Prev Next 2nd December, 1945
On another occasion, an Andhra youth came and said,
“Swami, having a great desire for moksha (deliverance) and
anxious to know the way thereto, I have read all sorts of
books on Vedanta. They all describe it, each in a different
way. I have also visited a number of learned people and when
I asked them, each recommended a different path. I got
puzzled and have come to you; please tell me which path to
take.”
With a smile on his face, Bhagavan said, “All right, then,
go the way you came.” We all felt amused at this. The poor
young man did not know what to say. He waited until
Bhagavan left the hall and then with a depressed look turned
to the others there appealingly, and said, “Gentlemen, I have
come a long way with great hope and with no regard for the
expenses or discomfort, out of my ardent desire to know the
way to moksha; is it fair to tell me to go the way I came. Is this
such a huge joke?”
Thereupon one of them said, “No, sir, it is no joke. It is
the most appropriate reply to your question. Bhagavan’s
teaching is that the enquiry, ‘Who am I?’ is the easiest path
to moksha. You asked him which way ‘I’ should go, and his
saying, ‘Go the way you came,’ meant that if you investigate
and pursue the path from which that ‘I’ came, you will attain
moksha.”
The voice of a Mahatma indicates the truth even when
speaking in a light vein. Thereupon the book, “Who am I?”
was placed in the hands of the young man who felt astonished
at the interpretation, and taking Bhagavan’s words as upadesa,
prostrated himself to Bhagavan and went away.
Bhagavan usually gives us his teachings either in a
humorous or a casual way or by way of consolation. During
my early days at the Ashram, whenever I felt like going home,
I would approach Bhagavan at some time when there were
hardly any people present and say, “I want to go home,
Bhagavan, but I am afraid of falling back into family
muddles.” He would reply, “Where is the question of our
falling into anything when all comes and falls into us?”
On another occasion, I said, “Swami, I am not yet freed
from these bonds.” Bhagavan replied, “Let what comes come,
let what goes go. Why do you worry?” Yes, if only we could
realise what that ‘I’ is, we should not have all these worries.
(c) Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai