Post by Sumi on Jan 13, 2012 12:19:06 GMT 5.5
Courtesy: Shri Sundararajan
Source: www.periva.org
Paul Brunton’s search for his
Master<http://mahaperiyavaa.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/paul-bruntons-search-fo...> - part 4
Source: www.scribd.com/full/32932002?access_key=key-p1hlknsquce8fyorlqi
I look at him in silence. This short man is clad in the ochrecoloured robe
of a monk and leans his weight on a friar’s staff. I have been told that he
is on the right side of forty, hence I am surprised to find his hair quite
grey. His noble face, pictured in grey and brown, takes an honoured place
in the long portrait gallery of my memory. That elusive element which the
French aptly term spirituel is present in this face. His expression is
modest and mild, the large dark eyes being extraordinarily tranquil and
beautiful. The nose is short, straight and classically regular. There is a
rugged little beard on his chin, and the gravity of his mouth is most
noticeable. Such a face might have belonged to one of the saints who graced
the Christian Church during the Middle Ages, except that this one possesses
the added quality of intellectuality.
I suppose we of the practical West would say that he has the eyes of a
dreamer. Somehow, I feel in an inexplicable way that there is something
more than mere dreams behind those heavy lids.
“Your Holiness has been very kind to receive me,” I remark, by way of
introduction. He turns to my companion, the writer, and says something in
the vernacular. I guess its meaning correctly.
“His Holiness understands your English, but he is too afraid that you will
not understand his own. So he prefers to have me translate his answers,”
says Venkataramani.
I shall sweep through the earlier phases of this interview, because they
are more concerned with myself than with this Hindu Primate. He asks about
my personal experiences in the country; he is very interested in
ascertaining the exact impressions which Indian people and institutions
make upon a foreigner. I give him my candid impressions, mixing praise and
criticism freely and frankly. The conversation then flows into wider
channels and I am much surprised to find that he regularly reads English
newspapers, and that he is well informed upon current affairs in the
outside world. Indeed, he is not unaware of what the latest noise at
Westminster is about, and he knows also through what painful travail the
troublous infant of democracy is passing in Europe.
I remember Venkataramani’s firm belief that Shri Shankara possesses
prophetic insight. It touches my fancy to press for some opinion about the
world’s future.
“When do you think that the political and economic conditions everywhere
will begin to improve?”
“A change for the better is not easy to come by quickly,” he replies. ” It
is a process which must needs take some time. How can things improve when
the nations spend more each year on the weapons of death?”
“There is nevertheless much talk of disarmament to-day. Does that count?”
“If you scrap your battleships and let your cannons rust, that will not
stop war. People will continue to fight, even if they have to use sticks!”
“But what can be done to help matters?”
“Nothing but spiritual understanding between one nation and another, and
between rich and poor, will produce goodwill and thus bring real peace and
prosperity.”
“That seems far off. Our outlook is hardly cheerful, then?”
His Holiness rests his arm a little more heavily upon his staff.
“There is still God,” he remarks gently.
” If there is, He seems very far away,” I boldly protest.
“God has nothing but love towards mankind,” comes the soft answer.
“Judging by the unhappiness and wretchedness which afflict the world
to-day, He has nothing but indifference,”
I break out impulsively, unable to keep the bitter force of irony out of my
voice. His Holiness looks at me strangely. Immediately I regret my hasty
words.
“The eyes of a patient man see deeper. God will use human instruments to
adjust matters at the appointed hour. The turmoil among nations, the moral
wickedness among people and the suffering of miserable millions will
provoke, as a reaction, some great divinely inspired man to come to the
rescue. In this sense, every century has its own saviour. The process works
like a law of physics. The greater the wretchedness caused by spiritual
ignorance, materialism, the greater will be the man who will arise to help
the world.”
“Then do you expect someone to arise in our time, too ?”
” In our century,” he corrects. “Assuredly. The need of the world is so
great and its spiritual darkness is so thick, that an inspired man of God
will surely arise.”
“Is it your opinion, then, that men are becoming more degraded? ” I query.
“No, I do not think so,” he replied tolerantly. “There is an indwelling
divine soul in man which, in the end, must bring him back to God.”
“But there are ruffians in our Western cities who behave as though there
were indwelling demons in them,” I counter, thinking of the modern gangster.
“Do not blame people so much as the environments into which they are born.
Their surroundings and circumstances force them to become worse than they
really are. That is true of both the East and West. Society must be brought
into tune with a higher note. Materialism must be balanced by idealism;
there is no other real cure for the world’s difficulties. The troubles into
which countries are everywhere being plunged are really the agonies which
will force this change, just as failure is frequently a sign-post pointing
to another road.”
“You would like people to introduce spiritual principles into their worldly
dealings, then?”
