Krishnaprem & Maharshi

[Guest guest]

KRISHNAPREM AND MAHARSHI

 

Marie B. Byles

 

(An English professor in the purvasrama, Sri Krishnaprem

was an orthodox devotee of Krishna and as such had no intention

to follow Self-Enquiry. Yet he had a striking experience of the

significance of the question, ‘Who am I?’, when he visited

Bhagavan for his blessings.)

 

SRI KRISHNAPREM, formerly Professor Ronald Nixon

from Cambridge in England, had taught literature at

Varanasi and Lucknow universities before he gave up the life of

the world, donned the gerua robes and became a sannyasin. He

took as his guru the saintly woman Yashoda Mai who had been

a leader of Indian social life before she became a sannyasini and

established an ashram at Mirtola, about eighteen miles from

Almora in the Himalayas. Here Krishnaprem took up his abode,

soon performing the Vaishnava rituals in the temple, and, when

the Brahmin cook left, doing the cooking also. When Yashoda

Mai died in 1945 he was left in charge of the ashram, though he

handed over the management to another in 1955, ten years

before his own death.

 

He was an orthodox Vaishnava and worshipper of Lord

Krishna, that is, of the personal aspect of the Supreme, and the

last thing that would have entered his head would have been to

find his goal through asking the question, ‘Who am I?’ However

he regarded Maharshi as a living shining light of India and

because of this in 1948, he made the long journey from Almora

to the south to receive his blessing. The story of his visit is told

by his friend, Dilip Kumar Roy, in his book about him. And as

I do not seem to remember having read about this visit

elsewhere, others may find it as illuminating as I do.

 

He entered the room where Maharshi was reclining with

devotees before him, and sat down among them to meditate.

As soon as he did so, he heard a voice saying over and over

again, ‘Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?’ He tried to

ignore it but eventually he replied silently, ‘I am Krishna’s

servant.’ The voice still went on relentlessly. The question

changed to, ‘Who was Krishna?’ He answered, ‘Nanda’s son’,

and formulated various other answers, ‘He is an Avatar, the

One-in-all, the resident in every heart’. The voice continued

asking the former question. He became very disturbed, and

finally he rose and left the room. He returned and the voice

continued as before. Silently he prayed to Radha for guidance,

but she shook her head. Then the answer was revealed, but how

we are not told!

 

In the morning he again sat down with the other devotees.

Maharshi gave him a lightning glance and smiled at him. He

closed his eyes, then on a sudden impulse he found himself

silently asking Maharshi his own question, ‘Who are you?’

Something made him open his eyes. Maharshi’s couch was empty,

there was no Maharshi on it. He closed his eyes again but in a

moment opened them. Maharshi was reclining in his usual place

and he gave a fleeting smile and meaningful glance, after which

he looked away. Maharshi did not ask Krishnaprem to cease

from worshipping Lord Krishna and surrendering all to him.

He never did this, there are different ways for different

temperaments. Some will perhaps be more direct than others,

but in the end all will find the same answer, and that vacant

couch gives the answer better than all.

 

And this is what I was taught when invisible cords drew

me to the Maha Bodhi Meditation Centre near Mandalay in

Burma. I was told there, that many are the ways of learningVipasana

or insight meditation, but that all end up with the

experience of phyit pyet (come- go or ceaseless change) or the

end of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ and ‘me’ — you are not the worrying

thoughts that disturb you, you are not the mind, you are not

the body. What are you then? phyit pyet. Whatever is your way

or my way, it is always helpful to understand and appreciate the

ways of others, as for example that of Krishnaprem, who found

that ultimately all faded away and there was only Krishna.

 

taken from

The Silent Power

 

Selections from

The Mountain Path and The Call Divine