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You are just as much the dark space beyond death as you are the light interval called life. These are just two sides of you because ‘You’ is the total wave.
The egolessness of all things. You have to have a deep realization, and a deep feeling, that no thing has an ego. No thing has a cause, again. There’s no reason for anything to be. No thing really exists. You are not a sinner. You are not an evil person. Your past is dead, forget it. You’re born again, now, and all is glory and joy. This is what it means to be born again, to realize that you exist now, in this moment. Not a moment ago, and never mind what’s going to happen a moment from now, but you exist in this moment as pure intelligence, unqualified love, absolute reality, unconditioned oneness. That’s you. You live in that reality. And again, that sets you free.
Do not look for a sanctuary in anyone except yourself.
Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself. Your body and mind will become clear and you will realize the unity of all things.
Your real nature is one perfect, free, and actionless consciousness, the all-pervading, unattached to anything, desireless, at peace. It appears through illusion as the world. Knowing that all this is an illusion, one becomes free from desire, pure receptivity and at peace, as if nothing existed.
It is not your real being that is restless, but its reflection in the mind appears restless because the mind is restless. It is just like the reflection of the moon in the water stirred by the wind. The wind of desire stirs the mind and the ‘me’, which is but a reflection of the Self in the mind, appears changeful. But these ideas of movement, of restlessness, of pleasure and pain are all in the mind. The Self stands beyond the mind, aware, but unconcerned.
If you remain still, without paying attention to this, without paying attention to that, and without paying attention to anything at all, you will, simply through your powerful attention to being, become the reality, the vast eye, the unbounded space of consciousness.
There will be marriage, there will be children, there will be earning money to maintain a family; all this will happen in the natural course of events, for destiny must fulfill itself; you will go through it without resistance, facing tasks as they come, attentive and thorough, both in small things and big. But the general attitude will be of affectionate detachment, enormous goodwill, without expectation of return, constant giving without asking. In marriage you are neither the husband nor the wife; you are the love between the two. You are the clarity and kindness that makes everything orderly and happy. It may seem vague to you, but if you think a little, you will find that the mystical is most practical, for it makes your life creatively happy. Your consciousness is raised to a higher dimension, from which you see everything much clearer and with greater intensity. You realize that the person you became at birth and will cease to be at death is temporary and false. You are not the sensual, emotional and intellectual person, gripped by desires and fears. Find out your real being. What am l? is the fundamental question of all philosophy and psychology. Go into it deeply.
When you realize the Truth, your mind will become like a desert.
It will become like a dessert actually.
You will ENJOY your mind.
Rather than suffering your mind, you will be enjoying our mind.
You can not help enjoying, because joy is the nature of the Self -yourSelf - same thing.
It will become like a dessert actually.
You will ENJOY your mind.
Rather than suffering your mind, you will be enjoying our mind.
You can not help enjoying, because joy is the nature of the Self -yourSelf - same thing.
The more you aspire for illusions, the more you become deluded and the more pain there will be, until you exhaust your desires, or more accurately, they exhaust you. And from that depleted state perhaps the urge for freedom is born. It is a state of Grace – the birth pains to a deeper Life.
Even after realising the Self, don't be surprised if your mind sends thoughts like: ' Now, you are boring!' or ‘You are always going to be alone,’ or, ‘It cannot be this simple,’ whatever might catch your attention, it will try.
In fact, it will keep sending little messages to see which key works to break your resolve so that you return to the old false identity; such is the game of existence.
The fire of the mind may go out, but its smoke lingers on awhile.
Don't panic, at a certain point you may even see the humor in it.
Simply, remain as the unchanging, imageless Self you are.
In fact, it will keep sending little messages to see which key works to break your resolve so that you return to the old false identity; such is the game of existence.
The fire of the mind may go out, but its smoke lingers on awhile.
Don't panic, at a certain point you may even see the humor in it.
Simply, remain as the unchanging, imageless Self you are.
Be aware now of that effortless silence and space.
You don’t know if it is inside or outside.
There is no edge, no boundary for your being.
Confirm that.
In this instant, in this moment,
observe that your being is not in a state of waiting.
