from Viorica's MillionPaths digest

[Guest guest]

> "Because the Guru has no form after the death of the physical body,

it > is not then possible for a devotee to get his grace by

concentrating > on a picture or mental image of him. This is because

the 'him' no > longer exists."~ All this means to me is that

Lakshmana did not have this experience.I am amazed at the capacity of

the mind to make up 'good reasons' whysomething is impossible, that is

an immediate reality for many others.(Who knows, maybe he was just

jealous.)Xan

 

 

Viorica wrote:

 

"She is working about two hundred miles from Bucharest in the only

officewhich services a group of villages. Every day she wakes up at 5

a.m., takesan unheated train, changes two buses, or hitch-hikes on

trucks to travel tothose remote villages. Her husband left her and

went to France four yearsago. Lately, she had been suffering with

headaches, anxiety and increasingmoments of depression. One day she

happened to read a book wherein somethingabout Bhagavan was

mentioned. Other names were also mentioned in that book,but somehow

only Ramana Maharshi's name kept coming back to her. When shetold me

briefly about this experience I had the sudden idea to send her

myphoto of Sri Ramana.And one day (this was when she had just started

to take some anti-depressantmedicine), exhausted, she felt like

sitting on the floor. She then shiftedinto the padmasana position -

without really knowing what she was doing -and gazed at that photo of

Ramana, which she had come to love dearly. Shethen gave over all her

pain and suffering to Bhagavan and was immediatelyfilled with so much

peace and love that she at once quit the medicine andfelt at peace and

at ease. She now gathers the necessary courage andstrength each day by

simply gazing into the eyes of Bhagavan.I wanted to write this to you

and share my wonderment at how a sincere callof the heart can be

responded to even when the person lives far away in aremote area,

knows no English, knows nothing of the spiritual teachingswhich have

been, in fact, forbidden in her country for almost fifty years.She

didn't really talk much about what she experienced. She said with

thesethings it is better to remain silent, with which I totally

agree. "