Wandering in the himalayas, whats to be known -2

 

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imp 184

My dear, labour not under the delusion that external things are the

 source of happiness.

 Give up all attachment and cling to 
Vairagya. 

Indeed, even now you are rich in Vairagya ; 
yet, I tell you all this only to strengthen your spirit of 
Vairagya 

: Withdraw your mind from all transient, 
terrestrial concerns, give it peace and practise concen- 
tration, so that you can see God as clearly and as 
directly as I see you.

 Now I will tell you how you 
can fulfil the purpose of life by realizing the blissful 
'soul freely and completely. O Maitreyi, perceive 
your soul by hearing, thinking and meditating. He 
who aims at realizing the soul must, first of all, with 



184 WANDERINGS IN THE HIMALAVAS 

the help of the Mahatmas who have realized it already; 
and suitable books, understand to some extent the 
nature of the soul. 

From then he may learn that 
soul is one without a second ; that It is omnipresent ; 
that It is the same soul that manifests itself as jiva 
(in all living bodies ; that It itself is Brahman, the 
ultimate cause of the universe. 

Then he must con- 
vince himself of this truth by independent reasoning. 

Once he has done that he must meditate upon it 
intensely and without break. The process is called 
Nididhyasan.

 In the course of such concentrated, 
devout meditations the mind merges with the soul 
and in that state of samadhi he perceives It directly. 

The numberless doubts which assailed him before 
now resolve themselves completely. Is there a soul 
different from the body ? If there is, does it possess 
any attributes or functions? or is it pure without 
attributes ? If it is without attributes, does it differ 
from body to body ? or is it one and the same ? 
Such doubts and the illusory idea that “lam this body ” 
ingrained in us in the course of several lives, now melt 
into thin air. He is convinced that the boast of 
heraldry and the pomp of power and pelf are nothing 
but vanity. With the conviction that high birth or 
low birth, wealth or poverty, pleasure or pain, good 
or evil, desire or anger, all pertain only to the body 
iland not to the soul, the jnani rises to the exalted 
I state of jivanmukli where he realizes beyond all doubt 
i“ I am the soul, pure and blissful — the One without 
a second. That is the ultimate goal of man. For 
him there is no gain greater than the realization of the 
soul — ^no greater pleasure to enjoy — no higher duty 
to perform. Self-abidance is the paramount duty, 
paramount joy, paramount gain. It is the supreme 



CHANDANANATH 


185 


knowledge, O Maitreyi, self-abidance is the sole means 
of attaining immortality : so, if you aim at immortality, 
spare no effort towards reaching that state of self- 
abidance.” 

Brahman is infinite and like a lump of salt. It is 
homogeneous in taste — that is to say, it is the mass of 
being, intelligence, bliss. It is free from the differences 
of three kinds. Being without parts it has no internal 
difference ; since there is nothing positive like it, 
it has no difference from things like it ; Nonentity 
alone is different from it, but a nonentity cannot 
be a counter entity of difference (or similarity) whence 
Brahman has no difference from things unlike it. 
iThus Brahman, entirely free from diversity, appears 
un the phenomenal stage to be many, though it is in 
fact one ; though unlimited by time and space, etc., 
it appears to be limited ; yet, always in its own grandeur 
It shines all by itself. 

Brahman is one-without-a-second. It transcends 
nature. Therefore, questions pertinent to the objects 
of nature are out of place in relation to It. Questions 
like, “ where did Brahman originate ? ” “ When did 

Brahman originate ? ” are as ridiculous as “ Please 
see, have I a tongue? ” “ Is my mother barren ? ” 
When It is without a second, how can it have a cause ? 
Interrogatives like “ where ” and “ when ” are irrele- 
vant to advaita ; they have their place only in the 
illusory world of duality. 
Only a few virtuous souls with real wisdom 
realise that sensuous pleasures which cause bondage 
are ultimately the source of sorrow, and cultivate a 
spirit of detachment in an effort to attain the Divine 
Joy All mankmd, without any distinction of the 
learned and the ignorant, lose themselves in the fleeting 
bodily pleasures and consequently suffer from a senses 
of calamities such as births and deaths and illness 
Yet, paradoxical as it is, they fancy that state of bondage 
to be happiness 
The very awareness of bondage is the 
[result of keen discrimination He who knows not 
he IS bound, will not try to set himself free He 
who does not desire freedom, cannot find any interest 
m the search after Truth or in philosophical discussions 
Philosophical discussions lead to philosophical wisdom 
Knowledge of Truth leads to Soul Force Soul 

188 WANDERINfSS IN TH£ HIMALAYAS 

Force is ever homogeneous, un-excelled, eternal The 
seductive power of the sense objects is as momentary 
as the flashes of lightning In the presence of Soul 
Force, power of the sense objects loses all lustre and 
appears as a glow-worm in the presence of the Sun 
The Soul Force is the great force in whose presence 
all earthly power, the power of the emperor, the power 
of even Hiranyagarbha, becomes infinitely negligible 
When man attains that power, all his bonds break, 
and he comes to enjoy a free, blissful life with a feeling 
of eternal contentment and finality So long as man 
mistakes the body for the self, and consequently 
entertains feelings of “ I ” and “ mine ”, he can 
hardly reach the portals of Soul Force. Most people 
caught in the toils of Illusion waste their lives, not 
only without attaining Soul Force or self-knowledge, 
but even without realising that they are in a state of 
bondage Among all mankind, who has the strength 
to overstep the limits of the wide realm of the mighty 
Illusion which holds sway over everything, and engulfs 
all men and women in the shoreless sea of desire and 
dances intoxicated, blowing the trumpet of her victory 
that signifies undisputed sovereignty  
God is everywhere and at 
all times , He sees everything He understands the 
needs of all and supplies them as He knows fit But 
man is hardly aware of this truth , even if he is aware 
of it, he does not fully believe it. Some evil in him 
'obstructs complete self-surrender.
Not even a penny:
Once a devout 
eighteen-year old Chnstian girl left her hearth and 
home to follow the Lord When she renounced all 



CllANDANANATH 


191 


earthly possessions, she kept just a penny with her 
for the next meal Then she heard a Voice from the 
sky, “ Did you give up everythmg else trusting to this 
one penny 9 ” At once she replied, “ My Lord ' 
I came out trusting you, not to the penny ” and un- 
mediately flung away the com Now trustmg solely 
to the care of the Lord, she proceeded on her way 
For the man who relies on wealth, of what avail is 
God’s aid '> For the devotee of God, of what use is 
worldly wealth i 

