Ramana on Grihasta

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

Ramana Maharshi on Grihasta:

 

D.: How does a grihasta (householder) fare in the scheme of moksha

(liberation)?

 

M: Why do you think you are a grihasta? If you go out as a sanyasi,

similar thought (that you are a sanyasi) will haunt you.

 

Whether you continue in the household, or renounce it and go to the

forest, your mind haunts you. The ego is the source of thoughts. It

creates the body and the world and makes you think you are a grihasta.

 

If you renounce the world, it will only substitute the thought

sanyasi for grihasta and the environments of the forest for those of

the household. But the mental obstacles are always there. They even

increase in now surroundings. There is no help in the change of

environment. The obstacle is the mind. It must be got over whether at

home or in the forest. If you can do it in the forest, why not in the

home? Therefore why change the environment? Your efforts can be made

even now, in whatever environment you may be. The environment never

abandons you, according to your desire.

 

Look at me. I left home. Look at yourselves. You have come here

leaving the home environment. What do you find here? Is this

different from what you left? Even if one is immersed in nirvikalpa

samadhi for years together, when he emerges from it he will find

himself in the environment which he is bound to have. That is the

reason for the Acharya emphasizing sahaja samadhi in preference to

nirvikalpa samadhi in his excellent work Viveka Chudamani. One

should be in spontaneous samadhi - that is, in one's pristine state -

in the midst of every environment.

 

Note: Ramana approves highly of the Vivekachudamani, notwithstanding

that it may have slightly less authenticity than, say, the

Brahmasutra Bashya. (I refer to their supposed authorship by

Shankara.)

 

Hari Om!

Benjamin