Best Advice Ever From Desani and Liars, Hypocrites, Imperialists & Sages (Interview)

I intend to write two books as a religious duty, above all else, because it is prophesied for me and ordered for me, “That’s your purpose in life.” Rightly or wrongly. I’ve accepted this. First will be about my life. I haven’t told you enough about my follies; we are growing up and learning. And next, about these Nadi texts. There weren’t many mistakes in their predictions. G.V. Desani
I am looking at the Bible these days because I am going to address Christians, sooner or later. I asked a young friend to read to me because I have difficulty in reading. St.  John’s gospel. But we have an important message. And it is a message which religion gives, Christianity gives, Gautama the Buddha gives. So, we will hope to convert nobody. I merely wish to confide in you as friends. That is the purpose of these talks. This knowledge was so new to me. I hope it is new to you, too. G.V. Desani

G.V. Desani’s “Liars, Hypocrites, Imperialists and Sages,” was from a taped
interview recorded by Naseem Khan at Desani’s Austin, Texas home in 1994. The transcription was included in Voices of the Crossing, edited by Ferdinand Dennis and Naseem Khan, Serpent’s Tail Press, London, 2000. Our friend Todd Katz has transcribed this and placed it on the site he maintains, www.Desani.org. It is listed under Articles, Lectures, and Academic Papers section.

This interview – there are no questions from the interviewer – Desani, in a conversational tone, begins by giving an early account of his family life. He speaks freely about his earliest years, about his family, their livelihood, his early travels in his teenage years and before, and his escape, I guess you could call it that, from an oppressive father and religious views he found odious, i.e., child marriage, a Hindu tradition. He particularly addresses the enmity between Hindus and Muslims, views his father held which Desani rejected. (Desani’s express view, he spoke of this to his students, was that were there only one religion we would have a partial view.) He then goes into detail about how he came to be exposed to the Nadi texts, ancient prophecy, writings on palm leaf by  sages of long ago.

That brings me to the best ever advice.

I was going through some old notes recently and found one I’d almost forgotten that somewhat ties into what has been said above about religion. This is not a unique approach to the issue but it was an eye opener for this one to have it delivered by someone in whom I had placed the utmost trust.

Quote: Per GVD “The Gods aren’t listening. That’s why you need a device, a mantra, yantra, an intercessor, e.g. Jesus. Or “Love” of God, or their name(s), or knowledge from a teacher as to which ones have obliged themselves to listen to “man’s” petitions, prayers, etc. especially from those who know their “secret” names, methods. It’s all about wave lengths. Extreme austerity, self denial works too.”

On this account its worth recalling an approach to the same subject in a different culture.

Socrates and a Manichean woman were walking together and she is espousing an idea, sharing a notion, with Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher. She says to Socrates that the Gods, out of their benevolence for mankind, created love as a vehicle, a means, by which commerce could be carried on between the divine and man. That’s how love came to be. It is a channel used to carry, promote, make possible, communication, contact between man and God.

If permitted I’m here going to range a bit beyond the parameters I’ve usually followed for posting on Desani.net Please indulge me and trust that I am not in this departing from Desani’s teaching.

Desani was inclusive in his approach to these things but it hasn’t always been so with his forbears. I’ve been studying the Mandukya Upanishad and also Buddhist philosophy, in particular that of Nagarjuna. Well, these belief systems often – usually- decried the efforts of their coevals who espoused contrary views. The Buddhists didn’t believe in the Vedas while the Vedantins criticized the Buddhists as Nihilists. The Vedantins – in the Mandukya Upanishad – besides their criticism of Buddhism were critical of Patanjali, author of the Yoga Sutras, the Samkhyas according to whom Reality consists of twenty-five categories -Desani used this scheme in his teaching. The Pasupatas, similar to Samkhya but more categories, were also targeted. Iswara, the so-called presiding Deity of the solar system was also an addition to the Samkhya system by Patanjali and the yogis.

“The mutual contradictions among these different schools prove the fallacious character of their theories. The difference of opinion is due to the ignorance of the nature of Reality.” So writes Guadapada in his Mandukya Upanishad which view is amplified by Sankara of whom Desani often spoke. (MU II-26)

Well, the ultimate reality is not easily grasped but characterizing it as effulgent is surely not far from the mark. All the disparate approaches to true understanding are surely part of that effulgence. Sentient life forms wherever they emerge seek the real, no doubt, and this seeking is infinite in variety. Focus is perhaps better placed on the impetus itself rather than particulars of methodology. No approach is completely wrong or completely right. Its an act of participation not competition. Relative reality, manifested being, might not be the ultimate reality in itself but neither is it different from that. In fact it is rather a means of realizing the truth. So, if your idea of God – a thing as are all ideas – gives you a semblance of understanding then who’s to deny you that. The Samkhya’s categories, and Immanuel Kant’s too, for that matter, provide some surcease to some people’s desire for the Real. That’s not a bad thing in itself. Its a rich effulgence and infinite in scope just as the stars and galaxies, apparently.