Although I was travelling as a guest of wealthy 
and powerful princes and under their arrangements, I 
was unwilling to provide myself with a large quantity 
of food, because of my simple faith in God and my 
spirit of renunciation This sometimes put me to 
serious difficulties on the way, but the Lord of the 
Universe was everywhere sheltering me under Hfs 
'care When mahatmas wander aU alone even m 
deserts, wasting not a thought on the morrow, of 
what to eat or where to rest, God protects them against 
all harm For people who repose implicit faith m 
God and His infinite mercy, can there be anything 
like want ? Even in the solitary Himalayan recesses 
where one hardly ever hears of food, they experience 
plenty God is ever ready to attend to the welfare 
.of His devotees For them too, as for the birds in 
the air. He provides necessary victuals Not only in 
the matter of food, but also m other matters God 
Jused to stretch forth His helping hand and pull us 
out of every difficulty.
I spent most of my tune in meditation 
It IS not impossible to keep the eyes open, engage 
ourselves in various activities and at the same time 
see the Paramalmaii, even as we see Him directly 
in our meditation while we sit with our eyes closed. 
Yet if the latter course is preferred, it is only because 
we desire to reach the sublime state of supreme peace 
without the obstructions of perceptible things, and 
because concentration gradually develops into one’s 



CUANPANANATH 


193 


second nature Having consciously overcome obsta- 
cles like laya, vikshepa, kashaya and rasaswada, man’s 
mmd soars higher and higher like birds to the very 
zenith of Nirvikalpa Brahman, and finds rest and 
happiness there To those who have realized, this 
kind of samadhi is a source of bliss , to the seekers, 
it proves helpful in reinforcing knowledge 
There is 
no doubt that the congeniality of time and place goes 
a long way towards making the mind still and pointed 
like the flame in a windless room and leading it on 
to the state of Nirvikalpa and bliss 
It may be stated 
with certainty that the Himalayan atmosphere per- 
meated with the noble penance and energy of the 
great rishis, has exceptional powers of easily leading 
minds to peace and concentration.
The function of the Acharyas in this land has 
been merely to revive the Sanatana Dharma which 
became moribund under the stress and strain of ages 
and establish a new Dharma If it was to create a 
new dharma as pot maker makes a pot, the dharma 
so created cannot evidently be eternal (Sanatana) ' 
The sun of Sanatana darshana may sometimes be 
eclipsed by short lived new systems , but by the 
efforts of philosophers who have realized Truth, it is 
restored to its pristine brilliance again and again 
Once, when the Advaita darshan grew weak and 
dim under the attack of inimical faiths, Sri Badarayana 
rescued it by the composition of the Brahmasutra 
He tore the dualist systems into shreds Philosophers 
hke Goutama recognise only the knowledge of self, 
and do not accept monism Goutama’s soul is not 
a pure spirit without qualities , on the contrary it is 
an mert object with qualities like desire, anger, industry, 
etc He argues that the qualified soul may be inferred 
from the qualities According to him salvation consists 
in the destruction of the sorrow originating from 
illusion.
 But Vedavyasa proves, with reference to 
authorities, that soul is the pure spirit without qualities 
It is the One without a second. It is Brahma The 
direct experience of. It is what is called liberation. 
Kaivalya or Moksha consists not merely in the annihila- 
tion of sorrow, but in the positive blissful realization 
of one’s true Self.
 This Vedantic view expounded by 
Vyasa conveys undoubtedl/the eternal, the paramount 
[truth, the goal of all human endeavour Yet the 



CHANDANANATH 


199 


Views of Goutama, etc, are not absolute untruths 
They express a relative truth and conduce to compara- 
tive progress 
 The Nyaya of Goutama helps greatly in establish- 
ing the existence of the soul and of God by the process 
of induction He demohshes the theories (winch do 
not recognise the authority of the Vedas) such as 
“ body IS self ” or “ void is self ” by pure logic without 
any recourse to the authority of the Vedas and esta- 
I Wishes the existence of the soul and of God instead 
Since Goutama acknowledges an individual soul sepa- 
rate from the body and a supreme soul on which all 
individual souls depend his jadaum %ada (inert is self) 
IS superior to the dehalma \ada as well as soonyata 
vada, because it is truer and more laudable Kapila’s 
chetamum \ada is still superior to Gautama’s The 
theism of Goutama and Patanjah is superior to the 
atheism of Kapila and Jaimini.
When we thus 
analyse the various schools of philosophy we find that 
all of them are reconcilable in a way All these 
relative truths are acceptable because they help towards 
the realization of the ultimate and absolute truth that 
Jivatma and Paramatma are one TTiiisjilLtbe-dujjita 
phtlnsnphig.s end in ndx aitn. The dwaita that treats 
of Jiva (soul), Iswara (God) and Jagat (universe) is 
nothing but advaita It is therefore doubtless that 
out ultimate objective is the attainment of Advaita, 
not of Dwaita This may be illustrated here by an 
interesting short story.
Chooses slave story:
 Once upon a time, there was an immensely wealthy 
lord On his death-bed he made a will By this will 
he made over his great estate to one of his beloved 
slaves But he included one provision m the will, 
that each of his sons must be allowed to choose from 



200 


WANDERINGS IN THE HIMALAYAS 


his father’s possessions one thing that appeared to 
him most precious. One by one, his sons exercised 
their option. The eldest chose the luxurious palace ; 
the second son selected the lovely garden ; the third 
accepted the jewelled throne and so on, and so forth, 
until it came to the turn of the youngest son. Then 
the young man rose and made liis choice. He said 
quietly, “ Here I choose this slave of my father’s 
as my property”. Hearing the words, the judges 
and the people gathered there were aghast with wonder. 
They all applauded the sagacity of the young man. 
Even when all the other sons had taken their shares, 
an immense quantity of wealth had been left to the 
slave. According to law, a slave’s wealth belongs 
to his master. So, when the young man became the 
owner of the slave, he became the owner of all the 
wealth left in the slave’s possession. He aimed at 
the one thing whose ownership brought him everything 
and got it. 

When one has actually seen a piece of clay, all the 
transformations of clay are as good as seen. For 
effect IS not different from its cause Pitcher, etc , 
are but the nominal variations of the clay So the 
clay alone is true Similarly there is one Truth 
(Brahman) on knowing which one knows everything. 
Did you get that knowledge from your master ” 

thief gandhara  story:
The traveller took him out 
and set him on the right road to Gandhara Having 
understood the directions and being clever enough to 
draw out inferences, he made his way back to his 
native village and reached home in safety Even so, 
man is blind folded by the veil of illusion He is 
captured by the thieves, Dharma and Adharnia, and 
left in the forest of this body so full of woes Then 
the kind master takes pity on him, removes the veil 
from his eyes and sets him on the right road to his 
goal The man being clever enough to understand 
advice, and being contemplative by nature, escapes 
from the wood and reaches the Eternal Object Under- 
stand, therefore, that the advice of the master is 
the chief means of attaining that Eternal Entity 
' “ That thou art, O Swethakethu, youi are that Eternal 
Entity That Eternal Object is yourself ” 
In the attainment of eternity there is no dilferencc 
between the learned and the ignorant , but there is 
this dilferencc , the ignorant man, as a result of his 
unenlightened actions performed with desire, is obliged 
I to return to earthly life , the enlightened one dwells 
eternally in that Eternal Home “ 0 Swethakethu, 
\you are that Eternal Being the Eternal Being is 



KIIOCHSANATH 


207 


yourself.” 

