Autobiography of a Yogi
confusion with the name of Lahiri Mahasaya and of Master Mahasaya
(../chapter 9), I am referring to my Sanskrit tutor only by his
later monastic name of Swami Kebalananda. His biography has been
recently published in Bengali. Born in the Khulna district of
Bengal in 1863, Kebalananda gave up his body in Benares at the age
of sixty-eight. His family name was Ashutosh Chatterji.
{FN4-6} The ancient four VEDAS comprise over 100 extant canonical
books. Emerson paid the following tribute in his JOURNAL to Vedic
thought: “It is sublime as heat and night and a breathless ocean.
It contains every religious sentiment, all the grand ethics which
visit in turn each noble poetic mind. . . . It is of no use to put
away the book; if I trust myself in the woods or in a boat upon the
pond, Nature makes a BRAHMIN of me presently: eternal necessity,
eternal compensation, unfathomable power, unbroken silence. . . .
This is her creed. Peace, she saith to me, and purity and absolute
abandonment—these panaceas expiate all sin and bring you to the
beatitude of the Eight Gods.”
{FN4-7} The seat of the “single” or spiritual eye. At death the
consciousness of man is usually drawn to this holy spot, accounting
for the upraised eyes found in the dead.
{FN4-8} The central sacred figure of the Sanskrit epic, RAMAYANA.
{FN4-9} Ahankara, egoism; literally, “I do.” The root cause of
dualism or illusion of MAYA, whereby the subject (ego) appears as
object; the creatures imagine themselves to be creators.
CHAPTER: 5
A “PERFUME SAINT” DISPLAYS HIS WONDERS
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose
under the heaven.”
I did not have this wisdom of Solomon to comfort me; I gazed
searchingly about me, on any excursion from home, for the face of
my destined guru. But my path did not cross his own until after
the completion of my high school studies.
Two years elapsed between my flight with Amar toward the Himalayas,
and the great day of Sri Yukteswar’s arrival into my life. During
that interim I met a number of sages-the “Perfume Saint,” the “Tiger
Swami,” Nagendra Nath Bhaduri, Master Mahasaya, and the famous
Bengali scientist, Jagadis Chandra Bose.
My encounter with the “Perfume Saint” had two preambles, one
harmonious and the other humorous.
“God is simple. Everything else is complex. Do not seek absolute
values in the relative world of nature.”
These philosophical finalities gently entered my ear as I stood
silently before a temple image of Kali. Turning, I confronted a
tall man whose garb, or lack of it, revealed him a wandering SADHU.
“You have indeed penetrated the bewilderment of my thoughts!” I
smiled gratefully. “The confusion of benign and terrible aspects
in nature, as symbolized by Kali, {FN5-1} has puzzled wiser heads
than mine!”
“Few there be who solve her mystery! Good and evil is the challenging
riddle which life places sphinxlike before every intelligence.
Attempting no solution, most men pay forfeit with their lives,
penalty now even as in the days of Thebes. Here and there, a towering
lonely figure never cries defeat. From the MAYA {FN5-2} of duality
he plucks the cleaveless truth of unity.”
“You speak with conviction, sir.”
“I have long exercised an honest introspection, the exquisitely
painful approach to wisdom. Self-scrutiny, relentless observance of
one’s thoughts, is a stark and shattering experience. It pulverizes
the stoutest ego. But true self-analysis mathematically operates
to produce seers. The way of ‘self-expression,’ individual
acknowledgments, results in egotists, sure of the right to their
private interpretations of God and the universe.”
“Truth humbly retires, no doubt, before such arrogant originality.”
I was enjoying the discussion.
“Man can understand no eternal verity until he has freed himself
from pretensions. The human mind, bared to a centuried slime, is
teeming with repulsive life of countless world-delusions. Struggles
of the battlefields pale into insignificance here, when man first
contends with inward enemies! No mortal foes these, to be overcome
by harrowing array of might! Omnipresent, unresting, pursuing man
even in sleep, subtly equipped with a miasmic weapon, these soldiers
of ignorant lusts seek to slay us all. Thoughtless is the man who
buries his ideals, surrendering to the common fate. Can he seem
other than impotent, wooden, ignominious?”
“Respected Sir, have you no sympathy for the bewildered masses?”
The sage was silent for a moment, then answered obliquely.
“To love both the invisible God, Repository of All Virtues, and
visible man, apparently possessed of none, is often baffling! But
ingenuity is equal to the maze. Inner research soon exposes a unity
in all human minds-the stalwart kinship of selfish motive. In one
sense at least, the brotherhood of man stands revealed. An aghast
humility follows this leveling discovery. It ripens into compassion
for one’s fellows, blind to the healing potencies of the soul
awaiting exploration.”
“The saints of every age, sir, have felt like yourself for the
sorrows of the world.”
“Only the shallow man loses responsiveness to the woes of others’
lives, as he sinks into narrow suffering of his own.” The SADHU’S
austere face was noticeably softened. “The one who practices a
scalpel self-dissection will know an expansion of universal pity.
Release is given him from the deafening demands of his ego. The
love of God flowers on such soil. The creature finally turns to
his Creator, if for no other reason than to ask in anguish: ‘Why,
Lord, why?’ By ignoble whips of pain, man is driven at last into
the Infinite Presence, whose beauty alone should lure him.”
The sage and I were present in Calcutta’s Kalighat Temple, whither
I had gone to view its famed magnificence. With a sweeping gesture,
my chance companion dismissed the ornate dignity.
