Is this even possible? Sitting under the Kalpaka Vruksham Lord Dakshinamurthy is said to be giving upadesams to sanath, sanaathana rishis. Likewise I have read tamil articles about Paul Brunton went to Bagawan Ramana Maharishi with list of questions but all his questions were answered without asking any questions. Devotees sitting in front of Mahaperiyava – asking nothing – simply crying….Even in Dr Padma Subramanyam’s speech, she talks about a professor from California “accidentally” entered sri matam and described that experience as “lost in time”.
I never got this statement for a very very long time – how questions are answered without asking – never understood this..Who can possibly give some narration about this mystic experience? Only the ones who experienced…Paul Brunton as a great writer had done a great job in describing this in “A search in secret India”. In my opinion that is possibly the closest narration of such experience from page 140 for about 5-6 pages. I am sure most of you would have read this book….Unfortunately after reading the chapters of Bagawan Ramanar and Periyava, I did not proceed further 🙂 I should finish the rest of the chapters too…
I am sure there are several of our own readers must have experienced this with Periyava too. How lucky are those souls?
This book was first published in 1934 and there are so many references in the book saying that there are no more sages in the order of Ramanar, Periyava in India. This statement was in 1934! Think of now!
Categories: Mahesh's Picks
I remember my first visit to Shri Mahaperiyava with my 2nd sister & family on a day in which He was in kaashta mounam (on Moolam nakshatram day, which is the star of Shri Saraswathi Devi) he used to observe this. He was wearing a big kumkumam like an elderly lady. I was bit upset because no sign of talk or aashirwadam from him. He knew everything . Isn’t it ? He gave aasirwadam with his holy feet , bending the fingers and I was dancing in ecstasy.
I would also like to share here about Shri. Kavyakantha Muni who received upadesa through silence from Shri Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi. Shri.KavyaKantha Muni was himself a renowned vedic scholar. It was Shri Kavyakanta Muni who gave the name as Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi..
Here is the extract of that incident.
The Muni approached the Virupaksha Cave where Brahmanaswami lived on the 18th of November 1907. Prostrating before the young Sage, he pleaded with a trembling voice: “All that has to be read I have read. Even Vedanta Sastra I have fully understood. I have performed japa to my heart’s content, yet I have not up to this time understood what tapas is. Hence, have I sought refuge at thy feet. Pray enlighten me about the nature of tapas.”
For fifteen minutes Sri Ramana Maharshi silently gazed at the Muni. He then spoke: “If one watches where the notion of ‘I’ springs, the mind will be absorbed into that. That is tapas. If a mantra is repeated and attention is directed to the source where the mantra sound is produced, the mind will be absorbed into that. That is tapas.” Upon hearing these words of the Sage, the scholar-poet was filled with joy and announced that this upadesa was entirely original and that Brahmanaswami was a Maharshi and should be so called thereafter. He then gave the name of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi to Brahmanaswami, whose original name had been Venkataraman.
I see many people mentioning Ramana Maharishi as if He is our next door neighbour – as Ramana, Ramanar etc. Wud b nice if ppl refer His name with more care.
Sri Subbu ji, , I second you on this. I think that is because of the corporate culture most of us live where you call/address everyone by name whomever it be.
To my knowledge, I have not read or heard from any of the books , blogs or upanyasams of HH Mahaperiyava where he refereneced HH Puduperiyava or Bala Periyava by their names. With that said I feel very uncomfortable while reading the comments in this forum, where our Guru’s names are used by Maha Periyavaa’s devotees. I pray to Him to give me tolerance and at the same time bless my friends so that they correct and not use the names in future.
Respect for elders (by age and by Sthanam) in all forms of communication should be one of the values taught to the next generation.
My two cents. ..
Gowrisankar M Rajagopalan
Jaya Jaya Shankara, Hara Hara Shankara! Om Namo Bhagavathee Arunachala RamaNaaya! Om Sri Gurubhyo Namaha!
I used to think about this sometimes, there are simple possible explanations for this. When we normally communicate with others, we use language as the most obvious thing. Next communication level is the facial expressions and body language. Some people study this (even in the business world) aspect to guess how the situation is between two or more parties.
In a similar fashion, when you have more intuitive powers, you can guess what is on the mind of someone sitting before you. This seems to be the case with many gurus. But the power to travel into someone’s mind and look at it as a map, and guide the devotee accordingly is much more than intuitive power.
I do feel that these are extension of the same concept. Sri. Mahaperiyavaa can put your mind in a time warp (time slows down in a very pleasant way), can even still time totally (go beyond warping), and finally go beyond time also to give you the bliss of Brahman. Detachment is another word we can use here. People lose body consciousness to some extent. That is why you do not feel hungry or tired when you are with Him. You get detached from body and time to some extent.
But how much detachment do we get?
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A cotton wick can catch fire right away if it is dry. A completely drenched cotton wick can never catch fire unless slowly it gives up moisture. I feel that we are in between stages – with some amount of wetness. That is why you can feel the fire, but not catch on right away.
