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Part 1 knowledge
part 2 self surrender
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“The state of one who abides unshaken in SeIf has more grandeur than the mightiest mountain:” “Tirukkural”, verse 124
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“Silence is the unequalled eloquence – the state of Grace that rises within.” – Sri Bhagavan
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Sri Bhagavan replied: “If watched wherefrom the ‘I’ starts, there the mind merges; that is tapas.”
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After receiving these instructions, Sri Kavya Kanta Ganapati Sastri declared: “He is no ordinary soul. He is the perfect Jnana-Guru. Since He ever remains in natural Self-abidance, He is verily Bhagavan Maharshi”, and praised Him in verses as Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. It is only from that day that He was known by this name.
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"... When the first person ceases to exit through one's enquiry into the truth of that first person, then the existence of the second and third persons will come to an end ....” 'Ulladhu Narpadhu', verse 14
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Thus, the method of destroying the ‘I'-thought is also the method which will destroy all other thoughts. Therefore, what is essential is to destroy the first person thought, ‘I'. The only way to destroy it is to scrutinize its nature! There is no other way!!
“...How else to attain that state wherein ‘I’ (the ego) does not rise – the state of egolessness – unless we seek the source whence ‘I’ rises?...” ‘UIladu Narpadhu’, verse 27
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Upadesha Undiyar
9. By the strength of meditation [that is, by the strength of such ananya-bhava or Self-attention], abiding in the state of being, which transcends meditation, alone is the truth of supreme devotion [para-bhakti-tattva].
17. When one scrutinizes the form of the mind without forgetfulness [that is, without pramada or slackness of attention], [it will be found that] there is no such thing as mind; this is the direct path for all.
26. Being Self is itself knowing Self, because Self is that which is not two. This is abidance as the reality (tanmaya-nishta)
27. The knowledge which is devoid of both knowledge and ignorance [about objects], alone is [real] knowledge. This is the truth, [because in the state of Self-experience] there is nothing to know [other than oneself].
28. If one knows what one’s own nature is,
then what will remain and shine is only the beginningless, endless and unbroken existence-consciousness-bliss
[anadi ananta akhanda satchit-ananda].
30. ‘What is experienced if one knows that which remains after ‘I’ has ceased to exist, that alone is excellent tapas’ – thus said Lord Ramana, who is Self.
.....upadesha undiyar ends..........................................
82/233...Pth of Ramana -1
Many, because of their lack of maturity of understanding when first visiting Sri Bhagavan and scrutinizing the nature of reality as exposed by Him and as explained above, were not able to grasp the fact and be convinced that existence (sat) and consciousness (chit) are one and the same, and therefore were repeatedly arguing with Him.
On the other hand. some, who had discrimination and a sharp, clear intellect, not already confused by a mere study of the sastras without any practice, were fully convinced as soon as they heard Sri Bhagavan’s exposition (that the body and world do not exist in deep sleep) that it alone is right; therefore, they were able to proceed along the path of enquiry, But, those who did not have the maturity of intellect to be able to accept the nonexistence of the body and world in deep sleep were stopped and could progress no further on the path.
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The true import of the sastras cannot be learnt except from Jnanis, that is, those who have had and live in the direct experience of Reality; no one can understand the true spirit behind any of the sastras merely by his command over language or by his keenness and superiority of intellect.
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What happens when one practises japa and dhyana is similar to what happened when the man practised cycling along the road to Tirukoilur. Since the strength acquired through japa and dhyana is cultivated in an opposite direction, that is, towards a second person, are they not activities which lead one far away from Self-attention? On the other hand, if one practises Self-attention from the very beginning, that will be similar to the man starting to practise cycling along the road to Vellore. Since Self-attention, which is Self-enquiry, thus avoids all unnecessary efforts and directly bestows Self attainment, Sri Bhagavan has said in verse 4 of ‘Atmavidya Kirtanam’, “Of all paths, this path (Self-enquiry) is the easiest”, and in verse 17 of ‘Upadesa Undhiyar’, “This is the direct path for all”.
If one is able to make a sincere effort to practise anything, whether recitation of hymns, japa, dhyana or any other sadhana, one can, with the same effort, practise Self-enquiry !
All these complaints are made only by those who do not earnestly like to do any sadhana, that’s all.
What is essential in any sadhana is to try to bring back the running mind and fix it on one thing only’.
Why then should it not be brought back and fixed in Self-attention?
