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Maharshi's Gospel
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
Book 1
Work and Renunciation
D. The work may suffer if I do not attend to it.
M. Attending to the Self means attending
to the work. Because you identify yourself with the body, you think that
work is done by you. But the body and its activities, including that work,
are not apart from the Self. What does it matter whether you attend to
the work or not? Suppose you walk from one place to another: you do not
attend to the steps you take. Yet you find yourself after a time at your
goal. You see how the business of walking goes on without your attending
to it. So also with other kinds of work.
D. It is then like sleep-walking
M. Like somnambulism? Quite so. When
a child is fast asleep, his mother feeds him: the child eats the food
just as well as when he is fully awake. But the next morning he says to
the mother, "Mother, I did not take any food last night''. The mother
and others know that he did, but he says that he did not; he was not aware.
Still the action had gone on.
A traveller in a cart has fallen asleep. The
bulls move, stand still or are unyoked during the journey. He does not
know these events but finds himself in a different place after he wakes
up. He has been blissfully ignorant of the occurrences on the way, but
the journey has been finished. Similarly with the Self of a person. The
ever-wakeful Self is compared to the traveller asleep in the cart. The
waking state is the moving of the bulls; Samadhi is their standing still
(because Samadhi means Jagrat-Sushupti, that is to say, the person is
aware but not concerned in the action; the bulls are yoked but do not
move); sleep is the unyoking of the bulls, for there is complete stopping
of activity corresponding to the relief of the bulls from the yoke.
Or again, take the instance of the cinema.
Scenes are projected on the screen in the cinema-show. But the moving
pictures do not affect or alter the screen. The spectator pays attention
to them, not to the screen. They cannot exist apart from the screen, yet
the screen is ignored. So also, the Self is the screen where the pictures,
activities etc. are seen going on. The man is aware of the latter but
not aware of the essential former. All the same the world of pictures
is not apart from the Self. Whether he is aware of the screen or unaware,
the actions will continue.
The distinction between sleep, Kevala Nirvikalpa
Samadhi and Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi can be clearly put in a tabular
form as given by Sri Bhagavan:-
The mind of the Sage who has realized the
Self is wholly destroyed. It is dead. But to the onlooker, he may seem
to possess a mind just like the layman. Hence the 'I' in the Sage has
merely an apparent 'objective' 'reality'; in fact, however, it has neither
a subjective existence nor an objective reality.
Mind-Control
D. Other thoughts arise more forcibly when one attempts meditation!
M. Yes, all kinds of thoughts arise
in meditation. That is only right; for what lies hidden in you is brought
out. Unless it rises up, how can it be destroyed? Thoughts rise up
spontaneously, as it were, but only to be extinguished in due course,
thus strengthening the mind.
D. How can the rebellious mind be made calm and tranquil?
M. Either see its source so that it may disappear, or surrender yourself
so that it may be struck down. Self-surrender is the same as
Self-knowledge, and either of them necessarily implies
self-control. The ego submits only when it recognizes the Higher Power.
D. How is Guru found?
M. God, who is immanent, in His Grace
takes pity on the loving devotee and manifests Himself according to the
devotee's development. The devotee thinks that He is a man and expects
a relationship as between two physical bodies. But the Guru, who is God
or the Self Incarnate, works from within, helps the man to see the error
of his ways and guides him in the right path until he realizes the Self
within.
D. How can I obtain Grace?
M. Grace is the Self. That also is not to be acquired; you only
need to know that it exists.
The sun is brightness only. It does not see
darkness. Yet you speak of darkness fleeing on the sun's approach. So
also the devotee's ignorance, like the phantom of darkness, vanishes at
the look of the Guru. You are surrounded by sun-light; yet if you would
see the sun, you must turn in its direction and look at it. So also Grace
is found by the proper approach you make, though it is here and now.
D. Cannot Grace hasten ripeness in the seeker?
M. Leave it all to the Master. Surrender to Him without reserve.
One of two things must be done; either surrender
yourself, because you realize your inability and need a Higher Power to
help you; or investigate into the cause of misery, go into the Source
and so merge in the Self. Either way, you will be free from misery. God
or Guru never forsakes the devotee who has surrendered himself.
Book 2
Self-Enquiry
D. But is it not funny that the 'I'
should be searching for the 'I'? Does not the enquiry, 'Who am I?' turn
out in the end an empty formula? Or, am I put the question to
myself endlessly, repeating it like some mantra?