“Quite so. It is not impracticable, because it is the only way to bring
about results which will satisfy everyone in the end, and which will not
speedily disappear. And if there were more men who had found spiritual
light in the world, it would spread more quickly. India, to its honour,
supports and respects its spiritual men, though less so than in former
times. If all the world were to do the same, and to take its guidance from
men of spiritual vision, then all the world would soon find peace and grow
prosperous.”
to be continued
Sundararajan
*.Yogah karmasu kausalam - Gita 2-50*
Source: www.periva.org
Paul Brunton’s search for his
Master<http://mahaperiyavaa.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/paul-bruntons-search-fo...> - part 4
Source: www.scribd.com/full/32932002?access_key=key-p1hlknsquce8fyorlqi
I look at him in silence. This short man is clad in the ochrecoloured robe
of a monk and leans his weight on a friar’s staff. I have been told that he
is on the right side of forty, hence I am surprised to find his hair quite
grey. His noble face, pictured in grey and brown, takes an honoured place
in the long portrait gallery of my memory. That elusive element which the
French aptly term spirituel is present in this face. His expression is
modest and mild, the large dark eyes being extraordinarily tranquil and
beautiful. The nose is short, straight and classically regular. There is a
rugged little beard on his chin, and the gravity of his mouth is most
noticeable. Such a face might have belonged to one of the saints who graced
the Christian Church during the Middle Ages, except that this one possesses
the added quality of intellectuality.
I suppose we of the practical West would say that he has the eyes of a
dreamer. Somehow, I feel in an inexplicable way that there is something
more than mere dreams behind those heavy lids.
“Your Holiness has been very kind to receive me,” I remark, by way of
introduction. He turns to my companion, the writer, and says something in
the vernacular. I guess its meaning correctly.
“His Holiness understands your English, but he is too afraid that you will
not understand his own. So he prefers to have me translate his answers,”
says Venkataramani.
I shall sweep through the earlier phases of this interview, because they
are more concerned with myself than with this Hindu Primate. He asks about
my personal experiences in the country; he is very interested in
ascertaining the exact impressions which Indian people and institutions
make upon a foreigner. I give him my candid impressions, mixing praise and
criticism freely and frankly. The conversation then flows into wider
channels and I am much surprised to find that he regularly reads English
newspapers, and that he is well informed upon current affairs in the
outside world. Indeed, he is not unaware of what the latest noise at
Westminster is about, and he knows also through what painful travail the
troublous infant of democracy is passing in Europe.
I remember Venkataramani’s firm belief that Shri Shankara possesses
prophetic insight. It touches my fancy to press for some opinion about the
world’s future.
“When do you think that the political and economic conditions everywhere
will begin to improve?”
“A change for the better is not easy to come by quickly,” he replies. ” It
is a process which must needs take some time. How can things improve when
the nations spend more each year on the weapons of death?”
“There is nevertheless much talk of disarmament to-day. Does that count?”
“If you scrap your battleships and let your cannons rust, that will not
stop war. People will continue to fight, even if they have to use sticks!”
“But what can be done to help matters?”
“Nothing but spiritual understanding between one nation and another, and
between rich and poor, will produce goodwill and thus bring real peace and
prosperity.”
“That seems far off. Our outlook is hardly cheerful, then?”
His Holiness rests his arm a little more heavily upon his staff.
“There is still God,” he remarks gently.
” If there is, He seems very far away,” I boldly protest.
“God has nothing but love towards mankind,” comes the soft answer.
“Judging by the unhappiness and wretchedness which afflict the world
to-day, He has nothing but indifference,”
I break out impulsively, unable to keep the bitter force of irony out of my
voice. His Holiness looks at me strangely. Immediately I regret my hasty
words.
“The eyes of a patient man see deeper. God will use human instruments to
adjust matters at the appointed hour. The turmoil among nations, the moral
wickedness among people and the suffering of miserable millions will
provoke, as a reaction, some great divinely inspired man to come to the
rescue. In this sense, every century has its own saviour. The process works
like a law of physics. The greater the wretchedness caused by spiritual
ignorance, materialism, the greater will be the man who will arise to help
the world.”
“Then do you expect someone to arise in our time, too ?”
” In our century,” he corrects. “Assuredly. The need of the world is so
great and its spiritual darkness is so thick, that an inspired man of God
will surely arise.”
“Is it your opinion, then, that men are becoming more degraded? ” I query.
“No, I do not think so,” he replied tolerantly. “There is an indwelling
divine soul in man which, in the end, must bring him back to God.”
“But there are ruffians in our Western cities who behave as though there
were indwelling demons in them,” I counter, thinking of the modern gangster.
“Do not blame people so much as the environments into which they are born.
Their surroundings and circumstances force them to become worse than they
really are. That is true of both the East and West. Society must be brought
into tune with a higher note. Materialism must be balanced by idealism;
there is no other real cure for the world’s difficulties. The troubles into
which countries are everywhere being plunged are really the agonies which
will force this change, just as failure is frequently a sign-post pointing
to another road.”
“You would like people to introduce spiritual principles into their worldly
dealings, then?”
“Quite so. It is not impracticable, because it is the only way to bring
about results which will satisfy everyone in the end, and which will not
speedily disappear. And if there were more men who had found spiritual
light in the world, it would spread more quickly. India, to its honour,
supports and respects its spiritual men, though less so than in former
times. If all the world were to do the same, and to take its guidance from
men of spiritual vision, then all the world would soon find peace and grow
prosperous.”
to be continued
Sundararajan
*.Yogah karmasu kausalam - Gita 2-50*