Under the Bodhi Tree

N. LAKSHMI PRASAD

2009
Under the Bodhi Tree

© N. LAKSHMI PRASAD

Year of Publication : 2009

Cover Page : Anwar

Price : 100/-

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 Late Sri Tanneeru Krishnamurthy garu, my father-in-law, and
his wife Smt. Seetaravamma were freedom fighters who had gone to
jail during the struggle for Indian Independence. Their eldest son Dr.
T. R. Rao who heads the Market Probe Research Organization
Wisconsin, USA, with branches in many countries of Europe and Asia,
Conducts market research for Banks and other commercial organizations
in regard to consumer preferences.
After the passing away of his father Dr. Rao has helped some
of his younger brothers and sisters to settle in U.S.A. Dr. Rao and his
wife Ms. Susan have been helping educational institutions and setting
up housing colonies for the poor in the names of Dr. Rao's parents in
the rural areas of Guntur dist. Andhra Pradesh.
The publication of this book along with a couple of other books
in Telugu has been made possible with the financial help given by Dr.
T. R. Rao in the names of his parents, to whom we are grateful.

N. Lakshmi Prasad
 Remembering late Sri Vakati
Sri Vakati Panduranga Rao, a Vereran Journalist, carried me
along with him to the A.P. Times, where he was specially looking after
the literary supplement, apart from his other duties. The short pieces
included in this book 'Under the Bodhi Tree' used to appear every
fortnight. The lengthier ones were added to the printed pieces at a later
date to produce this book. I thank the A.P. Times Editor and
Management of that day, while reproducing the published pieces here.
About my dear departed friend Sri Vakati as he was popularly
known, I can only say that it was a great pleasure working with him
which, alas, was short lived.

N. Lakshmi Prasad
 CONTENTS N. Lakshmi Prasad
1. Beyond All Images 1
2. Mind Watch 3
3. Who to Convert ? 5
4. Point of View 7
5. Feeling Big 9
6. The Unending Noise 11
7. Contact with a Saint 13
8. Dependence 15
9. Beyond Death 17
10. Man Made Gods 19
11. Appears Only to Disappear 21
12. Habit Holds You In Thrall 23
13. Emerging Fresh, Light, and Joyful 25
14. Freedom of Mind 27
15. Knowledge as Joy 29
16. Death to the old Mind 31
17. Ancient Chaff 33
18. Not by Bread Alone 36
19. Truth Means Doing One’s Own Thing 38
20. Mutual Love and Trust 40
21. Poverty or plenty : God's grace 42
22. The Priceless Gift of Patience 44
23. Understanding In a Flash 46
24. A Holistic Approach to Life 48
25. Sermons and Candles 51
26. Order Without and Within 53
27. Action Without Motive 55
28. A King's quest 57
29. A Charitable heart 61
30. Service with a smile 63
31. Conscience is tricky 65
32. The joy of companionship 69
33. Sensitivity is the key 71
34. Perfection : Idea or Fact? 80
35. Beyond Nationalism 86
36. Social reform : Raison d'etre 93
37. Concentration : Help or Hindrance ? 101
Under the Bodhi Tree

Beyond All Images

Among the Hindu Trinity, Parama Siva is generally found
in a state of samadhi or trance. He often roams in the cremation
ground, as he never perceives any part as separate from any
other part of the universe. In his absence, Parvati felt lonely.
She therefore asked him to teach her to attain the samadhi state
so that she would not feel separated from her consort.
Siva asked her to sit in the asana posture, close her eyes
and turn her gaze within and meditate. The following dialogue
is then supposed to have taken place between them, according
to a story related by Swami Ramdas of Anandashram in North
Kerala :
Siva : What do you see now?
Parvati : I see your form in my mental vision.
S : Go beyond that form. What do you see now?
P : I see a brilliant light.
S : Go beyond the light. What do you see 7
P : I hear the sound “Om."
S : Transcend the sound. What is now your experience?
To the last question there was no answer. Parvati had become
one with the cosmic self. There was now no subject or object, no seer
or seen for her, only “existence.” There was only the nameless,
changeless and the formless reality. Some time later when Parvati
was gradually coming back to consciousness, she was heard uttering
softly, “I am Brahman.”
There are many important things that one can learn from
this story. Meditation is shown rightly as going beyond

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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

everything. Lord Siva, asks his wife Parvati to go beyond a vision

of Siva, because reality is formless. The brilliant light that Parvati
sees thereafter, on reaching which stage, most devotees are
satisfied, is again negated by Siva. Parvati hears within herself
the sound of the anahata sabda, and Siva denies that as well
suggesting to Parvati to go still further. The mental visions have
vanished, the seeing and the listening have been transcended,
and Parvati is now one with existence. She has realized unity,
and from this oneness or samadhi, arise compassion and love.

When a devotee told Arunachala Ramana that in her

meditation she constantly saw the form of Ramana, he advised
her to persist in her meditation and that one day the image would
vanish, taking her to a different state!

Jiddu Knshnamurti, who always feared that those who

listened to him would get attached to his personality, advised
them to forget the speaker, while attaching utmost importance
to the “teaching.” The true friend in the field of spirituality, will
always induce you to go beyond all forms, be they human or
divine, lest you get stuck somewhere on the way.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Mind Watch
C. E. M. Joad who belonged to the first half of the twentieth
century, apart from being the Head of the Department of
Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, was an
admirable and sane expositor of the various aspects of modern
thought, and was widely known through his Brains Trust
broadcasts of the BBC during his time.

George Gurdjieff was a Russian who, more than any other

Westerner had carried the message of self-realization to the West,
after having worked at it for a number of years in Egypt, Turkey,
some central Asian countries including Tibet, and learning much
from many masters of the East. Gurdjieff, ably assisted by
another outstanding man, P.D. Ouspensky, had lectured in
London for some time, influencing brilliant minds like Kenneth
Walker, J.B. Priestly, Rudyard Kipling, Frank Lloyd Wright and
Katherine Mansfield. Joad, for one reason or the other, but mostly
because he was not able to conceive of anything other than the
mind in understanding man, the cosmos, and a God if there be
one, rejected all that Gurdjieff was reported to have been
postulating, as mere hocus pocus.

But as fate would have it, Joad was stricken with an illness
which confined him to bed, and the doctors had told him that
he would survive for about six weeks. With death staring in his
face, Joad started wondering whether there was more to it than
what was relayed to him as Gurdjieff’s teaching. He could not
reconcile himself to the idea that man simply appeared and
disappeared from the earth at two different points of time, and
that there was no other significance to his life. Most of all he felt
remorse in having been unfair to Gurdjieff all along, and so

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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

sent word to him through a common friend imploring Gurdjieff

to come to him and accept his apology. Gurdjieff came to Joad
and with a wave of his hand said-
“Forget the past. It was death that was really instrumental in
your sending for me at this juncture. You were always swearing by the
mind as though it was everything, and it is death that has rudely
shaken your belief in the mind. Anyway we have enough time. Six
weeks, why, even six minutes will do. A man of your intelligence should
be able to grasp what I have been teaching, even in a matter of a few
seconds. Just close your eyes while I sit here by your bedside, and
watch your own mind. Don’t do anything else except watching it.”
Joad could do nothing except experiment with what
Gurdjieff was suggesting, convincing himself that no harm could
result from it even if no benefit was to be derived.
However, once Joad started watching his mind, really
watching it, with no thought at all, he was simply amazed, forgot
about his death, forgot Gurdjieff, and everything on earth, for
full three hours. Gurdjieff woke up Joad to tell him-
“I was happy watching your face slip more and more into
silence. Your eyes were unmoving; I could see that even from the
outside. That means you had no thoughts, no dreams and you were
totally relaxed, as though the fear of death had fled...You have done
it. It is good that you have to be in bed during these six weeks. By the
constant watching of your mind, your being will get crystallized.
Before death takes over, you would have known something which is
deathless.”
Those who are familiar with the Bhagavatha story of King
Parikshith, who learnt everything there was to be learnt over
here within seven days, to attain the deathless state, will see the
striking similarity of the episode.
Tears of gratitude welled up in Joad’s eyes. He saw that
the six weeks period at the end of his life, was the most precious.
Before passing out, he told his friends-
“I never thought that it would be Gurdjieff who would put me
on the road for this new journey beyond life, and, who would help me
realize something immortal and eternal in this terrestrial life itself.”

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Who to Convert ?
The Rabbi of Zans related :
“In my youth, as I was influenced with the love of God, I
thought I would convert the whole world to God, but soon realized it
would be enough if I converted the people of my town, and I tried for
a long time without success. Then I noticed that I had still taken on
too much and I turned my attention to the people living in my house.
I did not succeed in converting them either. At last the revelation
came: I must put myself in order and serve God in truth. But I did
not achieve even this conversion.”

In the first flush of enthusiasm, one thinks that people

would listen to what one says, since it appears so very reasonable
to oneself. But one discovers by and by that people are guided
more by their likes and dislikes; what they do not like, they reject.
What is not convenient to them, would not be acceptable to
them.

One then attributes his failure to bring the other man to

see his point of view, to his own lack of effort or incapacity to
convince the other person and hopes that he will succeed with
redoubled effort and by honing his skills in persuasion; perhaps
he would succeed with another if not with this one. But slowly
it dawns upon him that no one is enthusiastic or willing to be
convinced on the strength of well reasoned arguments, and if
at all someone is willing to yield, it is only when he is offered an
inducement, or a ‘free gift’ in the modern advertiser’s parlance.
An honest man would fain resort to such tricks for ‘selling’ what
he thinks should be accepted on its merits. He therefore abandons
all hope of converting others to God.
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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

The high ideal is now quickly scaled down to making a

restricted attempt in respect of the people in his home town.
Even this is found difficult and the target group is further reduced
to those who are living with him and probably beholden to him.
But he fails again.

Frustrated, he now directs his attention to himself because

that appears to be one area where perhaps, he has final control.
But to his amazement he discovers that even here, where he
thought that he had the maximum number of options, he is
unable to make any headway. The disobedient body and the
unruly mind, are not willing to listen to his sage advice, and he
finds himself helpless. Even his own conversion appears an
impossibility. This very honest confession about failure by the
Rabbi is a rare one to come by.

To establish order in oneself is no easy task, and this is

much more important than serving God in truth, because one
does not know either ‘God’ or ‘Truth’ except as words, for they
have not been seen or experienced. So is the dilemma with ‘order’
because it is the present disorderly mind that has conjured up
order, and such order is bound to be ‘disorder’.

What one knows for oneself truly, is the disorder in which

one lives. Ambition, greed, anger and a host of other qualities
are things which one knows in oneself, at least partially. One
has never known them fully and totally and whenever they were
glimpsed in oneself, one condemned them and escaped from
them through various devices, or simply suppressed them. One
was never on intimate terms with them, watching them ‘in
action’, to see fully what they were doing to one, and how they
were holding one in thraldom. If one gave them a close look,
and understood their nature and structure, a natural and sweet
order would arise of its own accord.

Now that the old order, which was really speaking

‘disorder’ has changed yielding place to the ‘new’, which has a
spontaneous character unfettered by human thought, it can
become a fit abode for the celestial visitor to grace it on occasion.
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Under the Bodhi Tree

A Point of View
Instead of digging into the past, I would suggest that you
dig into yourself. Some countries and some cultures claim a
‘glorious’ past. Whether what all is claimed is true or not is
immaterial. Assuming all that is true, how does it help those
that live in the present? Will the glorious past solve any one of
our problems in the present? How does it help a poor nation
like ours to recall our glorious past? Such remembrance only
strengthens one’s pride, without in any way increasing one’s
real strength. Perhaps it enables one to slip into a dream world
but does not help him to face the present and solve his problem.
Alternatively suppose one had a past filled with a lot of suffering.
This will only generate bitterness against those who were
supposedly responsible for that suffering. Either way, the
historical past of any nation however glorious or inglorious it
may be, is never a help, but a positive hindrance.

I say, drop the past. Drop it whether it is your nation’s

history, or your ancestral ‘greatness’. Talking about your
greatness only belittles the other man, whoever he is, to
whichever race or community or religion he belongs. Similarly
drop your bitter, sorrowful or unfortunate past, because this
can only generate ill feeling, and hatred in you against the
perpetrator, and a sense of guilt in the one who might have
committed aggression against your forefathers. Drop all this and
you are free of an enormous burden called history as it is
presently taught. Let the young be taught instead, the history of
mankind and its struggles through the ages -how from the
pastoral it moved towards the agricultural and then later
towards the industrial and scientific civilization, and how it is
now caught up in the environmental problems and the arms
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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

race and what needs to be done to solve the present crisis. Let
the young be taught how freedom is circumscribed and
suppressed under different societies, under various economic
and political systems, how man who is supposed to be born
free, is found in fetters under every system.

So, the proper study of man is man himself, and this is

done not by studying archaeology, or the history of peoples of
the world etc., but going into oneself deeply. One has to study
oneself, and not go about researching other people’s lives.

One has to watch how one reacts to every situation

mechanically, to every relationship with accumulated prejudice.
One should actually see that one is thoroughly conditioned by
the past and that one’s thinking is based only on one’s memory.
Consider how a slave of all this past conditioning can ever act
freely, justly, and compassionately. So the first requisite is to be
free of our past, to lay the proper foundation for right action.
Digging up the past and excavating the earth may give you an
idea of all the civilizations gone by. However, not all the
knowledge that is gathered thus is going to produce a
compassionate human being, though such knowledge may have
its place in our life. If our aim is to produce a deeply
compassionate human being, then digging into oneself is
certainly more important than digging up the earth.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Feeling Big
There are many teaching stories of the Sufis which make
a point, and an important one at that. This is about a cunning
and clever fox which woke up one morning feeling extremely
hungry. She started out for a breakfast. The sun was just rising
and the sunlight threw a long shadow of the fox on the ground.
Looking at the shadow, the fox thought that she was a huge
animal, and naturally needed something of the size of a camel
for her breakfast.

When she started feeling that big, the gait and the manner
of the fox also changed accordingly. But how will the fox chance
across a camel in the forest, and even if she did, how would she
be able to make mincemeat of the animal for her breakfast? But
the fox was unmindful of all these matters and continued its
futile search. While searching, the fox did come across many
small creatures and normally they would have sufficed her for
breakfast. But since she was feeling so big and great that day,
she ignored these small ones as not worth her attention. She felt
that she was entitled to a huge breakfast, as that of an elephant.

She however found nothing of that size whatever and in

the meantime the sun rose up in the sky, and the day became
terribly hot. The fox was tired, and by that time the sun was in
the mid sky. The fox was desperately hungry. But at that very
moment, when she looked around, she saw that her shadow
had become small and hid beneath her.

The fox then exclaimed “My God. Hunger seems to have

made me look so small in my own eyes.This morning when I

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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

woke up I was so huge, and now see what hunger has done to
me.”
Some people think no end of themselves; they imagine that
they are such big shots, that they deserve the best in the world.
Even when they are in dire straits they continue to believe in
their projected images. It is only when they receive hard knocks
in life that they are cut to size.
The downfall of man begins when he thinks of his status
rather than his function in any walk of life. The very gods were
suitably punished when they asserted their status, neglecting
their function.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

The Unending Noise

“Sometimes there would be a rush of many visitors and the
silence of the monastery would be shattered. This would upset the
disciples, not the Master who seemed just as content with the noise
as with the silence. To his protesting disciples he said one day. “Silence
is not the absence of sound, but the absence of self’.
–Anthony de Mello.

Beyond a particular decibel level, sound is intolerable to

human beings. If one has to live or work under such conditions,
he becomes deaf, ill, nervous and neurotic, if not altogether mad.
That is sound at one level, which is on the outside.

It can perhaps be taken care of with ear plugs or the

police keeping a watch on the amplifiers etc. While this noise
pollution is a problem for the city dweller, the villager does not
face it in his natural surroundings, except when a wedding or a
Bhajan sammelan takes place.

But the inward sound of the self in each man, wherever

he lives is something that is never silenced. One may try to drown
these thought waves which constitute the interminable sound
of the self through so-called techniques of meditation, but such
suppression of thought only results in its re-emergence with
increased vigor, after the ‘meditation’ is over. Thus, all attempts
to suppress thought or to kill it may be futile.

Instead of all these vain attempts, one may as well see

the futility of thought itself, which goes round and round a
problem, without ever solving it. If the matter is something that
can be dealt with through securing the necessary information
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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

or by consulting an expert in the field, naturally one adopts such

a course of action. If on the other hand, the problem has arisen
on account of a lot of emotion and feeling getting mixed up
with it, then one has to carefully see what the problem is, and
from where it has originated.

If one examines it objectively, one will be able to discern

that any problem so called, is created by oneself. There are, no
doubt, circumstances in every one’s life which may relate to
money, relationships, missed opportunities, various forms of
injustice, etc. Circumstances, however, are not necessarily
problems. It is only when one wants a thing to shape itself
according to one’s wishes, and when it does not happen, that
the ‘problem’ arises. Hence, a problem is invariably self- created,
and defies a solution, so long as the self operates on the
circumstance.

Thoughts connected with such unresolved problems

continue to grow in one’s mind, and the afflicted mind never
has any silence at any moment. The sound of these thoughts is
heard very loudly by the person concerned, and he does not
know what to do with them, except attempt to escape through
drink, drugs, and cheap entertainment. But all these tricks of
the mind will never solve the problem, unless one looks at the
problem with all his energy, and traces the problem down to its
very source i.e., the self.

Once it is tackled at that level, even while the problem is

taking shape or being born, one can free himself of the problem.
The ‘circumstance’ will of course remain to be dealt with, but as
a free man you can deal with it to the best of your ability, since
you are no longer involved in it. The quietness and the silence
that arise when you are ‘problem free’, and act only when it is
necessary to act in respect of circumstances, is the silence ensuing
from the absence of the self.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Contact with a Saint

Swami Ramdas of Anandashram, a realized soul, relates

this tale of a mongoose and a serpent, which are natural enemies.
When they encounter each other, it is a fight to the finish in the
long drawn out battle between the two. The serpent in
desperation, sometimes bites the mongoose severely. Due to the
poison injected into it, the mongoose feels that it is almost dying.
In order to save itself from death, the mongoose runs to the hillside
and eats a particular herb which is an antidote to snake poison.
After obtaining the needed relief, it returns back to the fight,
with increased vigor.