The pure Self is not an event. If there is an event,
it is the event of recognizing this ever-present fact.
That already IS.
Do not purchase the futuristic promises from the mind.
Once you have said 'Yes' inside your heart,
the whole universe supports your seeing,
because it is natural.
Don't try strenuously to figure things out.
Pay attention instead only to that space - like being,
which is beyond time and change,
but in who's presence such phenomena are perceived.
Devote as much attention to staying conscious of the Self until it becomes effortless for you.
Om.
You don’t know if it is inside or outside.
There is no edge, no boundary for your being.
Confirm that.
In this instant, in this moment,
observe that your being is not in a state of waiting.
The pure Self is not an event. If there is an event,
it is the event of recognizing this ever-present fact.
That already IS.
Do not purchase the futuristic promises from the mind.
Once you have said 'Yes' inside your heart,
the whole universe supports your seeing,
because it is natural.
Don't try strenuously to figure things out.
Pay attention instead only to that space - like being,
which is beyond time and change,
but in who's presence such phenomena are perceived.
Devote as much attention to staying conscious of the Self until it becomes effortless for you.
Om.
I would not encourage anybody to try to study life, because you can never get it. No one can even begin to comprehend a moment of its magnificence, its mystery, its sheer glory.
You have to fall fully in Love with the very heart of existence and then its essence is miraculously revealed to you somehow – a kind of an intuitive knowing happens out of this love.
But to study life doesn’t work, because your attitude and even you, the student, is phenomenal.
You have to first fall inside yourself until there is no longer ‘you’ and ‘life’—there is only Life. There is no ‘person’ living life. There is just Life expressing itself in, as and through this form called a person, watched simultaneously in pure consciousness.
How funny that the simplest of teachings seems to be the most difficult. This is like a circus of concepts. We fight, creating devils out of nowhere, in order to defend our identity—sheer ignorance.
Now I’ve said it and now I want to see it alive in you. I want to see it germinate inside your heart. It must flower, bear fruit and give shade. That’s it.
You have to fall fully in Love with the very heart of existence and then its essence is miraculously revealed to you somehow – a kind of an intuitive knowing happens out of this love.
But to study life doesn’t work, because your attitude and even you, the student, is phenomenal.
You have to first fall inside yourself until there is no longer ‘you’ and ‘life’—there is only Life. There is no ‘person’ living life. There is just Life expressing itself in, as and through this form called a person, watched simultaneously in pure consciousness.
How funny that the simplest of teachings seems to be the most difficult. This is like a circus of concepts. We fight, creating devils out of nowhere, in order to defend our identity—sheer ignorance.
Now I’ve said it and now I want to see it alive in you. I want to see it germinate inside your heart. It must flower, bear fruit and give shade. That’s it.
All thinking is in duality. In identity with Atman/Brahman, no thought survives.
Shariputra,
form does not differ from emptiness,
emptiness does not differ from form.
That which is form is emptiness,
that which is emptiness form.
The same is true of feelings,
perceptions, impulses, consciousness.
form does not differ from emptiness,
emptiness does not differ from form.
That which is form is emptiness,
that which is emptiness form.
The same is true of feelings,
perceptions, impulses, consciousness.
He has only to act according to the words of the master and work inwardly. The master is both ‘within’ and ‘without’, so he creates conditions to drive you inward and at the same time prepares the ‘interior’ to drag you to the Centre. Thus he gives a push from ‘without’ and exerts a pull from ‘within’ so that you may be fixed at the Centre.
What is the Ultimate Understanding? That there is no one to understand anything.
Silence is the most potent form of work. However vast and emphatic the scriptures may be, they fail in their effect. The Guru is quiet and peace prevails in all. His silence is vaster and more emphatic than all the scriptures put together. These questions arise because of the feeling that, in spite of having been here so long, heard so much, striven so hard, you have not gained anything. The process that goes on inside you is not apparent to you. In fact, the Guru is always within you.
You say the mind is blocking the Self.
Can the mind block the Self?
What watches blocked mind?
Is there anything that the mind is blocking that you need to see?
You are always reporting about what you are looking at, but the important things is: Where are you looking from?
