tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post1098313821288593873..comments2024-03-20T13:24:11.422+05:30Comments on Arunachala and Ramana Maharshi: Akhilandamma, Ganapati Muni and jealous sadhusDavid Godmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10354181925332694222noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-43292463050282399922010-11-17T09:06:40.573+05:302010-11-17T09:06:40.573+05:30Great answer from Maharaj to that lady's quest...Great answer from Maharaj to that lady's question. I hope that lady found peace later in her life.Thanks for taking the effort to post that detailed comment David.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-83328863161198151232009-01-26T16:52:00.000+05:302009-01-26T16:52:00.000+05:30DavidIt was a nice post about Akhilandamma and tak...David<BR/>It was a nice post about Akhilandamma and taking Bhagavan's words like 'Be Quiet'...<BR/><BR/>I would just like to add one more powerful quote from HIM given to Rajapalayam Ramani Ammal, when He left the physical body. <BR/><BR/>At that time as told by her in the 'Guru Ramana' video, she was fasting and during that time had a dream in which she met Bhagavan and Bhagavan it seems told her that 'if you look within, I am there'...<BR/><BR/>I think this is something we can all take literally as 'Bhagavan is within us and we need to look within for HIM'...<BR/><BR/>I am also reminded by a saying of Maharaj, 'All blessings come from Within'...<BR/><BR/>Love,<BR/>Satheeshvairavanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04126876656972277781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-354731908680223792008-06-03T07:42:00.000+05:302008-06-03T07:42:00.000+05:30Great answer from Maharaj to that lady's question....Great answer from Maharaj to that lady's question. I hope that lady found peace later in her life.Thanks for taking the effort to post that detailed comment David.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-78413099217315772682008-06-02T20:07:00.000+05:302008-06-02T20:07:00.000+05:30Very informative and interesting. Thank you, David...Very informative and interesting. Thank you, David. My understanding of boons has been greatly increased by reading this. And I would agree with your final words about what is truly needed from Bhagavan: To keep quiet and let Bhagavan do the rest, and to know he is always here as 'I am' really says it all.Jupeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04562814002037188693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-137331344716395792008-06-02T08:30:00.000+05:302008-06-02T08:30:00.000+05:30Ganapati Muni's comments come from his spiritual a...Ganapati Muni's comments come from his spiritual and cultural background. The puranic literature is full of stories of people doing tapas for decades in order to gain boons from one of the gods. Ganapati Muni himself did tapas in order to gain the power to throw the British out of India, but he didn't gain enough power or get the requisite boon. Given his background, I think it would have been natural for him to see this event as a boon granted to Akhilandamma for years of selfless service.<BR/><BR/>I don't think Bhagavan ever consciously gave out boons, but some devotees found that the effect of Bhagavan's remarks did last a lifetime. Here is a good example, taken from Chhaganlal Yogi's account in the Power of the Presence, part two:<BR/><BR/>Many years later, when Jagadisha Sastri and I [Chhaganlal Yogi] were walking down a street together in Bombay, it occurred to me that I had never seen him wear any kind of footwear. The black tar roads of the city get very hot in summer and I found it hard to believe that anyone could walk comfortably on them without wearing sandals or shoes.<BR/><BR/>I turned to him and asked, ‘Sastriji, your feet must have got burned a lot walking on these roads? Isn’t that so?’<BR/><BR/>‘No, no,’ he answered, ‘I have already got ravi raksha [protection from the sun] from Bhagavan. I may walk in any amount of heat but nothing ever happens to me.’<BR/><BR/>I naturally asked, ‘How did you get this ravi raksha?’<BR/><BR/>By way of an answer Sastriji told me a long story.<BR/><BR/>‘One day, right in the middle of the afternoon, Bhagavan took his kamandalu [water pot], got up and told me, “Jagadish, come with me to walk about on the mountain”.<BR/><BR/>‘“But it’s so hot,” I protested. “How can we move about in such weather?” I argued like this because I wanted to escape from the trip.<BR/><BR/>‘Bhagavan found my excuse unsatisfactory. “You can move about in just the same way that I move about,” he said.