Parable told by Maharshi

[Guest guest]

I liked this parable and teaching from Ramana Maharshi that is

touching and funny. It is also a profound statement about the veil

of ignorance. It starts from a question being asked to Ramana

Marshi and he answers with a parable.

 

----

 

Question:

Not having realized the Truth that the Self alone exists, should I

not adopt bhakti(devotion) and yoga-margas(yogic paths) as being more

suitable for purposes of sadhana(spiritual practice) than vichara

marga(path of inquiry)? Is not the realization of one's absolute

Being that is, Brahma-jnana(realization of one's absolute being)

something quite unattainable to a layman like me?

 

Maharshi:

Brahma-jnana is not a knowledge to be acquired, so that acquiring it

one may obtain happiness. It is one's ignorant outlook that one

should give up. The Self you seek to know is verily yourself. Your

supposed ignorance causes you needless grief, like that of the ten

foolish men who grieved the "loss" of the tenth man who was never

lost.

The ten foolish men in the parable forded a stream and on

reaching the other shore wanted to make sure that all of them had in

fact safely crossed the stream. One of the ten began to count, but

while counting the others he left himself out. "I see only nine;

sure enough, we have lost one. Who can it be?" he said. "Did you

count correctly?" asked another, and did the counting himself. But

he too counted only nine. One after the other, each of the ten

counted only nine, missing himself. "We are only nine," they all

agreed, "but who is the missing one?", they asked themselves. Every

effort they made to discover the "missing" individual

failed. "Whoever he be that is drowned," and the most sentimental of

the ten fools, "we have lost him." So saying, he burst into tears,

and the rest of the nine followed suit.

Seeing them, weeping on the river bank, a sympathetic

wayfarer inquired for the cause. They related what had happened and

said that even after counting themselves several times they could

find no more than nine. On hearing the story, but seeing all the

ten before him, the wayfarer guessed what had happened. In order to

make them know for themselves that they were really ten, that all of

them had come safe from the crossing, he told them, "Let each of you

count for himself one after the other serially, one, two, three and

so on, while I shall give you each a blow so that all of you may be

sure of having been included in the count, and included only once.

The tenth 'missing' man will then be found." Hearing this, they

rejoiced at the prospect of finding their "lost" comrade and accepted

the method suggested by the wayfarer.

While the kind wayfarer gave a blow to each of the ten in

turn, he that got the blow counted himself aloud. "Ten," said the

last man as he got the last blow in his turn. Bewildered, they looked

at one another. "We are ten," they said with one voice and thanked

the wayfarer for having removed their grief.

That is the parable. From where was the tenth man brought

in? Was he ever lost? By knowing that he had been there all the

while, did they learn anything new? The cause of their grief was not

the real loss of any one of the ten; it was their own ignorance,

rather their mere supposition that one of them was lost (though they

could not find who he was) because they counted only nine.

Such is also the case with you. Truly there is no cause for

you to be miserable and unhappy. You yourself impose limitations on

your true nature of infinite Being and then weep that you are but a

finite creature. Then you take up this or that sadhana to transcend

the nonexistent limitations. But if your sadhana itself assumes the

existence of the limitations, how can it help you to transcend them?

Hence I say know that you are really the infinite, pure

Being, the Self Absolute. You are always that Self and nothing but

that Self. Therefore, you can never be really ignorant of the

Self; your ignorance is merely a formal ignorance, like the

ignorance of the ten fools about the "lost" tenth man. It is the

ignorance that caused them grief.

Know then that true Knowledge does not create a new Being for

you: it only removes your "ignorant ignorance." Bliss is not added

to your nature; it is merely revealed as your true and natural

state, eternal and imperishable. The only way to be rid of your

grief is to know and be the Self.

 

----

 

*My Comments*

There are many parts of the story that I liked. One is that it

took one sensitive man to realize that something had been lost.

After he started to cry then the other nine started to cry with

him. Symbolically this could relate to anything that has

been "lost" including the Divine Feminine. It will take some

sensitive women and men to cry out first - then the rest of the world

will join in. Eventually everyone will realize that it was never

lost, but has been within and without all along. The next item that

made an impression on me was that when the crying began, someone came

to help. For when we truly cry out and surrender to God/dess, we

can expect help in some form. In the story, the wayfarer could see

through the ignorance of the ten men and set about with a good

strategy to help them remove their ignorance. He could not merely

say, "you are ten", but he had to show them and make them feel that

they were ten. This shows that ignorance is not easily removed. It

took some "blows" to make them realize that they were actually ten.

Let's keep this symbolic please. It is touching in the first place

that they feel a sense of loss for their comrade. Even though nine

is a large number, they feel sad at the loss of even one. This

brings to memory the parable of Jesus that he tells about the lost

sheep. The shepherd left the ninety-nine sheep so that he could find

the one lost one. And when he found the lost sheep he rejoiced more

over the one sheep found then over the ninety-nine sheep that had

never been lost. For God/dess desires to bring us all to

realization, unity with Her/Him and Bliss. In the story above, when

the ten men realize that they really have been ten all along, they

shout, "We are ten". This is a small sample of what the world will

one day shout when everyone realizes that all people are part of One

Wholeness. It will take many wayfarers to be the sages of the world

to help remove the veils of ignorance.

 

 

Randy

[Guest guest]

A beautiful story, Randy - thank you.

 

Unfortunately, there are many in the world today, to whom ten men

grieving out of nothing but ignorance, is a situation which suits

them very well.

 

And since you touch on biblical scripture, the story (or parable?) of

Jesus is an example of just one 'wayfarer', who attempted to dispell

the veil of ignorance which held humanity in thrall, in a place, in a

time, two millennia ago.

