I or You ?

[Guest guest]

Sorry, I got this book and cannot stop quoting from it. I just love the Humor of

Maharshi

 

<< D: Instead of inquiring 'Who am I?". Can I put the question to myself 'Who

are You?", since then my mind may be fixed on You whom I consider to be God in

the form of Guru. Perhaps, I would be nearer the goal of my quest by that

inquiry than by asking myself "Who am I?"

 

Marhashi: Whatever form your inquiry may take, you must finally come to the one

"I", the Self. All these distinctions made between the "I" and "you",

Master and

disciple, etc., are merely a sign of one's ignorance. The "I" Supreme alone is.

To think otherwise is to delude oneself.

 

A story from Puranas about Sage Ribhu and his disciple Nidagha is particularly

instructive in this context.

 

Although Ribhu taught his disciple the supreme Truth of the One Braman without a

second, Nidagha, in spite of his erudition and understanding, did not get

sufficient conviction to adopt and follow the path of jnana, but settled down in

his native town to lead a life devoted to the observance of ceremonial religion.

 

But the Sage loved his disciple as deeply as the latter venerated his Master. In

spite of his age, Ribhu would himself go to his disciple in the town, just to

see how far the latter had outgrown his ritualism. At times the Sage went in

disguise, so that he might observe how Nidagha would act when he did not know he

was being observed by his Master.

 

On one such occasion Ribhu, who had put on the disguise of a village rustic,

found Nidagha intently watching a royal procession. Unrecognized by the

town-dweller Nidagha, the village rustic inquired what the bustle was all about,

and was told that the king was going in procession.

 

"Oh! It is the King. He goes in procession! But where is he?" asked the rustic.

"There, on the elephant," says Nidagha.

"You say the king is on the elephant. Yes I see the two," said the rustic. "But

which is the king which is the elephant?"

"What!" exclaimed Nidagha. "You see the two, but do not know that the man above

is the king and the animal below is the elephant? What is the use of talking to

a man like you?"

"Pray, be not impatient with an ignorant man like me," begged the rustic. "But

you said above and below - what do they mean? --

Nidagha could not stand it more. "You see the king and the elephant, the one

above and the other below. Yet want to know what is meant by 'above' and

'below'?" burst out Nidagha. "If things seen and words spoken can convey so

little to you, action alone can teach you. Bend forward, and you will know it

all to well."

 

The rustic did as he was told. Nidagha got on his shoulders and said. "Know it

now. I am above as the king, you are below as the elephant. Is that clear

enough?"

 

"No, not yet," was the rustic's quiet reply. "You say you are above like the

king and I am below like the elephant. The 'king', the 'elephant', 'above',

'below', so far it is clear. But pray, tell me what you mean by 'I' and 'you'?"

 

When Nidagha was thus confronted all of a sudden with the mighty problem of

defining the 'you' apart from the 'I', light dawned on his mind. At once he

jumped down and fell at his Master`s feet, saying "Who else but my venerable

Master, Ribhu, could have thus drawn my mind from the superficialities of

physical existence to the true Being of Self? O benign Master, I carve thy

blessings."

 

Therefore, while your aim is to transcend here and now these superficialities of

physical existence through atmavichara, where is the scope for making the

distinctions of "you" and "I", which pertain only to the body? When you turn

your mind within, seeking the Source of thought, where is the "you" and where is

the 'I'?

 

You should seek and be the Self that includes all. >>

>From The Spiritual Teaching of Ramana Maharshi