To The Self
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(Excerpt from :
Self knowledge
through
Self-Enquiry)
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(-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."
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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.
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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.
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Next post begins thus:
S: But how can you say the existence of the world is questionable?...
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कोई टिप्पणी नहीं:
एक टिप्पणी भेजें