Compilation of T.V. Kapali Sastry's writings on Sri Ramana's teachings, a draft English translation of an introduction to his commentary on 'Ramana Gita' & more
Compilation of T.V. Kapali Sastry's writings on Sri Ramana's teachings, a draft English translation of an introduction to his commentary on 'Ramana Gita' by Vasishtha Ganapati Muni, extracts from his diary related to Sri Ramana & more..
This book is included as part of Collected Works Volume 3 > The Maharshi
It is not the purpose of this Foreword either to commend the book or to recommend it to the public. The first would form an act of impertinence and the second an act of supererogation. Its victory and prosperity wait upon the combination yatra yogeswarah krsnah yatra partho dhanurdharah. So where the theme is Bhagavan Sri Maharshi to the writer, there is bound to be feast of intellect and flow of soul. I write merely to express my own personal satisfaction that these fragmentary writings of Sri Sastriar found scattered in periodicals and private diaries are here brought together and presented to the world.
It is needless to point out the unique qualifications of Sri Sastriar for interpreting Sri Maharshi’s personality and teachings. He first came into the circle of Sri Maharshi’s light in 1911, as a disciple of Sri Kavyakantha Ganapati Sastrigal, the foremost of Sri Maharshi’s disciples at the time. By the ripeness of his soul, which had been mellowed by years of previous sadhana, he soon came closer to an understanding of Sri Maharshi’s Upadesha (Sat Darsana and Hrdaya Vidya) than anyone else. Even after, under the imperative urge of an inner development, he took the sadhana of Sri Aurobindo, he retained his reverential attachment to Sri Maharshi. This he could do without sacrifice of principle or compromise with conscience for he saw, appreciated and assimilated the realised truth that these two greatest teachers of the age have given to the world. Small men, with their little egos, boast of their teachers, as they boast of their material possessions, feel needless jealousies, and stir up passion and discord in a realm where harmony should reign. But Sri Sastriar could be loyal to Sri Aurobindo without being disloyal to Sri Maharshi or his still earlier guru Sri Ganapati Sastrigal.
It is not without significance that Sri Kapali Sastriar’s outstanding contributions to the propagation of Sri Maharshi’s teachings, Sat Darsana Bhasya and its English rendering, and the Ramana Gita Prakasa were written after he had definitely accepted Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy and adopted his sadhana. It shows his reverence for those authentic utterances of Sri Maharshi’s message and his feeling that their pregnant teachings should be expounded through commentaries in the traditional style. Critics who would like to fit Sri Maharshi’s teachings neatly into the framework of a previous system may disagree here and there with Sri Sastriar’s exposition, but Sri Kapali Sastriar had the benefit of direct instruction from Sri Maharshi and his commentaries were submitted to Bhagavan and were accepted by him. It has to be remembered that Sri Maharshi is not a system-builder but a seer and his words are revelatory and not expository. Naturally, as in the case of the pregnant utterances of the Upanishads, even in his time, there emerged different interpretations of his philosophy. There is no need to question the bonafides of any commentator. But it will be conceded that Sri Sastriar brought to the work a combination of qualifications equalled by none and approached by few — learning, intuition and initiation. It could be claimed for him that for everything he wrote he had authority — na amulam likhyate kincit. In the precious Talks prefixed to Sri Sastriar’s rendering of Sat Darsana Bhasya, pointed questions are put to Sri Maharshi on diffcult points of doctrine of sadhana and his clear and trenchant answers are recorded. The Bhashya is an elaboration of those answers. One of the most luminous chapters in the Ramana Gita also contains Sri Maharshi’s answers to Sri Sastriar’s significant questions. We may be sure that Sri Maharshi’s feeling towards Sri Sastriar was not unlike that of Yama to Nachiketas (in Katha Upanishad) when he exclaims “ Truly thou art steadfast in the Truth. Even such a questioner as thou art may I meet with always.” The relation between the two may be summed up in the words of the same Upanishad. “A miracle is the man that can speak of Him wisely or is skilful to win Him, and when one is found, a miracle is the listener who can know Him even when taught of Him by the knower.”
आश्चर्यो वक्ता कुशलोऽस्य लब्धा। आश्चर्यो ज्ञाता कुशलानुशिष्टः॥
The essays that form Section One appeared in the Sunday Times. Of the two items in Section Two, the Introduction to Ramana Gita Prakasa is Sri Sastriar’s own translation of the Sanskrit original. The dedication of Ramana Gita Prakasa is in effect, an interesting chapter from the life of Sri Sastriar that throws a stream of light on the personal relation between him and Sri Maharshi. The Third Section, a few leaves from Pandit’s Diary, though short, is one of the most valuable. Sri Sastriar’s weighty utterances about points in Maharshi’s life and teachings will repay study and reflection.
In offering this sheaf gleaned from Sri Sastriar’s writings, I cannot avoid a personal note. The present writer humbly walked the same road as Sri Sastriar, Sri Kavyakantha, Sri Maharshi and Sri Aurobindo, but miles and miles behind. Junior in years only by a few years, he has looked upon Sri Sastriar from their first meeting early in 1908 as a pujya pada. Sri Sastriar might call him friend, but he always looked up to Sastriar as a teacher. The story of how Sri Sastriar loved him, befriended him and helped him with counsel and guidance is not to be told here, but it may be pertinent to mention just one thing: understanding of Sri Maharshi’s and Sri Aurobindo’s teachings, little as it is, he owes to Sri Kapali’s luminous commentaries in books and in personal talks. In mystic teachings like theirs, there will always be depths which one cannot fathom with the help of the printed word alone, and here the guidance of an apta, an initiate, will be invaluable. It is in that conviction that this slender volume of weighty content is offered to the world.
A. R. PONNUSWAMI IYER (Rtd. Principal, P.R. College, Kakinada.)
अरुणाद्रितटे दिशो वसानं परितः पुण्यभुवः पुनः पुनानम् । रमणाख्यमहो महो विशेष जयति ध्वान्तहरं नरात्मवेषम्48
चरितेन नरानरेषु तुल्यं महसां पुञ्जमिदं विदाममूल्यम् । दुरितापहमाश्रितेषु भास्वत् 49
ज्वलितेन तपःप्रभावभूम्ना कवलीकृत्य जगद्विहस्य धाम्ना। विलसन् भगवान् महर्षिरस्म - त्परमाचार्यपुमान् हरत्वघं नः॥३॥
प्रथमं पुरुषं तमीशमेके पुरुषाणां विदुरुत्तमं तथाऽन्ये । सरसीजभवाण्डमण्डलाना- मपरे मध्यममामनन्ति सन्तः॥४॥
पुरुषत्रितयेऽपि भासमानं यमहंधीमलिनो न वेद जन्तु । अजहत्तमखण्डमेष50
I. On the slopes of Aruna Hill, robed but by spaces around, Sanctifying once more the environs sacred, Reigns a Splendour, in human form, Dispelling darkness, Ramana called.
II. Among men and others moving equal, This splendour compact, to sages priceless, Luminous, expelling evil in those that seek, Mercy bodied sublime, him they call Maharshi.
III. By his flaming effulgence, the plenitude of tapas puissant, Making the world a morsel, he laughs; Yet he shines forth, the Lord Maharshi, Our teacher’s teacher — May he destroy our sins!
IV. Him the Lord some call the Primal Being, Others see Him as Being Supreme, Yet others proclaim Him the Being Centred in the orb of worlds and spheres.51
V. Him who shines forth in all the Three, The creature ego-soiled perceives not; But ever unsevered from Him, the Infinite, Lives aglow the Maharshi, model unto men.
मृदुलो हसितेन मन्दमन्दं दुरवेक्षः प्रबलो दृशा ज्वलन्त्या। विपुलो हृदयेन विश्वभोक्ता गहनो मौनगृहीतया52
गुरुराट् किमु शङकरो53
बहुधेति विकल्पनाय विद्भि58
औपच्छन्दसिकरौर्बन्धं नीतः स्तवाञ्जलिः। उपहारायतामेष महर्षिचरणाब्जयोः॥१॥
गुणोऽत्र रमणे भक्तिः कृतवित्ता च शाश्वती। रम्यो रमणाम्नोऽयं ध्वनिश्च हृदयङ्गमः॥२॥
VI. Tender is he with gentle smiles, Mighty is he with blazing eyes that none can meet, Vast with a heart which delighteth in all, In movement deep from Silence sprung.
VII. Is he another Shankar, Prince of Preceptors, Is he Kumara, Shankar’s offspring? Is he the self-same boy, Kundina-born, Or else, Lord Shambhu with Shakti indrawn?
VIII. Thus beams thy life with many a side And leaves the learned guessing, O Silent one, But ever in our hearts thou joyest to dwell With certitude, O Ramana, Teacher of teachers!
This offering of hymned praise In Aupacchandas metre set, May it in worship rest At Maharshi’s lotus feet.
The merit59
महर्षेमौ निराजस्य यशोगानमलङकृतिः। तदयं ध्वन्यलङकारगुणैरेवं नवोज्ज्वलः॥३॥
रमणस्य पदाम्भोजस्मरणं हृदयङ्गमम् । इक्षुखण्डरसास्वादे को वा भृतिमपेक्षताम् ॥४॥
अयं रमणपादाब्जकिङकरस्यापि किङकृता। काव्यकण्ठमुनेरन्तेवासिना वाग्विलासिना ॥५॥
रमणाङघ्रिसरोजातरसज्ञेन कपालिना। भारद्वाजेन भक्तेन रचितो रमणाञ्जलिः॥६॥
॥श्रीरमणाञ्जलिः समाप्तः॥
5-6. This offering of reverent praise, Is made by bhakta Kapali, of Bharadvaja line, Disciple of Kavyakantha Sage, And servant of him who served at Ramana’s lotus feet, By Kapali of resplendent speech, Who savoured in full the nectar In the lotus feet of Sri Ramana.
