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“Love is our Being; desire is our rising”.
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We are finally brought to the conclusion that unconditional Self-surrender in which no room is given even to any kind of prayers, is the best karma (action). This is nothing but Self-abidance
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So long as a man experiences himself and the world as two separate entities, each having a distinct individual existence, he cannot in practice conceive even the mind transcending state of Parinirvana to be anything but a third which is distinct from himself and the world.
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direct their power of attention only towards second and third person objects, and no one ever directs it towards the first person! This great error is what is called the ‘original sin’.
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Since the eternal Self is non-dual and since there is no other path (to attain it) except (to attend to and thereby to abide as) Self, the goal to be attained is only Self and the path is only Self. Know them (the goal and the path) to be nondifferent. – Guru Vachaka Kovai verse 579
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Thus merely by our creating ourself as a limited individual soul on account of our pramada or forgetfulness of Self, we simultaneously become the one who has created the other two entities, the world and God.
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If an aspirant truly engages himself in the practice of Self-attention, he will often feel as if the state of Self-consciousness, which is his own true nature, is clearly known for some time and as if it is afterwards obscured. On such occasion he will be able to understand very clearly from his own experience how the world-appearance vanishes and how it again comes into existence. Because of the speed of forgetfulness or pramada by which he swerve from the state of Self-attention, it may be difficult in the beginning for an aspirant to notice exactly when he
loses his hold on Self-attention. In due course, however, because of the clarity and strength which he will gain by repeatedly practicing Self-attention, it will become possible for him to notice the exact moment when Self-attention is lost, and thus it will become possible for him to regain it immediately. On all the occasions when he thus clearly cognizes the moment when Self-attention is lost and the moment when it is regained, the aspirant will be able to know very easily from his own experience how the world is created by his losing Self-attention and how it is then destroyed
by his regaining Self-attention.
Thus the aspirant will come to know with absolute certainty that his giving room to slackness in Self-attention is the means by which the body and world are created, that his maintaining slackness in Self-attention on account of his lack of interest either to notice that such slackness had occurred or to put an end to it, is the means by which the world is sustained, and that his firmly abiding once again in his own real and, blissful state of pure Consciousness, which is devoid of the limitations of name and form, having vigilantly known the exact
moment when slackness in Self-attention occurred and having thereby put an end to it, is the means’ by which the world is destroyed. When the aspirant comes to know this truth from his own direct experience, he will realise himself to be the perfect Supreme Reality which transcends the three functions of creation, sustenance and destruction, and hence he will remain unshakably established in the state of absolute peace.
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But if the man described above really takes to the path of complete self-surrender in order to acquire from God the power which is necessary for him to bring about such a radical reformation in the creation, what will actually happen in the end? If and when the surrender becomes complete, the mind or ego which had risen as ‘I am so-and-so’ and which had cherished all the wonderful notions mentioned above, will surely drown and perish in Self, the source from which it had risen, thereby losing its separate individuality.
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, the fact that the real cause of all the miseries that appear to us in the world is solely due to our defective outlook that has come into existence as a result of our contracting our limitless blissful Nature of existence into a limited body through the unlimited freedom inherent in us of using our Will, it will then become obvious that the only wise thing to do, is to put an end to the disease of the appearance of the world and body (through Self-attention) and be ever blissful.
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The Path is to attend to ‘I am’ and the Goal is to remain as ‘I am’!
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“From now onwards there is no such thing for me as a need in my life. Let anything take place in my life as you will ” “… all such sorts of ups and downs, happiness or misery, prosperity or poverty, honour or dishonour, fame or ill-fame…” The only need is You alone; fulfill that one need of mine, my Lord! – Sri Ramalinga Swamy.
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“Who was it (but Thee) that ruined my living by throwing mud into my mouth?” – ‘Arunachala Aksharamanamalai’ - Verse 88.
“Who was it, who, unknown to anyone, allured me and stole away my mind?” – ‘Arunachala Aksharamanamalai’ - Verse 89
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“Thou hast delivered me from the madness for the world and hast turned me into a mad man having madness for Thee. Now, the medicine to cure this madness also is Thy Grace.” – ‘Arunachala Aksharamanamalai’ - Verse 66.
