Ravi just informed me by email that the previous Open Thread, started last year, had reached 5,000 comments, and that it was refusing to take any more.
Please continue all your discussions here.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Sri Ramana Maharshi
Welcome
I propose to use this blog primarily to air my occasional musings on any matters relating to the life and teachings of Ramana Maharshi. There will also be occasional contributions about Arunachala, the sacred mountain where Sri Ramana spent all of his adult life.
Articles and interviews on these topics can also be found on my site: www.davidgodman.org.
Articles and interviews on these topics can also be found on my site: www.davidgodman.org.
2,142 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 1001 – 1200 of 2142 Newer› Newest»The Paramount Importance of Self
Attention:
Sri Sadhu Om:
continues.....
'What is this 'I'? What is the source from which it appears?' ---
All that is required is that our interest in this feeling of 'I' should increase. That is bhakti.
Inquiry, faith and the bhakti are not contradictory. They are all necessary. Inquiry begins with faith. Unless we have faith in the guru who tells us that self attention is the means to true happiness, we would not be interested in attending to the first person. And when we practice
self attention, our experience of inner clarity confirms our faith and thus our love for the guru increases.
Some people think that they can practice self inquiry, so they do not need faith or bhakti. Such people know neither what bhakti nor what inquiry actually is.
The purpose of outer guru is to make us understand the need for self attention and to enkindle love for it in our heart. A living person is of course not needed for that. Bhagavan's books serve the same purpose and He provides us with fellow devotees and other aids as and when necessary. The environment or circumstances in which we live are provided by the guru, who knows what the most suitable environment is for maturing us.
When we start trying to attend to the first person, the guru within, who is the self, will start working. Whenever we attend to the 'I', the guru's work is going on. Once we have been given a taste for self attention, our love for it naturally increases and matures, like the momentum of a rubber ball as it bounces down a flight of stairs.
To think of the real greatness of a Jnani is a good means to quieten the mind. When Arjuna's grandson, King Parikshit, was cursed that he would die in seven days, he went to his guru, Suka Brahmam. Suka told him that he was fortunate, because he was assured of seven days and then he started to tell him the story of Krishna . Parikshit was so absorbed in hearing the greatness of Krishna that six days passed by unnoticed, and when Suka reminded him that he would die that day, he replied, 'Who will die, only this body!' Hearing about Krishna had given him Jnana. Sometimes I used to think of Bhagavan and His greatness, hours would pass without my noticing them. Great Jnanis are such that even thinking of them can quieten the mind.
contd.,
****
The Paramount Importance of
Self Attention:
Sri Sadhu Om:
continues....
2nd January 1978.
Once we have wholeheartedly taken
Sri Bhagavan to be our Guru, we have no need to worry; we are like the child in mother's lap. Of course, we cannot expect Bhagavan to choose His disciples, because in His view, there are no others, so it for us to decide that He is our Guru and protector.
Once we have wholeheartedly decided this, then we are truly having association or Satsngha with Him. This is really the Satsangha that He refers to in the first five verses of Ulladu Narpadu Anubandham. Once we enjoy this Satsangha, He will be working from within and without. From outside He will shape our physical circumstances suitably, and from inside He will work deep within our chittam, where He will root out our vasanas by burning, drying, churning out or dealing with them in whatever other way is moist appropriate. We may not see any changes, of course, because the mind is not a suitable instrument for gauging its own development.
The influence of His silence, is of course dependent upon the receptivity of us, the receiver set. As He says in Nan Yar? (Who am I?), we must unfailingly follow the path shown by the guru. We must be sincere in our love for Him. He says that He is self shining in each one of us as 'I', so if we really love Him, we will naturally and happily attend to this 'I'. When we are thus in His hands, he will make us do whatever is necessary. When we should attend to self, He will make us do do, and when we need some other experiences, He will provide them also.
contd.,
****
The Paramount Importance of Self
Attention:
Sri Sadhu Om;
continues......
If Bhagavan was truly a fit guru (our real self) when He was appearing as a body, then He must also be a fit guru now. But then He was with all His (Brahman's) five aspects, Sat Chit Ananda Nama Rupa, where is He is now without nama rupa, His false aspects, and hence He shines unimpeded as pure
Sat Chit Ananda. Therefore His power is now infinite. He always used to say that His body was veiling His true nature, and that those that took the body to be guru would be disappointed. Now His body gone, He has left us with no outward farm to cling to, so we have no alternative but to accept that I AM alone is the guru. I have found many disciples who have come to Him after the passing of His body are more sincere, and have clearer understanding than most of those who came earlier because they
were transfixed just on His physical form.
He now saves us from mistaking Him to be the body, so what advantage would we gain from going to other bodies who are reputed to be great Mahatmas? He has said that the greatest Mahatma is within, so why not forget those other Mahatmas and abide peacefully as this Mahatma (or real Self)?
contd.,
****
The Paramount Importance of Self
Attention:
Sri Sadhu Om:
continues....
Using the yardstick given to us by
Bhagavan, we can now see that any would-be guru who conducts classes,
and flies around the world, thinking he is guiding others, is not a real guru, because the guru does not see any ignorant jivas to guide. Bhagavan never attempted to guide anyone, but just kept quiet, and it was always a great wonder to Him when people came to Him saying, 'Bhagavan, I do not know myself, so please show the way to Self.' What could He reply? He could only counter question, 'Who does not know whose self? Who is this I?
A mantra is a set of syllables, and the word literally means 'that which protects when meditated on', coming from the same root as manas
(mind) and manana (meditation or cognition). Who is to be protected? The ego! A name of God will at least lead us to God, but a mantra will only protect us (our ego, mind or individuality) from God. There has been so much talk in India about the mantras that nowadays people are not satisfied unless they are given a mantra. However, mantras are only for worldly things, so Bhagavan and Sri Ramakrishna never initiated anyone with mantras.
Bhagavan's instruction concerning mantra japa was that we should watch the source from which the sound of mantra rises. What did He mean? Since the sound rises only from oneself, who repeats the mantra, He meant that we should ignore the mantra and instead cling fast to self attention.
The mind must be made one pointed so that it will cling to one thing
alone, but for that it not necessary to practice concentration or any second or third person, such as our breathing, a mantra or a form of God. We can just as well start our concentration practice by attending the first person, 'I'. If we wish to learn to cycle to Tirukoilur, it is not necessary to practice in some open space here.
Why not start our practice on the road to Tirukoilur? Likewise, since self is our goal, why not start by attending to the self?
Some people may say that attending to 'I' is more difficult than attending to other things, but how can they prove their claim? In part I of The Path of Sri Ramana, I have explained what it is difficult and what is easy. Whatever you try to attend to, whenever your attention wanders, you must draw it back to its target, and this is easy, to do whether that target is 'I' or some subject. Attending to the first person is the direct means, and attending to anything else, is in no way any easier, Indeed, practicing concentration on any object will only increase the outgoing tendency of the mind, and will thus hinder us when we turn towards self.
contd.,
*****
The Paramount Importance of Self
Attention:
Sri Sadhu Om.
continues.....
In Nan Yar? Bhagavan says, '...when the body dies, the mind seizes and takes the prana away.' This simply means that when the mind subsides into its Source, the tendency or habit of breathing also subsides. Then as soon as the mind rises again, projecting a new body, the functions of breathing restarts automatically and immediately.
Whenever there is body consciousness, there is breathing.
Breathing is an ingrained habit of the mind, and if we try to see how breathing stars, the mind subsides. This is another clue for self attention [because what breathing stars from is only ourself].
Scientists talk of an involuntary nervous system, but there is no such thing. If they looked to see how these involuntary functions start, they would understand that all physical functions are volition-driven actions of the mind, so they can be controlled if they are scrutinized by a sharp and refined mind.
Bhagavan used to say that dream is the activity of a half confused mind, and waking is the activity of the fully confused mind. In fact, the mind itself is confusion. We have so many confused beliefs - that we are born, that we have a past and a future, and so on -- but if we really consider all things, we will see that they are known only after we come into existence, as this mind. If we carefully scrutinize the mind to see how and when all these thoughts arise, we will find that 'I am' alone is always shining. The past and future are only thoughts existing now, in the present moment.
Therefore I am pukka atheist. I always say: 'don't believe what you don't know! The only thing we know directly and for certain is 'I am.'
We know of our birth only by hearing about it from others, but we know that these 'others' only after knowing ourself. Our present knowledge of the past is only ides obtained from memory or external sources, which are second or third persons, but we know second or third persons only after the first person. Our belief in the future also relies upon a second or third person, namely inferring faculty of our intellect. Even our experiences of the present are known only indirectly through our mind and senses. Hence, all knowledge is merely a reflection of our original knowledge, 'I am'. It will be a flimsy reflection of our own self awareness, and seems real and substantial only because of our mental confusion, which will disappear if we keenly scrutinize the first person or the present moment.
contd.,
***
The Paramount Practice of Self Attention:
Sri Sadhu Om:
continues....
In Nan Yar? Bhagavan says that those who earn the gracious glance of the guru will surely be saved, but the guru's glance is not just a glance of his physical eyes. If we wish to know if someone is looking at us, we must look at them, and since if self is the guru, we must turn selfward to see if self is looking at us. Indeed the guru is always looking at us, so in order to be saved we only have to attend to him, who shines as 'I'.
Many people say to me, 'This Self Inquiry is difficult, so please tell us what self surrender is', but in Nan Yar? Bhagavan says that self attention alone is self surrender:
Being completely absorbed in atma nishta (self abidance), giving not even the slightest room to the rising of any thought other than atma chintana (self contemplation), is giving ourself to God.
When people ask me what meditation Bhagavan taught, I reply that meditation means thinking, but Bhagavan instructed us not to think - to stop meditating. This is what He teaches us in the first mangalam verse of Ulladu Narpadu:
....Since the existing reality exists without thought, in the heart, who can [or how to] meditate on [that] existing reality, which is called 'heart'? Being as it is in the heart alone is 'meditating'. Experience (thus).
contd.,
****
The Paramount Importance of Self
Attention:
Sri Sadhu Om:
continues...
The aim of all yogas is to make the mind one pointed. This is why always recommend people to stick to one guru and wholeheartedly follow his teaching. Ever if the guru is bogus one, so long as your guru bhakti is sincere, your one- pointedness of mind will soon give you clarity to see that he is bogus. This is why Bhagavan criticized people going to many mahatmas. For example, in Verse 121 of Guru Vachaka Kovai, He says:
You who desire to see with wonder that mahatma and this mahatma ! If you investigate and experience the nature of your own mahatma (great Self) within you, (you will see that) every mahatma is only (that one (your own self.)
If you meet only real mahatma, he will teach you that the Atma in you is the same as the Atma in all mahatmas, and that it is therefore
futile to go to any other mahatmas. One pointed guru bhakti is essential for the earnest practice of self attention.
Another clue for self attention is to try to see exactly when, how and from what thought arises. Such attention will automatically make the mind subside. Thought rises only when there is self-negligence
(pramada), attention to anything other than self.
contd.,
*****
The Paramount Importance of Self
Attention:
Sri Sadhu Om.
continues...
3rd January 1978.
Q: Is attention to the present moment the same as self attention?
Sadhu Om: Yes, or rather, it is a clue leading to self attention. Attention to any second or third person is not possible in the precise present moment, because thought, which are attention paid to second or third persons, are always moving. Such wavering attention can never result of what is Real, because to know what is Real, attention must stand still (since stillness is the nature of Reality).
If you look for the present moment among second and third persons, you will find no such thing, but will find only a constant movement from past to future. However, if you attend to the first person, attention will stand still, and when attention is still, it subsides into its Source. You will then know that Self is always present in 'now' and that all else is non existent.
When people are told to pay attention to the 'now', they find
they cannot do so, because they are only attending to second or third persons. The clue of self attention is essential, because then only can we understand what the present moment is actually is.
In the first sentence of the mangalam verse of Ulladu Narpadu, Sri Bhagavan asks: 'Without that which is, can there be consciousness of being?' That is,
if there were not that which is, namely 'I', could there be awareness of 'am'? This awareness 'am' which is self-shining, shows clearly that something real does exist, and the real something cannot be other than this awareness, because the awareness 'am' is a first person awareness -- an awareness only of itself, not of anything else. This sentence is clearly referring to the existence and awareness of 'I', and not to that of any object, because to be known, objects depend upon 'I'.
Since this Reality 'I' exists beyond thought, in the heart, and is therefore called 'heart', how to meditate upon it? This clearly shows the absurdity of meditation. All religions teach that we should think of or meditate upon the Reality of God, but since it exists beyond thought, how can we think or meditate upon it? Sri Bhagavan therefore teaches us that subsiding in the heart as it is -- that is, as 'I am' - is alone 'meditating'
upon it correctly. That is, the only way we can truly 'meditate' upon what is real, is beyond thought, thought can never take us to it. To attain it, we must give up all thought, including the first thought, the 'I' that thinks, and just be as is.
****
The Paramount Importance of Self Attention:
Sri Sadhu Om.
continues.....
4th January, 1978.
Sadhu Om: Now, in the waking state, we say so many things about the deep sleep state, because we have no clear idea of what sleep is. If we make proper research into sleep, we will discover that there is no difference between sleep and Jnana. We can now take sleep as an example of our happiness that is enjoined in the absence of the 'I' world and God. Our love of sleep proves our love for egolessness, as Bhagavan implies in Verse 3 of Ulladu Narpadu. (..) that state devoid of 'I' is agreeable to everyone.' What we now call sleep appears to be limited because on waking state we rise again as 'I' but Jnana has no such limitation, so the happiness of Jnana is unlimited.
Nowadays people try to glorify Bhagavan by saying that He is great because He said something that Buddha said, something else that Christ said and so on, as if His greatness could not stand by itself. Christ, Buddha, Sankara, Ramakrishna and others were all great examples of Jnanis, but outwardly they roamed about arguing, teaching, and founding religions, whereas Bhagavan is Jnana itself, so He just kept quiet. It is absurd to try to show His greatness in the light of these Jnanis, because His greatness is the self shining source of all light. Doing so is like propping up a bamboo at the foot of Arunachala and saying that we are helping the Hill to stand, whereas in fact, many such bamboos can grow on it.
We are told that we project the world, but this does not mean that the seer is the projector. We, the seer (mind or ego) are part of the projection, as Bhagavan says in Verse 160 of Guru Vachaka Kovai:
The false person (or soul) who behaves as 'I' occurs as one among the shadow pictures (in this world picture, which is like a cinema show.
Who is this 'I' we say is the projector? By our investigating 'who am I?' the non existence of both the projector and its projection will be exposed.
contd.,
*****
SURRENDER - ANA CALLAN RAMANA;
The golden glow of Holy Mountain
folds all children in to her ample
arms,
dried petals and leaves
of our imagined stories all stored
in her boundless bounty, each
tender
feeling, each supposed loss, each
bittersweet sensation drop into
the one priceless pearl, leaving
only the beauty and the blinding
light of Truth; that we belong
and always have to He Who
Abides in the Heart of All
Beings, our saving grace,
our brilliant star, the moon
that cools the raging fire,
luring us towards surrender,
relieving us until we are
seduced into the lap
of pure and untouched love.
****
Akka Mahadevi:
Listen, sister, listen.
I had a dream
I saw rice, betel, plamleaf
and coconut
I saw an ascetic
come to beg
white teeth and small matted curls,
I followed on his heals
and held his hand,
he who goes breaking
all bounds and beyond.
I saw the Lord, white as Jasmine
and woke wide open.
****
Allamma Prabhu:
A running river
is all legs.
A burning fire
is mouths all over.
A blowing breeze
is all hands
So, Lord of the caves,
for your men,
every limb is a Symbol.
*****
Basavesvara:
I don't know anything like time-
beats and meter
nor the arithmetic if strings and
drums;
I don't know he count of iamb and
dactyl
My Lord of meeting rivers,
as nothing will hurt you
I'll sing as I love.
****
Devara Dasimayya:
You balanced the globe
on the waters
and kept it from melting away;
you made the sky stand
without pillar or prop.
O Ramanatha
which gods could have
done this?
******
Pradakshina with the King:
Ana Callan:
For a while Rama let me be his
walking stick
as he moved around his sacred hill,
o god, he could lean on so
beautifully
and he did, each step of his a
miraculous
rhythm to which my being turned and
when he sat, I tilted back and
watched
the sky nourishing its clouds, his
palm all the while upon my head,
which in his care had become
a crown of jewels and lotuses,
rising up to Heaven's crest
above us and raining softly
down on man and wood
and mountain all of it God's bounty
offered from His One Heart,
out of which all i' had
been carved, and hewn now to bark
and dust,
a bent branch hollowed
just enough to be allowed
to carry him, gleaming
and hallowed by his handsome
and o unspeakably tender hand.
******
The Paramount Importance of Self
Attention:
Sri Sadhu Om.
continues....
Arguments about the world and God are futile, as Bhagavan teaches teaches us in Verses 2 and 3 of Ulladu Narpadu. The manyness of the world allows for dualties such as real or unreal, conscious or non conscious, and happy and miserable. Where there is duality there will be doubt. Self is One, devoid of duality, so self knowledge will allow no room for dualities or doubts, Therefore, we should avoid doing research on God or the world, and should instead do research only on 'I'. 'I' will then disappear along with both God and the world. The resulting state of egolessness is agreeable to everyone (Ulladu Narpadu Verse 3), as shown by our experience of sleep.
5th January 1978.
Sadhu Om: If 'I' is taken to be a form, the world and God will also be experienced as forms (Ulladu Narpadu Verse 4). Even the conception of a 'formless God' is a mental form or image. Nirguna
Dhyana or formless worship of God is futile effort, like a person chasing the horizon in order to touch the all pervading space. (Verse 3 of Arunachala Ashtakam.)
Reality cannot be found by meditation, which is attending to the mind and its images. It can only be found by non-meditation, which is self attention. However,
Bhagavan said we should not think that Saguna worship [worship of
God as a form] is useless. We should practice either Saguna worship or self attention.
In Verse 4 of Ulladu Narpadu, Bhagavan asks: 'Can what is seen be
otherwise than the eye [that sees it]?' That is the nature of what experiences it. Therefore, the appearance of the world and God depends upon the appearance of the seer, 'I' and their forms depend upon the seer's form.
contd.,
*****
Akka Mahadevi.
Would a circling surface vulture
know the depths of sky
as the moon would know?
Would we weed on the river bank
know such depths of water
a the lotus would know?
Would a fly darting nearby
know the smell of flowers
as the bee would know?
O Lord white as Jasmine
only you would know
the way of your devotees;
how would these,
these
mosquitoes
on the buffalo's hide?
*****
Basavesvara:
The rich
will make temples for Siva.
What shall I,
a poor man,
do?
My legs are pillars
the body the shrine
the head a cupola
of gold.
Listen, O Lord of the meeting
rivers,
things standing shall fall
but the moving ever shall stay.
****
Devara Dasimayya.
Can the wind bring out
and publish for others
the fragrance
in the little bud?
Can even begetters, father and
mother,
display for onlookers' eyes
the future breast and flowing hair
in the little girl
about to be bride?
Only ripeness
can show consequences
Ramanatha.
Allamma Prabhu.
If mountains shiver in the cold
with what
will they wrap them?
I space goes naked
with what
shall they clothe it?
If the lord's men becomes
worldlings
where will I find the metaphor,
O Lord of Caves.
*****
Ramana's women:
(Ana Callan)
The old lady slowly
lighting lamps in the early morning,
her back curved like a half moon,
each flame a fresh prayer for her
guru
His mother laying down her needs and melting into the vision of His
holy feet.
Keerai Patti boiling greens with
love
and tender care, refusing to taste
a morsel
till she had fed her Master.
And O O O dear Lakshmi,
racing from the cowshed,
nudging English ladies aside
in her haste towards her darling
Ramana's dear lap, to feel His hand
patting her devoted, lowered head.
*******
The Paramount Importance of Self Attention:
Sri Sadhu Om.
continues....
'Eye' is also used in Tamizh to mean
Jnana (Knowledge or Consciousness), so that the 'endless eye', limitless or infinite eye is the self, which -- being limitless and formless - can see only limitlessness or formlessness. Therefore, self can never see any name or form, not anything other than itself. It experiences only formless self awareness, 'I am'.
This is expressed by Bhagavan in verse 27 of Arunachala Aksharamana malai: 'O Arunachala, sun of bright
rays that swallows everything [entire appearance of the universe]...' See also Arunachala Pancharatnam Verse 1. This is, in the light of pure self awareness, which is Arunachala, the ego-I, the world and God will all disappear.
When there is body consciousness that is world consciousness. If none of the five sheaths were experienced as 'I', neither the world nor God could be seen, Ulladu Narpadu Verse 5. The world and God are therefore created by our
misidentifying a body to be 'I'. Hence the creator of both the world and God is only the 'I' that mistakes itself to be a body, so we should investigate 'Who is this 'I'? From this we can infer that the world and god are only as real as the idea 'I am this body', and since this body identification is unreal, so too are this world and god.
How are the Vasanas to be erased? Now we take these vasanas to be 'I' or 'mine'. This gross body is itself an expansion of them. In deep sleep, we do not experience any of them, so we assume that they remain in seed form, and in order to explain the seeming ignorance of sleep, [which exists only in the view of our waking mind], we postulate a causal body, whose form is conceived to be the sum total of all vasanas. This causal body seems to veil or obscure our pure self awareness, and hence it is conscious only of a state of dark ignorance.
However, by practicing self attention in the waking state, we will become more clearly conscious of it even during deep sleep. The vasanas then will be seen as shadows created by the dim light of our mind, which is a reflection of the bright light of self awareness.
contd.,
*****
Devaram Dasimayya:
A man filled grain
in a tattered sack
and walked all night
fearing the toll gates
But the grain went through the
tatters
and all he got was the gunny sack.
It is thus
with the devotion
of the faint hearted
O Ramanatha.
*****
Akka Mahadevi:
I have Maya for mother in law;
the world for father in law;
three brothers-in-law, like tigers;
and the husband's thoughts
are full of laughing women;
no god, this man.
