert about it.'
"In Kamarpukur I have seen the women of carpenter families making flattened rice with a
husking-machine. One woman kicks the end of the wooden beam, and another woman,
while nursing her baby, turns the paddy in the mortar dug in the earth. The second woman
is always alert lest the pestle of the machine should fall on her hand. With the other hand
she fries the soaked paddy in a pan. Besides, she is talking with customers; she says: 'You
owe us so much money. Please pay it before you go.' Likewise, do your different duties in
the world, fixing your mind on God. But practice is necessary, and one should also be alert.
Only in this way can one safeguard both―God and the world."
continued....
Friends,
The gospel of Sri Ramakrishna continued...
MASTER: "Proof? God can be seen. By practising spiritual discipline one sees God,
through His grace. The rishis directly realized the Self. One cannot know the truth about
God through science. Science gives us information only about things perceived by the
senses, as for instance: this material mixed with that material gives such and such a result,
and that material mixed with this material gives such and such a result.
"For this reason a man cannot comprehend spiritual things with his ordinary intelligence.
To understand them he must live in the company of holy persons. You learn to feel the
pulse by living with a physician."
ACTOR: "Yes, sir. Now I understand."
MASTER: "You must practise tapasya. Only then can you attain the goal. It will avail you
nothing even if you learn the texts of the scriptures by heart. You cannot become
intoxicated by merely saying 'siddhi' over and over. You must swallow some.
"One cannot explain the vision of God to others. One cannot explain conjugal happiness to
a child five years old."
ACTOR: "How does One realize the Atman?"
Just then Rakhal was about to take his meal in the Master's room. He hesitated at the sight
of so many people. During those days the Master looked on Rakhal as Gopala and on
himself as Mother Yasoda.
MASTER (to Rakhal): "Why don't you eat? Let the people stand aside if you wish it. (To a
devotee) Keep some ice for Rakhal. (To Rakhal) Do you intend to go to Vanhooghly? Don't
go in this sun."
Rakhal sat down to his meal. Sri Ramakrishna again spoke to the actor....
MASTER (to the actor): "You asked me about Self-realization. Longing is the means of
realizing Atman. A man must strive to attain God with all his body, with all his mind, and
with all his speech. Because of an excess of bile one gets jaundice. Then one sees
everything as yellow; one perceives no colour but yellow. Among you actors, those who
take only the roles of women acquire the nature of a woman; by thinking of woman your
ways and thoughts become womanly. Just so, by thinking day and night of God one
acquires the nature of God.
"The mind is like white linen just returned from the laundry. It takes on the colour you dip
it in."
ACTOR: "But it must first be sent to the laundry."
MASTER: "Yes. First is the purification of the mind. Afterwards, if you direct the mind to
the contemplation of God, it will be coloured by God-Consciousness. Again, if you direct
the mind to worldly duties, such as the acting of a play, it will be coloured by worldliness.".
Namaskar.
On 23rd July 1939, at night, Maurice
Frydman asked Sri Bhagavan:
"You have written that in kriya
[that is in daily actions], one should not show advaitam. Why?
Is not all one? Why there should
be differentiation?"
Sri Bhagavan: Are you willing to sit on my sofa?
Maurice Frydman: Aha, I can sit.
But the Sarvadhikari and others will then drive me out, after nicely beating me.
Sri Bhagavan: Yes. That is true. No one would tolerate. Just because all is one, if you hold the
hand of a woman and pull her, will the general public remain quiet? The same is the case. There is one story about rishis going to King Janaka, with a brahmin, an outcaste, a cow,an elephant and a dog and wanted to test Janaka. The king sent the brahmin to the brahmins quarters, the outcaste to their quarters, the cow to the cowshed, and the elephant to the elephant's shed. He gave good vegetarian food to the brhmin, the suitable food for the outcaste, grass to the cow and balls of cooked rice and ghee to the elephant. So, in practice, even a Jnani would treat others differently, as per their innate nature.
[Sri Ramana NinaivugaL - Annamalai Swami.]
Sri Lakshmana Sarma [WHO], we all know only as a devotee of Sri Bhagavan and one who composed his version of Sad Vidya [Sad Darsanam.]
But at the same time, he believed in Nature Cure and founded the Indian Institute of Natural Therapeutics, a Nature Cure Sanatorium, and was also the founder editor of the monthly journal The Life Natural.
He was specially invited to cure Vallabhai Patel, in 1942, when he was seriously ill. At the advanced age of 85, he wrote Vedanta Saram in Sanskrit, and his magnum opus Practical Nature Cure, a book of 720 pages!
By the end of Feb. 1965, he stopped eating cereal food.
A month later, he stopped all solid food, and was subsisting on juices only. Thirteen days before his death, he stopped even the juice and was only taking water. Just before his death on 3rd May 1965, he took spoonfuls of Ganga water and peacefully passed away.
[Mountain Path, Aradhana, 2004]
Dear Anon [z],
Your post of 9th March.
There are five places where there
are Sabhas [Court Hall] where Siva
danced different types of dances.
1. Thillai - Chidambaram - Kanaka Sabha.
2. Tiruvalangadu - Ratna Sabha.
3. Madurai - Silver Sabha.
4. Tirunelveli - Brass Sabha.
5. Kuttralam - Chitra [Hall with paintings] Sabha.
Here the types of dances are not mentioned. There is mention only of Halls.
There are again 9 types of dances.
1. Bhujanga Lalita Tandava - dances like serpent.
2. Gaja Samhara Murti - dance after vanquishing Gajamuka Sura. The demon with elephant face.
3. Oordhva Tandava Murti - Where
Siva keeps one leg perpendicular showing the sky.
4. Kalasamhara Murti - Where he dances after killing Yama.
5. Gangala Murti - Dance with skulls as garland.
6. Bhikshatana Murti - Dance as a begger.
7. Tripura Samhara Murti - dance after vanquishing tripura, the three cities.
8. Bhairva Murti - dance after punishing Daksha and other gods.
9. Uthirapathi Murti - Dance facing north.
OZHIVIL ODUKKAM [contd]
14. Other methods like chanting or
rituals, create new attachments. For those who, by previous merit, are already unattached, this teaches how to get rid of limitations.
15. This teaching is for those who serve the Master absolutely, as breath serves the body by providing life to it, as eyelids protect the eyes, by winking without thought of injury to themselves, and as thread follows unquestioningly the direction of the needle. The disciple hesitates not, when directed by the guru to enter the fire, take on a tiger, or engage a snake. This teaching, will not serve those who lack the wealth of ardor for liberation, just as fire cannot burn the watery stem of the banana tree, nor the philosopher's stone turn an earthen pot into gold.
16. The study of this work will occasion the Bliss of Self only in those whose heart longing can transmute my words into experience, in the same way as the sensual man would himself become the five shades of waves of thrill, which arise from the five kinds of physical embrace embodied in the sensual song of an adept. In the same way, as a lotus blossoms effortlessly at sunrise and as a music lover listens to divine music.
17. A work, which does not bow [to any other since Ozhivil Odukkam, is really concerned with non dual Self, cannot have an obeisance to God. In being so, where is the merit in offering obeisance to the evil of imagined separation?
[This verse is terse and seemingly out of context.]
{Mountain Path, Deepam 2004}
OZHIVIL ODUKKAM [contd.]
18. The loud moaning, of the bereaved one plunged into oblivion
of sorrow, does not keep harmony
with the ritual and rhythmic nuances of the drum, the piccolo, and the death dances being performed by professionals on the occasion of a bereavement in a household.
19. Words cannot touch the Space of deflated ego. Can one expect that It too can be approached and touched in the way, a sense ob object is approached by one's mind? Just as the experience of the wide ocean is miniaturized and delivered within the eye piece of a handy telescope, so also I shall say a few words about the ego free state. With a pure mind make out its significance, in the way a lover makes out the promised
rendezvous through an encouraging glance from the object of love.
20. Can speech or mind reach the Silence of Bliss remaining unbroken and non dual in its state of awareness itself as Being, as against being possessed of awareness, like the elephant's trunk, effortlessly serving non dually as both nose and hand. One identifies a distant spot when told, 'the house on which the crow is perched'. Also one sees the crescent moon by looking beyond the pointing finger. So too, you shall by insight realize Siva.
Sri Dakshinamurti Swami:
Tiruvarur Dakshinamurti Swami, a distinguished Tamizh saint, was born through the grace of Lord Arunachaleswara, about 200 years ago.
His parents, Meenambika and Sivachidambaram Pillai, were living
in Kilathur, small village close to Tiruchirapalli. Sri Dakshinamurti was born to their parents, after a long years of marriage, when they were constantly praying to Siva, in various temples. When they were praying to Arunachaleswara and Unnamulai, in Tiruvannamalai, they had a dream where Lord appeared and said: "I will myself come to you and remove the mental grief. Return home." Ten months later, a male child was born and the parents named him as Arunachala.
The child showed unusual traits in his life. He never spoke to anyone. He never cried. He never troubled his mother for food.
When the father thought that the child was dumb, he went to one sannyasin and told him about the child. The sannyasin agreed to see the child. When the sannyasin went into the house, he found the boy sitting in padmasana, absorbed in the Self. The sannyasin then told the father, 'Your son has come to redeem your clan and many other devotees. He is not dumb. Go and speak to him.
Sivachidambaram, the father asked his son, 'Why are you remaining with your eyes closed? Arunachalam replied: I am remaining still - Summa irukkiRen.
The sannyasin then asked, 'Who are you that is remaining still?
Arunachalam replied: You yourself are I. And I myself am you.
The sannyasin responded by saying 'Satyam, Satyam' and the sannyasin vanished.
The biography of Sri Dakshinamurty Swami [Arunachalam], then describes various miracles through him. Many years later, his parents died at the same time. After performing funeral rites for his parents, he left home for good.
{An article by Dr.T.V.Venkatasubramanian & David Godman - Mountain Path, Oct-Dec 2005)
Sri Dakshinamurti Swami:
Arunachalam [hereinafter to be called as Swami] went on travel and
reached Tiruvotriyur where he stayed in the Samadhi shrine of Pattinathar. In the town, there was a mad brahmin girl who was behaving in an inappropriate way and her father tried all methods to cure her.
Finally, he prayed to Siva of Tiruvotriyur temple and said: "Cure my daughter of her disease within three days. If you don't, I will myself poison her and kill her." That night Siva appeared in the brahmin's dream and said: "O devotee! There is a Jnana Siddha, a Jivan mukta wandering naked around the Samadhi of Pattinathar. Take your daughter to him. If he comes out of his inner absorption in the Self, and glances your daughter, she will be cured."
The brahmin took his daughter to Swami and found Swami in nishta. Sometime later, he came out of Self-absorption and looked at the girl, who immediately became normal. She walked around Swami and prostrated to him. Then she addressed Swami saying, "Lord! As a result of your glance, the bodily ailment has left me. Please now bestow your glance so that the disease of birth will also be removed. Swami then responded by saying: If you renounce the concepts of Jagat, Jiva and Para, which are all known, and remain in the Consciousness that knows them, the disease of samsara will cease.
The girl returned home, shut herself in a room, and meditated continuously on the upadesa she had received. On the eighth day, she attained Videhamukti.
Swami then travelled to Karaikal where a Muslim saint, Mastan Swami, asked him, 'What is the state in which you and I can remain the all pervasive Reality?'
Swami replied: "If you remain in the state in which objective knowledge, you, I, this, and that - is no more, then you can remain in the all pervasive Reality."
Swami then came to Tiruvarur and his wandering came to an end, and he stayed there roaming naked, till the rest of his life.
[An article by Dr. T.V. Venkatasubramanian & David Godman, Mountain Path, Oct-Dec. 2005]
Friends,
An excerpt from The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna:
The Master talked with M. - now standing, now pacing up and down the long verandah.
MASTER: "A little spiritual discipline is necessary in order to know what lies within."
M: "Is it necessary to practise discipline all through life?"
MASTER: "No. But one must be up and doing in the beginning. After that one need not
work hard. The helmsman stands up and clutches the rudder firmly as long as the boat is
passing through waves, storms, high wind, or around the curves of a river; but he relaxes
after steering through them. As soon as the boat passes the curves and the helmsman feels a
favourable wind, he sits comfortably and just touches the rudder. Next he prepares to unfurl
the sail and gets ready for a smoke. Likewise, the aspirant enjoys peace and calm after
passing the waves and storms of 'woman and gold'.
Namaskar.
On 25th June 1939, when a devotee
was conversing with Sri Bhagavan, the following were told by Sri Bhagavan.
1. The Word of Jnani is the Word of the formless divine.
2. To try to measure a Jnani's conduct, is like measuring the sky with your fingers and elbows.
3. Atma is subtler than a needle's sharp edge, it is smaller than the atom, very subtle and larger than the largest.
[Sri Ramana NinaivugaL - Annamalai Swami's notes]
In those days, the ashramites were
discouraged from rearing a cat, as they would catch birds and squirrels and eat them. But one day, a lame cat came to the Asramam limping. The ashramites tried to drive her away. But she did not. Then Sri
Bhagavan said, "Poor thing, a Nondi
[lame] cat. Let her stay in the Asramam."
Looking at the cat, Sri Bhagavan's compassion for the cat had overflowed. So the lame cat became one of the ashramites. They named her 'Nondi'.
But this lame cat in the Asramam, annoyed everybody by giving birth to kittens every six months. Therefore, one day, without informing even Sri Bhagavan, the lame cat along with her kittens were taken to a village about 20 miles away and left there. Sri Bhagavan missed the cat but did not say anything.
After a few days, suddenly the lame cat reappeared in the Asramam, in front of Sri Bhagavan. He was very happy to see the cat again. He said: "You have defeated all their efforts. Good! Come, come." He fondly cared for the cat. The ashramites also got used to the cat and her kittens.
The more one hears about the incidents portraying the extraordinary human side of Sri Bhagavan, the more one craves to hear about Him. "THE PERFECT MAN. PURUSHOTTAMA, THE IMMACULATE RAMANA BHAGAVAN."
[Bhagavan Ramana - The Friend of All.]
Sri Dakshinamurti Swami:
In Tiruvarur:
A man called Somanatha Mudaliar, who
came from Chittoor, had been suffering from a colic that did not respond to any treatment. As a last resort, he went to Chidambaram and prayed to Lord Nataraja to rid of this suffering. On the third day of his visit there, when he was unable to bear the pain any longer, he went into the Lord's presence and said: "I cannot bear this pain any more, I am going to kill myself."
As he was preparing to execute this act, a voice from the shrine said: "Your disease will not get cured here. Go to Tiruvarur and pray to Dakshinamurti. You will get immediate and permanent relief. Do not commit suicide."
Mudaliar went to Tiruvarur and worshipped at the Dakshinamurti shrine in the Tygaraja Temple, but the colic did not subside even a little. Not knowing what to do next, he was totally bewildered. That night Lord Nataraja appeared as a sannyasin in his dream and said to him: 'This is not the Dakshinamurti I mentioned to you.
There is one wandering naked in this place. Go to him instead.'
Early the following morning, Mudaliar started searching for Swami by making inquiries about him. He eventually found Swami in the company of dogs, eating food that had been discarded on leaf plates which had been thrown outside a house. Realizing that this was the person he was looking for, Mudaliar prostrated to him with great devotion.
Swami looked at him, placed the food he had in Mudaliar's mouthand asked: "Did Natesan [Lord Nataraja] send you here?"
Mudaliar obtained instant and permanent cure from the pain that had been afflicting him for many years. It was only after this event that Swami came to be known as Dakshinamurti Swami, a name given by Lord Nataraja himself.
After this incident, Swami's fame spread far and wide, and many people came to see him.
