PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS WHO GOT SUBDUED AND STUMPED FACE TO FACE

[Guest guest]

PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS WHO GOT SUBDUED AND STUMPED FACE TO FACE RAMANA

MAHARSHI

 

Professor N.R.Krishnamurthi Aiyer(1898-1994) taught physics for 33

years at the American College, Madurai. He was a regular visitor to

the Ashram in the 1920s, 30s and 40s.

 

In 1923, at the end of the first year of my teaching career, I again

visited my sister in Tiruvannamalai and went to the Ashram. At that

time I was very sympathetic towards people like Ganapati Muni, who

were working for the political uplift of India. [This was before the

Muni had come under the influence of the Maharshi.] I also felt

anger towards people like Bhagavan who were not lifting a finger for

the country's liberation. I was then an agnostic. I said nature

could take care of itself. Where is the need for a creator?

At that time, there were no buildings in the Ashram except a shed

covering the mother's samadhi. I saw Bhagavan seated on a bench

under a tree, stroking a dog near him. Among us Brahamins, the dog

is an animal which will defile purity. A good part of my respect

for the Maharshi was gone. I asked him, Sir, you are sitting like

this, what is your next sthiti [state or condition]. My idea was to

elicit from him the reply that there is a soul that survives the

dissolution of the body, that later gets unified with God. I wanted

to have a verbal fight with him so that I could prove that this was

not so. Minutes passed but no reply was forthcoming. I said to

myself, " Is this man taking shelter under his dumb-indifferent

silence from answering an inconvenient question? " Just then

Bhagavan's ringing voice exploded, `Sthiti', what do you mean by

sthiti? " I was not prepared for the question. Oho, this man is

very dangerous, he is dangerously alive. I have to answer with

proper care; I began to think: If I ask him about the body, it is a

useless question; the body will be buried or burnt. Now, if I say

that the question is about the state of mind, he will naturally ask

me to define mind, for which no answer was forthcoming within me. I

landed in a void, and was like a helpless mute. There was a fierce

glow in Bhagavan's eyes that held my own eyes in a tight grip. I

lost awareness of both the body and the world. I do not know how

long it continued. When I came to myself, I was terribly afraid of

the Maharshi. In spite of myself, I prostrated and made a headlong

flight.

At my next visit, Chinnaswami [The sarvadhikari of the Ashram]

invited me to lunch and told me that a few weeks prior to my

arrival, my father and mother had come to the Ashram and had given a

bhiksha to Bhagavan and the ashramites. After lunch he presented

me a photo of Bhagavan, taken at the age of 21 and two small books –

Arunachala Stuti Panchakam and Ramana Stuti Panchakam. When I

approached Bhagavan with these gifts, he corrected some printing

errors in the two books with his fountain pen, passed his palm over

the photo and gave back to me with his blessed hands.

After the evening meal was over, I followed Bhagavan when he went

for a short stroll and asked, " Bhagavan, I am doing Rama mantra

japa. Is not Arunachala mantra japa superior to this? " " No! No! "

said Bhagavan vehemently, " Both are identical. `Ra' means `that

is' and `ma'means `thou'. `A' in Arunachala means `that', `ru'

means `thou' and `na' means `art'. " Then he added, " Using your mind

as your mouth, let the name Rama revolve continuously like Vishnu's

chakra [Discus] within your mind. No others need know that you are

doing japa. " (Source: Video Guru Ramana and The Power of the

Presence by David Godman, vol.I) Both are available at the

Kendram's bookstore.

 

 

ENLIGHTENMENT: A truly enlightened person sees far beyond the

boundaries of the personal self. Such an individual comes to the end

of a fundamentally self-centered relationship to life. The

perspective of an enlightened person dramatically deeps and widens.

It transforms his relationship to all beings because the context in

which he is living infinitely transcends the merely personal

dimensions. The bigger context reveals itself automatically when we

make the thrilling discovery that who and what we are, beyond the

personal ego. Those who experience enlightenment, find themselves

infused with a consciousness that transcends time. Simply through

spending time in the company of the enlightened, we get awakened to

that Reality which is our true nature. In their shadow, it becomes

obvious how, in our ignorance, we have been living in an alarmingly

small context. (The Times of India)

(Balarama Reddy, a great devotee of Sri Ramana, who lived in the

Ashram for long in the shadow of the Maharshi writes in his book My

Reminiscences Bhagavan we found a being that was surcharged

with Reality to such an extent that coming into his presence would

effect a dynamic change in us. When we walked into the hall and sat

down, we immediately felt like we had just entered a different plane

of existence. It was as if the world we know did not exist there –

Bhagavan's presence, his other-worldliness, would envelop the

atmosphere. When we walked out of the hall we were again confronted

with the old world we knew all too well.)

 

 

prof laxmi narain (prof_narain)

 

Source and courtesy: Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad

This article was published in Sri Ramana Jyothi,

monthly magazine of the Kendram.