CONTENTS

Divine Names Of Arunachala 2

Editorial The Ladder 3
The Essential Role Of The Guru Lakshmi Sreedhar 9
The Paramount Importance Of Self Attention Sadhu Om 15
Keyword: Bha To Shine B.K. Croissant 21
Poem: Unerring Neera Kashyap 26
Sri Mahaswami Serge Demetrian 27
Poem: The Names Of Lalitha Ramesh Menon 34
Sri Chakra Puja: Part One Kays 35
Self Enquiry Is An Anti Virus Programme Art Baker 43
Poem: Today I Am Here Suresh Kailash 46
The Bhagavad Gita Saram Swami Shantananda Puri 47
Poem: Drop Your Disguise Suresh Kailash 52
Mother Savithri Krishnan 53
Sri R.D. Ranade S.L.M. Patil 61
Poem: In The Evening Upahar 70
Book Excerpt: The Scientist And The Saint Avinash Chandra 71
The Long Road To Bhagavan Part One Michael Highburger 83
My Experience With Bhagavan Janaki Murali 95
Meditation Neelam 98
Maha Bhakta Vijayam: Kabir Takes His Wife To The Merchant
Nabaji Siddha 99
Sonasaila Malai Sivaprakasa Swamigal 109
Book Reviews 121
Ashram Bulletin 126
 Divine Names of Arunachala
14.   
oṁ śrīmate namaḥ
Prostration to the Noble One.
‘Śrī’ has many definitions, including ‘royalty, majesty, beauty, glory,
splendour, and lustre’. The verb root from which it comes means ‘to
diffuse light or radiance’.
In the first verse of the Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam , Bhagavan recounts
his own awe of Lord Siva’s majesty as Arunachala thus: “Look, there
it stands as if insentient. Mysterious is the way it works, beyond all
human understanding. From my unthinking childhood, the immensity
of Arunachala had shone in my awareness. But even when I learnt
from someone that it was only Tiruvannamalai, I did not realise its
meaning. When it stilled my mind and drew me to itself and I came
near, I saw that it was stillness absolute.”1
We are fortunate to have many first-hand descriptions of Bhagavan’s
power, beauty and lustre in physical form. According to an early
devotee, “Had you seen Him in those days [in the Virupaksha Cave],
you would hardly have taken Him for a mere human being. His figure
was a statue of burnished gold... He was an enchanting personality,
who shed a captivating lustre on all, and a life-giving current flowed
from Him, charging all those nearby, while His sparkling eyes irrigated
those around Him with the nectar of His Being.” He goes on thus:
“Our happiness in the presence of Sri Bhagavan at Sri Ramanasramam
was comparable to the joy of the hosts of Siva on Mount Kailasa.
Sri Bhagavan used to say ‘Kailasa is the abode of Siva; Arunachala
is Siva Himself. Even in Kailasa things are as they are with us here.
Devotees go to Siva, worship Him, serve Him, and hear from Him the
interpretation of the Vedas and Vedanta day in and day out.’ So it was
Kailasa at the foot of the Arunachala Hill, and Arunachala Paramātma
in human form was Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi.”2 — BKC

1
Translation by Prof. K. Swaminathan.
2
Iyer, Sundaresa, At the Feet of Bhagavan, p.17 and p.19.

2 April - June
EDITORIAL

The Ladder

I t is rare for us to experience a true moment of stillness unless we

deliberately make the space for it. Our lives are constantly in motion
and we are never really sure what will happen next as we rise and fall
on a seemingly ceaseless roller coaster of the unexpected.
The central thread that runs through all our lives is that we seek
that which gives us peace and happiness, be it physical comfort, job
security, a happy family or an absorbing hobby! As devotees of Sri
Ramana Maharshi we seek a relationship with our guru that will purify
and transform us so that we may be absorbed in the radiant light of
Ramana Arunachala. For us that is the supreme goal. It is the pearl
of great price. The question is not only what are we prepared to pay
for it, but how are we to set about achieving it?
The image of the spiritual ladder has a long history in mysticism for
it expresses in clear and authoritative terms the journey of the seeker
in his or her development from ignorance to knowledge, from tamas
to sattva, from darkness to light. By using the concept of the ladder
our progress on the spiritual path can be gauged as to how far we
have climbed through the various levels of experience and existence
that we all must travel if we are to be infused with that divine light
of understanding.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
There are many examples in other traditions that speak of the
ladder: the 14th century English mystic Walter Hilton’s The Scale (or
Ladder) of Perfection.1 In the Greek Orthodox tradition, there is the
especially influential The Ladder of Divine Ascent by John Climacus
in the 6th century.2
The great Sufi mystic Jalal ud-Din Muhammad Rumi repeatedly
used the concept of the ladder. In the Mathnavi he wrote that God put
different ladders in the world that are destined for different people.
He saw that our five senses are a ladder, though they end in this world
unlike the spiritual quest that leads to a transcendental world. He said
that even the spiritual master is a ladder, for the aspirant is led by the
master towards higher realities, until the doors of grace are opened
and the ladder is no longer necessary.3
For us, of all the spiritual texts, the simplest and most effective
description of the steps is Bhagavan’s Upadeśa Sāram.
Bhagavan spoke of two paths which face us: self-enquiry or
surrender. Rumi wrote that one of the most important rungs on the
ladder is trust in God. However he did not advocate idleness under
the pretext that God will do everything. Our trust should be proactive
and that means we should participate in the acceptance of God’s will
and be in harmony with it.4 This is not always easy, especially when
events seem to go against what we wish. For instance the death of
someone who is dear to us is particularly hard to swallow.
Yet through experience we know that the higher we climb the
ladder the more we understand, the more mature we become, and
consequently the more we are prepared to surrender ourselves and
1
Incidentally the Greek word klimax, literally ladder, is derived from kleinein, to lean.
2
“But from the lowest to the highest a soul cannot suddenly start, no more than a
man who wants to climb a high ladder, and sets his foot on the lowest stave, and
thinks he can, at the next step, go up to the highest. But he must go by degrees
from one to another till he comes to the highest.” Chapter One, Part Two.
3
Mathnavi VI v.4125: “The Pir [teacher] is the ladder to Heaven….When you make
of me a ladder to go aloft, you will ascend to heaven without flying.”
4
Mathnavi I. v.910-15: “Do not grapple with Destiny, …lest Destiny also pick a
quarrel with you./ One must be dead in the presence of the decree of God, so that
no blow may come from the Lord …/ The Prophet said with a loud voice, ‘While
trusting in God bind the knee of your camel.’ / … ‘The worker is beloved of God’:
through trusting in God do not become neglectful as to the (ways and) means.”

4 April - June
 THE LADDER
annihilate our sense of individuality to the mysterious grace that
works in us.
We may be impatient or, more to the point, desperate because of
the urgency to find a way out of our stagnation, but the path itself is
generally a slow step by step progression. There are rare instances
when someone rapidly ascends to the top as Bhagavan did when he
was still a youth in Madurai in 1896, but for the majority of us it is a
slow journey and rightly so.
There are instances in Bhagavan’s lifetime when someone pestered
him for self-realisation (ātma sākṣātkāra). He would oblige them
if the demand was so strong that they would not listen to reason or
take no for an answer. He would then direct towards them the power
of grace, and invariably, in those who were not sufficiently mature
they would quickly panic and either jump up and flee the room or
beg him to stop for they felt like a person drowning in an ocean of
overwhelming power or pressure. As with many other aspects of life,
if one is not sufficiently prepared, one cannot accept the situation.
Someone who has never learned how to cook would be completely
overwhelmed if asked to bake a cake.
Bhagavan’s Grace at full measure is a raging fire. But like a
sensitive, compassionate mother he gives us what we need to
overcome our latest obstacle, no more no less. As he commented,
Grace is given according to the capacity of the seeker to absorb it. If
we bring a tumbler, it will be filled. If we bring a cauldron it will be
filled. Our job is to open our hearts wide to receive the ever present
Grace. Bhagavan’s generosity is as wide as the horizon.
The spiritual path is well defined and though each of us may think
our progression is unique, it is not. Though the various challenges,
stories and images that unfold are according to our own propensities,
the fundamental principles of the path are one and the same. That is
why the stories of saints, and the teachings they give us, are just as
relevant today as they were 10 years or 500 years ago. The kernel of
human nature is universal, for how else could we the stories of those
who live on the other side of the world? How else could we identify
with the spiritual journeys of those who went before us, however far
in the historical past they lived. When we hear the ancient stories of
spiritual heroes they give us hope that we too can make the journey.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
If we have no faith in a higher purpose, in the transcendent qualities
of our thoughts and feelings, then our life is essentially empty of
meaning, for we have nowhere to go, no sense that we can rise
above the obvious limitations of our daily striving and the suffering
inherent in it. The image of the ladder immediately creates hope, for
we affirm in our consciousness that there is something greater than
the constraints that imprison us.
This is akin to the Four Noble Truths enunciated by The Buddha.
They are: the truth of suffering (dukkha); the truth of the origin of
suffering (samudāya); the truth of the cessation of suffering (nirodha);
and the truth of the path to the cessation of suffering (magga). The last
Truth is particularly important in view of this editorial. The Buddha
says there is a way out of our suffering and he shows the way. Who
among us has not felt that elation of the heart when we realise we
are in the spiritual presence of a great master who can lead us out of
our private valley of tears? Who has not stood before the samādhi
of Bhagavan and realised that they have come home? It is a genuine
experience that has happened to countless seekers.
We should not only recognise the power and grace of Ramana
Maharshi but also realise that the state of self-realisation is attainable.
We are not on a hopeless quest.
If we were not impregnated with the unequivocal certainty that
we are now on the path, why then would we stay near Arunachala, or
for those who have no other choice but to live elsewhere, why would
they come back to Arunachala again and again? We have all received
that conviction, that spark, which marks us for life. Again, this is a
universal story, where the seeker in the midst of darkness is radiated
with light and now knows for certain that there is a higher purpose.
Our inner compass has been realigned to true north. All spiritual
traditions speak of that great revelation that turns our world upside
down. Instead of digging ourselves into a deeper and darker hole,
we turn towards the light and climb out of our quagmire. The word
‘gospel’ means ‘good news’. The good news is that there is liberation.
There is a release from ignorant suffering.
Gradually we should realise that the key lies within us. Bhagavan
constantly affirms that we do have the resources within us. In that
sense we are the ladder. By that we mean the powerful aspiration to

6 April - June
 THE LADDER
transcend our ignorance and limitations is individually embedded
within us. It is part of our DNA. It is what makes us humans rather than
animals who are reliant on instincts. Our ambition may range from
something basic such as the security of a well-paid job, right up to the
other end of the scale, with the determination to achieve samādhi, or
one- pointedness, total calm. Samādhi means ‘equal mind’. It comes
from the root ‘dha’, ‘to hold’ and ‘a’ plus ‘sam’, ‘together completely’.
The implication is that one is free from wants or desires. Most of us
have experienced moments of total calm and serenity when the world
disappears and there is pure awareness. The question is how to extend
this experience so that our lives are imbued with it.
This is where the idea of ascent to a higher realm is essential to
this quest. In some traditions they emphasise that the way is the goal.
That is, we are not going to suddenly discover gold at the end of the
rainbow and everything prior to that reward is irrelevant. Quite the
contrary, everything we do is pertinent. Everything we feel, think or
do is germane to our journey.
The first step to creating a ladder is to build a foundation that
does not shake. That foundation is made of yama and niyama, the
basic tenets of good behaviour. Some of the core precepts are right
living, truthfulness, non-stealing, moderation in all things, to be
non-judgmental and to carefully weigh situations without bias and
if possible,with compassion. But above all, is ahimsa, that is, do not
harm others by word, speech or action. In fact all other qualities come
naturally with the cultivation of the attitude not to harm others.
What is necessary at one rung of the ladder is redundant at a higher
level. At each stage of our development other qualities are required.
We do not remain stationary but grow and expand using new tools.
That is why it is presumptuous to ‘know’ what another person needs
by way of development, when we ourselves are often in the dark. For
one person it could well be reading and absorbing the written word;
for another it is silent mediation; for another japa; for another ritual.
We all should carefully observe what works for us and then decide
the way forward.
But above all, do not just think and talk about it. Climb the ladder,
one step at a time. 

2019 7
The Essential Role
of the Guru

Lakshmi Sreedhar

W hy does the guru take so much trouble to teach and try to

transform his disciples? It is only his compassion that makes
him come again and again and teach. It is not that he seeks to gain
anything from his disciples as he is not interested in the material
offerings of his disciples. The Guru has a great thirst or a burning
desire to see his disciples evolve and attain the Supreme State of
no return in the shortest possible time. In fact, the Guru would like
to see his disciples excel him. Even in the Mahabharata, there is a
fight between Parasurama and Bhishma on account of Amba who
wants Parasurama to force Bhishma to marry her. Parasurama who
is Bhishma’s teacher is unable to defeat Bhishma even after fighting
with him for many days and ends the fight by praising and blessing
the prowess of his disciple.
The Guru is only keen to see that his disciples do not stagnate on
the Path or go astray. Even if they leave him, as they tend to, when
Lakshmi Sreedhar lives in Hyderabad and is a long-standing devotee of
Bhagavan. She first came to the Ashram when she was just a baby in the year
1964. After a long gap, she returned in 2003 and reconnected with Bhagavan.
Since then she and her family are frequent visitors to the Ashram. She is also
a committee member of the Chinmaya Mission, Hyderabad.

2019 9
MOUNTAIN PATH
steeped in their worldly life, he is always waiting for them to come
back. In the meantime, he keeps a watch over their life in his own
way, waiting to intervene at the right moment. In the Ribhu Gita, of
which Bhagavan spoke highly, even after teaching his disciple many
things, Sage Ribhu comes in disguise to see how his disciple Nidagha
is progressing. Nidagha is not practising what his Guru had taught
him as he is steeped in saṁsāra.
Nidagha was one day watching a procession in which the king was
riding on an elephant. His Guru came in the disguise of an ignorant
villager and asked him what they were looking at, Nidagha then
showed him the royal procession. The seemingly ignorant villager
wanted to know which was the king and which was the elephant! The
disciple replied with a irritation that the one seated above was the
king and the one below was the elephant. Feigning not to understand
the terms ‘above’ and ‘below’, the disciple was made to demonstrate
them so that the disguised Sage could understand them. Nidagha made
the old man bend down and got on his back and said, “Now ‘I’ am
above and ‘you’ are below.” Next, the poor villager pretended that he
could not even understand what the meanings of ‘I’ and ‘you’ were.
Suddenly Nidagha realised that it was his Guru who had come to
wake him up from his spiritual slumber and put him back on his rails.
He had been long lost in the world of sense pleasures. He fell at the
Guru’s feet and once again learnt all that he had forgotten.
The Guru is keen that his disciples do not seek the limelight of
the world but settle in the light of the Self in the Heart. Bhagavan
has said that just as a prey that has fallen into the tiger’s jaws cannot
escape, so too those who have come under the gracious look of the
Guru shall be saved and never forsaken.
However, the disciple on his part should unswervingly follow the
path shown by the Master. Thus it is a two way responsibility. The
Guru cannot by himself transform the disciple unless the disciple
himself is interested to change and is willing to put in his efforts. Only
in sustained satsaṅga will one be able to hold on to the Royal Path
and make speedy progress. When satsaṅga is not there, the disciples
tend to slip back from their Path easily. Satsaṅga especially with our
Guru, is vital to keep our bad vāsana-s from rising and also to develop
strength of mind. For instance, we make a path in our garden for us to
move about. If we are regularly walking on it, grass or weeds will not

10 April - June
 THE ESSENTIAL ROLE OF THE GURU
grow on it. Suppose we are away for a long time. By the time we come
back, a lot of grass and weeds would have grown on the path, totally
covering it. Then we have to search for the path and again work on it.
Similar is the case with our vāsana-s. If we do not maintain
satsaṅga, the vāsana-s of anger and other bad habits will once
again start rising in us, due to weakness of mind and slackness of
effort. As long as there is satsaṅga, only good qualities like love,
generosity, helpfulness and humility will arise in us and we will
behave accordingly. We should never allow these good qualities to
go down and get buried once again. We should retain them through
satsaṅga, prayers, and enquiry.
There is an incident in the life of the Buddha to drive home the
value of satsaṅga: Once the Buddha happened to stay in a place with
just one monk, the elderly Meghiya. On their round for alms, Meghiya
was one day attracted to a lush mango-grove and wanted to retire to
that grove for meditation. Buddha advised him to wait for another
monk to arrive to take his place with him.
However, Meghiya soon became impatient and on his voicing the
request for the third time, the Master allowed him to go. Meghiya was
very happy to receive this permission and went and sat down in the
grove to meditate. But soon many thoughts of his past life came to
his mind. He began to think negatively about why he had renounced
the world to take up the life of a monk. He reflected that had he
stayed with his family, he would not have had to struggle for food
by begging or leading a life of discomfort. He felt that his brother
who had taken over his lands must be having a happy life and felt a
little jealous about it. He felt that he should go back and reclaim his
property from his brother. In this manner, many thoughts came into
his mind when he sat down to meditate.
Soon, by the Grace of his Master, he realised the mischief his mind
was playing and rushed back to where his Master was staying and fell
at his feet and regretted having left him. Buddha explained to him
that till he had stabilised his mind, based on the teachings, he should
never leave the shade of the Guru. Thus Meghiya realised the value
of satsaṅga and never again left his Master’s side.
For those who are in samsara, it is important that they go again
and again to the Master till their minds become strong and they are
firmly stabilised on the Royal Path. Due to the many distractions in

2019 11
MOUNTAIN PATH
the world, they tend to easily slide back and get derailed. Thus the
battery needs to be charged regularly. The Master is only too pleased
to give them all the help they need to rid themselves of the dirt that
has accumulated in their minds. At times the Guru may appear to be
harsh with us, but he is only like the dhobi who beats the clothes on
a stone to remove their stubborn dirt and not to tear them. The Guru
is the instrument through whom God guides his devotees so that they
may go back to Him.
The mighty elephant of ego cannot be brought under control
except when the lion of the Guru comes into our life. Every person’s
life will continue to take the path of prārabdha unless he takes some
steps to change course. The Guru’s Grace is the outside force which
comes as a simha swapnam to wake you up from your dream-life of
delusion. Old age comes by itself, no effort is required. But maturity
of mind does not come by itself; it has to be earned by hard effort.
As long as we are unaware of the true purpose of life, we will only
go about filling our stomachs with tasty food, dressing up and going
about seeking worldly pleasures.
Bhagavan says that if we want to sustain ourselves on the Royal
Path we have to start by giving up our desires one by one with
understanding. Otherwise we cannot progress on the path. Worldly
desires will only take us back to the world and not to God. Moreover,
any unfulfilled desire will lead us back to rebirth. Thus we have to
conquer all our desires and attachments and become perfect through
enquiry and prayers.
Giving up the worldly desires is vairāgya and to traverse the Royal
Path is the true sādhana. So vairāgya is a prerequisite for the sādhana
to fructify. Vairāgya involves detaching the mind from the objects of
the world while sādhana internalises the mind and focuses it on its
source. All attachments lead to misery. Swami Rama Tirtha says that
if you hold a cow by its rope, the cow also holds you by the rope. The
rope of attachment leads but to bondage. Why do we get attached to
persons and objects?
If we develop detachment instead, we will be able to retain our
peace. For instance, we are attached to our children. If they don’t
eat properly or study well we will be much affected and leads to
unnecessary arguments with them. However, if we develop some
detachment towards them through enquiry and understanding, we

12 April - June
 THE ESSENTIAL ROLE OF THE GURU
will be able to let go of the problems and retain peace. This does not
mean that we will not do our duty of telling our children when they
go on the wrong path. It only means that we will not become affected
when they do not listen to us. We will then be able to let go of the
problem in a spirit of surrender to Bhagavan.
How do we prepare ourselves so that we may lead our life after
retirement in a happy and purposeful manner? This is possible if we
hold onto Bhagavan and His teachings and learn to see through all
the situations in life. By the time we become old, our minds will have
grown lighter, calmer and stronger due to our conquering much of
our desires, attachments and expectations.
We will be able to easily meditate and conquer all the obstructing
vāsana-s on the Path by the strength of mind we achieve.
Most people who have not learnt the art of living dread the day
when they have to retire as they do not know how to spend their
time usefully. They get bored sitting at home not knowing what to
do. Some people therefore take up reemployment. Others sit at home
and meddle unnecessarily in the affairs of others in the house. Their
favourite occupation is to grumble and find fault with others and
offer unsolicited advice. Thus they spoil their relationships with other
members of their family who begin to see them as a burden. Thus
they spend the evening of their life miserably and make an inglorious
exit from the world.
We all have to hasten to work out our Salvation with diligence
as the Buddha said at the time of his death. Bhagavan says that our
time is short and the road is long. Fortunate are those who have found
not only a Guru, but a sadguru – namely Bhagavan – to lead us to
this glorious destination. We should not fritter away this glorious
opportunity that has come in this life, probably after numerous
rebirths. Earnest effort never fail. So make hay while the sun shines
and strike while the iron is hot. Start early, travel slowly and reach
safely. Today is the auspicious day to make a start. May the unfailing
Light of Bhagavan’s Grace guide our every step so that we may fulfil
the purpose of life in this very birth. 

2019 13
The Paramount
Importance of Self
Attention
Part Twenty Nine
Sadhu Om
as recorded by Michael James

24th October 1978

S adhu Om: If japa [repetition of a name of God or some other

mantra] or mūrti-dhyāna [meditation upon a form of God] is done
just to gain one-pointedness of mind, there is not much spiritual benefit
to be gained thereby, because name and form are mithyā aṁśa, the
false aspects of brahman. For japa or mūrti-dhyāna to be spiritually
efficacious, a satya aṁśa [one of the three real aspects of brahman,
namely sat-cit-ānanda, existence-awareness-bliss, also known as asti-
bhāti-priya, being-illumination-love] must be combined with them,
and that satya aṁśa is love, which is the ānanda or priya aspect. To
the extent that they are done with heart-melting love, japa and mūrti-
dhyāna are powerful aids on the path of self-surrender, because they are
each a means by which love can be focused and directed back to God

Michael James assisted Sri Sadhu Om in translating Bhagavan’s Tamil

writings and Guru Vācaka Kōvai. Many of his writings and translations
have been published, and some of them are also available on his website,
happinessofbeing.com.

2019 15
MOUNTAIN PATH
or guru, who is its source, and the more our love is focused on God or
guru, the more willing we will become to give ourself entirely to him.
If japa of a name of God or meditation on a form of God is done to
gain one-pointedness of mind, it would be spiritually beneficial only
to the extent that it helps to enkindle love for God in one’s heart, but
if it does not enkindle such love, it can become more of a hindrance
than a help on the path of self-surrender, because it would strengthen
the mind’s outgoing power, its ability to focus its attention on second
and third person objects. The more one does japa or dhyāna with true
heart-melting love, the less one will have interest in other things, and
thereby desire for and attachment to anything other than God will
gradually drop off. Thus as one’s love for God grows, so surrender
blossoms in one’s heart. Hence the love with which we do japa or
dhyāna will eventually enable us to merge in the reality of the object
of our love.
Even though initially we may consider God or guru to be a second
or third person, the more our love for him grows, the more our love
for ourself as a person, whom we consider to be the first person, will
diminish, and consequently the more we will yield ourself to him.
When our love and surrender thus grow sufficiently, it will be easy for
God in the form of guru to turn our mind back within to face ourself
alone, thereby eradicating our ego.
Of all the names and forms of God, the names and forms of
Arunachala and Ramana have a unique power to enkindle love for self-
attention in our heart. The only second person that will automatically
turn our attention back to the first person is Arunachala-Ramana, as
Bhagavan himself indicates in verse 10 of Śrī Aruṇācala Padigam:
I have seen a wonder, the magnetic hill that seizes [or forcibly
attracts] the soul. Subduing the mischievous activity of the
soul who thinks of it once, pulling [dragging or attracting]
[that soul] to face towards itself, the one [or peerless] [infinite
self-awareness that shines within the heart as ‘I’], and [thereby]
making it acala [motionless] like itself, it accepts [and
consumes] that sweet [spiritually ripened and pure] soul as bali
[food offered in sacrifice]. What [a wonder] this is! O souls, be
saved [by] thinking of the great Aruna Hill, this killer of the
soul, who shines in the heart [as ‘I’].

16 April - June
 THE PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE OF SELF ATTENTION
2nd November 1978
Sadhu Om: Egolessness is perfect humility, so the more humble we
are, the closer we are to eradicating the ego. This is why Bhagavan
strongly emphasised the need for us to be humble, as he did, for
example, in the final paragraph of Nāṉ Yār?:
If oneself rises [or appears] [as ego or mind], everything rises [or
appears]; if oneself subsides [disappears or ceases], everything
subsides [disappears or ceases]. To whatever extent sinking low
[subsiding or being humble] we proceed [or conduct ourself],
to that extent there is goodness [benefit or virtue]. If one is
[continuously] restraining [curbing, subduing or reducing] the
mind, wherever one may be one can be.
When he says, ‘To whatever extent sinking low we proceed, to
that extent there is goodness’, he uses the term tāṙndu, [an adverbial
participle] which means sinking low, subsiding, declining, bending,
bowing or worshipping, so it implies being humble and submissive.
The lower the ego sinks or subsides, the more do humility and
surrender take over.
Humility is divinity. In verses 494, 496 and 497 of Guru Vācaka
Kōvai Bhagavan says that one becomes great to the extent that one
becomes humble, and that the reason why God is so great that he is
worthy to be worshipped by all living beings is that he is so humble
and free of ego that he considers himself to be the servant of even
the lowliest of creatures. He is supreme because he is humbler than
even the most humble.
3rd November 1978
Sadhu Om: What we are seeking is always present and has never been
lost, because it is our own real nature. To illustrate this Bhagavan often
used the analogy of a woman who was searching everywhere for her
necklace without noticing that she was already wearing it. Seeing her
frantic search, a friend of hers pointed out that it was around her own
neck and had therefore never been lost. The friend who thus points
out to us that the happiness we are seeking is ourself is guru.
We can elaborate on this analogy by saying that instead of pointing
out that the necklace is around her neck, her friend gives her a mirror

2019 17
MOUNTAIN PATH
and suggests that if she looks in it that may help her to find her
necklace. She then has a choice whether to look in the mirror or not.
If she looks in it, it will enable her to see where she should look to find
her necklace, namely on her own neck. The mirror is like Bhagavan’s
teachings. If we study them carefully, they will show us where to look
to find the happiness we are seeking.
Having looked in the mirror and seen where the necklace is to be
found, the woman gives up searching for it in other places and feels
her own neck, where she finds it was all along. Likewise, having
studied Bhagavan’s teachings, we should give up seeking happiness
outside ourself, and should instead look within to see that it is our
own real nature.
When the woman feels her own neck and finds her necklace there,
she no longer needs the help of the mirror, because she is now clearly
aware that she has all along been wearing it. Likewise, when we look
within and thereby see that we ourself are infinite happiness, we will
no longer need the help of Bhagavan’s teachings, because we will be
clearly aware that the happiness we are seeking is what we always
actually are and can therefore never have been lost.
Sadhu Om [in reply to a lady who asked whether the mantra-japa
she had been doing was an obstacle to following Bhagavan’s path]:
Suppose that you start to ride a cycle in order to reach a certain
destination, but after riding a short distance you find that the ground
beneath you is moving, and when you look to see why, you find that
you are on the deck of a ship that is carrying you to your destination.
Your japa is just like your riding a cycle on the deck of that ship. It
seemed to be necessary before you knew you were already on a ship
carrying you faster to your destination than your cycle ever could, but
once you know you are travelling on that ship, you will understand
that there is no need for you to cycle anymore.
The only thing you need to be sure of is that you want to reach
the destination towards which the ship is carrying you. If that is the
destination you want to reach, all you need do is relax and enjoy the
journey. However, if you want to reach some other destination, you
are free to get off the ship and row a small boat towards wherever
you want to go.

