"When your conviction
of a truth is not merely in your brain but in your being, you may
diffidently vouch for its meaning." He discouraged any tendency a
student might have to construe book-knowledge as a necessary step
to spiritual realization.
"The RISHIS wrote in one sentence profundities that commentating
scholars busy themselves over for generations," he remarked. "Endless
literary controversy is for sluggard minds. What more liberating
thought than 'God is'-nay, 'God'?"
But man does not easily return to simplicity. It is seldom "God"
for him, but rather learned pomposities. His ego is pleased, that
he can grasp such erudition.
Men who were pridefully conscious of high worldly position were likely,
in Master's presence, to add humility to their other possessions.
A local magistrate once arrived for an interview at the seaside
hermitage in Puri. The man, who held a reputation for ruthlessness, had
it well within his power to oust us from the ashram. I cautioned
my guru about the despotic possibilities. But he seated himself
with an uncompromising air, and did not rise to greet the visitor.
Slightly nervous, I squatted near the door. The man had to content
himself with a wooden box; my guru did not request me to fetch
a chair. There was no fulfillment of the magistrate's obvious
expectation that his importance would be ceremoniously acknowledged.
A metaphysical discussion ensued.
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