WHERE HAS BHAGAVAN GONE?

By Swami Virajananda

THEY are despondent that Bhagavan is going to leave them
and go away. Where can he go, and how"? These words of Sri
Bhagavan contain the whole truth of what he is; they are assurance
and more than that, they are fact. But how are we to grasp this
promise, how to understand this mysterious eternal presence?

Imagine, if you will, an endless sheet of pure light. Call it
the Absolute, or Brahman ^[?], or That Which Is ... it does not
matter. All the names and forms you wish to behold --
mountains, rivers, plants, countless beings -- see them as if
painted on this sheet, some of them completely opaque, so
that you cannot see any of the underlying light, some fully
transparent, others partly transparent, according to the
predominance of the various gunas ^[?]. Now see in the middle of
each being a tiny aperture, as in the lens of a camera. That is
the Self, seated in the hearts of all, and it is of course identical
with the substratum; the less ego, the more is it open, and the
more the light can come through. What an infinite combination
of light transparencies and aperture-sizes God has thus made!

How do the sages, the jivanmuktas, look ? There is no
question any longer of transparency or darkness, for, being
devoid of ego, their aperture has opened until it reached the
outline of their shape, so that, except for this outline, the
underlying light is all there is. And all that happens when
their bodies die is that this outline gets erased. What remains
is the light they always were -- call it God, or Brahman ^[?], or
That Which Is. This is why there is no question of Bhagavan
going away; this is why he is our very Self.

The Smriti ^[?] says:

Neither inward nor outward turned consciousness, nor the
two together; not an undifferentiated mass of dormant
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omniscience; neither knowing nor unknowing, because
invisible, ineffable, intangible, devoid of characteristics,
inconceivable, indefinable, its sole essence being the
assurance of its own Self; the coming to peaceful rest of
all differentiated, relative existence; utterly quiet; peaceful,
blissful, without a second: this is Atman, the Self, which is
to be realized. 1

¹ Mandukyopanishad, V.7.

Bhagavan's Silence

By S. Bhanu Sharma

I came to Bangalore in 1935 with the blessings of Bhagavan
Sri Ramana. I was under the care of a Polish engineer, Mr.
Maurice Frydman, who was a frequent visitor to the Ashram.
In 1937 one of his Dutch friends, Dr. G.H. Mees, a staunch
philosopher, came to visit him and was discussing philosophy
with him. Dr. Mees said that he had not been able to get
clarification on certain points in Indian Philosophy, despite all
his efforts. Mr.Frydman suggested that he go and meet
Bhagavan and that from him he was sure to get what he wanted.

I was asked to accompany Dr. Mees to introduce him to
Bhagavan. Dr.Mees noted down all his questions on a sheet
of paper. We arrived at about 8.30 a.m., prostrated before
Bhagavan and sat down in the Hall in front of him. Several
devotees were putting questions and Bhagavan was answering
them. Dr. Mees kept silent, and at 10.45 I reminded him about
his questions. He said that he no longer had any doubt on any
point and that all of the answers had become clear to him
after the darshan of Bhagavan.

Thus was the grace of Bhagavan bestowed on devotees
without their asking, when they went to him for his blessings.

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