“When will the wave of thought in me cease so that I may reach Thee, the most minute as well as the most great?” – ‘Arunachala Aksharamanamalai’ - Verse 57.
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“For Thee I am longing, but without the true knowledge, and I am weary! Do Thou grant me the Supreme Knowledge of Thee, so That my weariness may go, O Arunachala.” – ‘Arunachala Aksharamanamalai’ – Verse 40
Knowing that the present pangs of separation of our Man are due to his love for Him (God) and this in turn is due to not having the right knowledge of His reality, (Real Nature) and that the only remedy for this is to bestow upon him the Supreme Knowledge; God withdraws from the sight of the Man His unreal aspects, the name and form.
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“… realizing one’s own truth in the truth of that True Thing (the Supreme) and being one with It, having been resolved into It, is the true Seeing (realization). Thus should you know”. – ‘Ulladu Narpadu’ – Verse 8.
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Realising the oneness of one’s own Self as the true nature of God and to merge into It without any residue of individuality, alone is the true seeing and the true attainment of God. Is it not?
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Ramana that, unless one experiences one’s Self, the knowledge that everything is Brahman cannot be perfect and true; although one accepts that everything is Brahman and tries to see the world as such; it will be only an imagination
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“The dissolving of the ice - the ego sense ‘I am the body’ into the ocean – the Guru-Awareness – that is the same as the oneness of Self-Awareness, is the true worship of the Guru.” – ‘Guru Vachaka Kovai’ - Verse 315
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“Only when you know your Self, no harm can befall you….” -‘Kaivalyam’ - Chapter I - Verse 13.
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“Those who do not understand that the JnanaGuru is the formless Supreme Space though he appears in the human form, are the vilest of all criminals.” – ‘Guru Vachaka Kovai’ - Verse 274
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Your Love of the Self (Swatma Bhakti) i.e., your (ego’s) merging into the Self, is verily your true Love of the Guru (Guru-Bhakti).
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“Because one has no Love (Swatma Bhakti) to listen to the teaching of the Supreme Self ever going on in the heart, one comes out with great enthusiastic delusion. Because of this one needs a Guru outside.” – ‘Guru Vachaka Kovai’ - Verse 272
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“...Remaining in one’s own real Beingness is the very truth of Supreme Love” –‘Upadesha Undiyar’ - Verse 9
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“…One who has such ‘Love for not an other’ drowns in Thee, the Self the form of Bliss.” –‘Sri Arunachala Pancharatnam’ Verse 5
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Yes, but, why has it been said that even the Guru’s love towards the disciple is less than one’s Love towards the Self? In the view of the Guru, there is no one other than the Self. Therefore, His love is truly not a love towards a second entity as disciple. The Guru never views anyone as a disciple – an other than Himself.
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“To say the truth, he who knows the Truth (MeiJnani) is different from he who knows of the Truth in the scriptures (Vijnani). The only essential thing to do for those who want to cut the knot of the bondage of ignorance, is to quit those who know the scriptures and to join those who abide in the Self, the Knowers of Truth.” –‘Guruvachaka Kovai’ - Verse 1158
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“The only worthy disciplehood which is the steadfast Supreme Devotion that springs up with the merging of the ego into the Light of Supreme Silence (or Self-Awareness), is verily the right Guruship. Thus should you know” –‘Guruvachaka Kovai’- Verse 269
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Bhakti and Jnana pave the way to the Self. To be as the Self is Jnana; and without loving the Self how to be It?
So, if one is as Self, it is the state of fullness of
Love. If one has ‘Bhakti one cannot but be as the Self. So Bhakti and Jnana are not two but the Self, like the two faces of the same coin.
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For, a real devotee will never ask God to alter his Prarabdha
because he has surrendered his ‘original freedom to will and act’ to Him;
no more a real enquirer will make an effort towards any other thing except to attend to the Self,
because he knows the right use of his ‘original freedom to will and act’
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Manikvachakar
“The very moment You took me as Your own, I lost my individuality! You may do good or wrong to me! Who am I to interfere, O my Lord!”
