SIDDHARAMESHWAR MAHARAJ

Shri Sadguru

(1888-1936)

Shri Samartha Siddharameshwar Maharaj, a contemporary of Sri Ramana Maharshi, is one of the greatest unknown saints of the age. He was born in the month of August 1888 A.D. in a small village called "Pathri" in the district Sholapur of India.

On the sixth day of his birth, his grandmother had a dream in which great Saint Siddheshwar appeared before her and told her that the boy who is born, is his incarnation and asked her to name him Siddheshwar. He also said that one day the boy will become a great Saint. And hence his name was kept Siddharamappa. Later on he was known as "Siddharameshwar Maharaj."

Even in his childhood he was very much sharp, active and had the capacity to imbibe things very quickly. He did not study much at the school level but he was very intelligent, clever and smart in all his behaviour. He was always very straight forward and spoke with a thoughtful idea. He retorted his answers to every question with full meaning. At the age of 16, even though he was premature to work, he took up a job of an accountant in a Marwadi firm at Bijapur. He did his work with earnestness and settled down in Bijapur. Here he met his Master Shri Bhausaheb Maharaj, who has built a monastery in the small village called Inchgiri in Karnataka State of India which started in the year 1885.

Shri Bhausaheb Maharaj, understanding the mental capacity and lifestyle of the people then, started teaching "Meditation" to his disciples at this monastery. The main aim or goal of teaching meditation was to attain Final Reality. The meditation method he used was known as Pipilika Marg or the ant's way, a slow process of attaining Final Reality.

Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj, after passing away of his Master Bhausaheb Maharaj in the year 1914, was meditating on the teachings of his Master. In 1918, he renounced the world and joined his four brother disciples to popularize his Master's teachings. In the year 1920, when he was on tour popularizing his Master's teachings, he got the idea that one should go beyond meditation because meditation is an initial stage to attain Final Reality. Brother disciples disagreed with Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj, saying that their Master Shri Bhausaheb Maharaj has not told them so. He agreed with them, but reiterated, "Okay! Can one not go beyond that?"

He decided to set out on that arduous path on his own, left his brother disciples, and returned to his home in Bijapur. He started his meditation in Bijapur on the raised platform like a minaret (upli buruj) sitting over an old gun and he meditated for nine months without a break. Since his Master had taught him only meditation, there was no alternative for him to find out the way to attain the Final Reality, that is, Enlightenment, without meditation. He made the ceaseless efforts to achieve this Final Reality. He said "I will attain the Final Reality even at the cost of my life." By the grace of Master Bhausaheb Maharaj he attained the goal of Final Reality.

His efforts were finally rewarded as total and Full Realization blessed him. He then explained that one can achieve the Final Reality via Vihangam Marg (the birds' way), that is, by realizing through thought processes that Ignorance has come by hearing it over and over for generations. Only by practising and hearing otherwise, the truth, from the teachings of the Master(s) and thinking over it, just like the bird flies from one tree to another, one can attain Final Reality very fast. This is the shortest way to achieve the Final Reality.

In conjunction he taught that the path to Final Reality is reached by slipping easily through the gate of Laya, which is a clear sign of one's progress --- the danger being in mistaking it for the final goal of spiritual practice --- thus being deceived. Ignorance and thoughts are hand maidens. If the thoughts are absorbed in reality, one can go on to ultimate reality. See Stages of Mindfulness and Aborsption. He then started preaching his disciples to attain Final Reality via Vihangam Marg (the bird's way). First he gave the Knowledge of Final Reality to his disciples and then asked them to renounce and then told them to renounce even the act of renunciation. Finally he gave the knowledge of Vignana -- the Thoughtless Reality.

He preached in a very simple, lucid and sane language, by giving examples from daily life. He was of the opinion that Parmarth -- understanding of Final Reality should be taught in a very simple language without using high sounding or bombastic words, to make the people understand the Ultimate Reality. This he did from year 1925 to 1936. It was sometime during the first half of those mid-late 1920s a nearly disguised young American traveler on a spiritual quest toward Enlightenment, that gained fame anonymously some years later in a novel by the famous British playwright W. Somerset Maugham titled The Razor's Edge, visited Siddharemeshwar, one of the first Americans to do so. It has been written that from his stay in India he gained peace of mind. (see)

The Maharaj passed away on 9th November, 1936, in Bombay, giving full understanding of the Final Reality to his disciples, especially so to two of the most accomplished followers Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and Sri Ranjit Maharaj.

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Siddharameshwar Maharaj's book "Master Key to Final Realisation" explains only one of the ways to attain Final Reality. That is, the knowledge that you are apart from the four bodies and that there remains the Ego of knowledge which should be dissolved in Final Reality that is called "Laya" (Absorbtion).