[Dr. T.V. Venkatasubramanian & David Godman, Mountain Path, Oct-
Dec. 2005]
Sri Dakshinamurti Swami:
One day the king of Thanjavur, who ruled the area in which Tiruvarur was located, paid a visit to the town to witness the famous car festival. Since he was a great devotee of Swami, he wanted to donate a village to him.
He told one of his officials, "Today I would like to have darshan of Dakshinamurti Swami and offer him as a gift a village from this area. Choose a suitable village and inform his disciples about the matter."
The official short listed a few villages on a chit and showed it to the local tahsildar, saying, 'Go to Swami's place and tell his disciples that they should accept one of the villages mentioned in this note when the king comes to to see Swami.'
The tahsildar informed a senion disciple of Swami of the king's wish and gave him the list of villages to choose from. The disciple then took the list to Swami
However, before he could enter the hall in which Swami was lying on a cot, Swami called out to him. "All the world are mere appearance in us, like blue, yellow and other colors in the sky. Someone is gifting a little land and another person is accepting it. Is that person [who accepts] not someone who wants to quench his thirst by drinking mirage water?"
As soon as the disciple heard these remarks, he became afraid. He threw away the note and never discussed it with Swami.
[An article by Dr. T.V. Venkatasubramanian & David Godman - Mountain Path, Oct-Dec. 2005.]
Sri Dakshinamurti Swami:
In Tiruvarur, when Swami was living, on one occasion, a group of brahmin sannyasins, came to Tiruvarur, on pilgrimage. Though they were aware of of the supreme state of Dakshinamurti Swami, they were reluctant to go and see him because they felt that the traditionalists among the brahmins might find fault with them. So, they were hoping to for a chance
meeting to take place. During their visit, Swami was resting on the stone steps of the famous Kamalalayam tank. The sannyasins heard about this and, on the pretext of doing pradakshina of the tank, went to the place where Swami was lying. When they arrived, they saw Swami lying on the stone steps indifferent to the hot sunshine. Overwhelmed by the divine appearance of Swami, the chief sannyasin thought to himself,'Won't it be more comfortable if Swami lies in the shade of a tree?'
Responding to his unspoken thought, Swami replied, "Can insentient tree offer comfort to the Self, which is consciousness? If it can, then mirage water will cool a hot region. The origin of perception of differences in the absence of true vision. The snnyasins took this as Upadesa and were immensely pleased, by his sastement.
A few days before his Maha Samadhi, Swami exclaimed: "Finished! Finished! Completely Finished! and withdrew into a state of nishta [absorption in the Self]. He attained Maha Samadhi towards the end of August 1835 and his Samadhi Shrine is located at Madapuram in Tiruvarur.
concluded.
[Dr. T.V. Venkatasubramanian & David Godman, Mountain Path, Oct-Dec 2005.]
"A powerful Tsunami hits Japan this afternoon. The magnitude is said to be 8.4. Colossal damage. Indian channels showed such live pictures."
Maneesha, hope you are safe with
Sri Bhagavan's grace.
INDIA TSUNAMI - 2004:
From an article by Kristal Forest,
in Mountain Path, Oct-Dec. 2005.
ALL COMMOTIONS ECLIPSED BY MIGHT
TSUNAMI OF SILENCE:
These are my headlines for Jayanthi
at Ramanasramam this 125th year. Yes, it is bustling tourist energy here in Tiruvannamalai in December and January 2005. A Japanese tourist was overheard complaining in a local tea stall that the energy was not good for meditating.
An American woman here on her first visit said that Ramana's Peace was hard to find in the Old Hall, with tourist's cell phones going off and sometimes getting answered too; huge numbers of bodies moving in and out of the well made screen door; and families from every part of India filling the Asramam....
So I found myself a protester to these occasional comments in the restaurants and coffee cafes. I tried various responses from a humorous "Ramana still lives here" to a more subtle suggestion that we just had to go deeper beneath the commotion. And I found that the most of the dedicated meditators who chose the Old Hall as their principal retreat for sitting agreed. The surface noise on any normal day will include screeching of air horns from trucks and buses on the main road, conversations in many Indian languages outside and around the hall, cellphone musicals, children crying etc.,....
It was the eve before Jayanti 2004-05. All preparations seemed to be complete. I walked into the Hall and I have done every morning for two months around 6.00 pm. The evening chanting was getting ready to begin...On this Thursday evening, I came in with nothing much in my head and there was a seat empty on the wall facing north towards Arunachala. I sat facing east looking to Bhagavan's couch...I felt I was seeing the mountain as ot rea;;u was; a massive consuming fire and light. Being an experienced meditator I did not make any efforts to understand or to watch the mind. The Presence was, then I saw Him leaving the Hall. The tall long limbs, slender golden brown but radiating. He walked out of the screen door and turned left towards the tank. At that moment a terrific chorus of peacock cries arose together... I thought that Ramana has found an astral body and made His birthday gift.....
The next day, the crowds packed all of the Asramam's passageways and buildings, every nook and cranny. They closed the gates and doors on the temple. I had never seen so many people in the Asramam. Obviously it was my first Jayanti. I was horrified to when I realized all these people were staying to eat. I thought I wouldn't take up a place and looked to exit but there was no escaping as the crowd pressed on toward the dining area beneath Arunachala's slopes. So I filed peacefully to my banana leaf, the meal was elegantly served and calmly cooked and served oh, so efficiently. No one felt rushed but all were satisfied. We even got lovely desserts. So this was a manifestation of Sri Bhagavan's wish to feed all. It was again His amazing Grace.
I hope that visitors who may doubt Sri Bhagavan's continued presence and His form appearing from time to time if not always as this Mountain will find more patience and give it another try. Yes, I have heard Tiruvannamalai described as a spiritual circus and certainly there are monkeys, elephants, sadhu clowns and vendors of all kinds along with much garbage in the dust. as an American woman I would love to see the girivalam road in front of the Asramam free from screeching trucks and buses driving too fast, endangering lives. This and the garbage are two things that I would remedy if I could as they do not honor the profound Sakti of Presence here. But I can hear my local friends protesting that this is Maya, a dream world, so just leave it alone. As a Westerner, my response is, "Yes, All this is Self and if you can find the Presence in the garbage and dead bodies then you are free, but to many pilgrims coming here from all over the world are looking for upliftment, inspiration and a glimpse of the Sublime Form.
THE OLD UNCLE IN MY DREAM:
An article in Mountain Path, Aradhana, 2005:
I was born in Hungary into a warm loving family. At the age of sixteen, I lost my parents and my only sister in Holocaust. I got married very young and in 1949, we immigrated to Israel.
I began my yoga training in 1968, with Swami Venkatesananda. I learned hath yoga and raja yoga. I loved my teacher very much and he inspired me to become a Yoga teacher myself. Indeed I continue to teach yoga this very day.
On a beautiful afternoon of the summer of 1972, things began to happen. The very first dream, unexpected and surprising. I was lying on the hot sand at the seashore, near Tel Aviv, with my husband and our two sons. I fell asleep and dreamt that I was an Indian boy walking down the street with my Indian mother. I asked her to send me to school, but she explained that we were poor and we had no money for school. Suddenly, my mother stopped and pointed at an old man walking in the opposite direction. She said to me: "Run my son to him, because he can teach you far more than you could ever learn in any school." And so I did. I ran after the old man. Hearing my heavy breathing, the old man stopped, looked at me with a warm, loving glance and put his hand on my head. That was it. I woke up suddenly to find myself with my family besides the sea. Everything seemed extremely strange but as life's rhythm is very fast, swimming, going home, preparing and eating lunch, talking -- all this caused the unusual dream to fade somewhat.
After lunch, I had a siesta and immediately felt asleep. The whole dream appeared before me, again, exactly as the first time. Now I became tremendously impressed, but hardly understood what the dream was to reveal. That was the beginning. From that day on I continued to dream about the loving old man without any idea who he might be, and so I referred to him as my old uncle. The man, my old uncle, came to my dreams teaching, advising, sometimes reassuring and protecting me.
He appeared and reappeared even more often around the days of Yom Kippur War [October 1973], at which time, our elder son, Reuven, served in the army. He had been in great danger together with others, and we worried very much about the fate of all. The news on the radio was often exciting and many times terrifying, but in my dream my old uncle came comforting me and consoling me lovingly. I felt that he protected not only me, but also our sun, who was in danger. Indeed, how grateful we felt later on, on hearing the story of his escape 'by chance' from death.
Another prominent dream about my old uncle concerned my younger son, Rafy, who was 16 years old at that time. Rafy had asked for our permission to buy a small motorcycle -- he had worked during the summer and earned money for it. We did not approve, explaining how dangerous the roads were that is duty to crazy drivers. But Rafy, in the end had the motor cycle and we also felt that it was a great interference, if we had disapproved.
Once again, before the purchase of bike, my old uncle appeared in my dreams. Three of us, my uncle, Refy - holding a motorcycle -- and I stood in the middle of a very busy street in Tel Aviv. My uncle asked me to wait at the side, while both of them rode the bike in very heavy traffic. When they began driving awfully fast, I felt frightened. After a while they returned with some broad smiles and my uncle told me: Your son is clever and skilled. Trust him and don't worry.
I told my husband about my dreams
and said: I approve, I approve of the bike. He also gave his blessing and my son, thank God, had never any accident.
Two years then passed....
contd.
Shoshi Shophrony's article about the Old Uncle continues...
Newly two years had past, since my first dream, on the Tel Aviv seashore. Then one day, I visited a library in a yoga center. I stood in front of a bookshelf and randomly pulled out a book. I opened it - and nearly fainted! My loving uncle's beautiful face with a brilliant warm glance was looked at me from the picture on the first page. The name at the bottom said: Sri Ramana Maharshi. The book's name was Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self Knowledge, by Arthur Osborne. I began to read it and discovered that the 'uncle' of my dream is one of the greatest spiritual masters of the century! I cannot express my feelings at the moment of this revelation. Suddenly a veil was lifted from my eyes and a new kind of perception opened up in me. I felt an enormous thirst to learn every word spoken by Sri Bhagavan, to live through His teaching and to let it be made a part of me. Fortunately I never had any doubts, as I began to study the Direct Path. I knew
inside my heart that I had found my way,the purpose of my life. I became very grateful to Sri Ramana Maharshi and to my fate.
Since then, Sri Bhagavan has walked with me hand to hand in my day to day life, showing the way to Self Realization. His teaching is complete and perfect. His answers to devotees' questions are the most direct and effective, clearing away every doubt or misunderstanding. There is never an unnecessary word, nor is there ever a missing one.
I must confess that since I found my Master, and His teaching in many wonderful books, He has appeared very rarely in my dreams, but from the very first dream, I was irresistibly drawn to Him, feeling a magnetic love for Sri Bhagavan. This is something beyond logic, how my dreams and His books could enrich my soul. I have never experienced anything so enlightening and my devotion to Sri Bhagavan is the most important happening in my inner life. I love my family very deeply and I am grateful in having with me. Even so, no one can compare this sort of love to the ties that bind me to Sri Bhagavan. That love exists in another sphere, as if I have a double life, resonating deep inside me, as a constant background music. So deep inside
that there is no distance and can never be any distance between Sri Bhagavan and me. He is my soul.
What have I received from Him? Inner peace, even during the turmoil of my life, and infinite love. What have I learned? A new angle of vision, understanding the truth of the underlying Oneness and Unity of existence, and to know the Self, the core of Being, of the whole universe.
I owe you all this, Sri Bhagavan, thank you.
concluded.
[Mountain Path, Aradhana, 2005]
R.Subramanian,
"That love exists in another sphere, as if I have a double life, resonating deep inside me, as a constant background music. So deep inside
that there is no distance and can never be any distance between Sri Bhagavan and me. He is my soul.
What have I received from Him? Inner peace, even during the turmoil of my life, and infinite love. What have I learned? A new angle of vision, understanding the truth of the underlying Oneness and Unity of existence, and to know the Self, the core of Being, of the whole universe.
I owe you all this, Sri Bhagavan, thank you."
Wonderful narration.Thanks very much.
Namaskar.
R.Subramanian/Friends,
"A powerful Tsunami hits Japan this afternoon. The magnitude is said to be 8.4. Colossal damage. Indian channels showed such live pictures."
Maneesha, hope you are safe with
Sri Bhagavan's grace."
we trust that akira and shiba are okay.
Someone has mailed me this link - a video coverage of the powerful Tsunami that rocked japan:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2011/mar/11/japan-earthquake-tsunami-video
Loss of Human lives is always painful.
Sri Ramakrishna recounted how he felt when his nephew Akshay died:
"Akshay
died before my very eyes. But it did not affect me in the least. I stood by and watched a
man die. It was like a sword being drawn from its scabbard. I enjoyed the scene, and
laughed and sang and danced over it. They removed the body and cremated it. But the next
day as I stood there (pointing to the southeast verandah of his room), I felt a racking pain
for the loss of Akshay, as if somebody were squeezing my heart like a wet towel. I
wondered at it and thought that the Mother was teaching me a lesson. I was not much
concerned even with my own body - much less with a relative. But if such was my pain at
the loss of a nephew, how much more must be the grief of the householders at the loss of
their near and dear ones!"
Namaskar.
Ravi.
Thank you very much for your concern.I am okay.Earthquake and tunami mainly attacked the Kantou and especially Touhoku distinct.I live in Hyougo prefecture of the Kansai distinct.
The magnitude of this earthquake was 8.8.It is the most biggest magnitude since it was started to be recorded in Japan.
The dead and missing persons amount to 1000 now. It will increase more.
In 1995, very big eartnquake(magnitude 7.7) attacked the Kansai distinct,especially the Hyougo prefecture. I was living there then.The dead amounted to more than 6000.I hope the dead of this earthuake and tunami will not exceed that in 1995.
What I can do is to pray for the suffering persons now.
thank you
Dear friends,
It is my humble opinion that we should better give the reference link or source of the article one is referring to instead of quoting the whole text, it would be very helpful to devotees like me who are interested only in the essential teaching of our beloved Guru Ramana.
In Bhagawan,
Thiru
Hello friends,
I am glad to hear that our friend Shiba is ok. I hope Maneesha and Akira are also safe.
Thiru,
You can always choose to skip the extracts, surely,if you do not think it is the essential teaching? I love the extracts that Subramanian and Ravi post. In fact, after reading the extracts posted by Ravi, I bought a copy of 'The gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' and it is worth its weight in gold (even though the master is not too comfortable with gold, per se. :) )
best,
m
Subramanian, I met Shoshi Shophrony in Tiru many years ago. Shoshi was the one who insisted that I read the book "I am that" by Nisargadatta. I hesitated and then went ahead and bought the book, needless to say it was like a bible to me for many years after. Even now I can open it at random and be swept away by the power of Maharaja's words.
A few years later she spent some time with Papaji and was very impressed by him.
Dear hey jude,
Very happy that you have met Shoshi.
There are many such people who were/are called by Sri Bhagavan, in
many different ways. I met one young girl in her early 20's in 2008.
She also had some similar story. Her uncles and father dying in Yom
Kippur War and then she continuing
her schooling with great difficulty. And worked for some time. During her school days, she was given a book of Sri Bhagavan
by her school mate and the picture in the book made her to take a trip to Tiruvanamalai after earning some money. She came to Mumbai during the terrorist attack
there in 2008 and with great difficulty and a lot of screening by police, she was allowed to fly to Chennai and then drive to Tiruvannamalai. What is worth mentioning here, is that she had said that she felt an effervescence on the right side of her chest immediately after seeing Sri Bhagavan's photograph in the book and she suddenly became light in life, pure incomparable lightness of Being, leaving all her depression. She is also a Jew.