Every time the mongoose gets bitten, it gives up the combat,

eats the mountain herb to return and continue the fight. At last
the serpent, through utter exhaustion, unable to offer any further
resistance, succumbs to the fury of the mongoose. Thereafter,
naturally, the mongoose has no need to go to the hill side for the
antidote. Ramdas compares the plight of the mongoose to the
mind of a person who, when bitten hard by deep attachments
to worldly things, becomes utterly miserable. To obtain some
relief and peace from this condition, be goes to a saint and by
association with him, gets free from attachments and becomes
happy and peaceful.

In other words, this is as a result of ‘satsang’ or ‘keeping

good company’ when the peaceful vibrations emanating from a
real saint bring harmony to the individual.

Thus freed from the painful effects of worldly life, man

goes back into the world and continues to live there. Again in
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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

the course of life, he is drawn into worldly pleasures, becomes

miserable and rushes to the saint. Getting himself relieved of the
poison of worldly attachments he returns back.

By repeated contact with the saints, he ultimately

overcomes attachment to transitory objects, and stays in the
world, free and blissful. So the society of saints, or ‘Sajjana
Sangatya’ is an absolute necessity for an earnest spiritual
aspirant, to realize the state of inner freedom, joy and peace.

If one is diligent and even at the start, stands on his own

feet, he may find the guru or the saint within himself, since the
guru of all gurus, the ultimate or paramaguru is found within
each man.

In that case he will discover that he is both the teacher

and the taught, as Krishnamurti would put it. He is then in
contact with the guru inside, and becomes one with him. What
more does he need?

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Dependence
Two children who had been dependent on Jacob were
concerned about what they would do after his death. Jacob,
sensing this, drew the children near and told them this story :
“Once there was a student who was with a teacher for many
years. And when the teacher felt he was going to die, he wanted to
make even his death a lesson. That night the teacher took a torch,
called his student, and set off with him through the forest. Soon they
reached the middle of the woods where the teacher extinguished the
torch without explanation.
“What is the matter ?” asked the student.
“This torch has gone out” the teacher answered and walked on.
“But" shouted the student, his voice reflecting his fear, "will you
leave me here in the dark?”
“No I will not leave you in the dark” returned the teacher’s voice
from the surrounding blackness, “I will leave you searching for the
light.”
– Noah ben Shea.

Jacob saw that the children who had fallen into the habit
of depending upon him, were now worried as to what would
happen to them if he was no longer available to help them. Their
habit had to be broken right now if they were to stand on their
own feet and face life directly. It was imperative that they
become independent, free. Otherwise they would continue to
depend upon one guru or another all their life, replacing such
crutches periodically. So he narrated the story of the teacher
and the student, hoping that they would get the point.

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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

Even while meeting his death, the teacher in the story

wanted to convey to his student that the light that a man
discovers and carries within himself, is something that he cannot
pass on to another, however much he may love him. He also
wanted to make it clear that the student should not expect any
help from anyone, but seek help only from his own self, where
all the help necessary for man is available. Help from another
person in this matter will be no help at all, but will only harm
the individual, making him permanently dependent upon
someone and his spiritual authority. The student, on the other
hand should be on his own, grow wings and go flying
independently.

One will have to discover one’s own light, and thus be a

light unto himself. The light that the Buddha discovered was
useful to him, but his light will not serve you. He moved from
‘darkness’ to light, but it was his darkness. You have your
darkness, which is unique to you. And you have to work on it.
You are plagued by your opinions, your prejudices, your likes
and dislikes, which are not the same as another man’s. So you
will have to be aware of what is contained within you at the
superficial and deeper levels, bring it out and see it for what it
is.

When each facet of your darkness, also termed as ignorance,

is brought out and 'seen' in the light of awareness without
identification, without justification or condemnation, it withers
and dies. This is the light which dispels all darkness. When you
are such a light unto yourself, you don’t depend upon anybody,
you follow no man. It is this kind of light which leads you step
by step to the far beyond.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Beyond Death
Thus spoke Hazrat Nizamuddin :
“Shaik Ahmed Badauni was my great friend who was perfect
in his holiness. Although he was illiterate, he could interpret the
Quran most satisfactorily. After his death I saw the Shaik in a dream
and he put to me many questions of a worldly nature. I was astonished
and said to him, “Are you not dead? His reply was, do you consider
the holy men dead?
—John Bright

Illiteracy to a ‘man of god’ can turn out to be a blessing.

Literacy consists of the learning of the three R’s, reading, writing,
and ‘rithmetic. We read a lot, and all that is only the studying of
other men’s thoughts to evolve some thought of our own which
is a hotchpotch of all that we have read. We can therefore, at
best, be second hand men, since there is nothing of our own in
all such ‘thinking’. The other part of our reading consists of
gathering information, which no doubt is necessary for living in
the modem world. This is mistaken for knowledge, but it is not
‘knowledge’ in the real sense of the word, since real knowledge
can arise only by ‘being’, or ‘experiencing’ it. Thus reading more
often than not, is a hindrance to real knowing. If a man does
not know how to read and has not read at all, he may be
considered fortunate in as much as he does not need to forget or
set aside whatever garbage he has gathered by way of other
people’s thoughts.

Writing can also come in the way of attaining real

knowledge. If a man has something worthwhile to say or write,
then he may put it down on paper. Otherwise one fills up pages,

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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

with nothing original in it. Society which is made up of similar

ones, applauds and eulogizes him. This man now suffers from
the illusion that he does ‘know’; otherwise why should society
honor him?

Imagine the amount of money that is being spent on

printing. publishing and marketing of books which have no
intrinsic value. Since this man of knowledge is quite satisfied
with himself, he will never make an effort to gain real
knowledge. Arithmetic is of no use to a real man of god. He
does not want to calculate anything lest he ultimately become
‘calculative’ in his relationship with others. Love, which is the
chief characteristic of a man of god, is immeasurable. Love is
not quantitative but qualitative. What will the holy man, who
lives wholly trusting in god, totally in love with existence, do
with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division?

He lives wholly, moment to moment, showering love on

everyone who comes near him. He does not divide man as good
or bad, as belonging to this or that religion, does not see any
difference between one creature and another, all of whom he
loves equally, as the sun sheds its rays on all irrespective of creed
or color. Since the holy man has thus identified himself with
nature and existence, how can he die? Even while he was in the
body he was not identified with it, or with the mind. He lived in
the heart, which is the heart of everyone, a part of existence, a
part of the spirit that animates all existence. Before he arrived at
this point, he had already died to all his opinions, drives,
ambitions and motivations. A man who has thus died to his
mind even while living and had become a part of the eternal,
where is death for him? Can death ever touch such a real holy
man?

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Man Made Gods

The most profound wisdom and a wide sweeping
religious tolerance shine through Jacob Boehme’s avowal:
“As is the quality of each kingdom. so also is its speech.
language and customs: as it is written, as is the people, so is their
God- not that there is more than one god, but by this is to be
understood the divine revelation in which god manifests himself to
all peoples, according to the nature of each people and his revelation
is His word, so that each people is led by the same word but in
accordance with its own characteristics.”
That was Jacob Boehme born in 1575, said to be the most
important German philosopher between the reformation and
enlightenment periods in Europe. In fact. Boehme seems to me,
not so much a philosopher–which means a man who loves
thinking as in the western tradition, but more ‘philosia’–a man
who loves seeing–the ‘darshanic’ of the eastern tradition, in other
words a ‘seer’.
He was admired by Leibnitz, quoted by Karl Marx in his
work ‘The Holy Family’, and Frederick Engels described him as
a “dark but profound soul” whose work was worth studying
thoroughly. Obviously the mystic seer who was deeply God
centered, was never wholly understood by the thinkers of Marxist
persuasion because of their limited world view.
On the face of it there is a wide divergence in the political,
religious, social and economic outlook of peoples living in various
climates. Those living in a cold atmosphere are wholly different
in their food and dress, as compared to those living in a temperate
climate. People living in desert regions have a totally different
tradition as compared to those in riverine regions. In India
19
 N. Lakshmi Prasad

among vegetarians, there are those who include fish in their

diet as in Bengal, and meat in Kashmir, while down south there
are those who refrain from touching onions. Among the
European christians, there are the quakers who avoid even milk
as an animal product in order to be strict vegetarians.
As with food and drink, so with the morals, manners, and
customs of peoples in various countries. On the periphery there
is so much of difference and mutual antagonism that one
wonders whether men living all over the world can ever ‘see’
that they all belong to one race, the race of mankind.

Men apparently are divided by differing political systems,

language, history, geography, culture and tradition. Similarly
their religions, which are a by-product of the contents of their
consciousness, also vary. While one treats God as his father,
another from a different religio-cultural background treats God
as mother. All these images of God, the very names and shapes
given to Him, and the place where he is supposed to reside, are
the products of man’s imagination, based upon his conditioned
consciousness. The present consciousness has to be emptied, with
all its content of differences, divergences, separativeness,
exclusiveness etc., before the truth of the fundamental unity- or
rather oneness–of humankind can be ‘realized.’

Boehme is pointing out that human beings all over the

world create their own gods which are specific to the region,
climate, language, cultural mores etc. but if one is able to see the
‘conditioning’ imposed by society in which he is brought up,
and become aware of one’s deeper layers beyond the body, mind
and even the heart, he will penetrate to his being, the ‘core’
where he will find the primordial ground of all beings from which
the world scene is arising in every direction. To change the
metaphor, what looks like a separate and exclusive path to the
peak of the mountain, conflicting with the path from the other
side of the mountain, is not really different. Once you reach the
mountain peak, and you are ‘realized’, you see all the paths
that led up to the peak. What is really important is that you
exercise a spirit of tolerance towards the apparently conflicting
paths, while constantly directing your attention to the summit
which you have to reach in life.
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Under the Bodhi Tree

Appears Only to Disappear

“God has no characteristics, as love has no characteristics”,
said Kazi Hamiduddin Nagori “Like Scent, God is born and
disappears in the flower.”
Human beings all over the world, to whichever religion
they belong, to whichever faith they subscribe, believe in the
existence of God. But no one is sure. At one time, when the
Soviet Union, with its proclaimed state credo of Godlessness,
was on the ascendant a large number of people in the Communist
world were outwardly atheistic, but deep down they were not
sure whether God existed or not. Very few indeed have cared to
get down to the task of really giving their life to exploring and
finding out whether there is God or there is not.
God, say those who are in the know, is “that which is.”
Whatever you see around you, including, of course, yourself is
God. God, as a separate entity, therefore, does not exist
anywhere, neither in the high skies nor at the ocean depths. He
is this whole existence, moving and non-moving, living and non-
living. because it is now being said that even rocks, which are
apparently lifeless, have life in them in a rudimentary form.
God has no characteristics by which he can be known or
defined. He is therefore indefinable and indescribable. This does
not however mean that you cannot know him altogether. It only
suggests that you cannot know him through your intellect. You
can know him as you know the taste of sugar, as you know a
mild breeze touching your skin, or as a distant musical note
wafting across the wind waves. Just as you know love only by
being in love or by loving, similarly you can know God only by
being God. This may be termed as knowledge by being, rather
than knowledge through collection of information about it.

21
 N. Lakshmi Prasad

Not all the tomes that you may read on the subject of love,
can ever make you actually love. But when love ‘happens’ you
know it all right. You may not be able to define it but you will
know it so well, that no one can argue you out of it, nor make
you doubt it. Love, like God, is also beyond all characteristics,
since what we call love with its attendant jealousy, attachment,
possessiveness, mutual dependence, is not love at all. Love and
God are very close to each other in more ways than one, or
perhaps they are one!
Since no human language is useful in describing God, the
sufis say that he is the ‘unspeakable’, ‘unutterable’. They put it
rather dramatically when they state that the one who has
perchance seen the ‘king emperor’ gets his tongue cut off by the
ruler, so that he will never be able to describe the king’s visage.
St. Augustine, an early Christian mystic, was one of those
blessed ones who had a vision of God presented to his inner eye.
But when asked by some one, “What is God? he fell dumb. He
fumbled for words and said, “when you don’t put that question
to me I know very well, but when you do pelt it at me, I am at a
loss for words, I would betray the truth if I use language, which
naturally is totally inadequate for the purpose... So what I suggest
is go and find out for yourself. Don’t wait for an answer to set
out on the journey as I did to find out."
God is so much on the move, so effervescent, so fleeting,
here now, gone the next moment, that one has to be extremely
alert to catch scent of him, to keep pace with him. A thinking
man is absorbed in his own thinking, which is about himself,
his past and his future. Such a person can never ‘see’, ‘know’ or
be’ God. In truth, you as a separate ‘I’ can never know him, but
drop your separation, you are that.
But that is a long, long journey, however near he is to you.
Remember that all characteristics that you attribute to him are
based upon what you have seen and experienced in this world.
But your imagination on this basis is not adequate to know him,
since he is unimaginable. When you however, negate everything
that you have known in this world, and the knower in you drops
because he is no longer being sustained by your knowledge, then
there is God, the unknown!

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Habit Holds You In Thrall

Martin Buber tells of the Rabbi of Kobryn who taught :
“God speaks to men, as He spoke to Moses. Cast habit off thy
feet. Cast off the routine which shackles thy feet and thou will see
that the ground on which thou standest is holy ground. For there is
no stage of being at which, everywhere, and forever, god’s glory may
not be found.”

Habit has a strangle-hold on human beings. Of course we

tend to classify habit as good and bad, and then try to get rid of
those habits which society has termed ‘bad’, and attempt to
cultivate, the so-called good ones.

Take the case of a man who works unremittingly all

through life, because he imagines that that is the only way to be
productive and be a useful member of society. He has never
known leisure, and it is only leisure that allows reflection and
contemplation. If he misses these things, he has missed
everything in life. Equally so, if in the name of a ‘religious life’ a
large number of people in the nation’s productive force idle away
their lives practicing some mumbo jumbo, and are not productive
members, it would be calamitous to society. So one has to
examine every habit, however ancient or modern, to see whether
it is making us mechanical and preventing spontaneous action.

Habits, of course, die hard. It is so difficult for man to get

rid of his prejudicial thinking especially in regard to his religious
and racial hatred. Man would have to carefully look at his habit
of thinking in a particular way, and why he is unable to break
it. If he continues with his settled inclination of the mind, he

23
 N. Lakshmi Prasad

will never be able to truly see the actual situation on the ground,
the ‘what is’. If he cannot purge himself of his patterned thinking
based on some belief, some doctrine, system or mode, he will
never see the truth of anything.

Unless he positions himself in ‘truth’ he will not be able to

listen to god. The Eternal continues to speak even today as he
once spoke to Moses or Mohammed, Buddha or Jesus. If they
were able to hear him speak while we don’t, it is not because
they were the ‘chosen few’ but because we, through habit, do
not have the ears to hear. We could shed our opinions, prejudices,
attitudes picked up from society, and drop everything from our
consciousness that is contaminating it. The man who has thus
emptied his consciousness of all the old, can now hear god speak
to him. Since your consciousness is now pure, and the world
has no hold over you, the ground where you stand is holy, your
actions are holy, and whatever you touch becomes holy. You
have been hypnotized by the world for a long, long time and
your habits of thinking, behaving, have all been set by it.

You will have to dehypnotise yourself and go back to your

original state by shedding all tendencies and fixations. When
you are thus completely free of all hypnosis, all illusion, all that
is blocking you from encountering god, then you will be able to
listen to him, partake of him, and carry him with you wherever
you move. People will then, perhaps, know god through you!

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Emerging Fresh, Light,

And Joyful
“Nothing burns in hell except self will.”
–Theologica Germanica

Self-will, more than anything else in the human being, has

been identified as the root cause of all evil in the world. Speaking
at a level different from that of the material, it is man’s self-will
that spells his own ruin. Of course, in order to achieve one’s
goals of material wealth, power, prestige and so many other
ambitions, it is the human will that has to operate. One needs
an indomitable will to win a war, or an election, or even a game.
The will also comes in handy while pursuing an idea, an ideal
or an ideology for achieving a desired end.
It is however a mistaken notion that the same will, the
same drive can enable one to climb the summit of the spirit and
reach towards god. This is not so. Self-will is in total opposition
to god’s will. And if god’s will is to be done one has to abandon
self-will. Even this attempt by one, is the same self-will operating
at a very subtle level to seize and establish god’s will in oneself.
So self-will has to go, but not through your forcing it out.
The maximum that you can do on your part is to see for yourself,
what self-will has done to you all along, what it is doing at
present, and what it is likely to do if you continue with it. In
other words, you see the whole picture of self-will, and all the
implication thereof, in great detail.
It is undoubtedly true that you have achieved most of your
targets in life through self-will, but you have also realized that it
has left you many an enemy, fallen by the way side through
your ruthless competition. You have no doubt achieved a lot of
fame and prestige, but your constant anxiety now is to protect
25
 N. Lakshmi Prasad

it, stand guard over it, and not allow someone else to surpass
you in the field. You have settled all your progeny in comfortable
positions, cutting down others who came in the way, but you
are not sure whether these beneficiaries are going to remain loyal
to you or love you, according to your expectations. You have
practically every thing that man can desire but inside you there
is a loneliness gnawing at your heart.
Thus there is something terrible in self-will, of which you
were so proud. Perhaps it was the same self-will that was in
evidence in respect of Nadir Shah, Gengis Khan, Hitler or Stalin,
when millions were slaughtered under their direction. Please
see that if you were in their shoes, you would not a have acted
any different, under the given circumstances. Man is capable of
descending to abysmal depths, as he is equally capable of rising
to the greatest heights in his conduct.
If you can see, really ‘see’, the horror that self-will can
perpetrate, you would then avoid it like ‘hell’, since it destroys
your inner peace, and you as a human being. The seeing of this
fact, the total seeing, is the flash of understanding, and the
simultaneous dropping of the self-will. Please note that you did
not drop it; you only understood its implications and it dropped
of its own accord.
Does the dropping of self will mean that one becomes soft
and malleable, chickens out whenever action is demanded, gets
manipulated and exploited by others? Oh, No! When self-will,
or action based on one’s own choice is seen for what it is and
gets dropped, one need not fear a vacuum. One does get an
intimation of the action needed under all circumstances, through
choiceless awareness of ‘what is’. Since self-will is now not
operating, such action is spontaneous, and invariably right. One
may not know the source of such action, and it is also true that
it may not be immediately profitable to you at the material level
on certain occasions. But it takes care of you at a higher level
thus ensuring your good on a long term basis.
The word’ hell’ in the quote is not important. Whether
there is such a thing as ‘hell’ or not, is of little consequence. But
right here, on earth, self-will itself is hell. Let it get burnt out in
full, and see for yourself how you emerge from the ashes, fresh,
light and joyful.
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Under the Bodhi Tree

Freedom of Mind
During a European War, a sailor was captured by the
enemy and put in prison. After fifteen years the warring countries
stopped fighting by concluding a treaty. The sailor was then
released from prison, and on the day of release a friend placed
in his hands a purse containing fifty pounds sterling. While the
sailor was walking along a street, he came across a shop in which
there were various species of birds in cages, for sale. He went
up to the shopkeeper and bought all the cages with the money
be had, and then opened the trapdoors of the cages one after
another, setting free all the birds therein. Astounded at this, the
shopkeeper asked the sailor as to why after paying quite a bit of
money for these birds, he was releasing them all. The sailor
replied:
“You see, I know what it is to be imprisoned, and denied the
privilege of freedom. I have suffered prison life for fifteen long years.
I therefore, couldn’t bear to see these birds unhappy in their cages.”

