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Part 5 of 5
(Selections translated by Sadhu Om and Michael James)
from The Mountain Path, Vol. 22. No. 2, April, 1985
44. Why is Sadhana Difficult?
205. When we are lacking in earnestness or sraddha, whatever sadhana we may take to will appear to be equally difficult. But if our earnestness is firm and one-pointed, no sadhana will be felt to be difficult, and without any aid we will be able to remain firmly established in the state of Self-abidance.
206. Where there is a will, there is a way. That is, if a sincere liking to attain something arises in one's heart, a path whereby one can attain it will also be found, and because of that liking one's mind will unceasingly seek the goal until it is attained. Only when the liking to attain that goal does not truly arise in one’s heart will one experience difficulty in sadhana or means adopted to attain it. Know that this is the secret underlying all sadhanas.
207. To the extent to which one approaches and lives close to true devotees, to that extent will the liking arise in one's heart to attain salvation, the real goal of human life. By having more and more association with true devotees, that liking will gradually increase until finally one will attain salvation by abiding firmly in Self.
45. Pramada
208. Know that the world, soul and God all seemingly come into existence only because of our pramada or slackness in Self-attention.
How to Make Thoughts Subside?
All thoughts or vrittis arise only because the unreal feeling 'I am this body' has become well soaked and firmly established in us. All these thoughts will be destroyed only if we vigilantly practise Self-enquiry and thereby root out the unreal feeling 'I am this body' -2.
1. Continued from our last issue, pp. 30- 35.
2 Compare verse 2 of Atma - Vidya Kirtanam, in which Sri Bhagavan says, "The thought 'This fleshy body alone is I' is indeed the one thread on which the various thoughts are strung. Therefore, if one goes within (by keenly scrutinizing) 'Who am I and what is the place (from which I rise)?' the thoughts will perish and Self- knowledge will spontaneously shine forth within the cave (of the Heart) as' I-I' …….”
210. If we feel 'I am this body', thoughts either about the world or about God will immediately rise with great vigour and attachment. Having risen thus, those thoughts will multiply and increase in the form of likes and dislikes, and intense misery will then result.
211. During sleep, when one does not rise as an individual who feels' I am this fleshy body', do any thoughts rise either about the world or about God? Therefore, know that the tendency to identify a body as 'I' alone is the cause for the appearance of the world and God.
212. The tendency to identify this gross body as 'I' (in the waking state) alone is the root which paves the path for ignorance to subsist as the subtle body (in dream) and to hide as the causal body (in sleep). Therefore, if we abide as Self. having repeatedly practised Self-attention and having thereby put an end to this root-tendency to identify the gross body as 'I " the tendency to identify with the other two bodies will also be destroyed automatically 3.
213. So long as anyone of the three bodies is identified as 'I', it will be impossible to put an end to all the tendencies or vasanas, which are the seed-forms of thoughts. Know that In order to put an end to all tendencies, any kind of effort other than the elevated sadhana of turning and attending to Self will be of no avail.
47. The Thoughts which Arise During Meditation
214. Among a collection of many kinds of small seeds, it is impossible to detect and remove the thorn-seeds. Only after all the seeds have sprouted in the form of plants, is it possible to detect the thorn-plants and thereby to pluck them out and throw them away. Similarly, only if all the tendencies or vasanas which are hiding in the heart sprout out in the form of thoughts during the time of your meditation, will it be possible to destroy them by the practice of Self-enquiry. Hence rising of thoughts during the time of meditation is good. 4
215. The vasanas are the seeds, and thoughts which rise are the plants. The Grace of God or Guru is the water which makes vasanas sprout in the form of thoughts. Then in order to destroy those thoughts, which in the form of desires, that same Grace crushes them by the power of the clear discrimination which it bestows upon us. Therefore, until you achieve victory in this war of Grace, do become disheartened and give up your meditation.
3 Compare Vichara Sangraham, chapter one, where Sri Bhagavan says, "All the three bodies in the form of the five sheaths are contained in the feeling 'I am this body'. If that (the feeling 'I am this body') alone is removed, all (the three bodies) will be moved automatically. Since all the other bodies (the subtle and casual bodies) subsist only by clinging to this (the feeling 'I am this gross body'), it is not necessary to remove each (of the three bodies) individually." See also lines 27 to 30 of Sri Ramana Vachana Saram on p. 230 of The Mountain Path, October 1984.
