Introducing …

Of Bhagavan's few short books one of the most beautiful is Spiritual Instruction. It is little known because Bhagavan never wrote it out in a continuous form, as he did Who am I? and Self-Enquiry but left it in its original form of question and answer, and it was therefore not included in his Collected Works. In particular, it contains beautiful definitions of the Guru and upadesa, including the following passage which shows in what an uncompromising sense Bhagavan used the term 'Guru': "The Guru is one who at all times abides in the profound depths of the Self. He never sees any difference between himself and others and is quite free from the idea that he is the Enlightened or Liberated One, while those around him are in bondage or the darkness of ignorance. His self-possession can never be shaken under any circumstances, and he is never perturbed."

Most of these explanations were given to an elementary school teacher, by name Natesa Mudaliar. It was as far back as 1918, before the present Ashram was built, that, fired with enthusiasm from his reading of Swami Vivekananda, he approached Bhagavan in Skandashram Cave and sought his upadesa. In those days Bhagavan spoke little and the rumour spread that he took no disciples and gave no upadesa. And indeed the first time Natesa visited him he sat silent, not vouchsafing a word, and Natesa returned home dejected.

However that only strengthened his resolve. A Sat-Guru must be found, and where was another? His mind always flew to the Maharshi. In 1920 he wrote a few letters to the Maharshi, but there was at that time no Ashram office and no correspondence was maintained, so no reply came. In one letter he said that if Sri Maharshi would not bless him with upadesa in this life he would have to be reborn to do so in another incarnation. A few days after this Sri Maharshi appeared to him in a dream and told him that his help would follow if he first meditated on God in the form of Maheswara. Natesa followed this instruction for some time and then to his surprise and pleasure received a reply from Sri Vasudeva Sastriar on behalf of Sri Bhagavan that his letters had been placed before Bhagavan and that he could come for darshan.

He accordingly went to Tiruvannamalai and first worshipped the Lord in the temple there. A Brahmin there to whom he told his story advised him that it would be a good sign if he could first get upadesa from the elusive Seshadri Swami who also lived on the Hill.¹ The two of them accordingly went in search of Seshadri Swami. After a good deal of search they contacted him and he said: "When the mind rejects objects one after another what survives this elimination is Jnana and That is God. All is That and That alone. It is madness to run to hills and caves in quest of it. Go without fear."

Full of joy, Natesa went up the hill to Skandashram and sat before the Maharshi for some hours. The Maharshi still did not speak to him but before rising to go for food twice looked intently at him. Henceforth Natesa visited the Ashram every month but a year went by before he presumed to open his mouth and ask Bhagavan for his anugraha or Grace. Bhagavan said: "I am always giving it. If you can't apprehend it what can I do?" Still the silent Grace was not apprehended.

Some days later Sri Maharshi appeared to him in a dream and instructed him to unify the vision of his two eyes, withdrawing it from objects, external and internal, and to make this his form of practice. In the dream he disputed the utility of this form of practice but Sri Maharshi told him to try it and see.
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1. For whom see Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge, Ch. VI, by Arthur Osborne, Rider & Co., London.

After following this dream upadesa for some time Natesa had another dream in which he affirmed to Sri Maharshi that he was not the body, whereupon Sri Maharshi placed his hand on his head and then on the right side of his chest, pressing hard. This caused some pain but he considered it a gift of Grace. On waking he felt that the Maharshi had given him Hasta Diksha and opened his 'heart'.

On his next visit to Skandashram the Maharshi told him that the Atman was already present so that there was no such thing as obtaining it. It is already obtained. On this he experienced peace.

About 1926 Natesa asked Bhagavan for permission to renounce the world and become a hermit. Bhagavan dissuaded him, but in spite of this he could not give up the idea and finally donned the ochre robe unauthorised. He did not find that it brought him the peace he had anticipated and after a few years he was persuaded to resume his normal mode of life. He wrote in Tamil Ramana Darsanam in which there is a happy blending of Gurujnana and Gurubhakti. He is still in Tiruvannamalai, under the name of Natanananda², but living in retirement and known to few.
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2. We are glad to inform our friends that he has since purchased a house in Ramana Nagar and has settled down very near the Ashram, thus enabling his fellow-devotees' to contact him whenever they wish to.