And I cannot cross the sister in
law
But I will
give this wench the slip
and go cuckold my husband with
Hara, my Lord.
My mind is my maid;
by her kindness I join
my Lord
my utterly beautiful Lord
from the mountain peaks,
my Lord white as Jasmine
and I will make Him
my good husband.
*****
Basavesvara:
He'll grind you till you're fine
and small,
He'll file till your clothes shows.
If your grain grows fine
in the grinding
if you show color
in the filing,
then our Lord of meeting rivers
will love you
and look after you.
*****
Allamma Prabhu.
They don't know the day
is the dark's face,
and the dark the day's.
A necklace of nine jewels
lies buried intact, in the face of
the night;
in the face of day a tree
with leaves of nine designs.
When you feed the necklace
to the tree
the Breath enjoys it
in the Lord of Caves.
*****
Mahadevi Akka:
I love the Handsome One;
he has no death
decay nor form
no place or side
no end nor birthmarks.
I love Him O Mother, Listen.
I love the Beautiful One
with no bond nor fear
no clan no land
no landmarks
for His beauty.
So my Lord, white as Jasmine,
is my husband.
Take these husbands who die,
decay, and feed them
to your kitchen fires!
*****
First of September.
The packet of sweets,
the dhoti, coins
all attachments tossed
to the breeze.
When He came to
to the feet of His Father.
Bearing only the love
in His heart, limitless,
O so much larger
than anything
that can be owned.
(Ana Callan)
*****
The Paramount Importance of Self
Attention:
Sri Sadhu Om:
So long as we attend to vasanas and their products (our thoughts and desires and objects of the world), we will continue to take them to be 'I' or 'mine' and thus to be bound by them. However, if we ignore our vasanas, and instead attend only to the 'I', we will destroy them -- that is, we will expose their non existence.
We should not be put off by the strength of our vasanas and by their seemingly endless play. We should remember that they appear because I am, but they do not come to trouble us during sleep, even though we continue to exist then.
Therefore, I am real, and vasanas are unreal.
With this strong conviction, we should be courageous and remain disinterested in our vasanas, and thus we should carry on self attention undisturbed.
Sri Bhagavan gave us the following definition of reality: only that which is everlasting, unchanging, and self knowing is real. [Hence nothing other than 'I' is real, because everything else is transient, mutable, and known not by itself but only by 'I'].
When we accept the existence of the world we see, we should accept the existence of a power -- which we may call God -- that is responsible for it and for ordaining our prarabdha, which is whatever we are to experience in this world. As Sri Bhagavan says in Verse 1 of Upadesa Undiyar:
Karma giving fruit is by the ordainment of God. Can Karma be God, since Karma is jada (devoid of consciousness)?
However, because God does not appear as an object perceived through five senses, we say we do not believe in Him. This is like saying, that we see pictures on the cinema screen, but do not see the light that illumines them. The world is those pictures, and God is the self knowing light, 'I am' which makes the appearance of the world, and the functioning of karma possible.
contd.
****
Basavesvara:
Look, the world, in a swell
of waves, is beating upon my face.
Why should it rise to my heart,
tell me.
O tell me, why is it
rising now to my throat?
Lord,
how can I tell you anything
when it is risen high
over my head
Lord Lord
listen to my cries
O Lord of the meeting rivers
listen.
****
Devara Dasimayya:
You balanced the globe
on the waters
and kept it from melting away ,
You made the sky stand
without pillars
O Ramanatha,
which gods could have
done this?
*****
Mahadevi Akka:
You're like milk
in water; I cannot tell
what comes before
what after;
which is the master,
which is the slave;
what's big,
what's small.
O Lord white as Jasmine
if an ant should love you
and praise you,
will he not grow
to demon powers?
*****
Allamma Prabhu:
Outside the city limits
a temple.
In the temple, look,
a hermit woman.
In the woman's hand
a needle
at needle's end
the fourteen worlds.
O Lord of Caves,
I saw an ant
devour the whole
the woman, the needle,
the fourteen worlds.
****
The Paramount Importance of Self
Attention:
Sri Sadhu Om.
continues.....
The world does not exist apart from the body or the mind, as Bhagavan says in Verses 5 and 6 of Ulladu Narpadu. The world is merely an expansion of the mind projected through the five senses of the body. The world-picture is projected on the screen that is the mind; it is illumined by the mind; and it is seen by the mind. Therefore, since the mind is nothing other than the Self, in Verse 1 of Ulladu Narpadu, Bhagavan
says:
....The picture of names and forms [the world], the one who sees [it], the screen on which [it] depends, and the pervading light [of consciousness that illumines it] -- all these are He (the first thing or base], which is the Self.
To mistake a body, which is one of the pictures, to be 'I' and thus to feel that the world, which is all other pictures, is other than and outside of 'I' is a delusion, (maya0. Without this delusion 'I am this body', no world picture would be seen. Because we thus limit 'I', thinking it to be within a body, the concepts of 'inside' and 'outside' arise.
So long as the delusion 'I am this body' is experienced as real, the world will also be experienced as
real. Therefore, the only way to
experiences the unreality and non existence of the world is to investigate this feeling of 'I am the body'. When we do so, it will disappear, and then we shall no longer be troubled by the false appearance of this world.
contd.,
****
Basavesvara:
The pot is god. The winnowing
fan is god. The stone in the
street is god. The comb is a
god. The bowstring is also a
god. The bushel is god and the
spouted cup is god.
Gods, gods, there are so many
there's no place left
for a foot.
There is only
one god. He is our Lord
of the Meeting rivers.
****
Akka Mahadevi:
Locks of shining red hair
a crown of diamonds
small beautiful teeth
and eyes in a laughing face
that light up fourteen worlds -
I saw His glory,
and seeing, I quell today
the famine in my eyes.
I saw the haughty Master
for whom men, all men,
are but women, wives.
I saw the Great One
who plays at love
with Sakti,
original to the world.
I saw His stance
and began to live.
*****
Allamma Prabhu:
Before anyone calls him, he calls
them.
I saw him clamber over the forehead
of the wild elephant
born in his womb
and sway in play
in the dust of the winds.
I saw him juggle his body as a ball
in the depth of the sky,
play with a ten-hooded snake
in a basket; saw him blindfold
the eyes of five virgins.
I saw him trample the forehead
of the lion that wanders in the ten
streets,
I saw him raise the lion's
eyebrows.
I saw him grow from amazement
to amazement, holding a diamond
in his hand.
Nothing added,
nothing taken,
The Lord's stance
is invisible
to men untouched
by the Linga of the Breath.
****
Devara Dasimayya:
Ramanatha,
Who can know the beauty
of the Hovering One
who's made Himself form
and of space
the colors.
****
The Paramount Importance of Self
Attention:
Sri Sadhu Om:
6th January 1978.
Swami Natanananda: What is meditation? Who can meditate? Can the body meditate? Can the Self meditate? Meditation is just a means of feeding the non-existent 'I'. The true Sadhana is to be vigilant, at all times, against the rising of this 'I'.
One way to prevent the rising of the 'I' is to try to behave inwardly as well as outwardly, in every situation as you think Bhagavan would behave. If you practice this, there will be less and less of 'I' and more and more of Bhagavan, until finally you will be swallowed by Him.
Whenever peace is disturbed, it is due to rising of 'I'. Peace cannot be enjoyed while 'I' is active. Therefore the only means to hold on to peace is to be self vigilant, thus guarding against the intrusion of disturbing thoughts. Self attention is not an activity, but a calm state of being vigilant, keenly watching the 'I' and thereby preventing the intrusion of mental activity.
Meditation, which is a mental activity, is unreal, so it can reveal the real. Non meditation, which is avoiding mental activity can alone reveal the Reality. In the first mangalam verse of Ulladu Narpadu, Bhagavan says:
....Since the Reality ( I am) exists without thought in the heart, how to meditate upon that Reality, which is called 'Heart'? Being in the Heart as it is [that is I am] is alone meditation correctly upon Reality.
Since thought is paying attention to second or third persons, the only effective means to avoid thought is self attention. The rising of 'I' is attention to the second and third persons, so attention to the first person alone can make 'I' subside.
contd.,
****
Basavesvara:
The crookedness of the serpent
is straight enough for the snake-
hole.
The crookedness of the river
is straight enough for the sea.
And the crookedness of our Lord's
men
is straight enough for our Lord!
****
Devara Dasimayya:
To the utterly at-one with Siva
there is no dawn
no new moon
no noonday
nor equinoxes
nor sunsets
nor full moons;
his front yard
is the true Kasi,
O Ramanatha.
****
Mahadevi Akka:
Better than meeting
and mating all the time
is the pleasure of mating once
after being apart.
When he is away
I cannot wait
to get a glimpse of Him.
Friend, when will have it
both ways,
be with Him
yet not with Him
my Lord white as Jasmine?
*****
Allamma Prabhu:
The wind sleeps
to lullabies of the sky.
Space drowses,
infinity gives it suck
from her breast.
The sky is silent.
The lullaby is over.
The Lord is
as if He were not.
****
The Paramount Importance of Self Attention:
Sri Sadhu Om:
continues......
The reason why Bhagavan emphasizes that the appearance of the world is dependent upon the delusion 'I am this body' is to kindle Vairagya by making us understand that 'I am the body' is the root of all misery, and that it must therefore be eradicated.
Cutting the branches or even the trunk of the tree of delusion is futile, because its root, 'I am the body' must be destroyed. It is destroyed only by self attention. This is why Bhagavan says in Verse 26 of Ulladu Narpadu:
If the ego, which is the embryo (or root), comes into existence, everything comes into existence. If the ego does not exist, everything does not exist. The ego itself is everything. Therefore, know that investigating 'what is this ego'? is alone giving up everything.
We must fly on the two wings of Viveka and Vairagya.
Sadhu Om. We all have a clear knowledge of our own existence, 'I am'. If we give importance only to that, and try to maintain as it, that is self attention, guarding against the rising of 'I', avoiding attention to second and third persons, and vigilance against the intrusion of thoughts.
In everything we do there is 'am ness' I am walking, I am thinking, and so on. If we attend to this 'am-ness' and try to abide as it that is sufficient. There is no need to be concerned about thoughts; let them come or go. Thoughts are only thoughts because we attend to them. If we ignore them, they do not exist. Our sense of 'am-ness' (asmitva) signifies our self awareness or mere being. Mere being is the final goal. That is why Natanananda was saying that one day we will laugh at our present efforts.
(This article will further continue, if the July-Sept. 2013 issue of Mountain Path, comes out.)
****
Basavesvara:
See-saw watermills bow their heads,
So what?
Do they get to be devotees
to the Master?
The tongs join hands.
So what?
Can they be humble in service
to the Lord?
Parrots recite
So what?
Cam the read the Lord?
How can slaves of the Bodliess God,
Desire,
know the way
our Lord's men move
on the stance of their standing?
*****
Devara Dasimayya.
In mother's womb
the child does not know
his mother's face
nor can she ever know
his face.
The man in the world's illusion
does not know the Lord
nor the Lord him,
Ramanatha.
****
Akka Mahadevi.
Not one, not two, not three or four,
but through eight four thousand
vaginas
have I come
I have come
through unlikely worlds, guzzled on
pleasure and pain
Whatever be
all previous lives,
show me mercy
this one day,
O Lord
white as Jasmine.
*****
Allamma Prabhu.
It is dark above the clutching
hand,
It is dark over the seeing eye.
It is dark over the remembering
heart,
It is dark here,
With the lord of Caves
out there.
******
About the stilling the mind:
Lucia Osborne:
All men carry in their innermost core the reminiscence, however faint, of their true state of happiness, which at Source, is more than happiness; and freedom which is more than freedom. Hence everybody seeks happiness and freedom in one way or another, This is man's eternal quest -- this search for happiness, which is his birth right, meaning the discovery of the reality, of his being. Only true knowledge can set him free and liberate him from the trammels of his finite consciousness. Such knowledge, as is stressed again and again, sets one free not by grasping, seeing or having it but by being It --- a direct instrument-free intuitive knowledge which floods and overwhelms and washes away all illusory otherness, the drop merging in the shining sea, becoming sea, or the sea slipping into the drop.
Rationally and intellectually it is evident that happiness and peace of mind are bound up with stilling the mind. Why does one take drugs or drinks, read detective tales, watch films, seek all sorts of diversion? It helps to lull the mind, to forget thoughts, that trouble, although this state is fragmentary, unsteady. For the same reason, one courts sleep in which there are no thoughts, no diversity, unless dreaming, and the happy remembrance on waking of an untroubled state albeit without consciousness. How much more so the bliss experienced in Oneness of Being, which is pure awareness also called 'awakened sleep'. Similarly one forgets oneself, that is one's thoughts when concentrating on something absorbing work or pastime or listening to beautiful music, anything to divert the mind from oneself. When we say, 'breath-taking' we mean really thought-taking because the source of breath is the same as that of thought.
contd.,
****
Basavesvara:
Look at them,
busy making an iron frame
for a bubble on the water
to make it safe!
Worship the all giving Lord,
and live
without taking on trust
the body's firmlness.
*****
Devara Dasimayya:
For what
shall I handle the dagger
O Lord!
What can I pull it of
or stab in,
When You are all the world,
O Ramanatha?
******
Akka Mahadevi:
O swarm of bees
O mango tree
O moonlight
O koil bird
I beg of you all
one favor:
If you should see my lord anywhere
my lord white as Jasmine
call out
and show him to me.
****
(This reflects Kuyil Pathu, of Manikkavachagar.)
Allamma Prabhu.
Some say
they saw It.
What is It,
the circular sun,
the circle of stars?
The Lord of Caves
lives in the town
of the moon mountain.
(moon mountain is paribhasha for the mind.)
*****
About Stilling the Mind:
Lucia Osborne:
continues.....
Similarly when a desire is fulfilled the contented mind is quiescent for that moment till agitated again by another desire or thought. So, as Sri Ramana Maharshi says, happiness is not derived from the objects or conditions but from a quiet mind. The same objects or conditions which seem to make a man happy may cause distress to another depending on their previous conditioning. For instance, a price used to palaces will not be happy in a flat, the acquisition of which might be cause of joy for another.
Empirical knowledge, preconditioned as it is, by the limitations and uncertainty of human faculties cannot reveal the true nature of Reality as it is. According to the Upanishads, only with his metaphysical intuitive insight is a man able to transcend these limitations and know ultimate Reality which is the core and substratum of his being and the one life of all beings. Brahmavidya means Self Knowledge which one realizes without the aid of intellect or the senses -- a direct instrument-free knowledge of being it through stilling the mind.
In Yoga Vasistha the Sage explains to Rama that direct cognition or intuition (pratyaksha anubhava) is the only and ultimate source of all our knowledge be it empirical or metaphysical. "There is no other source through which new knowledge comes to us." If anything is not directly experienced , it cannot be made known to one by description of it by others. The taste of sugar for example, cannot be made known to one, who have never himself tasted it. Others can give only a hint or partial knowledge of things unknown to us by way of analogy or
illustration.
contd.,
****
Basavesvara:
Does it matter how long
a rock soaks in water;
will it grow soft?
Does it matter how long
I have spent in worship
When the heart is fickle?
Futile as a ghost
I stand guard over the hidden gold,
O Lord of the meeting rivers.
*****
Devara Dasimayya:
You balanced the globe
on the waters
and kept it from melting away,
you made the sky stand
without pillar or prop.
O Ramanatha,
which gods could have
done this?
******
Akka Mahadevi:
What is to come tomorrow
let it come today.
What is to come today
let it come now.
Lord white as jasmine
don't you give us your nows and
thens!
*****
Allamma Prabhu.
Sleep, great goddess sleep,
heroine of three worlds,
spins and sucks up
all, draws breath
and throws them down
sapless.
I know of no hero
who can stand before her.
Struck by her arrows,
people rise and fall.
*****
About Stilling the Mind:
Lucia Osborne:
Intellect is regarded as man's highest quality. It can lead us only to the point still conditioned by the mind, to its outermost periphery. It cannot transcend the mind. It has to wait for intuition which in Hindu mysticism would be called Grace, a faculty which moves on the plane of direct experience, which knows spontaneously. Intuition knows, intellect understands not always reliably. Our senses deceive us and reveal only the appearances relative to the experiencer, according to the latest findings of modern science as explained by the Indian scientist I. Taimini. A blue sky or green or grey but a handful of it looks transparent. Stars which we perceive now, may have ceased to exist long ago, may be millions of years earlier and so on.
Empirical knowledge is mediate, changeable, and instrument-conditioned, hence unreliable. 'We have no real insight into the ultimate nature of physical reality through astrophysics or nuclear physics because, as modern scientists have discovered, the observational horizon becomes elusive at a certain point. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle in quantum mechanics makes this clear. Scientific research is based a- priori on the validity of the past experimental conclusions based on our fleeting sense perceptions. So far no scientist has seen a proton or an electron or meson.'
If one can accept as valid whatever goes in the name of science based on the past testimony of scientific inquiry and often discarded in favor of newer discoveries, so logically the collective testimony of seers, those scientists of the Spirit, should not be brushed aside but given a fair trial. The modern scientific theory that is so solid-looking matter is only a form of energy is after all contrary to our sense perception and yet is believed.
contd.,
****
About Stilling the Mind:
(Lucia Osborne)
continues.....
Einstein humbly acknowledged that with all the tremendous achievements of modern science, not even the fringe of that greatest mysteries, the mystery of existence, had been touched so far.
There have always been God-enlightened men in the world. Their experience of the ultimate Truth have been confirmed by many mystics and seers ancient and modern everywhere. It has stood the test of time.
Their knowledge is not instrument-conditioned but a direct intuitive knowledge of seeing-being, knowing-being. We do not become something else, nobody can, we only cease to be deluded that we are finite when our true state is Infinity, eternal, immortal. We realize what we have always been with absolute certainty. That is the experience of the Ultimate Truth, as testified by all those who have realized it or even glimpsed it. The high degree of unanimity and striking similarity is so obvious in the attempts to describe mystical experience in various ages and cultures should induce even purely rational mind to test for themselves and see whether it works.
Ling You, a Chinese Sage warns us that false thinking is so deep rooted that it cannot be dissipated in an instant. For this reason expedient methods are used to strip the mind.
With one accord mystics denounce the limitations of reason in the quest of the Absolute. When the mind is still, clear of thoughts -- the basis of all disturbance -- pure Consciousness, the very source of thought, the Oneness of life reveals itself as it is ever present. Those who strive in all earnestness and follow the teachings of genuine gurus leading ultimately to the discovery of one living inner Guru in one's heart, find that it does work commensurate with our dedication and sincerity. The inner living guru who is one in all hearts, can be followed from the start. When there is no enough dedication or faith, one can pray for it. A sincere prayer from the depth of the even an unbelieving heart will not be in vain. The One Inner Guru, the surest of guides, is always present watching over us.
contd.,
****
Basavesvara:
A snake charmer and his nose less
wife,
snake in hand, walk carefully
trying to read omens
for a son's wedding.
but they meet head on
a nose less woman
and her snake charming husband
and cry 'The omens are bad!
His own wife has no nose;
here is snake in his hand.
What shall I call such fools
who do not know themselves
and see only the others,
O, Lord of the meeting rivers!
*****
Akka Mahadevi:
When I did not know myself
where were you?
Like the color in the gold,
you were in me.
I saw in you,
Lord white as Jasmine,
the paradox of your being
in me
without showing a limb.
******
Devara Dasimayya:
The earth is your gift,
the growing grain is your gift,
the blowing wind your gift.
What shall I call these curs
who eat out of your hand
and praise everyone else?
******
Allamma Prabhu.
When the toad
swallowed the sky,
look, Rahu
the serpent mounted
and wonder of wonders!
the blind man
caught the snake.
Thus, O Lord
I learned
without telling the world.
****
Hello, everyone.
I am now searching for some dialogue between Bhagavan and a devotee. I read it somewhere but I forgot where I read it. I can't discribe correct contents of that dailogue. The rough outline is the following.
Devotee:
I can't practice sadhana all the time.(or possibly he ask he can do so)
Bhagavan:
yes( and he advise him to do other thing maybe like reading scripture or so)
I must have read such dialogue...maybe. If you know such dialogue, I am very glad if you tell me in which book it is contained.
thank you
Fhiba
This sounds like advice given to Kunju Swami when he left Ramanasramam:
One night, when Sri Bhagavan was alone, I approached him and asked for his permission to give up my job and live in Palakottu. I told him that till then I had been spending most of my time attending on him. I formally asked his permission to give up this job and requested him to tell me how I should lead my life in Palakottu. Sri Bhagavan’s answer gave me the impression that my request was both proper and correct.
He said, with a smile, ‘It is enough if the mind is kept one-pointedly on vichara, dhyana, japa and parayana without seeking anything else’.
I left feeling that I had received the full blessings of Sri Bhagavan.
Though I had given up my ashram duties, I found it hard to decide how exactly I should spend the entire day in search of realisation. I referred the matter to Sri Bhagavan and he amplified the advice he had already given me.
‘Make self-enquiry your final aim,’ he said, ‘but also practise meditation, japa and parayana. If you find one method irksome or difficult, switch to one of the others. In the course of time the sadhana will become stabilised in self-enquiry and will culminate in pure consciousness or realisation.’
About Stilling the Mind:
Lucia Osborne:
continues.....
When we have reached the limit of our effort, the inner Guru or Grace takes over, as if lying in wait, like a flood to wash away our life long illusion of finitude, conditioning and limitations. Effort is also in the realm of illusion -- and the one who seeks 'a fancied being' --- but we have to start from where we are, so long as we have not realized this as living truth, not only intellectually, and so long as 'unreal echoes produce relative results'.
We are imprisoned by our breath, a wise man said. Our original true state is such blessed equilibrium and harmony that even 'ecstasy' does not describe it. The scriptures and seers declare that 'words turn away baffled' when one tries to convey by the mind what transcends the mind. In such a state, activity will be always spontaneously transformed. Replies to questions are spontaneous, ready and not the product of discrimination.
