Candid stories of a wanderer to his spiritual father

Candid stories of a wanderer to his spiritual father

This book is one of the most wonderful books on prayer.
St. Theophan the Recluse and the Optina elders blessed him to learn the unceasing Jesus Prayer through it. Several generations of Orthodox people were raised on it. Here is an excerpt from the book.

PREFACE

“The frank stories of a wanderer to his spiritual father” are quite well known in Russia. The first four stories were written by a Russian author in the second half of the last century and were distributed in handwritten and printed form. They were discovered and copied on Mount Athos by the abbot of the Cheremis Monastery of the Kazan Diocese, Abbot Paisius, and published by him. In 1884, the fourth edition was published in Moscow.

In addition to the indicated four stories, in the papers of the deceased venerable elder hieroschemamonk Ambrose of Optina, three more stories of the wanderer were found in the manuscript, which were called “Datings”. They were published twice in Russia in 1911 through the diligence of Archbishop Nikon (Rozhdestvensky; † 1917/18), and then republished abroad. It is unknown who owns these stories.

Various assumptions have been made on this matter. Among the possible authors were Hegumen Tikhon, the abbot of one of the monasteries of the Nizhny Novgorod or Vladimir diocese, the author of a number of spiritual books, and Archimandrite Michael, the abbot of the Trinity Selenga Monastery, and the Monk Ambrose of Optina, and St. Theophan the Recluse of Vyshensky. But there are no sufficient reasons to give preference to any of them. Probably the author of the stories was an unknown, although gifted, writer.

Holy Bishop Theophan (Govorov), the Vyshensky Recluse (1815-1894), testifies that he himself corrected the “Stories” and gave them the form known to us. He wrote about this to N.V. Elagin in a letter dated October 26, 1882: “...Do you remember or did you know Paisius of Sarov - now abbot somewhere in the Kazan diocese? He began the story of a wanderer who was looking for the Jesus Prayer... I corrected and supplemented this little book... and sent it for a second edition.”

The story in the book is told from the perspective of a wanderer, many of whom wandered along the roads and villages of Holy Rus'. They moved from monastery to monastery, from St. Sergius they went to Sarov and Valaam, to Optina and to the Kiev-Pechersk saints, they visited the Voronezh saints Tikhon and Mitrofan, they even got to Irkutsk to venerate St. Innocent, they reached Athos and to the Holy Land1. Having no “city that abides” here, they sought the one to come, of which God is the founder and artist (Heb. 11:10). They preferred the edifying conversations of the elders to the comforts of settled life and home comfort.

The author of this book, the Wanderer, whose entire property consists of a bag of crackers, the Holy Bible and the Philokalia, has the greatest inner wealth. He is a practitioner of the unceasing Jesus Prayer and with his artless story captivates the reader, revealing to him the path and fruits of prayerful work. The Wanderer is the successor of the hesychast fathers, creators of unceasing mental-heart prayer. This is the so-called “smart work”, or “spiritual sobriety”, which the ascetics of Egypt, Sinai and Athos speak about. They found that the apostolic commandment to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17) is easiest to fulfill through short, collected prayer. The Jesus Prayer is especially effective, which was read in different ways: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” and so on, as St. John Climacus instructs: “In the name of Jesus, defeat the warriors (i.e. ... that is, the evil suggestions of demons), for neither in Heaven nor on earth will you find a stronger weapon.”

The mystery of the theme, the liveliness and simplicity of the Wanderer’s story captivates the reader. It is no coincidence that this book became very popular. According to the remark of Abbot Chariton (compiler of Valaam collections about the Jesus Prayer), after the publication of the book “Frank Tales of a Wanderer,” many literally “pounced” on it and there was talk everywhere about the Jesus Prayer. A little time passed and the conversations died down.

It was as if they had forgotten about the Jesus Prayer. Maybe they didn’t forget, but they saw that doing the Jesus Prayer was not as easy as it seemed at first. It requires patience, humility and time, which many lack. True, the path that the Wanderer followed cannot be called a common path.

This is his personal, individual path, feasible given his special wandering position. Not everyone, due to the conditions of their life, can perform three, six, twelve thousand Jesus prayers a day. Not everyone can apply to themselves those methods of bringing the mind into the heart that were recommended by the ascetic fathers to the Athonite hermits in the 14th or 15th centuries. But all this is not necessary, as the practitioners and teachers of the Jesus Prayer who are closer to the Wanderer—St. Theophan the Recluse, Ignatius (Brianchaninov) or St. Seraphim of Sarov and others—teach. The Jesus Prayer can be learned much easier and more conveniently, as can be seen from the instructions of these ascetics. The practice of prayer of the ancient ascetics is difficult to apply in our time.

