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by Paramhansa Yogananda CHAPTER 41 An Idyl in South India |
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"You are the first Westerner, Dick, ever to enter that shrine. Many others have tried in vain." At my words Mr. Wright looked startled, then pleased. We had just left the beautiful Chamundi Temple in the hills overlooking Mysore in southern India. There we had bowed before the gold and silver altars of the Goddess Chamundi, patron deity of the family of the reigning maharaja. "As a souvenir of the unique honor," Mr. Wright said, carefully stowing away a few blessed rose petals, "I will always preserve this flower, sprinkled by the priest with rose water." My companion
and I1
were spending the month of November, 1935, as guests of the State of Mysore.
The Maharaja, H.H. Sri Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, is a model prince with
intelligent devotion to his people. A pious Hindu, the Maharaja has empowered
a Mohammedan, the able Mirza Ismail, as his Dewan or Premier. Popular
representation is given to the seven million inhabitants of Mysore in
both an Assembly and a Legislative Council.
The heir to the Maharaja,
H.H. the Yuvaraja, Sir Sri Krishna Narasingharaj Wadiyar, had invited
my secretary and me to visit his enlightened and progressive realm. During
the past fortnight I had addressed thousands of Mysore citizens and students,
at the Town Hall, the Maharajah's College, the University Medical School;
and three mass meetings in Bangalore, at the National High School, the
Intermediate College, and the Chetty Town Hall where over three thousand
persons had assembled. Whether the eager listeners had been able to credit
the glowing picture I drew of America, I know not; but the applause had
always been loudest when I spoke of the mutual benefits that could flow
from exchange of the best features in East and West.
Mr. Wright and I were
now relaxing in the tropical peace. His travel diary gives the following
account of his impressions of Mysore: "Brilliantly
green rice fields, varied by tasseled sugar cane patches, nestle at the
protective foot of rocky hills÷hills dotting the emerald panorama like
excrescences of black stone÷and the play of colors is enhanced by the
sudden and dramatic disappearance of the sun as it seeks rest behind the
solemn hills.
"Many rapturous
moments have been spent in gazing, almost absent-mindedly, at the ever-changing
canvas of God stretched across the firmament, for His touch alone is able
to produce colors that vibrate with the freshness of life. That youth
of colors is lost when man tries to imitate with mere pigments, for the
Lord resorts to a more simple and effective medium÷oils that are neither
oils nor pigments, but mere rays of light. He tosses a splash of light
here, and it reflects red; He waves the brush again and it blends gradually
into orange and gold; then with a piercing thrust He stabs the clouds
with a streak of purple that leaves a ringlet or fringe of red oozing
out of the wound in the clouds; and so, on and on, He plays, night and
morning alike, ever-changing, ever-new, ever-fresh; no patterns, no duplicates,
no colors just the same. The beauty of the Indian change in day to night
is beyond compare elsewhere; often the sky looks as if
God had taken all the colors in His kit and given them one mighty kaleidoscopic
toss into the heavens.
"I
must relate the splendor of a twilight visit to the huge Krishnaraja Sagar
Dam,2
constructed twelve miles outside of Mysore. Yoganandaji and I boarded
a small bus and, with a small boy as official cranker or battery substitute,
started off over a smooth dirt road, just as the sun was setting on the
horizon and squashing like an overripe tomato.
"Our journey
led past the omnipresent square rice fields, through a line of comforting
banyan trees, in between a grove of towering coconut palms, with vegetation
nearly as thick as in a jungle, and finally, approaching the crest of
a hill, we came face-to-face with an immense artificial lake, reflecting
the stars and fringe of palms and other trees, surrounded by lovely terraced
gardens and a row of electric lights on the brink of the dam÷and below
it our eyes met a dazzling spectacle of colored beams playing on geyserlike
fountains, like so many streams of brilliant ink pouring forth÷gorgeously
blue waterfalls, arresting red cataracts, green and yellow sprays, elephants
spouting water, a miniature of the Chicago World's Fair, and yet modernly
outstanding in this ancient land of paddy fields and simple people, who
have given us such a loving welcome that I fear it will take more than
my strength to bring Yoganandaji back to America.