18 April - June
 THE PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE OF SELF ATTENTION
The ship is Bhagavan’s grace, which is carrying us along the path
of self-enquiry and self-surrender towards the eradication of ego.
Relaxing and enjoying the journey is surrendering ourself to his grace.
In order to surrender ourself we must avoid rising as ego, which
we can do most effectively and completely by vigilantly attending to
ourself, thereby giving no room to the rising of any other thought, as
Bhagavan teaches us in the thirteenth paragraph of Nāṉ Yār?:
Being ātma-niṣṭhāparaṉ [one who is completely fixed in and
as oneself], giving not even the slightest room to the rising of
any cintana [thought] other than ātma-cintana [‘thought of
oneself’, self-contemplation or self-attentiveness], alone is
giving oneself to God. Even though one places whatever amount
of burden upon God, that entire amount he will bear. Since one
paramēśvara śakti [supreme ruling power or power of God]
is driving all kāryas [whatever needs or ought to be done or to
happen], instead of we also yielding to it, why to be perpetually
thinking, ‘it is necessary to do like this; it is necessary to do
like that’? Though we know that the train is going bearing all
the burdens, why should we who go travelling in it, instead of
remaining happily leaving our small luggage placed on it [the
train], suffer, bearing it [our luggage] on our head?
Doing any sādhana other than self-enquiry and self-surrender, is
either like cycling on the deck of the ship, which is an unnecessary
effort, or like rowing a small boat in order to go to some other
destination. Like a passenger on a train or a ship, we should surrender
to the power of Bhagavan’s infinite love, which will unfailingly carry
us to our destination, unlimited happiness. To the extent that we are
willing to surrender ourself to Bhagavan all other sādhanas will
naturally drop off. 
(to be continued)

2019 19
D. Thiyagarajan
KEYWORD

Bha: To Shine
B.K. Croissant

T here are several words in Sanskrit that mean ‘to shine’. One
of them in particular, however, is often used in poetry. In the
infinitive form it is ‘bhā’ or ‘bhās’, with an expanded meaning ‘to
be bright or splendid, to be luminous, to illuminate.’ Many nouns
and adjectives are derived from these two verbal roots. For example,
‘bhās’, a feminine noun, means ‘light, lustre, brightness; a ray of
light; a reflection; majesty, glory, splendour.’
This article will focus on three verses from Ādi Śaṅkarāchārya’s
Ātma Bodha in which various forms of these verbs appear. Śaṅkara’s
masterpiece was beloved by Bhagavan from Virupaksha days, and
his brilliant translation of it, which is included in the Ashram’s Tamil
pārāyaṇa, was his last composition. Its invocation reads:
Can Āchārya Śaṅkara, the enlightener of the Self through his
treatise Ātma Bodham, be ‘other’than the Self, the form of Ātman?
Who else but he, abiding in my heart as that very Self, bespeaks
that this day in Tamil? (What else is there other than Ātman?)1
1
Kanakammal, Smt. T.R., Commentary on Anuvāda Nūnmālai, p.230.

B.K. Croissant first encountered Bhagavan in 1993. She retired in 2006

after serving as a senior administrator in the arts and humanities at the
Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Since then sādhana has
been her highest priority and greatest joy.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
Verse 28
 
  
ātmāvabhāsayatyeko buddhyādīnīndriyāṇyapi |
dīpo ghaṭādivatsvātmā jaḍaistairnāvabhāsyate ||
ātmā-the Self; avabhāsayati-illumines; ekaḥ-alone; buddhyādīni-
intellect, etc.; indriyāṇi-sense organs; api-also; dīpaḥ-lamp; ghaṭādi
vat-like, jar, etc.; svātmā-one’s ātman; jaḍaiḥ-inert; taiḥ-by them;
na-not; āvabhāsyate-illumined
The Ātman alone illumines (avabhāsayati) the intellect, mind
and sense organs like a lamp in a jar or pot. One’s Ātman is
not illumined (āvabhāsyate) by them, which are inert.2
In Kanakammal’s literal translation of Bhagavan’s Tamil
translation, she expands and deepens the meaning of ‘illumine’ by
emphasizing the Ātman’s effulgence both at the beginning and end
of the verse.
Filled with effulgent light the Ātman, shining as the One Vastu
without a second, just like a lamp that illumines pots, pans and
jars, illumines the mind, intellect and sense organs. By them,
being inert and non-luminous, never can the effulgent Ātman
be illumined. Know thus and be certain.3
This truth recalls verse four in Śaṅkara’s inspiring masterpiece
Hymn to Sri Dakshinamurti. It reads as follows:
To Him the blessed guru Sri Dakshinamurti whose luminous
awareness issues forth through the eyes and other sense organs
like the bright (bhāsvaraṁ) light of a great lamp placed in a
jar with many holes, Him alone illumining (bhāntam) objects
and causing awareness of them as ‘I know’, and after whom
this entire universe shines (anubhāti), may this obeisance be.4
Commentators of verse 28 often liken its meaning to a well-known

2
Word-for-word and translations of all three verses are adapted from Swami
Chinmayananda’s Ātma Bodha, 2004.
3
Kanakammal, Smt. T.R., Commentary on Anuvāda Nūnmālai, p.296.
4
Author’s translation.

22 April - June
 KEYWORD
verse in the Kena Upanishad (I, 2). Although it does not evoke the
idea of shining, it points to the Ātman behind the senses we experience
in the material world.
The Self is the ear of the ear,
The eye of the eye, the mind of the mind,
The word of words, the life of life.
Rising above the senses and the mind
And renouncing separate existence,
The wise realize the deathless Self.5
Verse 61
    
    
yadbhāsā bhāsyate’rkādi bhāsyairyattu na bhāsyate |
yena sarvamidaṁ bhāti tadbrahmetyavadhārayet ||
yad bhāsā-by whose light; bhāsyate-are illuminated; arkādi-
Sun, etc.; bhāsyaiḥ-by the luminous orbs; yaḥ-who; tu-but; na-not;
bhāsyate-is illumined; yena-by whom; sarvam-all; idaṁ-this; bhāti-
shines; tad brahma-that to be Brahman; iti-thus; avadhārayet-realize,
know.
By whose light (bhāsā) are illumined (bhāsyate) the Sun, etc.
but who is not illumined (bhāsyate) by the luminous orbs
(bhāsyaiḥ). Know that to be Brahman by whom all this universe
shines (bhāti).
In other words, Brahman illumines the world and is self-luminous.
The last line of this verse is especially meaningful in that it occurs as
a leit-motif in five previous verses of the Ātma Bodha that extol the
glory of Brahman and rapturously explain its nature.
Consider the following verse from the Upanishads:
There the sun does not shine (na bhāti), nor the moon nor the stars;
nor do these flashes of lightning shine there (bhānti). How can this
fire do so? Everything shines according (anubhāti) as He does so
(bhātam); by His light (bhāsā) all this shines diversely (vibhāti).6
5
Easwaran, Eknath, The Upanishads, p.213.
6
Mundaka Upanishad II,2.10; also Katha Upanishad, II.2.15. Translation by Swami
Gambhirananda.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
In a verse from the Hastāmalaka Gītā by Sri Śaṅkara, a young
child who possesses an uncanny awareness of the Ātman and identifies
totally with it, points to the source of the Sun’s light. The poem was
lovingly translated into Tamil by Bhagavan and is also included in
the Ashram’s pārāyaṇa.
The eyes behold the objects only when illumined (prabhātaṁ) by
the Sun and not when there is no light (na ābhātaṁ). By whose
light (ābhātaḥ) the Sun thus gives light to the eyes (ābhāsayati),
that one, ever-present Ātman, I am – OM!7
Finally, verse 61 evokes verse 7 of the Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu Anubandam,
which is from a Sanskrit composition by Ādi Śaṅkara that Bhagavan
rendered in Tamil. It reads as follows:
Guru: What serves as light for you? Disciple: For me, that
which illumines by day is the sun and by night the lamp. G:
What is the light that is aware of these lights? D: That I know
by the light of the eye. G: What is the light that is aware of
the eye? D: I know it by the light of my mind. G: What is the
light that knows the mind? D: That is I. Then the Guru said,
‘Therefore the Light of all lights are Thou!’ The Disciple said,
‘Verily I AM THAT.’8
Verse 67
  
   
hṛdākāśodito hyātmā bodhabhānustamo’pahṛt |
sarvavyāpī sarvadhārī bhāti bhāsayate’khilam ||
hṛd ākāśaḥ uditaḥ-which rises in the sky of the heart; hi-verily;
ātmā-the Ātman; bodhabhānuḥ-the Sun of knowledge; tamaḥ-
darkness; apahṛt-destroys; sarvavyāpī-which pervades everything;
sarvadhārī-sustains all; bhāti-shines; bhāsayate-makes to shine;
akhilam-everything.

7
Venkataraman, Sri Nochur, The Song of Silence, p.38.
8
Kanakammal, Smt. T.R., Commentary on Aruṇācala Pañchakam and Upadēsa
Nūn Mālai, p.553.

24 April - June
 KEYWORD
The Ātman, the Sun of knowledge that rises in the sky of the
heart, destroys the darkness of ignorance, pervades and sustains
all, shines (bhāti) and makes everything to shine (bhāsayate).
Kanakammal expounds brilliantly as follows:
The state of ātma sākṣātkāra, the attainment of oneness with
Brahman, is described in this verse. When jñāna dawns within
the space of the Heart, with the experience of being the Self,
one finds that Ātman, the Self, pervading all the moving and
non-moving objects of the world, in all the objects and matters
of prakṛti, and He, the Self, alone remains as the entire world
and as all the objects in it as well. Ātman as Brahman is the
sustainer of all, the unshakable foundation of the universe and
its objects.
The objects of the world become known when the dawn of the
sun dispels the darkness enveloping them. In the same way,
as the fruit of the intense sādhana of śravaṇa, manana, ātma-
vicāra, etc. the sun of Knowledge rises in the firmament of the
Heart dispelling the darkness of ignorance and shines as the
effulgence of jñāna. Viewed in that light of jñāna, the entire
universe appears as His form. Ātman alone, sustaining all,
illumining all, shines in Its innate effulgence.9
In verse 20 of the Gītā Sāram, the lamp of knowledge, which
destroys darkness, is shining.
From pure compassion, dwelling in their SELF,
By the shining (bhāsvatā) lamp of knowledge I destroy
Their darkness which from ignorance is born.10
Bhagavan’s translation of that same verse gives it fuller meaning
and potency.
I, dwelling in the Self (heart/intellect) of those devotees with
śraddhā and zeal and who have gained the yoga of enquiry,
destroy out of pure compassion, the dense darkness of nescience

9
Kanakammal, Smt. T.R., Commentary on Anuvāda Nūnmālai, p. 388-389.
10
Bhagavad Gita, verse 10-11. Translation by Major Chadwick, with corrections
by Bhagavan.

2019 25
MOUNTAIN PATH

– the beginningless ignorance – by the resplendent lamp of

knowledge that sheds its lustrous light. Know this.11
In conclusion, the great Sanskrit poet Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni,
was very fond of bhā, ‘to shine’, and used it frequently in his Forty
Verses in Adoration of Sri Ramana. Significantly, it appears in the first
verse, adding lustre and power to everything that follows.
I bow down at the Lotus Feet of the Master, the Seer, Sri Ramana
who showed me God shining (bhāntaṁ) beyond the darkness.12

11
Kanakammal, Smt. T.R., Commentary on Anuvāda Nūnmālai, p.81.
12
Sankaranarayanan. S., English Rendering and Commentary on Forty Verses in
Adoration of Sri Ramana, p.5.

Unerring
Neera Kashyap

To feel a dull gnawing unripeness,

yet not give in to haste may be the answer.
The lotus is just a few leaves and a pod
beneath the surface of still waters,
yet waits amid muck and fish and insects
till its stem pushes clear to the surface,
washed clean by the same waters
– slimed, turgid, stagnant.
Emerging,
its head bobs straight up to the sun.
Its petals open one by one, all clean.
The answer may be to live with dirt, be cleaned by dirt
till ripeness comes
without haste.

26 April - June
Sri Mahaswami
The Sage with Eyes of Light

Serge Demetrian

We continue the series of extracts from a manuscript titled Sri

Mahaswami, The Sage with Eyes of Light that relates the direct
experiences of the author with Śrī Kāñci Pīṭhātipati Jagadguru Śrī
Sañkarācārya, Śrī Candraśekarendra Sarasvati Swāmī which took
place from 1968 until the mahāsamādhi of Śrī Mahāswami in 1994.

Vyāsa-pūjā Kanchipuram, Saturday 18th July 1970

I started towards Little Kanchipuram where the Vyāsa-pūjā was

to be celebrated. I reached the local math by 9 am. The Young
Sañkarācārya, under a medium sized festive umbrella, had just
returned from the river Palar where he had completed the ritual of
the shaving. He was preceded by an elephant and by musicians, and
some two hundred persons also followed him. They were rather nice,
but they seemed to me not very religiously motivated. In front of the
main entrance, a coconut was broken on the ground as an offering
to Ganapati, the deity with an elephant’s head who wards off the
obstacles. Sanskrit verses were recited.
I also offered two bananas to the elephant; it is a female with a lame
leg; it has been given to the math as it could not work. In between, it
has learned to pass the hat round for its mahout. As soon as it gets a

2019 27
MOUNTAIN PATH
piece of money it gives it to its elephant driver and delicately poses
its trunk for one second on the head of the donor, which is taken as
a blessing of Ganapati. It is impressive to see what these animals
can do with their trunk: for the ancients the trunk was a hand, hasta
in Sanskrit; from this comes the Sanskrit name for elephant, hastin,
which can mean ‘(the one) with a hand’.
I was instructed by the guards to stay just on the threshold of the
gate, as foreigners are not allowed inside the compound. I gripped
a post trying not to be swept away by the thick crowd that swirled
around. By this time, Śrī Mahāswami came from the same Palar
River but by another way. He had to enter by a smaller gate as he is
not anymore the head of the math. I was well placed and saw him
at close quarters. The crowd came near, and almost pushed him, but
it is a thing that obviously does not trouble him. He is so different!
One would say only he really exists, the others are mere shadows!
Śrī Mahāswami’s head and face are shaved. His features are finely
marked and there is a particular gentleness, but also a surprising
energy which is that of a powerful man, capable of anything but
completely the master of himself, that is, without being needlessly
rigid. He accepted all the prostrations, low bows, salutations, the ritual
offerings of fire with calm and gracious signs of his head and with
his hand open in front of him.
He was stopped every two or three steps, but he finally reached
the gate. The short barrel-form drums (mridangams) of the traditional
musical party, fearful with their sharp and dry noise of broken bones
along with the long black flutes (nādaswarams) that sent pitched and
nasal sounds, launched an orderly attack against my ears. One should
be accustomed to high decibels. Despite the resounding obstacle, I
continued to hold onto my position. My stubbornness for a good
cause was recompensed. Śrī Mahāswami passed by a couple of feet
in front of me.
I catch a glimpse of his profile. The non-shaved eyebrows protrude.
However, what impresses is his mouth. Both his lips often curved in a
so lovely smile are now pursed up and cast in front in an attitude that
expresses determination and force before a fight. One could almost
think that he enters the math for a vital confrontation and not for a
religious ceremony.

28 April - June
 SRI MAHASWAMI
I send someone inside with my offerings of flowers and fruits and
stay without moving at the point permitted by the guard. Unluckily
I am positioned towards the left, near the party of the musicians. In
return, from time to time I can see Śrī Mahāswami at the bottom of the
courtyard, at some twenty metres, on a lower platform, a kind of stage
in between two whitewashed mat-palisades. A curtain occasionally
closes off the platform. He will officiate.
In front of the podium, sitting on the ground, were two rows of
monks, sannyāsin-s, of different ages, clad in ochre. Behind them,
there was a corridor between two wooden fences where thronged the
devotees who wanted to have a closer look at the pūjā. Behind them
also, towards the gate, where I stood, were two or three rows of aged
persons; then a space of some twelve metres where the public sat. I
sprang up on my toes, asked some to sit down as they stood up without
thinking of those behind them; I leaned in all directions endeavouring
to see the service.
The traditional story of a Tamil devotee came to my mind. Being
an outcast, he was not received inside the temple where Śiva, his
favourite deity, stood. He prayed with such consistent fervour from
outside the temple that the large granite statue of Nandi, the bull, that
is traditionally situated in front of Śiva and thus obstructs a direct view
from the entrance door to the sanctum, moved sideways so that Śiva
could bless his devotee. Subsequently he became a renowned saint.
The story does not mention anything of what happened to those who
prevented the aspirant to sainthood from seeing his God. We are in
India and so we remember only the good…
Finally, I have myself also displayed some determination, because
I stood on my feet right to the end: five hours! It had not been easy. The
party of musicians observing that a foreigner was among the onlookers
surpassed themselves. If my tympanums did not burst it was certainly
due to a special protection of Śrī Mahāswami. In addition, there was
no thought of eating or even drinking something. Sometimes one
becomes an ascetic much as one becomes a hero, by sheer force of
circumstances. When the crowd thinned a bit in the last hour, I could
come nearer at the only angle from where it was possible to witness
the entire spectacle from the front.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
I now understood what is meant by a real pūjā! When Śrī
Mahāswami was tracing certain signs with his hands above his head,
a current mounted along my back. The entire atmosphere was charged
with a purer air, which had its source on the platform. As usual, for
me, only he was alive. I had already heard that during some services
he was known to look like Śiva himself; this time he was akin to a
śiva-liṅga. He was a flame, there was no doubt of this. The heat of
his tejas was supremely contained, otherwise it could have burnt to
ashes those who looked on. Nearing the end of the service the air
became so full of power that one could easily forget one’s own name.
The end arrived. The climax was the offering of the lights. With the
curtain now open, I saw Śrī Mahāswami rising and showing with
ritual gestures the numerous lamps and scintillating grand bronze
candelabra which was blazed with higher and higher flames. I could
hardly distinguish where he was and where the ordinary flame began.
I would say that Śrī Mahāswami was the more powerful of the two
as he was endowed with a commanding lustre that could subdue the
flickering flames.
The pūjā onlookers were friendly towards me. They left a place
for me, they talked to me, and someone offered me water. This proves
that the ‘do not touch’ of the traditionalists is somewhat exaggerated,
and more so that these prohibitions are no longer adhered to by the
younger generations.
The service is over. I intend going back to town by leaving all to
chance as I do not have sufficient money with me to afford the luxury
of a rickshaw. I pass once again in front of the math and although I
observe a small group of devotees who seem waiting for someone,
I do not give this any importance. After a few steps, comes a new
recognition that holds me to the spot for a few minutes. It was enough
to realise that the small group was waiting for Śrī Mahāswami who
was just nearing the math. Had a new friend not restrained me I would
have been a loser. The life is full of such minutely organised fortunes.
One must always be attentive: Destiny can guide us by signs which
show themselves when one is not prepared. However, let us hurry …
Śrī Mahāswami approaches!
He walked slowly and is nearly stopped at every step by the crowd.
The people bow and prostrate. To adore a great Sage coming out of a

30 April - June
MOUNTAIN PATH
temple or of an important pūjā seems to be very auspicious; could it
be that in the interior of the temples or during certain offices or rituals
they are reabsorbed into their own divine nature? After having seen
Śrī Mahāswami, I am tempted to believe it.
I quickly chalk out my plan of action. I will prostrate, not exactly
in front of him, but slightly to the side, so as not to hinder his progress.
I take off my shirt, tighten my shawl round the chest and I am waiting.
He comes nearer and nearer; on his route the crowd has somewhat
diminished. I look at him and I think, ‘If only he would turn his
eyes towards me’. Now it is the moment. At that very second, Śrī
Mahāswami turns his head towards me! I lean forward to start my
prostration, but I still have the time to look at him; an instant I stay
frozen. He has recognised me and seems surprised and content: what
he had planted in my heart yesterday morning at the temple of the
Goddess Kamakshi bears fruits. He has also perceived, I think, that
I have witnessed without turning a hair all the long hours of the pūjā
and that I have lived it inwardly.
The lances of his eyes, in a slow flight, enter my own pupils;
the immaterial thrust of these forceful projectiles must have carried
also something of his seen body as I feel Śrī Mahāswami piercing
me, gigantic, brilliant: he only exists. Having fallen on the ground in
front of him, trembling with fervour and overcome by despair to see
myself still bound to the Transitory, I embrace, in thought, his feet:
they alone can save me. The traditional prostration with eight limbs
(sāṣṭāṅga-namaskāra) is quite long. Coming up, I have still the time
to observe his wooden sandals that had just left: Śrī Mahāswami had
waited for me all the time. I quickly dress in order to accompany him,
following the example of others around.
A temporary friend, a devotee of Vishnu, who pressed me to stay
back and admire a holy statue (utsavamūrti) carried on a garuḍa
vāhana or golden bird mount that was being carried through the streets,
intrigued, asked me:
“Through what magic, Sir, did you stop Śrī Mahāswami in front
of you?
I would have liked to reply: “Through love.”
I looked at him: he would not have understood; I kept mum, leaving
with an evasive gesture of the hand.

32 April - June
 SRI MAHASWAMI
Śrī Mahāswami, followed by a few assistants and visitors with
whom he talked, headed through gardens and by-lanes to the temple
Vyasa Shantaleshvara, his place of residence during the observance
of the chāturmāsya; that is, in the opposite direction of the route I had
taken twice yesterday morning. From time to time, the people were
prostrating at his passage. Someone threw the water of a large vessel
so as to clean the road in front of his feet. I took a few drops after
he had passed by and sprinkled them over my head. While walking
barefooted I tried to follow as exactly as possible the trace of his
sandals, the traces of God with form, the visible deity.
I noticed that two assistants carried the baggage of Śrī
Mahāswami. One dark and rough blanket, two mats and a few
metal boxes, the kitchen utensils box probably. Another assistant
kept somewhat nonchalantly in his hands one pair of worn, heavy
wooden sandals of Śrī Mahāswami. At a stop, I discreetly took a
speck of dust out of one of them: ‘something’ has passed into me
through these minute grains.
Śrī Mahāswami stops now and then. I can see his profile clearly.
He is totally relaxed compared to the moment when he entered the
math before the ceremony. Although he stood five hours during the
ceremonies he seemed very little affected by fatigue. A poor old woman
tries to touch his feet, but the assistants interfere in time. However,
Śrī Mahāswami halts so that she may greet him in her manner; on his
expressive face, I am able to read an immense compassion but also
his helplessness. Soon afterwards, a noisy drunkard stands in the way;
Śrī Mahāswami stops once again, without a murmur, and waits until
the individual finishes his prostration.
We reach the temple in the twilight. A powder of living gold
departs from the reddish sun and enfolds the earth, the trees, and
humanity. All becomes lighter, vaporous. These places sanctified by
the Presence of Śrī Mahāswami have their own contribution to make
in the divine process. Nearby is the ancient reservoir where one has
to go down several steps to reach the water. Śrī Mahāswami comes
there often, sits in water unto his neck and prays …to whom does he
pray and for whose benefit?
This evening he enters straight away into the white and peaceful
temple. I stay behind and watch. Through the temple’s porch I notice

2019 33
MOUNTAIN PATH
that he is heading across the courtyard, on the left side, toward a small
and squat construction without windows, where he bends and slips
inside through a narrow opening.
Some visitors, of the so-called superior castes, come in luxurious
cars that stop just before the gate of the temple. They carry, not
without arrogance, rich offerings in the courtyard of the poor temple.
They deposit the heavy baskets of plaited bamboo fibre in front of
the entrance of the cave-like structure where Śrī Mahāswami stays
concealed. They prostrate, recite a list of demands as though in the
front of a ticket office and then they come out, sprawl on the seats of
their cars and leave, satisfied. In the night, which falls quickly in the
tropics, Śrī Mahāswami remains in his dark and cold shelter, a little
oil lamp near him. After dining on one or two cups of milk he will lay
on a thin mat spread on the ground between slabs of stone, covering
himself with his ochre cloth. The Spiritual Emperor of the World will
have for pillow his elbow or perhaps a simple brick. 
(to be continued)

The Names of Lalitha

Ramesh Menon
Chaitanyarghya-
samaradhyaa, we offer
you holy water
as worship; we offer you
our souls as holy water.

The poems are loosely based on the Japanese tanka form of five lines. A tanka is
a haiku with two extra seven-syllabled lines. The lines have 5/7/5/7/7 syllables,
in that order.

34 April - June
Sri Chakra Puja
Part One

Kays

jñātṛ-jñāna-jñeyānām abheda bhāvanaṁ śrī cakra pūjanam

The attitude of non-difference among the knower, knowledge
and the known is Sri Chakra Puja. — Bhāvanopaniṣad

L ove, unalloyed, pure, and ideal that expects nothing in return

whatsoever in the human plane is that of a mother, and no less a
sage than Adi Sankara celebrates it as follows: śive, kuputro jāyeta
kvacidapi kumātā na bhavati (Oh Mother! There may be a bad son,
but never ever is there a bad mother).1 The logical extension of the
scriptural dictum ‘May the mother be worshipped as God’ gives us its
corollary, equally a verity, of perceiving the paramātman as Mother.
The inherent human nature of being child-like – a godly trait
indeed, for the Upaniṣadic lore wants us to become precisely that
– prompts us to look upon God as the Mother with Infinite Love.
Does not Bhagavan himself hail Arunachala as one who rains on his
devotees solicitous love, supreme compassion and profound Grace,
more than one’s own begotten mother?2 Manikkavachakar, one of
the famous Tamil Quartet of the Servitors of Śiva, hails the Lord as,
1
Deviaparadha Kshmāpaṇa Stotram.
2
Verse 6 of Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai.

