What will be will be

What will be will be

November 2012

By Pradeep Krishnan

Pradeep Krishnan says that every time he visits Ramana Maharshi’s ashram, he has a unique spiritual experience Sri Ramanasramam, Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, has always been a favorite destination for genuine spiritual seekers, worldwide. Situated in the eastern lap of the holy Arunachala hills, the ashram was the abode of Bhagwan Sri Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), who, irrespective of caste, color, creed, and gender, gave bliss, solace, and inner vision, to anyone who sought refuge in him. To all those who plied him with innumerable doubts on sadhana, Ramana’s message was simple and precise, “All your doubts will be answered if you look within, and find out who the questioner is.” Decades after the Maharshi’s mahasamadhi, his presence, guidance, and help is experienced by anyone who earnestly seeks it. Each time I visited the ashram, it gave me unique spiritual experiences, and insights that I never had before. The recent visit too was not an exception. As soon as I entered the Mathrubootheswara temple, the one consecrated to the Maharshi’s mother, my eyes were attracted to the large picture of Sri Ramana, sitting on a small rock holding a long stick, kept on the left side. Bowing my head in reverence, I gazed at the Maharshi’s compassionate eyes, and at once, my whole being was filled with immense love, peace, and joy. After a while, I sat in front of the photo completely immersed in thought. Slowly my eyes closed, taking me to the depth of meditation. I continued to remain in that meditative mood, with the mind exploring the intricacies of human life. For us ordinary mortals, the challenges of daily life are always tricky, particularly the interaction with the ‘other.’ Heated arguments, disappointments, conflicts over trifles ultimately result in judging and condemning the other. Why are we not able to take every happening as it comes, without our mind interfering and interpreting it? Delving deep within, I remained in that contemplative mood for quite a long time. Accept every moment After a while, in the presence of Sri Ramana, at once I understood that the ‘I’– the individual body-mind mechanism – can be at peace with existence, only if the ‘I’ is completely merged with the Self, which is part of the life-sustaining Universal Consciousness. The simplest way to connect the ‘I’ with the Universal Consciousness is to just accept every moment as part of a grand design, and to remain in the attitude that every happening that takes place in one’s life is destined to be so. Suddenly the thought surfaced in my mind. What would such a ‘realization’ or ‘enlightenment,’ or merging of the ‘I’ with the Universal Consciousness, really mean to the individual seeker? At once came the answer, which I sensed came from Maharshi himself, “When one realizes that action in an individual is triggered by thoughts, which in turn are the product of one’s genes and conditions, over which one has absolutely no control, one can easily accept whatever happens at the moment, is ordained by God or Existence, and remain at peace and calm, accepting everything as part of God’s grand leela.” I slowly stood up and bowed my head before Sri Ramana in reverence, for giving me life-changing insights, which my spiritual practices could not give me. As if to rub in the message, a sweet little girl of about 10 years, came running towards me, and smilingly handed over a small card. She said, “Uncle, Thatha (grandfather) told me to give it to you.” I thanked her instantly, patted her chubby cheeks, and looked at the sky blue card. In the background of the photo of Sri Ramana it was written, “The Ordainer controls the fate of souls in accordance with their prarabdha karma. Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may. Whatever is destined to happen, will happen, whatever you may do to prevent it. That is certain. The best course, therefore, is to remain silent.” R

eading these words, my happiness knew no bounds and surfaced in the form of tears of joy trickling down my cheeks. I thanked Sri Ramana for giving me the joy and peace that I was seeking, and teaching me wonderful lessons of existence.