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Part 2 of 5
(Selections translated by Sadhu Om and Michael James)
from The Mountain Path, Vol. 21, No. 3, July, 1984
12. Scientific Knowledge and True Knowledge
31. Material science is only a way for one to suffer and become weary, losing one's peace of mind by scrutinizing and trying to know the nature of the second and third person objects of the world. The root or base of those second and third person objects is only the first person, the feeling 'I'. Knowing this first person by scrutinizing it, this alone is true knowledge, which will bestow upon one the real benefit, the peace of Self.
13. The Grace of the Jnani
32. The ladle does not know the taste of the sweet dish which it is distributing, yet plunging into it again and again it liberally serves a feast to all people. Similarly, the blemishless Jnani does not enjoy the pleasures of this world even in the least, yet He graciously bestows such pleasures upon all those who pray to Him for them.
14. What should Be Desired?
33. The great wealth which exists in Jnanis is only the subtle secret of how to be still, abiding in perfect peace as the mere thoughtfree existence-consciousness 'I am'. Therefore, how wretched it will be if one greedily desires to attain from them mere worldly pleasures such as gold, wealth or fame, which will only make one suffer in delusion.
15. The Sleep of Jnana
Refrain
Sleep well! There is not the least wrong. Indifferent to the life in this world, boldly sleep without sleeping.
Sub-refrain
The world which appears and disappears is completely unreal. Ignoring it steadfastly, by keenly attending to Self subside within and sleep well.
Stanzas
34. There is no work for you to do henceforth in this world which abounds with activity and which is full of wickedness and falsehood. Therefore. having no anxiety or desire for this world, take refuge in the cave of your heart and eternally sleep well.
35. When crowds of people gather together crying. 'Reformation, reformation' and wander about shouting noisily with the help of loudspeakers, they are like people sitting on a tree whose roots have been laid bare (that is, at any moment they are about to fall into the jaws of death). Therefore, unperturbed by this worldly hubbub which is going on in the name of reformation, sleep well within yourself.
36. These people who thus try to do good to the world are like people who try to build a dam to hold back the waters of a mirage; they are like people who wish to paint the horns of a hare with fine colours; they are like people who shout 'Long live the son of the barren woman seen in the sky'l Therefore, if you wish to attain Self-knowledge, completely give up attending to the world, attend only to Self and sleep well.
37. Having forgotten Self, they see the world, which appears only because of their mistaking the body to be 'I', and melting with pity for the sufferings which they see in it, they make great efforts to reform it just like a person who stands with his arms raised up, imagining that he is supporting the sky. When you do not know yourself, how can you know the truth about the world? Whatever you do in this world is useless. Therefore, forgetting all these things and attending keenly to Self, sleep well.
1 Continued from our last issue. pp.80-83.
38. This world which you see does not exist outside, but is only the thoughts which exist within you. This whole world is merely a delusive appearance created by your unreal and deceptive mind. Your only real duty is to abide peacefully in the heart, having made the mind subside and having thereby known yourself clearly. Therefore, abiding thus as the real Self, sleep well.
39. 'Ah! He is such a great man; there is no one who does unselfish service like him' - all such useless name and fame are not difficult things to achieve. Therefore, with a mind which is peaceful and unmoved by either fame or blame, sleep well in the wakeful state of turiya, having put an end to the three states of waking, dream and sleep.
40. He who has created you, is also He who has created this world. He who is taking care of you, will also take care of this world. If you first know yourself and thereby abide as Him, who is the real Self, this world, which exists in you, will be benefited by you. Therefore, sleep well.
41. A blind man, catching the hands of other blind men, confidently led them as if he knew how to show them the way, but finally they all fell into a pit and died. Lest you should also perish in such a manner, know your own true state, abide in it and sleep well.
42. Before one knows oneself, the world will appear to be a very great and important thing. When one knows oneself, the world will be found to be nothing other than oneself. Saving oneself by knowing one's own real nature, alone is the truly beneficial help one can do for the world. Therefore, having known yourself, sleep well in the true and eternal state of Self.
