Glimpses
of the Life and Teachings
As described by
FRANK H. HUMPHREYS, R.F.C.
Sometime Asst.Supdt.of Police, Madras
SRI RAMANASRAMAM
TIRUVANNAMALAI 606 603
© Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai
Fourth Edition 1999
2000 copies
CC No. 1017
Price: Rs. 15
Published by
V.S.Ramanan
President, Board of Trustees
Sri Ramanasramam
Tiruvannamalai
Designed and typeset at
Sri Ramanasramam
Printed by
Kartik Offset Printers
Chennai 600 015
PREFATORY NOTE
Frank H. Humphreys is a name quite familiar to the devotees
of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. Sri Bhagavan’s biography,
Self-Realization by B.V.Narasimha Swami, has two chapters
on Humphreys, giving a brief sketch of his life and Sri
Bhagavan’s instructions to him.
When Humphreys visited Sri Ramana Maharshi in 1911, he
conveyed to Felicia Scatcherd, who was then editing the
International Psychic Gazette, London, his impressions of Sri
Maharshi and His instructions. These were compiled into a
booklet in 1925 and the chapters in Self-Realization are only
extracts from this.
Humphreys’ narration of his experiences with Sri Bhagavan
is so simple and arresting that the readers find in it an
excellent presentation of Bhagavan’s teachings.
S.Narasimhayya who wrote the introduction that follows
was a Telugu Munshi in Vellore. He was a dis- ciple
of Sri Kavyakanta Ganapathi Muni and Sri Bhagavan. It is he
and Kavyakanta that brought Humphreys to Sri Bhagavan.
A brief reference to Humphreys’ visit to Sri Bhagavan and
the teachings, in Mr. Osborne’s Ramana Maharshi and the
Path of Self Knowledge concludes thus:
“Police service did not prove congenial to Humphreys. Sri
Bhagavan advised him to attend to his service and meditation
at the same time. For some years he did so and then he re-
tired. Being already a Catholic and having understood the
essential unanimity of all religions, he saw no need to change,
but returned to England, where he entered a monastery.”
PUBLISHER
MAJOR CHADWICK ON HUMPHREYS
"He was the first European to visit Bhagavan as far as
is known or at least the first to record his visit. He has
given a beautiful picture of him in the Virupaksha Cave.
The teachings are definite and are a guide to all who
came after. Of whom else is it recorded that Bhagavan
said: 'I am giving these instructions as a Guru gives them
to a disciple?' Certainly there was some special tie be-
tween these two."
— A Sadhu’s Reminiscences of Ramana Maharshi
INTRODUCTION
I do not like to stand between the earnest reader and this
interesting piece of religious literature. But weak as I am, I
shall do what little I can, being asked to do it. This is an
impressive and instructive description by a young man (eager
in search of Mahatmas for enlightenment) of his visit to, and
experiences with Mahatma Sri Ramana Maharshi, a living
Saint of South India who is known and revered as having
attained the goal of the Vedantic religion, and who is the
fountainhead of the soul-force to humanity in these days of
rampant materialism. The description is concise and vivid
and needs, in my opinion, no preface or introduction. In the
Master’s presence, what a great vibration there is in the body,
and how elevated the mind and invigorated the spirit are, a
man can only feel but cannot express. The Master’s teaching
is just what is needed in these times, when men are short in
life, weak in body, and feeble in spirit, their entire attention
being drawn to things material — apparent and temporal —
in preference to what is spiritual — real and eternal. The whole
teaching of Mahatma Sri Ramana Maharshi turns on the only
pivot: “Knowest thou thyself, thou wilt know everything and
wilt have no more to know.” He advocates a very simple
process of enquiry, viz. “Who am I?” A pure and constant
thought of Atman — devoid of form, name and attribute —
takes the thinker to the source of all thoughts — the heart,
where the enquirer and the enquired are merged, or in a way
lost in the enquiry, which is Mukti, liberation or Self-
realization. This realization is the real worship of Atman —
God wi thi n and without.
The author of this attractive booklet seems to have
gathered information about Sri Ramana Maharshi from
various sources and at different times. A word or two as to
how it was that Mr Frank H. Humphreys chanced to hear of
our Maharshi and visit him and be brought into the roll of
his admirers, may interest the reader.
