Meditation - Brake to the Mind

Sri Lakshmana Swamy

The Self or Guru is an infinite ocean of grace. Ramana Maharshi has said that if you approach this ocean with a cup you can only take away a cupful; if you come with a bucket you can only take away a bucketful. The amount of grace which one receives is proportional to the degree to which one surrenders. If you surrender completely, then you will receive enough grace to realize the Self.

When the Guru looks into a devotee's eyes he is looking into the devotee's mind to see how far it is humbling and surrendering itself to the Self. If the Guru sees that the devotee's mind is quiet and humble then the grace will automatically flow.

Many devotees ask, "Why can't you give us all the infinite grace of the Self and give us all Self-realization?" This is not possible because the minds of such people are not pure or humble enough. If a Guru gives a large amount of grace to such people the shock will kill them. Imagine a car going at top speed. If the car suddenly hits an obstacle and stops, the occupants will be killed. The mind is like a car; to stop it suddenly is dangerous. Meditation applies the brakes to the mind. Unless he has purified and slowed his mind by meditation, the devotee cannot safely receive the full force of the Guru's Grace.

There is another problem. Although the grace and power of the Self are infinite, the Guru must use his body to transmit this power. The body could not stand the strain of giving so much grace to many people in such a short time. The body would weaken and die within a very short period. Instead of weakening the body by wasting his power on all the immature devotees who come to see him, the Guru saves his power and his health by only transmitting large amounts of grace to the good devotees who deserve it. If the devotee's mind is ready, the grace will automatically start to flow.

Ramana Maharshi used to give darshan to hundreds of people everyday, but most of these people only received a brief glance or a smile. He was not transmitting power to most of these people. When he was once asked if he would tour India and give darshan to all the thousands of devotees who could not come to Tiruvannamalai, he replied, "I cannot give darshan to everyone." I don't know what he meant by this. He may have been saying that it was physically impossible for him to meet all the thousands of people who wanted to see him, but he may also have been implying that it would have been too much of a strain on his body to give so much power and grace in such a short time.