https://www.davidgodman.org/padamalai-excerpt/2/
49 In the certain knowledge of the Self, wherein the ego dies completely and is resurrected, mental anguish completely ceases.
50 If even a trace of the ego, ‘I’, exists, the experience of the Self will be obstructed.
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https://www.davidgodman.org/padamalai-excerpt/3/
Destruction of the ego
60 Only after the ego ‘I’ has been completely destroyed will Self-experience arise.
71 When the ego is destroyed, the truth of the Self will shine undivided, extending to the farthest extremities of the four quarters of the universe.
72 Why abuse God instead of killing the misery-inducing ego, which is ignorant pride?
Chit-jada
Chit-jada is a Sanskrit term that literally means ‘consciousness-inert’. Bhagavan frequently used it to describe the unreal bond or knot that ties or limits consciousness to the otherwise inert physical body. As such, chit-jada is co-extensive with the ego or the ‘I’-thought that, through false association, limits identity to a particular form.
73 The life of individualised existence, which is a combination of the two opposing entities [chit and jada], is just a manifestation of the mind [mano maya].
74 The chit-jada ego, which is neither sat [real] nor asat [unreal], remains in your Heart like an enemy masquerading as a friend.
75 That chid-jada ego known as ‘I’ is the founding ancestor of the lineage of the mind.
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76 That which liberates, cutting asunder the shackle of chit-jada, is the enquiry that leads to knowledge of the truth of one’s real nature.
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Question: While the one aim is to realise the unconditioned, pure being of the Self, which is in no way dependent on the ego, how can the enquiry pertaining to the ego in the form of aham-vritti [the ‘I’-thought] be of any use?
Bhagavan: From the functional point of view, the ego has one and only one characteristic. The ego functions as the knot between the Self, which is pure consciousness, and the physical body which is inert and insentient. The ego is therefore called chit-jada-granthi [the knot between consciousness and the inert body]. In your investigation into the source of aham-vritti, you take the essential chit [consciousness] aspect of the ego. For this reason the enquiry must lead to the realisation of pure consciousness of the Self. [11. Maharshi’s Gospel, pp. 80-1.]
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77 There exists no path other than that of separating [the knot that joins] spirit and body, that lowly state of existing as the body.
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78 The true birth celebration is when ego dies through untying [of the chit-jada knot] and is born in Brahma-swarupa.
79 Unlike a blossoming lotus that closes [during the night], the Heart-lotus, which has blossomed after the untying of the ignoble knot, will never close again.
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Bhagavan himself:
Just as the lotus bud, flourishing in marshy pools, blossoms at sunrise, so also the Heart, behind the soiled mind, shines forth by the grace of God who is the Self of all selves, and who is externally visible as Arunachala. But this sun, after rising up, never sets again and the Heart of the realised soul is in blossom once and for all.
The I-am-the-body idea
80 The feeling of living in the body and the world is what destroys the life of firm swarupa, the being-consciousness.
81 Taking the body to be ‘I’ is the error that murders Brahman, that which is merged with you as Atma-swarupa.
82 Know the deceitful ego, a consummate impersonator, as a villainous murderer whose profession is death.
Though Brahman is essentially indestructible, Bhagavan often spoke of devotees who ‘killed’ or ‘murdered’ Brahman by not being aware of it.
83 Only the ego, the delusion that spreads by identifying with the insentient upadhi [the body], is bondage.
84 That which should be clearly known is the Self, mere consciousness. That which should be destroyed is attachment to the body.
Ulladu Narpadu, verse 17:
To those who do not know the Self and to those who do, the body is the ‘I’. But to those who do not know the Self the ‘I’ is bounded by the body; while to those who within the body know the Self the ‘I’ shines boundless. Such is the difference between them. [12. The Collected Works of Sri Ramana Maharshi, p. 118.]
85 The delusive life of living in the body and the world is the product of the ‘I’ sense that cherishes the body, which is just a corpse.
