Gems from Bhagavan -2

Gems from Bhagavan

GEMS

FROM BHAGAVAN

A necklace of sayings by

BHAGAVAN SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI

on various vital subjects

Strung together by

A. DEVARAJA MUDALIAR

AUTHOR OF

Day by day with Bhagavan

VIII

SELF-REALIZATION

The state we call realization is simply being oneself, not

knowing anything or becoming anything. If one has realized,

he is That which alone is, and which alone has always been.

He cannot describe that state. He can only be That. Of course

we loosely talk of Self-realization for want of a better term.

That which is, is peace. All that we need do is to keep

quiet. Peace is our real nature. We spoil it. What is required is

that we cease to spoil it. For instance, there is space in a hall

(room). We are not going to create space anew. We fill up the

place with various articles. If we want space, all that we need

do is to remove all those articles and we get space. Similarly,

if we remove all the rubbish from the mind the peace will

become manifest. That which is obstructing the peace must

be removed. Peace is the only Reality.

Mukti or Liberation is our Nature. It is another name for

us. Our wanting mukti is a very funny thing. It is like a man

who is in the shade voluntarily leaving the shade, going into

the sun, feeling the severity of the heat, making great efforts

to get back into the shade, and then rejoicing ‘At last I have

reached the shade, how sweet is the shade!’ We are doing

exactly the same. We are not different from the Reality. We

imagine we are different, i.e., we create the bheda bhava (the

feeling of difference) and then undergo great sadhanas to get

rid of the bheda bhava and realize the oneness. Why imagine

or create the bheda bhava and then destroy it?

It is false to speak of realization. What is there to realize?

The real is as it is, ever. How to realize it? All that is required

is this: We have realized the unreal, i.e., regarded as Real what

is unreal. We have to give up this attitude. That is all that is

required for us to attain Jnana. We are not creating anything

new or achieving something which we did not have before.

The illustration given in the books is this: We dig a well and

create a huge pit. The akasa (space) in the pit or well has not

been created by us. We have just removed the earth which

was filling the akasa there. The akasa was there, then, and is

also there now. Similarly we have simply to throw out all the

age-long samskaras (innate tendencies) which are inside us.

When all of them have been given up, the Self will shine alone.

Effortless and choiceless awareness is our Real State.

If we can attain It or be in It, it is all right. But one cannot

reach It without effort, the effort of deliberate meditation.

All the age-long vasanas (latent tendencies) carry the mind

outwards and turn it to external objects. All such thoughts

have to be given up and the mind turned inward. For most

people effort is necessary. Of course, everybody, every book

says Cm>ma-yIR (summa iru - be quiet or still). But it is not

easy. That is why all this effort is necessary. Even if you find

one who has effortlessly achieved the mouna (silence) or

Supreme State indicated by Cm>mayIR, you may take it that

the effort necessary has already been completed in a previous

life. Such effortless and choiceless awareness is reached only

after deliberate meditation.

The books no doubt speak of sravana (hearing), manana

(reflection), nididhyasana (one-pointed concentration),

samadhi and sakshatkara (Realization). We are always the

sakshat (Real) and what is there for one to attain after that?

We call this world sakshat or pratyaksha (directly present).

What is changing, what appears and disappears, what is not

sakshat, we regard as sakshat. We are always, and nothing can

be more directly present than we, and about that we say we

have to attain sakshatkaram after all these sadhanas. Nothing

can be more strange than this. The Self is not attained by doing

anything other than remaining still and being as we are.

We say that what we see with the eyes alone is pratyaksha.

There must first be the seer before anything could be seen.

You are yourself the eye that sees, An>tmIlak>k] (andhamila

kann) the ‘Infinite Eye’ referred to in Ulladu Narpadu (Reality

in Forty Verses).

People are afraid that when the ego or the mind is killed,

the result may be a mere blank and not happiness. What really

happens is that the thinker, the object of thought and thinking

all merge into the one Source, which is Consciousness and

Bliss itself, and thus that state is neither inert nor blank. I do

not understand why people should be afraid of that state in

which all thoughts cease to exist and the mind is killed. Every

day they experience that state in sleep. There is no mind or

thought in sleep. Yet when one rises from sleep one says, ‘I

slept happily.’ Sleep is so dear to everyone that no one, prince

or beggar, can do without it.