M. Self-enquiry is certainly not an
empty formula; it is more than repetition of any mantra. If the enquiry,
"Who am I?'' were a mere mental questioning, it would not be of much
value. The very purpose of Self-enquiry is to focus the entire mind at
its Source. It is not, therefore, a case of one 'I' searching for another
'I'.
Much less is Self-enquiry an empty formula,
for it involves an intense activity of the entire mind to keep it steadily
poised in pure Self-awareness.
Self-enquiry is the one, infallible means,
the only direct one, to realize the unconditioned, absolute Being that
you really are.
The Heart is the Self
D. Sri Bhagavan speaks of the Heart as the seat of Consciousness and as identical with the Self. What does the Heart exactly signify?
M. The question about the Heart arises
because you are interested in seeking the Source of consciousness. To
all deep-thinking minds, the enquiry about the 'I' and its nature has
an irresistible fascination.
Call it by any name, God, Self, the Heart
or the Seat of Consciousness, it is all the same. The point to be grasped
is this, that HEART means the very Core of one's being, the Centre, without
which there is nothing whatever.
D. But Sri Bhagavan has specified a particular place for the Heart within the physical body, that it is in the chest, two digits to the right from the meridian.
M. Yes, that is the Centre of spiritual
experience according to the testimony of Sages. The spiritual Heart-centre
is quite different from the blood- propelling, muscular organ known by
the same name. The spiritual Heart-centre is not an organ of the body.
All that you can say of the Heart is that it is the very Core of your
being, that which you are really identical (as the word in Sanskrit literally
means), whether you are awake, asleep or dreaming, whether you are engaged
in work or immersed in Samadhi.
D. In that case, how can it be localized in any part of the body? Fixing a place for the Heart would imply setting physiological limitations to That which is beyond space and time.
M. That is right. But the person who
puts the question about the position of the Heart, considers himself as
existing with or in the body. While putting the question now, would you
say that your body alone is here but that you are speaking from somewhere
else? No, you accept your bodily existence. It is from this point of view
that any reference to a physical body comes to be made.
Truly speaking pure Consciousness is indivisible,
it is without parts. It has no form and shape, no 'within' and 'without'.
There is no 'right' or 'left' for it. Pure Consciousness, which is the
Heart, includes all; and nothing is outside or apart from it. That is
the ultimate Truth.
From this absolute standpoint, the Heart,
Self or Consciousness can have no particular place assigned to it in the
physical body. What is the reason? The body is itself a mere projection
of the mind, and the mind is but a poor reflection of the radiant Heart.
How can That in which everything is contained, be itself confined as a
tiny part within the physical body which is but an infinitesimal, phenomenal
manifestation of the one Reality?
But people do not understand this. They cannot
help thinking in terms of physical body and the world. For instance, you
say "I have come to this Asramam all the way from my country beyond
the Himalayas''. But that is not the truth. Where there is a 'coming'
or 'going' or any movement whatever, for the one, all-pervading Spirit
which you really are? You are where you have always been. It is your body
that moved or was conveyed from place to place till it reached this Asramam.
This is the simple truth, but to a person who considers himself a subject
living in an objective world, it appears as something altogether visionary!
It is by coming down to the level of the ordinary
understanding that a place is assigned to the Heart in the physical body.
D. How then shall I understand Sri Bhagavan's statement that the experience of the Heart-centre is at the particular place in the chest?
M. Once you accept that from the true
and absolute standpoint, the Heart as pure Consciousness is beyond space
and time, it will be easy for you to understand the rest in its correct
perspective.
D. It is only on that basis that I
have put the question about the position of the Heart. I am asking about
Sri Bhagavan's experience.
M. Pure Consciousness wholly unrelated
to the physical body and transcending the mind is a matter of direct experience.
Sages know their bodiless, eternal Existence just as the layman knows
his bodily existence. But the experience of Consciousness can be with
bodily awareness as well as without it. In the bodiless experience of
Pure Consciousness the Sage is beyond time and space, and no question
about the position of the Heart can then at all arise.
Since, however, the physical body cannot subsist
(with life) apart from Consciousness, bodily awareness has to be sustained
by pure Consciousness. The former, by its nature, is limited and can never
be co-extensive with the latter, which is infinite and eternal. Body-consciousness
is merely a monad- like, miniature reflection of the pure Consciousness
with which the Sage has realized his identity. For him, therefore, body
consciousness is only a reflected ray, as it were, of the self-effulgent,
infinite Consciousness which is himself. It is in this sense alone that
the Sage is aware of his bodily existence.