That alone is Self-enquiry (alma-vichara).
That is all that is to be done!
Even in the Bhagavad Gita it is said:
Sanais sanai rupa ramed buddhya dhriti grihi taya Atma samstham manah kritva nakim chidapi chinta yet which means,
‘By means of an extremely courageous intellect (power of discrimination), make the mind motionless little by little; fix the mind firmly in Self (atman) and never think of any other thing’ (chapter 6, verse 25),
and:
Yato yato nis charati manas chanchalam asthi ram Tatas tato niyam yaitad atman yeva vasam nayet which means,
‘Towards whatever thing the unsteady mind wanders, from each thing pull it back, fix it always in Self and make it firmly abide there’ (chapter 6, verse 26)
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Even concentrating on thoughts such as ‘I am Brahman’ (aham brahmasmi), which is considered to be the highest form of meditation (dhyana), has been described by Sri Bhagavan as being ‘due to lack of strength’ (uran inmaiyinal) in verse 32 of ‘Ulladhu Narpadhu’ ! Therefore, what the mind gains by taking as targets second or third persons, which are the objects of japa, dhyana and so on, is not really strength, but only weakness!
Can a racehorse accustomed to forward gallop be useful in drawing water from wells, where a backward movement of the horse is indispensable? No, it will be of no use! Only that practice of Self-attention which Sri Bhagavan referred to in ‘Who am I?’ when He wrote, “By repeatedly practising thus, the strength of the mind to abide in its source increases”, is the right sadhana which will give the mind the real requisite strength! Those aspirants who came to Sri Bhagavan with a mind not already spoilt by being trained towards targets other than Self, a mind with no trace of lethargy, with immense eagerness, and with a spirit of unquestioning obedience like that of children, directly turned their mind to the practice of Self-attention in the form of ‘Who am I?’ as soon as they came to Sri Bhagavan and thereby gained the real requisite strength mentioned above. They were therefore able to proclaim from their own experience, “Ah! Knowing Self is the easiest thing! Indeed, it is the easiest!”
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one can plainly see that the effort made in the path of Self-enquiry, which is an attention towards the first person, is far easier than that made in japa, dhyana, yoga and so on, which are nothing but attention towards second and third person objects. Such indeed is the justification in support of the sayings of Sri Bhagavan. “Of all paths. this path is’ the easiest ?” and, “This is the direct path for all!”, it was in this connection that Sri Bhagavan used to say repeatedly,
“Self is here and now, and ever -attained”.
By saying, “This is the direct path for all”, Sri Bhagavan points out that anyone, however weak his mind may be, can acquire through this path that true strength of mind which is required to abide in one’s source. Therefore, taking to Self-attention (ahamukham), which is the real introversion (antar-mukham), is by itself far better than giving any other target to the mind – such is the unique greatness of Sri Bhagavan’s teaching !
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Thus, God can never be one of the second or third persons, He must then certainly exist and shine as the source of and base for the rising of this false first person.
Which means , as the reality (the real aspect) of the first person.
Since God or Brahman is thus always shining as the reality of ‘I’, giving the mind the practice of attending to Self is the only true seeking of God and the only effective yoga.
Hence, Self-attention is the true God attention!
“O Bhagavan, meditating upon You is nothing other than contemplating ‘I’,
Contemplating ‘I’ is nothing other than remaining without thought,
Remaining without thought is nothing other than being vigilantly attentive not to rise as ‘I’,
But why even attend, when my very existence (sat) is itself attention (chit) ?”