F. H. Humphreys came to India as Assistant Superintendent
of Police in January 1911. When he reached Bombay he was
so bad in health that he had to be taken to the Bombay hospital
where he remained up to the middle of March. He arrived at
Vellore on the 18th of that month. When I went to him that
day to begin Telugu alphabets, the first question he put me
was: “Munshi! Do you know astrology?” I said I did not. The
next question was: “Can you get me an English translation of
some book on astrology?” I complied with his request by
getting him a copy from the George Union Club, Vellore. On
the morning of the next day, the 19th, while returning the
book to me, he asked me: “Do you know any Mahatmas here?”
I feigned not to know any sage and denied the knowledge of
any such great men. On the morning of the third day, the 20th,
he came upon me with a searching and vehement question:
“Munshi! You said yesterday you did not know any Mahatma.
I saw your Guru this morning in my sleep. He sat by my side.
He told me something which I did not understand nor did he,
what I said to him. The first man in Vellore whom I met in
Bombay was you.” When I questioned him how it was that he
saw me in Bombay, though I had never travelled beyond
Guntakal, he said that when he was lying with high fever in
the hospital at Bombay, he, in order to be free from pain for a
while, diverted and directed his mind (attention) to Vellore
and, in his astral body, the first man he met there was I. I left
him saying I knew not anything about the astral body or any
body for that matter save the physical one. Curiosity however
tempted me to test him, and in the afternoon, I took to him a
bundle of photographs of great men including those of our
Maharshi and Ganapathi Muni. I silently placed the bundle
before him on his table and quietly went to Mr L.Clift, another
police gentleman whom I was then teaching. When I returned
to the writer of this booklet an hour later, he invited me with
the words: “There is the likeness of your Guru. Is he not your
preceptor? Tell me.” Thus saying, he pointed to me the
photograph of our Ganapathi Śāstṛiar, separated from others.
This act of his surprised me. I was caught and I could not
hide me or my master. I had regarded (and I do still regard)
Ganapathi Śāstṛiar as my Guru. In 1906 he taught me how to
concentrate and directed me to divert and fix my attention on
Paramatma, known as Sri Ramana, a name dear to my heart.
Śāstṛiar’s instruction is not different from that of our Maharshi.
Mr Humphreys again became ill and was advised by a doctor
to go to Ootacamund which he did on 1st April 1911. While
there, he wrote to me about his meeting a strange person,
poorly clad but well-built, with bright eyes, matted hair and a
long beard. The gentleman with whom Mr Humphreys was
staying on the hills said to him that he had never seen that
strange man, though he had been living there for several years.
Mr Humphreys asked me who that man could be. I simply
answered that, judging by the description he gave me, I thought
he ought to be a siddha.
His second letter from that hill-station was a request to teach
him hata-pranayama. Considering the weak state of his health,
I did not think it right to speak to him about the voluntary and
forced restraint of breath but simply told him that constant and
pure thought of Paramatma in our heart would bring about the
natural kumbhakam, absorption of mind in the heart — the
ultimate stage and state which sages long for.
His third question from the Nilgiris was: “Will flesh-
eating be a help or hindrance to the progress of meditation?”
In answer to this, I wrote to him some five or six pages on
“Ahimsa paramo dharma” explaining that harmlessness or
non-killing is the greatest of the virtues and concluded the
letter with words: “Flesh-eating does not help the meditator
in meditation.” He replied that what he saw in a dream that
morning was confirmed by what was written in my letter
received a few hours later, that it would be hard for him to
give up at once his long accustomed habit of flesh-eating
and that he would slowly do it. In one of his letters from
England during later years I remember he wrote to me that
he had become a vegetarian.
His fourth letter from that cool and salubrious health resort
sought my advice as to whether he could join a mystic
society, as he was then about to complete 21 years of age.
He added that the members of that society had the privilege
of meeting and talking with Mahatmas face to face and that,
in one of his former births he had been connected with that
society. As I am neither a believer nor a non-believer in
mysticism and as what I wanted was a simple shanthi —
peace of mind and oneness with the Atman within — and as
it was my conviction that pure, simple and ceaseless thought
of Brahman, with no form, no name and no attribute would
secure me this sublime state — a blessing — I only wrote to
him that things would be done according to one’s own
prarabdha and if it was his karma that he should become
again a member of that mystic society nothing could prevent
him and for that reason I could give him no advice.
