Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
CHAPTER - 27
A SUMMING - UP I commenced writing this brief account of
my life in compliance with the wishes of my friends and my devoted disciples.
I have traced a few significant events and have elucidated a few incidents.
I must record a thrilling experience I had, when I was about 42 years of age.
I was then in Guduvancheri and it was my habit there to sleep on the front verandah of the
house.
At about 12-30 on a certain Full Moon night, I found myself wide awake.
A part of the raised verandah was drenched in bright moonlight and at a distance of about
two feet from me, I saw the form of Saint Ramalinga Swami of Vadalur (1823-1874), seated,
draped from head to toe in pure white as was his wont.
Overcome by the inspiring vision of that supreme Saint and Social Reformer of the century gone
by, I got up to pay obeisance to him.
Looking at me with deep compassion, the Saint told me in a soft and clear tone: "I would
be residing with you for a decade, my boy, but do not tell this to any one now".
Uttering these words, the Saint disappeared, leaving me in extreme wonderment.
At once I sat to meditate, but only the form of Ramalinga Swami filled by mind.
For 10 years from then onwards, all the verses I wrote were saturated with philosophical
tenets.
It is my impression that, using my humble self as a medium, Ramalinga Swami completed
the work left unfinished by him.
On many an occasion he has been my guide; and I treasure the events in my memory.
Man alone has been endowed with the faculty of Reasoning.
To him alone is it given to plan his life properly in full consciousness of the great
Truth underlying creation.
In the process of evolution, when senses develop in full, we have living organisms.
But these living beings are limited in their functioning as they are endowed with only
five senses.
Man alone has the distinction of being endowed with the precious sixth sense.
The sixth sense enables him to regulate his life, imparting to it orderliness, system
and the clarity born of supreme wisdom.
He comprehends that there is a certain Power that forms the source of life of all kinds:
He knows that this Power could be spoken of as the Ultimate Reality.
He is sure that the life force functions different in different forms of life, according to the
physical characteristics of each of them.
He understands that man stands apart from the rest of creation because, in addition
to the sensory experiences common to all, he alone can reason out things and relate
cause with effect and arrive at conclusions.
He is convinced that he behaves in a variety of ways when bound by ignorance, till enlightenment
sets him free.
Man grasps the truth that when he studies and examines himself on these lines, he stands
on the very pinnacle of knowledge, developing a feeling of universal brotherhood and modifying
his own wants and needs with due regard and consideration for the Wants, needs and opinions
of others.
The story of my life describes how I reacted to my environment, changing from time to time
as a member of the community of man.
All other creatures lead lives according to instinct.
But man, in addition to instinct, has a brain that functions and serves him well.
His is a body-mind corporation and his history differs therefore from that of other living
things.
Nature provides amply from out of its abundance to meet the needs and aspirations of the human
races.
Nature also furnishes the requisite guidance towards the good and the true, by creating
men of knowledge and leadership.
The aspirtation and the need, deep down in the hearts of the masses, provides the justification
for the arrival of a Reformer in their midst and he gets shaped accordingly.
From this point of view therefore, I attribute My origin and My training also to this same
force- the need to fill the void of which innumerable people become suddenly conscious
at a particular moment of history.
A large majority of people, who lead the life of ordinary house holders, still have a learning
towards self realisation.
I give such people a simple training, suitable to them.
All people are shaped by Society.
They serve that Society.
They merge themselves at the end in that same Society.
The exceptions are those few who recognise the interdependence of the individual and
the Society and offer themselves to the uplift of their Society as a whole.
The greater the number of such dedicated men, the greater would be the happiness and peace
that reign in the world.
Right from the moment this truth dawned upon me, I have oriented my actions to the good
of humanity as a whole.
This way of life, I have held before my friends and disciples as a desirable goal or ideal
to strive for.
Knowledge of Self and a World Government these two
alone are capable of bringing an enduring peace to our troubled planet.
To achieve this World Peace is the aim of our World Community Service Centre.
Till this moment I have devoted my energies to the service of my home and humanity.
From now on, I have decided to give all my attention to the service of humanity only.
From 1960 onwards I began to withdraw from my business activities more and more and engage
myself wholly in spiritual service.
This message of light spread from the village of Guduvancheri and found its way by slow
degrees into the rest of Tamilnadu.
