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Sri Gnanananda Thapovanam, Its Inspiration And Role Today [Page 4] "When the vibrations of the master's voice reach the
disciple's ear and the master's eyes look deep into his, then from the
very depths of his being, from the newly discovered cave of his heart,
thoughts well up which reveal him to himself." Reflecting on the guru disciple relationship, Swami
Abhishiktananda says: |
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"Human encounters do not exclude duality. In the deepest of them one can say there is a fusion and the two become one in love and desire, but in the meeting of the Guru and disciple there is no longer even fusion, for we are on the plane of original non-duality. Advaita remains for ever incomprehensible to him who has not first lived it existentially in his meeting with the Guru". Swami Abhishiktananda writes, Recalling his conversations with Sri Gnanananda during his stay at Thapovanam "Many times Vanya questioned Gnanananda as to the role
of the Guru, but the replies referred only to the definitive Guru, he
who appears at the moment of the darsana of the Atman, the guru who
is the very light with which the Atman shines when he is finally discovered.
'The Guru is akhanda, undivided', and he would repeat, "He is advaita,
non-dual. He alone is the Guru who can make one take the high dive;
he appears and reveals himself only at the moment of diving ! The other
one is the Guru-murti, the Guru in visible form, the one who can only
show the way "The guru is both 'external' and 'internal'. From the 'exterior' he gives a push to the mind to turn inward; from the 'interior' he pulls the mind "The Guru is both 'external' and 'internal'. From the 'exterior' he gives a push to the mind to turn inward; from the 'interior' he pulls the mind towards the Self and helps in quieting the mind. That is Guru Kripa. There is no difference between God, Guru and the Self'. Sri Gnanananda called Thapovanam an Adhyatma Vidyalaya a centre for Self knowledge. Self enquiry, Dhyana or meditation were always emphatically declared by Swamiji to be the royal road to Realisation. When Abhishiktananda first came to Thapovanam, he asked him: "What is Swamiji's position concerning supreme Reality? Is it dvaita or advaita ? When all is said and done, does any difference remain between God and creatures? For instance, is it possible for man to enjoy God and eternally partake of the joy? Or, is there finally, beyond everything, only being non-dual (advaita) and indivisible in unlimited fulness ?" "What is the use of such questions?" replied Sri Gnanananda quickly. "The answer is within you. Seek it in the depths of your being. Devote yourself to Dhyana, meditation beyond all forms and the solution will be given to you". Swamiji has given the answer. Sankara too exclaims: "That Self is not even one; how can a second, as different from That, be? There is not (for It) absoluteness nor non-absoluteness Neither the non-dual (reality). How can I describe That which is established by all Vedantas? - Dasasloki, 10 It is an experience which cannot be labelled. "Then why are you so determined at all costs to find a name for that which is by very definition stripped of every possibility of being named? Swamiji exclaims elsewhere. Therefore, Thapovanam, has never been a place of religious or philosophic disputation. Swamiji insisted on the monastic disciples studying Vedantic texts but warned them of the danger of getting lost in Sastra-Vasana. Thapovanam never was and is not to this day a place of mere learning. Swamiji desired the aspirants to attentively listen to the texts, continually reflect on them and then contemplate on the Mahavakyas, the summit of Upanishadic teaching - rather like the uninterrupted thought of Ko 'an in the Zen tradition. In fact some of the methods of Swamiji who was a Siddha Purusha were like those of the Zen masters, to make the disciple leap beyond the mental. He would say that the awakening would happen as a flash of lighting. Swami Abhishiktananda describes it as follows: "The call of the Upanishad is the one which comes from beyond space and time. Its word issues from the silence, seeking to awaken man and to lead him to himself. As is the Guru, so are the Scriptures, the mirror in which man progressively discovers himself comes to know himself in his innermost truth. That moment comes when the spark flashes between the two poles. After that there is nothing but pure light, in which all has disappeared - master, disciple, and Scripture too. When Swami Abhishiktananda broached to Sri Gnanananda the subject of initiation, Swamiji replied in his characteristically succinct fashion "What is the use of initiation? Either the disciple is not ready in which case the so-called initiation is no more than empty words, or else the disciple is ready, and then neither words nor signs are necessary. The initiation then happens spontaneously"28. And it happened to Swami Abhishiktananda, to which he indirectly refers with great feeling: "From him (a Kesi, a true Guru) he received a marvellous diksa in which all things were revealed to him; but such a diksa was supported on nothing whatever He - (that guru) did not even realize that he was giving diksa, because he had no idea that he was a guru. If he spoke any words they arose naturally from the inner Source, direct and unmediated. This was a mauna-diksa, the silent initiation, an infinitely pure communication within the mystery of the non-dual Spirit, a glance which pierces to the very depths, an embrace which abolishes all distinctions But the Kesi in the spirit can beget only Kesis". Inspired by Swamiji, Abhishiktananda retired to the Himalayas, entered into the mystery of Avadhoota living it in the fulness of his Sannyasa. He lived a perfectly acosmic life and realised that all-transcendent character of Sannyasa. He appropriated the advaitic experience of the Upanishadic ideal, he had met in his Guru, Sri Gnanananda. He has transmitted the teaching of his Guru and his own experience as it is at its very source and with all the vigour of its original strength, in his last testament -"Guru and Disciple" and Essays on Sannyasa and on the Upanishads. A Christian priest who was drawn to Advaita asked Sri Gnanananda whether he should become a Hindu to pursue the Vedantic Sadhana. Swamiji told him that there was no need to change the religion. He should go deep into his own religion when he would discover it there -for every religion bears within it an urgent call to pass beyond itself, in as much as its essence is to be a sign of the Absolute. Swamiji had expressed himself against religious conversions. The role of Thapovanam is primarily that of an ashram, where the monastic revival is nurtured and where seekers who may stay performing their Sadhana have a suitable environment in which they may be in communion with Sadguru Gnanananda's Grace. Whilst qualified advanced seekers may pursue the Upanishadic ideal, other seekers who are not yet fit for 'the flight of the alone to the Alone' could prepare themselves for it by the preparatory practices japa, ritualistic worship, NamaSankirtan etc. Vedic chants during the pooja are those of the Upanishads containing the Mahavakyas and having relevance to Self-enquiry. All rituals are also symbolic of the Upanishadic Truth. Similarly, the hymns and songs refer to it and to Guru Tattwa only, in various ways and using different names. Thus even lay disciples and outside visitors who are involved in these forms of worship have the higher truths of Hindu mysticism always before them, whether as philosophic concepts or poetic religious images. The ashram attempts to preserve the ancient Vedic culture and to keep alive traditions of the past which it sees as valuable to the Indian spiritual life. An important place is given to Tamil devotional and mystic lore. Rituals, however, constitute only small part of Thapovanam's
spiritual life; the main important part, like the bulk of an iceberg
remains hidden from a superficial view.
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