The question arises whether a jnani, who has transcended his mind, uses it to think. Sri Bhagavan replied that a realized man uses his mind like any other faculty. However in his case thoughts are not discriminative but arise spontaneously always dealing perfectly and effortlessly with a given situation --- and leave no trace on the mind. They are like a flight of wild geese leaving no trace in the sky, whereas ordinary men are affected by the thoughts which leaves grooves on their minds and change their metabolism. A jnani is the master of his mind, his thoughts, and can shut them off like any other instrument remaining always in his true state, whereas in the case of an unenlightened man it is the mind which is the master.
It was a matter of sheer delight and wonder to listen to Sri Bhagavan's replies always spontaneously ready on His lips -- perfect, witty and always to the point. Once a rather arrogant young man told Him about his so far unsuccessful search for a guru, and asked where he should go. Pat came the reply: 'Go with the way you have come.' This was at the same time putting him in his place for his arrogance and giving him a profound spiritual teaching: to return to the Source.
contd.,
Basavesvara:
Father, in my ignorance you brought
me
through mothers' wombs,
through unlikely worlds.
Was it wrong just to be born,
O Lord!
Have mercy on me for being born
once before.
I give you my word,
lord of the meeting rivers,
never to be born again.
****
Devara Dasimayya:
You have forged
this chain
of eighteen links*
and chained us humans:
you have ruined us
O Ramanatha
and made us dogs forever
on the leash.
(*eighteen links - eighteen bonds,
past, present and future acts; body, mind and wealth, substance, life, and self regard; gold, land and woman; lust, anger greed, infatuation, pride and envy.)
*****
Akka Mahadevi:
What do
the barren
know of birth pangs?
Step mothers,
what do they know
of loving care?
How can the unwounded
know the pain
of the wounded?
O Lord white as Jasmine
you love's blade stabbed
and broken in my flesh,
I writhe,
O mothers,
how can you know me?
****
Thank you very much for your reply, Mr.Godman.
The dialogue between Kunju Swami and Bhagavan is similar to what I wrote, but I don't have Kunju Swami's book. I maybe read it somewhere in the web. Very interesting dialogue. I want to know more stories about Kunju Swami's sadhana.
I have desire to do sadhana all the waking time, but if I continue to do sadhana long time(for example mental japa of 'I' for hours) I begin to feel headache(especially tension of temples is severe) and get fatigued completely and even doing everyday's work become very hard.
Bhagavan tell us moderatin of sleep or food ,but about sadhana I have the impression that he advised devotees to do sadhana relentlessly. I have no confidence that I should limit sadhana moderately not to cause headache. I have tried to do sadhana without strain as much as I can but still long time sadhana cause headache. Before I have changed sadhana to pranayama but result is same. So I returned to my original sadhana('who am I' or mental japa of 'I').
I feel other kind of pain during my sadhana, it end when I stop sadhana so I can endure it(I usually feel pain or heat especially in the right side of the chest ). But headache or fatigue is worse than it, because it become strong if I continue sadhana and it last a few day or more.
I read in 'Day by Day with Bhagavan' Bhagavan advise a devotee to do pranayama only a little in the beginning. Can it be applied to other sadhana?
If anyone give me advices, I am very glad.
thank you
Allamma Prabhu:
For a wedding of dwarfs
rascals beat the drums
and whores
carry on their heads
holy pitchers;
with hey-ho and loud hurrahs
they crowd the wedding party
and quarrel over flowers and
betel nuts.
all the three worlds are at the
party;
what a rumpus this is,
without our Lord of Caves.
****
About Stilling the Mind:
Lucia Osborne:
continues.....
A visitor asked Sri Bhagavan why there should be illusion if the individual soul is identical with the Supreme and why the ego should not be cut down at one stroke and destroyed so as to gain Supreme Bliss. Sri Bhagavan asked him to hold out his ego, so that He could strike it down. The reply caused general laughter.
Another time, a devotee complained about the inequality in humans and why they are not equal. 'Let them all go to sleep,' was Bhagavan's reply.
One devotee was preoccupied with the question of life after death and asked Sri Bhagavan about it. The reply was: 'You have lived before. Now is your life after death.'
To the question, 'Where does the soul go when the body dies?' Jacob Boehme answered: 'There is no necessity for it to go anywhere.'
Before passing away Master Liang Chiai suddenly opened his eyes and said: 'Leavers of homes (the weeping monks) should be mindless of externals. This is the true practice. What is the use of being anxious for life after death?'
A wise man compared the world (life) to a fabric of dream illusions upon which men fix their gaze and become fascinated as though in a hypnotic trance.
In the Cloud of Unknowing, the stilling of the mind rejects the wording of special deeds or any new thought or stirring of any sin which presses the mind betwixt thee and God. 'Thou shalt stalwartly step above them and tread them down under thy feet and try to cover them with a thick cloud of forgetting..... And if they rise oft put them down oft and shortly to say as oft as they rise oft put them down.'
All major religions teach the same esoterically in different terms adapted to circumstances. They meet at the top from different mountain paths. St. Augustine, St. Athanasius, St. Cyril of Alexandria, Meister Eckhart, Jacob Boehme and others say that God became man that man might become God or that God forgets himself in man and man remembers himself in God. 'God is a fountain flowing into itself.', says Meister Eckhart.
contd.,
****
Basavesvara:
Like a monkey on a tree
it leaps from branch to branch;
how can I believe or trust
this burning thing, this heart*
it will not let me go
to my Father
my Lord of the meeting rivers.
(* means 'mind' here)
******
Devara Dasimayya:
Bodied,
one will hunger.
Bodied
one will lie.
O you, don't you rib
and taunt me
again
for having a body;
body Thyself for once
like me and see
what happens.
O Ramanatha.
Akka Mahadevi.
My husband comes home today.
Wear your best, wear your jewels.
The Lord white as jasmine,
will come anytime now.
Girls, come
meet Him at the door.
******
Allamma Prabhu.
Looking for your light,
I went out:
it was like a sudden dawn
of a million million suns,
a ganglion of lightnings
for my wonder.
O Lord of Caves,
if you are Light,
there can be no metaphor.
*****
About Stilling the Mind:
Lucia Osborne:
continues.....
'Even if we desire no greater benefit from this forgetting and emptiness of memory than our deliverance from pain and trouble that of itself is a great gain and blessing, ' says St. John of the Cross.
Self nature requires practice only when it is screened by delusion and takes the form of a human being which without self cultivation cannot know it. Someone asked the master, 'Is there anyone practicing self cultivation?' The master replied: 'He waits until you become a man to practice self cultivation.'
'Though its aim (esoteric dharma) lies beyond words, it is responsive to inquiring seekers'. - Master Liang Chai of Tuang Shan.
In the state of a finite human being one reaches out to a state of Infinity which is realized in true awakening. Stilling the mind simply means withdrawing into the Self. It means an all embracing consciousness, all knowing spontaneously without being tied down to particulars. The thought machinery is being used like an y other instrument, having mastered thoughts instead of being slaves to them, It is liberation from all finitude in a state too marvelous to describe when it has steadied itself. In the beginning stages, it may be a seeming stillness with thoughts lurking to jump up at the slightest provocation. Even so it brings some peace but one has to preserve to steady this stillness so as to experience the Ultimate State.
Every impediment can be surmounted by perseverance, one pointedness and concentration as the pilgrimage and Goal. A stick is used to stir the funeral pyre also gets burnt up in the end.
contd.,
****
About Stilling the Mind:
Lucia Osborne:
A still mind is the opposite of inertia. Dogen expresses it as no-mind (Wu-hsin) which is not like clay, wood or stone that is utterly devoid of consciousness, nor does this term imply that the mind stands still of consciousness, nor
does this term imply the mind stands stands still without any reaction when it contacts objects or circumstances in the world. It does not adhere to anything but is natural and spontaneous at all times and under all circumstances. He also observes his body and mind sees them as magic shadows or as a dream.
According to Hui Neng, Wu hsin is not unconsciousness but to see and to know things with the mind free from attachments, 'It pervades all but sticks to nowhere.' This knowing of the essential nature of objects must not be tainted by the mind but will not exclude the mental seeing of the mind qualities (Mu thought meditation means really knowing the essential nature of things without being tied down to anything in particular and thus be limited to it.).
A still mind is omniscient in a state of absolute equilibrium where nothing can hurt or disturb or worry it in any way more. It is all embracing I AM ness. The whole universe, all Existence is I AM. The pure I AM-ness, being the limited to any state, without being this or that is the same in all, the Oneness of Being.
concluded.
****
CENTERING:
The following is the English translation of a portion taken from Vijnana Bhairava Tantra and Sochanda Tantra, both written about four thousand years ago. The scripture
is in the form of Siva explaining the nature of Reality to Devi.
Devi says:
O Siva, what is your Reality?
What is this wonder-filled
universe?
What constitutes seed?
Who centers the universal wheel?
What is this life beyond the
pervading forms?
How may enter it fully, above space
and time, names and descriptions?
Let my doubts be cleared!
Siva replies:
(Devi, though already enlightened, has asked the foregoing questions
so that others through the universe might receive Siva's instructions. Now follow Siva's reply, giving the 112 ways).
1. Radiant One, this experience may dawn between two breaths. After breath comes in (down) and just
before turning up (out) - the beneficence.
2. As breath turns from down to up, and again, as breath curves up to down -- through both test turns,
realize.
3. Or whenever inbreath and outbreath fuse, at this instant touch the energy-less energy filled center.
4. Or, when breath is all out (up)
and stopped of itself, or all in (down) and stopped -- in such universal pause, one's small self vanishes. This is difficult only for the impure.
5. Consider your essence as light rays rising from center to center up the vertebrate, and so rises livingness in you.
6. Or in spaces between, feel this as lightning.
contd.,
*****
Namo Ramana.
Is there any picture of Sri. Bhagavan in abhaya-mudra (with raised right hand)?
Thank you :).
Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya.
Dear Anon,
There is no photograph of Sri Bhagavan either with abhaya mudra
(showing His palm for protection)
and vara mudra (showing His another hand towards the feet) as boon giving. Nor He has joined both the palms as a mark of namaskaram to anyone. Sri Manikkavachagar talks about Siva as chernthaRiyak kaiyyanai, one who never places both the palms together as a mark of namaskaram. So with Sri Bhagavan.
Subramanian. R
CENTERING:
Siva continues....
7. Devi, imagine the Sanskrit letters in these honey filled foci of awareness, first as letters, then more subtly as sounds, then as the most subtle feeling. Then, leaving them aside, be free.
8. Attention between eyebrows, let mind be before thought. Let form fill with breath essence to the top of the head, and there shower as light.
9. Or, imagine the five colored circles of the peacock tail to be your five senses in illimitable space. Now let their beauty melt within. Similarly, at any point of in space, or on a wall - until the point dissolves. Then your wish for another comes true.
10. Eyes closed, see your inner Being in detail. Thus see your true nature.
11. Place your whole attention in the nerve delicate as lotus thread, in the center of your spinal column. In such be transformed.
12. Closing the seven openings of the head with your hands, a space between your eyes becomes all inclusive.
13. Touching the eyeballs as a feather, lightness between them opens into heart, and there permeates the cosmos.
14. Bathe in the center of sound, as in the continuous sound of a waterfall. Or by putting fingers in ears, hear the sound of sounds.
15 Intone a sound, as a-u-m, slowly. As sound enters soundfulness, so do you.
contd.,
***
Akka Mahadevi:
Till you've earned
knowledge of good and evil
it is
lust's body
site of rage
ambush of greed
house of passion
fence of pride
mask of envy.
Till you know and lose this knowing
you've no way
of knowing
my Lord white as Jasmine.
*****
CENTERING:
continues....
16. In the beginning and gradual refinement of the sound of any letter, awake.
17. While listening to stringed instruments, hear their composite central sound, thus omnipresence.
18. Intone a sound audibly, then less and less audibly as feeling deepens into this silent harmony.
19. Imagine spirit simultaneously within and around you until the entire universe spiritualizes.
20. Kind Devi, enter etheric presence pervading far above and below your form.
21. Put mindstuff in such inexpressible fineness above, below, and in your heart.
22. Consider any area of your present form as limitlessly spacious.
23. Feel you substance, bones, flesh, blood, saturated with cosmic essence.
24. Suppose your passive form to be an empty room with walls of skin - empty.
25. Blessed One, as senses are absorbed in heart, reach the center of the lotus.
contd.,
****
CENTERING:
continues....
26. Unminding mind, keep in the middle -- until.
27. When in worldly, keep attentive between the two breaths, and so practicing, in a few day be born anew.
28. Focus on fire, rising through your form from the toes up until the body burns up to ashes BUT NOT YOU.
29. Meditate on the make-believe world as burning to ashes and become BEING ABOVE HUMAN.
30. Feel the fine qualities of creativity permeating your breasts and assuming delicate configurations.
31. With intangible breath in center of the fore head as this reaches the heart at the moment of sleep, have directions over dreams and over THE DEATH ITSELF.
32. As, subjectively, letters flow into words and words into sentences, and as, objectively, circles flow into worlds, and worlds into principles, find the last converging IN OUR BEING.
33. Gracious one, play the universe is an empty shell where in your mind frolics INFINITELY.
34. Look upon a bowl without seeing the sides or the material. In a few moments BECOME AWARE.
35. Abide in some place, ENDLESSLY SPACIOUS, clear of trees, hills, habitations. Thence comes the end of mind pressures.
contd.,
*****
CENTERING:
CONTINUES...
36. Sweet-hearted one, meditate on
knowing and not knowing, existing and not existing,. Then leave aside both that you may BE.
37. Look lovingly on some object. Do not go on to another object. Here, in the middle of this object -- the BLESSING.
38. Feel cosmos as TRANSLUCENT EVER LIVING PRESENCE.
39. With utmost devotion, center on the two junctions of breath, and know the KNOWER.
40. Consider the plenum to be your own BODY OF BLISS.
41. While being caressed, sweet princess, enter the CARESSING as ever lasting life.
42. Stop the doors of the senses, when feeling the creeping of an ant. Then.
43. At the start of sexual union, keep attentive on the fire IN THE BEGINNING, and,, so continuing, avoid the embers in the end.
44. When in such embrace, your senses are shaken as leaves, ENTER THIS SHAKING.
45. Even remembering union, without embrace, THE TRANSFORMATION.
CONTD.,
*****
CEMTERING:
continues....
46. On joyously seeing a long absent friend, PERMEATE THIS JOY.
47. When eating or drinking, become the taste of the food or drink and BE FILLED.
48. O Lotus eyed one, sweet of touch, when the singing, seeing, tasting, be aware you are and discover THE EVER LIVING.
49. Whatever satisfaction is found, in whatever act, ACTUALIZE THIS.
50. At the point of sleep, when sleep has not yet come and external wakefulness vanishes, at this point BEING is revealed.
51. In summer when you see the entire sky endlessly clear, ENTER
SUCH CLARITY.
52. Lie down as dead. Enraged in wrath, stay so. Or stare without moving an eyelash. Or suck something and BECOME THE SUCKING.
53. Without support for feet or hands, sit only on buttocks. Suddenly THE CENTERING.
54. In an easy position, gradually pervade an area between the armpits INTO GREAT PEACE.
55. See AS IF FOR THE FIRST TIME, beauteous person or an ordinary object.
contd.,
****
Basavesvara:
Milk is left over
from the calves.
Water is left over
from the fishes,
flowers from bees.
How can I worship you,
O Siva, with such offal?
But it's not for me
to despise left overs
so take what comes,
Lord of the meeting rivers.
****
Devara Dasimayya:
Unless you build,
Space will not get inside
a house;
unless the eyes see,
mind will not decide
on forms;
without a way
there's no reaching
the other,
O Ramanatha,
how will men know
that this is so?
****
Akka Mahadevi:
People,
male and female,
blush when a cloth covering their
shame
comes loose.
When the Lord of lives
lives drowned without a face
in the world, how can you be modest?
When all the world is the eye
of the Lord,
onlooking everywhere, what can you
cover and conceal?
*****
Allamma Prabhu:
Light
devoured darkness.
I was alone
inside.
Shedding the visible dark
I
was Your target
O Lord of Caves.
*****
CENTERING:
continues....
56. With mouth slightly open, keep
the mind in the middle of tongue.
Or, as breath comes silently in, fell the sound of HH.
57. When on a bed or a seat, let yourself become WEIGHTLESS, beyond mind.
58. In a moving vehicle, by rhythmically swaying, EXPERIENCE.
On a still vehicle, by letting yourself swing in slowing invisible circles.
59. Simply by looking into the blue sky beyond clouds, THE SERENITY.
60. Sakti, see all space as if already absorbed in your own head IN THE BRILLIANCE.
61. Waking, sleeping, dreaming, know you as LIGHT.
62. In rain during a black night, enter the BLACKNESS, as the form of forms.
63. When a moonless raining night is not present, close your eyes and find blackness before you. Opening eyes, SEE BLACKNESS. So faults appear forever.
64. Just as you have the impulse to do something, STOP.
65. Center on the sound -a-u-m without a or m.
contd.,
****
Liberation is the Destruction of the Mind:
(Mountain Path, Jan. - Mar. 2009)
Liberation (moksha), according to Adi Sankara, has been defined in a number of ways. 'Liberation is the attainment of the Absolute (brahma prapti); liberation is the attainment of the already attained (prapasya prapti); liberation is remaining as the Absolute (brahma sthiti); liberation is nothing but the Absolute Itself (brahmaiva hi muktyavastha); liberation is remaining as one's own Self (svarupa sthiti); and liberation is the destruction of ignorance/the mind' (avidya nasa / mano nasa.) (All from Brahma sutra bhashya 1.1.4.; 3.4.52).
The object of this essay concerns this last definition, namely 'why is the destruction of the mind equated with liberation, why is the destruction of the mind necessary, and, if it is, then how does a sage perceive the myriad objects of the world?
There is a saying, 'Never mind, no matter. No mind, never matter.' Or, as Ramana Maharshi put it, 'Nothing exists except the one Reality. There is no birth or death, no projection or drawing in, no seeker, no bondage, no liberation. The one unity alone exists.' (Day by Day with Bhagavan, Devaraja Mudaliar, entry dated 15.03.1946.).
According to Sri Ramana, the highest and supreme truth that words can convey is the 'theory of non origination' (ajata vada) as originally expounded by Gaudapada. (See Mandukya Upanishad Karika. Sri
Bhagavan implies that words cannot go beyond the theory of non origination, which Gaudapada confirms. It is not as though Sri Bhagavan meant ajata vada to be ultimate. Ed.).
However acknowledging that even this perspective is but an approximation to the truth, a concession to words and concepts, Gaudpapada said, 'Ajata is meaningful only so long jati (birth) carries meaning. The absolute truth is that no word can designate or describe the Self. (ibid. iv.74.).
contd.,
****
Dear Shiba,
This is in response to your "I feel other kind of pain during my sadhana". The following two talks were taken from "Talks with Ramana Maharashi".
Talk 528
D.: Does the practice make one ill?
M.: Maybe. But all will be rightly adjusted of its own accord.
D.: I practised dhyana for four hours a day and fixation of sight for two hours. I became ill. Then others said that it was owing to my
practice. So I gave up dhyana.
M.: Matters will adjust themselves.
D.: Is it not better that the gaze of the eye becomes fixed naturally?
M.: What do you mean?
D.: Is practice necessary to fix the gaze or is it better to leave it to happen of its own accord?
M.: What is practice if it is not an attempt to make something natural?
It will become natural after long practice.
D.: Is pranayama necessary?
M.: Yes. It is useful.
D.: I did not practise it. But should I undertake it?
M.: Everything will be all right with sufficient strength of mind.
******
Talk 390
D.: When I read Sri Bhagavan’s works I find that investigation is said
to be the one method for Realisation.
M.: Yes, that is vichara.
D.: How is that to be done?
M.: The questioner must admit the existence of his self. “I AM” is the Realisation. To pursue the clue till Realisation is vichara. Vichara and Realisation are the same.
D.: It is elusive. What shall I meditate upon?
M.: Meditation requires an object to meditate upon, whereas there is only the subject without the object in vichara. Meditation differs from vichara in this way.
D.: Is not dhyana one of the efficient processes for Realisation?
M.: Dhyana is concentration on an object. It fulfils the purpose of keeping away diverse thoughts and fixing the mind on a single thought, which must also disappear before Realisation. But Realisation is nothing new to be acquired. It is already there, but obstructed by a screen of thoughts. All our attempts are directed for lifting this screen and then
Realisation is revealed. If a true seeker is advised to meditate, many may go away satisfied with the advice. But someone among them may turn round and ask,
“Who am I to meditate on an object?” Such a one must be told to find the Self. That is the finality. That is Vichara.
D.: Will vichara alone do in the absence of meditation?
M.: Vichara is the process and the goal also. ‘I AM’ is the goal and the final Reality. To hold to it with effort is vichara. When spontaneous and natural it is Realisation.
Liberation is the Destruction of the Mind;
continues.....
It is a sage's experience that nothing has ever happened because the Self alone exists as the sole unchanging Reality. However, from the absolute perspective, the relative reality of the world is not denied. A sage perceives the appearance of the world of multiplicity as compared of separate objects viewed by a separate subject. An appearance is not necessarily unreal merely because it is an appearance. The real nature of appearance, according to the vision of a Sage, is inseparable from the Self and partakes of its reality. What is 'not real' is to mentally construct an illusory world of separate, interacting objects. Sri Ramana remarked: 'The world is unreal if it is perceived by the mind as a collection of discrete objects, and real when it is directly experienced as an appearance of the Self.'
