Reminiscences

of Dennis

if anyone finding this page is willing to share an experience they had with Dennis,
please send a note to the web.apprentice @ ashrama . org ^[1]

[2]  "in the peace and joy of Pure Awareness, all differences cease to exist, all religions become one, all existence unites in the simple but Supreme joy of Self-awareness. To live in this state is real life. To ignore its quiet, consistent tapping at our door of awareness is death."

[3]  "Although Arunachala Ashrama is dedicated to Sri Ramana Maharshi who shed his body in 1950, its actual origin precedes his birth and extends far into antiquity. This Ashrama represents the ideals and thoughts expressed in the words and actions of numerous saints, mystics, sages and great spiritual personalities who lived on every continent of this earth down through the ages. It has been our constant endeavor to stir up these same pure aspirations in our own hearts, to actually live them and experience their fulfillment."

[4] it must have been after 2005 that there were several of us with Dennis
in the Edgerton Blvd basement of Ashrama,NY including Graham Boyd.
Anyone who has been around Graham, when he was "in the mood",
can remember what a "fantastic story" teller he was.
Graham left the room after regaling us with one of his usual entertaining 'tall-tale's;
Dennis turns to two of us and and asks this 'poser':
"Do you think Graham is a character?";
I hesitated, knowing Dennis wasn't looking for a superficial reply;
before I could answer,
Dennis blurts out "We're ALL characters!
until we realize we're not these characters."

Once on a night-ride across Maine's airline^[5] in the Subaru, Dennis asked the driver why was he driving so fast. The answer "to stay awake", Dennis later described that as the 3 scariest words he'd ever heard.

Bhagavan used to say that all the activities that the body is to go through are determined when it first comes into existence. It does not rest with us to accept or reject them. The only freedom we have is to turn our mind inward and renounce activities there. Nobody can say why that freedom alone and no other freedom is left to man. That is the Divine scheme.

This is really a hard truth to swallow, but if swallowed - we find to our amazement that life's decisions are made and executed with the same ease as breathing, for the Divine Hand takes over and does the work for us. Bhagavan used the words (in English) "Automatic Divine Activity".^[6]

How can we ever know that our decisions will be 100 percent correct or reap the best results possible? This can never be known. But we can experience the Divine Hand at work when we place our well being in His Hands and rest in the peace of His Presence. This is the formula for the overall good of mankind.

Dennis once complained that some of the young devotees drove their cars extremely fast. He said, 'I want to put a sign on the dashboard saying MY DESTINATION IS HERE!'

Dennis was once asked how he managed find answers for all the spiritual different queries in The Maharshi newsletter. He casually said, 'Oh, it's all the same answer.

Someone once asked Dennis how he coped with all the different personalities in the ashram. He said, 'I don't.

Some devotees were once discussing an ashram visitor who they felt lacked real sincerity. 'She's not serious enough to be called a devotee!' they said. Dennis responded, 'Well, she's interested, and for me that's a devotee.'