THE Bible teaches the Ten Commandments, the bible of every great Faith teaches the same essentials; but men go on sinning merrily not that there is dearth of teachings of ethical and religious value, not that all the so-called sinning men have no sense of sin or no fear of hell and fire and no attraction for heaven and joy, not that they are all (even when they do not believe in Life beyond) absolutely unaware of the social convenience and ethical necessity of a well-behaved and orderly life. Fraud, falsehood, violence, murder and the rest of the multitude of ills have not been the monopoly of any individual or group, primitive and unlettered or learned and civilised. If men err, it is because they cannot help being what they are.
All the same, high ideals and teachings have not been altogether lost upon mankind, for they have been found to be a great incentive and strength and signposts to those who have had a natural bent for them, whose natures have already taken the inevitable turn towards high ideals of ethical and religious import for their actual expression in life. Even then, the ideals which in themselves are mental representations of truths in abstract terms, have a forceful attraction only when they find living vehicles for personal manifestation influencing the environment. If this is true of principles of common virtues necessary for ordinary life in the world, much more true is it in the realm of spiritual ideals, in the sphere of mystic life.
Who has not heard of the ages-old mystic teaching ’Know thyself’ that has come down to mankind from immemorial time? Seers and sages of different countries and ages have lived and taught this truth of self-knowledge and left their impress in varying degrees upon their contemporaries, passing on their life-messages as heritage to posterity. Still if the common run of mankind is proof against the light they brought to the world and gets on well quite unconcerned, treating such things as irrelevent to its life’s purpose, certainly it is not because there is want of stimulating thought and information on these profound subjects or of living exponents of the ancient teachings, but obviously because there in the bulk of mankind’ no need felt, no necessity arisen, no inward turn warranted; in other words, Nature is not yet ready to turn round to the Mechanic of whom she is the mechanism. It is this last fact that one has to bear in mind when one finds that a few alone receive tangible benefit, out of a thousand that come in contact with a great soul.
Ever since Sri Ramana Maharshi — the sage of Arunachala stepped into Tiruvannamalai forty years ago,63 he has not moved out of it, living there these years the life of enlightenment that sprang upon him while at home and still in his teens. Of late there has been a growing literature available to English-reading public, giving accounts of his life, of his teachings and their philosophic implications, of his devotional poems, crisp philosophical verses and other compositions, of the experiences of some of those who have come under his influence, of his conversations, and of his views by way of answers to questions put to him on several subjects connected with spiritual life. Surely, by such help as books can give, one can, if so minded, get an intelligent grasp of the central principles of spiritual life as lived and expounded by the great sage. But an intellectual belief, a reasoned conviction, can go only some way, and not all the way if it does not undergo the drive of a deeper urge, of a spiritual or divine necessity, if it does not submit itself to the momentum of a dynamic faith. Herein precisely lies the need and value of the guide, of the Guru, of one who has in himself realised the Truth of which his life is at once a commentary to the initiate and a message to him who has ears to hear.
But how are we to recognise that here is the Guru, the Siddha, the perfected soul that can transmit the truth to others? Well, how do we recognise a leader who is singled out from thousands of men that he leads? Or again, as Douglas Ainslie would put it straightly — “How do I see the Sun on looking out of the window? By the use of my eyes and incidentally of all my other senses collaborating." This is indeed the root of the matter. The fact is this: that the self-evident Truth makes itself clear to the vision of the inner man that presents itself as an unflinching faith throwing with certitude, as it grows, the whole being of the earnest seeker into a consuming zeal for the discovery and consummation of the supreme aim. Thus it is faith and not reason that opens the doors of the soul’s chamber to the Truth, God or Guru, the faith that determines the trend of reasoning, getting itself verified and strengthened by experience, while reason simply collaborates.
The Guru then is the living fire that warms the logs of wood around in general while the dry ones catch the fire. And as I have elsewhere stated, no method suggested by the Shastra alone, no book however sacred it be, can give the initiating touch that opens the third eye in us. The Guru gives the method, not the written instruction, not necessarily the spoken word even. The word, the real initiation, upadesha or diksha, is a silent one, a power, an influence issuing from the being and consciousness of the Guru, the Jnanin, who has realised the Lord, the Self of all existences, in his own being and so knows him in other beings, in the All. And in the language of the Bhagavad Gita, the Jnanin knows that all is in Vasudeva and all is Vasudeva. Therefore Sri Krishna says ’The Jnanin is myself’. ’The Jnanins are there to initiate’, upadekshyanti te jnanam jnaninas-tattvadarshinah. The Jnanin alone is the real Guru, for none else but God is the Teacher, and He revealing Himself in the Jnanin initiates the soul, faithful, chosen, fit and devoted.
That the grace of the Guru, the Divine representative and his personal touch occupy a central place in the scheme of spiritual life is the general rule, exception being found occasionally and once in an age when a rare soul — here the Maharshi is an instance requiring no help from a human source is directly receptive to the Divine Grace and gets into immediate touch with the Sole Initiator, the Supreme Self.
As one who has come under his influence and known him for well-nigh a quarter of a century, I may here refer to the central teaching of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi that can always bear repetition and may act as a stimulant for those who are interested in the life of the spirit and who have the faith to follow up the Truth that the Maharshi’s life unfolds.
He had completed his sixteenth year and a few months had passed when one afternoon fear of death took possession of him driving him to seek refuge somewhere. He was soon convinced, not by mental reasoning, but by an inner movement, we can call it Grace now, but he did not know it to be such then that when the body perishes, with it the ’l’ does not perish. This ‘I’ this ego-self of Venkataraman64 went deeper and deeper to discover its source, to know where it was rooted, to realise whence it came to the surface. As he went still further in, it was no longer his effort, he found that the ’I’ which, struck with fear of death, started the quest, was being forcibly dragged and drawn in by Something tremendous, like a mountain of magnet attracting to itself a piece of steel. The ’I’ was drowned, fell into an abyss, lost itself as it were; but there arose another ’I’, the Parent Self, the Original Being, the source and support of the surface man.
Since then it is this Supreme and Real Self within, that has taken charge of the personal self and outer being, of the mental activities, of his very bodily movements. “My Sadhana! The whole work was finished in twenty minutes, in less than half an hour,” said the Maharshi.
Hence he lays stress upon this Sadhana of searching for the Self within one’s own being, in the heart and often mentions this as the direct method and as superior to other Vedantic Sadhanas such as ’I am He’, ’I am Brahman’, ’All is Brahman’, ‘All this is not self’ neti neti, etc., etc.. “Go deep to find Thy Self that is the real ’I’, everything else can wait. Other problems can be solved afterwards if they arise,” is often his exhortation.
"Liberation, mukti, lies in the loss of ego’. An egoless Selfconscious life is the life of the Jivanmukta, the liberated soul, who lives and acts from the depths of the Truth, the Heart, unaffected by the shocks of the world in ignorance. He, the Jivanmukta, has been the ideal of mankind as conceived by the ancient Indian spirit, and is the fruit of the human race, the highest result of all true human culture that has so far been possible for the Spirit in man. Therefore he is the Godman who, while he is well aware of the divergent ways taken by the intelligence of others in ignorance of the One Supreme Truth, has his own life on earth guided by the Lord of All, by the Self behind all selves, by the One Allcontrolling and Independent, Eternal and Supreme Being. He, the liberated man, in short, is an effulgent manifestation of the Atman, and here or in the next, regardless of embodiment, is firmly settled in the ineffable Permanence, ever radiating his uplifting influence upon those around. Long live the Maharshi!
THE Mahapooja, or the samadhi anniversary of the mother of Sri Ramana Maharshi, is celebrated every year in summer, on the ninth day of the dark half of the solar month Vaikasi; for on that day, came the solemn hour, the final samadhi, for the mother. There are two main items in the programme of this annual celebration; one is the feeding of the visitors and the poor on a large scale, the other is the special worship of the Lingam that is installed over the masonry work sealing the interred remains of the blessed soul.
Here we may make mention of a few facts suggesting a line of thought that may throw light on the meaning of the samadhi and the worship of the Lingam and the general feeding and may prepare the enquiring mind that has faith in spiritual life and its possibilities for a change in the sense of values.
First about feeding. Generally, food is given as a matter of charity, as service of the poor, i.e. as service of God in the poor. When the feeding is associated with a great name, a saint or a religious institution, the religious man who does not believe in this form of charity learns to tolerate it! Now let us see if the feeding in Sri Ramanashram is undertaken as a matter of pity for the poor, or if there is anything else behind actuating this way of charity. Even on ordinary days, it is difficult for the visitor to return from the Ashram without the impression that the Maharshi evinces keen interest in feeding not only the hungry stomachs, but looks pleased to see that the visitor, whatever his status, avails himself of the opportunity of taking a meal at the Ashram; and this is so, notwithstanding the impersonal character of his dealings with men and things, of his general outlook on life, which is the inevitable expression of the intense deep life of the Truth he is centred in. Those who visit the Ashram frequently or have made a few days’ stay have often testified to the unusual appetite for food they experience which is a special feature of the Ashram atmosphere; and most of the devotees, even when they are on flying visits, would not forego the privilege of having a meal at the Ashram as The Maharshi 203 it is consecrated, sanctified by the very air of the Ashram, permeated by the Maharshi spirit.
If these facts are borne in mind, it will be easy to understand the significance of a number of people daily fed and of larger numbers on special occasions. Indeed the ashramites and devotees of Sri Maharshi take so much interest in such feedings because there is the common belief, a general understanding, that food in the Ashram is prasad in a truer sense of the word, an active symbol of the spiritual gift, a material vehicle of the awakening influence and gracious glance emanating from the presiding Spirit Sri Maharshi.
Let us next turn to the Samadhi and the worship of the Lingam, and look at the question in the light of known facts about the environmental changes in the life of Sri Maharshi before and after his mother came to live with him in 1916. There are good people who are satisfied that the mother of Maharshi was great because she gave birth to a great spiritual figure, and became greater after the close of her earthly life, deserving a place of worship, almost for the same reason. There is nothing essentially wrong in such a notion; for, a genuine faith of this kind is not objectionable and such beliefs of unsophisticated minds have got a value of their own, yielding good results always in the measure of the sincerity behind, governing and determining the course of conduct that is expressive of the conviction.
