Ramana Maharishi and Silence

Ramana Maharshi Teachings through Silence Question : Why does not Bhagavan go about and preach the truth to the people at large? Ramana Maharshi : How do you know I am not doing it ? Does preaching consist in mounting a platform and haranguing the people around ? Preaching is simple communication of knowledge; it can really be done in silence only. What do you think of a man who listens to a sermon for an hour and goes away without having been impressed by it so as to change his life ? Compare him with another, who sits in a holy presence and goes away after some time with his outlook on life totally changed. Which is the better, to preach loudly without effect or to sit silently sending out inner force? Again, how does speech arise? First there is abstract knowledge. Out of this arises the ego, which in turn gives rise to thought, and thought to the spoken word. So the word is the great-grandson of the original source. If the word can produce an effect, judge for yourself, how much more powerful must be the preaching through silence. Question : How can silence be so powerful? Ramana Maharshi :A realized one sends out waves of spiritual influence which draw many people towards him. Yet he may sit in a cave and maintain complete silence. We may listen to lectures upon truth and come away with hardly any grasp of the subject, but to come into contact with a realized one, though he speaks nothing, will give much more grasp of the subject. He never needs to go out among the public. If necessary he can use others as instruments. The Guru is the bestower of silence who reveals the light of Self-knowledge which shines as the residual reality. Spoken words are of no use whatsoever if the eyes of the Guru meet the eyes of the disciple. Question : Does Bhagavan give diksha [initiation]? Ramana Maharshi : Mouna [silence] is the best and the most potent diksha. That was practised by Sri Dakshinamurti. Initiation by touch, look, etc., are all of a lower order. Silent initiation changes the hearts of all. Dakshinamurti observed silence when the disciples approached him. That is the highest form of initiation. It includes the other forms. There must be subject-object relationship established in the other dikshas. First the subject must emanate and then the object. Unless these two are there how is the one to look at the other or touch him? Mouna diksha is the most perfect; it comprises looking, touching and teaching. It will purify the individual in every way and establish him in the reality.

Bhagavatpadal's time

Did Adi Shankara Shake Hands With Buddha?

Jul 24 2003  | Views 4644 |  Comments  (22)  | Report Abuse

                                      Co-authored by Sankar Iyer

It must be admitted in all fairness that it was the British who first wrote the history of India. The Hindus probably are the only race who, despite having such intelligence, bravery and tremendous capacity for successive revivals, have showed such pathetic neglect of history.
“Why rewrite Indian History?” by V. S. Godbole

The neglect of history by the Hindus may be attributed to their sense or rather no-sense of the time as we understand today. This attitude has played havoc with the chronological order in Indian history. The dictum “Old is gold” has resulted in pushing historical personalities and facts way back in time. A classical example is the recent celebration of 2510 years of the birth of Adi Sankara by Kanchi Mutt at Kaladi on 6th May 2003. It is not our intention to challenge anyone. We are only eager to see the evidences to change the year of birth of Sankara by more than 1300 years backwards.

In his article on Sree Sankaracharya, K Kunjunni Raja, a noted historian and a Keralite has this to say:

“Debates have continued for over a century regarding Sree Sankaracharya's period, with no authentic conclusions as yet. Prof. Theele in his Outlines of the History of Ancient Religions(1877) had mentioned the period as 788-820 AD. He had surmised this from a statement inAarya Vidyaa Sudhaakaram of Yajneswara Saasthri, a work based on Sankara Mandaara Sourabham of Bhatta Neelakandhan, son of Thrivikraman and Parvathy Amba. Neelakandhan had another Kaavyam (poetic composition), Sankaraabhyudayam, in which it was mentioned that he was born in 788 AD and died on Vaisaakha Poornima day. His period is attributed with certainty to be after scholars such as Bharthruhari, Dingnaaga, Gaudapaada, Dharmakeerthi and Kumaarilabhatta. Thus 788-820 period is believable.”

This period has been accepted by Sringeri Sharada Peetham as can be seen from their web page (http://www.sringeri.org).

To our knowledge, no historian has ever claimed that Sankara was born five hundred years before Jesus. Such a claim would have to answer the following facts:

1. Prof. P. Sankaranarayanan in his article The life and work of Sri Sankara published in the web page of Kanchi Mutt writes: “Buddhism, the rebel child of the Vedic religion and philosophy, denied God and the soul, laid the axe at the very roots of Vedic thought and posed a great danger to its very survival. This onslaught was stemmed occasionally, compelling Buddhism to seek refuge in other lands. While the credit for this should go primarily to the Mimamsaka, Kumarila Bhatta, it was because of Sri Sankara's dialectical skill and irrefutable arguments that it ceased to have sway over the minds of the inheritors of Vedic religion.”

