Q       I tried to follow the path of Ramana Maharishi. I met with 100% defeat. Please advise an     easier       method.

Ramana’s system is to become totally silent, and start seeing within, rather than seeing outside. There is no easier method than this. Genuine seekers have at one stage realized that they are searching outside what is already within. As long as you seek outside, you are bound to be in confusion.

Krishna was always with Arjuna. Arjuna could only look upon Krishna as his friend, but never as the Lord Himself. Krishna revealed His cosmic Viraat Viswaroopa form to Arjuna. The entire universe was contained in that Form. Arjuna shut his eyes in fear and requested Krishna to re-assume His human form. The Lord was revealing His original form but Arjuna could not take it, he was scared to see that Rudra roopa. Arjuna requested Krishna to reveal to him a simpler form, and Krishna revealed Himself standing with the conch and the discus. Arjuna’s confusion increased. He said, ‘A single being is able to take on the Viraat Viswaroopa and a human form. Do you have any other form?’ Krishna replied, ‘I am none of these. I am in the form of Light’, and revealed Himself in the form of Jyothi.

So, it is easier to seek God, who is in the form of Light, within, rather than outside. This Light is very much within us, so why waste time searching for It outside? Karaikkal Ammaiyar (a saint) said, ‘They referred to You as being in the Heavens, whereas I know You as the One dwelling in my heart‘ (Unnai vaanathaan enrar, yaano en Nenjathan enben iniye) .

Azhwar sings the same, ‘I have recorded Your Infinite miracles in the fresh walls of my heart’. (En Nenjagapparsuvatrin paal Un Vikramam onrai azhiyaamal ezhudhikkonden).

Ramana’s way was to perceive God within oneself. Till the time you begin to understand this, you must visit more temples. Purify yourself by taking dips in more holy rivers. And attend more sathsangs. Get darshans of more Mahaans. Familiarize yourself with seekers who succeeded in the past. This is the shortcut. Until such time as you attain realization, train your mind; tame your mind. Train your mind to start seeking within. Curtail anything negative that crops up during the time that you search outside. Wait patiently till your mind mellows. And persevere till you turn your gaze inward.

Silence is more eloquent than speech. There is no language beyond silence. The languages of the world -- be they English, German, French, Hindi, Telugu. Tamil -- are useless. The most voluble medium is total silence. Only when you are in total silence do you realize yourself. Till such time, your mind will be a stumbling block. Any language surfaces from the mind only. I know only a few languages. But, I know how to read your thoughts. If a foreigner visits me, and even if he does not know English, I can clarify his doubts. I can read his thoughts and answer him, though I may not understand German or French.

Thought is the first step, and language is just an outlet for you, the outburst of thoughts in a particular sound vibration that you are familiar with.

There are universal symbols to represent drinking water or toilet or elevator. A foreigner will fail to understand if you refer to them in your mother tongue.

If you do not understand a particular language, and when you come across words written in that language, you will have to seek someone else’s help. Then all your education becomes futile, because you are at someone else’s mercy.

So, language has its limitations. Silence and ‘thought perception’ have no limitations. Until such time you enter total silence to seek within, you have to be content with seeking outside, like visiting temples and the like, which I mentioned earlier.

A trader passing through a forest, asked a saint seated under a tree, "Swamiji, I have some time. Teach me a mantra". The saint smiled and said "Silence". The trader said, "No, no, I have some more time, please say something more". The saint, after a few minutes silence, said, "Meditation". The trader said, "I have some more time, please do say something more". The saint laughed, and said, "I have given you the result. Whatever you do leads to silence. The route for achieving silence is meditation. Why do you want me to talk about other irrelevant things when I have revealed to you, the end-result, (i.e. silence), and the way to achieve it, (i.e. meditation)?"

The destination of any sadhana path is silence. When you silence your mind, you achieve total blankness. On Dec 1, 2002, I attended a function at the VGP World Peace complex. A Vedic astrologer, from the Hare Krishna movement of US, who was one among the invitees, asked me, ‘What is the path you are following?’ I told him, ‘Silence.’ He asked, ‘What do you worship?’ I said ‘Light.’ He was unable to understand and asked me again, ‘No, no. Which form do you worship?’ I replied, ‘My mind is blank. I have no thoughts. My mind is always blank.’ I do not even know my telephone number. Nobody believes when I say this. Whatever work I do, I focus my mind to do that. Otherwise, my mind is blank; no thoughts.

You may or may not believe me when I say this: because my mind is blank, whenever anyone thinks of me from any part of the world, he or she is visible to me in a white form. If persons think of me with love, I feel their embrace. If they think of me when they are distressed, I see them weeping. If they think of me with respect, I find that the white light is touching my feet. These are the thought patterns I get. I may not know the persons and may not know from where they are calling me, but I can see their forms in white, resembling them. And if someone concentrates on me, then I can even tell what exactly he or she is thinking and at what time he or she thought of me. Spiritual sadhana bestows so much power.

A spiritual giant (seer) is like a satellite in orbit. In a worldly sense, your connections (viz. VSNL, BSNL) are linked to a single satellite. The same satellite controls all your television channels. The whole world can be viewed with the help of a single satellite and photos can be taken of the defence equipment of each country. Similarly, when a Mahatma (a realized soul) liberates the spirit from his body, he becomes a satellite. The spirit is very light and goes to the ethereal layer. The Atma(soul) is freed from the fetters of the body, and is no more in jail. The importance you accord your body is irrelevant. It is bound for the burial ground. It will be reduced to ashes one day. But, your spirit is in the form of light. It exists forever.

A Mahatma, a liberated one, a Jeevan Muktha, is one who has emerged free from the bondage of the physical form. When he leaves his perishable body, his spirit is at the layers of sound and light. From there, it travels into the ethereal layer.

American technology has come up with computer-navigators that you can install in cars. You feed the particulars of the destination you are bound for, into the navigator. The next minute it displays a map with a pointer for your car, and shows the route to your destination and at what speed you must travel. There is a voice that guides you, and directs you to another route if the normal route is caught in a traffic jam. How does this happen? Through satellite facility, of course.

In America, if your car gets stranded, a traffic controller will offer you help, and you will be wondering how the traffic controller could have known that you needed help. He will clarify that he saw your car stranded, from the satellite station, and so came to rescue you. So there is equipment that can monitor all your movements from a satellite.

God is in such heights; would He not know every happening in the world? He knows about everyone and everything, simply because He is at such celestial heights. In the level next to God, are Mahatmas like Shirdi Sai Baba, Raghavendra Swami, and me. We are in the ‘World of Hermits’. I am a Siddha. A Siddha is one who has conquered his mind. Siddhas live in the ethereal layer adjacent to God’s own. My spirit belongs to that world. Shirdi Sai Baba is there in meditation. If you call him from any place, he presents himself to you, because your thoughts reach out to him. You can communicate with any Mahatma who is a Jeevan Muktha; if your prayers are sincere you get his help immediately.                                                                                                     

( continues next week....)