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Date Posted: 10:39:35 04/19/04 Mon
Author: Hendrik - 25 Mar 2004
Subject: The Upturned Mug - a cool story


The Upturned Mug

The late Shri Doraiswamy narrated this incident to another sadhak, Anantaraman,
who passed away a few years ago. I have heard it from Shri Gajraj Sukhdev.

From 1914 to 1921 Sri Aurobindo lived in the building now known as the
"Guest House." During the same period, Ramana Maharshi lived in the cave of
Skanda Ashram, on the Arunachala mountain near Tiruvannamalai. A certain
sannyasi started a strange pilgrimage: he would walk from Skanda Ashram to
Pondicherry, as far as the gate of the Guest House; then he would return to
Arunachala. He never attempted to enter either Ramana Maharshi's cave or the
house where Sri Aurobindo was staying. On the way he observed all the vows
of a sannyasi, sleeping under a tree, begging food from only three houses,
and living on whatever was given to him there. Many people wished to become
his disciples; he used to roll in the mud to make himself repulsive and rid
himself of these aspiring disciples He was so short in stature that people
called him "Kulla Swami," which in Tamil means Dwarf Swami.

Back and forth went the sannyasi from Pondicherry to Arunachala. One day, on
one of his visits, he found the door of the Guest House standing slightly
ajar. He pushed it open and went upstairs. Sri Aurobindo was sitting there
in a cane chair. In front of him stood a cane table with another chair. On
the table was an enamel mug from which Sri Aurobindo had been drinking tea
or cocoa. Nolini, Bijoy and others who were standing around Sri Aurobindo
were taken aback by the unexpected intrusion, but they did not say anything
since Sri Aurobindo remained silent. The swami seated himself on the open
chair, took the mug and emptied its contents on the floor, then replacing
the mug, upside down, on the table. Twice he looked meaningfully, first at
the mug and then at Sri Aurobindo; then he again took up the mug, made the
gesture of emptying it, and replaced it bottom up upon the table, and again
looked intently at Sri Aurobindo. Finally the strange visitor stood up and
left without a word.

Later Sri Aurobindo said that at that period he had for several years found
his way blocked. The sannyasi's action of emptying the mug showed him that
to advance further he would have to empty himself of all his previous
siddhis and realisations. This advice he took and went onwards towards the
supreme heights.

-- Shyam Kumari (ed.), More Vignettes of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, p. 20-21

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