Letters from Sri Ramanasramam

Ch.173 – 06 April 1948

At about 3 o’clock this afternoon a young boy, four or five years of age, came with his mother. She prostrated before Bhagavan and sat down. The boy prostrated likewise, but continued the salutations over and over again. Bhagavan laughed at that and told his attendants, “Just see. He is prostrating to me over and over again. Perhaps he thinks that if he does so, he may afterwards do whatever he pleases.i He is a young lad. What does he know? He is just imitating his elders. He must however be rewarded. All that he wants is a plantain. If he gets it he will stop. Give him one.” On being given one, the boy went and sat down.

After some time, someone came and did sashtanga namaskara (reverential salutation by prostrating with all the eight limbs of the body touching the ground), but did not get up for a long time. People nearby finally made him get up. He somehow got up but began saluting again and again. He was ultimately prevailed upon to stop saluting and sit down. Bhagavan told the people near him: “Namaskara means prostration a number of times according to some. What can be done? The real meaning of namaskara is the dissolving of the mind.” “What is the meaning of sashtanga namaskara, Bhagavan?” asked the devotee. “It means that eight limbs of the body, namely, two hands, two legs, two arms, chest and forehead, touch the ground while saluting. The idea behind this type of obeisance is that the person doing it says, ‘the body which touches the earth, will resolve itself into that earth ultimately, and the “I” in me will continue to be “I” alone’. That idea must be known to oneself by enquiry. Without knowing it, there is no use in doing these. With meaningless namaskaras people want to secure all the benefits: ‘Swami must give them whatever they desire, be it a bag of clothes or money.’ Whenever they do namaskara, I feel afraid. I must be beholden to them. I must act according to their wishes. I must fulfil all their desires. I must conduct myself carefully after knowing their minds. Not only that. Just by bowing to me, they get a sort of right over me. When people like us suffer like this, what about Ishwara himself? He must be beholden to ever so many; he must act according to the wishes of people; he must give boons to people. When swamitvam itself has so many troubles, what about Ishwaratvam? If anyone refrains from prostrating before me, I feel very happy because I need not be beholden to him. A Jnani need not prostrate before anybody nor need he give his blessings to anybody. That is because his mind remains always submerged. He is deemed to be doing namaskara at all times. Some people feel offended when they prostrate before a Jnani and he does not respond with another namaskara nor even raise his hand and bless them. But the fact is, before the others have prostrated, the Jnani will have already prostrated lower, his mind having been dissolved. Even blessing (asirvadam) is similar. The submerging of the mind itself is a blessing. The Jnani’s mind remains always submerged. That being so, who is the one to bless? What is it that is done?” said Bhagavan.