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| Bhagavan Sree Ramana Maharshi |
(Dedicated to
the Lotus Feet of Bhagavan Sree Ramana Maharshi)
Mind is a collection of thoughts. In the
absence of thoughts Mind does not exist. The gross body needs to have feelings,
otherwise called thoughts, and Prana to acquire sufficient knowledge during the
span of his existence that will lead to the purpose or goal of his birth.
Thoughts, collectively called Mind, and Prana the life force are two branches
of the same power source known as the Self. A thought is consciousness and
Prana is the dynamic force that controls the motor activities of the gross
body. A thought is a feeling one experiences. A thought of food is a feeling
one gets when hungry. One needs only just enough food, clothes and shelter to
live until the purpose of his creation is served. But when these needs exceed
the prescribed limits they become desire. Desire in one leads to greed and
conflict which in turn influences one’s intellect in it’s discriminating
capacity.
The question here is why the basic needs of a
human being exceed the limits prescribed. Like in a software application the
needs here are suggested by default settings but it is also open to
customization as per one’s wishes for which the customer alone will be
responsible for the indiscriminate projections and their after effects. In
human life the needs exceed the limits due to the existence of the ignorance
factor in one’s base constitution. Due to this ignorance the senses start
seeking more and more pleasure over and above the limits and the resulting
thoughts in the form of desire intoxicate the intellect also and the
discriminating machinery’s functions become erratic due to the spanner thrown
into it.
Who has the power to control the senses? Only
knowledge has. Knowledge does not rise due to the malfunctioning of the
intellect. Who can repair the damages? Only a Guru, Guide can help in this
respect. And one’s experiences in life also. But experience may not be there
always. The Guru is the embodiment of knowledge, a channel of Grace from the
supreme power, the creator or. And a Guru is also an Avatar, the SELF
personified in human form. Bhagavan Sri
Ramana Maharshi is one such Avatar born in the contemporary world to guide
masses who keep adopting new evolutionary living styles according to the need
of the time. Man is committed to himself first, to family friends and society
next.
Coming back to the ignorance factor in Man’s
constitution let us try to have an in depth picture of his Being. The Gross
body is made up of the five natural elements born from the cause, Maya or the Primeval
Ignorance. Maya possesses three qualities such as sathwam, rajas and thamas
which are inherent in all the five natural elements space, air, fire, water and
earth.
From RAJAS are born the GROSS BODY’S five
organs of perception, five organs of action, and the five Pranas which together
form the life force.
From SATHWA are born the SUBTLE BODY consisting
of MIND, INTELLECT,MEMORY OR CHIT AND
EGO.
The THAMAS or ignorance called the CAUSAL BODY
is the cause for the birth of the above two bodies as the presence of Ignorance
rekindles the flame of Knowledge in the cycle of creation, sustenance and
dissolution of Existence for the Creator or Purusha to become one with the
resulting Supreme Blissful state and attain his primordial single identity or
Swaroopa devoid of any attributes where the Creator forgets his own role in the
Blissful state and it becomes necessary to make him aware of his will power as
ignorance of it prevails. Knowledge is made to rise here to begin creation
again and maintain the aforesaid cycle. So much as a brief explanation for the
existence of the primeval Ignorance.
Knowledge having served its purpose and finding
no attributes dissolves into itself. Since Knowledge or prakruthy is indestructible
it dissolves into itself and lies in dormant state in the primordial Purusha.
Purusha shines alone. Knowledge and Ignorance cease to exist. Iswara merges
with the Supreme Bliss and Nothing prevails. Ignorance rises.
Athman or Purusha or Brahman having merged into
his real state BLISS, the result of union of prakruthy with Purusha and in the
absence of knowledge and ignorance, remains as Purusha alone in BLISS, known in
sanskrit as the state of ‘kaivalyam’, and forgets himself. This state is known
as Dissolution where Nothing exists except the Supreme BLISS, Purusha’s
original nature. This leads the primeval
ignorance to be the cause for the birth of knowledge lying dormant in Purusha to
wake up Purusha and to make manifest Maya or Prakruthi for reunion with the
Purusha resulting in the creation of Bliss for the Purusha to attain his own Oneness,
or Kaivalyam, in the form of BLISS. The cycle goes on and off.
In the old hall in Sree Ramanasramam where
Bhagavan daily attends his court a devotee expressed disappointment in his not
being able to study the volumes of Scriptures that proclaim means for realizing
one’s Self and regretted that his life is being wasted not knowing the Self.
Sree Bhagavan replied to him in Tamil the words “CHUMMA IRU” meaning “JUST BE”.
He further said “realize your Self first in Silence then one will naturally
know what one needs to read. What is the point in spending a life time reading vast
volumes of the Scriptures and still knot know one’s Self?”
Self Enquiry is ‘The Direct Path’, rather a
bypass to the destination, the Self. It suits the contemporary living styles of
Man and as evolution brings in changes and transcendence of Mind to higher
planes of knowledge it also invokes graceful methods as a means to achieve the
end. Hence Avatar of Guru, or a Guide in
some form, even it may be an Experience coming to guide, takes place on earth
to lead the society. Sree Bhagavan is such an Avatar, the Supreme Self
personified in human form.