When a Tilak or a Garibaldi, freedom fighters of India and

Italy respectively, proclaims that ‘Freedom is my birthright’, we
rightly stand by them and say that man should be free of
oppression, whether it is of the foreign or native variety. All the
political, social and economic struggles waged earlier, and which
continue to be a part of our life today, are no doubt aimed at
freeing man (including women, of course) from the restrictions
imposed on them through the system, tradition, custom, habit
etc.

All this constitutes outer freedom which undoubtedly is

necessary for mankind all over the world. But without ‘inner
freedom’, outer freedom loses all its meaning. The soul of man
27
 N. Lakshmi Prasad

is, really speaking, ‘free’. But if you look carefully you will see
that it is in chains almost everywhere, and never allowed to
break through and shine forth. And who is it that is imprisoning
this ‘splendour’ otherwise known as the soul, who exactly is
caging it? You.

This may sound strange, but it is true. You do not want to

liberate yourself from your conditioning, your age old tradition,
your customs, and your patterned thinking. You worship the
mind, the intellect, but you do not realize that beyond a particular
point, the mind is just a cul-de-sac.

There is no way out of the mind; you can go round and

round within its limits, but it cannot show you a way out of the
blind alley in which you are trapped. ‘Kill the mind’ says the
Zen master. But even without the need for such stern measures,
see for yourself the limitations of the mind, which, as a tool is
quite useful, the finest tool that man has been gifted with, but
utterly dangerous if you allow it to dictate what you should or
should not do.

For the latter, you would have to consult the heart. Go to

the heart, not the superficial heart with its output of mere
emotion and sentiment, but the heart of your very being, your
core, the center, the soul. Once you discover the existence of the
soul, which is freedom itself, you turn free. The ‘seeing’ of
freedom is the ‘being’ of freedom.

From now on, you are utterly, totally free. You can no
longer be enslaved because nothing in this world is of any value
to you as compared to the’ intrinsic freedom’ which you have
discovered on your own. Now you don’t need to defend it with
all your might, since you have discovered that your very nature
as a human being is ‘freedom’. This ‘freedom’ is your birthright,
and you have to realize it here and now.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Knowledge as Joy
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, in a parable, talks about
two friends who went into an orchard. One of them who
possessed much Worldly Wisdom, immediately began to count
the mango trees in the orchard, and the number of leaves and
mangoes each tree bore, to estimate what might be the
approximate value of the whole orchard.

His companion, on the other hand, went to the owner,

made friends with him, and then quietly going to a tree, began,
at his host’s request, to pluck the fruits and eat them.
Ramakrishna now asks. “Whom do you consider the wiser of
the two? and answers his rhetorical question by advising us,
“Eat mangoes! It will satisfy your hunger. What is the good of
counting the trees and leaves, and making endless calculations?
The vain man of intellect busies himself with finding out the
'why and wherefore' of creation, while the humble man of
wisdom makes friends with the creator and enjoys His gift of
supreme bliss!

Thanks to the scientific and technological development

during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the intellect,
which has been responsible for this growth, is being worshipped
in a much greater measure than during the earlier periods.
Rightly the present time has been called the age of information
and technology, and suddenly we find we are in the midst of a
‘knowledge explosion’.

Explosion is the appropriate word, for the type of

knowledge that we gather and use in our scientific development
can only bring about an explosion, and not allow humanity to
29
 N. Lakshmi Prasad

‘flower’. So long as the mind operates without hindrance, it goes

on accumulating knowledge and so many other things which
are material in character. Even in the so-called spiritual domain,
man depends upon ‘thought’, which, it is now well established,
as a purely material process.

To see the worthlessness of such ‘knowledge’ is meditation.

Real meditation is the emptying of the mind of all knowledge
accumulated over long periods of time in the past, and freeing
oneself of that enormous burden. One then has a fresh, new
mind – capable of receiving knowledge of a different kind based
upon deep insight. In order to arrive at such an insight, one has
to dig into oneself and throw out all the accumulated garbage,
which is second hand in any case, gathered from modern books
or ancient texts.

This sudden insight opens up everything, and you are now

firmly set on the path of - ‘knowing’. this knowing does not
result in knowledge, because you don’t store it inside yourself.
You know that this knowing or learning is endless, infinite. And
in this knowing there is no pain, no swelling of the intellect, no
carrying of a load weighing you down, but a knowing that is
sweet, light and utterly free. Why not give this ‘knowing’ a chance
to operate in you, so that you may enjoy life instead of merely
enduring it?

This precious gift of human life is not to be ‘put up with’,

but something that has to be intelligently used to soar above the
clouds of ‘knowledge and thought’, to reach out for the stars,
and attain the bliss which is far, far above the tawdry pleasure
and comfort. In fact, ‘attain’ is not the right word. ‘Discover’
would be more accurate, since your essential nature is bliss itself.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Death to the old Mind

Pierce your mind with your own mind
As penetrating as possible
If only you sleep night and day
thus wise with grace
Even the stoniest of minds will break
And become limitless space.
– Tirumoolar (3rd century A D)

Any inquiry into oneself, to find out who one is, has to
start with the help of the mind. The mind has to be used logically,
sanely to find out the worth of each one of the things that figure
in our life, whether it is of a passing character or has a lasting
value. One has to carefully examine whether one is accepting
the values of a corrupt society, or one is inquiring into the value
of the thoughts, emotions and feelings that one encounters in
oneself. For this inquiry, a finely tuned mind is quite necessary,
and therefore the mind need not be despised.

But a stage arises, when the mind after analyzing,

dissecting and doing everything that it is capable of, finally comes
to the end of its tether, unable to solve real problems arising out
of human interaction. A mechanical problem can be successfully
tackled by a skilled and trained mind, but the mind falters when
it has to solve a problem arising between two human beings.
The mind, after deep penetration, has now seen its own
limitations, and this may be called the piercing of the mind by
one’s own mind.

Abandoning the mind with its discursive process, in a

sphere where it is helpless and ineffective, one watches one’s
31
 N. Lakshmi Prasad

own mind and its activity. Just being aware of it and looking at
every passing thought, and its incessant activity. This awareness,
once set in motion, can go on and on even while you are working,
resting, conversing, and later even when you are sleeping. That,
of course, happens in an advanced stage, when awareness,
practically, remains your constant companion. Then grace
descends into you through this awareness. Awareness itself
grows into grace.

Awareness deals a death blow to the old mind, the mind

that has made you mechanical, the one that put you to sleep for
ages together, the old mind that has prevented you time and
again from receiving the grace that has been pressing upon you,
with all its might to gain entry.

But the human mind, yours and mine, is stony in character

and does not permit the seed of grace being scattered in all
directions, to grow in you because the mind has become
impenetrable and impermeable. But even the stoniest of minds
will have to break with the laser ray of awareness. And when
the old stony mind breaks up, is smashed to smithereens, the
new mind takes over. The old which is now dead is discarded
altogether; and the new one, which is neither a modification
nor an alteration of the old, is completely fresh with a different
set of characteristics.The new mind does not try to dictate to
you what you should or should not do. On the other hand it
awaits instructions from your heart, where a new light is shining.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Ancient Chaff
Duke Huan was reading in the hall and a cartwright
was making a wheel in the yard in front. Laying down his chisel,
he went up and spoke to Duke Huan:
“May I ask what your Royal Highness is reading?”
“I am reading the works of the sages,” replied Huan.
“Are those sages living?”
“No, they died long ago”
“Then what you are reading is merely the chaff left over by the
ancients.”
The king grew red in the face and said, “What does a
cartwright know about things like books? Explain yourself. If you
can give a good account of your remark, I shall let you go, otherwise
you die.”
“Let me take an example from my own profession. When I
make the spokes too tight, they won’t fit into the wheel, and when I
make them too loose, they will not hold. I have to make them just
right. I feel them with my hands and judge them with my heart.
There is something about it which I cannot put down in words. I
cannot teach the feeling to my own son and my son cannot learn it
from me. Therefore at the age of seventy I am good at making wheels.
The ancients perished long ago and that something which they could
not communicate perished with them. Thus what your majesty is
reading is the chaff of the ancients.”

A man discovers the use of a particular substance in the

world of nature, and demonstrates it to others, who then use
that knowledge. There is no need to rediscover the use of that
substance in each successive generation, since it is now the
common inheritance of all. This law applies to all objects and
33
 N. Lakshmi Prasad

scientific discoveries; the one who comes after, builds further

on the given knowledge. But not so in the area of the subjective,
the so-called interiority of man. There are no maps, no paths,
no guidelines, nothing whatsoever. What held good for a
Buddha or a Christ in his unique search for himself, does not
hold good for you, since you are as unique as they were in their
time. The path trodden by them is not yours. If it were so, and
you were only a duplicate of any one of the ancient discoverers,
there was no need for creation to bring you into existence.

Don’t, therefore, model yourself on anyone whom you

admire, since your trying to fit yourself into that straitjacket of
your hero is futile. You will never become that, and even if you
succeed to some extent, you will be a pale imitation or a
caricature of that. So don’t think of imitating or conforming to
some pattern; in fact, don’t think at all. Stop thinking, and start
looking. You have as much of an opportunity to look at the
unfolding life before you, as those gone by had at one time. You
can look into yourself as well as they did. And any discovery
that is to be made by looking and understanding is to be made
anew, afresh, by you and you alone, with your own suffering
and travail, and not by studying what the ancients said. Might
be, that when you discover something relating to life, or the
source of life, while causally looking into the leaves of an ancient
text which contains the distilled experience of another like you,
you come across corroborative evidence of your own experience.
But that is after you have gained your own insight. Only then
you will be happy to know that someone else knew what you
now know through your own joy.

Through constant reading of the ancient texts, and

repeating them endlessly, you gain nothing. It can only have a
soporific effect, and will add to your present sleepy state,
preventing your awakening altogether. So, set aside all ancient
treatises, and start observing, both the so-called outside and
inside. In fact this distinction is rather artificial and observation
is the only reality.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Now, boldly take the next step of observing without the

observer. You can do this by just being aware. Awareness of
everything, inside, outside, including the reactions of the
erstwhile observer. Presently there is only awareness, and no
one who is aware. Now see what happens, whether you gain
an insight which frees you.

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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

Not by Bread Alone

A man of property criticized Gautama Buddha for going about
begging his food, without participating in the productive process of
the community. Buddha turned round and asked the man, Does the
rice grow by your hand alone?” The man replied. “Of course not;
there is the earth, rain and seed, Gautama”. And the Buddha said,
“If other things are necessary for the growth of rice, so are other
things necessary besides rice for man’s growth.”

There have always been, besides Jesus Christ, certain

individuals at all times, who had discovered that man does not
live by bread alone. Man does need food to keep him alive, and
the ancients recognized this fact very clearly when they declared
‘annam’ as Brahma. And people have eaten anything and
everything; when driven by extreme hunger.

Food nourishes a man on earth. but his life is intended for

discovering the meaning and source of life. In order to get at
this, man will have to shake off his lethargy and come out of the
sleepy state in which he lives, and the mechanical conduct which
characterizes his life.

Man at his birth, is only half man. He has the shape of a

human being, has the potential to become fully human, but will
have to consciously work on himself. If he is to grow to his full
potential, he should be awakened to his reality. If this growth is
not attempted, he will pass out of existence, as the countless
fish in the sea, born this moment, only to die later.

While animals and other creatures live their allotted span

of life mechanically and pass away without the possibility of
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Under the Bodhi Tree

growth other than the physical, man emerges on the earth as a

semi-finished product with immense possibilities for inner growth
which will shape him into a finished product. To do this, he has
to go deep into himself, and discover who he is. Not all human
beings have the wish to do this. It is only some who feel the
great longing, and what they then undertake may appear to be
for their own sake. But this is not so.

While the discovery has to be made by the individual

through his own work, others benefit from it enormously. Men
around him gather the necessary inspiration and courage to
launch on this supreme adventure, looking at the example of
the person who has risked his all for the discovery. Such a
discoverer of life’s truth may participate in the productive process
of society to grow more food, more this, more that, or may not
do so. He may be creative in the accepted sense of the word by
being literary, artistic, or may not be. But he is truly creative,
even though his creativity may not find expression in ways
known to us.

He is creative in the sense that he has an intense love for

existence: he loves the whole of creation so deeply that anyone
who goes into his presence is ‘infected’ with the same love, if
the.visitor’s heart is ‘open’. Thus quite a few of the ‘receptive’
visitors who went to Ramana of Arunachala. J Krishnamurti or
Nisargadatta Maharaj, to speak only of a few of the sages of the
twentieth century, were deeply affected by them.

This altered their lives radically and their relationship with

the world of human beings, nature and objects, changed
completely. They were no longer capable of self-aggrandizement;
they were slowly getting transformed into real human beings.
Thus only the sages, true ones of course, can create better human
beings, who would care for other humans, including the animals
and the environment. The true sage is the only hope of humanity.
It is he who can lift the individual from the mire into which he
has sunk, to awaken him to his true potential, and show him
that he is a lion, gone astray while yet a cub, bleating like a
lamb.

37
 N. Lakshmi Prasad

Truth Means Doing One’s

Own Thing
Jiddu Krishnamurti, during his day, used to talk about two
persons walking along a path:
One of them suddenly bends down to pick up something,
puts it in the palm of his hand and is amazed by its shine and brilliance.
The other, out of curiosity, asks him, “What did you find?
And why is your face aglow?”
The man who found the shining splendour says in reply, “1
found the truth.”
The companion, quick to grasp the situation, says, “Right.
Now give it to me. I will organize it.”

Truth is something to be discovered entirely on one’s own

initiative. There is no beaten path to it. One has to painstakingly
cut his own path with the aid of the suffering that he undergoes
in life. His life is his path, and the path is straight and narrow as
Jesus said. lt is narrow in the sense that not more than one can
go through it at a time.

The companions on the way come along with you only to

a particular point, and thereafter the journey is all alone. Deeper
and deeper into yourself, all alone, where all is only one.

That is religion in the true sense of the word, the precious

diamond that you discover while moving on the path.But once
you chance upon it, the other man seizes the opportunity and
suggests that he will organize it, to make profit out of it. That is
how the human mind works. As soon as it finds any talent
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Under the Bodhi Tree

anywhere, anything which will attract the crowds, it says it

will organize it, to turn it into money.

Religions get organized around the original discoverers,

who come upon it only at their individual level. But there is
politics and profit behind this organizing activity. There is
strength in numbers, and the larger the number of followers the
better, for they are the source of donations and votes in which
the organizer and the politician are interested. Obviously, this
cannot be religion.

In order to discover real religion, one has to step out of

organized religion. But merely stepping out of an organized
religion has no meaning, unless one launches on the discovery
of the really religious life, the truly religious mind. If this discovery
is not made, one leads a life of utter ignorance, however much
of scholastic knowledge he might gather.

The mechanical mind, which according to its earlier

inclinations, its ‘bent’, its likes and dislikes, which now chooses
to step out of one religion to embrace another, or remains outside
the pale of all religions, is still choosing and so long as it chooses,
it is trapped by the same old mechanicalness and conditioning.

A change effected by this ‘trapped’ mind, merely results

in a change in its patterns of thinking. There is no flash of
intelligence in it, whereas ‘insight’ sees everything in the
twinkling of an eye and there is instantaneous revolution, a total
conversion, a complete turning round. One suddenly looks at
the whole, and the mind is incapable of ‘dividing’ thereafter.
One’s vision is totally altered.

Love is discovered by loving, and life has to be perceived

by living intensely. So long as the dark clouds of knowledge,
scholarship, jealousy, competition, in fact, the entire field of the
known obscure the sky, one can never have a glimpse of it. One
must step out of ‘all the known’ and must see the empty sky,
become the sky and then there is the dawning of true religion in
one’s life.
39
 N. Lakshmi Prasad

Mutual Love and Trust

Speaking about the Sufi, Abu Sayyeed declared, “That man
is a Sufi who is satisfied with whatever God does or God will be
satisfied with whatever he does.

That is the relationship between the Sufi and the Creator.

One has to first feel thankful to God, or Existence, if you will,
which has given you this opportunity to look at all the beauty of
the earth, the majestic mountains, the deep valleys, the
unfathomable seas, the varied colors, the melodious sounds and
the intoxicating smells of the whole of creation. Now for the
fact that you came here as a human being, instead of being born
as an animal whose life is utterly mechanical, living and dying
without ever knowing why one lived at all. It is said that the
angels in heaven desire human birth so intensely that they
actually queue up for the purpose awaiting their turn.

That is because it is only when you take the human form

and ‘work consciously’, that you are capable of ascending to
regions higher than what the angels inhabit. The angels do not
have the limbs and the body frame to ‘act’ and therefore they
wait eagerly for being born on earth. In fact, the angel does not
care whether it is born as a queen or as a servant maid, so long
as it is privileged to be born as a human being. It is only ‘proper
action’ on earth that releases you to wing your way to a higher
realm. That is why the earth is called the karma bhoomi.
Whatever your station in life, you can make the best use of it to
become aware, understand and become one with life.

This is not to suggest that one should not work for social
and economic betterment, to bring about a just and equitable
40
Under the Bodhi Tree

society. That work on the outside, however, should not hamper

the work that has to be done on the ‘inner’, to be free of all
prejudices, opinions, divisive tendencies, and jealousies that one
harbours.

