Paul Brunton:From Journalist to Gentle Sage

April 14, 2004

excerpt from

by Georg Feuerstein

http://www.yrec.org/brunton.html

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In 1934, Brunton published his first book, A Search in Secret India, which was spectacularly successful. This was the first time he used his pen name, which came about partly by design and partly by accident. He had selected the name Brunton Paul for himself, but the typesetter accidentally changed it to Paul Brunton, and it stuck. His friends called him "PB."

Over the years, Brunton's fledgling book, which records his early adventures in India, won him a quarter million readers. They were drawn from among the growing circle of Westerners who, in their disenchantment with the Christian establishment, were turning toward the Orient.

In particular, Brunton's book brought fame to one of the finest representatives of modern Hindu spirituality, Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), who must not be confused with Maharshi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the Transcendental Meditation movement. The description of his encounter with Sri Ramana in South India is perhaps the most enthralling part of the book. Here is a sampling of Brunton's neatly journalistic treatment:

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.

At first, Brunton expects something to happen, and "the minutes creep by with unutterable slowness." In the end, the sage's total quietness communicated itself to Brunton. Two hours later, he was still in a state of deep restfulness and meditation. Someone prodded Brunton, reminding him to ask his questions. Yet the peace that had overwhelmed him had also wiped out all his questions. At least they had vanished until his next meeting with Sri Ramana. Brunton had many animated conversations with the sage, in which he was always thrown back upon his own inner resource.

On Brunton's last day at the ashram, Ramana Maharshi again chose to be completely silent. He rested his peaceful gaze on the man from the West: It was a profound initiatory gaze. As Brunton described it:

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.

Time stood still. The hall emptied, as one disciple after another quietly left. Then only the sage and Brunton were left behind.

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!

There was much that Brunton did not report in his books, but which he later confided or hinted at to trusted friends. For instance, Brunton confided to one of his students that when he arrived at Ramana's hermitage all those years ago, the sage and he went for a long walk. Ramana told him that he, Brunton, had been graced with the highest state as a young man but lost it when the ego-personality reasserted itself. Now he had to work to recapture that condition he once enjoyed spontaneously.

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