Ramana Maharshi/T.K.S. Sundaresa Iyer

[Guest guest]

T.K. Sundaresa Iyer (T.K.S) met Sri Ramana in 1908 when T.K.S was only a 12

year old boy. His cousin Krishnamurthy had been visiting Ramana Maharshi

regularly and would sing songs of devotion to him. One day T.K.S asked his

cousin where he went every day. Krishnamurthy told him about Ramana and

said, "The Lord of the Hill Himself is sitting in human form, why don't you

come with me." Both of them then climbed the Hill and went to Virupksha

cave to visit the Sage.

Now the story in T.K.S.'s own words.

"I too climbed the Hill and found Bhagwan sitting on a stone slab, with

about 10 devotees around him. Each would sing a song. Bhagwan turned to me

and asked, "Well, won't you sing a song also." One of Sundramurthy's songs

came to my mind and I sang it. It's meaning was, "No other support have I,

except thy holy feet. By holding on to them, I shall win your grace. Great

men sing your praise Oh, Lord. Grant that my tongue may repeat Thy name even

when my mind strays."

"Yes. That is what must be done," said Bhagwan, and I took it to be his

teaching for me. From that time on, I went to see him regularly for several

years without missing a day."

"One day I wondered why I was visiting him at all. What was the use? There

seemed to be no inner advancement. Going up the hill was meaningless toil. I

decided to end my visits on the hill."

"For one hundred days exactly I did not see Bhagavan. On the hundred and

first day I could suffer no longer and I ran to Skandasramam, above

Virupaksha Cave. Bhagavan saw me climbing, got up and came forward to meet

me. When I fell at his feet, I could not restrain myself and burst into

tears. I clung to them and would not get up. Bhagavan pulled me up and

asked: "It is over three months since I saw you. Where were you?'' I told

him how I thought that seeing him was of no use. "All right,'' he said,

"maybe it is of no use, so what? You felt the loss, did you not?'' Then I

understood that we did not go to him for profit, but because away from him

there was no life for us."

>From "At the Feet of Bhagwan" by T.K. Sundaresa Iyer.

[Guest guest]

This is a copy of a recent post on another list...on the subject of

Guru....I found M's reply illuminating....

 

 

SYENA

********

(and they inevitably have feet of clay) and I keep coming back to

what it says in the bible. "Thou shalt have no other god's before

me"... In that sense, 'god' can be anything that takes one away from

that constant inner focus on 'God'... Am I saying this right? And

God is the Self also. So, Ramana is saying...know thyself...discover

God there....but God can teach us the 'way' of it through many

gurus...in many forms...and a true teacher will always point you back

to your own heart. This Ramana fellow is pretty cool...)

 

M

***********

Listen to a secret: the commandment "Thou shall have no other gods

before me" that is spoken of in the Bible has a meaning so obvious

that it is overlooked by the clever mind. It's true meaning is to

subtle for the common man to see it. For the common man it is like

trying to see radio waves...he just does not understand, as if it is

written in a foreign language. The Bible does not command that 'this'

sound-form/energy and its symbol is superior to 'that' sound-

form/energy and its symble. People spend so much time arguing over

gross forms of the words that they overlook the true meaning of the

words themselves.

 

"Thou shall have no other gods before me" is the blissful song of the

truth that there is only one Supreme Reality. It is the mystical

formula for realizing Self by directly experiencing that all is the

purveyance and vibration of One. There is only one Reality to grasp,

and the false reality that is the duplicity of the mind with all its

mental models of the world and intellectual constructs, is to be

silenced in the wake of this divine inner experience.

 

There can be no duplicity before Pure Consciousness/Awareness. Even

the word duplicity owes its illumination to the Consciousness that

underlies the chitta or mind.

 

The Guru of form is merely one who has so removed ego and its

inherent agenda of ulterior motives and its conceptual framework of

good and bad, right and wrong, etc...that when one meets him he does

not engage another personality to draw him or her out, but rather, he

or she looks into a spot where instead of a personality there is a

perfect mirror, polished free of the dross or dust of ego. Confronted

with the infinite vibration of Pure Consciousness, the aspirant

becomes acutely aware of his or her false sense of separation from

God, and so in the truest sense, the sadguru or true Guru is one who

reflects back upon a person their own Self; it is like looking in a

mirror completely nude for the first time and seeing yourself for all

the qualities you actually possess and cling too.

 

But more than just an inert mirror, the Guru of form is alive with

Chaitanya or pure Consciousness. And so this process does not stop

with just a ruthless reflection of one's pesonal closet full of

skeletons....quite the contrary.

 

When it is time, by the merit of your own innerwork, the Guru of form

will then go from acting like a mirror to acting like a tuning fork.

Now that you have been nakedly aware of yourself, all the illusions

of personal doership and all other forms of ignorance shrinks away.

When the veils of ignorance are no more; neither is the ego. One

comes from being a static inert thing to a live vibrating Reality.

The infinite vibration of the Guru is the only Reality left. Just as

the Sun dries up a cup of water and then fills the cup with sunlight

when it is left outside, so to the Guru of form dries up the cesspool

of ego and fills the soul with divine Light when the ripe aspirant is

in the Guru's presence.

 

The devotee is responsible for being worthy. How is one worthy? When

one lives life with purity of feeling or Shuddha bhavana, and

absolute faith or shraddha.

 

One lives with purity of feeling when one has one pointed devotion.

 

One lives with shraddha or faith when one surrenders the mind to

buddhi and releases the reigns.

 

If one does not posses these, then he is like a cup kept inside in

the shade. The cup will remain full of water for a long time.

 

For one who cultivates these qualities, which too is Guru's grace,

then he is like a cup of water which has been placed in the mid-day

sun; the cup will be empty in no time and full of sunlight.

 

One still has what one could call an ego from a certain standpoint,

but it is now only a sattvic instrument, not the personal center. It

is not unlike the use of a computer to communicate; the ego in like

fashion becomes a tool of Guru's grace.

 

Sadgurunath Maharaj Ki Jai

Markandeya Gurudas