“Bricks and mortar sing us no audible tune; the heart opens only
to the human chant of being.”
We strolled to the inviting sunshine at the entrance, where throngs
of devotees were passing to and fro.
“You are young.” The sage surveyed me thoughtfully. “India too is
young. The ancient RISHIS {FN5-3} laid down ineradicable patterns
of spiritual living. Their hoary dictums suffice for this day
and land. Not outmoded, not unsophisticated against the guiles
of materialism, the disciplinary precepts mold India still. By
millenniums-more than embarrassed scholars care to compute!-the
skeptic Time has validated Vedic worth. Take it for your heritage.”
As I was reverently bidding farewell to the eloquent SADHU, he
revealed a clairvoyant perception:
“After you leave here today, an unusual experience will come your
way.”
I quitted the temple precincts and wandered along aimlessly. Turning
a corner, I ran into an old acquaintance-one of those long-winded
fellows whose conversational powers ignore time and embrace eternity.
“I will let you go in a very short while, if you will tell me all
that has happened during the six years of our separation.”
“What a paradox! I must leave you now.”
But he held me by the hand, forcing out tidbits of information.
He was like a ravenous wolf, I thought in amusement; the longer I
spoke, the more hungrily he sniffed for news. Inwardly I petitioned
the Goddess Kali to devise a graceful means of escape.
My companion left me abruptly. I sighed with relief and doubled my
pace, dreading any relapse into the garrulous fever. Hearing rapid
footsteps behind me, I quickened my speed. I dared not look back.
But with a bound, the youth rejoined me, jovially clasping my
shoulder.
“I forgot to tell you of Gandha Baba (Perfume Saint), who is gracing
yonder house.” He pointed to a dwelling a few yards distant. “Do
meet him; he is interesting. You may have an unusual experience.
Good-by,” and he actually left me.
The similarly worded prediction of the SADHU at Kalighat Temple
flashed to my mind. Definitely intrigued, I entered the house and
was ushered into a commodious parlor. A crowd of people were sitting,
Orient-wise, here and there on a thick orange-colored carpet. An
awed whisper reached my ear:
“Behold Gandha Baba on the leopard skin. He can give the natural
perfume of any flower to a scentless one, or revive a wilted blossom,
or make a person’s skin exude delightful fragrance.”
I looked directly at the saint; his quick gaze rested on mine. He
was plump and bearded, with dark skin and large, gleaming eyes.
“Son, I am glad to see you. Say what you want. Would you like some
perfume?”
“What for?” I thought his remark rather childish.
“To experience the miraculous way of enjoying perfumes.”
“Harnessing God to make odors?”
“What of it? God makes perfume anyway.”
“Yes, but He fashions frail bottles of petals for fresh use and
discard. Can you materialize flowers?”
“I materialize perfumes, little friend.”
“Then scent factories will go out of business.”
“I will permit them to keep their trade! My own purpose is to
demonstrate the power of God.”
“Sir, is it necessary to prove God? Isn’t He performing miracles
in everything, everywhere?”
“Yes, but we too should manifest some of His infinite creative
variety.”
“How long did it take to master your art?”
“Twelve years.”
“For manufacturing scents by astral means! It seems, my honored
saint, you have been wasting a dozen years for fragrances which
you can obtain with a few rupees from a florist’s shop.”
“Perfumes fade with flowers.”
“Perfumes fade with death. Why should I desire that which pleases
the body only?”
“Mr. Philosopher, you please my mind. Now, stretch forth your right
hand.” He made a gesture of blessing.
I was a few feet away from Gandha Baba; no one else was near
enough to contact my body. I extended my hand, which the yogi did
not touch.
“What perfume do you want?”
“Rose.”
“Be it so.”
To my great surprise, the charming fragrance of rose was wafted
strongly from the center of my palm. I smilingly took a large white
scentless flower from a near-by vase.
“Can this odorless blossom be permeated with jasmine?”
“Be it so.”
A jasmine fragrance instantly shot from the petals. I thanked the
wonder-worker and seated myself by one of his students. He informed
me that Gandha Baba, whose proper name was Vishudhananda, had
learned many astonishing yoga secrets from a master in Tibet. The
Tibetan yogi, I was assured, had attained the age of over a thousand
years.
“His disciple Gandha Baba does not always perform his perfume-feats
in the simple verbal manner you have just witnessed.” The student
spoke with obvious pride in his master. “His procedure differs
widely, to accord with diversity in temperaments. He is marvelous!
Many members of the Calcutta intelligentsia are among his followers.”
I inwardly resolved not to add myself to their number. A guru too
literally “marvelous” was not to my liking. With polite thanks to
Gandha Baba, I departed. Sauntering home, I reflected on the three
varied encounters the day had brought forth.
My sister Uma met me as I entered our Gurpar Road door.
“You are getting quite stylish, using perfumes!”
Without a word, I motioned her to smell my hand.
“What an attractive rose fragrance! It is unusually strong!”
Thinking it was “strongly unusual,” I silently placed the astrally
scented blossom under her nostrils.
“Oh, I love jasmine!” She seized the flower. A ludicrous bafflement
passed over her face as she repeatedly sniffed the odor of jasmine
from a type of flower she well knew to be scentless. Her reactions
disarmed my suspicion that Gandha Baba had induced an auto-suggestive
state whereby I alone could detect the fragrances.
Later I heard from a friend, Alakananda, that the “Perfume Saint”