2019 35
MOUNTAIN PATH
“The One that is the Supreme Mother Compassionate” and “Father,
indeed, is the Supreme Mother, the incomparable gem.” The idea
of universal brotherhood and the epoch-making address that Swami
Vivekananda thundered as “brothers and sisters” originates from this
profound understanding of the One Source of All.
The very fact that Acharya Sankara, the greatest exponent of Advaita,
and Bhagavan, who lived Advaita ever abiding as the plenitude of
consciousness, accorded due importance to the worship of the Supreme
as the Mother makes it all the more glorious. While Bhagavan calls
Devi, the personification of the Grace of Śiva, Sri Sankara, besides
hymning the supreme in a name and form in many a litany, consecrated
an idol of Mother with a Sri Chakra at Kancheepuram, making it a
vibrant centre of powerful spiritual energy. So did Bhagavan consecrate
a Sri Chakra and a Meru in the Mother’s shrine at Ramanasramam
that has become a locus of Atmic force, beckoning and leading devout
aspirants by limitless Grace towards Awareness Supreme and peace
beyond our normal range of knowledge.
This brings us to the question ‘What is the significance of Mother
worship?’ And ‘What is a Sri Chakra?’
The eternal Brahman, moveless, simply ‘being’ in His own glory,
is called ‘eternal splendour’ – nithya vibhuti.
The Upanishads say,
so’kāmayata! bahu syāṁ prajāyeyeti
He (the Self) wished, ‘Let me be many, let me be born’ and the
world came about.
idahum sarvamasṛjata
He created all this that exists.3
This movement (spandha) in the Supreme Being, that is, the power
of Ātman, which results in the phenomenon of manifestation, is called
Śakti that is personified as the Divine Mother.
This Śakti is the power of the Ātman that engages the Eternal (nitya)
in the sport of manifestation (līlā). This Śakti of the svarūpa (essential
nature) is called līlā kaivalyam.4 She, Śakti, is described as tasya vibhūti

3
Taittirīya Upaniṣad, 2.6.1.
4
Līlā kaivalyam is the complete detachment from manifestation. It is the state of
Liberation.

36 April - June
Sri Chakra drawn by Sri Vaidyanatha Sthapati during 1940s and seen by Bhagavan
MOUNTAIN PATH

cādmutayaḥ (His wonderful splendour.)”5

It is indeed significant that Bhagavan gives an identical definition of
Śakti in verse 6 of Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam as uḷaduṉil aladilā adisaya
śakti. “O Arunachala, there dwells in Thee, a wondrous Power which
is naught but Thee.”
Śiva is unmanifest while Śakti is manifest. Her manifestation is
the display of the cosmos on Pure Consciousness at the macro-level
and the individual soul at the micro-level. The One has become the
many. She is the Mother of all beings and the creatrix of myriads of
universes. “And whatever may be a thing, existent or non-existent,
the Power, Śakti, in all those things is Thou. How then, can I praise
Thee?” So declares, the Creator Brahma, Himself.
yacca kiñcitkvacidvastu sadasadvākhilātmike
tasya sarvasya yā śakttiḥ sā tvaṁ kiṁ stūyase mayā 6
Therefore She is Śrī Mātā (Mother) as the litany Lalitha
Sahasranamam declares at the very outset. She abides as the
intelligence in the heart of every person. She is the sole source of
authority of everything that is manifest. Thus eternal beauty, power
and wisdom are all Her manifestations. Hence She is adored as Śrī
Mātā (Mother, the auspicious and infinite) and Śrī Mahārājñī (the
Sovereign Supreme).
śrī mātā; śrī mahārājñī 7
But Śakti is not other than the Parabrahman. The power is of
the wielder of the Power. The Linga Purana proclaims: yatha Siva
thatha Devi, yatha Devi, thatha Siva: tāsmādabheda buddhaiva Siveti
kathayantyumām. (As is Śiva, so is Devi; As is Devi, so is Siva. Hence
I am called sans distinction as Śiva.) “The One Transcendent Śakti is
known by two names; Being, as Ground, and activity because of the
works of creation.”8 And “That One, the Supreme thing, some call
as Śakti, certain learned men call as Self, others as Brahman and yet
others as Person.”9

5
Devi Bhagavatham, Sk.4, Chap.19, v. 5.
6
Brahma in Durga Saptasati, Chap. I, v. 82.
7
Lalita Sahasranamam, Namavali 1 & 2.
8
Ramana Gita, Chap. 12, v. 26.
9
Ibid., Chap. 12, v. 28.

38 April - June
 SRI CHAKRA PUJA
Thus Śiva and Śakti, however called: stillness and movement;
statis and dynamis; being and action; being and becoming; nivritti
(negation) and pravritti (active involvement); prakasam (the aham,
‘I’ consciousness) and vimarsam (‘idam’ that is, this consciousness),
or as Isvara and Māyā , are but two complementary parts of the same
Reality. “Those who hold movement as the characteristic of Śakti
have to mention some supreme thing as its support.”10
Thus this indra jāla mayaṁ viśvaṁ (this cosmos, conjured up of
beautiful appearances) has no substance except that of Awareness.
The Lord Himself is the magician – the Power of projection of the
Lord is Śakti – ‘She is the very form of parabrahman’ cidagnikuṇḍa
saṁbhūtāyai. (One who has appeared from the fire of chit (awareness)
jñāna.)11
Thus by all means the One Supreme is lauded in many ways. Devi
Herself declares,
ahaṁ devi na cānyosmi | brahmaivāhaṁ na śokabhāk
I am but Brahman, There is none other than Me. 12
ekaivāhaṁ jagatyatra dvitīyā kā mamāparā
In this world, I alone exist, who is there as second?13
In Lalitha Sahasranamam she is hailed as oṁ mithyā
jagadadhiṣṭhānā (The substratum of the illusory appearance as the
world).14 Sri Bhagavan gives a lucid explanation of this fact in the
above mentioned verse in Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam. The manifestation
of the world and the individual Self, illumined by the light of
Awareness of the Self, like pictures on a screen projected by the lens
of the mind, are nothing apart from the Self, whether they continue
to appear or cease to appear.15
But Śakti, this power of the Ātman, by the magic of māyā that she
weaves, leads us out from the source to the illusory world that teems
with triads and dyads. Though spoken of as ‘indescribable, illusory

10
Ibid., Chap. 12, v. 26.
11
Lalita Sahasranamam. Namavali 4.
12
Devi Gita in Devi Bhagavatham.
13
Durga Saptasati, Chap. 10, v. 4.
14
Lalita Sahasranamam, Namavali v. 735.
15
Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam, v. 6.

2019 39
MOUNTAIN PATH
and beginningless’, hope and endeavour of reaching back to our source
need not be abandoned, for māyā has an end!
The Mother Supreme who projects Her māyā also holds the golden
key to the kingdom of Heaven within. Śakti is the cause of return
to the source, union with Śiva. “She verily is the face (mouth, door
opening) of Śiva, śaivī mukham ihocyate.16
In the context of emphasising the non-difference of Śiva and Śakti
they are likened to fire and its power to burn. It is only by entering
into the state of Śakti by contemplation free from all differentiation,
that one becomes one with Śiva’. Just like the light of the lamp or
the rays of the sun illumine space, in the same way Śiva is known by
means of Śakti who is the mediatrix par excellence and all the ways
and means of attaining union with Śiva are her aspects.
She is full of compassion and Bhagavan calls her, ‘Siva’s Grace
Personified.’ Most of the names by which she is adored refer to
this quality. She is karuṇāmṛta sāgarā (the nectarine Ocean of
Compassion).17
oṁ hayyaṅgavīna-hṛdayāyai
She, with Heart like butter that melts with compassion for the
devotees.18
karuṇā rasārṇavamayā
She, the Ocean of the essence of compassion.19
avyāja karuṇāmūrti
She is the form of causeless compassion.20
Sorrow indeed is the price of our birth on earth. One must help
oneself by drawing from this Divine power to become free from
the bonds under which one groans, birth after birth. For one who
practises atma samarpaṇa, the offering of the ego-self, Soundarya
Lahari declares, “One’s prattle becomes the utterance of Her Mantra;
movements gestures of Her worship; walking Her circumambulation;
eating a fire sacrifice, to Her; the stretching of the body in sleep and
rest, prostration to Her.”21
16
Vijnana Bhairava, v.18. An Agamic text of Kashmir Saivism.
17
Śrī Lalitā Triśatī, Nāmāvaḻi 9.
18
Śrī Lalitā Triśatī, Nāmāvaḻi 179.
19
Dhyana sloka to Sri Vidya.
20
Lalitā Sahasranāma, Nāmāvaḻi, v. 992.
21
Soundarya Lahari, v. 27.

40 April - June
 SRI CHAKRA PUJA
She leads the devout aspirants, step by step, to higher reaches of
Awareness and luminous wisdom. When the thinking mind, scattered
in the activities of sensory objects, is gathered within and made to
reach the Source, she ends her sport of māyā, and her dance of dualities
comes to a halt as She becomes the ‘I’ within.
ahamityeva vibhāvaye bhavānīm
I meditate upon ‘Devi’ as the transcendent, supreme ‘I’.22
She, who is the content of Tat (āho puruṣikā)23 leads us to the grandeur
of supreme Light, the daharākāśa, the ether of the Heart, of which form
She is. Established in the serene state of Sivam-Santham and Advaitam,
with minds done away with, we can delight in all that She does.
It is true this māyā is duratyayā’ – mama māyā duratyayā 24
(difficult to be transcended) for
jñānināmapi cetāṁsi devī bhagavatī hi sā
balādākṛṣya mohāya mahāmāyā prayacchati
She, the Goddess, the divine mahāmāyā, draws by force the minds
of even the knowing ones and yea, makes them over to delusion.25
Her Grace appears in the most fascinating form amidst the world of
names and forms and leads on the devotee to Her transcendental reality.
saiṣā prasannā varadā nṛṇāṁ bhavati muktaye
She gracious, grants the best and shows the way for human being’s
a release. 26
Without Śakti, one’s own true form does not carry conviction.27
This conviction that one’s ‘true form’ exists, comes out of Śakti.
She is the glow of awareness of ‘I’ (the support). She is the One who
is established in all beings as Awareness: pratiṣṭā sarvabhūtānāṁ
prajñaiṣā parameśvari. And, śuddhā prajñā sundaryuktā (Pure
Awareness is called ‘Sundari’).28 The term ‘Maha Tripura Sundari’ is
22
Dhyana Sloka, Lalitha Sahasranama.
23
Soundarya Lahari, v. 7.
24
Bhagavad Gītā, ch.7, v.14.
25
Durgā Saptaśatī, Chap. I, vv. 55-6.
26
Ibid., Chap. I, v. 57.
27
Sri Ramana Gita. v.20.
28
piṇḍe cāṇḍe jaṅgamasāraḥ śuddhā prajñā sundaryuktā | Uma Sahasram, v. 937.
“She, the Essence of all things that move in the microcosm and macrocosm is Pure
Awareness. The female form of the pure Sundari.”

2019 41
MOUNTAIN PATH
itself defined as the most wondrous beauty that pervades and presides
over the city (pura) of knower, known and knowledge, and the most
captivating Awareness, illumining all the three states of waking,
dream and sleep.
The Sri Devi Bhagavatam reiterates this, citte brahmakaḻā nāma
śakti: sarvaśarīriṇām. (Śakti, in the name of Brahmakala, is always
existent as awareness in the hearts of embodied beings.)29
The dhyana sloka of Sri Devi Bhagavatham runs thus:
sarva caitanya rūpāṁ tamādyāṁ vidyāṁ ca dhīmahi| buddhiṁ yā
naḥ pracodayāt
She dwells in the intellect as its inmost core She whom the intellect
does not apprehend at all, who moves and inspires the intellect. I
bow to Her the constant glow of the Heart, the crest jewel of all
scriptures.
Thus jagadeka mātā (The one Mother of the world) is of the form
of one chidekarasa rūpa (essence of Pure Awareness). But how to
reach Her? The Devi Kalottaram provides the clue:
“That form of Pure Consciousness (chaitanya) that remains with
the single aspect of Awareness, ‘I am’, is called Śakti.”30
The entire universe shines by Its light. When the ego part is
broken down, difference is extinguished and there is absence of
movement; the mind becomes still, calm and deep except for the
glow of awareness of Being. This aspect of Awareness of Existence
is called chit sakti. This Śakti belongs to the Wielder of the Śakti and
the two are identical. The operation called Śakti which is the author
of the sensory world full of differences or the world of activities, is
not different from one’s true form of Reality. “All this knowledge of
differences is considered to be fanciful constructs.”31

(to be continued)

29
Devi Bhaganatham, Sk.7, Ch.30, Slo.83.
30
Devi Kalottaram, v. 31.
31
Sri Ramana Gita, v. 34.

42 April - June
Self-enquiry is
an Anti-Virus
Programme
Art Baker

L og onto your computer, and the wise thing to do is immediately

run an update on your anti-virus software. Rather than spending
an abundance of time on the internet however, it’s best to go deep
within, from online to offline and make a beeline onto the inner-net.
Turn your attention within, to consciousness itself, to that which is
aware. Bhagavan tells us to start self-enquiry from our awareness of
the ego. This ego is a foreign entity, a virus. The ego automatically
comes attached to the body but is not our true nature. We are told to
be in the world, but not of it. Likewise, be in the body, but not of it.
How? By running the anti-virus program that Bhagavan has provided.
Self-enquiry roots out the ego. It is a delete button for this virus that
infects us all.
Control, Alt, Delete. We need to reboot the body / mind complex.
The body is our hardware. The mind is our software. The body / mind
complex requires a reboot via the anti-virus program so we cease
identifying with the virus, the ‘I am the body idea’, and the ‘I am the
mind’ notion that infects us all. Control, Alt, Delete. Control refers to
the discipline required to do sustained enquiry. ‘Alt’ refers to altering

2019 43
MOUNTAIN PATH
or correcting our perception. Bhagavan tells us this numerous times,
to correct our perception. We misperceive the world as being fixed
and permanent. Yet it is always changing. When we switch allegiance
from the ego virus as who we are to its source, the non-changing pure
awareness that underlies it, we recognize pure consciousness as the
non-changing reality. Utilize this app. Constant application of this
anti-virus program is the key to freedom.
How does this anti-virus program work? It allows us free access
to the best download of all. Continually download silence. It slowly
wears away the ego. In this case however, the download is actually
more of an upload. Silence does not rain down on us from heaven
or from “the cloud” as described in the tech world. Rather, it comes
from within. It is already there awaiting our attention in the Heart,
in the core of our being. By consciously and regularly running this
anti-virus program, our subjective programming, our software in the
form of the ego personality is reprogrammed so it only reflects the
Heart. This is tantamount to upgrading your operating system from
one that is ego-centered to one based on the truth of who you are.
The importance of this cannot possibly be over emphasized. The
key to applying enquiry as an anti-virus program is to fully merge the
ego into its source, and then consciously abide there. Bhagavan tells
us that the mind turned outward becomes the world, and the mind
turned inward becomes the Self. Like the river discharged into the
ocean, there is no return. Enquiry once it becomes deeply embedded
is the great erasure. Quietness and grace however need not be created.
They are already present in the very fabric of our being. It’s only the
superfluous noise of the surface mind and intellect, the egoic chatter
that needs to be squashed. As Bhagavan puts it, “Remove all of the
accumulated samsaric rubbish from the mind.” The only important
use of the mind is to constantly give itself satsang. Through repeated
exposure to the non-dual teachings and mulling over them, this is
accomplished. Bhagavan says that thoughts may come and go like
the various musical notes, but awareness, the underlying adhāra
śruti (note), remains. Once we learn to take the correct angle to reach
the mind’s ever present source, our attention, with repeated practise
remains glued to it so long as we treasure that stillness.
Bhagavan repeatedly tells us to destroy the egoic mind. Naturally,
the first thought that occurs when we hear such a radical statement is

44 April - June
 SELF-ENQUIRY IS AN ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAMME

“If I destroy the mind, will I exist? Will I be in some vegetative state?
I won’t be able to think or function any longer.” Is this true? We hear
so much these days in the tech world about AI, artificial intelligence,
and virtual reality. However, it is actually the ego virus which is the
artificial intelligence, and its addiction to the waking state as being the
measuring stick of ‘reality’ where, in fact, that waking state is a mere
virtual reality when its source remains unknown. True intelligence
comes from the Heart, or as A Course in Miracles calls it, from the
mind of God.
Look at Bhagavan’s life. Reports from Bhagavan himself, as
recorded in ashram literature, show that he had what appears to be a
mostly normal active life, especially at the present day ashram. He
woke up before dawn and cut vegetables each morning in the kitchen.
He responded to questions on spiritual sadhana, often wrote prose,
answered the letters mailed to him each day from devotees, edited
books, translated spiritual texts into various south Indian languages,
and regularly walked on the hill. And even before the present day
ashram was founded, in Bhagavan’s early days, at Skandashram and
Virupaksha cave, he also did occasional masonry work, made begging
bowls, walking sticks, did book binding, he sometimes collected edible
leaves from the hill for meals, and prepared dried dung for use as
cooking fuel. So, will we still be able to think and function after the
anti-virus program uproots the ego? Yes, but not from an individual
ego sense, rather from the universal source of our very being.
This leads me to a few points of contention. Especially in western
culture, this ego virus has recently become so deeply embedded that
it has created a society of zombies! Seriously, just over the last few
years, the I-thought is now virtually owned by the iPhone. Western
culture is basically hypnotized by it. This is a major problem. Walk
down almost any busy street, or utilize mass transit in public trains,
buses or airports, or enter any shop in the West. What do you see?
People stare non-stop, mesmerized, at their iPhones, lost in their virtual
reality. Even while driving, people text, send sms messages, and use
their iPhone leading to a significant uptick in traffic accidents. If you
think this is an exaggeration, it isn’t. People in the West routinely
walk off curbs into traffic, walk into glass windows, and walk into
other virus infected humans. Barely anyone has eye to eye contact
and sincere sustained communication these days. Not to mention the

2019 45
MOUNTAIN PATH
ubiquitous selfie. In light of our understanding of the Self, the selfie
really needs an accurate name. The phony ego virus has so infected
us, that the selfie via the iPhone should be known from now on as the
‘phoney’, since the ego virus is the phoney self.
And then there’s Facebook, or as I call it, farcebook. It is mostly
a sounding board for the ego virus and is known as the junk food of
social media. Just as the internet is useful for research and email,
Facebook is useful for ecommerce if you’re a business owner, to
network those interested in your services. However, several research
articles in respected medical psychology journals routinely describe
major depression in those who use Facebook for several hours each
day, which is routine in the West. Addiction to social media has
replaced genuine social contact. ‘Virtual friends’ are rarely there
when needed in times of crisis. Rather than Facebook, we need to
face our self, our I-thought and trace it back to its source. Hence,
the need for limiting the internet and spending more time on our
inner-net. Google is useful, but can it give the experience of infinity?
Bhagavan’s self-enquiry can. Continually run the anti-virus program
and see for yourself. 

Today I Am Here
Suresh Kailash

What will happen to me when I die?

Where will I lie without body or mind?
So many religions to guide my soul,
to which hell or heaven will I go?
Will I be earth bound as dust or ash,
an occasional tear on my love’s eyelash?
A memory shared one distant day,
between friends gone their separate ways?
Ramana, I know not where I will be,
but today, I am here at your feet.

46 April - June
The Bhagavad Gita
Saram
Chapter 9, verse 22, Chapter 7,
verses 17 and 16
Swami Shantananda Puri

ananyāścintayanto māṁ ye janāḥ paryupāsate |

teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yogakṣemaṁ vahāmyaham
Those who direct their thoughts to Me,
Worshipping Me with steadfast mind,
For them I secure what they lack
And preserve that which they possess.

N one of the advaitins can interpret this in terms of advaita because

this is such a beautiful śloka. When you say the Lord is sarva
samartha: it means He can do anything He likes. That being so then
why do you prevent Him from taking forms? You are limiting the
Lord after saying that He is unlimited. There are people who have
transcended the pairs of opposites – dvandva – joy and sorrow, heat
Swami Shantananda Puri, was born on 6th May 1928. At age four, he came
into contact with the Paramacharya of Kanchi. In 1957 he met his Guru Sri
Purushottamananda Puri, a direct disciple of the great Swami Brahmananda
(Rakhal Maharaj) of the Ramakrishna Order. Swamiji attained mahāsamādhi
and was absorbed into Arunachala Siva on 14th October 2014.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
and cold, likes and dislikes. If we look more carefully we see that
the two extremities are on the same scale – light and darkness are the
same in terms of the scale which measures light.
In the tāraka śāstra the sages have included all of the substances
into 9 categories – tej is included but darkness is not, as they say that
darkness is the shortage of light. People whose ego – aham (the sense
of ‘I’) and the sense of possession (mama – mine) have completely
gone are always thinking of the Lord, to the extent that they may forget
to eat or carry any money when actually they have none, as they are
not concerned about a job to earn their livelihood. So who is to look
after those things? Even when you are doing a sādhana you have to
live, in order to fulfil your sādhana There are the minimum needs of
the physical body that demand our attention if we are to be successful.
The word Yogakṣemaṁ summarises this predicament. Yogakṣemaṁ
comes from yoga: to get united; it infers what I do not have so that I
may consider how to get it. It is like a department store where you go
to fulfil your wishes by buying certain tools or items that help make
life easier. And kṣemaṁ means to maintain it– to protect that which you
have. So yogakṣemaṁ means equanimity in yoga sadhana. Therefore,
yogakṣemaṁ [is welfare], means benevolence from the Lord.
That is, the Lord maintains our basic needs, so we may strive
unencumbered for a higher life. A reliable marker of one who is a
true devotee or bhakta is constant benevolence. The Buddha also
made this distinction, even going so far as to warn the sangha that if
you find that your benevolence becomes harmful to yourself due to
its excess, then alone it should be moderated.
The Lord has given an unconditional guarantee that He will look
after it – yogakṣemaṁ – even in this dream life where you can get
things done through Him, if not for anything else but to do the sadhana
to get out of this dream. So this dream life has to continue till that time,
otherwise this dream life we experience now will be replaced with
another – that is, rebirth. In order for your dream life to be sustained
the Lord will look after the entire sustenance of this dream for your
sake. But he has made one or two conditions! A man who is partly
with God and going for a partial job – He will not give such people
the support they ask for – either He gives all or nothing. Therefore
He says – ye janāḥ– those people who – ananyāścintayanto – who

48 April - June
 THE BHAGAVAD GITA SARAM
think of Me, remember Me alone – you be wholly devoted to Me – ye
janāḥ paryupāsate – those that worship Me by thinking of Me alone,
and not anybody else.
For how many hours? We compartmentalise our lives and in the
process even compartmentalise God and think that He will not bother.
The third one is nityābhiyuktānāṁ – those who are remembering Me
continuously without cessation – the one who is united completely by
every indriya. The Lord says that I personally look after his welfare.
We have here two aspects to consider: the lower and the higher Self.
When the lower self is completely aware that there is a higher Self
and tries with all sincere and earnest efforts to merge with it, then the
higher Self helps it to make the dream world as comfortable as possible
so that it will not be a nightmare. There is no other interpretation for
this.
In a remote village there was great bhakta of the Lord who would
devoutly read the Bhagavad Gītā, but he was very poor. Once he and
his wife had not eaten for three days and he made no efforts to go
out and procure any food. So his wife who was totally disgusted with
him said, “You read the Bhagavad Gītā every day and it says in that
book yogakṣemaṁ vahāmyaham, but has the Lord done anything to
help us in these three days?” Since he had no answer to his wife’s
questions he took a piece of charcoal and in his anger struck off that
line in his copy of the Bhagavad Gītā and went to bathe in the river.
Meanwhile a young lad came to their house with a push cart full
of food and called out to the lady of the house. She was astonished
when the lad said that the Master of the house had ordered all the
provisions and that she should help him take it inside. While she was
helping the boy she noticed that, although unruly he was so beautiful
and had skin which was tanned dark. She could not take her eyes off
him. She also noticed that he had a scar right across his beautiful
face. When she asked him how he got that scar the boy said that the
Master of this house had branded him because he was a little delayed
in bringing the food. She was aghast as to how her husband could
be so cruel and promised the boy to ask him about it. When the man
returned he was stunned to see all the food and asked his wife where
did she get it from. The wife did not reply but simply asked him
how he could be so cruel to the delivery boy for being a little late.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
Unable to understand her he asked her to explain and when she did
he realized that it was the Lord himself [Krishna] who had come and
he wept bitterly.
This is a beautiful story indicating that the Lord does come Himself
to help His devotees. In other stories it is shown how He helps through
an agent.
Chapter 7 verse 17

teṣāṁ jñānī nityayukta ekabhaktirviśiṣyate |

priyo hi jñānino’tyarthamahaṁ sa ca mama priyaḥ ||
Of them the man of wisdom, eternally steadfast,
Devoted to the One alone, is preeminent.
I am indeed exceedingly fond of the man of wisdom,
And he is fond of Me.

This śloka has been placed after the previous one in order to emphasise
the condition which teaches that we should not compartmentalise the
Lord. So we are asked to ceaselessly and continuously think of Him.
There are some people who think that nothing should be asked of
the Lord but when a child wants something it is natural that he asks
his parents for it. So here is what He is saying: do not think that My
devotee is the sole one who says, “Bhagavan, I want you alone.” There
are four kinds of devotees and all of them are equal to the Lord. Let
us first look at the previous verse [16] in the same chapter.

Chapter 7 verse 16

caturvidhā bhajante māṁ janāḥ sukṛtino’rjuna |

ārto jijñāsurarthārthī jñānī ca bharatarṣabha ||
Among benevolent men, four kinds worship Me, Arjuna:
The distressed, those who desire knowledge,
Those who desire wealth,
And the man of wisdom, Arjuna.

