TAPAS

 #Vasishta_Surya_blog

#Tapas #MahaTapasvi

#GanapatiMuni #Nayana

#SriRamana #Maharishi

                                                                TAPAS

Our scriptures describe the world of tapas as one of seven worlds called, Bhuh, Bhuvah, Suvah, Mahah, Janah, Tapah and Satyaloka.

Tapas means an intense austere effort to reach the goal. The Vedas declare that this creation is the outcome of the Lord's tapas. The whole creation is always in search of happiness.

The tapas which is done for material acquisitions becomes a torture when intensified. Tapas done for attaining the Lord's feet is elevating.

Our Puranas tell us that both gods and demons did tapas.

In this sort of tapas there is a desire or some purpose to befulfilled. It may be done for the welfare of the world or for destruction.

When such tapas is rewarded all of humanity is influenced according to the desire of that tapasvi.

Ganapati was considered equal to Kalidasa and Sankara in poetic compositions. He brought about a healthy revolution both in literary and philosophic thought. He was like Charaka in his knowledge of medicine, a Parasara in astrology and a Varahamihira in astronomy.

He was a great lover of his country. He would obtain the vision of any god he meditated upon.

He got the greatest siddhi of Kapala-

bheda (breaking of the cranium) while living.

He became Sri Ramanas close disciple and a model of righteousness and humility.

He was the living embodiment of tapas and

so he ought to be described as a 'Mahatapasvi', a great one in the field of tapas.

#VasishtaSurya

KAPALA BHEDANAM (व्यपोह्य शीर्षकपाले)

 

The Sahasrara of one who has realised the self is pure light. Any intention which falls in it casually will not live because of the knowledge of self.

-          Sri Ramana Gita.

 

The shakti which is the cause of creation is Parameswari. This shakti moves about in all creatures. The Shakti in the body is called Kundalini.

When awakened, Kundalini is described as rising up from the muladhara chakra, through the central nadi (called sushumna) inside or alongside the spine reaching the top of the head. The progress of Kundalini through the different chakras is believed to achieve different levels of awakening and a mystical experience, until Kundalini finally reaches the top of the head, Sahasrara or crown chakra, producing an extremely profound transformation of consciousness.

The truth of this vidya can be seen in the Renuka-Jamadagni story. Obeying the order of the father, the son Parasurama cuts off the head of the Mother Renuka. This action, when viewed casually, is surprising and appears very cruel. But the seeker of truth give an explanation considering this act as a part of Kundalini Vidya.

व्यपोह्य शीर्षकपाले (Splitting of the skull) is a pronouncement in the Sixth  Anuvak of Taittiriya Upanishad. When we study this, we will understand that when the yogi raises the Kundalini moves in and out of the body. And, the state of this yogi is described like this:

1. Here, in this bright space within the heart, is He, that Soul who is formed of thought, undying, full of light.

2. In the mid-region of the throat’s two pillars, that which hangs down like a nipple, — that is the birth-place of Indra, where the hair-end splits up dividing the two regions of the skull.

3. In Agni as Bhuh he rests, in Vayu as Bhuvah, in Aditya as Suvah, in Brahman as Mahah. He attains self-lordship; he attains to the lord of manas, the lord of speech, the lord of sight, the lord of hearing, the lord of intelligence. Then he becomes this, — the Brahman whose body is the bright space, whose nature is true, whose delight is life, whose manas is bliss, who is replete with peace, who is immortal.

4. Thus do thou, O Prachina-yogya, contemplate.

Taking the words in good faith, with the hope that if the prana leaves the body through the head, they can attain Liberation, certain ascetics have their heads broken by a coconut at the time of their death. It has become a custom with some ascetics. If we look into the history, we may find that certain yogis had attained Kapala Bhedana Siddhi, but there is none who live after attaining that siddhi.

In Uma Sahasram Ganapati Muni Wrote: -

avataraṇaṁ dhyātaṁ ced ārohaṇamadbhutaṁ bhavecchakteḥ |

yasminnidaṁ śarīraṁ bhavati mahadvaidyutāgniyantramiva ||

In him, who knows by experience the descent of Shakti from the sky through the head into the body, the Shakti rises from the Muladhara with terrific speed. When it rises surprisingly like this, this body becomes a veritable powerful electric motor.

