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Maharishi: An Emperor And An Ascetic
11 Feb 2008, 0014 hrs IST,Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Six or seven of us - including a few pundits and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
- met at a house in Delhi in the late 70s. A Sanatani pundit was
chanting Sanskrit verse in praise of Saraswati, the goddess of
learning. The import of those words were: "Goddess, clad in white,
exuding the essence of Brahmn in thought and expression/ The Original
One, spread all over the world/ Holding the rosary and the scriptures".
An Arya Samaji pundit was refuting it. What ensued was a heated
argument as each justified his own view. Maha-rishiji was sitting
there, enjoying the whole argument.
He glanced at me, playing with his mala and gesturing towards himself,
laughing out loud. He repeated the gestures to make sure i caught on
to what he was hinting at: "Fools, don't look for Saraswati in a
picture. I am Saraswati".
Maharishiji sat smiling, clad in white, exuding the essence of Brahmn
in thought and expression, the Original One, spread all over the
world, holding a mala, with a book before him! He went on to explain
that Saraswati is that consciousness in which total knowledge
manifests: the One without a second. The pundits who were still
arguing, never got the subtlety of His gestures.
Often people repeatedly make affirmations such as "I am Brahmn, the
Self" in the name of Self-awareness or spiritual realisation.
Maharishiji was against such affirmations, as these were only at the
level of thought, a gross level, not in the realm of experience.
The Shankaracharya is called Vedanta Kesari, the Lion of Vedanta. I
would say that Maha-rishiji was the true lion of Vedanta who had a
unique way of expres-sing Vedanta. He was dignity personified. What he
was, his persona, is inimitable.
He once planned a course for 10,000 persons in the Faridabad ashram.
We had made arrangements for board and lodging for that number of
people. Newspaper advertisements were released. A lot of effort went
into the course.
On the big day, only 100 persons turned up for the course. When i
mentioned this to him, Maha-rishiji chuckled and said: "Each one of
them is worth a thousand people". The next time, we planned for 20,000
people! He would say: "I never look back, i simply keep moving forward".
He never let the past affect his outlook. He was above success and
failure. Though seemingly engaged in mundane activities all day, he
maintained such a depth of dispassion.
He would not tire of repeating the same thing; he would do so with the
same enthusiasm.
Maharishiji was a tough task master. He would give tasks which were
seemingly impossible to achieve and he never took 'no' for an answer.
He had a unique way to dissolve rajas and doership in people. For
instance, he would ask to meditate to stop the war between Iran and
Iraq or reunify Germany or make a country invincible.
Overnight he would send people to lay the foundation stone for centres
in different parts of the country, despite not owning any land there.
Though this would seem impractical, it would help a sadhak, if he
rightly understood, to move beyond the doership.
Maharishiji was a unique combination of emperor and ascetic, perfect
disciple and Jagadguru, modern scientist and deep traditionalist. He
respected all sadhus alike. In the body he was Brahmastha, now he is
Brahmaleen.
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