But such beliefs are no bar to others looking at the question from a different angle.
To make a proper study of the question is to learn as far as possible the attitude of Sri Maharshi towards this Samadhi, to know something of the part he has played, to see how far the expressive element in him has been stimulated in this connection.
Looking back to earlier years, we can note certain landmarks in the story of his environmental life that have been the stimuli for drawing him out, to be responsive to those that have sought him for help and guidance. Thus after 11 years of deep and intense mounam (silence in every sense of the word), his long-sealed voice opened in 1907 to give instructions to Kavyakantha Ganapati Sastrigal who afterwards became his great disciple. This was indeed the beginning of a new period in which he not only regained gradual control over the vocal cords and power of speech which had been, by long disuse, almost lost, but has been to this day answering questions and clearing doubts of earnest seekers and devotees who approach him.
Another period began in 1916 when his mother came to live with him to the end. Within a short period of her advent, culinary arrangements were made, regular kitchen was started, and visitors and devotees got lodging and boarding. In this period (19161922) i.e., the six closing years of her life, Sri Maharshi began to pay increasing attention to her needs. Gracious and sympathetic, he allowed her to have her share of his love and sympathy. Such was his spiritual stature that he would not mind the conventional shastra that a saint must keep himself aloof from his relatives. He was preparing her for the supreme consummation, the true samadhi. Apart from the silent spiritual way of helping her to build the inner life, he gave her useful instructions, narrated helpful anecdotes, corrected some of her world-old common notions of religious virtues in bathing and eating, of the kitchen religion, but never coerced her, always allowed her to have her orthodox way. For instance, he would remark in a jocose style, "O your cloth is touched by somebody, madi is gone, polluted, O religion is gone. ... Yes, this onion, drumstick,...great obstruction to Moksha!"
When the end came, the blessed lady completely resigned herself to the sage, making room for his proximity to be effective. On the last day of her life (May 19, 1922), from morning to about 8 in the evening, the great sage sat by the side of the gasping mother, placing his right hand on her heart and the left on her head until life in her body became extinct and the soul got absorbed into the Spirit, into the Peace that passeth all understanding.
Some time after the event, when some one referred to the passing away of his mother, the sage corrected with a curt remark "No, not passed away, *LDALLS, OLİSL absorbed.”
On another occasion referring to the same subject, he stated, “Yes, in her case it was a success; on a previous occasion I did the same for...when his end was approaching, but it was a failure, he yawned, passed away.”
Further explaining in part what was happening during those ten or twelve hours when his hands were on the head and heart of his mother, he said: "Innate tendencies, vasanas or subtle memory of past experiences leading to future possibilities, became very active; scene after scene rolled before her in the subtle consciousness, as the outer sense had already gone; the soul was passing through a series of experiences that might possibly have required many births of her, but for the quickening process worked by the special touch given on the occasion; the soul was at last disrobed of the subtle sheaths before it reached the final destination, the supreme Peace, Nirvana, Samadhi from which there is no return to Ignorance."
Utterances to this effect regarding his mother are aphorisms for which a plain commentary is to be found in the general atmosphere and his attitude to the Samadhi and the temple constructed after the event.
From Skandashram on the hill, he was for about six months daily visiting the Samadhi at the foot of the hills where her remains were interred, until one day he suddenly sat and has coniinued to stay there to this hour.65
“Not of my own accord I removed from Skandashram...” he said, “Something placed me here and I obeyed; it is not due to my will, sveccha, it is pareccha, the will of others or of the Lord.”_"Lord, I have no will of my own. Thy will is my will, *5 roof L.Li Toro L.Li’ is one of the oft-quoted passages of the Maharshi.
What has been so far stated is enough to show how he looks upon this Samadhi with which, one may say, commenced a new period in the history of his life and the Ashram. The fact is wellknown that from 1922 onwards, the Ramanashram has been steadily growing, the teachings and the influence of the sage are increasingly recognized and spread; especially in the last half-a-dozen years the name of Sri Ramana Maharshi has touched some of the earnest hearts of Europe and America.
On one occasion Sri Maharshi is said to have remarked, "Where is she gone? She is here.” This was taken to mean that she, his mother, as a freed spiritual being, lived with him in his atmosphere. If so, it may be that the principle of female Energy, Shakti, was required to extend and spread the influence of Sri Maharshi and that was supplied by his mother effectively after her Samadhi. This need not be discussed further here, as it can be best understood only by students of occult tradition and knowledge of the East as well as of the West.
The greatness then of Sri Maharshi’s mother rests much more upon other factors than on the fact of her great good luck of having been a good and pious-minded mother of a spiritual personage of a rare type. Her greatness lay in her capacity to receive his help and influence in the closing hours of her life and thereby to shuffle off the subtle coils of mortal ignorance before she could get liberated into the eternal station of the Supreme Peace. Above all, her worth and greatness are manifest in the increasingly felt influence of the spirit and teachings of the Maharshi, spreading across the shores and entitling her to take the place of the Madonna in the institution of Sri Ramanashram where the Lingam Matrbhuteswara (the Lord who has taken her into Himself) is installed and offered daily workship.
Of the hundreds that have come in closer contact with the great sage of Tiruvannamalai, there have been some, easily to be counted among the cultured, some brilliant in their own way, very up-do-date in modern thought and culture, others occupying high positions, lawyers, doctors, journalists, judges, scholars, yet quite unassuming, with a quiet devotion while approaching the Maharshi for guidance, for help, for peace and enlightenment. In the minds of the Maharshi’s devotees one name stands and has always stood foremost; indeed he is an ornament to the circle of disciples or devotees of the sage and will ever be remembered for having recorded the views of the Maharshi on some very intricate questions related to spiritual life in book-form entitling it the RAMANA GITA.
He is Vasishtha Ganapati Muni (Kavya Kantha Ganapati Sastri). Students of the growing literature about Sri Ramana Maharshi are well aware of the Sastri’s devotion to the Maharshi and of his high ideals and extraordinary brilliance and scholarship. But mention may be made here of some aspects of the personality, before we give an English rendering of his Hymn to the Guru-sung in praise of his spiritual preceptor, the Maharshi, long ago.
He is a master of Sanskrit literature, and though rhetoric and poetry was his special field, he had studied the shastras before he came to the feet of the sage to learn the secrets of tapas. A brilliant personality—some one in a conference remarked his fore-cut resembles a Roman statue’ --with a bewitching voice holding the hearers in thrall, when reciting the Sanskrit verses; an extempore poet who can address an audience in Sanskrit prose or verse, creating an atmosphere for the assembly to breathe and soak their being in the melting melody and sweetness of the spiritual force emanating from him; an ardent son of the land with love and admiration for the saints and sages of ancient India, yet an uncompromising critic of meaningless conventions that have eaten into the vitals of the society; a good thinker, with frequent inspired thoughts illumining the passages of the hymns of the Rig Veda to the earnest seeker in him; of extraordinary intellectual independance, yet ever bowing to the authority of Revelation, of scripture, of the word of the Guru, of the utterance of one to whom are revealed truths that transcend the normal reason.
It is this last trait that is most remarkable,-true humilitythat came to the forefront of this magnificent man when he sought the great seer’s feet for enlightenment.
“It was the 9th day of the Krittika festival (Monday 18th Nov. 1907),” as the Sastri has told us, “when I fell at the feet of the Maharshi, with both my hands clasping his feet, the right hand grasping the right foot, the other, the left.” He considered it an unholy act to touch the Master’s right foot with his left hand!
Is it a wonder that such a rare scholar, thinker, poet and critic -all in one and much more—with remarkable gifts, falling at the feet of one who was practically uneducated or a little educated in the parlance of the so-called cultured, has had a moving effect upon those of the learned people who were not indifferent to a life beyond the confines of their narrow rounds of daily life?
The Sastri is the author of many works the most important of which are all in manuscript, but there are a few of them connected with the Maharshi’s teachings that have been published. His commentary on the Upadeshasara of Maharshi, his translation of Ulladu Narpadu, SATDARSHANA and the RAMANA GITA are all now available and so very useful to those interested in the teachings of the great seer. But among the devotional poems of the Sastri there are many devoted to his Guru, the Maharshi, and of these only one hymn is published finding a place in the GITAMALA, entitled the Gurugita.66
We give below an English rendering of this “Hymn to the Guru” not as a specimen of the Sastri’s poetic compositionto that none can do justice in a translation into a foreign tonguebut because the devotion and fervour of this great disciple has an example for us, and associating overselves with the author of the hymn, we pay our homage to the great sage, on this auspicious day of his Jayanti67
The Unmanifest from which all this manifestation takes birth, which sustains it, into which it resolves itself—That the Eternal is:
In which support, in which matchless Strength, this cosmos (this Brahma’s Egg) with its myriads of globes firmly abides:
Which is the Splendour concrete, the source of all lights, of the sun, of the planets; which, yea, is the power that is there for the power of Brahma and the rest of the gods:
By whose Light, the desireless knowing the truth are delighted; by whose magic, the little minds have a dual vision cast on the All (the One Sum Total, samaste) :
On which by meditation men have become immersed in the Delight of Atman (Self); Where to stay is liberation, to Which even an inclination has the same purport:
That Brahman, called the Primal Sound, Pranava, unwearied let it reign supreme bearing the Ramana-name, so pleasing to me, for my meditation:
It holds fast to the root (at the bottom; (but) its abode is in the Heart’s lotus; (yet) it flows (upwards) for the lotus of the head, and from behind for the energy of the senses:
With the outward eye it makes for the body’s illusion, with the eye inward for the experience of the Self’s oneness:
Seeing the multitude of objects, or retired from it, it stands (the same ever) for mukti, release, by the inner movement, by the realisation of oneness:
This Light of Atman, the Pure, bearing the Ramananame for me-may it ever throb in my heart’s lotus:
(The Light) from the lamp named Ramana, penetrating the walls of Ganapati’s speech nurtures the wondrous elegance of (Ramana’s) Gita:
That, which by its rays dispels the darknesses of the ignorant-let that truth dawn upon you in concentration and meditation of Tara, the Original Sound:
By going up, by going down, by the movements in the adhars (inner centres) and in the head, it fixes movements and what more, itself pervades moving everywhere.