The ascetics teach those who want to achieve unceasing prayer that in prayer they should not seek any special consolations or spiritual gifts, but first of all the forgiveness of sins. Unceasing prayer of the mind and heart is a special gift of God’s mercy, which is given to simple and humble-hearted prayer workers.

“Out of a thousand, is there really one, with great caution, who is worthy to achieve pure prayer, and who has achieved such a sacrament, which, by the grace of God, is hardly found behind this prayer from generation to generation,” writes Saint Isaac the Syrian.

Therefore, one should not hope for quick success in prayer - this “art of arts”, but one must patiently learn, first of all, oral prayer and try to keep the commandments of Christ. Prayer is the mother of other virtues. “Get a mother, and she will bring her children to you.” Work hard in prayer, even if you do not achieve unceasing prayer here, then be sure that you will receive it along with salvation as a gift in the Next Age.

Swami Vankhandi

“The heart should be soft and sweet like grapes.” “Seva (service) is superior to sadhana (practice).” Swami Vankhandi

Charity. Current OM Projects O Great Father/Mother, blessed Soul of all souls! Let us know our Immortal Atman, cleanse us from sins, protect us and give us refuge. Guide us on the righteous path, so that we are pure and chaste, following the path of true faith, serving our country and all humanity. Jai Maha Kali! Jai Van Durga!

For questions about Swami Vankahndi's paper book "Just Being Human"

Seven Steps of Devotion. Inscriptions on the steps of the ashram:

Trust Faith Love Seva Satsang Worship (japa) Meditation Self-realization

– Maharaj says that we, as people, as human beings, are equipped with everything we need - the necessary amount of energy for development. But the problem is that this energy - shakti - is sleeping, that we do not awaken it. Therefore, when we find ourselves in unfavorable conditions, we experience problems and difficulties. For example, if you find yourself in a hot place and try to practice there, your body will immediately experience discomfort associated with the heat. Likewise, if you find yourself in the cold, your body will also immediately experience discomfort - it will be cold.

What is practice, sadhana? We call sadhana the process of awakening this energy, inner strength. If you persistently continue to practice in a hot climate, then sooner or later this energy will awaken - you will stop suffering from the heat. Likewise, if you practice persistently in the cold, sooner or later your body will learn to cope with it.

These are external problems. This is an external manifestation of the power that practice gives. Before inner strength - spiritual - awakens within you, you need to learn to develop external strength in yourself in order to withstand unfavorable circumstances that make you feel tired, unhappy, lazy.

– Maharaj says that the human body, the person as a whole, is capable of very serious changes and adaptations. For example, if you start walking for an hour every day, it will initially cause fatigue. But if you continue to walk for an hour every day, then after some time this will cease to be a problem and you will need to walk much more to feel the same fatigue. The body will adapt, and not only the body.

– You can, for example, train yourself to eat once a day. If you start doing this, at first the body will be uncomfortable and will experience problems. However, the human body is able to adapt to this, and quite easily. Maharaj said that man is the most adaptable creature there is. If you train yourself to eat once a day, then after some time the feeling of hunger, the feeling of desire for food will disappear. And you will be completely satisfied with this one meal. This is an example, and this is an example of what sadhana is, what practice is.

Further, Maharaj gives the example of a metal - gold or iron, which, in the process of hardening or giving it a certain shape, the one that the blacksmith wants, is first heated to a very high temperature. And this process, this suffering, is similar to what a practitioner experiences. This is called tap or tapas - literally "heating". Only after the steel has gone through the heating process and at some point becomes liquid, can it be given the desired, new shape. In the same way, a practitioner through tapas, through this suffering, through this warming up, is able to move into a new state, take on a new form.

Remember and know that man is the most adaptable system, the most adaptable creature that is capable of achieving almost any state. But this will only happen if you are interested in it, if you are curious about it. If you are interested in who you really are, if you are curious to know what spiritual practice is and what it can lead to. If you are curious about what is the Truth, the real Truth, then yes, then you can enter this path and endure all this. If not, if you are not interested, if you have no curiosity, then it is easier and better to live an ordinary life.

– What should you avoid in order not to lose energy?

– In order not to lose energy, first of all, you need to develop patience. The main quality that allows you to save energy is patience. To begin with, in practice, and then in all your affairs, throughout your life. For example, be patient with the people we interact with. Don't allow yourself to show anger towards people. Do not allow yourself to show negative emotions towards people or use bad words. Do not allow yourself to have bad thoughts towards others. We simply cannot imagine what a huge amount of energy we lose when negative manifestations occur. Therefore, the main thing is patience. And secondly, in order to maintain energy, you need to treat everyone with love, you need to develop a compassionate and kind attitude towards others, try to serve and help people.

