A Search In Secret India - Author meets Ramana
Note: This is the continuation of my notes from my previous post "A Search In Secret India".
After leaving Brama, the author meets several other people. He comes in contact with Sri Shankaracharya of Kumbhakonam (66th heir of the original Shankara). Though he has plans of leaving the South India to roam around North-East of India, fate has something else for him. Shortly he ends up in the hermitage of Ramana Maharshi in Arunachala (Tiruvannamalai).
After he takes leave from Ramana, he moves towards North-East, first to Puri. On his way again he comes across handful of magicians, Yogis, Holymen, pretenders, honest faqueers. There are stories of a Yogi controlling movement of a scorpion, a wayside magician who conjures growth of a mango tree, an honest faqueer who makes dolls dance at his will. To test the latter, the author places his gold ring (gifted to him by Brama) and faqueer succeeds in making the ring to his commands. This marvel astonishes Brunton and starts wondering that we do not know as much about the nature of things as we think we do. The faqueer appears to have understood something deep in quantum physics!
Anyway, this is not what I am planning to write here. These set of people the author meets could be people possessing Yogic powers or just tricksters. This is just a small part of the author's real purpose of visit to India. His experiences with the Shankaracharya of Kumbhakonam and Ramana are more interesting. As I read through the book, I start fearing whether the author is becoming a victim of hallucinations and undergoing changes psychologically to the negative.
He says he gets to see bright image of Shankaracharya by his bed side, whom he had left behind that evening after his interview, insisting him to visit Ramana. Although I do not have reasons to doubt Brunton, I am afraid if he is being manipulated at psychological level. Have his past experiences since he set his foot in Bombay showing up their effects on his psychological health? I have no answer.
The Shankaracharya of Kumbhakonam and Ramana do not appear to be magicians with extra-ordinary powers in his writings. What is more interesting is that the author says that there is a wave of tranquility surrounding Ramana. Brunton enters Ramana's ashrama with lots and lots of precise questions which he had formed in his mind during his train journey. However, the moment he sits in front of Ramana, the questions start dying away. He starts feeling the peace and his questions start losing their meaning.
At some point, he dreams where Ramana takes him around the hill of Arunachala. Few moments before his departure, the author appears to have entered a state of trance in the presence of the maharshi. He feels that he and the people surrounding Ramana are getting something in silence. To most of the questions asked by the author, Ramana just says to first understand your own self, and ask the question "Who am I?" and asks him to realise that he is not the body or the mind.
I do not know whether the author returns to Ramana or not. I am yet to finish reading the book.
After leaving Brama, the author meets several other people. He comes in contact with Sri Shankaracharya of Kumbhakonam (66th heir of the original Shankara). Though he has plans of leaving the South India to roam around North-East of India, fate has something else for him. Shortly he ends up in the hermitage of Ramana Maharshi in Arunachala (Tiruvannamalai).
After he takes leave from Ramana, he moves towards North-East, first to Puri. On his way again he comes across handful of magicians, Yogis, Holymen, pretenders, honest faqueers. There are stories of a Yogi controlling movement of a scorpion, a wayside magician who conjures growth of a mango tree, an honest faqueer who makes dolls dance at his will. To test the latter, the author places his gold ring (gifted to him by Brama) and faqueer succeeds in making the ring to his commands. This marvel astonishes Brunton and starts wondering that we do not know as much about the nature of things as we think we do. The faqueer appears to have understood something deep in quantum physics!
Anyway, this is not what I am planning to write here. These set of people the author meets could be people possessing Yogic powers or just tricksters. This is just a small part of the author's real purpose of visit to India. His experiences with the Shankaracharya of Kumbhakonam and Ramana are more interesting. As I read through the book, I start fearing whether the author is becoming a victim of hallucinations and undergoing changes psychologically to the negative.
He says he gets to see bright image of Shankaracharya by his bed side, whom he had left behind that evening after his interview, insisting him to visit Ramana. Although I do not have reasons to doubt Brunton, I am afraid if he is being manipulated at psychological level. Have his past experiences since he set his foot in Bombay showing up their effects on his psychological health? I have no answer.
The Shankaracharya of Kumbhakonam and Ramana do not appear to be magicians with extra-ordinary powers in his writings. What is more interesting is that the author says that there is a wave of tranquility surrounding Ramana. Brunton enters Ramana's ashrama with lots and lots of precise questions which he had formed in his mind during his train journey. However, the moment he sits in front of Ramana, the questions start dying away. He starts feeling the peace and his questions start losing their meaning.
At some point, he dreams where Ramana takes him around the hill of Arunachala. Few moments before his departure, the author appears to have entered a state of trance in the presence of the maharshi. He feels that he and the people surrounding Ramana are getting something in silence. To most of the questions asked by the author, Ramana just says to first understand your own self, and ask the question "Who am I?" and asks him to realise that he is not the body or the mind.
I do not know whether the author returns to Ramana or not. I am yet to finish reading the book.
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