Here He describes the four kinds of bhakta-s The first one is ārtaha –
the man who has taken a lot of beating from this world. That is, due

50 April - June
 THE BHAGAVAD GITA SARAM

to samskara-s he had to undergo a lot of suffering so that he becomes

completely disgusted with the world. The fellow who is wounded by
the world and is crying and now is longing to get out of the world,
he is being beaten on the same wound again and again. The second
one is jijñāsu – this is the scientist who asks how; he is the one who
has the desire to know.
Then there is arthārthī – this group consists of ninety per cent of
the people – here arthā means an item and ārthī is the one who is
begging for it. This is the one who begs for something and asks for
various favours concerning worldly goods. Even the best of us when
confronted with danger, catastrophe or calamity cannot but ask the
Lord for comfort. This is called a state of helplessness. When you
are helpless the surrender is total. The last one is jñāni – the one who
knows I am That – the entire world is a cosmic dream of the cosmic
dreamer and in that dream there are so many people including you
and I, so we then have no business in telling the Lord: “Why are you
doing so much harm to me?”
Now the question came who is the better of them? It is in verse
18 that He says that all of them think of Me but then in this śloka,
verse 17, He says teṣāṁ jñānī nityayukta ekabhaktirviśiṣyate – just
as if you ask a mother who has three sons which of them she likes the
best she would refute you by telling that her love to them is equally
distributed but in her heart of hearts it is always the first or the last
one that she generally prefers.
Similarly the Lord here says that although all are equal but there
are also those who are viśiṣyate – means something special – and who
is the one who is special to the Lord? It is the jñāni but not all jñāni-s.
So then who is he? Nityayuktaha – as I said this is the repetition of
the previous śloka – nityayuktaha, the one who is always constantly,
ceaselessly and continuously united with the Lord and the one who
is fixed in constant remembrance of Him, i.e. the jnani who has
devotion to the Lord.
Not only that but ekam – the man who is devoted to one only and
that is the Lord – he should think only of the Lord and not of anybody
or anything else such as money, name and fame. This is similar to
the previous śloka where He uses the word ananyāścintayanto while
here, He uses the word ekabhaktihi.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
Q: So for the advaitins wherever a personal God is mentioned they
just replace that with the Brahman?
A: A man who has attained the brahmajñāna for him everything is
sarvatra samadarśanaḥ [His vision is equal in all directions] which
is why the founder of advaita, Sankara, has written hymns on almost
every conceivable form of the Lord separately.
Priyo hi jñānino’tyartham – I am the favourite of all the jñāni-s;
they all like Me. Then He says aham sa ca mama priyaḥ – I am his
favourite and He is my favourite. ’tyartham – they like me, to the very
extreme. Even though in the next śloka He has said the jnani does not
reach Me quickly but that it takes him a long time. So Arjuna then
had a question, “Please explain to me clearly Krishna, who among
the bhakta-s is the greatest?” 
(to be continued)

Drop Your Disguise

Suresh Kailash

Lone hill towering over the plains,

Your mystery cannot be explained,
How you entice lost souls like me,
To first enslave and then set free.

Like a magnet pulls an iron piece,

It’s you who dragged me to your feet,
And no matter how much I try,
You never let me leave your side.

Fair it was when I was far away,

To show me only your rocky face,
But now that I’m close to you reveal,
Your human form that I long to see.

Arunachala, lord, bless these eyes,

Shine as Ramana, drop your disguise.

52 April - June
Mother

Savithri Krishnan

L ord Śiva has as one of his abodes, the ‘śmaśāna’ (the burial ground)
also known as ‘Rudra bhumi’. It a place where one experiences
vairāgya (detachment) to the hilt. It is called śmaśāna vairāgya
and, quite rightly, the Mother of all vairāgya-s. The profound grief
of losing a near and dear one drives one to the metaphysical realm,
almost involuntarily, and into a burst of intense self-introspection, that
is focussed on the seeming futility of life and the desire to realise the
true purpose of life. Sadly though, blame it on māyā, this vairāgya
doesn’t last long for most of us, as we blithely get back to a normal
routine as if we had never gone through a period of such devastating
detachment!
This reminds us of Yudhishthira’s retort to the Yaksha, when
questioned as to what the greatest wonder was. He replied, “Though
death strikes each day, people live as though they are immortal!”
Alas, if only one were to steadfastly hold on to the intensity of this
vairāgya in all sincerity, one would realise the goal of life ‘here and
now’ as some of the great ones like the Buddha, young Nachiketa,
and our own Bhagavan Ramana have experienced.

Savithri Krishnan is a devotee of Bhagavan from Bengaluru.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
The Buddha’s greatness lies in the fact that his mind turned inward
at the mere sight of a corpse – not of a beloved one but of an utter
stranger. This was among several revelations that seared his mind
such as the sight of an ailing person and a decrepit, aged person.
Tenaciously, he worked towards the goal and finally tasted success.
There is an apocryphal story about Nachiketa that tells of his time
before that related in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad.1 The direct sight of a dead
animal drove his mind inwards. During his gurukul days, he was
extremely fond of a particular cow, and its death caused him intense
sorrow. His Guru’s consolation about the inevitability of death of
all living beings was of no avail. His contention was that when the
physical form of the cow was very much present, ‘what’ is it that has
died? The Guru explained about Lord Yama and his role of carrying
the souls away from the earthly abode.
Since then Nachiketa nurtured a burning desire to meet Yama,
though his Guru sternly warned him that it would mean facing death.
That he later meet Yama and was finally bestowed with the supreme
knowledge of the Self is well known from the Kaṭha Upaniṣad. But
what may not widely be known is the fact that the death of a close
one, his dear cow, was what made him choose as one of the three
boons from Yama, the knowledge of the soul’s journey after death,
Bhagavan Ramana also says that though he had his death
experience at the age of sixteen, he had pondered over death much
earlier at the age of twelve with his father’s sudden demise. He was
perplexed on seeing his family members weep even as his father’s
physical frame was very much present. He mulled over it for a long
time and hours after the cremation he came to the conclusion that it
is the ‘I’ which makes the body function. He deduced that “I know
this ‘I’ but my father’s ‘I’ has left the body.”2
One should take cue from such great, realised souls and strive
steadfastly towards the ultimate goal of life – ātma vidyā or knowledge
of the Self. Time and again, saints have reiterated this Truth. Death
can strike anyone anytime, and it is only prudent to take cognizance
of the same and mend our ways. Ādi Śaṅkara in His Bhaja Govindam

1
https://www.hinduscriptures.com/gurus/29337/29337/
2
Brunton, Paul, Conscious Immortality. First Edition, 1984. p.68.

54 April - June
D. Thiyagarajan

Sri Matrubhuteswara Mahalingam

MOUNTAIN PATH
hymn says, samprāpte sannihite kāle nahi nahi rakṣati ḍukṛṅkaraṇe.
(At the time of death, none of the formal education will come to our
rescue, and hence O ignorant mind, pray unto Lord Govinda!)
The Kannada poet saint Purandara Dasa says in one of his poems,
kālana dūtaru kāl piḍideḻevāga tāḻu tālendhare tāḻuvare ...mānava
janma doḍḍadu ida hāni māḍalu beḍi huccappagaḻirā...’(Will the
attendants of Yama, at the time of dragging you away, wait at your
insistence? Human birth is the highest indeed, do not waste it, O
fools!).
He adds, antakana dūtarige kincittu dayavilla cinteyanu biṭṭu
śrī hariya nene manave. (The messengers of Yama have no trace of
mercy, therefore shun your worries and contemplate Śrī Hari O mind!)
To the grief stricken Kisa Gouthami who pleads with the Buddha
to revive her dead child, he offers solace to her by explaining that
there is no household untouched by death. How true! It’s a fact which
everyone has to face sooner or later. But no matter how rationally one
is prepared, the reality is so harsh to bear. When great renunciates like
Pattinathār (a Saivate saint) have inconsolably wailed at the passing
away of their dear ones such as their mother, what can we ordinary
mortals do? The recent passing away of my own mother has left a
deep vacuum in me. It has repeatedly made me ponder not only the
nature of soul and how the rules of karmic theory bind various souls
together by destiny alone and not randomly, but also on the great role
of all mothers in shaping their kith and kin.
Mother is the pratyaksha daivam, ‘living God’. Scriptures and
the Vedic texts extol her supremacy and give her the pride of place.
The Chanakya Neeti says, na mātuḥ paraṁ daivatam (No deity is
greater than one’s own mother). The mantras from the Taittirīya
Upaniṣad, Shikshavalli, proclaims: mātṛdevo bhava | pitṛdevo bhava
| ācāryadevo bhava | atithidevo bhava | – Honour thy Mother as God,
Honour thy Father as God, Honour thy Teacher as God, Honour thy
Guest as God (in that order).Yet another verse in Valmiki’s Ramayana
says, jananī janmabhūmiśca svargādapi garīyasī (Mother and
motherland are superior even to Heaven).
The best blessing given by the Almighty to mankind is one’s own
parents. Mother perhaps is hailed more as she unabashedly expresses
her love and affection. How apt and pregnant with meaning is the

56 April - June
 MOTHER
Jewish adage, ‘God could not be everywhere therefore he created
mothers’. Ādi Śaṅkara too, in his composition Devi Aparādha
Kshamapana Stotram repeatedly voices a similar sentiment that
kuputro jāyeta kvacidapi, kumātā na bhavati – There can be a kuputra
( a bad son), but there can never a kumātha (a bad mother). Mother
is the first teacher and is instrumental in shaping the character of
her offspring. Since children learn a lot by mere observation, it’s
imperative on her part to practice what she preaches. Her life should
be her teaching. Her contribution to the overall development of the
child to face this competitive material world is crucial. Blessed is the
child if the mother is also able to impart spirituality.
I was fortunate to have such a mother. My interest in spirituality
is due to her. I owe her my learning by rote, at a very young age of
both the popular Sahasranamams (on Lord Vishnu and the Goddess
Lalitha). Having spent her childhood at Kanchi, it was only natural
for her to be devoted to the Goddess Kamakshi. She was fortunate to
have been in close touch with the Mahaperiyavar and to have recited
slokas in His presence. Her deep devotion towards any form of Devi,
in particular Goddess Saraswati, throughout her life, left a deep impact
on me. She was blessed by Bhagavan and Matrubhuteshwara with the
Śrī Vidyā Havan and Śrī Chakra Puja prasadam to adorn her forehead
minutes before breathing her last.
For the enormous sacrifice that mothers make for their offspring,
it is but obligatory to show them gratitude and to treat them with
reverence. In the times we live in, where materialism and economics
tend to dominate every other realm or relationship, it’s imperative to
instil in children moral values – and the strongest of them all is to
revere and to take care of one’s parents when they need it the most.
Mother is a ‘living God’ that every human has, can see and
experience! As per our Vedic injunctions, Mother is not only venerable
but is on a par with the celestials; mātru devo bhava, honour your
mother as god. Holding her in reverence is very much part of our
spiritual ethos.
Ādi Śaṅkara’s love for his mother Aryamba is exceptional:
‘Anything, anytime for Mother’, was lived by him. Noticing his frail
mother’s inability to walk to the river Purna for her daily ablutions, he
changed the course of the river to make it flow near their house from

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the very next morning through the power of his prayers. Later, when
the call of sannyāsa struck Sankara, his mother was unwilling to part
with him. However when it became inevitable, she reluctantly agreed
on the condition that he promised to be by her side during her last
days. True to his words, he did come to her during her last moments.
Though a sannyāsi known for non-attachment, he was heartbroken
to see his mother lying on her death bed, and composed an emotional
poem, Mātru Panchakam. He invokes both the emissaries of Lord Śiva
and Vishnu, as she leaves her mortal coil behind and reaches Vaikunta
by his grace. He had to face ostracism from orthodox believers as
a sannyāsi is not supposed to perform the funeral rites enjoined on
householders. He was refused wood or fire for igniting the funeral
pyre. He, however, resolutely performed the rites all alone, cremating
her body at the backyard of the house, making a pyre from the stems
of plantain trees and setting them on fire by his yogic power. It is a
telling tale about the power of Mother.
Bhagavan’s reverence for his mother is no less exceptional. On
the refusal of his male devotees to allow his mother to stay with him
on the Hill, he said, “If not here, Amma let us go somewhere else,
come!” During her stay at the Virupaksha cave with him in 1914,
she fell seriously ill with typhoid. Bhagavan prayed to Arunachala,
composing a touching poem in Tamil, Alaya varupiravi... Needless
to say she soon recovered. Interestingly, this is the only hymn where
Bhagavan addresses Arunachala as ‘Mother’ instead of the usual
‘Father’.
Two years later, his mother came to Tiruvannamalai for good and
spent the rest of her life with him till 1922. Bhagavan used this period
to hasten her spiritual growth in order to make her fit for liberation. His
mother’s affection towards Bhagavan was so profound that she refused
to part with him even for a short spell when invited by her daughter
for her house warming ceremony. She told Bhagavan that even if he
were to throw her dead body in the thorn bushes of Arunachala, she
wanted to end her life only in his arms.
On the 19th May 1922, his mother fell seriously ill. Sensing her end
fast approaching, Bhagavan sat by her side, placing his left hand on her
head, and right hand on her heart for close to twelve hours before she
finally attained liberation later that night. When a devotee remarked that

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 MOTHER
she had passed away, Bhagavan curtly corrected him, saying that she
had been ‘absorbed’. She was buried at southern foot of the Hill and a
Lingam (Matrubhuteshwara) was installed on her Samādhi. Much later
in 1949, the devotees completed the building of a beautiful shrine over
her Samādhi, a few months prior to Bhagavan’s mahāsamādhi in 1950.
Yet another instance of Mata-pita bhakti (devotion to parents) is
that of Pundalik. Highly impressed with him, Lord Vishnu decides
to bless Pundalik. Vishnu knocks at his door when Pundalik is busy
serving his parents. His devotion towards his parents is so deep
that despite realising that it is the Lord at the door, he opts to first
complete his service to parents and only then attend his visitor – the
Lord himself. Due to the monsoon, it is wet and muddy, and hence
he throws a brick outside for God to stand on so that his feet will
remain dry and clean. The Lord waits for him until Pundalik finishes
attending to his parents. Vishnu is extremely pleased with Pundalik’s
love for his parents, and grants him a boon. Pundalik requests Vishnu
to remain on Earth to bless all his devotees. He agrees to take the form
of Vithoba, the God who stands on a brick, and a temple rose up there
at Pandharpur. Along with Lord Vithoba, the goddess Rakhumai, that
is, Mother Rukmini, the consort of Krishna, is also worshipped there.
Our land is blessed with numerous such noble souls. Shravan
Kumar is yet another whose story is told in the Ramayana. He was
known for his devotion towards his blind parents. Prophet Muhammed
says that “Paradise can be found at the mother’s feet”. Pictures of
Mother Mary with infant Jesus are a testimony to this. Mother’s day
is celebrated worldwide on the second Sunday of May. Interestingly
this date more or less coincides with Mother Azhagammal’s Nirvana
date of 19th May.
Kavyakanta Ganapati Muni’s Sanskrit hymn yāmunīnām trātaram
śrī rāmam kausalyeva to Mother’s mahāsamādhi Matrubhuteshwara
lingam, extols the beautiful relationship between son and mother of
various saints who guided mankind. The English translation runs thus:
Kausalya gave birth to Rama, the protector of the sages,
Devaki to Sri Krishna, the teacher of yoga (attunement);
Renuka gave birth to the teacher Parasurama, a life-long celibate
And Mayadevi brought forth Buddha, the sage of the Sakyas

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who gave refuge to all beings.
Mother Mary gave birth to the Son of God
who bears the burden of sin of all devotees.
Likewise, for the welfare of the world,
for the removal of the darkness of ignorance,
for the casting away of all ignorant notions,
for the realisation of the Truth,
thy mother gave birth to thee,
endowed with all these excellent qualities.
To her, to Saundaryamba, the beloved wife of Sundara,
our salutations.
Salutations to her Samadhi
and to the Lord Matrubhuteswara, installed on it.
Salutations to her worshippers and salutations
to the devotees of Ramana.
No matter how great a person is, whether it be a jñāni or jīvanmukta,
their Mother is greater. All mothers are unique and great and ‘beautiful’
– in every sense of the term. With such respectful attitude towards all
mothers, let us be steadfast in our sādhana and not wait for śmaśāna
vairāgya to remind us of the ultimate purpose of life.
I conclude with this beautiful verse:
The great ones, free from the mind’s movements,
Are truly happy, never leaving
The Mother’s lap and playing there,
Fed amply with the milk of Bliss.
— Guru Vachaka Kovai, verse 995.


60 April - June
Sri R.D. Ranade
A Great Scholar and Saint
S.L.M. Patil

P rofessor R.D. Ranade, a saint, philosopher and scholar, was

described by George Berch, an American professor, who met him
to discuss philosophy as follows, “He was small, slight, frail, a mere
wisp of a man whom you expect the slightest breeze to blow away.
Nevertheless he was vigorous not only spiritually, and intellectually,
but also physically.”1 This is how another disciple of Prof. Ranade –
called Gurudev by his devotees – describes his half-shut, half-open
eyes, “I generally wanted to see his eyes like that, and for all I know,
there could hardly be anything more beautiful and expressive in the
world than those eyes. He wrote volumes on mysticism; I wish I could
write volumes on a pair of eyes, which to me defined the spirit of my
mysticism more than all the Sakhis and Abhangs of the mystic saints

Silver Jubilee Souvenir, ACPR Belgaum. 1978, Vol 1, pxiii.

1

Prof. Shiva Shankar Roy, Divyanam Gurudev Ranade Trust, Nimbal 2001, p.79.
2

Surendra Patil retired recently as a lecturer in English. He is greatly

influenced and inspired by A K Ramanujan, especially by his translations,
which also are his area of interest. He is presently engaged in translating the
poems of singer saint Shivalingavva, the spiritual sister of Gurudev Ranade.

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of all times.”2 The disciple further says that in Ranade’s presence his
disciples were unaware of hunger, thirst and sleep, not that they did
not feel the pangs of natural instincts, but rather that they were ready
to forgo or defer them. The force of this magnetism was felt both by
those whom he had graced, and also by those who merely met him.
Another follower of the saint explains how in Gurudev’s presence he
felt he had found someone his very own and forgot his father, mother
and relatives. Ranade’s face was radiating with joy and peace, and
his eyes reflected his inner illumination. He always looked contented
and scattered joy around him. He always lived in a ‘God-intoxicated
state’.3 Yet he looked simple, so much so that a newcomer to his home
would not immediately identify him. Further, he absolutely refused
to be garlanded and rarely allowed anyone to touch his feet. Also,
his ashram did not flaunt his photographs. In short, he had nothing
to do with Gurudom.
Gurudev Ramchandra Dattatrya Ranade was born in 1886 at
Jamakhandi, a town in Karnataka state, and at the age of fifteen he
was initiated into spirituality by his stern but loving spiritual master
Sri Bhau Saheb Maharaj (1843-1914) of Umadi, who belonged to the
Nimbargi bhakti tradition. After his schooling in Jamkhandi, Gurudev
went to Pune for his college education, where he studied English,
Sanskrit, Mathematics and Philosophy which he put to use for his
academic, spiritual and writing needs.
The Nimbargi tradition is named after a saint from that village in
Vijaypura district in Karnataka on the border with Maharashtra. It was
created by Kannada saints based on the Marathi spiritual tome, the
Dasabodha by Sri Samartha Ramadasa. Thus this tradition is bicultural
and bilingual in its practice. A strict moral code, non-violence and long
hours of meditation are the basic rules laid down by this tradition. For
Gurudev morality became his passion, and long hours of meditation a
regular practice, along with unwavering faith in his master. As a result,
he was shaped by this tradition to become a God-realised saint, and in
turn he gave it an intellectual glow and a rational justification in the
light of his sublime spiritual experiences, wide-ranging scholarship
and scientific temperament. Thus the tradition was so imbued in him,
that he became an living exemplar of the tradition.

Portrait of Gurudev Ranade, Centenary Celebration Souvenir, Nimbal. 2001, p .4.

3

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Gurudev began his career as a lecturer in Pune and Sangli initially,
and later became professor of philosophy at Allahabad University and
ended up as its Vice-Chancellor. But this period was never smooth,
owing to his repeated illnesses. In spite of tormenting tuberculosis
of the brain cells, bronchiectasis and malaria, he went on with his
meditation, teaching and writing. He used to say that he was physically
active due to the dynamic energy of meditation.
Gurudev authored twenty one books on the Gita, Vedanta,
Upanishads, Gandhi and the Buddha. His trilogy, on Pathway to
God in Marathi, Hindi and Kannada enjoy a stand-alone status
among spiritual writings. His work on Marathi spirituality written
in a professorial style is a tribute to his mother tongue. The second
book on the Hindi saints is in gratitude for his twenty years of stay in
Allahabad. The third book on mysticism in Kannada, creates a new
genre of writing, analyzing all the spiritual aspects propounded by
Kannada mystics in their songs, which he loved listening to. The book
is a great service to the two cultures he and his masters belonged to.
In his Pathway to God in Kannada Literature, Gurudev is no more
a professorial academic. He writes with supreme ease and confidence,
backed by his spiritual experiences. But he carefully avoids discussion
of his own attainment. However, one can delicately sense his own
spiritual progress here. He was particularly entranced by the Kannada
mystics, and held them to be above other mystics of the world. He
felt proud to be a Kannadiga.4 In his works he exhibits the skills of a
storyteller, pares his writing to the bare essentials, puts a new spiritual
gloss on the texts and shows new insights into the songs which he had
selected. He asked once what was the exact meaning of a phrase used
by Purandara Dasa, a Kannada saint-poet, ‘nereya naṁbidavarige’.
The first meaning, ‘to keep complete faith’ did not satisfy him. But the
second meaning ‘trusting the neighbourhood’ did. He remarked, “We
should believe in God going near him, but that is possible only after
God-realisation.” On another occasion he edited Purandara Dasa’s
experience: ‘Kṛśṇamūrti kaṇṇa munde nintidantide’(it is as if the form
of Lord Krishna standing before me). He noted that it should not read
‘as if standing’(nintidantide), but should read ‘is standing’(nintide), as

B R Kulkarni, Prof R D Ranade, G R Samadhi Trust op.cit p 24.

4

64 April - June
 SRI R.D. RANADE
he was convinced that the Dasa had seen God’s form standing before
him. He further said that there is no ‘as if’ in spirituality. Similarly
the ritual offering of the three leaves of ‘bilva patra’ to Lord Śiva
is for him a metaphor for a meditative pose, consisting of the two
eyes fixing their gaze on the nose. Similarly the concepts of Dvija
(twice-born), Kalpavṛkṣa (wishing fulfilling tree) and Gandhi’s wheel
to name a few, undergo a change of meaning when seen through the
prism of his spirituality.
Like his master, Gurudev was an avid collector of devotional songs.
He would ask his disciples and visitors if they knew any and to sing
those songs for him, He listened to them closely and contemplated
them. He collected some Hindi songs from his barber in Allahabad.
He asked some of his servants just to sing them during his meditation
to create the bhava (the feeling). Thus he found mysticism not only
in Patanjali and in Sanskrit texts but also in great local mystics.
Sometimes, this practice helped him to gain more knowledge which
was not previously known to him. For instance, a song by Manik
Prabhu of Karnataka revealed to him the inner meaning of tatvamasi.
A fakir’s song in a street in Allahabad, and a vision of his master in a
dream also enlightened him. Once he went to a fisherman, who was
a fellow disciple of his master, seeking a clarification.
The Bhagavad Gita was Gurudev’s spiritual anchor. “It is in
my blood,” he used to say. Lokamanya Tilak rightly asked him to
review his Gita Rahasya. But Gurudev felt he was too young for
it. A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy (1926) won
him critical acclaim so much so that Ganganath Jha, the then vice-
chancellor of Allahabad University, and an accomplished scholar
himself, requested Gurudev to join the university as a professor, and
that he would consider it an honour upon the university if he did. He
eventually rose to be vice-chancellor and retired in 1946. As a teacher
Gurudev spoke in class, “Like a convinced and convincing prophet.
But he never used the first person singular in his lectures. Never,
never, never,” recalls his student.5
Gurudev shattered some traditionally held beliefs and concepts.
One was that God descends on earth in a human avatar. But he asserts

5
Ibid., p. 57.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
that the form of God one sees in meditation is God’s avatar. He
disapproved of the bride-bridegroom relation in mysticism. Eroticism
has no place in it. Love of God stands in a category altogether different
from sexual relationships, he says. He further opines that meditation
is the only way to convert sexual energy into spirituality. A mystic
is one who holds his tongue, shuts his ears and closes his eyes and
silently enjoys God in his Heart. He asserts this is the highest kind
of worship.
Gurudev blessed a large number of aspirants by initiating them
through giving God’s name of their choice. And when they began to
get spiritual experiences like the ones he himself had had, he used
to say “Truth has been once more confirmed. It is like putrotsava,
the birth of a son to me.” He initiated aspirants of other faiths also.
He initiated one Dr. N.S. Christian saying, “I have given you the
Nāma (Divine Name) with the hope that you will see your Christ in
flesh and blood one day.”6 Later that aspirant testified that he saw
the vision of Christ some three or four times. Once when Gurudev
was in Baradoli near Vijaypura, he suddenly looked very delighted.
The reason was that he had heard the Islamic name of God which
was relayed to him. His tradition includes both illiterate and the
highly learned pundits, the poor and royal families. Many were after
Gurudev for initiation, but Gurudev was also seeking to give it to the
right aspirant. He once called his gardener’s son and initiated him
without the latter asking for it!
Hundreds of his disciples, and even casual visitors have been
benefited in their spiritual and worldly lives by Gurudev’s miracles.
But he was not a miracle manufacturer. He believed saints do not
perform miracles but God does. He also warned that miracles should
not be confused with spirituality though they may flow from it. His
life is nothing short of a miracle. He sustained himself for fourteen
years merely on six to eight cups of spicy tea everyday prepared by
himself! He used to say “It is not only food that supports a man…
I know how to tap other sources of energy, but you don’t.” He was
referring to the oozing of nectar from the central ventricle, which
V.K. Gokak, (an eminent professor of English and a devotee of Sri
Aurobindo) rightly called ‘the milk of paradise’.
6
The Glimpse of Gurudev Ranade, ACPR Belgaum, 1990. p.46.

