मेरा भविष्य क्या है?

"श्रीरमण महर्षि से बातचीत"

पुस्तक में एक प्रसंग का वर्णन है :

एक व्यक्ति ने, जो हठयोग का साधक था श्री रमण महर्षि के पास अपना प्रश्न कागज के टुकड़े पर लिखकर भेजा ।

वह व्यक्ति अनेक वर्षों से अपना एक हाथ उठाए हुए था, जिससे उसकी मांस पेशियाँ आदि सख्त हो गईं थीं। 

उसने पूछा : 

"मेरा भविष्य क्या है?"

महर्षि ने उत्तर दिया :

"वही जो तुम्हारा वर्तमान है।"

इस उत्तर से उसे संतोष नहीं हुआ ।

उसने महर्षि के एक आश्रमवासी भक्त से इसका अभिप्राय पूछा। तब उस भक्त ने कहा :

तुम नित्य, शुद्ध,  बुद्ध चैतन्यमात्र हो। 

यही तुम्हारा वर्तमान है, और यही तुम्हारा भविष्य भी है।

उस व्यक्ति ने महर्षि को धन्यवाद दिया और उनसे विदा ली। 

--

The Mirror

SELF KNOWLEDGE THROUGH SELF-ENQUIRY 

(RETURN TO THE SOURCE) 

--

(by Dr. T. N. Pranatharthi Haran)

Consciousness is just like a mirror. The mirror has no choice of its own.  It simply reflects whatsoever comes in front of it.  The mirror does not choose, does not opine,  does not judge. The nature of consciousness  is just mirror-like at the source, Sri Ramana stands as a supreme example of this. 

When consciousness is divided, not mirror-like, it becomes the mind.  The mind is a broken mirror.  At the source the mind is conscious-ness. Once the dual divisions are stopped the mind becomes the pure consciousness. 

While the mind is full of effort, consciousness is effortless. Effort is needed,  says the Maharshi,  to become effortless. This is possible only when the mind sinks back to its source. The source is the heart centre. 

When one enters the source,  the path and the goal become one and the same. At the periphery the past, the present and the future do exist. But once the heart center is reached  the present alone is real.  For, the past and the future depend upon the present only. The past is a thought while the future is in imagination. Besides, the past and future are related to the mind, and are only present during the experience. Any experience is possible only in the present. The future is built upon the past by the mind. Staying permanently at the source is called 'vichara' (enquiry). It denotes only the present tense.

Sri Ramana  helps us to reside at the heart centre always. Only the source carries all meaning,  all exctacies, all blessings. He pushes the mind to the centre, and then holds it there always. What is felt as Grace during the sadhana, becomes the blissful Self at the source. Thus Ramana Sadguru graciously vouchsafes a life of the heart. Then there is only awareness,  awareness that is unbroken. This is liberation.

***

Existence of the World.

In Continuation from the last post... 

S: But how can you say that the existence of the world is questionable? How can we call the world unreal! The world is immensely real. Does it not appear to you? Why my wife and children are real... you are alive, this car of mine is real!

M: What makes you think that they are real?

S: Their existence! 

M: What makes you so sure that they are existent? 

S: My perception! 

M: And what do you perceive?

S: Sound, touch, form, taste and smell.

M: And where do you perceive them? 

S: Of course in the mind. 

M: You are right!  

(But Sri Ramana goes ruthlessly in His search for truth) 

The world is not seen by the mind, the world appears in the mind. No one can ever prove that the world exists apart from and independent of the mind. 

It is not that the world is 'Non-existent' - the world is only there when the mind is there. And when the mind is not there the world is not there. That is why the world is said to be relative. In fact the world is only a projection of the mind! 

Never forget this mantra of Sri Ramana - 

शब्दादिरूपं भुवनं समस्तं 

शब्दादिसत्तेन्द्रियवृत्तिभास्या ।

सत्तेन्द्रियाणां मनसो वशे स्यात् 

मनोमयं तद्भुवनं वदामः ।।८

(सद्दर्शनम्)

Sound and form, smell, touch and taste,

These make up the world.

Upon these the senses let the light.

In mind's domain the senses move.

Hence the world is but the mind.

From :

SAT-DARSHANA BHASHYA  BY 'K'.

--

(..Hence the world is the mind.)

S: If the world is the mind as Sri Ramana points out, it means that the grossness and substan-tiality of the world is a mere thought. But still the world seems so real! 

M: Why do you say so?

S: Because not only is it seen to 'be', but the continuity is clear and undeniable.

M: What  you say is true.  But remember that the continuity of the world is so fragile - the whole world is just hung on the silken thread of your undependable memory.

Memory is one thread which is in and through all your varied experiences and this gives the illusion of the world being continuous. 

Memory is the backbone of the ego. Memory is the warp and woof of the ego. It is memory alone which makes the world so familiar. 

But don't forget that even this memory has its existence from you. You are the substratum of  all.

S: The ideas are now clear. 

The world is constituted of objects and things which I perceive as 'that', 'thou' and so on. But all these in turn depend on the perceiver 'I' for their existence. The perceiver 'I' is a notion which borrows its existence from the Pure 'I' and to know this Pure 'I' is the philosophy of Sri Ramana. That is beautifully summarized. But tell me how to go to this root 'I'?

