Autobiography of a Yogi Part 25

"It will do you good to leave the shadows of your hermitage and breathe the honest air of a courtroom." The deputy grinned contemptuously.

I could not contain myself.

"Another word of your impudence and you will be on the floor!" I advanced threateningly.

"You wretch!" Kanai's shout was simultaneous with my own. "Dare you bring your blasphemies into this sacred ashram?"

But Master stood protectingly in front of his abuser. "Don't get excited over nothing. This man is only doing his rightful duty."

The officer, dazed at his varying reception, respectfully offered a word of apology and sped away.

Amazing it was to find that a master with such a fiery will could be so calm within. He fitted the Vedic definition of a man of G.o.d: "Softer than the flower, where kindness is concerned; stronger than the thunder, where principles are at stake."

There are always those in this world who, in Browning's words, "endure no light, being themselves obscure." An outsider occasionally berated Sri Yukteswar for an imaginary grievance. My imperturbable guru listened politely, a.n.a.lyzing himself to see if any shred of truth lay within the denunciation. These scenes would bring to my mind one of Master's inimitable observations: "Some people try to be tall by cutting off the heads of others!"

The unfailing composure of a saint is impressive beyond any sermon.

"He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." {FN12-23}

I often reflected that my majestic Master could easily have been an emperor or world-shaking warrior had his mind been centered on fame or worldly achievement. He had chosen instead to storm those inner citadels of wrath and egotism whose fall is the height of a man.

{FN12-1} "Worship of Durga." This is the chief festival of the Bengali year and lasts for nine days around the end of September.

Immediately following is the ten-day festival of DASHAHARA ("the One who removes ten sins"-three of body, three of mind, four of speech).

Both PUJAS are sacred to Durga, literally "the Inaccessible," an aspect of Divine Mother, Shakti, the female creative force personified.

{FN12-2} Sri Yukteswar was born on May 10, 1855.

{FN12-3} YUKTESWAR means "united to G.o.d." GIRI is a cla.s.sificatory distinction of one of the ten ancient Swami branches. SRI means "holy"; it is not a name but a t.i.tle of respect.

{FN12-4} Literally, "to direct together." SAMADHI is a superconscious state of ecstasy in which the yogi perceives the ident.i.ty of soul and Spirit.

{FN12-5} Snoring, according to physiologists, is an indication of utter relaxation (to the oblivious pract.i.tioner, solely).

{FN12-6} DHAL is a thick soup made from split peas or other pulses.

CHANNA is a cheese of fresh curdled milk, cut into squares and curried with potatoes.

{FN12-7} The omnipresent powers of a yogi, whereby he sees, hears, tastes, smells, and feels his oneness in creation without the use of sensory organs, have been described as follows in the TAITTIRIYA ARANYAKA: "The blind man pierced the pearl; the fingerless put a thread into it; the neckless wore it; and the tongueless praised it."

{FN12-8} The cobra swiftly strikes at any moving object within its range. Complete immobility is usually one's sole hope of safety.

{FN12-9} Lahiri Mahasaya actually said "Priya" (first or given name), not "Yukteswar" (monastic name, not received by my guru during Lahiri Mahasaya's lifetime). (See page 109.) "Yukteswar" is subst.i.tuted here, and in a few other places in this book, in order to avoid the confusion, to reader, of two names.

{FN12-10} "Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."-MARK 11:24. Masters who possess the Divine Vision are fully able to transfer their realizations to advanced disciples, as Lahiri Mahasaya did for Sri Yukteswar on this occasion.

{FN12-11} "And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear and healed him."-LUKE 22:50-51.

{FN12-12} "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."-MATTHEW 7:6.

{FN12-13} Disciples; from Sanskrit verb root, "to serve."

{FN12-14} He was once ill in Kashmir, when I was absent from him.

(See chapter 23.)

{FN12-15} A courageous medical man, Charles Robert Richet, awarded the n.o.bel Prize in physiology, wrote as follows: "Metaphysics is not yet officially a science, recognized as such. But it is going to be.