About the end of 1911, he returned from the hills. One
day, when I was teaching him Telugu in Vellore, he asked me
for paper and pencil and drew a picture of a mountain cave
with some sage standing at its entrance and a stream gently
flowing down the hill in front of the cave. He said he saw this
in his sleep and asked me what it would be.
Immediately the thought of our Maharshi, then dwelling
in the Virupaksha cave came to my mind and I told him about
Sri Ramana Paramatma. From the day he saw Ganapathi
Śāstṛigal in his dream, he had been asking and urging me to
take him to the Śāstṛiar. How he happened to meet Ganapathi
Śāstṛiar and how he was taken to the Maharshi, he has himself
clearly explained in his book. Subsequently he took several
independent trips to our Master whenever there was a doubt
to be cleared or a question to be asked.
Now I shall relate what transpired in the presence of the
Maharshi during his first visit to him. He saluted the Mahatma
and remained in silent prayer and meditation for a few minutes.
When permitted to talk, the first question he asked was,
“Master, will I be helpful to the world?” The Mahatma’s
answer was, “Help yourself, you will help the world.” The
same question repeated had the same reply with observation
that he was in the world but not different (separate) from it,
nor was it different from him, and that therefore by helping
himself, he would help the world — (meaning thereby the
one-ness of jiva with Atman).
The next and the last question was: “Master, can I perform
miracles as Sri Krishna and Jesus did?” This question was
met by a counter question: “Were they, at the time when they
performed miracles, aware that they were performing
miracles?” Mr. Humphreys, after a minute’s silence, replied:
“No, Master. They were only the media through which God’s
power did its work.” How much importance can be attached
to things mystic in nature is vividly explained in this book.
Dear Brethren! When a man is lost in God, he becomes a
mere tool in the hand of God, and is one with God, having
become a part and parcel of God; he gets that peace and
happiness (unaffected by joys and sorrows) which can only
be enjoyed but never described. May we aim at this state of
mind’s rest and peace in heart which the holy ones are ever
after!
Madanapalle,
2-3-1925 – S.NARASIMHAYYA
I MORE AUTHENTIC MAHATMAS
BY FELICIA R. SCATCHERD
(“FELIX RUDOLPH”)
“Mr. Thurstan’s articles are often talked of. We could do
with more about India and visits to the Masters.” So wrote a
friend with reference to the International Psychic Gazette.
The same day brought me a packet of letters from a young
friend in India. I had not seen him since he was in his teens. I
shall call him Mr. Frank. It is his Christian name, and suits
him admirably, so I shall not change it. I shall transcribe his
experiences as far as possible in his own words.
2 — FRANK MEETS HIS FIRST MASTER
About three months ago, I met in my sleep a great man. I
spoke about it to the Telugu Munshi here. The Munshi brought
me some pictures. I picked out the man at once from the others.
Last Friday, this man was coming through Vellore to go to a
Theosophical Conference, at Tiruvannamalai. He does not
belong to the Theosophical Society. All Masters work for the
common good.
When the train came in, I recognised him at once. He is
about five feet ten inches in height and well built, with a high
round forehead, and aquiline nose — good-looking in every
sense of the term. He got out of the train and we sat together
in the waiting-room.
It is impossible to describe what it is like to be in the
presence of a Master. I did not know he was a Master, but to
sit in his presence, though he hardly said a word, and does
not know English, was to feel oneself thrilling through and
through — to feel new impressions touching one mentally. It
was an extraordinary experience.
I learned later that he was the first Sanskrit scholar in India,
and that is saying something out here where Sanskrit is the
language of the Scriptures and every student of wisdom learns
it. He knows the sciences inside out, and many languages.
You remember how the Apostles suddenly “spoke with
tongues.” Well, there are people here, who have known this
man all his life, and they know that up till one day, he did not
speak a word of Tamil, a very difficult language. Fifteen days
afterwards, he was able to give a long lecture in pure Tamil
and to read it and write it as well as any of the professors.
I asked him how he achieved this feat and he replied, “By
meditation.”