M: Pay attention to the 'I am'.  Dwell in it. Enquire into the source of the 'I'. Ask yourself whence it comes, or watch it quietly. When the mind stays in the 'I am', you enter into a state which cannot be verbalized but can be experienced as the continuous silence. That is the way to go to the 'I'.

S: Am I  to go on repeating 'I-I' ?

M : No! That is not the way. The way is not repeating 'I-I', the way is to repeatedly keep one's attention on the 'I'.

S: But does keeping the mind on the 'I-I' remove the distractions of the mind? 

M: Yes. It will. The problem is that we identify with the mind and its thoughts and we go along its way.  The mind takes us for a joy-sorrow-ride only because we don't detach ourselves from it. The moment we are detached from the mind and don't empower it with I-ness,  it loses its strength. It stops its wandering. Awareness alone is the answer to all the wanderings of the mind. Disempower the mind by being aware of oneself.

***

 

Sri Ramana's Unique Approach

 To The Self

---------------------

(Excerpt from :

Self knowledge

through

Self-Enquiry)

---

(-Swami Brahmananda)

"My prostrations to Sri Ramana,

the best of the teachers,

the remover of sorrows,

Who even while perceiving the world,

Stays apart from the world by having dispelled the darkness of ignorance both inside and outside,

Ever abiding in the Supreme,

Ever-existing-consciousness,

And,

Who destroys the ignorance of those who surrender unto Him."

--

In the galaxy of spiritual masters, saints and teachers of the world, Sri Ramana holds a unique position. His approach is distinct in that He does not solve the question, He dissolves the question, nay He dismisses and dissolves the very questioner. His method is simple to the prepared. All that He asks is : to whom does the question arise?. Thus He shifts the mind from its extroverted tendencies in one shot so to say,  makes it introverted and the prepared mind is made to delve into the truth which is beyond all questions and answers, all negations and assertions. But why does Sri Ramana not answer the question? For Him the standpoint from which all questions arise is invalid, it is based on the acceptance of the 'false' to be 'Real'. Then where is the question of finding a real answer to an imaginary problem! The only truth is 'I am' and the existence of anything apart from it can never be proved. This unique nature of Sri Ramana's enquiry (the Aarjavamarga - आर्जवमार्ग), (the direct path), -we shall try to present in a form, understandable even to a beginner, throwing special light on the uniqueness of His approach in the form of a dialogue between a spiritual master (M) and a seeker (S) enquiring into the Reality.

--

S: My mind wants to be peaceful and peace is missing when I am away from Ramanasramam. 

M: Whose mind is lacking peace?

S: Mine! 

M: Enquire, to whom the mind belongs?

S: To me! But how can that rid me of my agitation and miseries? 

M: The body by nature is inert.  It has no complaints for how can mere matter ever know, experience, and complain? The pure Self, the Truth, is by nature free of all changes and for it there can be no sorrow. But between the two, there rises this entity called the ego which derives support from both. It assumes the 'shape' of the body -saying that 'I am fat', 'I am lean' etc., and from the Self it borrows the existence and sentience. So neither the body nor the Self has any sorrow - but the one who arises in between, call it ego, ahankara अहंकार, or granthi ग्रन्थि, it alone has the problem!

S: That's true!. But the problem does not go just by finding out for whom the problem is! 

M: The point is that you are in essence not the ego which suffers, nor the inert body,  but the Truth. The ego is the thought : 

'I am the body', 'I am the mind' 

and hence what happens to the body is taken on the 'I', to use the philosophical term is 'superimposed' on the 'I' and the 'I' seemingly suffers. Not only is the 'suffering I' not you, but on enquiry the 'suffering I' or call it the 'ego I', disappears, for an illusion cannot stand enquiry. The 'I'-ness does not really belong to the ego.  You must not forget that the I-ness of the ego is only borrowed. The I-ness belongs to the Truth, which you are. 

S: Now I understand the impact of your question - enquire to whom the sorrow belongs.  It means that the sorrow belongs to the 'ego-I' and when I enquire  'Who is this I?  the very ego-I  is known to be false  and...  then... 

M: One recognizes oneself to be the Truth!

S: And why is it that I don't see this truth? 

M: Because your attention is not directed towards it. 

S: I don't understand what you mean by I must direct my attention towards it! 

M: Is it not a fact that 'I am' is ever there?  Is it not true and the experience of all of us that behind every diverse thought, word and deed, the 'I am' is a constant factor? Instead of paying attention to the 'I am' our attention is turned toward the thought, word and deed.  Extrovertedness is the cause of the problem, introvertedness is the solution.

Sri Ramana Maharshi's uniqueness is that He stays with the essentials - all questions which only add to more confusion are rejected at the outset. No attention is given to them. The only essential truth is 'I am'. 

And how can that which depends on something else for its very existence is questionable? All questions - is the world sentient or inert, what is the basis of of the world - sorrow or pleasure, is it real or false all these and any more which are connected with the unreal fleeting experiences of the world and our perception are all lock,  stock and barrel thrown and burning the fire of right enquiry.

--

Next post begins thus:

S: But how can you say the existence of the world is questionable?...

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