Talks mar 34

599 

a bit from 539 back

D.: I consider them as my family and feel bound to them. 

M.: Quite so. Because you think that so-and-so is your wife and so-and-so are your children you also think that you are bound to them. These thoughts are yours. They owe their very existence to you. 

You can entertain these thoughts or relinquish them. The former is bondage and the latter is release.

 D.: It is not quite clear to me. 

M.: You must exist in order that you may think. 

You may think these thoughts or other thoughts. The thoughts change but not you. 

Let go the passing thoughts and hold on to the unchanging Self.

 The thoughts form your bondage. If they are given up, there is release. 

The bondage is not external. So no external remedy need be sought for release. It is within your competence to think and thus to get bound or to cease thinking and thus be free. 

D.: But it is not easy to remain without thinking. 

M.: You need not cease thinking. Only think of the root of the thoughts. Seek it and find it. 

The Self shines by itself. 

When that is found the thoughts cease of their own accord. 

That is freedom from bondage. 

D.: Yes. I understand it now. I have learnt it now. Is a Guru necessary? 

M.: So long as you consider yourself as an individual, a Guru is necessary to show to you that you are not bound by limitations and that your nature is to be free from limitations.

...

M.: The object of mantra japa is to realise that the same japa is already going on in oneself even without effort. The oral japa becomes mental and the mental japa finally reveals itself as being eternal. That mantra is the person’s real nature. That is also the state of realisation.

.....

D.: Can the bliss of samadhi be gained thus? 

M.: The japa becomes mental and finally reveals itself as the Self. That is samadhi. 

D.: Please show Grace to me and strengthen me in my efforts!

.....

Talk 532.

 D.: Is there no way of escape from the miseries of the world? 

M.: There is only one way and that consists in 

not losing sight of one’s Self under any circumstances. 

To enquire “Who am I?” is the only remedy for all the ills of the world. It is also perfect bliss.

.............

599 cont again from talks mar 33

Talk 612. 

Mrs. Hick Riddingh asked Sri Bhagavan in writing: 

When Bhagavan writes about the help given towards attaining Self Realisation by the gracious glance of the Master or looking upon the Master, how exactly is this to be understood?” 

M.: Who is the Master? Who is the seeker? 

D.: The Self. 

M.: If the Self be the Master and also the seeker, how can the questions arise at all? 

D.: That is just my difficulty. I must seek the Self within myself. What is then the significance of the writing above referred to? It seems contradictory. 

M.: It is not. The statement has not been rightly understood. 

If the seeker knows the Master to be the Self he sees no duality in other respects either and is therefore happy, so that no questions arise for him. 

But the seeker does not bring the truth of the statement to bear in practice. 

It is because of his ignorance. This ignorance is however unreal. 

The Master is required to wake up the seeker from the slumber of ignorance and he therefore uses these words in order to make Reality clear to others. 

The only thing that matters is that you see the Self. This can be done wherever you remain. The Self must be sought within. 

The search must be steadfast. 

If that is gained there is no need to stay near the Master as a physical being. The ‘statement’ is meant for those who cannot find the Self remaining where they are.

....

602

Uncertainties, doubts and fears are natural to everyone until the Self is realised. 

They are inseparable from the ego, rather they are the ego. 

D.: How are they to disappear? 

M.: They are the ego. If the ego goes they go with it. The ego is itself unreal. What is the ego? Enquire. 

The body is insentient and cannot say ‘I’ . The Self is pure consciousness and non-dual. It cannot say ‘I’ . No one says, ‘I’ in sleep. What is the ego then? It is something intermediate between the inert body and the Self. It has no locus standi. If sought for it vanishes like a ghost. You see, a man imagines that there is something by his side in darkness; it may be some dark object. If he looks closely the ghost is not to be seen, but some dark object which he could identify as a tree or a post, etc. If he does not look closely the ghost strikes terror in the person. All that is required is only to look closely and the ghost vanishes. The ghost was never there. So also with the ego. It is an intangible link between the body and Pure Consciousness. It is not real. So long as one does not look closely it continues to give trouble. But when one looks for it, it is found not to exist. Again, in a Hindu marriage function, the feasts continue five or six days. A stranger was mistaken for the best man by the bride’s party and they therefore treated him with special regard. Seeing him treated with special regard by the bride’s party, the bridegroom’s party considered him to be some man of importance related to the bride’s party and therefore they too showed him special respect. The stranger had altogether a happy time of it. He was also all along aware of the real situation. On one occasion the groom’s party wanted to refer to him on some point. They asked for him. He scented trouble and made himself scarce. So it is with the ego. If looked for, it disappears. If not, it continues to give trouble. How it is to be looked for is learnt from those who have already done so. That is the reason why the Master is approached. 

