36. LIGHT OF THE
WORLD
"Like the energy of the distant Sun your sakti falls onme and removes my sorrow."
— Ganapati Muni
THE advent of Jesus was heralded when a star arose in
the sky showing the wise men the way to the place
where he was born. Historically, the light of knowledge
arose in the East and shone in the Western world.
Bhagavan Sri Ramana's message was passed on to the
West very early by Humphreys.
HUMPHREYS:
The story of Humphreys itself was unusual. He arrived
at Bombay in 1911 on being appointed as an Assistant
Superintendent of Police, and within a short time of landing
at Bombay fell sick. By then he already had practised yoga
and was capable of travelling to any place in the subtle body
leaving the gross one. Through his subtle body, Humphreys
was able to find a Pandit (Munshi) at Vellore to teach him
Telugu. On March 18, the Telugu Pandit, Sarvepalli
Narasimham (later, Swami Pranavanada) came to him.
The student began questioning the Munshi about
philosophic matters. He also asked the teacher to fetch
him books on astrology. The next day when the Munshi
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came, he asked him if there were any Mahatmas in the
vicinity and if he knew any such one. The Munshi probably
thought that all talk of a guru to the Englishman was
unwarranted and hence replied that he knew no Mahatma.
The next day, the student said, "Munshi, you said yesterday
that you did not know of any Mahatma but your guru
appeared in my dream this morning. In fact, you were the
first person of Vellore that I saw even at Bombay." The
Munshi protested that he had never visited Bombay at all.
Thereupon, the student told him of the occult powers
acquired by him through the practice of yoga. The teacher
was impressed and as requested by the student, showed
him some pictures of great souls. On seeing Ganapati
Muni's picture, Humphreys exclaimed, "This is the great
man who appeared in my dream this morning. Is he not
your guru?" Then the Munshi had to acknowledge that
Ganapati Muni was indeed his guru.
Within a fortnight, Humphreys fell ill again and
had to be moved to Ootacamund. He kept writing to the
Munshi every now and then. Once he wrote that he saw
a person with matted hair, a long beard and brilliant eyes.
On another occasion, he said that he proposed to give up
non-vegetarian food to facilitate his practice of pranayama [?]
and dhyana [?]. On yet another occasion, he asked whether
it would be proper for him to rejoin an esoteric society of
which he was a member earlier. After the return of
Humphreys from Ootacamund, he and the Munshi joined
Ganapati Muni in November 1911 on a visit to the
Maharshi. In his very first question posed to Bhagavan,
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his struggle as a youth, his high ideals and his desire to
help others were revealed. The Maharshi also spoke to
him partly in English.
Humphreys: Swami, can I do anything to reform the
world?
Maharshi: You reform yourself first. It is as good as
reforming the world.
Humphreys: I wish to do good to the world, will I
not be able to do it?
Maharshi: You do good to yourself first, after all you
are also part of the world. Not only that, you are the
world, the world is you. Both are not apart.
Humphreys (after a pause): "Swami, will I not be able
to perform any miracles like Krishna, Jesus and the like?
Maharshi: Did those people think that they were
performing miracles while doing those acts?
Again after a pause Humphreys replied in the negative.
Maharshi perhaps thought that interest in such
powers would cause harm to Humphreys and warned him
that the only thing to be obtained was the atma and that
he should devote all his energies towards that end. He
added that Humphreys should work towards the goal with
an attitude of complete self-surrender.
Bhagavan once described Arunachala as a unique hill
of light, so was he. Those who visited him once were bound
to return over and over again. Humphreys paid a visit to
Bhagavan a second time. In the midday hot sun, he travelled
all the forty miles from Vellore on a motor cycle to
Tiruvannamalai and there, picking up Raghavachari, a
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P.W.D. Supervisor, paid a visit to Bhagavan. He was tired
and dust-laden; on seeing him, Bhagavan offered him some
refreshments and quietened him. At that moment, the
District Munsiff A.S. Krishnaswami Iyer was also there.
With both Raghavachari and Krishnaswami acting as
interpreters the conversation proceeded.
Humphreys: Swami, I easily forget the lessons, only
the last words remain in my memory. What should I do?
Maharshi: You can attend to your duty as well as to
your meditation.