Think of that! No book! No grammar! Simply meditating
on God, as these men know how to, and asking to be taught
Tamil. His face, when at rest shines with happiness. At the least
excuse he laughs, and often turns to you and shakes his head in
a way Indians have, which means: That’s all right! Cheerio!
He promised to spend the afternoon and evening of today
in teaching me, and he will then go into seclusion for over a
year. He said if I would come to Tiruvannamalai he would
take me up to see the Maharshi (a Mahatma or very Great
Master) who lives there, and who is supposed to be one of the
greatest Mahatmas in India.
3 — FRANK VISITS THE MAHARSHI
Yesterday I got a day’s leave and went on with the Munshi
to meet Śāstṛiar (the Master of whom I have been writing).
Śāstṛiar and the Munshi are both chelas (disciples) of the
Maharshi. We heard Śāstṛiar lecture for an hour and a half in
Tamil to a huge crowd, and he appeared refreshed by his efforts.
At 2 p.m., he pointed to the cave where the Maharshi lives, and
we set off up the mountain to see Him. When we reached the
cave we sat before Him at His feet and said nothing. We sat
thus a long while, and I felt lifted out of myself.
Then Śāstṛiar told me to look the Maharshi in the eyes,
and not to turn my gaze. For half an hour I looked Him in the
eyes which never changed their expression of deep
contemplation. I began to realize somewhat that the body is
the Temple of the Holy Ghost — I could only feel His body
was not the man, it was the instrument of God, merely a sitting
motionless corpse from which God was radiating terrifically.
My own sensations were indescribable.
Śāstṛiar then said I might speak. I asked for enlightenment —
teaching and He spoke and we listened. In a few sentences of
broken English, and in Telugu, He conveyed worlds of meaning
and taught me direct, which He seldom does, and made me His
chela — not of course such a one as the Śāstṛiar, His own very
special chela but as one of the many that great Masters have.
The most touching sight was the number of tiny children,
up to about seven years of age, who climb the mountain,
all on their own, to come and sit near the Maharshi, even
though He may not speak a word or hardly look at them
for days together. They do not play, but just sit quietly there
in perfect contentment.
He is a man beyond description in His expression of dignity,
gentleness, self-control, and calm strength of conviction.
4 — FRANK’S SECOND VISIT TO THE MAHARSHI
I went by motor and climbed up to the cave. He smiled
when He saw me but was not the least surprised. Before He
had sat down, He had asked me a question private to myself,
of which He knew, showing that He recognised me. Everyone
who comes to Him is open as a book, and a single glance
suffices to reveal its contents.
“You have not yet had any food and are hungry.”
I admitted that it was so. He immediately called to a chela
to bring me food — rice, ghee, fruit, etc., eaten with the fingers,
as natives do not use spoons. Though I have practised eating
this way I lack dexterity. So He gave me a coconut spoon to
eat with, smiling and talking between whiles. You can imagine
nothing more beautiful than His smile. I had coconut milk to
drink, white like cow’s milk and delicious, to which He had
himself added sugar.
When I had finished I was still hungry, and He knew it and
ordered more. He knew everything, and when others pressed me
to eat fruit when I had had enough He stopped them at once.
I had to apologise for my way of drinking. He only said, “Never
mind”. Natives are particular about this. They never sip nor touch
the vessel with their lips, but pour the liquid straight in, thus
many can drink from the same cup without fear of infection.
Whilst I was eating He was relating my past history to the
others, and accurately too. Yet He had seen me but once before,
and many hundreds in between. He simply turned on clairvoyance
as we would refer to an encyclopaedia. I sat for about three hours
listening to His teaching. (He had been shown a book, printed
from a manuscript given to me by Mrs R. W. D. Nankivell, to get
His opinion about it. He praised it highly, and quoted from it.)
I heard that on one occasion, when a chela asked Him a
question, He picked up the book, pointed to a passage in it,
and said, “There is your answer”.
Later on I was thirsty, for it had been a hot ride, but I would
not have shown it for worlds. Yet He knew, and told a chela to
make me some lemonade.
At last I had to go, so bowed as we do, and went outside
the cave to put on my boots. He came outside too, and said I
might come to see Him again.
