easy yet difficult

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THE MAHARSHI

November/December 2003Vol. 13 - No. 6

Produced & Edited byDennis HartelDr. Anil K. Sharma

 

 

 

Easy Yet Difficultby G. L. N.

This is a brief account of how my contact with Sri Ramana helped me.

Truth transcends individuality. What I depict is my limited personal

understanding of him.

My contact with him began in 1930. It was by Divine Providence, not by

my planning, that I was able to spend a continuous period of three

years at Sri Ramanasramam. It was a great blessing.I was a science

graduate. I had learned about the atomic structure of the universe

and how matter finally resolves into energy and the mind also is a

form of energy. So the entire world of mind and matter, when traced

to its source, is one uniform Energy, or God, or whatever you choose

to call it.

This was my attitude of mind when I first went to Sri Ramanasramam.

Bhagavan was then translating his ‘Ulladu Narpadu’ (Forty Verses)

into Telugu at the request of Yogi Ramiah. After finishing it he

threw the book to me and said, “ You are an Andhra; see if there are

any mistakes of grammar in it.” This was an act of grace, for it was

that translation which was responsible for turning my mind inwards

and setting it on the right path.

The essence of what Bhagavan said to me in my talks with him was: “You

say that on final analysis all that I see or think or do is one; but

that really comprises two notions –the all that is seen and the I

that does the seeing, thinking and doing, and says ‘I’. Which of

these two is the more real, true and important? Obviously the seer,

since the seen is dependent on it. So turn your attention to the seer

who is the source of your ‘I’ and realize that. This is the real task.

Up to now you have been studying the object, not the subject; now find

out for what reality this word ‘ I’ stands. Find the entity which is

the source of the expression ‘I’. That is the Self, the Self of all

selves.”

This direct, simple teaching was like a tonic to me. It swept away the

unrest and confusion that till then had haunted my mind. It is, of

course, the essence of ‘Ulladu Narpadu’ and the central theme of all

Bhagavan’s writings. The simplicity of it made me burst out: “ Then

Bhagavan, Self-realization is very easy, just as you say in the poem

‘Atma Vidya’ !”

Bhagavan smiled and said, “ Yes, yes, it seems so at first, but there

is difficulty too. You have to overcome your present false values and

wrong identification. Therefore the quest requires concentrated effort

and steadfast abidance in the Source when this is reached.”

However, even while warning me, he also added words of solace: “But don’t let that deter you.

The rise of the urge to seek for the ‘I’ is itself an act of Divine

Grace. Once this urge gets hold of you, you are in its clutches. The

grip of Divine Grace never relaxes and finally devours you, just as

the prey in a tiger’s jaws is never allowed to escape.”

– The Mountain Path, January 1966

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