And who are you looking as?
This is your moment to look From This as This itself.
The great Saint Frances of Assisi said:
What we are looking for is where we are looking from.
Rumi also said: I was knocking at a door. It opens.
I was knocking from inside.
I am not here giving you 10 steps to follow.
I am pointing you to the stepless truth.
You must discover THAT inside yourself.
I point you to That, where you can never not be.
Something has brought you to this.
Here is your opportunity, an invitation to jump into in the ocean of your own being, which is here and now—your very Self.
Your part, our part from my view is to say inside your heart:
Yes, take me!
Yes, replace me with You. Merge my mind in You.
And this ‘You’ is who?
The Satguru within your own Self.
It is not a person. It is not an object.
Then you will know that this is your mighty existence!
Can the mind block the Self?
What watches blocked mind?
Is there anything that the mind is blocking that you need to see?
You are always reporting about what you are looking at, but the important things is: Where are you looking from?
And who are you looking as?
This is your moment to look From This as This itself.
The great Saint Frances of Assisi said:
What we are looking for is where we are looking from.
Rumi also said: I was knocking at a door. It opens.
I was knocking from inside.
I am not here giving you 10 steps to follow.
I am pointing you to the stepless truth.
You must discover THAT inside yourself.
I point you to That, where you can never not be.
Something has brought you to this.
Here is your opportunity, an invitation to jump into in the ocean of your own being, which is here and now—your very Self.
Your part, our part from my view is to say inside your heart:
Yes, take me!
Yes, replace me with You. Merge my mind in You.
And this ‘You’ is who?
The Satguru within your own Self.
It is not a person. It is not an object.
Then you will know that this is your mighty existence!
Whenever an action of some other body-mind mechanism happens to hurt me it may cause some physical, psychological or financial imbalance, but having totally accepted that there are no individual doers, I never feel hatred.
SIMPLICITY
Recently, while coming from Bangalore, Arvind Bose brought some costly pencils and gave them to Bhagavan. After answering the usual enquiries about his welfare he went away to his compound, named “Mahasthan”.
After he left, Bhagavan examined the pencils closely, wrote with them, appreciated their good quality, and handed them to Krishnaswami, saying, “Please keep these carefully. Our own pencil must be somewhere. Please see where it is and let me have it.” Krishnaswami carefully put away those pencils, opened a wooden box which was on the table nearby, and, after searching for a while, found a pencil and gave it to Bhagavan.
Turning it this way and that, and examining it, Bhagavan said, “Why this one? This is from Devaraja Mudaliar. Our own pencil must be there. Give it to me and keep this one also safely somewhere.”
Krishnaswamy searched everywhere but could not find it. “See if it is in the hall,” said Bhagavan. Someone went there and came back saying it was not there.
“Oh! What a great pity! That is our own pencil, you see. Search properly and find it,” said Bhagavan.
Devaraja Mudaliar, who was there, said, “Why worry, Bhagavan? Are not all these pencils your own?”
Bhagavan said with a smile, “That is not it. You gave this one; Bose brought the other ones. If we are not sufficiently careful, somebody may take them away. You know, Swami is the common property of all people. If your pencil was lost you might feel aggrieved, for you bought it, spending a good amount of money, and gave it to me. If it is our own pencil it does not matter where it is kept. It costs half-an-anna and even that was not purchased. Some one brought it and gave it, saying it had been found somewhere. So, it is our own. As regards the others, we are answerable to the donors. No one will question us about this one and that is why I am asking for it. The others are for the use of important people. Why do we want such pencils? Have we to pass any examination or have we to work in an office? For our writing work, that pencil is enough.” So saying, he had a search made for it and ultimately got it.
Sometime back, a similar incident happened. Some rich people brought a silver cup, saucer and spoon and placing them reverentially before him, said,
“Bhagavan, please use these when you take any liquid food.” Bhagavan examined the things and passed them on to his attendants. As the attendants were placing them in the bureau in the hall, he objected and said,
“Why there? Let them be kept in the office itself.”
“They were given for Bhagavan’s use, were they not?” said a devotee.
