Letters to the Editor
Your journal is indeed fine. I have
always thought that a journal from Tiruvannamalai should be published to
propagate Bhagavan's teaching.
In my 'The Flute Calls Still'* there is a letter on Bhagavan. I wonder if you
would care to print it in your quarterly?** I will write to you later on about
your fine (July issue) editorial, which Indira Devi too has liked — she
says, she has a very good 'feel' about your journal.
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* - Reviewed elsewhere in this issue Editor.
** - Published under 'How I came to the Maharshi'. - Editor.
- Dilip Kumar Roy, Hari Krishna Mandir, Poona.
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The Mountain Path is indeed a very instructive and inspiring journal. The first issue was good, the second issue better, and the third still better. It contains very good articles by many devotees who have had some experiences by contact with Bhagavan. The articles intensify the aspirants' devotion for Bhagavan and thus give them an impetus in their efforts to attain the goal Bhagavan has shown. They also whet the appetite of earnest seekers to absorb more the teachings of Bhagavan and realise His eternal Presence. The journal is surely serving its purpose.
- Satchidananda, Secretary of Anandashram, Kanhangad,
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Thoughtfully written, your article on 'Vegetarianism' which appeared in the issue of The Mountain Path of April 1964 is thought-provoking and bears the touch of wisdom.
It is a great pity that even in our predominantly Hindu India those who use the flesh of dead animals for food still predominate.
I wholeheartedly welcome your quarterly which is full of interesting and instructive articles. May it grow in usefulness and wide circulation.
- Krishnanand, Shanti Ashram, Bhadran, Gujerat.
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Your editorials are charming, instructive and revealing. Lord Radha Krishna's grace and blessings be on you.
- Bankey Behari, Mata Krishna Satsang, Vrindaban,
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Allow me to congratulate you on your noble presentation of Self-wisdom in The Mountain Path. With the grace of a rare Guru behind you and that essential background of wisdom traditions which are found in such perfection in South India, your journal is almost alone in the midst of so much trashy literature that all lovers of brahma-vidya must rejoice at its appearance.
Since it is in English and therefore intended not only for Indian readers but for a world audience, this is a further encouraging feature; for I believe there are thousands of sincere seekers in the West who need The Mountain Path and the truth it represents. So many silly books have been written about yogis and swamis, and so many impostors and adventurers have exploited the subject, that it is most encouraging to have something honest and sincere, with a genuine Teacher in the forefront, to set aright this tragic state of affairs.
Only those like myself who have been trying to do the same thing — and needless to say welcome this strong support in the common aim — know how hard the editorial job must be, and how well you are succeeding.
Your editorials are most refreshing. The July one where you deal with Krishnamurti says things that needed saying about that paradoxical personality who for fifty years has been over-compensating himself for his early conditioning by Leadbeater and others.
- John Spiers, Editor, Values.
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Congratulations on your last editorial. It made very clear something which few people on the spiritual path seem to get straight: the difference between a glimpse of higher consciousness and permanent realization.
- Marguerite Lidchi, Editor, World Union-Goodwill, Pondicherry,
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I should like to tell you what pleasure I have got from reading the first three issues of your magazine The Mountain Path. Everything in it is of high quality. It is a fine tribute to the unforgettable Ramana Maharshi.
Your editorial 'Where Charity Begins' in the second issue particularly impressed me. It is completely in the spirit of the Master, a spirit which I am trying to assimilate as well as I can.
- Professor Andrieu, Lyon, France,
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This quarterly journal is magnificent and I regret not to
know enough English to express my admiration and satisfaction.* With regard
to the pictures of Sri Ramana, of the Mountain and of devotees, I agree completely
with what the Editor says in reply to the letter from J.G. of Alabama (see
Letters to the editor in the April 1964 edition). We are very happy to see,
among worldly sights, the serene face of one who is established in the true
vision and can help us to attain it also. It is indeed a blessed contact. Altogether
I appreciate the Editor's answers to the letters. They seem expressed in the
spirit of the Maharshi. And I love the editorials. If I start to mention all
the things I like it would be too long, I love very much the quotations and
poems here and there, permitting us to meet with friends by turning the pages
(Tukaram, Shankara, HuiNeng, Milarepa) blessed meetings! Also the Ashram Bulletin.