‘Sri Ramana Sahasram’, verse 990
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There is a difference between the technique of the Self-enquiry revealed by Sri Bhagavan and that of the Self-enquiry which we have learnt from the sastras all this time. For ages past the sastras have been declaring, ‘’Who are you” You are not the body, prana, mind, intellect, ego or the like; you are Self (atman); you are consciousness, which is Self”. However, they do not go beyond telling us, “Eliminate the five sheaths, which are non-Self, as ‘not I“ not I’ (neti, neti)”. They do not explain who is to eliminate or the practical method how to eliminate, nor do they give in a precise and direct manner the proper clues to eliminate the non-Self.50 That is why even those who have made an extensive study of Vedanta are found to be devoid of the practical experience of jnana, which is the loss of the ego, the ‘I am the body’ – consciousness (dehatma-buddhi). This is not only the case with those who study the sastras and yet are not given to practice, but it is also the case with those earnest seekers who are sincerely attempting to put into practice what they have learnt from the sastras; though they repeatedly struggle in their thwarted- attempts, they are not able to achieve the direct experience of the non-dual knowledge. On the other hand, jnanis, who art permanently established in the natural Self-consciousness, assert, “That experience of Self is here, now and ever-attained”! The reason why Sri Bhagavan and those of His disciples who came to Him solely for the experience of Self-knowledge rejoice and exclaim, “Ah ! Knowing Self is the easiest thing! Indeed, it is the easiest!”, must be that on the path of Selfenquiry some new clue which is refined and easy to put into practice has been given by Sri Bhagavan. Let us see what this clue is. ‘The body is not I; who am I? I am He !’ (deham naham: koham? soham !) – this is the quintessence of the Self-enquiry found in the sastras, to facilitate which they lay down the following four practices (sadhanas):-
1. Discrimination (viveka) between the eternal and the ephemeral.
2. Desirelessness (vairagya) towards the various enjoyments in this world and in any other world. 3. The six virtues51 of tranquility (sama) and so on. 4. Intense yearning for liberation (mumukshutva).
Because an aspirant comes to know through the discrimination between the eternal and the ephemeral that liberation is the only eternal Thing (nitya vastu), he gains intense yearning for liberation and, having thereby acquired desirelessness towards all other enjoyments, he puts forth his efforts in the practice of the six virtues of tranquility and so on. Therefore, in the third sadhana, the six virtues, the sastras give him all the aids they can for the attainment of Self-knowledge. Thus, when he puts forth his efforts in this third sadhana, is it not clear that he has already completed the first, second and fourth sadhanas ? Controlling the sense-organs and the organs of action through desirelessness (vairagya) and trying to fix the
wavering mind on Brahman are the two essential points among the six items of the third sadhana. But while practising, what exactly does a ripe and tremendously earnest aspirant do?
His main practice can only be to fight with desires for sense, objects and to think about a second or third person thing which he thinks to be ‘Brahman’, the absolute Reality. For this, the only aids given to him by the sastras are the mahavakyas such as ‘I am Brahman’ (aham brahmasmi), ‘I am He’ (soham) and ‘That thou art’ (tat twam asi). When meditation (bhavana) upon the mahavakyas is practised, the efforts of the aspirant are merely flowing in the form of a thought, ‘This I is that Brahman’, towards a second or third person. This thought is only a mental activity (mano-vritti), In these meditations, ‘I am Brahman’ or ‘I am That’, what he feels as ‘I’ is nothing but the mind, which he takes to be himself, Because, he who now meditates is the first thought, which has risen only after sleep came to an end, while the Brahman on which he meditates is a third person object, which can come into existence only after his rising. So long as the ego (the ‘I am the body’-consciousness) lasts, when one hears the word ‘Brahman’ one can only take it to denote one of the second or third persons and not any other thing (i, e. not the first person feeling), because in the sentence ‘I am Brahman’, since ‘I’ is already there to denote the first person, the word ‘Brahman’ can only be taken to mean either a second or a third person. When closely scrutinized, meditations such as ‘I am He’ or ‘I am Brahman’ are thus found to be nothing but an activity of the mind diverging towards a second or third person. There is therefore a vast difference (as between a mountain and a valley) between these meditations, which are mental activities, and the Self-attention taught by Bhagavan Sri Ramana, which is a stillness of mind! Let us see how.
While practising the meditation ‘I am Brahman’ the first person feeling roused by the words ‘I am’ is at once disturbed by the word’ Brahman’ and diverted into a second or third person feeling. Solely to avoid this trouble, in His work Who am I!?’ Bhagavan Sri Ramana has said, “Even if one incessantly thinks ‘I, I’, it will lead to that place (the state of Brahman)”
If while threading a needle the two strands of the thread remain apart, even the one strand which enters the eye of the needle will be pulled out by the other. Similarly, when one meditates ‘I am Brahman’, even the first person feeling roused by the words ‘I am’ is disturbed (instead of being allowed to remain in Self. abidance, atma-nishtha) and pulled outwards by the word Brahman’, since this word creates a second or third person feeling. The aspirant mistakes this subtle activity of his mind thus going on within him from the first person feeling to the second person feeling, and from the second person feeling to the first person feeling, to be Self-enquiry (atma-vichara) ! When, on account of such a subtle activity, the mind sometimes lies at rest in sheer exhaustion, the aspirant mistakes this quiescence of his mind (mano-laya) to be Self-realization (jnana-samadhi)” If this were really Self-realization, the, I am the body-identification could not revive when he wakes up; and unless the bodyidentification were to revive, he could not resume the thread of the meditation ‘I am Brahman’. But, since the aspirant resumes meditating as soon as he wakes up, does it not prove that what he achieved through that meditation was a mere laya, a sleep-like rest ? After waking up from a dream, one can in no way again identify the dream-body as ‘I’ : in the same manner, after awakening to Self-conscious (Self-realization), the jnani will not meditate’ I am Brahman’,
since the ego is known to be false. Hence, Sri Bhagavan fittingly asks:
“...Since we are ever That, why should we for ever be meditating that we are That? Does a man meditate ‘I am a man’ ?”