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“O Arunachala….O Bliss born out of Love! What is there for me to say? Thy Will is my will and Thy Will is Itself my happiness.” -‘Sri Arunachala Pathikam’ - Verse 2
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...... And it is only to such student that the method of rectifying the two mistakes in using the ‘freedom to will and act’, mentioned above, can be explained. Verily, only for the sake of such few devotees, who by experiencing the results of karmas through so many births have been maturing through dispassion towards karmas, God comes in the form of a Guru
...Thus the Guru places in front of the disciple the path of Self-enquiry and the path of Self-surrender – the path of Knowledge and the path of Love (Jnana Marga and Bhakti Marga). From that time onwards the devotee, who takes to either Self-enquiry or Self-surrender, is able to understand that whatever happens in his life is only favourable to lessen the activities of his mind and make him turn Self-ward. Not only that, he is also able to understand that whatever has happened to him in
the past through his Prarabdha as ordained by God,
before he took to his present spiritual path, were also incidents favourable to lessen the activities of his mind and make him turn Self-ward.
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To the disciple who is now wondering about his new outlook on life, these loving words of Sri Ramana flash through his mind:- “Know this to be by the Grace of your Guru who is acting from outside to push you within.” As soon as he gets this new outlook on life, he feels ashamed to pray any longer to his God or Guru to alter his destiny (Prarabdha); because, he now finds that all the activities going on in his life are only to make him turn Self-ward.
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In short, in the eyes of such a matured disciple, the Prarabdha becomes completely non-existent.
He does not use the word ‘Prarabdha’, but points out to it as ‘The loving Will of my Lord;
His Will is my pleasure!’.
Now the surrender completes itself –
the life has been changed into one immense Bliss,
even the greatest tortures now appear to him, [as sings Saint Appar:
* “(Where I was placed) under the shade of the Feet of my Lord, I felt as if on the cool bank of a pond in the spring full moon, under the pleasant touch of the southern breeze while the Veena is playing sweet melody”.
His mind so transformed is no longer a ‘mind’, It is Self – his very nature.
We can say that, what was previously called ‘mind’ is now destroyed.
Thus we are able to understand that the experiencership
(Bhoktrutva) is destroyed along with the doership (Kartrutva).
Having his two aspects thus destroyed, the jeeva’s keeping quite is the ‘BE STILL’ (Summa Iru).
And THIS is the real teaching (Upadesha) of the Guru. To BE so STILL is the real service to God and to the Guru. And to BE so STILL is really to live in the Divine. And THIS is the original Natural State.
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It is said above that the destruction of the doership is itself the destruction of the experiencership also. The same power – our Perfect Freedom, which imagined a separate entity as a doer, when now, on the contrary, acts in the form of an intense Power to Will (Ichcha Shakti) and an intense Power to Act (Kriya Shakti) to BE STILL, this un-equalled Power - the DYNAMIC STILLNESS destroys the insignifican
false and imaginary ‘ichcha and kriya shakti’ used for the creation, sustenance and destruction of the universe.
At this stage, the unnatural superimposition made by the aforesaid power of imagination to see the Self, by the Self, in the Self - as many, ceases!
Now, as the aspirant experiences the real Awakening into his True Nature which ever shines as ONE with no otherness – the Perfect SELF alone, the sleep of ignorance in which the dream of birth and death of the individual (the doer) appeared, disappears!!
When the doership is thus destroyed, who stands there for
experiencership? Hence, the heap or Sanchita, with its good and bad results of the karmas performed, disappears like a dream, just as both debts and gains in a dream disappear on waking-up. It is what is mentioned in ‘Kaivalyam
“Just as a bundle of cotton is burnt to ashes, during the Great Fire of Dissolution, Sanchita, the wonderful seed of diversified fruits – innumerable births - is utterly burnt to ashes by the Fire of Knowledge.” – ‘Kaivalyam’ - Chapter I -Verse 96.
and in Bhagavad Gita:-- “ ... The Fire of Knowledge burns ALL karmas to ashes.” –‘Bhagavad Gita’ - Chapter IV - Verse 37
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how can the experiencership still live after the doership has been destroyed by the dawn of Self-Knowledge? It cannot! When the experiencership is thus lost, who is there to experience the Prarabdha and how? No one!