When we have vikalpas (false concepts) and are trying to

give them up, i.e. when we are still not perfected, but have

to make conscious effort to keep the mind one-pointed or

free from thought, it is Nirvikalpa Samadhi. When through

practice we are always in that state, not going into samadhi and

coming out again, that is the sahaja (natural) state. In sahaja

one always sees oneself. He sees the jagat (world) as swarupa

(Reality) or Brahmakara (form of Brahman). Eventually, what

was once the means becomes itself the goal, whatever method

one follows. Dhyana (meditation), jnana, bhakti and samadhi

are all names for ourselves, for our Real State.

Knowing one’s Self is only being one’s Self, as there is

no second existence. This is Self-realization.

You may go on reading any number of books on Vedanta.

They can only tell you ‘Realize the Self’. The Self cannot be

found in books. You have to find it for yourself in yourself.

The Lord whose home is the interior of the Heart-Lotus

is extolled as the Lord of the Cave. If by force of practise the

feeling ‘I am He, I am the Lord of the Cave’(Guhesa) becomes

firmly established, as firmly as your present notion that you are

the ego is established in the body, and thus you stand forth as

the Lord of the Cave, the illusion that you are the perishable

body will vanish like darkness before the rising sun.

The true karma, yoga, bhakti or jnana consists in finding

out who it is that does the karma, or seeks reunion through

yoga, or feels separation from his Lord, or is in ignorance.

All these do not exist without the ‘I’. So to remain as the ‘I’

is the Truth.

If we regard ourselves as the doers of action we shall also

be the enjoyers of the fruits of such action. If by enquiring who

does these actions one realizes one’s Self, the sense that one

is the doer vanishes and with it all the three kinds of karma

(viz. sanchita, agamya and prarabdha*). This is the state of

eternal Mukti or Liberation.

Our Real Nature is Mukti. But we imagine that we are

bound and are making strenuous attempts to become free,

while we are all the time free. This will be understood only

when we reach that stage. We will be surprised that we were

frantically trying to attain something which we have always

been and are. An illustration will make this clear: A man

goes to sleep in this hall. He dreams he has gone on a world

tour, is roaming over hill and dale, forest and country, desert

and sea, across various continents and, after many years of

weary and strenuous travel, returns to this country, reaches

Tiruvannamalai, enters the Asramam and walks into the hall.

Just at that moment he wakes up and finds he has not moved an

inch, but was sleeping where he lay down. He has not returned

to the hall after great efforts, but is and always has been in the

hall. It is exactly like that. If it is asked, why being free we

imagine we are bound, I answer, ‘Why being in the hall did

you imagine you were on a world adventure, crossing hill and

dale, desert and sea?’ It is all mind or maya.

The dyads or the pairs of opposites, such as pleasure and

pain, and the triads, or such differences as the knower, the

known, and the process of knowing, depend on one thing - the

ego. When one seeks for that thing in the Heart and finds out

its Real Nature they will vanish. Those alone who have found

out the Real Nature of the ego have seen the Reality. They will

have no more doubts or anxieties.

There is no knowledge apart from ignorance, and no

ignorance apart from knowledge. That alone is jnana or real

knowledge, which when enquiring to whom this knowledge

or ignorance arises, reaches that Source which is the Self.

The thought ‘I am the body’ is ignorance. That the body

is not apart from the Self is knowledge. The body is a mental

projection. The mind is the ego, and the ego rises from the Self.

The body thought is distracting and strays away from the Self.

For whom is the body or birth? Not for the Self, the Spirit. It is

for the non-self which imagines itself separate from the Self.

So long as there is the sense of separation there will be

afflicting thoughts. If the original source is regained and the

sense of separation ends, there is peace. A stone picked up from

its place and thrown up into the sky has no rest till it comes

back to earth. The waters of the sea evaporating and rising

into the sky as clouds find no rest till they come back as rain,

and finally rush back to the sea. The ego can have peace only

when it merges back into its Source, the Self.

