Wanting to reforms the world without discovering one’s true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns.
Nobody doubts that he exists, though he may doubt the existence of God. If he finds out the truth about himself and discovers his own source, this is all that is required.
Better than viewing Him as Other, Indeed the noblest attitude of all, Is to hold Him as the ‘I’ within, The very ‘I’.
When one turns within and searches Whence this ‘I’ thought arises, The shamed ‘I’ vanishes — And wisdom’s quest begins.
To know the Self is but to be the Self, For it is non-dual. In such knowledge, One abides as that.
Life
Realization: When asked about realization, Ramana said there is no such event as realization. Realization implies two selves, one realizing the other. But, it is in everybody’s experience that there is only one self. What is called Realization is simply the loss of ego, loss of the false I which pretends to be real. This false ‘I’ is not there in deep dreamless. The real I remains constant throughout is deep dream less sleep, dreams and waking state. How can the false ‘I’ [, the ego, mind] know the real I, when in reality, the false ‘I’ doesn’t even exist. All that is required to is to turn within and find out where this false ‘I’ arises from.
According to external observers however, he is assumed to have realized as a sixteen years old boy. According to the description of this event, he was gripped by a sudden fear of death and through his surrendered, conscious, mental death, he saw that which doesn’t die even after all else has died. After that event, Ramana was never the same.
Death: Ramana died on April 14, 1950 in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Teaching Style: Ramana wrote three books: Upadesha Shravanam, Forty verses of Reality and his love poems for Arunachala, a mountain for which, he had immense love. Other than that, he spent his time mostly in silence, occasionally answering visitor’s questions in a brief and succinct manner. Most of his visitors were awe-stuck by the deep peace that they felt radiated from him and that was the reason many visited him. Ramana said Silence was the best teaching and the best teaching medium.
Fame: Ramana is among the most famous sage from India from twentieth century. His authenticity is considered unparalleled and his words are considered self-evident. His name is taken with great reverence, so much so that by many he is affectionately called bhagvan, the God incarnate. However, Ramana himself never considered himself to be anything special or extra-ordinary.
Legacy: Ramana can be largely credited with the revival of ancient advaitic teachings in the modern times. His admirers include world famous teachers of enlightenemnt like Eckhart Tolle, Adyashanti, Ramesh, Ram Tzu and Sailor Bob. One of his most famous direct disciple was Papaji, who later became teacher of many modern teachers of self realization, enlightenment and nonduality including Gangaji, Neelam and Andrew Cohen.
Teachings
Ramana Maharshi taught by being the living example of what he taught. Peace permeated from his presence and many came to him just to be in his presence. Just being in his presence, just one gaze of his was often enough to show many visitors the glimpse of the Self, the Reality present in all.
God: When asked about God, life after death, heaven and other similar things, Ramana asked questioner to find out his/her own identity first. He said once you find out your own identity, there will be opportunity to find out what God, heaven, realization is. Whatever you learn from outside, without knowing your true identity, will only remain a concept and not the real knowledge. You can discover your true identity only thru Self Inquiry.
False Identity: Explaining the self identity, Ramana talked of two ‘I’s. There is one identity in you that keeps changing from deep sleep to dreams to the waking hours. That changing identity is the false ‘I’ and taking that to be the real Self is the source of all problems. In your dreams, you experience fear, loss, sorrow because whatever happens in dream, you assume happening to you, because you have taken a thing or person in your dream to be the real you. That false identification with a character in your dream is the source of your expereince of fear, sorrow in your dreams.
Ramana said similar things happens in waking hours too. In waking hours, you identify with your body and suffer because whatever happens to the body, you take it to be happening to you. Without this false identity, there will be no suffering.
In the deep dreamless sleep, this flase identity totally disappears along with any sense of body and that results in nondual bliss. That bliss is the resaon why sleep is so deer to everyone. If the false ‘I’ dissapers in the waking hours, you will expereince the bliss of deep sleep, while awake.
Reality: Ramana said that which is present in the deep dreamless sleep, is the only one which is real, the other which is something in waking hours and something totally different in dream is false. This false identity is the result of thinking and has no independent reality apart from thoughts.
This reality which is present in the deep dreamless sleep, never changes, it never fades, it never dies, it is formless and it is ever blissful – only that is real. God, Consciousness, Tao, Allah are just different names given to that Reality.
Heart: Ramana considered heart to be of special significance. Heart is the place from where the mind, I, the ego emerges and the place where the real I shines. When one merges his/her prana (awareness) into heart, the name and forms dissapear and the ever blissful reality shines forth.
Religions: Ramana respected all religions and was visited by the people of all religeons, race and color. He said ‘God Within’ is the essential teaching of all religions. He had great respect of ‘I Am That I Am’ expressed in the Bible and counted it among the best description of Reality. He found teachings of Advaita, Upanishads and Gita to be true. But, above everything else, he advised to know that by knowing which all else in known – Know thyself!
D.: Is there thought in Samadhi? Or is
there not?
M: There will only be the feeling ‘I
am’ and no other thoughts.
D.: Is not ‘ I am’ a thought?
M: The ego less ‘I am’ is not thought.
It is realisation. The meaning or
significance of ‘I’ is God. The
experience of ‘I am’ is to Be Still.
D.: How may one destroy the mind?
M: Is there a mind in the first place?
