Brāhmanic Vignettes

At the still unripe age of 93, I am not attempting an autobiography: I am still but an infinitesimal in the Infinite. Like all things, I change all the time. Willy-nilly, I shall continue to do so till my life’s’ end. Fortunately, my dreams, past and present, have been gradually eroding the insulation of Ahamkrā, (Egoism). I am Matter but do not matter. Quantum leaps out of one’s genes are not normally found in Nature. Only steady evolution during a series of chrysalises produces perfection. The subject of the anecdotes which follow have had an impact on me: I am the less egoistic in consequence. Autobiographies are seldom accurate, seldom efficacious, rarely even amusing. They will have, hopefully, sketched the gradual approach to my sole objective in life: to be thoroughly Brāhmanic. But, what is being “Brāhmanic?” (vide Appendix-I). It means that I should: discard Desire; cease to Want; gradually need Nothing by merger into Everything, the ALL, the Infinite, the Parabrahman. That is Sat Chit Ānandam (complete Bliss), the only goal devoutly to be reached. It is as well to assume that every individual: human, vegetable, mineral is pure energy, essentially indestructible. Man’s privilege is to dis-cover within oneself the Antarayāmin Jeevātma, a Boson, infinitesimal in the Infinite which alone is the indivisible Parabrahman. That begets Paramānandam, Bliss. Obviously, the foregoing is an assumption. Certainly, we are not ‘believers:’ Belief is based upon Ignorance. Belief has been the base of transient religions. Instead, based upon rationality, Gnyánā (Gnosis), it is possible and incumbent for the infinitesimal thinking being, Man, to evolve into the Infinite. I can think of no better description of the characteristics of the Enlightened One, than verses 55-72 of the 2nd adhayā (canto) of the Bhagawad Geeta given as answers to Arjuna's questions by Lord Krishna. (Appendix-VI). The Vignettes in this book cover about 90 years from 1923, when I was 3 years old. They may not be in chronological but, hopefully, in logical order. Inevitably, there would be repetition to make each Vignette complete in itself. However, to avoid making any Vignette more than 15 minutes of reading, they are made distinctively into two or even three parts if they relate to the same subject or episode. In Sanskrit, I would call the Vignettes, Darshanāh: (Spiritual observations) (Text from Vignette titled, Contemporary Upbringing): In this epoch, Kali Yuga, (the Iron Age), to be Brāhmanic, one has to live a double life: Inner and Outer. The Inner and real Aim is to rejoin the Parabrahman. The Outer is to specialize in a career suited to him provided it is clearly understood that it is, as it were, only an Act in the Drama of Life. Every actor should act well; if a Chauffeur, he should drive well; if a Teacher, teach well. To be a Brāhmanā, it is easiest to reconcile the Outer and the Inner by teaching well. Originally, the highest form of teaching was expected to be that of a metaphysicist. Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man, spoken by Jacques in As You Like It, is only a joke. The real Aim of the Inner is perfection of character. The Outer must not compromise the Inner at any cost. Metaphorically put, it may be better understood: in a cavern after a lapse of time, both stalagmites and stalactites become a single column. So too, in life, perfect Brāhmanism reconciles the terrestrial and the celestial; they merge. When one has attained the Infinite, one’s condition is blissful; heavenly. This process is Yogic. Curiously, it is only Polynesian Māna that is nearest to the purpose of Yoga. Normally, only the first step, Hattha Yoga, is attempted. This merely prepares the human body, not the mind. There is a sequence of the remaining steps, manifest in the Bhagawad Geeta. Its final (18th), adhyāya (canto) is Moksha (realization of the goal). There were other observations which not merely coloured, but permeated my character. It is the beneficence of Infinity, its power and not mine, that made me gravitate towards the immaculate. That is why the periodical, Antharyamin (Inner Self or Soul), is brought out by Āchārya Vidya Kula. Its object was the Education, bringing forth of the Immanent within every child. Even is the bringing out of latent is not Education, it is Instruction. Education is the awakening of dormant Divinity. Apropos, the Vanity of Human Affairs, I can do no better than quote Shelley’s, Ozymandias: I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things, The hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal these words appear: ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch for away.