Seeing God in any form and speaking to Him is as real as

your own reality. In other words, when you identify yourself

with the body in the waking state, you see gross objects; when

in the subtle body (the mental plane) as in dream, you see

objects equally subtle; in the absence of all identification, as

in dreamless sleep, you see nothing. The objects seen, bear a

* The three kinds of karmas are: prarabdha, being that portion of one’s

past karma to be worked out in the present body; sanchita being the

outstanding balance of past karma, and agamya being the karma that

will bear fruit in future births.

relation to the state of the seer. The same applies to visions of

gods. By long practice, the figure of God as meditated upon

appears in dream and may later appear even in the waking state.

There was a saint by the name Nam Dev. He could see,

talk and play with Vithoba, the God of Pandharpur. God had

to teach him that that was not enough, and one must press on

further and realize the Self where seer and seen are one.

Vision of Siva: Vision is always of an object. That implies

the existence of a subject. The value of the vision is the same

as that of the seer. The nature of the vision is on the same plane

as that of the seer. Appearance implies disappearance as well.

Whatever appears must also disappear. A vision can never be

eternal. But Siva is eternal.

Viswarupa darsana (vision of the cosmic form) and

Viswatma darsana (vision of the universal self) are the same.

Such darsana is not by eyesight or in any gross fashion. As

there is only Being, without a second, anything seen cannot

be real. That is the truth.

The moral behind the story of Ashtavakra and Janaka is

simply this: The disciple surrenders himself to the Master.

That means there is no vestige of individuality retained by the

disciple. If the surrender is complete, all sense of individuality

is lost and there is no cause for misery. The Eternal Self is only

happiness and that is revealed.

The whole of Vedanta is contained in the two Biblical

statements ‘I am that I am’ and ‘Be still and know that I am

God’.

There is a state beyond our efforts or effortlessness. Until

that is realized, effort is necessary. After tasting such bliss

even once, one will repeatedly try to regain it. Having once

experienced the bliss of peace, no one would like to be out

of it or engage himself otherwise. It is as difficult for a Jnani

to engage in thoughts, as it is for an ajnani to be free from

thought.

Any kind of activity does not affect a Jnani. He remains

ever in eternal peace.

Ishta Devata (deity of one’s choice) and Guru are aids,

very powerful aids on this path. But for an aid to be effective

requires your effort also. Your effort is a sine qua non. It is

you who should see the sun. Can spectacles and the sun see

for you? You yourself have to see your True Nature. Not much

aid is required for doing it.

First one sees the Self as objects, then one sees the Self as

void, and then one sees the Self as the Self; only in this last

case is there no seeing because seeing is becoming.

The more we control thought, activity and food, the more

we will be able to control sleep. But moderation ought to be

the rule for the sadhak (aspirant), as explained in the Gita. As

explained in the Gita, sleep is the first obstacle for all sadhakas.

The second obstacle is said to be vikshepa, or the sense objects

of the world which divert one’s attention. The third is said to

be kashaya or thoughts about previous experiences with sense

objects. The fourth, ananda (bliss), is also called an obstacle,

because in that state a feeling of separation from the source of

ananda, enabling the enjoyer to say, ‘I am enjoying ananda,’ is

present. Even this has to be surmounted, and the final stage of

samadhana or samadhi has to be reached, where one becomes

ananda, or One with the Reality, and the duality of enjoyer and

enjoyment ceases in the ocean of Satchidananda (Existence-

Consciousness-Bliss) or the Self.

The power of a Jnani’s Self-Realization is more powerful

than all occult powers. To the Jnani there are no others. But

what is the highest benefit that can be conferred on ‘others’ as

we call them? It is happiness. Happiness is born of peace. Peace

can reign only when there is no disturbance by thought. When

the mind has been annihilated, there will be perfect peace. As

there is no mind, the Jnani cannot be aware of others. But the

mere fact of His Self-Realization is itself enough to make all

others peaceful and happy.