If 'nothing has ever happened' if there is no birth and death, the obviously the mind is not real either, and yet, there is more to the story. Sri Ramana said, 'The mind is nothing other than the 'I-thought'. The mind and the ego are one and the same.' (Sri Bhagavan's Letter to Ganapati Muni.) Sri Ramana maintained that the 'I-thought' arises from the Self and will sink back into the Self when its tendency to identify itself with the thought-object ceases. If one arranges thoughts in their order of value, the 'I-thought' is of the first order, the root or basis of all the other thoughts. Every thought, arises as someone's thought and does not exist independently of the ego. All second and third person thoughts (he, she, you, it etc., ) do not appear except to the first person 'I-thought'. Therefore, the entire world of multiplicity, of subjects, and objects, arises only after the first person thought arises.
contd.,
****
Hi folks,
To add to David’s response to Shiba-san on the importance of sadhana:
From “Ramana Smriti Souvenir”, the article ‘Sri Bhagavan’s Grace’; Gouriammal told Sri Bhagavan that she was His disciple only and He should tell her what to do]
Bhagavan said: “Do what you want to do”, he replied, “but keep doing it; don’t remain doing nothing. Repeat the Name, or think deeply, or seek the source of your ‘I’-consciousness, do atma-vichara, but keep working on yourself, this is very important.”
From “Day by Day”, Pg 24 (19.10.19458 morning)]
Bhagavan said: “As for sadhana, there are many methods. You may do vichara, asking yourself ‘Who am I?’ or, if that does not appeal to you, you may do dhyana ‘I am Brahman’ or otherwise, or you may concentrate on a mantra or name in japa. The object is to make the mind one-pointed, to concentrate it on one thought and thus exclude our many thoughts; and if we do this, eventually even the one thought will go and the mind will get extinguished in its source.”
From “Mountain Path” 1979, Pg 20; “Conversations - 1”]
When Sri Kunju Swami was living in Palakottu he was going to Skandashram daily to take his bath in the springs there. Once Bhagavan asked him what he was doing while going and coming back. He answered he was chanting stotras like Aksharamanamalai. Bhagavan approved of it and added: “Yes, when one is alone, either walking, sitting etc. one should engage one’s mind in stotras or japa, to prevent the mind getting distracted. As far as possible one should see that the mind is kept introverted, and for that stotras and japa are the best aids.”
Best wishes
CENTERING:
continues.....
66. Silently intone a word ending in AH. Then in the HH effortlessly, THE SPONTANEITY.
67. Feel yourself as PERVADING in all directions, far and near.
68. Pierce some part of your nectar filled form with a pin, and gently enter THE PIERCING.
69. Feel: My thought, I-ness, internal organs - ME.
70. Illusions deceive. Colors circumscribe. Even divisibles are INDIVISIBLE.
71. When some desire comes, consider it. Then, suddenly QUIT IT.
72. Before desire and before knowing, how can I say I am? Consider. Dissolve in the BEAUTY.
73. With your entire consciousness in the very start of desire, of knowing, KNOW.
74. O Sakti, each particular perception is limited, disappearing in OMNIPOTENCE.
75. In truth, forms are inseparate.
Inseparate are the omnipresent being and your own form. Realize each as made of THIS CONSCIOUSNESS.
CONTD.,
****
Liberation is the Destruction of Mind:
continues.....
Sri Ramana maintained that the individual self is nothing more than an ever changing thought or idea. This thought He called the 'I-thought'. The mind, which is but a bundle of thoughts, is an illusion that is generated when the rising 'I-thought' identifies itself with the body and imagines that he or she is an individual person. This illusion, that the 'I' is the mind/body complex, is then sustained by perpetual stream of thoughts that the mind generates. The 'I' thought identifies with all of these thoughts and thus is sustained and maintained by the illusion that the individual self or the mind is a continuous and real entity. The mind lives by dividing, distinguishing and discriminating. It creates knowing subjects distinct from known objects and yet, all it creates are nothing but illusions.
In the waking state, the mind functions due to the reflection of Consciousness in it. The same holds true with regard to the dream state. In the deep sleep, there is no definite knowledge of objects, because the mind is not functioning. Only Consciousness is present in the deep sleep state, and this is demonstrated by an individual's exclamation upon waking, 'I slept so well that I do not remember anything last night.'
contd.,
****
CENTERING:
continues....
76. In moods of extreme desire, be UNDISTURBED.
77. This so called universe appears as a juggling picture show. To be happy, look upon it SO.
78. O beloved, put attention neither on pleasure or pain but BETWEEN THESE.
79. Toss attachment for body aside, realizing I AM EVERYWHERE. One who is everywhere is joyous.
80. Objects and desires exist in me as in others. So accepting, let them be TRANSLATED.
81. The appreciation of objects and subjects is the same for an enlightened as for an unenlightened person. The former has one greatness: he remains IN THE SUBJECTIVE MOOD not lost in things.
82. Feel the consciousness of each person as your own consciousness. So, leaving aside concern for self, BECOME EACH BEING.
83. Thinking no thing, will limited-self UNLIMIT.
84. Believe OMNISCIENT, OMNIPOTENT AND ALL PERVADING.
85. As waves come with water and flames with fire, so the universal waves WITH US.
contd.,
****
CENTERING:
continues...
86. Roam about until exhausted and
then, dropping to the ground, in this dropping BE WHOLE.
87. Suppose you are gradually being deprived of strength or of knowledge. At that instant of deprivation, TRANSCEND.
88. Listen while the ultimate mystical teaching is imparted; Eyes still, without winking, at once become ABSOLUTELY FREE.
89. Stopping ears by pressing and rectum by contracting, enter the SOUND OF SOUND.
90. At the edge of a deep well look steadily into its depths, until -- THE WONDROUSNESS.
91. Wherever your mind is wandering, internally or externally, at this very place, THIS.
92. When vividly aware through some particular sense, keep in THE AWARENESS.
93. At the start of sneezing, during fright, in anxiety, above a
chasm, flying in battle, in extreme curiosity, at the beginning of hunger, at the end of hunger, be uninterruptedly AWARE.
94. Let the attention be at a place, where you are seeing some past happening, and even your form, having lost its present characteristics, IS TRANSFORMED.
95. Look upon some object, then slowly withdraw your sight from it, then slowly withdraw your thought from it. THEN.
CONTD.,
****
Liberation is the Destruction of the Mind:
continues....
Sri Ramana declared that a person can reverse this process by depriving the 'I'-thought of all thoughts and perceptions that it normally identifies with. If one can break this false connection between the 'I'-thought and all the other thoughts it identifies with, then the 'I'-thought itself will subside and eventually disappear. Sri Ramana said that the 'I'-thought originates from what He called the Heart. He said, 'That from which all thoughts of embodied being issue forth is called the Heart. All descriptions of it are only mental concepts.' (Ganapati Muni, Sri Ramana Gita, Ch.v. 2).
'Search for the source of the 'I' thought. That is all that one has to do. The universe exists on account of the 'I'-thought. If that ends there is an end to misery also. The false 'I' will end only when its source is sought. (Talks #222 and #347; Devaraja Mudaliar,
Day by Day, entry dt. 08.10.1946.). The fact is the mind is only a bundle of thoughts. How can you extinguish it by the thought of doing so or by a desire? Your thoughts and desires are part and parcel of the mind. The mind is simply fattened by new thoughts rising up. Therefore it is foolish to attempt to kill the mind by means of the mind. The only way of doing is to find its source and hold on to it. The mind will then fade away of its own accord.
If the mind becomes introverted through inquiry into its source, its mental habits or tendencies (vasanas) become extinct. The light of the Self, Consciousness, falls on these mental habits and produces the phenomenon of reflection that individuals interpret as thoughts, as he mind. Thus, when mental habits become extinct, as it is absorbed into the
light of the Self. The mind is like a river that ceaselessly flows in the bed of the body. How can an ever fluctuating mind make itself
steady? It cannot. It is the very nature of thoughts to roam. Thus, one must go beyond the mind. One should not think of changing the mind -- it already is changing all the time. The mind covers the Self like the clouds that obscures the sun. The mind with its thoughts, is like a thief. One must constantly watch it, not because you want anything from it, but because you don't want it to steal the attention away from what is real, Consciousness.
contd.,
*****
Liberation is the Destruction of the Mind:
continues.....
It is not enough to declare that one is not one's body or one's mind. That is still a thought within the mind. Deciding that one is not the mind is an activity of the mind. Experiencing anything is still an experience of the mind. One must pursue the Quest to its logical conclusion. Seek the source of thoughts. Eventually the 'I'-thought will go back to its source and becomes extinct. Thus, the Upanishadic saying, 'Whence words return along with the mind, not attaining it.' (Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.4.1.).
Sri Ramana said that an inquiry into the source of 'I'-thought will render all one's habitual tendencies (vasanas) extinct. Thus arises a question, if all one's vasanas are destroyed, why is the mind's dissolution then necessary? In other words, isn't the mind nothing other than the entire collection of its vasanas? The response is that the life of the lower self forms one type of bondage, i.e. vasanas cause misery directly, but another type of bondage, i.e. the mere sense of duality, remains in the mind. Thus, not only vasanas, but also the mind must be dissolved. Secondly, when the mind is dissolved, the effects of all accumulated past actions (prarabdha karma) are also dissolved. When the mind id dissolved, the recurrence of any vasana whatsoever is also stopped forever.
Sri Ramana said: 'The ordinary individual lives in the brain unaware of himself in the Heart. The sage lives in the Heart. When a sage moves about and deals with men and things, he knows that what he sees is not separate from the one supreme reality, which he has realized in the Heart, as his own Self, the Real.' (Kapali Sastri, Sat Darsana Bhashya.)
Thus, Sri Ramana, on numerous occasions says that He 'perceives the appearances', He sees monkeys and people, chairs and doorways, food and squirrels, all that ordinary people also see, but He does not see them as separate, independent objects, that is the difference. (On another occasion, to other individuals, Sri Ramana would also say, replying from the sage's perspective: 'You say that the Jnani sees the path, avoids them, etc., In whose eye-sight is all this, in the Sages? or yours. He sees only the Self and all in the Self.') (Devaraja Mudaliar entry dated 06.3.1946).
The Upanishad gives an analogy as to how this might be possible. 'The arrow head of an arrow implanted deeply in the target will not come out when pulled. The arrow shaft may come out, but not the tip. The shaft is then useless. When the mind is fixed upon Brahman it will never come out. The sense of sight, etc., may function towards external objects but they will serve no purpose whatsoever.' (Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.4.)
Thus, a sage may have his or her sense organs functioning, but (s)he is not overwhelmed by them. The sage's mind is always centered on the Self.
contd.,
****
CENTERING:
continues.....
96. Devotion FREES.
97. Feel an object before you. Feel the absence of all other objects but this one. Then, leaving aside the object-feeling, and the absence-feeling, REALIZE.
98. The purity of other teachings is as impurity to us. In reality, know NOTHING as pure or impure.
99. This consciousness exists as being, AND NOTHING ELSE EXISTS.
100. Be the UNSAME SAME to a friend and to stranger, in honor and dishonor.
101. When a mood against someone or for some arise, do not place on the person in question, but REMAIN CENTERED.
101. Suppose you contemplate something beyond perception, beyond grasping, beyond not being, YOU.
103. Enter space, SUPPORTLESS, ETERNAL AND STILL.
104. Where ever your attention
alights, at this very point, EXPERIENCE.
105. Enter the sound of your name, and, through the this sound, ALL SOUNDS.
contd.,
****
Liberation is the Destruction of Mind:
continues....
Another way o explain how the sage perceives the world is to invoke the example of self luminous sun. When a room is dark, a lamp is necessary to provide light enabling the eyes to perceive objects in it. But when the sun has risen, there is no need of a lamp to see the objects. To see the sun no lamp is necessary, it is enough that one turns one's eyes towards the self luminous sun. In a similar way, to see objects the reflected light of the mind is necessary. But to a Jnani, it is not the reflected light of the mind dominated by the ego that illumines objects. The essence of the mind is Consciousness.
When the mind is not dominated by the ego or 'I'-thought, then the
pure self awareness shines through
the mind illuminating whatever is presented to it.
contd.,
****
Guruji Raghavan who taught Thiruppugazh to millions of people passed away yesterday in Gopalapuram, Chennai. A humble soul, he brought out the "Chandha" talam of Arunagirinatha's songs to the fore which is very difficult to master. Those who have heard him sing and learn from him are indeed fortunate.
Dear Shrini,
Yes. I have also heard the sad news
this morning. The story goes that he was in Delhi about 40 years back, working there, and he once had acute, almost incurable stomach pain. He prayed to Tiruchendur Murugan. He visited Tiruchendur and had darsan and applied Vibhuti (bhavath pathra budhim says Sankara in his Subramanya Bhujangam), Vibhuti given in a small leaf and applied it on his stomach and forehead. The stomach pain disappeared! He decided to spread the famous Tiruppugazh songs and started Tiruppugazh AnbargaL, Tiruppugazh devotees (group). He read the songs thoroughly and made the chandas and talam into Karnatic music ragam and talam and started singing. He also taught, to begin with, a small group of 25 people in Delhi. The group swelled into millions in 50 years. After retirement, he came to Chennai and further proceeded with his mission. The groups are now there in Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad. He developed sishyas to learn and teach to others. In Bangalore group, where my wife is a participant, is run by one Mr. Nagesh, who is a born Kannadiga. He learnt Tamizh and today he can sing without seeing the book! The book containing 503 songs selected by Guruji has come out 5 editions,
a hard bound book sold for Rs 60.00. Kannada and Telugu editions (transliteration) have also come out.
His glory will be sung by all these devotees for years to come. The Bangalore group celebrates Tiruppugah Navaham, i.e. singing for 9 days for three hours everyday, selecting songs for each
day, where Ramayana story, Mahabharata story, VaLLi's marriage, Muruga's war with demons,
Siva's glory, Uma's glory etc., are mentioned in such songs.
Subramanian. R
CENTERING:
continues....
106. I am existing. This is mine. This is this. O Beloved, even in such know ILLIMITABLY.
107. This consciousness is the spirit of guidance in each one. BE THIS ONE.
108. Here is a sphere of change, change, change, change., Through change CONSUME CHANGE.
109. As a hen mothers her chicks, mother particular knowings, particular doings, IN REALITY.
110. Since, in truth, bondage and freedom are relative, these words are only for those terrified with the universe. This universe is a reflection of minds. As you see many suns in water, FROM ONE SUN, so see bondage and liberation.
111. Each thing, is perceived through knowing. The Self shines in space, through knowing. PERCEIVE ONE BEING, as knower and known.
112. Beloved, at this moment, let mind, knowing, breath, form, BE INCLUDED.
CONCLUDED.
*****
Hello, everyone.
Thank you very much for some replies to my questions in my last post. Difficulties of my sadhana seem to disappear slowly ,maybe. Relaxation seems to key as Bhagavan said so.
By the way, I find essay version(not Q and A version) of 'Self-Enquiry' in "Words of Grace". It seems Sadu Natananada compiled it. Why did he compile it? Did Bhagavan order him to do so or checked it?
And who translated three articles in "Words of Grace" into English?
thank you
Liberation is the Destruction of Mind:
continues....
Sri Bhagavan explained: 'The Self is the Heart. The Heart is self luminous. Light arises from the Heart and reaches the brain, which is the seat of the mind. The world is seen with the mind, that is by the reflected light of the Self. It is perceived with the aid of the mind. When the mind is illumined it is aware of the world. When it is not itself illumined, it is not aware of the world. If the mind is turned in towards the source of light, objective knowledge ceases and Self alone shines forth as the Heart. The moon shines by the reflected light of the sun. When the sun has set, the moon is useful for revealing objects. When the sun has risen, no one needs the moon, although the pale disc of the moon is visible is the sky.' (Talks # 98).
What is important to note is that the Sage's mind is like the visibility of the moon due to sunlight. In the sky one can see the moon and clouds. There is no difference in their brilliance and both shine only by the reflected light of the sun. Like the moon, or clouds, the Jnani's mind is there, but not shining of itself. This the Jnani is aware of and so, even of 'objects' are perceived by the Jnani, they are not identified as separate, individual objects, but as shining appearances of the one indivisible Self. The Jnani's mind is not beclouded by 'I' thought, the ego, and thus what obscures the Self in others, just as clouds obscure ever present, ever luminous sun, does not obscure a Jnani's perceptions.
The mind is inert and only appears to work because the current of the Self animates it. The sage lives in Reality while what the world the mind perceives is world of imaginings. A familiar analogy is that the Sage is awake while most individuals are dreaming.
The Uddhava Gita, the quintessence of the Bhagavatam records the lives and behavior of several sages and describes the Jivanmukta: 'The wise one, even though in the body, is not of it like a person awakened from a dream.' (Uddhava Gita, XI.ix.8).
contd.,
***
Liberation is the Destruction of the Mind;
continues.....
Some people believe that a sage must live in two states of existence, at the same time: the empirical plane, and the trans-empirical plane. People observe that a sage moves about in world, and observe that the same sees the same objects, others see, i.e other individuals, tables, chairs, monkeys, etc, It is not as if the sage does not see them. Thus, they conclude, since he or she sees both the world and objects therein, as well as the Self, must not he or she dwell on planes at once? Sri
Ramana replied: 'You say that the Jnani sees the path, trads it, comes across obstacles and avoid them, etc., In whose eyesight is all this, in the Jnani's or yours? He sees only the Self and all in the Self. For instance you see a reflection on the mirror and the mirror, You know the mirror to be the reality and the picture is in it a mere reflection, Is is necessary that in order to see the mirror, we should cease to see the mirror, we should cease to see the reflection in it?' (Devaraja Mudaliar, Day by Day, 6.3.1946.)
What a wonderful analogy and yet numerous are the individuals who asked such questions. Intellectual curiosity is hard habit to break and instead of asking what is really important, one's own Self, people ask about others.
contd.,
***
Divine Dancer:
A poem by Alan Jacobs.
This life of ours is a wandering
dance
Whirled by a wild Dervish God
divine.
Drunk on vintage Dionysian wine,
Wildly turning, nothing left to
chance,
Upon the mellow pipes of
circumstance
He choreographs a play of place and
time,
Every glance upon Earth's stage is
His rhyme.
Universes glide through His mystic\
dance.
With rolling drums of thunder,
mark His stamp;
In symphony of spheres, hear His
tune.
Effulgent Sun shines as a beacon
lamp,
His finger ever points towards the
silver Moon.
He's Alone, whereby all things are
done;
Divine Dancer, dancing and the
and the dance are one.
(From author's collection entitled
Mastering Music Walks the Sunlit
Sea.)
****
Liberation is the destruction of the Mind:
continues....
The Bhagavad Gita gives a description of a jivanmukta - the person who is liberated while in physical body. Such a person is one who has gained steady wisdom; who has transcended the three qualities (guans); who is free from desires; who has no sense of agency or enjoyership -- for he or she has ceased to identify with the mind-body organism; who is beyond the dual extremes of pleasures and pains, heat and cold. Such individuals are spontaneous expressions of innate goodness and their very presence is a blessing to the world. (Bhagavad Gita 5.25).
Merely because the mind has been destroyed, it does not imply that the sage is stupid or inert. Quite the reverse, the sage is intelligent, aware, and sees clearly what is true and what is false.
Sri Bhagavan said:
'Coming here, some people do not ask about themselves. They ask: 'does the jivanmukta see the world?
Is he affected by karma? What is liberation after being disembodied?
Is one liberated only after being disembodied or even while alive in the body? Should the body of the sage resolve itself in light or disappear from view in any other manner? Can he be liberated though the body is left behind as a corpse?' Their questions are endless. Why worry oneself in so many ways? Does liberation consist in knowing these things? Therefore I say to them, 'Leave liberation alone. Is there bondage? Know this. See yourself first and foremost.' (Talks # 578.).
concluded.
****
Did Adam and Eve have a choice?
Sol Sandperl.
It is often thought that the story of Adam and Eve is simply about being disobedient towards God and being subsequently punished (the original sin), but did Adam and Eve have a choice? It is not often that people remember that there were in fact two trees in the Garden of Eden. They were the Tree of Knowledge and Tree of Life. We are all focused on the Tree of Knowledge which we know the tree from which the forbidden fruit was eaten. It was not called apple but simply fruit. Interestingly enough, the Tree of Knowledge was placed in the very center of the Garden --- you couldn't miss it. In case Adam or Eve were not aware of it, their attention was drawn to it by the warning, they got from God. 'Whatever you do, do not eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.'
It is not implausible to surmise that Adam and Eve were like children in terms of their development as human beings. They represent humanity in its infancy -- largely unconscious, innocent, and as yet burdened by the ego, the sense of separateness.
It is a state that we can refer to perhaps as prethinking. Conceptual
thought is not a problem for Adam and Eve. In that sense they are below thought. The discriminatory world that arises with the ego is dormant and not yet appearing. But unfortunately it must. As a Jewish devotee of Sri Ramana Maharshi, an interesting aside here is that one of the great rabbis of the Jewish tradition, the Ball Shem Tov was said to be present but not in the Garden of Eden when it was being formed an allusion to his eternal, already enlightened state. The Baal Shem Tov like other great sages had completed the journey long before.... the journey that human beings have to undergo to get to the Tree of Eternal Life.
contd.,
****
Did Adam and Eve have a choice?
continues...
Returning to Adam and Eve -- to say to them, 'Whatever you do, don't eat from this tree', is tantamount to telling them to do it. In hypnosis, this referred to as a negative suggestion which can be more powerful than a regular suggestion. It was inevitable that they would do this, and in reality, it was also necessary that they do, They needed to move from unconsciousness to the light of full consciousness, the Tree of Life. In this context, this other tree comes to the foreground as we begin perhaps to see the significance of the whole story. It is profound and beyond a simple narrative of creationism. The 'fall' of Adam and Eve was inevitable and necessary and God knew this was to happen. The snake was perhaps an unwitting catalyst used in this story because it is associated with evil and baseness and yet, in many cultures, is also a symbol of wisdom. In many myths, the serpent is said to live in or be coiled around the Tree of Life which is also in the Garden of Eve.
Perhaps the snake was doing what was necessary. Nonetheless, it is inevitable that in order to develop towards independence and freedom in the fully conscious state, Adam and Eve needed to develop an ego. They needed to become separate and lose their innocence and become suddenly aware of their nakedness, aware of good and evil. It is ironic that in order to know ourselves as God, we need to adopt the illusion of separateness before returning to the original state of oneness (which we never actually left).