“ This fellow is a thief ; he has stolen property ” 
so saying policemen bind the hands of the suspect. 
As he refuses to confess they subject him to torture. 
They force him to hold red-hot iron in his hands. 
If he has uttered untruth his hand is charred and 
scarred ; ifhe has spoken truth his hand escapes injury. 
The contact with red-hot iron is common to both. 
But Truth saves the one, and untruth destroys the other. 
.1 jSimilarly, in death, the learned and the ignorant, 
both reach the Eternal Being. But the Jnani knowing 
ihimself as Brahman no more desires bodily existence. 
' idn the contrary, the ajnani not knowing Truth, still 
/loves the unreal body, etc., and desires to be born 
again, “ 0 Swethakethu ; ‘ That thou art ’ — that 
Eternal Brahman is yourself ; you are that Brahman.” 

Thus nine tim ps did Uddalaka teach bis son the 
Ultimate Truth “That thou art”, illustrating it by 
apt examples. Swethakethu, who was already well 
qualified to realize Truth, listened to his father’s words 
with wrapt attention and grasped the truth like a myro- 
balan in one’s palm— the truth that the soul itself is the 
,] Brahman which is the substratum of the universe. 
I'ljHaving found deliverance even while on earth, he. 
ilived in supreme contentment and heavenly bliss for 
(ever more. 

I Such were the lines on wiiich the ancient rishis 


thought. By very careful reasoning they determined 
the nature of Reality and found everlasting bliss, 
jl'lndccd, thinking alone helps in determining the 
irnaturc of Reality. No amount of penance or ritualistic 
jhvorship can take us to the goal. Penance, by itself, 
Itannot destroy the I-Comciousness. That can be 
'footed out only on the direct perception of Reality 



20S 


WANDERINGS IN THE HIMALAVAS 


resulting from thought. Until that is done there 
cannot be real peace and freedom from suffering All 
creatures, from the worm to Htraiiyagarbha, are 
strung on the ego-sense called adhyasa, by the Vedan- 
tins (Saririka Bhashya ) The impression that some- 
thing IS what It IS not — the notion that the soul is the 
body (which it is not)— is what is called adhyasa or 
ahamkara Ahamkara-us saiiisara The escape from 
Samsara (cycle of births and deaths) is called moksha. 
The state in which one has destroyed egoism, realized 
the soul, and found the soul in everything movable or 
immovable, is called mukn (liberation) The attain- 
ment of that state is the highest purpose of hie.
If I survived the intense cold of the place it 
was certainly not because of my powers of endurance : 
it was merely on account of God’s own mercy. I 
was very ill. Day by day, the body had grown weaker, 
especially as we had to sustain life on Sattu flour 
mixed with molasses in tea or cold water, in the absence 
of cooked rice or wheat bread. At these great heights 
neither rice nor wheat is available. Even if they were 
available, it is not easy to get the fire-wood for cooking 
them. So people generally live upon Sattu flour. 
It does not requite to be cooked and so it is a convenient 
and readily available form of food. To light a fire 
on the peaks of the Himalayas or on the heights of 
Tibet is a Herculean task, partly on account of the 
lack of fire-wood and partly on account of very strong 
winds. Even if one succeeds in lighting a fire, it is 
no easy task to cook rice and pulses in the extremely 
cold water and the extremely cold atmosphere of the 
place. As for us, we some times succeeded in cooking 
rice, but never in cooking pulses
From the ancient books of the Hindus we can 
understand that the misconception, ‘ body is self ’ 
was once more or less wide spread in our country. 
The majority of the people, of course, never endorsed 
the view ; they believed in an immortal soul, separate 
from the body. Kanada, Gautama, Prabhakara and 
their followers held the view that soul is an inert thing 
like the sky and knowledge is its attribute, even as the 
sound is the attribute of the sky. Among the Meemam- 
sakas, Bhatta and others argued that soul cannot be 
matter in the sense a pot is, and they, therefore, sought 
to establish, on the authority of the Vedas and logical 
reasoning, that soul is partly matter and partly spirit, 
like the glowworm. But the group of philosophers 
led by Kapila objected to this view and held that soul. 



220 WAKDERINQS IN THE lUMALAYAS 

barbarians engaged in the foolish pursuit of a will- 
of-the-wisp, what weight should we attach to his 
shallow views and opinions ? ’* 


THE MANASA AND KAILAS 

The ancient Rishis who believed in an immortal 
soul considered moksha (liberation from the cycle of 
births and deaths) as the supreme goal of life and 
directed all their sciences and scientific studies to that 
one end. They did not look upon the study of lifeless 
matter and the resultant sciences such as law, econo- 
mics, erotics, astronomy, medicine, phonetics and 
histrionics, as so many ends in themselves but only as 
means to an end— the end being the attainment of 
Truth, of salvation. The materialists of our present 
day are utilising all knowledge, all discoveries and 
inventions solely for one purpose — the enjoyment of 
worldly pleasures. To the rishis the term “ worldly 
pleasure ** was hateful. They were of the view that 
the free enjoyment of sensuous pleasure is suitable 
only to brutes and not to man. (They found no 
pleasure in transitory material things ; they found it 
only in God, the seat of all Bliss. 


The Soul is God . It alone is truth. It is without 
a second. It is what gives life to the body, the senses 
and the mind. Like the sky it exists everywhere and 
in everything. It is unlimited by time and space. 
It is self-luminous and is the embodiment of Knowledge, 
Existence, Bliss. None can deny It. The most careful 
observation of natural laws, the speediest progress of 
science, the newest and the most valuable discoveries — 
none of these can repudiate the existence of God. 
On careful thought we can see that the discoveries of 
Natural Science, etc., only prove and not disprove 
the existence of the soul. If anyone thinks otherwise, 
it is nothing but his folly. That 1 am not this inert, 
earth-like, mass of flesh, five or six feet long, but the 
soul, the embodiment of life, is a truth which can never 
perish. It was so in the past, it is so in the present, 
and it will be so in the future. Out of personal experi- 
ence the rishis have sung, “shnitT Ihrutultsi: 

srtlftvt:” etc., and even now holy men have direct 
experience of Truth. If some are yet tempted to 
disbelieve such testimony and regard it a mere fig- 
ment of the imagination like the proverbial ‘ rabbit’s 
horn ’, It will not become nothing. We can only 
say that such people are blinded by their own sin. 
The frogs in the well will assert with all the force at 
their command that there is no sea — the magnificent, 
shoreless sea with mountain-like waves sweeping its 
surface. Notwithstanding all their denial, the deep 
blue ocean rolls on. Let the west deny the existence 
of God and soul, if it will. For it, it is but appropriate. 