"Another
rare privilege÷my first elephant ride. Yesterday the Yuvaraja invited
us to his summer palace to enjoy a ride on one of his elephants, an enormous
beast. I mounted a ladder provided to climb aloft to the howdah
or saddle, which is silk-cushioned and boxlike; and then for a rolling,
tossing, swaying, and heaving down into a gully, too much thrilled to
worry or exclaim, but hanging on for dear life!"
Southern India, rich
with historical and archaeological remains, is a land of definite and
yet indefinable charm. To the north of Mysore is the largest native state
in India, Hyderabad, a picturesque plateau cut by the mighty Godavari
River. Broad fertile plains, the lovely Nilgiris or "Blue Mountains,"
other regions with barren hills of limestone or granite. Hyderabad history
is a long, colorful story, starting three thousand years ago under the
Andhra kings, and continuing under Hindu dynasties until A.D. 1294, when
it passed to a line of Moslem rulers who reign to this day.
The most breath-taking
display of architecture, sculpture, and painting in all India is found
at Hyderabad in the ancient rock-sculptured caves of Ellora and Ajanta.
The Kailasa at Ellora, a huge monolithic temple, possesses carved figures
of gods, men, and beasts in the stupendous proportions of a Michelangelo.
Ajanta is the site of five cathedrals and twenty-five monasteries, all
rock excavations maintained by tremendous frescoed pillars on which artists
and sculptors have immortalized their genius.
Hyderabad City is
graced by the Osmania University and by the imposing Mecca Masjid Mosque,
where ten thousand Mohammedans may assemble for prayer.
Mysore State too is
a scenic wonderland, three thousand feet above sea level, abounding in
dense tropical forests, the home of wild elephants, bison, bears, panthers,
and tigers. Its two chief cities, Bangalore and Mysore, are clean, attractive,
with many parks and public gardens.
Hindu architecture
and sculpture achieved their highest perfection in Mysore under the patronage
of Hindu kings from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries. The temple
at Belur, an eleventh-century masterpiece completed during the reign of
King Vishnuvardhana, is unsurpassed in the world for its delicacy of detail
and exuberant imagery.
The rock pillars found
in northern Mysore date from the third century B.C., illuminating the
memory of King Asoka. He succeeded to the throne of the Maurya dynasty
then prevailing; his empire included nearly all of modern India, Afghanistan,
and Baluchistan. This illustrious emperor, considered even by Western
historians to have been an incomparable ruler, has left the following
wisdom on a rock memorial:
This religious inscription has been engraved in order that our sons and grandsons may not think a new conquest is necessary; that they may not think conquest by the sword deserves the name of conquest; that they may see in it nothing but destruction and violence; that they may consider nothing as true conquest save the conquest of religion. Such conquests have value in this world and in the next. Asoka was a grandson of the formidable Chandragupta Maurya (known to the Greeks as Sandrocottus), who in his youth had met Alexander the Great. Later Chandragupta destroyed the Macedonian garrisons left in India, defeated the invading Greek army of Seleucus in the Punjab, and then received at his Patna court the Hellenic ambassador Megasthenes. Intensely
interesting stories have been minutely recorded by Greek historians and
others who accompanied or followed after Alexander in his expedition to
India. The narratives of Arrian, Diodoros, Plutarch, and Strabo the geographer
have been translated by Dr. J. W. M'Crindle3
to throw a shaft of
light on ancient India. The most admirable feature of Alexander's unsuccessful
invasion was the deep interest he displayed in Hindu philosophy and in
the yogis and holy men whom he encountered from time to time and whose
society he eagerly sought. Shortly after the Greek warrior had arrived
in Taxila in northern India, he sent a messenger, Onesikritos, a disciple
of the Hellenic school of Diogenes, to fetch an Indian teacher, Dandamis,
a great sannyasi of Taxila.