(Yet) It is devoid of support; it resembles the sky (infinite space), Full, Silent, let that Brahman in Guru’s form swell itself in me:
Of whose truth on hearing, knowledge indirect comes, but whose contact in particular causes that direct knowledge.
That Brahman, named Ramana, whose thought (leads to) liberation, permanent encompassing, let That deposit me in the Delight.
In accordance with his view, lovingly, Vasishtha, urged by the Delight of the primal sound of Silence, Tara, gave out this ’Hymn to the Guru’, deep and lucid.
Sri Sastriar wrote his commentary on the Ramanagita in 1941 and paid a visit to Sri Maharshi to dedicate the work to him. And on his return, in response to the pressing request of this editor for a full account of the trip, he gave a rapid narration which was recorded. When the typescript was ready and shown to him, Sri Sastriar prefaced it with a note:
“The following was dictated in response to Madhav’s request that I must narrate to him as closely as possible all about my trip to T. Malai"
Naturally, this personal and intimate account was not meant for publication and as such was not revised by him. However, some extracts from it are included in this section as they would be of special interest to the reader.
He had intended to render the Ramana-Gita-Prakasa in English. In fact he even translated the Introduction —the Pithika—but somehow did not proceed further. The draft of this translation of the Introduction, though not revised is included in this section, as it stands, for its value in awakening the interest of the reader in the work proper, Ramana-Gita-Prakasa. — Editor.
It was on the morning of the 10th of October, 1941 that I started for Tiruvannamalai taking the 7.40 a.m. train. Fortunately I got a compartment all to myself and after arranging my things I took the manuscript in order to check up and correct the possible slips therein; for when I was writing out the commentary I did not look back at what I wrote and so there were likely to be some slips... The train reached T. Malai in time, perhaps a few minutes before time; I took a Jutka68 and it was 12.45 p.m. when I reached the Ashram. When the carriage turned to enter the Ashram I saw an arch in bold letters ’SRI RAMANASHRAMAM”-it was not there ten years ago when I last went there... I could not recognise the surroundings, that it was the Ashram. ..R took me to a building which I later learnt to be what they call the Office of the Sarvadhikari. When I turned to my left, the old lady Echhamma was sitting there with her usual rosary; being very old she invited me with nods; I expected change in her and for her age she did not look older.
I stood at the threshold of the Hall), one foot outside; somehow my legs would not move forward; the head hung down; feelings overpowered me, perhaps pent up for ages they now found their vent; I muttered something, with effort raised my head, moved forwards and saw the figure of Sri Maharshi reclining on the sofa as usual. Our eyes met. He nodded and said “Hm. Hm.", as if to say, “Why so much, why so much!” I prostrated myself and as I was doing so, he said to an attendant close by, "This is Kapali Sh...”. When I heard my name being uttered by Maharshi my mind jumped back to the old moments and there were corresponding emotional experiences. I spoke not a word and stood up; he asked me if I had taken food. "Yes", I replied, "I will take a little rice with butter-milk.
The train came just now? he asked.
Yes.
Come so soon?
I got the Jut69 immediately.
You were expected. Then, just take food—you can have whatever you like.
There was a feeling of satisfaction and peace. I came out; to Echhamma who was waiting there I was not in a condition to speak.
It was now 3.5 P.M. when I went before Sri Maharshi. I handed the manuscript and prostrated myself before him, then approached him close, explaining to him how unlike in Sat-DarshanaBhashya I had closed the concluding portions with a conspectus of the work and an epilogue, in all twenty couplets. I further stated that in one of the couplets I had stated that my commentary is the lustre of the pearls which are the composition of Ganapati strung together on a thread which is the import of Sri Maharshi’s teachings. He graciously smiled; looking into that particular verse70 he read it aloud appreciatively while I remained quite standing quite close by, as I had something else to tell him. I told him that I had written in the next verse that the work was offered on 10-10-1941 and as such it had to be offered then; but I had still to go through the book to find out if there were slips, as I had no time to look back as I went on writing the 243 pages continuously for twenty days and more, in addition to my routine work. “That can be done. Would you like to take it now?” He asked. “No, not now; when it is not being read it can remain with me”.
Then he asked me about the colophon; I told him I had left space to write a few words there.
“Yes, I shall write,” he said, "You can call it Bhashya.” “Anyway, as the Maharshi pleases," I replied.
But in the Introduction I had written the title as Ramana-Gita-Prakasha-Pithika. He immediately saw that and said “Then as you have already named it, you can call it so." Then he turned to the end of the book and wrote after Kapalinah krtih, prakashakhya vyakhya and filled up the world samapta. Then the Maharshi audibly read out the twenty couplets and significantly accented the last line: matrbhutamaheshaya Ramanaya namo namah. It looked from the manner of his reading as if he had read it before.
Just at the time when we were talking about the closing verses, a gentleman was standing outside whom the Maharshi could see through the side window. Addressing him he said, “Come in, here is come” (showing the book in his hand). In a minute I saw him entering the hall, coming closer to me. Pointing to him the Maharshi asked me, “Do you recognise who it is?” I looked at him scrutinisingly. "Ah, is it J...?” I exclaimed, for, with difficulty, I recognised him to be the same boy who used to come twenty-eight years ago at the Virupaksha cave when we were meeting at the feet of Sri Maharshi. Afterwards he went out, studied Vyakarana and specialised in Vedanta; later he became Pundit in the Shankara Mutt at Kumbhakonam. Later, once I saw him sitting mute in a corner of the hall at the Maharshi’s, but that was only for a few minutes in a crowded gathering ten years ago. We had no opportunity even then to converse. It seems he had to leave the Mutt due to some misunderstanding and a few months back he came to Tiruvannamalai and is making a temporary stay. Sri Maharshi’s question to me was significant; the significance was lost upon me at that time. Later I came to know it when people told me about the extraordinary crisis which would have easily led to a fatal end.
How is it he looks so weak? I asked.
“He is very healthy and strong now," Maharshi replied, "If you had seen him a fortnight ago... Oh! Everyone thought he would not live. There was only bone and skin. Now, somehow he is there."
Sri T. K. Sunderesha Iyer and Sri A. R. Duraiswami gave me some details about the crisis. There was a general talk and every one was saying that it was an extraordinary thing that J. was alive today. A few months back he was seriously laid up in bed with complicated illness including temperature. Later it was found to be cancer in the abdomen; and, as is well known, medical science has not definitely succeeded in finding a cure for cancer and he was given up for lost. He was taken to the hospital from his lodgings, doctors were changed and one of the doctors, a local man who seems to be a devotee of the Maharshi, is reported to have said that it was not a question of days but of hours being counted and humanly speaking there was no hope; but of course if he was to come back to life at all from his death-bed, then it could be only by the Maharshi’s help. Sri Maharshi kept quiet but asked them, significantly, to do something. Immediately, the doctor got unusual courage, did something which might mean anything and which proved that the advice of the Maharshi was not in vain and meant much more than what was said. Naturally, the boldest among the unbelievers pauses, bewildered.
My book was still in Sri Maharshi’s hands; he was glancing through the pages and as already said, read aloud the twenty verses concluding the book. Then he kept it on the shelf; J. who was sitting there wanted to see it. The Maharshi hinted that it was not ready to be seen; in fact he said to J. “He has yet to go through them once.” J. kept quiet for a minute, again he asked, “I shall just see only the Pithika.” Sri Maharshi found him obviously to be a little insensible; he looked at me, I was waiting to hear what he (M) would say, for that was an interesting situation; but J. came to the rescue of the Maharshi by almost removing the manuscript from the shelf repeating what he said a minute earlier. Sri Maharshi had to gracefully say “Yes”. Then J. took it and began to read.
He went on reading, then and there expressing his opinion or raising some objections, pausing and looking at me questioningly... On one or two occasions I met the objections as they apparently merited an answer. Later I directed him to go on whenever he stopped and I found his questions meaningless...While starting, I had a presentiment that some obstruction might present itself and I was determined not to give way to impatience and it is this attitude that helped and reminded me also of the significance of the flower Divine Solicitude which the Mother blessed me with when I took leave of her.
It was not J.’s fault if he could not follow the sense of certain passages. It is due to the unthinking habit of many of these people in cramming the standard works of Shastras. I had stated that the Sciences, in the world, were imperfect, continuously changing, developing, while the Science of the Atman is asserted by its sponsors to be not so. This idea was quite foreign to his culture. I would not say all Pundits are like that; my own Guru71 may be considered an honourable exception. But Sri Maharshi appreciatively nodded when the passage was read by J. himself. And the great Tamil scholar and poet Muruganar sitting by me (who by the way is not a Sanskrit Pundit) could not only follow but explain to J. what was meant. This was because the esteemed friend had a cultured mind.
After the Veda Parayana, conducted by Sri Raju Sastri in the evenings, was over, he (R) came to me; both of us were taken by the Saravadhikari to his office. Ordering the door to be bolted he looked around cautiously to see if there was any one who was not in his confidence; I believe there was none else excepting one or two other than we four, including T.K.S. Having assured himself that we were safe, he requested Raju Sastri to take out the thing; I was wondering what he was going to do. From the mandahasa (medium sized cupboard in which household idols are kept for worship), Raju Sastri took out a plate and handed it to him and he in turn placed it in my hand. It was a few inches square, but its weight betrayed to me the metal even before I saw it scrutinisingly; it was solid gold. The diagram was Sri Chakram; I saw the whole thing, it was neatly done. It cost a thousand rupees. Then there was another, a smaller plate; that too was taken out. The third one contained letters inscribed in the diagram; it was Subrahmanya Yantra. He spoke to me how he was able to get it all done, why so much care for safety had to be taken etc. We all came out and he took us to another hut where I was shown Meru in sila (solid rock). The workmanship was indeed quite fine. I do not remember to have seen such a big sized Meru in rock though I have myself worshipped one made of gold (small size).