43. Without allowing the mind to dwell upon what has happened in the past or what will happen in the future, by the Grace of jnana-Guru, Lord Ramana, who came to bestow liberation upon us by abiding silently in Self, destroy the sense of 'I' and 'mine' and sleep well in Jnana-samadhi.
16. Which Do you Like?
44. Having limited and transformed oneself into a body, and having transformed the knowledge gathered through the five senses of that body into the world, one sees that world, which is nothing other than one's own real Self, as objects which are other than oneself, and one is thereby deluded with likes and dislikes for those objects. Such confusion alone is what is called the world-illusion (jagat-maya).
45. The non-dual state in which you do not see yourself as the body and as the many objects of the world, and in which you clearly know that which exists is only you, who are one, this alone is the state of God. Whichever you like is possible (that is, by your own unlimited perfect freedom or paripurna-brahmaswatantra, it is possible for you to remain in whichever one of these two states you like - either in the state of maya, in which you are deluded by seeing yourself as many, or in the state of God, in which you realise yourself to be the one non-dual reality).
17. The Shop Rent
46. The rent which we must give for this shop, our body, is food, clothing and shelter. If we do not pay this rent we will have to go out leaving this body, just like a merchant who has to vacate his shop when he does not pay the rent.
47. The worldly life which we live is similar to the business done by a foolish merchant who earns only enough to pay the rent. Only he who toils hard and thereby earns a profit which is many times greater than the rent. is a wise and skilful merchant. Like such a merchant, we should try to attain the great profit of Self-knowledge before the death of this body.
Note: The reader may refer to The Mountain Path, January 1984, page 39, where the simile given in the above two verses is explained in more detail.
18. The Way to Attain Good Qualities
48. If one wishes to attain all the elevated and pure qualities (sattva-gunas) by training the mind, one will certainly fail in one's attempts, no matter how long one may try. But if one takes to the practice of Self-attention, which will destroy the mind, and if one thereby transcends the three ordinary qualities (sattva, rajas and tamas), the sat-guna (the true quality of abiding steadfastly as the reality) will automatically shine forth and flourish in one (and in the outlook of others one will then appear to be endowed with all sattvic qualities).
49. If ordinary people strenuously practice for many aeons without wasting even a moment they may develop a few of the good qualities which are gracefully brimming over and pouring forth from one who has attained the treasure of Self-knowledge and who has thereby transcended the qualities, yet if any trivial tests come their way, they will fail to remain established in those qualities.
50. Good qualities and bad qualities are not qualities given by God, but are only qualities born of the mind (that is, they are the expanded form of the tendencies or vasanas which one has accumulated in one's mind through one's own free-will). The empty space of Self-knowledge, which is completely devoid of all good and bad tendencies, this alone is what is called sat-guna.
51. Those fortunate people who have attained a perfect Guru will not toil in vain to cultivate good qualities in the mind; they will only cultivate the practice of Self-enquiry, which will draw the mind within and destroy it, and thereby they will not allow the mind to rise in the form of thoughts. To attain the unequalled and unsurpassed quality (of abiding eternally as Self), there is no way other than the practice of making the mind humbly subside through devotion and enquiry.
52. In the life of a jnani, who has transcended the qualities, the actions of His body, which happen spontaneously and without His thinking, may sometimes make it appear as if He is lacking good qualities. However, such actions appear to be real only because of the imagination of the mind of the ajnani who sees them, and hence they are merely a deceptive reflection of his own impure mind.
Note: In verses 1106 and 1107 of Curu Vachaka Kovai, Sri Bhagavan says:
"The pure mind of the Jnani, who exists and shines as a witness, is a clear mirror which reflects all the defective thoughts of the mischievous minds of others and which thus deludes the intellects of people by making Him appear to be defective".
"To the eyes of those who are deluded by the sense of doership, the Sahaja Jnani, who lives transcending even the sattva-guna. may sometimes appear as if He has much deceptive rajo-guna. On account of that. do not doubt (His Jnana)".
53. Those who have bad qualities in them will see only bad qualities even in Jnanis. If one could see one's own defects as clearly as one can see the defects of the enemies who are in front of one, then would any evil befall one?