"Hail to thee,
O teacher of Brahmins!" Onesikritos said after seeking out Dandamis
in his forest retreat. "The son of the mighty God Zeus, being Alexander
who is the Sovereign Lord of all men, asks you to go to him, and if you
comply, he will reward you with great gifts, but if you refuse, he will
cut off your head!"
The yogi received
this fairly compulsive invitation calmly, and "did not so much as
lift up his head from his couch of leaves."
"I also am a
son of Zeus, if Alexander be such," he commented. "I want nothing
that is Alexander's, for I am content with what I have, while I see that
he wanders with his men over sea and land for no advantage, and is never
coming to an end of his wanderings.
"Go and tell
Alexander that God the Supreme King is never the Author of insolent wrong,
but is the Creator of light, of peace, of life, of water, of the body
of man and of souls; He receives all men when death sets them free, being
in no way subject to evil disease. He alone is the God of my homage, who
abhors slaughter and instigates no wars.
"Alexander is
no god, since he must taste of death," continued the sage in quiet
scorn. "How can such as he be the world's master, when he has not
yet seated himself on a throne of inner universal dominion? Neither as
yet has he entered living into Hades, nor does he know the course of the
sun through the central regions of the earth, while the nations on its
boundaries have not so much as heard his name!"
After
this chastisement, surely the most caustic ever sent to assault the ears
of the "Lord of the World," the sage added ironically, "If
Alexander's present dominions be not capacious enough for his desires,
let him cross the Ganges River; there he will find a region able to sustain
all his men, if the country on this side be too narrow to hold him.4
"Know this,
however, that what Alexander offers and the gifts he promises are things
to me utterly useless; the things I prize and find of real use and worth
are these leaves which are my house, these blooming plants which supply
me with daily food, and the water which is my drink; while all other possessions
which are amassed with anxious care are wont to prove ruinous to those
who gather them, and cause only sorrow and vexation, with which every
poor mortal is fully fraught. As for me, I lie upon the forest leaves,
and having nothing which requires guarding, close my eyes in tranquil
slumber; whereas had I anything to guard, that would banish sleep. The
earth supplies me with everything, even as a mother her child with milk.
I go wherever I please, and there are no cares with which I am forced
to cumber myself.
"Should Alexander
cut off my head, he cannot also destroy my soul. My head alone, then silent,
will remain, leaving the body like a torn garment upon the earth, whence
also it was taken. I then, becoming Spirit, shall ascend to my God, who
enclosed us all in flesh and left us upon earth to prove whether, when
here below, we shall live obedient to His ordinances and who also will
require of us all, when we depart hence to His presence, an account of
our life, since He is Judge of all proud wrongdoing; for the groans of
the oppressed become the punishment of the oppressor.
"Let Alexander
then terrify with these threats those who wish for wealth and who dread
death, for against us these weapons are both alike powerless; the Brahmins
neither love gold nor fear death. Go then and tell Alexander this: Dandamis
has no need of aught that is yours, and therefore will not go to you,
and if you want anything from Dandamis, come you to him."
With close attention
Alexander received through Onesikritos the message from the yogi, and
"felt a stronger desire than ever to see Dandamis who, though old
and naked, was the only antagonist in whom he, the conqueror of many nations,
had met more than his match."
Alexander invited
to Taxila a number of Brahmin ascetics noted for their skill in answering
philosophical questions with pithy wisdom. An account of the verbal skirmish
is given by Plutarch; Alexander himself framed all the questions.
"Which be the
more numerous, the living or the dead?"
"The living,
for the dead are not."
"Which breeds
the larger animals, the sea or the land?"
"The land, for
the sea is only a part of land."
"Which is the
cleverest of beasts?"
"That one with
which man is not yet acquainted." (Man fears the unknown.)
"Which existed
first, the day or the night?"
"The day was
first by one day." This reply caused Alexander to betray surprise;
the Brahmin added: "Impossible questions require impossible answers."
"How
best may a man make himself beloved?"
"A man will
be beloved if, possessed with great power, he still does not make himself
feared."
