hermit's chronicles

 The Setting: TRA Narayana of Chennai, Branch Manager of a large British firm, visits Sri Ramanasramam in Tiruvannamalai on a hot April day, along with his colleague Parathasarathy. It is about five in the evening and Bhagavan is not on his couch so the two men decide to explore the ashram. As they are returning to the thatched verandah from the other side they stumble upon this scene. They stand affixed, watching the scene unfold without making a sound. The Scene: They hear a childish voice say, “ Chee, asatthe (Fie, you creature).” They see no children around. Therefore they look around to find the source of the voice. They observe some movement among the leaves of the vegetable plant in the kitchen garden near the thatched verandah. At a closer look, they see a small goat, a little monkey and a squirrel and Bhagavan!  Bhagavan is sitting with his legs semi-folded. The goat is nestled between his knees, the monkey has its head on his right knee and the squirrel is perched o...

"I realized that those who totally live on the grace of the Almighty receive the necessary food to eat and shelter to live. Worrying for food and shelter is not complete faith. I will believe till the last breath of my life that God alone is my property and depending on any other thing except God's will bring disaster in my life. I find my Lord always walking before me, providing all the things that I need." – Swami Rama in Living With The Himalayan Masters

When Vibhishana had ethical issues his all-powerful brother Ravana and crossed over to Ram's camp, he was scared stiff about the consequences. But Lord Ram welcomed him saying, "Abhayam!" Fear Not! When Ashwathama let loose a mantra weapon to kill all the Pandava progenies, Abhimanyu’s pregnant wife Uttara came rushing for help to Lord Krishna, praying that he somehow save her unborn child. Moved by her plea, Krishna raised his right palm and blessed her saying, “Abhayam!” Fear Not! When Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi was in the last lap of the time in his mortal frame, a devotee humbly approached him with a request. He asked Bhagavan to liberate him from fear. Bhagavan smiled weakly and said, "Granted." Again, Abhayam! Fear Not! Swami Samarth's most quoted proclamation is, " Bhiu nako mi tujhya pathishi ahe! " Fear not! I have your back! Once again, "Abhayam!" Look at the image of any avatar, sage or prophet, be it Guru Nanak, Buddha, Shirdi S...

 Fr. Anthony (Tony) De Mello, a spiritually evolved priest from Bandra in Mumbai, was one of the remarkable spiritual teachers I wish I had met in person. Tony happily adapted concepts and devices from all spiritual traditions, including Vipassana, to create potent spiritual workshops which helped thousands of people. His books, mostly comprising brief teaching parables, were translated into a dozen foreign languages, becoming bestsellers around the world. They had enticing titles like Song Of the Bird, One Minute Nonsense, One Minute Wisdom and Prayer Of the Frog. The Church apparently was unhappy with the spiritual ‘pollution’ of foreign traditions and the Vatican sent an advisory to the Bishops to discourage Fr. De Mello’s books and techniques. However the Bishops, who had witnessed the amount of good both were doing to their flock, broadly ignored the advisory, which I understand was finally withdrawn. Fr. Tony De Mello died at a relatively young age in the US, some say under ...