Guadapada’s notion of Advaita, a Vedantin notion of the absolute non-dual nature of the Ultimate Reality is surely at the apex of these endeavors to gain some insight into the Real, to Truth. And I find it interesting that in his later years Guadapada retired to the Himalayas to become a devotee, worshiper, of Narayana who was known as a man-god. Like the Christian Jesus.

Neither is it different. These ancient sages such as Guadapada, Sankara used clever devices to carry their thoughts. For instance, light and heat are not the sun but neither are they different from the sun. In fact one might say they are ways of knowing the sun for the sun finds expression in them while all the time remaining in itself a kind of ultimate reality. So, it was said, the sun is the substratum for light and heat.

Moving on. Love, Beauty, Truth, Wisdom, Courage, Liberty are not in themselves the ultimate reality but are not separate from that either. They rather are the means by which commerce can be carried on by the ultimate reality and created relative existence. We know God, that is, by knowing these characteristic effulgences. God is the substratum and is completely exhausted, that is, completely made manifest by these, by all, manifestation. Relative existence, things in themselves, are not separate from the ultimate but taken all together provide an endless, infinite, springing forth of that.

Please to pardon. Desani’s interview will transport one to another time, place, almost dimension. In that it is not different from his other writings. What this student of his wants most to accomplish is making evident an essential nature of his, that of promoting harmony. Not all his spiritual forbears made that a priority, though it is my experience that the Nadi writers most certainly did. I think the true essence of Christianity likewise seeks harmony with our world’s other spiritual systems. So does the best philosophy, too. I’ve been critical of some of the ancients here but a close reading of them – see for yourself, by all means – reveals they were sometimes more in concord with other sages than not. The Mandukya Upanishad has passages in that vein, certainly. And Nagarjuna allowed that those Theravadin Buddhists had at least made a decent first step.

So. I leave it at that.

In Retrospect

The candle wax ascends the wick                                                                                           and spends itself in red perfumed light                                                                 While the ash of the incense grows and falls

And the finite embodies the infinite                                                                                     As the infinite eternalizes the finite

If only the light of the sun                                                                                                        We’d have a partial view                                                                                                            The planets tell us of other ways to see                                                                              And the moon tells us there are many ways                                                                     Of beholding the stars

Almost as soon as I matriculated at the University of Texas at Austin in 1969 I became involved in philosophical, or spiritual, or religious pursuits that tended towards the far East, and also towards ancient times in the Western world. I wasn’t alone in this, of course, a great many westerners followed these tendencies. A recent discovery of mine along these lines has been Sir Paul Dukes who was a master spy of the British at the end of World War One. He lived and worked as such in Petrograd, that is Saint Petersburg. It was after he escaped certain death that his interest in Yoga blossomed and some say he was largely responsible for introducing Yoga to the Western world. He wrote and lectured and traveled extensively. Of course there are many examples of this as there seemed to be at the time a burgeoning interest in so called Eastern thought, religion, philosophy. By the time I got to university there were several hundred students enrolled every semester in Raja Rao’s classes on Mahayana Buddhism. Desani’s lectures didn’t attract as many which makes sense because part of the spirit of the times was freewheeling permissiveness. Mahayana Buddhism, as I understood at the time was sometimes labeled the broad path which comports with the idea that all paths lead to the same end which aligns with the way people tended to live, especially young people, during that period. The Buddhism of the elders, Theravada or Hinayana Buddhism, sometimes known as the narrow way, is the older, contrasting approach. I recall something like thirty or forty students in Desani’s classes.