October 11:
J. was reading the Fifth Chapter by now.
This is a chapter in which Maharshi gives a discourse on the subject of hrdaya of his own accord—not in answer to any question from any one—and this is a very important chapter, as the distinctive features of Sri Maharshi’s realisations are expressed in unequivocal terms. When a particular passage came, Maharshi asked me:
M: But is it called hrdayakasa or merely hrdaya (referring to anahata)?
K: I have written hrdayakasa for anahata also. My impression is that the anahata is also called hrdayakasa in some of the Tantric works.
Maharshi paused and looked at the meaning "Are you quite sure?"
K: Anyhow I shall note and find out; if necessary I shall quote the text.
M: Yes, that will be better.
After a minute, the full significance of Maharshi’s questioning became evident to me and then I said:
K: I think it is better, when there is so much doubt, to remove the akasa and simply call it hrdyam.
M: Yes, that is right.
Immediately, I took the manuscript from J. and removed the word akasa leaving it as hrdayam. Just here, there had to be a halt in the reading of the manuscript for the Maharshi began to speak about the ’Heart’ and there was general discussion in which he was the main speaker; he quoted many of the ancient texts from Tamil and Sanskrit to show that the hrdaya which he speaks of is the seat of the self. Located on the right side of the chest is the hrdayam of the Upanishads and it is recognised to be such by Appar and other Tamil saints whereas the hrdayam in the middle of the chest anahatam is called hrdayam by Tantrics and some of the yogins. But it is not hrdayakasa, it is only hrdayam, the Maharshi continued. He took out a manuscript of Rajayogasara of Nayana72 and read a few lines in Sanskrit stating that the pascanmarga hrdaya is on the backside while the puromarga hrdaya is in the front. Again he took a book in which he had written in his own hand some sentences in English culled from an American journal. That was the JOURNAL OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE started in 1872 in Philadelphia. It seems in 1931 there appeared in November or so (I do not remember the exact month) an article in it describing the heart, the true heart, to be on the right side and it was later confirmed in another article which appeared in 1934 in the same Journal. The sentences read by Sri Maharshi clearly conveyed the idea that the heart described was the deepest and the innermost psycho-physical and spiritual centre of man. The Maharshi said: "I made enquiries about it to get the whole article and that particular number of the journal and I think somebody also wrote to that address which I have noted here (pointing to the notebook in his hand), but nothing has been heard. Some one from Lahore said that he would try to get that number so that one could see the whole article and the means by which the experiment was carried out leading to the definite conclusion that the centre of the self or heart is located on the right side of the chest.”
In this connection I reminded Sri Maharshi of what some people once talked about this in light vein ridiculing the idea of hrdayagranthi. Indeed they, L and N, almost in the hearing of the Maharshi once asked me in 1931 “What your chest is not burst as yet?” The Maharshi replied, now in a jovial tone reminiscent of olden days"சொல்லட்டுமே பட்டால் தெரியும்” [They can afford to talk; but if one is hit (or caught in the net) then he can know.]
A.R.D. came and asked me to give him details of what went on in the hall when my manuscript was being read. I spoke tohim. He asked me to tell him more about Sri Maharshi’s remarks; whatever I had to say I did. When he asked me to give my impression, I frankly told him that the Maharshi was really gracious as usual but behind it a certain aloofness was visible throughout. "I do not know how long things have been going on this way,” I added.
A.R.D: It has been so far the past one year and a half.
K: What do you think it is due to?
A.R.D: Somehow there is withdrawal into himself, he is more and more indrawn. He does not turn to the side of the temple or look into other constructions. Formerly it was not so.
K: Yes I too observed it; he is in the hall practically always.
A.R.D: Did he make any personal enquiries when he first saw you?
K: Of course he did and very graciously asked me to take my food first and that is all. And afterwards when I was speaking to him about the work he very kindly heard me and made his very gracious remarks especially when I referred to my handwriting in Nagari script; he said, “Yes, you are not as much accustomed to wiite Nagari; if it were Telugu it would be diffcrent; even now it is quite all right, clear and legible, quite good. As for slips, it is always the case. We go on thinking that we have written letters and words which are quite often left out.
A.R.D: When the manuscript was being read, did he make any remark?
K: Quite many. In fact, he kept a copy of the text while closely giving his ears to the commentary being read and whenever there was variance in reading he drew our attention to it and wonderingly expressed: "How is it that such readings have crept in!’ In fact I had two different editions when I wrote the commentary. Sri Maharshi had two newer-one in Telugu and the other in Nagari, in addition to which he had by his side the original manuscript written by Nayana in 1917.
A.R.D: This is quite interesting and pleasing to me. But it is no wonder that he is so kind to you; in fact none of us has moved as you have done with him.
K: It is not exactly that; many may have done. What you say is perfectly true so far as I am concerned; I did move very closely with him and I have always considered myself to have received his special blessings. But what to do? I was destined for another way.
A.R.D: That is why I ask you if there was any talk between Sri Maharshi and yourself reviving old memories.
K: No. Even when there was occasion for it he kept simply quiet. It is from that I felt that there was a sort of aloofness. But I do not say that by his treatment of me he made me feel his aloofness.73
October 12:
There was nothing important to note till I entered the hall... All who could follow Sanskrit were present. When all of them had come the Maharshi looked into my face as he knew already that I was to start and proceed with the reading. J. was previously informed about the propriety of leaving the author to read before the Maharshi for which purpose he had specially come. I had to take this course that day. I had given the word to the Mother that I would try to finish on Sunday itself. Now I questioned myself, have I tried ? Friday passed, so did Saturday and seven hous of Sunday have already passed; at best I could read to-day for five to six hours without disturbing the Ashram routine and regulations in the hall. In the previous three sittings J. was able to finish less than one-third of the whole. How to finish or even try to finish the remaining thirteen chapters? Moreover, there were portions where Sri Maharshi, I thought, might say something. I myself might have something to say. However, this train of thought passed by me and I did not think of it again. There was an unusual certainty that everything would go on all right...
I explained in Tamil what I had written about the value of contacts with great men...I tried to give the gist then and there... At one stage N, an old acquaintance, finding that to appeal to me might not be fruitful implored the Maharshi that I might be asked to expound it in Tamil also as so many were waiting in earnest. But Sri Maharshi smiled and said "Now! It will be already a great thing if he finishes even the Sanskrit reading.” Facing me he added, "How is it possible!” Then I said turning to the Maharshi, at the same time addressing N, that I would try to give a resume in the evening. Then they were satsified.
I was in the twelfth chapter and had read the first ten verses with the commentary. It was my chapter74. When I was reading this, my body would not like to be seated; from the spine upwards there was an unusual force waking as it were. The whole clavicular region was being taken up; there was no feeling of the existence of the head. I was reading, still it was not I. The voice was going higher and higher, the range becoming wider and wider. When I came to the tenth verse somehow I stopped; it was just time too. I got up first, recited the first verse of my Anjali75 to Sri Maharshi. Then I went on, every succeeding verse being recited with increasing force. Slowly I moved, reciting, facing the Maharshi and close to him. It was an unusual vastness in front of me; the body was light, airy as it were. I was not in meditation, I was doing things perfectly in normal consciousness, as it were; but this sight around me, this work within and without me was clearly not mine. There was no head whatever. When I finished I concluded it with the recital of the last two couplets of my epilogue to the Anjali. Sri Maharshi looked a little moved; that is my impression. The rest I did not note. He nodded approvingly when the last couplets came out of me as I was doing the salutation.
At night I had a long talk with A.R.D. His health by the way, looked far better than what it was when I last saw him at Pondicherry. Sri Maharshi himself was not looking as old as one would expect; in fact there was very little change in his body —I saw him after an interval of ten years—if at all, there was some improvement in his health.
October 13:
Sri Maharshi knew that I was to leave that day, as I had the previous evening informed him about my programme and I purposely retained the last chapter for this morning. Then I started reading (8 a.m.) and finished it by 90’clock. When I came to the verse nilaravinda76 the Maharshi made a remark. Speaking for five to ten minutes, he stated, naming a gentleman, “He said that this verse is quite fit to be the Dhyana Shloka of the whole Gita”.
It is very significant that Sri Maharshi who had been silent so far, quoted here approvingly the opinion of another that this should be considered a verse appropriate to describe the Maharshi himself77. There are two elements in the verse which I may note in passing: one is the blooming of the eyes. The other is the Silence by which Shiva as Dakshinamurti teaches his disciples.
Now one remarkable fact is when I started reading, it should have taken easily fifteen hours to finish the portion, at a modest rate. I do not know how it was done in six hours. The tone was loud; the throat was not affected and the pauses for rest were the minimum. All this—one can easily see, if he has eyes-is due to three factors: (1) the Maharshi understood that I was to finish and go; (2) I had the will and (3) the Mother was present--as she later confirmed.
The Lord of all the worlds, One is He, in the Heart abides.
He the Self, is also She the Supreme Gaze, other than That is nothing else.
Disunion She brooks not, of the Powerful the sole Power is She, the wakeful.
Of the countless worlds visible, the birth and the rest She holding shines.
Whom she has closely held as the she-cat her catling, He seeks her clinging as the baby monkey does the mother.
Victorious is he, the Bhagavan Ramana; Victorious is the teacher Ganapati, master of speech; Victorious, yea, his speech is Running close to Ramana’s import.
Now then, this Ramana-Gita of eighteen chapters is commented upon; and Ramana is the great sage dwelling in the holy place Arunachala. The Gita is the Shastra comprising his instructions.
(Here is a doubt) Let there be the instructions of the Maharshi, seer of Truth. Let the work hold sway as authentic over the hearts of those who have the faith. But why is it titled Gita? Is not the term Gita renowned as Lord Vasudeva’s instructions? Well, there are works which deal with Truth-instructions whose position is admittedly that of the Gita. For instance, there are the Gitas of Rama, Hanuman, Ganesha and others. Some call the narrative of Dharmavyadha as Vyadha Gita. Even so, Sri Ramana’s instructions devoted to spiritual knowledge occupy the position of a Gita and in this sense appropriate is the title which is suggestive also of the authenticity of the Shastra.