The following extract from a letter of the poet Tennyson

to B. P. Blood was read out in Bhagavan’s presence: ‘… a

kind of waking trance I have frequently had, quite up from

boyhood, when I have been all alone. This has generally come

upon me through repeating my own name two or three times to

myself, silently, till all at once, as it were out of the intensity of

consciousness of individuality, the individuality itself seemed

to dissolve and fade away into boundless being; and this not

a confused state but the clearest of the clearest, the surest of

the surest, the weirdest of the weirdest, utterly beyond words,

where death was an almost laughable impossibility, the loss

of personality (if so it were) seeming no extinction but the

only true life’.

Bhagavan said, ‘That state is called abidance in the Self.’

IX

HEART

In the centre of the cavity of the Heart the sole Brahman

shines by itself as the Atman (Self) in the feeling of ‘I-I’. Reach

the Heart by diving within yourself, either with control of

breath, or with thought concentrated on the quest of the Self.

You will thus get fixed in the Self.

I have been saying all along that the Heart Centre is on

the right side, even when learned men differed from me. I

speak from experience. I knew it even in my home during

my trances (samadhi). Again during the incident recorded

in Self-Realization, I had a very clear vision and experience.

All of a sudden a light came from one side erasing the worldvision.

I felt that the heart on the left had stopped and the body

became blue and inert. Vasudeva Sastri embraced the body

and wept over my death, but I could not speak. All the time I

was feeling that the Heart Centre on the right was working as

well as ever. This state lasted fifteen or twenty minutes. Then

suddenly something shot out from the right to the left like a

rocket bursting into the sky. The blood resumed circulation

and the normal condition of the body was restored.

The entire universe is condensed in the body and the entire

body in the Heart. Thus the Heart is the nucleus of the whole

universe. This world is not other than the mind, the mind is

not other than the Heart; that is the whole truth.

The source is a point without any dimensions. It expands

as the cosmos on the one hand and as Infinite bliss on the

other. That point is the pivot. From it a single vasana starts

and expands as the experiencer (‘I’), the experience and the

experienced (the world).

To Rama who questioned Vasishta: ‘Which is that big

mirror in which all these are mere reflections? What is the

heart of all souls or creatures in this universe?’ Vasishta replied:

‘All creatures in this universe have two kinds of hearts - one

to be taken note of and the other ignored. Hear their respective

traits: The one to be ignored is the physical organ called the

heart which is situated in the chest as a part of the measurable

body. The one to be taken note of is the Heart which is of the

nature of consciousness. It is both inside and outside (us) and

has neither an inside nor an outside.’

This is the really important Heart. It is the mirror which

holds all reflections. It is the basis and source of all objects and

all kinds of wealth. Therefore, it is only that Consciousness,

which is the Heart of all, not that organ - a small part of the

body, which is insentient like a stone, and perishable. So one

can achieve the eradication of all desires and control of breath,

by practice of merging the mind in the Heart, which is Pure

Consciousness.

Concentrating one’s thoughts solely on the Self will lead to

happiness or bliss. Drawing in the thoughts, restraining them

and preventing them from going outwards is called vairagya.

Fixing them in the Self is sadhana or abhyasa (practice).

Concentrating on the Heart is the same as concentrating on

the Self. The Heart is another name for the Self.

The Self is the Heart. The Heart is Self-luminous. Light

arises from the Heart and reaches the brain which is the seat

of the mind. The world is seen with the mind, that is by the

reflected light of the Self. It is perceived with the aid of the

mind. When the mind is illumined it is aware of the world.

When it is not itself so illumined, it is not aware of the world. If

the mind is turned inward towards the source of light, objective

knowledge ceases and the Self alone shines forth as the Heart.

The moon shines by the reflected light of the sun. When

the sun has set, the moon is useful for revealing objects. When

the sun has risen, no one needs the moon, although the pale

disc of the moon is still visible in the sky. So it is with the

mind and the Heart.