Dear Ravi,
There are some gems of devotees who have come either when Sri Bhagavan was in body and even after His Maha Nirvana. The Presence continues to attract people. There could also be many who have not expressed their
"experiences" through Souvenirs or reminiscences. I have written about one young girl called Shian in my previous post. I and my wife met her in 2008/2009. She is also a Jew. I had already written about one Germany lady with two brain surgeries.
Dear Shiba,
Thanks for informing your safety.
I hope such posts will also come from
Maneesha and akira too. Let us all pray for the suffering thousands to get relief as early as possible. Let
the perished persons rest in peace.
Who can foresee Mother's sports?
Dear m and Tiru,
My idea is to give the essentials only [already all my comments are highly abridged]. It is only to help those who have not got these old copies of MP or Souvenirs.
Once I troubled the book depot people in Tiruvannamalai and got the copies of MP from 2003. They expressed inability to have any more older copies. Even these copies were only a few.
ALAN JACOBS:
[From the Spuvenir celebrating the
Centenary of Advent of Sri Bhagavan,
1996.]
In 1953, at the age of 23, I got married to my teenager sweetheart and I was rapturously happy, having a good job and setting up a small house. My good father had a strong religious faith. We were neo orthodox Jews and I took my Judaism very seriously.
I had also received strong Christian influences in my education. I had come to the conclusion that there must be something more to conventional religion than Anglo-Judaism, in the 1950s. I started to search comparative religions, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism. I felt strongly drawn to the Sanatana Dharma and read avidly the background to this great religion. I found myself for some reason on my own starting hatha yoga practice, meditation and coloring a Sri Chakra Yantra, which attracted me enormously. I was very much intellectually impressed by Aldous Huxley's conversion to Hinduism.
Then, one morning, after finishing a yoga practice and shoulder stand, I suddenly experienced a transcendental feeling of great strength. The silent sound, almost barely vocalized of, 'Who am I?' enveloped me inwardly and outwardly for several minutes. It was tremendous and awe-inspiring.
Then a series of miraculous events happened, I was strongly led to meet Kenneth Walker, a leading member of the Gurdjieff Movement in the UK. I read P.D. Ouspensky's and Maurice Nicholi's books and was captivated.
I then discovered Talks of Ramana Maharshi in Watkins book shop. I now knew where my "Who am I?" experience had come from and who was the Master behind my experience, my secret guide answering my prayer. I read most of the Ramana literature. I stayed with Gurdjieff until 1971.
contd.
Shiba,
Relieved to see your post and to know that you are safe.
Namaskar.
ALAN JACOBS [CONTD.]
In 1971, although I was very grateful
for all I had learned in the way of spiritual methods, under J.K.'s influence, I realized his critique of hierarchical authoritarian religious religious organizations was broadly correct, and led to hypocrisy. I followed JK earnestly and attended his talks in England and Switzerland whenever possible. I read his books, practiced his choiceless awaareness. I was deeply impressed. My wife agreed with my new direction.
I was still living in my head. My heart was closed for some reason. I became ill for the first time in my life and on my sick bed, my wife gave me a magazine Yoga and Health and in it was a photo of Sri Ramana and an article on His teaching. I looked at the picture. It was full of love and compassion, it spoke the answer to my prayer, 'Come to me, come to me, you are ready.' I now finally recognized that he always had been my true master. I vowed to devote my whole life to Sri Bhagavan and His teachings, to study it and practice it earnestly, surrender to Him as best as I could. Around that time, my wife died suddenly from an unexpected cerebral hemorrhage. I was devastated but surrendered in faith to Sri Bhagavan and the Will of God. I knew she had not really died, as the Gita says.
I was soon introduced to Jean Klein and Douglas Harding. From these two important teachers I learned the real meaning of Advaita Experience of Who am I? that welled up very strongly in 1953. My Master Bhagavan confirmed His presence and the practice. I was surprised about how long my preparation with Gurdjieff and JK had to have been before recognizing my full entire devotion to Him. Later that year, I was receiving some Alexander Technique lessons and had the same experience of 'Who am I?' again. All doubts had been dispersed.
With a few friends, after meeting Luica Osoborne at a Jean Klein meeting I started a small Ramana Maharshi Study Group in London and eventually visited India and the Asramam in 1984. Sri Bhagavan silently led me since my first prayer to God, now to Arunachala and confirmed my practice. I have never swerved from my vow since and He has taught me "Diving into the Heart" so my sadhana progresses through His Infinite Grace. With Jane Adams, the Ramana Foundation, U.K. and a further visit to Sri Ramanasramam in 1995, I am fully devoted as an instrument in mind, body and spirit, full time to the study and practice of Sri Bhagavan's teachings, in the grip of the Tiger, His continuous Grace never fails, thanks to the Almighty God.
concluded.
I am a native of Tiruchuzhi. I knew
Ramana Maharshi when He lived there as a young boy. On a few occasions, I would have seen Him. Then He went to away to Dindigul and Madurai. I also went away from Tiruchuzhi. Years later, when I returned to Tiruchuzhi, I heard of His discovery at Tiruvannamalai, soon after His Mother returned therefrom. But though I had regard for Him, I came to Tiruvannamalai to see Him only about 10 years ago [this must have been in 1920 or thereabouts. Since then my faith in Him increased. I and my sons and
relations have come to Him frequently thereafter. From infancy my sons have been going to Him. As for any special experience in my visits, I have none. I have not even asked Maharshi as a rule. Once or twice I asked Him:
L: I am dumb and don't possess much intelligence. What to do?
Sri B: It is good that you know you are dumb. If a fool does not know his foolishness that is wrong. Since you have known your state, it will disappear by and by.
L: How will it go?
Sri B: You are doing Siva puja, aren't you? That is enough, your dumbness will go through this means.
L: How will I attain a good state?
Sri B: You perform puja till you think it is necessary. Then, when you slowly realize that you and the worshipped God are one and the same, the puja will leave you.
[From the notes books of B.V. Narasimha Swami.]
The lady's name in the previous comment is Tiruchuzhi Lakshmi Ammal.
Kaveripatnam Post Master, Narayanaswami Iyer, waits on Maharshi for days and before parting
mentions his condition. "I am possessed by sudden fears. What am I to do?"
Sri B: What fears?
N: e.g. I am afraid I will get disease?
Sri B: Who gets disease? Do you get it?
N: Of course it is the body, it is my body gets it.
Sri B: If you analyze what you are, you see that disease cannot affect you.
N: I fear death, sometimes.
Sri B: What are you? Do you die?
Can you die?
N: I am Atma and Atma is immortal.
Sri B: Think of that. Realize that.
N: I try; but that does not remain in the mind long.
Sri B: Practice, long practice makes perfect.
N: Meanwhile, there is suffering.
Sri B: There need not be any suffering -- your Vichara keeps off the suffering also.
N: The mind requires to be strengthened. Pray strengthen my mind.
Sri B: Go, without fear!
[From Mountain Path, Jan-Mar. 2003; the recordings are based on an unpublished notes of Sri B.V. Narasimha Swami.]
Subramanian, I'm surprised to hear that you can't get MP copies prior to 2003. We managed to get copies all the way back to 1964 several years ago straight from the book depot. I guess in the scheme of things it depends on the print run and availability.
Dear hey jude,
Yes. When I went and asked in 2008, the book depot people said that no copies prior to 2003 are available. May be the copies have been sold out and there was no reprint. I wonder whether Sri Ramanasramam, could make one book for every 4 issues of old periods and re-publish them. It will be sold in no time. In fact, once I was trying to procure Iswara
Gits in Tamizh. They said it is out of stock. But perhaps upon such similar requests from various people, they had reprinted when I had gone next time. In fact, they said that Who am I? pocket edition [in all languages] and Talks are the most sought after books. So also Be As You Are of David.
FACE TO FACE WITH SRI BHAGAVAN:
A.V. Subramanian:
It was 1942, and I was totally free, having written my intermediate examination. My father, a very pious person had decided to on a pilgrimage and took me along. We visited some of the shrines in Thanjavur district and then went on to Tiruvannamalai. After worshipping at the Siva temple, we went to Sri Ramanaramam, to have darshan of Sri Bhagavan.
My father had already told me that Sri Bhagavan was a realized soul from whom many people could glean spiritual wisdom. I did not have any great inner urge to acquire such wisdom, but I had read the Bhagavad Gita perhaps too casually.
When we reached the Asramam, we were directed to sit in the Hall where a number of people had gathered. I found that there was no religious discourse going on. The devotees were all intensely looking at Sri Bhagavan, whose personality did not particularly impress me.
Sri Bhagavan was looking at those gathered there, one member each time. In due course His eyes turned on me. He looked keenly at me for a while, and then shifted His attention to my neighbor. I felt a curious sensation all over, very unfamiliar to me. I felt a strange calmness settling down in my mind, staring at all desire to raise spiritual doubts or any kind of doubt for his clarification. I cannot say that I got specific replies to all my questions at that stage. Only I did not feel it necessary any longer to to seek clarification. The memory of the whole darshan is still fresh in my mind.
I do not pretend that I could understand the Sage. I have not imbibed any deep knowledge of the spiritual realities as a result of the visit. But those wonderful eyes rested on me for a certain time, and I felt myself lifted, transported to a happier plane. And though I have had occasion to meet the great of the land in the course of my life, no one else has had that kind of effect on me.
[Mountain Path, Advent, 2003]
Shiba,
Glad to know you are safe! Hope your near and dear ones too are!
Dear All,
I am very much in Bangalore and solidly safe, with His Grace. Thanks for your wishes. I am genuinely touched by your love and concern! Thansk a lot!
Subramanian Sir,
Thanks again for your concern!
Sorry, could not reply to your message fromt the previous "open thread"
So, yes, it was an awesome day and night. Below are the details:
The evening parayana was on Arunachala Stuti Panchakam, even though it was a Wednesday.
They had arranged for a video on Sri JnanaSambandha Murthy from 8.30 to 9.30 in the evening - this was on a big screen and arranged on the way to Goshala. There was some ritual (i forgot now)... I think puja or shata Rudra at four kaalams, which started with the chantinf of Rudra @ evening 4.30. The last one was on next morning 5.30.
We set out for pradakshina @ 9.30 after watching the video. It was more crowded this year that it was last year, but there weren't as many stalls. Also, last year, by the time we reached the Temple, it was closed. This time, to my surprise, it was open. Not sure if that day coincided with any other significant Tamil day, due to which they kept it opewn this time. And, there were celebrations in the temple, big rangolis of various Gods, like the Tamil symbol of Lord Subramania, Lord Shiva, Nandi were all drawn. There were alos few girls in Bharatanatyam attire. Looked like they had just then given a performance. The temple was way too crowded and we couldn't have His darshan from near.
Overall, it was a serene night. Very pleqasant pradakshina. We reached the Ashram back @ 3.30 next morning. Felt really good.
It looked like even the old meditation hall was open all night. It was pretty crowded by the time we reached. ANway, I hott I would see if I could meditate. But the moment I sat there, the mind simply dived into sleep. So, just went back to the room, only to wake up for next day's lunch.
@ Subramanian Sir,
Forgot to mention about the Sannidhi Murai in prev. post.
In a hurry to read the verses, i skipped the intro, so, did not know that only few selected verses were translated! :( Has anyone ever translated full work into English?
I have bought two other books too - Ramana Darsanam and Ramana Puranam. I am so attracted to all these three book, I have started with all of them. This is the first time that I am doing this. ELse, I normally don't take up a book unless the current one is done. Blame it on these books' charm! :)
Some stories/anecdotes about Sw.Brahmananda (Sw.B) - the spiritual son of Sri Ramakrishna.
1. When Sw. Vivekananda returned from America and reached Calcutta, there was a huge crowd waiting to receive him with Sw. Brahmananda heading the reception committee.
As soon as Sw. Vivekananda saw Sw. Brahmananda, he bent down and touched Sw.B's feet (even though he was the elder of the two)saying "The son of the Guru is to be respected as the Guru himself ".
Sw. Brahmananda smiled and in turn touched Sw. Vivekananda's feet saying "One's elder brother is equal to one's father ! "
2. A disciple of of the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi came to meet her when she was in Varanasi. He was happy to spend a few days with her. While leaving he went to pay his respects to Sw. Brahmananda who was also then in Varanasi. With a smile on his face, Sw. B said to the disciple in Sanskrit - "Punarmushiko Bhava"-meaning "Be a mouse again".
The disciple was naturally puzzled by this strange blessing and asked the swami to explain.
The swami smiled and replied - "You are a child of the Divine Mother and so you are a lion's cub. You spent a few days here with your mother - the lioness (Holy Mother). Now you are going back to do only paper work in your office. Isn't it like turning back into a mouse again ? "
The disciple then asked - "What else can I do ? "
The swami replied - "Keep holy company "
The disciple asked - "Where will I find holy people ? "
The swami replied - "If you cannot come in contact with holy people, then read holy books "
Thank you,
shiv
Maneesha,
Interesting to know that there is a video on sri Jnana sambandar.
Night time is best for doing Giri Pradakshina-In the late seventies and if I remember right, even until the mid nineties,the tar roads(the one leading to krishnagiri)were not there.As one walked in the stillness of the night,it was a pleasure to hear the occasional tinkling of the bells that hung around the neck of the gentle cows in the villages that dotted the unpaved roadside.
After the Pradakshina,the sleep is akin to a sort of meditation-with a sense of lightness.
Thanks very much for sharing your visit to Sri Ramanasramam during the Holy Sivaratri.
I happened to be at Trichy on that day and visited the Thayumanavar temple(Rockfort temple).It is on the steps leading to the Temple(Lord Siva is 'thayumanavar',meaning one who became a 'Mother' as well.The Divine Mother is called Mattu vAr kuzhali)that the Sage Thayumanavar,then a young lad met 'Mouna guru' who just told him-"summa Iru" as upadesa.The Dharmapuram adeenam has a mutt here in memory of the Great Sage-Mouna guru;Truly this place still carries the Presence that stills the mind.
Namaskar.
Subramanian Sir, read this comment from your MP reference of 2005 "At that moment a terrific chorus of peacock cries arose together... I thought that Ramana has found an astral body and made His birthday gift....." I remember Ramana saying that a samadhi state is like oil being poured into a oil container. There is no trace of the jivathma. How is it that there can be an astral body of Bhagavan.
Another clarification: Is the ashram popular as devotees want to preserve the 'memory' of Bhagavan who lived there. Bhagavan is every where, so why should devotees say they get peace when meditating in the hall, ashram, etc. Is it a trick of the mind ?
Shiv/Friends,
'The Eternal companion' is a book on the Life and teachings of Swami Brahmananda(Rakhal maharaj).It is full of practical tips for the earnest aspirant.Those interested may refer:
http://www.rkmfiji.org/node/58
Namaskar.
Friends,
It is interesting to see what sri Bhagavan and sri Ramakrishna have to say on some of the usual doubts that occur to seekers.
Here is an excerpt from Talk 17,24th January, 1935(The Talks with Sri ramana Maharshi)
D.: Does Maharshi enter the nirvikalpa samadhi?
M.: If the eyes are closed, it is nirvikalpa; if open, it is (though
differentiated, still in absolute repose) savikalpa. The ever-present
state is the natural state sahaja.
Now an excerpt from The Gospel of Srii ramakrishna,chapter 41,Saturday, May 23, 1885:
Sri Ramakrishna closed his eyes and said: "Is it only this? Does God exist only when the
eyes are closed, and cease to exist when the eyes are opened? The Lila belongs to Him to
whom the Nitya belongs, and the Nitya belongs to Him to whom the Lila belongs. (To
Mahima) My dear sir, let me tell you."
Namaskar.
Friends,
An excerpt from the Talks with Sri Ramana maharshi:
Talk 9,15th May, 1935.
Someone enquired: Why is it said in scriptures that the Sage is like
a child?