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The cause of the I-am-the-body idea
87 The I-am-the-body mistake arises when objectification causes one to see sordid sense objects before first seeing one’s real nature.
88 Taking the body to be ‘I’ – an erroneous superimposition that is like calling mother-of-pearl ‘silver’ – is the confusion of the spinning mind.
89 The same confusion of the mind takes the perceptions of the five senses to be real. This results in an agitation of the mind that struggles with desires for them.
The destruction of the I-am-the-body idea
90 Establish yourself in the complete perfection of your own real nature. Do not limit yourself to the [body] upadhi.
91 Except through the rare medicine of direct experience it is impossible to escape from the I-am-the-body disease.
92 Unless the belief ‘I am the body’ is completely destroyed, true knowledge of the one Self is not possible.
93 The disappearance of the I-am-the-body notion, the wrong understanding that causes infatuation, is the experience of the Atma-swarupa.
94 In the state wherein the ego, the I-am-the-body delusion, has ceased, both yoga and bhoga [enjoyment], without becoming two, merge together as one.
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Guru Vachaka Kovai, verse 62: He who has known the world appearance – an association that comprises the five sense perceptions – as his own Self, the consciousness that is the supreme, knows and experiences the same swarupa through his five senses as well.
Vilakkam: This verse explains the little-known fact that the sahaja state is experienced even in external perceptions.
For him who truly knows sense perceptions to be his own Self, the world is not an obstacle. He experiences and enjoys his own Self in all perceptions and rejoices identically both internally and externally, without even a trace of the thought of bondage.
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‘I’ and ‘mine’
95 Those whose tamasic minds are overspread with the darkness of worldly bondage [pasham], and whose nature is obsessed with ‘I’ and ‘mine’ are said to be stupid people.
96 The thought ‘I’ that rises first in the Heart is the cause of the thoughts ‘mine’ and ‘for me’.
97 The ultimate reality, which is eternal, is just the being that exists devoid of ‘I’ and ‘mine’.
98 Since inner attachment will afflict you like a contagious disease through all the seven births, relinquish it.
99 If the experience of the Self merges with you, the base delusion of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ will be dead.
Renunciation of individual identity
100 The best kind of renunciation is remaining in the state in which the mind holds extremely tightly to the swarupa.
101 Knowing one’s real nature, the abiding truth, is merely renouncing one’s infatuation for the triputis that veil it.
102 If you attain perfect mastery of internal renunciation, external renunciation will have no importance.
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Bhagavan: Only so long as you think that you are the worker are you obliged to reap the fruits of your actions. If, on the other hand, you surrender yourself and recognise your individual self as only a tool of the higher power, that power will take over your affairs along with the fruits of actions. You are no longer affected by them and the work goes on unhampered. Whether you recognise the power or not the scheme of things does not alter. Only there is a change of outlook. Why should you bear your load on the head when you are travelling in a train? It carries you and your load whether the load is on your head or on the floor of the train. You are not lessening the burden of the train by keeping it on your head but only straining yourself unnecessarily. Similar is the sense of doership in the world of the individuals.
[15. Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, talk no. 503.]
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109 The proper course for a sadhaka is to practise sadhana at all times until the sense of being the doer ceases.
110 ‘Only the cessation of the sense of being the doer is self-surrender.’ Padam emphatically declares this, imprinting it upon the mind.
Guru Vachaka Kovai, verse 668: If it is conceded that all the actions of the jiva are only Siva’s actions, then the jiva should have become, by a perfect self-surrender in which independence and individuality are lost, not different from Siva. If he exists as different from Siva, all his actions are his actions and not Siva’s, and he will be considered an independent agent.
Vilakkam: This is a very subtle point. When it is conceded that all the actions of the jiva are those of Siva, then jiva and Siva are not different. At that point the jiva, having lost the feeling that he is performing actions, becomes Siva, the free One. Surrendering in this way is not yielding to the ego, but is the complete destruction of it. However, those who behave with their ego nature, saying, ‘Everything is Siva’s doing,’ have not really surrendered.
