Tuesday 2 October 2012

Ganapati Muni's Association with Sri Aurobindo and the Mother



Vasishtha Ganapati Muni
His Association with The Mother and Sri Aurobindo

Vasishtha Ganapati Muni was an ardent adorer of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. While going through the writings of Sri Aurobindo appearing in Arya, he had developed an inner contact with the Master and the Mother. But he never had any opportunity to have their Darshan. On the 15th of August 1928 he came to Pondicherry to participate in the birthday celebrations of Sri Aurobindo. After he saw the Master he had only one word to express from the deepest depths of his heart – Divya Purusha, the Divine personified. Later he told one of his disciples here that he had witnessed a powerful spiritual radiance around Sri Aurobindo. He also exclaimed that Sri Aurobindo’s face was 500 years old, there was so such of wisdom, so much of maturity, so much of ripeness. Before he came to Pondicherry a copy of his magnum opus, Umasahasram (thousand verses in Sanskrit praising goddess Uma) was sent to Sri Aurobindo. It was Sudhanva, a disciple of the Muni who settled in the Ashram here, who had given this copy of Umasahasram to Sri Aurobindo. On going through the verses of this grand poem Sri Aurobindo had expressed that it was a ‘superman performance’ and he would like to meet the author. Later Sri Aurobindo passed this copy on to Kapali Sastri who wrote a splendid commentary on it.

After having Sri Aurobindo’s darshan, the Muni stayed in the Ashram for fifteen days. He stayed at the residence of Sudhanva. On the 16th of August, at 9 a.m. he saw the Mother with Kodandaraman. Both Mother and the Muni had a joint meditation for half an hour. After the mediation Mother expressed her wish to hear a few verses of his Sanskrit rendering of Sri  Aurobindo’s book ‘The Mother’. Mother was highly pleased with him. Mother had remarked: “The half an hour’s meditation of the Muni was perfect. It was a continuous, unbroken state and that no sadhak with whom she meditated has yet done so for more than three to five minutes.” On the other hand the Muni also said that during the meditation, first he felt a current emerging through his head, and then he felt that an external current was very perceptibly falling on him from all sides. On the 19th the Muni had his second interview with the Mother. It lasted full forty five minutes. During the first fifteen minutes the Muni read the verses from his Sanskrit rendering of The Mother. Then there was a long talk between them. During this conversation the Muni said to the Mother that she must consider him as her son and that he was at her service, to be utilized as her instrument for Divine works. As the Muni was expatiating on his revelations of the incarnation of Shakambhari (one of the aspects of the Divine Mother) Mother seems to have closed her eyes and fallen into a trance. Afterwards the Muni revealed to Sri Venkataraman that he saw a bright light emerging from her toe and there was a halo of light around her and the current emerging from all parts of her body was distinctly visible to the naked eye and the entire room was surcharged with electricity. Towards the end of this meeting the Muni gave to the Mother a copy of his incomplete renderings of ‘The Mother’ for Sri Aurobindo’s approval.      The third interview with the Mother was on the 25th morning. It lasted for one full hour and ten minutes. The first half hour was spent in meditation, and then conversation followed. During this meeting Mother returned the copy of the verses given for Sri Aurobindo’s approval and said that Sri Aurobindo highly admired them and found them very beautiful and wanted him to complete the work. Then Mother said that Sri Aurobindo and herself have recognized him as a man who could do their divine work.

On one day during his stay here in the Ashram, in one hour, he composed 108 aphorisms or sutras divided into 8 parts. These sutras explain many secrets of different Yogas. The work is known as Tattvaghantashatakam of which part 7 and 8 are available. It is interesting to note that the Muni did not know English yet many of the fundamentals of what Sri Aurobindo wrote in the Secret of the Veda were written down by him in Sanskrit. When Sri Aurobindo was asked how could it be possible, he said that when the great truths descend they are received and given expression to by whoever is open to them. This was the secret of Vasistha Ganapati Muni – he was sufficiently open to receive truths descending from higher planes of consciousness.

After he left from Pondicherry he never returned. A few letters to the Mother written in Sanskrit are the only proofs of his gratitude to the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Apart from these letters no where else do we find Vasishtha Ganapati Muni saying anything about the Mother or Sri Aurobindo or their yoga. 

                                                                                                       Dr. Sampadananda Mishra



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