31 Matthew and Joan Greenblatt Ramanasramam 28th January 1981 |
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Although my spirit has been constantly enriched, I am only too aware that my physical body is now showing signs of exhaustion. Supper is being served. I am not hungry. Iwould prefer to retreat to my simple room, but I am being led to the dining area where, in Indian-style, we sit in rows on the floor. This is followed by arati, chanting and prayers. Someone points out an Englishwoman who has just left everything to spend the rest of her life at this Ashram: she is over 70. The pull of the mystic East is not exclusively for the young. Once again I have to brace myself for another early morning start for Ramanasramam. At the last minute as I am leaving, I am called back. A Spanish woman wants me to give a message to Juan in room 15: the message — a bit vague: Padre está aquí... This journey is yet another stopping-at-every-village-along-the-way affair. Indian travel is full of surprises in that once you get telling people you are on your way to an Ashram it can lead to deep, involved metaphysical discussion. Nowhere else in the world can you be paying for your bus ticket and being asked at the same time: Does your guru give you the inner light? I have given up (for the time being) my train reservations, not because bus travel is any more comfortable -- it may be quicker -- but because in the South the buses are more reliable, more frequent.
Tiruvannamalai is finally in sight, rather the sacred hill of Arunachala at the foot of which, crowded between many Ashrams, rests the one named after one of the 20th centuary’s most revered sages: Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi. He was drawn here in 1896 when he was hardly 17 and never left. He lived in caves but eventually allowed his growing number of devotees to build him an Ashram at the foot of the hill. So powerful was his magnetic presence, he became a legend in his life time. Paul Brunton wrote about him in the 1930’s, and although it is now over thirty years since Ramana left this physical world, that great charismatic, mystic force constantly draws people from all over the world to this Ashram — many of them had not even been born thirty years ago. And thirty years ago I feel sure his Ashram was like himself, simple and compact. Now it is shining and sprawling with concrete and marble. No matter, the spirit pervading the entire place is extraordinary, vivid, magical. I am given not only a private apartment in the compound across the road from the Ashram, but a Mr. N. who is to look after me and see that I Interview the “right” people. This makes me think there must be some “not-so-right” people who may be Interviewable. But not to worry, I know I will be Interviewing those whom I am meant to Interview, with or without the blessings of the helpful management. I deliver the message to Juan in room 15 and ask if he is visiting the Ashram or is a permanent resident…it would be good to have a Spanish Interview. But, no, he is going back to the Spanish island where I used to live twenty years ago. As Mr. N. will not have his approved list of candidates ready until tomorrow, and as I have already looked round the Ashram and gazed up at the sacred Arunachala, I am now listening to a young man explaining the teachings of Bhagavan (for this is how Ramana’s followers call him). A bus full of Scandinavian tourists has unloaded its captives for a thirty-minute stop at the Ashram. The young man has been approached by two middle-aged ladies: he is wearing white khadi, they are wearing expensive machine-made reproductions of Indian hand-blocked fabrics. They want to photograph him. He must be used to this. He tells them why he left the New York nightmare for Bhagavan. The tourists snap away and leave. I ask if he would care to tell me more. He says: Sure thing. We collect his wife, and off we go to their apartment. Why wait till tomorrow? Tomorrow may never come, at least not for these two unofficial selections.
Interview 31 Matthew: My wife and I both grew up in similar circumstances; we came from upper middle class families and had the luxury of college education, and are both college drop-outs. At 19 we were dissatisfied with the life we were living, and the studies we were into were not meaningful to us. We dropped out to avoid being hypocrites and to seek our education in life. At that point we didn’t know what we wanted but we knew it was more than earning money for bread and butter. We got involved in some social-political groups — anything but turning inwards. We thought we could find peace outside and by throwing ourselves into these movements. It was a step. But after a couple of years we realized peace was not to be found this way. We became interested in yoga and mysticism. We took yoga classes, heard lectures by Krishnamurti, visited the Ramakrishna Centre and other places, but nothing clicked. One day a friend brought us to Arunachala Ashram in New York, and as soon as we entered we felt at home. Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi’s picture which has attracted so many all over the world, also had a strong pull for us. We didn’t know much about philosophy but the emphasis on the practices struck home immediately. There were no lectures, debates or discussions — just practice. Through a steady course of discipline our lives became more and more in tune with a higher life, a more sattvic life, and the deeper meaning of the spiritual life. Slowly the old life began to wean away. A residential Ashram was then founded in Nova Scotia, Canada, and we lived there for five years. In 1973 we were able to visit this Ashram in India for two months. Can you explain what
attracted you to Bhagavan’s teachings? Perhaps Joan can say
more about these teachings? Earlier you spoke of
the practice. What does it involve? Joan: It hasn’t to be done at a set time because the enquiry and surrender has to be constant. It’s a way of life? Matthew: Bhagavan never put emphasis on outward life but specified two things necessary for sadhaks. One was sattvic food; the other, satsang. This he applied to householders as well as sadhus — there was no separation. But I seem to remember
the high castes would sit apart from the lower
castes in the dining room. But as it’s an
exclusive way of life, how did you adapt? Did you find it hard at the beginning? How did you spend your
day in the Canadian Ashram? The Ashram was supported
by donations? When did you first want
to come to live in India? With such an important
commission, how did you find the conditions here for such specialized work? You actually walk all
round it? How did all this start,
do you know? The story is symbolical and represents the intellect which cannot gauge the infinite; if it gets puffed up and takes the form of Brahma, it ultimately becomes humiliated. If it takes the form of Vishnu and submits to the guru or the Divine, it is then able to see the Truth. So Arunachala is considered the earliest manifestation of Shiva. His light was so dazzling that the devas who were worshipping him said: Oh, Lord, we cannot look at you like this; could you not take a concrete form? He took the form of the hill of Arunachala, so that’s why this hill is considered to be Lord Shiva. Bhagavan said that Kailash is the abode of Shiva, but Arunachala is Shiva Himself. I know that once Bhagavan came here he never left. But
what brought him here in the first place? Do you also plan never
to leave? A last question. What
do you have as the aim of life?
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© Malcolm Tillis 2006 |