Similarity in Awareness teachings of Ramana and Sathya Sai; Muslim devotee Masthan Swami of Ramana Maharishi
From page 68 & 69 of Ramana Periya Puranam (available on net as pdf download):
[A devotee of Ramana Maharishi shares an account of Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi as follows:]
“A devotee once came from Lahore. Tiruvannamalai and Lahore are more than one thousand miles apart. In the 1930s and 40s, travel was almost impossible in India. He could only stay for a month or so. When he was to leave, he wept before Bhagavan, 'How can I leave you and go Bhagavan?' Bhagavan said, 'Where are you going? Can you go away from Bhagavan? Bhagavan is always with you, Bhagavan is in you. In fact, you yourself are Bhagavan.' See the beauty of the answer. When Bhagavan says you yourself are Bhagavan, how can a Ganesan or a Viswanathan be Bhagavan? It is the 'I AM' in Viswanathan and Ganesan that is Bhagavan; the living master is always in the Heart as awareness. This awareness that is in you, in me and in every one of us, is Arunachala Ramanan, God, Self, Heart, Allah, Jesus, Buddha… We can give it any name."
[Ravi: How similar this account is to what we have heard from Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba! The similarity is very striking!]
...
[Ravi: Shri Masthan was a Muslim devotee of Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi and was a very pious and humble person.]
Masthan had many conversations with Bhagavan. Of one such conversation, Masthan Swami recounts, “Once, while I was on my way to see Bhagavan, I prayed for his grace. On arrival at Virupaksha cave, he asked me, 'Do you like saguna upasana - worship on God with form - or do you prefer nirguna upasana - worship of the formless God?' I replied, 'I choose nirguna upasana.' Bhagavan then gave me this beautiful instruction, 'Fix the mind in your Heart. If you keep your attention on the source from where all thoughts arise, the mind will subside there at the source and reality will shine forth.' Though I have come across similar teachings in other books, these words of wisdom coming in the holy voice of my guru penetrated my Heart and implanted themselves as the way for me. After this meeting with Bhagavan, I had no further doubts about this. In fact, no doubts arose at all after this.” Bhagavan thus guided him to be established in the Heart.
[Ravi: Shri Masthan being a Muslim naturally preferred the formless mode of worship and Ramana Maharishi advised him suitably. It should also be noted that when Shri Masthan gave up his body he seems to have got into some level of saguna upasana (formful aspect of worship) as he would say that Siva's celestial devotees, the bhutaganas, are calling him and just before he gave up his body he said that a mother goddess (Apeethakuchambal) has come to receive him. For details see Page 70 of the book.]
[I thank the author & publisher of Ramana Periya Puranam which is available as a free PDF download on the Internet (http://www.aham.com/RamanaPeriyaPuranam/), and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above small extracts from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
[A devotee of Ramana Maharishi shares an account of Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi as follows:]
“A devotee once came from Lahore. Tiruvannamalai and Lahore are more than one thousand miles apart. In the 1930s and 40s, travel was almost impossible in India. He could only stay for a month or so. When he was to leave, he wept before Bhagavan, 'How can I leave you and go Bhagavan?' Bhagavan said, 'Where are you going? Can you go away from Bhagavan? Bhagavan is always with you, Bhagavan is in you. In fact, you yourself are Bhagavan.' See the beauty of the answer. When Bhagavan says you yourself are Bhagavan, how can a Ganesan or a Viswanathan be Bhagavan? It is the 'I AM' in Viswanathan and Ganesan that is Bhagavan; the living master is always in the Heart as awareness. This awareness that is in you, in me and in every one of us, is Arunachala Ramanan, God, Self, Heart, Allah, Jesus, Buddha… We can give it any name."
[Ravi: How similar this account is to what we have heard from Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba! The similarity is very striking!]
...
[Ravi: Shri Masthan was a Muslim devotee of Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi and was a very pious and humble person.]
Masthan had many conversations with Bhagavan. Of one such conversation, Masthan Swami recounts, “Once, while I was on my way to see Bhagavan, I prayed for his grace. On arrival at Virupaksha cave, he asked me, 'Do you like saguna upasana - worship on God with form - or do you prefer nirguna upasana - worship of the formless God?' I replied, 'I choose nirguna upasana.' Bhagavan then gave me this beautiful instruction, 'Fix the mind in your Heart. If you keep your attention on the source from where all thoughts arise, the mind will subside there at the source and reality will shine forth.' Though I have come across similar teachings in other books, these words of wisdom coming in the holy voice of my guru penetrated my Heart and implanted themselves as the way for me. After this meeting with Bhagavan, I had no further doubts about this. In fact, no doubts arose at all after this.” Bhagavan thus guided him to be established in the Heart.
[Ravi: Shri Masthan being a Muslim naturally preferred the formless mode of worship and Ramana Maharishi advised him suitably. It should also be noted that when Shri Masthan gave up his body he seems to have got into some level of saguna upasana (formful aspect of worship) as he would say that Siva's celestial devotees, the bhutaganas, are calling him and just before he gave up his body he said that a mother goddess (Apeethakuchambal) has come to receive him. For details see Page 70 of the book.]
[I thank the author & publisher of Ramana Periya Puranam which is available as a free PDF download on the Internet (http://www.aham.com/RamanaPeriyaPuranam/), and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above small extracts from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
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