ATMANUBHAVA

[Guest guest]

ATMANUBHAVA - Personal Adequacy and other matters

 

 

 

Dear Benjaminji,

 

Sincere thanks for two things :

 

- Your kind and detailed response to my note on Personal Adequacy;

 

- Your gracious permission to me to continue writing the way I seem to

be doing nowadays.

 

( you can imagine how garrulous I would be in case we should meet …. But that is

partly because of a gradual decline in aural proclivities …another thing is the

relative anonymity that email provides .. a cover for one’s embarrassment or

discomfiture .. it enables one to recover one’s equanimity and re-think one’s

views!)

 

 

 

I ACCEPT YOUR VIEWS UNCONDITIONALLY

 

 

 

I do not know much about Islam. I am only tempted to try to correct your

impression that ‘ colonialism was partly justified as a Christian duty.’ I am

of course speaking in the context of India.

 

The Portuguese ( including a person called Vasco Da Gama ) were the earliest

visitors from Christendom. They apparently reveled in materialism and like their

activities in South America , they only grabbed some wealth and land and defaced

the culture they found .( The sculptures at the rock temples at Elephanta off

Bombay – now Mumbai- were shot at by Portuguese soldiers for fun ).

 

Thankfully, the Spanish somehow did not make it to India.

 

The British arrived more as traders than missionaries. The riches they found in

this sub-continent caught their imagination and they gradually started putting

roots. The earliest British settlers were almost absorbed into the extant

culture ( mostly Moghul ). They became landowners, took Indian wives and started

settling down.

 

It was then that a Christian revivalist movement started in the UK and finally

found its way into the style of management of their activities in India.

 

The Christian missionary became an important part of British administration

because there was a fear that otherwise the British colonizers would be lost to

the culture of India. Christian missions were actively encouraged by the British

authorities and granted a lot of land and other facilities.

 

In spite of this precaution, there were any number of administrators ( at all

levels from a plain soldier to a high ranking official ) who contributed to the

collection, collation and compilation of vast amounts of historical data. Sir

John Woodruffe ( better known as Arthur Avalon ) and Paul Brunton are perhaps

the better known, but there were literally countless others, not only from the

UK but Germany and USA also.

 

I am currently compiling, for my own understanding and reference, a ‘ Life of

Sankara’. My basis are three books , published in 1933, 1959 and most recently

in 2002. In one of these , I have come across the name Charles Johnstone ,

apparently an English philosopher, one Professor Wilson, and one Dr Hultzch.

Unfortunately, the first two books do not give a bibliography. ( In case anyone

in this group can help me with a reference list or websites on Sankara’s life, I

would be most obliged !)

 

So much for missionaries. I wonder whether I am intuitively defending the people

I knew. I might as well come out with it … Mother Anne of the Convent of St

Joseph, Father Coelho of the Society of Jesus, Dr AJ Boyd, Dr John Macphail, and

Dr Chandran Devenesan , all of Madras Christian College..( Dr Boyd was a close

friend of my maternal grandfather who was himself an alumni of MCC !) None of

them ever tried any proselitisation .

 

 

 

This brings me to the point about ‘exclusiveness ‘ and ‘god-men ‘. This

grandfather of mine , Rajamantrapravina ( a title bestowed by the erstwhile

Maharaja of Mysore meaning ‘ Foremost amongst the King’s Ministers’ ) was a

fascinating person. He was at once a leading administrator, keenly involved in

matters of state, and a philosopher. The Maharaja, Sri Krishnarajendra Wadeyar,

at that time, was himself a visionary with strong leanings to heavy

industrialization( it was said that he spent a spell in the US and perhaps

Harvard ). At his prodding, my maternal grandfather and several other ministers

were made to look at all sorts of technologies. When they wished to put up a

hydro electric power station , the British authorities tried to demur stating

that electricity was not really required for this part of the world. While there

were extant treaties with the British which were of a ‘defence’ orientation, the

maharajas enjoyed considerable autonomy to rule as they liked. This

gentleman persuaded his ministers to go to the US. The result was the

hydro-electric power project did come up with GE equipment. The Mysore Lamp

factory was similarly put up with GE help !

