Dying While Living

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Dearest Friends,

 

Here, once more, the marvelous story of Sri Ramana's "dying" while living...

 

 

Maya (Illusion) Falls Away

In his seventeenth year, in full health and in normal waking state he

was suddenly overwhelmed with the fear of death and fully convinced

that death was imminent. The inexplicable feeling would not leave so

the boy began to ponder on the meaning of death. He was alone in his

upper story room at the time so he decided to act out death and

inquire into the meaning of it. He laid down with his arms stiffly at

his sides as if dead, held his breath and said to himself; "Now death

has come but what does it mean? What is it that is dying? The body

dies and is carried off to the cremation ground and reduced to ashes.

But with the death of the body, am I dead? Am I the body? This body is

now silent and inert but I feel the full force of my personality and

even the voice of the 'I' within me, apart from the body. So I am the

Spirit transcending the body. The body dies but the spirit that

transcends it cannot be touched by death. That means that I am the

deathless Spirit". The awareness of this knowledge took full

possession of him, not at the level of mere mental awareness but at

the deeper level of complete spiritual self-awareness. He suddenly

became the Spirit and knew himself as That, no longer identifying

himself as merely the body form that had been called Venkataraman.

Self realization was instantaneous, complete, and irreversible. His

ego was lost in a flood of pure Self awareness.

Ramana at 21

"From that moment onwards the 'I' or Self focused attention on itself

by a powerful fascination. Fear of death had vanished once and for

all. Absorption in the Self continued unbroken from that time on.

Whether the body was engaged in talking, reading or anything else, I

was still centered on 'I'."

The young sage told no one of his inner conversion and for a while

continued to carry on the role of student and family member. But

others around him noticed a complete change in his outlook. He

completely lost interest in sports, studies and his former friends.

Rather than the strong personality that inspired fear in his

compatriots, he now became meek, humble, indrawn, and indifferent to

his surroundings. He avoided company and preferred to sit alone,

absorbed in the complete concentration of the universal Self.Almost

every evening he went to the Minakshi temple at Madurai and stood in

quiet exaltation before the images of saints and gods depicted within

the temple. Waves of emotion overcame him and tears flowed profusely

from his eyes as he stood contemplating the images before him.His

elder brother, Nagaswami, noticed his inner absorption and criticised

him for his laziness and indifference . His teachers too observed his

lack of interest in his studies. One day, approximately two months

after his awakening, as he was copying a lesson given to him as a

punishment for his poor performance he was suddenly struck by the

futility of continuing with the charade. He pushed his books aside

and sunk into the contemplation of the inner Self. His brother who

was watching him made the following remark: "What use is all this to

one like you". Like an arrow proceeding to its target the remark

stuck in his mind and caused the young Venktaraman to evaluate his

life in relation to his new state of egolessness. He realized that as

a sadhak who wanted to give up everything, he had no right to accept

the hospitality of hearth and home. Internally he made the decision

to leave his home and his former life behind and proceed onward to a

life of spirituality.The image of the Holy Hill of Arunachala and

Tiruvannamalai fixed itself before his mind's eye, beckoning him to

the life of a solitary sage. Taking only the clothes on his back and

a few rupees for railway fare, he stealthily left home on August

29th, 1896 leaving the following note behind:"I have set out in quest

of my Father in accordance with his command. This (referring to

himself) has only embarked on a virtuous enterprise. Therefore no one

need grieve over this act and no money need be spent in search of

this."http://www.cosmicharmony.com

 

LoveAlways,

 

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