If we analyse this sloka, we come to understand that this Kapala Bhedana process is itself being described as cutting off of Renuka’s head. Actually, it was by the Mother Renuka’s grace that this siddhi of Kapal Bheda was given to her son Parasurama. Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi says ‘Chit’ is ‘Jnana’. The cutting of ignorance itself is cutting off of the head. Probably this is the cause of Asiramma (Headless Mother) being worshipped by the people.

After Parasurama, Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni (also called as Nayana) is the only one in the modern time known to have got this Kapala Bhedana Siddhi and lived after that for 14 Years.  From the time of the darshan of Renuka in Padai Veedu, Nayana had the experience of the movement of Shakti in him.

This grand secret of yoga is impossible to be articulated by an inexperienced soul. Nayana had this great experience in Arunachala. He was residing, along with his wife, in the mango-cave on Mount Arunachala at that time. He was most of the time in meditation. The flow of shakti was gradually increasing and on 20-08-1922, it gave rise to Kapala Bhedana Siddhi.

While Nayana (Ganapati Muni) was having this experience, his family was with him. They saw a light coming out of the top of his head, forming a round circle of light on the roof of the cave and filling up the whole cave with glow. They were somewhat afraid and went to Skandashramam and told Bhagavan Maharishi about the strange light. Bhagavan came and applied castor oil on Nayana’s head and cooled it. The next day Bhagavan got a pair of wooden sandals for Nayana and told him never to touch the ground without them.

Nayana Took the sandals from Bhagavan and told Bhagavan that he was receiving Paduka Diksha from Bhagavan.

O Mother of the Universe! When with great strength born out of Tapas, Yogi’s head is broken into two, a great shakti rises in the central sushumna Nadi detaching itself from the body and senses n adjoin the shakti which has awakened from sleep. Hence the tantrics who know the scriptures call you Shati without head (Chchinna masta) – Uma Sahasram !!!

Content Courtesy: MahaTapasvi

KAVYAKANTHA (One who has poetry in his throat)

 

During 20^th century, Nawadweepa (presently in West Bengal, India), an ancient and famous seat of Sanskrit learning, regularly interviewed pandits and scholars from all over the country. Every year they all came there to display their knowledge of the Sanskrit language, and all the works that had been composed in it. Those who impressed the examiners were granted prestigious titles that were recognised all over India as being a high and well-earned accolade in Sanskrit scholarship.

The examination was an oral one, and the ‘syllabus’ was just about everything that had ever been written in Sanskrit. Candidates would have no idea in advance whether they would be asked to expound on astrology treatises, puranic stories, poetic dramas or philosophy.

When Ganapati Muni went to Nawadweepa in 1900 to have his Sanskrit knowledge tested, he was still a teenager. His life-defining meeting with Bhagavan was still in the future. In those days he was simply a brilliant young scholar, trying to make his way in the scholarly world.

Hundreds of pandits and students arrived at Nawadweepa, all hoping to get some recognition of their talents. This necessitated preliminary interviews which only those who exhibited sufficient competence graduated from.

Ganapati Muni wanted to contact Sitikantha Vaachaspati but it was no easy task. The only person of any consequences that offered to help Ganapati Muni was Gulabigyna, a pandit from Mithila. A conversation with Ganapati that night convinced Gulabigyna that this young man was fit for entrance to the Harisabha. Moreover the letter from Pandit Sivakumar strengthened him in that belief. In that letter Sivakumar had likened Ganapati’s literary process to the valour of Hanuman as described by Valmiki (Devaasura samekesu bahuso drusta vikramha). Sitikantha Vaachaspati on learning about Ganapati’s talents accepted him as his guest and provided him with all facilities.

 Since Ganapati Muni came highly recommended, Sitikanta Vacaspati, decided he would introduce Ganapati Muni to the chief examiner, Ambika Datta, in advance.

As they approached the seat where Ambika Datta was sitting, Ganapati Muni asked, ‘Who is this exalted person?’ (Kosou Mahaasayah.)

Sitikanta was a little embarrassed that Ganapati Muni had asked this question at a volume that was loud enough for Ambika Datta to hear. He thought that displaying an ignorance of the identity of the chief examiner, who was a famous scholar, might count against Ganapati Muni.

