An elderly gentleman, formerly a co-worker with B. V. Narasimhaswami and author of some Visishtadvaita work, visited the place for the first time. He asked about rebirths, if it is possible for the linga sarira (subtle body) to get dissolved and be reborn two years after death.
Two monks, one older, one young, came to a muddy ford where a pretty girl was waiting to cross. The elder picked her up and carried her over the water. As they went along, the younger, horrified at the act of his brother monk in touching a woman, kept on commenting upon it, until at last the elder exclaimed: “What! Are you still carrying that girl? I put her down as soon as we crossed the water!”
Asked about reincarnation, Sri Bhagavan remarked, “See how a tree grows again when its branches are cut off. So long as the life source is not destroyed it will grow. Similarly, latent potentialities withdraw into the heart at death but do not perish. That is how beings are reborn.”
Bhagavan was unique. He was unique in that he was not unique. What struck even a casual visitor to the Ashrama was Bhagavan’s naturalness. He did not impress any one as if he were non-natural, even supra-natural
Sri Bhagavan tells us just one other thing. He says: “Be. Just be your real Self, that’s all.” “Certainly, it sounds all right,” you say, “but when one tries to do it, it does not seem so easy. Has he no method?”