Fwd: Ramana's Awakening in his own words

[Guest guest]

advaitajnana, "Tony OClery" <aoclery>

wrote:

Taken from 'Bhagavan Sri Ramana a Pictorial Biography'

Published by Sri Ramanasramam

 

It was about six weeks before I left Madurai

for good that the great change in my

life took place. It was quite sudden.

I was sitting alone in a room on the

first floor of my uncle's house.

I seldom had any sickness and on that day

there was nothing wrong with my health,

but a sudden violent fear of death overtook me.

There was nothing in my state of

health to account for it, and I did not

try to account for it or to find out

whether there was any reason for the fear.

I just felt, `I am going to die' and began

thinking what to do about it. It did not occur

to me to consult a doctor or my elders

or friends; I felt that I had to solve

the problem myself, there and then.

 

The shock of the fear of death drove

my mind inwards and I said to myself

mentally, without, actually framing the words:

"Now death has come; what does it mean?

What is it that is dying? `This body dies',

and at once dramatized the occurrence of death.

I lay with my limbs stretched out stiff

as though rigor mortis had set in and

imitated a corpse so as to give greater

reality to the enquiry. I held my breath,

and kept my lips tightly closed so that

no sound could escape, so that neither

the word `I' nor any other word could be uttered.

`Well then,' I said to myself, `this body is dead.'

It will be carried stiff to the burning ground

and there burnt and reduced to ashes.

But with the death of this body am I dead?

Is the body I? It is silent and inert

but I feel the full force of my personality

and even the voice of the `I' within me, apart from it.

So I am Spirit transcending the body.

The body dies but the Spirit that transcends it

cannot be touched by death.

That means I am the deathless Spirit."

All this was not dull thought;

it flashed through me vividly

as living truth which I perceived directly,

almost without thought process.

`I' was something very real, the only real

thing about my present state, and all the

conscious activity connected with my body

was centered on that `I.' 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.

Other thoughts might come and go like

the various notes of music, but the `I'

continued like the fundamental sruti note

that underlies and blends with all the other notes.

Whether the body was engaged in talking,

reading or anything else,

I was still centered on `I."

--- End forwarded message ---