THE HERALD OF A NEW ERA
By Dr. Robert Fuchsberger
WE are on the threshold of a new era. Old values have lost
their significance and new ones are gradually becoming visible
in the foggy atmosphere of these apocalyptic times. As we
witness these tremendous material, mental and spiritual
changes and the concomitant suffering that all mankind is
going through, it is useful to pause and consider what spiritual
treasures we have inherited from the past and what new
revelations we may expect in the future.
The most obvious of the spiritual currents from the past is
religion, which, in some form or another, is as old as mankind.
In the range of religion from the most primitive forms to the
most sublime, we can find the veneration of natural forces,
the worship of gods and goddesses, the worship of one God.
We also find in almost all of these situations the hidden idea
of one Godhead, the One without a second.
Here religion meets and melts into philosophy. Philosophy
was originally closely connected with religion; only after
many centuries did it separate itself from religion and go its
own way. The history of philosophy shows a shift from the
heights of Upanishadic lore and neo-Platonic thought to an
emphasis on the power of the human intellect to solve the
puzzles of the universe. From the time of Kant, reason has
reigned supreme in the kingdom of philosophy.
The youngest spiritual discipline, psychology, was
popularised in the last century by the work of Freud and Jung
on the unconscious part of the human psyche. Jung, tracing
the psyche to its archetypal roots, appropriately compares
human consciousness to a small isle in the vast ocean of the
unconscious.
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When we look to these disciplines for the help they offer
to modern man, we find a gloomy picture indeed. Religion is
on the decline throughout the world. Modern man, seeking
scientific proofs, has lost his faith in divine forces and religion,
in which the mystical is dwindling or has already dried up
and changed into mere profession of faith, moral teachings
and idolatry. Philosophy has even less to offer. In its modern
form, as a science, it either interprets the universe with an
acrobatic play of concepts or declares openly that science
cannot explain the basic questions of being.
This was the dark spiritual atmosphere of the twentieth century,
into which Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, the Sage of
Arunachala, came to fulfill his mission on our globe. His message,
partly conveyed to mankind through a few booklets, partly
through cryptic, profound answers to questions from visitors,
soon reached every corner of the world. But the most important
part of his message was conveyed through silence, through
transmission of spiritual strength, and it is this thunderous silence
which still has the greatest influence on the whole world.
During the bodily presence of Bhagavan Sri Ramana
Maharshi, crowds of people daily visited Tiruvannamalai to
have his darshan. Some of these visitors were attracted by
his extraordinary personality -- which was obvious to all --
but they went away without being deeply influenced by him,
although they acknowledged his greatness. Others were more
deeply moved, and became then and there devotees and true
bhaktas. For them the Maharshi became their haven of refuge,
and for the rest of their lives they submitted their egos to his
divinity. A small minority of visitors acknowledged his
divinity, but at the same time understood his teaching and
began to practice Self-enquiry according to his advice.
So we see that different people, with their ego-ridden
minds, saw Sri Bhagavan in different ways. That is natural,
because the Divine, being always beyond relativity, assumes,
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like a colourless gem, many facets according to the faculty of
the admirer's eye. So mortals see the Maharshi as a great
personality, a rishi [?], a jivanmukta, a sadguru [?], a sthitaprajna,
an avatara, and so on.
I see Sri Bhagavan as harbinger of a new epoch, a
messenger of the times yet to come. In this role I see Sri
Bhagavan standing on the threshold of the coming millennium,
as the prophet of a new spiritual high tide. Standing on this
threshold and focussing the wisdom of the Upanishads [?], he
presents to posterity the age old wisdom in a new form well
suited to the man of modern times.
And what is this message? It is the teaching of the unity of
Being, the accessibility of this Being through one's own Self,
and the practical path to its realisation: Atma Vichara, the
search for this Self. In a nutshell this is the whole of the
Maharshi's teaching. It seems very simple and it is really too
simple for the speculative intellects of the majority of mankind
today. How many individuals are at present capable of
understanding a teaching which is neither a religion, nor a
philosophy, nor even a psychology, a teaching which needs
no belief, no scholarship and no psychological doctrine? Even
today those who really understand the teaching of Sri
Bhagavan, which is far beyond all doctrines and practise it
accordingly, are very few.
But certainly the future will produce a human race which
will be capable of understanding and comprehending his
message in its fullness and following the path shown by him.
Sri Maharshi's mission surely did not end with the death of his
bodily form, but in reality it only began. He himself said, "You
think I am going to die, but I shall be more alive than ever".
This promise of his was substantiated at the moment of his
Mahasamadhi, when a bright star appeared in the sky, and
crossed the nightly firmament, herealding a new spiritual era.
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