D.: If the search has to be made within, is it necessary to be in the physical proximity of the Master? 

M.: It is necessary to do so until all doubts are at an end. 

D.: If the ego is unreal and troublesome why did we take so much pains to develop it? 

M.: Its growth and the trouble consequent on such growth make you look for the cause of it all. 

Its development is for its own destruction. 

D.: Is it not said that one must be like a child before one advances spiritually? 

M.: Yes, because the ego is not developed in the child. 

D.: I mean exactly the same. We could have remained like the child instead of having developed the ego. 

M.: The state of the child is meant. No one can take lessons from the child for the Realisation of the Self. The Master’s state is like the state of the child. There is a difference between the two. The ego is potential in the child, whereas it is totally destroyed in the saint. 

D.: Yes, I see, I understand it now. 

M.: The Reality is alone and eternal. To understand it is good enough. 

But the old ignorance should not return. 

A good watch must be kept lest the present understanding of the Truth suffers later on. 

A disciple served a master a long time and realised the Self. 

He was in Bliss and wanted to express his gratitude to the master. He was in tears of joy and his voice choked when he spoke. 

He said, “What a wonder that I did not know my very Self all these years? I suffered long and you so graciously helped me to realise the Self. How shall I repay your Grace? It is not in my power to do it!” 

The master replied: “Well, well. Your repayment consists in not lapsing into ignorance over again but in continuing in the state of your real Self.” 

[Compiler’s remarks: The Self is the Master and all else. The Realisation of the Self means Self-surrender or merging into the Master. What more can anyone do? That is the highest form of gratitude to the Master].

.......

Talk 616. 

D.: Is the Jivanadi an entity or a figment of the imagination? 

M.: The yogis say that there is a nadi called the jivanadi, atmanadi or paranadi. The Upanishads speak of a centre from which thousands of nadis branch off. Some locate such a centre in the brain and others in other centres. The Garbhopanishad traces the formation of the foetus and the growth of the child in the womb. 

The jiva is  considered to enter the child through the fontanelle in the seventh month of its growth. In evidence thereof it is pointed out that the fontanelle is tender in a baby and is also seen to pulsate. It takes some months for it to ossify. Thus the jiva comes from above, enters through the fontanelle and works through the thousands of the nadis which are spread over the whole body. Therefore the seeker of Truth must concentrate on the sahasrara, that is the brain, in order to regain his source. Pranayama is said to help the yogi to rouse the Kundalini Sakti which lies coiled in the solar plexus. The sakti rises through a nerve called the Sushumna, which is imbedded in the core of the spinal cord and extends to the brain. 

If one concentrates on the Sahasrara there is no doubt that the ecstasy of samadhi ensues. The vasanas, that is the latencies, are not however destroyed. 

The yogi is therefore bound to wake up from the samadhi, because release from bondage has not yet been accomplished. 

He must still try to eradicate the vasanas in order that the latencies yet inherent in him may not disturb the peace of his samadhi. 

So he passes down from the sahasrara to the heart through what is called the jivanadi, 

which is only a continuation of the Sushumna. 

The Sushumna is thus a curve. It starts from the solar plexus, rises through the spinal cord to the brain and from there bends down and ends in the heart. When the yogi has reached the heart, the samadhi becomes permanent. 

Thus we see that the heart is the final centre. 

Some Upanishads also speak of 101 nadis which spread from the heart, one of them being the vital nadi. If the jiva comes down from above and gets reflected in the brain, as the yogis say, there must be a reflecting surface in action. That must also be capable of limiting the Infinite Consciousness to the limits of the body. In short the Universal Being becomes limited as a jiva. Such reflecting medium is furnished by the aggregate of the vasanas of the individual. It acts like the water in a pot which reflects the image of an object. If the pot be drained of its water there will be no reflection. The object will remain without being reflected. The object here is the Universal Being-Consciousness which is all-pervading and therefore immanent in all. It need not be cognised by reflection alone; it is self-resplendent. 

Therefore the seeker’s aim must be to drain away the vasanas from the heart 

and let no reflection obstruct the Light of Eternal Consciousness. 

This is achieved by the  search for the origin of the ego 

and by diving into the heart. 

This is the direct method for Self-Realisation. 

One who adopts it need not worry about nadis, the brain, the Sushumna, the Paranadi, the Kundalini, pranayama or the six centres. 

The Self does not come from anywhere else and enter the body through the crown of the head. 

It is as it is, ever sparkling, ever steady, unmoving and unchanging. 

The changes which are noticed are not inherent in the Self which abides in the Heart and is self-luminous like the Sun. The changes are seen in Its Light. 

The relation between the Self and the body or the mind may be compared to that of a clear crystal and its background. 

If the crystal is placed against a red flower, it shines red; if placed against a green leaf it shines green, and so on. 

