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Date Posted: 02:09:46 04/28/04 Wed
Author: ketch - 6 Apr 2004
Subject: Re: Parabrahman, Mukti and Human Thought-Systems
In reply to: Hendrik - 5 Apr 2004 's message, "Re: Parabrahman, Mukti and Human Thought-Systems" on 02:08:43 04/28/04 Wed


The story from Ramdas's childhood reminds me of the person known as "Bench Swami" who passed away late last year. This person was at one time a science professor, who after a conversation with Ramana Maharishi spent the remainder of his life in a kind of divine stupor where he simply lay on a bench all day, with devotees taking care of his needs. Here are some comments by David Godman, the well known author and follower of Ramana Maharishi.

"Dear Michael,
I just read your posting about 'Bench
Swami'. Yes, it is true that he passed away of Deepam
day, but the information you posted about him is a
little inaccurate. I told Jerry Jones, the compiler of
From Here to Nirvana about Tinnai Swami, but he
misrecorded several important details when he compiled
his book. A tinnai is the platform outside Tamil
houses where people sit and where visitors you don't
want to invite into your house are entertained. Tinnai
Swami acquired this name because he sat or lay on one
of these tinnais for decades. He was not a postmaster,
as reported in the book. He was a science professor
who was a regular visitor to Bhagavan in the 1940s. He
lived in Madras and he would come to Tiruvannamalai at
weekends. Each Sunday afternoon he would ask for
Bhagavan's permission to leave and each time Bhagavan
would say 'yes'. That is, until the last occasion when
Bhagavan merely said 'Iru'. This one word apparently
put Tinnai Swami into a state in which he was no
longer capable of functioning in the world. He went
back to his house and remained there in a
semi-catatonic state until his family came. He refused
to leave, and he spent the remainder of his life in
Tiruvannamalai. He was revered as a jnani by everyone
in Sadhu Om's compound, and the people there looked
after him for the rest of his life."


And from the person that letter was written to:

"I went to see Tinnai Swami in 2001.
He was talking to himself.
There was no one else there in the small room
but he and I, and he was not talking to me,
because he was just staring at the ceiling talking.
I don't understand Tamil,
so I did not know what he was saying.

After I was there for around 10 or 15 minutes,
a woman came and said to me:

this is not a meditation hall.
You come, you see Swami and you go.

I compared notes with Susan and Peter, a couple
from Poland who had also visited Tinnai Swami,
and they told me the woman came in
and told them the same thing using the same words.
Only Susan managed to stay there one hour
before the woman came in and spoke the line."


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