The Tree of Knowledge sets up a duality. Eating from it gives Adam and Eve an ego. They separate themselves from the One. They eat of the fruit and now they are aware
of themselves as a separate subject to the world as an object and 'suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.'
contd.,
****
Did Adam and Eve have a choice?
continues....
It is interesting to note that God
banishes Adam and Eve from the Garden before they have a chance to partake the Tree of Life and live forever. The Tree of Life which represents return to Oneness is inaccessible. It is too dangerous for them to eat it initially. A fiery angel with a sword is stationed to guard from all directions. They need to undergo a long process of purification and cultivation of self awareness before they can even contemplate a
return. But the return is inevitable. The Oneness is call them to Itself. And when they return and are ready perhaps the
Angel will let them pass, and they will have returned to the Garden of Eden (Source) but now they are conscious, awake, enlightened without initial separation.
They were not ready for the Tree of Life at so early a juncture because it is in fact the tree from which Eternity or God is attained. After eating from the Tree of Knowledge, they were to undergo many years of hardship. Just as it is with us, individuals, we do in fact have no choice but to eat the fruit and embark on the journey of return. It takes many years, lifetimes, before we see through the powerful illusion of the ego and return to Oneness. The most fundamental prayer in Jewish life is 'Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.' This is the prayer said just before death.
In the words of Zen Master Huang Po, 'A perception sudden as blinking that subject and object are One will lead to a deeply mysterious wordless understanding.'
(Blofeld, John, The Zen Teaching of Huang Po on the Transmission of Mind, Grover Press, 1958.).
concluded.
****
Illayaraja has released two audio CD's named RAMANA ARAM through ramanasramam.The songs are very good
Q: What is the end of devotion and the path of Siddhanta (i.e. Saiva Siddanta)?
Bhagavan: It is to learn the truth that all one's actions performed with with unselfish devotion, with the aid of the three purified instruments viz., body, speech and mind, in the capacity of the servant of the Lord, becomes the Lord's actions, and to stand forth free from the sense of 'I' and 'mine'. This is also the truth of what Saiva Siddhantins call para-bhakti (supreme devotion) or living in the service of God (iRai paNi niRRal).
- Spiritual Instructions
*****
Q: What is the method of practice?
Bhagavan: As the Self of a person who tries to attain Self Realization, is not different from him and as there is nothing other than or superior to him to be attained by him, Self Realization being only the realization of one's own nature, the seeker of Liberation realizes, without doubts or misconceptions, his real nature by distinguishing the eternal from the transient, and never swerves from his natural state. This is known as the practice of knowledge. This is the enquiry leading to Self Realization.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi - Spiritual
Instructions, Chapter II.
*****
Bhagavan: Although the Lord is all pervasive it appears from passages like 'adoring Him through His Grace',
that He can be known only through His Grace. How then can the individual soul by its own efforts attain Self Realization in the absence of the Lord's Grace?
As the Lord denotes the Self and as Grace means the Lord's presence or revelation, there is no time when the Lord remains unknown. If the light of the Sun, shining effulgently throughout the world, is invisible to the owl, it is only the fault of the bird and not of the sun. Similarly can the unawareness by ignorant persons of the Self, which is always of the nature of awareness, be other than their own fault? How can it be the fault of the Self? It is because Grace is the very nature of the Lord that He is well known as 'the blessed Grace'. Therefore the Lord, whose ever-present nature itself is Grace, does not have a function, such as bestowing Grace. Nor is there any particular time for bestowing His Grace.
-Spiritual Instructions - Chapter II.
*****
Q: What are the marks of the Guru's
Grace?
Bhagavan: It is beyond words and thoughts.
Q. If that is so, how is it that
it is said that the disciple
realizes his true nature by
the Guru's grace?
Bhagavan: It is like the elephant which wakes up on seeing a lion in its dream. Even as the elephant wakes up at the mere sight of the lion, so too is it certain that the disciple wakes up from the sleep of
ignorance through the Guru's benevolent look of grace.
- Spiritual Instructions.
****
Spiritual Instructions:
All mental concepts are controlled by the mere presence of the real Guru. If he were to say to one who arrogantly claims that he has seen the further shore of the ocean of learning or one who claims arrogantly that he can perform deeds which are well nigh impossible, 'Yes, you learnt all that is to be learnt, but have you learnt (to know) yourself ? And you who are capable of performing deeds which are almost impossible, have you seen yourself?, they will bow their heads (in shame) and remain silent. Thus it is evident, that only by the grace of the Guru and by no other accomplishment is it possible to know yourself.
- Sri Bhagavan.
*****
From Who am I?
'If one resorts uninterruptedly to
Self remembrance (Svarupa-smaranai,
that is, remembrance of or attention to the mere feeling 'I') until one attains Self, that alone will be sufficient, As long as there are enemies within the fort, they will continue to come out. If one continues to cut all of them down as and when they come, the fort will fall into our hands.'
Sri Ramana Maharshi.
*****
R.Subramanian,
Apropos the biblical story of Adam and Eve,Kanchi Mahaswami has this interesting observation:
"You must be familiar with the story of Adam and Eve which belongs to
the Hebrew tradition. It occurs in the Genesis of the Old Testament and
speaks of the tree of knowledge and God's commandment that its fruit
shall not be eaten. Adam at first did not eat it but Eve did. After that
Adam too ate the forbidden fruit.
Here an Upanisadic concept has taken the form of a biblical story. But
because of the change in the time and place the original idea has become
distorted-or even obliterated.
The Upanisadic story speaks of two birds perched on the branch of a
pippala tree. One eats the fruit of tree while the order merely watches its
companion without eating. The pippala tree stands for the body. The first
bird represents a being that regards himself as the jivatman or individual
self and the fruit it eats signifies sensual pleasure. In the same body
(symbolized by the tree) the second bird is to be understood as the
Paramatman. He is the support of all beings but he does not know
sensual pleasure. Since he does not eat the fruit he naturally does not
have the same experience as the jivatman (the first). The Upanisad
speaks with poetic beauty of the two birds. He who eats the fruit is the
individual self, jiva, and he who does not eat is the Supreme Reality, the
one who knows himself to be the Atman.
It is this jiva that has come to be called Eve in the Hebrew religious
tradition. "Ji" changes to "i" according to a rule of grammar and "ja" to
"ya". We have the example of "Yamuna" becoming "Jamuna" or of
"Yogindra" being changed to "Joginder ". In the biblical story "jiva" is
"Eve" and "Atma" (or "Atman") is "Adam". "Pippala" has in the same way
changed to "apple". The Tree of Knowledge is our "bodhi-vrksa". "Bodha"
means "knowledge". It is well known that the Budhha attained
enlightenment under the bodhi tree. But the pipal (pippala) was known
as the bodhi tree even before his time.
The Upanisadic ideas transplanted into a distant land underwent a
change after the lapse of centuries. Thus we see in the biblical story that
the Atman (Adam) that can never be subject to sensual pleasure also eats
the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge; While the bodhi tree stands for
enlightenment, the enlightenment that banishes all sensual pleasure, the
biblical tree affords worldly pleasure. These differences notwithstanding
there is sufficient evidence here that, once upon a time, Vedic religion
was prevalent in the land of the Hebrews".
Namaskar.
Dear Ravi,
Thanks for the interpretation given
by Mahaswami of Kanchi on the Adam
and Eve story. I have not read it before, Thanks.
Subramanian. R
Spiritual Instructions:
What is the nature of Maya?
Maya is that which makes us regard as non-existent the Self, the Reality, which is always and everywhere present, all pervasive and self luminous, and as existent the individual soul (jiva), the world (jagat) and God (para) which have been conclusively proved to be non existent.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi.
Spiritual Instructions:
Chapter II:
What are the rules of conduct which
an aspirant should follow?
Moderation in food, moderation in sleep and moderation in speech.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi.
*****
Tiruchuzhi Lakshmi Ammal:
(Mountain Path, Oct. - Dec. 2005)
I am a native of Tiruchuzhi. I knew Ramana Maharshi when He lived there as a young boy. On a few occasions, I would have seen Him. Then He went away to Dindigul and Madurai. I also went away from Tiruchuzhi. Years later, when I returned to Tiruchuzhi, I heard of His discovery at Tiruvannamalai soon after His Mother returned therefrom. But though I had regard for Him I came to Triuvannamalai to see Him only about ten years ago (this must have been in 1920 or thereabouts.). Since then my faith in Him increased. I and my sons and my relations have come frequently thereafter. From infancy my sons have been going to Him. As for special experience in my visits, I have none. I have not even asked Maharshi questions as a rule. Once or twice I asked Him:
Lakshmi: I am dumb and don't possess much intelligence. What to do?
Maharshi: It is good that you know you are dumb. If a fool does not know his foolishness that is wrong. Since you know your state, it will disappear by and by.
Lakshmi: How will it go?
Maharshi: You are doing Siva Puja. Aren't you? That is enough, your dumbness will go through that means.
Lakshmi: How will I attain a good state?
Maharshi: You perform puja till you think it is necessary. Then, when you slowly realize that you and your worshipped God are one and the same, the puja will leave you.
*****
T.R. Kanakammal
A Tribute
On Bhagavan's Jayanti, the first of January 1910, a senior devotee of Bhagavan and an old asramite, T.R. Kanakammal, was sbsorbed in Arunachala. Mountain Path offers a tribute to this blessed soul.
(M.P. April - June 2010)
*
The Last Day:
Sri Bhagavan has written, 'Bless me that I may die without losing hold of Thee or miserable will be my fate, O Arunachala.'
Thus goes the ninety sixth couplet from the Akshara Mana Malai. But few have been the recipients of such blessed grace.
(I was present in the Asramam Samadhi Hall, when Kanakammal merged in Arunachala, while prostrating before Sri Ramaneswara Mahalingam. This is on 1st Jan. 2010, the Bhagavan's Jayanti Day.)
A divine play, perfectly scripted by the Master, was slowly unfolding in Sri Bhagavan's very presence in the precincts of His shrine, where joyous Jayanti celebrations were on. Devaraja Mudaliar highlights the abundant grace that Bhagavan, the very embodiment of compassion, showered on His devotees on Jayanti days more than ever.
It was doubly auspicious day. It was the day of Ardra - when Siva rose a column of light between Vishnu and Brahma. (On that day,
very early morning, at about 5 am we went to the Asramam and observed with happiness abhishekam, and alankaram and arti for Nataraja and Sivakama Sundari in Mother's
Temple.).
Rarely Ardra and Punarvasu fall on the same day. It was also according to Western calendar New Year's Day, the first of January 2010.
The event happened that morning at the Samadhi Hall shrine, in an atmosphere permeated with the presence of Sri Bhagavan, was so natural as to lend its grace and dignity. In retrospect it seems as if Sri Bhagavan had been preparing Kanakammal for her grand and graceful exit. Her advanced age, she was 88 years old, saw her struggle through several serious illnesses. But a few incidents stand out as magnificent.
Once, about fifteen years ago, in a momentary black out, she fell on a burning stove and sustained a burn, she brushed aside all inquiries, saying, Karma burnt me; Grace saved me. Vinai suttadhu, aruL kattathu.
Though recurring bouts of ill health necessitated her leaving Tiruvannalai, for Chennai, her resolve was very firm to be back soon as she was well enough to live on her own.
contd.,
****
T.R. Kanakammal - A Tribute:
continues...
The final preparation for the exist came in Chennai. Suddenly one night she found she could not move her limbs. She tried to alert her relatives, but to her utter dismay,
no sounds escaped from her. She had lost her power of speech. She was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital. Her mental faculties were intact. Greatly upset by the stifling atmosphere of the ICU and agitated that her relatives were kept out, unable to provide support or succor of any kind, she made repeated vehement gestures to be taken out of the ICU, but these helped in no way to make her intelligible to others.
The nurse bestowed stern looks on her, making signs asking her to be still. Resigning herself to the situation, she remained quiet. Suddenly there flashed in her mind what Sri Bhagavan had said of total surrender. 'Total surrender dos not come that easily. When there
is nothing that you can rely on, when your own kith and kind cannot help you, when your own body fails to obey your commands then, if one turns to the Lord, with all one's heart, that is the total surrender.'
contd.,
****
R.: In the enquiry `Who am I?', `I' is the ego. The question really means, what is the source or origin of this ego?
It was interesting to read this in, “Be As You Are”.
I wonder why the question ‘Who am I?’ gained popularity when the question, ‘Where does this “I” come from?’, is more accurate.
The question ‘Who am I?’ is often incorrectly conceived of as an invitation to intellectualise or philosophise as to what this “I” is. When in fact its purpose was to turn attention away from thought and to the Source, the Self, the space between thoughts.
‘Where does this “I” come from?’ or something similar, would have been more suitable and less confusing.
RM.: The state we call realization is simply being oneself, not knowing anything or becoming anything.
.....wonderful quote
T.R. Kanakammal:
continues....
'How true' she thought. She anchored her thoughts and attention on Sri Bhagavan and Bhagavan alone. She remembered nothing else.
Kanakammal woke up the next day calm and peaceful, as if she had been administered a tranqulizer. When she spoke to the doctor who came on his rounds, Amma was surprised beyond measure to find that the power of speech returned to her and that she could also move her limbs freely, without any therapy or treatment. Later, the specialist who examined her called her recovery miraculous. This direct and personal experience even taught her most convincingly the truth of total surrender and prepared for her for imminent and graceful exit.
In November 2009, she came for Deepam but extended her stay and said she would stay on in Tiruvannamalai until Jaynati. Yes, indeed, she did stay until Jayanti and not a day more!
The Jayanti started like any other morning for her. With her own hands
she served breakfast and coffee to the devotees who had come all the way from Kodaikanal to take care of her, probably as a way of saying 'Thank You' to her.
That day Samadhi Hall was full to the capacity. Even the surrounding
paces were occupied. Some devotees closed their eyes and some had positioned themselves in front of the stone balustrade by the north eastern corner of the north eastern
corner of the shrine. Little did they realize that a divine play would soon unfold at the very spot.
The Mahayana Rudra japam having just been completed, the Vedic pundits and the vidhyarthis of the Patasala were sitting in their places at the raised shrine mantapa and the abhisheka was about to commence. Sri Bhagavan's shrine was shining resplendently in all its glory.
contd.,
****
T.R. Kanakammal - A tribute:
continues.....
The parayana of the Mhanarayana Upanishad was about to commence. The teacher of the Veda Patasala had taken taken his seat and was about to give the signal to start. One of the devotees who had come from Delhi nudged another saying, 'Look at this old lady immaculately draped in a beautiful sari.' Kanakammal was just then entering the hall through the entrance near the well, using her walking stick and escorted by her friend from Kodaikanal on one side and her attendant, Ramani, on the other. She moved towards the stone railing
to rest her hand, and tried to hold on to it with her eyes directed at the Lingam. Her gait was a little unsteady and her hand, as it tried to hold onto the pillar shook violently. Her knees buckled and she fell on the folded legs with both her arms outstretched. Devotees nearby rushed to arrest her fall and support her. Her walking stick and spectacles were collected by a devotee, who also gave her a little water to drink. Another devotee fanned her. The eyes closed forever and her mouth fell open. When efforts were made to straighten out her folded leg, and it was observed that her extremities had become ice cold.
A devotee was rushed off to call Dr.Murthy, while her attendant called out, 'Amma, Amma' with concern and anxiety. Her head briefly rested on the lap of the devotee from Delhi who later exclaimed how fortunate she was to have come all the way from Delhi just to earn this merit! Devotees who were going round the shrine, curious to know what had happened, started to crowd around her.
Dr. Murthy arrived and it was decided to carry Kanakammal to the area behind the old meditation hall on the west side, to get fresh air and to avoid commotion. This move was accompanied by the chanting of Arunachala Siva. A hefty looking foreign devotee who had a young daughter with him also lent a helping hand to carry her out. Father and daughter joined in the chanting.
****
Spiritual Instructions:
What is the significance of the saying that the nature of the real Guru is that of the Supreme Lord?
(Sarvesvara).
In the case of the individual soul which desires to attain the state of true knowledge or the state of Godhood (Isvaratvam) and with that object always, practices devotion, when the individual's devotion has reached a mature stage, the Lord who is the witness of that individual soul and identical with it, comes forth in human form with the help of Sat Chit Ananda, His three natural features, and form and name which He also graciously assumes, and in the guise of blessing the disciple, absorbs him in Himself. According to this doctrine the Guru can truly be called the Lord.
Sri Ramana Maharshi.
****
David,
The Youtube video uploaded on your home in Tiruvannamalai is lovely. The song accompanying it - Arunachala Ashtakam is beautifully sung and composed. Can you pls tell the album from where you picked this song ?
For the readers, the youtube link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J27VRR7CsnU
it is sung by prabhakar .the mp3 cd is ramana upadesa thuthimalai ,available at ramanasramam for Rs100/
Smt. T.R. Kanakammal - A Tribute:
continues....
Kanakammal was laid on the ground with her head on the lap of another devotee. Dr Murthy softly informed the devotees that she had passed away. The chanting continued. In sheer disbelief some lady devotees looked up to him questioningly. He quietly asked them to continue the chant. Two gusts of air escaped Kanakammal's lips, and a glint of hope lingered. Some hopeful devotees looked up again at the doctor who remained unmoved and shook his head, at which the girl attendant started to weep. The whole event was so solemn that the usual natural lament appeared so much out of place. The attendant was consoled and asked not to weep but to chant. It was inspiring to see the foreign devotee and his younger daughter join the chant throughout.
Curious onlookers were asked to keep away and a devotee hurried away to inform the president. It was decided to to take Amma home quickly via the Koranguthottam to avoid any disturbance and to allow the Jayanti celebrations to continue smoothly. Amma's attendant was sent in advance to open the house. The president arrived, closely followed by his wife and son Dr. Anand. One of the first to come and pay respects at the house was V. Ganesan, the president's brother.
Amma's body was carried by devotees led by the president. The traffic on the highway was stopped as they crossed to Kanakammmal's house. The mendicant swamis in the front of the gate got up, shocked and bewildered to see her lifeless of Amma as they had seen her going in
the car just a short while before.
In this way, Amma entered the compound, her residence for many years, where Sri Muruganar had taught her Sri Bhagavan's works, a legacy which she herself carried on and thereby inspired the hearts of many devotees.
contd.,
*****
Wow, the atmosphere of Mr.Godman's house and arunachala is very peaceful even through the video. It is my ideal. Will my fate lead me to the beautiful arunachala...?
My sister downloaded the soundtrack of Arunachala Ashtakam from the internet, but I don't know the exact source
Smt. T.R. Kanakammal - A Tribute:
continues....
The news having spread, devotees started streaming to her house. Chanting of Arunachala Aksharamanamalai began, so dear to the heart of every devotee of Sri Bhagavan. Her relatives in Chennai and Bangalore were informed. Arrangements were made by the Asramam, to take care of all the funeral rites, in spite of the busy schedule of the Jayanti Celebrations.
Amma's relatives arrived in the afternoon and the prescribed rites commenced in all their solemnity. Her younger brother performed the rites after all the devotees had paid their final respects. The relatives and some of the devotees acting as pall bearers, her last journey began.
The mortal frame was consigned to the elements after the completion of the funeral rites, witnessed by
towering Arunachala to the north and the setting crimson sun to the west. It was the most graceful exit one could witness. There was no struggle, no sign of pain on her face. On the contrary, she looked calm, composed and serene. There was even a glow on her face.
Kanakammal's own words, which she never grew tired of repeated echoed in our hearts. 'Bhagavan never allow anyone who has come to Him to go away empty handed' and we all belong to Him. '
Encouraged and immensely inspired by the glory of Kanakammal's departure we bow our heads to Him in praise and prayer. The fervent desire of every earnest devotee who witnessed her exit from this world,
is to earn the grace of Sri Bhagavan and to emulate Kanakammal by living right till the end with a heart that remembers and holds to nothing but Him.
- Aparna Krishnaoorthy.
contd.,
******
T.R. Kanakammal, A Tribute:
The Loving Presence of Kanakammal:
In 1986, I came to stay at Sri Ramanasramam for a few months, I joined a group that went to Kunju Swami in the mornings after breakfast. J. Jayaraman was reading a Tamizh spiritual text to Kunju Swami, who was graciously explaining it. I know no Tamizh, and understand such texts even less, bu it was the sannidhi (presence) of Kunju Swami and satsangh of the others that drew me and held me in that small room. The room, as I recall, felt dark like a cave, but the atmosphere was of deep silence. The only voice of J. Jayaraman interrupted from time to time by Kunju Swami. I noticed Kanakammal after a few days, when in reply to Swami's request, she said something.
She was a dignified woman in her early sixties. Her quiet ways, her focused attention, gained my respect. However, we never spoke to each other directly.
A year or two later, she was visiting U.S.A. and came to Arunachala Ashrama in New York. We had a long wonderful satsangh with Kanakammal. We were transported to the early forties and fifties at Sri Ramanasramam, as she spoke of Sri Bhagavan, and her coming to live near the Asramam. She spoke of Sri Bhagavan, and her coming to live near the Asramam. She spoke in Hindi, and thus it was easy for us to understand her. Her personality, her poise, and the strength of her conviction that there was never a life for her away from her Sadguru, inspired me more than anything else. Most of her words are mostly forgotten at this distance of time, but the strength of her surrender has supported me all these years.
In early 2009, I was as Sri Ramanasramam for a long stay after a gap of many years. Someone informed me that Kanakammal was in the new hall. She was seated on a chair, in a white sari with a red border, facing the large portrait of Sri Bhagavan. I approached her, did my pranam, and said my name. She raised her glance to focus on my face, and her simple gesture of recognition melted my heart. I sat by her side for the next few days. There was no need for a conversation. She was in the presence of her ever present Sadguru. There was an unmoving quietness about her. After an hour, she would get up and leave.
contd.,
****
Although Sri Ramana was happy to give his verbal teachings to anyone who asked for them, he frequently pointed out that his `silent teachings' were more direct and more powerful. These `silent teachings' consisted of a spiritual force which seemed to emanate from his form, a force so powerful that he considered it to be the most direct and important aspect of his teachings. Instead of giving out verbal instructions on how to control the mind, he effortlessly emitted a silent power which automatically quietened the minds of everyone in his vicinity. The people who were attuned to this force report that they experienced it as a state of inner peace and well-being; in some advanced devotees it even precipitated a direct experience of the Self.