In Self Enquiry methods Sree Bhagavan stresses
on the means to Mind Control. Mind is a collection of thoughts. Thoughts lead
to action further resulting in their multiplications. The current of thought
flow keeps moving. Thoughts are the result of latent tendencies lying dormant
as seeds in one’s being and get accumulated over births. The seed comes to
fruition at the appropriate time in this birth or later depending upon one’s
actions or karma. Karma is three fold such as sanchitham, prarabdham and
Agamikam meaning the ones carried over from previous births, the carried
forward ones and the current ones together form prarabdham and the ones which
are about to happen is termed as agamikam. The triple Karma form the total play
of thoughts which affect one throughout his life. Once the Mind is destroyed by
dissolving it in one’s Self the triple karma also disappears. No Mind no karma.
An intelligent person will be able to chart out his future in the absence of
Mind and triple karma by the proper conduct of his dharma and future karma and
reach his goal, the Self.
Sree Bhagavan directs one who faces
difficulties with the Mind to investigate into the identity of the person for
whom these experiences happen. The investigation inward will reveal the nature
of the experiencing person as ‘I’. It is
necessary to hold on dearly to this ‘I’ thought or the feeling of ‘I’ as all
thoughts are occurring to this ‘I’ and this ‘I’ is the core around which all
thoughts revolve. Like in a whirlpool the core ‘I’ is drawn into its vortex
leading all the way towards the Self where it
merges. The ‘I’ feeling being a continuum from it’s source it does not
disappear altogether and remains as a perennial flow. But thoughts having no
attributes to hold on, as they rise spontaneously from seeds, disappear or
drown into the ‘I’ thought. That is why attention has to be focused one
pointedly on this ‘I’ thought , one’s identity . If one identifies with thought by ignorance of one’s true identity
the ’I’ thought, it leads further to multiplication of thoughts and actions and
becomes continuous and one remains always with thoughts. Practice with devotion helps one to abide
firmly as one’s own ‘I’ vibration. In the absence of thoughts silence and peace
prevail. If one listens with a keen ear one can even hear an accompanying humming
sound as if created by a dynamo while in abidance as the ‘I’. The ‘I’ is only
the tip of an iceberg and much experience lie hidden underneath to be tapped by
persistent Self Enquiry.
Creation
is nature or knowledge and it has a purpose to serve. Hence Man has naturally
feelings or thoughts necessary for sustenance till attainment of knowledge of
the creator. Normally when hungry the thought of food arises in one and it
disappears when food is consumed. The thought arises only when hungry again
because it is natural and normal. These necessary feelings or thoughts are only
a group of skeleton thoughts which don’t accumulate and hinder knowledge.
Mind Control steps in where Desire makes an
entry. A desire is different from a normal thought. It can result in
multiplication of pleasure, action, fear, panic etc. and play havoc with the
functions of Intellect. Desire rises due to the crossing of limits prescribed
for sustenance and acquisition of knowledge which is the purpose. Ignorance of
limits is due to the absence of knowledge of them. Like in a software
application which has default settings for limits in various aspects life too
has default settings prescribed. The software application gives freedom to choose
by providing customize options to suit one’s desires sometimes resulting in
unachievable higher outputs by overlooking the default settings for
limits.
Likewise in life also limits are prescribed by
default settings for optimum results and if due to one’s greed and desire one
crosses the limits set naturally the result is chaos and confusion. Sree
Bhagavan points out here how to overcome desire and lead a normal life for it’s
fulfillment and removes the devotee’s ignorance by giving knowledge of one’s
true identity and also of one’s mistaken identity and shows where the exit from
ignorance lies in one’s life.
Sree Bhagavan shows a devotee how practice or
sadhana of Self Enquiry is to be initiated. As and when one retrieves one’s
true identity the false identity that ‘I am the Body’ drops off. “Like searching for a valuable thing lost in
a deep well one should in silence controlling speech and watching the breath
dive deep down into one’s inwardness and look for one’s lost true identity by
asking the question to oneself ‘Who am I?”
Mind and Breath are two branches of the same
power source. When breath is controlled by watching it the Mind also gets
controlled and vice versa. Sree Bhagavan calls watching the breath “prathyaveshana pranayama” meaning simply
watching the inhalation retention and exhalation of breath without any
particular measure as prescribe in hardcore Pranayama pracrices. The result in
that as well as in Self Enquiry is one and the same. All roads lead to Rome. In
the silence that follows the true identity shines forth as the ‘I’. The first
experience of ‘I’ is a distant vision of the Self. The source of ‘I’ has to be
investigated further when one is established firmly in one’s ‘I’ by asking
oneself the question “Whence am I?” meaning what is the source from which the
‘I’ thought rises.
The source of the ‘I’ thought is dealt with in
the next forthcoming Part -5 of ‘MIND CONTROL’.
author
Mohanakrishnan Annavangote
( Continued in Part -5 )