Highly evolved souls (purely dry wicks) will immediately get the bliss of brahma-gnana just by the glance of His Holiness (fire).
My 2 cents…
i entirely agree. work in a detached attachment environment and in a egoless ego state. how, read ch.2 of gita bhasyam and do what is stated in ch.6 of gita. you get all these.
one can read Arthur Osborne’s Be Still . it is available as a cheap edition in Ramanashram. if you can get ( i have given all the copies i had and i am trying but not getting) go through ‘lectures on Ramayana’ by rt.honble srinivasa iyer, the silver tongued orator. it is entirely different from the ordinary ramayanams you read and you will wonder how you can work in egoless ego state!!!!!sankaraaaaaaaaaaa please help my brethren and sisters.
Yes. It is possible provided the individual FIRMLY BELIEVES AND PRACTISES ,NOT ONLY VEDIC RITUALS BUT THE VEDIC PHILOSOPHY OF ADHVAITAM.The rituals are for cleansing the MIND and the PHILOSOPHY should be in the succeeding (and sometimes overlapping) steps of SHRAVANA,MANANA,NIDITYASANA,DHYANA,YOGA,AND SAMADHI,AFTER WHICH IF HE SITS BEFORE A GURU, THERE WONT BE ANY QUESTIONS AT ALL. THE STARTING POINT AND THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENT IS STEADFAST PERFORMANCE OF THRI-KALA SANDHYAVANDANAM DAILY. JAMBUNATHAN.
> This book was first published in 1934 and there are so many references in the book saying that there are > no more sages in the order of Ramanar, Periyava in India. This statement was in 1934! Think of now!
Today also there are sages who are in the order of Ramanar, Periyava etc. and there always will be. Pudhu Periyava, Bala Periyava, Sringeri Acharya, Dayananda Saraswati Swamiji etc. are the contemporary sages in that order.
The problem is with us. We have to make ourselves *eligible*, to get closer to them.The problem is with me! I have to make myself *eligible*, to get closer to them.PS: Just a minor point.. Lord Daskhinamurthy was not sitting under “kalapaka” vruksham. He was sitting under “Vata” vruksham, the banyan tree.
Yes indeed! It will be nice if there was another Ummachi Thaatha.. to goto for finding peace&stability in this turbulent ocean of life.
Jaya Jaya Shankara Hara Hara Shankara
There is and there will always be….Please go and meet HH Sri Sri Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal (Sri Periyava) and you will get the same bliss !!!
Jai Shri Periyava.
thanks balaji…everytime, i go to HH PudhuPeriyava, I sit there and do gayathri japam for some time…In order to experience such things, the receiver also should be ready. Having said that, I won’t pickup a slightest signal from anyone 🙂
shobaba my dear indeed even today ummachi thatha is there. just have a photo of him,just look at him and he looks back at you and there you are!!! you have all the peace in the world! try mam!!!!!
It was Periyava who identified Bhagavan Ramana as a living Jnani in the ancient mould and it was through Paul Brunton’s book ‘ A Search in Secret India’ that not only many foreigners but even English educated Indians came to know about Bhagavan Ramana.
But Ramana’s true state and greatness were known to a few great souls even before this but it did not become public knowlege it became after Periyava directed Brunton to Ramana. There is a little known incident, involving the great H.H.Sri Nrusimha Bharati Swamigal of Sringeri. Some Pandit from Sringeri Mutt visited Bhagavan Ramana when he was staying at Virupaksha Cave. He was impressed. He submitted to Bhagavan respectfully that they had heard of his greatness at Sringeri Mutt. Hailing from Brahmin lineage, he should take formal Sanyasa as ordained by the sastras and that he ( the Pandit) would obtain the materials from the Mutt and complete the formalities He then left for the town for his food, saying he would come back to obtain his reply and make arrangements. Bhagavan did not make a reply. After some time, an elderly Brahmin, looking remotely familiar, came there, carrying a bundle of books He said he would return after his bath etc and.left the bundle there in front of Ramana.. Ramana felt curious and opened it and found the book on top was Arunachala Mahatmayam in Sanskrit.. He opened the book and found a sloka there extolling the merit of residence at Arunachala. It conveys Lord Siva’s command that those who resided within three yojanas of Arunachala would attain His Sayujya without any formal initiation (diksha).Ramana copied this sloka on a piece of paper found nearby and closed the bundle. When the Pandit returned , Ramana simply showed the sloka to him. Being learned, the Pandit understood and did not dare to talk further. The matter was reported to HH Sri Nrusimha Bharati Swamigal later and he felt sorry for what the Mutt people had done. Later on, Bhagavan Ramanaa rendered that sloka in Tamil verse, beginning.” Yojanai moonraam ittala vaasarkku,, aasaru dikkai aadi yinriyumyen, paasamil saayujyam payakkumme, Easanaam enran aanaiyinaane”.,( Ramana did not remember whether the old Brahmin came back but the bundle was not found again).
