IN THE COVE OF SILENCE

Agathiyar had an advice for us when Suren approached him with several questions some years back. Agathiyar explained how we were to carry ourselves at the samadhis of great ones. He says that the very achievement of one in attaining samadhi is itself an indication of the tremendous powers/ energy or sakthi he has built within him. As a result there was no need on our part to carry out any ritual or prayer of any kind to enhance their worth. Rather it was sufficient of us to just sit in silence and imbibe the energy that was emitting from the samadhi. Bring back this energy with you, he says. That is all that is required of us.

From describing the joys of performing puja and its many benefits that was carried in numerous post on this blog, we move on now to another stage, that of withdrawal from all things external and begin to move within. We have come to understand that if earlier we had placed much effort to reach the exalted state of exultation, going by the many experiences of great men who themselves have excelled spiritually, this feeling is evoked from within without even the slightest participation on our part by just being in the presence of divine saints. It just takes place in the presence of these divine saints. Such is the magnitude of their tapas or austerities that it can bring tremendous change and results in those who would just choose to sit in silence. 

F.H.Humphreys in his letter to the International Psychic Gazette describes the blessed moments sitting in silence before Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi.

On reaching the cave (Virupaksha), we (Munshi, Kavya Kantha Ganapathi Sastri and FH Humphreys) sat before him (Ramana) at his feet and said nothing. We sat thus for a long time and I felt lifted out of myself. For half an hour I looked into the Maharshi's eyes which never changed their expression of deep contemplation. I began to realize somewhat that the body is the temple of the holy ghost; I could only feel that his body was not the man; it was the instrument of god, merely a sitting, motionless corpse from which god was radiating terrifically. My own feelings were indescribable.*

Observing the surroundings later, Humphreys continues, 

The most touching sight was the number of tiny children up to about seven years of age, who climb the hill, all on their own, to come and sit near the Maharshi, even though he may not speak a word nor even look at them for days together. They do not play, but just sit there quietly, in perfect contentment.*

Bhagawan explained his way to Natesa Mudaliar when Natesa asked to know, learn and experience what was Bhagawan's Anugraham or grace like.

"I am always giving my anugraham. If you cannot apprehend it, what am I to do? Natesa Mudaliar  discovered thereby that his silent samadhi was itself anugraham which all aspirants should imitate, contact, and get into.*

As the replies to a question on whether the subject and object are identical?, that Yogi Ramiah put forward to local pandits did not satisfy him, he came to Maharshi. Bhagawan answered, "Subject and object are distinct in the phenomenal world to the ordinary man. But in samadhi they merge and become one." Ramiah was happy to get a corroboration of his experience from the Maharshi. 

Suddhananda Bharathi in the presence of Bhagawan,

.. simply feasted his eyes by constantly gazing on Maharshi and rapidly composed many lines of Tamil verse in praise of Maharshi in the space of an hour on that very first visit. Contact with Maharshi made him feel more introverted; and his egotism sank so low that he began to refer to himself in the third person.*

Paul Brunton after due prostration sat in front of Maharshi.

... wondered for a moment whether Maharshi's peace and serenity were a mere superficial pose ... but soon shaking off that idea he became aware of a silent, resistless, change taking place within his own mind. A steady river of quietness seemed to flow near him, a great peace was penetrating the inner reaches of his being, and his thought tortured brain was beginning to arrive at some rest. Naturally this sudden peace and perception must be due to Maharshi's influence, said he to himself.*

(*Source: "Self Realization - The Life and Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi" by BV Narasimha Swami, Sri Ramanashramam, Tiruvannamalai.)

From "Fragrant Petals - A Representative Anthology on Sri Bhagavan", Sri Ramanashramam, Tiruvannamalai, 2005, GLN in his "Ramana Satguru" writes,

The main type of upadesa (instruction) used by Bhagavan was silence, as it was with Dakshinamurthi of old. Divine bliss permeated those who sat around him. In this silence, the doubts of his devotees were cleared and their questions were either answered or faded away, ceasing to exist. 

Dilip Kumar Roy too contributes in "Fragrant Petals" as follows,

Acessible to all, the great saint sat on a divan looking straight ahead at nothing at all. I was told he lived thus all the time, in sahaja samadhi, that is a constant superconcious state. ... What did I see? Just a thin, half naked man sitting silently, gazing with glazed eyes at the window. Yet something in him spoke to me directly - an indefinable beauty of poise and a plenitude that cannot be described. I touched his feet and then without a word sat down near him on the floor and meditated, my heart heaving with a strange exaltation which deepened by and by into an ineffable peace. My gloom and misgivings, doubts and questionings, melted away like mist before the rising sun. I felt I was being cradled on the crest of a flawless peace in a vast ocean of felicity and light. I have to use superlatives here as I am trying to describe my experience of ineffable bliss and peace which lasted for hours and hours. I felt deeply grateful towards the Maharshi on that restful night as I reclined, bathed in peace, in an easy chair under the stars at which I gazed and gazed in an ecstasy of tears.

In "The Creative Silence", the Theosophical Publishing House, Rohit Mehta says, 

".. the important factor of samadhi is becoming the object thought upon." 

He continues, 

" When each part of one's life shines with the glory of the whole, then it is that the individual is in a state of samadhi.

Tavayogi explains that samadhi means being one with the source, having merged into the source. He says it is achievable since we become what we set our mind on.