It is when all these hindrances are removed that one

catches a glimpse of one’s original nature. Life’s journey on earth
involves quite a few troubles and tribulations for everyone, be
he King or page-boy. Suffering and sorrow are the common lot
of humanity. The one who is desirous of learning from life does
not mind whether he is put into a palace or a hovel, because
everything is only a learning situation. Thus if one is willing to
accept all this as God’s will, to enable him to understand
intelligently all that is happening to him, and thereby dissolve
the self, he will always be grateful to God in fair weather or
foul. The Sadhak or Sufi is content with God’s dispensation
under all circumstances and never loses his cheer.

Abu Sayyeed now turns it round and says, that one may
be called a Sufi if God is willing to be satisfied with whatever
that man does. Love of god, devotion and surrender are the
qualities which please God, above everything else. Now, that
such a devotee is an instrument of God, he does only ‘His’ work,
at His behest. In such a case God cannot ask for more from his
instrument. If the instrument completes a given job, God is
content and thereafter lays the instrument aside, till such time
that he needs it again for another job. And even without doing
any specific work, the ‘instrument’ goes on spreading love and
harmony all around, affecting all those who come near ‘it’, and
turning their faces towards God!

41
 N. Lakshmi Prasad

Poverty or Plenty :
God's grace
A wealthy youth was once passing along a public road, when
he heard sounds of sobbing and crying proceeding from a house nearby.
He stopped and listened to the pitiable cry of a small girl: “Oh father,
how long have we to suffer the pangs of hunger? Let us go from here.
We can eke out our livelihood by begging alms in the bazaar.”

“It is true that all our wealth is gone”, replied the father
consoling the child, “there is not a single coin left with us. But be
sure that it is God who has manifested Himself in our house in the
form of this poverty. We have to depend upon God alone. He will
fulfill our wants. “

Standing outside the window, the rich young man heard the
talk going on in the house. He was touched by what he had heard. He
went home directly. From his treasury, he took out a bar of gold and
in the darkness of night, unnoticed, he dropped it in the poor man’s
house through the window. The poor man and his daughter took it
as a gift from heaven and glorified God for having heard their prayers.
The following night also the youth dropped a gold bar through the
window, and while he was attempting to repeat the act on the third
night, the poor man happened to see him. Immediately the man fell
at the feet of the youth and cried out, “Oh brother, what is this that
you are doing?”

The youth replied, “You got the gold bars only by the favor of
God. If God had not directed me towards your house on the first day
and prompted me from within to help you, how could I have given
the gold to you?” Saying this, saint Nicholas, for that was his name,

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Under the Bodhi Tree

embraced the poor man with all love and humility. Poverty as a
social evil brought about by the unfair structuring of the economic
order, depriving some sections of the basic necessities of life, is a
phenomenon that needs to be tackled determinedly.

But the poverty of the man that we encounter here in this

story, has a different quality. The lover of God understands it as
something visited upon him by God. He is therefore not
interested in merely escaping from it, but is trying to find out
what he is supposed to learn from it, by undergoing the
experience fully. The devotee’s response to other afflictions in
life, is not going to be any different; he will patiently understand
whatever is happening to him, because he sees the face of his
‘Beloved’ even in his misfortunes. lf the ‘Bhagyadevata’ goddess
of wealth had smiled upon him at one time and the
‘Daridradevata’ goddess of poverty now frowns upon him, he
cannot afford to choose between the two, if he is to transcend
the opposites of pleasure and pain. It is only when he goes beyond
the opposites, that he encounters the Transcendent which alone
can confer bliss on him.

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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

The Priceless Gift of Patience

Buddhism attained great heights even during the time of
Gautama Buddha, as he seems to have inspired some, of his
earnest followers to risk everything to spread the message of
deliverance from sorrow. It is not surprising then that the new
religion traveled across many countries. Buddha’s disciples
moved into strange lands and alien cultures with a single-minded
purpose and determination, wholly alone, and without the
support of either funds or an organization.

Have a look at the dialogue between Gautama Buddha

and Purna, one of his ardent disciples, cited by Vladimir
Lindenberg, in his hook Mankind and Meditation, wherein Purna
does not flinch from any sacrifice. No doubt Buddha, out of his
love and concern for his trusted disciple expresses apprehension
for his safety, but Purna, well trained and disciplined has an
answer for all of his Master’s doubts, characteristic of those who
are willing to risk their life for the sake of truth.

Purna, a pupil of Buddha, asked to be allowed to go to an

inhospitable region in order to spread the teachings there.

Buddha: The people of Srona Pranta are wild, violent and cruel. They
have a character which leads them to insult and slander one
another and to anger each other. If they insult and anger
thee with evil, coarse and lying words, what would you
think?

Purna : If this were so, I should think that the people of Srona Pranta
are in truth kind and friendly people, since they do not beat
or stone me.
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Under the Bodhi Tree

Buddha: Supposing they beat or stone thee, what would you think?

Purna : In this case, I should think they are kind and friendly people
since they did not attack me with a cudgel or weapon.

Buddha: Supposing they did attack thee with a cudgel or weapon,

what would you think?

Purna : In this case I should think that they were kind and friendly
people, since they do not take my life.

Buddha: Supposing they did kill thee, Purna, what wouldst thou
think?

Purna : In this case I should still think that they were kind and
friendly people, since they would free me without any trouble
from this rotten carcass of a body. I know there are monks
who are ashamed of the body, who are troubled and disgusted
by it and kill themselves with a weapon, by taking poison,
by hanging themselves, or by casting themselves from a
high rock into an abyss.

Buddha: Purna, thou art gifted with the greatest gentleness and
patience. Thou can go and dwell in the land ot Srona Prantas.
Go thither and teach them to be free as thou thyself art free.

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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

Understanding In a Flash
A woman complained to her husband “My brother, it appears,
has been threatening his wife quite often that he would take ‘sanyasa’
(monkhood) and she is badly worried. I don’t know what to do”.
“Don’t worry” said the husband, “Such a man will never become a
sanyasi”. The woman asked her husband, “How then does one become
a sanyasi?”

“Thus” replied the husband, and tore off his clothes, picked up
a small piece of cloth to tie around his loins, and said “henceforth she
and all her sex were as mothers to him” and left the house for good.

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa related this story to illustrate

that deep and real understanding always occurs in a flash. The
understanding that occurs at the level of time is based on the
experience gathered earlier. Most worldly knowledge is
understood in this manner with a little bit of intuition thrown
in, occasionally. The understanding of the deeper things of life
happens in a flash.

King Ibrahim was in two minds, one which desired to

become a Sufi and the other which wished to continue in the
royal life, albeit with a sense of responsibility towards his subjects.
One night, he heard footsteps on the terrace. The guards brought
a man dressed in the clothes of a Sufi. When asked to explain
what he was doing on the terrace, the man said he was searching
for his lost camel. Ibrahim was not sure whether he should be
angry or laugh at the man. “And how did you think that you
would find the camel that you lost, on my terrace? he asked.

The Sufi replied: “If King Ibrahim can think that he can
continue to perform his kingly duties, and yet learn to be a Sufi
wholly devoted to god, there is nothing improbable in my
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Under the Bodhi Tree

thinking that my camel might have strayed on to the terrace”.

Ibrahim looked at the man carefully, grew thoughtful, and asked
his guards to set him free. A few days later Ibrahim heard a
commotion at his palace gates. The palace guards brought a
man to Ibrahim and said the man was asking them as to who
stayed in the palace in which lbrahim lived. He had also referred
to the palace as a caravanserai. The King looked closely at the
man and had a vague suspicion that it was the same person
who had come searching for his camel on the terrace.

“What do you mean by calling my palace a caravanserai?

he asked.

“Who lived here before you? the man asked.

Ibrabim replied that it was his father.
“And who before that?”
Ibrahim said that it was his grandfather.

“So this is a building where others have lived and passed

out. And you still say that this is not a caravanserai, where
people come and stay for a temporary period. lbrahim looked
up and saw that the Sufi was now dressed in shining green; he
immediately recognized him as Qidr, the angel from heaven.
King lbrahim now understood everything in a flash. He gave
up the kingdom, moved into the forest and devoted himself to
God.

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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

A Holistic Approach to Life

Arunachala Ramana read out an article on Vairagya
(detachment) from Arya Dharmam, a Tamil Paper, to a group
of devotees. “Vairagya is possible only for the wise. However it
is often misapplied by the common folk. A man often says that
he is determined not to go to the movies. He calls it vairagya.
Such wrong interpretation of words, and sayings of old, is not
uncommon. Again, we often hear, “Dog seen, stone is not seen;
stone seen, dog is not seen.” This is generally understood to mean
that one cannot find a stone to throw at a stray dog. But this
saying has a much deeper significance and it is based on a
beautiful story:
“A house belonging to a rich man was closely guarded. This
apart, a ferocious dog was chained to a pillar at the gate. The dog
and the chain however were skillful pieces of art turned out by an
excellent sculptor. In reality they were just pieces of stone which
appeared lifelike.
A pedestrian passing by, once took fright at the sight of the
ferocious animal and hurt himself in his hurried attempt to dodge it.
A kindly neighbor took pity on him, and showed him that it was not
a living dog. When the man passed by it the next time, he admired
the skill of the sculptor and forgot his old experience. Thus when he
found it to be a dog, he could not see the stone of which it was made;
and again when he saw it as a piece of sculpture, he did not see the
dog of which he was earlier afraid. Hence the proverb. Compare this
with “The elephant hides the wood and the wood hides the elephant.”
In this case, it is an “elephant made of wood.”
The point is that you cannot see both at the same time.
The eye cannot adjust itself to seeing both at the same instant. If

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it sees one, it does not see the other; it has to readjust its sight.
There are pictures which when looked at casually reveal the
outlines of an old hag; now look at the picture carefully, and
you will discern the face of a young lady.
Thus, if you only see the world and get fully involved with
it, then you are bound to compare, contrast, measure things
and conclude which among them is the larger and the smaller;
the high and the low, the beautiful and the ugly, along with
many other classifications. This is, of course, inevitable when
you are dealing with affairs of the world in a practical manner.
Measurement, classification, categorization. division are all
necessary with material things. But one needs to be careful when
dealing with forms of life, especially with the highest kind which
is the human being.
For certain practical reasons a human being is no doubt
classified as an American. or a Chinese or whatever other race
he is supposed to belong to. But these are only names given by
man; similar is the religious faith to which a man adheres which
is another label, however attached he may be to that label, and
might even harm another with a different label because of his
ignorance.
A man has to be put into the “business class” or the
“economy class” depending upon what he has paid, provided
with vegetarian or non vegetarian food according to his choice.
Such division has its practical utility in matters relating to the
world, but is utterly useless if not positively harmful, when you
have to show consideration, courtesy, and helpfulness to a
human being irrespective of the community, creed or race to
which he belongs. In these matters, if the mind attempts to
divide, it will never be able to see a human being who might
need help, succor, sympathy, understanding and love; instead
the mind will only see a Japanese, Russian or someone else alien
to its culture possibly leading to indifference and neglect.
The divisive mind will never be able to look at the whole,
the totality, and can only function in a narrow and selfish

49
 N. Lakshmi Prasad

manner, thereby forfeiting its claims for love, affection, and

beauty essential to a human being. To flower as a real human
being one needs to discover the essential oneness of humanity,
which is you, through inquiry and a sharp insight. Once this is
discovered, a man can station himself firmly in this holistic
outlook, and then deal with the “particular” without any
difficulty, reverting back to his meditative wholeness, as soon
as the matter on hand is disposed of adequately. His actions,
even when dealing with matters of the world will continue to be
guided by the vision he enjoys of the whole.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Sermons and Candles

Samnuu Muhib was returning from his pilgrimage to Mecca
when people requested him to deliver a sermon. It produced no effect
on them. He then delivered a Sermon to the candles, and lo, all of
them began to dance in ecstasy, and colliding with one another, were
consumed completely. He praised them over the people.

Tansen the great musician in the court ot Akbar, is said to

have lighted up the lamps with his rendering of the rag ‘Deepak.’
If that was possible for a musician, it should be equally possible
for a man of God to set the candles alight with a Sermon that
must have contained the flame of intense prayer performed over
a life time. But don’t rush into a discussion over the possibility
or otherwise of lighting up lamps with song or speech.

What is important to consider is the question as to why

we don’t ‘wake up’ and feel the joy of life as the candles did
when they started dancing. Even when the ‘messengers’ bring
us the ‘good news’ and put the lighted match to our wicks, why
are we so ‘dead’ to the whole process? Is it because we are
stupefied?

When Arunachala Ramana was asked the question, he

seems to have stated that most of us resemble ‘wet wood.’ If the
wood is dripping wet there is no likelihood of it getting ignited
despite all efforts. But if it is wood that is fairly dry it is possible
to build up a fire, after fanning it.. But the real dry twigs are so
susceptible to fire, that a single matchstick could start a crackling
fire on the instant. Perhaps these are the three categories into
which most human beings fall. The potential for being set aflame
is there in all wood, but the wet and dry conditions of the wood
make all the difference.
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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

This is what Jiddu Krishnamurti means when he talks

about our ‘conditioning,’ to borrow a term from the science and
art of psychology. We are soaked in our tradition which prevents
us from looking at anything afresh. We have innumerable rituals,
the performance of which puts us in a state of complacency,
inducing us to believe that we have done all that is needed in
rendering unto God what is God’s. The religion that we practise
today is not something that is alive, vibrant or joyful, but
something which is dead.

One needs to rediscover religion, or the really religious

mind, without being influenced by society which encourages
division, false values, hypocrisy and corruption. The really
religious mind will, in one grand gesture, sweep away all this
rottenness, to awaken love and affection for the whole of human
kind. It will break down the walls of separation artificially erected
by various denominational religions and produce the new man
of the future. This has to happen in you to start with, and needs
your stepping out of the stream. If you see the importance and
urgency of really being free of a corrupt society, then you are
‘dry wood’ and you will turn into a flame with a revolutionary
fervor, which will prove a danger to all the modern day pharisees
and scribes, who now lay down the law.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Order Without and Within

Colin Wilson relates the incident of Richard Wilhelm visiting a
remote Chinese village suffering from drought. A rainmaker was sent
for from a distant village, who asked for a cottage on the outskirts of
the village and vanished into it for three days. Then there was a
tremendous downpour followed by snow - an unheard of occurrence
at that time of the year.
Wilhelm asked the old man how he had done it; the old man
replied that he hadn’t. “You see”, said the old man, “I come from a
region where everything is in order. It rains when it should rain and
is fine when that is needed. The people are themselves in order. But
the people in this village are all out of Tao and out of themselves. I
was at once infected when I arrived, so I asked for a cottage at the
edge of the village, so I could be alone. When I was once more in Tao,
it rained.”
Colin Wilson goes on to explain that “by being in Tao and
in themselves 'the old man meant what Jung meant by
individuation. That is to say, there was a proper traffic between
the two selves, or the two halves of the brain. The people in the
rain-less village were dominated by the left brain ego -which,
while it is unaware of the “hidden ally” is inclined to overreact
to problems. This, in turn, produces a negative state of mind
that can influence the external world.
One could say that, according to the Chinese theory, the
mind is intimately involved with nature. Synchronicity is not
therefore the active intervention of the mind, in natural processes;
rather, a natural product of their harmony. So when we are
psychologically healthy synchronicities should occur all the time.
Our fears and tensions interfere with this natural harmony;
when this happens, things go wrong.
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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

During the last two centuries and more, man has

increasingly been drifting away from the lap of Mother Nature,
which has its own perfect order. Industrialization which
commenced in Europe has now taken rapid strides in other
continents, bringing in its train a different way of life for whole
peoples living in crowded cities and townships. By the turn of
this century or a little thereafter, about one half of the total
population of this world is expected to live in urban areas. Man’s
relationship with Nature will thus get severed.

But man’s body is made out of the elements of nature, and

his parents, and theirs too have grown up with the food and
nourishment provided by nature. To break this link with Nature
is the first step towards alienation. Having cut himself from the
Mother, man is now taking the next step of cutting himself off
from his father, the sky or space; the alienation will then be
complete. The black smoke of the industrialized areas and the
matchbox type apartments in which he lives do not enable him
to have even a glimpse of the clear blue sky. Practically the whole
of the day is spent in ill ventilated offices and factories, while
the early part of the night is given to clubs and places of
entertainment under bright neon lights thus shutting out both
the sun and moon from his life. Consequently tensions build up
not only in his mind, but also in the muscles of his body. He is
unable to feel the space outside of himself nor does he have any
space inside. But space, both outer and inner, are necessary for
man to ponder, contemplate and rest in repose. Otherwise man’s
problems and tensions will mount resulting in his killing another
or himself.

This conflict and violence is of the mind, and therefore

order will have to be established there, to start with. Such order
will bring about order around oneself. One can see that there is
great order in nature, and it is man’s nature that is in severe
disorder. If man can change his ways and live in accordance
with his real nature, and therefore in tune with Nature outside,
he can yet save himself and the Earth which sustains him, from
a huge catastrophe.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Action Without Motive

During the days of British rule, T.H. Humphreys, a young
Britisher started service as an Assistant superintendent of police
in Chittoor district of the erstwhile Madras province. Being
spiritually inclined even at that young age of twenty seven, he
made enquiries with the local people, and was told about Sri
Ramana of Arunachala, from whom he might seek guidance.
Humphreys, with his inquiring mind, used to visit
Arunachala as often as his official duties permitted him to learn
from the Master. Here is a conversational piece.
Humphreys : Master, can I help the world?
Ramana : Help yourself; you will help the world.
H : I wish to help the world. Shall I not be helpful?
R : Yes helping yourself, you help the world. You are in the
world, you are the world. You are not different from the world, nor is
the world different form you.
Jokes apart, some of us, along with Humphreys, would
be hard pressed to understand what Ramana meant when he
said first help yourself. All the knowledge that we have acquired
in the past either through our limited range of experiences or
through various books has not helped us to clearly visualise the
motives behind our actions. Some of our actions are blatantly
selfish and that is quite obvious to us. That we continue with
such actions is proof enough that we feel quite justified about
our selfishness. But the so-called nobler ones amongst us, the
'idealists', those who feel fulfilled only by serving others, are very
confident that this is the real work that a human being should
attend to. If some one wiser were to tell them that it is much
more important to know the motive behind such an idealistic
action, they would be shocked. To them, it is quite obvious that
they are motivated by the highest of human concerns, service to
those who need it the most.
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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

But ask them to delve deeper into their motive, and to their
suprise they may find that they have chosen this activity because
they were inherently lonely, unhappy, and consequenly totally
dissatified with themselves and with the world in which they
were living. In order to overcome this unhappiness, this misery,
man wants to busy himself in an activity which he thinks is
worthwhile ie.,service to humanity. And he now concludes that
such help rendered to the helpless, such service to mankind, is
service to God.

