Ramana Maharshi. The path of self-inquiry. A. osborne. Ramana Maharshi and the path of self-knowledge The direct path to Truth
There is neither creation nor destruction,
No fate, no free will,
No path, no achievement.
This is the ultimate truth.
Atman is pure Being, not existence in one form or another. It's just Being.
Be! And this is the end of ignorance.
The thought “I haven’t seen yet,” the hope of seeing and the desire to gain something are all the work of the ego. You are caught in the snare of the ego. The ego says all this, not you. Be yourself – that’s all!
We do not have two “I”s, one of which would know the other. Therefore, Self-knowledge - knowledge of Oneself, the Atman - is nothing other than the state of being Oneself, the Atman, the true Self. The simple consciousness of one’s own existence - “I am”, free from the feeling of “I know” and “I don’t know”, is one true Knowledge.
The past and future depend on the present. They are also present when they occur. Only the present exists. Trying to know the past and future without knowing this truth is like trying to keep score without using a counting unit.
Think “I, I, I” and hold that one thought to the exclusion of all others.
He who is content with his lot is free from envy, balanced in happiness and misfortune. He is not bound by action.
Freedom from thoughts is the true nature of man - Bliss.
You have identified the Atman with the body. Drop false identification and the Self is revealed.
When considering space and time, the question arises: what are they apart from us? If we are our bodies, then we find ourselves involved in time and space, but are we bodies? We are the same now, tomorrow and at any time, here, there and everywhere. We exist, we are those who are beyond time and space.
The world is real both for those who have realized themselves and for those who have not realized. But for those who have not realized, its reality is limited by the spatial dimensions of the world, while for those who have realized, Reality is formless and shines as the basis of the world. Know that this is the difference between them.
Without seeing Self, seeing God is a mental image. It is said that only the vision of Self is the vision of God. The complete loss of ego and seeing the Self is the discovery of God, for the true Self, I AM, is none other than God.
If the ego exists, then everything exists too. If there is no ego, nothing exists. Indeed, ego is everything. Therefore, exploring what the ego really is involves throwing everything away. Get to know it.
Searching for the source of “I” with a mind turned inward and without uttering the word “I” is truly the path of Knowledge.
Meditation on the statement “I am not this, I am THAT” is an aid in research, but not research itself. But why should one constantly think “I am THAT”? Does a person always need to think: “I am a man”? We are always THAT. Sheer dementia is the refusal to explore one's nature and remain as the true Self, in order instead to continue thinking: “I am not this, but THAT.” For THAT always shines as I.
As long as a person feels like a doer, he reaps the fruits of his actions. But once through the inquiry “Who is the doer?” he realizes the Self, the sense of doing dies and freedom from karma is established. This is the final Liberation.
Karma bears fruit, as the Predeterminer has decreed. How can karma be God? She is unconscious.
You get caught up in the manifestations of the mind and miss its basis.
Rather than considering Him as the Other, it is better to hold on to the belief: “He is the Self,” which is the best of all types of meditation.
Do not deceive yourself by imagining that the first cause is some God outside of you. Your source is within. Give yourself to him. This means that you should find the source and dive into it. Since you imagine that you are outside the source, the question arises: “Where is the source?” Devotion is nothing other than knowing yourself.
“Having explored all the various states of mind and always firmly holding in your Heart to that highest state, which is above all mental states and free from illusions, play your role in life like an actor on the stage. Having recognized in the Heart that which underlies all phenomena, never forget it. Then fulfill your (intended) worldly role, acting as if you are attached to it. Feigning zeal and joy, excitement and hatred, initiative and effort, play your role in this world without inner attachment to it, O hero! Having obtained liberation from all types of bondage, having achieved equanimity in all situations and performing outward actions in accordance with your role, O hero, perform your worldly role as you please.”
You are the One Being, always recognized as the Self-Luminous Heart! In You there is a mysterious Power [shakti], which without You is nothing. From it comes the illusion of the mind, emitting its hidden subtle dark mists, the mind illuminated by Your Light (Consciousness), is reflected in them, manifesting inside as thoughts, swirling in the whirlpools of prarabdha, later developing into physical words and projected outward as the material world, transformed into concrete objects, which are magnified by outgoing feelings and move like film frames. Without You they are nothing!
Question and answer relate to speech, their sphere is duality; it is impossible to find them anywhere in monism.
All destinies of souls are predetermined by God in accordance with their deeds. What is determined by fate as unattainable will never be achieved by anyone, no matter how hard they try. What is supposed to happen will happen one day, no matter how hard we try to avoid it. And this is certain. In the end we will see for ourselves that the best thing for us is to remain Silent.
Know that THAT by which all this is impregnated is indestructible; destruction of this Unchangeable is impossible.
Whoever sees the Supreme Lord equally abiding in all beings, not perishing in their destruction, he truly sees.
The faith of every person is consistent with his essence; Man is made of faith. What his faith is, he is.
If the mind, which is the instrument of cognition and the basis of all activity, calms down, then the perception of the world as an objective reality ceases. The mind is a unique force, shakti, in the Atman, in the “I am,” through which thoughts come to a person. If you eliminate all thoughts and examine the remainder, you will find that apart from thought there is no such thing as mind. Therefore thoughts themselves constitute the mind.
Nor is there such a thing as the physical world, separate and independent from thought. In the waking and dreaming states, thoughts are present and the world is also present. Just as a spider shoots out a web and pulls it back into itself, so the mind projects the world outside itself and dissolves it back into itself.
When the object of desire is achieved, the intellect calms down for a moment and turns inward. Then the bliss of the Self is reflected in it, and this creates the illusion that the bliss is in the object. But when other objects become desired, this bliss disappears. Such chaotic wandering—either moving away from “I am” or returning to Him again and again—is the endless and exhausting fate of the mind.
This phenomenal world is nothing other than thought. When the world is withdrawn from sight, that is, when thought is free, the mind enjoys the Happiness of “I Am.” On the contrary, when the world appears, that is, when thought arises, the mind experiences pain and suffering.
If the ego arises, everything else also arises; if it subsides, then everything else also subsides. The deeper our humility, the better for us. If only the mind calms down, then what difference does it make where you happen to live?
Except that the waking state is long and the sleeping state is short, there is no difference between them. Just as waking events seem real only when you are awake, so do dream events appear real only during sleep.
There are not two minds - one good and the other bad. There is only one mind. These are only vasanas, or inclinations of the mind, of two types, good and auspicious, bad and inauspicious. When the mind is under the influence of favorable tendencies, it is called good, and when unfavorable, it is called bad. No matter how evil other people may seem, it is wrong to hate or despise them. One should equally avoid likes and dislikes, love and hate. It is also wrong to allow the mind to dwell frequently on the objects or affairs of worldly life. As far as possible, one should not interfere in the affairs of others. Everything that is offered to others is in reality an offer to oneself; Once this truth is realized, who would deny anything to others?
One who is established in the contemplation of non-dual unity will abide in the true Self of each and realize the immanent, all-pervading One. This is certain.
What is the use of expressing Your Essence with an abundance of words? The variety of forms exists only in the Self and the forms are projected outward by the bewildered mind; they are created as objects simultaneously with thoughts about them.
Focus your mind neither within nor without, neither far nor near, but on pure Transcendence.
No matter how favorable the conditions in which a person is born into the world, there is endless suffering for the individual, again and again, in every birth; to ward them off, one should meditate on the endless Void.
People take actions with their own goals in mind and accordingly reap the consequences of their actions in achieving those goals. Therefore, do not engage in such activities that are not free from flaws (leading to addiction). Withdraw your attention completely from external objects and concentrate only on that which cannot be seen.
Thanks to sleep and thoughts, the mind always loses its sharpness, its stupidity increases, and it goes to destruction. By awakening this mind with effort and not allowing it to wander, establish it in the state of Atman. Persist in this effort, fixing the mind again and again in its natural state.
If the mind falls asleep, wake it up. If you have reached a state where there is no sleep or movement of the mind, remain calm in it - the true state.
When a person is able to see himself with inner vision as a non-body, all his desires disappear and he experiences perfect Peace.
Maintain impartiality in relation to everything, do not get carried away by anything, maintain self-control in both happiness and suffering, be the same with friends and enemies, treat the same with a piece of a broken dirty pot and with a piece of gold. Unaffected by either praise or slander, treat all creatures equally, considering all living beings in the world as yourself.
Avoid unnecessary discussions and worldly interactions. Don't create disagreements among others. Do not engage in discussions of the Scriptures. Leave both words of abuse and praise. Gradually and completely get rid of jealousy, backbiting, pompousness, passion, hatred, anger, fear and sadness.
If a person is free from all pairs of opposites and always lives in solitude (abiding only within himself), he acquires perfect Wisdom even in this body and then shines with an effulgent inner Light.
The entire universe is a superposition (of form) on Brahman (as the basis), although it appears separate from Brahman. The base - Brahman - appears through the deception of this superimposition, which does not really exist, like a snake visible in a rope. Manifestation is only an illusion. It has no existence apart from its foundation - Brahman. Everything that appears to the deceived as the manifest world of names and forms, due to their ignorance and erroneous knowledge, everything that appears as real as objects, all this, when correctly realized, is a consequence of Brahman, superimposed on the foundation - on Brahman. It is only through delusion that this manifested world appears real. In reality, all these names and forms are complete nothingness. They are myth, pure and simple, and do not exist apart from their basis - Brahman. They are only Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, which neither arises nor disappears.
The essence of the Vedanta Scriptures can be succinctly expressed in the following points.