The individual confines himself to the limits of the changeful body or of the mind which derives its existence from the unchanging Self. 

All that is necessary is to give up this mistaken identity, and that done, the ever-shining Self will be seen to be the single non-dual Reality.

 The reflection of Consciousness is said to be in the subtle body (sukshma sarira), which appears to be composed of the brain and the nerves radiating from it to all parts of the trunk, chiefly through the spinal column and the solar plexus. When I was on the Hill, Nayana (Kavyakantha Ganapathi Muni) once argued that the brain was the seat of the vasanas, because it consisted of innumerable cells in which the vasanas were contained and illuminated by the light of the Self which projected from the heart. Only this set a person working or thinking. 

But I said, “How can it be so? The vasanas must be with one’s Self and can never remain away from the Self. If, as you say, the vasanas be contained in the brain and the Heart is the seat of the Self, a person who is decapitated must be rid of his vasanas and should not be reborn. You agree that it is absurd. Now can you say that the Self is in the brain with the vasanas? If so, why should the head bend down when one falls asleep? Moreover a person does not touch his head and say ‘I’. 

Therefore it follows that the Self is in the Heart and the vasanas are also there in an exceedingly subtle form. “When the vasanas are projected from the Heart they are associated with the Light of the Self and the person is said to think. The  vasanas which lie imbedded in an atomic condition grow in size in their passage from the heart to the brain. The brain is the screen on which the images of the vasanas are thrown and it is also the place of their functional distribution. The brain is the seat of the mind, and the mind works through it.” So then this is what happens. 

When a vasana is released and it comes into play, it is associated with the light of the Self. It passes from the heart to the brain and on its way it grows more and more until it holds the field all alone and all the vasanas are thus kept in abeyance for the time being. When the thought is reflected in the brain it appears as an image on a screen. The person is then said to have a clear perception of things. He is a great thinker or discoverer. Neither the thought that is extolled as being original, nor the thing, nor the country which is claimed to be a new discovery, is really original or new. It could not manifest unless it was already in the mind. It was of course very subtle and remained imperceptible, because it lay repressed by the more urgent or insistent thoughts or vasanas. When they have spent themselves this thought arises and by concentration the Light of the Self makes it clear, so that it appears magnificent, original and revolutionary. In fact it was only within all along. This concentration is called samyamana in the Yoga Sastras. 

One’s desires can be fulfilled by this process and it is said to be a siddhi. It is how the so-called new discoveries are made. Even worlds can be created in this manner. Samyamana leads to all siddhis. But they do not manifest so long as the ego lasts. Concentration according to yoga ends in the destruction of the experiencer (ego), experience and the world, and then the quondam desires get fulfilled in due course. This concentration bestows on individuals even the powers of creating new worlds. It is illustrated in the Aindava Upakhyana in the Yoga Vasishta and in the Ganda Saila Loka in the Tripura Rahasya. Although the powers appear to be wonderful to those who do not possess them, yet they are only transient. It is useless to aspire for that which is transient. 

All these wonders are contained in the one changeless Self. The world is thus within and not without. 

This meaning is contained in verses 11 and 12 - Chapter V of Sri Ramana Gita 

“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.”

 Therefore Samyamana relates to concentration on different parts of the body for the different siddhis. Also the Visva or the Virat is said to contain the cosmos within the limits of the body. 

Again, “The world is not other than the mind, the mind is not other than the Heart; that is the whole truth.” 

So the Heart comprises all. 

This is what is taught to Svetaketu by the illustration of the seed of a fig tree. 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, multiplies as the experiencer ‘I’, experience, and the world. The experiencer and the source are referred to in the mantra. Two birds, exactly alike, arise simultaneously. When I was staying in the Skandasramam I sometimes used to go out and sit on a rock. On one such occasion there were two or three others with me including Rangaswami Iyengar. Suddenly we noticed some small moth-like insect shooting up like a rocket into the air from a crevice in the rock. Within the twinkling of an eye it had multiplied itself into millions of moths which formed a cloud and hid the sky from view. We wondered at it and examined the place from which it shot up. We found that it was only a pinhole and knew that so many insects could not have issued from it in such a short time. That is how ahankara (ego) shoots up like a rocket and instantaneously spreads out as the Universe. The Heart is therefore the centre. A person can never be away from it. If he is he is already dead. Although the Upanishads say that the jiva functions through other centres on different occasions, yet he does not relinquish the Heart. The centres are simply places of business (vide Vedanta Chudamani). The Self is bound to the Heart, like a cow tethered to a peg. The movements are controlled by the length of the rope. All its wanderings centre around the peg. A caterpillar crawls on a blade of grass and when it has come to the end, it seeks another support. While doing so it holds on with its hind-legs to the blade of grass, lifts the body and sways to and fro before it can hold another. Similarly it is with the Self. It stays in the Heart and holds other centres also according to circumstances. But its activities always centre round the Heart.

