Paul Brunton meets Ramana Maharshi

April 12, 2004

I fold a thin cotton blanket upon the floor and sit down, gazing expectantly at the silent figure in such a rigid attitude upon the couch . . . If he is aware of my presence, he betrays no hint, gives no sign. His body is supernaturally quiet, as steady as a statue. Not once does he catch my gaze, for his eyes continue to look into remote space, and infinitely remote it seems. His eyes shine with astonishing brilliance. Strange sensations begin to arise in me. Those lustrous orbs seem to be peering into the inmost recesses of my soul . . . I become aware that he is definitely linking my own mind with his, that he is provoking my heart into that state of starry calm which he seems perpetually to enjoy.

PB: A few years ago I got some glimpses of the Bliss but in the years that followed I lost it again. Then last year I again got it. Why is that? Maharshi: You lost it because your meditation had not become natural (sahaja). When you become habitually inturned the enjoyment of spiritual beatitude becomes a normal experience. PB: What is the best way to attain Godhood? Maharshi: Self-enquiry leads to Self-realization. PB: Is a Guru necessary for spiritual progress? Maharshi: Yes. PB: Is it possible for the Guru to help the disciple forward on the path? Maharshi: Yes. PB: What are the conditions for discipleship? Maharshi: Intense desire for Self-realization, earnestness and purity of mind. PB: Is it necessary to surrender one's life to the Guru? Maharshi: Yes. One should surrender everything to the Dispeller of Darkness. One should surrender the ego that binds one to this world. Giving up body-consciousness is the true surrender. PB: Does a Guru want to take control of the disciple's worldly affairs also? Maharshi: Yes, everything. PB: Can he give the disciple the spiritual spark that he needs? Maharshi: He can give him all that he needs. This can be seen from experience. PB: Is it necessary to be in physical contact with the Guru, and if so, for how long? Maharshi: It depends on the maturity of the disciple. Gunpowder catches fire in an instant, while it takes time to ignite coal.

I am alone with the Maharishee! Never before has this happened. His eyes begin to change; they narrow down to pin-points. The effect is curiously like the "stopping-down" in the focus of a camera lens. There comes a tremendous increase in the intense gleam which shines between the lids, now almost closed. Suddenly, my body seems to disappear, and we are both out in space!

Finally it happens. Thought is extinguished like a snuffed candle. The intellect withdraws into its real ground, that is , consciosness working unhindered by thought. I perceive, what I have suspected for some time and what Maharshi has confidently affirmed, that he mind takes its rise in transcendental source. The brain has passed into a state of complete suspension, as it does in deep sleep, yet there is not the slightest loss of consciousness. I remain perfectly calm and fully aware of who I am and what is occurring, yet my sense of awakeness has been drawn out of the narrow confines of the separate personality; it has turned into something sublimely all-embracing. Self still exists, but it is a changed radiant self. For, something that is far superior to the unimportant personality which was I, some deeper diviner being rises into consciousness and becomes me. Within arrives an amazing new sense of absolute freedom, for thought is like a loom-shuttle which is always going to and fro, and to be freed from its tyrannical motion is to step out of prison into the open air.

.. . . . now that I have cought a wonderful and memorable glimpse of Maharshi's viewpoint on life, my own inner life has begun to mingle with his.

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