Banning Richardson - East & West meet in The Maharshi #1

[Guest guest]

East & West meet in The Maharshi

 

Banning Richardson, M.A., (Hons.) (Cantab), A.B. (Princeton)

 

Can you imagine being influenced more greatly by a man

you have never spoken to than by any other man you have ever

met? I am not referring merely to ideas or “representation” of

personality, as may be the case for instance with Jesus Christ and

sincere Christians, or Krishna, Vishnu or Shiva amongst different

sects of Hindus, or of Mohamed vis-a-vis the majority of

Mussalmans. It is possible, no doubt, to have a direct spiritual or

psychic experience of such personalities which will completely

alter one’s life. For instance, the story of St. Paul is typical; but

what we are concerned with here is one’s experience of men in

the flesh.

 

Have you, then, ever been with a man almost constantly,

during the daytime, for three days and never spoken to him

because speech seemed superfluous; and yet have gone away

with his image imprinted more firmly in your heart and mind

than those of persons you have known intimately for many

years?

 

Had anyone asked me a similar question ten years ago, I

should have doubted his sincerity, or I should have considered

that the enthusiasm of a disciple was leading to poetic

exaggeration. And yet, nine years ago, I had just such an

experience, and the spiritual influence of him who impressed

me so deeply has increased with the passing years, though I

have communicated with him rarely, and then only by letter;

and I have scarcely read his published works, because I felt no

need to do so.

 

Members of my father’s family have been wanderers

for many generations, as is the case with so many Scotsmen;

so it is small wonder that I was born in England and educated,

except for final years at Cambridge, in Canada and the United

States. When I had just graduated from Princeton University

I was introduced to the first Indian I had ever met. He was

Dhan Gopal Mukerji, author of that moving book My

Brother’s Face. A Cambridge graduate himself, he had been

living in America for many years. He was a master at the

Dalton School in New York; but I called on him at his

summer home in one of the beautiful river-valleys of

northern Connecticut. Ever since the age of nine or ten I

had been deeply interested in religion, and during the years

just preceding our meeting, I was more and more drawn to

books on occultism and mysticism; so when he said that

during one of my vacations from Cambridge I should fly to

India and visit some of the centres of spiritual teaching in

the Himalayas, I took the suggestion quite naturally and said

I would try to do so. Therefore, when, through a series of

“accidents” I was asked to come to India for two and a half

years to lecture on English literature at St. Stephen’s College,

Delhi, I accepted immediately, as I had had no chance to

carry out Dhan Gopal’s suggestion while “up” at Cambridge.

 

Before sailing for India I returned to spend the summer

in Canada and the United States. In America there is a pleasant

custom that when a friend or relation sails abroad, one gives

him a book or two to read on the voyage. Among the books I

was given in New York when I sailed for India was one from

my godmother, a Roman Catholic by birth, and perhaps by

belief, in a vague sort of way. It was A Search in Secret India by

Paul Brunton.

 

.................to be continued

 

taken from Golden Jubilee Souvenir 1896-1946

[Guest guest]

Dear Viorica

 

 

thank you for your devotional and passionate work.

Reading and saving this message: j o y

 

in Ramana

 

 

michael

 

 

 

-

viorica

 

Cc: ThePowerOfSilence

Saturday, September 29, 2007 3:13 PM

Banning Richardson - East & West meet in The Maharshi #1

 

 

 

 

 

East & West meet in The Maharshi

 

Banning Richardson, M.A., (Hons.) (Cantab), A.B. (Princeton)

 

Can you imagine being influenced more greatly by a man

you have never spoken to than by any other man you have ever

met? I am not referring merely to ideas or “representation” of

personality, as may be the case for instance with Jesus Christ and

sincere Christians, or Krishna, Vishnu or Shiva amongst different

sects of Hindus, or of Mohamed vis-a-vis the majority of

Mussalmans. It is possible, no doubt, to have a direct spiritual or

psychic experience of such personalities which will completely

alter one’s life. For instance, the story of St. Paul is typical; but

what we are concerned with here is one’s experience of men in

the flesh.

 

Have you, then, ever been with a man almost constantly,

during the daytime, for three days and never spoken to him

because speech seemed superfluous; and yet have gone away

with his image imprinted more firmly in your heart and mind

than those of persons you have known intimately for many

years?

 

Had anyone asked me a similar question ten years ago, I

should have doubted his sincerity, or I should have considered

that the enthusiasm of a disciple was leading to poetic

exaggeration. And yet, nine years ago, I had just such an

experience, and the spiritual influence of him who impressed

me so deeply has increased with the passing years, though I

have communicated with him rarely, and then only by letter;

and I have scarcely read his published works, because I felt no

need to do so.

 

Members of my father’s family have been wanderers

for many generations, as is the case with so many Scotsmen;

so it is small wonder that I was born in England and educated,

except for final years at Cambridge, in Canada and the United

States. When I had just graduated from Princeton University

I was introduced to the first Indian I had ever met. He was

Dhan Gopal Mukerji, author of that moving book My

Brother’s Face. A Cambridge graduate himself, he had been

living in America for many years. He was a master at the

Dalton School in New York; but I called on him at his

summer home in one of the beautiful river-valleys of

northern Connecticut. Ever since the age of nine or ten I

had been deeply interested in religion, and during the years

just preceding our meeting, I was more and more drawn to

books on occultism and mysticism; so when he said that

during one of my vacations from Cambridge I should fly to

India and visit some of the centres of spiritual teaching in

the Himalayas, I took the suggestion quite naturally and said

I would try to do so. Therefore, when, through a series of

“accidents” I was asked to come to India for two and a half

years to lecture on English literature at St. Stephen’s College,

Delhi, I accepted immediately, as I had had no chance to

carry out Dhan Gopal’s suggestion while “up” at Cambridge.

 

Before sailing for India I returned to spend the summer

in Canada and the United States. In America there is a pleasant

custom that when a friend or relation sails abroad, one gives

him a book or two to read on the voyage. Among the books I

was given in New York when I sailed for India was one from

my godmother, a Roman Catholic by birth, and perhaps by

belief, in a vague sort of way. It was A Search in Secret India by

Paul Brunton.

 

.................to be continued

 

taken from Golden Jubilee Souvenir 1896-1946

 

 

 

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