What you call mind is an illusion. It
starts from the ‘I-thought’. Without
the gross or subtle senses you cannot
be aware of the body or the mind. Still
it is possible for you to be without
these senses. In such a state you are
either asleep or aware of the Self
only. Awareness of Self is ever there.
D.: Then the question resolves itself~
to knowing the Self.
M: Quite so.
D.: How to know the Self?
M: See what the Self is. What you
consider to be the Self, is really
either the mind or the intellect or the
‘I-thought’. The other thoughts arise
only after the ‘I-thought’. So hold on
to it. The others will vanish leaving
the Self as the residuum.
D.: The difficulty lies in reaching it.
M: There is no reaching it at all
because it is eternal, here and now. If
the Self were to be gained anew, it
~would not be permanent.
In Advaita:
You are Krishna, you are Arjuna, …you are the war being fought and you are also the relatives that would die or live.
They all live in You.
You are the World.
Krishna, Arjuna, Duryodhana, Mahabharata rise and fall in you.
To confused, it might seem confusing, but it is not confusing at all.
You, that it talks about is not the You that is named X, Y, ..or Z.
It is THE `I’ that Krishna says:
…sword can not cut.
Fire can Not burn.
Water can not wet.
It is the `I’ that is before Arjuna’s ancestors and after Arjuna’s children.
It is also easy to understand Ramana’s way:
You come into existence. You see, you imagine, you dream, you think and say. Existence of Arjuna depends on your existence, consciousness, recognition and acceptance. Existence of Arjuna depends on you… on the Consciousness.
You are before and after Arjuna and everything else!
ONLY you are Self-Existent. Everything else derives from you. What you might consider `you’ is just your wrong identification.
You see `body’ and you see, …this is `me’.
You see things and you say, …this is the World.
It is a body that can get cut, bleed, burn, ache, ain …it is the body and the brain that can `feel’ and experience that pain. Surgeons can easily numb the body part and if needed the brain and no feeling of burn, cut, ache or pain would be felt.
One that `feels’ the pain has been numbed. And, one that is `numbed’, that is not the `I’ that Krishna, Ramana, Advaita talk about
That `I’ that you think you are; one that `feels’ and experiences pain and ache can someday easily be manufactured in a factory.
But, what is behind that?
You are That!
One that can’t get wet, touched, smelled, burnt or seen.
I find what Ramana teaches very, very different than many teachers whose teachings are based on ‘no me’, ‘no entity’ argument. Following are few prevalant themes in Ramana’s dialogues:
– Blank is the EVIL result of looking for Mind…
– Even in order to see ‘absence’… you MUST be there!
– Seer Always Is.
– There is NOT a Moment… when you are NOT!
– See the Seer…
And, I noticed that the moment I “see” the “seer” [i.e. Abide as the Seer] all the mystery, all the fear, all the ‘blank’, ’emptiness’, ‘nothingness’, ‘unbound Consciousness’ becomes immaterial. It stops giving any feeling of awe, fear or terror…
I see that I AM just ‘what I have always been’. I see that in reality, nothing has happened. Something, some connection I feel in the heart and feeling that I feel is what Ramana meant by BLISS.
Sometimes, I have even ‘slept’ through whole night like that and thus I have “guessed” that even while I have stayed ‘unaware’ of it this is how DEEP SLEEP might have been every night.
And, this is state that I have indeed found effortless, natural and always available. But, most importantly, it has “meant to me” that even the phenomenon of “realization” is just an illusion as I nothing real changes in the Seer.
I have noticed that I remain same throughout all stages and through the Samadhi, meditation, illusion, suffering and “realization”…
I have seen that “trick” is merely to see the Seer in place of ‘what is seen’, to see ‘who is meditating’ in place of seeing the ‘visions’ that meditation or inquiry might bring. The trick is Abide as the Meditator, as the Seer, as the Thinker. The trick is to abide as Who I AM.
I have seen that seeing the Blank, Emptiness, Nothingness, expansive Consciousness is just a fun game. But, any time, I look at the “seer”, Abide as the Seer – it is always Same, Unchanged and it is not ‘defined’ even by ’emptiness’. Yes, it is certainly not empty, not a naught, not a zero…
I have seen that phenomenon like sleep, waking, dream, ‘samadhi’, ‘meditation’, ‘thinking’, ‘illusion’, suffering, ‘liberation’ has absolutely no effect on it. It remains as it is or, or more accurately stated as:
I AM THAT I AM
Ramana further says:
– anything that “happens” is NOT the REAL thing!
– anything that has a ‘beginning’ also has an ‘end’!
– anything that you “feel”, “see”, “experience”, “sense” [including expanded , seemingly Infinite, Unbound Consciousness that results from many meditations] is NOT you!
– At any moment, irrespective of what you “see”, “feel”, “sense” or experience… just ask… who is the seer/experiencer? The answer is… I. Ask who am ‘I’?
– Abide as that ‘I’… and, don’t pay much attention to what is ‘seen’, ‘experienced’ or ‘felt’… all that is ‘transitory’… all that has a beginning and an end! Only the Seer is Real.
– Abide as the Thinker… thoughts will disappear.
– Abide as the Meditator… and, there is no need to meditate!
– Find out who you really are…
– Remain as You Are!
[- Abiding as ‘who you are’ is NOT difficult. It is natural and effortless.]
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