Ulladhu Narpadhu “ verse 36
Does a man come to know that he is a man only by meditating ‘I am a man, I am a man’? Certainly not! Thus, since the aspirant again starts meditating ‘I am Brahman’ it is evident that the state in which he found himself temporarily was not Self-realization – the real waking !
It will be worthwhile to note in this context the following conversation between Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Totapuri. When Sri Totapuri said, “This brass vessel will shine bright only if it is polished daily; so also, only by meditating [upon these bhavanas] daily, will our mind remain pure to reflect Brahman”, Sri Ramakrishna remarked, ‘’Why to polish if the vessel is gold !”
Thus, the meditations’ I am He’, ‘I am Brahman’, ‘I am That’ (soham, aham brahmasmi, tat aham) and the like are nothing but activities of the mind – pravrittis.
But for Self realization, this mind must be destroyed without leaving a trace.
By engaging in such meditations, the mind will live for any number of ages, because activity is the food on which and by which the mind lives. It is only the attention to second and third persons that nourishes the mind.
Therefore, since the mind is not annihilated by the meditations such as ‘I am He’ it will be kept alive for ever either by doing these meditations or by’ lapsing into quiescence (laya) whenever it is totally exhausted by such activities. Hence, because they do not bring about the annihilation of the mind, these meditations cannot be the Self-enquiry taught by Sri Bhagavan, which destroys the mind once and for all.
“...Other than this, meditating ‘am not this, I am That’ may be (in some way) an aid, but can it itself be the enquiry ?”
‘Ulladhu Narpadhu’,. verse 28
– thus asks Sri Bhagavan! How these meditations may be an aid, but cannot themselves be the enquiry’ will be explained in the appropriate place at the end of this chapter.
Sri Bhagavan does not take these meditations to be Self–enquiry. Self-attention in the form ‘Who am I ?’ alone is the teaching of Sri Ramana.
The method of enquiry of Sri Ramana is an attention intensely fixed on the first person,
‘What is this I?’, rather than meditating ‘I am this’ or ‘I am that’, Knowing well that any activity given to the mind in the form of an attention to the second and third persons (like japa, dhyana, etc.) will not destroy it, and in order to fulfill the aim of the mahavakyas, Sri Bhagavan breathes a new life into the sastras by means of His teaching, ‘Who am I?’. A revelation which was not disclosed before now through the sastras and which is essential for an aspirant to be able to practise Self-enquiry without losing his way, has now been added to the world of sastras by Sri Bhagavan. What is this revelation?
The mind is destroyed only when it turns towards the first person!
Divine lights, divine sounds, heavens such as Kailas, visions of God in form!; such as Siva, the six yogic centres such as muladhara imagined in the body – since these and all other similar objects of the senses are objects perceived by the subtle mind through the subtle five senses, they are
nothing but second and third person knowledges (drisya or the seen), and none of them can be the first person knowledge (drik or the seer) ! Moreover, when the mind itself, which is an aggregate of thoughts, is a second person object perceived by us, what else can the objects perceived by it be other than second or third persons? Therefore, the attention of the aspirant should be focused only on Self, which always shines (even when the mind is not), and should be kept there without being allowed to be diverted towards any second or third person object.
“To think of second and third persons is sheer foolishness, for by thinking of second and third persons the mental activities (mano-vrittis) will wax. (On the other hand) attending to the first person is equal to committing suicide, for only by enquiring into the first person will the ego itself die.”
