Book Reviews

All unsigned reviews are by the editor.

HOLY MOTHER: Being the Life of Sri Sarada Devi, Wife of Sri Ramakrishna and Helpmate in his Mission. By Swami Nikhilananda (Allen and Unwin, 32s.)

Several of the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna Initiated disciples after his death, but his foremost successor, recognised and revered by them all as such, was his wife, Sarada Devi, whom they referred to as the 'Holy Mother'. If she was little known publicly it was because her humility was as great as her power and she preferred to remain inconspicuous. An uneducated Bengali woman occupying herself with ordinary household tasks, she was at the same time a fount of love and source of power. She had many disciples. On initiating them she gave a mantra which varied according to her intuition of their needs and also bade them meditate on some Divine Form. It is interesting to note that this was not always the form of Ramakrishna, though it often was. She was also a great advocate of work. Apart from the time devoted to meditation, the waking hours were to be filled with useful work. Indeed, she held that idleness was one of the greatest obstacles to mind-control.

Swami Nikhilananda, himself a disciple of hers, writes with understanding and sensitivity. This makes it the more remarkable that he should keep up the childish pretence that no spiritual Master has appeared on earth since Ramakrishna. He even goes out of his way to assert this: "Sri Ramakrishna is recognised by his followers as the Divine Incarnation of modern times, embodying in himself the spiritual experience of past prophets and the truths of all religions ... He is the only Incarnation of God who has been photographed." Is it possible that he has never heard of the Maharshi? Or that he has not understood that the Maharshi is Bhagavan?

HONEST TO GOD: By John A. T. Robinson. (SCM Paperback, 5s.)

There is a core of truth in Bishop Robinson's much discussed book 'Honest to God'. That is that God is not a being somewhere in the universe or outside it, the question of whose existence can be disputed, but ultimate reality, being itself, what Tillich calls 'the ground of our being'. What he fails to see, however, is that man also is not a being whose immortality can be disputed but being itself temporarily limited by form but returning ineluctably to its Source. "All religious postulate the three fundamentals, the world, the soul and God, but it is only the one Reality that manifests Itself as these three." (Forty Verses on Reality, v. 2 - from the Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi, Rider & Co., London, and Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai.

He also imparts a false simplicity into his argument by failing to see that insofar as a man regards his own individual being as a reality, just so far a personal God is also a reality for him. This makes the book not only shallow but positively harmful. There are many (corresponding with all who follow the path of bhakti in other religions) who, without being able to conceive of the Oneness of Being, still approach it by striving to submit their individual being to the Being of God from Whom (so far as beings exist) it springs and to Whom it returns. It is people such as this who need religious guidance, and for them this book will seem to be in the Liberal Protestant tradition of scuttling the ship for fear of storms, appeasing the enemy by surrendering even more than he demands.

In speaking of Christ, the author does come near to understanding the true nature of man when he says that God could act through Christ only because Christ made himself 'utterly transparent to him' by eliminating all self-will and being 'nothing in himself'. He immediately negates this intuition, however, by asserting with the smug assurance of the Christian monopolist that this has only happened in the case of Christ. How does he know? One is reminded of Sariputra's enthusiastic outburst that Gautama Buddha was the greatest Master the world had ever seen or ever would see, and Gautama's gently sarcastic reply: "I take it that you have known all the Masters the world has ever seen or ever will see?" Such a claim of unicity is particularly out of place in a book like this which is attempting to replace what the author calls the 'mythology' of divine beings and events by the universality of intellectual principles.

MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE MEN: By G. Gurdjieff. (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 30s.)

Gurdjieff's 'Meetings with Remarkable Men', now re-issued in a revised translation, is in fact a rambling but well written autobiography. It builds up the picture of a resourceful and versatile man completely without scruples in his ways of obtaining money and always prepared to hoodwink people and pass under false pretences, as for instance, when he masquerades as a Muslim Syed.

What is most important in view of the controversies that have grown up around him is that the book shows no sign at all of spiritual understanding. He speaks constantly of his interest in the occult and his search for forgotten secrets in ancient manuscripts and hidden centres, but there is nothing spiritual in all that. Truth is hidden only by men's obtuseness and is to be found not in old documents but in the heart. Typical is his saying that he penetrated to Mecca and Medina, masquerading as a Muslim, in his search for the essence of Islam and then learnt that it is preserved not there but in Bukhara. For one who can understand, it exists, independent of time and place, in the shahada: 'There is no god but God.'