X

RENUNCIATION

When asked: ‘How does a grihastha (householder) fare

in the scheme of Moksha (liberation)?’ Bhagavan said, ‘Why

do you think you are a grihastha? If you go out as a sannyasi

(ascetic), a similar thought that you are a sannyasi will haunt

you. Whether you continue in the household or renounce it and

go to the forest, your mind goes with you. The ego is the source

of all thought. It creates the body and the world and makes

you think you are a grihastha. If you renounce the world it

will only substitute the thought sannyasi for grihastha, and the

environments of the forest for those of the household. But the

mental obstacles will still be there. They even increase in the

new surroundings. There is no help in a change of environment.

The obstacle is the mind. It must be got over whether at home

or in the forest. If you can do it in the forest, why not at home?

Therefore, why change your environment? Your efforts can

be made even now - in whatever environment you are now.

The environment will never change according to your desire’.

If objects have an independent existence, i.e., if they exist

anywhere apart from you, then it may be possible for you to

go away from them. But they do not exist apart from you; they

owe their existence to you, your thoughts. So where can you

go to escape them?

Where can you go, fleeing from the world or objects?

They are like the shadow of man, which the man cannot flee

from. There is a funny story of a man who wanted to bury

his shadow. He dug a deep pit, and seeing his shadow at

the bottom, was glad he could bury it so deep. He went on

filling the pit, and when he had completely filled it up, he was

surprised and disappointed to find the shadow on the top. Even

so, the objects or thoughts of them will be always with you

until you realize the Self.

Why should your occupation or duties in life interfere

with your spiritual effort? For instance, there is a difference

between your activities at home and in the office. In your office

activities you are detached, and so long as you do your duty

you do not care what happens, or whether it results in gain or

loss to the employer. But your duties at home are performed

with attachment and you are all the time anxious as to whether

they will bring advantage or disadvantage to you and your

family. It is possible to perform all the activities of life with

detachment and regard only the Self as real. It is wrong to

suppose that if one is fixed in the Self, one’s duties in life will

not be performed properly. It is like an actor. He dresses, acts

and even feels the part he is playing, but he knows that he is

really not that character but someone else in real life. In the

same way, why should the body-consciousness or the feeling

‘I am the body’ disturb you once you know for certain that

you are not the body but the Self. Nothing that the body does

should shake you from abidance in the Self. Such abidance

will never interfere with the proper and effective discharge

of whatever duties the body has, any more than the actor’s

being aware of his real status in life interferes with his acting

a part on the stage.

Renunciation is always in the mind, not in going to the

forest or solitary places, or giving up one’s duties. The main

thing is to see that the mind does not turn outward but inward. It

does not really rest with a man whether he goes to this place or

that, or whether he gives up his duties or not. All that happens

according to destiny.

All the activities that the body is to go through are

determined when it first comes into existence. It does not rest

with you to accept or reject them. The only freedom you have

is to turn your mind inward and renounce activities there.

Nobody can say why that freedom alone and no other freedom

is left to man. That is the Divine scheme.

Giving up activities means giving up attachment to

activities or the fruits thereof, giving up the notion ‘I am the

doer’. The activities which this body is destined to perform

will have to be gone through. There is no question of giving

up such activities, whether one likes it or not.

If one remains fixed in the Self, the activities will still go

on and their success will not be affected. One should not have

the idea that one is the doer. The activities will still go on. That

force, by whatever name you call it, which brought the body

into existence will see to it that the activities which this body

is meant to go through are brought about.

If the passions are something external to us, we can take

arms and ammunition and conquer them. They all come from

within us. If by looking into the source whence they come, we

prevent their coming up and we shall conquer them. It is the

world and the objects in it that arouse our passions. But the

world and these objects are only created by our mind. They

do not exist during our deep sleep.

The fact is that any amount of action can be performed,

and performed quite well by the Jnani, without His identifying

Himself with it in any way, or ever imagining that He is the

doer. Some power acts through His body and uses His body

to get the work done.

XI

FATE AND FREEWILL

Freewill and destiny are ever existent. Destiny is the result

of past action; it concerns the body. Let the body act as may suit

it. Why are you concerned about it? Why do you pay attention

to it? Freewill and destiny last as long as the body lasts. But

jnana transcends both. The Self is beyond knowledge and

ignorance. Whatever happens, happens as the result of one’s

past actions, of divine will and of other factors.