But the motive is the removal of the sorrow and the

suffering of one's own self and to forget oneself in such service,
to cover up the deep wound which is oneself. The festering
wound that is the self however, is not covered up that easily,
and has to be surgically operated. The self must be seen in all its
ramifications, how it is now hiding behind the noble ideal of
service to humanity. It has done this, so that no one would dare
to search for it in such a respectable place. But please see that
however much it has reduced itself in size,however well
hidden,the self continues to operate behind the veil, unabated.
This is knowing the self and the very act of knowing, the looking
and the keen observing, will bring the self to a halt. And this
has to be done, day in and day out, so that action without motive
can arise spontaneously. Such motiveless action by the human
being in any sphere of activity, is bound to be wholesome, holy
and beneficial to the entire creation.
So when Ramana tells Humphreys, and through him to
the rest of us, 'Help yourself', he is suggesting that one know
oneself first before setting out to act. And Ramana says that
'you are the world' which means that it is the motivated action
of all of us that has produced this world, not the world of nature
which man has not created, but the world of competition, hate,
inequity, exploitation and war, which all of us together have
brought about.

If we can drop our motivated actions, we can certainly

have a different world where, with our modern and improved
methods of agriculture and technology, we should be able to
feed, clothe and house everyone; but this demands an essential
pre-requisite that each one of us knows himself or herself in
daily action.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

A King's quest
There was once a king who was highly intelligent. He
asked three questions of those whom he chanced to come across,
"Which is the best time for undertaking a new piece of work,
who is the superior one among men and what is the best thing
to do in the world?"

Many scholars who came to the King gave several answers

in the light of their knowledge and experience, but the King
was not satisfied. The scholars' opinions were in conflict with
each other, and the King was not able to reconcile those views.

Someone, then told the King that in the forest nearby lived
a man of great wisdom, who would be able to give the right
answers to his three questions. So the King set forth with his
retinue to go and meet the wise man in the forest.

There was another King of an adjoining kingdom who

was inimically disposed towards this King, waiting for an
opportunity to harm him. On learning of this King's visit to the
forest, the enemy King hid himself among the branches of a tree
thick with leaves, on a narrow path through which the King
was bound to pass through, hoping to spring on him and kill
him.

But it so happened that the king passed through swiftly,

and the enemy king jumped on the king's body-guard, who had
moved into the spot. There was a silent battle with daggers and
the body-guard was slain, while the assailant was also wounded,
without the journeying king being aware of what had transpired
bebind his back.
57
 N. Lakshmi Prasad

The king went straight to the cottage where the wise one
lived and found him watering the plants. Seeing the king he
received him with due courtesy and made him take a seat in his
humble surroundings. The king sat down and asked him the
three questions that had been on his mind for long.

"Which is the best time for undertaking a piece of work,

who is the superior one among men and what is the best thing
to do in the world ?" To these questions the sage gave no reply.

Meanwhile, the enemy king who had been wounded in

the fight that occurred earlier, came fo the cottage with an
earnest plea to help him save his life. The sage saw in an instant
that the man was badly wounded and in deep distress; he
therefore immediately assured him of his protection. He applied
some herbal medicine to his wounds, dressed then up and with
the help of his visitor, the king ,put him to bed. The king, then
brought some hot milk and gave it slowly in spoonfuls to the
wounded man. The body of the wounded man, which had
swooned, now came back to consciousness, with the help of the
warm milk. When the wounded man saw that the king whom
he had all along considered his enemy and whom he had sworn
to kill, was now the one who was giving him milk, helping him
to come back to life, his heart changed altogether. He then
confessed to the king how he had attempted to kill him had
failed, and how he now felt remorseful. He repented and made
friends with the king. When the wounded man recovered a little,
the visitor king addressed the sage and said, " Sir, you haven't
yet answered my questions."

The sage replied, " I have answered all three questions of

yours."

The king was surprised and asked, "But Sir, you never
uttered a single word all along. I am not able to see when you
had given your answers."
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Under the Bodhi Tree

The sage then explained, " I have answered all your three
questions without speaking. Your first question was 'what is
the best time for the performance of an action. Whatever has
transpired is gone and finished. It will never come back. To think
or ruminate about it is a waste of time. And whatever lies in the
womb of the future is not known to us. To think or to
contemplate about something which is non-existent at present,
is a waste of time. Therefore the present moment is the best of
all. Is this true or not?"

The king thought for a while and said, 'I see that you are
right. Now tell me who is the superior man, the most excellent
in the world.'

The sage replied, "O, King, in this world, each man is better
than the other. If you think that someone is superior to all others,
there are some who think that he is inferior to everyone else.
While you may consider that someone is the least among men,
others might regard him as the greatest.

Therefore whoever is now with us at present is the best.

When you came to me, you were the best, and so I received you
with all due courtesy. And then this man came wounded and
desperate. Then he was the best man who needed all my
attention, and therefore I attended to him and rendered all
possible help. So whoever comes into your presence at the
moment, is the best man who deserves all your attention.'

The king smiled in agreement at this answer and said,

"What you say is true. Now tell me, which is the best thing to do
in the world.'

The sage in reply, said : 'In this world there is no task which
may be considered as pre-eminently the best and no task which
is inconsequential. It is your thinking that makes it so. Therefore
whatever appears before you in the moment which needs to be
done, is the best and the most important.

59
 N. Lakshmi Prasad

Before you had arrived at my cottage watering the plants

was the most important and significant work that I was
attending to. After you stepped in, receiving you in the proper
manner was the best thing to do. Thereafter came this wounded
person to my aid and saving his life was the best thing to do
under the circumstances. Now you see that attending to the
work on hand, is the best possible thing to do.'

In a flash, the king understood. He was immensely pleased

with the sage and said, ' I now have the right answers to all my
questions; my doubts stand cleared'.

The sage then said in a serious tone: 'O king, what indeed
can be considered as the most excellent in this ever changing
world? Who is the superior and who, the inferior ? The essence
is the same; it is the same blood, the same bones and flesh. In a
tropical area, because of the sun the human skin is dark,and in
colder climates the colour of the skin is white. But what difference
does this make ? It is the heart that must be pure and shining
white. If the heart is filled with dark and evil designs even if the
skin is white it would only be a golden bowl with urine and
dung inside.'

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Under the Bodhi Tree

A charitable heart
A poor man living in a village near Anandashram, which
Papa Ramdas had established near Kanganhad in North Kerala
was unable to manitain his family. and suffered great distress.
He came to the Ashram and met mother Krishnabai, the fremost
disciple of Papa Ramdas and pleaded with her " I and my family
are starving. I am without employment, and therefore am unable
to support my family. I earnestly request you kindly to help me."

Krishnabai thought for a while and said, " I will give you
a milch cow with a calf. You can sell the milk and thus maintain
your family".

The man replied, " I will gladly accept the gift. But the
plot in which my house stands, belongs to some other person
which has no other building in it which can accomodate the
cow and the calf".

Mataji considered the matter and said, " In that case, I

will get you a small cowshed built in your compound by our
workmen for housing the cow"

The man said, " But I have not the money to pay for grass
and oilcakes for feeding the cow".

Mataji again came to the man's rescue and said, " In the
Ashram we have plenty of hay which I shall get bundled and
have it sent to you. I will also see that you are supplied with a
sufficient quantity of oil cakes."

In a week's time the cowshed was built and the bundles

of hay, and the oil cakes were sent along with the cow and the
61
 N. Lakshmi Prasad

calf. Everthing looked quite well for a few days, before the man
came running to Mataji once again to say" The yield of the cow
is quite good, but I find it hard to sell the milk. Sometimes there
are no buyers and at other times they offer very low rates for
the product. I am not able to make both ends meet."

Mataji thought it over and said, " The Ashram needs a

good quantity of milk every day. We will therefore purchase it
from you tomorrow onwards and we will pay you reasonable
rates, Bring your entire produce to us."

This story narrated by Swami Ramdas ends with the

remark that the poor man was happy thereafter, and that "this
is charity in excelsis."

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Service with a smile

There is a joy in serving. But you do not come by that joy
through adopting the method of service deliberately. The joy
must first arise in the heart and then it can take the shape of
service, if it chooses to. It may not. It could well take some other
shape such as writing, dancing, singing, performing, or anything
for that matter. Voluntary service is prized by society, which
recognizes and honours it; seeing this, some people adopt social
service for alll the advantages it confers on the person. If backed
up by money power and adequate publicity, such persons
generally succeed in becoming prominent in all the social fields
of activity, and God willing, in politics too, thus rising to power
in due course.

But the shape that joy assumes is unpredictable. Taking to

social Service in trade unions, consumer organizations or refugee
camps may occur or it may not. Depending on one's original
nature it might take to ensuring animal welfare or tree
protection, but not necessarily so. It might start fighting against
social evils or choose to attend to the eradication of illiteracy. It
may not address itself to any of those socially recognized "useful'
tasks, but might concentrate its attention on something else not
immediately beneficial to society. However the work that it
chooses may be beneficial to society in the long run, and society
will not therefore reward such endeavour. But joy has no
complaint. It does not care to serve society in the recognized
modes of "service', because whatever it does is an expression of
its joy. It is untiring in its work, does not get frustrated because
of recognition not coming its way, does not compare itself with
another and carries on all through life joyfully. There is never a
moment when such joy is absent from the heart of the person,
and therefore there is no question of its expression coming to a
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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

stop at any stage in his life. If due to physical incapacity, the

expression is in anyway hampered, it will still continue to express
itself through a theoretical exposition

People who discover such joy, and who are filled with it,
express it through their activities and society incidentally benefits
by it. The person is not aware of this service that he is rendering.
That which society recognizes as 'service' is merely an expression
of joy on the part of the individual. He is as unconscious in that
expression as a flower is of its beauty or the bird is of sounds
that it produces, which are pleasing to the human ear.

When such joy takes the shape of "socially recognized

service," it is on par with any other activity which joy can give
expression to. Mere service deliberately taken up has a limited
utility to society and will continue to be appreciated and
encouraged, as it should be. But it must be remembered that
service will seek an adequate return in the shape of recognition
and all that such recognition implies. Since this service is
motivated it necessarlly seeks a reward and there is nothing
wrong with it. But it should not be confused with the 'joy in
serving' the quality of which is of very different order. Service
with a real smile is born spontaneously, while service duty bound
is born out of effort.
The 'joy of giving' is of a similar character The man who
gives out of his abundance of joy gives without seeking anything
in return. He gives of whatever he has; it could be material
wealth which he donates; could be clothes to the needy, or food
to the hungry. Their comfort and warmth is his comfort and
warmth. When this feeling arises naturally he feels a joy which
is complete.

All giving is charitable and noble, but giving out of one's

joy is blessed.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Conscience is tricky
Man is presumed to have the capacity to distinguish good
from the bad with is the aid of his conscience. Even if the
discriminative faculty inherent in man, it is generally so very
dull that most men even in the best of civilized and cultured
societies choose to act in a selfish manner which sometimes turns
out to be harmful to others. Again that which is 'good' to a large
number of people, may however be bad to a small group of
people or for an individual and that which appears very good
for the minority, may appear 'bad' to the majority. There are
even instances of the same man holding something 'bad' at one
time, resorting to such an action which he now considers good,
in the changed circumstances. Good and bad are thus hopelessly
intertwined and it is difficult to say which action is "good" and
which "bad" under a given set of circumstances. Killing or taking
life is generally accepted as bad but is glorified and applauded
when a war is on between countries. Conscience, so called, is
thus a very poor guide for one's conduct. Conscience has been
defined as a persistent social instinct, which naturally depends
upon social mores, customs, and manners. It is conditioned by
one's culture, especially by one's beliefs and the influence of one's
parents. In a society which is accustomed to usurious rates of
interest, the conscience of the man who indulges in such a
practice does not prick him, but killing a cow appears heinous
to him. In a society where charging interest on money has been
prohibited for centuries, taking of interest even from banks and
commercial instirutions is considered a sin, while treating women
as inferior human beings and not allowing them to get educated
is considered as conduct beyond criticism.
During times of mass hysteria even this restraining
influence of a so-called conscience does not operate,and
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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

unbridled savagery takes over, further dullening the already dull

conscience. People are no longer able to see the hurt they cause
to others or even to themselves and it is only when the crowd
breaks up that the individual comes back to his senses.
Conscience is thus a fear of sin as defined temporarally
and spatially which is instilled into man so that he may conform
to societal rules and regulations. Such a conscience is totally
undependable for seeing what is right under given
circumstances. Acts of this highly elastic conscience are only
self-strengthening and not self-dissolving in nature. It leads to
endless complacency. A man who thinks he is guided by
conscience is only acting according to social morality, which
when carefully examined, is no morality at all. Conduct guided
by conscience is cultivated virtue and not real virtue.

Jiddu Krishnamurti was once asked "why is one's

conscience inactive when it is most needed? In other words,
why is it so active when it is too late ?" Krishnamurti did not
mince matters when he stated clearly that "conscience can exist
only when experience is not fully understood; but when
experience is fully understood there is the freedom from
conscience. The lack of understanding creates time, and time,
to the mind, is conscience. To be free of conscience through
understanding, is to live in the eternal present, without past
regrets and future hopes. The memory of experiences not
understood creates conscience but experience wholly understood
leaves no conscience because there is complete understanding
in the present."

That is what conscience is. And it is this conscience that

pricks occasionally, feels guilty and undertakes to compensate
for an injury inflicted in the past. Some people talk of an "inner
conscience" which dictates to them what action has to be
undertaken and they feel that such an inner conscience is
sacrosanct, beyond question and has to be implicitly obeyed not
only by the person concerned but also by a whole people who
are supposed to abide by such a decision. According to this view

66
Under the Bodhi Tree

whatever the inner conscience dictates is not a matter for

reasoning or discussion but something that has to be willingly
accepted by one and all. This is almost equivalent to what the
"Shaman" in the Red Indian tribes declares on the strength of
his so-called inspiration which cannot to called into question.

Despite all these attempts to make it appear that there is

something holy about this inner conscience , it can be seen that
all this is prompted by thought. Inadequate action in the past
has left a residue, which now demands further action, and when
this demand is made, thought again meets it with another partial
solution, just to satisfy the guilty conscience. This is only a
covering up of the wound and is not adequate action.

'Adequate action' can arise only when there is an

understanding and an insight born out of that understading.
This understanding occurs only when one is aware at the
moment of 'acting' ; not through self analysis after the action is
over, by a leisurely review of the whole situation, but by being
aware while the action is taking place. Such an awareness will
not show 'the good and the bad' which are but relative terms,
mere value judgements based upon opinion, prejudice, and one's
conditioning but will reveal what is false and what is true.

Once the false is seen by a clear mind in full awareness

without a shadow of conditioning, the 'false' is dropped
automatically and the true is acted upon. Such an action can
never go wrong because it is uninfluenced by the man's past,
his conditioning and is unmotivated. It is not the past as the
'thinker' that has acted but it is an action arising out of an
understanding based on truth. When truth acts, even if the whole
world disapproves of it, it is unafraid and is willing to stand alone.

Modern man suffers from a severe sense of guilt in regard

to actions committed by him 'unknowingly' as he calls them, at
some point of time. But considering the manner in which he
acts at the present moment, one can be sure that at a future

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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

date he is going feel guilt for the present acts, since these are
being commited equally unknowingly, treading on the toes of
many, exploiting people and hurting some others with unkind
words. This means that the person is only interested in the luxury
of 'feeling guilty' after the event because his selfishness and
cruelty are dominant at the time of action. At a much later point
of time he does not mind admitting his guilt and thinks that by
verbalizing it he has performed the needed penance. He then
feels relieved of his guilt and goes on merrily with his life as
before, hurting more people. This analysis undertaken after the
event is utterly futile and is only intended to salvage his so-called
conscience. Analysis is therefore useless.

One has to be aware right at the moment of action so that

he is able to see his motivations and his conditioning. In the
light of such impersonal awareness, the motivations, compulsions
and conditioning drop off and all his subsequent actions would
be simple, direct, and total. Such action springing out of
understanding turns out to be good for the individual, the
community, and the world.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

The joy of companionship

If you do not discover love before you grow old, you will
be totally companionless. You would have given the best years
of life to your work, to your family and every bit of appreciation
from them must have sounded sweet to your ears. But this was
only as long as you slaved for them. You cannot expect much
gratitude from them at this point of time; they are busy being
grateful to others. The only companions you now have are those
who are just anxious, as psychologically insecure, as joyless as
you are. There are of course some who try to lose themselves in
playing cards, viewing T.V and video-cinemas endlessly and
gossiping tirelessly. Some think it would be fulfilling to turn to
religion. Group activities of various kinds including the so-called
religious variety give a false sense of companionship for some-
time but the loneliness returns.

If you have discovered love earlier, then there is no need

for any particular companionship. One may have a spouse, a
number of relatives, and friends who may be favourably disposed
towards you or disinclined to be friendly with you depending
on changing circumstances and their varying needs, but you
will not feel the "need" for human companions. The love in you
will be your constant companion, and you will be joyful in all
circumstances, in company or out of it.