This flow of power from the Guru can be received by anyone whose attention is focused on the Self or on the form of the Guru; distance is no impediment to its efficacy.
Traditionally it involves being in the physical presence of one who has realized the Self, but Sri Ramana gave it a much wider definition. He said that the most important element in sat-sanga was the mental connection with the Guru; sat-sanga takes place not only in his presence but whenever and wherever one thinks of him.
(Be As You Are – David Godman)
This ambience, or atmosphere, of Peace around a teacher is rare amongst the throng of “teachers”. Perhaps a mark of a genuine teacher!
Reading Ramana Maharshi’s words in a meditative or contemplative fashion, I assert, also has the power to effect this Peaceful atmosphere.
His physical presence, whilst perhaps preferable, is not a necessity.
T.R. Kanakammal - A Tribute:
The Loving Presence of Kanakammal:
continues...
After a few days, I had the opportunity to visit her. That evening Ramanendu Chatterjee and I,
along with Terry Sayre, a devotee from California, went to see her. She was surprised when we entered her house around 4.00 pm. since that was her time to come to see Sri Bhagavan. She clearly recalled having met me in New York and said in Hindi:
'Pooccho, jo poochhanaa hai?' (Ask what you want to ask). So I said, 'Tell me how and when you spoke to Sri Bhagavan.' It is difficult for me to ask questions, and I wanted learn to overcome this hurdle.
She laughed and spoke to all three of us for a long time. I started to translate for Terry, and then he said graciously, 'I don't need to know, basking in her presence is enough for me.' The tears of devotion in his eyes were his silent offerings at the feet of Kanakammal, and I was convinced that they reached Sri Bhagavan.
She spoke to us for almost an hour. This is what I recall:
'There were a few close devotees who dominated the conversations around Sri Bhagavan. They talked about the problems of their domestic lives. As a young person, I used to think, 'What is the use of talking in front of the Master of Silence?'
'I had seen others ask for permission before going to pradakshina. Therefore, one day I did the same. I approached the sofa, and stood there. Sri Bhagavan looked up and with His eyes and a slight movement of His head asked, 'What?' My mouth opened but no sound came. I was transfixed. He said, 'You want to go on pradkashina. Is that it?' Still there was no response from me. He then looked at the older lady who was with me, and turning towards me, asked, "Is she going with you?" Still no sound came out of me. The lady confirmed to Sri Bhagavan that she would take me with her. That was the end of one and only private audience with Sri Bhagavan.
contd.,
****
Smt. T.R. Kanakammal - A Tribute:
The Loving Presence of Kanakammal:
continues...
'Another occasion was the Jayanti Celebration. There was only one thatched hut in which Sri Bhagavan stayed adjacent to the Old Hall. Sri Bhagavan was sitting on a chair outside the hut by the west wall. There was a queue of people starting from the well, going outside the hut towards the south, to the west facing Sri Bhagavan, and then moving on. In other words, going around the hut in a clockwise manner, so that everyone could have a brief audience with Bhagavan on Jayanti day.
'I was excited about this, my first formal occasion to be in front of Him, and wanted to say something to Him. I joined line. But when I actually came in front of Him, I was tongue-tied. Sri Bhagavan was glowing brighter than the golden sun. There are no words to describe what I witnessed. The karuna in His eyes; the golden lustre of His physical being. Once again, speech was lost, the desire to speak was gone, and so I moved on silently.
'There is no regret that I never spoke to Him.'
Kanakammal used Hindi to speak to me, but it was her hands, her eyes, and her heart that spoke to all three of us more forcefully. Terry who does not understand any Hindi, felt the power of her presence and Ramanendu and I were overwhelmed.
On the last day of my stay, I went in the morning to say my goodbyes.
She opened the door, and when she saw me with a tray of fruits in my hand, she asked me to place it in
front of Sri Bhagavan's photo, that stood on a raised shrine in the room. She sat on an easy chair in the same room and watched me offer the fruits to Sri Bhagavan's picture. She then asked me to come closer to her chair. She gave me back some fruits. I did my pranam to her. My head was in her lap. She put her hands on my head in a gesture of blessing, kept them there for sometime, and filled with her 'unspoken' blessings. I left her room overwhelmed by that final gesture.
This is the closest I will ever come back to basking in the physical presence of our Sadguru, Sri Bhagavan.
-- Geeta Bhatt.
concluded.
****
Avasthatraya:
D. Samarender Reddy:
What are you doing in my dream
Or am I in your dream
Or are we both dreaming each other
Into existence.
And how to tell
What is a dream
What is waking
For they are relative terms
And we could have as well called
The dream as waking
And waking as a dream.
In the transitions between
These two curious states,
What is the Self that endures
And partakes of these two states.
And what happens to that Self
In a dreamless sleep;
Surely dreamless sleep there is no
death
For how then is memory resurrected
To face another February morn,
Surely there a mystery abides.
*****
Let us go back once more O mind
To our own abode
Here in this foreign land of earth
Why should we wander aimlessly in stranger's guise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2aLnejjR3w
Bach Flower Redmedies:
Patrick Roberts.
(Mountain Path, Oct.Dec. 2005)
Thus we see that our conquest of disease will mainly depend on the following: Firstly, realization of the Divinity within our nature, and our consequent power to overcome all that is wrong; secondly, the knowledge that the basic cause of disease is due to disharmony between the personality and the Soul; thirdly, our willingness and ability to discover the fault which is causing such conflict; and fourthly, the removal of any such fault by developing the opposing virtue. (Edward Bach, 1886-1936, HEAL THYSELF 1931).
Dr. Edward Bach was a genius who discovered a new form of herbal medicine; a deeply spiritual man, he wrote that it was a God-sent gift, Divinely Revealed. He was born near Birmingham, England, of Welsh lineage, as his name suggests (bach means little in Welsh).
While still a school boy, he determined to become a doctor and so he studied at Birmingham University and then at University College Hospital, London, where he qualified. He worked as a bacteriologist, pathologist and homeopath at UCH and the London Homeopathic Hospital. He also had a consulting room in Harley Street and several private laboratories.
His own discovery of the close relationship between chronic disease and intestinal poisoning was confirmed by his reading in 1919 of Organon by Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy. The Seven Bach Nosodes, which he developed by 1920, are still used in homeopathy today. They are oral vaccines prepared from intestinal bacteria; his initial aim to replace them with purer plant remedies is the origin of Bach Flower therapy.
He gradually came to reject orthodox allopathic medicine, believing that it merely treats physical sympotoms. 'The main reason for the failure of modern medical science is that it is dealing with the results and not causes. He was convinced that the primary cause of disease, disturbing moods or negative mental states, is not removed by conventional medicine. Because disease in its origin is not material it cannot be cured by materialistic methods aimed at the body alone. 'Disease is in essence the result of conflict between Soul
and Mind, and will never be eradicated except by spiritual and mental efforts. (Heal Thyself)
contd.,
*****
Bach Flower Remedies:
continues...
His basic underlying principle is:
'Treat patient and not the disease.'
Because illness is the result of inner conflict and disharmony, a kind of consolidation of it, everyone has the power to heal himself. Negative thoughts poison the system. 'The real primary diseases of man are such defects as pride, cruelty, hate, self love, ignorance, instability and greed.'
The flower remedies do not treat physical conditions directly yet they cure them. They work not by attacking the disease but by overwhelming the negative with positive.
Bach's system is revolutionary in that the diagnosis of the patient is not based on physical symptoms but by first observing the personality and temperament and then identifying the prevailing harmful feelings like fear, worry, depression, anger, discouragement.
Usually several remedies are combined. Rescue Remedy is a good example of this, being a combination of Cherry Plum, Clematis, Impatiens, Rock
Rose, and star of Bethlehem. Every
household should keep a bottle of it to be used in emergencies such as accidents or shocking bad news.
The flowers chosen by Bach are from plants of a higher order; their subtle essence floods the patient with the positive energy required. The remedies are prepared either by the sun method or by boiling. The sun method is simple. The flowers are left floating in a glass bowl filled with pure water, in direct sunlight for a few hours during which their power is transferred to the water by the action of the sun. A few drops of brandy are then added to the water to preserve it. The first nineteen remedies Bach found were all prepared in this way, but the second nineteen were all boiled except for one.
contd.,
****
Bach Flower Remedies:
continues...
There are thirty eight remedies, all
prepared from flowers which grow wild in England and Wales except for Cerato, Olive, and Vine. By 1928, Bach had discovered the first three of them. Impatiens, Mimulus and Clematis. In May 1930, Bach left for London, giving up his lucrative practice in his quest to find the others. After that date, he charged no fees for his numerous consultations, trusting in Providence for his needs.
By autumn 1932, he had found the Twelve Healers which could treat the twelve major negative states of mind, he identified. These are called type remedies because they relate to characteristic personality traits. They can be helping remedies as well but it is debatable whether the other twenty six can also be used as type remedies, as Mechthild Scheffer claims. (Bach Flower Therapy, 1986). By 1932, he had found the next seven remedies, helpers to be used for chronic conditions. They are support remedies, often used in combination with a chosen remedy from the twelve healers.
The Twelve Healers are: Agrimony, hidden worry; Cerato, self distrust; Centaury, weakness; Chicory, over concern, self pity;
Clematis, indifference and dreaminess; Gentian, discouragement, despondency; Impatiens, impatience and tension; Mimulus, fear that has a known cause, nervousness, shyness; Rock Rose, terror, shock; Scleranthus, indecisiion, vacillation; Veravin, over enthusiasm, stress; Water Violet, pride and aloofness.
contd.,
***
Bach Flower Remedies:
continues...
The discovery of the first nineteen remedies was due to Bach's extraordinary hypersensitivity as well as hard work. The second nineteen remedies, meant more for ad hoc everyday use, had been revealed by the end of 1935. This had involved intense suffering for Bach. 'For some days before the discovery of each one he suffered himself from the state of mind for which that particular remedy was required, and suffered it such an intensified degree that those with him marveled that it was possible for a human being to suffer so and retain his sanity. And not only did he pass through terrible mental agonies, but certain states of mind were accompanied by a physical malady, in its most severe form.
(Nora Weeks, The Medical Discoveries of Edward Bach Physician, 1940). Bach had worn himself out by now, dying two months after his fiftieth birthday, having heroically accomplished his life's mission.
As well as the Twelve Healers, Seven Helpers, and the second nineteen, there is another way of considering the remedies. Bach himself placed them under the following seven headings:
FEAR - Rock Rose, Mimulus, Cherry Plum, Aspen, Red Chestnut.
UNCERTAINTY - Cerato, Scleranthus, Gentian, Gorse, Hornbeam, Wild Oat.
INSUFFICIENT INTEREST IN THE PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES - Clematis, Honeysuckle, Wild Rose, Olive, White Chestnut, Mustard, Chestnut Bud.
LONELINESS - Water Violet, Impatiens, Heather.
OVER SENSITIVITY TO INFLUENCE AND IDEAS - Agrimony, Centaury, Walnut, Holly.
DESPONDENCY OR DESPAIR - Larch, Pine, Elm, Sweet Chestnut, Star of Bethlehem, Willow, Oak, Crab Apple.
OVER CARE FOR THE WELFARE OF OTHERS - Chicory, Vervain, Vine, Beech, Rock Water.
contd.,
****
Bach Flower Remedies:
continues...
It is truly inspiring to read the biography of Edward Bach by Nora Weeks, which includes many brief case histories, as does Philip Chancellor's book (Illustrated Handbook of the Bach Flower Remedies) showing how effective the remedies are. Bach always cured the patient's physical complaint by treating the underlying psychological condition. However, the remedies need not be used to treat acute physical illness, but simply to help one cope with the ups and downs of everyday life. Indeed, used in this way, they can prevent the arising of actual physical symptoms, let alone the slow growth of chronic conditions. They can be a great help to the bereaved.
There are two ways of taking the remedies. Add two drops of each remedy to a 30 ml. bottle fitted with spring water from which four drops are taken directly on the tongue at least four times a day. Or put drops of each chosen remedy in a cup of water and then sip it. This can be done once or perhaps twice a day. How long remedies are taken for depends on the situation. They can be changed during the course of treatment if necessary. It goes without saying that, as with homeopathy, the art is to choose the right remedies.
There can be no over dosage, no wanted side effects and no incompatibility with other treatments. Everyone can prescribe his or her own remedies as no special knowledge or skill is required. 'Invariably there are some diseases which lie beyond the scope of this form of medicine and some conditions which are more suited to other methods of treatment but as we shall see the Bach remedies can be usefully applied in almost all circumstances.' (Julian Barnard: A Guide to the Bach Flower Remedies, 1987).
contd.,
*****
Bach Flower Remedies:
continues....
Anyone who is suffering from the inevitable problems of daily working life could benefit from some or all of the following remedies:
Olive - Nervous exhaustion;
Larch - lack of confidence.
Elm - overburdened by responsibility.
Gentian - discouragement and doubt.
Mimulus - fear of failure, say of a job interview.
Impatiens - tension, irritability;
White Chestunut - sleeplessness;
Chestnut bud - repeating the same
mistakes or not learning from
them.
Agrimony - hidden worry.
Walnut - stress of changing jobs.
Centaury - allowing onself to be
used or dominated;
Clematis - boredom;
Vervain - overwork;
Hornbeam - weary Monday morning
feeling.
Wild Oat -lack of career direction;
Wild Rose - apathy;
Pine - self reproach;
Holly & Impatiens - road rage (if
the job involves a lot of driving)
Apart from the desire to get well, an essential part of the healing process is the work we must do upon ourselves, which requires the courage to face ourselves, and
acknowledge our faults. Suffering has a positive value in that it may be corrective. A remedy in a 10ml bottle remedies are pure, simple and natural,. They work on babies, children, animals, plants, which proves that they are not a placebo effect.
Let us thank Dr. Bach for making available to all the wonderful healing power of Nature.
concluded.
*****
A Devotee's Journey:
Muruganar's Sri Guru Ramana Prasadam.
(Robert Butler, April-June 2009)
*
Muruganar's work, Sri Ramana Anubhuti, Part I, later renamed Sri Guru Ramana Prasadam, was written in the last period of Sri Bhagavan's life on the earth, when His health was failing, to such an extent, that the majority of it was never shown to Him, although it seems that He did see some verses. With hindsight, it does seem, when reading this work, that Muruganar was acutely aware that the sojourn of His beloved Master on this earth was nearing its end, and was moved to express his profound gratitude and love in lyrical outpouring of praise rarely equalled elsewhere in his writings.
In spite of this, as indicated by its original title. Sri Ramana Anubhuti, this work is not simply a work of praise to a beloved guru; its aim also is to express the ways in which the realization, anubhuti,
conveyed to Muruganar by Sri Bhagavan's grace, transformed and indeed subsumed his entire existence. Despite its relatively loose structure and the fact that it is pre-eminently a work of praise and devotion, the work also eloquently evokes the experience of the devotee who embarks on the journey to discover his true nature. The following short article attempts to illustrate this aspect of the work.
contd.,
*****
A Devotee's Journey:
Sri Muruganar's Guru Ramana Prasadam:
continues....
As with the vast majority of spiritual seekers, Muruganar's journey begins with a sense of dissatisfaction with his orientation towards worldly goals and ideals:
I was a learned fool. My flawed mind knew nothing until I came to dwell with Him whose glance filled my heart with the light of awareness. Dwelling in that gracious state of peace, whose nature is mouna, so hard to gain and know, I entered into union wiht the deathless state of the knowledge of reality. (Verse 58).
Indeed, as Muruganar was to discover, spiritual knowledge is as much or more, a question of un-learning than it is of learning:
.....Learned though I was, that unique nature wherein I appeared an untutored simpleton, who uses a mark to sign his name, became my own. (Verse 387).
Lest anyone should assume that spiritual knowledge is a free good, dispensed at will by the guru, Muruganar makes it clear that the disciple too must play his part in this process. One may argue that realization is not possible without a teacher, but there can be little doubt that the grace of even an enlightened guru cannot benefit one who is incapable or unwilling to apply himself or herself to the task:
I nurtured the crop of divine love by enriching the field of my heart, with the mature firm resolution and ploughing it well, plucking out the weeds of false ideas, as they arose, watering it with grace and erecting the fence of unflagging Self enquiry. Thus I became to taste the bliss of Lord Siva. (Verse 500).
With spiritual practice come insights, and in this work Muruganar gives vivid expression to a number of these. Here he explains how the mind, when left to its own devices, operates as self serving mechanism that will propagate its own existence by identifying itself with the objects that it encounters through the senses:
The nature of vasanas is such that we make them to be ourselves. This propensity of the mind, (to identify with the objects of habit and desire) is like that of bees that instinctively rise up and rush towards the nectar the moment they see it. (Verse 561).
contd.,
****
A Devotee's Journey:
Muruganar's Sri Guru Ramana Prasadam:
continues.....
To explain why this should occur, Muruganar introduces the reader to the concept of pramada, the act of forgetting one's true nature, or put another way, the identification with the body-mind that is the result of forgetting the Self:
Those who through the mental error of pramada -- the forgetting of one's true nature, -- go about taking that which is other than consciousness to be the 'I', will go mad and meet their ruin. Locked in the prison of birth engendered by their deeds, their existence will be a sad and weary one. (Verse 479).
Clearly then the mind is not to be trusted:
To realize through investigation that the nature (of Reality) is beyond the reach of thought, and to slough off that treacherous mental imagination, making the heart our permanent abode -- that indeed is the pellucid state of supreme Jnana. (Verse 563).
However, a question remains as to how this 'treacherous mental imagination' is to be eliminated, if the mind cannot be trusted. In the section, entitled, The Enquiry that Leads to True Jnana, Muruganar speaks of how this might be achieved, employing the method of Atma Vichara (investigation of the source of 'I' sense), as advocated by Sri Bhagavan Himself.
The network of thoughts that fills the mind branches out from the perception 'I am the body'. The proper course of action is to ask the question, 'What is the place in which this 'I am the body' idea has its source?' and thus reach and become established within the heart. (Verse 551).
contd.,
****
A Devotee's journey -
Sri Muruganar's Sri Guru Ramana Prasadam:
continues......
This section, containing many finely crafted and insightful verses, was published in its entirety in a previous edition of Mountain Path,
(No,2. 2008), to which the reader is referred for further reeading.
In Sri Bhagavan's radiant presence, however, Muruganar had no need of any such tools to accomplish the task of controlling the mind, and senses, as evidenced by the large number of verses, that give us some idea of what it must have been like to simply be in that presence.
He who nurtures all things within His own Self through the power of His consciousness eclipsed my own self's firefly glimmer with the blazing sun of His grace. The illusory world of senses, created by the lustful mind;s teeming desires, disappeared completely and as I came to dwell at my spiritual
center, a state of equanimity reigned within my heart (Verse 116).
Muruganar's evocations of Sri Bhagavan as the living example of the Supreme Reality, -- That which alone is -- are lavish in their praise.
Through the joyous power of the true love that took as its goal the feet of my Guru, a life lived in the vast space of the Self that shines fearlessly within the heart burgeoned forth within me, as the unfailing awareness that is mauna grew stronger and stronger. Birth's suffering was abolished and my became fearless as I obtained the vision of Grace. (Verse 5).
He entered my heart, imparting the state of supreme bliss upon which it is delightful to dwell. Grace flowed sweetly from Him as He filled me with the richness of mauna, the beauteous life of Sivam that is the experience of the knoweledge of the Self. My eyes'
jewel, He stood granting me the vision of the Real that was sweet to my sight (Verse 6).
I cannot remain separate from my Lord ! When His transcendent reality pursues me far and stands revealed as my own nature, how can I leave and be separated from my lover, the Self, the consciousness that shines in the heart?
(Verse 33)
contd.,
*****
Hi Everyone,
I came across some articals on the net which mention that Bhagavan practiced Surya Trataka (sun gazing), I am not sure if this information is correct.
Is anybody aware of any credible source/book mentioning this?
Thanks
A Devotee's Journey: Sri Murugnar's Sri Guru Ramana Prasadam:
continues....
These verses, though, are not evidence of a blind devotion which absolves the devotee of any responsibility for his own salvation. In Muruganar there is no question of a conflict between the paths of Bhakti, devotion and Jnana, inquiry. Sri Guru Ramana Prasadam shows them to be entirely convergent and interchangeable, as evidenced by the following:
I show my deep gratitude to Him who brought about His victorious rule within my heart, by maintaining self attention without a break. There is no other way than this. Benedictions upon the glorious Self that shines alone within the Heart, through non dual truth of its Self nature! (Verse 409).
Thus Muruganar shows us how, through a combination of intense devotion and inquiry, the antics of the mind will finally come to an end:
If the nature of the mind is closely investigated, the mind will be resolved into consciousness, and give way to the mouna of final liberation in the unalloyed clarity
of the Self. (Verse 558).
This however is a process that has a final twist. It is the person making the journey that must end,
not the journey itself.:
I saw Him as the wise One with the power of to destroy the effects of my deeds; little did I realize then that He would destroy me as well! With a love greater even than that of a mother, He put an end to me, deeming it most beneficial to me. (Verse 462).
The loss of the ego-self is a terrifying prospect indeed for the unenlightened devotee. Smt. T.R. Kanakammal records in her Tamizh biography of Muruganar how, on the occasion of the two of his early visits to the Asramam, he felt compelled to flee the presence of Sri Bhagavan due the intense fear he felt, as Sri Bhagavan's physical form became incandescent with light and the world around Muruganr and his own sense of identity melted away. To step into the seeming void beyond the mind and senses requires a leap of faith.
Know that those glorious feet which lie beyond the realm of thought are perceived differently according to the minds that reflect upon them. To those who affirm their reality, they are the light of the eternal and to those who deny it, they are the dark void of ignorance. (Verse 595).
contd.,
***
A Devotee's Journey - Sri Muruganar's
Sri Guru Ramana Prasadam:
continues....