Note: The last sentence of this verse is adapted from verse 190 of Tirukkural.
19. Punishing One's Enemies
54 What is the greatest punishment which you should desire to be inflicted upon your enemy, who gives you unbearable trouble? You should pray that God should give him only the great knowledge of Self. Why? Because if he is given Self-knowledge, his mind or separate individuality will be killed. and hence he will no longer be able to do any harm either to you or to anyone else.
20. Seeing One's Own Defects
55. Since we are the light of perfect knowledge, it is possible for us to see and to rectify all the defects which rise in our mind. Does not the white light of the full moon itself enable us to see the dark patches on its surface? (That is, the defects in our own mind cannot be seen by us when our mind is very impure, just as the dark patches on the moon cannot be seen when the moon is only a crescent; but our own defects will become more and more clear to us as our mind becomes more and more pure, just as the dark patches on the moon can be seen more and more clearly as the moon waxes more and more.)
21. Desirelessness and Devotion
56. To the extent to which the conviction grows stronger in us that all the extroverted activity of the mind is only misery, to that extent the desire and love to turn within will also increase. And to the extent to which the strength to attend to Self increases in us, to that extent the conviction will grow that attending to anything other than Self is useless. Thus each one of these two (namely vairagya or desirelessness towards external objects and bhakti or the love to attend to Self) is an aid to increase the other.
22. Intense Earnestness is Needed
57. If a pearl-diver remains on the shore of the ocean waiting for the roaring waves to subside, will he ever succeed in gathering pearls? If he plunges through the waves on the surface and dives deep into the ocean with a heavy stone tied to his waist, what waves will he find there in the depths? (Similarly, if we steadfastly dive beneath the waves of thoughts into the depths of our heart by keenly attending to the consciousness 'I', we will find that there are no thoughts there to disturb us).
58. Since a life of great peace exists deep within the ocean of our heart we should be completely indifferent towards the many tendencies (vasanas) which are tossing like heavy waves on the surface of that ocean, and with intense desirelessness (vairagya) we should dive deep into Self, the primal consciousness of our existence.
59. Having dived deep into the heart, which is the consciousness 'I', and having thereby rectified all kinds of sense-knowledge, which are crooked modifications of the one real consciousness and which rise like bubbles on the surface of the ocean, we should abide only as this existence-consciousness, which shines as 'I am', without knowing anything through the senses.
60. When we thus abide more and more in the natural state of Self, all the innumerable tendencies (vasanas) will be destroyed. Other than this practice of Self-abidance, there is no effective means which will destroy the tendencies so easily and so quickly.
61. Even before all the tendencies have been completely destroyed, by one's own desirelessness (vairagya) and by the Grace of God it is possible for one to attain the blemishless light of Self-knowledge. Then by the power and clarity of that Self-knowledge. the delusion of attachment to the body and mind will automatically be destroyed.
62. Those aspirants who have attained purity of mind due to the strength of the good qualities which they have gradually cultivated and acquired through so many births, will easily learn how to abide in this state of Self-knowledge as soon as they come into the presence of the Sadguru who has manifested Himself in human form.
63. Do not fear. By the great power of the Grace of the Guru, who has transcended everything, you will certainly attain this Self-knowledge. If even a single vasana remains in us, our jnana-Gurunathan, Lord Ramana, will not keep quiet.
64. If we each make the same effort by which it was possible for some people in some former time to attain this Self-abidance, will any of us fail to attain it as our natural state? Therefore, by making that effort (of diving deep within yourself by keenly attending to the consciousness 'I'), attain that knowledge of the one real Self.
65. Other than knowing the ever-existing Self, all the aims and paths which the deceptive mind shows to be so lofty, are not worthy to be accepted even in the least by real aspirants, but are only worthy to be rejected. Therefore, without any fear or hesitation, reject all of them.
66. We shouid not give even the least room in our heart to the demoniac ghost of forgetfulness (pramada), which deludes the mind by diverting it from Self-attention. Instead. with unhesitating and irresistible courage, we should victoriously attain Self-knowledge.
(To be continued)
Go on to part 3
Sri Ramanarpanamastu