Your question will now be " Have I not loved ? Did I not
love my wife and children ? Did I not love my work? I have been
loving all along. Then why am I forlorn? "But when you love that
way you practically loved only yourself. There was a lot of
attachment, fear, anxiety, and jealousy in that love and you
invariably bargained for a return on that investment called love.
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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

But we are not talking of the love of an object for the

pleasure it gave us, for the feeling of psychological security that
it afforded, but a quality of love which in itself is joy. Let us say
you love music and practise it not for the monetary returns it
brings, not for the popularity you get thereby, but for the sheer
enjoyment that it produces; then you love it for its own sake. So
with painting or with writing. In fact it can be in respect of
anything including gardening or carpentry. Blessed indeed is
the man who can discover his real love in this world. The quality
of love has been firmly established in him and he can sail through
life joyfully, fair weather or foul.
Don't wait for old age to dicover such love. It may then be
too late because habits die hard. Habits of psychological
dependence, possessiveness, jealousy, anxiety are best tackled
while one is young and when one has all the physical energy at
his command. Old age inevitably produces disease and
decreptitude, habits are hard to change, and one cannot summon
up enough energy to face all the anxieties at that stage. It would
then be useless to wail as Thomas wolsey did in a different
context. "Had I but served God with as much zeal as I served
my king, he would not have left me in grey hairs'. By all means
serve your family, your boss your nation or whatever you think
you need to serve, but discover joy early in life, so that you are
not left companionless in old age.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Sensitivity is the key

In times such as these, when man chooses to bomb ont
entire cities, and use chemical weapons to snuff ont human life,
it looks a bit odd to talk about respect and love for life in animals
and plants. There are of course societies and organizations for
protecting and preventing cruelty to animals, though this does
not save the creatures from being killed in large numbers for
food or for sport. The cutting down of trees has been going on
for a long time, and it is only recently, during the last few decades
that people have become environment conscious. The motivation
however is not so much the respect for life in the trees as such,
but the fact that it would lead to an ecological imbalance, there-
by affecting rains and the future of man. So the whole argument
is man-centred and if it doesn't affect human existence on this
planet, perhaps every tree could be cut down to serve human
requirements.
The original Red Indian inhabitants of America had
however a different approach to life around them. When a Red
Indian had to cut down a tree out of 'necessity' he went and
knelt before the tree and communicated with it. He would tell
the tree that he had to brild a house for sheltering his family
and that if he had an alternative site to make his home, he would
not have harmed this particular tree, But since he had no
alternative except to construct at this site where the tree stood, he
humbly sought its permission for removing it from there. To the
person who is accustomed to crushing out life wherever he comes
across it, unless he is prevented by law, all this would look funny,
and he can well accuse the Red Indian with being a hypocrite !
Even if one admits that a whole race of people or an entire
community cannot be that sensitive, we will have to agree that
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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

there are sensitive human beings who love not only human
beings, but the whole of creation.
The chinese have an ancient story of a Buddhist monk,
who moved out of his monastery to a nearby village for collecting
alms, and while returning back along the fields, was waylaid
by a gang of robbers and robbed of his few belongings, as also
his clothes. He was then tied to the ground with the thickly
growing grass in the field and left there. A king who was passing
by with his retinue heard the moans of the man and came there
to find the man tied down only with grass, from which he could
tear himself free, if he chose to. But since he had not done it, he
ordered his followers to pluck out the grass or cut it with a sword.
But the monk pleaded with the king to get the knots untied and
not pluck out the grass with its roots in the ground. The king
was astonished at this strange sensitivity to all life even at the
grass root level, and realized that this was no ordinary monk;
he therfore followed him all the way to his monastery to train
under him as his disciple. But one need not go that far back in
time to seek out sensitive individuals.

In our own time and age, Sri Ramana, the sage of

Arunachala, was a highly sensitive man to the whole of creation.
He spoke of animals, not in the neuter gender 'It' as is common
to all Indian languages, but as ' he 'or 'she ' recognizing their
identity as creatures with their own personalities. He would refer
to the dogs in his 'Ashram ' as lads and would ensure that they
were fed first with the day's cooking, before all the men and
women were served. In fact the first few morsels of food used to
go to the birds and monkeys. He was extremely kind to cows,
peacocks and squirrels.

Sri Ramana had to use a staff because of advancing age

and rheumatic trouble. Descending the steps from the hill to
the Ashram he once saw a squirrel running past him, chased by
a dog. He shouted at the dog and threw his staff in between, to
prevent the dog from harming the squirrel. In the process, he
slipped and broke his collar bone. This act of his had however

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Under the Bodhi Tree

saved the squirrel. A practical man might wonder whether this

spntaneous act of mercy can have any effect, or prevent the
enormous cruelty perpetrated on the weak by the strong in the
world all over. But that is not the point. Any one can show
merey and save life only within his own ambit. If a person
approaches man with hunger written on his face, then that
person needs to be fed; one does not concern oneself with all the
persons in the world that have to be fed before this person can
be attended to. To respond with feeling is the imperative need
for a real human being, and the organizational ability of the
intellect can come into play if something has to be done on a
larger scale. To intellectualize right in the beginning without
responding to the immediate situation is lack of sensitivity. That
apart, life saved anywhere at any level is life saved averywhere
though not in quantitative terms, just as life destroyed anywhere
wantonly and wilfully, hurts the whole of created life. This point
will not be understood at the intellectual level, but one needs a
high degree of sensitivity to appreciate this reality.

Ramana was sensitive to all life including the reptilian

Variety. His identification with the totality of life was so very
complete that he had no fear and therefore no hatred of even
serpents. Once a snake happened to crawl over his legs without
harming him and without being harmed by him. This could have
happened only because the reptile was able to sense that this
man would not harm him, and that it would not therefore need
the self protection of biting an enemy. When someone later asked
Sri Ramana what he felt, he simply stated " It was just cold and
soft". Occasionally a snake would come to the place where he
sat, and if people tried to bring sticks to drive it away, Ramana
would refer to the snake in respectful terms and advise them to
"let it be" and that it would go of its own accord. He would
never permit any harm being done to the snakes.

Ramana's feeling for life extended to the trees, plants and

flowers too. He once saw someone cutting a twig from a tree
during night time, for use as a toothbrush for the morning after.

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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

Ample scientific research has since proved the fact that plant
species have their own neuron system, and that they experience
pain and pleasure in their own way. But Ramana who was not
aware of all this 'scientific knowledge' at that point of time, could
however instinctively know that the tree would he ' sleeping'
during the night and it was most inappropriate to cause hurt to
it at that hour, while it may not mind the act during the day
when it is 'awake'. So, he pulled up the person saying, "Can't
you let the tree sleep in peace? Surely you can have your twig in
the day time. why not have a little sense and compassion ? A
tree does not howl nor can it bite or run away; does it mean that
you can do anyting to it?"

He could not bear to see even the plucking of flowers from

trees in an indiscriminate manner. In India, people worship stone
gods, the handiwork of man, with flowers plucked from living
trees, without a thought for the life that they are destroying.
When a woman devotee known to Ramana from his boyhood,
started plucking all the lilies and jasmine flowers and putting
them into her flower basket, Ramana looked at her with a smile
and chided her in a playful manner: 'But what are you doing
Lakshmi ?' She answered ' Oh, I was just plucking flowers'.
Ramana said: 'That is true. But why so many?' She replied, ' For
worshipping the Lord'

Ramana countered : 'Does worship need flowers in such

large quantities ?

'I don't know, but since these trees were laden with so
many flowers, I thought I could as well pluck them out' she
replied.

" Ah, you perhaps did not like the look of plants with
flowers in such abundance and you wanted to denude them
and make them look bare ! since we have had our fill of the
beauty of those flowers adorning the plants, there is no need
for anyone else to enjoy a sight like that. And what is more, it is

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Under the Bodhi Tree

you who planted and nursed those things. Obviously you have
a right to pluck the entire produce of the plants ! Pluck out the
whole lot, so that no one else can enjoy the sight of these beautiful
flowers on the plants! I am sure it is such worship to the Lord
that is likely to be fruitful and effective "remarked Ramana
sarcastically, which was very unusual for a gentle person like
him. But those words of Ramana reflect his deep pain at the
sight of the plant shorn of all its flowers. He was so senstive in
this respect that he never touched flowers because of their
delicate nature. He never encouraged devotees garlanding him,
nor did he permit flowers being placed near his feet. If someone
did it all on a sudden while he was off guard, he criticized them
strongly. Sadhu vaswani, another man of the spirit never
accepted a flower garland for the same reason.

Ramakrishna Paramahmasa, the sage of Dakshineswar

in Bengal stated that while worshipping 'Siva' on a particular
day he was about to place a bel leaf on top of the image of the
Lord, when it was revealed to him that the entire universe was
Siva. After that revelation his worship of Siva through the image
came to an end. 'Another day ' Ramakrishna says, ` I had been
plucking flowers when it was revealed to me that the flowering
plants were so many boquets. It was revealed to me in a flash. I
did not calculate (by which he means ` think') about it. It was
shown to me that each plant was a boquet adorning the universal
form of God. That was the end of my plucking flowers. I look on
man in just the same way. When I see a man I see that it is God
himself who walks on earth'. That was the vision that
Ramakrishna was blessed with. When one sees life everywhere,
one hesitates to hurt life even if it be in a flower.

When there is sensitivity, there is an awareness. Lack of

sensitivity is a type of unconsciousness and unawareness which
is the cause of attachment; attachment is a gross quality, while
sensitivity is a subtle quality leading to awareness, which breaks
all attachment. Sensitivity is not being merely sensitive to oneself
or one's own reactions; such people are too easily hurt even by

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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

an innocent remark by the other person. Sensitivity, properly

speaking is the ability involved in being recptive to stimuli.
Sensitivity is therefore being sensitive to everything, to all life
and the whole of the environment. Such total sensitivity, such
all - inclusive awareness obviously cannot be practised or
cultivated. It is a deep respect for all life which must arise in the
heart, if it is to be genuine. Going further afield, sensitivity in
psychic research is defined as the capacity to receive
supernatural information. One has to be highly sensitive if truth
is to be discovered in the movement of life, and attentive to the
passing moment which contains all the truth. It is this sensitivity
which perceives the innermost self when thought is totally absent.

But unless one is sensitive to the things near at hand, he

cannot reach out to sensitivity in the psychic field. Actually the
function of the senses is to convey to the mind the sensation
arising out of the interaction between the sense organs and the
particular state of matter which it cognizes. These sensations
are in fact the `Measure of That' and are said to be the products
of the functions which exist in the universal mind in
mathematical relationship.

Talking to Carlos Castaneda, Don Juan, the yacqui Indian

seer of Mexico, says that all delicate instruments are extensions
of our senses, while Castaneda continues to argue that there
are instruments that are not in that category because they perform
functions that human beings are not physiologically capable of
performing.

"Our senses are capable of everything" Don Juan asserted.

" I can tell you off hand that there are instruments that
can detect radio waves that come from outer space", I (carlos)
said, "Our senses cannot detect radio waves".

"I have a different idea" Don Juan said" I think our senses
can detect everything we are surrounded by"

"What about the ultrasonic sounds?" I insisted, " We don't

have the organic equipment to hear them".

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Under the Bodhi Tree

" It is the seer's contention that we have tapped a very

small portion of ourselves" replied Don Juan.

Be that as it may, Sri Jiddu Krishnamurti , a `Teacher' of

rare distinction has stressed the need for sensitivity, being a part
of the child's education, if the child is to grow up as a proper
human being. Sensitivity, according to him was the key to
understanding the whole of this creation. Walking through a
grove of mango trees he remarked to one of his younger
companions, " If you are sensitive, you are sensitive to everything.
I cannot cut a rose or any flower while it is alive. Do you look at
flowers, trees, really look?"

A mind sensitive to a tree or a flower is equally sensitive to

a human being and can give its whole undivided attention to
that being. This sensitivity has to start with little things before
one can move on to higher things. What is absolutely necessary,
according to him, is a very sensitive, alert brain which stops
attogether `willingly and easily its chatter of reason and
unreason'.

The traditional religionists can only think of suppressing

the senses to attain what they conceive of as god. But Krishnaji
differs radically with them and says, " Reality demands your
whole being. You must come to it with your body, mind and
heart, as a total human being, not with a mind paralyzed and
made insensitive through discipline. Then you will find that you
need not be frightened of the senses because you will know how
to deal with them and they will not lead you astray. You will
understand the senses, love them, see their whole significance,
and then you will no longer torture yourself with suppression,
control."

The people who attempt to suppress and kill the senses in

order to achieve Reality or Truth are committing a grievous
error. They are obviously questioning the very wisdom of Reality
and Nature which have endowed man with these senses for a
real purpose. Krishnaji recognized this truth very early in his
life when he declared, " To free this life you must assimilate
experience through the channels of sense and desire, through

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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

the channels of thought and feeling. To block or obstruct any

one of these channels is to injure and place a limitation on the
life which you desire to set free. If you block up any channel of
sense, desire, thought or feeling, you pervert the full functioning
of life, and there results a routine of thought, a dull habitual
unconsciousness, fear and uncertainty and the lack of deep
affection. You must assimilate experience through these
channels; they are the only means man has, and you must not
block them if you would set life free".

Most people who suppress their senses without

understanding their role in life, turn neurotic and become hard
hearted and cruel towards their fellow human beings, leading
to lack of love and affection which ultimately are the real human
qualities of value. That is why Krishnaji goes on to point out
that "the essence of affection is sensitivity and without it all
worship is an escpe from reality. To the monk, the sanyasi, the
senses are the way of pain, save thought which must be
dedicated to the god of their conditioning. But thought is of the
senses. It is thought that put together time and it is thought that
makes sensitivity sinful. To go beyond thought is virtue and that
virtue is heightened sensitivity which is love. Love and there is
no sin; Love and do what you will, then there is no sorrow."

Heightened sensitivity is love which can do no wrong.

Therefore instead of suppressing the senses, Krishnaji suggests
the simultaneous functioning of all the senses at their highest
capacity, not with a view to indulging them, but to keep them
awake and alert to take in everything. Such sensitivity " gives
immediate perception of something as true or false which is not
possible if the intellect in its activity of thought divides, interprets"
The simultaneous awakening and functioning of all the senses,
according to him, prevents the self from coming into operation.
"The mind is full of thought" says Krishnaji , " because the senses
are not fully flowering. The senses create thought, senses create
experience, which is knowledge, memory - thought. When the
senses are fully flowering, there is no centre as desire.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

You are not aware of the senses; you are the senses. All
the associations that have become strengthened, become
tremendous. The totality of senses are not operating when
problems arise. When the senses are awakened and there is no
centre, there is a beginning and an ending."

In fact, each one of the senses that the human being

possesses, offers a partial view of reality and it is therefore
necessary that the totality of senses should be allowed to function
if man is to have proper perception. At another place Krishnaji
says that "It is possible to wipe out the accumulation of a million
years when all the senses are totally awake. Then there is no
centre from which experience can take place. As long as there is
a centre there must be experience and knowledge. When there
is no centre there is a state of non-experience, a state of
observation. It is the centre as `me' that creates desire. This state,
this centre cannot reach that state, the beginning". When the
self is no longer operating, there is what he calls 'attention'. "If
you are so attending, all your senses are completely awake. It is
not one sense attending but the totality of all the senses.
Otherwise you cannot attend. when there is one sense that is
highly cultivated and the others are not , one cannot attend.
Complete sensory activity is a state of attention. Partial sensory
activity leads to concentration. Attention has no centre.
Attention is a flowing from itself, moves, goes on...."

Krishnaji distinguishes sensitivity from mere refinement

which is always partial, while the former is an integral state. He
says, there is no partial sensitivity, either it is the state of one's
whole being, total consciousness, or it is not there at all.... this
sensitivity is stripped of all pleasure and so it has the austerity,
not of desire and will, but of seeing and understanding.

Refinement in which there is pleasure leads to isolating

death and sensitivity leads to life that has no end. Krishnaji,
while developing the theme further, also spoke of a new use of
the senses "so that in functioning, the sense organs do not destroy
energy, but let it flow" and adds significantly "Eternity is that
timeless flow".
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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

Perfection : Idea or Fact?

A chinese proverb says that there are two perfectly good
men; one dead and the other unborn. What exactly is perfection?
Is it an idea or a fact ? Perfection is man's idea of 'what should
be?' born out of his thought.

The story is told of four scholars who had a fund of

knowledge and were therfore, greatly burdened by thought.
While travelling with a caravan they looked at the animals and
were deeply impressed by their contentment , their strength and
their patience, under trying circumstances. They then decided
to praise the qualities of the animal and thus honour him, as
was their wont.

One of them, who was also a painter, took some

parchment and went into a tent and, with the help of an oil
lamp drew a picture of the animal just getting up from the resting
position. The picture was so well drewn that it created the illusion
of the animal being alive. The second scholar went into the tent
and wrote a short factual account of the advantages of having
a camel in the desert, and described it as a ship of the desert,
without which no one could negotiate the desert area. The third
scholar, also a poet wrote a beautiful poem on the camel.

Then the fourth scholar went into the tent, leaving

instructions not to disturb him, and stayed for hours together in
the dimly lit tent, by which time the other three had gone to
sleep. They waited for him to come out, but he was there inside
for another day. Finally he emerged from the tent after having
completed the stupendous task that he had set for himself. With
a tired and weary look, he threw a bundle of parchments on the
carpet. The first parchment contained the title in bold letters,
'The perfect camel, or how a camel should be'.
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Under the Bodhi Tree

Obviusly the man was not satisfied with God's creation.

He therefore pondered over the matter and finally produced
the perfect picture of a camel, as it ought to be. This is what
quite a few scientists do while crossing two different species of
animals or plants in order to produce a hybrid variety, thus
trying to improve on God's creation.

This is typical of man who sets himself in opposition to

God, and wants to play god's role in creating something different
from what is already available. Claudio Naranjo, writer, points
out that while searching for the ideal rose , we dont see that
each rose is the utmost perfection of itself. For fear of not finding
the rose we seek, we hang on to the concept of `rose' and never
learn that a rose is rose is a rose'. Our greed and impatience do
not permit us to let go of the substitute through which we enjoy
the reflection of reality in the form of promise or possibility , and
by which we are at the same time cut off from present enjoyment.

Human search for a perfect master, father, mother,

husband or wife is also never fulfilled. But this searvh is masking
the real search which is for the divine being which is said to be
in us all, but is being projected outside due to ignorance.

But one has to know oneself `as he is', before assuming

that the divine is within him. Unless man's thought is allowed
to 'flower' he will not know himself. One has to, therefore, watch
oneself both when he is thinking and acting `as he is'. It is by
such knowing without moving away from the fact or trying to
escape from it, or suppressing it, or attempting to get rid of what
he sees in himself, but by staying with it and allowing it to unfold
itself fully inside oneself before it withers away, that a real
transformation takes place.

Animals and plants are created perfect in their nature. They

grow and die, but they do not seem to undergo any transformation
as far as we know. But the human being who belongs to a higher
order, is said to be created as a `half way house'. In him is placed
the potential for realization and the consequent growth as a full-
fledged human being; if he does not address himself to this task, he
would end his life after leading a mechanical existence.

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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

Zen Buddhists state that at the time of birth, all of us are

inherently `Buddhas'. This is when the baby, according to
Chuang Tzu, the chinese sage, is innocent and `when it looks at
all things without winking, the eyes not being focused on any
particular object; he goes without knowing and stops without
knowing what he is doing. He merges himself with the
surroundings and moves along with it. These are the principles
of mental hygiene'.