Ambika Datta was not perturbed. He simply smiled and introduced himself by composing half a verse that identified himself:

Satvarakvitaasavitaa Gaudoham

Kascis Ambikaa Dattah.

 I am a Gouda [from a region in Bengal], an adept in extempore poetry, and my name is Ambika Datta.

When Ganapati Muni heard this, he immediately recognised that this was the first salvo in a poetic war. He knew that he was now expected to complete the verse by adding two more lines that would include his own identity and qualifications.

Immediately he replied, in the same metre:

Ganapatiriti kavikulapatih

Ati kdakso Daakshinaaatyboham

 

I am Ganapati from the south, the chief of the clan of poets, highly accomplished.

Then, in a barbed comment aimed at Ambika Datta, he added in Sanskrit, ‘You are only an adopted son, whereas I am a true son’. ‘Datta’ in Sanskrit means adopted son, whereas Ganapati is the true son of Ambika, which is one of the many names of Parvati, Siva’s consort. Those who were listening broke out into spontaneous applause. This was just the sort of snide comment – literary, allusive and couched in perfect Sanskrit – that made the competition so much for fun for all the serious applicants.

Having displayed an ability to compose spontaneous poetry in Sanskrit, along with the equally valued ability to fire off spontaneous literary insults, Ganapati Muni was allowed to dispense with the preliminary interview and proceed to the main examination. Ambika Datta took him to the place where the exam was to take place and gave him his first four topics. The competition began with what are called samasyas: the first part of a stanza that alludes to some topic or story in Sanskrit literature. The candidate had to identify the subject that was being hinted at and then complete the verse in a way which demonstrated he was aware of the subject matter that was being alluded to. These introductory lines were far from straightforward. Occasionally they resembled clues from a cryptic crossword, rather than easy-to-identify literary or scriptural allusions.

Ganapati Muni’s four samasyas were:

1.      The daughter-in-law, removing the cloth covering her breast, longs for her father-in-law, yet she is of spotless character.

Stana vastram parityajya,

Vadhooh swasuram icchati – kintu anavadyacarita 

2.      Once in a year Gauri does not look at the face of her husband.

Vatsarasyaikadaa gaurie

Pati-vaktram na pasyati.

3.      Sun, along with moon, lost, but not a new-moon day.

Suryassaankena

Samam vinatiah-(ana tu amaavasya)

4.      Ant kisses the orb of the moon.

Pipilikaa cumbati

Candra mandalam

 

Ganapati Muni resolved the first one by completing the verse with a story about Hidimba, the wife of Bheema, who was the son of Vayu, the wind god. She removed her cloth because she desired her father-in-law, in this case Vayu, a cool breeze.

Hidimbaa Bhiemadayita

Nidaaghe gharma piaditaa

Stanavastram….

 

Ganapati Muni, taken towards the end of his life.

Ambika Datta, in response, said that when he had formulated the lines he was thinking of the story of Draupadi and Bheema, not Hidimba. Challenging the appropriateness of this, Ganapati Muni reminded him that Draupadi had had five husbands, not just one, which meant that she would have had five fathers-in-law as well. He also mentioned that Draupadi, coming from a royal lineage, would not be stripping in the forest like an ordinary rustic. He repeated his assertion that his resolution of the riddle was more appropriate.

The second samasya alludes to a tradition that nobody should see the moon on the Ganesh Chathurti day. If they do, they will get a bad name and be the victim of false allegations. Ganapati Muni completed the verse in the following way:

Chaturthyaam Bhaadra Suklasya

Candra darsana sankayaa.

 

On the fourth day of the bright fortnight of the month of Bhaadrapada [Ganesh Chaturthi day], fearing that she might see the moon, Parvati [Gauri] does not look at the face of her husband [Siva].

Siva has the moon in his hair, so Gauri avoids looking at his face on that particular day.

The third samasya was a terse summary of an unfavourable astrological configuration. Ganapati Muni expanded on it in the following way:

Rahustrikone ca Gurustruteiye

Kalatrabhaava ca Dharqatanoojah

Lugne ca koste yadi baalakam syat

Suryah sasaankena samam vinastah

 

In the horoscope of a child, if Rahu is at an angle, Guru in the third house and Kuja in the seventh house, and if Sun and Moon are placed in the Lagna, the child will not survive.