“Yes,” replied Bhagavan, “but those are things used by rich people. What use can they be to us? If required, we have our own cups and spoons. We can use them — why these?”
So saying, Bhagavan told his attendant, “Look, from tomorrow we will use our own cups. Take them out.” A devotee asked, “What are those cups, Bhagavan?”
“Oh! Those cups are made of coconut shells, smoothed and preserved. They are our cups and spoons. They are our own. If we use them the purpose is served. Please keep the silver articles carefully elsewhere,” said Bhagavan.
“Are not those silver articles Bhagavan’s own?” asked the devotee. Bhagavan said with a laugh,
“Yes, they are. But tell me, why all this ostentation for us? They are costly. Should we be careless, some one might steal them. So they must be guarded. Is that the job for Swami? Not only that. Somebody might think, ‘after all, he is a sannyasi and so will he not give them away if asked?’ and then ask for them. It is not possible to say ‘No’. Yet, if they are given away, those who presented them might resent it, as they gave the articles for Swami’s use only. Why all that trouble? If we use our own cups it does not matter how we use them or what we do with them.” So saying, he sent away the silver articles, had his own cups taken out and shown to all present.
About the same time, a devotee brought a nice walking stick with a silver handle, and presented it to Bhagavan. Turning it this side and that, and examining it, Bhagavan remarked to the devotee,
“Good. It is very nice. Please use it carefully.”
“But it is not for my use,” he said. “I have brought it thinking that Bhagavan would use it.”
“What an idea!” exclaimed Bhagavan. “A nice walking stick with a silver handle should be used only by officials like you. Why for me? Look, I have my own walking stick. That is enough,” concluded Bhagavan.
“When that one is worn out, you could use this one, couldn’t you?” asked another devotee.
“Why these costly things for me? If a bit of wood were chiselled, a walking stick could be made out of it in an instant. While I was on the hill, I used to chisel a lot of wood into walking sticks, smooth them and preserve them. Not even a paisa was spent on that account. Several people took away those walking sticks. They were our own. Why all this ostentation for us? Those cheap walking sticks will do for us.” So saying, Bhagavan gave the stick back to the devotee.
As a rule, Bhagavan does not use costly things. He likes things which do not cost even a paisa.
-Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, 13th September, 1947
Recently, while coming from Bangalore, Arvind Bose brought some costly pencils and gave them to Bhagavan. After answering the usual enquiries about his welfare he went away to his compound, named “Mahasthan”.
After he left, Bhagavan examined the pencils closely, wrote with them, appreciated their good quality, and handed them to Krishnaswami, saying, “Please keep these carefully. Our own pencil must be somewhere. Please see where it is and let me have it.” Krishnaswami carefully put away those pencils, opened a wooden box which was on the table nearby, and, after searching for a while, found a pencil and gave it to Bhagavan.
Turning it this way and that, and examining it, Bhagavan said, “Why this one? This is from Devaraja Mudaliar. Our own pencil must be there. Give it to me and keep this one also safely somewhere.”
Krishnaswamy searched everywhere but could not find it. “See if it is in the hall,” said Bhagavan. Someone went there and came back saying it was not there.
“Oh! What a great pity! That is our own pencil, you see. Search properly and find it,” said Bhagavan.
Devaraja Mudaliar, who was there, said, “Why worry, Bhagavan? Are not all these pencils your own?”
Bhagavan said with a smile, “That is not it. You gave this one; Bose brought the other ones. If we are not sufficiently careful, somebody may take them away. You know, Swami is the common property of all people. If your pencil was lost you might feel aggrieved, for you bought it, spending a good amount of money, and gave it to me. If it is our own pencil it does not matter where it is kept. It costs half-an-anna and even that was not purchased. Some one brought it and gave it, saying it had been found somewhere. So, it is our own. As regards the others, we are answerable to the donors. No one will question us about this one and that is why I am asking for it. The others are for the use of important people. Why do we want such pencils? Have we to pass any examination or have we to work in an office? For our writing work, that pencil is enough.” So saying, he had a search made for it and ultimately got it.