<BR/><BR/>‘“But my feet will burn!” I exclaimed. I didn’t have any footwear with me and I didn’t relish the idea of walking about over the burning rocks.<BR/><BR/>‘“Will my feet not burn as well?” replied Bhagavan, obviously feeling that this was not a serious obstacle. Bhagavan never wore any kind of footwear. He could walk on the toughest terrain in any weather without feeling the least discomfort.<BR/><BR/>‘“But yours is a different case,” I answered, alluding to the fact that Bhagavan never needed footwear.<BR/><BR/>‘“Why? Am I not a man with two feet, just like you?” asked Bhagavan. “Why are you unnecessarily scared? Come on! Get up!”<BR/><BR/>‘Having realised that it was useless to argue any more, I got up and started walking with Bhagavan. The exposed stones had become so hot because of the severe heat of the sun, walking on them made my feet burn. <BR/><BR/>‘For some time I bore the suffering, but when it became unbearable I cried out, “Bhagavan, my feet are burning so much! I cannot walk one more step. Even standing here is difficult. On all sides it is raining fire!”<BR/><BR/>‘Bhagavan was not impressed. “Why are you so scared?” he asked.<BR/><BR/>‘“If I remain in this terrible heat for any more time,” I replied, “my head will crack open because of the heat and I will definitely die!” I was not joking. I really was afraid of dying.<BR/><BR/>‘Bhagavan smiled and said in a very quiet and deep voice: “Jagadish, give up your fear and listen. You must have the bhavana [mental conviction and attitude] that you are the sun. Start doing japa of the mantra suryosmi [I am the sun] with the conviction that it is really true. You will soon see the effect of it. You yourself will become surya swarupa, that is, you will have the characteristics of the sun. Can the sun feel the heat of the sun?”<BR/><BR/>‘I followed this instruction of Bhagavan and started doing japa of this sun mantra because there was no other way to be saved from the burning heat. In a short time I started to feel the effect of the japa. The severity of the heat began to lessen and eventually I began to experience, instead of severe heat, a pleasing coolness. As the feeling of burning diminished I found that I was able to walk quickly alongside Bhagavan. By the time we had both reached Skandashram I found that my feet were not at all burnt as I had continued the mantra japa right up till the end of the walk.<BR/><BR/>‘Later, I was astonished to discover that the effect of chanting this mantra was permanent. Though I no longer chant it, I have never again suffered from the heat of the sun. I can now walk in summer on the tar roads of a city like Bombay with bare feet.’<BR/><BR/>______________________<BR/><BR/><BR/>Now, that, in my opinion, was a true boon, one that arose out of Bhagavan simply giving some practical advice on a very hot day.<BR/><BR/>Bhagavan very rarely promised in a direct way to look after devotees. If he wanted to give an assurance, he would, as with Ahilandamma, couch it in the third person: 'Think of Bhagavan, and Bhagavan will look after you.' Such a statement is good general advice for anyone, and it could also be taken as a specific commitment to the person to whom the remarks were originally addressed.<BR/><BR/>Papaji tried to persuade Bhagavan to let him stay at Ramanasramam in 1947, after Bhagavan had advised him to return to the Punjab and get his family safely to India.<BR/><BR/>Bhagavan responded by saying 'I am with you wherever you are'. <BR/><BR/>Papaji said that he immediately understood that the 'I am' that is Bhagavan would always be within him, in his heart, and that he could never be separate from him. He carried this knowledge and this conviction with him for the rest of his life. That's a true boon. Bhagavan did not make a promise; he simply made an authoritative statement, about the true nature of the Self, but the power in those words enabled Papaji to grasp and experience their true meaning.<BR/><BR/>Now here is a very odd story about boons and blessings. I was sitting with Nisargadatta Maharaj around 1978 when a middle-aged Indian woman came in and told the following story:<BR/><BR/>'I went to see Ramana Maharshi in the 1940s, and my wedding actually took place in Ramanasramam. Bhagavan stopped by at one point and stood silently watching us. Everyone said that he had come to bless the wedding. But my marriage, and my life in general, turned out to be a complete disaster. My husband became an alcoholic and beat me, some of my children died, and we ended up penniless. What kind of blessing is that? I lost all faith in Gurus after this. I have not been to see another one until today, and the only reason I have come here to see you is to ask why Bhagavan let this happen to us.'