Further study about the contrasting paths of Mahayana and Hinayana buddhism shows that my statements above are insufficient. Edward Conze in his paper The Ontology of the Prajnaparamita states at the outset that Mahayana Buddhism was a development after the works on Prajnaparamita emerged. Hinayana was prior to Mahayana. Mahayana asserted itself and, so to speak, going by what Nagarjuna lays down, elbows aside Mahayana saying things like the small cannot contain the large but the large does contain the small. Hinayana is portrayed as the small way. He further states that Hinayanists are not focused on compassion as are the Mahayanists and that their pursuit is mainly for Nirvana for themselves. The Hinayanists, the sravakas, as they are also named, are said to be “hearers” of the truth while the Mahayanists are “knowers” of the truth. Later, however, Nagarjuna says, benevolently, that “…rightly pursued, the former can lead to the latter, i.e., the brief to the comprehensive, the rough and broad to the thorough and the detailed; thus the one may be the cause of the other.” Accordingly, while Hinayana is not quite up the higher standards of Mahayana it nevertheless is a step in the right direction. Non-clinging is the condition without which nothing of the Mahayanaists and Nagarjuna found the Theravadins lacking in that regard.

Going a bit farther with this, to put this in other words, i.e., the “broad path”, “Samsara is Nirvana”. Nargajuna. Which idea considered alongside the Rabbinical Jewish notion of man as co-creator, might be seen as adding new meaning thereto – to Samsara being Nirvana. Some take this to mean appearances are not an equivocal manifestation of reality and that the Real is exhausted or wholly manifested in appearances which here means Samsara, the phenomenal world. Further, that the cosmos is an expression of the divine is not in conflict with the sometimes concurrent notion that God withdrew after creating the world in order to make room for man. So, true understanding should be that the Real is searchable and knowable within its material bounds. Doesn’t this entail that the Real is emergent rather than transcendent? More a noun than a verb?

So Desani and Rao, and many others – who can forget individuals like the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – were connected with this cultural shift. It was in the popular culture with groups like the Beatles capitalizing on it. They too traveled to India and performed songs that included the sacred syllable Om. Point is there was a groundswell of interest then in alternative spiritual pursuits to those of the Western traditions. I, along with the teeming masses, was caught up in this. No doubt. I used to think, and would vocalize when prompted, that my interest was in identifying the commonalities of the various world systems of thought, be they spiritual or philosophical.

So I managed to fall in with Desani who had gathered a small group, about a dozen, similar souls. We embedded ourselves in his life as best we could helping with various endeavors of his. There was fellowship, food, drink, mostly sweet tea, dal, and simple fare in general but mostly there was the teacher speaking to us, bringing us ever closer into his orbit which was unlike anything most of us knew. Desani was a man of letters, widely traveled, with boundless interests. He brought a particular style of genius to this, no doubt about it. He dwelled constantly on his spiritual quests in these conversations, and on his literary endeavors. You couldn’t count the times he mentioned the books he hoped to publish. You couldn’t count the times he spoke of the Nadi texts and related spiritual issues. The whole impetus was to bring about a joint endeavor where the various abilities of his small circle of friends could be brought to bear on furthering his efforts. Team building. I was pleased to be thought worthy to join in this work and continue to this day in the conviction that it is a good work and that Desani’s beneficence and that of which he had devotion, his spiritual guides, if you will, were for the betterment of all people everywhere. We were part of a movement. This gave us meaning and purpose, certainly, to help this great teacher of ours to accomplish his altruistic goals.

Well, it didn’t quite work out the way it was intended. The world is in an ever increasing mess, to be sure. The books were not published beyond those of his earlier years. His proteges are scattered and mostly, as far as I can tell, rendered ineffective, at least in the larger sense. One should make allowances for the fact that some people labor in secret, however. On the surface, in short, practically nothing has come of those efforts, intentions, of the 1970s, 80s. The memory remains, the intention remains, though weakened, dissipated, while evil triumphs in the world. I recall telling Professor once that he was born at least a hundred years before his time. He made no reply.

Personal ambition acts as an impediment. That too is part of Desani’s teaching. One does not enter on this path with expectation. That is failure at the offset, the beginning. Devotion is freely given, selflessly, meaning no expectation of any return, outcome. We live, we love, we freely give obeisance. And, we wait on the Lord. Be humble. As creatures we do not, cannot, know what is going on with this world in spite of what some very intelligent people think. We might approach the Truth but without proper understanding that avails little. These people, which includes most scientists hold the false belief that understanding is only a product of ratiocination. More on this later. But, surely, to know about (a thing) is not to know. To know about is to know a measurement taken, I think, and is far removed from true understanding. It is mistaking, it seems to this one, measurement for understanding. Realize, the Universe is immeasurable and therefore can’t be known for the infinite can’t be measured. Besides that the immanence of the “Divine creative spirit” could very well mean that the “Universe” is more verb than noun making it even less suseptible to measurement. My thoughts. (God to Moses: Tell them “I am” sends you.)

