Book Review #16
In the past couple of weeks, I read an engrossing travelogue written by the Jewish British spiritual explorer Paul Brunton, first published in 1934 and considered a classic work on seeking a guru. The book is about Paul’s deeply spiritual journey traveling around pre-independence India in the 1930s, living among yogis, mystics & gurus, some who he found convincing, innumerable as blatant frauds and some he just cannot fathom. Example, the fakir/yogi who can conjure up any scent one can request him. He meets Yogis with control of the body (exhaustively investigated to be true) that are inconsistent with how we understand our body. E.g., one Yogi could completely stop his pulse or breathing for impossible lengths of time.
The book eventually culminates in him accepting, Sri Ramana Maharishi from Arunachala in Thiruvannamalai in South India as his spiritual guru. Let me attempt to summarize the major spiritual learnings that Paul gleaned from this guru
1) You have to ask yourself the question, "Who am I?". This investigation will lead in the end to the discovery of something within you which is behind the mind. Solve that great problem, and you will solve all other problems thereby
2) All human beings are ever wanting happiness (thru drink or thru religion); untainted with sorrow, a happiness which will not come to an end. But man's real nature is happiness. Happiness is inborn in the true self. The true self is imperishable; therefore, when a man finds it, he finds a happiness which does not come to an end
3) To understand this, it is first necessary for a man to analyse himself. It has long been man's habit that he has never faced his "I" in the correct manner. Man has too long identified himself with his body and the brain. Hence, one should pursue this enquiry, "Who am I?
4) The sense of 'I' is not that which pertains to the body or the mind. When a man knows his true self for the first time, something else arises from the depths of his being and takes possession of him. That something is behind the mind; it is infinite, divine, eternal. You can call it the kingdom of heaven, the soul, or Nirvana or Liberation or any name you wish. When this happens, a man has not really lost himself; rather, he has found himself.
5) Our life of action need not be renounced. Meditate regularly, carry on with your duties, and the current of mind induced will continue to flow even in the midst of your work. As you go on you will find that your attitude towards people, events and objects will gradually change. Your actions will tend to follow your meditations of their own accord
6) A man should surrender the personal selfishness which binds him to this world. Giving up the false self is the true renunciation
For anyone interested in reading more about this spiritual guru, recommended reading would be "Who Am I" and "The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi"
Thanks Kiran Kumar Alla, for recommending this great read.
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