Such Muruganar tells us, is the paradox of the devotee's arduous journey:
There are the feet that cannot be gained without the loss of the very self that set out to attain them in the first place through its own efforts. (Verse 852).
Murugnar's verses show us how, having prepared himself through the assiduous application of Self Inquiry, he was able, through the power of love and devotion, to make the final leap of faith, and allow the knot of the mind that bound him to his physical body to be finally and irrevocably severed;
The Noble Lord, who dwells in the auspicious mouna, that shines as the life of transcendent grace, took my very heart for His temple.
As He cut through the knot (chit jada granthi) that heart grew, expanding and blossoming to become the pure expanse (of the Self). (Verse 110).
Translator's Note: In late 1992, I was approached by by the late A.R. Natarajan, to translate into English the long out of print Tamizh text of Sri Ramana Anubhuti Part I. This was eventually published in 1998, under the title Non Dual Consciousness, The Flood tide of Bliss, Sri Ramana Anubhuti. Meanwhile, in 2004, Sri Ramanasramam republished the Tamizh text in the revised format established by Murugnar himself with the help of Sadhu Om, now titled Sri Guru Ramana Prasadam; this revision was unpublished and unknown to me at the time of the original English translation. In 2006, therefore, I undertook the task of re-translating the work in its new format, an undertaking which enabled me to remedy many of the shortcomings of the original translation, and to bring to the work the fruits of what knowledge and experience of Tamizh works of Sri Bhagavan and Muruganar I had gained in the intervening years. The task is now complete and I am proud to be able to offer to the devotees this glowing portrait of Sri Bhagavan and His teachings as seen through the eyes of His most renowned devotee, Mukavi Kanna Muruganar.
concluded.
****
Sri Guru Ramana Prasadam - Sri Muruganar - tr. Robert Butler.
only the section 18 of chapter 2
The excerpt given here is section 18 of Chapter Two, The Rapture of the Guru's Grace, entitled Instruction to the people of the world (enquiry).
Sri Guru Ramana Prasadam is principally a work of devotion, but as the current extract clearly shows, the paths of Jnana and Bhakti are entirely convergent in the heart of a true devotee. Muruganar's devotion is no airy mysticism but is here seen to be entirely consistent with the sound
rational principles that underlies the method of self inquiry.
18. Instruction to the people of the world - (inquiry)
The enquiry that is true knowledge:
551. The network of thoughts that fills the mind branches out from the perception "I am the body". The proper course of action is to ask the question: What is the place in which this 'I am the body idea has its source? and thus reach and become established within the heart.
552. Know that the method of teaching which goes straight to the heart is that of self enquiry, when in response to the question, 'Who in reality is this flawed 'I'?, the truth is revealed in a sudden inward illumination, like sunlight flashing in a crystal of glass.
553. Ignorance is the state of forgetting the Self, true knowledge, and becoming intoxicated with the differentiated awareness that is of the form of the mind. This ignorance is a delusion that will be dispelled by the enquiry that is true knowledge.
554. Since His nature dwells inseparably within every incarnated soul, shining out as the 'I' even if we merely repeat it over and over again as a mantra, it will transport us to the seat of the heart that is union with the Self.
555. The Self that is revealed as our true nature is none other than the peerless reality of the supreme, which alone remains after this worldly illusion has faded into nothingness.
contd.,
*****
Sri Guru Ramana Prasadam:
(Section 18 of Chapter 2)
continues...
556. Thus, taking refuge within the heart, all conditional awareness will be expunged, and the knowledge of the Real, the summit of the Vedas, shining forth as 'I-I', will illuminate the cave of the heart like the rising sun at dawn.
557. When through self inquiry the 'I' suddenly expands to embrace the infinite fulfillment of the supreme, the mind previously weakened by suffering, will be revived, as it experiences its natural state, the peace of being emerged in the heart.
558. If the form of the mind is closely investigated, the form of the mind will be resolved into consciousness, giving way to the divine silence of final liberation in the unalloyed clarity of the Self.
559. 'Who am I?' is the source of all acts of questioning. If in silence, we inquire inwardly into the place of its arising, so that its truth is known, the dispute that gave rise to the question will be ended completely.
560. When we examine all the objects we hold on to, rejecting them one after the other saying; not this, not this, until none is left, the one rare thing that remains is the truth, reality, the 'I' that is merged in the divine hall of the heart.
contd.,
*****
Sri Guru Ramana Prasadam - Sri Muruganar:
(Section 18 of Chapter 2)
continues....
561. Like bees intoxicated by the sight of honey, whatever they perceive, they rise up without so much thought, and rush towards it, so that that which they perceive becomes their very form ! Know that this is the nature of inherited dispositions (vasanas).
562. That which revels the truth in which there is no room for duality, and shines as the inner Sadguru within the hearts of the superior ones (Jnanis) so that they have merged with it, is the 'I', reality, the supreme reality that is without equal.
563. To realize through investigation that the nature (of reality) is beyond the reach of thought, and so to slough off that treacherous mental imagination, making the heart our permanent place of abode -- that indeed is the pellucid state of supreme knowledge.
564. Due to its false understanding, the mind perceives as foreign to itself that which is not in fact different from it. The practice of abidance in the Self is to firmly hold the mind in abeyance with the heart. It is not an act of thinking.
565. Shining within the 'I' and inseparable from it, the reality of Brahman is the light which illumines mind consciousness. To control the mind-consciousness so that it is checked and restrained within that Brahman is the true mark of Sivahood.
contd.,
****
Sri Guru Ramana Prasadam -
(Section 18 of Chapter 2)
continues......
566. The truth of the Self will become established through that powerful state, in which the mind subsides in the state of samadhi,
which occurs when consciousness is firmly rooted within the heart, through the means of severing all the connection with the mind that goes out through the sense organs.
567. When the love accumulated over many births from ancient times fills our hearts and a clear understanding arises there through the power of His grace, so that we become one with the Self, never leaving its embrace, then indeed have we attained the sublime reality of union with God.
568. The fitting form of worship to the Lord who bears a third eye in his brow is to immerse oneself in the heart. This state, in which the heart is kept free from the taint of thoughts, is the straight path for those who seek the highest fulfillment.
569. In performing the sacrificial rituals, in the sastras, the final oblation most worthy of praise and which brings joy to Lord Siva, whose judgement is unerring, is to offer up in fitting manner one's own self.
570. Know that those who have fully accomplished that one thing which fully accomplished all their religious duties, because its greatness far exceeds that of any other offering, and after it nothing whatsoever remains to be done.
contd.,
***
Sri Guru Ramana Prasadam - Sri
Muruganar:
(Section 18 of Chapter 2)
continues.....
571. That which is spoken of as life of life itself is true life. The other 'life' is merely the body. That illusory knowledge meditated by the senses (suttarivu) is nothing but delusion. The pure consciousness that underlies it alone is true consciousness.
572. All that is perceived as being separate from consciousness is insentient. It will prove to be a mere error and cease to exist. Therefore since the indivisible true reality that dwells within is consciousness itself, you should firmly reject as unreal anything which appears separate from that consciousness.
573. Realizing that the power of thought could never truly grasp That (the Self) whose beauty shines out through its very nature in the heart, he center (of all) thought subsides, you should abandon all such conceptualization.
574. Is it fitting that we should seek to embrace our own self by means of intellectual effort meditated by the senses, rather than becoming a prey to the supreme reality that shines as the Self and being annihilated through merging with its non dual nature?
575. Whatever it is that attracts the mind will always cause a disturbance within it, giving rise to cycle of pleasure and pain. Will this happen if, turning inward, the mind attains the realization of the reality which lies within the heart?
contd.
***
Sri Guru Ramaana Prasadam - Sri
Muruganar:
(Section 18, Chapter 2)
continues.....
576. To become established in the heart where one remains as the pure 'I', unruffled by the fierce gale whipped up by all the various branches of knowledge that are apprehended in the world, through this physical body and cause us agitation --- that indeed is the enduring attainment.
577. All universes are contained in the infinitesimally subtle awareness, without marks, without qualities, without any attributes whatsoever and free from all defects, which is the all pervading and indivisible Sivam.
578. All dualistic concepts such as 'this world' and 'that next world' are merely mental creations. Know that when these fall away and are no more, the one true Reality underlying all the worlds is none other than the unalloyed supreme intelligence of Sivam.
579. The Supreme Reality, in which flourishes the noble nature of pure grace, and which merges with us so that all the many false appearances
such as 'this birth and the 'next birth' cease to exist, shines out as the truth imbued and flawless 'I'.
580. In the unreal state where our true nature is veiled, the creations of the mind that swirl about are mere names and forms, but even these will be revealed as being of the form of pure consciousness in the state of peace that prevails as the nature of Sivam, the Self.
contd.,
****
Sri Guru Ramana Prasadam - Sri Muruganar:
(Section 18 of Chapter 2)
continues....
581. The reason why the world is apprehended as separate from Sivam is the error of knowledge mediated by the senses (suttarivu), which fails to turn inward by engaging in spiritual practice, occupying itself fruitlessly with mental concepts.
582. The soul is nothing other than the Siva Lingam itself. It is a grievous error for those who are unable to concentrate their attention and realize this through the subtle awareness that enters the heart and asks: 'Who am I?', to wail and lament as if they were sinners.
583. Those who pursue the inquiry 'Who am I?' until the last vestige of identification with the physical body is eradicated from their hearts will gain the treasure that, like the sky itself, pervades all things as the Self, Sadasiva, shining as itself alone
584. In the time of their inquiring into the wrongdoing, expiation for living beings is to abide steadfastly in the reality of the Heart, the unwritten lore of the Vedas, through self inquiry that asks: 'For whom is the sin?'
concluded.
****
Atma Vichara Padigam - Sri Sadhu Om.
(Tr. Tanmaya Chaitanya)
1. To think is to generate a vriti in the form of a thought (and hence to indulge in an act, and hence pravritti); but 'What is' is never a vritti (that is the sense of 'I am' is never act of thinking or thought).
If one probes keenly with total attention as to who is this 'I' which spawns all thoughts, thinking process will automatically cease. Even in the absence of thoughts, Being (the sense of one's Pure Existence) never ceases and there is no doubt about this. To abide unwaveringly in that Source from where all thoughts spring forth, is indeed Atma Nishta. May you abide thus !
contd.,
***
Atma Vichara Padigam: Sri Sadhu Om.
(Tr. Tanmaya Chaitanya)
2. The 'thinker' alone is a Jiva (the individual who owns up thinking); the one who merely exist (bereft of all thoughts) is Isvara (the Godhead or Sakshi Chaitanya). If the thinker jiva desires to remain still merely focusing the attention on the sense of pure existence in the form of "I am", such Self attention will quell all thinking activity (pravritti) and transform itself into the mode of pure Being (nivritti) Consciousness. Such a total resolution of the thinker along with all his thoughts into the Source, (ever shining as Existence-
Awareness) resulting in a vibrant stillness is alone called Siva Sayujua (Abidance in the state of Siva).
contd.,
****
Atma Vichara Padigam: Sri Sadhu Om.
(Tr. Tanymaya Chaitanya)
continues.....
3. Among so many countless thoughts that gurgle up from within, the thinker himself (in the form of 'I am so and so') is merely one more thought. However this "I thought" is the root of all thoughts (and hence the seed of all samsara). But it is merely a reflection / image
(pratibimba) of our true swarupa, the Self (that exists as "I", "I" without the limitations of any attribute). When we abide as this true Self in utter silence, the spurious "I"-thought never rears its head.
contd.,
*****
Atma Vichara Padigam - Sri Sadhu Om.
(Tr. Tanymaya Chaitanya)
4. This 'I-thought' does not arise in the deep sleep devoid of dreams.
Nor does this 'I-thought' ever arise (for the Jnani who ever abides) in the true jnana nishta. Only between these states does this 'I'-thought appear as 'I am the body' (in the waking state and dream states) and disappears otherwise in deep sleep state and the enlightened mode of Being. For this reason alone, this 'I'-thought is said to be a mere thought which comes and goes and hence to be dismissed as false. (Our true nature, by definition, is the ever present Self and never transient like this 'I'-thought.)
contd.,
***
Atma Vichara Padigam - Sri Sadhu Om;
(Tr. Tanmaya Chaitanya):
5. When this "I-thought" flourishes, all miseries also flourish (for it is the seed of ignorance and hence of samsara); it is this "I-thought" alone which is called the Ego. It arises and survives only because of lack of self inquiry. By not leaning
on it, for one's existence, and by intently questioning this 'I am so and so' thought with unrelenting attention, it evaporates out of existence without a trace. (even as mist vanishes with a rising sun).
contd.,
***
Atma Vichara Padigam - Sri Sadhu Om.
(Tr. Tanmaya Chaitanya)
6.
Because of this "I-thought" (aham vriiti) which pretends as the (grammatical) 'first person', the entire world comes into being as the second and third persons, 'You' and 'It' -- idam vritti). If the searchlight of our attention gives up its fancy for the 'second and third persons' and turns itself and the substratum of true Being will flash forth as the ever present, 'I', 'I', Consciousness without adjunct of 'so and so'. This undecaying true 'First Person' alone is the real Self and staying aware of the Self is indeed Jnanam,
Enlightenment. (Such recognition of our ultimate and only reality is called Pratyabhijna in Vedanta paribhasha because it is an ever present and already accomplished fact.).
contd.,
****
Atma Vichara Padigam - Sri Sadhu Om:
(Tr. Tanmaya Chaitanya)
7.
To grasp the 'second and third persons' (idam vritti) and pursuing it without a pause is utter foolishness; running after 'the second and third persons' by paying attention to them will fuel the thinking activity even more. But turning the attention inwards towards the 'first person' (aham vritti) is equivalent to suicide of for the ego. Because only by pursuing the inquiry of the aham vritti relentlessly to its logical end, will the ego be exterminated. This is the only way for the annihilation of the ego (ahamkara nasa) which alone is referred to as mano nasa.
contd.,
****
Atma Vichara Padigam - Sri Sadhu Om.
(Tr. Tanmaya Chaitanya)
8.
Without seeking the source of aham vritti shining as 'I am this body', in everyone's awareness but constantly turning the attention of one's mind to the second and third persons, which includes our own body is nothing but the play of ignorance. But if you raise the doubt,'is not the seeking of aham
vritti itself a pursuit of ignorance? Why should I then seek a false entity instead of pursuing the truth?' then do listen to my answer!
contd.,
*****
Dear David,
It is almost four months since you
wrote a post. It will be nice at least if you post 4 to 5 posts in a a calendar year. We all eagerly look
forward to your new post.
Subramanian. R
Atma Vichara Padigam - Sri Sadhu Om.
(Tr. Tanmaya Chaitanya)
9. The reason for the progressive attenuation and eventual annihilation of the 'I'-thought by tracing the false aham vritti is just this: the 'I'-thought is the scent for finding the true Self as it is nothing but a ray emanating from the Source of our deathless Being; by training the powerful search of our attention and latching it on to this ray without any lapse (pramada), the length of this ego ray progressively diminishes and finally disappears leaving in its wake the pure "I am"
shining without any veil of all limiting attributes. (Thus though the 'I'-thought is a false entity, it is called a useful leading error as by holding on to it one arrives at the Svarupa of oneself. Sri Bhagavan emphasizes that attention on aham vritti leads to aham sphurti (or aham sphurana) which alone bestows aham bodha (or aparoksha jnana, Self Knowledge.
(The famous Pancha Dashi text deals with this leading error concept -
shamvadi bhrama - in great detail in Chapter 9.)
contd.,
****
Atma Vichara PadigamL Sri Sadhu Om.
(Tr. Tanmaya Chaitanya)
10. Do not ever take up any work with the egoistic feeling that 'this duty has to be performed only by me'. There is nothing in this world that happens by your will power nor are you a truly existent entity (in terms of the ego which has only a phantom existence). Understand this fact right at the outset and weed out the egoistic doership attitude in your daily life. Then you will see that all your duties get carried out by a higher power automatically (using your body mind complex as a mere instrument of the divine), while your inner peace will always remain full to the brim.
contd.,
****
Atma Vichara Padigam - Sri Sadhu Om:
(Tr. Tanmaya Chaitanya)
Epilogue:
11. If we investigate carefully, we shall find that there is absolutely no object in this world which is not time bound and hence imperishable and that the Self shining as 'I-I' alone is the only Satya Vastu in the entire creation. Discriminating thus, renouncing mentally everything else as ephemeral non-Self, may be ever remain as the unnegetable Atman in unswerving abidance. The timeless and immortal Ramana Sadguru has truly ordained this Self abidance as the paramount duty for all of us!
concluded.
****
Atma Vidya Vilasam: Sri Sadasiva
Brahmendra - (tr. V. Narayanan)
A Selection:
1. I bow down to that first great Teacher (Sri Dakshinamurti) who is immaculate, whose lotus hand is in the chinmudra pose, who bestows on His devotees, all their desires and who is overflowing with endless bliss.
2. I now begin to say a few words of praise, in order that I may rest in in my own Self; I whose divine greatness has been awakened perforce by the teaching of my Guru Paramasivendra.
3. The supreme soul shines pure and awake, devoid of all mutations (vikalapas); it is unique, eternal and free from passion; it is an indivisible whole, untouched by the
Maya and free from gunas.
4. He who was sleeping under the influence of Maya and who during his sleep had dreams by the thousands; he is now awakened by the words of his Guru and delights in the ocean of Bliss.
5. By the grace of his good Guru, the wise man rejoices silently and must pleased at the heart, and with his mind submerged in his own nature as Existence Knowledge and Bliss.
6. The good Sannyasin is unique, rejoicing at will in the utmost regions of incomparable Bliss, with his heart's passions completely cooled by its proximity to the surging waves of Grace flowing from his good teacher, Guru.
7. The good Ascetic, from whose heart darkness has been dispelled by the sun like radiance of his Good Guru's grace, is sporting in the boundless ocean of Bliss.
8. The Sage rests quiet, visualizing the Atman that remains
after he has by his Buddhi uncreated by involution, the five elements, inverting the order of their creation in evolution.
9. He wanders about, with his desires, crushed and with his pride, self esteem and envy all gone, realizing in his mind that the universe in its entirety is insubstantial and proceeds from Maya.
10. He sports like a child, plunged in the ocean of pure Bliss and delighted with the diverse actions of men, without any feeling of 'You' and 'I'.
contd.,
****
Atma Vidya Vilasa - Sri Sadasiva
Brahmendra - (Tr. V. Narayanan)
continues....
11. Delighted in the Atman (in his Self) and rid of bondage of karma (action), the Prince of Sannyasins is wandering about in the outskirts of jungle, like a deaf, blind idiot. Alone the happy one enjoys, remaining in the close embrace of santi (equanimity) on the bed of his own ananda (bliss), serene and unruffled by all other sensations.
12. The King of Ascetics shines supreme in his own kingdom, in the majesty of his own blissful Self (atman), having made all the wealth of non attachment his own and having uprooted his enemies, the sense pleasures.
13. Though the sun be cool, though the moon scorch and the tongue of fire leap downward, the jivanmukta knows it to be the work of Maya and does not wonder thereat.
14. The King of Ascetics sports in the expanse of unvarying bliss, which is ever most pleasing, riding high on the neck of the elephant of Right Knowledge and vanquishing his enemy, Ignorance.
15. He shines supreme enjoying, as
Existence Knowledge and Bliss, with the blemish of egoism gone, with his mind quite calm, and composed,, and with his thoughts cool and pleasant like the full moon.
16. Fully engrossed in the enjoyment of his own Bliss, he remains in another world, as it were; and as strikes his fancy, here he is engaged in thought, and there he is singing, and there he is dancing.
17. Having skillfully caught the fickle antelope of his manas, in the net of Discernment (vimarsana) he, the unique one, reposes in the Self, tired with hunting in the forests of the Vedas.
18. Unique he triumphs, wandering at will in the forest of Fearlessness, having felled the cruel tiger called Chitta with sharp edged sword of his brave mind, manas.
19. The blemish-less Sun of a supreme ascetic stalks unique in the sky of Chit (Knowledge), with his abundant thoughts as the rays causing the lotuses of good men's hearts to bloom.
20. The great Muni shines in the ethereal region of Chit (Vishnupada), the fit abode of the Gods, a spotless moon which causes blue lilies to bloom and the moonlight of whose wisdom dispels ignorance.
contd.,
****
Atma Vidya Vilasa - Sri Sadasiva
Brahmendra - Tr. V. Naryayanan:
continues....
21. The Recluse is the gentle wind which blows pleasantly in the grove of Knowledge Bliss and prevents all fatigue by its lovely progress, along with the fragrance of flowers (Realized Souls).
22. The Ascetic shines, a peacock in the region of forest, when fear had fled and where grow the luscious fruit of Beatitude (Nisreya) and the pleasing flowers of perfect knowledge.
23. Abandoning the desert region of the worthless world, he, the good swan, sports freely in this excellent lake which is all Chit (Knoweldge) and full of the sweet waters of perfect bliss.
24. The great recluse is the cuckoo which coos soft sweet words in the grove which is made cool by the secret lore (Tantra) of the Upanishads and where all the Vedas are in bloom.
25. The excellent man of wisdom is the great lion which sports in the wide forest of Bliss, having torn asunder the wild elephant Delusion (Moha) and driven away all the tigers which are sins.
26. The ascetic is a wild young elephant who, cool, and wet from the meditation, sports in the high regions of the lofty peak of supreme Knowledge, beyond the reach of the lion, Ignorance.
27. The Sage shines supreme, silent and placid, with the ground under the tree as his resting place, and with his palm as the begging bowl, wearing nothing but only the jewel of non attachment.
28. The great Recluse shines as a king of kings, resting serenely on the soft bed of bare ground, with the cool breeze as his unique chamara (royal whisk) and with the full moon as the lamp of his royal chamber.
29. The king of ascetics takes his seat on a broad slab of stone, which is lovely because on every side of it the pure waters of the river are flowing, while the southern breeze from the Malaya Hills blows gently.