He may have acquired psysic or hypnotic powers in the hidden centres he claims to have visited - and indeed, the extraordinary influence he later exerted makes it seem probable that he did - but there is nothing spiritual in that. The Maharshi said: "Truth is simple but people don't want Truth, they want mystery." For those who want mystery Gurdjieff's book may prove tantalising with its constant hinting at secret knowledge which, however, he is careful never to divulge. For those who seek Truth there is nothing in it.

THE ONE WORK: A Journey towards the Self, By Anne Gage. (Vincent Stuart, 21s.)

Miss Gage had a youthful experience which, although not a pre-glimpse of Realization, was at any rate powerful enough to create in her the urge to be numbered among those who seek and who expound. She travelled to India, where she admired the Ajanta paintings; on to Siam, where she told a Buddhist priest that she wanted to hear the ultimate Truth, but quick because she had not much time; to Angkor, Bali, Japan. She is at her best in the intermediate world of traditional art and symbols, about which she really does write with feeling and understanding. Unfortunately, however, she aspires to make her visit to the sacred mountain Arunachala the climax of her book. There were people who could have explained the direct, simple teaching of the Maharshi to her if, as is evident, she had not understood it from reading; but instead she contacted some mysterious or fictional swami on the hill at twilight, in whose name she gives us a lecture on the difference between the individuality and the personality, reminiscent of Western Hermetism but poles apart from the Maharshi's teaching of the One Self.

THE SEARCH OF A YOGI: Himalayan Pilgrimage. By Dom Denys Rutledge. (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 30s.)

Father Rutledge believes that there is no such thing as a Jivan Mukta or a miracle-working yogi. He does not seem to know the difference between the two. At any rate he uses the terms indiscriminately. He tells us that he had a few weeks time to fill in before taking his ship back to England, so, despite his disbelief in their existence, he travelled down the Ganges from Almora to Rishikesh looking for samples. He returned triumphantly unsuccessful. As well might one make a tour of the churches of Rome and end up with the triumphant conclusion: "I saw no miracles worked; therefore there is no such thing as a Catholic saint."

All this is rather ridiculous than sinister; what makes the book really pernicious is the author's avowed belief that Hinduism is satanic. It is a great pity that in an age when the forces of unbelief are so powerful one who has belief should display such fanatical ignorance and malice towards other forms of belief.

HUNTING THE GURU IN INDIA: By Anne Marshall (Gollancz, Pp. 205, Price 25s.)

Christ declared that he who seeks will find; but seeking implies an attitude of humility and this is just what Miss Marshall lacks. She has not the deliberate hostility and determination not to find that Fr. Rutledge has; rather she interviews her gurus from a pedestal of superior cleverness, with a snigger seldom far removed. Typical is the comment on Swami Purushottamananda, a venerable recluse living in a cave in the Himalayas near Rishikesh. In reply to her request for a message he tells her: "Know yourself and be free." She comments: "Probably he felt he had to say something." The implication is that the message was inane; actually it is the comment that is inane.

The nearest she came to a spirit of reverence was at Tiruvannamalai, "....in view of my disappointment at Pondicherry, I very nearly left the Ramanashram of the Maharshi out of my itinerary. It would have been a pity if I had done so. After an all night train journey, I arrived at Tiruvannamalai just as the sun was clearing the horizon. The stars were fading out of the sky and the gopurams of the temple were silhouetted against the perfect cone of Arunachala Hill. It rose three thousand feet out of flat terrain and being so close it completely dominated the scene. The summit was at that moment hidden in a cloud which deepened to a crimson coronet as it caught the first rays of sunlight. Ten minutes later the display was over and the heat of the day began. I had seen the Taj Mahal by moonlight and the vast expanse of the snow-clad Himalayas stretching for a hundred miles, but in all India I never saw anything to equal this first glimpse of the holy hill, rose-crowned by the glory of the morning light. It so dominated my mental horizon that I felt unequal to the task of impartial judgement. To many, Arunachala is just an ordinary and rather uninteresting hill covered with rough grass and shale, but I always see it through the rosy glow of that cloud on the summit. Arunachala Hill is, according to local myth, the symbol of Spirit incarnate in Matter. The Tamils declare that it is the oldest hill in the world, the heart of the earth and its centre; Mount Meru in fact."

She was impressed too by the Maharshi. She says of devotees she visited: "Their house is adorned with many pictures of the sage, and I was at once struck with their tremendous range of expression. In the later pictures especially, he wears a look of such unbelievable tenderness that involuntarily I exclaimed, 'What a beautiful face!' Always it was these late photographs that drew me and held my gaze over and over again. If he can impress like this from a mere photograph, how much greater must have been the impact of the living man." Yet even with the Maharshi she felt quite competent to offer her own superficial emendation to his teaching as contained in the Forty Verses on Reality.