M.: A child and a Sage (Jnani) are similar in a way. Incidents interest
a child only so long as they last. It ceases to think of them after they
have passed away. So then, it is apparent that they do not leave any
impression on the child and it is not affected by them mentally. So
it is with a Sage.
An excerpt from The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna,October 22, 1885,Chapter 45
Sri Ramakrishna at syampukur:
Childlike nature of perfect souls
"After realizing God, a man becomes like a child five years old. The ego of such a man
may be called the 'ego of a child', the 'ripe ego'. The child is not under the control of any of
the gunas. He is beyond the three gunas. He is not under the control of any of the gunassattva,
rajas, or tamas. Just watch a child and you will find that he is not under the influence
of tamas. One moment he quarrels with his chum or even fights with him, and the next
moment he hugs him, shows him much affection, and plays with him again. He is not even
under the control of rajas. Now he builds his play house and makes all kinds of plans to
make it beautiful, and the next moment he leaves everything behind and runs to his mother.
Again, you see him wearing a beautiful piece of cloth worth five rupees. After a few
moments the cloth lies on the ground; he forgets all about it. Or he may carry it under his
arm. If you say to the child: 'That's a beautiful piece of cloth. Whose is it?', he answers:
'Why, it is mine. My daddy gave it to me.' You may say, 'My darling, won't you give it to
me?' and he will reply: 'Oh no, it is mine. My daddy gave it to me. I won't give it to you.'
Some minutes later you may coax him with a toy or a music-box worth a penny, and he will
give you the cloth. Again, a child five years old is not attached even to sattva. You may
find him today very fond of his playmates in the neighbourhood; he doesn't feel happy for a
moment without seeing them; but tomorrow, when he goes to another place with his
parents, he finds new playmates; all his love is now directed to his new friends, and he
almost forgets about his old ones. Further, a child has no pride of caste or family. If his
mother says to him about a certain person, 'This man is your elder brother', he believes this
to be one hundred per cent true. One of the two may have been born in a brahmin family
and the other may belong to a low caste, say that of the blacksmiths, but they will take their
meal from the same plate. A child is beyond all ideas of purity and impurity. He is not
bound by social conventions. He doesn't hesitate to come out naked before others."
Namaskar.
Dear Maneesha,
I am very happy to note that you
were in the Asramam, during last
week. Tsunami had ensured that you
are in the safest refuge in the entire universe. I am happy to note you made giri pradakshina and also bought books. The full Ramana Sannidhi MuRai has not been rendered in English so far. Only a few select verses done by Prof. K. Swaminathan.
I do not know exactly on what date/day you were in Asramam/Temple. If you tell me that I can tell what special day it was.
I wrote in one of the posts two days before, how India Tsunami 2004, brought thousands from Chennai and Pondicherry to T'malai. You have gone well in advance to that great Refuge.
Dear Ravi,
I am happy to note that you were in
Matrbhuteswara/Suganda Kundalambal
Temple on Maha Sivaratri. What else one needs? It is a day of holy vigil of Siva, who is of course, ever vigilant. I remember my mother whenever someone mentions about Tiruchirapalli. She used to carry a large bucket full of modhakams to the Ganesa [Ucchi Pillaiyar] and submit as Naivedya on one Friday each month. Remember she was already 45 then. To carry a large bucket and climb the steps! She used to return with just 10 modhakams for us, the children and her husband. All the rest given to devotees on the hill!
Dear Maneesha,
I think you were in T'malai on Maha Sivaratri day, from Ravi's letter.
You have done giri pradakshina and seen the Big Temple also, and prayed to Arunachaleswara/Apeeta kuchambal.
You have seen the video on Tiru Jnana Sambandhar, who is none else than Siva's second son. What else you need? The gates of liberation are wide open for you.
Dear Shrini,
This is what that writer of the article says. All depend on one's
vision. All visions are fevered imaginations, said David Godman to me once. I do not know. Kavyakanta saw Sri Bhagavan as Skanda, some one else as Sri Dakshinamurty, and Mother Azhagamma saw Him as Siva
with serpents all over His body.
For Arivattaya Nayanar, [Periya Puranam], when the cooked rice that he was taking to Temple, fell on the ground [he had not taken food for 5 days and he was giddy], a hand appeared breaking open the ground and took the rice spilled and Nayanar also heard that Siva wads crunching the baby mangoes that were brought along with rice, with His teeth! What to say?
There are an astonishing number of photographs of Sri Bhagavan. Graham Boyd is still working on the retrieval of old photographs.
The first picture of Sri Bhagavan has an interesting history. It was taken in 1900-1901 and you see it
in all editions of Who am I? This was taken by one A. Nalla Pillai who had founded in 1878, a studio in Mutt Street, Kumbakonam. Nalla Pillai was a devotee of one Kumbakonam Mouna Swami. He had taken the photograph of that Swami. Nalla Pillai was a devout person and he was also taking the
photographs of prisoners for British Government. Once he came to Tiruvannamlai for his usual work and when someone told him about Brahmana Swami, [Sri Bhagavan], he went to the Hill and took the photograph of Sri Bhagavan, when he was 21. Nalla Pillai was so impressed about Sri Bhagavan, that he gave Him a copy of photograph of Mouna Swami to Him.
In those days, there were no elaborate arrangements for processing the negative which was on glass. The studio itself traveled with the photographer in a bullock cart. After taking the picture, the glass negative would be processed in sunlight with the positive paper below and the negative on the top. It would all be enclosed, then it would be exposed to the sunlight for a split second before dipped into chemical. The photograph was then ready and the film has to be dried. The glass negative of this first photograph of Sri Bhagavan is still available in the Asramam and is safely preserved in the Archives.
Some one else wrote in another article, how could the entire apparatus did not break with a huge
sound when Sri Bhagavan looked at the lens?
[Mountain Path, Deepam, 2004]
Dear David, Is it true that Alan Jacobs got entangled with the unfortunate Radha Ma? If so,please tell us what happened?
Henri Cartier-Bresson, the Last Photographer of Sri Bhagavan:
Henri Cartier-Bresson, with his relatively unsophisticated but superb 35 mm Lieca camera has created a new direction in his medium. His photographs revealed the essence of the moment, with immaculate clarity.
For Sri Bhagavan's devotees, he is best known for the last three photos taken of Sri Bhagavan on 4th April 1950. You can see Sri Bhagavan with a big bandage on His arm and swollen head and with eyes that were as clear as sun. CB was also at the Asramam the night before Sri Bhagavan attained Maha Nirvana. In fact, he witnessed the glowing meteor that traveled north over Arunachala the moment Sri Bhagavan left His body.
Some of the photos he took on the subsequent day of devotees in grief during the ceremonies for Sri Bhagavan's internment are among his most familiar images from his portfolio on India. In the haze of collective sorrow he recorded the intense emotions when a great soul had departed from this physical realm, with a dispassionate eye sensitive to the individual's despair and disbelief. One does not feel he has intruded. Quite the reverse, he is absent from the pictures. {His own photograph where he is holding a camera and is wearing a half-trouser has been taken by some one else.]
[The article on HCB is from MP Jayanti - 2005]
Once during a visit to the Asramam in the 1940s, I was sitting outside the Old Hall with many devotees, facing Sri Bhagavan, who was reclining on the couch. A group of learned pandits were discussing certain passages from the Upanishads, with great enthusiasm and profundity.
All including Sri Bhagavan appeared to be attentively listening to this discussion.
All of a sudden, Sri Bhagavan rose from His couch, walked 30 meters to the north, and stood before a villager who was standing there looking lowly with palms joined.
Immediately the discussion stopped and all eyes were turned to Sri Bhagavan and the villager standing at a distance. They appeared to be conversing, but at such a distance, no one could tell about what. Soon Sri Bhagavan returned to His couch and the discussion resumed.
I was curious about this villager. So while the discussion continued, I slipped away and caught up with him before he left the Asramam. I asked the villager what he and Sri Bhagavan had talked about. He said that Sri Bhagavan had asked him why he was standing there so far away. He said: I told Sri Bhagavan, 'I am only ignorant, poor villager. How am I to approach you who are God incarnate?' To this Sri Bhagavan asked his name, what village he was from, what work he did and how many children he had, etc., On asking the villager, what did he really ask from Sri Bhagavan, the villager said that he had asked Him how he could be saved and how could he earn His blessings.
'What did He tell to you?'
"He asked me if there was a temple in my village. I told Him there was and He wanted to know the name of the deity of that temple. I told Him the name. He then said that I should go on repeating the name of that deity and I would receive all the blessings needed."
I came back to Sri Bhagavan's Presence, and sat among the devotees to the learned discussion, in which I had lost all interest, realizing that the simple humility and devotion of this peasant had evoked a far greater response from our Master than any amount of learning. I then decided that, though a scholar by profession, I should always remain a humble, ignorant peasant at heart, and pray like that villager, for Sri Bhagavan's grace and blessings.
[From Prof. K.Swaminathan's article in Aradhana, 2003 of Mountain Path.]
Na karmana....
This last picture of Bhagavan I find rather depressing. It seems to be a photo taking for the archives.
There is an astonishing and moving photo of 24 years old Saint Therese of Lisieux immediately after her death. Her smile is heavenly.
R.Subramanaian,
Suganda Kundalambal,The Divine mother with Fragrant tresses,is called mattu(Fragrant)vAr(hair)kuzhali(curly one).
Interesting we find Sri ramakrishna referring to this in the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna-How he experienced this fragrance, without even knowing or reading about it.
""Once I went to Vishnupur. The raja of that place has several fine temples. In one of them
there is an image of the Divine Mother, called Mrinmai.1 There are several lakes near the
temple, known as the Lalbandh, Krishnabandh, and so on. In the water of one of the lakes I
could smell the ointments that women use for their hair. How do you explain that? I didn't
know at that time that the woman devotees offer ointments to the Goddess Mrinmayi while
visiting Her temple. Near the lake I went into samadhi, though I had not yet seen the image
in the temple. In that state I saw the divine form from the waist up, rising from the water."
The Great ones have this supersensuous perception,on which these forms of worship have evolved and not from 'fevered imaginations'(I will write more on this,later when I am inclined).
Namaskar.
Dear Clemens Vargas Ramos,
I saw the photograph of St. Therese of Lisieux. The smiling face is quite pleasant. As regards, Sri Bhagavan, the suffering was indescribable, though He had not body consciousness, but the body had to show its visible features of devastation. I do not know where it is Arthur Osborne or Viswanatha Swami. Both had written after some time, that is in the next morning, His body and face became quite pleasant looking, because the gory dance of the body was over once for all. Kindly see the small book Maha Nirvana, jointly written by the above two. Sri Aurobindo's body, I have read, remained hot for quite some time, even after he was declared clinically dead. These are all mysteries, one cannot fathom.
Dear Ravi,
Yes. Chaste women, Tamizh classical literature says, is fragrant [without any special oils and herbal bath]. Sri Ramakrishna's story reminds of Sri Sankara Vijayam. It is said that when Sri Sankara was taking bath in Yamuna river, he had
his body smeared with turmeric
powder used by gopikas and he had even some hairs sticking to his body, that were from gopikas' tresses!
After seeing so many Garnier and Head and Shoulders advts., one tends to disbelieve such things.
What to do?
The Pandyan Queen's fragrant hairs which caused a doubt in Pandya king, is the starting point of Nakkirar's story and his meeting of Siva in the Pandyan Court. If many members do not know the story I shall post it soon.
Maneesha
Venkatasubramanian, Robert Butler and myself translated Tirukkannokkam (verses 1612 to 1643 of Sri Ramana Sannidhi Murai) a few years ago. I was planning to write a commentary on it, but kept putting it off. I decided a few days ago to submit the unannotated version to The Mountain Path for publication there. If the commentary materialises, I will post it here.
Our translation of the 9th poem of Sri Ramana Sannidhi Murai, Upadesa Tiruvahaval, can be found here:
http://www.davidgodman.org/rteach/tiruvahaval.shtml
Our translation of the first poem, Ramana Purunam, has been published as a separate book by Sri Ramanasramam.
Hey Jude
I don't know anything about Alan Jacobs' association with Radhamma. If you want to know, you should contact him yourself.
Dear Subramanian R., thank you for your book recommendation.
It is true that I find this photo of the body of Ramana unpleasant. It looks like as if Ramana was unhappy with this 'shooting'.
In 'Living by the words of Bhagavan' Ramana rebuked Annamalai Swami for going to this film with 'this shadow bhagavan'.
I mean that a photo of this kind makes sense when it reveals the true nature of this person. In the case of Saint Therese this perfectly comes out.
I don't know what the motifs of the one taking the photo had been but for me I never would hang such kind of a picture into my room.
Suzanne Alexandra Curtil, known as
Sujata was born in Paris on 13th Dec. 1896. She was a talented dancer, doctor and diviner. Her quest for Truth began with Theosophical Society, Teravada Buddhism etc., and she became a nun
in Ceylon. After some sojourn in Lhasa, she left her monastic life and married an Indian army surgeon Ranjit Sen. After the birth of her daughter, Monica, the marriage was dissolved.
At a time of bafflement and distress, Suzanne saw a newspaper article about Sri Ramana Maharshi. Suzanne came to meet Him in December 1936.
On arrival to Tiruvannamalai, she saw the Hill and in the early sunlight it glowed a fiery red and she remembered that Arunachala was held to be the manifestation of Siva in the form of Fire.
Just after passing the shrine of Sri Dakshinamurty, she and her two friends reached their destination, Sri Ramanasramam. She gave her name as Sujata to Sarvadhikari and the entered the Hall, with the help of Raja Iyer.
Suzanne saw a slender, golden-skinned man in His late fifties. Except for a loincloth He was completely bare. She thought that His face was very beautiful, not because of the brahmin fineness of features, but above all because it had the highest expression of Awareness that she had ever seen. There was about Him a certain indefinable quality. The splendor of Realization perhaps described it best. She saw how psychological labels which the modern mind tended to affix to spiritual experience turned out to be irrelevant and unworthy when one was confronted with true achievement.
Maharshi did not speak anything when introduced, and He merely nodded in acknowledgment. For a moment and for a moment gave her His attention, but did not speak. Suzanne was so engrossed in her contemplation of the Maharshi that at first she did not hear any one of the attendants told them that she should take her place among the women who sat to His left.
The furniture in the Hall was functional, the surroundings ordinary. Yet the banal setting could not detract from the grandeur of the Sage. He was exceptional first of all, in just being Himself.
Once during the morning, the Maharshi turned and looked directly at Suzanne. She was sure that she had found her Master. At 11 O Clock, she was invited for lunch along with her two friends. During the lunch, Sri Bhagavan asked Suzanne whether the food was not too pungent for them. These words of solicitude were the first words, He spoke to her.
After meal, when questions were asked by various devotees, Sri Bhagavan replied with few words and very succinctly. The Maharshi said that answers to the nature of the Self is only to be found on the intuitive level, but the breakthrough of intuition can be hampered by faulty reasoning.
In the evening, when Vedas were recited, Suzanne found that the Maharshi's appearance underwent a remarkable change. His expression became austere, His gaze turned inwards. His face appeared translucent as if lit by an inner illumination, while His constant trembling of His body had now completely stopped.
Suzanne writes later: He is an Adept of the Highest Order, a King of Yogis. The splendor of His Realization radiates like the Sun. Robed in ether, His Yogic powers are unique, subtle and rare. He lifts you far above the world.
[contd.]
Dear David,
Sorry. I forgot to mention in my post to Maneesha. The English rendering of Upadesa Tiruvahaval [tr. with annotations, by Robert Butler, Dr.T.V. Venkatasubramanian and David Godman] has been published in two parts in Oct-Dec.2006 & Jan-Mar. 2007
issues of Mountain Path. Sri Ramana Puranam, has come as a separate book.
