A
HEDONIC TREADMILL
SRM
SRM
From ~~~ At the Feet of Bhagavan, Ch.15
THOUGHT TRAVELS TOO
MR. and Mrs S. were visitors from Peru to the
Ashram. They had heard of the Maharshi and His
greatness, of how He was accepted by Arunachala, and
how He and Arunachala are one. To the couple,
Sri Maharshi’s presence on earth seemed the second coming
of the Christ Himself, so they had longed for years to
meet this God-Man once in their lives.
They were too poor to find the money for their
passage to India. But in their burning desire to see the
God-Man in flesh and blood, they laid by each week a
few coins out of their small wages, and in a few years they
had enough money to become deck-passengers without
the pleasant luxury of the higher classes on the ship. So
they sailed for several months, and at last reached India
and Tiruvannamalai.
The couple narrated all their story to Bhagavan, all
the privations they had undergone to have a look at Sri
Maharshi. Bhagavan was all kindness to them. He heard
their story with great concern, and then remarked: “You
need not have taken all this trouble. You could well have
thought of me from where you were, and so could have
had all the consolation of a personal visit.” This remark of
Sri Bhagavan they could not easily understand, nor did it
give them any consolation as they sat at His feet like
Mary. Sri Maharshi did not want to disturb their pleasure
in being In His immediate vicinity, and so He left them
at that.
Later in the evening Sri Maharshi was enquiring about
their day-to-day life, and incidentally their talk turned to
Peru. The couple began picturing the landscape of Peru
and were describing the sea-coast and the beach of their
own town. Just then Maharshi remarked: “Is not the beach
of your town paved with marble slabs, and are not coconut
palms planted in between? Are there not marble benches
in rows facing the sea there and did you not often sit on
the fifth of those with your wife?” This remark of Sri
Maharshi created great astonishment in the couple. How
could Sri Bhagavan, who had never gone out of
Tiruvannamalai, know so intimately such minute details
about their own place?
Sri Maharshi only smiled and remarked: “It does not
matter how I can tell. Enough if you know that in the Self
there is no Space-Time.”
This confirmed in the minds of the couple Sri Maharshi’s
original statement that they could well have thought
of Him even at their own home and so obtained
His blessings.
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