Arthur Osborne - Sri Ramana Maharshi [5]

[Guest guest]

 

 

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The twofold possibility of finding a realized Guru and

observing the orthodoxy of whatever religion he professed must

have seemed pretty remote to many of Guenon’s readers at the

time when he wrote; it is vastly more so today, in view of the

rapid breakdown of tradition, drying up of spiritual streams

and acceptance of modernism not only in the West but

throughout the world and in all religions. To prevent

despondency, Guenon gave the assurance that Christ’s saying

that whoever seeks shall find is a divine law of universal

application. This implies, however, that there must be some

technique by which it can still apply even in this present age,

when a genuine guru has become so rare to find and orthodoxy,

for most people, impracticable. Guenon never suggested what

this technique might be or even seemed aware of the need for

one. The adaptation necessary to meet the conditions of the

new age was, of course, formless guidance, to which I referred

briefly in ‘Adventures on the Path’, such as could reach the heart

of whoever seeks, independent alike of religious orthodoxy and

formal initiation. There may be various such currents of guidance

in the world today; certainly one was instituted by the Maharshi.

 

In accordance with the needs of this path, he restored the

term ‘Guru’ to its true and highest meaning, which is essentially

the same as the Christian doctrine of ‘the Christ in you’. This

introduced a certain mystery into his use of the term. The

following dialogue illustrates how it made the laying on of hands

or transmission of a mantram by a human agent unnecessary:

 

Devotee: “Bhagavan has said that without the grace of the

Guru one cannot attain to the Self. What precisely does he

mean by this? What is this Guru?”

 

Bhagavan: “From the standpoint of the path of Knowledge,

it is the supreme state of the Self. It is different from the ego,

which you call your self.”

 

Devotee: “Then if it is the supreme state of my own Self,

in what sense does Bhagavan mean that I cannot reach it without

the grace of the Guru?”

 

Bhagavan: “The ego is the individuality and is not the

same as the Lord of all. When it approaches the Lord with sincere

devotion, he graciously assumes name and form and takes it to

Himself. Therefore they say that the Guru is none other than

the Lord. He is a human incarnation of Divine Grace.”

 

A human incarnation, yes; but he also said that the Guru

need not necessarily take human form; and since he shed the

body the meaning of this saying has become clear.

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taken from Arthur Osborne's My Life & Quest