4 Compare Maharshi's Gospel, p. 19, where Sri Bhagavan says, "Yes, all kinds of thoughts arise in meditation. That is only right; for what lies hidden in you is brought out. Unless it rises up, how can it be destroyed?”
216. All the thoughts which we have cultivated due to our worldly desires in many former lives when we did not possess proper discrimination, have been accumulated in our heart in the form of very powerful vasanas. Those vasanas exist in the form of likes and dislikes, and they will be destroyed only to the extent to which we firmly abide in Self s.
49. Self-Enquiry and the Passing States
226. Being worried on seeing that sleep is brought about during the practice of Self-enquiry, do not give up Self-enquiry. This is one among the experiences which will arise during the initial stages of Self-enquiry. Have no doubt about this.
227. If sleep comes, sleep well. After sleeping thus, as soon as you wake up, fix your attention with earnest love upon the Self-consciousness 'I am'. When the mind again subsides in that sleep-like state, and when waking returns once again, try gradually to experience the one existence-consciousness which shines in between these two states.
228. When you practise abiding more and in the experience of this existence-consciousness, which shines between sleep waking, the sleep which formerly appeared to overcome you will be dispersed, and the waking state in which you identify with the body and cognize external objects will not arise and engulf you again. Therefore, abide in this existence-consciousness repeatedly untiringly.
5 Compare Nan Yar? (Who am I?), paragraph 10, where Sri Bhagavan says, "Although tendencies towards sense-objects (vishaya-vasanas), which have been coming from the ancient past, rise without limit like the waves of the ocean, they will all be destroyed when Self-attention (swarupa -dhyana) becomes more and more intense."
229. Since there is the consciousness 'I am', this state is not sleep. Since there is a complete absence of thoughts, this state is not waking. It is the state of existence-consciousness or sat-chit, which is the undivided nature of God or akhanda - siva - swarupa. Therefore, unceasingly abide in this state with great love.
230. Why is it said 'Abide in this existence-consciousness repeatedly' and 'Abide in this state with great love'? Because until all the vasanas which drive us out of this state have ceased to exist, this state will seem to come and go. 6.
231. When by this practice of abiding in the state of existence - consciousness, that existence-consciousness is always experienced, to be effortless and inescapably natural, then no harm will result even if sleep, dream and waking appear to come and go.
232. For those who firmly abide in the unending state of Self-consciousness, which pervades and transcends the three states of waking, dream and sleep, that state of existence-consciousness is the only real state. It is the unlimited Whole or purna. That state, in which even the feeling 'I am making effort to abide' does not at all rise, alone is your natural state of being: Be thus.
51. Eleven Verses on Self - Enquiry
239. Thinking is a vritti; being is not a vritti. If we scrutinize 'Who is thinking?' the thinking process will stop: Even when thoughts do not exist, do you have any doubt about your own existence as 'I am'? Abiding in your own existence:' which shines as 'I am', the source from which all thoughts rise, is the state of Self-abidance. Abide thus.
240. He who thinks is the soul or jiva. He who exists as 'I am' without any thought is God. If the thinker thinks with great love of that which merely exists as 'I am', this Selfward-turned thought will become the thought-free consciousness which will destroy all thoughts. When the thinker thus dies along with his thoughts, the state of abidance which then remains shining as 'I am' is the state of union with God or Siva-sayujya.
241. He who thinks 'I am so-and-so is just a thought like all the other thoughts. But of all thoughts, this thought 'I am so-and-so alone is the first. The soul who thinks 'I am so-and-so' is merely a reflection of our real Self. When we abide and shine only as that real Self, the thought 'I am so-and-so' will not rise.
242. In dreamless sleep, this thought 'l so-and-so' does not at all exist. In the state of Self-knowledge, this thought 'I am so-and-so' does not at all exist. But in state of waking and dream, which rise in between the darkness of sleep and the pure Iight of Self-knowledge, the thought 'I am body' seems to appear and disappear. Therefore this limited 'I' is not real; this 'I' is only thought.
243. The flourishing of this 'I' is only the flourishing of misery. This 'I' is that which is called the ego. This ego -'I' rises and flourishes only because of avichara or non-enquiry. If we enquire 'Who is this I?' and thereby vigilantly scrutinize only the feeling 'I' without attending to the adjunct 'so-and-so' with which it is mixed, this adjunct will disappear since it is devoid of any real existence.
