"--see badhuri.jpg]
"Maharishi, I wish you would write a book on yoga for the benefit
of the world."
"I am training disciples. They and their students will be living
volumes, proof against the natural disintegrations of time and the
unnatural interpretations of the critics." Bhaduri's wit put me
into another gale of laughter.
I remained alone with the yogi until his disciples arrived in the
evening. Bhaduri Mahasaya entered one of his inimitable discourses.
Like a peaceful flood, he swept away the mental debris of his listeners,
floating them Godward. His striking parables were expressed in a
flawless Bengali.
This evening Bhaduri expounded various philosophical points
connected with the life of Mirabai, a medieval Rajputani princess
who abandoned her court life to seek the company of sadhus. One
great-sannyasi refused to receive her because she was a woman; her
reply brought him humbly to her feet.
"Tell the master," she had said, "that I did not know there was
any Male in the universe save God; are we all not females before
Him?" (A scriptural conception of the Lord as the only Positive
Creative Principle, His creation being naught but a passive MAYA.)
Mirabai composed many ecstatic songs which are still treasured in
India; I translate one of them here:
"If by bathing daily God could be realized
Sooner would I be a whale in the deep;
If by eating roots and fruits He could be known
Gladly would I choose the form of a goat;
If the counting of rosaries uncovered Him
I would say my prayers on mammoth beads;
If bowing before stone images unveiled Him
A flinty mountain I would humbly worship;
If by drinking milk the Lord could be imbibed
Many calves and children would know Him;
If abandoning one's wife would summon God
Would not thousands be eunuchs?
Mirabai knows that to find the Divine One
The only indispensable is Love.
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