Since, during the bodiless experience of the
Heart as pure Consciousness, the Sage is not at all aware of the body,
that absolute experience is localized by him within the limits of the
physical body by a sort of feeling-recollection made while he is with
bodily awareness.
Aham and Aham Vritti
D. How can any enquiry initiated by the ego reveal its own unreality?
M. The ego's phenomenal existence is
transcended when you dive into the Source wherefrom arises the Aham vritti.
D. But is not the Aham-vritti only one of the three forms in which the ego manifests itself? Yoga Vasishta and other ancient texts describe the ego as having a threefold form.
M. It is so. The ego is described as
having three bodies, the gross, the subtle and the casual, but that is
only for the purposes of analytical exposition. If the method of enquiry
were to depend on the ego's form, you may take it that any enquiry would
become altogether impossible, because the forms the ego may assume are
legion. Therefore, for purposes of Jnana-vichara, you have to proceed
on the basis that the ego has but one form, namely that of Aham-vritti.
D. But it may prove inadequate for realizing Jnana.
M. Self-enquiry by following the clue
of Aham-vritti is just like the dog tracing its master by his scent. The
master may be at some distant, unknown place, but that does not at all
stand in the way of the dog tracing him. The master's scent is an infallible
clue for the animal, and nothing else, such as the dress he wears, or
his build and stature etc., counts.
To that scent the dog holds on undistractedly
while searching for him, and finally it succeeds in tracing him.
Likewise in your quest for the Self, the one
infallible clue is the Aham-vritti, the 'I-am'-ness which is the
primary datum of your experience. No other clue can lead you
direct to Self-realization.
D. The question still remains why the quest for the Source of Aham-vritti, as distinguished from other vrittis, should be considered the direct means to Self-realization.
M. The word 'Aham' is itself very suggestive.
The two letters of the word, namely (A) and (HA), are the first and the
last letters of the Sanskrit alphabet. The suggestion intended to be conveyed
by the word is that it comprises all. How? Because Aham signifies existence
itself.
Although the concept of 'I'-ness or 'I-am'-ness
is by usage known as Aham-vritti, it is not really a vritti like the other
vrittis of the mind. Because unlike the other vrittis which have no essential
inter-relation, the Aham-vritti is equally and essentially related to
each and every vritti of the mind. Without the Aham-vritti there can be
no other vritti, but the Aham-vritti can subsist by itself without depending
on any other vritti of the mind. The Aham-vritti is therefore fundamentally
different from other vrittis.
So then, the search for the Source of the
Aham-vritti is not merely the search for the basis of one of the forms
of the ego but for the very Source itself from which arises the 'I-am'-ness.
In other words, the quest for and the realization of the Source of the
ego in the form of Aham-vritti necessarily implies the transcendence of
the ego in every one of its possible forms.
D. Conceding that the Aham-vritti essentially comprises all the forms of the ego, why should that vritti alone be chosen as the means for Self-enquiry?
M. Because it is the one irreducible
datum of your experience; because seeking its Source is the only practicable
course you can adopt to realize the Self. The ego is said to have a casual
body, but how can you make it the subject of your investigation? When
the ego adopts that form, you are immersed in the darkness of sleep.
D. But is not the ego in its subtle and casual forms too intangible to be tackled through the enquiry into the Source of Aham-vritti conducted while the mind is awake?
M. No. The enquiry into the Source
of Aham-vritti touches the very existence of the ego. Therefore the subtlety
of the ego's form is not a material consideration.
D. While the one aim is to realize the unconditioned, pure Being of the Self, which is in no way dependent on the ego, how can enquiry pertaining to the ego in the form of Aham-vritti be of any use?
M. From the functional point of view
the form, activity or whatever else you may call it (it is immaterial,
since it is evanescent), the ego has one and only one characteristic.
The ego functions as the knot between the Self which is the pure
Consciousness and the physical body which is inert and insentient.
The ego is therefore called the Chit-jada granthi. In your investigation
into the Source of Aham-vritti, you take the essential Chit aspect of
the ego; and for this reason the enquiry must lead to the realization of
the pure Consciousness of the Self.
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