<BR/><BR/>Maharaj replied: 'Your idea of a blessing is different from the Guru's. You wanted financial success for your family, and you wanted your family to be happy with all the material things you were going to provide for them. When the Guru looks at you, he sees what stands between you and liberation, and he tries to remove it. In your case, that was his blessing. You had a lot of suffering-karma to go through before you would be ready to listen to a Guru's true teachings. Your 'blessing' was to have it all compressed and speeded up into the space of a few years. Now you can move on.'<BR/><BR/>So, boons may not always be what you were waiting and hoping for.<BR/><BR/>Bhagavan was an egalitarian par excellence. He insisted that everyone who came should have access to him, and he did not restrict his highest teachings to a select few. The only restriction was in the capacity of the devotee to receive. As he occasionally remarked, 'If you go to the ocean with a spoon, you can only take away a spoonful; if you go with a bucket, you can take away a bucketful. Don't blame the miserliness of the ocean for the amount you are receiving, or not receiving.'<BR/><BR/>The more you empty yourself, the more space you make for Bhagavan inside you. When this happens, the boons that are available to everyone start to take effect. <BR/><BR/>Consider Bhagavan's statement:'Just keep quiet; Bhagavan will do the rest.' <BR/><BR/>That, in my opinion, is a promise made to all devotees, not just to the person to whom it was originally addressed. It is a boon freely available to anyone who wants to fulfill the condition.<BR/><BR/>And what about: 'They say I am going away. Where can I go? I am here.'<BR/><BR/>Is that not a boon given freely to everyone who understands its import and acts on it? I do not, as some people do, take it to mean that Bhagavan remains in some subtle physical way at Ramanasramam, presiding over its affairs and the affairs of its devotees. I take it to be the same boon that he gave to Papaji: 'Bhagavan, as my own "I am", is always available, always accessible. He is never going to leave because he is always "here", within me as my own Self.'<BR/><BR/>I join it to the other boon - 'Just keep quiet; Bhagavan will do the rest' - and I know that I have all the promises I will ever need from Bhagavan.<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>'David Godmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10354181925332694222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-68615692265861468492008-06-02T00:20:00.000+05:302008-06-02T00:20:00.000+05:30David, I was so moved when I read Akhilandamma's a...David, I was so moved when I read Akhilandamma's account of her exchange with Bhagavan, when she pleaded with him for compassion, and then him saying to her, "Hereafter, remember me whenever you face calamities." And then, hearing Ganapati Muni's comment on what had just happened gave me a glimpse of the supreme importance of this powerful moment. It had never occurred to me that "the hidden powers of a great and genuine Guru do not easily come out to work in the external world," nor that such a "boon is for future lives also." Is it, in part, because of this moment that we are all now able to give our worries and problems to Bhagavan and know that his compassion is ever forthcoming? Or is that too strong a way of putting it?Jupeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04562814002037188693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-19654289329752017302008-06-01T20:27:00.000+05:302008-06-01T20:27:00.000+05:30The books (there are three of them) can be obtaine...The books (there are three of them) can be obtained from the Sri Ramanasramam Book Depot, Tiruvannamalai. The email address is: bookstall@sriramanamaharshi.orgDavid Godmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10354181925332694222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-8841719226396750852008-06-01T19:18:00.000+05:302008-06-01T19:18:00.000+05:30Dear Sir,Thank you for the wonderful posts.Can you...Dear Sir,<BR/><BR/>Thank you for the wonderful posts.<BR/>Can you tell me where i could get the book "The Power of Presence" in south India. Im in Coimbatore, and could not find a way to get the books.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the wonderful work<BR/>Vimal Anandvimal Anandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11489913523202485141noreply@blogger.com