CHAPTER XIV THE WORLD TEACHER

When His Holiness Sri Sachchidananda Siva Abhinava Narasimha Bharati Swamigal was asked by a foreigner how He could claim to be a Jagadguru, World Teacher, when there were so many non-Hindu faiths in the world, His Holiness said, “The word Jagadguru does not mean at all that I can claim any right as a spiritual teacher over everybody in this vast world. It only means that, if anybody residing anywhere in the world earnestly seeks my spiritual guidance, I am bound to give it to him as far as it lies in my power. A person may reside in a distant country and yet be prepared to be guided by me. Another may reside in the Mutt itself and yet be unwilling to abide by my advice. It is my duty to help the former and not the latter. To the former I am his Guru; to the latter I am not. The word therefore defines only my duty; it does not signify any right or jurisdiction over others who do not seek my guidance”

His worthy successor Sri Chandrasekara Bharati Swamigal rigidly adopted this attitude and never sought to convert anybody from one faith to another and even from one mode of worship to another, much less to increase the number of His disciples or to widen the range of His influence but contented Himself with guiding those who earnestly sought His help. A few incidents may well be cited to illustrate this.

• • • •

A Frenchman wrote to His Holiness that the teachers in Europe were all intellectual and not spiritual men and added “I have no guide on the hard path. I am alone and I implore your help. I know you have great experience and powers. I know that space and time are nothing to you in a certain plane. May I ask your honour to give me light and peace?” The reply from the Mutt contained the following pregnant passages.

“His Holiness is highly pleased to see what an amount of interest you take in Sankara in spite of the great barriers of language and distance. He is deeply touched by your spiritual earnestness.

“The pursuit of Vedantic truth leading to Atmic realisation required as a preliminary qualification in the seeker that he should have attained a certain degree of spiritual awakening as much as of intellectual acuteness which he may have acquired in his previous births. And as he advances he may meet with difficulties which he can overcome only with the help of a Guru. It is not therefore possible to prescribe any one course suitable for all stages. The following directions would however be found most helpful to seekers who are not able readily to consult their Guru at each step and who are eager to make rapid progress. The steadying of one’s mind is a Sina qua non for the realisation of the Vedanta goal. Keeping this in view, the practices indicated below are advised.

“Firstly, Physical: The avoidance of all stimulating food, drink, and the adoption as far as possible of the vegetarian diet.

“Secondly, Moral: The daily exercise of universal love without distinction of any kind towards all beings and the actual rendering of helpful services to them in a spirit of selfless service.

“Thirdly, Mental: The cultivation of a habit of retiring into one’s own self. Daily concentration of thought upon some single object held in the highest reverence through which spiritual light is sought. Concentration should be practised whenever the mind is fresh and vigourous and it may be resorted to as often as convenient without getting tired. The mind should be guarded against falling asleep during the exercise. One may start with a few minutes practice and the period may be gradually increased.

“Fourthly, Intellectual: Enquiry (Vichara) should be made everyday and the problems of truth deeply pondered over whenever they occur.

“His Holiness fully realises your difficulties especially as you are struggling in an atmosphere surcharged with materialism. But Europe is bound to seek Vedantic light in due course. Only she has to persevere in her pursuit of truth in preference to things of a lower order. She is now steadfast in seeking truth in the world of physics. (Science). She will be led to the search of truth in metaphysics also provided her thirst for knowledge continues.

“Should you adopt the practices indicated above as far as it is possible for you to do so and write to His Holiness again, He will most gladly give you such further help as may be possible in this direction.”

It is interesting to learn that the gentleman earnestly followed these directions and desired to have a picture of His Holiness or Sri Sankaracharya to fix his mind upon and have “a vivid object of daily contemplation.” In reply thereto he was informed that His Holiness was highly pleased to learn that he was pursuing with much earnestness the practical as well as the theoretical courses indicated and that His Holiness was much pleased to send for his use a picture of His own Guru which He Himself constantly kept before Him. He was cautioned “This picture should be approached everyday only when one is perfectly clean in body and perfectly clear in mind. Absolute purity in thought, in word and in deed, is demanded. The more steadfast and concentrated the devotion with which one prays for help seeking Atmic light, the more quickly does one receive the blessings of the Guru whose spiritual existence will always be felt whenever there is a sincere seeker. Kindly continue your efforts with this conviction.”

(I hear that this Frenchman is now a famous scholar and is at present professor of Indology in the University of Madrid)

• • • •

When His Holiness was on a visit to the village Palamadai founded by the famous Nilakantha Dikshita on the banks of the Tamraparni, an European proprietor of a nearby cenna factory and a friend of his sought an interview with His Holiness. His Holiness pointed out to them that God must have had a purpose in giving them birth in Christian families and that it was their duty to seek spiritual progress along the lines chalked out for them by that religion and not to waste time in trying to find out the relative value of the several faiths. When expressing their gratitude to His Holiness, they said that they were returning home with a determination to be better Christians than before and that they now realised the catholicity of the Hindu religion. I happened to be the interpreter in this very interesting conversation and it so deeply impressed itself on my mind that I have tried to reproduce it almost verbatim and included it as the opening chapter of the book “Dialogues with the Guru.” It is unnecessary to repeat its contents here. A perusal of the same will show how kind and considerate, how logical and firm, His Holiness was in enunciating truths.

