The Self reveals itself in a multitude of forms in order to attract and take captive the souls of men. Some forms are made of flesh, in human likeness; others are elemental, such is the mystery of holy places, kshetras, of this Mountain Arunachala, for example . . . The secret of what passes between the human guru and his disciple is beyond anyone's grasp, even though the words they exchange may be spoken aloud and listened to. Who has ever fathomed the mystery of the Word from which Being has sprung? But still more inexplicable is the secret message which is communicated by the Mountain of stone to those who, in solitude and nakedness, meditate silently in its rocky clefts. Who will ever know the secret of the mutual communion between the mother and the child that nestles in her womb?
Many indeed in the course of centuries have found in Arunachala the place of a new birth, the gateway to a world hitherto unknown, to which suddenly, marvellously, they find that they belong!
Let him who does not venture to believe this, even so enter the cave and close the door to all comers; let him strip himself of every covering, whether of body or mind; let him keep silence and recollect himself; let his thirst be slaked with these waters, let him be scorced with this fire, then very soon he will find that he too understands the secret of Arunchala! So much the worst for him, if, as happened to Ramana Maharshi, he is never able to return to this world; for, as the Rishis of the Upanishads repeat with nostalgic insistence; "from there you can never come back, never . . . "
[Swami Abhishiktananda]