First: In me, the motionless Brahman, everything that appears different is completely devoid of reality. I am the only one. This is called the elimination perspective.
Second: The dream and everything else that appears in me as a result of magic is an illusion. Only I am the Truth. This is called the point of view of illusion.
Third: Everything that appears to be a form independent of the sea - bubbles and waves - is the sea. Everything that is seen in a dream is visible to the one who sees the dream. Likewise, in me, as in the ocean or as in a person dreaming, everything that appears separate from me is myself. This is called the dissolution (effect in cause) viewpoint.
Nothing came into existence in the past. Nothing exists now. There will be nothing in the future. Since known objects do not (really) exist, the terms “witness” or “seeer” are not applicable.
If there are no fetters, then there is no liberation. If there is no ignorance, then there is no knowledge. One who has realized this and abandoned the sense of duty is a Sage.
If all the time spent on thinking about objects that are not the Self is spent on the Self, then Self-realization will be achieved in a very short time.
Mind is simply the identification of the Atman, the Self, with the body. This creates a false ego; it in turn creates false phenomena and appears to move among them; all this is false. Atman is the only Reality. If false identifications disappear, then the permanence of Reality becomes apparent. This does not mean that Reality is not here and now. SHE is always here and forever the same. SHE is present in everyone's experience. For everyone knows that he exists. "Who is he?" Or, subjectively, “Who am I?” The false ego is associated with objects; this ego is itself its own object. Objective means false. Only the subject is Reality. Don't confuse yourself with the object, i.e. the body. Because of this, a false ego rises, and then this world and your movements in it, which end in suffering. You should not think that you are this, that or any other, that you act this way or that way, that you are this or that. Just discard the false. Then Reality will reveal itself.
P. But doesn't this world exist for other people, even when I sleep?
M. Such a world laughs at you, because you imagine it without knowing yourself. The world is the result of your mind. Know your mind. And then watch the world. You will understand that it is no different from the Self.
The real destruction of the mind consists in not recognizing it as existing separately from the Atman. Even now I have no mind. Realize this. How can this be done if not in daily activities? They continue automatically. Know that the mind that assists them is not real, it is only a ghost emanating from the Self. This is how the mind is destroyed.
If a person mistakenly takes himself to be a subject, then objects different from him necessarily arise. They periodically disappear and are projected again, creating a visible world to the delight of the subject. If, on the contrary, a person feels himself to be a screen onto which both subject and object are projected, then there can no longer be any confusion and the person is able to remain an observer of their appearance and disappearance without any disturbance to the Self.
The mind tends to wander. You are not the mind. The mind appears and disappears. He is not permanent, he is transitory, whereas you are eternal. Nothing exists except the Self. Belonging to the Atman is the most important thing. Don't pay attention to the mind.
The Atman is realized by a dead mind, that is, a mind devoid of thoughts and turned inward. Then the mind sees its own source and becomes THAT (Atman). There is no longer a subject perceiving an object. To see objects, the reflected light of the mind is necessary, but to see the Heart, it is enough to turn the mind towards It. Then the mind is lost and henceforth only the Heart shines.
The Ultimate Truth is simple, and it is nothing more than being in the original, pure state. Only mature minds can comprehend this simple Truth in all its nakedness.
Here and now be in Peace and tranquility. This is all.
Sincerity is self-evident. The genuine man, or the Self-realized man, remains happy, unaffected by false appearances (i.e. this world, birth and death, etc.), while the false or ignorant man is miserable.
“Reality is simply loss of ego. Destroy the ego by searching for its authenticity. Since the ego has no real existence, it will spontaneously disappear, and the Reality will then shine forth in Itself. This is the direct method, while all other methods are done only with the help of the ego.”
“There is no greater mystery than this: by the being of Reality we strive to achieve Reality. We think that there is something hiding our Reality and that it must be destroyed before Reality can be conquered. This is a ridiculous misconception. The dawn will come when you yourself laugh at your past efforts. That which will arise on that day of your laughter is already present here and now.”
There is a state that transcends effort or lack thereof. Until it is realized, effort is necessary. One who has once tasted such bliss will constantly try to return this feeling. Anyone who has experienced the Bliss of Peace at least once will not want to leave it or do anything else.
And why?M: For the simple reason that if you do not give up the idea of the reality of the world, then your mind will always follow it. If you take appearances for Reality, then you will never know Reality itself, although Reality is what alone exists. This point is illustrated by the “snake in a rope” analogy. You can be fooled into mistaking a piece of rope for a snake. As long as you imagine the rope as a snake, you cannot see the rope as such. The non-existent snake is real to you, while the real rope appears to be completely non-existent.
I: It is easy to just assume that the world is not the ultimate Reality, but it is difficult to have a firm conviction that it is actually unreal.
M: In the same way, your dream world is real while you are asleep. Throughout the dream, everything you see and feel in it is real.
I: The world, then, is no better than a dream?
M: What is the error in your sense of reality during the dreaming process? You may see the completely impossible in a dream, for example, a friendly meeting with a deceased person. For a moment you may doubt the dream, saying to yourself, “Isn’t he dead?” but somehow your mind becomes reconciled to the dream and the dead person seems alive in the dream. In other words, the dream itself, as a dream, does not allow you to doubt its reality. In the same way, you do not doubt the reality of the world of your waking experience, for how can the mind, which itself created this world, consider it unreal? Hence the significance of comparing the world of waking experience and the world of dreams, since both are only creations of the mind, and as long as the mind is immersed in one of these two states, it is not able to renounce the reality of the world of dreams during sleep and the world of wakefulness during the waking period. If, on the contrary, you withdraw your mind completely from the world, turn it inward and remain in this state, that is, if you are always awake and open to the Self, which is the Substratum of all experiences, then
Chapter 10
SOME OF THE EARLY ADVERSERS
Although the doctrine taught by Sri Bhagavan never changed, the mode of instruction varied according to the character and understanding of the inquirer. During the years spent on the Mountain, records have been preserved of the experiences of some of his devotees and the explanations they received; A small selection of these entries are presented below. Indeed, it can be said that the experience of Sri Bhagavan's followers constitutes his biography, since he himself was established in the Immutability that lies beyond events and experiences.
Sivaprakasham Pillai
Among the devotees of Sri Bhagavan, Sivaprakasham Pillai was one of the intellectuals, he became interested in philosophy at the University of Madras and was already pondering the mysteries of Existence. In 1900 he was assigned to serve in the post office of the Government Department for the South Arcot District. Two years later his work took him to Tiruvannamalai and he heard about a young Swami living on the Hill. Sivaprakasham Pillai was fascinated by his first visit and became a devotee. He asked fourteen questions and since Swami still remained Silent, the questions and answers were recorded. Swami wrote the answer to the last question on a piece of slate, and Sivaprakasham Pillai immediately made a copy of it. The remaining thirteen were written down by him from memory later, but Sri Bhagavan checked them before publication.
Sivaprakasham Pillai: Swami, who am I? How to achieve salvation?
Bhagavan: By continuous inner questioning, “Who am I?” you will know Yourself and thus achieve salvation.
SP: Who am I?
B: True I, or Atman, is neither the body, nor any of the five senses or sense objects, nor the organ of action, nor prana(breath, or vital force), nor the mind, nor even the state of deep sleep, where there is no knowledge of all of the above.
SP: If I I am none of the above, then who is I?
B: After denying all of the above as "not- I", what remains is I,; this is Consciousness.
SP: What is the nature of this Consciousness?
B: The nature of Consciousness is Sat-Chit-Ananda(Being-Consciousness-Bliss) in which there is not even the slightest trace of the thought of “I”. It is also called mauna(Silence) or Atman (true I). It is the only thing that IS. If the trinity world, ego and God are considered to consist of separate entities, then they will be simply illusions, like silver in a mother-of-pearl shell. God, ego and world really exist Sivasvarupa(form of Shiva) or Atmasvarupa(Self form).
SP: How to comprehend this Reality?
B: When the visible world disappears, the true nature of the seer, or subject, appears.
SP: Is it possible to realize THAT while still seeing the outside world?
B: No, because the seer and the seen are like a rope and the appearance of a snake in it. Unless you drop the ghost of the snake, you cannot see that only the rope exists.
SP: When will external objects disappear?
B: If the mind, which is the cause of all thoughts and activities, disappears, external objects will also disappear.
SP: What is the nature of the mind?
B: Mind is just thoughts. It is a form of energy that itself manifests itself as the world. When the mind is immersed in the Atman, it recognizes I; when the mind comes out, the world appears and I doesn't confess.
SP: How to make the mind disappear?
B: Only by asking “Who am I?” Although such questioning is also an action of the mind, it destroys all thoughts, including itself, like a stick used in stirring a funeral pyre, which turns to ashes after the fuel and corpse are burned. Only then does Comprehension come, comprehension Myself. Breathing and other signs of vitality become silent, the thought of “I” is destroyed. Ego and prana(breath or life force) have a common source. Whatever you do, do it without egoism, that is, without the feeling that “I am doing it.” When a person reaches that state, Atman, even his own wife will appear to him as the Universal Mother. True bhakti(devotion) is entrusting the ego to the Atman, “oneself” to the Self..
SP: Are there other means to destroy the mind?
B: Apart from self-questioning, there are no other suitable means. If by other means the mind subsides, it remains calm for a short time and then reappears, resuming its previous activity.
SP: But when all these instincts and inclinations (vasanas), for example, to self-preservation, will they be subordinated to us?
B: The more you go within, the more these tendencies wither and eventually die.
