Monica Bose-Growing up in the Grace of Bhagavan - 12

[Guest guest]

One day in 1949, I was early and sitting alone in the newly constructed hall, when Bhagavan came in and took his place on the polished granite couch. He looked around at the beautiful, perhaps in his eyes ostentatious surroundings, with a expression of distaste. He had been happiest I thought in the plain old hall, and before that in the caves where his couch had been a platform made of earth and stone. But the look of distaste lasted only for an instant. I saw him gather his thoughts to a point within and complete serenity returned to his features. But the look of distaste lasted only for an instant. When I left the hall, I met Mr. Arthur Osborne, later editor of The Mountain Path, and told him what I had seen. He looked happy and thanked me. I was surprised because I had been a little troubled by the incident since I thought a Jnani was beyond likes and dislikes. I am afraid my thinking was somewhat on the lines of the person who asked Bhagavan whether a Jnani felt any pain. "Why not," Bhagavan replied, "does a Jnani not feel it when he is pricked with a pin?" A Jnani is not insentient, but what makes him different from others is that he does not associate himself with the pain or circumstance. He transcends it by immersing himself in the Self, as we must learn to do.