... At Edinburgh, I was able to affirm before 100 physiologists that our five senses are not our only means of knowledge and that a fragment of reality sometimes reaches the intelligence in other ways... . Because a fact is rare is no reason that it does not exist. Because a study is difficult, is that a reason for not understanding it? ... Those who have railed at metaphysics as an occult science will be as ashamed of themselves as those who railed at chemistry on the ground that pursuit of the philosopher's stone was illusory... . In the matter of principles there are only those of Lavoisier, Claude Bernard, and Pasteur-the EXPERIMENTAL everywhere and always. Greetings, then, to the new science which is going to change the orientation of human thought."

{FN12-16} SAMADHI: perfect union of the individualized soul with the Infinite Spirit.

{FN12-17} The subconsciously guided rationalizations of the mind are utterly different from the infallible guidance of truth which issues from the superconsciousness. Led by French scientists of the Sorbonne, Western thinkers are beginning to investigate the possibility of divine perception in man.

"For the past twenty years, students of psychology, influenced by Freud, gave all their time to searching the subconscious realms,"

Rabbi Israel H. Levinthal pointed out in 1929. "It is true that the subconscious reveals much of the mystery that can explain human actions, but not all of our actions. It can explain the abnormal, but not deeds that are above the normal. The latest psychology, sponsored by the French schools, has discovered a new region in man, which it terms the superconscious. In contrast to the subconscious which represents the submerged currents of our nature, it reveals the heights to which our nature can reach. Man represents a triple, not a double, personality; our conscious and subconscious being is crowned by a superconsciousness. Many years ago the English psychologist, F. W. H. Myers, suggested that 'hidden in the deep of our being is a rubbish heap as well as a treasure house.'

In contrast to the psychology that centers all its researches on the subconscious in man's nature, this new psychology of the superconscious focuses its attention upon the treasure-house, the region that alone can explain the great, unselfish, heroic deeds of men."

{FN12-18} JNANA, wisdom, and BHAKTI, devotion: two of the main paths to G.o.d.

{FN12-19} "Man in his waking state puts forth innumerable efforts for experiencing sensual pleasures; when the entire group of sensory organs is fatigued, he forgets even the pleasure on hand and goes to sleep in order to enjoy rest in the soul, his own nature,"

Shankara, the great Vedantist, has written. "Ultra-sensual bliss is thus extremely easy of attainment and is far superior to sense delights which always end in disgust."

{FN12-20} MARK 2:27.

{FN12-21} The UPANISHADS or VEDANTA (literally, "end of the Vedas"), occur in certain parts of the VEDAS as essential summaries. The UPANISHADS furnish the doctrinal basis of the Hindu religion. They received the following tribute from Schopenhauer: "How entirely does the UPANISHAD breathe throughout the holy spirit of the VEDAS!

How is everyone who has become familiar with that incomparable book stirred by that spirit to the very depths of his soul! From every sentence deep, original, and sublime thoughts arise, and the whole is pervaded by a high and holy and earnest spirit... . The access to the VEDAS by means of the UPANISHADS is in my eyes the greatest privilege this century may claim before all previous centuries."

{FN12-22} Commentaries. Shankara peerlessly expounded the UPANISHADS.

{FN12-23} PROVERBS 16:32.

CHAPTER: 13

THE SLEEPLESS SAINT

"Please permit me to go to the Himalayas. I hope in unbroken solitude to achieve continuous divine communion."

I actually once addressed these ungrateful words to my Master.

Seized by one of the unpredictable delusions which occasionally a.s.sail the devotee, I felt a growing impatience with hermitage duties and college studies. A feebly extenuating circ.u.mstance is that my proposal was made when I had been only six months with Sri Yukteswar. Not yet had I fully surveyed his towering stature.

"Many hillmen live in the Himalayas, yet possess no G.o.d-perception."

My guru's answer came slowly and simply. "Wisdom is better sought from a man of realization than from an inert mountain."

Ignoring Master's plain hint that he, and not a hill, was my teacher, I repeated my plea. Sri Yukteswar vouchsafed no reply. I took his silence for consent, a precarious interpretation readily accepted at one's convenience.

In my Calcutta home that evening, I busied myself with travel preparations. Tying a few articles inside a blanket, I remembered a similar bundle, surrept.i.tiously dropped from my attic window a few years earlier. I wondered if this were to be another ill-starred flight toward the Himalayas. The first time my spiritual elation had been high; tonight conscience smote heavily at thought of leaving my guru.

The following morning I sought out Behari Pundit, my Sanskrit professor at Scottish Church College.

"Sir, you have told me of your friendship with a great disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya. Please give me his address."