SP: Is it really possible to eradicate vasanas, seeped into our minds over many births?
B: Never occupy your mind with such doubts, but plunge into Yourself with firm determination. If the mind is constantly directed towards the Self through self-questioning, it will eventually dissolve and become the Self. When you feel any doubt, do not try to clarify it, but find out who the one is who has this doubt.
SP: How long should such research be practiced?
B: As long as there is even the slightest trace of thought-provoking impulses in your mind. While the enemies are in a besieged fortress, they will continue to make forays, but if you destroy every defender as they come out, then eventually the fortress will fall. In the same way, whenever a thought rears its head, crush it with the said questioning. Crush all thoughts at their source this is called vairagya(dispassion). That's why vichara(self-questioning) must be continued until the Atman is comprehended, awareness Myself. All that is required is to constantly and continuously remember the Atman.
SP: But isn’t this world and everything that happens in it the result of God’s will? And if “yes,” then why does His will manifest itself in this way?
B: God has no intention. He is not limited to any action. Worldly activities cannot influence Him. Take the analogy of the sun. The sun rises without any desire, purpose or effort of its own, but as soon as it rises, manifold activities begin on earth: the lens under its rays in focus gives fire, the lotus bud opens, water evaporates, and every living being begins its activity, maintains it and finally stops. But the sun is not affected by any such activity, since it simply acts according to its nature, according to established laws, without any intention and acts only as a witness. The same applies to God. Or take the analogy with space, or ether. Earth, water, fire and air all reside in it, change in it, but they do not in any way affect the ether, or space. It's the same with God. God has no desire or purpose in His acts of creation, preservation and destruction, taking back and saving, to which beings are subject. Since beings reap the fruits of their actions according to God's laws, the responsibility lies with them, not with Him. God is not limited to any action.
Sri Bhagavan's statement that the true nature of the seer of the world will appear only when everything visible has disappeared should not be taken literally as causing the absence of awareness, non-perception of the physical world. We are talking about a state of formless trance, or nirvikalpa samadhi, in which objects cease to appear real and are seen only as forms assumed by the Atman. This becomes clear from the following example: "snake and rope", a traditional example also used by Sri Sankara. At dusk, a person sees a rope folded into a ring, mistakes it for a snake, and therefore gets scared. At dawn, he finds out that it was only a rope and his fear was in vain. The reality of Existence is a rope, and the illusion of a snake that frightens a person is the world of objects.
The assertion that suppression of thoughts at their source is vairagya, also requires clarification. Meaning vairagya dispassion, detachment, calm. Sivaprakasham Pillai's question as to when the instincts and latent tendencies in man will be subdued shows that he felt the need to strive for vairagye. Sri Bhagavan was essentially telling him that vichara, or self-questioning, is the shortest path to vairagye. Passion and affection are in the mind. Therefore, when the mind is controlled, they obey, and that is vairagya.
The above questions were later enlarged and organized into the book Who Am I?, perhaps the most widely accepted and highly valued exposition of the teachings written by Sri Bhagavan in prose.
Around 1910, Sivaprakasham Pillai had already come to the conclusion that official service was tiresome and hampering sadhana, or spiritual quest. He was wealthy enough to lead the life of a householder without having to earn money, and therefore resigned from the service. Three years later, Sivaprakasham Pillai was faced with the need to make a decision whether his dismissal was a departure from worldly life or whether he simply left what was boring and kept what was pleasant. His wife died, and he had to choose: marry again or start a life sadhu. He was still only middle-aged and had a girlfriend to whom he was strongly attached. With a new marriage and the creation of a new family, the question of money would also arise.
Sivaprakasham Pillai initially avoided asking Sri Bhagavan about these matters, perhaps knowing in his heart what the answer would be, and therefore tried to get it in another way. He wrote down the following four questions on a piece of paper.
- What should I do to avoid all the sorrows and worries on earth?
- Should I marry the girl who occupies my thoughts?
- If not, then why not?
- If the marriage must take place, then what to do if the need for money arises?
With this text he went to the temple of Vignesvara, the aspect of God, to whom he had been in the habit of praying since childhood. Sivaprakasham Pillai placed the note in front of the idol and stayed awake the entire night, begging for the answers to appear written on it or for him to receive some sign or vision.
However, nothing happened and he had no other option but to approach Swami. He went to Virupaksha Cave but still avoided asking questions. Day after day he put them aside. Even though Sri Bhagavan never encouraged anyone to renounce home life, this did not mean that he would providentially bless one who had been set free to return for a second dose. Sivaprakasham Pillai gradually felt that the answer was hatching within himself from the vision of Swami's own life in its serene purity, completely indifferent to women, completely uninterested in money. The date set for departure approached, and questions still had not been asked. There were a lot of people that day, so even if Sivaprakasham Pillai wanted to raise his questions, he could not do it without publicity. He sat gazing at Swami and suddenly saw a halo of dazzling light around his head and a golden child suddenly emerging from it and then returning back. Was this a living answer that the offspring is not of the flesh, but of the Spirit? A flood of ecstasy overwhelmed him. The tension of a long period of doubt and indecision was broken, and he began to sob in utter relief. When Sivaprakasham Pillai told other devotees what had happened, some laughed or were skeptical, and some suspected that he had taken a drug, illustrating the atmosphere of normalcy that prevailed around Sri Bhagavan. Although many examples of visions and unusual incidents could be collected, they were generally spoken of very rarely during the fifty years or more of Sri Bhagavan's manifestation among us.
Absorbed in joy, Sivaprakasham Pillai abandoned all thoughts of leaving that day. The next morning, sitting in front of Bhagavan, he again had a vision. At that time, Bhagavan's body shone like the morning sun, and the halo around him resembled the full moon. Then Sivaprakasham again saw Sri Bhagavan's entire body covered with sacred ash and his eyes glowing with compassion. Two days later he again had a vision where Sri Bhagavan's body was made of pure crystal. Sivaprakasham Pillai was shocked and was afraid to leave so that the joy growing in his heart would not disappear. He eventually returned to his village, having received answers to the questions he had never asked, and spent the rest of his days in celibacy and asceticism. He described all the experiences listed here in a poem in Tamil. Sivaprakasham Pillai also wrote other poems in praise of Sri Bhagavan. Some of them are still chanted by devotees.
Natesha Mudaliar
Not all visitors understood the silent I'll fall(instruction) Sri Bhagavan. Natesha Mudaliar eventually understood, but it took him a long time. He was a primary school teacher when he read Vivekananda and became passionate about renouncing the world and finding a Guru. Friends told him about Swami on Mount Arunachal, but added that it was almost hopeless to find him fall(guidelines). Nevertheless, Mudaliar decided to try. This happened in 1918, and Sri Bhagavan was already in Skandashram. Mudaliar went there and sat down in front of him, but Sri Bhagavan remained silent and Mudaliar, not daring to speak first, went away disappointed.
Having failed in this attempt, he traveled around visiting other Swamis, but did not find anyone in whom he felt the Divine Presence and to whom he could surrender himself. After two years of fruitless searching, he wrote a long letter to Sri Bhagavan, begging him not to be selfishly indifferent to the fate of passionate souls and asking permission to come again, since the first visit was fruitless. A month passed without a response. Then he sent a registered letter with acknowledgment of delivery, in which he wrote: “Despite the many rebirths through which I must go, I am destined to receive I'll fall from you and only from you alone. Therefore, you will have to be born again for this purpose if you deny me this life as too unprepared or immature to receive yours. you will fall. I swear to it."
After a few days, Sri Bhagavan appeared to him in a dream and said, “Don’t constantly think about me. You must first obtain the Grace of God Maheshvara, the Lord Bull. First meditate on him and obtain his Grace. My help will follow as a matter of course.” Natesha Mudaliar had an image of Lord Maheswara riding a bull at home and took it as a support in meditation. A few days later, a reply to the letter arrived: “The Maharshi does not answer letters; you can come and see him in person.”
Natesa Mudaliar wrote again, one must be sure that the letter was written on the orders of Sri Bhagavan, and then went to Tiruvannamalai. Following the course prescribed in the dream, he first went to the Great Temple of the city, where he had darshan(enjoyed the Presence of) Lord Arunachalesvara and spent the whole night. One of the Brahmins he met there tried to dissuade him from meeting the Maharshi.
"Listen, I spent sixteen years near Ramana Maharshi, trying in vain to get him anugraham(Grace). He is indifferent to everything. Even if you split your head, he will not be interested in asking why. Since it is impossible to receive his Grace, there is no point in your visit."
All this perfectly illustrates the Understanding that Sri Bhagavan demanded from his devotees. Open hearts will find him more caring than a mother and will tremble with awe, while he who judges by external signs will find nothing. Natesha Mudaliar was not one to put off what he had planned. Since he still insisted on his own, another brahmana told him: “In any case, in this way you can find out whether you will be very lucky to receive his Grace. There is a Swami on the Mountain named Seshadri, who does not associate with anyone and has a habit of to send away people who try to approach him. If you can get any sign of favor from him, it will be a good sign of success."
The next morning, Mudaliar met D.V.Subramanya Ayyar, a professional colleague, to find the elusive Seshadriswami. After a long search, they saw him and, to the relief and surprise of Mudaliar, he himself approached them. Not needing to be told about their problems, he turned to Natesha: “My poor child! Why are you worried and grieving? What is jnana(Knowledge)? After the mind rejects, one by one, all objects as transitory and unreal, THAT which survives this elimination is jnana. Jnana there is God. Everything is THAT and only THAT. It’s stupid to run here and there, thinking that jnana can only be achieved by visiting a mountain or a cave. Go without fear." Thus, Seshadriswami did not give his I'll fall(instruction), namely Sri Bhagavan and the same words that Bhagavan might have used.
