Banning Richardson - East & West meet in The Maharshi #6

[Guest guest]

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Finally with regard to the doctrine of grace, Christian

criticism of Hindu theology asserts that Hinduism advocates

“pulling oneself up by one’s own bootstraps” without assistance

from the love of God. Such a statement is, in my opinion,

unfair; but let us look at one of Christ’s teachings”For whosoever

hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance;

but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even

that he hath.” (Matthew, XIII, 12). In other words, “In

accordance with each man’s own efforts for spiritual

enlightenment shall he be given assistance by God; and those

who make no effort shall lose even what spiritual understanding

they had.” Surely this means that Divine Grace is dependent

on effort; and what true Hindu, whether Shaivite or Vaishnavite,

would deny such a teaching?

 

However, we are not concerned with a defence of “orthodox”

Hinduism; in many respects it is farther from the truth than

orthodox Christianity. But Bhagavan Sri Maharshi answers this

riddle of self-help and grace in final fashion, in my view. In Sat-

Darshana Bhashya and Talks with Maharshi we find:

“Disciple: Then I can dispense with outside help and by

mine own effort get into the deeper truth by myself?

Maharshi: True. But the very fact you are possessed of the

quest of the Self is a manifestation of the Divine Grace, It

is effulgent in the Heart, the inner being, the Real Self. It draws

you from within. You have to attempt to get in from without.

Your attempt is Vichara, the deep inner movement is Grace,

That is why I say there is no real Vichara without Grace, nor is

there Grace active for him who is without Vichara. Both are

necessary.’’

And there are several other similar examples in the same

work and elsewhere in the Maharshi’s writings.

 

 

To remove the blinkers from men’s eyes, to take away their

spiritual crutches is a great, though painful, task. Men generally

are unwilling to surrender their long-cherished illusions, whether

based on nineteenth century materialism still so widespread and,

indeed, spreading in India or on orthodox religion. It is painful

and lonely to be told that you must strip your soul naked and

depend only on yourself and the divine inner Grace which Christ

called the Holy Ghost if you seek spiritual liberation; that no

amount of prayers or saying ‘credo’ can take the place of this

lone pilgrimage.

 

Most men are unwilling to make, or rarely feel the need

of making such a search. To them one can only say “Depart in

peace.” For such persons it is useless to visit Sri Maharshi’s ashram

for darshan, in the hope that this in itself will liberate one. That

is only a beginning, an inspiration the long, stony path lies ahead.

It is a tenet of Hinduism that all spiritual paths lead to

the same goal. In a broad sense this is true, but also it hides

the truth. For if one has followed one religion or another,

one yoga or another, one has still in the end to go through

the process of self-analysis, of inner search and surrender

which is best described in our time by Sri Maharshi. In other

words, the “goal” is not a goal but a path. When one has

learnt everything that one can from one’s inherited or

acquired religion or spiritual discipline, he has to take this

prized possession and cast it to one side the most painful of

acts and, starting afresh, follow the simple, scientific method

that the Saint of Arunachala teaches us.

 

 

 

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

 

taken from Golden Jubilee Souvenir 1896-1946