I’ve recently become involved for the first time in decades with a spiritual organization, and this led me to write to one of the members that such organizations often come under the control of people who are given over almost entirely to their egos.<\/p>\n
Then I remembered a counter-example and wrote the following postscript:<\/p>\n
Dear \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500,<\/p>\n
Emailing with you is making me remember all sorts of things I haven’t thought of in a long time.<\/p>\n
I just remembered meeting Sundaram Ramanan, the former president of Sri Ramanasramam, about 25 years ago at a Navratri party at his daughter’s house in the US. While everyone else was making food in the kitchen or playing with the children or chatting loudly, he was by himself, pacing slowly back and forth in front of a large window with sunlight pouring through it. He was wearing a white kurta and his hands were clasped behind his back. Dust motes sparkled around him in the sunlight, and he was smiling.<\/p>\n
I felt awkward at this party because except for Sundaram and I, everyone was in groups speaking Tamil and if I drew near, they would feel obligated to switch to English.<\/p>\n
I went over to Sundaram and said hello. I didn’t know he was the ashram president. I did know he was a relative of Bhagavan. He looked at me and I could see in his eyes that he wasn’t lost in thought, that he was really there, the consciousness apparent the way it is when people aren’t lost in thought.<\/p>\n
I asked him what Bhagavan was like in person. He had known Bhagavan when he was a kid. Without a moment’s hesitation he said very emphatically, making a slicing gesture with his open hand to show how absolute his statement was, “Natural. Completely natural. He spoke to everyone the same way without any formality. Completely spontaneous.”<\/p>\n
Then for some reason, I don’t remember why, he began to recite the mahavakyas. He did this in a very beautiful, rolling timbre. I can still hear the way he said aham brahmasmi, drawing out the words and pronouncing them in a dramatic but unpretentious way. We were looking into each other eyes as he did this and we could both see that we were both enjoying this.<\/p>\n
He was quite a bit older than me and usually I felt shy in such situations but I didn’t feel that way with him.<\/p>\n
It was a short conversation and I’m probably describing it badly but he made an enormous impression on me, a wonderful impression, and it wasn’t because he was the ashram president. I didn’t know he was the ashram president.<\/p>\n