30. The great Recluse who has awakened to the state of the perfect Existence Knowledge Bliss rests in his house, which is the deserted bush on the river bank, on the rare and very comfortable bed of soft sands.
contd.,
***
Sri Atma Vidya Vilasa - Sri Sadasiva Brahmendra - Tr. V. Narayanan)
continues...
31. Verily the silent sager, ever engaged in inward meditation, takes the alms placed in his hands as foods and wanders along the street like an idiot.
32. Having dissolved the entire world by right knowledge and being under the power of the Perfect Substance, that survives such dissolution, he puts into his mouth by force of Prarabdha Karma, the handful of food which comes to him.
33. Taking rest in the outskirts of the forest, and regarding the entire universe as a mere blade of grass, the Yogin, his body smeared with mud and straw, enjoys secret bliss in regions beyond death and old age.
34. The Yogin sees nothing; nor does he speak; he does not hear any word that is spoken. He remains steadfast in the incomparable regions of Bliss, immovable like a block of wood.
35. The great Sannyasin who knows the truth of all the Vedas wanders like an ignorant fool unnoticed, devoid of every sense of difference and seeing only perfection everywhere and in all creatures.
36. Embracing the lady Virati (equanimity) and by Bliss overpowered, he sleeps with his hand for a pillow, with nothing for coverlet, and with the bare ground as bedding.
37. Tn the inner apartments of the Vedas, the king of ascetics delights in self illumination, as in the company of lovely courtesans whose lingering vestige of difference is all gone.
38. The king among asectics enjoys the company of mukti in the lofty mansions of Truth, which is reached by the broad way of Vairagya and which is lit by the lamp of excellent supreme knowledge.
39. The man who knows the Self accepts as a rosary the row of blue lily flowers in lonely places, and as divine healing herb (kalpa valli) the absence of carnal desire and as magic pills of immortality, the absence of egoism.
40. The Sage rejects nothing, considering it bad; nor does he accept anything, considering it as good. Knowing that everything is the result of avidya, he remains unattached to anything.
contd.,
***
Atma Vidya Vilasa - Sri Sadasiva Brahmendra - Tr. V. Narayanan.
continues....
41. He does not think at all of what is past, nor does he care in his mind about the future. He does not even take care what is in front of him; he is the One Perfect Bliss in everything.
42. The king of Sannyasins rests alone, rooted in the Self and enjoying the inner Bliss; he rejects nothing that comes to him and never desires what does not come to him.
43. Alone, in a mendicant is disporting himself as he pleases, free from all bondage, having reached the stage of perfection with his pure full blown Knowledge Bliss.
44. The great ascetic transcends the rule of varna and asrama (caste and status), shaking off from him the injunctions and prohibitions (of Sastras); he remains merely the perfect Knowledge Bliss.
45. Enjoying the fruit of the prarabdha karma, with wise man destroys all karma and having slipped off the bonds which bind him through his body, he becomes verily the Absolute Brahman.
46. The eternal That (Tat) shines, unperceived by the eye, the nose and tongue, free from gunas of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, the one Truth, peerless and unafraid.
47. The wise man contemplating daily on the splendor of atma vidya described here will grow ripe in the wisdom of the Supreme Soul and reach at once the ultimate Truth.
48. Thus is completed this work named Atma Vidya Vilasa - composed by Sadasivendra, the disciple of the gracious Guru Paramasivendra.
concluded.
***
MIND FOR THE ASKING:
D. Samarender Reddy:
(Mountain Path, July-Sept. 2013)
If one offers Me with love and devotion, a lead, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.
- Sri Krishna in Bhagavad Gita
*
Thank you, dear Krishna,
For showing me the easy way out
How difficult it would have been
If you had asked for my mind
For you see
Trees and water are in abundance
On this earth
But a mind I have only one
Though I speculate
What I would have got in return
If I offered my mind
At your feet
And sometimes think
If you would accept it at all
For it may not be as pure
As a leaf, flower, fruit or water.
*****
On the Nature of Enlightenment as
Pratyabhijna - An Inquiry in the Light of Sri Dakshinamurti Stotram.
(Swami Tanmayananda Sarasvati)
Part I:
Introduction:
The goal of all spiritual sadhana is Advaita Siddhi (the accomplishment of non dual vision), which is also called Self realization (or God realization in bhakti terminology). In Sanskrit, it is called Atma Sakshatkaram or Brahma Saksshatkaram, realization of the universal spirit, shining as the indwelling Self of every being). Upon inquiring into the nature of liberating Knowledge, the venerable ancient rishis asserted that it is not a matter of reaching any destination or gaining something anew (in terms of a variety of religious or mystical experiences) nor is it a transformation of the mind stuff and much less it is a product of any action, howsoever, exalted. Lastly it does not consist of mere purification of the soul. (Brahmasutra Bhashya, Swami Gambirananda).
In the inner journey of the soul, there are a variety of landmarks which could be loosely described using the above terms. They have some limited validity on the relative plane which strictly pertains to the preparatory stages of sadhana. When Brunton queried Sri Bhagavan regarding the time required for enlightenment, He replied that it takes a long time to set fire to coal, gunpowder catches fire instantly, (Narasimha
Swami, Self Realization), and it is all a matter of maturity of mind. The final explosion that destroys samasara with all its sufferings happens only with the dawn of Self Knowledge, jnanadeva tu kaivalyam.
In Vedantic parlance, the nature of such enlightenment is more accurately described as pratyabhijna or 'recognition of the inner Self.' 'It is pure, plain and as simple as recognizing a gooseberry fruit in one's own palm and hence easy even for simpletons' exclaims Sri Bhagavan Ramana in his Atma Vidya Kirtanam.
contd.,
****
On the Nature of Enlightenment As
Pratyabhijna:
(Swami Tanymnayananda Saraswati)
continues.....
In the empirical plane of reality, the Jiva (the individual self) is said to be covered by avidya (ignorance) and consequently has forgotten its real nature as being
identical with he limitless universal Self. Instead, it has identified itself with a limited body-mind complex, thereby falling into samsara and experiencing all its attendant sorrows endlessly. After going through an elaborate process of spiritual sadhana, capped with self inquiry, one finally gains the 'saving knowledge' -- which is direct and immediate (aparoksha jnanam) -- of one's true nature as the immortal, limitless Brahma Swarupam. This discovery is called pratyabhijnanam or recognition of one's original nature, he ever present spirit as the ultimate truth, and this alone sets one free from the thraldom of matter and consequently ssmsara for ever.
contd.,
****
On the Nature of Enlightenment as
Pratyabhijnam:
continues...
The etymology of the word is traced as follows: 'prati' + 'abhi' + 'jna'. 'prati' and 'abhi' are prefixes to the root 'jna' which means 'to know' Of the several meanings available for the prefix,
'prati', two are relevant to the present context. One of them is 'in companion with' and 'as a match for'. 'abhi' means 'facing', 'all around', 'both sides' or 'in front of'. Suppose you see a person called Ganesh whom you had seen years ago, with characteristics corresponding to his youthful age, status etc., which are vastly different from 'compared' to his present features, then you discard the incidental differences between the present and the earlier versions and quickly 'match their basic commonalities' (often in a subliminal way) and conclude that 'he is the same person whom you had encountered in the past. This is the standard process of recognition of any person or object. (The feeling of deja vu is also such recognition, as in the case of events and encounters.)
Such a sudden spark of recognition culminates in the flowering of knowledge or illumination (signfied by the root 'jna'. The brief definition of the technical term 'pratyabhijna' is thus in the form of ascertaining the identity of a person as, 'he whom I saw in the past, is the same person in front of me now'. Sri Sureswaracharya in his commentary Manasollasa on the Dakshinamurti Stotram, describes thus: pratyabhijnaam consists in a sudden flash of memory triggering recognition of a thing or a person -- in he form 'that this is the same as this.' (soyamiti anusandhanam) -- which, having presented itself before one's awareness in the past experience (referred to as 'that'), once again becomes an object of consciousness at the present moment of experience (referred to by 'this').
contd.,
***
On the Nature of Enlightenment as
Pratyabhijna:
continues....
The second meaning for the prefix 'prati' valid in this context is 'to return' or 'to traverse in the reverse direction', because with reference to the object cognized in the present moment, the mind quickly 'travels back' in time to compare it with a past experience of the same subject, by recollection. Thus the attention of the mind (antahkaranam) is 'turned within' or 'reversed' from the outside perception. For, while 'cognition' takes place outside of oneself with the eyes operating outward to reach out to the object, 'recollection' can take place only by the mind's attention 'turning inward in the opposite direction'. Thus Smriti (recollection) combines with pratyaksha (cognition) to make the knowledge of the object complete with re-recognition viz., pratyabhijna.
It is important to understand these concepts because language conditions our thinking, which in turn conditions our attitude and approach to sadhana. The use of precise, technical words is a powerful aid in removing the psychological cobwebs in the mind which hinder our sadhana in the form of vagueness or incorrect underatanding. The process of gaining clarity is thereby facilitated by cutting through many
subliminal barriers. Oftentimes, the same word can mean different things to different people and a lack of consensus approach leads to bitter debates which are easily avoided by assigning precise meanings to specific terms. We shall shortly see an instance of a philosophical schism germane to the present topic and how it can be reconciled by eliminating the confusion caused by semantics.
contd.,
***
Philosophical Meaning of Pratyabhijna
Darsanam:
continues....
The core doctrine of Kashmiri Saivism is, in fact, called, Pratyabhijna- Darsana or the Philosophy of Recognition, which teaches that the individual self (jiva) is, in essence, identical with the universal Self, (Siva), when we discard the upadhis of vyashti (limited individual) and samashti (totality). Abhinavagupta in his Isvara-Pratyabhijna-Vimarshini (See Pratyabhijna Hrdayam, by Jaidev Singh, Motilal Banarasidas, Delhi) gives an elaborate exposition of the above, which is in perfect consonance with the Advaitic position as enunciated by Survesvarcharya in Manasollasa, (See Dakhshinamurti Stotram and Manasollasa, Samata Books, Madras):
The pratyabhijna of Atman consists in Jivatma (the embodied self) becoming conscious that He is omniscient, etc., owing to intuitive recognition of His essential nature as Infinite Consciousness, after casting away all notions of limitations experienced by the jiva through its association with Maya. Sri Bhagavan expressed the same identity between Jiva and Isvara, (Upadesa Undiyar Verse 24) from the standpoint of their true nature, shorn of all their upadhis. Sri Sankara declared this identity as, 'Brahman alone is, Satyam, the world being illusory and jiva is none other than Brahman.' (Asangoham, Verse 18).
In ordinary life also, pratyabhijna then consists in the 'unification through cognition' - anusandhanam, of what appeared before, with what is appearing now, as in the statement that ascertains, 'This is the same person that I had encountered earlier.' Recollection of a past experiences is paramarsha or smriti. The present cognition is pratyaksha. When both pratyaksha and and paramarsha occur at the same time together, it ignites a re-cognition, which is pratyabhijna. In fact most of our daily vyavaharika activities are founded on pratyabhijna only. But it takes place so fast and effortlessly as a continual process that it is taken for granted and hardly given the recognition that it merits.
contd.,
***
The fallacy of Jivatma and Paramatma -A painting by Mother Meera
http://www.mothermeera.com/mother-meera/inner-contact/attachment/hw-12
On the Nature of Enlightenment As
Pratyabhijna:
continues....
Sri Sankara employs this concept of
pratyabhijna brilliantly in Verses 6 and 7 of his celebrated advaitic hymn Sri Dakshinamurti Stotram, to refute the hypothesis that there is no substantive underlying Reality behind the empirical world experienced in everyday life, even though the world is treated as illusory by the proponents of that theory.
Among various theories of 'erroneous cognition' (khyati vada), one major theory is 'asat khyati vada' which asserts that though the world is as unreal as optical illusion like mirage waters, it does not emerge from a real substratum. Advaita does not accept this view - akin to Berkeley's solipsism -- because the illusion of a snake cannot arise without the substratum of a real rope. In the same way, the illusory appearance of the world cannot arise without a real substratum, namely Brahman. This is anirvachaniya kyati. Illusions are superimpositions which always require a substratum to be projected upon, whereas hallucinations are purely mental creations without any real substratum or basis. Vedanta declares that the world is not a mental hallucination but an illusion that requires a substratum. This is an important distinction. The various theories of khyati vada are discussed in detail in the commentaries of commentaries of Adhyasa Bhashya
of Sri Sankara, using the standard illusions of rope-snake and silver-nacre examples.
contd.,
****
On the Nature of Enlightenment As
Pratyabhijna:
continues....
Perspectives on the Source of All Creations:
The brilliant philosophers championing the Great Void theory, (which bears close resemblance to Taoist philosophy, an altogether independent system,) broadly classified the whole creation into jiva or individual self (subject or the seer) and Jagat, that is the world (which are object, or the 'seen' encountered by the former. These nihilist philosophers treated the jagat as an illuusory creation of the mind denying it altogether even objective reality (see khyati vada) Being ephemeral and yet a perennial source of suffering, it was not considered worthy of deeper inquiry. Instead they chose to focus on the sufferer, the jiva and analyzed the three states of human experience, viz., waking, dream and deep sleep states. They rightly concluded that sushupti is the source of the former two conditions in which both the 'seer' and the 'seen' are experienced. Analyzing the sushupti itself, they concluded that since neither jagat is experienced nor the jiva is available in deep sleep, the underlying essence of both these entities is Nothingness or the Great Void - Sunyam, from which alone they emerge.
All existence therefore has nothing but non existence (asat) as its origin or primordial source, which is said to be the ultimate Reality.
Nothing exists in a positively real manner in the world. There is no positively underlying Reality either, beneath the illusion of the world appearance. Thus the Void indicates complete absence of any Real Entity and is Itself not a positive entity. Many centuries earlier, Lao Tzu also stated axiomatically (without taking recourse to logical tools) that all the manifest worlds have emerged from the Great Void, the Mother of all creation. For the moment, let this be a valid aspect of Reality. We will see later how this can be reconciled in a qualified way in the Advaitic vision.
contd.,
****
On the Nature of Enlightenment As
Pratyabhijna:
continues.....
The Vedantic World View:
Reverting to the earlier discussion, the question arises: why does the jiva forget its real nature and lose its identity with the universal Self and thus fall into bondage? Vedanta Sastra answers this question thus: the jivatma confounds itself with various layers of his/her personality because of the deluding power of Maya. These layers are called the 'five 'principal sheaths', kosas, beginning with the gross physical body at the outermost layer (annamaya kosa) and ending with causal ignorance (karanana sarira), characterized by the bliss of ignorance in deep sleep (anandamaya kosa), which is the innermost sheath. It is to be noted that these various sheaths do not literally cover the Atma but are said to cover the jiva only by virtue of casting the veil of ignorance through the veiling power (avarana shakti) of Maya.
Consider now some examples. The pot does not hide the clay out of which it is made nor does the ornament conceal the gold. The cloth does not suppress or smother the yarn it is spun of. The waves and bubbles in the ocean do not ever camouflage the water. In these classical examples, the name and form of the objects merely steal away our attention from the 'substantives' of the objects and this alone is said to be the veiling of our sight. It is not literal blinding of our vision.
Thus all 'names and forms' turn out to be apparent modifications of the underlying reality, and are no more than resting flimsily on the tip of the tongue. (See Chandogya Upanishad Verses 6.1. 4-6). The modifications are apparent because water never ceases to be water when it takes the form of bubbles, waves or even a mighty tsunami. Ontologically, nama rupa thus enjoys the status of mithya only i.e. apparent reality. Ascertainment of mithya is thus a reduction of all things mentally into mere nama rupa and seeing the underlying substantive real entity.
This process is called mithyatva nischaya is a powerful aid in assimilating the Vedantic teachings.
contd.,
****
Guru Poornima - 22.07.2013:
My wife and I had been to T'malai
to have darshan of Sri Ramaneswara Mahalingam on the Guru Poornima Day. The Lingam was adorned with jasmine flowers as if they were a kavacham. There was morning parayana of Sri Arunachala Stuti Panchakam. About 300 people had come to have darshan a and pay the love and respects to Sri Bhagavan.
There was a special lunch with payasam etc., on that noon. In the evening there were heavy showers for about 15 minutes to keep the town cool.
Kumbabhishekam (Renovation) work
is going on in a fast manner to have that Kumbha abhishekam (showering holy waters) on the top of the towers with mantra japa in
August 2013.
******
On the Nature of Enlightenment As Pratyabhijna:
continues....
Modern examples make this event clearer. For instance, reading an essay makes us unconscious of paper on which it is printed. The movie pictures dancing on the screen make us forget the screen. Saint Tirumoolar sings famously that a life sized exquisite wooden carving of an elephant form 'hides the timber' it came from and appears as though real from a distance but the 'elephant disappears into the wood.' upon closer inspection. (Tirumandiram Verse 2290). In the same way, the world which is made out of the five great elements masks the Brahman from which it has emerged apparently. Upon realizing Brahman, which is the ultimate source of all creation, the world of forms 'disappears' into its Source. It is not a literal disappearance because perceptions continue but in our understanding everything resolves into Brahman. Thus for Jnanis like Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sadasiva Brahmendra, the attention is riveted on the Self, the substratum for the world appearance, (Ulladu Narapadu Verse 18), which is now reduced to merely a passing show projected on the screen of Consciousness. But without the direct Knowledge (aparoksha jnanam) of the substratum Brahman, the phenomenal world of names and forms (nama rupa jagat) perpetually deludes us into believing it as a reality show!
contd.,
****
On the Nature of Enlightenment as Pratyabhijna:
continues...
The Identity Crisis of the Jivatma and its Resolution:
Thus among the five kosas enumerated by the scriptures that 'supposedly envelope' the jivatma, the gross materialists (like Charvakas) confound the physical body (annamaya kosa) to be Self. The biologists identify It with the sense organs and the vital airs that enliven them (pranamaya kosa) while modern psychologists (like Freud, Jung etc.,) reduces the Self to the mind principle (mano maya kosa). Some philosophers identified the Self with the constantly changing intellect principle (vijnanamya kosa), comparable to a lamp flame which is new in every moment of life. (Yogachara Buddhists). As mentioned above, come others repudiated these progressively evolving philosophical formulations with powerful tools of logic and finally established the Theory of Void as the irreducible final reality. (The Madhyamika school of Buddists). No doubt, these are laudable intellectual feats representing significant milestones but in the uncompromising search for the ultimate Truth, they fall short in different measures.
Acharya Sankara lists these various philosophical perspectives in Verse 5 of Sri Dakshinamurti Stotram and exclaims it is the power of the Maya that causes the jivatma's various levels of mistaken identities. In Verse 6, he rejects the concept of Void by invoking the phenomenon of pratyabhijna, occurring while awakening from deep sleep. In Verse 7, this vision of recognition is extended to various stages in life, and establishes the Self as the one invariant factor, which enables all cognitions to take place and thus is their very substratum.
contd.,
****
On the Nature of Enlightenment As
Pratyabhijna:
Echoing the Upanishadic declarations,
Sri Sankara cites in Verse 4 (of
Sri Dakshinamurti Stotram) the example of a clay jar with many holes and a lamp placed within, where the light emanates through the holes and illumines the objects in the room outside. In a similar way, the light of the Self flows through the five sense organs of perception (Jnanendriyas) and illumines the world of our perception. Thus the Self alone truly and independently shines and all worlds shine only after that
Intelligence Principle. (Katha Up. Verse. 25.15). Bhagavan Ramana concurs identically with this position of Sri Sankara that the Consciousness principle inhering in the Self alone constitutes absolute Knowledge and hence is not void -Itself shining without any support whatsoever, It supports and enlivens all relative knowledge.
(Ulladu Narpadu, verse 12).
Exposition of Pratyabhijna-Darsanam through Analysis of Deep Sleep:
Sri Sanakra cites in verse 6 of the Dakshinamurti Stotram, the universal experience of everyone after waking up from a refreshing spell of deep sleep exclaiming as, 'I slept happily; I did not know anything!' Analyzing this, 'not knowing anything' indicates the absence of the world (called jagrat abhava vritti or nidra vritti which are technical synonyms for sleep). However in deep sleep, because one is not aware of oneself as in waking or dreaming, we should not hastily conclude that one ceases to exist altogether, even temporarily.
contd.,
****
On the Nature of Enlightenment As Pratyabhijna:
continues.....
If were so, as Sri Bhagavan remarked,
'a Johnson going to sleep will wake up as a Benson', bereft of any continuity in the identity of the person involved. (Talks No. # 487). The phrase 'slept peacefully' is the recollection component (vritti), while the 'I' component indicates pratyabhijna. The phrase 'slept well' cannot be classified as either 'pratyaksha' (current perception) or 'pratyabhijna' (recognition), unless one makes the statement while one is asleep, which is clearly not possible. This is because all the sense organs have been withdrawn into passive, non operational condition (karanopasamharanam) and no transaction with the world can occur during sleep.
To counter the objection of the nihilists that since one is not aware of oneself in sleep, one becomes non existent temporarily. Acharya Sankara argues that if an object is not perceived, then there are are two possibilities; either it is totally absent, or its existence has been veiled by an unknown factor. Before concluding that it is non existent, we have to make sure, that there is no veiling mechanism involved, which precludes its apprehension. During deep sleep, Sri Sankara says the 'I' sense (the pure presence, I AM) has not become non existent but has been merely covered by the veiling power (avarana sakti) of Maya, just as during an eclipse the sun or the moon is covered by the shadow of the moon or the earth respectively.
Now during sleep the mind has resolved into its causal body form (kaarana sariram) and is only potentially existent (bhija avastha ie. seed state). During transition into the waking state, the mind is roused from its potential form (or dormancy) of the causal body, back into the state of an operational inner instrument (antahkaranam) by the projecting power (vikshepa sakti) of Maya which is once again responsible for the perception of the world and oneself, thus making all transactions possible. But the mind in its causal mode of existence (kaarana sariram) in deep sleep is capable of subconsciously registering one positive experience (the pure presence I AM) and two negative experiences viz., absence of the world (jagat abhava vritti) and the 'absence of 'I-thought' (aham vriti abhava)
contd.,
***
Post a Comment