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* From here on the English has been edited. - Editor
- 'Krishna', Paris
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I am a subscriber to your quarterly The Mountain Path and would like to say what a tremendous help it has been to me. In fact it has become a sort of 'daily bread' for me, in spite of the fact that the very high spiritual level of this path is far far above my inner comprehension. The 'hypnotism of the world' (as Joel Goldsmith so aptly names it in your issue of April 1964) still drags me down too much. It is so difficult to remember all the time that the difficulties and problems are of the relative plane or Maya; and even when we do remember what a terrible challenge it presents! I was particularly interested in Goldsmith's 'Infinite Way of Life ' as I too have felt that, since God is One, all is One Perfect, Infinite Being, and disease and sorrow and sin have no place in it, that we see them as such through some error of ours or that the idea of Oneness in all and One Perfect Being is just nonsense but the second proposition just doesn't hold water it reduces all life, all being, everything, to utter chaos.
I can imagine Bhagavan Sri Ramana nodding approvingly at Goldsmith with his wonderfully kind and understanding smile. You can imagine how bitterly I regret not to have sat at the great Sage's feet in his lifetime! I envy those happy souls whom he initiated by a look, allowing them to have a flash of realization of the Truth through his Grace and blessing.
- Mary N. Kanny, Bombay
Yes, it was a tremendous experience; but remember that the Grace and the blessing are still the same. As S. P. Mukherjee wrote in his poem in our January 1964 issue "The body-presence, the presence in the heart. These are the same." - Editor.
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May I send you my deep appreciation for The Mountain Path. I have read the copies several times. I am especially grateful for the picture of Ramana Maharshi. Such a serene and beautiful face. Sometimes looking at it I have to cry. Again I want to touch it. I can't seem to look at it enough. If only I could have seen him, been in his presence, received his initiation!
Articles that I keep rereading are: 'Self-Enquiry' by D. E. Harding, 'Outside the Scriptures' by Dr. Krishnaswami, 'Living the Infinite Way' by Joel Goldsmith and your editorials and book reviews. And thank you for the article on Vegetarianism.
- Mrs. H. L. Cavanagh, California.
Don't be grieved. His initiation still comes to those who turn to him - Editor.
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To write in a matter-of-fact way about my impressions after going through the various articles, poems and pictures of The Mountain Path seems to me out of place. I simply feel that the journal is just as it ought to be and as I would wish it to be. In it heart speaks to heart and therefore every seeker on the lonely road to Realization and all devotees of Sri Bhagavan will feel the divine message conveyed through it.
May the Grace of Sri Bhagavan which I feel so abundantly flowing through The Mountain Path be with the journal constantly and bring peace and bliss not only to all readers but equally to the publisher, the editors and the entire staff!
- R. Fuchsberger, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia.
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The first three copies of The Mountain Path have proved a source of real help, comfort and inspiration and will continue to bring a constant supply of spiritual nourishment from the Ashram. It is with much admiration for the worthy efforts of all concerned in making the journal such a beacon light in these times that I should be most happy to take out a life subscription to The Mountain Path.
- Peter Bright, Paignton, Devon
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Wei Wu Wei's articles hit off and release and elucidate my own position better than anything I've ever come across he speaks exactly my own language, only so very much better than I ever could.
The Hindu '3' with a squiggle at its back - what does it mean?
- E. Grace Blanchard, Shrewsbury.
The symbol printed at the head of our 'contents' page and at the head of the editorial is OM, the first and greatest of the mantras - Editor.
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(To S. P. Mukherji) I read your life in the 'Ashram Bulletin' of The Mountain Path of July 1964. I have no words to express my feelings about our Gurudev Sri Bhagavan Ramana for having granted Your Prayer, I have been praying for the same thing for the last ten years. Let Bhagavan take his own time to bless me. Really you are very near to his Chidananda Rupa. I can therefore only request you to bless your brother.
- C. N. Shastry, Saidapur, Dharwar.
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Sweet to the thought, sweet to the ear, sweet to the mouth, is The Mountain Path. It will bring Bhagavan's Grace to many thousands who are hungrily reaching out for peace and enlightenment.
- M. Thangavel, Pondicherry
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When I go on asking myself (of course, not verbally) who I am I become silent and enter the state of not-knowing. I do not know anything. And I don't go further. May I ask you whether there is any further step. After a time I become normal and my ordinary mind starts functioning.
- Raja of Bhor, Poona.
Surely this not knowing anything does not mean becoming unconscious like a block of wood? The 'I' which knows things objectively as separate from itself may cease to function, but in its place a state of pure awareness arises or you could call it pure being, pure conscious being. This is normal. To lose it again is abnormal, even though usual. It can be retained side by side with, or rather underlying, what we call 'normal' consciousness of an apparently objective world. That is what we aim at. It is to be accomplished by persistent steady effort and while retaining consciousness. - Editor.