Suzanne's story continues:
In the evening just before 6.30 PM.,
she found all the women devotees rise and after prostrating to Sri Bhagavan, filed out of the Asramam.
She did not go with them. One of the male devotees told her that women should leave the Asramam after 6.30 PM., She protested that she was not afraid of the dark and asked to be allowed to stay back. Sarvadhikari came and told her himself, that she should leave the Asramam as per the rules. The Maharshi did not intervene at anytime during this incident.
Very upset, Suzanne left the Hall. She found her two friends from Adyar waiting outside. They had just found out that there was not guesthouse for women at the Asramam and they should find their own accommodation inside the town. Even after persuasion
by them, she did not go with them. Suzanne told the Asramites that she would go to the Hill and spend the night!
She climbed some way up the Hill and without difficulty found a cave in which to shelter. She entered the dark interior, in spite of her bravado, a little afraid herself about some wild animal. But she was alone. She had meant to spend the night in meditation. But it was impossible for her to meditate, since her indignation was so great. Meeting a true Master had been the event she had longed for and she had so much hoped to receive some indication from Him that He had accepted her as His disciple. Instead, she had been made to exit the Asramam and leave His Presence, because she was a woman. Her anger drove all other thoughts from her mind. It was then that she heard a vision of Arunachala as a Hill of Fire. In its many caves, siddhas in their pure and invulnerable bodies sat or moved unharmed in the flames. In her vision, she was taken into the Hill and passed through its fire but felt no fear, no pain. And she saw many worlds existing within the Hill, in a series of extraordinary revelations.
Sometime afterwards, she confided what she had seen to another devotees Mrs. Lucia Osborne. At the time, Mrs. Osborne did not think it was important, but a few years later, when another person reported a similar incident, she asked Sri Bhagavan about it. Sri Bhagavan replied: "Yes. The Hill is the Heart."
While Suzanne was on the Hill that night, Sri Bhagavan knowing that
there were wild animals asked Mr. Cohen to go and persuade her to come down. When Mr. Cohen and his party found her she was calm, being still under the influence of her wondrous vision. Without protest, she agreed to spend the rest of the night in a hotel in town.
Next day, she came worried as to what Sri Bhagavan might say for her impulsive action, but Sri Bhagavan did not say anything. When somebody asked to take a photograph of the Maharshi, with the foreign devotees at the Asramam, He agreed, although He did not always agree to be photographed. Seeing that Suzanne hung back a little diffidently,
He made a sign to her that she was to join them. In this photograph, the devotees are grouped before Arunachala, as if forming a Hill, with the Maharshi at the center.
She stopped wearing Buddhist robe shortly afterwards. Sri Bhagavan did not ask her to stop wearing it. That was not His way. There were never any dictates from Him. His teachings did not lay down rules of conduct. They only provided guidance as to how to achieve the selflessness which was the basis of Realization. She had read some of His teachings, even before coming to T'malai and had grasped enough to know that in the quest which required abandonment of all thought of self, there was no place for self consciousness or even for self defense.
{An article by Monica Bose, MP, Aradhana, 2003.]
There were two ants living in the kitchen of a house. One ant was living inside a salt-jar and another was living inside a sugar-container. One day, the salt-ant invited the sweet-ant for eats. The sweet-ant went into salt-jar and it was given a salt-crystal by the friend. On putting into its mouth, the sweet-ant felt like spitting it out. Then it said: What friend? You are eating this daily? What sort of food is it? You come to my house and I shall you something different which is blissful. The salt-ant agreed and went to the sweet-ant's jar. The salt ant cleverly held a salt bit in its mouth and went, thinking that his friend's food may not be good. The sweet-ant then smiled and gave a sugar-crystal. The salt ant took it and said: What is this? It is not at all good. The sweet ant did not believe it. How can a food that is blissful to me can be without good taste for this chap? It said: 'Open your mouth' and then found a salt bit inside. You fellow the salt-eater, spit it out first. Gorgle your mouth from tap water. Then, it gave the sugar crystal to salt-ant. The salt-ant tasted and it became blissful. Oh, I have wasted my life. I have not come to you before. You are my guru! Then both lived happily tasting the sugar in the same jar.
Tiruvachakam, ARputha Pathu - Decad of Blissful Miracle:
I am acting in this life and am uttering all sorts of lies and do faulty actions,
I am deluded in Maya, with "I" and "mine".
This Maya bites me and makes me do more more bad karmas,
I wail and roam around,
You caught hold of me, and,
You hit me and hit me and pushed into my mouth, the sweet sugar crystal,
O the Rare Substance, which Vedas are still searching,
O I do not understand this miracle! [Verse 3]
Nadithu maNNidai poyinai pala seithu,
Nan and Enathu enum maya
Kaditha vaayile ninRu mun vinai mihak kazhariye thirivenai,
Pitithu mun ninRa perumaRai thediya
Arum PoruL adiyenai,
Atithu, atithu, akkaramum theetriya,
ARpudham aRiyene!
[From the discourse on Bhakti, by
Nochur Venkataraman, today at Bangalore, Jayanagar, which my wife could only attend and then she narrated to me].
I am concerned over some of the events in Tiruvanammalai as of late...Particularly the supposed ''self-immolation'' of Radha Ma..In Guru Vachaka Kovai Sri Bhagavan and Sri Muruganar are speaking of 'sin' (Pavam) in Tamil. Bhagavan says that in deep sleep there is no manhood or womanhood, these coming on waking along with 'I am this body'. That this 'I am the Body thought' is original sin....So my concern is that someone who basically committed suicide was buried as a saint according to all the accounts recently...She had to have believed she was a body with all its psychological baggage to do this. Her so called sainthood is a mistake. Is that not a kind of desecration to all the ancient and benevolent teachings of the Holy saints and real enlightened ones????
Frank/Friends,
yesterday,hey jude had mentioned about Radha ma.I have not heard about her,so I looked up and came across the unfortunate self immolation act that lead to her death,how she was buried,etc from Richard Clarke's Blog.(this gentleman is sincere,but i find that he lacks sensitivity in what can be published and what should not be).
Whenever such unfortunate events happen,it is time to introspect and redouble our sadhana;for lack of this sadhana ,we are responsible
and are in a way contributing to such unfortunate incidents.
As I understand that Radha ma,came to tiruvannamalai as a sincere renunciant,and slowly got drawn into sharing(euphemism for teaching!for in true sharing,learning is bidirectional),and this leads to the downfall.Soon one will be thronged by the crowd of seekersand one starts living up to it,and one is caught in this whilpool.
The other thing that comes to my mind is that spiritual verities cannot be possessed.To possess is to destroy.
sri Bhagavan did not possess any ashram in tiruvannamalai.It just formed around him.Today,the Giri valam road is littered with ashrams of various gurus,each possessing a piece of land and being thronged by devotees who do not want to miss out on this sublime setting.
What foolishness to even think of teaching in a place where Arunachala Siva is ever teaching in silence!
On our part,we need to redouble our efforts, Sadhana.It is this that will lead to Loka Kshema-and help improve the spiritual climate in Tiruvannamalai and elsewhere.No point in blaming the so called fakegurus;they are there because of us.
Sadhana,more and more focussed sadhana.This is the one and only option.
Namaskar.
Dear Frank, Ravi,
I have also not heard about Radha Ma.
However, as Ravi rightly said, that why should some one self-immolate?
It is all due to, wrong understanding of the teachings of Sri Bhagavan, [in case she was a devotee of Sri Bhagavan]. As Ravi
further said that today Tiruvannamalai, particularly girivalam road is full of Ashrams,
Yogs Centres etc., Most of them give out, I am sure, fake teachings.
Dear Ravi,Subramanian and frank, I read that Yogi Ramsuratkumar had warned Radha Ma when she approached him years ago, he said " Don't play the role of Guru" If this is true, she disregarded wise advice.
The extinction of Vasanas is the end of Sadhana:
{Chapter 41 of Sri Ramana Darsanam,
Sadhu Natanananda, Tr. David Godman}
Cessation of bondage is said to be the attainment of liberation. However, removal of bondage is accomplished only by the cessation of ignorance. Accordingly, an aspirant must, by any means, aim at the cessation of ignorance.
Ignorance takes the form of Vasanas, and all Vasanas have as their root the I-am-the-body vasana. As this idea is the seed for all thoughts, so long as it endures, it is impossible to destroy completely the resulting Vasanas. The sages have consequently classified ignorance into two categories, with the I-am-the-body idea as the primal ignorance and the resultant thoughts as gross ignorance.
A cork remains sunk in water when continuously pressed. However, as soon as the pressure is released, it rises to the top. Similarly, the Vasanas along with their thoughts, which remain sunk in the heart, rise as soon as the Sadhana is slackened.
I do not know the pushing out of the ego, which is the seed of the troublesome tree of mind, As I keep pushing it out, it comes back running. Because of this, I became weary.
As the above statement from Jnana Vasishtam indicates, so long as the I-am-the-body idea does not cease, destruction of mind is impossible.
Some yogis remain absorbed in laya samadhi, without body consciousness and without the associated natural movements, for very long periods, but when their minds are externalized, they are seen to behave just like ignorant folk. The reason for this is that the root of evil of ego has not been completely destroyed. The anger and anguish of yogis such as Dhurvasa and Kongana, who were adepts in samdahi, are legendary.
The crowd of vasanas constitute bondage. Their destruction is the attainment of liberation. The base delusion of the ego sense alone constitutes miserable bondage. Is not liberation the destruction of ignorance?
The above dicta of Jnana Vasishtam declare conclusively that the cessation of the I-am-the-body belief is the removal of ignorance.
Supreme tapas is to destroy the attachment to the body:
[Ch.43. Sri Ramana Darsanam Sadhu
Natanananda, Tr. David Godman/]
"The realization of that which subsists when all trace of 'I' is gone is good tapas," - this indeed is
Sri Bhagavan's way. Therefore, an aspirant should unceasingly examine inside himself whether the I-am-the-body belief is present in each one of his thoughts, words and deeds. Inner attachment is not destroyed by meditation alone. It is possible to destroy the root of the ego only by the practice of remaining unceasingly in the witness state, in such a way that the ego is not allowed to rise, even in dream.
When the seed is destroyed, its potential growth is also destroyed. Total destruction of
sankalpas is attainable only those who have perfect desirelessness. All the scriptures say that the destruction of sankalpas is caused by the destruction of vasanas. Sankara also confirms that the removal of moha [infatuation] is the means for remaining free from thoughts in the Sloka, "Nirmohatve nischala tattwam". When one is freed from the state of infatuation, the state of stillness is attained.
"How were we all in our previous births? Why do we not know our own past."
Sri Bhagavan: "God in His mercy has withheld this knowledge from people.
If they knew that they were virtuous,
they would grow proud; contrariwise
they would be depressed. Both are bad. It is enough that one knows the Self."
This question comes from the Ashramites. It occurs in fact to almost everyone in the spiritual line. Sri Bhagavan rightly thanks merciful God for causing this oblivion, before rebirth, or else the world would have been in complete chaos, and life far more miserable than it is already under the present conditions. apart from the pride or humiliation, of which Sri Bhagavan speaks, there
are thousands of events and things which are better completely forgotten, and millions of people
who had better remain unrecognized for one's own sake and for the sake of such of the people concerned. Problems would have arisen in such numbers and of such a nature as to make the earth too hot for a decent man to live in. We have therefore to say, "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof", and offer thanks to God Almighty for drawing a heavy curtain between one life and another.
Yet we have all heard of some "occultists" who claim the power to rend the curtain the see the Past, and wonder what good has that done? Has it given Jnana to the person whose past life is supposed to have been read, or even to the "occultist" himself? If it does anything at all, it is to create serious doubts of its genuineness in some minds, and an abject, primitive faith in some others, both of which are definitely spiritually harmful. Why, therefore, dabble in useless preternatural matters? Sri Bhagavan us that the only knowledge worth acquiring is that of the Self; the rest is pure fantasy.
[Reflections on Talks -S.S. Cohen.]
"So long as there is individuality, one is the enjoyer and doer. But if it is lost, the Divine Will prevails and guides the course of events.
"Free will is implied in the scriptural injunctions to be good. It implies overcoming fate through
wisdom. The fire of wisdom consumes all actions and wisdom is acquired through sat sangha - the company of sages and its mental atmosphere."
All the Scriptures recommend good action, admitting by implication the freedom of the will; for if the will is not free, where is the point of asking us to be good? Man should then be like a machine or animal which is not responsible for its action and thus cannot be punished. The fire of wisdom here means the power of discrimination which the company of wise stimulates. Discrimination between good and evil, of necessity induces us to choose the good and shun the evil, the ultimate results of which will be
cessation of doership -- not the action itself, but the sense of our being its doers, which implies the merging of the individual will in the Divine Will, as of the individuality itself in the Divine. Thenceforward, "the Divine Will guide the course of action."
[Reflections on Talks - S.S. Cohen.]
Subramanian R/Friends,
"It is possible to destroy the root of the ego only by the practice of remaining unceasingly in the witness state, in such a way that the ego is not allowed to rise, even in dream."
Even in dream
This reminds me of what happened in a dream a few days ago. I don't remember any event in the dream. But somehow the series of events in the dream made me attempt atma-vichara within my dream. Within moments/seconds(of dream time) of trying vichara, I woke up! I was wide awake and sat bolt upright on the bed.
Also, I have observed that as long as I am vigilant doing vichara, as long as I keep up the effort, I don't fall asleep however sleepy I was feeling. The moment I get distracted by thoughts, I fall asleep unawares.
Dear Ramprax,
Sri Bhagavan has said in some conversations, that the mind is the condensed body and it is the mind that needs rest by way of sleep. Body needs only ordinary rest but not necessarily sleep. Since you are feeling awake during Vichara, one can keep it up but if you get sleepy, go to sleep, and do not force yourself to be awake. Sleep is necessary even for a Vicharist. Sri Bhagavan once said to Kunju Swami and his friend that they should not keep awake [they had planned to keep awake for 15 days or so] forcing the mind to be awake. Similarly He had said to them even to go without adequate food [they were planning only to take tea during day and night], is dangerous.
Regarding dreams, I think the same truth applies here too. Mind reflects the conditions of the body or its own imaginations, in dreams. That is why a person who dreams that he is being chased by a tiger, wakes up and his body is full of sweat!
Sri Bhagavan who was ever in His true natural state, also took food, had a few hours of sleep and He even had dreams as He had told about this once.
IN PRAISE OF THE LAZY ONES:
[Select portions from David Godman's
article in MP Oct-Dec. 2008]
Verses 773 and 774 of Guru Vachaka Kovai, are grouped together under a chapter entitled Being Still or Remaining Still. The Verses are-
1. The method of true and supreme tapas that our Lord Ramana, declared to be worthwhile and which the mind should finally hold onto is this, and no more. Being Still. Other than this there are absolutely no thoughts to think, nor any duties to contemplated by it.
The LAZY STATE, where in you exist motionlessly and shine is the state of Swarupa. In that supreme state you have become That. It cannot be attained except by direct, excellent, and rare tapas. You should therefore honor those who are established in the laziness as holy being.
2. Muruganar wrote in Padamalai that Sri Bhagavan bestowed this 'idle state on him.'
The golden Padam [Sri Bhagavan] completely abolished my wandering around as a wicked one and made me shine as a perfect idler.
Even the actions I perform, believing them to by my own are in reality, the actions of Padam, the complete and absolute truth.
[Verses 120 and 256 of Padamalai]
3. Sri Bhagavan mentioned this state of laziness in Sri AAMM, Verse 37:
If I sleep consciously as a lazy one, remaining still and consuming bliss, this is the supreme state. Is there any state other than this, O Arunachala! If there is, please tell me!