Perhaps this explains in part why he eschewed world renown. Desani knew he could make himself a world famous figure in the mold of the others of the times such as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He renounced this as mentioned in one of his Nadis. And, most likely, he recognized that most of these people were poseurs and justifiably wanted not to be associated with them. His message to his followers was that one should be satisfied with what comes one’s way and if you do try for a particular thing, outcome, and fail three times, then it should be accepted as not intended to happen anyway. So, instead he advanced truly selfless spiritual good centered around love of the Lord, Bhakti (Yoga), as it is named, whose tradition goes back to the Vedas, say, five thousand years. He was not a preacher, but led by example. He meticulously never sought advantage for himself.

No doubt he came into a world unworthy of him. His proteges, including this writer, were not worthy of him. He was like a Christ, a savior, but without the disciples. He did determine to work with what was at hand, however, and one, at least, Todd Katz, tries his utmost to come through for him to this day. I’d charge anyone interested to avail themselves of the material available at Desani.org, particularly the papers he has filed on Google Drive. Also, the so-called (Internet’s) Way Back Machine has archives of Mr. Katz’s web site.

A further thought on this. Note, on the other hand it was written in his Nadis that those who gathered now to help him were in former lives also helpers; had asked to be allowed to play a similar role in future. And, as noted here, a craft given to the undeserving condemns to great suffering the teacher and the practitioner. One assumes, therefore, that those gathered to him were good, worthy, people in spite of what I say above. At least that is the general appearance. Nevertheless this one made a vow and assume the others did likewise.

Clearly the injunction to not have expectations evades this one. So, I’ll leave it alone with the admission that this writer finds it puzzling and must assume that the truth of the matter is hidden to him. The linked document clearly states that this craft takes many lives to come to fruition. So whether someone is worthy or not must be looked at from that perspective.

The linked document mentions one Madame David Neil which should be rendered David-Neel, I believe. Anecdotally, she one day – I’d guess in the 1920s – asked the Buddhist Sakhong gomchen “What is the Supreme Deliverance (tharpa) ? ” He answered : “It is the absence of all views and all imagination, the cessation of that mental activity which creates illusions.” There is an important footnote here. Namely, “That mental activity which Tibetans call togpa, ratiocination, in contradistinction to togspa (understanding).

This seems quite similar to the first Patanjali Yoga Sutra. “Yoga, nirodha citta vrittis.” or, Yoga is the inhibition of the modifications of the mind.

It would be an error to view Desani’s citations as endorsements. Often he states a negative view of this or that; often a positive. Tread accordingly. Best to take his work as a whole and drill down from there. A lot can be said but its safe to remember he is not shy about his true beliefs. Other words, he calls them as he sees them. Trust – if he comes up short anywhere it is in believing he will be understood, will be in assuming the reader or student is capable. One might say his high expectation of his reader (acolyte, student, disciple, chela?) acts as a goad or impellant, a device to aid progress, growth. He knew our capacity better that we ourselves. Finally, sometimes his telling of a story became difficult because he would break into laughter because it was so amusing. This was, of course, contagious and made for a very conducive atmosphere there in his sitting room. We were made receptive thereby.

The dal was divine, the tea an elixir of friendship, the speech of the teacher words from the Lord. In other words, sublime, which one might view as beauty, or, in this case, truth, returning whence it arose. Silence.

One thus arives to an understanding that the diamond lotus jewel thus encrusted with its facets of knowledge, wisdom, liberty, and understanding had at the center beauty, truth, and love. To see the petals of the lotus jewel diamond is one thing; to realize the heart, core of which these are expressions, pointers, manifestations is quite another matter. The silence, at the center, the void, is hidden by the limbs, is only realized on merging therewith the consciousness, mind, of the devotee. Though one can’t think or rationalize their way to understanding the ultimate purpose and meaning of existence, to Nirvana, if you like, they are essential tools, however, to be laid aside on reaching the goal which needs be pondered in silence wherein is true understanding. One must become by surrender the jewel’s center of truth, beauty, love by following knowledge, wisdom, liberty to their source.

So this one wonders, but will never know, what became of Adrian, of Susan, of the nurse who frequently took professor’s blood pressure, of her son Bobby, of Lynn Hough, of Josh Farley, of Glenda, Stephen Greenberg, of Mary Ann and Ray Ward. Evidently Allen Smith has passed and I know Blossom Burns has. These were the chosen during my time with Professor.