Sometime back, a similar incident happened. Some rich people brought a silver cup, saucer and spoon and placing them reverentially before him, said,
“Bhagavan, please use these when you take any liquid food.” Bhagavan examined the things and passed them on to his attendants. As the attendants were placing them in the bureau in the hall, he objected and said,
“Why there? Let them be kept in the office itself.”
“They were given for Bhagavan’s use, were they not?” said a devotee.
“Yes,” replied Bhagavan, “but those are things used by rich people. What use can they be to us? If required, we have our own cups and spoons. We can use them — why these?”
So saying, Bhagavan told his attendant, “Look, from tomorrow we will use our own cups. Take them out.” A devotee asked, “What are those cups, Bhagavan?”
“Oh! Those cups are made of coconut shells, smoothed and preserved. They are our cups and spoons. They are our own. If we use them the purpose is served. Please keep the silver articles carefully elsewhere,” said Bhagavan.
“Are not those silver articles Bhagavan’s own?” asked the devotee. Bhagavan said with a laugh,
“Yes, they are. But tell me, why all this ostentation for us? They are costly. Should we be careless, some one might steal them. So they must be guarded. Is that the job for Swami? Not only that. Somebody might think, ‘after all, he is a sannyasi and so will he not give them away if asked?’ and then ask for them. It is not possible to say ‘No’. Yet, if they are given away, those who presented them might resent it, as they gave the articles for Swami’s use only. Why all that trouble? If we use our own cups it does not matter how we use them or what we do with them.” So saying, he sent away the silver articles, had his own cups taken out and shown to all present.
About the same time, a devotee brought a nice walking stick with a silver handle, and presented it to Bhagavan. Turning it this side and that, and examining it, Bhagavan remarked to the devotee,
“Good. It is very nice. Please use it carefully.”
“But it is not for my use,” he said. “I have brought it thinking that Bhagavan would use it.”
“What an idea!” exclaimed Bhagavan. “A nice walking stick with a silver handle should be used only by officials like you. Why for me? Look, I have my own walking stick. That is enough,” concluded Bhagavan.
“When that one is worn out, you could use this one, couldn’t you?” asked another devotee.
“Why these costly things for me? If a bit of wood were chiselled, a walking stick could be made out of it in an instant. While I was on the hill, I used to chisel a lot of wood into walking sticks, smooth them and preserve them. Not even a paisa was spent on that account. Several people took away those walking sticks. They were our own. Why all this ostentation for us? Those cheap walking sticks will do for us.” So saying, Bhagavan gave the stick back to the devotee.
As a rule, Bhagavan does not use costly things. He likes things which do not cost even a paisa.
-Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, 13th September, 1947
Sattva is the radiance of your real nature. You can always find it beyond the mind and its many worlds. But if you want a world, you must accept the three gunas as inseparable, matter, enery, life—one in essence, distinct in appearance. They mix and flow in consciousness. In time and space there is eternal flow: birth and death again, advance, retreat, another advance, again retreat—apparently without a beginning and without end; reality being timeless, changeless, bodyless, and mindless awareness is bliss.
The World deluded by these Three Gunas does not know Me:
Who is beyond these Gunas and imperishable.
Who is beyond these Gunas and imperishable.
Dr. Paul Brunton (1898-1981), a British journalist, attracted by Indian mysticism first visited India in 1930. Author of eleven books, he has emphasized the value and importance of the Self within us. He is generally considered as having introduced meditation to the West. He once wrote: “Sri Ramana was a spiritual torch carried to the waiting souls in the West. I was only the unimportant ‘link-boy’, the humble carrier.” The Paul Brunton Philosophic Foundation, New York, has posthumously published his post-1952 writings (the year when his last book The Spiritual Crisis of Man was published), in 16 volumes. He was awarded a doctorate in philosophy by the Roosevelt College, USA.