Humphreys had Bhagavan's darshan a third time. By
then his regard for him had reached such a level that he
considered it sacreligious to climb the hill with his shoes and
hat on. So, he discarded them and reached the cave barefoot.
Bhagavan while returning to the cave from somewhere saw
Humphreys' belongings on the way and asked Palaniswami,
who was with him, to pick them up. No one knew what
instructions Bhagavan gave Humphreys on that occasion.
Humphreys wrote a letter to his friend in England,
detailing his visits to Bhagavan and the instructions he
received. The friend, Felix Rudols, put it in the form
of an article and got it published in the International
Psychic Gazette. Later, that article was translated into
several other languages and seekers of various lands
benefited from the instructions of Bhagavan. Much
later, the Englishman quit his job and became a monk
of the Roman Catholic Church.
Imagine an Englishman becoming a devotee of
Bhagavan and becoming instrumental in spreading
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Bhagavan's message abroad. This happened several decades
ago and helped several seekers.
Among such seekers, the first was Harry Dickman
who belonged to Riga in Latvia, a country west of Russia
along the Baltic Coast.
DICKMAN:
Quite early in life he became interested in yoga and
studied Hatha yoga, Raja yoga and practised certain asanas
prescribed in the former. He had several students also
who came to him to learn yoga.
Dickman developed intense devotion and faith in
Bhagavan and trusted him in everything. He also translated
into his native language Upadesa saram and Who am I?.
He would refer to Bhagavan the problems faced by him
and his students in their practice of yoga and follow
Bhagavan's instructions thereon. He had great faith in
celibacy and respect for the Aryan Vedanta. He also
believed that there was a close affinity in languages as well
as knowledge between his country and India. He revealed
that that part of his country where he lived was known as
Kurujeemi i.e., Kurukshetra, in his language. In order to
learn Aryan Vedanta first hand he learnt Sanskrit and
English and also acquired some knowledge of Hindi. He
made a thorough study of Vivekananda's collected works
and lived in accordance with their teachings. Further, he
sought to know the implications of the mahavakyas from
Bhagavan. He also believed that in matters spiritual,
advaita [?] was the last word. He and his disciples regularly
celebrated Bhagavan's jayanti every year.
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PAUL BRUNTON:
Book reviewer for the journal "Forum" published from
London, "Brunton" was a pen-name; his real name being
Raphael Hurst. A Jew by birth, he was a British citizen.
Right from his young days he had a religious bent of
mind. In order to acquire esoteric skills he became a
member of the Theosophical Society and though he spent
two years there he was not satisfied.
Believing that in the Eastern countries many people
specialized in secret skills he visited some sadhus, and fakirs
and wrote a book A Search in Secret India on his
experiences. In that book he praised Bhagavan saying that
among all those he visited, Bhagavan was unequalled and
that he considered Bhagavan to be his guru. Well-written
as it was, the book soon became popular and many
westerners turned towards Bhagavan. In that book
Brunton gave his experiences at Arunachala in detail.
Brunton on his visit to Bhagavan prostrated himself and
sat in front of Bhagavan, who had a peaceful, serene look.
Brunton imagined at first that those looks were meant to
impress devotees but soon that suspicion was removed.
He became aware of a gradual transformation within
himself and felt that a steady river of peace was flowing
round him and that peace was entering his being calming
down his turbulent mind. He recognised the peace and
happiness experienced by Bhagavan's devotees, within
himself. Suddenly he realized that the intellect created its
own problems and then made itself miserable trying to
solve them. He also realized that his new-found peace
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and wisdom were due to Bhagavan's grace. He wondered
if the Maharshi "emanated the perfume of spiritual peace
as a flower emanates fragrance from its petals." But this
peace did not last long. It vanished after a little while and
the mind reverted to its habitual unrest.
He later said of the Maharshi,
by frequently visiting this sun of wisdom the darkness
of ignorance cannot but vanish I also noticed that in
his silent moments he took me into his world of peace.
The fact that Bhagavan's mouna [?] was more powerful
than his speech became evident at such moments.
Behind his undisturbed mouna [?] there was a tremendous
power. By this power he could enslave others without
uttering a single word or lifting a little finger.