• • • •

When His Holiness was staying for some months at Kalati in the then Travancore State in 1939-40, the Travancore Government had made all necessary arrangements for His convenient stay and among those arrangements was the posting of a posse of police officials. Even while on duty they could not be recognised as police officers as they were dressed in the normal Hindu fashion with a dhoti and an upper cloth. They could easily be mistaken for ordinary devotees who were serving His Holiness. The Inspector General of Police at that time was one Mr. Abdul Kareem who had previously served in the Punjab and earned a name as a strict, honest and capable officer and had been specially invited to serve the Travancore Government to keep in check some troublesome elements. He heard about the greatness of His Holiness and desired to have an interview with Him. He wrote to the Mutt that he would be coming there on a particular evening.

Sri Srikantha Sastri who was then in charge of the camp told me that the visitor was a Mussalman from Punjab who might not know Tamil or Malayalam and that, as he himself did not know English or any northern Indian language, it would not be possible for him to converse with him and asked me therefore to receive the gentleman, take him to His Holiness, act as interpreter during the interview and generally make his visit fruitful. Accordingly at the appointed time I duly received him. As soon as he got down from his car, he said to me “I do not know anything about the formalities that have to be observed in approaching such a high spiritual personage as His Holiness. Will you kindly instruct me in the matter?” I told him “No particular formalities need be observed. You may approach His Holiness just in the way you will approach anybody of your own faith whom you respect.”

He said “Then I shall take off my shoes and come in my socks.” I assented. After taking off the shoes he came with me and I took him to the presence of His Holiness. He saluted His Holiness with bended knees. His Holiness, after extending to him his usual smile of welcome, said in Tamil “From the behaviour of the police officers who are on duty here, I have received the impression that the Head of this department must be a very noble and pious soul.”

Before I could translate it, Mr. Kareem himself said in fluent Tamil “It is the innate goodness of Your Holiness that is responsible for that impression. As a matter of fact, I am known to be a very hard and severe officer.”

As I found that there was no further need to be there as an interpreter, I tried to get up and move away but His Holiness signalled me to remain and this gave me the opportunity to listen to their conversation.

H. H: I see that you talk Tamil well. I was informed that you were from Punjab.

A. K: I was in service in the Punjab for a long time but my native village adjoins Kodiyalam in the Tiruchirapalli District. In fact, Kodiyalam Vasudeva Ayyangar and my father were intimate friends, so much so that whenever the Ayyangar was away from his village he would ask my father to look after the temples managed by the former. Really therefore, I belong to the Tamil country though the emergencies of public service took me far away from it.

H. H: Is it so? How many years more of service have you still got?

A. K: Not more than a year.

H. H: Have you made a deep study of your religion?

A. K: I have not. I cannot say that I know even its fundamental doctrines or that I practice its tenets properly. From my boyhood I have intense faith that there is a God, that He is great and that nothing can happen without His knowledge or without His will. This faith has sustained me throughout my life and has prevented me from straying from the path of rectitude.

H. H: All religion is meant only for that. It is not necessary to learn the intricacies of any religion. It is more than sufficient if we have an abiding faith in an Ommnipresent, All-knowing and All-powerful God who is ever watching us and is ever ready to guide and help us.

A. K: I am grateful to your Holiness for these words of encouragement. But I am conscious at the same time that I have not spent any time in religious studies.

H. H: If you want such studies, you will have ample time when you retire. Though it is never too late to learn, it seems to me that the old age is better spent in practising what we have already learnt than in trying to learn anything anew.

A. K: That is also my feeling. Having been in active service during the major part of my life, I do not think it will be possible for me to take to studious habits.

H. H: I am sure that you will have thought of your future after retirement and to one of such active habits it will be impossible to spend time idly without use to oneself or to others. Have you formed any idea about this?

A. K: One day I happened to think over this matter somewhat deeply. I wanted to spend my retirement in some useful work, useful not in the ordinary sense but some work which would be most acceptable to God. It struck me that, if I devoted myself to the service of that section of humanity which many so-called humanitarians feel it repulsive to serve, God would be more pleased than if I engaged myself in the normal activites of charity. This idea fascinated me so much that I have decided upon opening a Leper Asylum and upon personally attending to the patients there. It remains to be seen whether God will give me the life and the energy to carry out this idea.

H. H: You yourself have rightly realised that such service of the lowest in the scale of suffering humanity will be most acceptable to God. The idea is a very noble one and God will surely help you in carrying it out. Though in your modesty you would not accept it, your ideas quite confirm my impression that you are a noble and pious soul.

A. K: I pray for Your Holiness’ gracious blessings to make me acceptable to God. I fear I have taken much of Your Holiness’ precious time.

H. H: It has been a pleasure to me to meet you.

A. K: God willing, I hope to pay Your Holiness another visit at more leisure. I am a Muslim and I was very diffident about interviewing the Head of the Hindu religion and so limited the period of my stay here and undertook other engagements. When I come next time, I hope to spend more time with Your Holiness for Your Holiness’ easy accessibility and abundant grace have made me feel quite at home with Your Holiness.

H. H: So be it.

A. K: When I come again, may I bring my wife along with me?

H H: Is she not Gosha?

A. K: She is. But not to Your Holiness.

H. H: Yes. You may bring her. May God bless you.

[It is worthy of mention that the gentleman did start and was running a Leper Asylum after retirement.]