According to Pandit Nehru, the greater onslaught on Buddhism came from the Hindu Gupta kings and the religion was already weak when Sankara appeared on the scene. There are strong historical evidences to suggest that Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, was born in the sixth century BC. If we accept Kanchi Mutt's view, these two historical figures (Buddha and Sankara) were contemporaries or a few decades apart. It took many centuries and Asoka, Kanishka and others to make Buddhism a powerful religion threatening Hinduism.

The hold of Buddhism on the masses of India could be seen from the writing of celebrated Chinese pilgrim Faxian (334-420 AD). He made a journey that marked the high point of the first wave of Chinese pilgrims in India. He left China in 399 AD and returned in 414 AD. We see that even two centuries later the religion was hardly weakened as may be gleaned from the detailed historic accounts of the reign of Harshavardhana (606-647AD). The sources for such accounts are: coins and inscriptions, the reports of pilgrims, official Chinese documents and writings by well-known personalities like the Chinese traveler Huien Tsang.

Though a Hindu, King Harshavardhana maintained an impartial tolerance towards the other religions, especially Buddhism that at that time was the religion of the common masses. To honor Huien Tsang, a devout student Buddhist theology and admirer of the holy land of Buddha, Harshavardhana organized the Kanauj Assembly in 643 AD. This was a grand assembly of many rajas including King Bhaskaravarman of Kamrupa (Assam) and the Vallabhi king, Dhuvabhatti. The Assembly at Kanauj included a large congregation of Brahmans, Buddhist monks ands Jains, who were involved in religious discourses. We should not forget to mention that Huien Tsang, along with thousands of students from many countries, studied in the well-known Buddhist university of Nalanda. If so, how could the religion that Sankara opposed and helped drive out of India flourish 1150 (500 + 650 = 1150) years after his “supposed” birth?

The learned professor (Sankaranarayanan) further says, “While modern historians fix his period as 780-820 AD, the tradition determined by the pontifical succession of various Maths fix him several centuries before Christ.”

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Here also there is contradiction. The present pontiff of Sringeri Mutt is 36th in the line. If Sankara established both Kanchi and Sringeri Mutts, how is it that the Kanchi Mutt's pontiff is 69th in succession?

Thus we are comfortable with the eighth century son of Aryamba and Sivaguru. We cannot imagine a Sankara who shook hands with Buddha and/or fought Buddhism in its infancy.

2. No one yet disputes about Sankara being a Namboothiri Brahmin from Kaladi in Kerala. Though it is claimed that Parasurama brought Nambuthiris to Kerala, historical evidences seem to imply that they probably migrated from Gujarat and Sindh in the 6th or 7th century AD. It was their influence which brought about Malayalam (a fairly new language) by amalgamating Tamil with Sanskrit. No scholar ever claims that Nambuthiris were in Kerala for 3000 years.

3. It was in 825 AD that the Malayalam Era called “Kollavarsham” was started by King Rajasekhara Varma of Kollam. One legend tells us that this new calendar was started to honour the great Sree Sankaracharya and refers to the popular Kali Dina Samkhya, Aachaarya Vaagabhedyaa, which translates to the number 1434160 according to “Katapayaadi.” This works out that this era started in 825 A.D. It is believed that Sankara and Rajasekhara Varma were contemporaries.

As Keralites (the senior author was born and brought up in Sankara's birthplace, Kaladi), we are proud of our fellow citizen and believe that Sankara born in any era will remain Sankara. We hope that there are strong arguments not to change Sankara's period from 788-820 AD to 407-374 BC

Periyaval as Allah

Periyava as Allah

ShrIPeriyavAL was camping in the pumping station of the A.C.C.Cement Factory, on the banks of the KAgna river, in Hyderabad. That pradesham(region), belonged to the Old Hyderabad SamasthAnam. Now it is a part of the KarnATakA state.

At a kilometer distance from that place, is the garden of a man named BhImasEnappA KiTTappA. He was the one who opposed the atrocities on the Razaks during the rule of the Nawab and won the battle. Accepting his wishes that PeriyavAL should visit his place, the sage went there one day.

In the time of mAdhyAnikam(noon), a Muslim devotee came for darshan. When shrIPeriyavAL told him, “Your wife came in the morning with fruits and had darshan”, he was surprised and said: “I am working in a shop. When I walked this morning holding the rickshaw, BAbA–your holiness, had a look at me. I had a feeling of seeing Allah in person. Further it seemed to me that you said something in Urdu, my mother tongue. I could come only now, after my work is over. At home, my wife told me of her having darshan.”

The sage gave him fruits and did anugraham, when the devotee thus spoke to him and prostrated. It is not surprising that MahA-PeriyavAL who is ellAvum(everything), not giving darshan as Allah.

Source: Ms Lakshmi Natarajan