5 — FEARLESSNESS AND A SENSE OF SECURITY
ENGENDERED BY CONTACT WITH THE MASTER
It is strange what a change it makes in one, for the moment,
at any rate, to have been in His presence. I am used to dogs,
but still would feel disturbed if one set on me in the ordinary
course of events. Yet this happened there, and I only looked at
the dog and walked straight on, though it tried to bite me
three or four times. I felt no fear, nor was I in any way upset.
I heard startled exclamations but only realised that there had
been any danger when half way down the mountain.
A dog bite is no joke in this country, not only because of
the savageness of dogs and the “germy” state of their teeth,
due to the carrion they eat, but also on account of the bad way
wounds heal in the heat, and to the prevalence of hydrophobia.
6 — FRANK’S VERSION OF THE MAHATMA’S TEACHING
A master is one who has meditated solely on God, has
flung his whole personality into the sea of God, and drowned
and forgotten it there till he becomes simply the instrument
of God, and when his mouth opens it speaks God’s words
without effort or forethought, and when he raises a hand God
flows again through that to work a miracle.
Do not think too much of psychical phenomena and such
things. Their number is legion — utterly indefinite; and once
a faith in the psychical things is established in the heart of a
seeker, such phenomena have done their work. Clairvoyance,
clairaudience, and such things are not worth having when,
such far greater illumination and peace are possible without
them than with them. The Masters take on these powers as a
form of Self-Sacrifice! I know the Masters, two of the greatest,
and I tell you that the idea that a Master is simply one who
has attained power over the various occult senses by long
practice and prayer or anything else is utterly and absolutely
false. No Master ever cared a rap for occult powers for he has
no need of them for his daily life.
The phenomena we see are curious and surprising — but
the most marvellous thing of it all we do not realise and that
is that one, and only one, illimitable force is responsible for:
(a) All the phenomena we see,
(b) The act of our seeing them.
Do not fix your attention on all these changing things of
life, death, and phenomena. Do not think of even the actual
act of seeing them or perceiving them but only of that which
sees all these things. That which is responsible for it all. This
will seem nearly impossible at first, but by degrees the result
will be felt. It takes years of steady, daily practice, but that is
how a Master is made. Give yourself a quarter of an hour a
day. Keep your eyes open, and try to keep the mind unshakenly
fixed on That Which Sees. It is inside yourself. Do not expect
to find that “That” is something definite on which the mind
can be fixed easily; it will not be so. Though it takes years to
find that “That” the results of this concentration will soon
show themselves — in four or five months’ time — in all
sorts of unconscious clairvoyance, in peace of mind, in power
to deal with troubles, in power all round — always
unconscious power. I have given you this teaching in the same
words as the Masters give it to their intimate chelas. From
now onwards let your whole thought in meditation be not on
the act of seeing nor on what you see, but immovably on That
Which Sees.
II MORE MAHATMA TEACHING
7- ATTAINMENT
One gets no reward for Attainment. When one understands
the idea, one does not want a reward. As Krishna said: “Ye
have the right to work, but not the right to the fruit thereof.”
Perfect attainment, is simply worship, and worship is attainment.
If you sit down and realise that you only think by virtue of the
One Life, and that the mind, animated by the One Life into the
act of thinking is a part of the whole which is GOD, then you
argue your mind out of existence as a separate entity, and the
result is that mind and body physically (so to speak) disappear
and the only thing that remains is Being, which is at once existence
and non-existence, and not explainable in words or ideas.
A Master cannot help being perpetually in this state, with
only this difference, that in some, to us, incomprehensible way,
he can use mind and body and intellect too, without falling
back into the delusion of having a separate consciousness.
There is no explaining these things. As Vivekananda said:
“You do not help the world at all by wishing or trying to do
so, but only by helping yourself
8 — RELIGION
It is useless to speculate, useless to try and take mental or
intellectual grasp and work from that. That is only religion —
a code for children and for social life — a guide to help us to
avoid shocks, so that the inside fire may burn up the nonsense
in us and teach us, a little sooner, commonsense — i.e. a
knowledge of the delusion of separateness.
Religion, whether it be Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism,
Theosophy, Philosophy, or any other kind of “ism” or “sophy”
or system can only take us to the one point where all religions
meet and no further.
9 — GOD
That one point where all religions meet is the realisation
in no mystical sense, but in the most worldly and everyday
sense — and the more worldly, everyday and practical the
better — the fact that GOD IS EVERYTHING, AND
EVERYTHING IS GOD.