66 April - June
Samadhi of Gurudev Ranade at the Nimbal Ashram
MOUNTAIN PATH
The disciples of Gurudev eagerly awaited his informal interactions
with them called ‘sittings’, which were held regularly at his residence.
He would sit in a corner along with his disciples on the same carpet,
and burn a lot of joss sticks and resin. But he never delivered
sermons. It was the time to see him, listen to him and be noticed by
him. Sometimes obscure songs would suddenly spring to life in the
revelatory light that Gurudev shed on them.
Gurudev was a rationalist seeking validity for his mystical
experiences, making his body a spiritual laboratory (rationalism is a
hallmark of his tradition). In his writing also, “He would weigh every
syllable of every word and test it on the touchstone of nothing less
than the Absolute Truth. He wrote only what he had experienced. He
would emphatically denounce the least distraction from Truth. He
would at once exclaim “No, no, nothing irrational. Nothing in the
least exaggerated.” Answering a question by an interviewer, Gurudev
once said that he did not believe in anything, but only perceived
things. But interestingly, he had unconditionally submitted himself
to every word of his spiritual master. One of his disciples told this
writer recently that even a scribbling on an envelope by his master
would send Gurudev to raptures, Further he said that Gurudev had
lit camphor where his master had urinated! He also used to wait for
his late master’s permission to set out on a journey.
Gurudev’s writings, public speeches and informal conversations
were his means of fostering a broad understanding of mysticism. He
had read deeply and widely the writings of many mystics from all
over the world. He thrills the reader by discussing Buddha’s dharma
chakra along with the song of the Kannada saint Shishunal Sharif
(1819-1889), ‘hāvu tulidene’(I have stepped on a snake). He endorses
what Saint Martin says, “All mystics speak the same language, for
they come from the same country.” In his consummate reflections,
and penetrating analyses the reader forgets the language or region or
faith of the mystics. Only their experiences remain that are shared
and collectively refine our understanding.
Our mind should revel in meditation, Gurudev used to say. His
emphasis was on intensely felt meditation and not on a mechanical
incantation of mantra. A meditation of two hours passed like ten
minutes for him, he once confided. He avoided self-indulgence and
self-torture. He believed the function of a saint was not to be poor,

68 April - June
 SRI R.D. RANADE
passive and pessimistic as it is can be made out to be, but a realistic and
very active one. His saintly life consisted of incessant inner activity.
Gurudev was once asked why he was physically weak. Refuting that
comment he said, “I work harder than you youngsters. But my work
is not seen from the outside.” Quoting Plato he said such a life was
the finest occupation of man and that it would be of greatest service
to mankind.
Gurudev’s conviction was that the aim of human life was to achieve
God for oneself and for others. He advised the worship of God both
with and without form, because God cannot be attained merely by
intellectual construct. For him every situation in life consisting of
things and persons was a metaphor, a symbol, a cipher behind which
lay the vast undifferentiated realm of unlimited spirit which was
enduring and unchanging. He strived to see synthesis in everything.
He therefore advocated one God, one world and one humanity.
He built an ashram at Nimbal in 1925, an hour’s drive from the
town of Vijaypura. Since then it has become a spiritual centre where
meditation is a core activity. A visit to the ashram is a lesson in
humility, as one may find a more passionate devotee than oneself. It
is here Gurudev lived till his death. Days before his death in 1957,
he cleansed his body thoroughly, keeping it clean and ready to return
it to God as it was given at his birth.
Gurudev readily praised the spiritual advancement of others, but
maintained extreme restraint in narrating his own experiences. He
confided to his close associates only a few of them. They included
the vision of viśvarūpa and incidents of him sitting beside God and
holding conversations with Him. His attainment is best recalled by
a disciple who was a mere boy when the event took place. On this
particular occasion this boy in the city of Jamakhandi in northern
Karnataka, entered Gurudev’s room without knocking, and the sight
there sent shivers down his spine. He saw Gurudev standing, stretching
both the hands towards the sky like Ramakrishna Paramahansa.
His entire body was illumined in a golden hue. The svarṇa puruṣa
characterises the final stage of a yogi, as mentioned in the Upanishads.7

Jayant Dodwad, G R Cent Celebration op:cit p.227. The author confirmed this
7

with the narrator of the incident.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
To quote Prof. Berch again, “In India, as also in other countries,
there are many great scholars engaged in various researches, many
great philosophers with deep insights into reality, many great mystics
with ineffable visions, many great teachers who inspire their pupils,
many great souls whose integrity and personality are radiant. But
we seldom see one person who is all these at once. Such a one was
Ranade.” 8
At a time when modern cultures are fast losing out on spirituality
and charlatans have crowded today’s spiritual landscape, genuine
saints are our only hope as they are the salt of the earth. 
ACPR Silver Jubilee Souvenir, op.cit., p xiii.
8

In The Evening

Upahar

Beneath a flowering tree the pilgrims gather,

old souls and new, bound by some ancient vow;
speaking in broken tongues, then, with the sunset,
leaning into the common, glowing silence.
Be still.

Love holds us in this vast and homeless moment,

our empty dwellings scattered in His gaze.
How have we come? Where could we go? The river
buries the sky, yet in its endless flow

our inmost, evermost and joyful knowing

shows up, shines through. What are we? Heart, be still.
The spheres are singing; night unrolls her prayer-mat.
A thousand blessings echo down the wind.
Be still.

70 April - June
BOOK EXCERPT

The Scientist and

the Saint
From the Subsection ‘Consciousness
in Indian Thought’
Avinash Chandra

The book was published in UK in March 2018, and the only way to get
it in India is through the internet with Amazon or Flipkart. It is of course
expensive, due to its size and hard cover. Readers may also see website
www.thescientistandthesaint.com and www.archetype.uk.com There is a
review in the book reveiw section of this issue.

T he Indian subcontinent enjoys a very long and profound tradition

of studying the mind and consciousness. A. K. Coomaraswamy
highlighted this fact in the following observation: “For every
psychological term in English there are four in Greek and forty in
Sanskrit.” In very few places apart from India has Supreme Reality
been spoken of in terms of consciousness. A long line of philosophers
and yogis have spent their lives dedicated to using introspection as a
means to resolve the mystery of the mind and consciousness.
What was the main focus of all their enquiries, investigations,
meditations and teachings? Consciousness. They investigated and

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MOUNTAIN PATH
studied almost every aspect of consciousness—the empirical, the
linguistic, the immanent and other aspects. This became a living
tradition of intellectual life in India. For more than two thousand
years the subject of consciousness was the passion of the Indian
mind. And a vast amount of information on consciousness, especially
transcendental consciousness, came to be stored in various books such
as the Upanishads, the Yoga-sutras, etc.1
According to K. Ramakrishna Rao:
“... the global relevance of Indian psychology may be seen in the
context of the failure of psychology in the West to deal with some
important aspects of human nature that appear to be simply beyond
its scope because of its restrictive assumptions. Contemporary
psychology is severely constrained by its biocentric bias, which began
with the behaviourist manifesto of J. B. Watson (1913) who waged a
war to remove consciousness from the psychological dictionary and
fought tooth and nail to drive out subjectivity from the precincts of
science in general and psychology in particular. […] In contrast to
the biocentric bias of Western psychology, Indian psychology has
consciousness as its core concept. Centrality of consciousness is its
defining characteristic. Consciousness is considered to be a primary
principle irreducible to brain states. The brain does not generate
consciousness; it simply reflects consciousness and often by filtering,
limiting and embellishing it.” 2
A small but growing number of psychologists, psychiatrists, and
western philosophers have begun to turn towards ‘oriental thought’,
aware that it offers a more profound and complete understanding of
the mind than that offered by modern science. Daniel Goleman recalls:
“I first encountered Abhidharma—and Tibetan Buddhism—in
1970 [...] I was fascinated: here was a psychological system with a
radically different set of premises from any to which I had previously
been exposed. It was a system that not only explained how the mind
worked, but how it could be methodically transformed. And it was

1
Swami Bhajanananda. ‘Knowledge and Consciousness: An Integral Approach’, in
Understanding Consciousness: Recent Advances. Kolkata: Ramakrishna Mission
Institute of Culture, 2009, pp. 45-46.
2
K. Ramakrishna Rao. ‘Introducing Indian Psychology’, in Handbook of Indian
Psychology. New Delhi: Foundation Books, 2008, pp. 5-6.

72 April - June
 THE SCIENTIST AND THE SAINT
a psychology that held out as the ideal of human development of
spiritual values like equanimity and compassion — a vision far more
hopeful than that of any modern psychology.” 3
For scientific thought today, consciousness appears to be an
inexplicable exception in an otherwise unconscious universe.
However, in India, consciousness has always been considered a
primordial element that is always present and immanent in everything
and at all levels of the universe.
Consciousness is thus the connecting thread that can transport
us from our individual consciousness to Supreme Reality. As a
Sanskrit aphorism says: “Consciousness is our only recourse to
attain reality.” “When we turn to the sacred scriptures of various
religions, we discover that in every case the origin of the cosmos
and of man is identified as a Reality which is conscious and in
fact constitutes consciousness understood on the highest level as
absolute Consciousness, which is transcendent and yet the source of
all consciousness in the cosmic realm including our own. […] this
truth is made especially explicit in Hinduism where the principial
Reality which is the source of all things is described as at once Being,
Consciousness and Ecstasy.”4
This was, then, in a more or less explicit form, the existing
worldview in every country and at all times throughout history. What
happened to make the concept of the universe undergo such a radical
revolution? According to Seyyed Hossein Nasr:
“The privilege of denying the primacy of consciousness wholesale
remained for the modern world, especially with the advent of the
materialistic and scientistic philosophies which came to the fore after
the Scientific Revolution in the 17th century. […] By taking away from
corporeal existence all its qualitative aspects and reducing it to pure
quantity, these men, followed by many others, created a worldview
in which there was such a thing as pure inert matter divorced totally
from life and consciousness but somehow mysteriously known by the
knowing subject or the mind. […] In traditional cosmologies Pure

3
Daniel Goleman, in MindScience: An East-West Dialogue. Wisdom Pub., pp. 6, 91.
4
Seyyed Hossein Nasr. ‘In the Beginning Was Consciousness’, in The Essential
Sophia. Bloomington Indiana: World Wisdom, 2006, p.199.

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Consciousness, that is also Pure Being, descends, while remaining
Itself transcendent vis-à-vis Its manifestations, through various levels
of the cosmic hierarchy to reach the physical world whereas in the
modern reductionist view, things ascend from the primordial cosmic
soup.”5
Often intellectuals, scientists and philosophers are irritated by
the fact that ‘oriental’ thought is inextricably linked to ‘religion’.
For traditional thinkers on the other hand, for whom a sharp and
insurmountable break between religion, philosophy and science has
not occurred, this is a great advantage, because it contributes to the
preservation of unitive knowledge lost by the West when knowledge
became split into many isolated branches.
“What distinguishes the Indian way of thinking from what we
today call the Western way of thinking is the curious connection
present in darshana [philosophy] between theoretical, experiential
and transcendental issues. It is also this distinguishing feature of
Indian thinking which is often misappropriated as ‘mystic’ and ‘other-
worldly’.”6
The Distinction Between Mind and Consciousness
One of the basic differences between Indian and western thought
with regard to this subject is that the former has articulated a radical
separation between the mind and consciousness. Whilst in Europe,
especially following Descartes, it was thought that man is composed
of body and mind (also called spirit), in India—as in all traditional
thought—the division is threefold: body, mind and consciousness.
However, the main separation is not between the body and the mind,
but between these two parts and consciousness.
In Indian thought, the body is made of matter; the mind, for its
part, is also ‘material’, though composed of a much more subtle
matter. Indeed, all that pertains to the reign of multiplicity and change
belongs to nature (prakṛti) and is composed of parts that for want of
a better term, could be called material. The mind makes up part of
the subtle or psychic world, much more complex than the physical
5
Ibid., pp. 200, 201.
6
Sangeetha Menon. ‘Binding Experiences for a First-Person Approach’, in On Mind
and Consciousness. MiCon2002 Conference. Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced
Study, 2003, p.101.

74 April - June
 THE SCIENTIST AND THE SAINT
one, yet like the latter it is, in the last analysis, unconscious. The
mind, unconscious? The mind, made up of thoughts, sensations and
sentiments, is only visible by virtue of the existence of consciousness
which, like the sun, illuminates everything under it in this world.
Consciousness is not material nor can it be observed objectively; it
is witness to the mind and to everything else. The human being is
therefore a physical-mental complex vivified by consciousness. By
contrast, the West has been ruled in the past by Descartes’ concept:
cogito ergo sum, ‘I think, therefore I am’, identifying thought with
man’s ultimate being.
For his western readers, Swami Prabhavananda found himself
obliged to explain the fundamental differences of perception that
could give rise to errors of interpretation:
“We should call the attention of Western readers to the fundamental
difference between the psychology of India and the psychology of
the West. This difference lies in the fact that Western psychology
identifies consciousness with mind, being with thought, and thought
with the soul, or the Self; whereas Indian psychology distinguishes
mind from consciousness. This distinction is due to the fact that
Western psychology recognizes only one plane of experience, and
gives no consideration to what Hindus call the pure chit, the supreme
unconditional consciousness, the Being, which they regard as the real
Self, or the soul, different from the rationalizing mind and realized
in the superconscious, or transcendental, state. Pure unconditional
consciousness cannot be the property of the mind, they believe, for
it is the source of the mind’s apparent consciousness.”7
Thus, from the Indian perspective, the confusion between mind and
consciousness that occurs in modern thought is a tremendous error, a
lack of discrimination that confuses consciousness with its contents.
This confusion is surprising and disconcerting to Indian scholars:
“No distinction is made in the West between consciousness and
mind, so the words ‘mental’, ‘psychic’ and ‘conscious’ have become
synonymous in English language and Western tradition...”8
7
Swami Prabhavananda. The Spiritual Heritage of India. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna
Math, 1981, p.201.
8
Jagdish Prasad Jain. ‘Jaina Psychology’, in Handbook of Indian Psychology,
op.cit., p. 68, (1996).

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“One can read numerous psychology texts and not find any that
treat awareness as a phenomenon in its own right, something distinct
from the contents of consciousness. […] When the topic does come up,
consciousness in the sense of pure awareness is invariably confused
with one type of content or the other.”9
Attention (when we turn our consciousness towards a specific
subject) is very different from thought. It is this same attention that
determines what we perceive and what we do not. Although someone
may be talking, if we have our attention turned elsewhere we will
not hear anything.
What then is consciousness? If we focus on it, on the subject that
sees, abstracting from it any thought or other content, we might get a
glimpse of it. But we will never be able to contemplate it objectively
given that it is inevitably the subject that contemplates everything
else. This consciousness that we spontaneously identify with our being
has no spatial limitation— space is a concept which simply cannot be
applied here, but neither does it appear to be subject to time, for it is
always experienced in the present. What is more, it is its very presence
that determines what ‘the present’ is. Time is inextricably linked to
movement; without movement there is no time. Now, consciousness
is not characterized by any kind of movement: the latter belongs to
the realm of the mind. Time is produced by the mind and its incessant
movement; consciousness simply makes it visible.
In Indian philosophy the mind is situated on a lower level to that
of consciousness, which is the ‘place’ from which the former can
be observed. It is not the physical body and the mind that create
consciousness: they are factors that limit it; thus they constitute, in
a manner of speaking, the banks of the river which, thanks to the
boundaries they enforce, permit the river to exist and flow in its
particular course. The limitations of each and every thing, whether it
be mineral, vegetable, animal or a human being, act as a dense veil
that impedes consciousness from manifesting itself in all its plenitude.
Not only does Ramanuja’s theory posit that everything in this
universe has consciousness, but that the consciousness cannot function

9
Arthur Deikman, “‘I’ = Awareness”, in Journal of Consciousness Studies, vol.3,
no.4. 1966. pp.350-56.

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 THE SCIENTIST AND THE SAINT
so well in them because of the limitations of the body which possesses
this consciousness.10
“Thus, the classical Indian psychology adopted a practical stance
so that the person might thereby be aided to attain a true understanding
of his being: the ‘person’ is consciousness embodied. The person
functions as a composite of consciousness, mind and body. Mind and
body have the effect of limiting, obscuring, veiling, and distorting
consciousness. […] It is contended therefore that the business of
psychology is to understand how the mind-body complex limits human
potentials, corrupts one’s understanding of truth and causes suffering
so that remedies may be found and humans elevated to higher levels
of awareness, achievement and happiness.”11
The ‘Field’ and the ‘Knower of the Field’
Parallel to the distinction between mind and consciousness is the
distinction between ‘field’ (kṣetra), or all that is observable, and the
‘knower of the field’ (kṣetrajña). According to the Bhagavad Gītā:
“This body is called the field, and he who knows it is called by the wise
the Knower of the field. Thou shouldst know that I am the Knower
of the field in every field. Knowledge of the field and of the Knower
of the field is considered by Me to be true knowledge.”12
Indian thought makes a sharp division between consciousness and
the contents of consciousness. All that we perceive and know belongs
to the contents of consciousness: exterior objects, our thoughts,
feelings, emotions and sentiments, even our sense of individuality.
What then remains outside the field? The knower of the field, the
witness of all, the light that illuminates all that is perceived and makes
it possible to be known. This observer, this ‘primordial I’, is before
everything else; without it, no experience is possible.
In spite of appearances, this witness (sākṣī) is not individual
but universal; that is why Krishna (as personification of Supreme
Consciousness) says in the Bhagavad Gītā that He is the knower of
the field in every field.

10
M. A. Lakshmithathachar. ‘Discussion’, in Understanding Consciousness, op.cit., p. 360.
11
K. Ramakrishna Rao. ‘Introducing Indian Psychology’, in Handbook of Indian
Psychology, op.cit., p. 7.
12
Bhagavadgītā, XIII.2-3. (S. Radhakrishnan: The Bhagavad Gita.)

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S. Radhakrishnan comments:
“Kṣetrajña is the light of awareness, the knower of all objects.
The witness is not the individual embodied mind, but the cosmic
consciousness for which the whole cosmos is the object.13
Normally, we all identify with our body first, and then with our
mind. However, if we discern, we can see that the body as well as the
mind belong to the field and that our most profound being is that which
perceives the body as well as the mind. Sankaracharya conveys this in
the very title of one of his works, Dṛg-dṛśya viveka: “Discrimination
between dṛk, the subject, and dṛśya, the contemplated.” John Grimes
explains from another of Sankara’s works entitled Ātmabodha (Self-
knowledge): One usually refers to the physical body when one speaks
of ‘I’, but a little reflection will reveal that the ‘I’ cannot be the physical
body. The body itself cannot say ‘I’, for it is inert. One says, “this is
my coat, this is my body’. What is ‘mine’ belongs to me. ‘My’ is a
personal possessive pronoun implying ownership. What belongs to
me is not me. I am separate from it; I possess it. Whatever I possess,
I can dispense with, and still remain who I am. On a deeper level,
when one says ‘I’, one is referring to the faculties of thinking, feeling,
and willing. Yet the same analysis applies.”14
That the body is inert is easily understood. However, that the
mind is also inert becomes problematic for us. But Indian thought is
categorical in this respect: the mind is ‘material’ (though made of a
different kind of matter, more subtle than the physical and beyond
science as it is conceived of today) and it is unconscious, for it is
only consciousness without content that makes us capable of being
conscious of everything else, in the same way that the sun illuminates
all things which would otherwise remain in darkness and unknown
without its presence. The mind belongs to the field of the ‘observable’,
and is therefore distinct from consciousness.
“The feeling of pain is nearer (to me) than the existence of the stone.
At the same time the pain as well as the stone are recognized as other
than me. […] The stone (object which has physical properties) or the

13
Ibid., p.301.
14
John Grimes. Ramana Maharshi: The Crown Jewel of Advaita. Varanasi: Indica
Books, 2010, pp. 59-60.

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 THE SCIENTIST AND THE SAINT
pain (object which has mental properties) is experienced as other than
me, changing and having meaning when related to an experiencer.”15
How then does consciousness come to be identified with the mind,
and the observer with the observed? According to the Samkhya-Yoga
School:
“The perceiver is the seer, the witness, the immutable testimonial
consciousness that observes the constant changes in visible nature.
Nature is unconscious, but able to reflect the light of consciousness that
emanates from the testimonial consciousness of the seer. This light,
upon being trapped in matter becomes identified with its limited modes
and creates an autonomous centre of consciousness subject to pleasure
and pain, to likes and dislikes, to fear of death and to ignorance.”16
“The finite mind, in its congruence with the ego-complex, poses as
the subject in the subject-object relationship, by ‘being’ that which it
is not, by falsely identifying itself sometimes with the sense-organs,
sometimes with the sensations, and sometimes with the thought.
The very fact that we can think about the phenomenon of thought
is sufficient indication that something else, ‘other’ than thought is
present, because ‘thought’ as a tool could not think about itself.”17
The yogi, one who seeks knowledge of consciousness, endeavours
through patient inner work to separate consciousness from its
contents and move from identification with the body and the mind
to identification with his or her deepest reality: the witness, pure
consciousness.
The Mind
In Indian philosophy the mind is called the internal organ
(antaḥkaraṇa). This organ is made up of four parts: manas, citta,
ahaṁkāra and buddhi. Manas can be thought of as the ‘thinking
or deliberating mind’; citta corresponds to memory, the great
‘storehouse’ of information which also includes the residues left
by completed actions (karma) and mental habits (saṁskāras);

15
Sangeetha Menon. ‘Persistent Puzzles of Consciousness: What is it? Where is it?’,
in Understanding Consciousness, op.cit., p. 187.
16
Òscar Pujol. ‘Patañjali’, in Òscar Pujol & Atilano Domínguez, Patañjali – Spinoza.
Valencia: Pre-textos, 2009, p. 26.
17
Banamali Lahiry. Quest for Truth. Varanasi: Indica Books, 2001, p.35.

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ahaṁkāra is the ego, the sense of individuality, of being a centre
that is independent and separate from the rest; buddhi, the intellect,
encompasses the faculty of comprehension and knowledge, of
‘penetration’ and discernment, as well as the faculty of decision.
It must be noted that buddhi is not of an individual nature; it is the
first manifestation of prakṛti, ‘nature’, the first ‘reflection’ of pure
consciousness in the manifested world.
According to Sankaracharya: “The intellect, being transparent and
next to the Self (Ātman), easily catches the reflection of the intelligence
of the Self.”18 Thus, buddhi is the highest intellectual faculty, the one
that acts as a bridge to pure consciousness.
Manas differentiates and integrates mental activities like a central
switchboard. Yet it is largely mechanical. Mental movements (vṛttis),
thoughts and emotions, appear and disappear in conformity with
established habits, or saṁskāras, our ‘mental tendencies’, that we
have formed in this and in past individual existences. But manas,
while it is a ‘material’ product of prakṛti, is at the same time close to
consciousness, which permits it to serve as a bridge between sense
organs and consciousness.
“The mind is like a diamond; it does not shine in the darkness, but
when a ray of light falls upon it, it is capable of breaking up this ray
of white light into thousands of sparkling fragments. […] The mind
is like a diamond because it is transparent, and has the capacity to
fill itself with the neutral or pure consciousness of the purusha...”19
Perception is produced when the mind makes contact with objects
through the senses. Because both are material (though with varying
degrees of subtlety), contact is made without difficulty. The mind
becomes similar to objects, takes their form (it ‘con-forms’) and
constructs a subtle model of the latter. Yet all of this would be a blind
process without the light of the Ātman or Puruṣa, pure Consciousness.
According to Srinivasa Acharya: “The ātman associates with the mind;
the mind with the sense organ; the sense organ with the object; thus
is perception generated.”20

18
Śaṅkarācārya, Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad Bhāṣya.
19
Òscar Pujol, ‘Patañjali’, op.cit., p.68.
20
Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, Yatīndramatadīpikā.

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 THE SCIENTIST AND THE SAINT
“[Srinivasa Acharya] says that this consciousness is just like
the water in a reservoir and manas is the gateway through which
the consciousness can flow. If water is to flow out, the gate of the
reservoir needs to be opened. Then it can flow through the different
channels in the form of sense organs. [...] Through the channels of the
sense organs, consciousness can go to different objects and be cast in
different forms.”22
“As Patanjali [the author of the Yoga Sutras] notes, consciousness
(cit) has the awareness of its own psyche (buddhi) by taking its form
(IV.22). Buddhi takes the form of the perceptual objects in its range
like the crystal reflects the adjacent flower. The focused mind, in an
undisturbed equipoised state, takes the form of the object of knowing,
the process of knowing, or of the knower, like an unblemished gem
which assumes the colour of the adjacent object (i.41).”23
Pure consciousness, the witness, is not individual, it is universal.

22
M. A. Lakshmithathachar. ‘Study of Consciousness from the Point of View of
Visistadvaita Philosophy’, in Understanding Consciousness, op.cit., pp.172-73.
23
K. Ramakrishna Rao & Anand C. Paranjpe. ‘Yoga Psychology: Theory and
Application’, in Handbook of Indian Psychology, op.cit., p.189.

MOUNTAIN PATH
Statement about ownership and other particulars about Mountain Path (according to
Form IV, Rule 8, Circular of the Registrar of Newspapers for India).

1. Place of Publication – Tiruvannamalai; 2. Periodicity of its Publication – Quarterly;

3. Printer’s Name – Sri. N. Subramaniam; Nationality - Indian; Address – Sudarsan Graphics
Private Ltd., 27, Neelakanta Mehta Street, T. Nagar, Chennai 600 017; 4. Publisher’s Name –
Sri. V.S. Ramanan; Nationality - Indian; Address – Sri Ramanasramam, Sri Ramanasramam
PO., Tiruvannamalai 606 603; 5. Editor’s Name – Sri. V.S.Ramanan; Nationality – Indian;
Address – Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai; 6. Names and addresses of individuals
who own the newspaper and partners or shareholders holding more than 1% of the total
capital – SRI RAMANASRAMAM, Tiruvannamalai.

I, V.S. Ramanan, hereby declare that the particulars given above are true to the best of my
knowledge and belief. 31/03/2019

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© Anneliese Hollmann
The Long Road to
Bhagavan
Tracing the Pilgrim Life of Ella Maillart

Part One
Michael Highburger

Introduction
Even today explorer, travel writer and photographer Ella Maillart (1903-
1997), is revered as a national hero in her native Switzerland. But outside
of a small circle, it is not widely known that she had been a disciple of
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi and had spent many of the war years
at Sri Ramanasramam.
Ella competed at the 1924 Summer Olympics in solo sailing and as
a member of the Swiss national skiing team, she defended the colours
of her country at the World Championships at Mürren (1931), Cortina
d’Ampezzo (1932), Innsbruck (1933) and St. Moritz (1934). During the
late 1920s, she participated in an archaeological dig in Crete, modeled
for sculptors in Paris, acted at the Dramatic Arts Studio in Geneva
and worked as a film stunt-woman in Berlin. She travelled extensively
in Russia in 1930, Turkestan in 1932, and was commissioned by a
major Parisian daily, in 1934, to report on the Japanese occupation
of Manchuria. From there she teamed up with Peter Fleming to
cross Central Asia from Peking to Srinagar (3,500 miles) by foot and
horseback. Ella chronicled these and other gripping adventures in a

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series of travel books and memoirs which brought her international
fame and celebrity.
In 1939, with the winds of war stirring in Europe, Ella and the Swiss
writer Annemarie Schwarzenbach set off by car from Geneva to Kabul.
Proceeding to India, Ella eventually journeyed to Madras Province where,
upon encountering Sri Ramana Maharshi, she felt compelled to settle down
near the Ashram in order to remain in his company.
(The following multi-part series is based on articles published from January
to October 2018 in Sri Ramanasramam’s monthly e-magazine Saranagati and
recounts Ella’s years at Tiruvannamalai.)