 Ganapati Muni completed the fourth samasya by narrating an event that took place after Daksha’s sacrifice:

Sateeviyogena visannacetasah

Prabhoh sayaanasya Himaalaye girau

Sivasya cudakalitam sudhaasayaa

Pipilikaa cumbati candramandalam

 

Sati Devi immolated herself in the sacrifice performed by Daksha, her father. As Siva, stricken with grief, lay on the Himalaya mountain, the moon on his head touched the ground, allowing the ants to lick it for the nectar it contained.

These were very obscure references, but Ganapati Muni rose to the challenge by composing verses that demonstrated he had understood the implication of all of them. He even managed to tell Ambika Datta that his, Ganapati Muni’s, resolution of one samasya was superior to the one that the examiner had envisaged.

With this initial test successfully completed, Ambika Datta moved on to the topic of literary criticism. Ganapati Muni was asked to comment on two slokas, one from Raghuvamsa and one from Kavyaprakasa.

Ganapati Muni expounded on the literary peculiarities of the first sloka, without attracting any comments from Ambika Datta, but when he moved on to the second, he made his first mistake in Sanskrit prosody: he said sarvesaam, with a long ‘a’, instead of sarvesam, with a short ‘a’. He immediately stopped and corrected himself, but this was the error that Ambika Data had been waiting for. He cut him short and hurled a four-line Sanskrit insult at him:

Anavadye nanu padye

Gadye hrudyepi te skhalati vaani

Tat kim tribhuvanasaaree

Taaraa naaraadhitaa bhavataa

 

Though your poetry is flawless, and your prose as well is captivating, how is it that your speech falters? Have you not adored Tara, who is the very essence of the three worlds?

Tara is a feminine goddess (and one among the Dasa Mahavidyas) who embodies the divine energy that sustains the world. This would have been a particularly hurtful insult for Ganapati Muni since he was a sakta, a worshipper of female divine energy. Ambika Datta was accusing him of making mistakes because he lacked proper devotion to his chosen deity. Unfortunately, in his haste to formulate the insult, Ambika Datta had also made a grammatical error. He had said ‘sara Tara’ instead of ‘sarastara’.

 Stung by this assault on his beliefs, but given an opportunity to fight back, Ganapati Muni ratcheted up the abuse with the following verse:

Sudhaam hasanti madhu caaksipanti

Yaso haranti dayitaadharasya

Na telamaasyam kavitaa karoti

Nopaasyate kim dayitaardhadehah

 

“Poetry that laughs at nectar, which belittles the taste of honey and steals the fame of the lip of the beloved does not adorn your mouth. Have you not come to worship the one who halves his body with the beloved?”

This was a rather elegant way of pointing of Ambika Datta’s incorrect usage. Instead of using the masculine form saarah, Ambika Datta had said ‘saaraa’, the feminine form of the noun instead. Ganapati Muni was saying, ‘In your preoccupation with the feminine goddess Tara, have you not forgotten the male (Siva) who shares his body with her?’

Ambika Datta, a senior and respected figure in the Sanskrit world, began to get angry. He was not accustomed to having his mistakes pointed out by teenagers. He shouted out, in Sanskrit:

Ucchaih kunjara maakaarsieh

Bhrumhitaani madoddhatah

Kumbhikumbhaamisaahaari

Sete samprati kesari

 

O elephant, do not make so much noise in rut. Now, the lion that makes a meal of the elephant brains, sleeps.

The noisy, rutting elephant is Ganapati Muni, loudly complaining about Ambika Datta’s errors. Ambika Datta is warning him that there will be a limit for such abuse. Comparing himself to the lion that can kill the elephant, he says, in effect, ‘Be careful, I am sleeping now, but at any moment I may wake up, kill you and eat your brain!’

Unperturbed, and with no intention of backing down, Ganapati Muni pointed out yet another poetic error that Ambika Datta had made in his latest insult. After explaining, in verse, where he had gone wrong in his alliteration and his rhyming, Ganapati Muni, twisted the knife a little more:

 Samaaseeino rasaale cet, Masunamaavaha maukale

Lokah karotu satkaaram, Matvaa tvaamapi kokilam

 

O crow! If you are seated on a mango tree, pray remain silent. Let the world honour you by taking you to be a cuckoo.