4. Tirumandiram, Verse 127 also states:
The place where the lazy ones dwell in pure space,
The place where the lazy ones rest in pure space,
The Consciousness of the lazy ones remains,
in the place which the Vedas have abandoned as beyond their scope.
The lazy ones have gained the state in which they are sleeping,
totally unaware of the Vedas.
[Tirumandiram, I Tantra. It appears as Verses 127 and 128 in some editions.]
5. Verse 15 of Upadesa Undiyar contains a similar idea:
For the great yogi who is established as the reality due to the death of the mind-form, there is not any action, to do because, he has attained his true nature.
Sri Bhagavan has told Suri Nagamma and Balarama Reddy [both were Telugu speaking people] that He was dubbed as Panileni Vadu, a man having no work.
Ramprax, 'But somehow the series of events in the dream made me attempt atma-vichara within my dream' That's quite a dream!
It's great! You've become one pointed so that even in the dream state you are attempting vichara.
It is not very difficult to figure out what that Radha is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GSmqgIHiFw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GSmqgIHiFw
She is not as clever as that Nithyananda who ran a multi million worldwide empire.He is still carrying on as usual becuase he has bought over the powers.The people burying Radha as a saint shows their desperateness to carry on the show as usual.
There will be a downfall to EVERY ONE OF US at some stage.But those who can repent and say sorry is the right thing to go about it and will prove one's sincerity.To deny it and carry on is a born crook who is very dangerous;a third rate criminal; like what Nithyananda is doing now.
These kind of criminals should be neatly roughed up.Trust me we are actually doing a great favour to them by administering that treatment to them.Ripe souls forgive bacuase Karma Sanyasa is for them but not for a vast majority of us.
One example of not getting caught up in the huge pressure of devotees and their future is Jiddu when he disbanded the the Theosophical society.On the other hand it carried on nevertheless, with out the official tag.
By the way Mooji's entry fee per head per sitting have now gone up from one pound to eight pounds in the UK as reported by a friend.But he also reported feeling peace as Mooji entered the room.He was a happy customer.
-z
Sorry the right words are 'downfall' is the word used for a sincere sadhaka.'Caught out' is the phrase for a criminal sadhaka.'Caught Up' is for the one in between.
-z
Dear Anon [z]
Fake Gurus not only cause harm to the ignorant devotees while in limelight, but also when they are fallen. I know a classmate of my
son, who was caught up with Swami N., and he was working in a good
company in Singapore and he used to come every month to Bangalore - Bidadi, just to listen one or two 'discourses' of Swami N. After
knowing the story of this fallen guru, he is on a bout of suicidal depression and had to be attended to by doctors continuously. Because such seekers though they have bet on wrong horses, their trust levels were quite high. When met with disappointment, their sufferings are also quite high.
All the king's horses
And all the king's men
fall with Humpty Dumpty
Together again.
A fake guru in search of a Sadguru
[no, his money!]:
Swami Sudarsan Sagar, a young man of 25 years age, round, fair and well fed, comes and sits before Sri Bhagavan and opens fire with the question: "You have realized God, I suppose."
Sri Bhagavan maintains silence. SSS waits awhile. Nothing abashed or daunted, he returns to the attack and after looking at the tiger skin on which Sri Bhagavan is seated -- a loving present by some ardent devotee, acting according to conventional ideas even in the Bhagavad Gita as to what is suitable for a yoga asana -
questions Sri Bhagavan.
"Is it sin to kill a tiger?"
Sri Bhagavan is silent and retains equanimity and His usual steady gaze into vacancy.
SSS waits awhile and gets no reply. BVN, then present, interposes and begins to tell SSS that the answer depends on various circumstances. SSS cuts the speech short with the brusque remark, "I want Swami's answer. I do not want others' answers!"
BVN is hushed. No one speaks. For some ten minutes o so there is solemn silence. SSS getting no reply from Sri Bhagavan and finding no chance of getting any, walks out of the Hall, and goes elsewhere into the premises.
Sri Bhagavan then explains to those remaining that answering of such questions would lead to endless and useless talk.
It is also clear that SSS' object was not to learn something for his spiritual benefit. His were 'catch questions'. For instance, if Sri Bhagavan should say that it is a sin to kill a tiger, SSS would retort, 'Why abet the sin, then, "What was the doctrine of Ahimsa" and so on.
This same SSS had asked some inmates of the Asramam whether "the Swami here is rich?" and explained that he [SSS] got his finances from rich mutts and swamijis. SSS must have been mortified perhaps to note that he could not disturb Sri Bhagavan's equanimity with his questions or impress him with his own [SSS's] superior cleverness and was perhaps disappointed in finding that he had strayed into a poor Swami's cottage, misled by the extent of the garden and imposing dimensions of the Asramam Hall.
Sri Bhagavan is rich -- richer than all. He has everything because He owns nothing and cares for nothing. He gives away all that is placed before Him and shares it with all present. He is supremely content and happy - in His Self. What has He to do with riches?
[From the note book of B.V. Narasimha Swami, Mountain Path, Advent, 2003.]
Ravi----Thankyou for your interesting comments about the woman Radha Ma.....I am happy to see there are pure devotees still left in the world.........Peace tp You.FrankIII
Extract from Mathru Sri Saradamma's 2011 New Year greetings:
http://mathrusrisarada.org/
------------------------------
Point 10 : Without the mind getting destroyed, mistaking the experiences during sadhana(light,peace,bliss) for Jnana and in that mAya if one behaves like a Guru or a Jnani, sinful karma will attach/ensue and one will have to take further births.
-z
Friends,
An excerpt from the Gospel of sri Ramakrishna:
Faith in guru
MASTER: "A man should have faith in the words of his guru. He doesn't have to look into
his guru's character. 'Though my guru visits the grog-shop, still he is the Embodiment of
Eternal Bliss.'
"A man who used to give recitals of the Chandi and the Bhagavata once said, 'A broomstick
is itself unclean, but it cleans dirty places.' "
Namaskar.
That broomstick is the fake guru and dirt is the gullibility. Cleaning here refers to the realisation of the gullible that they have been cheated and learning to spot the cunning next time.So in this respect the fake guru has done them a favour by cheating them.By thrashing him up a favour is done to the fake guru by driving home the fact that in the end the deceivers deceive themselves. The ones who forgive him out of fear(inaction/tamas) are the ones that are not helping the fake guru.
So to say 'All is Well' is either 'In-action' or 'Action' or 'No-action(jnAna)' depending on who you are.
Madhva once said: to know the difference between 'Action' and 'Inaction' is the highest wisdom[Not exact words]
Lord Krishna very clearly told Arjuna that aspiration for 'Karma Sanyasa' was not for him but aspiration for 'Karma Yoga'; as his dharma was Kshatriya.
One should not forgive out of fear that he will also one day fall down but his action should be propelled by his dharma.Inturn one may be prepared for such a treatment when he himself falls down.
Bhagawan also indicated this in the famous Dining Hall incident about caste by asking :Is that the only/last thing[Caste Prejudice] left for you? That is in the famous analogy of the stick used to stir the pyre: just because the stick will also end in the fire you cannot throw it in the beginning itself. There is an order and that order is determined by where you are at.
-z
salutations to all:
a very beautiful song in old classical hindi ["...why have you forgotten to chant the lord's name?..."]
नाम जपन क्यों छोड़ दिया
क्रोध न छोड़ा झूठ न छोड़ा
सत्य बचन क्यों छोड दिया
झूठे जग में दिल ललचा कर
असल वतन क्यों छोड दिया
कौड़ी को तो खूब सम्भाला
लाल रतन क्यों छोड दिया
जिन सुमिरन से अति सुख पावे
तिन सुमिरन क्यों छोड़ दिया
खालस इक भगवान भरोसे
तन मन धन क्यों ना छोड़ दिया
नाम जपन क्यों छोड़ दिया ॥
youtube links for this song sung by 3 legendary singers:
bhimsen joshi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3183MZjwESg
ms subbulakshmi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGVpxfpqCbc
voleti venkateshwarulu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLC0lt_px1k
salutations to all:
chapter-10 verse-41 of the bhagavad gItA
यद्यद्विभूतिमत्सत्त्वं श्रीमदूर्जितमॆव वा ।
तत्तदॆवावगच्छ त्वं मम तॆजॊंऽशसम्भवम् ॥
(yad yad vibhutimat sattvam shrimad urjitameva vaa,
tat tat deva avagaccha tvam mama tejomsha sambhavam)
[whatever object is verily endowed with majesty, possessed of prosperity, or is energetic & filled with vigour, know for certain each of them as having a part of My power as its source. ]
if not for anything else, at least keeping the above verse in mind, one should possibly desist from criticising any master (even a so-called fake-guru). after all, when X or Y spoke & sermonised in their good times, hundreds listened & followed; if we do the same, we should be glad if our neighbour hears for a coupe of minutes without a disagreement! :-)
further, X or Y who are being criticised here - didn't they do whatever they did right beneath aruNAchalA? so, if at all, we have to give vent to our anguish, it ought to be directed at aruNAchalA! :-) for a bhaktA who wishes to surrender to aruNAchalA, shouldn't all 'good' and all 'not-good' be from aruNAchalA & aruNAchalA alone? of course, one who has progressed even a little perhaps would salute the so-called 'fake-guru' from far and proceed to enhance his/ her sAdhanA (as ravi said) :-)
said in another way, how much time would it take for aruNAchalA to make us come under the influence of a so-called fake-guru? hardly any! to those who may claim - "we are totally tied to bhagavAn, hence there is no scope for us to get deceived" - think of perumAL svAmi :-) obviously we may be inclined to focus more on the ill-words he spoke about bhagavAn, but wasn't it the same perumAL svAmi who served bhagavAn for a few years as a most devoted personal attendant (close enough to render service to bhagavAn during periods of severe illness). let alone the dust of bhagavAn's feet, am not worth the dust of perumAL svAmi's feet and that is regardless of whatever happened in later times! who in this blog wouldn't wish to have been one of bhagavAn's attendants? :-)
hence, there is no guarantee in life; we can slip anytime anywhere anyplace; who comes under whose influence when & where may all be entirely aruNAchalA's will (those who are good are good because of aruNAchalA's will & those who are bad are bad because of aruNAchalA's will). of course, we may not slip if we keep 'eternal vigil', and isn't such 'vigilance' unalloyed grace itself?
CORRIGENDUM:
(please read the transliteration of the second line as given below)
यद्यद्विभूतिमत्सत्त्वं श्रीमदूर्जितमॆव वा ।
तत्तदॆवावगच्छ त्वं मम तॆजॊंऽशसम्भवम् ॥
(yad yad vibhutimat sattvam shrimad urjitameva vaa,
tat tat eva avagaccha tvam mama tejomsha sambhavam)
z,
I do not agree with you.Thakur is absolutely clear and needs no further explanation.you are only justifying your point of view.
I saw the video links that you have posted on Radha ma.It filled me with anguish that such a innocent person as this one had to end up like this.
Leave aside whether she is a jnani or the ajnani(may this divide cease!)-that she was a child to her parents,that she was a wife to her husband,friend to her friends,an aspirant who came to live in the street of tiruvannamalai leaving aside her job-these are facts that one cannot be insensitive about.
We are responsible for creating this sort of insensitive society.The only thing that we can do as spiritual aspirants is to set our house in order,first set aright ourselves,increase the tapas by being true to the inner call and live by that;not to be drawn like Don Quixote to every imagined villain of a windmill.
The law and order machinery will take care of the cheats;again the efficiency of such a machine will in turn depend on us,for we are the world.
Om Shantih!Shantih!Shantihi!
Namaskar.
m/Friends,
An excerpt from The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna:
Sri Ramakrishna and M. were now conversing alone.
M: "Sir, if it is God Himself who has become everything, then why do people have so many
different feelings?"
MASTER: "Undoubtedly God exists in all beings as the All-pervading Spirit, but the
manifestations of His Power are different in different beings. In some places there is a
manifestation of the power of Knowledge; in others, of the power of ignorance. In some
places there is a greater manifestation of power than in others. Don't you see that among
human beings there are cheats and gamblers, to say nothing of men who are like tigers. I
think of them as the 'cheat God', the 'tiger God'."
M. (with a smile): "We should salute them from a distance. If we go near the 'tiger God' and
embrace him, he may devour us."
m,you said it right.The gospel of Sri Ramakrishna is a rare treasure trove-inexhaustible!.There is detailed guidance available on almost anything for the sincere aspirant and what is more vital is that it has the Living presence of the Masterto back it up.
Namaskar.
s,
Thanks very much for the wonderful post.I totally concur with what you have expressed.the perumal swami(see how Sri Bhagavan has brought about this wonderful way of addressing everone as swami!)episode that you have referred to is indeed instructive.
Namaskar.
Anonymous
'Point 10 : Without the mind getting destroyed, mistaking the experiences during sadhana(light,peace,bliss) for Jnana and in that mAya if one behaves like a Guru or a Jnani, sinful karma will attach/ensue and one will have to take further births.'
I found something similar in the Amrita Saram of Tattuvarayar last week:
What does it matter to what caste they [jnanis] belong? What does it matter which religion they belong to? What does it matter which type of verses they have sung? Only the words of those who have renounced the mind are pure words. All the rest lead only to rebirth.
Dear S, Perulam was certainly foolish! It all stemmed from his being replaced by Chinna Swami as the sarvadikari; he couldn't come to terms with being replaced. one angry, impulsive step led to another until he painted himself into a corner.
glow
Dear Anon[z]
A serious sadhaka can also fall and if he falls it would be very quick
like a ball slipped down the staircase. [Sri Sankara].
A true sannyasi went to a householder's home for dinner as per the latter's call. The householder
has earned money through illegal means. After taking the food, milk in a silver cup was offered
to him and after drinking, the sannyasi involuntarily placed the sliver cup into his bag and came back. On returning to his cottage, he found the silver cup in his bag and realized that this buddhi to thieve had come to him due to the food taken from that house.
Today's asterism is Punarvasu, in the month of Panguni [Phalgun]. It is Sri Bhagavan's birth star and He
was born on a Punarvasu early morning in the month of Margazhi [Dhanur].
Muruganar has composed 11 verses on
Punarvasu and Sri Bhagavan and it is in Sri Ramana Sannidhi MuRai.
On this day, in the Asramam, they cover Ramaneswara Mahalingam with a golden gasket and special pujas are done.
One sample song from Punarvasu
VaNNam.
Verse 6:
Even after learning all arts,
without a clear mind,
The devotee eagerly comes to you
to attain solid stable Jnana,
The Sadasivamurti on this Jayanti,
on this great day of Punarvasu,
in Margazhi,
Shows the correct path that should
be followed, it is this great
day.
The Tamizh verse starts as -
Therkalai ellam theRinum chintai
theLiyadhu.....
Muruganar has written thousands of other poems, and these are published in Sri Ramana Jnana Bodham, in 9 volumes. These volumes were once printed by Ramana Kendra, Delhi and there is no reprint.
In this book, in its 9th volume, there are 3059 verses under the title Padamalai. The word, Padam, Muruganar uses both to mean Sri Bhagavan Himself as also His feet. Padam in a few verses also mean the formless Self.
Out of 3059 verses, David Godman has selected 1750 verses and these
have been re-arranged subject wise and published in his book PADAMALAI. The first edition had come in 2004.
Before publication of this book, in 2003, some verses on select topics were published through 2 article in Mountain Path, in
Deepam and Aradhana issues in 2003. I am giving only these verses, [even though the article as well as the book published in 2004 have also included a quite number of cross references from Sri Bhagavan's teachings and conversations and Muruganar's brief meanings for certain verses], with original numbers in the Tamizh book.
