Beauty of Aloneness

[Guest guest]

Alone Has Beauty

 

I do not know if you have ever been lonely; when you suddenly realize that

you have no relationship with anybody—not an intellectual realization but a

factual realization...and you are completely isolated. Every form of thought

and emotion is blocked; you cannot turn anywhere; there is nobody to turn to;

the gods, the angels, have all gone beyond the clouds and, as the clouds

vanish they have also vanished; you are completely lonely—I will not use the

word alone.

 

Alone has quiet a different meaning; alone has beauty. To be alone means

something entirely different. And you must be alone. When man frees himself

from the social structure of greed, envy, ambition, arrogance, achievement,

status—when he frees himself from those, then he is completely alone. That is

quite a different thing. Then there is great beauty, the feeling of great

energy.

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Ganesan Sankarraman wrote:

> Alone has quiet a different meaning; alone has beauty. To be alone

> means something entirely different. And you must be alone. When man

> frees himself from the social structure of greed, envy, ambition,

> arrogance, achievement, status--when he frees himself from those,

> then he is completely alone. That is quite a different thing. Then

> there is great beauty, the feeling of great energy.

 

 

*One may be free from social structures but a prisoner of mental

structures. Even when one is alone, one is still in relationship with

perceptions, memories, and thoughts. When we say I experience great

beauty or energy, there is this relationship. Between you and beauty,

you and energy, etc. Advaita points to the fact that being truly alone

also means being fully independent of perceptions of energy and beauty,

etc. One does not experience beauty, one is beauty. One does not

experience Sat, one is Sat. Sat-Chit-Ananda, Nityam, Poornum. That which

is whole and complete knows itself not as an object but itself is the

nature of Self-Knowledge. That Aloneness has the nature of Wholeness

and Oneness and cannot be adequately described. It is indicated by the

scriptures as Neti, Neti, Neti.

 

Harsha*

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Harsha-ji!

 

lovely !

 

(. Advaita points to the fact that being truly alone

> also means being fully independent of perceptions of energy and

beauty,

> etc. One does not experience beauty, one is beauty. One does not

> experience Sat, one is Sat. Sat-Chit-Ananda, Nityam, Poornum. That

which

> is whole and complete knows itself not as an object but itself is the

> nature of Self-Knowledge. That Aloneness has the nature of

Wholeness

> and Oneness and cannot be adequately described. It is indicated by

the

> scriptures as Neti, Neti, Neti.)

 

Shri Ramana says :

 

Silence and Solitude in Ramana Maharshi

The Indian sage Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950) was not only a

representative of Advaida Vedanta, the loftiest Hindu teaching on non-

duality, but also known for his silence. He spent years in solitude,

and when devotees pressed him for a public presence, Ramana spent hours

before them in silence. Ramana's silence was not an eccentricity but a

conscious expression of his philosophical and spiritual teaching.

 

 

As Ramana puts it, silence is

 

that state which transcends speech and thought ...; it is meditation

without mental activity. Subjugation of the mind is meditation; deep

meditation is eternal silence.

 

Hence, silence is the natural result of meditation, not merely an a

priori vow to be taken or an imposed austerity to be accepted and/or

resented. Silence flows from the transcendent self because there is no

longer anything relevant that ca be said by or to or on behalf of the

enlightened person.

 

To Ramana, silence is not a negation but a noumena, a true thing-in-

itself:

 

Silence is ever-speaking, it is the perennial flow of "language." It is

interrupted by speaking, for words destroy this mute language. Silence

is unceasing eloquence. It is the best language. There is a state when

words cease and silence prevails.

 

snip > snip>

 

There is abstract Knowledge, whence arises the ego, which in turn gives

rise to thought, and thought to the spoken word. So the word is the

great-grandson of the Original Source. If the word can produce effect,

judge for yourself, how much more powerful must be the Preaching

through Silence!

 

In Hinduism, the model of silent teaching is Dakshinamurti,

manifestation of Shiva, who transmits truth through silent teaching.

But Adaita Vedanta proposes enlightenment without a guru, and this

tenet of Ramana is an important component of his method as well.

 

Ramana was flexible and practical in the application not only of

silence but of solitude. He begins with the observation that ascetic

and householder alike are capable of achieving enlightenment or

sannyasin.

 

Solitude is in the mind of a man.. One might be in the thick of the

world and yet maintain perfect serenity of mind: Such a person is

always in solitude. Another may stay in the forest but still be unable

to control his mind. He cannot be said to be in solitude. Solitude is

an attitude of the mind; a man attached to things of life cannot get

solitude, wherever he may be. A detached man is always in solitude.

 

Ultimately, then, there is no physical solitude, only a spiritual state

called ekantavasa or dwelling in solitude. As the Self is all-

pervasive, there can be no particular place for solitude. Rather, the

state of being free from mental concepts is what Ramana calls "dwelling

in solitude."