What makes her attitude the less excusable is that (like Koestler, another supercilious sceptic) she has herself had experience of non-physical, supra-mental awareness, as she explains at the end of the book.

THE MEANING OF LIFE: By S. Subramanya Iyer. (Published by the author from 'Mysore Lodge', Madanapalli, A. P., Rs. l.)

Sri Subramanya Iyer's little book on the meaning of life is composed in terse, sutra-like sentences, stating, not arguing.

The art of living consists in being in tune with nature, in tune with the law of life. It starts with self-enquiry: 'Who am I? Whither do I come? What is the purpose and meaning of life?' It is based on self-knowledge, the principles of dharma and the law of karma.

It will be seen that this is not the 'Who am I?' taught by the Maharshi, which is a quest of the 'I' that neither comes nor goes and has no purpose but just is. Nevertheless there is much in the author's reflections that readers may find interesting.

It is regrettable, however, that the first two items in the book are vitiated by the illusion so common in India that by cutting language up into lines beginning with capital letters you can make poetry of it.

ASHRAMS, LES YOGIS E'T LES SAGES: By Arnaud Desjardins. (La Palatine, N. F. 12.60)

Arnaud Desjardins prepared a television roundup of the ashrams and sages of India today, and his delightfully written book comes as a further exposition of this. Especially for those who have remained doubtful as to whether there really is a path or any Goal to seek, the sentence repeated almost as a refrain in the early part of the book: "But supposing it should be true," will strike a note.

The ashrams which he and his wife visited were, in this order, those of Swami Sivananda, Ananda Mayi Ma, Swami Ramdas and the Maharshi; and it should be added that Swami Sivananda and Swami Ramdas were still living at the time.

The first chapter is very skilfully written, bringing in much information about ashrams and swamis, paths and doctrines, so mingled with local colour and descriptions of people and events that it never becomes heavy or tedious. Throughout the chapter he adroitly avoids saying whether he is really convinced by the swami.

In the next chapter he is completely captivated by Ananda Mayi Ma, the Bengali woman saint, He mentions the hardship that a Western devotee faces in following her - no fixed abode, as she moves constantly from one ashram to another; no satisfactory provision for Westerners, as her immediate entourage are orthodox Brahmins; dependence on translators, as she speaks no Western language - but he considers it all well worthwhile for the benefit of her presence.

He and his wife were delighted also by the exuberant happiness and the atmosphere of purity and goodness emanating from Swami Ramdas at Anandashram, and by the strength and serenity that they felt in Mataji Krishna Bai. But there is not the same personal devotion as to Ananda Mayi Ma.

Only the chapter on the Maharshi is disappointing, perhaps because the author was too late to meet the Maharshi personally, perhaps also because he was less drawn to the path of pure Advaita. There are a few mistakes, as when he says that the Maharshi put bhakti first, calling it 'the Mother of Jnana' (and why does he give this supposed quotation in Hindi, when the Maharshi spoke Tamil?). Actually, the Maharshi did prescribe the path of bhakti, but only as a second choice, for those who found Jnana, the path of Knowledge, too arduous. The principal fault, however, is one of atmosphere or emphasis: lacking the personal touch that lends such charm to the other chapters, his style becomes ponderous and he gives an impression of the Maharshi as a philosopher sitting on his couch lecturing on predestination. Actually the Maharshi avoided theorising as far as possible, always turning the questioner to practical considerations of sadhana; and his expositions, when he did give any, were always lively, often humorous.

It is unfortunate, but perhaps natural, that one who has visited gurus should feel the urge to claim that they are 'the same as the Maharshi'.

Swami Ramdas often used to say: "Ram told Ramdas to say so and so." ('Ram' is a name of God, and 'Ramdas' means 'slave of God'.) Someone once told Bhagavan this and asked him whether it was true. Waving his hand around, he said: "As true as all this." That is to say that it is part of the universal Maya. Ultimately there is neither Ram nor Ramdas; there just IS. And that is Bhagavan.

HOEHLEN, KLOESTER, ASHRAMS: Edited by Ursula von Mangoldt. (Otto Wilhelm Barth Verlag, Weilheim/Oberbayern, West Germany, price not stated.)

A similar work has been published in Germany, only in this case it covers a wider ground and is a symposium, the different gurus and ashrams being described by different persons.