FROM ARADHANA, 2003 OF MOUNTAIN PATH:
THE GURU:
The true form of the Guru:
666. The true form of the Guru can
be known only if one realizes, through the grace of the Guru, one's own real form.
662. Do not imprison the true form of the Guru within a cage but seek inwardly and realize it to be the formless, omnipresent expanse of Consciousness.
562. Only the divine grace that wells up in abundance in the form of the Guru can very easily put a stop to the dizzying whirl of the infatuated mind.
1212. That which dwells within as
the supreme Self is indeed that which sports before you, as the very visible form of the Guru.
2632. The form of the Jnana-Guru that bestows an abundance of grace is Sivam, who abides within oneself as pure Consciousness.
contd.
PADAMALAI [contd.]
WORSHIP AND SURRENDER TO THE GURU:
543. Since the divine form, the form of the Guru assumed by Iswara,
is actually a physical embodiment of grace, that form is worthy of being worshipped.
1831. Siva Jnana Yoga is remaining still through the never-diminishing grace of the Guru who bestows true Jnana.
779: Grace will freely flow in a heart that, meditating upon the Guru as the true form of Lord Siva,
becomes lost in adoration.
2272. The greatness of noble disciples is that they obtain clear knowledge by trusting and believing in their heart that the Guru's form is the embodiment of grace.
404. It is not ordained that the noble disciples who have obtained the grace of the Guru, and who are therefore rejoicing in the Heart, shall feel fear and despair.
1547. The disciple who completely surrenders himself to the Guru will attain the life of true Jnana, the auspicious life.
434. If, like the goddess Uma, you offer only half of yourself to the Guru, that will not be sufficient for attaining Jnana.
[David adds here that Sri Bhagavan may be speaking ironically here. Uma, in fact, surrendered so completely to Siva, that He bestowed on Her half of His physical form].
697: The immaculate true Jnana will only shine if you renounce the ego, the sense of individuality, leaving no remnant behind.
698: Know that the surrender of the ego is in no way commensurate with the immortal state of perfection that one then attains.
699: Attaining the Self by sacrificing the ego, is like a business transaction in which one receives the true, ancient, primal essence in return for the reflection, the ego.
contd.
salutations to all:
Anonymous(glow):
the point is not what led to perumAL svAmi's downfall; the point is - if such is the case of one who spent a few years in very close proximity to bhagavAn, where do you or i or anybody else in this blog stand? don't forget that no one here has even seen bhagavAn, not to mention living with him! - who knows, the foolishness we might commit may be a thousandfold as that of perumAL svAmi! :-), and hence preferably refrain from criticising anybody, no matter who they are/were :-)
PADAMALAI [Contd]
NAMASKARAM:
625: The true meaning of Namaskaram is the ego bowing its head and getting destroyed at the feet of the Guru.
626: When the ego is totally destroyed at the feet of the Guru, it will then shine, as the unsurpassed sea of mauna [silence].
1766: Padam [Sri Bhagavan] communicates this truth. The meaning of the word 'nama' is abiding as the Self, with the
ego destroyed.
THE PRIMAL GURU, DAKSINAMURTI:
668: The excellent teaching that the primal Guru Dakshinamurti gave to the great ascetics was Mauna, His own unique method.
669: The silent speech untied the chit-jada-granthi [the knot between the insentient body and Consciousness] of the disciples
and destroyed their minds that ramified with differentiating thoughts.
670: If the doubt that could not be dispelled by the many oral instructions were dispelled by that mauna, what power mauna has!
664: No one has the ability to describe the power of the grace abiding in mauna.
contd.
This is for those in Chennai:
The yearly Panguni utsavam festival is going on at Kapaleeswarar Temple, Mylapore. Tomorrow is the Theru(Car festival).
Day after tomorrow is the Aruvatthi Moovar festival. The idols of 63 nayanmaar-s are taken for procession. Jnana sambandhar is supposed to have mentioned about this festival in a verse to revive the daughter of a chettiar in Mylapore.
Ravi/S/Subramaniam, do any of you have the exact verse?
Regards,
Ram
--
Dear Ramprax,
Thank you about Panguni Uttiram festival for Kapaleeswra-Karpagambika today and 63 saints utsavam tomorrow. I can at least remember the saints and read Jnana Sambandha's Poompavai Padigam tomorrow from Periya Puranam. Tiru Jnana Sambandha's charitram occupies half the total verses of Periya Puranam. That is why it is said:
PiLLai paadhi Puranam paadhi... The son is half; and the other half is puranam.
PADAMALAI [continues]
BHAGAVAN'S DECLARATIONS AND PROMISES:
{In the book, it appears as Bhagavan's promises and declarations.}
149: Padam tells and reveals: "Instead of knowing well by inquiry that I myself am the present as your "I", why do you despair?
525: To become established as the Self within the Heart is to experience my real nature, which is pure Bliss.
916: Know me as the true essence of Jnana that shines uninterruptedly in you Heart. Destroy the objectifying awareness of the ego-mind that arrogantly cavorts as "I".
994: When I am shining in your Heart as "I-I", your attempt to
'attain' me, your own real nature is indeed a great marvel!
367: To meditate on my Swarupa, which possesses the light that is the source of life, all that is needed is your one-pointedness of mind.
368: Whether you retire to the forest or remain in the midst of everyday life, attain my Swarupa in the home that is the Heart.
995: You search to attain me is like searching all over the world, ceaselessly straining to find the necklace around one's own neck.
996: Just as you know that the necklace is there, by touching your neck, seek the treasure of the Self, your real nature, within the Heart and know it.
1661: Those who have come to my feet with love, and without delaying, are those whose birth has been graced by God. Theirs is an eminent and true life.
1662: Through the thought of the feet of the Guru who has reigned over devotees, the intense darkness of ignorance present in the hearts of devotees, will perish and ultimate liberation will be attained here and now.
GIVE ME YOUR BURDENS:
2031: Padam [Sri Bhagavan], who
possesses the munificence of grace, has given the assurance that His greatest duty is that of affording protection to the devotees/
230: Padam lovingly said: "It will be a duty well done if you place all your duties upon me."
[The following are Sri Bhagavan's direct quotes:]
1656: Like the children of an emperor, my devotees are heirs of abundant rejoicing.
371: For the cruel disease of burning samsara to end, the prescribed diet is to entrust all your burdens to me.
360: In order that your needless anxieties cease, make sure that all your burdens are placed on me through the courageous act of depending totally on grace.
1045: If you completely surrender all your responsibilities to me, I will accept them as mine and manage them.
1619: When bearing the entire burden remains my responsibility, why do you have any worries?
1253: Why do you still retain this attachment to the mental concepts of 'I' and 'mine' when, on that day, you had offered up all those things to me, avowing them to be mine?
236: If you inquire and know me, the Self within, in that state there will be no reason for you to worry about the world.
237: Abandon the drama of the world and seek the Self within. Remaining within, I will protect you, ensuring that no harm befalls you.
238: Seek my grace within the Heart, I will drive away your darkness and show you the light.
This is my responsibility.
contd.
salutations to all:
Ramprax/Subramanian/Ravi:
here is the verse referring to the panguni utthiram festival at mylapore:
மலிவிழா வீதி மடநல்லார் மாமயிலைக்
கலிவிழாக் கண்டான் கபாலீச்சரம் அமர்ந்தான்
பலிவிழாப் பாடல்செய் பங்குனி யுத்திரநாள்
ஒலிவிழாக் காணாதே போதியோ பூம்பாவாய்
request subramanian/ravi to give a complete translation :-)
Dear S.,
Malivizha veedhi - the streets full of abundant joyous festivities, mali
here, does not mean cheap but abundant.
Mada nallar mamayilai kali vizha
- all beautiful women are there in
that great Mayilai [Mylapore] festival.
Kali vizha kandaan kapaleecharam
amarnthan - kali here has come as melithl viharam, i.e Li has become li. Kali means KaLi - enjoyable. The god, Siva, is majestically seated in his Temple, observing this enjoyable festival;
bali vizha padal sei - the festival is full of sacrifices [fires/homas/havens] and melodious songs,
Panguni uttira naaL - this day is Panguni uttiram day.
Oli vizhak kaanathe - without seeing this festival, where there are sounds of joy reverberating,
Podiyo Poompavai - O Poompavai, have you gone away? [without being here?]
The young girl is Poompavai daughter of a rich trader, chettiar.
At the end of 11th verse, the bones kept in a pot by the aggrieved father, waiting for
Jnana Sambandha with a hope of reviving his daughter's life, comes out as a beautiful girl Poompavai. Poompavai is back in life to see the festivities of Panguni Uttiaram! The trader, Chettiar wants Jnana Sambandha to marry his daughter, but the saint declines stating that she is as good as a daughter for Him, since He had revived her back to life.
SELECT PADAMALAI VERSES, FROM ARADHANA, 2003, MP CONTINUES:
Sri Bhagavan's declarations and promises:
Meditating on me:
262: Splendorous Padam declares: "Meditating on me with no sense of difference between us, is accepting my grace and offering yourself to me. This in itself enough.
521: If you worship me by meditating well on the excellence of my true nature, the greatness of your own true nature will well up in your Heart.
522: Knowing that what abides in your Heart, is the Self, my true and real nature, you should search for it there. Only this can be regarded as meditating on me with devotion.
1313: Padam advises: "Keeping one's attention on the subtle consciousness that is experienced by the extremely subtle mind is personal service to me."
914: The compassionate heart that flows from me to you will never fail except when you cease to have remembrance of 'me', who command and conduct everything.
915: You can know and experience my grace, which is my nature, if you remember me with no forgetfulness in your heart.
Union with me:
523: Seeking my true nature in your Heart, discovering it and rejoicing in it by bathing in the bliss of my Jnana Swarupam - this is union.
524: Only bhakti sadhana performed continuously with love will facilitate easily, in a gradual way, this union.
366: Enter with love the temple that is your own Heart, and experience the bliss of being absorbed in my Swarupam, becoming one with it.
450: I myself will command and actuate a mind that had died by the sacrifice of the ego.
contd.
Ravi you say:
[...again the efficiency of such a machine will in turn depend on us,for we are the world.]
This is what I am saying.It is our duty to thrash, condemn, denounce, dis-approve,silent protest,pray for the ignorant or forgive depending on one's own dharma.But to say to everyone we should all forgive like a saint or 'Everything is Narayana' or God/Self will take care of everything or 'All is Well' is a wrong application of the Saints' words.What is applicable to a ripe-sadhaka is not applicable for a beginner.I remind:Bhagawan asked some devotees to stop religious rites and warned others who followed suit that the same did not apply to them.
As I am not good with words let me add what I do not mean.I do not mean hold grudges or be insensitive or become frustrated or never forgive.Forgive your children for every mistake they do and see what happens.I mean thrash them(criminal gurus) up as if it's your duty and forget it.This single 'wrong application' on it's own has destroyed India into tamas, 'resigned to fate', dire poverty, superstition and fear and further into selfishness and this despite being stressed by Lord Krishna in Bhagavat Gita explaining the applicability of 'Karma Sanyasa' and 'Karma Yoga' to Arjuna.
I am also struggling to get out and that is why I know this point well.
-z
Dear Anon.[z]
You have said that "we have to thrash the fake gurus." Is it possible, excepting the fact that a few people threw stones on the ashrams and then the police took over. The chap was remanded. Thereafter some questioning, he was released on bail. Then the chap
asked that he should conduct "satsangh". The court has also agreed to this, The case will go on for a number of years. Meantime since the chap is out he will do mischief to make the witnesses and even the prime witness, the lady to go hostile in court. Already he is telling that the video is morphed. Though Indian labs have said it is genuine. Even then he will get some "expert" opinion to prove in the court that the video was in fact "morphed." Eventually the secular govt and slow judiciary will release him as innocent. So, these slavery mentality is there even in Independent India. The British imbibed in us the slave mentality at gun point. Here it will be money point. Once he is released, he will conduct "satsanghs" and another set of a thousand people will go behind like dumb lambs. There is no end to this circus.Even in religion, unless the devotees follow the caveat emptor principle, there is no end to this cheating in the name of religion. Let the buyers beware.
Z/R.Subramanaian/Friends,
The question is what ravi,Z,Subramanian should be doing,not what X,Y or W(z is already in use!)should do.
z,Are you ready to administer the thrashing(you seem to be preferring this option over the other milder forms!)or you are expecting others to do it for you?
I am not advocating Forgiveness(By the way who are we to forgive!),pacifism,escapism or Social activism-none of these.I am simply pointing out that by not living in our true Being,we are contributing to the confusion in this world and in this way are responsible for the ills in the world.
Please Note that I am not against the Law and order Machinery to investigate and administer justice,just like in any other case of exploitation and abuse.
What I have mentioned is what one needs to be doing as a spiritual aspirant-There is simply no substitute for atmic shakti,the lack of this is what leads to all sorts of evils-All forms of punishment are like a bandage only,the wound still festers and never heals,manifests again at the least opportunity.
I will wind up with this wonderful incident from the Life of The Sage of kanchi;I have posted this earlier and I never tire of repeating these:
“Once Sri Chandrasekhara Saraswati Swami of Kanchi Mutt (Sri Periyava) had camped in North India. The then Prime Minister, Smt. Indira Gandhi, came to have His darshan.
The Prime Minister of India placed a question in front of Sri Periyava, “If you would pinpoint the persons who, in the name of spirituality, lead the people in a wrong way I will take action against them.” Sri Periyava laughed and said, “No! It should not be handled in this manner. Those who approach such fake swamis will themselves, after a time, understand their standard of maturity.”
Sri Periyava knew that this reply did not satisfy Smt. Indira Gandhi. Someone had offered a basket full of mangoes to Periyava. It contained many unripe and a few ripe fruits. Many devotees waited outside for Sri Periyava’s darshan. Sri Periyava instructed the attendants to bring a child from amongst these devotees. A child of about 5 years was brought to Him. Pointing to the basket Periyava smilingly said to the child, “Take whatever you want.” After a search the child picked up a ripe fruit.
Sri Periyava pointed out to Smt.Indira Gandhi who was watching this, “Just as the way a child knows what is ripe and what is unripe, so too would those who go out in search of Truth recognize a true Mahan at some point of their life.”
As long as there buyers of Fake stuff,there will be sellers of fake stuff.Now are we going to punish the Seller or the Buyer?How much are we contributing to this buying and Selling!If one thinks one is not,one simply is not aware.This lack of awareness does not absolve one of one's responsibility.It is important for any spiritual aspirant to become aware of this Responsibility in the Deepest sense of the word-"You are The world".
Namaskar.
"This is what I am saying.It is our duty to thrash, condemn, denounce, dis-approve,silent protest,pray for the ignorant or forgive depending on one's own dharma.But to say to everyone we should all forgive like a saint or 'Everything is Narayana' or God/Self will take care of everything or 'All is Well' is a wrong application of the Saints' words"
How would you do this if you do not know who is fake, and who is real? and if someone is doing something criminally abusive, isn't that a criminal issue? And if someone is just faking enlightenment, or manipulative? Are you going to go around targeting every (non-criminally) manipulative person around the country, or the world, or better yet samsara for harassment? Isn't such a goal, obviously absurd? By being in such a hateful, and tamasic state, how are you going to rid the world of tamas? lmao
Z, cut this nonsense out, read up on Maharshi's teachings or leave! This is not the forum for this!
Z,
For clarity's sake, what to do you mean by "thrashing" fake Gurus?
If you mean by that, merely open verbal criticism, that sounds fine. If you mean a literal thrashing or other punishment (other than what the law decrees) then noo, I would not agree at all that such people should be thrashed.
