Almost 21 years ago, at a relatively young age of 16, I was reading Tolstoy's story "The Peasant’s Bread". In the story there is a section where the imp, an agent of devil, steals the peasant’s bread hoping to make him very angry upon finding himself deprived of meal after hard day's work. The imp calculated that this will be enough for Peasent to curse the thief which in turn will improve his standing with Devil and ruin Peasent's chances of salvation. However much to his astonishment the peasant, instead of cursing, simply blessed the person (imp) who had stolen the bread. This was a shock to me as I had been noticing the same message in all the mystical writings & religious literature that I had come across by then. However to decipher and understand that required a herculean effort for any mortal being and that is what first captivated my attention and as I read more and more of great moral and ethical works of Tolstoy, it became crystal clear to me that here was a tormented soul with a burning and genuine desire to understand the deeper meaning of life. Later on Resurrection, the last of Tolstoy's major novels that concerns a young nobleman's desperate search for spiritual redemption with marvelous mystical insights into religion went on to become the most important turning point of my life.
Ever since time began and man appeared on the earth, some questions have arrested his attention more than anything -- the most important being Who Am I? Is there life after death? Very often in an attempt to understand these extremly complex questions, we turn to religions and scriptures and direct our attention at understanding the creator who has created this cosmos. What we fail to understand is that we ourselves are a product of our time and circumstances and that unless we understand our own SELF, there is no way we can ever hope to truly decipher HIM. Our thoughts, faith and so called likes and dislikes are heavily influenced by circumstances, faith of those around us and the prevalent social trends. Ever since we start showing first signs of developing conciousness at a very tender age, we are bombarded with information by others thus orienting our mind in a certain manner that dominates our entire life and thus clouds the truth. By turning to religions and mythological scriptures and having accepted whatever is described in those books and myths, remain certain that we have managed to decipher the code by which God works. History is full of examples where people even laid down their lives in hundreds and thousands for beliefs which have been proved non-sense by the march of science. Rare indeed is a soul that tends to start the journey by first taking a look at his own self so as to understand the driving forces that influence the mind. It’s only after detailed and painstaking analysis of one 's own consciousness one can embark on a journey to understand that pinnacle of consciousness from where all this awareness and consciousness emanates from. It’s the domain of rare of the rare ones and having got an inkling of the Supreme reality these blessed souls then share their beliefs and experiences with us through their writings and sayings. Their company and thoughts influences our mind strongly and whet the appetite to understand that fundamantal question more intensely.These are the people that any sincere seeker tends to follow. These are the saints or GURUs that lead us into light by letting us first start by understanding WHO AM I.
Kabir, a 16th century Indian mystic has written that Guru is even more important than the Supreme Reality himself because he is the one that generates the self awareness and the love of God in us and guides the soul to HIM. From the moment I read that line in Peasant’s Bread, 21 years ago, I wished from the core of heart to be close to this soul or at least pay my tribute at his final resting place. This site is a culmination of that desire that was finally fulfilled on 9th of Feb 2003.
As very little info is available on the Internet for Yasnaya-Polyana museum I have tried to add maximum information from my trip here to make the travel arrangements as smooth as possible for anyone who may want to visit the museum. This website is not ablout mystic teachings and Philosophy of Tolstoy, the sole purpose of this site is to provide the reader with a first hand account of travel arrangements I had to make to visit Yasnaya-Polyana. If anyone has any further questions about travel to his ocean of peace, please feel free to post your questions in the guestbook.
Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted
Matthew 5:4
Out of many thousands of men hardly one endeavors for the perfection of self-realization, and of those so endeavoring hardly one has achieved the perfection of self-realization and of those hardly one knows me in truth
Bhagavad Gita (The Celestial Song) 7:3
