THE GREAT TRANSITION 2

August 31, 2005

THE GREAT TRANSITION

PART TWO

During the night of vigil a decision had to be taken as to the burial. It had been thought that the body might be interred in the new hall, but many devotees opposed the idea. They felt that the hall was, in a sense, an adjunct to the temple and would make the shrine of Sri Bhagavan seem subordinate to that of the Mother, reversing the true order of things.

Next day, by general agreement, a pit was dug and the body interred with divine honours in the space between the old hall and the temple.

The crowd, packed tight, looked on in silent grief. No more the beloved face, no more the sound of his voice; henceforth the lingam of polished black stone, the symbol of Siva, over the tomb was the outer sign, and inwardly his footprints in the heart.

CONTINUED PRESENCE

The crowds dispersed and the Ashram seemed an abandoned place, like a grate with the fire gone out.

And yet there was not the wild grief and despair that has so often followed the departure of a Spiritual Master from earth. The normality that had been so pronounced still continued.

It began to be apparent with what care and compassion Sri Bhagavan had prepared his devotees for this.

Nevertheless, during those first days and weeks of bereavement few cared to remain at Tiruvannamalai, and some who would have cared to could not.

Many years previously a will had been drawn up stating how the Ashram was to be run when the Master was no longer bodily present. A group of devotees took this to Sri Bhagavan and he read it through very carefully and showed approval, after which they all signed as witnesses. Briefly, it stated that puja (ritualistic worship) should be performed at his tomb and that of the mother, that the family of Niranjanananda Swami’s son should be supported, and that the spiritual centre of Tiruvannamalai should be kept alive.

Everywhere his Presence is felt, and yet there are differences of atmosphere. Morning and evening there is parayanam (chanting of the Vedas) before the tomb, as there used to be before his bodily presence, and at the same hours.

As the devotees sit there in meditation it is the same as when they sat before him in the hall, the same power, the same subtlety of guidance.

During parayanam, puja is performed at the tomb and the 108 names of Bhagavan are recited. But in the old hall is a softer, mellower atmosphere breathing the intimacy of his long abidance.

Some months after the Mahasamadhi (leaving the body) this hall was damaged by a fire that broke out, but was fortunately not destroyed.

There is also the little room where the last days and hours were spent.

A large portrait which hangs there seems to live and respond to devotion. Here are the various objects that Sri Bhagavan used or touched - his staff and water vessel, a peacock fan, the revolving bookcase, many little objects. And the couch now forever empty. There is something infinitely poignant,

inexpressibly gracious about the room.

In the new hall a statue of Sri Bhagavan has been installed. It was one of the terms of the will that a statue should be set up, but no sculptor has yet been found to make one adequate. He would have to feel the mystery of Sri Bhagavan, to be inspired by him, for it is not a question of rendering human features but the divine power and beauty that shone through them.

Not only the Ashram premises are hallowed but all the neighbourhood around.

The peace that abides there encompasses and permeates: no passive peace but a vibrant exhilaration.

The very air is redolent with his Presence.

True, his Presence is not confined to Tiruvannamalai. It never was. The devotees, wherever they may be, find his Grace and support, his inner Presence, not merely as potent but even more potent now than before.

And yet, now as before, the solace of a visit to Tiruvannamalai sinks into the soul and residence there has a beauty hard to describe.

NO RETURN

There have been Saints who have promised to return to earth for the renewed guidance of their devotees in life after life, but Sri Bhagavan was the complete Jnani in whom there is not even that vestige of an ego that may indicate rebirth, and the devotees understood this.

His promise was different.

“I am not going away. Where could I go? I am here.”

Not even “I shall be here” but “I am here”, for to the Gnani there is no change, no time, no difference of past and future, no going away, only the eternal ‘Now’ in which the whole of the time is poised, the universal, spaceless ‘Here’.

What he affirmed was his continued, uninterrupted Presence, his continued guidance.

Long ago he had told Sivaprakasam Pillai, “He who has won the Grace of the Guru shall undoubtedly be saved and never forsaken,” and when devotees spoke during the last sickness as though he was forsaking them and pleaded their weakness and continued need of him he retorted, as already mentioned

“You attach too much importance to the body.”

They quickly discovered how true this was. More than ever he has become the Inner Guru. Those who depended on him feel his guidance more actively, more potently now. Their thoughts are riveted on him more constantly.The vichara, leading to the Inner Guru, has grown easier and more accessible. Meditation brings a more immediate flow of Grace.

End of Part Two

To be continued

THE MOUNTAIN PATH

(Quarterly)

Editor: Arthur Osborne

L1 JANUARY 1964 No 1

Start your day with - make it your home page