‘Atma vichara Patikam’, verse 7
This is no ordinary clue. When aspirants (even those who, with intense desirelessness and a steady power of onepointedness while attending to any undertaking, have been struggling for countless ages, through ever so many births and deaths, since, not knowing the proper direction in which to make efforts, they have been attending to the useless second and third persons) are puzzled at not finding a solution, this clue of first person attention given by Bhagavan Sri Ramana will surely be valued by them as priceless, like a heap of diamonds put into the hands of a poor man. Not only has Sri Bhagavan revealed this clue, but He has also given in His invaluable, appealing, simple and small work ‘Who am I?’ the exact practical process of Self-enquiry to help even beginners to fix their mind on
Self alone, without allowing it to stray towards second and third persons, This process will be found well explained in the following chapters.
A treasure, though hidden under the floor of our own house, is as if non-existent for us until we come to know about it, dig it out and enjoy it – just like the herb52 that was discovered by the doctor in the patient’s own garden. If some one makes us aware of the existence of the treasure and enables us to dig it out and to enjoy it then he is truly the one who has given it to us anew. In fact, it is he alone who has made us rich; before that we were certainly poor. However there are some among us who have not been able to gain the experience of Self in spite of having read about Self-enquiry in the sastras, yet who, not knowing the invaluable help, the greatness and the novelty of the technique of Self-enquiry taught by Sri Bhagavan, ask superficially, “Self-enquiry is already mentioned in the sastras; what new discovery has been made by Sri Bhagavan ?”. This is similar to the poor man saying, “Was not this treasure already there in my own house ?”, though he did not know about it and thus could not dig it out and enjoy it, The reason why we say that it is similar to the statement or the poor man is that had he gained that immense treasure, known its value and experienced its joy, he would no longer be a poor man and hence he would not have spoken so belittlingly about his friend’s invaluable help! Only those pandits who have mastered the mere letter of the ancient sastras, but have never experienced even a fringe of the bliss of Self through the Self-enquiry taught there, can speak in such a way, since they do not know the unique greatness of the clue discovered and given to the world by Sri Ramana, the Sadguru, for following the path of Selfenquiry. If they had found the correct method of practising Self-enquiry by studying the sastras for all these years, why then should they still be struggling and not obtaining the experience of Self? In striking contrast to this, all those who have known the Reality through the great help of the clue given by Sri Bhagavan were almost ignorant of the ancient sastras !
The consciousness ‘I am’ when felt along with an adjunct (upadhi) as ‘I am so-and-so’ becomes a thought. Of all thoughts, this thought is the first. But the consciousness which shines alone as ‘I-I’ without any adjunct is Self (atman) or the Absolute (brahman). This is not a thought. It is our ‘being’ (that is, our true existence)53. Therefore, the purpose of the mahavakya ‘I am Brahman” taught by the sastras is to give us a prior information about the final experience that Brahman is our pure existence, and not to convert Brahman into one of our thoughts. Thus, ‘I am Brahman’ is only a prior intimation of our true state, which we are yet to reach. Can our existence, which is beyond
thought, be reached by thought? Since it cannot be thought of, to put an end to the rising of the ‘I’ – thought through the enquiry ‘Who am I ?’ (i,e. through Self-attention’ and to abide as what remains after is the true implementation of the mahavakya ‘I am Brahman’. “...Since the Reality (‘I’) exists within, beyond thought, who can and how to meditate upon that Reality, which is called the Heart? To abide in the Heart as It is (that is, without thought) is truly meditating (upon It) I Thus should you know.” ‘Ulladhu Narpadhu’, benedictory verse 1
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Until one gains the true experience of Brahman (Brahman-bhava), in whatever way one may meditate on Brahman, it will only be a thought about a second or third person, But instead, if one simply meditates ‘I, I’, since it is a first person attention, the ‘I’ thought which has thus started to meditate will drown in its source and lose its form and separate existence, just like the stick used for stirring the funeral pyre and like the reflection of the sun directed from a mirror towards the sun itself.
Thus, If one takes to meditating ‘I am Siva’ (sivoham) or ‘I am He’ (soham) and so on, the ego will wax and grow strong54, whereas if one attends to Self, ‘Who am I ?’, the ego will die. That is why Bhagavan Sri Ramana did not teach ‘I am He’ (soham) as practice (sadhana).