The editor herself writes on Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Arthur Osborne on the Maharshi and his Ashram and also on the Ashram of Sai Baba at Shirdi, K. Ramachandra on Swami Ramdas and Ananda Mayi Ma, Gebhard Frei on Swami Sivananda. Apart from this, Savitri Devi, a German lady turned sannyasin, has contributed a chapter on the Ramakrishna Mission, of which she is a great devotee, and one on 'Caves in the Himalayas', which she knows personally. Finally there are two chapters on Japanese Zen, one by Ernst Benz and the other by Takashi Hirata.

POET-PHILOSOPHERS OF THE RIG-VEDA: BY Dr. C. Kunhan Raja (Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Ltd., Madras-17. Pp. xxv and 330. Price Rs. 20.)

The late Dr. C. Kunhan Raja was an eminent Sanskrit scholar who chose Vedic literature as his special field of research. In the present book, he gives a lucid account of the philosophies of some of the Rig-Vedic poets, adding whatever information could be gathered about their lives and times. Dirghatmas, Brihaspati, Sunassepa, Yama, Manu and Angiras are the poets discussed in a sequence of six chapters. The reason for selecting these poets is that they were the founders of religion and philosophy, and each of them was a type by himself. For example, Yama was the first to find the Path, and Manu was the first to institute religious rituals. A few of the other teachers are mentioned in chapter seven. In the chapter that follows, the views regarding the formation of the world are analysed and explained. The final chapter entitled Samvanana (Integration) is a commentary on a small poem of four verses, pleading for the continuance of unity among the people. In the Appendix are given the poems themselves in Roman script and their English rendering.

The Introduction sets forth certain conclusions reached by the learned author regarding the nature of Vedic civilisation and poetry. He is convinced that the Vedic poets were not primitive people addressing their prayers to forces of nature personified in fear and dread. Vedic poetry is of a high grade. Vedic civilisation was an advanced civilisation which had been preceded by a long period of civilised existence. Again, Dr. Raja does not agree with the view that there is an evolution in the hymns from naturalistic polytheism to monotheism and monism. It is wrong, he believes, to regard certain mandalas of the Rig-Veda as later compositions on the ground that they contain 'evolved' thoughts. He sees in the philosophy of the hymns attempts at integration and harmony.

This book opens up many lines of inquiry into the contents of Vedic lore. This is a publication which those scholars who are interested in Vedic studies cannot afford to ignore.

- DR. T. M. P. MAHADEVAN.

RIGVEDA MANDALA VII: By H. D. Velankar. (Bhavan's Book University,- Bombay-7, Pp. xxxii and 80 and 288, Price Rs. 20.)

This is a critical edition of the Seventh Mandala of the Rigveda with an introduction, English translation and critical notes. The learned editor, Professor Velankar, has to his credit long experience in teaching and research. He has taught the text to several generations of post-graduate students and knows what critical aids they require for understanding it. Although he has planned to publish an annotated translation of the entire Rigveda, he has selected the Seventh Mandala first because it 'has figured very prominently' among the prescribed texts for the M. A. Sanskrit course.

The text is printed in Devanagari, and is followed by an annotated translation which is clear and faithful. As appendices are given a select glossary of Sanskrit terms, a general index, an index of deities, and an index of metres. In the scholarly introduction, the editor discusses the contents of the Mandala under certain topics. In the section, on 'Vedic Word Deva and Idolatry', Professor Velankar lists what he calls the contrasts between the loyalties of the Vedic Aryans and their rivals, the non-Aryans. But there is room for doubt as to whether the terms 'Aryan' and 'non-Aryan' bear a racial significance.

- DR. T. M. P. MAHADEVAN.

SANKARA'S TEACHINGS IN HIS OWN WORDS: By Swami Atmananda.
RAMANUJA'S TEACHINGS IN HIS OWN WORDS: By M. Yamunacharya.
MADHVA'S TEACHINGS IN HIS OWN WORDS: By B. N. K. Sharma.
(All three published by Bhavan's Book University, Chaupathy, Bombay-7, Rs. 2.50 each.)

The Hindu Religion has been described as the sanatana dharma, the eternal Law of life, because it has known no death, no irresistible decay. The truth of the Spirit that has actuated it from its dateless beginnings renews itself constantly in new and newer forms but always preserves its innate character. It has been a fundamental Truth of the Hindu religion that the Divine is indeed One but it has several aspects or statuses in manifestation and the human soul can approach and realise the Divine in any of them. All are facts of spiritual and intimate experience; all are equally true. The three treatises before us are a worthy testimony to this spirit of the Indian tradition.

