Mystics and Seers of India

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India is the land of Rishis, Seers and Sages. The impact of their lofty teachings has pervaded in a subtitle manner the psyche of the common man in the our country. Through their ashrams or their peregrinations the messages of the Rishis spread over the length and breadth of the country. Our spiritual heritage consists of the core and essence of the teaching of these Rishi’s. The Teachings were not always direct and but also indirect viz., how they themselves conducted in situations of utmost distressor or otherwise. Thus people saw that the Rishis practised what they preached. While they worked for their self realisation, they always sought for the ways and means to elevate the individual and enable him to contribute to the making of a good society. Even if they lived in their hermitages in forests or mountains, they never felt themselves isolated from the problems fo their fellow human beings. ‘ Lok Sangreh’ (the welfare of the people) had always been their goal. Their messages was not just other worldly. They endeavoured for the good of the common people during their earthly existence and thereafter. They led lives of austiery, of tapes but provided ideals of harmonious households livings. While the Rishis were held in great reverence by the common people there was no unbridgeable gulf between them. That is why the wisdom of the Rishis consisting of profound truths of philosophy provides solutions of day to day living beings for they liberality, catholicity, generosity and the breadth of vision of our culture and religion own their birth and flowering to the insights and efforts of these Rishis.

Indian traditions of the Rishis is an unbroken one deposits the trials and travails of time. Many of the Rishis is an unbroken one despite the trials and travails of time. Many of the Rishis from our hoary past who figure in our ancient texts continue to influence our lives. The timelessness of their messages manifests itself from time to time in this panorama of history in the from of Adi Shankara in remote past or in more recent times as Ramanas or the sage of Kanchi. The heritage of the Rishis bears testimony to the fact as to how the Indian traditions modernises itself, while returning the essence of its eternal verifities with the imperatives of the changing times. Indian tradition never stagnates. It is never frozen. It is an ever flowing stream of life-giving fresh water, nay the nectar. That is the strength of our heritage, our culture. That is also the wonder and envy of many others. But our culture is not bond or circumscribed by any narrow boundaries of ‘we’ and ‘they’. It encompasses the entirely of mankind, the globe as such. For us, as the Rishis preached, the universe is one Family. This vision is the gift of our Rishis. This is their precious legacy which we have treasured and continue to cultivate and cherish.

I am happy to see that my friend Dr. V. Gaurishankar, who is not only a renowned Taxation expert and supreme Court Advocate, but also a man of deep spirituality and profound learning. Has authored a fascinating book “ Mystics and Seers of India”. He had garnerd authentic information about the Rishis from many scholarly sources. He has written about them in a simple language comprehensible to all. The lucidity of expressions is charming. The slim book really makes for delighted reading. It helps to project values that have sustained our society through ages. Besides writing about six Sages, Seers or Rishis whom we have known through our ancient spiritual heritage, he has written about Adi Shankara charya who felt a lasting imprint on human thought during his brief though eventful life, and about Bhagvan Raman and the sage of Kanchi who many during their living memory had the privilege to see and get elevated through their benign presence. Dr. V. Gaurishankar’s book really provides a bird’s eye view through his book of our panoramic spiritual legacy which is ever fresh, ever relevant and always breathes peace, amity and good will for all.

I am indeed thankful to the learned author for asking me to write a note by way of introducing the book which I deem of great value for children and even for grown ups. I must congratulate Ramana Kendra, New Delhi for their initiating in publishing it. May the grace of the Rishis always abide with us.

Dr. Gaurishankar is the eldest son of a modern day rishi, Dr. K. Vaidyanathan who was a school teacher at Vellore on a meagre salary. He had large family. Yet his mind was whollay given to God. His family members might not have known about where their next meal would come from. But they were always sure of one thing. That he would rush to Sri Ramanasraman at the slightest excuse to bask in Bhagavan Ramana’s presence.

Therefore there was a deeply ingrained ingrained faith in God and love for seers in Dr. Gaurishankar from his childhood.

Dr. Gaurishankar’s first conscious darshan of Bhagavan Ramana was when he was aged nine. He had gone to Sri Ramanasranam with his teacher Satyanarayana Rao who was another great devotee of Ramana. Thereafter during his many visits to Sri Ramanasraman, this link with the divine grace of the Ramana continued and grew. Even now Ramana’s piecering look of grace is still vividely felt by him and he finds himself drawn to Ramana’s potent presence imperibtibly.

The active grace of Ramana working him, led him to a long and intimate relationship for many years with Mahaperiyaya H. H. Chandrasekarendra Saraswati of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. Such mighty company for so long has led to his fully flowering sprirtually. One might say that Dr. Gaurishaker is a true ‘Dhira’, a man of undaunted courage and fearlessness, a quality which is extolled in ourscriptures. This has enabled him to maintain his equipoise and his deep rooted faith in God and jnanis in the face of ‘outrageous fortune’

All this is said to indicate that no one could have better credentials to write about ‘Seers and Mystics of India’ than Dr. Gaurishankar. For the book is about spirituals luminaries who are all steadily rooted in the self and whose utterances therefore come out of the depth of truth. Accuracy, humanity and above all spiritual maturity is needed for writing about them. It appears that the divine had already prepared Dr. Gaurishanker for this task.

I can say from my friendship of over fifty years with Dr. Gaurishanker that one is always struck by his meticulous care to ensurethe authenticity or whatever flows from his fertile pen.

The hallmark of this book is thoroughness. All the accounts of the seers and mystics covered in this book are fascinating making the reader realise that sometimes facts may be more fascinating than fiction.

In our sacred land of Bharat there has been an unbroken lineage of rishis from Vedic times to Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. Rishis are often called seers because their compositions are not intellectual, within the frontiers of the mind, but are intuitive outpouring of their perceptions of the truth in which they were steadly abiding. Crowds of brilliants ideas and words would queue up as it were hoping that the seer would use them. Mystics are spiritual beacon light whose influence on people’s lives extends over centuries. This book provides in valuable information about some of these outstanding sons of India whose lustre is undimmed and eternal. It is bound to be an inspirational source to all those who are fortunate to read it.