Innocence, where God resides, has no concept of perfection

and imperfection. It lives naturally and simply and when a
mistake occurs, it corrects itself and learns. In fact no man learns
without committing a mistake. The one who is learning however
does not commit the same mistake twice. One experience is
enough to teach him the lesson. In fact he will be able to see at a
glance where he is going wrong and will check himself even
before he acts. When this awareness exists, a wrong thought is
noticed at its very source. This awareness is totally, different
from postulating a perfect ideal and forcing oneself to adjust to
that 'thought construct'

Jiddu Krishnamurti , who stresses the need for awareness

in one's life considers that perfection pertains to the field of
machinery and not to the life of human beings. He asks whether
there is anything like perfection at all, or whether it is an idea
given to man by the preacher to keep him `respectable'. He points
out that 'in the idea of perfection there is a great deal of comfort
and security and always it is profitable both to the priest and to
the one who trying to become perfect. Thinking, believing the
same thing over and over again, without deviation, becomes a
mechanical habit and perhaps this is the kind of perfection
everyone wants.'

Krishnaji then points out the danger involved in such

conduct. 'This cultivates a perfect wall of resistance which will
prevent any disturbance, any discomfort', which naturally will
prevent the understanding of life. `Besides', he says, 'perfection
is a glorified form of success. There is no perfection, it is an ugly
thing except in a machine. Each attempt at perfection leads only
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to greater confusion and sorrow which only gives greater

impetus to be more perfect... The desire for perfection (in which
the pleasure of achievement, consequent vanity and pride are
all involved) outwardly or inwardly denies love. Love is neither
perfect nor imperfect; it is only when there is no love that
perfection and imperfection arise. Love never strives after
something; it does not make itself perfect'.

A man might imagine that `turning the other cheek' when

he has been hit on one, is ideal conduct and therfore qualifies
for the idea of perfection. This is because Jesus said it in some
context applicable to a particular situation. Even today it may
be applicable to certain situations, if it springs from the heart.
But if it is `thought out' and practised as a matter of policy, it
may lead to ludicrous situations. For one thing it is not applicable
to governments or law enforcing authorities, nor even to
individuals. It is only the man who has transeended the `I' that
can be physically hurt without wishing to react in the same
manner. That is what Krishnamurti was hinting at when he
had been asked, `If `A' hurts `B' is B to turn the other cheek, or is
he to stick up for himself ? In reply Krishnamurti stated : 'Neither.
Be complete in yourself and you will know no anger, why should
you be angry, or jealous, or envious ? It arises out of
incompleteness, wanting what you have not. Out of
incompleteness, you can be roused into anger, therefore you
either want to turn the other cheek, or return the harm. But if
you are complete in yourself, full, rich within yourself, then
you will not consider submission or retaliation. Then you are
free, you are not affected by the action of another. It does not
mean that you are indifferent or callous, humble or proud. You
are in yourself complete, therefore you can give of your affection
to all, without distinction.'

Perfection is difficult to define, especially in human beings.

In respect of animals it is perhaps possible to say that a race
horse is perfect in as much as it is able to win the race consistently
over a period of time. Similarly it is possible to say that a faithful
dog is perfect because it is characterzed by that single quality of
being faithful even at the cost of his life. All animals, which are
single dimensional, are perhaps perfect in displaying their special
characteristics.

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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

The idea of perfection is a peculliarly human concept,

which does not exist in nature as such. A crooked tree is as
perfect as a straight one, a tree with few branches as perfect as
the one with a large number of branches. Each serves its own
purpose in the scheme of things and a short tree does not envy
the tall tree's perfection.

The human being on the other hand is multi dimensional

and displays many qualitees at variance with each other. Man
is capble of loyalty or treachery, courage or cowardice, virtue or
vice, nobility or meanness. A vague attempt has been made to
define perfection in terms of abilities that a human being
possesses, and Leonardo Da vinci of the sixteenth century, who
displayed considerable talent in many fields of human
endeavour was declared 'the perfect human being'. But this is
ridiculous. A multifaceted genius is just that and nothing more.
A man may be able to write and publish many books, be a musical
prodigy, may be good at computer science and yet not be a
person with really human qualities. He may be found utterly
lacking in love and compassion and may ill treat either human
beings or animals. He may be totally insensitive to the needs of
others.

The perfect man is therfore a mythical concept and no

one can be called perfect without someone joining issue and
proving that the man is imperfect in regard to many things.
Being born as a human being seems to involve a certain amount
of imperfection.

In another sense, everything as it is , is perfect from the

clairvoyant's point of view. Many a clairvoyant claims that he or
she has had a look at this world transcending the ordinary man's
world view and says that the world is perfect from that side.
They say that everything is as it should be and nothing need be
altered. If human beings want a more perfect and peaceful world,
they would have to alter themselves to produce it.
But, does any one of us really desire peace, in our own home,
in our community, nation, or is it only a vague ideal ? Even
granting that there are a few, of what significance are they, pitted
against the huge majority of humans who in same degree or
other, want war ? What would happen to the thriving armament
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Under the Bodhi Tree

industry, the military build-up and all those who have been disciplined
and trained to fight, not to speak of the extra territorial designs of
various nations, constantly on the war-path ? Is the humankind in a
position to abandon war? Under these circumstances, the desire for
peace expressed by a few, may be a cry in the wilderness.

The `I' with which we see this world is neither peaceful

nor can it be made perfect, whatever ideals it sets up for itself.
It is this false `I' this non-existent `I' this `I' which has sprung up
from the thought - feeling experience of a personality that puts
forward the idea of perfection to strengthen itself further.
Perfection, which is none other than self-improvment, is just
the expansion and the increase of the `I'. If man's aim is
perfection, he will obviously be caught within this ` I ' trap.

On the other hand, man's aim should be to liberate himself,

so that he can become one with life. Either a man is liberated or
he is not; and a liberated man need not be called perfect, because
perfection is a measure, a value judgement, inapplicable to the
liberated man. If a man is liberated, he joins the great stream of
life in every living creature. The liberated man takes just a little
from this world according to his needs, and gives much in return
according to the capacity latent in him, for increasing the quality
of life. One man's capacity or talent may lie in the direction of
music, another man's in the derection of engineering, still others
in other fields of activity. Each such liberated person contributes
enormously to life in general, since the excellence that he achieves
in his particular field is no longer hindered by the self, or the
love of anything else other than life.

Liberation, then, is the proper human destiny and not

perfection, proposad by the idealist. It is the liberated man's
actions that are complete and total, and therefore 'perfect'
because they do not arise from his mind's thought, but from
some other source, which is the well-spring of all true action,
The liberated man simply acts when action is needed, and it is
the others who see the perfection in his actions, while he himself
is unaware of the perfection. In other words, man as he is
constituted at present cannot aim at perfection, but he can allow
perfect action to take place through him, by liberating himself.

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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

Beyond Nationalism
Patriotism, as presently understood is a very narrow
concept, which is mostly used for whipping up intense hate
feelings towards other nations. This does not however mean
that one does not love his immediate neighbours and the
community of people among whom he is born and bred up. But
he will exhibit his loving nature even when he travels to a distant
land and lives with some other community of individuals.
Basically he is a human being kindly disposed towards everyone
and does not differentiate between one human being and
another, belonging to this or that nation or religion.

It is this lack of 'distinction' that Sri J. Krishnamurti talked

about during the thirties of the twentieth century when India
was still struggling for her independence from the British yoke.
To love one's people by whom one is surrounded and to love
that part of the earth in which one is born and brought up is, in
Krishnamurti's words 'natural and sweet' as all of us know. But
to organize that feeling with ulterior motives is wrong. That is
why Krishnamurti asked. " Is not the organized love of one's
country with its regimented hate and affection, cultivated and
imposed through propaganda, through leaders, merely a vested
interest? Does not this so-called love of one's country exist because
it feeds one's egotism through devious ways?...Prejudice, hate,
fear must create division, which inevitably breeds war; war not
only within oneself, but also between peoples".

Speaking in New zealand in 1934 he severely castigated

this fanticism called patriotism, "you are not patriotic every
morning when you wake up. You are only patriotic when the
papers say you must be, because you must conquer your
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Under the Bodhi Tree

neighbour. We are therefore the barbarians, not the one invading

your country. The barbarian is the partriot. To him, his country
is more important than humanity, man."
Talking to the students in South India during 1930, he
appealed to them to look at the sorry picture of India and act
courageously to change it without fear of consquences. He,
however told them, " I am not being patriotic. I have nothing to
do with mere patriotism. So do not think that I am awakening
your patriotic enthusiasm to do things. What is necessary is not
sheer enthusiasm but live interest and clear thought".
Krishnamurti is reminding them of the human
responsibility to change the conditions around oneself if one was
serious and was interested in altering the bleak picture. This
appeal is not merely to the young man in India, but to the young
men all over the world. Krishnamurti's love is obviously for the
human being and not for man divided artificially as European,
Egyptian, and Japanese.
During that time when the Indian Independence
movement was gathering momentum and intense patriotic
fervour was the order of the day, and when Dr, Annie Besant, a
Britisher who reared up Krishnamurti, had herself thrown her
weight behind the Independence movement of India against the
British rulers, Indians 'judged' other Indians depending upon
which side of the fence a man stood i.e. either he was with them
or not with them, in which case he was in the enemy camp of
the British. So some one tried to pin down Krishnamurti by
asking him pointedly, " will you, as a son of India, tell us what is
your opinion concerning the Indian problem?"
Unmindful of the significant role that his 'adopted
mother' Dr, Annie Besant had played on the Indian political
scene, knowing full well that he was likely to be misunderstood,
and running the risk of being considered unpatriotic in that
charged atmosphere, Krishnamurti replied unhesitatingly, " I
explained before that politics is but a branch of a tree and I am
concerned with the roots of the tree. When everyone cares for
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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

the root, the source, there will no longer be any preaching or

the effort at reforming another. When such a condition exists,
man will be truly happy, because then he will treat all his
neighbours alike. Whether it is an Indian problem, or an English
problem or a European problem, you will look at it from the
point of view of the whole, not from the point of view of the
part. Now you only look at a problem from the point of view of
the symptoms, not from the point of view of the underlying
principle.
I personlly have no nationality. I have an English
passport, but that is to allow me to pass different man-made
boundaries.
I am speaking of that life which is in all countries, beyond
all boundaries and limitations. Every man must be free, not
dominated by another, either spiritually or politically, either
through money or through power. There cannot be domination
of the one over the many or of one over another.
That is all I can answer to that question"
It can be seen that Krishnamurti's reply is quite
comprehensive and does not evade any issue. He takes his stand
by humanity at large as any truth seeker worth his name would
do, and states that he is not bothered by boundaries and
nationalities. He is against all domination and exploitation of
man, be he a foreigner or native in the political, economic, social
and spiritual fields and wants everyone to be free. Obviously
even if an Indian were to dominate another Indian and exploit
him, Krishnamurti would be against it.
In 1935 while he was addressing a gathering in chile, South
America, he was asked, " Is not what you say against nationalism,
detrimental to the welfare of the smaller nations ? How can we in
chile hope to uphold our national integrity and well-being unless
we feel intensely nationalistic and defend ourselves against the
larger nations who seek to control and dominate us?"

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Krishnamurti's reply goes straight to the heart of the

matter. " When you talk about upholding your national integrity
and well-being, you mean developing your own particular class
of exploiters". He then explained how his observations on
nationalism were twisted by each group to serve their own ends.
"When I say nationalism is an ugly disease, those people from
other countries who have vested interests here (chile) or in any
other country not their own, are very much in agreement with
it and those for whom nationalism is a means of exploiting their
own people are very much opposed to it." It looks as though
Krishnaji was able to well foresee the rapacious politicians and
class exploiters that would emerge in a free India.

Krishnaji was always striking out for individual freedom

when he declared that "every individual should be free to live
fully, completely. As long as one tries to liberate one's own
particular country and not man, there must be racial hatreds,
the division of people and classes. The problem of man must be
solved as a whole, not as confined to countries or peoples... As
beliefs divide people, so you have let frontiers destroy the unity
of man. It rests with you, not with a vague thing called the mass,
to bring about human unity and happiness".

Krishnaji once stated that "Independence without

freedom is meaningless. If you have freedom, you dont need
independence", words pregnant with meaning which will have
to be understood at a deeper level.

Krishnaji's understanding of freedom was different from

the ordinary intellectual's understanding of it. Neither was it
the understanding of the hedonist, nor the average man's wish
to do as he pleases. To Krishnaji, freedom was indivisible not
only from the point of view of all mankind to whichever
nationality he belonged, but was also indivisible in regard to
outer and inner freedom in man himself. In 1928, when 'narrow
nationalism' was at its height in India he stated at Bombay, in
his characteristic fearless manner, "Inner and outer freedom

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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

cannot be separated. Greater than any counrty is life; and it is

only when a country has realised and adjusted its life to the
deeper laws of life that it is, or can be really free. From this point
of view, there is absolutely no free country today. There are every
where merely degrees of freedom. The true enemy of freedom is
dead tradition; living at second hand. The race or country which
has not liberated its inner life cannot hope for freedom in the
real sense of the word. And even if it get what seems like outer
freedom, the fruit when tasted, will be found, for all its outward
fairness, to be dust and ashes within.

It is this deeper soul of India (covered over by the

heartless caste system, untouchability etc) which has to be revived
today... Once released, it will carry all before it. Not only would
it bring political freedom,as one of its natural and minor results,
but it would in one great act of self-assertion, make India what
I feel, she is destined to be - namely, the spiritual centre and
dynamo of the world."

Thus while Krishnaji negated narrow patriotism and

nationalism as poison, he was quite well aware of the glorious
role that India had once played in the field of religious inquiry,
which today has disappeared altogether. Instead, we have fake
gurus trying to cash in on our wonderful spiritual heritage
consisting of inquiry at deeper and still deeper levels. Krishnaji
deplores this development and says, " From the beginning of
time the people of India had something which was genuine,
true. They were deeply religious in the true sense of the word.
There were the Buddhas and the pre - Buddhas who had left
their imprint on the soil of India. The present world of astrologers,
gurus - does that indicate that the depth of the real thing is
going? Do you see that doubt in religious enquiry is one of the
most extraordinary things that existed in India? Christianity was
based on faith; doubt, scepticism, questioning were denied,
treated as heresy. Is doubt, one of the principles of religious
investigation in India, disappearing, and therefore India joining
the western stream?

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The western world was centred in belief, which is so

superficial. That superficiality, that materialism, is that
conquering this ? India was centred on one thing. And therefore
she had a fire which spread throughout the world. Now what
is happening to the Indian core?"

Krishnaji had a true appreciation of India's role in human

civilization. This was the land where the Vedas were born when
humanity was still in its infancy, where the Upanishadic enquiry
was initiated long before the rest of humanity enquired into
matters of the spirit. What the Vedas and the Upanishads
contain is not only the legacy of India, but rightly belongs to the
whole of the world. This age old flame of enquiry is today almost
extinguished in this land and has been replaced by a mere
worship of idols and the construction of temples. Krishnaji's
anguished plea is for the revival of religious enquiry throughout
the length and breadth of India, so that it can play its rightful
role that it once played in the world civilization.

That was Krishnamurti, a child born in Madanapalli of

Andhra Pradesh, reared up by the British Theosophists in
England, who at the end of his life's journey chose to go back to
Ojai valley, California, where he had originally undergone his
spiritual experience, which may really be considered his second
and real birth. Truly Krishnaji belonged to no land and to no
people. He was a son of mother Earth and belonged to the whole
of humanity.

A few other eminent truth seekers were also not

concerned with the narrow patriotism of the pre-independence
era. Sri Ramana, the sage of Arunachala was able to discern the
element of self interest among those who participated in the
struggle for independence. When some one asked him, long
before the country attained freedom, whether it was one's duty
to be a patriot, he replied "It is your duty to be, and not to be this
or that". Asked further whether the desire for independence
was right, Sri Ramana observed that "such desire no doubt begins

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with self-interest" and then added that "the practical work

involved in attaining the goal however would gradually widen
the outlook in such a manner that the individual self-interest
gets merged into the interest of the people as a whole".

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the sage of Dakshineswar,

made no distinction between the Indian and the Britisher, while
the rest of the country was against the foreign nationals who
ruled the country.. But Ramakrishna never showed any bitterness
at any time towards the British. In fact, while passing in a horse
drawn carriage, Ramakrishna once saw an English lad standing
under a tree in a park, and was filled with a vision of Lord
Krishna, only to fall into an ecstatic mood for some time.

The lover of reality, cannot bother himself with the outer

personality of a human being. Anything connected with the
name and shape of a human being, whether it be the country or
race to which that person belongs, cannot be of any interest to
him, because he is looking at the other being's real self. National
barriers can therefore have no relevance to such a man.

Kahlil Gibran, the famous philosopher-poet of Libya, in

his poignant appeal to the mindless invader of his country, points
out how leaders exploit the common man in the name of
nationalism. "Why do you invade my country and try to
subjugate me for the sake of pleasing those who are seeking
glory and authority? Why do you leave your wife and children
and follow death to the distant land for the sake of those who
buy glory with your blood and high honour with your mother's
tears? Is it honour for a man to kill his brother?"

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Under the Bodhi Tree

Social reform : Raison d'etre

During the time of Sri Ramakrishna Pramahamsa, the sage
of Dakshineswar, in the latter part of the nineteenth century,
social reform movements to remove the evils in society and social
work to ameliorate the conditions of the poor in India, were
being undertaken by many of the educated class, fired by some
ideal or other. Despite this, Ramakrishna could see that these
men did everything with an ego and declaimed against most of
them, saying that 'social reformers talk glibly of doing good to
the world. Is the world so small a thing? First see God. Then
only will the necessary inspiration and power come to you. You
must be unattached even when you are funding hospitals,
schools and colleges. You must take up such works of pressing
need, as come your way. God does not need your services alone'.
The point that the sage was trying to drive home was that man
should not assume that he can correct everything in this world,
thus feeling his inportance to the extent of forgetting his very
creator; there are other men scattered everywhere capable of
similar service and he is no more important than those equally
motivated. If he realizes god, he will serve creation naturally,
without the feeling that it is 'he' who is serving. Then again, he
will serve those whom he comes across in his immediate
surroundings, and others looking at him and understanding his
nature may perhaps be motivated to take up similar work in
their own areas. There is no need for this man to take upon his
shoulders the burden of the whole world, which again is merely
the result of an inflated ago. It was this that Ramakrishna was
objecting to and not the natural unselfish help that any really
loving person gives to one or the many in his surroundings. 'Self-
reform' in the words of Sri Ramana, the sage of Arunachala,
'automatically brings about social reform, and then social reform
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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

will take care of itself'. If a person is able to drop his ego, since
he does not see himself as separate, he will automatically help
without thinking of 'helping society'.