224 WANDERINGS IN THE HIMALAYAS 

But, for this holy motherland of ours which once 
resounded with the voice of the great saints who sang 
of the immortality of the soul, such views are entirely 
unsuited. It is not enough if we discountenance such 
atheistic tendencies ; we should sweep them clean 
out of our holy land. For us, children of the great 
rishis, faith in ourselves, knowledge of the soul, and 
soul force are ours by birthright. It is our paramount 
duty not to waste that spiritual heritage, but to keep 
it and increase it for ever more. Brothers and sisters ^ 
of India, children of rishis, inheritors of their culture, 
remember this. Even when this body composed of the 
Jive elements decomposes, the life that illuminates it 
and activates it, never perishes. That life is the soul. 
That soul is yourself. Believe this firmly. Save your 
faith from the invasion of atheistic creeds. Children 
of rishis, that faith must be within you. Kindle that 
spark into a never-dying flame 1 Remember your 
ancestors, the great rishis, who, steeped in faith, ever 
lived in bliss. Bow down your heads in loving reve- 
rence before the Himalayas which was their dear abode. 
Detach yourself from this body which may perish 
today or tomorrow ; believe in the immortal soul and 
acquire soul force and thereby bless yourself ; bless 
others ; bless all the world and reclaim it from all 
disability. May you become bejewelled beacons of 
inextinguishable spiritual light I May the Divine 
Himalaya, father-in-law of Sri Parameswara, bless 
you ! 
Even at Almora, I did not like to remain in the 
town. So we stayed in a solitary temple as the guest 
of an educated sanyasin of the vairagi type. The 
sadhu who went about stark naked was young in age 
but ripe in endurance, generosity and other great 
qualities. He would not even touch a piece of cloth 
with his hand ; his powers of enduring heat and cold 
were simply marvellous. The truth is, there is nothing 
in the world, spiritual or material, which faith cannot 
achieve. To a man of faith, no penance however 
hard or rislg', is impossible ; in fact such things 
become quite easy. 


The Hmdu sadhus may be divided broadly into 
two classes ■ (1) The Uneducated who know nothing , 
(2) The Educated who know somethmg Even among 
the uneducated one may find, though rarely, individuals 
virtuous and highly devout But the condition of 
the rest is really sad and pitiable Tliey lead altogether 
aunless lives Among the educated too, except in 
the case of a few blessed mdividuals, the condition is 



TimoUNGAfcUTAM 


249 


by no means laudable Most of them, as soon as 
they have collected some book-lore and feel capable 
of writing or saying something philosophical, get 
conceited and begin professing to have attained the 
supreme- goal Naturally, they become averse to 
further spiritual practice It is as though they have 
become Jivanmuktas in a trice Whatever be the 
doubts or waverings in their minds regarding Truth, 
they conceal everything cleverly and pose like saints 
who have already realized God Such hypocrisy 
obstructs their progress for ever T hink of the deep 
humility of Sri Suka Brahmarshi— son of Vedavyasa, 
the perfect brahmachari to whom the Kamandalu 
(water pot) and the deer skm descended from heaven 
at the very moment of birth— the great Treasure 
House of knowledge effulgent with the inborn light 
of the Vedas and the Vedangas— a yogi of yogis in 
possession of all miraculous powers • Just think, 
how honest he must have been to confess in spite of 
hvs greatness and accomphsbments, that his mind 
was still clouded with a doubt regardmg the Soul ' 
Subsequently at the behest of his father, he went to 
Janaka, a Kshatriya and householder, confessed his 
difficulties to him and sought the solution for them 
Verily he had his doubts, he never claimed to be an 
enlightened one Tliink of the story of Sikhidhwaja ' 
After eighteen years of hard penance he regretfully 
confesses to Kumbhabala, how he is still an ignorant 
and sad man, having yet failed to find Truth He too 
never pretended that he had realized Truth Aware of 
his failure, he continued his spiritual discipline and at 
last attained his goal Thus, on a study of the lives of 

m the path of true progress I have dealt with this 
subject here rather disproportionately, because I wish 
that our brother monks may not be misled into false 
contentment — into silly self-complacency — over a hfe 
of idleness and ease and hypocrisy 
In Buddhism as well as Hinduism, sanyasa and 
solitary life were treated at one time as most worthy 
of reverence. Some historians maintain with sound 
reason, that sanyasa gained such firm hold on Hindu- 
ism which was previously devoted to a life of Vedic 
rites, sacrifices and action, as a result of imitatmg 
Buddhist practices and ideas Even as many educated 
modems criticise the renunciation of action, various 
schools of thought in the distant past also had found 
fault with sanyasa as unscientific and improper For 
example there were the Samuchaya* Vadis who argued 
with vehemence that, even conceding knowledge of 
Brahman to be the means of liberation, such knowledge 
should go hand in hand with action towards the goal 
and that there is nothing essentially irreconcilable 
between them The people of this way of thinking 
were totally opposed to the renunciation of action , 
but the advocates of sanyasa easily tore their arguments 
to shreds In support of their contention, the cham- 
pions of renunciation pointed out that a mere statement 
of the fact that ’* I am Brahman ** is not tantamount 
to the realization of Brahman, that Brahman can be 
realized only through long and arduous discipline of 
both body and mind, in peaceful solitude , that, in 
the case of people immersed day in and day out in 
the belief that “ I am the body ” it is by no means 
easy to dispel the perverse notion, by merely repeating 

• Integrationisis 



266 


WANDEHmOS IN THE HIMAIAYAS 


occasionally, “ I am Brahman ” and that, therefore, 
the stage of sanyasa wherein there is complete 
renunciation of desire and total avoidance of excite- 
ment, is indispensable to all true seekers of Brahman. 
To the enlightened who abide in Bramha, sanyasa 
is a matter of course. The truth is, they have already 
become Brahman. 