 

His efforts were not appreciated by the Establishment.

 

Jai Ma.

 

m6

 

, "Randy" <colli01@a...> wrote:

> I liked this parable and teaching from Ramana Maharshi that is

> touching and funny. It is also a profound statement about the veil

> of ignorance. It starts from a question being asked to Ramana

> Marshi and he answers with a parable.

>

> --

--

>

> Question:

> Not having realized the Truth that the Self alone exists, should I

> not adopt bhakti(devotion) and yoga-margas(yogic paths) as being

more

> suitable for purposes of sadhana(spiritual practice) than vichara

> marga(path of inquiry)? Is not the realization of one's absolute

> Being that is, Brahma-jnana(realization of one's absolute being)

> something quite unattainable to a layman like me?

>

> Maharshi:

> Brahma-jnana is not a knowledge to be acquired, so that acquiring

it

> one may obtain happiness. It is one's ignorant outlook that one

> should give up. The Self you seek to know is verily yourself.

Your

> supposed ignorance causes you needless grief, like that of the ten

> foolish men who grieved the "loss" of the tenth man who was never

> lost.

> The ten foolish men in the parable forded a stream and on

> reaching the other shore wanted to make sure that all of them had

in

> fact safely crossed the stream. One of the ten began to count, but

> while counting the others he left himself out. "I see only nine;

> sure enough, we have lost one. Who can it be?" he said. "Did you

> count correctly?" asked another, and did the counting himself. But

> he too counted only nine. One after the other, each of the ten

> counted only nine, missing himself. "We are only nine," they all

> agreed, "but who is the missing one?", they asked themselves.

Every

> effort they made to discover the "missing" individual

> failed. "Whoever he be that is drowned," and the most sentimental

of

> the ten fools, "we have lost him." So saying, he burst into tears,

> and the rest of the nine followed suit.

> Seeing them, weeping on the river bank, a sympathetic

> wayfarer inquired for the cause. They related what had happened

and

> said that even after counting themselves several times they could

> find no more than nine. On hearing the story, but seeing all the

> ten before him, the wayfarer guessed what had happened. In order

to

> make them know for themselves that they were really ten, that all

of

> them had come safe from the crossing, he told them, "Let each of

you

> count for himself one after the other serially, one, two, three and

> so on, while I shall give you each a blow so that all of you may be

> sure of having been included in the count, and included only once.

> The tenth 'missing' man will then be found." Hearing this, they

> rejoiced at the prospect of finding their "lost" comrade and

accepted

> the method suggested by the wayfarer.

> While the kind wayfarer gave a blow to each of the ten in

> turn, he that got the blow counted himself aloud. "Ten," said the

> last man as he got the last blow in his turn. Bewildered, they

looked

> at one another. "We are ten," they said with one voice and thanked

> the wayfarer for having removed their grief.

> That is the parable. From where was the tenth man brought

> in? Was he ever lost? By knowing that he had been there all the

> while, did they learn anything new? The cause of their grief was

not

> the real loss of any one of the ten; it was their own ignorance,

> rather their mere supposition that one of them was lost (though

they

> could not find who he was) because they counted only nine.

> Such is also the case with you. Truly there is no cause for

> you to be miserable and unhappy. You yourself impose limitations

on

> your true nature of infinite Being and then weep that you are but a

> finite creature. Then you take up this or that sadhana to

transcend

> the nonexistent limitations. But if your sadhana itself assumes

the

> existence of the limitations, how can it help you to transcend them?

> Hence I say know that you are really the infinite, pure

> Being, the Self Absolute. You are always that Self and nothing but

> that Self. Therefore, you can never be really ignorant of the

> Self; your ignorance is merely a formal ignorance, like the

> ignorance of the ten fools about the "lost" tenth man. It is the

> ignorance that caused them grief.

> Know then that true Knowledge does not create a new Being for

> you: it only removes your "ignorant ignorance." Bliss is not added

> to your nature; it is merely revealed as your true and natural

> state, eternal and imperishable. The only way to be rid of your

> grief is to know and be the Self.

>

> --

--

>

> *My Comments*

> There are many parts of the story that I liked. One is that it

> took one sensitive man to realize that something had been lost.

> After he started to cry then the other nine started to cry with

> him. Symbolically this could relate to anything that has

> been "lost" including the Divine Feminine. It will take some

> sensitive women and men to cry out first - then the rest of the

world

> will join in. Eventually everyone will realize that it was never

> lost, but has been within and without all along. The next item

that

> made an impression on me was that when the crying began, someone

came

> to help. For when we truly cry out and surrender to God/dess, we

> can expect help in some form. In the story, the wayfarer could

see

> through the ignorance of the ten men and set about with a good

> strategy to help them remove their ignorance. He could not merely

> say, "you are ten", but he had to show them and make them feel

that

> they were ten. This shows that ignorance is not easily removed.

It

> took some "blows" to make them realize that they were actually ten.

> Let's keep this symbolic please. It is touching in the first place

> that they feel a sense of loss for their comrade. Even though nine

> is a large number, they feel sad at the loss of even one. This

> brings to memory the parable of Jesus that he tells about the lost

> sheep. The shepherd left the ninety-nine sheep so that he could

find

> the one lost one. And when he found the lost sheep he rejoiced

more

> over the one sheep found then over the ninety-nine sheep that had

> never been lost. For God/dess desires to bring us all to

> realization, unity with Her/Him and Bliss. In the story above,

when

> the ten men realize that they really have been ten all along, they

> shout, "We are ten". This is a small sample of what the world

will

> one day shout when everyone realizes that all people are part of

One

> Wholeness. It will take many wayfarers to be the sages of the

world

> to help remove the veils of ignorance.

>

>

> Randy