At the same time, certain Conferences in which I took part made it possible for the good
work to range further a field too; and the simplified course of Kundalini Yoga, which
I made popular, won regard and recognition in places like Bombay, Cuttack, Bubaneshwar,
Delhi and Nagpur.
A Scientific Yoga Conference was convened in New Delhi, from the 19th to the 23rd of
December, 1970.
The convener was an Englishman of the name of Christopher of Great Britain.
Delegates, as well as practitioners of Yoga, from all parts of the World, attended.
I also received an invitation; and I accepted it.
At 2.30 in the afternoon of the 21st December 1970 I addressed the Conference for forty
minutes.
My theme was Kundalini Yoga.
About twenty five persons in all came to meet me after my Address was over and got themselves
initiated by me in the practice of yoga.
I had the opportunity of meeting practitioners of yoga from several parts of the world and
discussing things with them.
In short, all those who had been working in close cooperation with me, as well as myself,
had every reason to be gratified with the measure of success that came our way then.
At the request of friends in Delhi and Nagpur, the ANBOLI journal became a bilingual publication
from January 1971.
It began to carry articles in English also, for their benefit.
On March 7, 1971, came our daughter Gnanambikai's betrothal.
I had often pleaded for simplification of the wedding procedure in the columns of ANBOLI.
I had opposed the giving and taking of dowries and advocated elimination of needless superfluities
in the wedding rites.
I had clearly indicated how the function could be fully reformed, in keeping with the trend
of modern times.
I decided that our own daughter's wedding should set the example and be a model for
other such weddings thereafter for such reform as I preached.
I spoke to the bridegroom's father about my ideas of wedding reform and won his consent.
The conditions were that the bride and the bride groom whole heartedly agree to the alliance,
that the parents of both should give their consent and that society at large should approve
and bear witness.
My study of the institution of marriage had led me to this conclusion and the wedding
scheme I drew up rested on this triple basis.
The members of the World Community Service Centre themselves formed a committee of hosts
and arranged for the celebration of the wedding of Gnanambikai and Anandan.
This, they did in strict conformity with my ideas of reformation.
The Bride and Bride groom took their seats.
A deed was already drawn up, in which they gave expression to their willingness, without
reserve, to take each other as their partner in life.
They now read out the document in the presence of the assembled guests and signed it.
The Registrar of Marriages was present there at that hour, by arrangement.
He had this wedding entered in his records according to form.
The bridegroom then adorned the bride with the auspicious jewel and exchanged garlands
with her.
The parents of the couple, as well as the Chief Guest there, attested the wedding deed.
Then came speeches of felicitation.
This way, the wedding was now finalised.
It became valid and binding.
Several fellow members of our Centre, who witnessed this procedure, have begun to adopt
these simplified rites weddings in their own families.
It is my wish that this reformed method of celebration should become the rule as days
go by.
I am sure it will.
I used to quote from Tirukkural, occasionally, during my discourses in Tamil.
These aphorisms are charged with meaning; and friends who listened to my elucidation
wanted me to write a commentary, bringing out the more subtle turths they contain.
My friend's wishes were fulfilled.
My interpretation of Tirukkural found a place in ANBOLI the journal of our Centre, for one
whole year and won the admiration and appreciation of readers.
This task, which I took upon myself with pleasure, gave me equal satisfaction and delight.
My sixtieth birthday was celebrated by my friends as a happy event on the 15th August
1971.
A purse of Rs.5000/- was presented to me on behalf of my friends that day; and I passed
it on as a gift to the World Community Service Centre.
This amount was helpful to bring out some of the books I had written.
The year 1972 proved an exhilarating turning point in the cause I was engaged in, of serving
humanity in the spiritual sphere.
The Divine Life Society held a Conference at Cuttack, Capital of Orissa, on the 19th,
20th and 21st of February of that year.
I went there on invitation and addressed the Conference, taking, as my theme, Kundalini
Yoga as a spiritual discipline.
As a result of this, Branches of our Service Centre were formed at both Cuttack and Bubaneshwar.
I am aging rapidly.
The many ordeals I have been through and my own incessant and excessive work have, together,
worn me thin.
The days that are still left are bound to be few.
Nor is there any desire in me to go on living, indefinitely, for long.
I wish, if occasion serves, to get into touch with the elite of the West, to put before
them my scheme for universal peace and get them to see to it that the good work goes
on, even more effectively, after my time.
May there be Peace on Earth and Prosperity for All.