During his first visit, among many saints and yogis, Brunton also met Sri Ramana. He stayed for a few weeks in an impro- vised shelter very close to Sri Ramana’s Ashram.The number of full-time devotees being limited at that time, Brunton had ample opportunity of observing the Maharshi at close quarters and interacting with him. He provides a dispassionate, illumi- nating and intimate account of the Maharshi’s divinity and its
impact in his A Search in Secret India published from London in 1934. In his inimitable way he says:
There is something in this man which holds my attention as steel filings are held by a magnet. I cannot turn my gaze away from him. I become aware of a silent, resistless change, which is taking place within my mind. One by one, the questions which I prepared with such meticulous accuracy drop away. I know only that a steady river of quietness seems to be flowing near me; that a great peace is penetrating the inner reaches of my being, and that my thought-tortured brain is beginning to arrive at some rest. I perceive with sudden clarity that intellect creates its own problems and then makes itself miserable trying to solve them. This is indeed a novel concept to enter the mind of one who has hitherto placed such high value upon intellect.
I surrender myself to the steadily deepening sense of restfulness. The passage of time now provokes no irritation, because the chains of mind-made problems are being broken and thrown away. And then, little by little, a question takes the field of consciousness. Does this man, the Maharshi, emanate the perfume of spiritual peace as the flower emanates fragrance from its petals? I begin to wonder whether by some radioactivity of the soul, some unknown telepathic process, the stillness which invades the troubled water of my soul really comes from him.The peace overwhelms me.
The Maharshi turns and looks down into my face; I, in turn, gaze expectantly up at him. I become aware of a mysterious change taking place with great rapidity in my heart and mind. The old motives which have lured me on begin to desert me. The urgent desires which have sent my feet hither and thither vanish with incredible swiftness. The dislikes, misunderstandings, coldness and selfishness which have marked my dealings with many of my fellows collapse into the abyss of nothingness. An untellable peace falls upon me and I know that there is nothing further that I shall ask from life.
The Sage seems to carry something of great moment to me, yet I cannot easily determine its precise nature. It is intangible, imponderable, perhaps spiritual. Each time I think of him a peculiar sensation pierces me and causes my heart to throb with vague but lofty expectations.
I look at the Sage. He sits there on Olympian heights and watches the panorama of life as one apart. There is a mysterious property in this man which differentiates him from all others I have met.
He remains mysteriously aloof even when surrounded by his own devotees, men who have loved him and lived near him for years. Sometimes I catch myself wishing that he would be a little more human, a little more susceptible to what seems so normal to us.
Why is it that under his strange glance I invariably experience a peculiar expectancy, as though some stupendous revelation will soon be made to me? This man has freed himself from all problems, and no woe can touch him.
The Sage seems to speak not as a philosopher, not as a pandit trying to explain his own doctrine, but rather out of the depth of his own heart.
I am not religious but I can no more resist the feeling of increasing awe which begins to grip my mind than a bee can resist a flower in all its luscious bloom. The [Maharshi’s] hall is becoming pervaded with a subtle, intangible and indefinable power which affects me deeply. I feel, without doubt and without hesitation, that the centre of this mysterious power is no other than the Maharshi himself.
His eyes shine with astonishing brilliance. Strange sensation begins to arise in me. Those lustrous orbs seem to be peering into the inmost recesses of my soul. In a peculiar way, I feel aware of everything he can see in my heart. His mysterious glance penetrates my thoughts, my emotions and my desires; I am helpless before it.
At first, his disconcerting gaze troubles me; I become vaguely uneasy. I feel he has perceived pages that belong to a past, which I have forgotten. He knows it all, I am certain. I am powerless to escape; somehow, I do not want to, either.
I become aware that he is definitely linking my own mind with his, that he is provoking my heart into that state of starry calm, which he seems perpetually to enjoy. In this extraordinary peace, I find a sense of exaltation and lightness. Time seems to stand still. My heart is released from its burden of care. Never again, I feel, shall the bitterness of anger and the melancholy of unsatisfied desire afflict me. My mind is submerged in that of the Maharshi and wisdom is now at its perihelion. What is this man’s gaze but a thaumaturgic wand, which evokes a hidden world of unexpected splendour before my profane eyes?