Author Carlos Castaneda, in his book 'The fire from within'

quotes Don Juan, the Mexican Indian seer as saying "The nagual
(term used for the man in whom the divine is awakened) Julian
didn't care about anyone. That's why he could help people. And
he did; he gave them the shirt off his back, because he didn't
give a fig about them".

"Do you mean, Don Juan, that the only ones who help
their fellow men are those who don't give a damn about them?"
I (carlos) asked, truly miffed.

'That's what the stalkers ( the ones who are in earnest

search of the great spirit) say" he said with a beaming smile.
'The nagual Julian, was a fabulous curer. He helped thousands
of people but he never took credit for it. He let people believe
that a woman seer of his party was the curer. Now, if he had
been a man who cared for his fellow men, he would have
demanded acknowledgement. Those who care for others care
for themselves, and demand recognition where recognition is
due".

Individuals such as Julian evolve to the extent of becoming

like the sun shedding its light everywhere, the river moving along
bringing life-giving water to the parched fields, the tree giving
its fruit and shade to every passer-by unmindful and unconscious
of their action. They don't 'help' people consciously, but their
presence on earth in the state to which they have evolved, may
be said to affect people in a particlar way.

While most men are not even conscious of their self-centred

behaviour, there are a few who look into themselves and notice
their selfishness. They recoil from this ugly picture and set up
for themselves the ideal of helping others as a means of salvaging

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Under the Bodhi Tree

their conscience. They then make plans for taking up schemes

to help others and doing this work for a part of the day feel
complacent that they are progressing spiritually. The self, which
had earlier noticed its ugliness and set up the opposite ideal of
selflessness, will slowly entrench itself in this 'selfless activity', and
will try to derive some advantage from this activity at a later date.
It will justify its seeking 'compensation' for all the saerifices it has
made all along. Even if it is not money, it will still seek fame,
prestige, power which are no better than the seeking of money.
The man who is under the illusion that he is making
spiritual progress through helping others is the one who is likely
to ask the type of question that J. Krishnamurti was once asked,
" Is not the helping of others a condition precedent to the
attainment of truth? Krishnamurti answered very carefully 'That
is a question which is liable to be misunderstood if I answer it,
but I can only answer it in this way. If you are bringing about
incorruption (by which he means, discovering that which is not
prone to death or decay) within yourself, you cannot but help
another. There is no other way." In answer to a similar question
on the same topic, he stated, "When you find liberation, the idea
of helping others is innate. If you are nice you help others; if you
are not,you do not help others. (But) you are making the helping
of others a condition. If you are right you help automatically.
When the rose blossoms, it does not say, "I am going to give
beauty"; it cannot help it... If you are beautiful (inside) you
automatically give aid. But that should not be the reason why
you seek beauty (he is referring to the 'other') you must seek
beauty because of its own intrinsic value. Otherwise you make
beauty a conditional thing, to be attained through the helping
of another."
In other words, in the process of liberating yourself which
should be the aim, you perforce help others, because compassion
for life, love of life is arising in you. The seeking of the 'Other'is
the primary objective, and helping the other in human form or
animal form is something that follows out of this search
naturally, and there is no conscious attempt to help another,
which is an act of the self.
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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

In trying to help the world without first knowing oneself,

one is assuming that he knows what help the world needs. But
just as you are in the world to fulfil your own desires, the others
are also in their respective desire - worlds to fulfil their desires.
So, whether it is in respect of yourself or in respect of the other,
you are only helping in furthering the desire structure. But what
is really needed is that you understand and transcend your desire
structure and enable the other to do the same, so that both in
yourself and the other, there is no spiritual deprivation.
Otherwise you only cantribute to the furtherance of the pain-
pleasure trap in which you and the other are caught.

It is therefore necessary to know oneself before one can

help the world. In knowing oneself, one discovers that no one
was created for being in 'conscious service' to another and each
is created for his or her own sake. When he 'realizes' himself, he
helps naturally, with no motive, because he does not see a
distinction between himself and another. His work is done
without an end-result in view. It is performed efficiently for its
own sake, because it brings joy, and the self is interested only in
joy which is its nature.

A great deal of what is called 'helping the world' according

to Krishnaji 'arises from a concealed egotism; but even more is
due to an unacknowledged fear. People are afraid to tackle
themselves and their own natures, and so they think that they
can earn some kind of exemption- certificate by busying
themselves with good works. Such activities are fundamentally
false. If you really love the world, you will strive to 'be' for the
sake of the world; and if you cannot bring yourself to make this
effort then your love is not real. The man who has purified his
own nature, so that it is filled with truth and love cannot do
anything else than help; yet he is not conscious of helping, for
he is merely expressing that which he is and such help, judged
even by ordinary standards, will be infinitely more powerful
because it will be operating at every moment , under all
conditions, and upon every person with whom he may come

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Under the Bodhi Tree

into contact. Good works as too often understood are the sign
of a poverty, rather than of a richness, of the true inner life".

Apparently the so-called selfless action of the 'do-gooder'

does serve certains sections of society, but the man is also
promoting his interests at the same time. This is the type of 'service'
rendered by any trader or merchant, who transports goods from
distant places and puts them within the reach of the local
community, making his profit in the process. In fact it would be
much more honest to render service against payment of money,
in which case there is no obligation on either side.

In is worthwhile examining whether there were 'social

workers' prior to democracies coming into existence in various
countries. There were no doubt charitably inclined persons who
had undergone a 'conversion' of the heart and mind, and who
then gave of their money and of themselves to society. There
were, of course, a large number of others motivated by reasons
of desire for name and fame, and fear of hell. But 'social service'
as such was an idea which appears to have develped with the
ushering in of the democratic form of Government, where a
candidate can file his nomination for election, only after ensuring
his popularity among the people of his constituency. One has to
render 'service' or at least appear to have done so, in order to
seek votes. Consequently there has been a considerable growth
of 'social workers' who are only too willing and anxious to serve
the community. Each one searches out some area where he can
step in and attend to some imaginary need of the people.
Naturally there is no dearth of the phenomenon called 'social
worker' operating in our midst. They don't need payment; in
fact they would be willing to make some payment on their own
to the voters, so long as they are sure of getting their votes.

Service based upon calculating thought is service of a

limited character, which invariably seeks some compensation.
Eventually there is sorrow involved both for the one who serves,
who later feels he did not get an adequate 'return' for his effort,

97
 N. Lakshmi Prasad

and the 'served' who feel they have been exploited, as is the case
with all 'limited' actions.

But there is a different kind of service, unmotivated, which

arises spontaneously when a man is transformed. Such a man
does not seek to serve. He is in fact, not conscious of the service
that he is rendering or the help that he is giving to another. He
does not set out with the aim of serving society, but tries to resolve
the problem of his own sorrow, and the strange discontent that
haunts him day in and day out. This sorrow, if it is deep enough,
is not only his own, but the sorrow of the whole of humanity
concentrated in him, waiting to be resolved. A man who has
thus dissolved his sorrow will now step out to spread his
happiness, the joy which he has obtained through the
transformation that he has undergone. He has not transformed
himself with an effort of will, but transformation has occurred
in him because he looked at his sorrow steadily and intensely,
which then lost its stranglehold upon him. Such a man who has
undergone great sorrow and who has broken through it, serves
the people in a 'natural sweet manner' says Krishnaji. Service to
others is now a natural trait for this man as in the case of a tree
bearing fruit.

A transformed man, in his maturity, does not view himself

as separate from the rest of creation, and least of all from the
rest of humanity. He sees himself in another, and is therefore
conscious of the suffering of the other man. Whatever lies in his
power to alleviate the condition of the other man, he will do it
naturally without seeking a recompense, though his chief aim is
to permanently relieve the suffering of that person by showing
him a way out of suffering, a path which he has already traversed.

It is, however, difficult to say how a transformed man

serves society, or more accurately creation at large, because he
does not consider life at other levels as any inferior to human
life. If he displays great love for animals and plant life and
concentrates more on those forms of life, he cannot be found
fault with. If he cares more for the environment than for so-

98
Under the Bodhi Tree

called human progress, which serves not so much the needs of

human beings as their comforts and abnormal desires,he cannot
be told that he must stick to socially acepted priorities. Since the
transformed man has already stepped out of the mainstream of
society to discover the 'Eternal', he is no longer bound by society-
oriented values. Society, for example, might value productivity
very highly, but the transformed man may not consider
economic productivity as the main goal in life. He might feel
that human life has to be productive not only in the economic
field, but many other fields unrecognized by the man of the
world. The transformed man might place a higher value an
harmonious relationships between human beings, and the
relationship between humans and the rest of creation.

The passion for humankind and for all life in general is

'compassion' which is all-consuming, and leaves no place for
other man-made ideals and societal goals. How this compassion
will act and in what area it will operate, will be difficult to
predict. This man may prevent a quarrel between two factions
which are prepared for shedding blood, and it is difficult to
place a value on the service he has rendered. He might be able
to induce a robber to give up his harmful profession and take to
peaceful means to earn his livelihood. He might be able to change
a wayword young man into a socially useful citizen . By his
mere presence amidst human beings,he might be bringing about
a peaceful and quiet change among the few or the many, and it
would be extremely difficult to rate the value of all these acts.
Some may consider such service as invaluable and some others
can argue that politically, socially and economically speaking,
these acts are of little significance and have no visible impact on
society at large.

But politics, economic and social rules and regulations are

all the branches of a tree as Krishnaji would say quite often,
and point out that a wise man looks to the roots of the tree, and
does not merely trim the branches. He sees that the roots are not
worm eaten, he cares for and nourishes the roots; and then the
leaves the branches, the fruit and flowers of the tree remain
healthy, normal, vital and pure. Despite this the transformed
man will continue to be judged differently by various sections
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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

of people. Even organized religions may find it difficult to come

to terms with this transformed man, because he does not care
for the rules, regulations and the ritual of these religions. This
man sees that 'sacred energy' operating in all life and therefore
does not hold one as superior or inferior to another, which is
anathema to the organized religions; they distinguish between
the charitable donors who are the rich, and the ordinary masses
who are the poor. The transformed man sees no distinction
between the rich and the poor. In fact he is not bothered by the
opposites at all. His compassion embraces everyone whether
virtuous or not, whether learned or ignorant. He treats everyone
alike irrespective of gender, creed or colour. No hierarchical
society can accomodate this sort of person. But whatever others
may say, the transformed man continues to exercise a beneficial
influence on the whole of creation.

People would still ask the question as to what role the

transformed man plays in human affairs, and whether his
realisation helps others. One answer to this question is, 'undergo
the transformation and see what happens', because no one can
foretell what shape it will take. It can only be stated that
transformed souls have invariably influenced large numbers of
people as happened in the case of Jesus, Buddha and a whole
lot of sages whose love and compassion spilled over. Krishnaji
and Ramana of Arunachala, in the twentieth century, exercised
a similar influence over thousands of persons. When Ramana
was asked whether realisation in one helps the others, he replied
"certainly; it is the best help possible" and then added with great
insight, "But there are no others to be helped, for a realized being
sees the self, just like a goldsmith estimating the gold in various
jewels. When you identify yourself with the body, then only the
forms and shapes are there. But when you transcend your
body,the others disappear along with your body consciousness".
In effect Sri Ramana is saying that every action of the realized
individual will automatically be beneficial to everyone because
he does not make a distinction between himself and the other
selves. He sees the essence in everyone and is therefore
compassionate towards all life. In what manner his compassion
expresses itself in the world, would depend upon his innate
nature and talent.
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Under the Bodhi Tree

Concentration : Help or
HIndrance ?
Some religious minded people imagine that the citadel
of God could be stormed and God captured by intense
concentration of the mind. But this is a highly fallacious view.
The finite mind can never hope to 'capture' the Infinite. The fist
will not be able to hold the winds of the skies nor the palm hold
the waters of the ocean. Some of these people who swear by
concentration have even suggested the area in the body where
one needs to concentrate for so-called 'God realization'.

One such person who received instruction in this regard

asked Sri Ramana, the sage of Arunachala, whether it was
worthwhile concentrating on the spot in the forehead between
the eyebrows. Ramana could see that the questioner was thinking
that one could attain to God by undergoing some rigorous
physical practice without dropping the 'I' consciousness,which
is a prerequisite for any realization. He therefore tried to lead
the questioner from this 'fixation' by talking to him of awareness.
"Leaving aside that awareness of 'I am' which everyone is
familiar with, one goes about in search of God. What is the use
of fixing one's attention between the eyebrows? It is merely
folly to say God is between the eyebrows. The aim of such advice
is to help the mind to concentrate. It is one of the forcible
methods to check the mind and prevent its dissipation. It is
forcibly directed into one channel"

Though Sri Ramana did not elaborate on this, it may here

be pointed out that such forcible methods may yield some success
by producing some psychic powers and hypnosis, but it is also
true that it can cause mental illness. By forcibly directing the
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 N. Lakshmi Prasad

energy to one channel the natural flow of the mind is impeded,

and the energies thus generated may be harmful not only to the
practitioner, but also to other living creatures.
Sri Ramana continued with his answer, by saying " But
the best means of realization is the enquiry 'Who am I'. The
present trouble is of the mind and it must be removed by the
mind only". Ramana, who always stressed upon the importance
of tracing the root of the 'I' has therefore no use for concentration
which tries to achieve the objective of realization by forcibly
shutting out other thoughts that intrude. But it is actually by
understanding the ultimate futility of every 'thought' springing
from past memory, otherwise known as the 'I' that thought can
come to an end, and a real discovery made. The forcible exclusion
of thought in all its diversity and the concentration on some
preconceived idea can only produce the vision contemplated,
and such a vision is a mind product, which is an illusion.
Therefore it is awareness or passive watchfulness suggested by
Sri Ramana, and the insight arising therefrom that can reveal
the false 'I' leading to the discovery of the real.

Concentration is to focus one's attention on a particular

object, to the exclusion of all other objects. But "by pretending
to be aware of just that particular object, 'a' tree 'a' wave 'a'
bird, by deliberately excluding the rest of the field of awareness,
you can concentrate, which means to introduce a boundary to
awareness" says Ken Wilber in his book 'No Boundary'. " But
the fact is" he says, " that you never really see boundaries. You
only infer them. You do not perceive separate things, you invent
them. The problem begins as soon as these inventions are
mistaken for reality itself, for then the actual world appears as
if it were a fragmented and disjointed affair, and a primal mood
of alienation invades awareness itself."

But the practice of concentration is an attempt to develop

one pointedness and single mindedness in respect of a flower or
a flame in the begining, so that it could later be shifted to 'God-
realization' so called. This concentration practice of the mind
tends to get centralized in the 'heart'. The shape of the form gets

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Under the Bodhi Tree

fixed in the heart and is likely to appear in one's dreams etc. The
illusion then arises that the object is now dwelling in the heart
and God could similarly be made to dwell in the heart by intense
concentration. The man is then deluded into thinking that god-
realization has been achieved. In fact, all concentration results
in the strengrhening of the ego.

Concentration on any particular concept or theory about

God, or the universal energy is not only exclusive, but equally
divisive in nature. It holds on tenaciously to its own theory and
engages in endless discussions and argumentation in respect of
all other theories, forgetting for the moment that the Supreme
cannot be bound by any theory or by any law. Laws are for the
manifested universe and its beings, but the Unmanifest is not
bound by any law. It is therefore ridiculous to think that the
limited mind can ever hope to understand or theorise about the
Illimitable. Despite this, the heads of organized sects and religions
invariably theorize about God. Sage Ramana who stuck to the
overall tradition of the Hindu religion to some extent, without
following it in every single detail, however felt that philosophical
systems are futile. "When you adhere to one philosophical system
(siddhanta) you are obliged to condemn the others", says
Ramana. "This is the case with Mathadhipathis (heads of Hindu
monasteries)". Sri Ramana , who embraced life in its totality
never entered into disputations in regard to these theories, nor
for that matter with other religious beliefs, The enquiry into the
origin of the 'I' which Ramana suggested throughout his life, is
applicable to all human beings, irrespective of their creed. It is
only through 'enquiry' that one can know oneself, and knowing
oneself is the basis of all true religious life. Knowing oneself is
not a matter of belief, but a fact, and knowing a fact is what
scientific enquiry is all about. Scientific enquiry has no need of a
religion, and yet it is the highest religion, all-embracive in its
character. The heads of monasteries and sects try to look at
Reality through a narrow window and what they see will
necessarily fit into their 'strait - jacket' philosophy. Life knows
no distinction or difference and it has to be met at its own level,
which sages like Ramana of Arunachala, and Jiddu Krishnamurti

103
 N. Lakshmi Prasad

were able to do. Even if the head of a monastery as an individual,

might view life in its totality and have a direct experience of
Reality, he will still be 'obliged' a word used by Ramana in his
native tongue - to stick to his particular philosophy and reject
the other systems because he is duty bound to do so. But religion,
like science, cannot have frontiers - they are fields of enquiry of
the human mind to arrive at truth, except for the difference
that religious enquiry also involves the heart. And here lies the
fallacy of the heads of separate sects propounding their separate
philosophies; if they are hide-bound by a particular belief or a
system of thought, no enquiry with an open mind is possible.
The very first step of dividing oneself from other groups of people
is a wrong step, and no right results can flow from this initial
wrong step.

As J. Krishnamurti rightly points out " The great danger

of belonging to any society is that you tend to withdraw
gradually,by an unconscious process from outside things and
seclude yourself by the desire to be different from other people,
and thereby block the channels through which alone life can
function freely. Do not be like the ascetic who withdraws from
this world because he finds it terrible. Rather, be like a tree which
has its roots deep in the dark bowels of the earth while its topmost
branches are dancing in the sky".

If, according to Krishnaji it is not desirable to withdraw

from the world, but to discern and discover the truth from
everyday sorrows and joys of life, how ridiculous it looks to see
that the monk first secludes himself from worldly activity to gain
what he considers as God, and not content with this artificial
division, goes on to segregate himself from his fellow monks
because they have a different system of philosophy? And all
this division in the name of religion and God, which are indivisible.

There is, however a concentration not born of a man's will,

but arising naturally and spontaneouly, which is all to the good
in any endeavour.

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Under the Bodhi Tree

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