244. The second and third persons, the known objects, subsist only because of first person, the knowing subject, who is the root. If the mind, which is ever wavering because of attending to second and third persons, turns and attends to the first person, rises as 'I am so-and-so', the adjunct so-and-so will cease to exist and the real Self, which always exists as 'I am', will shine forth spontaneously. That real Self, which is the indestructible base of the first person, alone is true knowledge or Jnana.
6 Just as the moving of clouds creates the illusion that the moon itself is moving in the opposite direction, the coming and going of the vasanas creates the illusion that our natural state of existence-consciousness is often coming and going of its own accord.
245. Thinking about second and third persons is foolishness, because when we attend to second and third persons the mental activities or mano-vrittis rise up and are set ablaze. But the act of attending to the first person is equal to committing suicide, because only by scrutinizing the first person will the ego die of its own accord.
246. Attending to any second or third person instead of turning and attending to this ‘I’, first person feeling which is always experienced by everyone, is only ignorance or ajnana. If you ask, "The ego, the feeling 'I am so-and-so’ is only a product of ignorance, so attending to the ego is also ignorance, is it not? Why then should we attend to this 'I’?” listen to what is said below.
247. Why is the ego destroyed when we scrutinize 'What am I?' Because this 'I' -thought or aham -vritti is a reflected ray of
Self-consciousness, and hence, unlike other thoughts, which are devoid of consciousness, is always directly connected with its source.Therefore, when our attention dives deeper and deeper within by following this reflected ray 'I', the length of this reflected ray ‘I’ will diminish until finally it has shrunk to nothing. When the ego, the feeling 'I am so-and-so', thus disappears, the consciousness which will remain shining as 'I am I' is the true knowledge of Self.
248. Do not do anything thinking, 'It should be done only by me'. Nothing is done by you, because you are simply nothing. Knowing this truth from the beginning, if you refrain entirely from rising as 'I am the doer', all actions will happen of their own accord, and your peace will ever remain undisturbed.
249. If we scrutinize 'What is the reality which ever exists?' we will find that nothing in this world is real. Since Self alone is real, let us mentally renounce everything else and ever abide unshakably as that reality, which will remain shining alone as 'I am’. This alone is the service enjoined upon us by Lord Ramana, who ever abides as the eternal Self 7.
58. The Dawn of Self - Knowledge
324. Death happens in a split second. Awakening from sleep happens in a split second. Similarly, the destruction of the delusion of individuality happens in just a split second. True knowledge is not something which can be gained and then lost. If a person feels that true knowledge is coming and going, he is still only in the stage of practice or abhyasa 8. It cannot be said that such a person has attained true Self-knowledge. The perfect awakening into the state of seIf-knowledge happens in just a split second. That state is not attained gradually over a long period of time 9. All the sadhanas which are practised over a period of many years are meant only for attaining maturity. Listen to an apt illustration. After people have placed gunpowder in the iron barrel of a temple-cannon, after they have added broken pieces of brick, after they have packed it tight with a ramrod, after they have placed a wick in contact with the powder, and after they have plastered the open end of the barrel with clay, as soon as the charge is ignited it will explode in a split second with a blast which sounds like thunder; similarly, after one has learnt the truth about the real Self through hearing and reading, after one has practised sadhana for a long time, after one has wept and prayed with heart- melting devotion, and after one has thereby attained purity of mind, the knowledge of the reality will instantaneously shine forth in a split second as 'I am I '. As soon as the dawn of Self-knowledge thus takes place, due to the clear shining of the reality this state, which is an empty space devoid of objective knowledge, will be instaneously realized to be the state of true knowledge, which is our beginningless real nature. When even the effort of attending to Self thereby merges in Silence, that state of mere being, in which there is nothing further to and nothing further to attain at any time alone is the real state.
7 "Abiding in this state, having attained the supreme bliss which is devoid of bondage and liberation, is abiding in the service of God", says Sri Bhagavan in verse 29 of Upadesa Undiyar.
8 Refer to Sri Ramana Gita 17 .5;
9 Refer to Sri Ramana Gica 17 .3.
(Concluded)
Sri Ramanarpanamastu