Ramaswami Pillai
Ramaswami Pillai once asked Bhagavan, "Life is full of apparent choices. We waste a lot of energy thinking about what we should do. When a choice presents itself, how can we tell if it is something that we have to do, or whether it is something that will waste our time and lead us in the wrong direction."
Bhagavan told him, "Throw it down[1] three times. If it jumps back three times, then it is something you have to do."
If we have a mind, we can’t tell what things are destined for us. A jnani might see and know, and he might even tell us if we are lucky. The rest of us just stumble along, making plans and thinking we are in charge of future events.
I was destined to be in Tiruvannamalai. Hindsight alone tells me that. I ‘threw it off my head’ a few times, but it always jumped back. On several occasions I made attempts to be somewhere else, but they never worked out for long. Sooner or later I would always find myself back at the foot of Arunachala.
[1] In Tamiḷ, destiny is often conceived as a load that one carries on one’s head.
'The Maharshi' newsletter Citations
May/Jun 2022 — The Ribhu Gita [1]
Sep/Oct 2018 — see Mar/Apr 1998 [1]
May/Jun 2018 — see Nov/Dec 1997 [1]
Mar/Apr 2018 — see Sep/Oct 1997 [1]
Jan/Feb 2016 — Grant Duff, part 2 [1]
Jul/Aug 2014 — Remembering Paul Saphier [1]
Jan/Feb 2014 — Sri Ramana Jayanti Retreat [1]
May/Jun 2009 — A Long Life with the Maharshi, May/Jun 2008 — My First Visit to
Sri Ramanasramamam [1]
Jan/Feb 2008 — Sri Ramananda Saraswati [1]
Nov/Dec 2005 — An Interview with Annamalai Swami [1]
May/Jun 2002 — Guru Ramana DVD announcement [1]
May/Jun 1999 — Interview Video [1]
Jul/Aug 1998 — The Journey of My Heart, part 6 [1]
May/Jun 1998 — Journey of My Heart, part 5
Mar/Apr 1998 — Early Days with Sri Bhagavan
Sep/Oct 1997 — Journey of My Heart, part 1
Jul/Aug 1994 — A Long Life with the Maharshi [1]
Jan/Feb 1994 — Returning to Ramanasramami [1]
Nov/Dec 1992 — Advent Celebration report [1]