A MARGINAL COMMENT ON THE PROBLEM OF MEDIUM IN BICULTURES

Todd Katz writes: “Presented to the Association of Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies, University of Malta, April, 1978. This and other presentations were subsequently collected in Individual and Community in Commonwealth Literature, Daniel Massa, Old University Press, Malta, 1979.” The piece is hosted here. Desani writes about the creative process in his Hatterr and Hali and about his personal life as an artist while quoting other literary works. He shares touching confidences about his life and times and how and why these personal experiences influence and form his literature. He gives a sweeping view of human cultures and how they affect one another.

Mr. Katz, as usual, typed up the .pdf version from a printed copy of the piece. I proof read this and submitted back to him. He tells me this is the last piece in his possession, that they are all now available at Desani.org. This body of work would have more or less constituted the book(s) Desani wanted but was unable to publish, he tells me.

I’ve ventured to make some personal observations about this essay here.

Very High and Very Low

In 1966 and 1967 Desani published anonymously a regular feature in the Illustrated Weekly of India called Very High and Very Low. In his best eclectic style the series was published fifty three times. Desani discusses in depth world history, comparative religious and philosophical topics, world politics, social commentary, a great many world figures past and present. He runs the gamut from travelogues, personal spiritual quests, everything from why does his laundry person ruin clothes by beating them on rocks to ‘siddhis’ (powers) allowing for the ability to survive the dissolution of the Universe. He deals intensely with the Nadi texts, writings of which I have written here. I am given to understand by Todd Katz that this collection of the Illustrated Weekly articles is complete. Todd has made these available in pdf form linked here. I have written about the Nadi texts mainly here and in the immediate post preceding this one.

These came to Mr. Katz, as I understand, in the form of copies probably printed from a microfiche. (He didn’t tell me and I didn’t ask.) He did say somewhere that they were only available in that form. I suspect that someone, perhaps a devotee of Desani, supplied them – besides the point, of course. Anyhow Todd typed them into a 281 page pdf and asked me to proof read them. I did. Readers, should they find any errors, should fix the blame for those on this writer, not Mr. Katz. Desani’s writing is esoteric in the extreme when about religion, philosophy, yoga, the Nadi shastras themselves. His use of Sanskrit, and other languages used in India requires a mastery I do not possess. Todd Katz is a master, however and readers should understand that. Desani’s writing is unique, his own. It is full of digressions, parenthetical remarks, asides, and such. It is lively, absorbing, actually ‘fun’ to read him. He never disappoints and always, always keeps his reader in mind. (One could compile a dictionary out of the arcane words and concepts he troubles himself to translate, render in a way that the general public can absorb, understand.)

Finally, as I’ve mentioned several times there is a ‘lost’ manuscript of Desani’s called “Rissala“. I am reliably informed that the “Very High and Very Low” columns are a major part of that manuscript.

Every truth seeker, will find something of interest here, will come away replete with new knowledge, understanding – more importantly. I hope this will serve to renew an interest in his contributions to world literature. I doubt there is anyone in India, the world, who is a greater treasure of the practice of true Yoga, Love of the Lord, of the Divine Father, the Divine Mother. I’ve also made some comments about “Very High and Very Low” here at Tackingintothewind.net.

Nadi Texts – A Note

I’ve written here about Desani’s Nadi Texts which contain certain prophecies. These he elected not to emphasize saying it was vulgar to pursue such. The texts were more in the way of instilling love of the Lord, of Bhakti, in the form of letters from divine beings interested in Desani’s life particularly. But they did contain predictions about future events, some profound in their implications. I take it that these were issued as acts of benevolence to in some way help the Bhaktas. They were extremely vague, carefully avoiding easily interpreted time frames.

Not every prediction made it into my notes. I am writing this about one that did not. Its been many years now but I distinctly recall the Nadi writers saying that there would be a world transformation away from wars involving military conflict. We have witnessed this in our time. Great battles are still being waged but the conflicts now are dominated by weaponized economic sanctions. Whether this will continue is questionable but for the last few years it has definitely been the case. I certainly don’t pretend to know being just an observer like everyone else. As stated elsewhere neither do I know that the Nadi Texts were what they were said to be by those responsible for transmitting them to Professor. I do affirm, again, that he took them faithfully trusting in the veracity of the providers, real people with whom he corresponded regularly. They were said to be his property. I recall it was also said he would know what to do with them.