Meaning, of course, ‘You can sit there with your mouth closed and people will think that you are capable of making sweet and wonderful sounds, but as soon as you open it, only harsh and unpoetic noises come out!’

The two continued to trade versified insults:

Jyotiringana na kinnu manyase

Yat tvam eva timiresu laksyase

 

Ambika Datta: ‘O firefly, does it not occur to you that you can be seen only in darkness?’

Ganapati Muni:

Kinnu deepa bhavane vibhasase

Vaayunaa bahiraho vidhuyase.

 

‘Ah, you lamp, you shine all right in the house, but outside you are wafted hither and thither.’

I would guess that Ganapati Muni meant by this that Ambika Datta could shine in the limited circle of his acquaintances, but when he was subjected to outside testing, he could not retain his equanimity or his grasp of Sanskrit prosody.

These insults might have continued indefinitely, but at this point Sitikanta Vachaspati, the man who had introduced Ganapati Muni to Ambika Datta, intervened and said that they should end their fight in a literary way: they should each compose one verse that insulted the community to which the other belonged, after which the debate would be declared over. The two participants agreed and Ambika Datta went first:

Bhatto khilo ttopari vaaravadhvaa

Nipaya madhavaarabhate vihaarah.

 

All Bhattas [South Indian brahmins] go to the terrace of their houses, drink wine, and then start sporting with the courtesans.

Ganapati Muni responded with:

Asuvyayo Vaastu vasuvyayo vaah

Amee na mena vyasanam tyajanti.

 

These fellows, the Goudas, would not give up their craving for fish, even if it cost them their life or their wealth.

Some Bengali communities ate fish, even though they were supposedly vegetarian. They excused this on the rather specious grounds that fish were ‘sea vegetables’, rather than animals. This is a reference to this habit.

Ambika Datta loved this final verse, even though it was an insult directed at his community, because of a clever combination of sounds in one of the lines. The word for fish is ‘mina’ and Ganapati Muni had constructed a line, part of which said ‘ami na mina’, a clever pun that sounded like a pair of fish. With the battle over, Ambika Datta embraced Ganapati Muni and congratulated him on his charming and high-class poetry. Ganapati Muni apologised for letting it get so personal, but Ambika Datta said that the pair of fish in the final verse made up for all the previous insults.

A decision to award Ganapati Muni the title of ‘Kavyakantha’ was taken unanimously by the committee that ran the event. The citation on Ganapati Muni’s diploma read as follows:

“Poetry, though not one of the gems born of churning the Ocean of Milk, is the elite nectar of the human family. He who acquires this accomplishment by extreme good luck and palpable divine grace should, though he is of the earth, be looked upon and honoured as a divine being by savants who relish real greatness.

As you have now, by your extraordinary poetic talents, pleased this august company of savants, we the citizens of Nawadweepa have a sense of fulfillment by your presence and performance. Srimat Ganapati Sastri of Kaluvarayi village in the Visakhapatnam area! We hereby honour your excellent traits with this sloka, and also give you our blessings:

‘May the fame acquired by the best of ancient poets, Kalidas and others, follow you now. May you shine forth with splendour, adorned by the charming title “Kavyakantha” conferred on you by discerning scholars of distinction.”

Content Courtesy: David Godman, Nayana by Dr.G.Krishna 

**************************************HARI OM************************************

KAVYAKANTHA SHRI GANAPATI MUNI

 

"We are all educated but Ganapati Muni is education Itself"- Kashi Krishnacharya, Famous Sanskrit Scholar

Vasistha Ganapati Muni (1878-1936), famed as Kavyakantha , and popularly addressed as Nayana, was a mighty spiritual personality in his own right and had a large following of illustrious disciples. It is a standing testimony to his spiritual sincerity, humility, and intellectual honesty that he recognized the uniqueness of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi's teaching , accepted Him as his Guru, and proclaimed him as the Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi to the whole world.

 

Vasistha Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni belongs to the race of giants who crowded in the narrow corridors of the first four decades of the 20th Century.

Ganapati Muni was born in Kalavarayai, near Bobbili in Andhra Pradesh, on November 17, 1878. His parents, Narasimha Sastri and Narasamamba, had three sons, the Muni being the second. His was a family of Sri Vidya initiates.