Encouraged by this auspicious prophecy, they began to climb the mountain slope towards Skandashram and reached it around noon. For five or six hours Mudaliar sat before Sri Bhagavan, and not a single word was spoken between them. When the evening meal was ready and Sri Bhagavan rose to leave, D.V.S.Aiyar told him, “This is the man who wrote those letters.” Sri Bhagavan looked intently at Mudaliar, turned and left, still silent.
Month after month, Natesa would come back for the whole day and sit there, begging in silence, but Sri Bhagavan never spoke to him, and he did not dare to speak first. After a whole year passed in this way, Mudaliar could not bear it any longer and finally said: “I want to know and experience what is Bhagavan's Grace, since people differ in their descriptions of it.”
Sri Bhagavan replied: “I always give my Grace. If you cannot understand it, then what should I do?”
Even now Mudaliar did not understand the silent fall(guidance) and was still confused about which path he should follow. Soon after this, Sri Bhagavan appeared to him in a dream and said: "Let your vision be one and removed from objects, both external and internal. In this way, as differences disappear, you will advance." Mudaliar understood the advice in relation to his physical view and replied: “This does not seem to me to be the right path. If such an extraordinary person like you gives me such advice, then who will advise correctly?” But Sri Bhagavan assured him that this was the right path.
Mudaliar himself described the further development of events:
Thus, having failed in receiving silent initiation, Mudaliar nevertheless received initiation by touch, even in a dream.
He was one of those whose ardor and desire to constantly make spiritual effort led to the idea of renouncing home life and being a beggar wanderer. As on other occasions, Sri Bhagavan did not encourage this: “Just as you avoid household chores while here, go home and try to be equally disinterested and indifferent there.” Mudaliar still lacked the complete trust and conviction of a disciple towards his Guru and he carried out the renunciation despite the clear instructions of Sri Bhagavan. He found, as Sri Bhagavan had predicted, that the difficulties in his path became more, not less, and after a few years he returned to his family and began to work again. After this, his devotion deepened. He composed several poems in Tamil in honor of Sri Bhagavan. And at last he received, more fully than most others, the oral instructions for which he had so longed, for it was he who was the recipient of most of the explanations collected in the Spiritual Instructions, in which the most remarkable exposition of the doctrine of the Guru and his Grace is given.
Ganapati Shastri
In all respects, outstanding among the devotees was Ganapati Sastri, also known as Ganapati Muni (i.e., "Sage Ganapati") and received the honorary title of Kavyakantha (one whose speech sounds like poetry) for his excellence in improvising Sanskrit verses in debates. He was a man of outstanding talent, which would have placed him in the very first rank of modern writers and scientists, had he had sufficient ambition, and would have made him a great spiritual Teacher in the complete absence of ambition, but he remained between these two. Too much of a God-turner to seek success or glory, he was nevertheless too concerned with helping and uplifting humanity to escape the illusion of the I-am-doer.
At the time of Sastri's birth in 1878 (a year before Sri Bhagavan was born), his father was in Benares in front of the image of God Ganapati and had a vision of a child running towards him from God and so he named the son Ganapati. For the first five years of his life, Ganapati was silent, prone to epileptic seizures, and seemed to be anything but a promising child. After this, he was treated, they say, by applying a red-hot iron, and he immediately began to show his amazing abilities. At the age of ten, he wrote a poem in Sanskrit, prepared an astrological calendar, and studied several Sanskrit works (kavy) and a grammarian. At fourteen, Ganapati mastered versification and the main books on the rhetoric of Sanskrit and its prosody, read Ramayana 51 and Mahabharata 52, some of Puran. He could already speak and write Sanskrit fluently. Like Sri Bhagavan, Ganapati had a phenomenal memory. He remembered everything he read or heard and, again like Sri Bhagavan, had the ability ashtavadhanas, that is, he could pay attention to many different things at the same time.
Tales of the Ancients rishi ignited him with spiritual thirst, and from the age of eighteen, almost immediately after his marriage, he began traveling around India, visiting holy places, repeating mantras(sacred phrases) and doing tapas(asceticism). In 1900 he attended a meeting of Sanskrit pandits in the Bengali city of Nadya, where his extraordinary ability for poetic improvisation and brilliant philosophical discussion won him the title of Kavyakantha, which was already mentioned above. In 1903 he came to Tiruvannamalai and visited Brahmana Swami on the Mountain twice. For some time, Ganapati worked as a school teacher in Vellore, located several hours by rail from Tiruvannamalai. Here he gathered a group of students around him so that, using mantras, develop shakti(strength or energy) of each of them to a degree which allows its subtle influence to penetrate and spiritually uplift a whole nation, if not all mankind.
The life of a teacher could not hold him for long. In 1907 he returned to Tiruvannamalai again. But now doubts began to overcome Ganapati. He was already approaching middle age, but with all his brilliant and extensive knowledge, all his mantras And tapas still has not achieved success either in God or in the world. He felt that he was approaching his mortal end. On the ninth day of the Kartikai festival, Sastri suddenly remembered Swami on the Mountain. Surely he must receive an answer. As soon as the impulse came, Ganapati Sastri began to act in this direction. Under the hot midday sun, he climbs the mountain to the Virupaksha cave. Swami was sitting alone on the terrace of the cave. Sastri fell prostrate before him, hugging his feet with outstretched hands. In a voice trembling with emotion, he said: “I read everything I had to read. Even Vedanta Shastra I understood completely. I was doing japa(invoking God) until complete satisfaction. However, I still don't understand what it is tapas. Therefore I seek refuge at Your feet. I beg you to enlighten me by revealing nature tapas".
Swami turned his gaze on him and after fifteen minutes of silence replied: “If one observes from where the concept of “I” arises, the mind becomes immersed in THAT. This is tapas. When on repeat mantras the Source from which its sound comes is observed, the mind is immersed in THAT. It's there tapas".
Not many words were spoken, but they filled Ganapati with joy, because Grace was radiating from Swami. With overflowing vital energy, which he put into everything, Shastri wrote to his friends about what he had received. you will fall and began to compose poetic praises of Swami in Sanskrit. He learned from Palaniswami that Swami had formerly been called Venkataraman and declared that from now on he should be known as Bhagavan Sri Ramana and as Maharshi. The name "Ramana" came into use immediately. Likewise, the title of Maharshi ( Maha-rshi, great rishi). For a long time it was customary to call him “Maharshi” in speech and writing. However, gradually the practice of addressing him in the third person spread among his devotees: “Bhagavan”, meaning “Divine”, or simply “God”. Sri Bhagavan himself used to speak impersonally, avoiding the use of the word "I". For example, he didn't actually say, "I didn't know when the sun rose or set," as quoted in Chapter 5. The phrase was, "Who knew when the sun rose or set?" He also sometimes referred to his body as "it". Only in statements where the word "God" would have been preferred did he use the word "Bhagavan" and speak in the third person. For example, when my daughter went to school and asked him to remember her while she was away, the answer was: “If Kitty remembers Bhagavan, then Bhagavan will remember Kitty.”
Ganapati Sastri also liked to refer to Sri Bhagavan as a manifestation of God Subramanya, but in this the devotees rightly refused to follow him, feeling that to consider Sri Bhagavan as a manifestation of any one divine aspect was to try to limit the Unlimited. And Sri Bhagavan himself did not agree with this identification. One of the visitors once asked him: “If Bhagavan avatar Subramanya, as some say, why doesn’t he openly say this so that we don’t get confused?”
He replied: "What is avatar? Avatar It is only the manifestation of one aspect of God, whereas jnani there is God Himself."
About a year after meeting Sri Bhagavan, Ganapati Sastri experienced a wonderful manifestation of his Grace. While meditating in the Ganapati Temple of Tiruvothiyar, he felt a distraction and ardently rushed towards the Presence and Guidance of Sri Bhagavan. At that moment Sri Bhagavan entered the temple. Ganapati Sastri prostrated himself in front of him and, as if lifted by an unknown force, felt Sri Bhagavan's hand on his head and an extraordinary vital force flowing through his body from this touch. Thus, he also received Grace by touch from the Teacher.
Subsequently, speaking about this incident, Sri Bhagavan said:
“One day, several years ago, I was lying and woke up when I clearly felt that my body was rising higher and higher. I could see that the physical objects below were becoming smaller and smaller, until they completely disappeared and everything around me became boundless expanse of dazzling light. After some time, I felt that the body was slowly descending and physical objects below began to appear. I was so fully aware of what was happening that I finally concluded: it was in this way Siddhi(Sages with supernatural powers) travel great distances in a short time, appearing and disappearing in such a mysterious way. While the body thus sank to the ground, it happened that I ended up in Tiruvothiyar, although I had never seen this place before. I was on the road and walked along it. At some distance from the edge of the road stood the Ganapati temple, and I entered it."
This incident is very typical of Sri Bhagavan. And the peculiarity is that the misfortune or devotion of one of his people should have subsequently caused an involuntary response and intervention in a form that only could be called supernatural. Another characteristic is that Sri Bhagavan, possessed of all divine powers, was not at all interested in using forces subtler than the physical world, and when such things happened in response to the prayer of a devotee, he could say with the innocence of a child: “I believe that they do this Siddhi".