The texts were beautiful to hear. One had the sense of divine presence, of being in grace. Here was a true Jagatguru sharing with his intimate friends correspondence from great beings. The benevolence was palpable, undeniable, real. There were no exhortations, dire warnings of consequences of wrong acts, yet, taken together you couldn’t help but notice they were life enhancing, uplifting.

It is also worth noting at this point that the texts said that government will do anything they want and that the people would get very angry.

Fear of the unknown is very powerful. One can possibly be taken over, owned, by such. Many treat prophecy as an escape mechanism using it to relieve themselves of the necessity to take full responsibility for their lives. We should treat what we live as discovery rather than fate. I think Professor would agree with this.

Ray Randall Ward

It has come to my attention that Ray Ward, a former student of Desani’s at the University of Texas was described as Desani’s editor here. This is snatching at straws, I know, but absent any other information it is possible that The Rissala manuscript ended up in his possession. Further, it is possible that Ward or his heirs or assigns might have knowledge of its disposition.

Ray Ward was married to Mary Ann (Anne?). We met once in Austin at the Pemberton Parkway residence of Desani’s. The Wards had been students of Desani’s but moved away before I came on the scene. So I didn’t know them. Professor would mention them occasionally. They divorced sometime in the 1990’s. That’s my vague recollection. I saw Mary Ann post divorce while visiting Professor at his residence after he moved from Blossom Burn’s home (Pemberton Parkway, Austin, Texas). This was also after he had a stroke. At some point in the 1990s Stephen Greenberg, another former student, and attorney for Desani, informed me that Desani had moved to Ward’s home in Dallas.

Ray remarried Martha Elizabeth (Nee Hudson) in Dallas. They had a son. She passed away in 2014.

According to the above mentioned domain’s whois record the registrant is private and expires October, 2019. (enter the domain, hit enter)

While Todd Katz mentions this he doesn’t go into detail.

Perhaps this will assist those who come later that might be interested in the fate of Professor Desani’s magnum opus.

Iamdying.net is in the wayback machine.

As stated elsewhere I have pretty much withdrawn from pursuing the disposition of The Rissala ms. Desani used to say try something difficult three times. If you meet repeatedly with failure then conclude its just not supposed to happen. Its not willed. That’s me and Rissala. Except I exceeded the three several times over. As stated elsewhere here I reached out to he who would have been most likely to know of the disposition of the ms. I was rebuffed. No reply. I asked the University of Texas, Harry Ransom Center, repository for many of Desani’s papers whether they knew of the Rissala. They replied in the negative. I’ve talked to Todd Katz extensively about this. He states that anyone with knowledge of the fate of Rissala would undoubtedly know of his/our interest and efforts and could easily have come forward so something is holding them back.

In Todd’s most recent update of Desani.org he writes quite a bit about the atmosphere and disposition of Desani’s dozen followers, “disciples”, in Austin. I found it very helpful and insightful. You can read it on the home tab under the heading Texas Years at Desani.org. It helped me get beyond the feelings of rejection by my formerly close associates and reminded me that things often are not what they seem. I don’t know but maybe fate is teaching me that I am an impediment rather than a facilitator. I won’t trouble you with the unsettling effects I’ve endured because of these doubts except to say that my specific instruction is simply “to yield”. Therefore, I’m pretty much off the case unless something falls in my lap as this information about Mr. Ward did.

No Reason No Rhyme

“Nothing heroic ever happens at all!
No peacock with sapphire fire upon’t ever dances,
As one danced once, with the rose of daybreak around, about, upon and on all sides of it
(as a sapphire set against a glowing sphere)
And the marble (upon which the peacock alighted for a dance) was splendored too by the winter sun
And the glittering river flowed past (coursing towards the sea)
And I had in my palm then the romance of all of Hindustan, in the span of an instant!”
From “Come, or Correspond, Ezra Pound!” an essay by G.V. Desani

One cannot read, for instance, James Joyce’s Ulysses without coming away with the impression that he knew everything about everything. Literally. The student of G.V. Desani will have a likewise impression. Desani’s knowledge and understanding of the world in which he lived is universal. He was without a doubt, as far as literature is concerned, the James Joyce of his time. There won’t be another like him for generations, I imagine. He was a Jagatguru. I would, without hesitation, go so far as to say he was in a constant state of Hypostasis.