"How
may a man become a god?" 5
"By doing that
which it is impossible for a man to do."
"Which is stronger,
life or death?"
"Life, because
it bears so many evils."
Alexander succeeded
in taking out of India, as his teacher, a true yogi. This man was Swami
Sphines, called "Kalanos" by the Greeks because the saint, a
devotee of God in the form of Kali, greeted everyone by pronouncing Her
auspicious name.
Kalanos accompanied
Alexander to Persia. On a stated day, at Susa in Persia, Kalanos gave
up his aged body by entering a funeral pyre in view of the whole Macedonian
army. The historians record the astonishment of the soldiers who observed
that the yogi had no fear of pain or death, and who never once moved from
his position as he was consumed in the flames. Before leaving for his
cremation, Kalanos had embraced all his close companions, but refrained
from bidding farewell to Alexander, to whom the Hindu sage had merely
remarked:
"I shall see
you shortly in Babylon."
Alexander left Persia,
and died a year later in Babylon. His Indian guru's words had been his
way of saying he would be present with Alexander in life and death.
The Greek historians have left us many vivid and inspiring pictures of Indian society. Hindu law, Arrian tells us, protects the people and "ordains that no one among them shall, under any circumstances, be a slave but that, enjoying freedom themselves, they shall respect the equal right to it which all possess. For those, they thought, who have learned neither to domineer over nor cringe to others will attain the life best adapted for all vicissitudes of lot." 6 "The
Indians," runs another text, "neither put out money at usury,
nor know how to borrow. It is contrary to established usage for an Indian
either to do or suffer a wrong, and therefore they neither make contracts
nor require securities." Healing, we are told, was by simple and
natural means. "Cures are effected rather by regulating
diet than by the use of medicines. The remedies most esteemed are ointments
and plasters. All others are considered to be in great measure pernicious."
Engagement in war was restricted to the Kshatriyas or warrior caste.
"Nor would an enemy coming upon a husbandman at his work on his land,
do him any harm, for men of this class being regarded as public benefactors,
are protected from all injury. The land thus remaining unravaged and producing
heavy crops, supplies the inhabitants with the requisites to make life
enjoyable." 7
The Emperor Chandragupta
who in 305 B.C. had defeated Alexander's general, Seleucus, decided seven
years later to hand over the reins of India's government to his son. Traveling
to South India, Chandragupta spent the last twelve years of his life as
a penniless ascetic, seeking self-realization in a rocky cave at Sravanabelagola,
now honored as a Mysore shrine. Near-by stands the world's largest statue,
carved out of an immense boulder by the Jains in A.D. 983 to honor the
saint Comateswara.
The ubiquitous religious
shrines of Mysore are a constant reminder of the many great saints of
South India. One of these masters, Thayumanavar, has left us the following
challenging poem:
You can control a
mad elephant; In the
beautiful and fertile State of Travancore in the extreme south
of India, where traffic is conveyed over rivers and canals, the Maharaja
assumes every year a hereditary obligation to expiate the sin incurred
by wars and the annexation in the distant past of several petty states
to Travancore. For fifty-six days annually the Maharaja visits the temple
thrice daily to hear Vedic hymns and recitations; the expiation ceremony
ends with the lakshadipam or illumination of the temple by a hundred
thousand lights.
The great
Hindu lawgiver Manu 8
has outlined the duties of a king. "He should shower amenities like
Indra (lord of the gods); collect taxes gently and imperceptibly as the
sun obtains vapor from water; enter into the life of his subjects as the
wind goes everywhere; mete out even justice to all like Yama (god of death);
bind transgressors in a noose like Varuna (Vedic deity of sky and wind);
please all like the moon, burn up vicious enemies like the god of fire;
and support all like the earth goddess.
"In war a king
should not fight with poisonous or fiery weapons nor kill weak or unready
or weaponless foes or men who are in fear or who pray for protection or
who run away. War should be resorted to only as a last resort. Results
are always doubtful in war."