If some particulars about a town which we want to reach have been given to us beforehand, they will be a good aid; similarly, the prior information (given to us by the mahavakya, such as ‘I am Brahman’) that our final reality is Brahman may be a good aid, but can it be the practice – the enquiry itself? No, it cannot ! How? Studying the particulars about the town, reading them repeatedly to learn them by heart and meditating upon them can never be the journey to that place: the same is the case with the mahavakyas ! This is exactly what Sri Bhagavan meant when he wrote: “…meditating
‘I am not this, I am That’ may be (in some way) an aid, but can it itself be the enquiry ?” ‘Ulladhu Narpadhu’, verse 29
and: “...meditating ‘We are That’ may be a good aid for (reminding) us to abide as Self...” ‘Ulladhu Narpadhu’, verse 36 Therefore, the path of enquiry, ‘Who am I?’ is not the meditation upon the mahavakyas such as ‘I am He’.
We often hear about some lecturers who neither have had the good fortune of being taught by the gracious Glance of Sri Bhagavan’s Eyes, those two flames of Jnana which easily reveal this truth, nor have the willingness to scrutinize thoroughly His teachings, but who, after reading ‘Upadesa Saram’ and taking only the later part of the 8th verse,” ‘I am He’ is better than all other meditations”, start propagating that Bhagavan Ramana also teaches only the meditation ‘I am He’. It is therefore necessary to scrutinize this point a little deeper. The Tamil work ‘Upadesa Undhiyar’55 is the original from which the Sanskrit
‘Upadesa Saram’ was translated, The correct meaning of the 8th verse will become clear if we know in what context and with what purpose Sri Bhagavan composed ‘Upadesa Undhiyar’,
Sri Muruganar the whole-hearted disciple of Sri Bhagavan and a great Tamil poet, while writing ‘Sri Ramana Sannidhi Murai’, in which he describes the play of Lord Siva with His devotees was narrating in a metre called undhiyar the story of the dwellers in the Daruka forest in ancient days, who were performing ritualistic practices and who, on account of their deceitful egoism, had become immensely conceited, feeling that there is no God except kamya karmas 56. Thus, Sri Muruganar came to the point where Lord Siva gives them instructions (upadesa) to correct them and to show them the right path; he then realized that Bhagavan Sri Ramana, who is Arunachala Siva Himself was the only proper authority to impart the spiritual advice of Lord Siva, and therefore requested Him to complete the story by writing the instructions in the remaining thirty verses allotted in the work. Hence, in continuation of the story, Bhagavan Ramana started to compose “Upadesa Undhiyar’, the instructions given by Lord Siva to the dwellers in the Daruka forest in those days. In the first two verses, actions performed with desire (kamya karmas) are condemned; from verses 3 to 16 (thirteen verses in all) Sri Bhagavan has summed up all that has been said up till now in the sastras about the three paths, nishkamya karma, bhakti and raja yoga. Within these fifteen verses, the path of knowledge (jnana marga) is not at all mentioned by Sri Bhagavan. After giving instructions about puja and japa from verses 3 to 6, Sri Bhagavan describes the ancient methods of meditation in their order of priority in verses 7 and 8 – and it is only in this context that it is said (in the 8th verse), “To meditate ‘I am He’ is better than meditating upon Him (God) as an other”. Because Sri Bhagavan was requested to recount the essence of the instructions that Lord Siva gave in ancient days to the dwellers in the Daruka forest, it became necessary for Him to summarize the ancient paths also. Therefore, verses 3 to 15 (which are the teachings of Lord Siva) should not be taken to be the teachings based upon the direct experience of Sri Bhagavan. Self-enquiry alone is the direct teaching or Sri Bhagavan. Some may ask, “All right, the meditation ‘I am He’ may not be the actual teaching of Sri Bhagavan, but does not the 9th verse, ‘By the strength of such meditation, remaining in one’s true existence, which is beyond the range of meditation, is the very nature of supreme devotion’, imply that liberation, which is the supreme devotion, can be attained by the strength of such meditation?” Now, let us see what, in the course of an aspirant’s practice, the strength of such meditation is, and what changes take place in him through that strength. Throughout the time the aspirant was practising the ancient methods described in verses 3 to 7, such as puja, meditation and so on, his mind was imagining God to be a second or third person object. The reason why the meditation ‘I am He’ was prescribed was to remove this ignorance and to help the aspirant gain full faith in the words of this mahavakya and thereby to give him the firm conviction ‘God is indeed the reality of the first person’. The strength of such conviction is the strength of meditation (bhava bala) referred to in verse 9. However, why take to this round-about