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117 The sense of responsibility, a false feeling, does not exist in the true state of realisation of the Self.
118 When this ego-based sense of responsibility is destroyed, the bliss of the Self will surge and overflow.
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121 The bondage called ‘duty’ will cease being known as a delusion caused by the ego, when the firm knowledge of reality is attained.
Question: I want to know my tattva [my truth, my reality] and my duties.
Bhagavan: Know your tattva first and then you may ask what your duties are. You must exist in order to know and do your duty. Realise your existence and then enquire of your duties. [19. Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, talk no. 565.]
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122 A mind that has dissolved in the state of God, and ceased to exist, will not be aware of any activity that needs to be performed
123 because when the ego, which has the idea that it is the performer of actions, has been completely destroyed, the idea that something needs to be accomplished ends.
124 Those who do not see anything as a duty that has to be done will attain the bliss of peace that yields limitless contentment.
Verses 773 and 774 of Guru Vachaka Kovai, composed by Muruganar, are grouped together under a chapter heading entitled ‘Being Still’ or ‘Remaining Still’. The second of these two verses immediately attracts attention because Bhagavan states quite clearly that abiding in swarupa, one’s true state, is a state of laziness:
The method of true and supreme tapas that our Lord Ramana declares to be worthwhile and which the mind should firmly hold onto is this, and no more: ‘Being still.’ Other than this there are absolutely no thoughts to think, nor any duties to be contemplated by it.
The lazy state wherein you exist motionlessly and shine is the state of swarupa.
In that supreme state you have become That.
It cannot be attained except by direct, excellent and rare tapas.
You should therefore honour those who are established in that laziness as holy beings.
The state of the Self is described here, perhaps a little ironically, as ‘lazy’ only because there is no one left there who can do anything. It should not be taken as an encouragement to be lazy; it is simply pointing out that this state of spiritual ‘laziness’ is inevitable for enlightened beings have completely lost the ‘I am the body’ idea.
Muruganar wrote in Padamalai that Bhagavan bestowed this ‘idle’ state on him:
The golden Padam [Bhagavan] completely abolished my wandering around as a wicked one and made me shine as a perfect idler.
Even the actions I perform, believing them to be my own, are in reality the actions of Padam, the complete and absolute truth. (Padamalai, pp. 342, 343, vv. 62, 64)
And in a similarly playful mood Muruganar described his experience of the Self in the following terms:
My Guru [Sri Ramana] who possesses the virtue of generosity effectively exercised his dominion over me by bestowing on me the blessed state of living in perpetual bliss.
I now live as an inebriated, lazy man, my mind swelling with bliss, just like a bee that has drunk the honey of grace at his feet.
I merely eat and play, with absolutely no anxieties in my heart.’ (Sri Ramana Jnana Bodham, volume 3, v. 781)
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Bhagavan also mentioned this state of laziness in Aksharamanamalai, verse 37:
If I sleep consciously as a lazy one, remaining still and consuming bliss, this is the supreme state. Is there any state other than this, O Arunachala? If there is, please tell me!
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The place where the lazy ones dwell is pure space.
The place where the lazy ones rest is pure space.
The consciousness of the lazy ones remains
in the place which the Vedas have abandoned as beyond their scope.
The lazy ones have gained the state in which they are sleeping,
totally unaware of the Vedas. (Tirumandiram, v. 127)
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Bhagavan would accept a new pencil or pen only when the old one was completely exhausted or totally damaged. He would then take a piece of paper and scribble a few times with the new one to see whether it was working properly. Most of us, on similar occasions, sign our own names, write OM or some God’s name. So I was very inquisitive to know what He scribbled. Bhagavan permitted me to see what He wrote. Even those who were close to Him did not know about it. Either He wrote, “Arunachalavaasi”, meaning, “One residing in Arunachala”, or “Panilenivadu”, meaning, “One without any work”.’ (Drops from the Ocean, p. 117)
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Verse fifteen of Upadesa Undiyar contains a similar idea:
‘For the great yogi who is established as the reality due to the death of the mind-form, there is not any action [to do because] he has attained his [true] nature.’