Sometimes Brunton felt the power to be so intense
that at such moments he would carry out any command
of Bhagavan's. But the Maharshi never sought to make his
disciples his slaves; he allowed them complete freedom.
There was a world of difference between other gurus and
Bhagavan in this respect. Brunton wrote:
He was utterly simple, his lofty grandeur was visible
in his presence. He never exhibited his occult powers
to impress others. He deprecated all attempts to
worship him as a deity and resented all kinds of
exhibitionism.
We cannot but accept that such a Mahatma has come
to dispense knowledge to us and not to indulge in
futile argumentation.
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The Maharshi's method which did not rest on any
miracles or blind superstition, his example which could
be followed and his outlook have greatly impressed
me. I greatly appreciate the Maharshi's spiritual
sublimity and his absolutely scientific self-enquiry path.
In this path there is no mention of `God' at all.
He puts forward a way of self-analysis which can be
practised irrespective of any ancient or modern
theories or beliefs which one may hold, a way that
will finally lead man to true self understanding.
Though the Maharshi remains in mouna [?], in this
practice the sadhaka feels that some power emanates
from him to help the sadhaka.
Maharshi's eyes glow like twin stars through the half-
darkness. I remind myself that never have I met in any
man eyes as remarkable as those of this last descendant
of India's Rishis. Insofar as the human eyes can mirror
divine power, it is a fact that the sage's do that.
BHIKKU PRAJNANANDA:
An Englishman and an Oxonian, his earlier name was
Frederick Fletcher. He mastered several European languages
and was a commander of the armed forces during the world
war. The immense destruction and loss of life during the war
touched him. He was repelled at the slaughter and like Emperor
Asoka gave up a military career, became inward looking and
embraced Buddhism and even became a Buddhist bhikku
(monk). He travelled through Burma and Tibet moving
about and living among Buddhist monks. He established an
ashram, the English Ashram, at Rangoon (in Burma).
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In 1932, he spent two months at Ramanasramam
and heard Bhagavan's teachings in person. He profited
greatly by them and developed a reverential attitude
towards Bhagavan. After going back, he kept in touch
through correspondence seeking Bhagavan's advice on
matters spiritual. He also would write to his friends
extolling Bhagavan's divine qualities. In the Sunday Express
of 28 May 1933 there was an article about him under the
caption, `Men with the Elixir of Life.'
MS. PASCALINE MALLET:
Another devotee was Ms. Pascaline Mallet, a French
lady, and author of `Turn Eastwards'. So was Joyce.
H. Hidding. All these devotees wrote several articles and
books on Ramana's philosophy.
CHADWICK:
Mention must be made of Allen Wentworth Chadwick
who also was a Major in the army and who also could not
bear the violence of war and went looking for peace ?
thus he turned towards philosophy.
He roamed about all over and spent sometime in South
America, meditating. Finally, hearing Bhagavan's story he
reached Ramanasramam. He became a resident there.
His dedication towards Bhagavan was boundless.
Initially, he used to do girpradakshina but later he felt
there was no difference between the hill and Bhagavan
and commenced doing the pradakshina of the hall where
Bhagavan sat. He worked for the publication of English
books by the Ashram.
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OTHER DEVOTEES:
A number of Western devotees had frequent darshan
of Bhagavan, some stayed back in India and propagated
Bhagavan's teachings. Among them were Maurice
Frydman, Cohen and Duncan Greenlees.
Several German scholars heard of Bhagavan's message
and were attracted to it. Dr. H. Zimmer, a Professor at
the Heidelberg University, developed great interest in
Bhagavan's teachings. He translated into German books
such as Who am I? Ulladu Narpadu and Crumbs from the
Master's Table. He later migrated to England and took up
a job at the Oxford University during the period of turmoil
which arose in Germany.
Several books relating to Bhagavan were translated
into French.
In Switzerland, Ms. Olge Frobe Kepkyn, built an
ashram to facilitate meditation at a beautiful tourist spot
(Casa Garbrivella Ascona-Tessim) where Bhagavan's jayanti
began to be celebrated. She always wished that someone
from Ramanasramam should go there and act as a guru.
But at Ramanasramam the objective was not propaganda.
The Ashram felt that seekers should experience the
Ultimate, something which each one had to do by himself
and could not be done through lectures.