And it was precisely this indifference that Ganapati Shastri was unable to achieve. He once asked: “Is searching for the source of the “I” thought sufficient to achieve all my goals or is more necessary? mantradhyana(repetition of sacred formulas)?" Always the same: his goals, his aspirations, the revival of the country, the revival of religion.
In 1917, Ganapati Sastri and other devotees asked Sri Bhagavan a series of questions, the answers to which were compiled in a book entitled Sri Ramana Gita more scientific and theoretical than most similar books. It is characteristic that in one of his questions Ganapati Shastri asked: “If someone, as happens, has achieved jnanas(Self-realization) in the course of seeking some special powers, will his original desires be fulfilled?" And nowhere is Sri Bhagavan's quick and subtle humor better illustrated than in the answer he gave: "If a yogi, although he has taken up yoga for the sake of fulfilling his desires , has meanwhile acquired Knowledge, then there will be no stormy joy, even though his desires have also come true.”
Around 1934, Ganapati Shastri and a group of his followers settled in the village of Nimpura near Karagpur and devoted himself entirely to tapas(asceticism). After the death of Ganapati, Sri Bhagavan was once asked whether Shastri could understand Himself in this life, and the Maharshi replied: “How could he? sankalpas(internal tendencies) were too strong."
F.X.Humphrey
The first Western devotee of Sri Bhagavan was already involved in the occult before he arrived in India in 1911. He was only 21 and joined the Vellore Police Service. Humphrey hired a teacher, a certain Narasimhaya, to teach him Telugu, and at the very first lesson he asked to get a book in English on Indian astrology. This was a strange demand from a white gentleman, but Narasimhaya gave in to the request and took him a book from the library. The next day Humphrey asked an even more surprising question: “Do you know anyone here? Mahatma?"
Narasimhaya replied briefly that he did not know. However, this did not save him from further confusion, for the next day Humphrey said: “You told me yesterday that you don’t know any Mahatma? Let it be so, but this morning, just before waking up, I saw your Guru. He sat next to me and said something, but I didn’t understand.”
As Narasimhaiah still looked unconvinced, Humphrey continued: "The first person from Vellore I met in Bombay was you." Narasimhaya began to protest: after all, he had never been to Bombay. Humphrey then explained that immediately upon his arrival in Bombay, he was admitted to hospital, suffering from a high fever. In order to obtain some relief from his suffering, he mentally went to Vellore, where he should have arrived immediately after landing, but for illness. He traveled to Vellore in his astral body and there he saw Narasimhaya.
Narasimhaya simply replied that he knew nothing about the astral body or any body other than the physical. However, the next day, to check the veracity of the dream, before leaving for a lesson with another police officer, he left a stack of photographs on Humphrey’s desk. He looked through them and immediately chose a photograph of Ganapati Shastri. “Here!” he exclaimed when the teacher returned. “This is your Guru.”
Narasimhaya admitted that this was so. After this, Humphrey fell ill again and had to go to Ootacamund to recuperate. Several months passed before he returned to Vellore. At the same time, he again surprised Narasimhaya: this time with a sketch of a mountain cave seen in a dream, with a stream running in front of it, and a Sage standing at the entrance. It could only be Virupaksha. Narasimhaya immediately told him about Sri Bhagavan. Humphrey was introduced to Ganapati Sastri, developed great respect for the Maharshi, and in the same month, November 1911, the three undertook a visit to Tiruvannamalai.
Humphrey's first impression of Sri Bhagavan's extraordinary Silence has already been quoted in Chapter 6. In the same letter from which the excerpt was taken, he also wrote:
“The most touching thing was the sight of many tiny children, up to the age of seven, climbing the mountain of their own accord to come and sit near the Maharshi, although he could not say a word or even look at them for days. They did not play, but simply sat calmly, in complete satisfaction."
Like Ganapati Shastri, Humphrey sought to help the world.
Humphrey: Master, can I help the world?
Bhagavan: Help yourself and you will help the world.
X: I want to help the world. Can't I be helpful?
B: Yes, by helping yourself, you are helping the world. You are in the world, you are the world. Neither you are different from the world, nor the world is different from you.
X: (after a pause). Master, can I perform miracles like Jesus and Sri Krishna used to do?
B: Did any of them, when performing miracles, feel that it was he who was performing a miracle?
X: No, Teacher.
It was not long before Humphrey repeated his visit.
“I rode a motorcycle and went up to the cave. The sage smiled when he saw me, but was not at all surprised. We went inside and before we sat down, he asked me a question that only I could know.
Obviously, he comprehended me the moment he saw me. Everyone who came to him was an open book, and a single glance was enough for him to reveal its contents.
“You haven’t eaten yet,” said the Maharshi, “and you are hungry.” I admitted that I was hungry and he immediately called brow(student) bring me food - rice, ghee, fruits, etc., eaten with the fingers, since Hindus do not use spoons. Although I had practice eating this way, I lacked the agility. So he gave me a coconut-shaped spoon, smiling and chatting from time to time. You can't imagine anything more beautiful than his smile. I drank coconut milk, whitish, reminiscent of cow's, and very tasty, to which he himself added a few grains of sugar.
When I finished the meal, I was still hungry, and he, knowing this, ordered more. The Maharshi knew everything, and when others forced me, already full, to eat fruit, he immediately stopped them.
I had to apologize for my drinking style, but all he said was, "Don't worry." Hindus are very particular about this. They never drink liquid in small sips and do not touch the vessel with their lips, but pour the liquid directly into their mouth. This way, many people can drink from the same cup without fear of contamination.
While I was eating, he told others about my past and very accurately. But he had seen me only once before, and then hundreds and hundreds of other people. He simply turned on, as it happens, clairvoyance, just as we usually turn to an encyclopedia. I sat for about three hours listening to his teaching.
Later, I became thirsty because I was driving here in extreme heat, but I didn’t voice it. However, the Maharshi found out and asked brow bring me some refreshing drink.
Finally it was time to leave, I bowed as we always did and walked towards the mouth of the cave to put on my shoes. He also came to the exit and said that I could come and see him again.
It's amazing what a difference being in his Presence makes in a person!"
There is no doubt that Sri Bhagavan, who sat before him, was an open book to him. However, Humphrey was probably wrong about clairvoyance. Although Sri Bhagavan saw through people to help and guide them, he did not use any supernatural powers at the human level. His memory for faces was as phenomenal as for books. Out of the thousands who came, the Maharshi never forgot a devotee who visited him even once, and recognized the person even if he returned years later. He remembered the life story of each devotee, and Narasimhaya had to tell him about Humphrey. He showed extreme caution when it was best not to talk about any matter, but usually had the simplicity and artlessness of a child and, like a child, could talk about someone directly to his face, without any embarrassment or causing embarrassment. When it came to food and drink, Sri Bhagavan was not only considerate of others, but incredibly observant to see to it that the guest was satisfied.
Miraculous powers began to manifest themselves in Humphrey, but Sri Bhagavan warned him not to indulge them, and he was strong enough to resist the temptation. Indeed, under the influence of Sri Bhagavan, he soon lost all his interest in the occult.
Moreover, Humphrey had outgrown the delusion, almost universal in the West and increasingly common in the modern East, that humanity can only be helped by external activity. He was told that by helping himself, a person helps the world. This aphorism that school laissez faire 53 is mistakenly considered to be true in an economic sense, but is in fact true also spiritually, since in a spiritual sense, a person’s wealth does not reduce, but increases the wealth of others. Just as Humphrey saw Sri Bhagavan during the first meeting as “a motionless body from which God is extraordinarily radiant,” so everyone, according to his capacity, is a transmitting station of invisible influences. In a state of harmony and freedom from egoism, every person inevitably and involuntarily emits harmony, whether he shows external activity or not, and when his own nature is restless and the ego is strong, disharmony is emitted, although outwardly a person may be performing worship at that time.
Even though Humphrey never lived with Sri Bhagavan, but only visited him a few times, he imbibed his instructions and received his Grace. The letter he sent to a friend in England was later published in the International Parapsychological Bulletin and remains an excellent presentation of the Teaching.
“The Master is a man who meditates solely on God, he threw himself into the sea of God with his whole personality and drowned, forgot it there, becoming only an instrument of God; and when his mouth opens, he speaks the words of God without effort or premeditation, and when he lifts hand, God flows through it again, creating a miracle.
Don't think too much about physical phenomena and things like that. Their number is legion, and as soon as faith in physical phenomena is established in the heart of the seeker, such phenomena will do their work. Clairvoyance, clairaudience and the like have no value, since much greater enlightenment and Peace are possible without them than with them. The teacher views these powers as a form of self-sacrifice!
The idea that a Master is simply a person who, through long practice, prayer or the like, has acquired various occult powers is absolutely wrong. The Teacher never thought anything of occult powers, because he does not need them in his daily life.
The phenomena we observe are strange and wonderful. But we don’t realize the most amazing thing. This is the one and only unlimited power that answers:
a) for all the phenomena we observe and
b) for the very act of observing them.
Don't stop your attention on all these changing phenomena of life, death and phenomena. Think not even about the acts of observing or perceiving them as such, but only about the ONE who sees all these things, the ONE who is responsible for all of them. At first it will seem impossible, but gradually the result will be felt. It will take years of constant, daily practice according to the Master's instructions. Give a quarter of an hour daily to this practice. Try to keep your mind firmly fixed on the One who sees. IT is within you. Don't expect to find that IT is something that the mind can easily fix on. It won't be like that. Although it will take years to find THIS, the results of such concentration will be revealed within four or five months in all types of unconscious clairvoyance, peace of mind, ability to cope with adversity, strength around, but always unconscious strength.