Shri Dattatray Dharmayya Poredi has expanded one of the lectures of Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj known as "Master Key of Self Realisation." ("Atmagyanachi Gurukilly"). He was one of the able disciples of Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj living in Solapur (a city in the state of Maharashtra in India) and has also written many poems on Vignana (Final Reality) taught by Shri Sadguru Siddharameshwar Maharaj.

The "Master Key to Self-Realisation", which is written in Marathi, has been translated into English by Dr. Mrs. Damayanti Dungaji.

Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj preached step by step in a very simple language how to attain Final Reality during the years 1925 to 1936. These teachings of his have been published in Marathi as "Amrut Laya." These Lectures also will be translated in English and will be published for the benefit of those who do not understand Marathi.

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ADDENDUM:

The "nearly disguised anonymous American traveler" W. Somerset Maugham wrote about in The Razor's Edge was called Larry Darrell in the novel and based on the life of an actual person. He had been a pilot in World War I. Of Darrell Maugham writes him as saying:

"I loved flying. I couldn't describe the feeling it gave me, I only knew I felt proud and happy. In the air I felt that I was part of something very great and beautiful. I didn't know what it was all about, I only knew that I wasn't alone any more, but that I belonged. I felt that I was at home with the infinitude."

Although Maugham doesn't mention it in his novel, Darrell, either before or after his stay at the ashrama of Sri Ramana, traveled to Bijapur to meet with Siddharameshwar Maharaj and learned of Vihangam Marg, the bird's way, the holy man relating to Darrell "that only by hearing and practising from the teachings of the Master and thinking over it, just like the bird flies from one tree to another, can one attain Awakening very fast." Although on the surface it appears to be a very tenuous thread that ties together being "at home with the infinitude" and "the birds' way" in a person's effort toward Enlightenment, for Darrell, the deeper meaning between the two concepts was not totally lost.

Like the meeting with Siddharameshwar Maharaj, "the birds' way" is NOT incorporated into the novel leading to Darrell's experience of the Final Reality, but it DOES play an interesting role later on as Darrell's life unfolds POST-NOVEL and the interaction that occurs between himself and the Awakening experience of another. (see)

TRANSMISSION OF SPIRITUAL POWER:

Siddharameshwar Maharaj's efforts were finally rewarded with full and total Realization. He then explained that one can achieve the Final Reality via Vihangam Marg (the birds' way), that is, by realizing through thought processes that Ignorance has come by hearing it over and over for generations. Only by practising and hearing otherwise, the truth from the teachings of the Master(s) and thinking over it, just like the bird flies from one tree to another, one can attain Final Reality very fast.

The Birds' Way

(please click)

According to Vignana (Final Reality) there are three ways of Transmission of Spiritual Power and they can be explained through example. Of the three, Vihangam Marg is the shortest (fastest) way to achieve the Final Reality:

Suppose there is a sweet and ripe fruit at the top of a tree. To enjoy the taste of the fruit,

1. PIPILIKA MARG: An ant slowly comes to the trunk of a tree, slowly marches forward to the branch and enjoys the taste of the fruit. The way is known as Pipilika Marg (Ant-path).
2. MARKAT MARG: Jumping from one tree to another a monkey comes from a distance to the branch of the tree and directly starts tasting the fruit. This way is known as Markat Marg (Monkey-Path).
3. VIHANGAM MARG: A bird flying in the sky, directly pecks at the fruit with its beak and starts eating. This is known as Vihangam Marg (the Birds’-Path, the Birds' Sky-way).
4. NOTE: There is a Marge seldom mentioned as such, but considered the Fourth Way as well.
   

Although Siddharameshwar Maharaj realized the Self through the long and difficult way called Pipilika Marg, the "way of the ant," he taught and advocated "the birds' way," Vihangam Marg. This is the way of Understanding, the direct way of Self-Realization. It was also the teaching of one of his most ardent followers, Sri Ranjit Maharaj (1913-2000).

The fast approach provides the quickest means to experience awareness beyond that normally associated with the ego. Its drawback, is the potential fragility of the ego to withstand such rapid and deep-reaching change--the very thing gradual paths strive to guard against. See DEATH OF THE EGO: The Buddhist View.

An analogous situation holds for the Exoteric and Esoteric schools. Exoteric traditions are more solid and balanced since they mostly work with the perceptions and energies of the physical plane. So, even though it is not uncommon to experience supernormal perceptual states (siddhis) advancing through various Jhana stages, levels of Zen, or Vipassana Meditation, the emphasis of such schools is to continue grounding back to this earth --- to the sights, sounds, tastes and thoughts that comprise ordinary experience. The drawback is that the primal energies that underpin the physical world are only indirectly addressed.