From this point the work of the practice of this mental
comprehension begins, and all it amounts to is the breaking of
a habit. One has to cease calling things “things”, and to call
them God; and instead of thinking them to be things, to know
them to be God; instead of imagining “existence” to be the
only thing possible, to realise that existence is only the creation
of the mind (for if there were not existence the mind could not
see anything) and that non-existence is a necessity if you are
going to postulate existence. The knowledge of things only
shows the existence of an organ to cognize. There are no sounds
to the deaf, nothing to see for the blind, and the mind is merely an
organ of conception or of appreciation of certain sides of God.
God is infinite, and therefore existence and non-existence
are merely component parts. Not that I wish to say God is
made up of definite component parts. It is hard to be
comprehensible when talking of God. ... True knowledge
comes from within and not from without. And true knowledge
is not “knowing” but “seeing.”
10 — REALISATION
Realisation is nothing but seeing God literally. You must
read all I write literally. Our greatest mistake is that we think
of God as acting symbolically and allegorically, instead of
practically and literally.
Take a piece of glass, paint colours and forms on it, and
put it into a magic lantern, turn on a white light, and the colours
and forms painted on the glass are reproduced on the screen.
If that light were not turned on, you would not see the colours
of the slide on the screen.
How are colours formed? By breaking up white light with a
many-sided prism. So is it with a man’s character. It is seen when
the Light of Life (God) is shining through it, i.e., in a man’s
actions. If the man is asleep or dead, you do not see his character.
Only when the Light of Life is animating the character, and
causing it to act in a thousand different ways, in response to its
contact with this many-sided world, can you perceive a man’s
character. If white light had not been broken up and put into
forms and shapes on our magic lantern slide, we should never
have known there was a piece of glass in front of the light, for the
light would have shown clearly through. In a sense that white
light was marred, and had some of its clearness taken from it by
having to shine through the colours on the glass.
So is it with an ordinary man. His mind is like the screen.
On it shines the light, dulled and changed because he has
allowed the many-sided world to stand in the way of the Light
(God) and break it up. He sees only the effects of the Light
(God) instead of the Light (God) Himself, and his mind reflects
the effects he sees just as the screen reflects the colours on the
glass. Take away the prism and the colours vanish, absorbed
back into the white light from whence they came. Take away
the colours from the slide and the light shines clearly through.
Take away from our sight the world of effects we see, and let
us look only into causes, and we shall see the Light (God).
A Master in meditation, though the eyes and ears be open,
fixes his attention so firmly on “That Which Sees,” that he
neither sees nor hears, nor has any physical consciousness at
all — nor mental either, but only spiritual.
We must take away the world, which causes our doubts,
which clouds our mind, and the light of God will shine clearly
through. How is the world taken away? When, for example,
instead of seeing a man you say, “This is God animating a body,”
which body answers, more or less perfectly, to the direction of
God, as a ship answers more or less perfectly to her helm.
11 — SINS
What are sins? Why, for example, does a man drink too
much? Because he hates the idea of being bound — bound by
the incapacity to drink as much as he wishes. He is striving
after liberty in every sin he commits. This striving after liberty
is the first instinctive action of God in a man’s mind. For God
knows that he is not bound. Drinking too much does not give
a man liberty but then the man does not know that he is really
seeking liberty. When he realises that, he sets about seeking
the best way to obtain liberty.
But the man only gains that liberty when he realises that
he was never bound. The I, I, I’s who feel so bound are really
the Illimitable Spirit. I am bound because I know of nothing
that I do not sense by one of the senses. Whereas I am all the
time that which senses in everybody, in every mind. These
bodies and minds are only the tools of the “I”, the Illimitable
Spirit. What do I want with tools who am the tools themselves,
as the colours are the White Light?
Jesus, the man, was utterly unconscious when He worked
His miracles, and spoke His wonderful words. It was the White
Light, the Life, Who is the cause and the effect, acting in perfect
concert. “My Father and I are One.” Give up the idea of “I” and
“Mine.” Can the body possess anything? Can the mind possess
anything? Lifeless tools are both, unless the Light of God be
shining through. These things which we see and sense are only
the split up colours of the One Illimitable Spirit.
