Guest guest Posted July 23, 2009 Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 "OUR" LIFE AND QUEST The following account is a direct excerpt from the book My Life and Quest, by Arthur Osborne.. It recounts the first meeting of what unfolded as one of the most endearing relationships between a disciple and the Master. It should be noted that this first meeting, and the ensuing relationship, took place just after the Japanese released Mr. Osborne from nearly four years of imprisonment during World War II. “I entered the Ashram hall on the morning of my arrival, before Bhagavan had returned from his daily walk on the hill. I was a little awed to find how small it was and how close to him I should be sitting; I had expected something grander and less intimate. And then he entered and, to my surprise, there was no great impression. Certainly far less than his photograph had made. Just a white-haired, very gracious man, walking a little stiffly from rheumatism and with a slight stoop. As soon as he had eased himself on to the couch he smiled at me and then turned to those around and to my young son and said: ‘So Adam’s prayer has been answered; his Daddy has come back safely.’ I felt his kindness but no more. I appreciated that is was for my sake that he had spoken English, since Adam knew Tamil. The change came a few weeks later at one of the big festivals of the ashram year. “There were huge crowds for the festival and we were sitting in the courtyard outside the hall. Bhagavan was reclining on his couch and I was sitting in the front row before it. He sat up, facing me, and his narrowed eyes pierced into me, penetrating, intimate, with an intensity I cannot describe. It was as though they said: ‘You have been told; why have you not realized?’ And then quietness, a depth of peace, an indescribable lightness and happiness. “Thereafter love for Bhagavan began to grow in my heart and I felt his power and beauty, Next morning, for the first time, sitting before him in the hall, I tried to follow his teaching by using the vichara, ‘Who am I?’. I thought it was I who had decided. I did not at first realize that it was the initiation by look that had vitalized me and changed my attitude of mind. Indeed, I had only heard vaguely of this initiation and paid little heed to what I had heard. Only later did I learn that other devotees also had had such an experience, and that with them also it had marked the beginning of active sadhana (quest) under Bhagavan’s guidance. Then for the first time in my life, I began to understand what the grace and blessing of a guru could mean. “My love and devotion to Bhagavan deepened, I went about with a lilt of happiness in my heart, feeling the blessing and mystery of the guru, repeating, like a song of love, that he was the Guru, the link between heaven and earth, between God and me, between the Formless Being and my heart. I became aware of the enormous grace of his presence. Even outwardly he was gracious to me, smiling when I entered the hall, signing to me to sit where he could watch me in meditation…†The specious theory that Bhagavan was not a Guru had simply evaporated in the radiance of his Grace. Moreover, I now perceived that, far from his teaching not being practical guidance, it was exclusively that. I observed that he shunned theoretical explanations and kept the questioner to practical considerations of sadhana, of the path to be followed. It was that and only that he was here to teach! *____________________*My Life and Quest, by Arthur Osborne, Sri Ramanashramam 2008, p. 90-92.-- Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi web site: http://www.ramanateaching.orgAsk your question in relation to Bhagavan's teachings, meditation and spirituality at: http://www.ramanateaching.org/faqTo contact Swami Sadasivananda:http://www.ramanateaching.org/contact.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 23, 2009 Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 so beautiful , Alan Jacobs <alanadamsjacobs wrote: > > > > > " OUR " LIFE AND QUEST > >    > > >    The following account is a direct excerpt from the book My Life and Quest, by Arthur Osborne. It recounts the first meeting of what unfolded as one of the most endearing relationships between a disciple and the Master. It should be noted that this first meeting, and the ensuing relationship, took place just after the Japanese released Mr. Osborne from nearly four years of imprisonment during World War II. > >    “I entered the Ashram hall on the morning of my arrival, before Bhagavan had returned from his daily walk on the hill. I was a little awed to find how small it was and how close to him I should be sitting; I had expected something grander and less intimate. And then he entered and, to my surprise, there was no great impression. Certainly far less than his photograph had made. Just a white-haired, very gracious man, walking a little stiffly from rheumatism and with a slight stoop. As soon as he had eased himself on to the couch he smiled at me and then turned to those around and to my young son and said: ‘So Adam’s prayer has been answered; his Daddy has come back safely.’ I felt his kindness but no more. I appreciated that is was for my sake that he had spoken English, since Adam knew Tamil. > >    The change came a few weeks later at one of the big festivals of the ashram year. “There were huge crowds for the festival and we were sitting in the courtyard outside the hall. Bhagavan was reclining on his couch and I was sitting in the front row before it. He sat up, facing me, and his narrowed eyes pierced into me, penetrating, intimate, with an intensity I cannot describe. It was as though they said: ‘You have been told; why have you not realized?’ And then quietness, a depth of peace, an indescribable lightness and happiness. > >    “Thereafter love for Bhagavan began to grow in my heart and I felt his power and beauty, Next morning, for the first time, sitting before him in the hall, I tried to follow his teaching by using the vichara, ‘Who am I?’. I thought it was I who had decided. I did not at first realize that it was the initiation by look that had vitalized me and changed my attitude of mind. Indeed, I had only heard vaguely of this initiation and paid little heed to what I had heard. Only later did I learn that other devotees also had had such an experience, and that with them also it had marked the beginning of active sadhana (quest) under Bhagavan’s guidance. > >    Then for the first time in my life, I began to understand what the grace and blessing of a guru could mean. “My love and devotion to Bhagavan deepened, I went about with a lilt of happiness in my heart, feeling the blessing and mystery of the guru, repeating, like a song of love, that he was the Guru, the link between heaven and earth, between God and me, between the Formless Being and my heart. I became aware of the enormous grace of his presence. Even outwardly he was gracious to me, smiling when I entered the hall, signing to me to sit where he could watch me in meditation…†> >    The specious theory that Bhagavan was not a Guru had simply evaporated in the radiance of his Grace. Moreover, I now perceived that, far from his teaching not being practical guidance, it was exclusively that. I observed that he shunned theoretical explanations and kept the questioner to practical considerations of sadhana, of the path to be followed. It was that and only that he was here to teach! * > ____________________ > *My Life and Quest, by Arthur Osborne, Sri Ramanashramam 2008, p. 90-92. > > -- > Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi web site: http://www.ramanateaching.org > > Ask your question in relation to Bhagavan's teachings, meditation and spirituality at: http://www.ramanateaching.org/faq > > To contact Swami Sadasivananda: > http://www.ramanateaching.org/contact.html > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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