Abidance in Brahman is the unbroken flow of 
mental moulds informed by Brahman. When the 
mind is engaged in a state of samadhi, how can the 
concept of body and other objects extraneous to the 
Atman arise in it ? Concept of the Atman and concept 
of the non-Atman cannot exist in the mind at the 
same moment.
How can there be activities connected 
with the body, etc., in the absence of a strong attachment 
to such objects ? As the enlightened ones abiding in 
Jnana are beyond the reach of activities, sanyasa 
comes to them quite spontaneously. The advocates 
of sanyasa, therefore, argue that during the stage of 
preparatory practice, sanyasa in the form of the 
renunciation of action is indispensable ; in the stage of 
attainment it becomes natural ; that Karma and Jnana 
cannot therefore exist in the same person at the same 
time ; that the Karma of Janaka, Vidura, etc., was 
merely the reflection of it and that only worldlings 
obsessed with the idea of sense enjoyment oppose the 
idea of sanyasa. 

Practical-minded men have often asked in the past 
and still continue to ask. “ Of what use to this world 
full of action, sustained by action and propelled by 
action, are the swiyasins who have renounced the 
world and its activities to live immersed in samadlii 
and bhajan 1 To this question, the sanyasins’ answer 
is quite simple. Their very state of non-action is in 
itself a mighty blessing to the world. More than all 
the learned disquisitions of erudite scholars, more 
than all their profound treatises, the Nirvikalpa 
Samadlii of a sanyasin touches the heart of humanity 
and elevates it to a higher plane. Their desireless 
non-action does greater good to the world than the 
swiftest and the most frantic activities of the revolu- 
tionaries. What is more, sanyasa is mightier than 
armies and is boundless as the sea. 

The conclusion of all spiritual 
sciences and of all great sages is that agitation or 
transmigratory existence is the summation of all 
possible relations between subject and object , while 
liberation or tranquillity is the cessation of such 
summations In the restncted state of the mind the 


veil, namely, the objective complex, disappears and 
then, like the sun with the disappearance of the clouds. 



296 


WANDEKWaS IH THE HIHALAYAS 


the supreme truth of tranquility shines forth vividly 
Though this ultimate truth has been indicated m 
manifold ways by various philosophers, there is no 
doubt about its unity 
A real difference cannot 
result from difference of labels or processes of thought 
What has been established thus far is that high souled 
sages attain that unsurpassed tranquillity which is 
untainted by association with a variety of names and 
forms They do so by attaining the stage of the 
restricted mind after, through discipline, discarding 
the distractions of the mind and sense organs and 
body Now rises the question what the state of the 
sages IS when the body, senses and the mind function 
Is theirs a plight of wretchedness full of agitation, 
such as that of the ignorant ? Never In the midst 
of agitation they experience, without a break, internal 
tranquility Since the principle of tranquility always 
shines forth in their minds, never is tranquillity hidden 
from them How can there be darkness in light ’ 
jHow can there be agitations m tranquilhty ">
Don’t 
ask, how bhss can dwell in pain When a man stands 
waist deep in the cool water of a deep pond m summer 
when all around it is scorching heat, simultaneously 
half his body feels the heat while the other half coolness 
Seetha dwelling under the asoka tree in Lanka, sur- 
rounded by ogresses, is said to have, at once, experi- 
enced the torments of hell and consequent upon her 
constant recollection of her lord, the qmntessence of 
bhss Even so, the sages also may find unavoidable 
I the activities of the sense organs and the mmd, impelled 
by past actions as well as the consequent sensations 
of pain and pleasure Even m the midst of such deep 
distraction the great souls who have firmly realized 
the essence of tranquillity vnll continue to expenence 



SREE GO&IUKHAM I 


297 


It Without a moment’s break for, such tranqmlhty 
shmes m their mmd When we say the supreme truth 
jmamfests itself or tranqmlhty is expenenced we mean 
Jthe same thing. Famous is the utterance of the 
teacher (Sankara) q- lassie fharil’ 

which means “ Not for half a moment do the sages 
remain without the experience of Brahman ” 

In other words, their mind takes on the form of 
Brahman which leaves them not even for the briefest 



midst of external activities the mmd, no doubt, assumes 
from moment to moment, the forms of objects Never- 
theless, what IS extremely difficult for an ordinary 
type of knower is achieved by eminent sages, namely, 
to keep unaffected the mental grasp of the truth of 
Brahman Just as the body-bound souls never miss 
the experience of the body even in the midst of the 
uttermost distractions, so the shining forth of Brahman 
IS experienced without any difficulty by the knowers 
of Brahman who delight in Brahman and who are 
non-different from Brahman The fact is, it is easier 
llfor them to do so. It becomes their very nature 
For such sages who are hardly less than God Hunself, 
and who habitually find themselves on (he summit 
of such expenence, there is concentration of mmd 
both when the mmd is restricted and when it operates 
towards objects Though, thus, both the states of 
concentration and distracbon are ahke to them, it is 
assumed, from the point of view of duality, that in 
one state, there is the apprehension of objects while, 
m the other, there is none of it Let us, however, 
leave it at that and come back to our mam theme 
Another singular experience 
also seems worth mentioning At times, both day 



SREE GOMUKUAM I 


301 


and night, certain voices could be heard above us, 
but quite close to us, carrying on conversation Some- 
times the sounds were distinct , sometimes mdistinct 
iThe elderly people, m their unquestiomng faith, 
hold that the sounds are the voices of the Yakshas, 
Gandhai vas and such semi divme beings who carry 
on conversation among themselves , the younger and 
more critical people explain these voices away as 
meamngless sounds produced by the wmds as they 
strike agamst the holes and crevices m the rocks The 
view of the elders is not to be laughed away , it 
deserves consideration 
No fear however great, no sorrow however 
mighty, can upset the everlasting peace of one who 
has realized Brahman. Those who have seen God 
see Him everywhere and at all times. The seer is 
himself God. Then why should he fear himself 7 
How could he be affected by sorrow ? There is 
nothing strange if we, whose minds were continuously 
occupied with the thought of God and who saw, 
beyond all doubt, that all movable and immovable 
beings are but so many forms of God, were not frigh- 
tened by the objects that terrify the ignorant who 
identify themselves with their bodies. In short, we 
were not distracted by the terrors and anxieties which 
haunt the minds of common people whose love of 
the body and considerations of personal safety set 
their imagination feverishly busy. At no time did we 
, experience there anything but cheerfulness. There 
[may be people who wonder how we were able to 
preserve fearlessness and cheerfulness in the midst 
of terrors. To them there is this brief reply ; Only a 
bird that flies through the air, knows the nature of 
I iflight ; similarly, only a sanyasin who travels in the 



SREE GOMUOLUI 1 


303 


world can know nothing about the secrets of the 
inner world. Among wisemen there is a well-known 
saying, “ Only the knower knows the knower 