Authentic or not,—the question is not one to be decided by the mere title. It depends upon the instructor with competency to instruct. Hence it is that we see in the world authenticity recognised of utterances being trustworthy, of seers who have realised the Dharma—the truth and character and law of being.
Is it, then, that a statement is to be accepted as an authority, without deliberation on the ground that it is revelation or received text? Not so-one must think over and understand; but the range of critical thought has a limit. How far is the limit? In order to understand the sense of a received text, attempt must be made at a reasoned appreciation of the meanings of trustworthy statements by means of perception and inference (which include observation, reflection and deliberative scrutiny and reconciling of apparent contradictions) and not question the statement of the authentic text itself.
If this be the restriction on deliberative thought, very little is the use for perception and inference. No. Great is the use for them. For in the world the sense of any statement is determined only by perception and inference. Be it done so in the world; how can they-perception and inference—be of use in understanding trustworthy statements which refer to trans-sensuous objects?
We say: just as in the world, in the field of sense-objects, so in the trans-sensuous. How? We reply: in the world a person desirous of knowing a particular thing which he does not know understands as much of it as he can in the measure of his intelligence and general refinement or culture, and by so doing, he gains new impressions. Similarly, in the trans-sensuous realm also by grasping the trustworthy word, knowledge comes in the measure of the intellectual refinement. Such a refinement in the matter of understanding the trans-sensuous is a gain-useful in the inquiry into the subtle truths. Whoever has it ripens pure by such subtle inquiries.
If this be so, then belief alone is the refuge, and not perception and inference, in accepting the revealed text or trustworthy statement? Not so; where other means of knowledge is not or is not contradicted, there faith in the trustworthy utterance alone is the refuge. Just as a person who has not seen, but who is desirous of seeing, a particular object in a remote place, puts faith in the words of one who has seen it and in order to arrive at a defnite understanding makes an attempt to investigate the truth of the statements through reflection by means of perception and inference, and as the investigation proceeds new impressions are gained resulting in a newer refinement useful to the realisation of the object in view, so also here.
Moreover, this is a settled fact observed in the world. By experience developed from childhood onward there is an increasing gain of newer and newer impressions by which, in certain cases previous ones are removed, in certain others refined and modified, there is an anticipation of things which are to be seen but not seen, in certain other cases rejections of what is known or acceptance of it, spontaneous renouncing of certain things and acceptance of certain others. Thus it is seen from experience that perception and inference themselves reveal their limitations. And to a person getting to know things trans-sensuous the insufficiency of perception and inference is patent.
Therefore trustworthy statements are authoritative in understanding the trans-sensuous. To cherish the trans-sensuous as something worthy of attainment a certain culture is necessary which does not find place in one who is possessed of contrary culture. But a disposition to the necessary culture makes for competency (to enquire into the trans-sensuous).
Here some one objects: we do not doubt the authenticity of a trustworthy statement if by that is meant the Shruti, the revealed scripture. Further he makes the position clear.
However trustworthy and respectable great men may be, after all they, being human, how can their experiences and utterances based upon them be decided to be devoid of error or delusion? But Shruti, the scripture, is Veda, beginningless, is of no human origin, is exhalation of Parabrahman, the supreme truth of All-exsitence. While sentences in the Veda, as in the world, are intelligible to human understanding, how is it possible to hold that it is not of human origin or has no beginning? This doubt need not be entertained; it is beginningless because it is there from immemorial time, or nobody knows the author or the time.
This is extraordinary reasoning: it is beginningless because the author or the time is not known; and because it is beginningless it is not of human origin and because it is not of human origin it is authentic, free from error, delusion.
And more he says—the objector.
If it be said that the mantras which are truth-visions of Madhucchandas etc., make it clear that they are composed by human beings, we reply in the negative. For they by the power of askesis, tapas, visioned and not composed what was there self-existent in the supreme or causal Ether, akasa—the exhalation of Brahman. Having so seen they gave them out to the world for us; therefore they could not be the makers of mantras. Thus our position is well grounded. For we hold that the eternal Veda is the supreme authority that cannot be equalled.
Here we reply: a difference is to be admitted between what is self-existent in the supreme akasa and the same as transferred to the realm of speech through the seeings of the seer. If difference is not admitted, your argument falls down—the one that the human being, however great he may be, is not free from delusion. If difference is admitted, the argument you raised strengthens our position, for we hold that the great man in whom the inner sight is open need not be prone to error or delusion. Therefore it is that the mantras which are revealed to the seers who are face to face with Dharma, the state or character or law of being, occupy the place of authority.
And if delusion or error is likely even in the case of great souls, then .the mantras that are seen got and chanted cease to be authentic. As for the human element it is common to all seers whose greatness is of varying degrees, high and low.
Therefore, what is seen and got is authentic because it is revelation and not because it is beginningless or is of non-human origin. As for the statement that the Vedas are authentic because they have no beginning and are not man-made, that depends on the description of the character of the Mantras and the Brahmanas. In that matter there is a lot of confusion due to varying statements. We do not investigate it here as it is of little use for our present purpose.
Then, there is another objection: from time immemorial Shastras have been handed down to us beginning from the Rig Veda. There are the mantra revelations of the early seers beginning with Madhucchandas. By studying them, repeating them in low tones, or using them in rituals according to prescribed rules, the desired object is gained, or the state of union is realised with the Self of any or all the Gods. Similarly, there are explanatory utterances of Yajnavalkya and other Upanishadic seers which pertain to the realisation of the Self pointed to by many sadhanas or disciplines called Vidyas. Besides, there are smrtis of Dwaipayana Vyasa elucidating the sense of the authentic Shruti, revelation. Thus, the instructions of teachers ancient as well as of those of later times are there reigning supreme.
While there are thus so many Shastras being well understood, what is the use of this new one? For great are these seers whose words are quite sufficient and of supreme authority to us. If it be thus argued, we reply:
It is doubtless that the authenticity of the revealed texts is most respectable because they are the instructions of Truth-seers, coming down to us from a long past. Even though this is so, it must be remembered that Truth remains invariable, unaffected by place and time. Even as in the world the natural functions of the bodily senses etc. are unexceptionable, and the senses’ contacting with their objects does not vary with time and place, even as the sciences like mathematics etc. have their methods regulated and are verifiable, even so the spiritual truths are instructed as verifiable by experience irrespective of time and place).
And then, in the world, for instance, the sciences are imperfect and step by step develop and there is no fixity about them. But in the Science which deals with the supreme purpose of life, everything that has to be said has been already said by the ancients and it is not possible for any one to say what is left unsaid. Therefore, this work as an authority is of lesser importance and is of little use because of the absence of anything special about it. If this be the objection we reply:
It is not that Parashara and other seers did not sing in praise of Agni because the seer Madhucchandas sang. It is not that sages of the other branches of the Veda according to their school ceased to acclaim the discipline or sadhana that goes by the name of Pranavidya, because the Samavedins cited it. The enquiry into Brahman made by the Taittiriyakas is done by the Atharvanikas also and for that reason no wise man deems it to be futile or less authoritative. Indeed, even though all the teachings of the Upanishads find their harmony in the Brahman, yet it is a fact that the method of instructions varying according to the different schools in the matter of discipline and means of attainment has a use all its own.
Moreover, it is doubtful that the ancient teachers have exhausted all that is to be taught. There is no objection whatever to the view that the principle of the supreme truth was essentially seen and largely explained. Also, it is not wrong to hold that the character of the experience of the supreme truth is essentially one. But even though the experience of the nature of the Infinite Self is at all times and everywhere the same, and without difference, yet it is manyfaceted through individuals of different times realising it who differ in their explanation, understanding and exposition. And it is thus useful and necessary to the seekers of varying tastes and capacity of different ages.
Therefore, time after time, appear great souls and by the strength of their spiritual opulence, the Brahmavidya—the art of the knowledge of Brahman-continues without interruption among mankind.
In this Shastra, then, which goes after the name of Sri Ramana, the Maharshi is the instructor of whom and of whose teachings whatever has to be stated has been stated in the commentary on the Sat-Darsana and the Introduction thereof. Hence, it is not repeated here. But whatever is desired necessary for the present work, useful to the seekers, is mentioned in brief.
The fourfold object of man’s life is well known. (These are the four: Dharma, the true character or law or state of being; Artha, ordinarily “object, here the ’meaning or purpose’; Kama, desire; Moksha, release from bondage).
The realisation of the true nature of one’s own self is the supreme meaning or purpose of any one’s existence. But because of weakness and of the lack of ripeness in persons, Dharma, Artha and Kama (ordinarily morality, wealth and desire for enjoyment) are commonly called objects of life, and are found indispensable and have utility of their own. Therefore, even prior to the acquisition of ripeness, the person desirous of getting at the Good must direct his attempt at the threefold object (Dharma, Artha and Kama) in a such way that it becomes favourable to the attainment of the supreme object of life—Moksha or liberation. While Artha, wealth or possession, Kama, desire, and Dharma, the moral principle that exercises a restraining influence over these two are unavoidable in life until the attainment of the supreme Good, these (the three objects Dharma etc.) have to be so disciplined that they transform themselves into limbs of the Sadhana or discipline that leads to the achievement of the supreme purpose.
Therefore, if a person has faith in the Spiritual i.e. in the sphere of the Self or Spirit, even though he may be, for the time being, after Dharma, Artha and Kama, with non-attachment or dispassion not yet come upon him, even though his aspiration for knowledge is not yet quite keen, to such a one great will be the help of Sri Maharshi’s teachings. For persons who are yet after Dharma, Artha and Kama, of whatever caste or no caste, of whatever stage or no stage in the four recognised stages of life, men or women, could assume the spiritual attitude, getting on in life favourable to the spiritual discipline.