A year before his birth his mother Narasamamba had gone to the famous temple dedicated to the Sun God at Arasavalli, in Andhra Pradesh. It was a holy day (Ratha Saptami) to offer worship to the Sun God. She stayed overnight in the temple, after worshipping the Lord in due manner. In the early morning she had a dream in which a woman of supernatural beauty emerged from the corridors of the temple, approached her with a fine shining pot, put it in her hand and vanished. To her utter astonishment the fine pitcher assumed the form of a male child the moment it came into contact with her. After her return home she became pregnant.

The father, Narasimha Sastri, also had a unique experience. He had gone to Banaras (Varanasi or Kashi) in November 1878. When he was in the temple praying in the presence of the deity Ganapati, he had the vision of a little child emanating from the deity and entering into him. At the time when Narasimha Sastri was witnessing this vision in Banaras, his wife Narasamamba gave birth to a male child in her parental home. This child was born under these auspicious indications given to both parents. The father appropriately named this son Ganapati, rooted in the conviction that the child was an emanation of the Lord Maha Ganapati Himself.

It appears that Ganapati was conscious of his divinity. He later wrote in 'Uma Sahasram' and other works that he was born as an amsa, a portion, of the God Ganapati. He further expressed his conviction of the identity between him and God Ganapati — the guiding spirit of his corporeal existence — in the "Glory of Ganapati".

Ganapati was educated entirely at home. His father, like his ancestors, was well versed and an expert in Mantra Sastra, Astrology and Ayurveda. The young Ganapati easily absorbed all these subjects. Even in his tenth year he was able to prepare the Almanac.

While still a boy, he finished studying the classical poems and then devoted himself to the study of grammar and poetics. At the same time he delved deep into the writings of Vyasa and Valmiki. He repeatedly read and reread the Mahabharata. His horizon widened and his intellect blossomed with an ever-deepening perception. Like in ancient times, Ganapati desired to acquire immense strength and power through the practice of austerities and mantra japa.

Though married at an early age, which was the custom of the times, Ganapati, when hardly 18 years old, set out and wandered from one sacred place to another, residing in places like Bhuvaneshwar, where he performed his tapas. In a dream while in Bhuvaneshwar, Ganapati saw a woman putting honey in his mouth and onto his tongue and then vanishing. Later, the Muni himself narrated this to his disciples and said that only after this incident did he gain complete mastery over poetry.

When Ganapati was staying in Kashi he came to know that there would be a great assembly of Sanskrit scholars in the famous city of Navadwipa in Bengal. On the advice of his friends he got a letter of introduction and started for Navadwipa. There he passed the difficult tests in extempore Sanskrit prose and poetry with an effortless ease that stunned his examiners. Unanimously, they conferred the title 'Kavyakantha' (one who has poetry in his throat) on him forthwith. He was then 22 years old.

Ganapati returned to South India in his 25th year. From Kanchipuram he came to Arunachala (Tiruvannamalai) in 1903 to perform tapas. At that time he visited Sri Ramana Maharshi — then known as Brahmanaswami — on the hill twice before he accepted a teaching post in Vellore in 1904. By his organizing ability and magnetic personality he gathered a group of students who, by the power of mantra japa, set out to generate spiritual energy to cure the ills of the nation. In fact, it was his strong conviction, like that of Swami Vivekananda's, that national welfare should be placed above individual salvation. He soon resigned his job at Vellore and returned to Arunachala in 1907. It was at this stage in his life that he sought and gained the grace of Brahmanaswami.

Though he was already an intellectual and spiritual giant, with many achievements to his credit, and a host of followers as well, Ganapati felt distressed that his life purpose was not yet achieved. He suddenly remembered Brahmanaswami, climbed the hill to his abode and prayed to him for upadesa. The meeting was of profound consequence, not only for Kavyakantha, but also for the world at large.

The Muni approached the Virupaksha Cave where Brahmanaswami lived on the 18th of November 1907. Prostrating before the young Sage, he pleaded with a trembling voice: "All that has to be read I have read. Even Vedanta Sastra I have fully understood. I have performed japa to my heart's content, yet I have not up to this time understood what tapas is. Hence, have I sought refuge at thy feet. Pray enlighten me about the nature of tapas."