W hen Ella Maillart arrived at Sri Ramanasramam at the end of

1940, the South Indian devotees who greeted her might not have
been able to appreciate the nature of her pilgrimage, nor that of the
many other Europeans who had come to the Ashram, many inspired
by Paul Brunton’s A Search in Secret India.1
Ashram inmates might not have realised the full significance
of what the recent outbreak of war in Europe meant for Ella. They
might not have known that her very impressionable teenage years
had coincided with the technologically-sophisticated trench warfare
of World War One where artillery shells left five-metre craters. They
may not have known how the conflict had left forty million dead or
injured as well as a gaping wound in the European psyche.
Ella’s South Indian hosts may not have understood how she had been
ejected from her childhood home by the cheap materialism that sought
to paper over the existential plight of a culture in crisis, a bankrupt moral
order whose religious truths had proven ill-equipped to keep pace with
the ‘progress’ of history and the ‘advances’ of science and the tools it
unleashed on the world. They would not have been able to fathom that
her many years of travel had been an exercise in blind trust, a going forth
with no particular goal in mind:

1
In a letter to her mother dated 28th October 1940, Ella wrote: “I went to have a
look at Pondicherry for two days, and I do not think that I shall settle down there
for the present. I prefer to go first to Tiruvannamalai, which is not far from Madras
and where there is this great man described in Paul Brunton’s book.”

84 April - June
 Estate of Ella Maillart & Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne
In Iran, enroute to India, 1939

“I know I must turn away from the outside world which is not the
ultimate reality, and listen to the strength which is hidden [within] me.
I know that we have in us a spark of energy which cannot die. If we
knew how to kindle it instead of unwittingly smashing it, we could
create bonds linking all of us so strongly together that we could not
hate or kill each other anymore.”2
As Nazism spread its violence across Europe, Ella was still
recovering from the tragedy of war during her childhood:
“The last war sent me down to the clean life of the seas, forever
rid of illusions about our civilisation. This war compels me to search
for ‘the meaning of all this’, for the common denominator in all of
us, the basis on which to live anew.”3
Ella fled a realm not only racked by armed conflict but one that
seemed to have lost its way with no lasting peace in sight, a people
leaning desperately on blind gestures:
“The ‘war to end war’ [brought] in its train compromise, artificial
ideals, and palavers that failed to establish a real peace.4 I am
concerned that the majority of my fellowmen are busy with things
that are not essential. They seek happiness where they cannot find it.
Happiness is inside us but we seek for it in external things.”5
2
Gypsy Afloat, London, William Heinemann, 1942, p.240.
3
The Cruel Way: Switzerland to Afghanistan in a Ford, 1939. University of Chicago
Press, 1947, p.204.
4
Cruises and Caravans, London, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd, 1942, p.28-29.
5
La métaphysique d’Ella Maillart, RTS Religion, Babel, 17 September 2017, trans.
Savitri Poornima.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
Raw intuition steered her, and with the passing of years on the
road, her wandering led to deeper questioning till it found its voice:
“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a
page….You do not travel if you are afraid of the unknown; you travel
for the unknown that reveals you [to] yourself.”6
But in 1939-40 during her year-long overland trip to India, Ella
began to identify a compulsive pattern in her itinerant life. As long as
she was on the road and moving, she was happy. But as soon as she
returned home, the former dissatisfaction set in, a gnawing discontent
that could only be placated by fresh adventures. She began to see the
unsustainability of her strategy, subject as it invariably was, to the
law of diminishing returns. It was not enough to run away — there
should be some purpose, some reason for living, some service to
humanity beyond writing entertaining books. She began to take her
wandering more seriously and began to recognise that while she had
conquered the world, she had not conquered herself.
Arrival at Sri Ramanasramam
Dressed in trousers and possessed of an independent demeanour
atypical for women in mid-twentieth century South India, upon her
arrival at Sri Ramanasramam in November 1940, Ella would have
felt a little out of place. There was nothing in her background that
could have prepared her for the orthodox customs of a religious
community. Her awkwardness would have been in full view. Having
rejected religion at an early age, she had never lived among people
of faith and did not know their language:
“At seventeen I had followed a course of religious instruction. The
pastor had brought the problems of God, life, and death under the light
of the Gospel. But because I listened with the mind only, as if it were
a school lesson — whereas such teaching ought to reach deeper and
subtler regions — the result was negative. We became a debating society
where many moral questions were raised, but we never understood
the real meaning of what [this] fine man was saying. I decided that
religions were not helpful, and that I had to find by myself why we
were on [this] earth.”7
6
Ella Maillart, <www.inspiringquotes.us>.
7
The Spiritual Daughters of Herman Hesse, Fanny Guex, University of Lausanne,
August 2015.

86 April - June
 THE LONG ROAD TO BHAGAVAN
Ella’s initial clumsiness in adjusting to life among Ramana devotees
would have obscured the mastery she otherwise demonstrated in less
populated surroundings such as the barren reaches of the Gobi Desert,
the high altitude wastelands of the Tibetan plateau, the mountain
landscapes of the Chinese Pamirs, the twisting valleys of the Hindu
Kush or, for that matter, under sail beneath the night-time sky in the
vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. But she soon adapted:
“I wake up at 6:30, drink some buttermilk from my thermos, wash
my face, brush my teeth, hunt fleas or do small repairs. Then a walk
of twenty minutes (it rains every day now that the monsoon blows
from the east), accompanied by the children who make the quest,
pretty, bronzed, naked. Then I arrive in our small colony where we
even have a post office, and Raja the postman is the friend who takes
care of me. He is shaved with the exception of a bun on the back of
his head, and his eyes are full of sweetness and kindness. His torso is
naked except for a string that the Brahmins always wear; he is dressed
in a sort of sheet wrapped around his hips, and he is barefoot. Raja
also works in the kitchen, helping prepare meals for more than fifty
people. On approaching our colony, I see the stonecutters engaged in
pounding blocks for the construction of a sanctuary above the tomb
of the Sage’s mother.”8
Ella’s awkwardness implied no disrespect; rather she invited
instruction and guidance in proper comportment in the presence of
the guru. Yet all such concerns faded into insignificance once the
encounter took place, and she found herself face to face with the one
figure whom, until then, she did not know she had been looking for:
“His extraordinarily bright eyes expressed such kindness and
peace. The silence between us was so rich that it gave me something
like a cracked valve in my heart. It created emptiness, a total blank.
My call to Reality, represented by this man, was so intense that I knew
the answer I was looking for was to be found in his surroundings. The
purpose of my expeditions was to bring me to the brink of knowledge
that gives meaning to life. Only the inner journey is real.”9
8
This Reality That I’ve Been Chasing, Paris, Payot, 2013, pp. 188-190.
9
Two Swiss Travellers in India, Fanny Guex, Workshop May 2014, Ella Maillart
fonds — Ms. Fr. 7127/C, “A chacun sa raison de vivre…”, article sans date en
français (ma traduction).

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MOUNTAIN PATH
Following this first meeting with Bhagavan, the tone of her diary
reflections changed markedly and her entries are henceforth couched
in an ecstatic language of the divine:
“Where [did] I belong? Everywhere I found myself. I do not
belong … at home where no one shared my thoughts […] Thus I
belong where my heart is alive. Shall I one day belong to India? My
heart wants to go home … It is no self-pity, I see it at once. Yes, a
home for my heart … Where? With God, a spiritual home. And God
is nowhere but in me. How simple, [how] ridiculously simple. I never
lived it so clearly.”10
Setting Up House
As in those days, women were not allowed to stay overnight in the Ashram,
Ella rented a flat for five rupees per month in Anaikatti Theru — what she
calls ‘Dancing-Girls Street’ — just south of Arunachaleswarar Temple.
She writes to her mother of settling into her new home:
“On my wooden bed, my tote is unrolled. I sleep in the flea bag
you made me, wrapped in the vicuna blanket when the wind blows. I
bought three soapboxes for my table, chair, and dressing table, and a
paraffin lamp to light when I write on my [typewriter]. From my tiny
terrace I have a wide view of the sacred Hill nearby.”11
Early on she befriended Viswanatha Swami, son of the first
cousin of Bhagavan who, in his youth, had been a sympathiser of
Gandhi’s freedom movement when he came to stay permanently
with Bhagavan.
The expat community who, like Ella, had journeyed to
Tiruvannamalai to live and be near the Maharshi, came to her aid as
well. Alan Chadwick, the British Army major who had come in 1935,
took a liking to Ella from the start. She wrote of him:
“I go to him often because he has a rocking chair on which I can
stretch my legs, because he sometimes gives me a biscuit, because we
tease each other about our meditation hours and discuss the war.”12
She also got to know Guy Hague, the Californian geologist who

10
Ibid, Ella Maillart fonds – Ms. Fr. 7111, B/4 feuillet 66.
11
This Reality That I’ve Been Chasing, Paris, Payot, 2013, pp. 187-188.
12
Letter to her mother, 12th December, 1940.

88 April - June
 THE LONG ROAD TO BHAGAVAN

Courtesy of Ella Maillart

Bhagavan, Guy Hague, Viswanatha Swami and others sometimes found
themselves in the viewfinder of Ella’s Leica camera
spent two years in the Ashram in the 1940s and Lewis Thompson, the
British sannyasin-poet who became one of her best friends and with
whom she maintained constant correspondence until his untimely
death at Benares in 1949.
Ethel Merston, the kind-hearted Englishwoman who lived in town
and who made it her habit to assist newly-arrived devotees, made
herself available to Ella.
S.S. Cohen, the Iraqi Jew who had delved into Theosophy prior
to his arrival from Bombay in 1936, accompanied Ella to Uma Devi,
the Polish author and translator. Cohen confided in Ella his unrealistic
expectations upon arriving at the Ashram four years earlier, how he
had hoped to be transformed in his first encounter with Bhagavan but
had been so disappointed that it didn’t happen as he expected that he
‘went behind the Ashram to cry’, only later realising that liberation
was a prolonged endeavour.
Ella met many like-minded souls, all of whom came with the hope
of learning what was needed from the Sage and thus gaining their
freedom. However, many had come and gone rather quickly, operating
under the misconception that the spiritual process was immediate.
Ella’s case was different. She harboured no illusions and knew from
the start that hers was no brief or casual visit. She says, “The Sage used

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MOUNTAIN PATH
to say about the Europeans who came here, ‘I explain something to
them and they reply ‘Oh yes, we understand, and then they go away.’”
Ella adds: “We must become what we understand, so that it
moves from the domain of intellect to the domain of being or of the
fundamental essence of Being. I stayed three months instead of eight
days like other people, because I doubted myself horribly. At the end
of three months I really knew that this Sage was what he taught and
it was then that I decided to remain. And the more I advanced the
more I wanted to stay and try to transform myself and find out this
truth which was within us.”13
Ella’s life changed. She was no longer planning new adventures but
took stock of her life and began to reflect on her years of travelling.
She had as her employment the discipline of writing books in English,
mainly to support herself and ensure the possibility of being able to
stay on. She established a rhythm:
“My days were spent at the Sage’s Ashram (about a mile out of
town), eating the midday meal near him in a great dining-hall. There
also I had my daily bath, returning in the evening.”14
Elsewhere, she wrote:
“I wanted to prolong my stay near the sage Ramana Maharshi. His
life was public. Anyone could approach him, ask him questions and
enjoy the benefits of his presence that radiated goodness, distinction and
immutable peace. And there each one of us was free to do whatever they
wanted, because, with the exception of meals, there was no set of rules
for community life. I got into the routine of staying for two hours each
morning and each evening in the hall where around twenty people of
both sexes were seated on the ground, legs crossed in silent meditation.
I read the little brochures where the main responses of the sage had
been collected over the course of some thirty years. His function was
to inform seekers about the nature of the ultimate reality. And I tried
to see if his replies corresponded with something I felt in myself.”15

13
La Metaphysique d’Ella Maillart, RTS Religion, Babel, 17 September 2017, trans.
Savitri Poornima.
14
Ti-Puss, William Heinemann, London, 1951, p.14.
15
Croisieres et Caravanes, Chap. XIV, ‘South India’, (French ed., 1951), trans.
Marye Tonnaire, p.225.

90 April - June
2019 Bhagavan on his sofa in the hall, early 1940s 91
MOUNTAIN PATH
Life in the Hall
All this was marvelously new for Ella but she took to it like a duck
to water, careful to observe all that transpired before her:
“I was continuously distracted by the spectacle around me that was
so new and so different. Apart from the servants (who were taking
care of the garden, the refectory, the kitchen and the stable) and the
ashram inmates (around twenty or so Hindu disciples and four or
five Europeans), there was also an incessant (flow) of poor, Tamilian
peasants, both men and women, accompanied by their children,
coming to bow before the Maharshi who was reclining on his sofa
– the men, almost naked, lying flat on the floor in full prostration,
the women kneeling, draped in their saris, their heads touching the
ground; they offered the master either a few fruits or some sweets.
“An attendant would then return part of the consecrated offering
to them. While reading his mail or the newspapers, correcting proofs,
fanning himself or meditating, the Maharshi would sometimes look at
us or would smile at the astonished children who stood there frozen in
front of him. He would often give nuts to the agile squirrels perched
on the top of his sofa, or else his favourite cow would drop in to ask
for a banana.
“Morning and evening a group of Brahmins chanted the holy
scriptures. At a fixed time, the sage would take a short walk in the
surrounding area, and it was on these occasions that we could speak
to him in private. At eleven o’clock we would all eat in his presence,
curry-rice served on banana leaves spread out on the red-tiled floor.
The right hand alone was used to carry the food up to the mouth.
According to the rules of caste, the Brahmins ate apart, separated by
a screen. The Maharshi was seated so as to see everyone; he had been
born a Brahmin but, because he was a sage—‘liberated while alive,’
as they say in India—he was beyond caste observances.”16
Cruises and Caravans
In 1942 her autobiography Cruises and Caravans was published and
Ella presented it to Bhagavan with the following inscription:
“Dear Bhagavan, here is the book you helped me to write during
the summer before last. Once more I form the deep wish that after so
16
Ibid., pp.225-226.

92 April - June
 THE LONG ROAD TO BHAGAVAN
many years spent in dealing with the external world—as you may see
by gleaning through my autobiography—I shall make swift progress
in discovering the inner life leading to You. — Yours, Ella.”17
The memoir was an effort at making sense of all that had happened
to her, a form of self-understanding, as clarity began to emerge within
her while living in Bhagavan’s presence. Her narrative began:
“Now that I can already look back upon half my life, I could
easily link up its main episodes into a logical story. […] Such clear-
cut biographies I have read; but they don’t ring true: they give the
feeling that the hero knew too soon the meaning of his life. In reality,
things don’t seem to happen logically. You grope blindly towards the
unknown, and your energy is sapped by the torture of suspense. A
few men seem to have known since childhood what they wanted to
be — poet, soldier, sculptor, doctor, musician, explorer. Though they
probably fought and suffered to reach their goal, I have always envied
them: they did not know the anguish of hesitation.”18
In one way of seeing, Ella’s arrival at Ramanasramam was anti-
climactic — no more high-altitude mountain passes to traverse or
raging river rope-bridges to negotiate. The outward impulse had given
way to an inner exploration of the heart as Ella began to discover parts
of herself she had not known. Elsewhere she recorded beginning to let
go of everything that once formed her identity:
“I have some difficulty — a heart pinch — when I say that never,
never again will skis be fastened, clasped under my feet. But, after
all, I have had everything, so my giving it up is easy, especially when
I know how bitter-sweet all that fun has been.”19
But now the savour of sports and the outdoors had been surpassed
by something unexpected and Ella found that her heart could be content
on its own without needing any external incentive or distant motivation.
Peace had been modelled for her in a most remarkable way by a simple
glance:

17
Sri Ramanasramam library, pasted in the 1942 English edition of Cruises and
Caravans that Ella presented to Bhagavan.
18
Croisieres et Caravanes, 1942, Chapter 1, p.1.
19
Ella Maillart fonds – Ms. Fr. 7111, Extraits de notes ‘Five Years in India’, B/4
feuillet 48.

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“What counted above and beyond everything else were the
eyes of the Maharshi when he looked at me, a look so noble and so
magnificent that one had to ask oneself what he was seeing!20 [I saw
now that] I had come to Tiruvannamalai in order to live near a Sage
who embodied the essence of Hindu wisdom; and whereas a course
for beginners would have suited me best, I found myself… listening
all at once to the highest metaphysical teaching.”21
Finally, replying in 1942 to friends and family who had asked:
“Well, why did you do all that?” she replied:
“Three riddles confront us: the world, ourselves, and God. By its
loveable beauty and its wonders, the world attracts us long before
we come to feel it has a hidden meaning: we start out to study and
conquer it, demanding what response it can give to our deepest
desires. But the world with its countless aspects cannot give us the
fundamental answer: only God can. And God can be met nowhere
but in ourselves. This truth everyone must discover for himself. Our
deepest demands are alive because of a silent soul within us and they
will be answered if we can only release that soul. In so many it has
become paralysed through lack of use. The power to cure that paralysis
lies in the heart and not in the mind. I don’t say this because I have
been told so, but because I have found it to be true. Out of all that I
have seen and known, this seems to me the most important fact, the
sum of my discoveries.
“Today I feel at home anywhere, and, though I live by myself, I
can nevermore suffer from loneliness. Here in India I have started on
a new journey which, I know, will take me further than before towards
the perfect life I was instinctively seeking. I began this journey by
exploring the unmapped territory of my own mind and now, in the
light of what living sages teach today, it takes me forward to a Reality
so wonderful that to love and obey it is the greatest adventure and the
greatest happiness there is.”22 
(to be continued)

20
Croisieres et Caravanes, Chap. XIV, (French Ed., 1951), trans. Marye Tonnaire.
21
Ti-Puss, William Heinemann, London, 1951, p.10.
22
Cruises and Caravans, London, J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd, 1942, p.154.

94 April - June
My Experiences
with Bhagavan

Janaki Murali

I grew up with Bhagavan, although I had never seen him. My parents

were devotees of Janaki Matha, an ardent devotee of Ramana. All my
summer vacations were spent at the Janaki Matha Ashram in Thanjavur
and I grew up reciting the Upadeśa Sāram and the Śrī Aruṇācala
Akṣaramaṇamālai. My first visit to Ramana Ashram was as a teenager,
when my parents took my brothers and me to Tiruvannamalai. It must
have been 1975 or so.
My next visit was nearly 10 years later, when I visited with
my husband and two young children. We had driven all the way
from Hyderabad. We didn’t know anyone and hadn’t booked any
accommodation either. But the ashram officials were very gracious
and gave us accommodation in the cool environs of the former Morvi
guesthouse, with its delightful library on the first and second floor.
After that, we kept going back. We often stayed at the Korangu
Thottam, with the monkeys begging for biscuits and bananas from the
children. We also stayed at the newer and greener Mourvi guesthouse
or sometimes at the multistoried guesthouse behind the German
bakery; or at the ashram guesthouse near the post office.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
The shrill call of the peacocks in the morning was the best alarm
ever for our city bred family. The peacocks were a major fascination
for our children and they would run after them, watching them or
clicking pictures with them.
I have spent many peaceful hours reading in the ashram library.
Sometimes I would just vegetate and watch life go by as I sipped
steaming filter coffee at the coffee stall opposite the ashram. During
each visit to the Ashram, I would learn something more about
Bhagavan’s grace through the sharing of spiritual experiences with
other Ramana devotees from around the world.
The Arunachala Hill always held me in thrall. My husband and
children trekked right up to the top of the Hill once, and returned
exhausted and dehydrated, as they had not carried enough water. The
treks to Skanda Ashram and Virupaksha Cave were many, each adding
to the varied moods of the Arunachala Hill. I watched as the Hill
transformed from barren black to dry brown to the plush, undulating
green of today, following the afforestation efforts of volunteers. What
always took my breath away was the magnificent view from Skanda
Ashram of the four gopurams of Periya Kovil (the great temple)
and the cluster of houses in the town below. Every time I visited the
ashram, I would look out for the splendorous, blue Arunachala Hill,
knowing that if I saw it, we were not far away from the ashram.
The girivalam1 has always fascinated me. The peace and calm of
walking around the Arunachala Hill at night; in the quiet of a town
gone to sleep; watching the sunrise over the hill; as morning sounds
invade the silence and sleeping sadhus wake up groggily to their
day. I have always been awed by the tens of thousands of pilgrims
doing girivalam during full moon days, walking barefoot, as they
sing odes to Siva and stop and rest at wayside shrines on the long
14.5 kilometre walk.
So much has Bhagavan become part of our lives, that when our son
and daughter went to the UK to do their post-graduation, we went to
Ramana Ashram to get their passports and travel papers blessed at the
shrine. When my daughter got married, we sent the first invitation to

1
Girivalam is the Tamil word for circumambulation of the Annamalai hill. The
Sanskrit term is Giri Pradakshina.

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 MY EXPERIENCES WITH BHAGAVAN
Ramana Ashram. When I wrote my first novel, I took the manuscript
to get it blessed by Bhagavan, The Colour of Dawn later got published
by HarperCollins. My husband and I marked our 60th birthdays at
the Ramana Ashram. Then there was the joy of participating in the
Navaratri pujas and various other pujas at the ashram.
The meditation room has always been one of my favourite places.
To the sounds of the mellifluous chanting of the Vedas floating in from
the Hall, I would sit quietly, asking questions of Bhagavan, which he
always answered.
During one such meditation sitting, I had a strange experience. I
had no sense of my body or of the others sitting around me. Bhagavan
took me on a journey through a deep tunnel and through a well-lit
pathway high up in the sky, which was lined with sadhus squatting on
both sides, with their eyes closed. Around them floated wispy clouds.
After that experience, every time I sat in meditation, I tried to reach
that bright light at the end of the tunnel but it never happened again.
Of late, I find myself again travelling through the tunnel, but the light
is elusive, sometimes it’s just a tiny spot of moving light.
That Bhagavan’s grace followed me wherever I went, was evident
when I was on a US visit in 2000 and had a stomach flu and was
hospitalized in a New York hospital. I had forgotten to tell the doctors
that I was extremely sensitive to anesthetics, which the doctors had
added in the drips. I found myself becoming deeply drowsy. As I had
gone as a guest of the US government on an International Visitor
Leadership Programme, I told the American official from the State
Department who was with me, about my allergies and he didn’t object
as I wrenched the drips from my arm. He took me back to my hotel
room, telling me to take care.
Alone in my hotel room, I was extremely frightened that I might
drift into deep sleep, from which I might never awaken, and so rang
up an old friend of the family. As I fought my waves of drowsiness,
the friend drove me to their home in New Jersey. Lo and behold,
what should I see first in their home, but a large picture of Ramana. I
knew then that Bhagavan had stood by my side, as I battled my fears
of dying alone in a strange place.
As I moved closer and closer to Bhagavan, my mother was
concerned that I was moving away from Janaky Matha, our family

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guru. Once, when I was sitting in meditation, Janaky Matha came
to me and I felt her telling me, “You’ve gone directly to the source.
Bhagavan is my guru, so don’t worry.” I related this experience to my
mother, who was at peace after that. When she passed away in March
2017, it was to Bhagavan, I turned again to find closure, and I found
it once again in the meditation room in Ramana Ashram.
I often wonder what he has designed for me for the rest of my life,
but I know that wherever I am, my heart will always be in Arunachala
and resting at the Lotus feet of Bhagavan. 

Meditation
Neelam

A man asked me over tea in the old dining hall,

“How much do you meditate?”
I hesitated, and finally said, “Not much.”
What I wanted to tell him was that
My meditation is
the slowly drifting cloud across Arunachala,
In the golden evening light glowing Arunachala,
In the swirling mist caressing the crest of Arunachala,
In the subtle gaze rewarded by a glimpse of the aura of Arunachala.
My meditation is
in the conscious tread on the sacred hill in the rustling breeze,
passing the butterflies flitting around,
standing still
to cock an ear to the bird song and the chorus of the crickets,
to behold the lofty crags and boulders as sacred sentinels.
My meditation is
in deep gratitude and constant awareness of being in His abode,
to tread the hallowed ground He trod,
surrounded by sacred sounds and sights in the company
of aspiring, inspiring worthy souls.
All of it is worship to Thee, My Lord.

98 April - June
Maha Bhakta
Vijayam
Chapter Twelve
Kabir Takes His Wife to the Merchant

Nabaji Siddha

K abir’s hospitality to sadhus gradually eroded the wealth Tamal

had earned for his son. The household was running only on the
meagre earnings of Kabir as a weaver. One day, he could not sell his
cloth and there was nothing left in the house to feed the family. To
test Kabir’s love for sadhus and uphold his glory, the Lord took the
form of a sadhu and reached Kabir’s house accompanied by a hundred
sadhus. Addressing Kabir, he said, “O virtuous one! We have had no
alms since sunrise. We are all very hungry. As we know that you are
generous and known for your hospitality to sadhus, we have come to
you. Will you arrange for our food as speedily as possible and appease
the fire in our stomach?”
For Kabir, it was imperative to make every necessary arrangement
and secure the required provisions. Turning to his wife, Kabir said,
“O my beloved companion, we are forlorn that we are not able to feed
our aged parents. But that is no reason to remain helpless now when
devotees have come to our door. It is the bounden duty of a householder
to show hospitality to whoever comes to his door, by any means, be it

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begging, borrowing or stealing. If there are any articles in the house,
please sell them and buy groceries.”
She replied, “O my master, do I ever hide any article from your
sight in the house? We cannot put our house for sale to raise the
wherewithal to serve these sadhus, as it is already under mortgage.
Even the few grains of gold in my matrimonial thread have been
similarly disposed of for the same.
“Now, something strikes me, O, the Lord of my life! There is a
merchant in the next street, who throws small stones at me to draw my
attention, whenever I pass by and says, ‘O gorgeous woman! If you
consent to spend one night with me, I will supply you with all provisions.’
“If we avail of the opportunity now, you will be freed of your
worry and we can also feed the sadhus sumptuously. Please don’t look
at it as a disgraceful act, for we know from the scriptures that King
Harishchandra sold his wife and son, and himself became a bonded
slave to an outcaste, for the sake of dharma.”
Listening to the noble woman, Kabir embraced her and kissing
her with great affection, said, “O crown jewel among women! O
blemishless one, O unparalleled in virtues, abode of excellent merits,
O lamp of my lineage, O radiant one, O inexhaustible fragrance, you
are the nectar of my life! You are an exalted woman, your words of
purity have gladdened my heart and saved me from embarrassment.
You have found a way to adhere to dharma. The house in which resides
a harmonious and supportive wife, is verily a garden filled with wish-
fulfilling trees and celestial cows. O holiest of the holy, wisest among
the wise, can anything be lacking in my life when I have you as my
life partner? Let us make haste and alleviate the pangs of hunger of
our guests, parents and children.”
Sundara took her husband to the shop and pointed out the grocer
who had made passes at her. Approaching him, Kabir said, “You seem
to hanker after my wife and desire to spend a night with her. In return,
will you give me enough provisions to feed one hundred sadhus, who
have come to my house?”
The man, blinded by carnal desire, eagerly agreed to the proposal.
He felt like he had come upon a precious ruby on the street.
Shamelessly, he told Kabir, “For spending a night with her, I will
supply you with groceries sufficient to feed even two hundred sadhus!”