The problem, of course, is that those who are attracted to fake gurus will not listen, and only those who are already not attracted will listen. I suppose it will be of some value to those on the fence, so it will help some people, but it will not stop the existence of fake gurus or their exploitation of others.
So while it is fine to speak out at times, it seems better to simply pursue genuine gurus and to practice genuinely. That is the most potent force in the world for destroying the fakes. It takes light to destroy darkness. Darkness will never destroy darkness. Even one's verbal thrashings must be forms of illumination, or they too merely add to the darkness and ignorance of those trying to understand spirituality.
Btw, I think Scott just gave you a thrashing!
(for suggesting that people be thrashed, of all things)
lol!
Dear S, It was not only Perumal that didn't listen to Ramana it was not quite as rare as you think.
"A female monkey with baby entered the hall. There was a basket of fruit near Ramana's couch. The monkey with young eyed the fruit longingly. The attendant tried to drive the monkey away. The Maharshi chided the attendant saying "She is a mother, with a child to feed. Can you not spare a few fruits for her?" But the attendant did not heed Bhagavan's words."
The entrenched, vasanas are there in all of us even when we are in the proximity of a great sage.
We just have to remember Ramana's words of encouragement that (beneath) these vasanas we are all pure and the very "self"
glow
Subramanian,
You say the British imbibed slave mentality in us.This is shifting the blame.Having lived in both countries I can assure you this is an unfair comment.
Do you know why Thakur was so excited about Vivekananda.Because Thakur knew what India needed.Do you know why Gandhiji took the movement at a slow pace i.e more than thirty years?
Today's British society is one of the most libertine and tolerant society in the world, relatively speaking.
The following is a fair comment and George Orwell's agrees:
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300011h.html#part51
[...Again, he seems to have been quite free from that maniacal suspiciousness which, as E.M. Forster rightly says in A PASSAGE TO INDIA, is the besetting Indian vice, as hypocrisy is the British vice]
Also I recommend the full essay on Gandhiji by George Orwell.
I was surprised today to see the number of verses on 'Action','Inaction' and 'No-action' chapter after chapter in Bhagavad Gita.
http://www.hinduwebsite.com/chapters.asp
He who sees action in inaction and inaction in action, is wise among all men.He is the accomplished yogi who has succeeded in performing actions-BG(4.18)
I understand what you said about Nithyananda.There is one more, a pair in Andhra called 'Amma Bhagawan'.These also have been caught on tape feeding drug balls to pass off as enlightenment.All videos are on internet caught red handed.But they are carrying on business as usual and no police action.
-z
Ravi,
I cannot agree to the story of the kid picking up a ripe mango I would add it is not just the gullible who fall victim.Even the intelligent and experienced can fall prey.I do not know if I am crossing my line here but I will mention anyway.In one of his books Mr.David mentioned a guru from whom he received mantra.But the Guru is also known for criminal level sleaze.
-z
z,
Friend,I will refer you to Sri Aurobindo's Excellent 'Essays on the Gita'.I am aware that you did not find his writings attractive,but I am persisting in advocating this line not with a view to promote Sri Aurobindo.
No other reading of the Gita,(for me!) is so multisided and so gripping as this insightful writing of this Great Master.Here is an excerpt:
The character of this inner crisis is therefore not the questioning
of the thinker; it is not a recoil from the appearances
of life and a turning of the eye inward in search of the truth of
things, the real meaning of existence and a solution or an escape
from the dark riddle of the world. It is the sensational, emotional
and moral revolt of the man hitherto satisfied with action and its
current standards who finds himself cast by them into a hideous
chaos where they are in violent conflict with each other and with
themselves and there is no moral standing-ground left, nothing
to lay hold of and walk by, no dharma.1 That for the soul of
action in the mental being is the worst possible crisis, failure
and overthrow. The revolt itself is the most elemental and simple
possible; sensationally, the elemental feeling of horror, pity and
disgust; vitally, the loss of attraction and faith in the recognised
and familiar objects of action and aims of life; emotionally, the
recoil of the ordinary feelings of social man, affection, reverence,
desire of a common happiness and satisfaction, from a stern duty
outraging them all; morally, the elementary sense of sin and
1 Dharma means literally that which one lays hold of and which holds things together,
the law, the norm, the rule of nature, action and life.
26 Essays on the Gita
hell and rejection of “blood-stained enjoyments”; practically,
the sense that the standards of action have led to a result which
destroys the practical aims of action. But the whole upshot is that
all-embracing inner bankruptcy which Arjuna expresses when
he says that his whole conscious being, not the thought alone
but heart and vital desires and all, are utterly bewildered and
can find nowhere the dharma, nowhere any valid law of action.
For this alone he takes refuge as a disciple with Krishna; give
me, he practically asks, that which I have lost, a true law, a clear
rule of action, a path by which I can again confidently walk. He
does not ask for the secret of life or of the world, the meaning
and purpose of it all, but for a dharma.
Continued...
z,
Sri Aurobindo's Essays on The Gita continued...
Yet it is precisely this secret for which he does not ask, or
at least so much of the knowledge as is necessary to lead him
into a higher life, to which the divine Teacher intends to lead
this disciple; for he means him to give up all dharmas except
the one broad and vast rule of living consciously in the Divine
and acting from that consciousness. Therefore after testing the
completeness of his revolt from the ordinary standards of conduct,
he proceeds to tell him much that has to do with the state
of the soul, but nothing of any outward rule of action. He must
be equal in soul, abandon the desire of the fruits of work, rise
above his intellectual notions of sin and virtue, live and act in
Yoga with a mind in Samadhi, firmly fixed, that is to say, in the
Divine alone. Arjuna is not satisfied: he wishes to know how
the change to this state will affect the outward action of the
man, what result it will have on his speech, his movements, his
state, what difference it will make in this acting, living human
being. Krishna persists merely in enlarging upon the ideas he has
already brought forward, on the soul-state behind the action, not
on the action itself. It is the fixed anchoring of the intelligence
in a state of desireless equality that is the one thing needed.
Arjuna breaks out impatiently,—for here is no rule of conduct
such as he sought, but rather, as it seems to him, the negation of
all action,—“If thou holdest the intelligence to be greater than
action, why then dost thou appoint me to an action terrible in
its nature? Thou bewilderest my understanding with a mingled
The Human Disciple 27
word: speak one thing decisively by which I can attain to what
is the best.”
z,
Essays on The gita continued...
It is always the pragmatic man who has no value for
metaphysical thought or for the inner life except when they help
him to his one demand, a dharma, a law of life in the world or,
if need be, of leaving the world; for that too is a decisive action
which he can understand. But to live and act in the world, yet
be above it, this is a “mingled” and confusing word the sense of
which he has no patience to grasp.
The rest of Arjuna’s questions and utterances proceed from
the same temperament and character. When he is told that once
the soul-state is assured there need be no apparent change in the
action, he must act always by the law of his nature, even if the
act itself seem faulty and deficient compared with that of another
law than his own, he is troubled. The nature! but what of this
sense of sin in the action with which he is preoccupied? is it not
this very nature which drives men as if by force and even against
their better will into sin and guilt? His practical intelligence is
baffled by Krishna’s assertion that it was he who in ancient times
revealed to Vivasvan this Yoga, since lost, which he is now again
revealing to Arjuna, and by his demand for an explanation he
provokes the famous and oft-quoted statement of Avatarhood
and its mundane purpose. He is again perplexed by the words
in which Krishna continues to reconcile action and renunciation
of action and asks once again for a decisive statement of that
which is the best and highest, not this “mingled” word. When
he realises fully the nature of the Yoga which he is bidden to
embrace, his pragmatic nature accustomed to act from mental
will and preference and desire is appalled by its difficulty and
he asks what is the end of the soul which attempts and fails,
whether it does not lose both this life of human activity and
thought and emotion which it has left behind and the Brahmic
consciousness to which it aspires and falling from both perish
like a dissolving cloud?
continued...
z,
Essays on the gita continued...
When his doubts and perplexities are resolved and he knows
that it is the Divine which must be his law, he aims again and
always at such clear and decisive knowledge as will guide him
practically to this source and this rule of his future action. How
28 Essays on the Gita
is the Divine to be distinguished among the various states of
being which constitute our ordinary experience? What are the
great manifestations of its self-energy in the world in which he
can recognise and realise it by meditation? May he not see even
now the divine cosmic Form of That which is actually speaking
to him through the veil of the human mind and body? And his
last questions demand a clear distinction between renunciation
of works and this subtler renunciation he is asked to prefer;
the actual difference between Purusha and Prakriti, the Field
and the Knower of the Field, so important for the practice of
desireless action under the drive of the divine Will; and finally
a clear statement of the practical operations and results of the
three modes of Prakriti which he is bidden to surmount.
continued...
z,
Essays on the Gita continued...
To such a disciple the Teacher of the Gita gives his divine
teaching. He seizes him at a moment of his psychological development
by egoistic action when all the mental, moral, emotional
values of the ordinary egoistic and social life of man have collapsed
in a sudden bankruptcy, and he has to lift him up out
of this lower life into a higher consciousness, out of ignorant
attachment to action into that which transcends, yet originates
and orders action, out of ego into Self, out of life in mind,
vitality and body into that higher nature beyond mind which is
the status of the Divine. He has at the same time to give him that
for which he asks and for which he is inspired to seek by the
guidance within him, a new Law of life and action high above the
insufficient rule of the ordinary human existence with its endless
conflicts and oppositions, perplexities and illusory certainties, a
higher Law by which the soul shall be free from this bondage of
works and yet powerful to act and conquer in the vast liberty
of its divine being. For the action must be performed, the world
must fulfil its cycles and the soul of the human being must not
turn back in ignorance from the work it is here to do. The whole
course of the teaching of the Gita is determined and directed,
even in its widest wheelings, towards the fulfilment of these three
objects.
-----------------------------------
No one has revealed the Gita as a living and dynamic source of inspiration as Sri aurobindo does in this magnificient work.
I first had a copy of Swami Prabhavananda's (along with Christopher Isherwood)translation of the Gita,and in its introduction,there was a reference to this Excellent writing of Sri Aurobindo,and this is how I discovered this treasure.
Namaskar.
Anonymous
'I will mention anyway.In one of his books Mr.David mentioned a guru from whom he received mantra.'
I have never received a mantra from any Guru, and I have never written that I have.
Z, rather than denouncing who you THINK, but do not KNOW are fake Gurus based on at most internet hearsay, (from the safety of your own computer without the vulnerability of being face to face with other humans), maybe it would be better if you would actually help people in the ACTUAL world. There is plenty to do, and plenty of people to help. And by this, I do not mean violating the core principle of Hinduism ahimsa, by doing mental or physical violence to people based on your own DELUSIONS, and then in future lives suffering the horrible karma for who knows how long. But by actually doing good. But also deeply practicing devotion, self-inquiry, love for all beings (reading up on the Bhagavad Gita), surrender to God. All of which do actual good for the universe, and the beings within it. Brooding in a state of hate, based on your own intense conceited delusions, and hateful mental violence against people you do not know, based on HEARSAY, GOSSIP, and NOT EVIDENCE! I say this, not being a jnani, nor do I want to pretend to know the answers. I just want to watch you waste your life away in such a wretched state. Sorry, no harm intended.
I meant, I don't want to watch you wasting your life away. I'm not speaking from Realization, and have as much ego going on as anyone, but this is what my integrity tells me is the correct response to what you are presenting.
Once we were all listening to the radio, in the Jubilee hall. At the end of the program, the names of the artistes were announced. Bhagavan said "See! The radio sings and gives speeches. It even announces the names of the performers. But there is nobody inside the radio. Our existence is also like that. The body might appear to walk and talk and perform a number of functions. But in fact, there is no individual inside the body. Everything is God. He alone exists"
Dear Ravi and others,
The only point I am making is:
Just as the child picks up only
ripe mango and not the unripe one,
in Maha Periyava story, we are not able to distinguish the fake guru and the real guru, because both look alike. They are not like unripe
mangoes. Swami N. spoke wonderfully about bhakti and jnana, wore ochre robes and captivated the followers. Even a TV channel, Sri Sankara, telecast his teachings every week! When I was in Tiruvannamalai, some friends of mine, rushed to Swami N. even foregoing lunch in the Asramam. I telephoned one of my friends after the incident and told him, how he went behind the fake when the great guru in the Asramam is shining in powerful Presence. He answered sheepishly: How do I know, Subbu?
Saint-Poet Tiruvalluvar said: MakkaLe polvar kayavar... Even the treacherous and false appear like genuine. All look like ripe mangoes!
What's hard to tell between a fake 'guru' and a real Guru? The real one resonates with our integrity, and conscience, speaks to our deepest selves, grace and peace are experienced at a profound level in their Presence. A fake 'guru' is going to let us off the hook, say that we don't have to change, validate our most negative tendencies as being O.K. At worst being abusive. A true Guru and a false Guru are as hard to tell apart as good and evil actions. yes, we may rationalize away our demonic selves. This is my experience, my interpretation. I don't want to be pretending to be speaking Truth. But this is what makes sense to me.
Select Padamalai verses from the article, that appeared in Aradhana,
2003. [Tr. David Godman]
GIVE ME YOUR MIND:
347: "You should offer up to me the bright ruby of your mind. That is the gift that will bring me delight."
348: "The sweet love I have for such a mind I do not have for anything else" Padam desire this.
978: Padam receives the minds of loving devotees as an offering, swallowing them through through a ruby-red light.
143: Padam accepts only the mind as a fitting offering, rejecting everything else, as being incompatible.
David Godman then quotes a few verses where Padam refers to the formless Self.
1810: [Page 33, verse 1 in the book]
That which is known as Padam is not something that is limited. It is complete perfection, the form of Pure Consciousness.
1044: [Page 39, verse 42 in the book]
Because it bears and sustains the whole world, the completely perfect being-consciousness is termed Padam [the feet]
2834: True Padam, the space of consciousness [in the book it is mentioned as 'expanse of consciousness'] abides and shines as the pure consciousness that is beyond knowledge and ignorance.
1213: [in the book it is in page 38, Verse 34]. Padam is the true light that shines as the basis for all that is seen as sentient and insentient.
2551: [in the book it is in page 40, verse 49]: The extremely wonderful Padam has fashioned the entire world from the clay of shining consciousness, one's real nature. {in the book one's real nature is not added}
Benedictory Verse of Padamalai:
3059: Padam bestows grace upon those who recite, praise and adorn Him with this Padamalai, uniting them permanently with the Atma Swarupam that forever remains one with them in their hearts.
EnRenim malai puganRu ethi vanainthar uLLathuth,
ThonrenRum than sorupam thoya aruL padam.
Tiruchitrambalam.
In the issue of Deepam, 2003 MP.,
David Godman has given the verses on the Heart.
650: "The Heart" and "Atma Swarupam"
are not different from each other. The difference is only in the words.
[See Sri Ramana Gita, V. 2,3 and 5].
651: It is the conviction of sages who possess the clear knowledge of reality that the Atma Swarupam exists as the Heart within the Heart.
1286: Those who are truly wise who drink the flooding honey of Atma Swarupam, which shines in the Heart as the Heart, and feel contented.
974: [this verse is added in the book and it does not appear in the article] Only in the silence of the Heart, where the movement of mind and intellect ceases, will the unique light of pure consciousness blaze forth, radiating brightly. [page 99, verse 28].
1377: Thinking is imagination. The Heart, thought free Atma Swarupam, is the reality, pure consciousness.
833: When perfection exists as the nature of your Heart, why do you lose your composure by dwelling on imperfections?
1130: The Heart is the Jiva Samadhi where the soul of the true devotee resides forever with bliss consciousness.
1285: It is impossible for a Heart that has realized itself to be the vast expanse of consciousness to be obscured by the thick black darkness of ignorance.
contd.
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