 

 

 

Coming back to my grandfather, he was a Sishya of Jagadguru Sri Chandrasekhara

Bharathi of the Sringeri Math ( the first establishment set up by Sankara ). He

was deep into Vedanta. I remember him in the 1940s when he had retired, sitting

in his roon, practicing pranayama. He took a lot of interest in his

grandchildren. He knew every child’s birthday and you could be sure to receive a

letter from him with some Mantra or other benediction. He wrote every year to me

till 1972 when he passed away. He would invariably sign his letters with the

words, ‘ Yours affectionately …’ and a huge scrawl of a signature. But from 1969

he started signing the letter, ‘ Your grandfather in God …’ !

 

 

 

When he passed away, so my grandmother told me later when I came from Bombay to

call , the then Jagadguru of Sringeri, Sri Abhinava Theertha Bharathi, came to

call on her. As the house was in mourning ( for 13 days according to sampradaya)

he sat on a chair outside the front door and addressed her , ‘ Mother! Do not

grieve! Sri Ramanathan and I were fellow Shishyas ( Guru brothers is the word )

.. He has attained Moksha . He will never be born again !’

 

 

 

When we consider the question of ‘exclusiveness’ or ‘ God-men ‘ , I prefer to

think of ‘expansiveness’ and ‘ God-realised men ‘! The world may talk of

‘exclusiveness’ or ‘divisiveness’. It is their privilege. But as aspiring

advaitins seeking ‘ Total Consciousness’ which pervades the entire universe, we

can be ‘expansive’ in outlook and look seriously at the ‘God-realised men

‘.Admittedly there may be many hypocrites. But there may be genuine advaitins

also, who have ‘seen’ all that is to be seen and ‘known’ all that is to be

known. We can be discriminating but not dismissive. When we are rooted in our

conviction that there is only Parabrahman, rubbing shoulders with the world, may

be at best, beneficial, but never damaging.

 

 

 

But I respect your views. I am sharing my ‘anubhava’ only to illustrate my

viewpoint, certainly not to dogmatise.

 

 

 

One more experience in the search for the Truth . Mahasivarathri is on Feb 18,

Wednesday. For the last three years, this has suddenly become a landmark in our

life, rather like Christmas. It is said that the mind waxes and wanes like the

moon. I actually think a particular aspect of the mind changes, and I call it ‘

the deluding capability ‘ of the mind. Every month, it is said, a couple of days

before the New Moon ( called Amavasya ) this aspect of the mind reaches its

lowest strength. The monthly occurrences are called Monthly Sivarathris. But the

Mahasivarathri occurs at the New Moon just before the March/April New Moon,

which heralds the New Year all over India. On this day, the ‘deluding aspect’ of

the mind is said to come to zero capability. Any form of meditation or worship

on this occasion is certain to be highly beneficial. Contact with the Self is

guaranteed, so to speak.

 

 

 

We keep an all night vigil from about 6pm that evening to 6am the next morning.

Just my wife and me. Having other people can distract. We break up the twelve

hours into hourly sessions and either chant or read something. Just ‘ Om’ for an

hour. Then maybe ‘Om Nama Shivaya’ for an hour. Then read the ‘

Sivasahasranamam’ which could easily take upto an hour. Then ‘ Sivananda Lahiri’

of Sankara which can take another hour. The first year, 2001, we said it all

aloud. The next year, 2002, we started saying a lot of it in our mind. Last

year, 2003, all was in the mind. I look forward to next week!

 

 

 

I believe some clarity has come to me , maybe partly because of this. Anyone can

do this. It may help in its own way.

 

 

 

Thanks for allowing me to share. Advaitins should feel free to comment.

 

I hope to restart the discussion on 'awareness' tomorrow.

 

Warm regards and pranams

 

Mohan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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