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 KABIR TAKES HIS WIFE TO THE MERCHANT
However, Kabir collected enough groceries only for a hundred
sadhus and promised to send Sundara to him after she finished
preparing and serving the sadhus. And he could keep her for the whole
night and send her back the next morning.
Hurrying Sundara to complete the cooking as fast as possible,
he served food to all. Then he looked at his parents and said, “You
continue to look after the sadhus. I have to finish a little business with
the grocer. I will be back soon and participate in devotional singing.”
He asked Sundara to dress up in her finery and then walked her
to the merchant’s house. Meantime, the merchant had his bedroom
decorated and waited, wearing fine clothes, for Sundara. When the
couple arrived, he offered a garland to Kabir.
Kabir said, “O man of great merit! My mind would have been
wearied, unable to find a way to repay your kindness, but for this
chance you have afforded me to bring some joy to you. Accept this
woman whom you desire so much. O noble woman, please conduct
yourself in a way that will give him no cause for complaint.”
Leaving Sundara with the grocer, Kabir left for his home to
discharge his service to the sadhus and engage in bhajan.
The merchant’s state was like that of a lame man wishing to taste
honey on a tree or a miser longing to attain heaven. Indeed, he was
like Keechaka lusting after Draupadi.
Overcome by lust, the lowly man addressed Sundara, “O beloved,
O adorable woman! Why do you keep standing, hurting your tender
feet? Let me close the door.”
As soon as he closed the door to the bedroom, there was a pounding
on the door. The Lord, in the form of a night watchman kicking the
door, cried in fury, “O crook, evil-doer, depraved to take another man’s
wife, I will teach you a lesson!”
The merchant jumped back in shock. Asking Sundara to hide under
the bed, he opened the door cautiously. Finding no one outside, he
closed it with relief. Instantly, another heavy pounding was heard
accompanied by abuses! Stricken with fear, he came out and looked
around. Finding no one again, he returned to the room and approached
Sundara with wicked intention.
The Lord, disguised as the watchman, crashed open the door, and
jumping on the merchant, pushed him down on the ground, kicked

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him and showered blows on him. The Lord said, “O monstrous sinner!
The life partner of sadhus or Sadguru is to be looked upon as one’s
mother. I am going to pluck out your eyes, which looked upon this
noble woman with lust. I will sever your arms which longed to touch
her with evil desire. I will behead you now!” By then, the grocer had
fainted with fright and from the forceful blows dealt on him.
Dragging Sundara by the hand, the Lord took her home and
pushed her into the house. After creating a storm of rain and wind,
He disappeared. Sundara was inconsolable, “Alas, great harm and
humiliation has befallen the grocer who helped us out with feeding
sadhus. Now, how shall I repair the unnecessary blame that has arisen?
How will I apprise my husband of the happenings? He will be put
out with my return.”
While she waited with dread pounding her heart, Kabir, who was
serving the sadhus, was taken aback to see her standing inside the
house. Mistaking that she had run away from the situation, he hurled
abuses at her wrathfully, “O destroyer of family honour, don’t you
know that breach of promise is a terrible sin? How dare you come here,
cheating the merchant of his due? You have broken my promise and
have thus brought infamy to my long cherished austerity. A faithful
wife considers her husband’s words as divine commandment. For the
sake of truth, Lord Siva was on the run to escape Bhasmasura: a great
hero, like Harishchandra was ready to sell his wife, Dasaratha, and
Karna, put their lives at stake for dharma. O betrayer, by breaking my
promise to the merchant you have reserved a place in hell for me.”
Trembling in fear and bowing at his feet, Sundara said, “O Swami,
parents are the Lord for a good son; Guru is the supreme Lord for
a good disciple; justice is the deity to be worshipped by a righteous
ruler; a good son reveres the words of his parents as Vedas; a good
disciple obeys the words of his Guru as supreme dharma. Similarly,
being well aware that for a chaste wife, her husband is the supreme
deity, will I disobey your words even if death stares at me? As soon
as you left me there, the kotwal (the watchman of the town) came,
banged the door, attacked the merchant, and then dragged me home
forcibly. I was helpless. Please do not be annoyed with me!”
Hearing her loud wail, the sadhus and Kabir’s parents gathered
around and asked the reason. In great anger, Kabir seized a stick and

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 KABIR TAKES HIS WIFE TO THE MERCHANT
set out with Sundara to deal with the watchman, saying, “When I have
sent my wife, of my own accord, to the merchant, who is this kotwal
to interfere? I cannot rest until I thrash him for his impudence.”
Reaching the door of the kotwal at midnight, he banged open
his door and said, “O villain! It was my wish to leave my wife with
the grocer for the night. Who are you to interfere and beat him up
mercilessly on this account? I challenge you to come out this moment,
if not I will thrash you, your wife and all your children with this stick.
Do you all want a taste of death?”
The poor watchman, arising from his sleep and shaking with fear
at the thunderous voice of Kabir, came out instantly. Falling at Kabir’s
feet, he said, “O Swami, protect me. Why do you attack an innocent
like me? I am ignorant of your accusations. I don’t even know what
took place with your wife or the merchant. I am not to be blamed for
any of these things.”
Dragging the kotwal along, they all reached the grocer who was
lying in unconscious state. They helped him to recover. Alas, on seeing
the kotwal, he started shaking in fear and crying in alarm, “Oh, you
have come back again to kill me.” He dropped down in a faint again.
Livid with rage, Kabir turned to the kotwal, “You liar, these two
are witnesses to your atrocious act. Now I will not spare your life.”
As he raised the stick at the watchman, lo and behold! the Lord was
standing beside the kotwal with a smile on his lips.
“O irate Kabir! That kotwal is not to be blamed, this kotwal
(pointing to Himself) is responsible for the thrashing. Therefore, the
stick which you raised against him should land on me to quench your
ire.” Then, bending forward, He showed His back to Kabir, ready to
receive blows.
Flustered at the development, Kabir threw away the stick and fell at
the feet of the Lord and said ruefully, “O Lord, Refuge of the helpless!
For my sake, You assumed the guise of a watchman and punished the
grocer. How blessed is the merchant to be the recipient of blows and
kicks from Your gracious hands. O, what supreme merits he must have
accrued from past lives! Won’t You deign to deal a blow on me also
and sanctify my birth? How can one understand Your strange sport?
You, before whom the mightiest gods and universes kneel, stand
bending Your head before me! Moved by compassion for Sundara,

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You ran to her rescue and waited on her in the middle of the night!
How fortunate she is!”
The Lord replied, “O Kabir, your behaviour is outrageous! In this
world, a husband will not hesitate to kill if someone even touches his
wife. Have you no sense of self-respect? What kind of husband are
you? Even for a good cause, how can you trade your wife’s chastity
and send her to another forcibly?
“Now, you may come out with the cases of Lord Siva and king
Raghu who acted similarly. You should know that those culprits didn’t
stop at merely harbouring evil desire, they brazenly asked for their
consorts as boons. Anyway, you are all possessed by strange madness!
In your case, the merchant didn’t approach you for any such favours.
You traded your wife, as noble as Arundhati, just for a few measures
of grains! O wise sadhus, have you ever heard of a husband sending
his wife to a debauchee to feed the sadhus?”
”Beloved Lord,” Kabir said, “can an ignorant man like me defeat
You in debate? The dualities of ‘I, you, my honour, your honour’ etc.
belong to the play of Your maya. What have I got to do with worldly
norms? Are Your servants, the recipients of Your grace, also afflicted
by pairs of opposites like the worldly people enmeshed in delusion?
“Should I go on recounting Your deceitful exploits? But, You have
the privilege to say, ‘He who has dissolved the mystery of life is not
assailed by dualities of honour and dishonour; he whose desires are
set to naught is not assailed by shame and self-respect.’ I can also
apply the same logic!
“My question, however, is why did You harm the merchant who
helped me with sadhu-feeding? Why have You made me a liar? I took
my wife willingly to him and what is his fault in this?”
“O Kabir, if this grocer had touched your wife, the fire of her
purity would have instantly turned him to ashes. Was I at fault in
preventing such a calamity on him who supported your hospitality?
You made this bargain with him, because he nourished such a sinful
desire for your wife!
“If you touch fire, it is sure to burn you. Just because you gifted your
own lamp to someone, is it going to spare him if he kisses the flame?
Coveting the neighbour’s wife is held as a terrible sin, so he would
have come to great grief; never is such a person uplifted. Nahusha

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 KABIR TAKES HIS WIFE TO THE MERCHANT
met his downfall and was reborn as a python for coveting Indra’s
wife. The scriptures narrate innumerable tortures and sufferings for
an adulterer. If I had not stepped in, while he helped you to attain
great merit, you would have earned him purgatory!”
“O Lord! He was fortunate to have Your darshan and chastisement
at Your holy hands. He cannot go to hell. However, tell me how am
I to redeem my promise to the merchant?”
“O Kabir,” said the Lord, “you have, besides Sundara, another
beautiful damsel called mukti i.e. liberation. Why don’t you reward
the merchant with the delights of her company? With mere intention,
you can redeem an evil doer and grant him a higher world.” With
these consoling words, the Lord disappeared.
The merchant washed the feet of Kabir and Sundara with tears
of remorse. He begged, “O Sadguru, please don’t look upon me as
a sinner. Give me refuge and redeem me. O mother, I wonder how
my eyes, which feasted on your beauty with evil intentions, have
not yet turned blind. It is the fire of your chastity that keeps the sea
within limits and makes the sun rise daily without fail. O crown jewel
of humanity, your patience is vaster than the sky. Your greatness
summoned the Lord himself in a trice. O mother, please forgive my
offence and protect me from harm.”
Sundara casting her gracious look on him, blessed him with exalted
devotion. Turning her beautiful eyes towards Kabir, she prayed to
him with folded palms, “O Lord of my life, it is like the bridegroom
turning into a son, he has become our child seeking refuge in you. Be
compassionate and take him under your wings of protection.”
Kabir wrote the redeeming mantra on his tongue and blessed him,
“May you become desireless!” Destroying his negative tendencies,
Kabir pointed out the path to damsel mukti and bade him revel in
her company.
When Kabir returned home with his wife he marveled at the scene
that met his eyes. The Lord, assuming his divine form, awaited Kabir
in the company of Narada and other celestial sages. He adored the Lord
with praises and danced in ecstasy. The Lord said, “O Kabir, I sought
you out in the company of these sages to exemplify your steadfastness
in a householder’s dharma. I created the impulse in you to take your
wife to the merchant. Just as the celestials yielded Heaven to demon

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kings at one point of time, I had to bestow My exalted vision even
on the adulterer.”
Turning to Kabir’s parents, the Lord said, “O Tamal and Jijabibi,
holy ones! Please retire from the householder’s life, seek the solitude
of the forest and engage in meditation on Me.”
After the entourage disappeared along with the Lord, Tamal said,
“The words of Guru are to be more readily obeyed than those of
parents and saints; but the Lord’s command is supreme. Let us comply
with His wish.”
Embracing his son with much love, he imparted a few words of
advice, “Don’t ever become proud of the Lord’s frequent darshan.
Without grace of the Lord and Guru, one cannot be free from bondage.
All other paths of yoga and meditation, mantra and tantra cannot take
one to the ultimate on their own. Only by Guru’s grace, the mind turns
to the spiritual path.
“Some look at this perishable body as a corpse in the deep sleep
state, but not in the waking state, because they wrongly identify with
the body, the storehouse of all impurities, as their real Self. Enamoured
by the body, they seek pleasures to gratify it; then overcome by disease,
they become prey to death.
“After death, they hang their heads in shame before the Judge,
again take birth, are lost in play during childhood, blinded by passion
in youth, entrapped by worldly enjoyments, and turn away from
the knowledge of the Eternal. On reaching old age, once again they
become the possession of death. Thus, jivas are tossed by the storms
of life like dry leaves blown hither and thither by the wind, not tiring
of riding on this endless giant wheel of transmigration.
“For them it is always too early to take to the spiritual path, either
of knowledge or devotion. Enmeshed in attachment and desire, they
believe only in what they see or hear; the experience of their senses is
the reality for them. They deny anything that lies beyond the body-mind-
sense complex. Maya is revolving on its wheel eternally and samsara
is endless. While this is the state of affairs with worldly people, what
avail is it, even if the Lord appears to them dozens of time in a day?
“O incomparable son! The displeasure of the Lord can be dispelled
by the grace of the Sadhguru, but if one displeases the Guru, there is
no redemption. The nature of Sadhguru can be comprehended only by
worthy disciples. He remains always absorbed in the Self, oblivious of

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the external world; he is verily the Brahman. We hear of the magnitude
of sin one incurs by betraying the Guru, but not so much of the severity
of offences committed against the Lord or one’s parents. This goes to
highlight the supremacy of the Guru in one’s life. Why so?
“Because the Guru is the one who points out the way to cross this
endless sea of samsara and unravels the mystery of life and death. He
initiates the soul, inspires him or her to develop dispassion, engages
them in spiritual practices and teaches the way to surrender. By his
grace, we learn to revere him, cut asunder the bondage of life and taste
the nectar of immortality. It is a pity that one is immersed in the pursuit
of insipid sense pleasures, but not in serving the feet of the Guru.
“How short sighted is man, to be lost in transient joys which last
only till one’s last breath! Can you conceive of enjoying these petty
pleasures when in a faint or in a mad state? At the time of death, the
welfare of the soul is more crucial than that of the body. Why doesn’t
man seek it now itself when he has the strength of body and mind?
“When you are possessed by desire it leads to rebirth; when you
are obsessed with otherness or duality, it is akin to death. He who
knows this truth will seek solitude in the forest and abide one-pointedly
in contemplation of the Self. Nothing will be lacking for him who
pursues such a life.
“The superconscious state can be attained only by stilling the
mind into silence. It is the power of the Guru that makes the mind
motionless, bereft of waves of desire. The all-merciful Guru reveals
the non-dual state as clearly as a fruit in the palm of the hand.
“What fitting gratitude can ever be adequate to the supreme Guru?
How can one recompense this favour of all favours? The simple
answer is that there is no way to recompense the Guru for taking the
disciple to immortality. Losing oneself in his service is preferable to
abidance in the superconscious state in solitude. Even then, you are
forever in his debt. The supreme Guru is equal to the supreme Lord.
Behold, the Lord has appeared again, Kabir!”
Holding the hands of both parents, Kabir said, “O beloved parents
who sustained me with your toil and sweat! How will I bear your
absence? Who else but the Lord can make the supreme state accessible
to us? Because He is present everywhere, why should you go to the
forest?”

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MOUNTAIN PATH
Consoling his son, Tamal replied, “Though He is everywhere, this
world is not the same as the next. Similarly, living in solitude in the
forest to attain the goal is not the same as being in the city.”
Blessing his son with all well-being, Tamal got ready to leave with
Jijabibi for a life of seclusion and contemplation.
Their parting was very touching. Jijabibi embraced Sundara
lovingly and shed tears of affection. The Divine Couple Sri Ram
and Sita also joined them, feeling the pangs of separation as if they
were part of the same family. By now, the people of Varanasi, friends
and relatives and even birds and beasts gathered there. The scene of
farewell was highly charged with emotion.
Soon Lord Viswanatha of Varanasi along with his consort Mother
Vishalakshi joined them and said, “O Hari, O Mother Sita, what a
captivating play of maya is this? You have not only cast the spell
of illusion on them, you act as if you are also enslaved by its spell,
shedding copious tears at this parting! Is this intriguing play of yours,
meant for the joy of the celestials, or for me or for Tamal? O Kabir,
being a sadhu, why are you grief stricken?” Lord Hari kept silent with
an enigmatic smile on His face.
Kabir’s eyes flew open on hearing Lord Siva and he looked around
for his parents. Assuming that they had already left, Kabir was again
assailed by deep emotion.
Then the Lord Hari came forward and said, “O Kabir, they have not
gone to the forest, they have merged in Me. They were Our aspects.
I was your father and Lakshmi was your mother. Without knowing
this, you took them for ordinary mortals. Now behold Us in the form
of your parents.”
The Lord and His consort appeared as Tamal and Jijabibi and all
were astonished at the sight. Lord Siva was also spellbound by the
charming sport of Lord Hari. Kabir realized that it was ignorant to
grieve for the loss of parents when the Divine Couple themselves
had come as his parents. Kabir prostrated to Lord Siva and Mother
Vishalakshi and sang their praises. They blessed him to be immersed
in the bliss of the Self always. All the Divine forms vanished.
Kabir spent a sleepless night thinking of the day’s events and
restless at the separation from his parents. The next day, he went to the
ashram of Swami Ramananda and felt consoled in his benign presence.
(to be continued) 
108 April - June
Sonasaila Malai
Song Garland to the Red Mountain

Sivaprakasa Swamigal
Translated by Robert Butler

The biography of Sivaprakasa Swamigal continued.

I n return for the instruction given to him by Velliyambala

Tambiran, the head of Dharmapuram Athinam Math in Tirunelveli,
Sivaprakasa offered to Tambiran as guru dakshina the 300 gold
coins which Reddiyar had given them to finance their trip. Tambiran
refused, requesting Sivaprakasa to go instead to Tirucendur and defeat
in a contest of prosody a Tamil scholar with whom he was having
a bitter feud and thus deflate that scholar’s arrogance. Sivaprakasa
accordingly proceeded to Tirucendur and met up with the scholar
in question whilst circumambulating the temple there. Both agreed
to undertake a contest in which each would compose verses which
contained no consonants (p,m,v) or vowels (u, o), in which the lips are
closed or rounded. Sivaprakasa accordingly composed the nīrōṭṭaka
yamaka antāti, consisting of a kāppu – dedication and 31 verses in
the kaṭṭaḷai-k-kali-tuṟai metre. This verse form presents additional
difficulties in that in each verse the first foot of every line must be

Robert Butler devotes his time to the translation of Tamil classical and spiritual
texts. He has published a grammatical commentary on Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu. This
and other transaltions are available for online preview, purchase or download
at the following link: http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=1212666.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
identical in form but different in meaning and also, being an antāti,
there must be a repetition of all or part of the final foot of each verse
in the initial foot of the following one. The following is one of the
verses from that composition.
kaṇakkāka nāykaṭiṇ kāya nilaiyeṉak kaṇṇiyeṉṉa
kaṇakkāka nāṉalain teyttē ṉeḻiṟcentiṟ kantaneṟṟik
kaṇakkāka ṉārtanta niṉṟaṉai yēyiṉik kātaliṉāṟ
kaṇakkā kaṉānikart tēyaḻi yaṅkattiṉ kātalaṟṟē.
Thinking that the body, which is nought but food for hordes
of crows and dogs, was real and enduring, to what end did I
suffer and grow weary? Skanda, Lord of Tirucendur, may you,
whom He fathered, whose body is clad in bones and who bears
an eye in his forehead, vouchsafe me your protection, so that
henceforth I may in devotion dwell upon you alone, freed from
this love for the impermanent body, which is like a dream.i
His opponent, however, was unable to complete a single verse,
admitted defeat and swore allegiance to Sivaprakasa, who in turn took
him to pay homage to Tambiran. Subsequently Sivaprakasa, on the
advice of Tambiran, went to Chidambaram and spent some time there.
(The biography will be continued in Part Four)
********
In this world that the vast ocean girds,
where waves, white crested, surge,
I shall never forget you
serenely dwelling there, as true devotees
your noble form adorn
with choice fresh blooms a mountain high,
and thus to that old proverb give the lie.1
i
kāyam nilai eṉa kaṇṇi – Thinking [to be] enduring the body, kaṇa kāka nāykaḷ
ṭiṇ – [which] hordes of crows [and] dogs [are destined] to eat, eṉṉa kaṇakkāka
nāṉ alaintu eyttēṉ – to what purpose, suffering, did I grow weary? eḻil centil kanta
– Fair Skanda of Tiru-c-centūr, neṟṟi kaṇ akku ākaṉār tanta – whom He with an
eye [in his] forehead [and] a body [clad in] bones fathered, kā – protect [me],
niṉ taṉaiyē iṉi kātaliṉāl kaṇa – so that henceforth I may in love dwell upon you
alone, aṅkattiṉ kātal aṟṟē – free of love for the body, kaṉā nikarttē aḻi – [which is
destined to] perish, resembling a dream.
1
According to both Tamil commentators the proverb being referred to here is malai

110 April - June

 SONASAILA MALAI
As your fair form,
with verdant creepers
encompassed all about,
casts forth its comely shadow
so that men proclaim,
‘Upon the pure, white moon,
there lies a stain!’2
you gloriously stand and shine,
Lord Sonasailan! Kailash’s Lord! (30)

Mounted on a prancing steed

of finest golden hue,
though you came
hurling well-honed missiles
with your delicate lotus hand,3
how is it then
that still the fearsome tiger
of this sensate world
for me you have not slain?

aḷavu cuvāmikku malai aḷavu mālaiyā – Does a god a mountain high need a garland
a mountain high also? The remark is probably aimed at those who overindulge
in shows of piety. Another proverb in the same vein is malai aḷavu cuvāmikku
kaḍugu aḷavu kaṟpūram – For a god a mile high a piece of camphor the size of
a mustard seed will suffice. The idea expressed in the verse is that, in the case of
Sōṇasailaṉ, his devotees are so numerous and so devoted that they actually do
fashion a garland as high as the mountain itself.
2
The conceit is that Sōṇasailaṉ is so high that the shadow of his peak will fall upon
the moon. There are of course visible marks on the moon, which are traditionally
recognised as being in the form of a hare, but these are hardly visible when the
full moon is shining with its full brilliance. Thus for the purposes of this verse the
moon’s face is taken to be clear and bright until notionally touched by the shadow
of the mountain’s peak.
3. Lord Śiva is here being described as a hunter, a role which he famously takes in
the Mahābhārata, when he takes on the appearance of the hunter, Kirāta, and fights
with Arjuna. There is also an instance in the Tamil Aruṇācala Purāṇam where Śiva
appears to Brahmā in the company of Parvatī with the Four Vedas as his hounds.
On that occasion his mission is to cure the infatuation of Brahmā with the beautiful
apsara Tilottamā, whom he, Brahmā, has created to ensnare the other gods at
the request of Indra, but with whom he himself accidentally becomes infatuated.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
The shade cast by your trunk and feet
reaches all the oceans seven,
whilst the shadow of your mighty head,
towering up into the heavens,
runs, the outer ocean,
wide and vast, to meet,4
Lord Sonasailan! Kailash’s Lord! (31)5

Even if you do not inspire me to sing,

feeding me with the milk
of Unnamulai Uma’s breast,
She who is all that is,6
or even if you torture me
with gout and colic and all the rest,
4
According to Puranic cosmography the entire cosmos is divided into seven
concentric island continents (sapta dvīpa vasumati) separated by the seven
encircling oceans, each double the size of the preceding one (going out from
within). The seven continents of the Purāṇas are stated as Jambūdvīpa, Plakśadvīpa,
Salmalidvīpa, Kuśadvīpa, Krauñcadvīpa, Śākadvīpa, and Puṣkaradvīpa. The seven
intermediate oceans consist of salt water, sugarcane juice, wine, ghee, curd, milk
and water respectively.
5
This verse echoes the sentiment of verse 2 of the author’s composition Nālvar nāṉ
maṇi mālai – Jewel Garland upon the Four, ‘the Four’ being the three Tēvāram
authors and Māṇikkavācakar, who are traditionally referred to in this way as being
the four greatest of the Tamil bhakti poet-saints.
King of poets, you who adorn [the Lord] with garlands of words that are
the cause of liberation! What does it matter whether the mighty One who
dances in Tillai’s golden hall bestows upon one of you the ambrosia of true
knowledge, but afflicts the other, as he once did you, with an intestinal colic
never before seen in the land? In your hymns you and he both praise him in
exactly the same way.
The reference of course is to Appar and Jñānasambandhar, who were willing to
receive the Lord’s grace in whatever way he chose to bestow it. See notes 6 and 7.
6
The reference is to the famous incident in the life of Jñānasambandhar when Śiva
and Parvatī appeared to him as a child when he was hungry and Śiva requested
Parvatī to feed him with milk from her breast in a golden dish. When his father
asked him who had given the milk, he pointed to the sky and sang the patikam
which begins tōḍu uḍaiya ceviyaṉ – He wears an ear-jewel in one ear. This incident
marks the conferring of the Lord’s grace and divine wisdom upon the child, who

112 April - June

 SONASAILA MALAI
that I may, by your grace,
sing your praise, is my one request.7
Herds of deer too numerous to count
surround you, leaping all about,
reflecting thus,
‘If he adopts his ancient form again
he’ll not want the deer he abandoned then,
but will choose another amongst us,’8
Lord Sonasailan! Kailash’s Lord! (32)

Grant me the great felicity

of bowing at their holy feet,
and offering my service
to devotees of yours who’re steeped
in the highest form of bliss in which
desire and aversion both have ceased.
The torrents of compassion,
unceasing and impossible to stem,
that down your mountain flow,
are no different to them
who do not truly know,
than silvery streams that bubbling,

thereafter became known as Jñānasambandhar. It is this verse that begins the

whole Tirumuṟai collection, being the first verse of the three books composed by
Jñānasambandhar, which themselves come first in the collection.
7
In stark contrast, Śiva’s granting of grace to Appar took a very different form.
Appar had abandoned the Saivite faith and joined the Jain religion. Śiva’s response
was to afflict him with severe intestinal colic, cūlai in Tamil, until he realised his
error and returned to his former faith. This event is commemorated in the first
patikam of the first of his three Tēvāram volumes, Tirumuṟai 4-6, which begins
kūṟṟu āyiṉavāṟu vilakkakilīr – Will you not banish those things (stomach pains)
that afflict me like death?
8
Lord Śiva is often portrayed in iconography holding a deer in his hand, indicating
the controlling of the restive mind. The deer of Arunachala are fancifully imagined
to be leaping about, eagerly vying for his attention, in the hope that, when he
resumes his anthropomorphic form once more, he will choose to hold one of them,
rather than the one he had held before assuming the form of a mountain.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
down other mountains rushing go,
Lord Sonasailan! Kailash’s Lord! (33)