There are only two ways to conquer destiny or be

independent of it. One is to enquire for whom is this destiny,

and discover that only the ego is bound by destiny and not the

Self, and that the ego is non-existent.

The other way is to kill the ego by completely surrendering

to the Lord, by realizing one’s helplessness and saying all the

time, ‘Not I, but Thou Oh Lord’ and giving up all sense of ‘I’

and ‘mine’, and leaving it to the Lord to do what he likes with

you. Complete effacement of the ego is necessary to conquer

destiny, whether you achieve this effacement through Selfenquiry

or bhakti marga (path of devotion).

Everything is predetermined. But a man is always free

not to identify himself with the body, and not to be affected

by the pleasures or pains consequent on the body’s activities.

Those alone who have no knowledge of the Source whence

fate and freewill arise, will dispute which of them can conquer

the other. Those who have realized their Self, which is the

Source of both fate and freewill have left such disputes behind,

and will have nothing more to do with them.

Success and failure are due to prarabdha karma, and not

to willpower or the lack of it. One should try to gain equipoise

of mind under all circumstances. That is willpower.

XII

JNANI

A Jnani has attained Liberation even while alive, here

and now. It is immaterial to Him as to how, where and when

He leaves the body. Some Jnanis may appear to suffer, others

may be in samadhi; still others may disappear from sight

before death. But that makes no difference to their jnana.

Such suffering is only apparent, seeming real to the onlooker,

but not felt by the Jnani, for He has already transcended the

mistaken identity of the Self with the body.

The Jnani does not think He is the body. He does not even

see the body. He sees only the Self in the body. If the body is

not there, but only the Self, the question of its disappearing

in any form does not arise.

In books, it is mentioned that the greatest malady we have

is the body, the pvenay> (bhava-noy - disease of birth), and if

one takes medicine to strengthen and prolong its life, it is like

a man taking medicine to perpetuate his disease. A Sanskrit

verse in Canto XI of the Bhagavata says the body is not real

(impermanent). Whether it is at rest, or moves about, and

whether by reason of prarabdha it clings to Him or falls off

from Him, the Self-Realized Siddha is not aware of it, even as

the drunken man blinded by intoxication is unaware whether

his cloth is on his body or not.

Illustrations are given in the books as to how a Jnani who is

in the sahaja state and who always sees only the Self, can move

about and live in the world like everyone else. For instance,

you see a reflection in the mirror, you know the mirror to be

the reality and the picture in it a mere reflection. In order to

see the mirror, is it necessary that one should cease to see the

reflection in it?

Or again take the screen illustration: There is a screen.

On that screen first appears the figure of a king. He sits on

a throne. Then before him in that same screen a play begins

with various figures and objects and the king on the screen

watches the play on the same screen. The seer and the seen

are mere shadows on the screen, which is the only reality

supporting these pictures. In the world also, the seer and the

seen together constitute the mind and the mind is supported

by, or based on, the Self.

You are under the impression you are the body. So you

think the Jnani also has a body. Does the Jnani say He has a

body? He may look to you as having a body and doing things

with the body as others do. The burnt rope still looks like a

rope but it cannot serve as a rope if you try to bind anything

with it. As long as one identifies oneself with the body, all of

this is difficult to understand.

Examine all the different kinds of states. Take hold of that

State which alone is the Supreme and True One and engage

yourself in action in the world, regarding your life there as

mere sport. You have discovered That which is the Reality

inside your Heart behind all the appearances of this world. So,

without ever letting That out of your sight, disport yourself

as you like in the world. Seeming to have enthusiasm and

gratification, anxieties and aversions (but really having none

of them), seeming to begin and persevere in endeavours (but

really having no attachment to such efforts), engage yourself

* See note on page 31 for the meanings of these three karmas

in the affairs of the world without any detriment to yourself.

Freeing yourself from all sorts of bonds, maintaining the same

equanimity and doing work externally in conformity with the

environment in which you find yourself, disport yourself as

you like in the world.