............................

Talk 617. 

There are five states for the individual. They are: 

(1) Jagrat, (2) Swapna, (3) Sushupti, (4) Turiya, (5) Turyatita.

 Of these the jagrat is the waking state. In it the jiva in the Visva aspect and the Lord in the Virat aspect, abiding together in the eight petals of the Heart lotus, function through the eyes and enjoy novel pleasures from various objects by means of all the senses, organs, etc. The five gross elements which are widespread, the ten senses, the five vital airs, the four inner faculties, the twenty-four fundamentals - all these together form the gross body. The jagrat state is characterised by satva guna denoted by the letter A and presided over by the deity Vishnu. The swapna is the dream state in which the jiva in the Taijasa aspect and the Lord in the Hiranyagarbha aspect, abiding together in the corolla of the Heart-Lotus, function in the neck and experience through the mind the results of the impressions collected in the waking state. All the principles, the five gross elements, the will and the intellect, seventeen in all, together form the subtle body of the dream which is characterised by the rajo guna denoted by the letter U and presided over by the deity Brahma, so say the wise. The sushupti is the state of deep sleep in which the jiva in the Prajna aspect and the Lord in the Isvara aspect, abiding together in the stamen of the Heart-Lotus, experience the bliss of the Supreme by means of the subtle avidya (nescience). Just as a hen after roaming about in the day calls the chicks to her, enfolds them under her wings and goes to rest for the night, so also the subtle individual being, after finishing the experiences of the jagrat and swapna for the time being, enters with the impressions gathered during those states into the causal body which is made up of nescience, characterised by tamo guna, denoted by the letter M and presided over by the deity Rudra. Deep sleep is nothing but the experience of pure being. The three states go by different names, such as the three regions, the three forts, the three deities, etc. The being always abides in the Heart, as stated above. If in the jagrat state the Heart is not relinquished, the mental activities are stilled and Brahman alone is contemplated, the state is called the Turiya. Again when the individual being merges in the Supreme it is called the turyatita. The vegetable kingdom is always in sushupti; the  animals have both swapna and sushupti; the gods (celestials) are always in jagrat; man has all the three states; but the clear-sighted yogi abides only in turiya, and the highest yogi remains in turyatita alone. The three states alternate involuntarily for the average man. The last two (turiya and turyatita) are however the results of practice and form clear aids to liberation. Of the other three states (Jagrat, swapna and sushupti) each one is exclusive of the other two and limited by the conditions of time and space. They are therefore unreal. Our very experience of the jagrat and the swapna states proves that the Consciousness as the Self underlies all the five states, remains perfect all along and witnesses all of them. But with regard to similar consciousness in the deep sleep, every person is known to say “I was not aware of anything; I slept soundly and happily”. Two facts emerge from the statement (unawareness of anything and the happiness of sound sleep). Unless these existed and were experienced in sleep they could not find expression by the same person in the waking state. Inference also leads to the same conclusion. Just as the eye sees the darkness which remains enveloping all objects, so also the Self sees the darkness of nescience which remained covering the phenomenal world. This darkness was experienced when it (the Self) emerged in dots of supreme bliss, shone a trice and fleeted away in such fine subtlety as the rays of the moon which peer through the waving foliage. The experience was however not through any media (such as the senses of the mind), but bears out the fact that consciousness does exist in deep sleep. The unawareness is owing to the absence of relative knowledge, and the happiness to the absence of (seething) thoughts. If the experience of bliss in deep sleep is a fact, how is it that no one among all the human beings recollects it? A diver who has found the desired thing under water cannot make his discovery known to the expectant persons on the shore until he emerges from the water. Similarly the sleeper cannot express his experience because he cannot contact the organs of expression until he is awakened by his vasanas in due course. Therefore it follows that the Self is the light of Sat, Chit, Ananda. Visva, Taijasa and Prajna are the denominations of the experiencer in the waking, dream and deep sleep states respectively. The same individual  underlies all of them. They do not therefore represent the True Self which is pure Sat, Chit, Ananda. The experience in deep sleep was said to be the bliss of Brahman. It is only the negative aspect of such bliss, as it is the result of the absence of thoughts. Moreover it is transitory. Such a bliss is only the abhasa, the counterfeit of Supreme Bliss. It is not different from the blissful feeling of sensual pleasures. In deep sleep the Prajna is said to be united with the Self. So the individuality is potential in sleep. The Self is the basis of all the experiences. It remains as the witness and the support of them all. The Reality is thus different from the three states, the waking, the dream and the deep sleep.

.........................................611..............end......................