Will not
the Prarabdha be nullified since there is no experiencer? Therefore, for the Jnani there is truly none of the three Karmas; but, as an ignorant and immature aspirant takes the Jnani to be a body – he cannot do otherwise - the scriptures have to tell him that the Jnani has Prarabdha alone
That is why the Supreme, who takes the form of different Gurus at different times to frame rules – the different scriptures – now appearing in the form of Sri Ramana, gives for the benefit of the highly mature souls, the following amendment to the scriptures, which He had Himself framed at different times:- “To say that Sanchita and Agamya will not adhere to a Jnani, but Prarabdha does remain (to be experienced by Him) is only a superficial reply to the question put by others. Just as none of the
wives will remain unwidowed when the husband dies, so also, all the three Karmas will cease to exist when the doer (ego) dies. Thus should you know” - ‘Ulladu Narpadu – Supplement’ - Verse 33
The aspirant who is on the path of Love (Bhakti) believes that there is a God or Guru and that He protects him, with the hope that He will do for him whatever is good. Such an aspirant, while using his ‘original freedom to will and act’, surrenders his doership to Him; therefore he, no longer has to make efforts (Agamyas), and thus BEcomes STILL.
of their efforts and activities while experiencing the different joys and trials of life and who finally come to understand the right use of their ‘original freedom to will and act’. Through their ‘original freedom to will and act’ they withdraw their attention from second and third person objects and by attending to the Self, giving no room for (imaginary) inattention in their quest, they try to regain the Truth of the Self – the state of actionless-ness. Thus they BEcome STILL.
The freedom to like either; to make a complete surrender to God or to dispel the ignorance – in the form of an imaginary inattention, through Self-enquiry, and the freedom to act accordingly is in the individual; never it is obstructed; for, it is the very nature of Brahman. But for this freedom alone, Moksha or Liberation or the complete relief from miseries would be absolutely impossible and all Gurus and scriptures from time immemorial would become unnecessary and in vain!
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But some among us may ask: “By the limited knowing power (Alpa-Chit-Shakti) of the individual which is merely an imaginary reflection of the power of the True and un-limited Knowledge (Akhanda-ChitShakti), it is impossible to attain the State of Perfection (the Supreme). Is not the Grace of the power of that True unlimited Knowledge which Itself is God or Guru necessary?” Yes, indeed it is necessary! Because help is needed, IT gives help to those who have faith in God, in their efforts to surrender their ‘I-ness’, by bestowing upon them a tremendous capacity to surrender. This is
what is meant by the saying, “Take one step towards God; He will take ten steps towards you.” While to the aspirant who, though having no faith in God or Guru, makes intense effort, with enthusiasm, in enquiring into the Self, his Reality, the Self acts as Guru and gives help from within as well as from without (external).
IT shines in the form of that clarity of understanding that makes him understand through the outer events in his life, that the outgoing attention IS only misery. IT shines in the form of Bliss within and makes him turn within towards IT and know
‘This Bliss is my real state’, thus attracting him to merely BE. In this way the Grace of the Guru or God helps even him from within and without.
“Verily the Self is the Supreme Principle (Reality). Do Thou, Thyself reveal this to me, O Arunachala”. – Arunachala Akshramanamalai - Verse 43
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Arunachala, the Heart, is the only Thing that exists. “It is the Light of Self-Awareness. Knowing a thing or not knowing a thing is not the nature of the Self.
“That which knows objects is not the True Knowledge” says Shri Bhagavan in verse No. 12 of ‘Ulladu Narpadu’. ‘Being’ alone is the True Knowledge and not ‘knowing’.
Self-Knowledge is subjective and not objective. “Even such knowing the Self is nothing but Being the Self” says Shri Bhagavan in verse No. 26 of ‘Upadesha Undiyar’
This ‘Being the Self’ is the Pure Awareness ‘I AM’. Therefore, the knowing or not knowing other objects is the characteristic of the ego.
Only in the state of ego, these other objects can have an existence. Thus knowledge and ignorance can be only for the ego and not for the Self. For the Self there is not another. It is most important that we should not forget the fact that Shri Bhagavan Ramana once revealed even a subtler secret, “It is not only that the Self does not know other things but also does not know even: Itself!!”
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