During his first visit, among many saints and yogis, Brunton also met Sri Ramana. He stayed for a few weeks in an impro- vised shelter very close to Sri Ramana’s Ashram.The number of full-time devotees being limited at that time, Brunton had ample opportunity of observing the Maharshi at close quarters and interacting with him. He provides a dispassionate, illumi- nating and intimate account of the Maharshi’s divinity and its
impact in his A Search in Secret India published from London in 1934. In his inimitable way he says:
There is something in this man which holds my attention as steel filings are held by a magnet. I cannot turn my gaze away from him. I become aware of a silent, resistless change, which is taking place within my mind. One by one, the questions which I prepared with such meticulous accuracy drop away. I know only that a steady river of quietness seems to be flowing near me; that a great peace is penetrating the inner reaches of my being, and that my thought-tortured brain is beginning to arrive at some rest. I perceive with sudden clarity that intellect creates its own problems and then makes itself miserable trying to solve them. This is indeed a novel concept to enter the mind of one who has hitherto placed such high value upon intellect.
I surrender myself to the steadily deepening sense of restfulness. The passage of time now provokes no irritation, because the chains of mind-made problems are being broken and thrown away. And then, little by little, a question takes the field of consciousness. Does this man, the Maharshi, emanate the perfume of spiritual peace as the flower emanates fragrance from its petals? I begin to wonder whether by some radioactivity of the soul, some unknown telepathic process, the stillness which invades the troubled water of my soul really comes from him.The peace overwhelms me.
The Maharshi turns and looks down into my face; I, in turn, gaze expectantly up at him. I become aware of a mysterious change taking place with great rapidity in my heart and mind. The old motives which have lured me on begin to desert me. The urgent desires which have sent my feet hither and thither vanish with incredible swiftness. The dislikes, misunderstandings, coldness and selfishness which have marked my dealings with many of my fellows collapse into the abyss of nothingness. An untellable peace falls upon me and I know that there is nothing further that I shall ask from life.
The Sage seems to carry something of great moment to me, yet I cannot easily determine its precise nature. It is intangible, imponderable, perhaps spiritual. Each time I think of him a peculiar sensation pierces me and causes my heart to throb with vague but lofty expectations.
I look at the Sage. He sits there on Olympian heights and watches the panorama of life as one apart. There is a mysterious property in this man which differentiates him from all others I have met.
He remains mysteriously aloof even when surrounded by his own devotees, men who have loved him and lived near him for years. Sometimes I catch myself wishing that he would be a little more human, a little more susceptible to what seems so normal to us.
Why is it that under his strange glance I invariably experience a peculiar expectancy, as though some stupendous revelation will soon be made to me? This man has freed himself from all problems, and no woe can touch him.
The Sage seems to speak not as a philosopher, not as a pandit trying to explain his own doctrine, but rather out of the depth of his own heart.
I am not religious but I can no more resist the feeling of increasing awe which begins to grip my mind than a bee can resist a flower in all its luscious bloom. The [Maharshi’s] hall is becoming pervaded with a subtle, intangible and indefinable power which affects me deeply. I feel, without doubt and without hesitation, that the centre of this mysterious power is no other than the Maharshi himself.
His eyes shine with astonishing brilliance. Strange sensation begins to arise in me. Those lustrous orbs seem to be peering into the inmost recesses of my soul. In a peculiar way, I feel aware of everything he can see in my heart. His mysterious glance penetrates my thoughts, my emotions and my desires; I am helpless before it.
At first, his disconcerting gaze troubles me; I become vaguely uneasy. I feel he has perceived pages that belong to a past, which I have forgotten. He knows it all, I am certain. I am powerless to escape; somehow, I do not want to, either.
I become aware that he is definitely linking my own mind with his, that he is provoking my heart into that state of starry calm, which he seems perpetually to enjoy. In this extraordinary peace, I find a sense of exaltation and lightness. Time seems to stand still. My heart is released from its burden of care. Never again, I feel, shall the bitterness of anger and the melancholy of unsatisfied desire afflict me. My mind is submerged in that of the Maharshi and wisdom is now at its perihelion. What is this man’s gaze but a thaumaturgic wand, which evokes a hidden world of unexpected splendour before my profane eyes?
When your attention is off a thing and not yet fixed on another, in the interval you are pure being.
Beings
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