Sadhu Arunachala (Major A.W. Chadwick - There is Nothing.Be! #1

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“THERE IS NOTHING. BE!”

Sadhu Arunachala (Major A.W. Chadwick, O.B.E.)

 

 

Fifty years is a long time. Wonderful how in these last

fifty years the world has rushed on in its mad career of change,

faster than ever dreamt of in the whole recorded history of

man. Yet this hectic rush has left the Maharshi absolutely

untouched, in truth I suppose he has remained quite

unconscious of it, for I have often heard him say that the time

has passed in a flash.

 

In many ways these years have been quite uneventful. A

few changes of house and diet, a few annoyances from jealous

sadhus. That is all. All except a reputation that has been steadily

growing year by year, till now one can say there is no country

where he is unknown and where in some corner or other some

devotee cannot be found.

 

But what strikes one who ponders over the life of Bhagavan

is not this wonderful increase in fame and reputation. This was

inevitable. The world had been anxiously looking for someone

and in answer to all these anxious prayers Bhagavan appeared.

It will always be thus. But it is the study in contrasts which is so

remarkable.

 

Bhagavan belonged to a family which was absolutely

unknown; he has become world-famous. They were very poor;

now people are willing to lay their fortunes at his feet. Orthodox

of the orthodox, no foreigner had ever crossed their doorstep,

it would be pollution; now Bhagavan sits to eat surrounded by

foreigners and members of the depressed classes. And does it all

in the most natural way; to the manner born as the expression

goes. For him there is no distinction. And in this way he has

made himself available to all. To the Brahmins because he is of

Brahmin birth, they will rarely sit at the feet of one of another

caste, and to the rest of us because of his magnanimity.

 

For most people it is the arrival of Bhagavan at

Tiruvannamalai that we are now celebrating, but for me that

is relatively unimportant, and seems to be more the business

of the local townsfolk. Wherever he had settled I should have

gone, and though one can think of no holier spot than this, it

is easy to think of many which would have been far more

convenient.

 

Fifty years ago Bhagavan became a full and perfect Jnani

once and for all. There were no stages in his attainment. Lying

on the floor of the room in his uncle’s house he was conscious

of the final and absolute death of the ego. He dramatized a fact.

In his own words: “Nothing has ever happened to me, I am the

same as I always was.” Yes, I am the same, the essential and

eternal “I am”, but relatively everything happened at that

moment. Then was achieved the summit of attainment that

hundreds strive after during many long years of austerities, and

even many births. But the ego being dead, there is no one but

the “I am” left as a witness, and that must ever remain the one

changeless noumenon behind all phenomena.

 

And the philosophy of this greatest of Sages can be summed

up in just three words “There is nothing.” So simple and yet so

supremely difficult. “There is nothing”. All this world that you

see, this mad rush of people after money and “existence” is just

a fabricless thought. “There is nothing.” You as a personality, as

a petty entity striving for your own selfish ends, ever seeking

so-called “Self-realization” are nothing. You are like the shadow

of a leaf cast by the moonlight, intangible, unsubstantial, and

in fact non-existent. And as the shadow is a purely negative

phenomenon, is in fact nothing but a shutting out of light, so is

the ego and everything else, (because everything follows in the

train of the ego and is actually a part of it) only a shutting out

of the light of the Self.

 

You may justly turn to me now and ask: “Who wants this

purely negative state?”

To which I can only reply: “It is just a question of

taste.” Though, note you, I have never suggested that

Bhagavan ever says that the ultimate state after which, it is

presumed, we are all striving is negative. On the contrary,

when he says: “There is nothing,” it is obvious that he is

speaking about our present egoistic existence, which for us

is everything. But this being nothing there must obviously

be a state which is something. That state is Self-realization.

Not only is it something but it is everything, and being

everything then logically and philosophically it must be

perfect.

 

“If we are already perfect and there is nothing else, what

need is there for us to go to Bhagavan?” you ask.

And this reminds me of a story against myself.

An Australian journalist came to the Ashram, quite why

he came is a mystery, I doubt if he would be able to tell

himself. Anyhow he did come and in the course of his visit

came to see me in my room. It was obvious from the first

moment that I was a tremendous problem to him. Why an

European should shut himself away in a place like this was

beyond his comprehension. He asked many questions but

none of my replies satisfied him, how could they? Especially

as he had not the first idea of what the Ashram was or what

people were doing here. I didn’t even write, then what on

earth did I do! At length he could contain himself no longer

and bluntly asked me what I was doing here. Now here was

a problem to answer. If I had tried to tell him the truth he

would never have understood, that I realized, so making the

best of it I just said that here I found peace of mind. I knew

it was an inadequate answer but hoped it would stave off

further enquiries.

 

He looked at me seriously for a few minutes and then said

pityingly: “Oh I see, I have never been troubled in that way

myself.”

All I had succeeded in doing was in confirming him in the

conviction that I was insane. And was there not, after all, some

ground for his belief? Here have I been spending (“wasting”, he

would say) half a life time searching for something I already

possess. I know that I possess it too, which makes matters appear

worse.

 

But let us return to the question and admit straight- away

that even now I am unable to reply satisfactorily. I can only say

why I came and that is because I wanted to. And why do I stay?

Because I want to. Doubtless there are many learned writers to

this volume who will be able to give philosophical and cast-iron

replies to this question, I leave the reader to them. I am not

particularly interested. To my metal Bhagavan was a magnet

and as yet his magnetism has lost none of its force. I am helpless.

But it is true that the majority of people who come to

Bhagavan want something, either material or spiritual. That is

why they come and that is why they stay. One hears rumours of

miracles performed, I can quote no authentic instances, but

why not? Did not another great Sage say that by Faith everything

could be achieved, even if one had faith only as large as a grain

of sand, one could easily remove mountains. They have the

faith and the miracle happens automatically. But those who

expect Bhagavan to hand them Self-realization, as if it were

some tangible thing, are surely sadly deluded. How can anybody

give one what one has already got? All he can do is help one to

remove the ignorance that hides it. It is like going to a lake with

a cup and sitting by its side praying to it to fill the cup with

water. You may sit there for a thousand years but it is certain

that unless you lean forward and dip the cup into the water

yourself nothing will happen. Even then you have to make

certain that the cup is not already full of a lot of rubbish. Most

cups are!

 

“How then to obtain this perfect state?” You may well ask,

“How to empty our cups of rubbish?”

Bhagavan tells us just one other thing. He says: “Be”. Just

be your real Self, that’s all.

“Certainly it sounds all right,” you say, “but when one

tries to do it, it does not seem so easy. Has he no method?”

Method! Well what exactly do you mean by method?

Sitting on the floor and concentrating on the navel? Or blowing

the wind out of alternative nostrils? Or repeating some

incantation one crore and eight times? No, he hasn’t got any

method. All these things are no doubt good in their way and

help to prepare one, but Bhagavan doesn’t happen to teach them.

That’s all!

“Then what am I to do?”

You must just “BE,” he says. And to be you must know the

“I that is”. To know the “I that is”, just go on enquiring “Who

am I?” Don’t take any notice of anything except the “I”, throw

everything else away like the rubbish out of the cup. And when

you have at last found the “I”, BE.

........... to be cont.

 

taken from

Golden Jubilee Souvenir