Esoteric traditions, on the other hand, determine to apply themselves directly to the forces that underlie ordinary existence. They reach for the essential nature of the experience of living which manifests as subtle energy and consciousness. The drawback is that similar to reaching too far, too fast, into the psyche as for the fast traditions, esoteric work can reach too far, too fast into subtler fields of energy. This can manifest variously as, for instance, energetic imbalances of the body and mind, and uncontrolled effects on the environment and other beings. (1). See also: Hun-tun.

NOTE: Traditionally, the approach to spirituality can be either Exoteric or Esoteric.

Exoteric refers to outer, more tangible aspects--things that we can see, touch, hear, smell, taste, and do. Examples would be praying, engaging in charitable and volunteer work, singing devotional songs, and attending lessons by a spiritual teacher.

Some forms of meditation such as Vipassana and Zen are said to be exoteric as well. For instance, Vipassana aims to keep the mind from wandering about by grounding it in actual experience. The mind is anchored more in the process than the content of direct sensory experience. So one would be just as aware of the sense of hearing as to what one is hearing. Likewise, Zen emphasizes experience in the current moment and takes ordinary everyday activity for its meditational object. However, in the end, Esoteric/Exoteric connotations are dualistic and traditionally not within the realm or scope of Zen.

SEE BUDDHISM COMPARISON:
SPIRITUAL ATTAINMENT AND VERBAL
EXPRESSION TO THAT REALITY

For those who may be so interested there is a fourth way for the Transmission of Spiritual Power NOT usually mentioned called APARKA MARG (sannyasa-vidvat). Again, suppose there is a sweet and ripe fruit at the top of a tree. To enjoy the taste of the fruit:

the ripe fruit falls to the ground just at the exact time as an unsuspecting hungry-being is there. Aparka Marg is the way Realization falls upon the Self. The Bhagavan Maharshi Sri Ramana would be a prime example as possibly would be the rare born mystic Shunyata and the Sixth Patriarch of Zen Hui-neng who, as a young boy collecting firewood, experienced Awakening basically out of nowhere. Modern day examples would be Suzanne Segal. See When Infinities Collide as well as the instant transformation into the Absolute as found in:

SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI: THE LAST AMERICAN DARSHAN
RECOUNTING A YOUNG BOY'S NEARLY INSTANT TRANSFORMATION INTO THE ABSOLUTE DURING HIS ONLY DARSHAN WITH THE MAHARSHI

Fundamentally, our experience as experienced is not different from the Zen master's. Where
we differ is that we place a fog, a particular kind of conceptual overlay onto that experience
and then make an emotional investment in that overlay, taking it to be "real" in and of itself.

(PLEASE CLICK)

AWAKENED TEACHERS FORUM

ZEN ENLIGHTENMENT IN A NUTSHELL

FOR MORE ON W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM SEE:

WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM

W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

MAUGHAM

AWAKENING
EXPERIENCE IN THE

MODERN ERA

THE

RAZOR'S EDGE
RING

THIS SITE LISTED ON
THE GATE KEEPER'S
LIST OF SPIRITUAL TEACHERS

IGNORANCE

Ignorance as meant here is used in a special sense. It does not mean ignorance as it is used in the everyday sense, but it means specifically ignorance of the samething that came to be known in Buddhism as the Four Noble Truths and the delusion which prevents us from seeing the real nature of impermanence and Dukkha. Last of of The Three Poisons.

The human mind is naturally beclouded by delusion or ignorance (Avijja), which prevents it from seeing the true nature of things as they are. Its ally, which always works in association with ignorance, is craving (Tanha), the real root cause of suffering. These two latent impure forces in their original nature arise simply from our negligence or heedlessness, from lack of mindfulness in the impact between the eye and visible objects, ear and sounds, nose and odour, tongue and taste, body and touch, mind and mental objects. Tanha, in Buddhism, is considered as being one of the Three Daughters of Mara as well.

VIGNANA:

Suppose we collect water from the ocean and bring it home. The ocean water will have a salt taste to it. When the same ocean water is converted by the sun's rays into vapor and then comes down as rain from the clouds, there is an amount of "sweetness" which is associated with the same water. The knowledge which we get by reading or listening to Sutras and Sastras compares with the water collected directly from the ocean. Vignana is comparable to the ocean water when it is converted into rain from the clouds -- that is, sweeter than the ocean water it originally came from. Vignana is the difference between the knowledge we get from just reading or listening to Sutras and Sastras and the knowledge that we get from actual experience.

FROM: the Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba during the Summer Course in Spirituality and Indian Culture
held for College Students at Brindavan, Whitefield, Bangalore District in May/June 1974
Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust

(1) TIBETAN BUDDHISM