There was another development regarding Kanchi Mutt and Ramanasramam .In the olden days Vedic Pandits from the town used to visit Ramanasramam early in the mornings and conduct Vedaparayana. It seems once the Pandits got notice from the Mutt saying the Asramam was located in a burial ground and it was not proper to conduct Vedaparayana there! The orthodox Pandits were naturally upset..They reported the matter to Ramana and asked him what to do. Ramana simply said that the Mutt had done its duty and it was for the Pandits to decide! ( In the 54 years of his ministry, Ramana had never even once imposed his will on others or criticised other Gurus).Later on, devotees started a Vedapathashala in the asramam itself.) All the great souls are mystically connected!
The later developments about Paul Brunton were not wholesome. It is very clear that what he wrote in 1933-34 was under the direct inspiration of Ramana, to whom he had been directed by Mahaperiava. The grandeur of the last passages in ‘Secret India” beginning…’Man is grandly related, and a greater being suckled him than his mother ‘ etc was not attained in his later writings. But he fell out with the Ramanasramam later when they objected to his taking notes of conversations with Ramana and publishing them without acknowledgement. Later, he wrote much but deviated from and even repudiated the path of Ramana, and became a guru himself.. Nor did he ever openly acknowledge his debt to our Periyava subsequently..I think there was some attempt at reconciliation with Ramansaramam towards the end.
But strange are the ways of God. Years later, Paul Brunton’s son became a top executive of the American Publishers Prentice-Hall. He felt that his father had benefited spiritually from his contact with India and so wanted to do something in return. Thus he initiated the programme of bringing out cheaper Indian editions of standard American college books, benefiting thousands of our students.
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You could also read Paul Brunton’s A Search in Secret Egypt. As fascinating as Search in Secret India.
It is also the case with the Russian Professor who had visited Maha Periyava and got his answers without speaking to our Maha Periyava.
I think Mahan’s with a simple look at you, can talk to you through your self itself as thoughts. Highly blessed devotees like Ganesh Sarma would be able to provide us with many many anecdotes of our Maha Periyava as Dakshinamurthy.
Namaskaram,
About Paul Brunton the Secret Path ,quest of the Overself are good one as well . About over 20 volumes of “note books of Paul Brunton” is a great read…and practical too…
they are all being republished again by Motilal Banarsidas.
Namaskaram,
We are blessed to have been in a generation where under Half a century great sages have lived…
Talking about Ramana , I ve read.an instances which runs like this:
During freedom struggles In Gandhiji’s Ashram leaders like Rajendra Prasad,Morarji Desai etc., used to brainstorm on the struggles etc., sometimes this prolonged and they indulge in arguments and Gandhiji felt the peace is getting disturbed and hence he advised them to take break go to Thiruvannamailai and stay in Ramaashramam.after thier stay they used to feel elated and will take permission from Bagawan and used ask Him is thier any message from Bagawan to Gandhiji for this Bagawan used to touch is heart and they that” this communicates with Gandhi”!!! Such was the power of silent advice!!!!
thanks for pointing out and reminding me mahesh. yes it is true that there are a lot of such things where only one look at periava and all questions are answered. there are also times when simple indications periava gives which we dont understand. then there are cases where fools like me shout at periava, he smiles and replies straightaway to the point about which we are shouting. i have experienced my shouting at periava at satara and getting things done by Him smilingly!!!!!!!! Ask Mr. Krishnamurthi of Airports Authority of India,who was stationed at Belgaum now retired and settled in chennai. you get plenty where periava answers by mounam when you are mounam before Him like Dakshinamurthy. if you have not heard Maunau Vyakyena Dhakshinamurthy stotram please listen you will understand a lot.
yes, i have heard about this stotram – never read this.
मोनव्याख्याप्रकटितपरब्रह्मतत्त्वं युवानं
वर्षिष्ठान्तेवसदृषिगणैरावृतं ब्रह्मनिष्ठैः।
आचार्येन्द्रं करकलितचिन्मुद्रमानन्दरूपं
स्वात्मारामं मुदितवदनं दक्षिणामूर्तिमीडे॥१॥
mounavyAkhyAprakaTitaparabrahmatattvaM yuvAnaM
varShiShThAntevasadRRiShigaNairAvRRitaM brahmaniShThaiH .
AcAryendraM karakalitacinmudramAnandarUpaM
svAtmArAmaM muditavadanaM dakShiNAmUrtimIDe.
I worship Shri Dakshinamurti, the young guru, who teaches the Knowledge of brahman through silence, who is surrounded by disciples who are themselves RRishi-s and scholars in the veda-s, who is the teacher of teachers, whose hand is held the sign-of-Knowledge(cit-mudra), whose nature is bliss, who ever revels in his own Self, and the one who is with ever smiling face.
Om Namo Bhagavathee DakshiNaamurththayee Namaha! Jaya Jaya Shankara, Hara Hara Shankara!