Quote of the Week 412 - Here, There and Everywhere
My three children, the only European children at Tiruvannamalai, were conspicuous among the devotees. One evening, in December 1946 Sri Bhagavan initiated the two elder of them into meditation, and if their efforts to describe it fail, so do those of older people. Kitty, who was ten, wrote: “When I was sitting in the hall this evening Bhagavan smiled at me and I shut my eyes and began to meditate. As soon as I shut my eyes I felt very happy and felt that Bhagavan was very, very near to me and very real and that he was in me. It wasn’t like being happy and excited about anything. I don’t know what to say, simply very happy and that Bhagavan is so lovely.”
And Adam, who was seven, wrote: “When I was sitting in the hall I didn’t feel happy so I began to pray and I felt very happy, but not like having a new toy, just loving Bhagavan and everyone.”
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When Frania, the youngest child, was seven the other two were talking about their friends and she, having no real friends yet but not wanting to be left out, said that Dr. Syed was the best friend she had in the world.
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And her mother said, “What about Bhagavan?”
Frania said, “Bhagavan is not in the world.”
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Later, Dr. Syed asked the child where Bhagavan was if not in the world, and she replied, “He is everywhere.”
Still he continued, “How can we say that he is not a man in the world like us when we see him sitting on the couch and eating and drinking and walking about?”
And the child replied, “Let’s talk about something else.”
--from Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge, by Arthur Osborne