I gave you this teaching in the same words in which the Master conveys it to his loved ones people Let your whole thought in meditation henceforth be not the act of seeing, not what you see, but unshakably fixed on HIM who sees.
The person does not receive a reward for the Achievement. Then he realizes that he doesn't want her. As Krishna says: “You have the right to work, but not to its fruits” 55. True achievement is simply reverence, and reverence is achievement.
If you sit and realize that you think only because of the one life, and that the mind, inspired by this one life to act as a thinker, is a part of the whole, which is God, then you will be dissuaded of the existence of the mind as a separate entity; and as a result, mind and body physically disappear, so to speak. The only thing that remains is Being, which is both existence and non-existence, inexplicable by words or ideas.
The teacher cannot restrain himself from continually remaining in this state, the only difference being that in some way incomprehensible to us he is able to use the mind, the body, and also the intellect, without falling back into the illusion of having a separate consciousness.
It is no use philosophizing, it is no use trying and accepting mental or intellectual understanding and then acting on it. It is only a religion, a code for children and for life in society, a guide that helps us avoid shocks so that the inner fire can burn away our extravagance and teach, most likely little by little, common sense, that is, knowledge of the illusion of separation.
Religions, be they Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Theosophy or any other variety of “isms” and “sophias” or systems, can only take us to the common meeting point of religions and no further.
This one point where all religions meet is the realization, not in a mystical sense, but in a highly earthly and everyday sense, and, in addition, a mundane, everyday and practically beneficial one, of the fact that God is everything and everything is God.
From this point of view, the work of practicing such mental understanding begins, and it all consists of breaking the habit. One must stop calling things "things", must call them "God" and instead of thinking of them as things, must know them as God. Instead of imagining “existence” to be the only possible thing for a thing, it is necessary to realize that this (phenomenal) existence is only a creation of the mind and that “non-existence” is a necessary consequence of the postulate “existence”.
Knowing something only shows the presence of an organ of cognition. There are no sounds for the deaf, no sights for the blind, and the mind is simply the organ of understanding or imagining certain aspects of God.
God is infinite, and therefore existence and non-existence are only different sides of Him. I don't mean to say at all that God has certain components. It is difficult to be comprehensive when talking about God. True knowledge comes from within, not from without. True knowledge is also not “cognition”, but “seeing”.
Realization is nothing other than the literal vision of God. Our greatest mistake is that we think of God as acting symbolically and allegorically, rather than practically and literally.
Take a piece of glass, paint it with colorful designs, put it in a slide projector, turn on a small light, and then the colors and shapes drawn on the glass will be reproduced on the screen. If the light is not turned on, you will not see the color of the slide.
How are colors formed? Decomposition of white color by a multifaceted prism. It's the same with a person's character. He is visible when the Light of Life (God) shines through him, that is, in human actions. If a person is fast asleep or dead, then you will not see his character. Only when the Light of Life animates this character and makes it act in a thousand different ways, responding to contact with the multifaceted world, can you feel the character of a person. If the white light has not decomposed and is not embodied in the images and forms of our slide in the overhead projector, then we will never know that there was a slide in front of this light, since the light will freely shine through. Both literally and figuratively, that white light becomes distorted and loses some of its purity as it has to shine through the colored images on the glass.
It's the same with an ordinary person. His mind is like a screen. Light falls there, dimmed, changed, because man allowed the multifaceted world to stand in the way of Light (God) and disintegrate it. He sees only the effects of Light (God) instead of Light (God) itself, and his mind reflects these effects like a screen of color on glass. Remove the prism and the colors disappear, reabsorbed by the white light from which they originated. Remove the colors from the slide and the light shines, freely passing through. Take away from our sight the world of effects that we are looking at, let us examine only the cause, and we will see the Light (God).
The Master meditates, although his eyes and ears are open, so firmly fixing his attention on "THE SHE who sees" that he has neither sight nor hearing, nor any physical as well as psychic consciousness, but only the spiritual.
We must remove the world that causes our doubts, that clouds our minds, and the light of God will shine clearly from beginning to end. What does it mean to remove the world? When, for example, instead of seeing a person you look and say: “This is God giving life to the body,” that is, the body responds, more or less perfectly, to the instructions of God, just as a ship responds more or less perfectly to its rudder.
What are sins? Why, for example, does a person drink too much? Because he hates the idea of being limited by not being able to drink as much as he wants. He strives for freedom in every sin he commits. This desire for freedom is the first instinctive action of God in the human mind, since God knows that he is not limited. Drunkenness does not bring freedom to a person, but then the person does not know that he is actually seeking freedom. When he realizes this, he begins to search for the best way to obtain it.
But a person receives this freedom only when he realizes that he has never been bound. His self, which feels limited, is actually true I, unlimited Spirit. “I” is limited, because I don’t know anything about what I don’t feel with one of my original feelings. After all, in fact I I am all the time the one who feels in every body, in every mind. These bodies and minds are only instruments of the true I, unlimited Spirit.
Isn't it I needs instruments that are Him, like the colors of the rainbow that are White Light?!"
Needless to say, police service was not a good fit for Humphrey. Sri Bhagavan advised him to serve and meditate at the same time. Humphrey did this for several years and then retired. Already being a Catholic and understanding the essential unanimity of all religions, he did not see the need to change his traditions and returned to England, where he entered a monastery.
Theosophist
Sri Bhagavan's tolerance and kindness often impressed people. And not just because he accepted the truth of all religions - because anyone with spiritual understanding could do this - but if any school, group or ashram sought to spread spirituality, he could show respect for the good they did, no matter how far away. were their methods from his own or from the strictly orthodox.
Raghavachariar, a government official in Tiruvannamalai, visited Sri Bhagavan only occasionally. He wanted to know his opinion about the Theosophical Society, but when he arrived he found a crowd of admirers and avoided speaking in their presence. One day he decided to ask three questions. Here is how Raghavachariar himself talks about it:
"The questions were:
- Can you give me a few minutes for a private, personal conversation alone, in the absence of other visitors?
- I would like to know your opinion about the Theosophical Society, of which I am a member.
- Would you be kind enough to give me the opportunity to see your true form, if I am ready to contemplate it?
When I entered and prostrated myself and then sat down in his Presence, there was a crowd of no less than thirty people, but they all soon left one by one. So I was left alone with the Maharshi, having received the answer to the first question without formulating it. This struck me as a sign worthy of attention.
Then he himself asked if the book was in my hand Gita and whether I am a member of the Theosophical Society, remarking, even before I asked my question: “It is doing a good job.” I answered his questions in the affirmative.
My second question was thus also forewarned, and I was looking forward to the third. After half an hour I opened my mouth and said, “Just like Arjuna wanted to contemplate the form of Sri Krishna and asked darshana(visions of him), so I long to have darshan Your true form, if worthy." He then sat on bowl(platform), and behind him, on the wall, a portrait of Dakshinamurthy was painted. The Maharshi, as usual, gazed intently in silence, and I also gazed intently into his eyes. Then his body, along with the image of Dakshinamurti, disappeared from my sight. There was only empty space in front of me, without even walls. After this, a whitish cloud with the outlines of Maharshi and Dakshinamurti formed before my eyes. Gradually the outlines of their figures became more and more clear. Then the eyes, nose and other details began to appear as light-like lines. They slowly expanded until the entire figure of the Sage and Dakshinamurti became fiery, with a very strong, almost unbearable, light. So I closed my eyes and waited for a few minutes, and then I saw him and Dakshinamurthy in their normal form. I prostrated myself before the Maharshi and left. For a month after this I did not dare to come close to him: so great was the impression that the experience had on me Darshana. A month later I climbed the Mountain and saw the Maharshi standing in front of the entrance to Skandashram. I turned to him: “A month ago I asked you a question about the possibility of seeing your true form and had such an experience.” And here I talked about the experience darshana, asking him to explain its meaning. After a pause, the Maharshi replied: “You wanted to see my form, and you saw my disappearance. I am formless. Therefore, that experience could be the real truth. Further visions may correspond to your own ideas gained from studying Bhagavad Gita. But Ganapati Sastri had a similar experience and you can consult him." (Actually I did not consult Sastri.) After this the Maharshi said: "Find who I am, the seer or the thinker, and his abode."
Anonymous fan
The visitor came to the Virupaksha cave and although he stayed only five days, he so obviously had the Grace of Sri Bhagavan that Narasimhaswami, who was collecting material for the biography of the Maharshi - the book Self-Realization, on which much of the present work is based, decided to write down his name and address. There was elation and serenity all around this visitor, and Sri Bhagavan's radiant eyes shone upon him. Every day he composed a song in Tamil in honor of Sri Bhagavan, so enthusiastic, so spontaneous, so full of joy and devotion that among all the songs he composed, these remain the few that continue to be sung to this day. Later, Narasimhaswami visited Sathyamangalam, the city named by this visitor, to collect more details about him, but no such person was known there. It has been stated that his name means "Abode of Blessing" and suggests that the visitor may have been an emissary of some hidden "Abode of Blessing" coming to pay respects Sadhguru this century.
One of his songs salutes Sri Ramana as "Ramana Sadhguru"One day, while it was being sung, Sri Bhagavan himself joined in the singing. The devotee who was singing laughed and said, “This is the first time I have heard someone singing praise to himself.”
Sri Bhagavan replied, "Why limit Ramana to these six feet? Ramana is a universal phenomenon."
One of the five songs is so filled with the joys of dawn and awakening that everyone can perfectly believe in the true Dawn of the one who composed it:
Dawn is a climb up the Mountain,
Sweet Ramana, come!
