Ramana acknowledging enlightenement?????

June 11, 2005

Harriet: So far as you are aware Maharaj never publiclyacknowledged anyone else's enlightenment?

David: There may have been others but the only other one Iknow about, since I witnessed it first-hand, was aCanadian - at least I think he was Canadian - called Rudi. Ihad listened to some tapes before I first went to Maharajand this man Rudi featured prominently on them. I have tosay that he sounded utterly obnoxious. He was pushy,argumentative and aggressive; apparently Maharaj threw himout on several occasions. I had never met Rudi; I only knewhim from the tapes I had heard.

Then one day Maharaj announced, 'We have a jnani comingto visit us this morning. His name is Rudi.' I laughedbecause I assumed that Maharaj was making fun of hispretensions to enlightenment. Maharaj could be quitescathing about people who claimed to be enlightened, but whoweren't. Wolter Keers, a Dutch advaita teacher, was someonewho fell into that category. Every so often he would come toBombay to see Maharaj, and on every visit Maharaj would tellhim off for claiming to be enlightened when he wasn't. Onone visit he started lecturing Wolter before he had evenproperly entered the room. There was a wooden stairway thatled directly into the room where Maharaj taught. As Wolter'shead appeared above the top step, Maharaj suspended hisother business and started laying into him.

'You are not enlightened! How dare you teach in theWest, claiming that you are enlightened?'

On one of my other visits Wolter was due to arrive andMaharaj kept asking when he was going to appear.

'Where is he? I want to shout at him again. When is hegoing to arrive?'

On that particular visit I had to leave before Woltercame so I don't know what form the lecture took, but Isuspect that it was a typically hot one.

Anyway, let's get back to Rudi. When Maharaj announcedthat a 'jnani' was due, I assumed that Rudi was going to getthe Wolter treatment. However, much to my amazement, Maharajtreated him as the genuine article when he finally showedup.

After spending a good portion of the morning wonderingwhen Rudi was going to appear, Maharaj then asked him why hehad bothered to come at all.

'To pay my respects to you and to thank you for whatyou have done for me. I am leaving for Canada and I came tosay goodbye.'

Maharaj didn't accept this explanation: 'If you havecome to this room, you must have some doubt left in you. Ifyou were doubt-free, you wouldn't bother to come at all. Inever visit any other teachers or Gurus because I no longerhave any doubts about who I am. I don't need to go anywhere.Many people come to me and say, "You must visit this or thatteacher. They are wonderful," but I never go because thereis nothing I need from anyone. You must want something youhaven't got or have a doubt to come here. Why have youcome?'

Rudi repeated his original story and then kept quiet. Iwas looking at him and he seemed to me to be a man who wasin some inner state of ecstasy or bliss that was socompelling, he found it hard even to speak. I still wasn'tsure whether Maharaj was accepting his credentials, but thenthe woman he had arrived with asked Maharaj a question.

Maharaj replied, 'Ask your friend later. He is a jnani.He will give you correct answers. Keep quiet this morning. Iwant to talk to him.'

It was at this point that I realised that Maharajreally did accept that this man had realised the Self. Rudithen asked Maharaj for advice on what he should do when hereturned to Canada. I thought that it was a perfectlyappropriate question for a disciple to ask a Guru on such anoccasion, but Maharaj seemed to take great exception to it.

'How can you ask a question like that if you are in thestate of the Self? Don't you know that you don't have anychoice about what you do or don't do?'

Rudi kept quiet. I got the feeling that Maharaj wastrying to provoke him into a quarrel or an argument, andthat Rudi was refusing to take the bait.

At some point Maharaj asked him, 'Have you witnessedyour own death?' and Rudi replied 'No'.

Maharaj then launched into a mini-lecture on how it wasnecessary to witness one's own death in order for there tobe full realisation of the Self. He said that it hadhappened to him after he thought that he had fully realisedthe Self, and it wasn't until after this death experiencethat he understood that this process was necessary for finalliberation. I hope somebody recorded this dialogue on tapebecause I am depending on a twenty-five-year-old memory forthis. It seems to be a crucial part of Maharaj's experienceand teachings but I never heard him mention it on any otheroccasion. I have also not come across it in any of hisbooks.

Maharaj continued to pester Rudi about the necessity ofwitnessing death, but Rudi kept quiet and just smiledbeatifically. He refused to defend himself, and he refusedto be provoked. Anyway, I don't think he was in anycondition to start and sustain an argument. Whatever statehe was in seemed to be compelling all his attention. I gotthe feeling that he found articulating even brief replieshard work.

Finally, Rudi addressed the question and said, 'Why areyou getting so excited about something that doesn't exist?'I assumed he meant that death was unreal, and as such, wasnot worth quarrelling about.

Maharaj laughed, accepted the answer and gave up tryingto harass him.

'Have you ever had a teacher like me?' demandedMaharaj, with a grin.

'No,' replied Rudi, 'and have you ever had a disciplelike me?'

They both laughed and the dialogue came to an end. Ihave no idea what happened to Rudi. He left and I neverheard anything more about him. As they say at the end offairy stories, he probably lived happily ever after.

-- Quoted from http://davidgodman.org/interviews/nis1.shtml