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Guru vachak kovai
9
One’s own real nature, the Self, which shines as the very essence of happiness, is the origin of all the pleasures in this world and the next. Because of its supreme eminence, the benefit of this work is to become firmly absorbed in that Self, without being assailed by thoughts of all the other states of attainment.
This is a continuation of the theme in verse 8. ‘The other states of attainment’ are those that are other than jnana.
The word for ‘great ones’ — sandror — generally denotes people who excel in learning and virtuous behaviour. Muruganar makes it clear in other places that he is using the term to denote jnanis — those who have realised the Self — not merely scholars or virtuous men.
Samadhi is often taken to be a yogic state of absorption, but Bhagavan once defined it by saying,
‘Holding onto reality is samadhi’.
(Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, talk no. 391.)
Since mauna is the silence and stillness of the Self, mauna samadhi is the state of silence that is experienced when one is fully absorbed in the Self.
The Sadguru is the Guru who is established in sat — true being — and who has the power to convey his own experience of the Self to others. Tapas is an intense spiritual practice, often accompanied by some sort of bodily mortification, that frequently has as its goal the granting of some kind of boon or blessing by a deity. The verse is saying that for those who perform ‘righteous and exalted tapas’ Brahman takes the form of a human Guru. Brahman is not a specific deity; it is the Hindu term for the impersonal absolute reality.
In the following dialogue Bhagavan explained how the process outlined in this verse actually works. The ‘sadhus’ referred to in the question are not just renunciate Hindu monks; they are enlightened beings.
Question: When does one get the company of sadhus?
Bhagavan: The opportunity to be in the company of a Sadguru comes effortlessly to those who have performed worship of God, japa [repetition of God’s name], tapas, pilgrimages, etc. for long periods in their previous births. There is a verse by Thayumanavar [a Tamil poet-saint who lived several centuries ago] which points out the same thing:
‘For those who, in the prescribed manner, have embarked upon the [pilgrim] path of divine images, holy sites and holy tanks, a Sadguru, too, will come to speak one unique word, O Supreme of Supreme!’
Only he who has done plenty of nishkamya punyas [meritorious actions performed without any thought of a reward or consequence] in previous births will get abundant faith in the Guru. Having faith in the Guru’s words, such a man will follow the path and reach the goal of liberation. (Living by the Words of Bhagavan, p. 220)
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15
The pure swarupa, the unique word that abides as the heart of all things, is the excellent, grace-bestowing invocation to this Guru Vachaka Kovai, whose purport is the jnana that dispels the delusion of the ignorant.
16
Atma-swarupa, the primal essence that is wholly consciousness, is experienced directly through the state that is entirely mauna.
It flourishes and shines as the real nature of the reflected consciousness [chidabhasa] whose form is the false ‘I’, the ego. This pure transcendental swarupa, the fundamental substratum, is the ultimate reality.
Bhagavan: The Heart is not physical; it is spiritual. Hridayam equals hrit plus ayam and means ‘this is the centre’. It is that from which thoughts arise, on which they subsist, and where they are resolved. The thoughts are the content of the mind and they shape the universe. The Heart is the centre of all.
‘Yatova imani bhutani jayante…’ [that from which these beings come into existence…] is said to be Brahman in the Upanishads.
That is the Heart. Brahman is the Heart. (Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, talk no. 97)
18
He possesses a heart in which attachment and separation are not possible.
He is the swarupa who has the beauty of renunciation that is jnana. Putting an end to the sorrow caused by forgetfulness of the Self, he ruled over me and brought me under his dominion. His feet are the perfect exemplar of all the distinguishing characteristics of truth.
Bhagavan:
Renunciation and realisation are the same.
They are different aspects of the same state.
Giving up the non-Self is renunciation.
Inhering in the Self is jnana or Self-realisation.
One is the negative and the other the positive aspect of the same, single truth.
(Day by Day with Bhagavan, 2nd January, 1946, afternoon)
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