He whose mind is not attached to any desires, does no

action in reality, though his body may act. He is like one who

is hearing a story with his mind elsewhere. Similarly, the man

whose mind is full of desires is really acting though his body

may be actionless. A man may be sleeping here with his body

inert, and yet he may be climbing hills and falling from them

in dream at the same time.

It is all the same to one who is fast asleep in a cart, whether

the cart moves or stops, with the bulls left yoked or unyoked.

Similarly for the Jnani who has gone to sleep in the cart of

His physical body, it does not matter whether He works or is

in deep meditation (samadhi), or is asleep.

The statement that the Jnani retains prarabdha while free

from sanchita and agamya karmas* is only a formal answer

to the questions of the ignorant. Of several wives none escapes

widowhood when the husband dies; even so, when the doer

goes all three karmas vanish.

The non-action of the Sage is really unceasing activity. His

characteristic is eternal and intense activity. His stillness is like

the apparent stillness of a very fast-rotating top. Its extreme

speed cannot be followed by the eye and so it appears to be

still. This must be explained, as people generally mistake the

stillness of the Sage for inertness.

XIII

MISCELLANEOUS

No one can be out of sight of the Supreme Presence. Since

you identify one body with Bhagavan and another body with

yourself, you find two separate entities and speak of going

away from here. Wherever you may be, you cannot leave me.

Sri Ramakrishna is said to have seen life in the image of

Kali that he worshipped. That life was perceived by him, not

by all. The vital force was due to himself. It was his own vital

force which manifested as if it were outside and drew him in.

Were the image really alive it must have appeared so to all. On

the other hand, everything is full of life. That is the fact. Many

devotees have had experiences similar to Sri Ramakrishna.

Christ is the ego and the Cross, the body. When the ego is

crucified and it perishes, what survives is the Absolute Being

(God); cf.., ‘I and my Father are one.’ This glorious survival

is called the Resurrection. God the Father represents Isvara,

the Son is the Guru, and the Holy Ghost is the Atman.

The Bible says, ‘Be still and know that I am God,’ Psalm

46. Found in the Ecclesiastics: ‘There is one alone and there

is no second’ and ‘The wise man’s heart is at the right hand

and a fool’s heart is at the left’.

No thought will go in vain. Every thought will produce its

effect sometime or other. Thought force will never go in vain.

Some have maintained that the body can be made immortal

and they give recipes, medical or other, for perfecting this body

and making it defy death. The Siddha School (as it is known

in the South) has believed in such a doctrine. Venkasami Rao

in Kumbakonam started a school which believed the same.

There is a society in Pondichery too. There is also the school

which believes in transforming men into supermen by descent

of Divine Power. But all the people, after writing long treatises

on the indestructibility of their bodies, after giving medical

and yogic recipes to perfect the body and keep it alive forever,

pass away one day.

Name of God and God are not different. The Bible also

has it: ‘In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with

God and the Word was God.’

In the name Rama, ‘Ra’ stands for the Self, and ‘ma’ for

the ego. As one goes on repeating ‘Rama’, ‘Rama’, the ‘ma’

disappears, getting merged in the ‘Ra’ and then ‘Ra’ alone

remains. In that state there is no conscious effort at dhyana,

but dhyana is always there, for dhyana is our real nature.

The yogi may be definitely aiming at rousing the Kundalini

(the Serpent-power) and sending it up the sushumna (yogic

nerve). The Jnani may not have this as His object, but both

achieve the same result, that of sending the life-force up the

sushumna and severing the chitjadagranthi (the knot binding

the sentient and the inert). Kundalini is another name for Atma

or Self, or Sakti. We talk of it as being inside the body because

we conceive ourselves as limited to the body. But it is in reality

both inside and outside, being no other than the Self, or Sakti.

In the jnana marga, when by Self-enquiry the mind is merged

in the Self, the Self, its Sakti or Kundalini rises automatically.

If peace of mind is true Mukti or Liberation, how can

those whose minds are set on siddhis (miraculous powers),

which cannot be attained except with the help and activity of

the mind, attain Mukti, where all turmoil of the mind ceases?