There may still be persons who ask, “ what is 
the meaning of saying that those who have obtained 
the vision of God see him always and everywhere ? 
What is God’s shape ? What is the form of His 
vision ? ” It is impossible to answer such questions 
at onee with words. How can one describe the true 
form of God in words and make others understand 
It ? Even those who have actually seen It fail to 
describe It completely. Descriptions, however de- 
tailed or extensive, cannot hope to touch all Its aspects. 
The way to know It, is by actual experience and there 
is no other way. The srtiifs and learned men have 
described it in a thousand ways— as the Omniscient, 
the Omnipotent, the Supreme Limit of A/swarya, 
the Creator-preserver-destroyer, the shoreless, honey- 
like, Ocean of Sweetness, the Light that renders 
billions of suns dark by comparison, the Inner Being 
that controls all beings movable and immovable, the 
Embodiment of Truth-Knowledge-Bliss, the One All- 
pervading like space. One without sound, touch or 
form — so on and so forth. Indeed, we may admit 
that all these descriptions are descriptions of the 
Supreme Soul and to some extent help to convey the 
notion of what It is, but all these fall far short of 
giving men a complete idea ; for It is far above all 
description. We cannot circumscribe It with words. 
Like a fruit that floats on the surface of water, the 
Paramalma rises above tlie floods of eloquence. 
Howsoever high the water rises, the fruit still floats 
lover it. Similarly, the supreme soul keeps on rising 
'above the swelling words ; It is never submerged. 


We have had elaborate descnptions of Lord Vishnu — 
He has four hands , He is dark blue like the clouds , 
His eyes are hke the petals of the lotus, etc., etc 
But however much we describe Him, we cannot 
comprehend His beauty, except by seemg Him with 
our own eyes The descriptions are all right There 
IS notlung wrong with them Lord Vishnu’s hands 
are four in number, not two, or eight His complexion 
IS dark blue, not white or red But how can these 
pieces of knowledge help man to apprehend the charm- 
ing beauty of His Divine form t None, except His 
sole devotees who have seen Hun with their own eyes, 
can know the celestial splendour of that Divine vision 
Similarly, the supreme soul is beyond words , It is open 
only to personal experience If that is so, shall we 
say that all the varied descriptions of the Paramatma, 
attempted by the srutis and smniis are in vain ? Cer- 
tainly not Who says they are m vain ’ If they 
help towards the reahzation of Truth, let them do so 
I do not deny the help rendered by the discussion of 
Truth by the sastras and learned men. If God is 
thus beyond description, how can the vision of God 
be descnbable '> Since the form of a pot can be 
described, it is possible to describe, also, the vision 
of the pot The vision of an mdescnbable thmg 
must necessarily be indescribable. What is the mstru- 
ment with which one may perceive the Supreme Soul 
With our eye we perceive pots, etc With the mind 
we perceive desn-e, anger, etc But with neither, 
shall we perceive It which is beyond name and form. 
IHhe ancient rishis who had reahzed Truth descnbe 
l|lt as beyond words and mind Like God, the vision 
of God too is beyond words When the mmd assumes 
the form of a pot, it becomes the perception of the 



SREE GOMDEHA&f 1 


305 


pot. Like that, when the mind, rising above name 
and form, assumes the state of Brahman it is called 
the perception of Brahman, by the Vedantins. But 
Brahman has no form, ft is formless. Who can 
perceive the formless Brahman ? How can the limited 
mind comprehend the formless and u nlimi ted Brah- 
man ? It may be argued that when the mind is free 
from all its functions of imagination, it intuits Brahman, 
pure, one without a second, which shines forth in its 
own splendour without a veil ; then it is futile to 
maintain that there is a perceiver and a perception of 
Brahman. It will then follow that the intuition of 
Brahman has nothing in common with phenomenal 
.perceptions of the objective world, that, in fact, the 
perception of Brahman is the Ijasic experience of the 
non-objective. Such ate the conclusions of Vedanta. 
Even as God is. His perception also is surpassingly 
marvellous and transcendent. Hence it is impossible 
to grasp either from mere descriptions thereof. On 
ithe other hand, both of them have to be immediately 
intuited. That is the upshot of this context. 


Our far-sighted adiaryas who lived long, long 
ago, have enjoined upon the people of Kaliyuga, 
a life of devotion to the best of their ability, perhaps 
because they foresaw that in this terrible age, charac- 
terised by an insatiable thirst for carnal pleasures 



SKEE GOMUKHAM II 


307 


and polluted by sensuality, it would be difficult, if 
not impossible, to practise Nis/ikaiiia Karma or carry 
on Dhyana or Samadhi in a strict, scientific way. 
As is well-known, the repetition of holy names is the 
easiest step in a life of devotion. Any worldling, 
any sinner, can cry out “ O Siva ! 0 Krishna 1 ! ” 
For people engaged in the relentless pursuit of worldly 
pleasures it is -verily impossible to shed all desires or 
set their minds on God or even make them meditative. 
So, in this Age, pursuit of Bhakti h the easiest as well 
as the most important means to reach the goal. There 
can be no difference of opinion on this point. In the 
early stages, repetition of holy names and prayer, the 
singing of hymns and listening to religious discourses 
help the love of God to sprout up and as it grows 
and flourishes, the uncontrollable craving for sensual 
pleasures is tamed, and men gradually become intros- 
pective. Their minds begin to flow continuously 
towards the Lord, and experience pleasure in doing so. 
If the jmnis find their joy in meditating upon formless 
Brahman, the Bliaktas revel in the contemplation of the 
Divine form. Of course there-are not two gods, one 
with form and another without it. God is one and 
so a Bliakla who loves the Divine form intensely to 
the exclusion of everything else, has nothing more to 
gain. Let no one be under the illusion that the direct 
perception of Parabrahma who has no form and 
no attributes, alone leads to salvation, that the Bliakla 
■ has not attained it, that he is yet to achieve it and that 
until he does so, the purpose of his life remains un- 
fulfilled. If God has such a form without attributes — 
a form whose perception alone will lead to salvation — 
will not He disclose it to His true devotee one 
day or other and lead him on to the supreme goal ? 