We stated that Sri Maharshi is the instructor in this Shastra; but the instructed are many who are the questioners. While questions were put and the answers given, or while the Maharshi of his own accord gave discourses (which are recorded here) the teacher Ganapati Muni, Vasishtha, foremost among his disciples, was present; by him this work in the form of questions and answers was composed then and there.
And then, whatever instruction the Maharshi gives, it is from personal experience or by seeing within to give the Word, and not by considering the Shastras for the purpose. Even though his words of reply to questions or his spontaneous utterances come independently of the Shastras, yet to the thoughtful mind it would be clear that the Shastraic principles fit in with his utterances. And wherever there is contrariety to convention or deviation from the Dharma Shastras that are in vogue for the time being, even there, it will be a priceless treasure to those who have for their aim the realisation of the supreme purpose of life. For here all the questions are considered from the point of view of spiritual truth. Therefore, here, in matters mundane or spiritual, it is the spiritual point of view that is instructed for adoption by all. Even though the questioners are many and their questions and competency differ, yet all the answers to the questions are shown to be harmonised in the spiritual view.
Hence, the subject matter of the work is, in main, enquiry into the attainment of one’s own true nature, of the self, as other subjects such as the social ones and the four stages in life, are affirmed as subsidiary to it. The connection is the relation between what is to be known and what causes the knowledge. He is competent who is endowed with faith in the spiritual life. The supreme purpose of human life is the use, the purpose.
The sole object, the meaning of man, is to be understood as the sole Supreme Truth. The other objects of life, Dharma and others, are in reality unified therein. And the knowers of Shastra say “That in which the principle of being is not destroyed is Bhava, being, Dharma, what holds firmly.” That being so,
As the Self abides in being as existence, to be settled in that is the supreme Dharma of man or law of his being.
As the meaning of Self is ’I’ whose character is Consciousness, to know that is the supreme
Artha, the meaning of man, the purpose of his life. As the self being blissful, is the dearest (to every one the love of it is the supreme
Kama, the desire of man.
Thus, Dharma, Artha and Kama appearing as three distinct objects of life have for their aim only one object, one import: that is the realisation of Brahman as the self shining in the heart, as the "l’eternal, pure, conscious and free in his nature; he is to be sought for, he is to be known by subtle enquiry. This is the heart of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi’s teachings.
How this is the sense of all the teachings of Sri Ramana, will be shown clearly in this Gita of 300 verses.
The Editor had maintained, for sometime, a diary Tusharakoti, recording Sri Sastriar’s observations and remarks on men and things. It is hoped that it will be possible some day to publish the contents in full. The following collection bearing on Sri Maharshi is culled from this journal.
SRI MAHARSHI’s path and the path of Sri Aurobindo differ in this way. In the former, apparently, it is you who are to work out your sadhana. In the latter, you count for little, as it were; you cannot do anything much; it is they78 to whom you have to surrender yourself completely who can and will work out the sadhana.
But we must also note that when the Maharshi says, “It is you who have to look within yourself and work out your sadhana,’ he puts in the needed influence, anugraha, to help you proceed and do the sadhana.
Similarly, here, when Sri Aurobindo and the Mother say, “Surrender everything of you to the Divine and be free", they put in you the necessary force which enables you to carry out your indispensable individual effort for surrendering all that you have and are.
In the Maharshi’s teaching, as indeed in all yogas of ancient India, the problem to be solved is the problem of the individual. In Sri Aurobindo’s teaching, it is the problem of man in his total being and the meaning of his existence on the earth that is sought to be discovered and worked out. The problems are different and so are the solutions. 17-11-1948.
The Maharshi’s position is simply this: the Divine is, indeed, everywhere. But, you must first find your own self, your own centre in the Divine who is everywhere. Once you find it, you are no longer yourself in the usual sense; you are in His hands. What you call yourself is nothing, does not count; it is that, the Self, the Real ’l’that matters. There is no longer any problem for you; your problems are His ‘problems’. If He wants any transformation to be effected in your body, it is His will that will effect it. Manifestation, non-manifestation etc. are all His look-out, not yours. 28-12-1948.
The Maharshi used to say that only a Jnanin can be a true Bhakta. For he knows the Ishwara, His real glory. 28-12-1948
People complain of imperfections, defects and other undesirable tendencies among the inmates of this Ashram and that. Let us take it for granted that the persons complained against are imperfect, bad. But why do people go all the way to the Ashrams to spot out and concentrate on defects in others ?
The Maharshi used to say: "Where are these defects not found ? They are everywhere. If we look to our own object, our own aim in life, these things will not detract us.”
Not to take too much notice of the failings in others but to have, on the other hand, our sole attention directed to the main object in view is an excellent rule. If that is done, all these disturbances fall into their just proportions. They are mere pinpricks of our own making.
Obstructions and rough elements in the environs of great and saintly personalities are to be treated more as tests of one’s sincerity and will to brave the roughest impediments in order to reach the Ideal. (In light vein he added,) in the Puranas, we hear of Vasudeva with a huge serpent for his bedstead. Shiva has Nandi before him obstructing the passage of the devotee. No rose beautiful is found without a cluster of thorns around it. 2-1-1949.
Buddha has been the greatest in history as a spiritual personality. Whenever I think of this tall, noble figure striding majestically forward with his disciples trailing his footsteps I somehow come to remember the stature, the dynamic personality of Sri Rama. It is silly to compare Buddha or Christ with any political leader. Jesus was actually the Son of God. When he spoke of the “Kingdom of Heaven within” he spoke of a direct personal experience. Christ had that consciousness. As the Maharshi used to say, Christ moved and acted as he did because of his direct realisation, saksat anubhuti. 19-1-1949
Nrinam nidarsanamayam Ramano Maharshih, that is how Nayana79 hails the Maharshi. Sri Maharshi is an example of ideal human conduct. The highest perfection of noble human conduct is there in him eternally shining. Whatever good in human conduct is to be found in me, however insignificant it be, is entirely due to his grace. His movement can almost always be predicted with certainty. One can always be sure of what his reactions would be. No doubt, occasionally, even his movements cannot be predicted. That is when, as he himself explained, a Divine Will makes him do this or that.
11-2-1949
It is remarkable how the Maharshi has been able to live all these seventy years. Sri Shankara lived only for 32 years while Jnana Sambandha passed away in his sixteenth year. To have lived so long after the Realisation and that after allowing unrestricted access to all people at all hours is a unique phenomenon. Sri Maharshi is a dynamo. Some twenty years back a devotee wrote of him that rays of light emanate from him and do their work on the devotee. Sri Maharshi corrected it to say, “He emanates and directs the rays.” That is a correct statement of the truth; for he meant to say that he was not passive in cases which required his intervention, but active and directed the rays of Grace.
A single look from him breaks through many coverings of one’s ego, however thick, and reaches and feels the core of the being. For spiritual seekers his is the rarest type of realisation of the kind. 16-2-1949
As a man Sri Ramakrishna was simple and childlike. But, he could at will go into Mother-consciousness and commune with Her; or he was thrown into that consciousness in spite of himself. It was during such states of Mother-consciousness that he spoke words of spiritual authenticity and acted as one God-inspired. When these states were not there, he was again his usual (normal) childlike self.
In the case of the Maharshi, this state of God-identity, the realised state of consciousness, is continuous; it knows no interruptions. Ever since he realised the Self when he was sixteen, he has lived in that state of identity with the Self i.e. the One Infinite.
He once described to me this state of consciousness, saying, “Even if the Trimurtis appear before me and give me darshan and ask me to choose a boon, I would tell them: ’Be pleased, let me have no more darshan." That is to say, even the clear distinction between the seer and the seen which is implied in the darshan of the Lord can find no place in that state of Self-realisation. 26-2-1949.
Some say that Siddhas of old are still alive. In the days when the Maharshi was on the hill, he used to take a few of us with him for the Giri Pradakshina (going round the hill). This used to last from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. Once while I was going with him he pointed his face towards the sky and said: “Look, there perhaps are the Siddhas. They (people) say they are nakshatras (stars) and pass them by!” As we walked on, he observed that the very stars were beneath his feet.
It was during one such round in May 1922 that we got word that Supervisor Ramaswami Iyer was taken ill suddenly and was dying. The Maharshi went down to the place on the hill itself where Ramaswami Iyer was lying. The latter had violent palpitations of the heart. Sri Maharshi sat near him, placing his hand on his head. Within five minutes, Ramaswami Iyer got up and looked quite normal. But the Maharshi sat on; he did not get up even after an hour. We were perplexed. I had some almond oil brought with me from Madras for Nayana and it was rubbed on Sri Maharshi’s head. Soon after, he got up and we returned to the ashram. Later when I asked him what had happened, he said: “Well, Ramaswami Iyer got up and I sat down. I was conscious when the oil was rubbed; it was pleasant and I sat on.”
The Maharshi is certainly not a pashana vedantin (poltroon philosopher). He it was who said: “There is an eternal ’I’ which moves the all, itself unmoved and it is that we have to reach within ourselves and not the external ego-self which dissolves at the initiation of ceaseless quest that lapses in the ’I’."
Vasishtha Ganapati Muni–Nayana as we called him—was of course my Guru. In fact, I looked upon him as my God. I looked to him for help and he always responded. But when it came to giving me the needed turn for delving into the depths of the spirit, he directed me to the Maharshi. I hesitated because I feared advice of renunciation etc. But after repeated hints from Nayana for four years, I approached the Maharshi (1911-1912) and what a meeting it was! The very first day wrought a remarkable change in my being and no amount of tapas or japa would have given me the indubitable knowledge of spiritual consciousness and correct appreciation of the truth of spiritual life that the Maharshi gave me. In fact, I could not have come to Sri Aurobindo if I had not got the faith awakened in me in the spiritual life which I got from seeing Sri Maharshi. 26-4-1949
The idea behind the Samadhi of Sri Maharshi’s mother and the construction of the temple of Matrbhuteshwara later on, is that it is to be a centre of spiritual Force. The Maharshi said as much and would not have come down the hill and stayed where he has been staying, if he did not intend it to be so. That is why he took such keen interest in the construction of the temple and in the Sri Chakra, which he specially asked me to see when I had been there in 1941 in connection with my writing of the commentary on the Ramana Gita 26-4-1949
When, in 1930, I had been to Tiruvannamalai with Sunder80 Sri Maharshi asked me to see and correct the Sanskrit rendering of a Tamil work of his by X. The Sanskrit rendering was very imperfect. After hours of argument and struggle, I finished only a couple of verses. How to correct the remaining 38 verses or so within the limited time was a problem. In the evening as soon as Sri Maharshi came to his seat, he asked me to take up the work. I took it and it was amazing that within two to three hours I finished almost all the verses.
