Saturday, November 13, 2010

Reminiscences

A person chanting nama complained to ShriMaharaj that he had a headache whenever he sat down to do it. ShriMaharaj expressed surprise, because actually namasmarana should bring calm to even a disturbed mind, and asked if nama was chanted as advised by the initiator. ' No,' said the person; ' he had asked me just to chant nama; but evidently it couldn't be so simple, so, as I had read in some books, I adopted the padmasana pose and fixed my gaze on the tip of the nose.' ShriMaharaj advised him to do nothing beyond what the initiator had asked him to. Very soon his headache stopped. ShriMaharaj explained this by saying that the initiator knows the disciple's capacity, to which he adapts his in­struction; so one should do neither more nor less.