308 


WANDERINGS IN THE HIMALAYAS 


The seeker of moksha should, therefore, refrain from 
indulging in wordy quarrels regarding the form or 
the formlessness of Brahman. If he is a bhakta let 
him concentrate his mind upon the form of the Lord ; 
if he is a jnani let him try to acquire steadfast knowledge 
of the formless, through earnest study and discipline. 
The supreme, the ultimate, goal of Bhakti and jnana
is the same. There is no doubt it is Nirvana through  the realization of Brahman.
 Certainly, those people 
who move slowly, step by step, towards the goal 
uttering the holy names of God in full faith, are 
immensely more fortunate than the unqualified persons 
who tumble down headlong into perdition during 
their attempts to scale the difficult and dangerous 
heights of Bralmia-Jnam. The path of Bhafcti is the 
royal toad to the presence of God. It is open to all 
types of people, whether learned or ignorant. It is 
also the easiest to follow. That is why the great seers 
of God, both inside and outside the Vedic pale, have 
recommended it whole-heartedly as the noblest route 
to the great goal, popularised it among the people 
tortured by the threefold sufferings of life. If there 
is God, there is no doubt. He must be omniscient, 
as well as omnipotent. He can assume any form in 
which his devotee worships Him and bless him, granting 
him a vision in that particular form. There is nothing 
illogical or unscientific in the idea. Nor is it contrary 
to experience. If those who worship the formless 
Brahman presume to ridicule the Bhakla when he 
cries out “ O Lord of Kailas, O Lord of Vaikunta, 
save us. save us, 0 Lord ”, they only make themselves 
ridiculous. 
In philosophy, the cause of love and the cause of 
knowledge, as well as the form of love and the form 



SR£B GOMDKHA&{ U 


309 


of knowledge are discussed separately, yet the ultimate 
goal the followers of the seemingly divergent paths 
reach is one and the same. If that is so, it is those 
who deride the Bhaktas as misled fools that deserve 
to be laughed at. To abandon all love of worldly 
pleasures and immerse one’s -mind completely in the 
love of God, can be the consummation only of great 
punya. Whatever be the form of God, only a mind 
which has freed itself totally from worldly entangle- 
ments, can be filled with Divine love. 
For people 
whose vasanas (inborn dispositions) have been washed 
away by the flood of Divine love, the advaitic knowledge 
cannot be far, if at all they want it. Believe firmly 
in the existence of God — believe that He is — believe 
that He is the Father of the Universe who preserves 
everything— then, it does not matter in what form you 
' worship Him, on what pedestal, or in what world you 
place Him ; then, there is no doubt, the Omniscient 
I ,One, immanent in everything and everywhere, will 
I [bestow His grace upon you. When a Bhakta, filled 
with the longing to see his Beloved, cries out as if his 
heart would break, “ My Lord, My Lord, O Parmatma
when shall I behold Thy lovely form with these eyes 
of mine ? ” only people who have tasted the Divine 
sweetness of that intense love, can understand it. 
Seeing that Bhakti and Jnana are equally good, wise 
ones should never waste their precious time arguing 
,, excitedly about the superiority of the one or the other, 
llwhat vdse men. ought to do is to adopt one of these 
I'aaccording to their qualifications and inclinations, 
[pursue it steadily, see God and thus fulfil the purpose 
of this invaluable human birth. 

Those who possess such love of God, love such 
solitary places as Gomukha, whichever proclaim the 



310 


WANDERINGS IN THE HIMALAYAS 


glory of the Lord. Parted from her lover, his beloved 
sits in the corner of her lonely chamber where every- 
thing reminds her of him, thinking of him in secret. 
To her even the sound of a single foot-step seems 
intolerable. She hates every distraction which disturbs 
the contemplation of her lord. Even so, the bhakla 
hates all interruptions to his prayers, and all distrac- 
tions which break up his continuous contemplation of 
God whom he loves most intensely. For such bhaktas, 
can there be a place more congenial than the solitary, 
peaceful Gomukha? There is nothing here which 
docs not help the enjoyment of contemplation and 
prayer. What is here to hinder it ? This solitary 
place is. extremely suitable to people who see God, 
who love God or who meditate upon God, for they 
require no external assistance in their activities, but 
a cultured mind. Solitude serves them best to perfect 
their discipline. This Gomukha region is unrivalled 
not only in its perpetual solitude but also its clear, 
pure, spiritual atmosphere and so it aids the bhakla 
as well as the jimni to reach easily the state of samadin 
which is the culmination of jnaiia, bhakti and dhyana. 
But, for the karma yogi who is trying to perform his 
duties as acts of devotion, without any desire for 
reward, this place is not suited so well. He can 
bathe here devoutly, gain God’s grace and thereby 
destroy sins and acquire mental purity. He can 
reinforce his faith in God by observing the glory of 
the Creator which manifests itself everywhere in this 
Divine land, but unlike the other three types of yogis 
he Along tlie Keertlii 



320 


WANDERINGS IN THE lUMAtAYAS 


few people in the world have the great good fortune 
to enjoy supreme happiness in this grief-stricken 
world, through a life like mine ; that the common 
people, whose minds are dragged along by innate 
tendencies and weighed down by the burden of worldly 
cares, are not entitled to taste even a drop of this great 
peace ; that, even as it is impossible to enjoy royal 
luxuries by desire alone without the necessary means 
such as wealth and position, for common people 
without the necessary devotion to truth, eradication 
of inborn tendencies, attainment of quiescence, etc., 
it is impossible to attain the highest spiritual peace 
by desire alone ; the first duty of the common people 
therefore is, not to throw up their duties and take 
to a life of solitude, but to lead a life of Nislikama 
Karina for the purification of their minds. On getting 
this message and taking the holy bath at Gomukba, 
my visitors hurriedly departed, as if they were aware 
of their disqualification too well to stay on.cannot afford to stay on in this region and at the, 
same time carry on his duties as a karma yogi for a 
karma yogi has to depend necessarily upon external 
objects for his activities.
From personal experience I can 
record here that on those occasions the shades of 
trees afforded me far more comfort than well-fumishcd 
houses. How can that be ? When disagreeablcness 
ends, that is itself agreeableness. That disagreeable 
feeling is sorrow and agreeable feeling pleasure, is a . 
well-known scientific fact. That means, the cad of 
adverse sorrow is the beginning of pleasure. The 
greater4he sorrow, Uie greater is the pleasure on its 
elir In the rainy season, the rain pours 

■ ' ■ near the masses of snow gets un- 

■ . ■ At such moments, in thgt 



sr£E comukham n 


321 


forbidding region, shades of the trees appear more 
comfortable than luxurious mansions. Travellers, 
groping their way in the heavy rain, shivering with 
cold as in a fit of ague, gather dry twigs and light a 
fire in the shade, sitting close round it, to warm them- 
selves. The pleasure they feel at such moments is 
beyond the reach even of a King of Kings resting on a 
bed-stead of gold in his magnificent palace. The 
reason is, in the total absence of adverse circumstances, 
the feeling of pleasure does not attain extraordinary 
proportions. The denser the darkness, the greater 
is the brilliance of the light that destroys it. My 
mind often recollects with gratitude the help thus 
rendered to me fay the birch trees at sueh great heights. 
On the Himalayan slopes, beyond the heights where 
jfeirch trees appear, no other trees flourish, that is, 
the birch is the first tree, growing just below the 
! 'snow cap.
323
The mam theme of this work is 
that the free principle of the atman or Self, referred 
I to by the term " I ”, dwelling in ‘ the cavity of the 
heart ’ of all, one with the principle known as God, 
Brahman, etc , is the cause of the existence, sustentaUon, 