Lord Arunachala, come!
A bird sings in the bushes,
Beloved Teacher, Ramana, come!
Lord of Knowledge, come!
The shell is blowing, the stars have dimmed.
Sweet Ramana, come!
Lord God of all gods, come!
The roosters are crowing; the birds are chirping,
It's time, come!
The night has flown, come!
Trumpets play, drums beat,
Bright golden Ramana, come!
Knowledge of Awakening, come!
The crows woke up and morning came,
Lord, adorned with a snake, come!
Blue-throated Lord, come!
Category: »
The message “dedicated to metaphysics and ontology based on the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi in the form of main theses, in your presentation, without justification and long reasoning. If this is possible” (Evgeniy Silaev, Palex) is made mainly on the basis of his book “The Message of Truth and the Straight Path to yourself" (can be downloaded, for example, here: http://www.koob.ru/makharashi/) by selecting text fragments.
Sri Ramana Maharshi (December 30, 1879 – April 14, 1950) was a famous Indian philosopher and sage.
Direct path to Truth.
Interest in this Teacher, his Teaching and especially the practice of the Teaching is now very great not only in India itself, especially South India, but also in the USA, Canada, and European countries, because the Teaching gives a simple, direct and clear answer to any questions, and the Path of Self- The research he revealed to people can be practiced by a trained student at home, at work, anywhere and anytime just as successfully as in the forest. This Path does not depend on any religion, but on the contrary, lies at the basis of all religions.
What is the True Nature of Man? What is the True Human Self? Philosophers have been thinking, talking and writing about man’s self-knowledge for thousands of years. Countless religions of the world and their followers have also been solving this global question for thousands of years, which determines the Meaning of human life, the behavior of man and humanity, the choice of one or another conscious spiritual path. For a person with a philosophical mindset or prone to introversion, turning the mind inward, this is especially interesting, and in our critical time of destruction of previous attitudes, paradigms, ideals - self-determination based on internal values is more important than ever for almost every thinking person. Only by realizing oneself can one know others and the world around us, for if we do not know who the knower is, then how can we trust the results of knowledge? Why do we need measurement results if the device has a different purpose or gives a large error? Why do we need a guide if he himself is blind?!
Self-enquiry is really only possible through intense turning of the mind inwards. What is finally realized as a result of such a search for the Source is truly the Heart as the undifferentiated Light of pure Consciousness, in which the reflected light of the mind is completely absorbed.
The question of the Heart arises because you are looking for the Source of consciousness. To all deep-thinking minds, the study of the Self and its nature has an irresistible charm.
Call it by any name - God, Self, True Self, Heart or Source of Consciousness - it is all the same. The main thing that must be grasped here is that HEART means the Core itself, the Core of being, the Center, without which there is nothing.
What is this question “Who am I?” This question, addressed by a person to himself, is the key and essence of the spiritual path of Research (Search) of the Self, which one can try to express by analyzing the works of Sri Ramana Maharshi, his instructions to his students and admirers:
1. Before learning about the outside world, you should know yourself, and then solve other problems if they remain.
2. The True Nature of man is the Absolute, Pure Being, Self, I, without any attributes and mental concepts (constructions), that is, “I AM”.
3. The culprit of man's deviation from his True Nature is the ego, which arises between pure Consciousness and the human body, which does not have consciousness.
4. Ego is the thought “I am the body”, the thought “I”, the primary, root thought of the mind, from which, as from the root, the whole tree of the mind grows and which runs away when it begins to be sought by direct inquiry: “Who am I?” .
5. The source of the ego is pure Consciousness, pure Being, the Heart, not connected with the physical body; into this Source the ego goes, pursued by the question “Who am I?”, and then it is experienced that only the Self is real - the True Self (that is, I, and not “I”), and everything else (the concepts of “world”, “God” ", "man", the whole world of objects) is real only as long as the sense of ego remains.
6. The True Path of Knowledge lies in the continuous search for the Source of the “I” (ego) with the mind turned inward, through the inquiry “Who am I?”, and if the mind reaches the Heart, then the “I” drowns (in the Source), and the One (True Self, Self, Atman) spontaneously appears as I - Self (the pulsation of the True Self, the Heart, which reflects the nature of the Self as pure Consciousness and is physically perceived by the advanced seeker of Truth).
This way, nothing needs to be achieved. One must simply BE, be oneself, controlling the manifestations of the ego and driving it out by examining “Who am I?”, or distinguishing between the True Self and the ego, that is, between the Self and the “I”. When any thought arises, you should, focusing exclusively on it, ask yourself: “For whom did this thought arise?”, and after the ego’s internal answer: “For me,” strike it below the belt with a direct question: “Who am I and where is its Source?” , which immediately leads to the disappearance of thought and muffling of the ego. With deep concentration, the gap between two thoughts will be experienced as a “purified ego”, as being in the True Self. Carrying out this Practice is possible not only in planned meditation, but also in every minute of daily life.
“The shock of the fear of death caused my mind to turn inward, and I mentally said to myself: “Now death has come, but what does this mean? What is that which dies? This is the body dying." And I immediately staged the arrival of death. I lay with my limbs rigidly stretched out, as if mortifying the flesh, imitating a corpse, in order to carry out the study as realistically as possible. I held my breath and pressed my lips tightly together, so that not a single sound could escape out, and neither the word “I” nor any other word was spoken. “Okay,” I mentally said to myself, “this body is dead. It will be taken like a corpse to the cremation ground, burned and turned to dust. But will I die with the death of the body? Is the body me? It is silent and inert, but I continue to feel the full strength of my individuality and even hear the voice of “I” inside me, separate from it. This means that I am a Spirit that transcends the body. The body dies, but the Spirit, which is greater than it, cannot be affected by death. This means that I am an immortal Spirit." All this was not a dull thought, but flashed brightly in me, like a living Truth, which I perceived directly, almost without the participation of the thought process. "I" was something very real, the only real thing in my state, and all conscious activity connected with my body was concentrated on this "I". From that moment on, the "I", or Self, focused my attention on itself with a powerful fascination. The fear of death disappeared once and for all. time, absorption in the Self is not lost. Other thoughts may come and go like different musical tones, but the "I" remains like the fundamental tone on which all other tones rest and mingle. Whether the body is occupied with talking, reading, or anything else , I am constantly focused on the True Self. Before this crisis, I had no clear perception of my Self or conscious attraction to HER. I did not feel a tangible or clear interest in HER, much less any inclination to dwell constantly in HER."
Such an experience of Identity very rarely leads to Liberation. The feeling of Oneness comes to the seeker, but the inner tendencies of the ego darken him again and again. From now on, the seeker has a memory, an undoubted certainty of the True State, but he does not live in it constantly. So that there are no tendencies that push him back again into the illusion of a limited separate existence, the seeker must try to purify the mind and achieve complete humility.
It is remarkable that in the case of the Maharshi there was no delusion or relapse of ignorance. On the contrary, He from that time always remained in a state of constant identity as the One Self.
He did not feel the need for rational confirmation of the shining Reality in which He was established, but His followers asked for clarification, so the Maharshi began to read books for them, explaining their essence. Thus he became an erudite without seeking erudition or attaching importance to it.
There was no noticeable change or development in His views for more than half a century. It could not be otherwise, since He did not develop a philosophy, but simply recognized various aspects of the Transcendental Truth in theories, myths and symbols when He became acquainted with them. What He taught was the basic doctrine of Non-Duality, or Advaita. which, ultimately, absorbs in itself all other doctrines: Existence is the One, and IT is manifested in the Universe and in all creations without changing their eternal, unmanifested Self, just as in a dream the mind creates images of people and events, and man, nothing without losing with their emergence and without gaining with their loss, it does not cease to be itself.
Some find it difficult to believe in this system, believing that it denies the reality of the world, but the Maharshi explained to them that the world is unreal only as a separate self-sufficient phenomenon, but is real as a manifestation of the Self, just as the plot on the movie screen is real as an image, but unreal as fact of real life. Some feared that this view denied the existence of a personal God to whom they could pray. This approach, however, transcends the doctrine of religiosity without denying it, for ultimately the worshiper achieves Unity with the Worshiped. The person who prays and the God to whom the prayer is addressed are real only as manifestations of the Self.
Just as the Maharshi himself realized the True Self without preliminary theoretical instructions, so He paid little attention to theory in the instruction of his disciples. The theory expressed by Him orally and present in His writings is all directed towards a practical goal: assistance in Self-enquiry, by which is meant not any psychological study, but the knowledge and abiding of the True Self existing behind the ego, or mind. He ignored questions asked only to satisfy curiosity. For example, when asked about a person's condition after death, He could answer: “Why do you want to know what you will be when you die before what you are now? First find out who you are now.” Thus He turned the questioner from mental curiosity to Spiritual quest. He gave similar answers to questions about samadhi or the state of a jnani (a person who has realized the True Self): “Why do you want to know about a jnani before you know yourself? First find who you are.” But when the question was generated by the task of self-discovery, the Maharshi showed great patience in explaining.
The method of exploration within oneself that He taught goes beyond both philosophy and psychology, for what is sought is not the ego with its qualities, but the True Self, constantly shining without qualities when the ego ceases to function. The mind should not suggest an answer, but should remain at peace so that the True answer can come.
The answer comes as a current of consciousness in the Heart, at first intermittent and achieved by intense effort, but gradually increasing in strength and constancy, becoming more spontaneous, acting as a check on thoughts and actions, destroying the ego until it finally disappears and the certainty of the presence of pure Consciousness remains.