Why There are Diamonds in the Header of this Blog

In the Holy Bible there are numerous accounts of encounters with the Divine. Saul is brought to his knees on the road to Damascus by a “Bright Supernal Light” out of which issues a voice.  Before that Moses encounters a “Burning Bush” likewise out of which issues a voice saying “Tell the People ‘I Am’ sent you”. The writers of the Old Testament share knowledge of encounters with what they deem The Creator and following the ancient tradition of the Rabbinical Jews, eschew ownership of “Him” by not even, generally, pronouncing his name, and, indeed, spelling it in such a way that actually is unspeakable. It has no vowels. This is to make preeminent the station of YHWH as The one great mystery behind, yet immanent, in nature. We are blessed beyond the ability of words to express, the sharing of these experiences by men of old.

Desani came to us much later and has given us similar, and I think, if not superior, then at least equal experiences, obviously meant, to convey the same wonder and beauty and truth of our being in the world.

I would share these here. Desani lays bare the most intimate secrets of his soul for all to see, his most personal, and private encounters with the object of his intense reverence, devotion, worship, and love, of the great primal spirit. Practiced his entire life this Bhakti yields up to a personal encounter not unlike that of Moses and Saul (Paul) with the Heavenly supernal light in which form G_d eschews some select few a direct encounter with his glory. To my knowledge, in all the world’s great literature there is no more profound sense of the divine than in these passages. In a just and sensible world for these two excerpts alone he should have received the Nobel prize in Literature. They are from his novel Hali:

     The Bell
High up, in the sky, I saw a bell tolling, and with the waves of the solemn sound, the clouds trembled, and the silences between the tolling of the bell filled me with awe and waiting, and those two, the tolling of the bell and the silences between, filled me with echoes such as I had never known, and made me remember sights such as I had never seen, and it seemed to me that it was the will of God that it should be so, and his will that I be content and question no more, and wait by, for his grace to come upon me, as the gentle twilight came upon me at the end of this autumn’s day, as sleep would to soothe an aching heart.
     I waited by the river, and saw the light fall on her, and it was by grace. I looked at the sky, and saw a cloud, and that was by grace. I saw a creature look at me, and I looked upon it with love, and that, too, was a deed by grace. The Majesty is near, and not far, and most near. That faith is a deed by grace. In all things whatever that have beauty, a creature human, too, and in the heart of the diamond and the rose, is grace, and thus have I comfort that I never knew, and knew it now, by grace and grace alone.
     His way is the way to mystery. They that walk on it have no pain. And past all the lights, and all the sights, and all things whatever, the way is to be trodden still, till the soul aches and is lonely from want, in need, and it is then, by grace, she forgets her aches and pains, and is in God, of God, in his grace, and so touched by the Majesty, the crest and the crown of all the worlds, the sword and the sheath of all things, the love in all things whatever, and thus by grace is she healed.
     There is to be no haste and no tears. Ahead is the rain of the petals of the rose, and joy, and rejoicing, that a creature soul never knew, and this remembrance will last till the end of time, for such as have seen and heard, and been in the grace of the Lord, and no remembrance other than this will be, and that would be by grace and grace alone.
A Rose and Lilac Light
A rose and lilac light has passed me by, as might a cloud, and it sailed past from the left to the right of me, and as I turn my head, I still see the trail of fire, a cool rose and lilac fire, as if all the diamonds of the purest rose and lilac were awake, and from their heart came this rose and lilac fire, of such beauty, and the wonder of it has made me lose all yearning, all need whatever, and it has bequeathed upon me a joy as true, as sure, as this rose and lilac light, that passed me by, and this joy is as a treasure entrusted. This day the Lord’s Majesty is in joy, and his joy is reflected in the mirror of the risen Sun, and the Moon to come by, with the early gentle dew, and it is reflected in the calmness of the sea, too, in the still water, in the stars above the sea, in the young snow, and the ice laid upon the farther mountain, and in the heart, too, stilled by a peace, past all yearning whatsoever, all need whatsoever, all wanting whatever, all thirst whatsoever, all hunger whatsoever, and if there are clouds, they sail silently by, and they do not come between me and the Majesty’s joy, and the clouds frame it, never obscuring it, and this joy came upon me as a shower, as a shower of mercy, as love upon the lily on the stalk, and upon the rose, upon the scarlet velvet of the rose, and upon the streams, the brooks, on such that know of this treasure entrusted.
     Once yesterday, whenever such mercy had come upon the earth, it had passed me by, for my heart was of fear, lost, and whenever I saw the Sun setting, with it set the universe, and I was lost, in darkness, and there were but faint lights, lights awed, farther, far, overpowered, so I thought, and it was darkness fathoms deep, that fell upon the earth, and I lost all peace whatever, all love of things whatever, and I was lost in a sea, a sea of darkness, but today, after the trail of light had passed me by, darkness did come hither, but I knew blessedness, heard blessedness, heard the gentlest of sounds, drops of rain falling upon the recent fallen snow, and I heard those sounds sailing through the leaves of the pine, and the poplar, and it was as the song of praises, the praises of Lord God, and thus the darkness passed me by, in peace, in joy, in worship of the worthiest of worship, nowise the erstwhile creature’s night, of pain, fear, the creature that I was, and as the sounds and the song blended, it was a stream, then a river of sound, then a sea of sound, untouched of shore, unheard of by the erstwhile creature, but known and heard this instant, this splendid instant, this august sea of sound, such as is by God bequeathed, from mercy bequeathed, from love bequeathed, by the Will uncaused, and, presently it will bring in its wake the dawn, and it its wake the night, and so will these pass me by, and I shall again see the rose and lilac light, that I saw, not long ago, and it would be another awakening, of the spirit of all the diamonds flashing the purest rose, and the lilac luster, bequeathed, as a treasure entrusted.
     It would again be the awakening of the spirit of the diamonds, such as were asleep, and such as would awake, and the wonder of it will have again given me the peace bequeathed, that I knew not this long past, and the tolling of the bell, and seeing the moon bathing the sea with her lighted silver, the earth too, and the clouds too, precious silver, all with joy abounding, then I, too, will pass by, as did the rose and lilac light, and the trail of it, that did pass me by, knowing blessedness, such as caresses the soul, and the pearls of the sea, and in the midst of this blessedness will God bequeath mercy upon the creatures, and beauty absolute, and peace absolute, even upon such as do not know of such a treasure to me entrusted: and such certain passing makes me want to cry of joy, for today the rose, the lily, the diamond and the dew, and the sea, all things whatever, are content, at peace, as am I, and the mercy of God is come upon us, and all other mercies are become as shadows, as shadows, so happy the rose, so happy the lily, so content the sea, that naught I know, but to sing the praises of God, and to rouse the earth, and the creatures, in one cry, of joy, and with it reach out to the sky, and the star, the cry of triumph absolute, of triumph absolute, and I would brook no delay, and I must sing, and cry of joy unbearing, for this utter grace is come upon me, bequeathed upon me, as a treasure entrusted.