32-( WANDtKISCS IN TIlC IIIMAIAYAJ 

and rctraclion of the unucrsc Not only of this work, 
It IS the theme of all the Upamshads too Apart 
from the spiritual principle of the Self there is no other 
God Those who know the Self know God too 
Other than the principle of the Self, there is neither a 
witnessing God or some sort of a soscreign, manifesting 
Himself in a definite form, reigning supreme in some 
far away world ' Not this which people worship " 
‘ ^ u fa gnit ld ' sentences like this found in our 
Upamshads, refuted, thousands of years ago, once 
and for all the theory of a witnessing God This 
non dual reality alone is true All other entities arc 
subject to ch ingc and so arc perishable Hence 
follows also that they arc unreal Tins Self, this 
Brahman, unlimited by time, space and other entities, 
without sulfering any diminution of its immutability, 
projects the Umserse from ether downwards How ’’ 
How can there be projection w itltout the cause suffering 
any alteration ’ A specific power that resides m 
Brahman projects this world without altering its 
substratum in the least ficnee Brahman eternally 
remains in itself homogeneous, unchanging This 
power IS designated /iioja, as it produces extraordinary 
variciy, prakrlli as it is the material cause of the 
Umserse It has also several other names Tins 
variegated power, rather Brahman m conjunction 
with this variegated power, assumes the form of the 
universe If so, it follows, that the world which 
appears to consist of tlic five elements is none other 
than Brahman Since spint is one only and never 
two, what affirms itself as ‘ I ’ ‘ I ’ in each of the living 
bodies and in fact is tlic spiritual jtia, must also be 
non-dilfercnt from Brahman There is no reason to 
imagine that spirit differs with the bodies m which 



SREE GOMUKHA!.l U 


325 


it dwells. If the inert world even is not different 
from Brahman, how can the Jiya which is spiritual 
differ from It ? Thus both the world and jiva are 
■ non-different from the spiritual, unitary Brahman, 
which though immutable, is said to change due to the 
operations of its power. That the world and the 
-Jiva are not independent entities is the main conclusion 
of Badarayana, the author of the Vedanta Philosophy, 
and of Sankara and others who follow him. Brahman, 
then, is the Truth of all truths. The knowledge of 
Brahman is the immediate perception of non-difference 
between Brahman on the one hand and oneself and 
the universe on the other. An uninterrupted revelling 
in this non-dual Brahman realized as the quintessence 
,of the world is the supreme goal of life. What has 
been attempted in this book is to present in an easily 
,;jintelligible manner, the truth of the identity between 
. ijiva and Brahman. This timeless truth, viz,, the 
non-duality (of reality) has been set forth here along 
witli the means and the auxiliaries that promote the 
e-xperience of this truth. 

Different schools of pliilosophy, ancient and 
modern, oriental and occidental, have appeared in 
the world. Yet it is doubtless that they are all imper- 
fect in various respects. A school of philosophy 
that solves all the riddles of life to the satisfaction 
and delight of everybody, has not yet appeared in 
the world. That is universally admitted. But it is 
equally doubtful if a great school of philosophy 
complete in itself and universally acceptable, will 
ever appear at all. Even then it is absolutely necessary 
that learned men should strive hard in that direction, 
since there are many philosophical aspects still to be im- 
proved. Unfortunately however, for some inexplicable 



326 WANDERINGS IN THE HIMALAYAS 

reason, introspective scholars who love philosophical 
thought and are well-versed in thinking, like the 
rishis of old, are very very few in our Age. It is a 
lamentable misfortune aifecting all humanity — a sad 
fact that cannot but be regretted. All known systems 
of philosophy are imperfect. But however imperfect 
they may be, they contain varying degrees of Truth 
and so they ought not to be rejected altogether. I 
am one of those who believe that, compared with 
other systems, the Vedanta or Admita philosophy, 
well-known as the Sankara system, in spite of the 
defects and imperfections scholars have discovered 
in it, contains far more truth than any other system 
and therefore it is the best of all. Out of that belief 
my mind has been finding unwavering delight in that, 
Whole and Perfect Object, dealt with in Vedanta, at 
all times, whether in the state of samadhi or in a state 
of distraction, and it is needless to state that it is 
such a man’s experiences and thoughts that are set 
forth here in this book. Whether it is on the peaks 
of the Himalayas, on Mt. Kailas or on the shores of 
Manasasarowar, I find the same Perfect Being. I 
find the same self-luminous thing at all places, at all 
times, in all objects and in all states. I find only that 
object of Truth and nothing else. I hear nothing 
else. I touch nothing else. I taste nothing' else — I 
smell nothing else. I am not thinking of anything 
else. I do not find my joy in any object other than 
that Object of Bliss. 

In conclusion, I pray all my fellow-men who 
possess enough intelligence and some purity of mind 
j(|to work for the realization of Brahman, which alone 
fulfils the purpose of human birth. There is nothing 
ilwrong if a householder, residing in his own house, 



SREE GOMUUlAil 11 


327 


tnes to realize Brahman, even as a sanyasm does m 
his forest home People of all Yarnas and Asramas, 
m short, all human beings are entitled to the enjoyment 
of spiritual bliss It is their birthright Spiritual 
realization is not impracticable even in the vortex of 
worldly activities, provided, one has the necessary 
mental strength The present writer is a sanyasm, 
who has, after the acceptance of Sanyasa, made the 
Himalayas his abode — a great lover of solitude, 
engaged unintermittentiy in the contemplation of the 
Paramatma — a firm believer in Saiiyasa, not only as a 
desirable stage in human life, but as the holiest part 
of It — one who looks upon Sanyasa as a miraculous 
means of converting worldly existence, which is 
generally regarded as sad and melancholy, into some 
thing full of bliss He concedes, also, that for certain 
people the very thought of the soul is impossible 
until they have totally abandoned all distracting 
activities That is all true But, m spite of all this, 
the writer of this book does not believe that house- 
holders and other Asramilcs are disqualified to lead a 
spiritual life or that, for people m other Asrams it is 
impossible to meditate upon the Soul I have expressed 
this opinion elsewhere, but I am repeating it here to 
stress that view over again In the midst of action, 
think of the Soul Surrounded by wife, children and 
grandchildren, still think of the Paramanm with 
devout lose Think, constantly, of the power that 
activates your hands, legs, etc Always use them to 
Ido things good and desirable Allow not yourself 
to be tempted by the intoxicating wine On the 
contrary, drink, drink your fill of the Nectar of Life 
for ever more and find everlasting BLISS ' 

Om Santi ' Santi ' ' Santi ' '