Madras Presidency
on the southeast coast of India contains the flat, spacious, sea-girt
city of Madras, and Conjeeveram, the Golden City, capital site of the
Pallava dynasty whose kings ruled during the early centuries of the Christian
era. In modern Madras Presidency the nonviolent ideals of Mahatma Gandhi
have made great headway; the white distinguishing "Gandhi caps"
are seen everywhere. In the south generally the Mahatma has effected many
important temple reforms for "untouchables" as well as caste-system
reforms.
The origin
of the caste system, formulated by the great legislator Manu, was admirable.
He saw clearly that men are distinguished by natural evolution into four
great classes: those capable of offering service to society through their
bodily labor ( Sudras); those who serve through mentality, skill,
agriculture, trade, commerce, business life in general (Vaisyas);
those whose talents are administrative, executive, and protective÷rulers
and warriors ( Kshatriyas); those of contemplative
nature, spiritually inspired and inspiring (Brahmins). "Neither
birth nor sacraments nor study nor ancestry can decide whether a person
is twice-born (i.e., a Brahmin);" the Mahabharata declares,
"character and conduct only can decide."9
Manu instructed society
to show respect to its members insofar as they possessed wisdom, virtue,
age, kinship or, lastly, wealth. Riches in Vedic India were always despised
if they were hoarded or unavailable for charitable purposes. Ungenerous
men of great wealth were assigned a low rank in society.
Serious evils arose
when the caste system became hardened through the centuries into a hereditary
halter. Social reformers like Gandhi and the members of very numerous
societies in India today are making slow but sure progress in restoring
the ancient values of caste, based solely on natural qualification and
not on birth. Every nation on earth has its own distinctive misery-producing
karma to deal with and remove; India, too, with her versatile and invulnerable
spirit, shall prove herself equal to the task of caste-reformation.
So entrancing is southern
India that Mr. Wright and I yearned to prolong our idyl. But time, in
its immemorial rudeness, dealt us no courteous extensions. I was scheduled
soon to address the concluding session of the Indian Philosophical Congress
at Calcutta University. At the end of the visit to Mysore, I enjoyed a
talk with Sir C. V. Raman, president of the Indian Academy of Sciences.
This brilliant Hindu physicist was awarded the Nobel Prize
in 1930 for his important discovery in the diffusion of light÷the "Raman
Effect" now known to every schoolboy.
Waving
a reluctant farewell to a crowd of Madras students and friends, Mr. Wright
and I set out for the north. On the way we stopped before a little shrine
sacred to the memory of Sadasiva Brahman,10
in whose eighteenth-century
life story miracles cluster thickly. A larger Sadasiva shrine at Nerur,
erected by the Raja of Pudukkottai, is a pilgrimage spot which has witnessed
numerous divine healings.
Many quaint
stories of Sadasiva, a lovable and fully-illumined master, are still current
among the South Indian villagers. Immersed one day in samadhi on
the bank of the Kaveri River, Sadasiva was seen to be carried away by
a sudden flood. Weeks later he was found buried deep beneath a mound of
earth. As the villagers' shovels struck his body, the saint rose and walked
briskly away.
Sadasiva never spoke
a word or wore a cloth. One morning the nude yogi unceremoniously entered
the tent of a Mohammedan chieftain. His ladies screamed in alarm; the
warrior dealt a savage sword thrust at Sadasiva, whose arm was severed.
The master departed unconcernedly. Overcome by remorse, the Mohammedan
picked up the arm from the floor and followed Sadasiva. The yogi quietly
inserted his arm into the bleeding stump. When the warrior humbly asked
for some spiritual instruction, Sadasiva wrote with his finger on the
sands:
"Do not do what
you want, and then you may do what you like."
The Mohammedan was
uplifted to an exalted state of mind, and understood the saint's paradoxical
advice to be a guide to soul freedom through mastery of the ego.
The village children
once expressed a desire in Sadasiva's presence to see the Madura religious
festival, 150 miles away. The yogi indicated to the little ones that they
should touch his body. Lo! instantly the whole group was transported to
Madura. The children wandered happily among the thousands of pilgrims.