For fifteen minutes Sri Ramana Maharshi silently gazed at the Muni. He then spoke: "If one watches where the notion of 'I' springs, the mind will be absorbed into that. That is tapas. If a mantra is repeated and attention is directed to the source where the mantra sound is produced, the mind will be absorbed into that. That is tapas." Upon hearing these words of the Sage, the scholar-poet was filled with joy and announced that this upadesa was entirely original and that Brahmanaswami was a Maharshi and should be so called thereafter. He then gave the name of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi to Brahmanaswami, whose original name had been Venkataraman.

 

Ganapati Muni wrote his great devotional epic hymn, "Uma Sahasram," One Thousand Verses on Uma, after accepting Sri Maharshi as his Guru on November 18, 1907. This work was the magnum opus of the seer-poet. He never wrote for name or fame, but composed poetry as a form of tapas, inspired by his spiritual exultations. He composed "Uma Sahasram" in gratitude to the great Goddess Uma, for granting him the Maharshi as his Master.

Vasistha Ganapati Muni was a valiant soldier in the cause of Truth and Divinity. For communing with the Divine, the Muni was well endowed, gifted with marvelous powers of mind, intellect and spirit. To this day, the greatest scholars of modern times are astounded by his versatility and genius. With absolutely no formal schooling, he could immediately grasp the most intricate problems of the day and devise solutions. His immense scholarship of Hindu Scriptures, coupled with a faultless memory and Divine intuition shone on his face and flowed out through his writings and oratory.  He belonged to the era of Rig Vedic seers who were gods among men, playing in the world their role of leadership of both temporal and spiritual matters.

The Vedic seers were by no means removed from the affairs of the world. In fact, these seers made themselves the vehicle through which the Divine forces worked for the welfare of humanity. To become one such perfect instrument in the hands of Maha Shakti was the goal towards which Ganapati worked and dedicated his entire life of penance.

Though the Muni was a giant personality, he remained humble. Two incidents in his Divine life will illustrate this: The Muni and his beloved disciple Daivarata did tapas in Padaivedu, near Vellore, in the year 1917. As a result of these tapas certain mantras were revealed to his disciple Daivarata. The Guru of the disciple, our Ganapati Muni, acted as the scribe and noted down the mantras as they issued forth from his inspired disciple. Later, the Muni even wrote a commentary on the mantras, just as Adi Sankara did for the verses of his disciple Hastamalaka.

The Muni was verily a fountain of love and affection for his pupils and followers, far and near. This did not deter the Guru and sishya from having a difference of opinion at times. Nevertheless, Ganapati's broadmindedness and love never wavered on account of these differences, thus revealing his humble respect and genuine love for all. He even readily blessed one of his dearest disciples, Kapali Sastri, when he wished to become a disciple of Sri Aurobindo

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I would like to make the readers aware of the fact that the poet-seer, Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni, met Sri Aurobindo on August 15, 1928. He stayed at the Ashram for about a fortnight. During his stay the Muni meditated alone with the Mother a few times. At the instance of Sri Kapali and Sri S.Doraiswamy Iyer the Muni translated some portion of Sri Aurobindo's "Mother" into Sanskrit verses, with some notes. Seeing the Muni's translation, Sri Aurobindo generously declared that the translation far excelled the original.

Ganapati Muni was a Maha Tapasvi whose one aim in life was the restoration of Mother India to her ancient majesty. Unlike others who aimed at liberation for themselves, this inspired soul believed that he must obtain the grace of God, not only for himself, but also for the nation, and through it for the betterment of the world. Towards that consummation he had done penance from his early youth and very rigorously during the last years of his life.

Sri Ganapati passed away at Kharagpur, in West Bengal, on July 25, 1936, when he was 58 years old. The Muni was the only know person in our times to have experienced Kapalabheda, which occurred in 1922 at the Mango Cave on Arunachala. As the result of intense tapas, the subtle knot in his head was cut and his cranium split.

Sri Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni's writings, particularly on the Rig-Veda and the Tattwa Sastra, will most certainly be a guiding spirit and lamp for centuries to come.

 

 

Content Courtesy: Dennis Hartel, Arunachala Ashrama, Maha Tapasvi