12 — WORSHIP
How can you best worship GOD? Why, by not trying to
worship Him but by giving up your whole self to Him, and
showing that every thought, every action, is only a working
of that One Life (GOD) — more or less perfect according as
it is unconscious or conscious.
God works perfectly in our unconscious virtuous actions.
A Master when instructing is far from any thought of
instructing; but to feel a doubt or a difficulty in his presence
is to call forth, at once, before you can express the doubt,
the wonderful words which will clear away that doubt. The
words never fail and the Master with his heart fixed on GOD,
realising perfectly that no action is a personal one, making
no claims to have either originated the thought or to have
been the means of destroying a doubt, saying never “I” or
“Mine”, seeing only GOD in every thought and action,
whether they be yours or his, feels no surprise, no especial
pleasure to himself in having allayed your doubt. He never
desires to feel pleasure. He says:
Who is it that feels pleasure? Why, God.
What is pleasure? Why the appreciation — instinctive or
otherwise — of God.
Who is the so-called “I”? I is GOD.
God is pleasure. If I desire perpetual pleasure, I must forget
myself, and be that which is pleasure itself, viz., GOD.
A Master sacrifices his whole self, lets it down as an
artificial idea into the Ocean of GOD Who Is, and Who is,
literally, the Material and the Cause of everything, and
becomes the embodiment of happiness. Similarly he flings
every personal desire aside, even the desire for virtue. He
denies it being his own action and attributes it to GOD, till
he becomes the embodiment of that personal virtue he once
desired, and no one can come near him without being blessed.
He is the embodiment of all virtues. Such is true worship
and its results.
III THE MAHARSHI
The facts to be gleaned about him are sparse and meagre,
but full of interest by reason of their rare simplicity.
I have been fortunate enough to obtain two photographs of
the Maharshi, sitting in different postures, in deep meditation.
One of these accompanies my brief jottings. It is no use writing
to me for further details. I am publishing all I am permitted to
make known.
1 — HOW THE CALL CAME
A chela whom I know told me this story:
When the Maharshi was sixteen years old he had the
true Awakening. But he continued to live with his parents
until the crisis which came on August 29, 1896. That day,
seeing Maharshi sitting crosslegged and abandoning
himself to meditation, his elder brother rebuked him,
hinting that one who wished to live like a sadhu had no
right to a home life. Maharshi left home leaving a note. He
started off in obedience to The Call which was from
Arunachala. He lived in the Arunachaleswara Temple and
other places before he chose to live in the cave where Frank
saw him. He is about thirtynine years old, and has lived in
the cave now for many years.
2 — HOW HE SPENT TIME IN THE CAVE
After the first two years he lapsed into silence. For years
he never spoke a word. There was no fanaticism in this except
a disinclination to be engaged in conversation. He has been
speaking and teaching for the last six years.
He speaks the languages of Southern India, and English.
He knows the most important part of the Hindu Scriptures
by heart, and is well acquainted with Christian History and
Bible Times.
Not many know his name or anything more about him than
the story of leaving his home which he has himself told to his
chelas, and that he is a brahmin by birth. His personality is
the striking thing about him, and strange stories are told by
credible witnesses. For example:
3 — A HINDU VERSION OF GIDEON AND HIS FLEECE
One year during the early days of the Monsoon, the
Maharshi was sitting at the foot of the mountain in the open
air, in deep meditation. A certain woman, known to the
narrator had gone to take him an offering and to ask for his
blessing. On the way, she was caught in a heavy cloudburst
and sheltered under a rock or tree, about three hundred yards
from where he was seated. She saw him sitting rapt in
meditation all the time.
When the rain was over, she went up to him and found that
all around him, for the space of about fifty yards, the ground
was completely dry.
4 — THE MAHATMA WHO CAUSED THE MAHARSHI
TO BREAK HIS TWELVE YEARS’ SILENCE
No understanding of the Maharshi is possible without
knowing the details of his relationship with Ganapathi
Śāstṛiar (see International Psychic Gazette for June). One
day, Śāstṛiar came to him and spoke in Sanskrit verse, and
the twelve years’ silence was broken. That is six years ago,
and the Maharshi has been speaking and teaching ever since.