– Maharaj mentioned that we need to have a pure heart, what does it mean - a pure heart and how to achieve that we have a pure heart?

– Maharaj says that a pure heart is a heart that is directed towards the Mother, towards God, and in which there is no negativity towards the environment. A person with a pure heart, if he looks at someone, if he acts towards someone, does not experience negative thoughts and negative feelings. If you see that you have negative thoughts and negative feelings towards someone, you need to stop them, get rid of them. And this process of removing negative attitudes from the heart is the process of purifying the heart.

***

– Maharaj says that there are two main ways in which we can purify our hearts. The first is not to hurt anyone, especially with your voice. Whenever you address a person, you must come from a place of pure love and in no case offend or cause pain with your words. If we treat a person in such a way that we hurt him, then we thereby pollute our heart. And the second is mercy and compassion. Treat people with mercy and compassion. And then Maharaj said a phrase in Sanskrit, which roughly translates as follows: “Do mercy and compassion until your last breath.”

It is very important to control our voice when we want to say something that may hurt someone else. Because if you cause pain with an action, it’s not so scary. Most likely, you will be forgiven or the situation will be forgotten. But if you cause pain with your voice, it will cause much more harm to both this person and you.

***

– The main enemy of a spiritual practitioner is laziness. Until you get rid of laziness, until you eradicate laziness from your physical body, there can be no question of any practice. You must first cleanse yourself of laziness.

The second obstacle or the second point that you need to pay attention to is the purification of the heart. One must purify one's heart by chanting kirtan. Clear it of negative, absurd and meaningless thoughts. Our minds are cluttered with absurd thoughts. Even here we sit, and our thoughts wander to God knows where. In order to understand what is being said here, it is necessary that at least some free space be formed in the consciousness from this absurdity, from this negativity. Then something positive can come into this place. And a positive, correct, positive mental attitude can begin to grow. And so people attend satsang for 2 hours, and then ask them what was discussed - they cannot remember. This is not a question of good or bad memory, it is a question of the lack of space where this correct information could go.

***

“Maharaj says, no matter how beautiful and good the house looks from the outside, no matter how beautifully decorated it is, no matter how neat it is, if no one lives in this house, sooner or later spiders, mice, insects will appear in it, mold.

In the same way, it doesn’t matter how wonderful and beautiful we look on the outside, how wonderful we smell, what a beautiful face and body we have, what wonderful clothes we dress ourselves in, if our heart is empty and no one lives in it, then people will begin to settle there qualities of anger, greed, envy, negativity.

Therefore, the most important thing is to make sure that the Almighty lives in our hearts. How? By turning to His Name, and turning our hearts to the Name, we fill our hearts with the Supreme. And when we fill it with the Almighty, then gradually He will displace and cleanse us of anger, greed, envy and other negative qualities.

​Maharaj likens the Holy Name to fire. It doesn't matter how cold our heart was, our mind. If we place the Sacred Name there, then it, like fire, warms us and cleanses us, burns away all the negativity that has accumulated in us, makes us pure.

***

- We'll meet in two hours. “He says, instead of meeting me externally - in bodies, it is better to meet me with your hearts. It doesn’t matter so much whether it will be in two hours or...

***

Satsang never ends. Only if you yourself do not consciously or unconsciously interrupt it.

About Van Durg

Maharaj says that Van Durga (forest Durga) is Adi Shakti (primordial force or creative energy). After the earth was created, the first things that appeared on it were plants and trees. There were no animals, insects, people. The first thing that appeared were plants and trees. So, to take care of them, to give them strength and stability, Adi Shakti appeared in the form of Van Durga. Thus, Van Durga is the first incarnation of Adi Shakti on earth. And this was the first form of the Goddess and the first form of Divine energy manifested on earth. And after Van Durga, all other forms of the Divine appeared on earth in order to develop this earth: Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Vishnu, Maheshvara and so on.

And in order to get more benefit from repeating the name of Van Durga, it is better to do it in the forest, near the river, on the seashore. This is what Maharaj said about Van Durga. She is the highest form of Adi Shakti energy.

He further said - you Russians do not believe in the practice of Japa. If you constantly do the practice of Japa (Van Durga), all your wishes will come true. He said that you know about one girl who believes in practice and all her wishes come true. This is Sri. She wanted to get married and now she has a husband, she has a family, she has a child. To get results you must practice Japa and practice constantly. Only in this way can you understand and realize the energy, the power of the Mother Goddess.