Spearheading the movement of revival of the ancient Hindu religion after a long period of stagnation, Acharya Sankara (8th century AD) reaffirmed the Vedantic Truth of the One Brahman without a second. The Reality is One, the Transcendent, the Absolute. The universe is only relatively true, a play of Maya on the Being of Brahman. The existence of man also has the same character. In his core, man is none other than Brahman. But he is involved in this play of Maya. His ultimate destiny is to realise this true nature of his being. The process thereto is one of mental understanding, preparation and inner purification for translating the knowledge so gained into terms of living, and finally one-pointed absorption in the yoga-sadhana to achieve liberation and union with the Divine.

Swami Atmananda gives a well phased exposition of Sankara's teachings on the subject, quoting from the original writings of the Acharya in profusion. The Shruti, Karma, Upasana, Jnana, are some of the headings of the sections in the book.

Some three centuries later rose another Acharya, also a figure of towering spiritual attainments, who gave expression to another possible realisation of the Divine. Brahman is One, he agreed but it is qualified by two attributes: matter and souls, the world and individual beings (jivas). Both the jiva and the world are creations of the Divine who is conceived as the Lord Vasudeva, and are dependent on Him. The Lord is eternally at play with his creations and it is the goal of man to divest himself of the folds of ignorance in which he is clothed and emerge into the august proximity of the Lord and participate in the Divine game or Lila consciously. There is a strong element of theism in this philosophy and Prof. Yamunacharya is lucid in his exposition, with apposite quotations of the path of surrender that man is called upon to tread and of the importance of Grace in the deliverance of the human soul.

Madhavacharya (13th century), basing his philosophy on his own spiritual realisation, propounded the Doctrine of Dualism. There are, he said, three real entities: God, Soul and the Universe, the latter two being dependent on God. There can only be one relation between man and God, that of servant and Master. There can be no identity between either God and man or God and world. Dr. Sharma is to be congratulated on the classic quality of his work in which he not only gives the fundamentals of the Dvaita philosophy, but points out the special contribution made by the Acharya to the national heritage by his commentaries on portions of the Veda, the Upanishads, the epics etc.

All the three books are weighty. As Sri Diwakar observes in his Foreword to the second book, "the emphasis which all the three Acharyas have given to Bhakti, the prominence which they gave to daily discipline and the principle of dedication of every act to God have enriched truly religious life and made it easier for the common man to tread the Path of God."

- M. P. PANDIT

BHAGAVAD GITA: By C. Rajagopalachari. (Bhavan's Book University, Bombay-7. Price Rs. 2.50).

The Gita represents a great effort at synthesis of the many lines of philosophy and practice of inner life that came to be developed by the Aryan genius in India. It serves as a link between the Vedic and Upanishadic past and the subsequent ages of the Darshanas. That is how it occupied a unique position in the scriptures of Hinduism and has been commented upon by practically all the leading Acharyas of the land.

The present book is intended to serve as a handbook for beginners who do not know much about this text. It gives a rapid idea of the contents e.g. Soul, Karma, Nature, Meditation, Austerities, Karma-Yoga etc. Select verses are given under each head with translations and helpful notes. The compilation amply fulfills the intention of the author: it awakens the interest of the reader in the original and also induces a faith in the higher life possible for man.

- M. P. PANDIT.

IMMORTAL WORDS: An Anthology: (Bhavan's Book University, Bombay-7. Price Rs. 2.50).

Brought out on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of the Bhavan which has done such splendid work in the propagation of the higher values of Indian tradition, this volume consists of inspiring selections from the writings and utterances of the seers, sages and wise men of all lands, of all ages. They are arranged in twenty-four sections, e.g. Culture, Devotion, Faith, Life, Love, Work etc., and make for very instructive reading. The publication answers to the requirements of a good book as laid down by Louisa M. Alcott (and quoted on page 110): "That is a good book, it seems to me, which is opened with expectation and closed with profit."

- M. P. PANDIT.

THE PSALMS FOR THE COMMON READER: By Mary Ellen Chase. (Michael Joseph, 21s)

The Book of Psalms is really five books put together, each one of them probably an anthology, Miss Chase explains. Writing lovingly of them, she describes how the scholars divide them into categories such as hymns, thanksgiving, laments, historical and so on. She also distinguishes between those meant as choral anthems and those that seem to be personal outpourings, Her appreciative exposition extends to the poetry as well as the religion of them.

In a lengthy supplement she gives a brief account of the long and tangled history of Israel so as to show the background from which they arose.

- SAGITTARIUS.