“Once there was an Englishman, a District Collector (government admin istrator), who told his servant, ‘When any great saint comes, tell me. I want to get jnana from him.’"
Vimalananda and I were sitting in Poona. It was mid-moming, breakfast was over, the preparations for lunch were under way, and he was in a good mood.
“One day a saint came to town with a large group of his followers, chant ing the name of Krishna: “Radheshyam, Radheshyam, Radheshyam.’ When the Collector’s servant saw this he immediately remembered his master and decided to tell him about the saint, hoping for a reward. When he heard that a saint had come the Collector said to his servant, ‘Go and make arrangements for my visit. I am coming for jnana.’
“The servant returned to the place where the saint was doing his chanting and started getting everything ready for his boss’s visit: a nice chair with a red sash in a prominent spot for him to sit on, and whatnot. When the saint asked the servant what was going on, the servant replied that a great man’ was coming. The saint said, ‘All right, but first remove that chair.’ The ser vant said, ‘If I do that, you don’t know what sort of trouble you will be get ting yourself into.’ At that, the saint told his followers to ignore the fellow and start chanting again.
“When the Collector arrived he ordered everyone to stop singing and said, in Hindi, ‘Look here, I have come for jnana.’ The saint looked up at
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AGHORA II: Kundalini
him and told him, also in Hindi, ‘Dear boy, just repeat God’s name,’ and told his followers to resume chanting.
“The Collector asked a second time and received the same reply. He asked a third time, adding, “I don’t like this noise.’ The saint looked at him and said in Hindi, ‘Shut up, sala!’
“Sala means ‘brother-in-law.’ If I call someone my brother-in-law it means I am sleeping with his sister. This is a serious insult here in India.
“The Collector became absolutely wild on being called ‘sala’ and lost his temper. He shouted, “Now you want to see who I am? Call the police,’ he said to his servant, and have this man taken away!’
“The saint asked, ‘What have I done?’ “The Collector answered, ‘You have insulted me.’ “And how was that?’ “You called me sala.’
“Then the saint smiled and said, in fluent English, ‘Now see what has happened to you: one little word has made you uncontrollably angry. And it is not even possible for me to be your sala because you have no sister! When one bad word can affect you so profoundly think of what a good effect you would get if you spent your time repeating God’s name.’
“The Englishman was stunned. He had never dreamed that the saint knew English. Then suddenly he realized, ‘How could this man know that I have no sister?’ He immediately prostrated himself to the saint and said, “I have received the wisdom I came for.’ He went home, bequeathed every thing to his servant, and without any delay became a sadhu. I know that this story is true; I met this man in Girnar. This shows you practical proof of the power of God’s name.”
He paused to light a cigarette. A troop of monkeys passed overhead head ing for the nearby cemetery, as they did every Saturday.
“God’s name produces results in any language in which you repeat it. Once you approach near to God and God begins to speak to you He will speak in your own mother tongue, the one in which you feel most at home. The priests of the various religions will tell you, ‘No, God can speak only in Latin, or Sanskrit, or Arabic, or Hebrew, or Pahlavi,’ but it isn’t so. Who cre ated all the languages? He did-capital H. So why can’t He speak in any lan guage that He pleases?
“And likewise you can speak to God in any language you like, and He will hear you, if you are sincere. Because each grouping of sounds has its own phonetic value, however, some languages are better than others for certain
[140]MANTRA
purposes. Arabic, for example, is very good for mundane magic. And San skrit is very good for creating deities. Each sound of the Sanskrit alphabet is a Bija Mantra. A Bija Mantra is a seed which when planted in the conscious ness gives rise to a certain effect. Repetition of the appropriate Bija Mantra is a quick way to create the form of the deity you are worshipping because the vibrations of the sound itself produce the form.”
“But of course this is applicable only to Indian deities,” I interjected.
“Absolutely not!” he countered. “Someone who knows the phonetic value of various sounds can create a mantra that will be applicable for any deity. You have worshipped Jesus for many years; there is a Bija Mantra for Jesus also, and if you know it and know how to use it you can reach Jesus very quickly. Mantras can be very useful.”
“If this is the case then why don’t more Christians follow this path and get the result?” I inquired.
“Who bothers about these things?” he replied indignantly. “All the padres are too busy converting other people to worry about their own develop ment. I say, forget about other people and worry about converting yourself. Convert yourself into the form of your deity; that is a real conversion. That is the beauty of Tantra.