13.
WALK WITH BHAGAVAN TO
THE LAKE

THE Samudram Lake at the foot of Arunachala Hill
near Sri Ramanasramam is very extensive; neither
summer rains nor winter monsoons in Tiruvannamalai
fill this lake save once in a way, when it overflows.

      Thus it overflowed once long years ago. The sight of
it was very grand, and the outflow was as wide as a river.
The tank really seemed that day like the Ocean of its
name (Samudram). Bhagavan told us that it held this name
because a certain local ruler had this tank constructed as
a miniature sea to give his Queen an idea of what a sea
would look like; for she had never seen the sea and wished
to do so.

      People thronged to look at the overflowing lake, and
then came to Bhagavan to talk about it. One morning
the devotees in the Hall expressed to Bhagavan a desire to
visit the lake, and He was kind enough, human enough,
to accept the suggestion; so we all went for a stroll to see
it. The tank bund is about a mile long; we walked about
a mile from the Ashram to the tank, and then the whole
length of the bund. The presence of Bhagavan with us,
and His words, were more interesting to us than the
brimming tank and the grand view of the wide waters at
the foot of holy Arunachalam.

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      Bhagavan talked of many things on that walk with
us, but at this distance of time I remember only two topics
that interested me.

      At one place He pointed out a palmyra tree which had
decayed in the embrace of a parasitic banyan tree. Some
bird had dropped a banyan seed into the palmyra, and as it
began to grow the palmyra became cloven and stunted in
its own growth. Drawing our attention to this phenomenon,
Bhagavan remarked that this is just what the look of Grace
from a Jnani does. One look into a soul, and the whole tree
of past tendencies and prejudices (vasana), gathered up
through long cycles of past births, is burned up and decays
away. Then the reality of the Self is experienced. Thus He
explained to us the effect of contact with the Great and He
said the supreme Jnana obtained with the touch of the
Saint can never be won through the study of any number
of Scriptures, or by any store of good deeds, or by any
other spiritual practices and efforts. Later, on return to the
Ashram, I put this in verse form as below:

A bird drops seed upon a tree and causes its decay. So
Guru's grace rays knowledge into the seeking mind.
Replacing ego-shadows with resplendent Jnana's light.1

¹ The point of this Verse, brought out fully in the Tamil, is that
made by Bhagavan Himself. The seed of the huge banyan tree, which
grows to shelter hundreds, is one of the tiniest and represents unselfish
benevolence. The seed of the palmyra which is so large, grows into a
tree which can hardly shelter a single man from the sun, and so well
represents the selfish ego. Yet this tiny seed can be dropped by a bird
in its droppings, and while it grows it can demolish the palmyra tree
itself. So the tiny seed of Grace can destroy the great tree of egoism.

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      Then when we actually came to the overflowing outlet
at the end of the lake, we all marvelled at its width. We
stayed there for some time, and then returned.

      On the return walk, we happened to pass the sluice
at the centre of the bund. Pointing to this, Bhagavan
remarked: "Look at this small outlet, as compared with
the big one at the end! But for this small hole, through
which the stream of water trickles, the vast contents of
the lake would not be helpful to vegetation. If the bund
breaks it will be a regular deluge, and the entire crop will
be destroyed. Only if the water be served under proper
regulation through this sluice, are the plants helped to
grow. So too is it with the Divine Consciousness. Unless
the bliss of this Consciousness is gifted through the Grace
of the Guru in controlled outlets, the soul cannot be helped
to the destruction of its tendencies of the past; for in this
way the Self, abiding as such in its oneness with the Divine,
is established in the Guru's State of Being. Holding on to
its Being Consciousness, the work of destroying the past
(vasana) proceeds as and when thoughts arise to push the
mind into action. This work becomes possible only in
the proximity of the Guru. Hence the Guru is himself like
the sluice and irrigates souls with Grace from his ocean of
kindness, needed so that the Self may abide and the old
tendencies be withered away. But if the bund is broken,
the full force of the whole lake rushes through and sweeps
everything before it. This resembles a practitioner
(sadhaka) receiving the full force of Divine Consciousness
without the intervening and mitigating grace of Guru's
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sluice; he dies without the benefit of having the tendencies
destroyed."

      This idea too I later put down in the form of a Tamil
verse to this effect:

Water flowing through a channel carries off great
heaps of sand;

So mountain masses of the ego are washed away by
Grace.

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