Thus. The Maharshi opened up a new integral path for those who turned to Him. The ancient path of Self-enquiry was pure jnana-marga, based on silent meditation in hermitage; Moreover, the Sages considered this Path unsuitable in the Kali Yuga - the spiritually dark era in which we live. What Bhagavan did was not so much the restoration of the old Path as the creation of a new one, adapted to the conditions of our time, which can be followed in the big city and in the family no less than in the forest or desert, with periodic daily meditation and constant recollection throughout the world. daily activities, with support - or not - on external rituals.
The teachings of Sri Bhagavan are the essence of all religions, clearly proclaiming what was hidden. Advaita, the doctrine of non-duality, is the central tenet of Taoism and Buddhism, and the doctrine of the Inner Guru is the doctrine of "The Christ within you" restored to its fullest understanding. Vichara penetrates to the ultimate truth of Islam, that there is no god but God - that there is no self, but there is the Self. Sri Bhagavan was above the differences between religions. The scriptures of Hinduism were available to Him, so He read them and explained them in their terms, but He could also use the terms of other religions when He was asked. The sadhana He prescribed was not dependent on any religion. Not only Hindus came to Him, but Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Parsis, and He never expected anyone to change religion. Devotion to the Guru and the influx of His Grace leads to the deepening of the reality of every religion, and Self-enquiry leads to the ultimate Truth that lies behind all religions.
Truth is the same for one as for all, and Sri Bhagavan directs the serious seeker to explore and critically study his own innermost experience, to seek for himself the Core, the Nucleus of his being, - the Heart, eternally identical with the one, ultimate Reality, in relation to which everything seen or what is known has only a phenomenal manifestation.
The mind is the only obstacle and it must be transcended.
Let's take another example with a movie theater. When a motion picture is shown, action pictures are projected onto the screen, but the moving images do not affect or change the screen. The viewer looks at them, not at the screen. Images cannot exist separately from the screen, but the screen itself is ignored. In the same way, the Self is the screen on which pictures, actions, etc. are observed. Man is aware of the latter, but is not aware of the essential former. However, the world of images is not apart from the Self, and whether one is aware of the screen or not, the actions will continue.
Deep sleep is not ignorance, it is the pure state of man, and wakefulness is not knowledge, it is ignorance. There is complete consciousness in deep sleep and complete ignorance in wakefulness. Your real nature overlaps and extends beyond both of these states. The Self transcends both knowledge and ignorance. The states of deep sleep, dreaming and waking are just forms that pass before the Self and develop whether you are aware of them or not.
The state which transcends speech and thought, being meditation without mental effort, is mouna. Subjugation of the mind is meditation, and deep meditation is eternal speech. Silence is constant Speech, it is an inexhaustible flow of “message”, which is interrupted by verbal speech, because words block this silent “language”. Lectures can keep people occupied for hours without helping them improve. On the other hand, Silence is constant and helps humanity as a whole... By Silence is meant Eloquence. Verbal instructions are not as eloquent as Silence. Silence is incessant Eloquence... It is the best of languages. There is a state when words disappear and Silence triumphs.
On the other hand, how does speech arise? There is abstract Knowledge from which the ego rises, which in turn is thought, and thought calls forth the spoken word. Therefore, the word is just a great-grandson of the original Source. But if the word can produce the effect you so value, how much more powerful must be Preaching through Silence. However, people do not understand this simple, unvarnished truth, the Truth of their everyday, ever-present, eternal experience. This Truth is the same as the Self. Is there anyone who does not know the True Self? But people do not even like to hear about this Truth, while they strive to know about what lies in the distance - about heaven, hell and reincarnation.
Since they love mystery, but not Truth, religions try to serve them in such a way as to ultimately lead them back to the Self. Whatever means are used, you must ultimately return to Yourself, to the Self. So why not remain in the Self here and now? To observe or reflect on other worlds, the Self is necessary, and therefore humans are not different from the Self. Even an ignorant person, when he observes objects, sees only the Self.
If the Self is realized, then there is nothing to control, since the Self shines only after the disappearance of the mind. In a person who has realized the Self, the mind may or may not be active, but for him only the Self exists, for the mind, body and world are inseparable from the Self, and therefore belong to IT. Are they different from the Self? So why worry about these shadows when the Self is known? How can they affect the Self?
The Self shines with Its Own Light; SHE is the Heart. Illumination rises from the Heart and reaches the head, which is the seat of the mind. The world is seen by the mind, and therefore you see the world by the reflected light of the Self. The world is perceived by the action of the mind, and when the mind is illuminated, it knows the world, and when not, it does not know the world. If the mind is turned inward, in the direction of the Source of illumination, then objective knowledge disappears, and the Self shines alone as the Heart.
To see objects, the reflected light of the mind is necessary, and to see the Heart, it is enough only to turn the mind towards It. Then the mind as a source of light can be ignored, for the Heart is self-luminous.
To see God around you, you must, of course, think about God. Keeping God in your mind becomes meditation or dhyana, and dhyana is the stage preceding Realization. Realization can only be of the Self and in the Self. It cannot be separate from the Self, and dhyana must precede it. Whether you do dhyana on God or on the Self, it does not matter, for the goal is the same. Whatever means you use, you cannot escape from Yourself, from the Self. Do you want to see God in everything, but not in yourself? If all this is God, then aren't you included in it all! Being God, is it any wonder that everything is God?
The purified ego is experienced in the intervals between two states or between two thoughts. The ego is like a worm that leaves one of its grips only after it has completed another, and its true nature is known when it has no contact with objects or thoughts. You must recognize this gap as the abiding, unchanging Reality, your true Being,
What is the significance of the Crucifixion?
The body is a cross. Jesus, the son of man, is the ego or the I-am-body thought. When the son of man was crucified on the cross, the ego died, and what survived is the essence of Absolute Being. IT is the resurrection of the Magnificent Self, Christ - the Son of God.
But how can crucifixion be justified? Isn't murder a terrible crime?
Every person is actually a suicide. His eternal, blissful, natural State is strangled by ignorant life. Thus, the present life is conditioned by the murder of the eternal, absolute Existence. Isn't this truly suicide? So why worry about killing?
For whom do the concepts of inside or outside exist? They can exist only as long as there is a subject and an object. For whom do these concepts exist? Upon examination, you will find that they dissolve only into the subject. Seek who the subject is, and such inquiry will lead you to pure Consciousness that transcends the subject. The ordinary self is the mind. It has limitations. But pure Consciousness lies beyond limitations and is achieved by exploring the nature of the subject itself, as just said.
Receipt: The Self is always here. You just have to remove the veil that is preventing you from discovering the Self.
Preservation: Once you have realized the Self, IT becomes your direct and immediate experience and is no longer lost.
Expansion: There is no expansion of the Self, for IT is eternal, having no contraction or expansion.
Solitude: staying in the Self is solitude, because there is nothing alien to the Self. Privacy must be maintained from one place or state to another. But there is nothing separate from the Self. Everything abides as the Self; solitude is impossible and unimaginable in this case.
Eternal Existence is nothing other than Happiness. It comes as a Revelation.
You need to do one of two things: either surrender yourself, realizing your weakness and the need for a Higher Power to help you, or explore the cause of suffering, enter the Source and merge with the Self.
There is only one Teacher, and that Teacher is the Self.
Peace is your natural state, but the mind is blocking it. Your vichara is directed only to the mind. Investigate what the mind is and it will disappear.
However, the game of the mind makes you think that Bliss is in external objects and happenings, when in fact this Bliss is within you. In those cases mentioned above you, although unconsciously, are immersed in the Self. If you do this consciously, with the conviction that the experience of your identity with Happiness is coming, which is truly the Self, the only Reality, then you will call it Realization. I wish you to consciously immerse yourself in the Self - the True Self, that is, in the Heart.
Self-enquiry is to focus the whole mind on its Source. Therefore, it is not a case of one self seeking another self.
If you are looking for the Truth and only the Truth, then there is no other alternative for you except accepting the world as unreal. Why? - For the simple reason that if you do not give up the idea of the reality of the world, then your mind will always act according to it. If you take appearances for reality, then you will never know Reality Itself, although Reality is what alone exists. This point is illustrated by the “snake in a rope” analogy. As long as you see the snake, you cannot see the rope itself. The non-existent snake is real to you, while the real rope appears to be completely non-existent.
What is the nature of this world? It is eternal change, continuous, endless flow. A dependent, non-self-aware, ever-changing world cannot be real.
What is the connection between desirelessness and Wisdom?
The absence of desires is Wisdom. They are not different, they are the same thing. Desirelessness is the abstinence of moving the mind towards any object, and Wisdom means that objects do not appear. In other words, when nothing other than the Self is sought, this is non-attachment or desirelessness, and non-abandonment of the Self is Wisdom.
What is the difference between Study and Meditation?
Inquiry consists of keeping the mind in the Self. Meditation consists of thinking that the meditator is Brahman, Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.
What is Liberation?
Exploring the nature of one's bound Self and realizing one's true essence is Liberation.
At a large wedding, a well-dressed man, unknown to anyone present, was accepted by everyone as a “friend of the groom” and for some time enjoyed special attention at all feasts and other ceremonies. But later, when people began to become interested and ask each other who this respected guest was, the dandy quietly disappeared. The Maharshi says that the ego, which we feed, pamper and value so highly, has no separate or independent existence in itself in reality, and the moment we begin to investigate its source and nature, it disappears like a “friend of the groom.”