path to gain the conviction that God or Brahman is the reality of the first person ! Since the ritualists in the Daruka forest were stranded on a dead-end route, they had to be led only through such a roundabout path by Lord Siva. But, as soon as we hear the instruction of Sri Bhagavan in verse 14 of ‘Ulladhu Narpadhu’, “Only if the first person exists, will the second and third persons exist”, why not we at once be convinced, ‘The second and third persons live only because of the root, the first person’57, and turn directly towards Self ? In order to bring back ultimately those aspirants who do not come to His path but direct their efforts towards second and third persons, Sri Bhagavan recommended this as the best of all the ancient methods of meditation since, as a prior information, it acts as an aid for the aspirants to turn that attention towards the first person. Suppose the owner of the cow which is tied in the other man’s shed comes many times to pet it and feed it, thus making it familiar and acquainted with him, the cow will develop the conviction that he is its master; then, after it has gained the strength of conviction (bhava bala) that he is its master, when he brings it to its own shed it will agree to stay there only because of its prior familiarity with him. The simile of the wasp and the grub58 mentioned in ‘the sastras is meant only to illustrate the process by which the aspirant gains this strength of conviction during his practice. It should not be taken to mean that the individual soul becomes Brahman through thinking – because the state of Brahman is not a thing to be newly created from some other thing (as a wasp is created from a grub). It is our natural state, undergoing no change. “This existence (i.e. Brahman)
– Thy Feet, O Ramana – is not a thing to go and unite with another thing, not a thing to become another thing, not a thing to be bored of, not a thing to be destroyed, not a thing to rise and set on any account !...” ‘Sri Ramana Sahasram’, verse 233
Therefore, would it be in accordance with the eternal nature of the perfect state of Brahman to say that something can newly become That? “Even the contention held that there is duality during practice and non-duality after attainment is not true…” ‘Ulladhu Narpadhu’, verse 37
After the conviction 'My true existence-consciousness is God or Brahman’ has been well stabilized in an aspirant
through the strength of such meditation, at an opportune moment the knowledge
‘Do I not always exist! Why then should I meditate in order to exist ?’
will flash, and thus his attention will be drawn back all of a sudden and fixed on his existence-consciousness.
This Self-attention is exactly the technique of Self-enquiry.
Since through this Self attention the meditation ‘I am Brahman’ has now become unnecessary; the aspirant remains in his true existence,
‘I am’ (aham asmi), which is the state of thought free consciousness; this is what is mentioned in verse 9.
At any rate, what has to take place finally in the aspirant is Self attention, which is the Self-enquiry taught by Sri Bhagavan.
This love towards Self (swatma-bhakti) is the very nature of supreme devotion (parabhakti tattva, as mentioned in verse 9), and that is liberation.
Then from verse 16 to 29 Sri Bhagavan expounds the path of knowledge. Even here, a subtle difference should be noted between the way of teaching of the sastras and that of Sri Bhagavan. First, in verses 16 to 20, Sri Bhagavan explains clearly the method of doing the enquiry ‘Who am I ?’ (attending to Self). Then, after giving us the understanding in verse 2159 that the real Thing denoted by the word ‘I’ is Self itself, He asserts His verdict that, since the truth of ‘I’ is Self:
“The body, prana, mind, Intellect end the darkness of ignorance – all these (five sheaths), being insentient (jada) and non-existent (asat), are not ‘I’, that which exists (sat).’
In ancient sastras the process of Self-enquiry is described as negating the five sheaths as ‘not I, not I’ (neti, neti). However, aspirants struggle not knowing how to do so. That is why Sri Bhagavan first gives us (in verses 16 to 20) the technique of attending to Self, which is the means to know what ‘I’ really is,’ then He points out in verse 22 that negating the five sheaths is the outcome of knowing the real ‘I’, He thus implies that attending to ‘I’, Self, is itself the method of negating the five sheaths, the non- Self. Hence, in ‘Upadesa Undhiyar’ Sri Bhagavan has amended the path of knowledge (jnana marga) by rearranging the back-to-front process described in ancient sastras into a new and practical order – that is, that which was given as the practice (neti, neti) is now pointed out to be the result I. Thus, from verse 16 to 29, Sri Bhagavan teaches that the enquiry ‘Who am I?’ is the correct path of knowledge, and concludes ‘Upadesa Undhiyar’ by declaring in verse 30 that the only right tapas is to know and remain in Self, and not anything else.
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