Since in this life you generously afford

wealth, and maidens chaste,
in whom virtue brightly shines
and beauty overflows,
whilst in the next, you to them accord
liberation’s heavenly estate,
what praise of you will learned bards
be loath to make?
In your hilly fields
the doughty mountain folk9
build lookouts,10
chopping logs of sandalwood,
and planting them for legs,
whilst on the top
they make a floor
of elephant tusks11 outspread,
Lord Sonasailan! Kailash’s Lord! (34)

Grant to me your grace that I,

your devotee, may make my way
into your holy presence where
gods embrace their lady wives
with eyes like baby mangoes sliced.12
9
Hillsmen, Tamil kuṟavar, are hill dwelling tribes, who live by hunting and hill
farming. See v. 29, note 21.
10
Lookouts, Tamil paraṉ, itaṇam are platforms, built in the branches of trees, on
high rocks or, as here, raised up on legs from ground level by hill folk and used
as lookouts from which they can watch out for incursions into their fields by
elephants, parrots and so forth. They feature in a number of Sangam Akam poems
of the kuriñci tiṇai – the hilly tracts.
11
Sandalwood and ivory are of course very valuable commodities and would never
be used for such a purpose. The idea here is that on Sōṇasailaṉ these things are so
plentiful that there is no problem in so employing them.
12
poḻntiḍum vaḍu kaṇ – eyes [like] sliced green mangoes. It is a poetic convention
to refer to women’s eyes in this way. A vaḍu is an unripe, green mango in the early

114 April - June

 SONASAILA MALAI
In reverence they shrink away,
at a stroke from august Nandi’s stave,13
then all around you press again.
Like a mother, when her heart melts
as her eyes upon her bonny infant rest
and she pours forth milk
in plenty from her breast,
as devotees [around you] prostrating go,
your streams [of grace] upon them flow,
Lord Sonasailan! Kailash’s Lord! (35)

Rama with his arrow true14

went the evil rule to oppose
that on Lanka’s isle arose,
then came with deep devotion
those feet with sounding anklets
to worship and adore.
[Is it any wonder then that]
such feet as these, I fear to implore?
That no parallel might e’er be drawn
with any smaller mountain’s form,
you chose in your shape to suggest
your consort Parvati’s15 ample breast.

stage of growth, shortly after the flower has fallen. This stage of growth is called
the piñcu, in which the mango has a somewhat elongated, sinuous form, which
resembles the eye, particularly when sliced lengthwise to expose the white flesh.
Tamil distinguishes this from the kāy, which is used to describe the fruit when it
is almost fully grown and the paḻam, the fully ripe, sweet fruit.
13
Nandi, imagined in semi-human form, is Lord Śiva’s gatekeeper on mount Kailash,
here pictured wielding his staff to control the crowds of lesser deities who seek
audience with the divine couple, Śiva and Parvatī.
14
The person referred to here is of course Rāma of the Rāmāyaṇa who is said to
have worshipped Śiva at Rameswaram on his return from Lanka after defeating
the demon Rāvaṇa, although some claim that this incident is not recorded in the
Valmiki Rāmāyaṇa itself but only in later traditions.
15
Parvatī is referred to here as malai māṉ – the deer-like maiden of the mountain, as
being the daughter of Himavat, the personification of the Himalaya mountain range.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
Thus waxing great, on high you soar,
Lord Sonasailan! Kailash’s Lord! (36)
Thinking that the [other] gods,
were really gods,
unable as they were,
to save themselves
from whirling births,
they did not the shelter seek
of you who are ambrosia sweet.
For those of true knowledge all devoid,
can the ills of birth e’er be destroyed?
From your mountain caves,
as a dark cloud passes by outside,
lions, to pounce, rush swifty out,
thinking that an elephant is about,
then hurry back, their shame to hide,
Lord Sonasailan! Kailash’s Lord! (37)
Whether my body stays
whilst aeons of time pass away,
or in the twinkling of any eye
doth fail and die,
‘tis well with me,
as long as I may stay, a devotee,
at the lotus flowers of your feet.
As it climbs on high, the rising Sun
recalls the infant Murugan,
clambering up [his father’s breast]
babbling child’s talk, sweet and dear
as jewels glint
on pointed spear,16
Lord Sonasailan! Kailash’s Lord! (38)
16
pūṇ tayaṅgu ayil vēl – with a sharp spear [on which] jewels shine. The sun rising
up over the slopes of the mountain is compared to Śiva’s younger son, Murugan,
as a young child, climbing up his father’s chest, grasping his spear, holding which
he is almost invariably portrayed. His vēl – spear, javelin is often golden in colour
with a blade set with jewels.

116 April - June

 SONASAILA MALAI
Men beg of you to come,
mounted on your speedy bull,
to bring birth to an end.
So let them beg, but as for me,
poor wretch, what I request
is birth itself in which I may adorn
you with flowery garlands
replete with honeyed Tamil words.17
As Sun and Moon hang in the sky
above the Mountains East and West18
it’s as if you laid an offering pole19
down upon the ground, adorned
with jewelled pots at either end,
and stood up tall between the two,
Lord Sonasailan! Kailash’s Lord! (39)

All the space within my heart

I gave to girls with tender breasts
adorned with jewellery of gold,
set with shining gems and pearls.
Yet for you, who are to devotees
the apple of their eye, offering
them in grace a never-ending feast,
no place at all for you to live
however small, could I give.
17
A similar sentiment is expressed by Appar in the following Tēvāram verse: The
curving eyebrows;/ the gentle smile upon lips red as the scarlet gourd;/ the sleek,
matted locks;/ the body, coral red, smeared with milk-white ash;/ the raised foot
delicately poised –/ he who has the good fortune to see these/ will welcome even
human birth upon this wide earth. Appar, Tēvāram, 4:81:4
18
The Mountains East and West are the mythical mountains in the East and West
behind which the sun is said to rise and set. The scene is set in the evening on
the full moon day, the only time at which the sun sets at roughly the same time
as the moon rises.
19
kā, also kāvaḍi means an offering pole. Winslow’s dictionary gives the following
definition: ‘A pole carried on the shoulder with offerings for a temple, commonly
with some parade; also the religious mendicant’s pole which he takes from house
to house to gather offerings, etc. for the service of an idol.’

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MOUNTAIN PATH
As the venkai and kondrai,
with its blackened pods, shower down
upon the bamboo’s pure white pearls
the medallions of their golden flowers,20
the serpents, [not to be outdone], upon you
scatter cool gems from their hoods,21
Lord Sonasailan! Kailash’s Lord! (40)

To you, who to that great bard,

two matchless maids,
adorned with choicest gems
in holy marriage did grant
with gifts of horse and elephant,22
I gave no praise and wandered all bereft.23
As ripples shimmer on your wide tanks,
where lotus flowers stand in ranks,
like devotees waving arti lamps,24
you shine forth,
Lord Sonasailan! Kailash’s Lord! (41)

20
The koṉṟai tree is the Indian Laburnum. Its long cascading bunches of yellow
flowers are sacred to Lord Śiva, who is often described as wearing them. It produces
thick clusters of long seed pods, which when ripe are dark in colour with black
seeds. Here the blossoms are compared to gold coins, as if the trees were making
their equivalent of a monetary offering. Here the golden flowers are referred to
directly as poṉ – gold coins, an instance of ākupeyar – metonymy. See Kuṟuntokai,
233, which similarly compares their blossom to gold coins.
The little pits with gaping mouths, from which the yams have been rooted up,
covered over with bright koṉṟai blossoms, so that they look like the treasure
chests of the rich, lids thrown open and filled with gold coins…
21
Hooded snakes were believed to carry a precious jewel in their hoods. See
previously v. 29 and note.
22
The ‘great bard’ is Sundarar and the ‘the two matchless maids’ are Paravaiyār and
Caṅkiliyār, the two celestial handmaidens, whom, in their human incarnations,
Lord Śiva granted to him as wives. See v. 22, note 62.
23
The poet avows his own folly in not praising a Lord who has a record of generously
giving whatever is requested to deserving devotees.
24
ālatti also arati is the waving of lights, usually ghee lamps or burning camphor

118 April - June

 If you will only grasp the black
defilement of your devotee,
and place it at your sapphire throat25
with that the mighty gods
churned from the sea,
behold, your beauty by that blackness
magnified will grow, and even brighter be!
The bright effulgence that spreads
from the jewel upon Adishesha’s26 head
up through the shaft
that great and noble Boar carved out
recalls to us how young Murugan
sprang, a tiny spark, from our Lord’s brow,27
Lord Sonasailan! Kailash’s Lord! (42)

placed on a platter, before an idol or person who is being honoured. The tanks of
Aruṇācala are compared to ālatti platters, with lotuses as the flames from ghee
lamps or burning camphor, being waved in veneration of the mountain. One might
imagine that the rippling waters of the tanks and pools, gilded in the setting sun,
might easily resemble shiny salvers of beaten brass or gold.
25
maṇi miḍiṟṟu – [in your] sapphire throat. maṇi means jewel, gem, here standing
for nīla maṇi – sapphire, to which the black poison in Śiva’s throat is likened.
Hence the name nīlakaṇḍaṉ – the One with the sapphire throat.
26
aṉantaṉ maṇi oḷi piḻampu – the mass of light [from] the jewels [on the head] of
Aṉantaṉ. Aṉantaṉ – the Infinite One is the serpent Adiśeṣa, who is said to support
the world on his thousand heads. He is the king of the nāgas – serpents, who dwell
in Pātāla – the infernal regions beneath the earth. Viṣṇu, when he burrowed down
in the form of a boar, would have needed to travel that far and further if he were
to reach the Lord’s foot, thus allowing the spark from the jewels on the serpent’s
heads to travel up through the shaft thus created. Adiśeṣa is said to have 1000
jewels upon his 1000 heads, which illuminate all the regions.
27
According to the account in the Tamil Kanta Purāṇam, the gods complained to
Śiva of being harassed by the asuras and begged him to produce a child who
could vanquish them. Accordingly Lord Śiva assumed his ancient six-faced form
and produced six sparks from the third eye on each of those six heads. The gods
Vāyu and Agni carried those sparks and deposited them in the river Ganges, which
conveyed them to the Śaravaṇa lake in the Himalayas, where the six fiery sparks
were transformed into six children. Later when Parvatī grasped them to take them
home, they became a single child with six heads and twelve arms. The child was
Lord Murugan, also known as Skanda, Kārttikeya, Aṟumukaṉ, Subrahmaṇya and
other names.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
Will that day come that in delight
my eyes shall come to see
the beauty of your holy face,
your shoulders four like stony mounts,
the coiled locks that lightning plays about,
your eyes where grace abounds,
and your two holy feet?
The streams that tumble down your sides,
like music sweet of heavenly choirs28
upon your slopes resound,
as if, in love, your very form
melted to that delightful sound,
Fair Sonasailan! Kailash’s Lord! (43)

Their bodies covered thick with white

of holy ash, your devotees I saw,
and yet, like a cow that stands and dotes
upon her baby calf,
my mind refused to melt and flow
and to worship you I did not go.
Lord Sonasailan! Kailash’s Lord,
where streams rush down,
as if in anger to drive away
tigers fierce, lion and bear,
deeming it unseemly that they
upon your holy form
with such disdain should stray. (44)

(to be continued)

28
The words heavenly choirs translate the Tamil word kimpuruṭar, Sanskrit
kimpuruṣa. ‘A class of demigods, celestial lyrists, supposed to have the form of a
horse and the head of a man.’ (Tamil Lexicon)

120 April - June

BOOK REVIEWS
THE SCIENTIST AND THE SAINT The Limits
of Science and the Testimony of Sages by Avinash
Chandra. (HB) Pub. Archetype, Cambridge, UK,
2018. pp.660, approx.₹4,000/-, ₤12.81, $46. ISBN-13:
978-1901383546. www.archetype.uk.com
Once in a while one comes across a book for which
the word ‘staggering’ is an apt description. The book
staggers because of its size, 660 pages, and it weighs
in at about a kilo. This is a book meant for a long, slow read. The
range of discussion is wide and deep. The books cited and quoted are
extensive and the author’s grasp of his subject matter is impressive.
There is an extended table of contents at the very end of the book
which may help readers orientate themselves to the sheer scale of
the material. The opening chapter ‘A World At The Crossroads’, will
give the reader an overview that will ease them into the detailed but
fluent arguments the author skilfully makes. There is a modesty about
the book which is inviting and I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure,
though this is not a fast read.
The author quotes, early in the book, a statement by Richard Tarnas,
a historian of culture, which succinctly presents the challenge, “In
the combined wake of eighteenth-century philosophy and twentieth-
century science, the modern mind was left free of absolutes, but also
disconcertingly free of any solid ground. [...] A stupendous quantity
of information had become available about all aspects of life—the
contemporary world, the historical past, other cultures, other forms
of life, the subatomic world, the macrocosm, the human mind and
psyche—yet there was also less ordering vision, less coherence and
comprehension, less certainty. [...] The great revolutionary political
projects of the modern era, heralding personal and social liberation,
had gradually led to conditions in which the modern individual’s fate
was ever more dominated by bureaucratic, commercial and political
structures. Just as man had become a meaningless speck in the modern
universe, so had individual persons become insignificant ciphers in
modern states, to be manipulated or coerced by the millions.”

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Avinash Chandra presents us with two contrary arguments, the
‘traditionalist’ view and the modern worldview encapsulated by the
philosophy of science that postulates that, to put it bluntly, if something
is not quantifiable then it does not exist. The traditionalist worldview
states that the physical world we inhabit is not the only world, in
fact it is quite dense and limited. It states that there are higher more
subtle worlds beyond the limited dimensions of time and space we
presently experience. It embraces a transcendental attitude with the
implicit assumption that our purpose in life is to transcend this world
through a series of disciplines, which deepens and strengthens our
consciousness, so that we may transcend our ignorance.
It is interesting to note that Rene Guenon, the French traditionalist
(1886-1951), who was at the forefront of the intellectual challenge to
make us aware of the dangers we face from the deadly impact of modern
materialism, had a profound impact on our founding editor, Arthur
Osborne, as also on the author of this book under review.
The book is divided into four main parts: i. The Scientific View
of the World; ii. Consciousness; iii. The Spiritual Vision; and iv. The
Labyrinth, that includes topics such as Death, Evil and Finding the
way out of the labyrinth. Those who have read the book excerpt earlier
in this issue of the magazine, will have some idea of the tenor and
scope of the author’s intentions.
A distinguished modern proponent of traditionalism, who combats
the presumptions of materialist science, is Alan B. Wallace, who is
quoted here in connection with a scientific conference in London under
the auspices of The Royal Society, about consciousness: “This meeting
revealed a remarkable consensus among the speakers that science
understands none of the central aspects of consciousness — what
it is, how it evolved, how it is generated by the brain, or even what
it is for. The paradox confronting the participants was that from the
first-person perspective, consciousness is a prime irreducible datum,
but from the third-person scientific perspective there is no way of
investigating it directly. That is, brain research tells us nothing about
why neural processes should give rise to mental experiences of any
kind. However, when one participant suggested that research into
consciousness must include the first-person perspective, a number
of his colleagues expressed consternation. In their eyes avoiding

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 BOOK REVIEWS
the taboo of subjectivity and remaining ignorant of consciousness
was apparently preferable to breaking that taboo and opening the
possibility of fresh avenues of understanding.”
What we are attempting to do, as adherents of a transcendental view
of reality and as devotees of Sri Ramana Maharshi, is to be absorbed
in that Pure Consciousness, or, shall we say, unalloyed subjectivity,
so that we profoundly see that thoughts are a result of consciousness.
They are the shadows on the cave wall made possible by the fire of
consciousness in the parable related by Plato. Thoughts may describe
but they are not the thing in itself. What Avinash Chandra has done is
lay down before us in a magnificent manner the intellectual foundation
of why we do what we do. I, for one, will be reading my copy for
some considerable time to come. — Christopher Quilkey

PATHWAY OF THE BIRDS The voyaging

achievements of Maori and their Polynesian ancestors
by Andrew Crowe. Published by Bateman, New
Zealand and University of Hawai'i Press. pp.288,
₹3,826; US$39, (RRP). NZ ISBN: 978-1-86953-
961-0. USA ISBN: 978-0824878658. https://www.
goodreads.com/book/show/41112497-pathway-of-
the-birds. See also www.batemanpublishing.co.nz
We rarely venture out of the so-called spiritual
borders of the magazine but in this case it is justified. Andrew Crowe
has been coming to Arunachala for many years. He is an award-
winning author of over 40 books on nature and the interconnectedness
of life, including a charming biography of the Dalai Lama for
teenagers that can be read by everyone.
The present highly readable book has been some 15 years in the
making and the meticulous care and attention to detail regarding the
presentation, on art paper, of the photos, maps, inserts and diagrams,
shows this has been a labour of love. The book presents a lucid
picture of the historic Polynesians who sailed and settled nearly every
archipelago scattered across some 28 million square kilometres of
the Pacific Ocean.
Through an engaging narrative and over 400 maps, diagrams,
photographs and illustrations, Crowe conveys some of the skills,

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MOUNTAIN PATH
innovation, resourcefulness, and courage of the people who drove this
extraordinary feat of maritime expansion. He integrates a diversity
of research and viewpoints that are accessible to the general reader
and the scholar. He has patiently assembled an extraordinary range
of readable information from astronomy, archaeology, genetics,
linguistics, meteorology, zoology and Polynesian traditions that
reveal how they navigated the vast stretches of water by observing
the dynamics of the waves, the seasonal wind patterns that govern the
Pacific Ocean over a calendar year, the behaviour of migratory birds,
shoals of fish, drifting branches and, of course, the stars. He shows
how they honed their skills to locate islands and were able to adapt
to the varying environmental conditions of the numerous islands of
the archipelagos.
Here is just one example of the enormous distances they were
capable of sailing: in 2012, two traditional-style vessels navigated,
without the use of instruments, some 7000 km from New Zealand to
Easter Island via the Austral Islands and then returned to NZ the next
year via Tahiti and the Cook Islands using the trade winds.
Based on their research, archaeologists have come to the tentative
schemata that the ancestors of the Polynesians came from the islands
that today constitute Indonesia, Taiwan and New Guinea, around 3000
BC. ‘Remote Oceania’ including Fiji was settled ca.1000 BC and
ca.1250 AD New Zealand began to be settled. By the fifteenth century,
when Europeans entered the Pacific, general exploration was over.
Crowe disputes the thesis of Thor Heyerdahl that Polynesians
were one-way voyagers sailing downwind from South America,
presenting evidence of their two-way voyaging capability. He shows
how Europeans frequently underestimated the non-instrument, nature-
based navigational skills of the Polynesians, showing how these skills
allowed them to take the far safer approach of making exploratory
return voyages from the west during periods of anomalous winds.
The more I delve into this book the more fascinating it becomes.
For those who are interested in the Pacific Ocean and its islands, one
can think of no better book to immerse oneself in. “Everything you
need to navigate is in nature,” explains Hawaiian master navigator
Nainoa Thompson, “The question is, can you see it?”
— Christopher Quilkey

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 BOOK REVIEWS
JAP SAHIB AN INTERPRETATION by J.P.Vaswani.
Gita Publishing House, Pune. 2017. pp.535, ₹450.
ISBN: 978-93-86004-03-1 www.dadavaswaisbooks.
org
Japji is a prayer at the beginning of the Sri Guru
Granth Sahib, and is considered to be the essence of
the holy scripture of Sikhs. It is said to be the very first
composition of Guru Nanak, the first Guru in the line
of ten Sikh Gurus. In addition to the mool mantra, the basic sacred
formula, and two slokas as prologue and epilogue, the Jaji Sahib
consists of 38 pauris in metres of various length. Japji is chanted
in the Sikh tradition at initiation ceremonies and during a cremation
ceremony.
The fact that JP Vaswani delivered lectures and produced a book
from them that is so extensive on the Japji Sahib shows that the prayer
was close to his heart. I do not know any other book in his name
with such detailed commentary on each verse and word of a sacred
scripture. He says that the hymn is a concise and clear summary, indeed
the very epitome of the Sikh philosophy. Through detailed analysis of
the hymn and stories particularly about his own guru, Sadhu Vaswani,
we are galvanised by the devotion which caused JP Vaswani to touch
the hearts of so many people.
There is one story about his guru that deserves mention:
“We would do well to remember the Guru’s words: ‘I am unworthy
to be your sacrifice. Our unworthiness and His grace and the Guru’s
grace are recurring themes of the Gurbani. We have not earned
God’s mercy. We have done nothing, nothing whatever to deserve
His bounty!’
“Once, on seeing Gurudev, Sadhu Vaswani gave money to a poor
man, someone said to him, ‘When you give to the poor, you do not
discriminate, you do not make sure if the person to whom you give
is deserving or otherwise.’
“Sadhu Vaswani said, ‘The Lord gives without hesitation to an
undeserving person like me. Who am I to enquire into the deserts of
others?’”
For those who wish to be inspired by a true saint in full flow this
is a book to savour. — T.V. Ramamurthy

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ASHRAM BULLETIN
Swami Ramanananda
Swami Ramanananda (Venkatoo) was a key figure in transitioning the
Ashram from the difficult times following Bhagavan’s Mahanirvana
in 1950 and the subsequent demise of the Ashram Sarvadhikari,
Chinnaswami, in 1953. Venkatoo’s tenacity was instrumental in making
the Ashram what it is today. His Samadhi Day was observed on the
morning of 25th December.
Lectures on Aksharamanamalai
Following Bhagavan’s 139th Jayanti celebrations, seven days
of discourses on Aksharamanamalai were offered by Nochur Sri
Venkataraman in English at the Granthalaya Auditorium before about
700 eager devotees. This year’s series led up to v. 45 and is scheduled
to continue next year.
Acharya Mahashraman
Acharya Mahashraman, a renowned
Jain monk, the 11th Acharya of
Terapanth sect in the tradition of
Acharya Tulsi, the highly revered
founder of the Anuvrat Movement,
and of Acharya Mahapragya, visited
Sri Ramanasramam along with a
large number of his followers on
20th December 2018 when he was
received with due honour. Addressing
ashramites and his followers at the
Ashram Auditorium in chaste Sanskrit,
the learned Acharya said he was very
happy to visit the Ashram which his
revered Guru Acharya Tulsiji had also
visited many decades ago. Sri Nochur Venkataraman and Sri Kamal
Nath Tripathi spoke at the end of the function thanking the Acharya in
Sanskrit and Hindi. The Acharya and his followers are walking through
India spreading the message of love, service and non-violence.
Swami Niranjanananda
The Samadhi Day of Swami Niranjanananda, the Sarvadhikari of Sri
Ramanasramam, was observed on 20th January 2019 at his Samadhi in
front of Matrubhuteswar Temple.
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 ASHRAM BULLETIN
V.S. Mani’s Sathabhishekam
On Friday 22nd February, Sathabhishekam for Sri and Smt. V.
Subramanian took place at Sri RamanasramamVedapatasala under the
guidance and supervision of the senior patasala teacher, Sri Senthilnatha
Ghanapatigal. The traditional
80th birthday celebration
is normally performed on
the star of the Tamil birth
month when the 80th year
has been completed. While
satha commonly means
‘hundred’, in this instance,
it has the signification of
‘stable’, ‘uninterrupted’ or
‘complete’. Also called Ayush
Shanti Homam, the ceremony
is said to increase the couple’s
health and longevity. Having
completed eighty years, eight
months and eight days, they
will have seen one thousand
full moons. The event marks
a new stage in the spiritual
search where lingering karmas
affecting them, or their children, are purified. On the day of the ceremony,
relatives and friends gathered to witness nine homas including Ganapati,
Lakshmi, Amurtha Mrityunjayar, Ayush and Dhanvantri Homas, among
others; and finally, Kalasabhisheka, where the couple was anointed
with the sacred tirtham. The ceremony concluded with the exchange of
garlands, tying of mangalasutra, well-wishing and photographs.
Sundaram Iyer
Sundaram Iyer, the father of Bhagavan Ramana, was a reputed lawyer
of Tiruchuzhi in Tamil Nadu known for his uprightness and open house.
Bhagavan once referred to him as ‘a majestic personality’. His Samadhi Day
was observed inside Mother’s Temple at 10 a.m. on 23rd February 2019.
Mahasivaratri
Mahasivaratri is an important day in the ashram calendar. It is the great
night of Lord Siva and takes place on krishna paksha chaturdasi, the
fourteenth night of the dark half of the lunar cycle during the Tamil month

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MOUNTAIN PATH ASHRAM BULLETIN
that falls between mid-February and mid-March. The festival this year
took place on the evening of 4th March.
It is on this day that the ashram prepares the vibhuti that is given to
devotees throughout the next twelve months. Each year after the first kāla
pūjā around sundown, a ceremony by ashram priests is performed at the
gosala, where a heap of dried cow dung cakes and dried rice husks are
ceremoniously lit. After a week the burnt remains are transformed into
sacred ash, which is distributed during pūjās.
The ashram has an all-night vigil (jāgaran) of pūjā, recitation,
meditation and pradakṣiṇa. Many devotees attended the all night
ceremonies while the Vedapatasala students chanted the Sri Rudram
through much of the night, rousing and invigorating devotees.

Obituary
Sri Sitapati Ganesh passed away on 17th February 2019, from a
heart condition. He was born in 1948 Tanjore at the ashram of his
grandmother, Janaki Matha, who was
herself a disciple of Sri Ramana. In
1972, he married Kamala Ramanathan
at Ramanasramam. Theirs was one
of the last marriage to be conducted
inside the ashram premises. Ganesh
was not conventionally religious, but
he was influenced by Sri Ramana's
teaching of self-inquiry. His treatment
of fellow human beings with equality
and empathy was the way he put
advaita into practice. Through his long
professional career – first as an engineer,
then finance expert, then management
consultant, entrepreneur and recently as
a farmer in rural Maharashtra growing
and processing haldi powder – Ganesh was motivated not by material
rewards, but a belief in hard-work and integrity as ends in themselves. He
touched the lives of many people providing moral and material support,
though he rarely talked about it and never expected anything in return.
And he refused to bend his principles, even where he had to pay a price.
He will be missed by his family and a large circle of friends and admirers.

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