Later, Sunder told me what a magnificent and inspiring sight it was to see the Maharshi sitting with his blazing eyes transfixed on me all the while. He added that the Maharshi’s face and head looked inordinately big during the time. But I was not aware that the Maharshi had focussed his attention on me so outwardly. So when I came to the last portion, I looked up and the Maharshi asked me, with an exclamation of joy, “So, it is finished ?" I answered in surprise, “Yes, but the last verse does not come off in this particular metre.” “Does not come in that metre?" queried the sage and sank into silence. Within a moment a strong upward movement gushed up from beneath the navel, somewhere from the root of the spine, and involuntarily a verse came out like a cry from my mouth. It was a verse in the required metre! 26-4-1949
The Maharshi did not attain realisation after so many years of tapasya in Tiruvannamalai as is stated in some books. The fact is, his realisation started, indeed, took place suddenly, in his house itself and the eleven years of solitude and silence he observed later were the years required to normalise and stabilise the realisation under all conditions. 27-4-1949.
The Maharshi was very particular that visitors to the Ashram should take food there. In fact, on the Jayanti day, he did not take his meal till the last man had had his food. When I asked him about this, he said in effect, that when, in his early boyhood, he set out from his house to Tiruvannamalai, he had actually to starve for days together.
In those days, one Muslim family refused to give him food as he was a “kafir’. Then when he was in the Patala Lingam cave, he subsisted mainly on plantains and pancamrta that were thrust down into the cave. He lived on these things for years and his body suffered for want of food. Things took an opposite turn thereafter and it had been his experience that wherever he went some one or other greeted him with food. At one time when he was in the deeps of the forest, some ten people were waiting for him each with separate food! And so he has been very particular that nobody should suffer the pangs of hunger as he did.
It is also a fact that food in Sri Maharshi’s ashram is not merely food. It is definitely something more; people get better appetite there and the food does not lie heavy.
Once, when the Maharshi was living on the hills, a hunter was about to kill a peacock. Sri Maharshi asked him not to kill it; but the hunter brushed aside his words, saying “Go, Swami, who is asking you?” and went on with his game. The next day, it would appear, the man had an accident and the very hand (arm?) with which he did the fell deed had to be cut off. "I felt sorry for him," said the Maharshi speaking of it, “but what is to be done? People have to go through these things before they would learn.” 3-5-1949
After the Buddha, the Maharshi. This phenomenon of living in the physical body for more than fifty years after Realisation has no parallel in history. Buddha lived for fifty years (from his 36th to his 86th year) after the liberation and worked. Sri Maharshi has so far lived for more than fifty-four years. It is a great wonder.
We do not precisely know the Realisation that is his. His body houses an effulgence that can be certainly relied upon to do what is necessary in his present bodily ailment. Nothing can happen which is not God’s will. 9-7-1949.
Sri Maharshi has always shown a remarkable capacity for enduring physical pain and suffering. Years ago when roaming in the depths of the forest in search of the seat of the Siddha Arunagiri, reputed to reside in the heart of the hill according to the Purana, wild bees attacked his thigh; he quietly resigned himself to them until they themselves left him of their own accord. “Did it not pain you?" I asked him. “Why not?" he replied. "It was like the bite of ants.” If one’s consciousness is turned differently, things are not the same as they appear. The same capacity was seen when he was reported to have stretched forth his arm to be operated upon without anaesthetic.
Sri Ramakrishna’s explanation of his fatal disease, cancer, as the result of the accumulated sins of his visitors which they "put upon him” is not to be dismissed lightly. It is a matter of experience that sickness and disease of one can be taken over by another and either worked out or thrown off. The Guru has been known to do this for his disciples and devotees. When he takes these things upon himself, he consciously throws them away; retirement for a few minutes on such occasions is helpful. But this depends upon the spiritual stature of the Yogi or Guru. If it (retirement) cannot be availed of for any reason, there is always the danger of the body of the Guru having to undergo certain physical suffering. 28-12-1949.
The Maharshi is unique in the history of the world’s saints. To have lived for full fifty-four years after Realisation, to have influenced so many from his seat in one place, to have been accessible to all at all hours, to have stemmed the tide of scepticism as he did, is something truly unprecedented. 2-4-1950.
The Maharshi told me-over forty years ago — that whenever he wanted and attempted to go on the paths of the Siddhas, the siddha-marga, he was pulled back, something telling: "That is asat, here alone (pointing to the heart) is the Thing. Who is it that goes up and down the siddha-marga, find him.” 18-4-1950.
The Consciousness that was Maharshi’s was something unique. That he lived in that Consciousness for so many years is something that has no parallel. And that Consciousness was not dumb. Once or twice words escaped his lips to the effect: “What does it matter, if it is a hundred miles or a thousand miles ? It acts." 26-9-1950
The Maharshi was scrupulous about neatness and order. When anybody kept a book upsidedown or turned inside out, he would closely note it, (and in those days) walk up to the spot and put it in proper position. "He was not mindful”, he would remark in his usual indulgent way. 21-1-1951
I seriously took to mantra japa when I was eight. By the time I was twenty, I had completed many courses of various mantras. When there was no palpable result, I cried my heart out to the Divine. Sri Nayana then came on the scene and he gave me the eye.
Next I met the Maharshi. The personal attraction was irresistible. But I found his teaching too direct, immediate, seemingly simple, having no steps in between i.e. the starting point and the goal, at any rate not practicable to people circumstanced like myself. It was only after I started reading the Arya81 I found what I wanted. I was convinced that Sri Aurobindo would not have written those words without experience. I saw Sri Aurobindo in 1917. Thereafter, a series of far reaching experiences in my inner life commenced and they took me to Sri Aurobindo once again in 1923. That trip decided my future.
It was an ordeal to come away to Pondicherry cutting through my loyalty to Sri Nayana and attachment to Sri Maharshi. But I was compelled from within. 4-2-1951
I have observed that great spiritual figures do not usually discourage devotees announcing their (Guru’s) avatarhood. They may not, themselves, proclaim it; but they defend the action of the believers. The Maharshi, for instance, never objected when it was said of him that he was the avatar of Skanda. He always allowed it to be said. Recently, some ten years ago, it is reported a visitor to the Ashram complained that devotees described him as Skanda’s avatar. The Maharshi replied: "Who am I to object or assent to what people may say?" And after he left, the Maharshi commented that the visitor was at great pains to save him (M) from danger!
१. अव्यक्ताद्यत एतद् व्यक्तं जातमशेषम् । यद् धत्ते तदजस्रं यत्रान्त लयमेति ॥
२. आधारे खलु यस्मिन् गोलानां सह लक्षः। ब्रह्माण्डं प्रतितिष्ठत्येतन्निस्तुलसत्वे ॥
३. सूर्यादिग्रहभासां यन्मूलं घनतेजः। यद् ब्रह्मादिसुराणां शक्त्यै शक्तिरुताहो ॥
४. ज्ञात्वा तत्त्वमसङ्गा भासा यस्य रमन्ते । यज्जालेन समस्ते द्वैतेक्षाऽल्पमतीनाम् ।
५. यद्ध्यानेन भवन्ति स्वात्मानन्दनिमग्नाः । यनिष्ठा खलु मुक्तिर्यच्छन्दोऽपि तदर्थः॥
६. तद् ब्रह्म प्रणवाख्यं चित्ते ध्यानकृते मे। अश्रान्तं रमणाख्यां बिभ्रद् भातु मदिष्टाम् ॥
७. आधारे धृतमूलं हार्दाब्जे कृतवासम् । शीर्षाब्जाय वहद्यत्पश्चादिन्द्रियशक्त्यै ।।
८. दृष्टयां तत्र पराच्यां यद्देहभ्रमकारि। आवृत्तं तु पुनर्यत् स्वात्मक्यानुभवाय ॥
९. पश्यद्वा विषयौघं विश्रान्तं यदुताहो। मुक्त्यै संस्थितमन्तव॑त्यैक्यानुभवेन ॥
१०. आत्मज्योतिरिदं मे बिभ्राणं रमणाख्याम् । अश्रान्तं स्फुरतात् तत् शुद्धं हार्दसरोजे॥
११. यद्दीपाद्रमणाख्याद् व्याप्तं गाणपतीषु । वाणीभित्तिषु धत्ते गीताचित्रविलासम् ॥
१२. यद् हन्ति च्छविजालैरज्ञानां तिमिराणि। तत्तत्त्वं स्फुरताद्वः तारध्यानसमाधौ।
१३. यातायातविहारैराधारेषु च शीर्षे । संचारं विदधानं कि चाशेषविसारि॥
१४. आलम्बेन विहीनं व्योमाभं परिपूर्णम् । निश्शब्दं गुरुरूपं तद् ब्रह्म स्फुरतान्मे ॥
१५. ज्ञानं भाति परोक्षं यत्तत्त्वश्रवणेन । यत्साङ्गत्यविशेषो हेतुः स्यादपरोक्षे॥
१६. यच्चिन्ता स्थिरमुक्त्यै ब्रह्मतद्रमणाख्यम् । मामावृत्य समन्तादानन्दे निदधातु॥
१७. तारानन्दनियुक्तः प्रोत्या तस्य मतेन । आधाद्दीप्तगभीरं वासिष्ठो गुरुगीतम् ॥
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