Maharshi's Gospel - 79

[Guest guest]

D. It is just that point that prompted me to put my first question,

whether one who has realized the Self perceives the world as

we do, and if he does, I should like to know how Sri Bhagavan

felt about the mysterious dissapearance of the photo

yesterday....

 

Maharshi:

 

(Smiling) You are referring to the photo of the Madurra temple.

A few minutes earlier it was passing through the hands of the

visitors, who looked at it in turn. Evidently it was mislaid among

the pages of some book or other that they were consulting.

 

D. Yes, it was that incident. How does Bhagavn view it?

There was an anxious serach for the photo, which, in the end,

could not be found. How does Bhagavan view the mysterious

dissapearance of the photo just at the moment when it was

wanted?

 

 

Maharshi: Suppose you dream that you are taking me to your

distant country, Poland. You wake up and ask me, " I dreamt

so and so. Did you also had such dream or know in some

other way that I was taking you to Poland?" What

significance would you attach to such enquiry?

 

D. But, with regard to the missing photo, the whole incident took

place in front of Sri Bhagavan.

 

Maharshi:

The seeing of the photo, its dissapearance, as well as your

present enquiry, are all mere workings of mind.

There is a story in the Puranas which illustrates the point.

Where Sita was missing from the forest hermitage, Rama

went about in search of her, wailing, "O, Sita, Sita"; it is said

that Parvati and Parameshvara saw from above what was

taking place in the forest. Parvati expressed her surprize to

Shiva and said, " You praised Rama as the perfect being.

See how he behaves and grieves at the loss of Sita.!;

Shiva replied, " If you are skeptical about Rama's perfection,

then put him to the test yourself. Through your yoga-maya

transform yourself into the likeness of Sita and appear before

him." Parvati did so. She appeared before Rama in the very

likeness of Sita, but to her astonishment Rama ignored her

presence and went on as before, calling out, "O SIta , O Sita "

as if he were blind.

 

D. I am unable to grasp the moral of the story.

 

M. If Rama were searching for the bodily presence of Sita,

he would have recognized the person who was standing

in front of him as the Sita he had lost. But no, the missing

Sita was just as unreal as the Sita that appeared before

his eyes. Rama was not really blind; but to Rama, the jnani,

the prior being of Sita in the hermitage, her dissapearance,

his consequent search for her as well as the actual presence

of Parvati in the guise of Sita, were all equally unreal. Do you

now understand how the missing photo was viewed?