________________
FULLER PORTRAITS
"As for Guru being the same as Krishna, I think that perhaps you do not understand in what sense it is meant or you would not have written comparing physical appearances. But if you cannot feel that they are the same, can you not feel that Guru is a servant of Krishna-one with Him in the sense of being His Representative, one with Him as the sun's rays are one with the sun?"52
Being a close friend of Dilip Roy. it seems that Krishnaprem knew Dilip Roy more thoroughly than Dilip Roy might have known himself. For instance, when Dilip Roy accepted Indira Devi as his daughter-disciple and asked Krishnaprem to bless her when they met, he smiled compassionately to her and said:
"Of course I bless you-but more because you have come to look after Dilip than the other way about. For though I hope he will look after you. I may be hoping against hope. But you, Indira. I'm sure, will look after him and I'm glad because he needs being mothered."53
All the letters written by Krishnaprem to Dilip Roy and others are full of conversational flavour. In an unassuming way he expresses his views and ideas without any inhibitions. Apart from the guidance for Dilip Roy, these letters contain the graph of Krishnaprem's own development into what Ramana Maharshi observed," a bhakta and jnani in one, a rare combination." There are plenty of similes and symbols containing mystical overtones, though he tries to be exact in expressing the truth which is beyond human expression. All of them bear testimony to his common sense, profound learning, scintillating intellect, clarity of thought, firmness of beliefs and courage of conviction.
39
Like all great saints Krishanprem was humble to the core of his existence. He held Sri Aurobindo and Ramana Maharshi in high esteem and visited their Ashrams to express his sense of veneration for them. He always avoided publicity. He often rebuked Dilip Roy for giving him publicity by writing about him or by printing his letters in his books. In one of his letters he wrote to Dilip Roy:
"But O Dilip, why did you write about me and, if at all, why so much? It's ill, I fear, will be the result for me in the shape of letters and people wanting to visit such a 'curiosity! What good will it do to you? Above all, you should not have hinted at the 'happenings': all these things only attract the mind of the foolish. I warn you that I shall deny it outright and say that it was just your eloquence 0 Dilip, Dilip! I meant to go on scolding you for a dozen pages! But the milk is spilt and it is
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org