Śāstṛiar, so to speak, embodies the intellectual aspect of
Mastership, and the Maharshi the devotional. Nevertheless,
Śāstṛiar is highly devotional, and the keenness of the
Maharshi ’s intellect is indisputable.
What Śāstṛiar himself always says is: “It is not I but
the Maharshi who does these things.” He evidently regards
himself as the Maharshi’s instrument, as the wielder of
the power generated by this greatest of living Mahatmas.
But this must not be taken too literally. It is merely a
deduction from the facts regarded as a whole. It is
noteworthy how immediately the devotional man
recognised the intellectually-developed man, and how the
latter instantly yielded to the sway of the meditative
saintly devotee.
When Śāstṛiar was approaching the foot of the mountain
with Frank, on the occasion of Frank’s first visit to the
Maharshi, he made two prophecies, one of which has been
fulfilled and the other awaits the time of fulfilment.
As they came close up to the mountain, Śāstṛiar said, “Hush!
we musts be quiet now. We are drawing near to Him.”
Śāstṛiar has a subtle sense of humour. Once Frank asked a
question about a past incarnation. Śāstṛiar looked at him and
said, “Wait for two months and I will tell you all your past
incarnations with full details”. For a moment Frank was very
pleased; then he realized the Mahatma was testing him. And
Śāstṛiar laughed gently in his inimitable way and murmured,
“What good? What good would it be?”
5 — SASTRIAR’S LEARNING
Once Śāstṛiar felt spiritually called to go and teach Sanskrit
in a small town. He went. There was a vacancy in the school
and he applied for it. Said the authorities, “How do we know
that your Sanskrit is good Sanskrit?”
Immediately Śāstṛiar went up North to Benares, passed
the severest tests, took the highest degrees, returned with
his certificates to the little town, showed them to the people,
and then tore them to shreds and threw them away. A well-
known Sanskrit scholar says you can give Śāstṛiar any
subject, at random, and he will just walk up and down a few
minutes, and then reel off Sanskrit verses, perfect in form
and sense faster than you can write them down, dealing with
the chosen theme.
6 — SASTRIAR’S CLAIRVOYANCE AND PSYCHIC GIFTS
A man was sent to find out if Śāstṛiar was a seditionary.
He found him in a cave, sitting in meditation. The man was in
disguise, and said he revered Śāstṛiar and wished to become
his chela. Śāstṛiar received the visitor with kindness and put
him a few questions. The man had been primed and answered
readily. Thus they sat for some little while and Śāstṛiar fell
again into meditation.
The man had come straight on his mission, so there was
no means by which Śāstṛiar could have received news of his
coming. He had put Śāstṛiar no questions and had merely
posed as a prospective chela.
Then Śāstṛiar said, “You come from such and such a town;
you want to find out if I am a seditionary. Why did you tell
me untruths?” The man owned up, and eventually became
Śāstṛiar’s chela.
Śāstṛiar has twelve special chelas. To each he has entrusted
the subject he is best fitted to expound. On one occasion he
enumerated the subjects to a chela , asking him to choose.
This the chela did. On looking up, he detected a quiet smile
on the Master’s face, which told him that he knew beforehand
which it would be.
Another time Śāstṛiar said, “England, France, Germany, Italy,
America — I go everywhere.” Such things are said simply,
without a suspicion of boasting, as mere statements of fact.
Śāstṛiar was asked: Could a man remain in perpetual
meditation? Could he keep his eyes open so long? Śāstṛiar
said “Yes”. Then he was watched day and night for a week,
during which time he never closed his eyes. If you look at the
Maharshi’s photo, you will see that the eyes are open. Yet he
is sunk in deep meditation and oblivious to all in the outer
world. Those who have slept in the cave with the Maharshi,
say that practically he never sleeps at all.
7 — HOW THE MAHARSHI ANSWERS THE CURIOUS
When people ask questions out of sheer curiosity he will
remain a little while in concentration, and will say: “I have
not received authority from God to answer this question.” Or
he may reply: “You say, I, I want to know. Tell me who is that
I? Know first that I, and then you will know everything.”
But in the case of those seeking spiritual light, he is most
able and willing to argue any point for the sake of explanation.
With both these men it is invariably the same. Unless
already in the train of answering questions, they will never
reply straight off but drop first into meditation.
F. R. H.