Further thoughts on Further thoughts on Rissala

The last time I broached this subject was in 2013. In 2017 a commenter asked how one might get Rissala into the light of day. In collaboration with friend Todd Katz several emails were exchanged with the inquirer. We hoped he might succeed where we had thus far failed. It rather quickly became obvious our correspondent was not to be such an instrument, though his situation did show some promise. He appeared to have some standing in the literary world, one might say, being that he claimed to be the (an?) author of Desani’s Wikipedia page. Alas, it didn’t pan out. As far as I know he never reached out to the one contact most likely to hold the “key” to Rissala’s whereabouts and, indeed, to Desani’s final wishes as to the disposition of the manuscript.

I’ve tended to come to the conclusion that the right instrument – person – has not come forward  and that for some reason Todd and I are not appropriate or, Desani decided unbeknownst to us that the work would be withheld in spite of evidence to the contrary. He’s allowed to change his mind though for all intents and purposes it’s publication was a driving force in his life during his final years with us.

In Desani’s Nadi Texts written about in this space in 2011 it says that Desani will appear to some people after his passing. I don’t think it was meant in a “dream”. But He has been in my dreams – no surprise there. We dream about all kinds of things. But, two such dreams stand out. In one He was very stern with me….just a disapproving look, as it were. In another, more vivid, he stands alone and gives me one word. “Yield!” Well, the duty of a Bhakta is to do just that. He said so. Yield! And that’s what I’ve tried to do. So, I’m not in contact with that one person who holds the key and the attempt to pass on that effort to another was an obvious mistake and thus a failure.

On this the first full moon of 2018, I Yield.

Desani’s Paper on Civil Disobedience

     Todd Katz has today posted a link at http://www.desani.org/other-writings to Desani’s paper on Civil Disobedience delivered at a Colloquium at the Philosophy Department, University of Texas, Austin in 1979. Direct link here. The paper details, from Desani’s unique point of view, Mahatma Ghandi’s political struggles in South Africa and India.