In a few hours the yogi brought his small charges home by his simple mode
of transportation. The astonished parents heard the vivid tales of the
procession of images, and noted that several children were carrying bags
of Madura sweets.
An incredulous youth
derided the saint and the story. The following morning he approached Sadasiva.
"Master,"
he said scornfully, "why don't you take me to the festival, even
as you did yesterday for the other children?"
Sadasiva complied;
the boy immediately found himself among the distant city throng. But alas!
where was the saint when the youth wanted to leave? The weary boy reached
his home by the ancient and prosaic method of foot locomotion.
1 Miss Bletch, unable to maintain the
active pace set by Mr. Wright and myself, remained happily with my relatives
in Calcutta. 2
This dam, a huge hydro-electric installation, lights Mysore City and gives
power to factories for silks, soaps, and sandalwood oil. The sandalwood
souvenirs from Mysore possess a delightful fragrance which time does not
exhaust; a slight pinprick revives the odor. Mysore boasts some of the
largest pioneer industrial undertakings in India, including the Kolar
Gold Mines, the Mysore Sugar Factory, the huge iron and steel works at
Bhadravati, and the cheap and efficient Mysore State Railway which covers
many of the state's 30,000 square miles.
The Maharaja and Yuvaraja who were my hosts in Mysore
in 1935 have both recently died. The son of the Yuvaraja, the present
Maharaja, is an enterprising ruler, and has added to Mysore's industries
a large airplane factory. 3
Six volumes on Ancient India (Calcutta, 1879). 4
Neither Alexander nor any of his generals ever crossed the Ganges. Finding
determined resistance in the northwest, the Macedonian army refused to
penetrate farther; Alexander was forced to leave India and seek his conquests
in Persia. 5
From this question we may surmise that the "Son of Zeus" had
an occasional doubt that he had already attained perfection. 6
All Greek observers comment on the lack of slavery in India, a feature
at complete variance with the structure of Hellenic society. 7
Creative India by Prof. Benoy Kumar Sarkar gives a comprehensive picture
of India's ancient and modern achievements and distinctive values in economics,
political science, literature, art, and social philosophy. (Lahore: Motilal
Banarsi Dass, Publishers, 1937, 714 pp., $5.00.) Another recommended volume
is Indian Culture Through the Ages, by S. V. Venatesvara (New York: Longmans,
Green & Co., $5.00). 8
Manu is the universal lawgiver; not alone for Hindu society, but for the
world. All systems of wise social regulations and even justice are patterned
after Manu. Nietzsche has paid the following tribute: "I know of
no book in which so many delicate and kindly things are said to woman
as in the Lawbook of Manu; those old graybeards and saints have a manner
of being gallant to women which perhaps cannot be surpassed . . . an incomparably
intellectual and superior work . . . replete with noble values, it is
filled with a feeling of perfection, with a saying of yea to life, and
a triumphant sense of well-being in regard to itself and to life; the
sun shines upon the whole book." 9
"Inclusion in one of these four castes originally depended not on
a man's birth but on his natural capacities as demonstrated by the goal
in life he elected to achieve," an article in East-West for January,
1935, tells us. "This goal could be (1) kama, desire, activity of
the life of the senses (Sudra stage), (2) artha, gain, fulfilling but
controlling the desires (Vaisya stage), (3) dharma, self-discipline, the
life of responsibility and right action (Kshatriya stage), (4) moksha,
liberation, the life of spirituality and religious teaching (Brahmin stage).
These four castes render service to humanity by (1) body, (2) mind, (3)
will power, (4) Spirit. 10
His full title was Sri Sadasivendra Saraswati Swami. The illustrious successor
in the formal Shankara line, Jagadguru Sri Shankaracharya of Sringeri
Math, wrote an inspiring Ode dedicated to Sadasiva. East-West for July,
1942, carried an article on Sadasiva's life. |
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Autobiography
of a Yogi