Avoid desire and aversion. Do not engage the mind

much in the affairs of the world. As far as possible do not get

entangled in the affairs of others. Giving to others is really

giving to oneself. If one knows this truth, would one ever

remain without giving?

If ego rises, all will rise. If the ego merges, all will merge.

The more we are humble, the better it is for us.

The best and most potent diksha (initiation) is by silence,

which was practised by Lord Dakshinamurti. Those by touch,

look, etc. are of a lower order. Mouna can change all hearts.

Bhagavan, when asked by a devotee whether he should

continue taking the name of God as advised by his late Guru,

or change over to vichara (enquiry), referred the devotee to

an article in Vision of September 1937, on the ‘Philosophy of

the Divine Name according to Saint Nam Dev’, in which it is

explained that God and God’s Name are all the same.

The sun illumines the universe, whereas the Sun of

Arunachala is so dazzling, that in It the universe is not seen;

there remains only an unbroken brilliance.

It is not true that birth as a man is necessarily the highest,

that one must attain Self-Realization while only being a man.

Even an animal can attain Self-Realization.

There is no need for anyone to start reforming the country

or the nation before reforming himself. Each man’s first duty

is to realize his True Nature. If after doing this he feels like

reforming the country or nation, by all means let him take

up such reform. Swami Ram Tirtha advertised: ‘Wanted

Reformers - but reformers who will reform themselves first’.

No two persons in the world can be alike or can act alike.

External differences are bound to persist, however hard we

may try to eliminate them. The only solution is for each man

to realize his True Nature.

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says ‘Aham’ is the first

name of God. The first letter in Sanskrit is ‘A’ and the last letter

‘Ha’ and ‘Aha’ thus includes everything from the beginning to

the end. The word Ayam means That which exists, self-shining

and self-evident. Ayam, Atma, Aham all refer to the same thing.

In the Bible also, ‘I AM’ is given as the first name of God.

If we concentrate on any thought and go to sleep in

that state, immediately on waking up the same thought will

continue in our minds. People who are given chloroform are

asked to count one, two, etc. A man who goes under after

saying six, for instance, will, when he comes round again,

start saying seven, eight, etc.

When I laid down with limbs outstretched and mentally

enacted the death scene, and realized that the body would

be taken and cremated and yet I would live, some force, call

it atmic power or anything else, rose within me and took

possession of me. With that I was reborn and I became a new

man. I became indifferent to everything afterwards, having

neither likes nor dislikes.

From silence came thought, from thought the ego, and

from ego speech. So, if speech is effective, how much more

so must be its source?

Karpura arathi (burning camphor before God) is symbolic

of burning away the mind by the light of illumination. Vibhuti

(sacred ash) is Siva (Absolute Being) and kumkum (vermillion

powder) is Sakti (consciousness) .

The puranas speak of this Hill (Arunachala) as being

hollow, with cities and streets inside it. I have also seen such

things in visions. The books speak of the Heart as a cavity.

But penetration into it proves it to be an expanse of light.

Similarly the Hill is one of light. The caves, etc. are covered

up with that light.

The means prescribed for securing the spiritual end, such

as charity, penance, sacrifice, dharma (virtuous conduct),

yoga, bhakti (devotion) and the end itself described variously

as Heaven, the Supreme Object, Peace, Truth, Grace,

the Quiescent State, Deathless Death, True Knowledge,

renunciation, Moksha (Liberation) and Bliss are all nothing

but being free from the obsession that the body is the Self.

Give up regarding yourself as this despicable body and

realize your Real Nature, which is one of Eternal Bliss. Seeking

to know thyself while still anxious about the welfare of the

body, is like attempting to cross a stream with the aid of a

crocodile for a raft.

Not desiring the non-Self is dispassion (vairagya).

Inhering in the Self is Jnana. Both are the same.

Om Tat Sat

                                                        

(End) 

(My humble salutations to  H H Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, and thankfulness to Sri Devaraja Mudaliar ji and   Hinduism online dot com for the collection)

(The Blog  is reverently for all the seekers of truth, lovers of wisdom and   to share

the Hindu Dharma with others on the spiritual path and also this is purely  a non-commercial)