 

As with silence and solitude, Ramana views asceticism in a practical

way. Asceticism is a means towards a spiritual goal and is a tool for

detachment, but its not to be identified exclusively with a certain

religious order or even a particular state of life.

 

As dispassion is the means of inquiry [into Knowledge], joining an

order of ascetics may be regarded , in a way, as a means of inquiry

through dispassion. Instead of wasting one's life by entering the order

of ascetics before one is fit for it, it is better to live the

householder's life.

 

 

A devotee once asked Ramana, "Research on God has been going on from

time immemorial. Has the final word been said?" After a long interval,

in which Ramana did not respond, the visitor asked, "Should I consider

Sri Bhagavan's silence as the reply to my question?" Ramana replied:

 

Yes, Mouni is Isvara-svarupa [God-state]. Hence the text: "The Truth of

Supreme Brahman proclaimed through Silent Eloquence."

 

http://www.hermitary.com/house/ramana.html - 16k - Cached

 

Sri Ramanarpanamastu!

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "adi_shakthi16" <adi_shakthi16>

wrote:

>

> > In Hinduism, the model of silent teaching is Dakshinamurti,

> manifestation of Shiva, who transmits truth through silent teaching.

>

Namaste.

 

I propitiate that dakshiNA-mUrti, who is the Transcendental Absolute

declared by an eloquence called Silence, who is a youth, who is the

best of the Gurus surrounded by great disciples who are themselves

firmly rooted in brahman, who is the prince among preceptors, who

shows by his hand the cin-mudrA, who is Bliss personified, who revels

in His own Self and who always radiates happiness.

 

This is usually recited before one begins the Dakshinamurthy stotram.

Probably it was composed by Shankara himself. The shloka and a few

words of explanation may be found in

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/gohitvip/63page2.html

 

PraNAms to Silence and Silent devotees.

profvk

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "adi_shakthi16" <adi_shakthi16>

wrote:

> (. Advaita points to the fact that being truly alone

> > also means being fully independent of perceptions of energy and

> beauty,

> > etc. One does not experience beauty, one is beauty. One does not

> > experience Sat, one is Sat. Sat-Chit-Ananda, Nityam, Poornum. That

> which

> > is whole and complete knows itself not as an object but itself is

the

> > nature of Self-Knowledge. That Aloneness has the nature of

> Wholeness

> > and Oneness and cannot be adequately described. It is indicated by

> the

> > scriptures as Neti, Neti, Neti.)

 

Namaste, Adi-ji,IMHO,

 

I would say that the above is a description of the 'last stages'. Even

in the Rig-Creation it asks whether God 'knows' or doesn't 'know'. So

yes at a Savikalpa Samadhi level one is Sat-Cit-Ananda. However this

is either experiencing or 'knowing', Maya or Avidya.

Beyond this is NirviKalpa Samadhis of different descriptions Kevala,

Sahaja etc etc, but all pointing to a non-knowing a non-

experiential 'Silence', state. So ultimately there is only non

knowing, non experiencing. No Sat-Cit-Ananda..NirGuna...Ajativada in

fact....ONS...Tony.

[Guest guest]

Harsha wrote: Ganesan Sankarraman wrote:

> Alone has quiet a different meaning; alone has beauty. To be alone

> means something entirely different. And you must be alone. When man

> frees himself from the social structure of greed, envy, ambition,

> arrogance, achievement, status--when he frees himself from those,

> then he is completely alone. That is quite a different thing. Then

> there is great beauty, the feeling of great energy.

 

 

Aloneness does not admit of mental perceptions, accentuating the idea of one

being the prisoner of mind, which essentially belongs to the field of duality,

thought. There is no experiencer, neither the experienced. J.K says that life

is a vast canvas of emptiness, which is always beautiful. Thought attempts to

paint it through its experiences; but thought can never succeed in painting it.

Thought can not experience it, because there is no experiencer. Thought can

only write books about it, which is not the truth. ( The writer attended this

particular talk delivered in Madras in 1976 December. Since, unfortunately, the

verbatium report is not available, the talks having been edited by the

publisher, having been published in different titles, the respondent is not

able to refer to any site or page number of the book. But, the writer is

truthful in his citation. Want of substantiation may be requested to be not

looked at askance.) There is a chapter entitled, "Aloneness

beyond loneliness", in one of the volumes of the work, "Commenaries on

Living", which when the writer finds time shall quote it for better

appreciation of this original thought of Krishnamurthy.

Yours truthfully,

Sankarraman

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

"V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk wrote: --- In

advaitin, "adi_shakthi16" <adi_shakthi16>

wrote:

>

> > In Hinduism, the model of silent teaching is Dakshinamurti,

> manifestation of Shiva, who transmits truth through silent teaching.

>

Namaste.

 

I propitiate that dakshiNA-mUrti, who is the Transcendental Absolute

declared by an eloquence called Silence, who is a youth, who is the

best of the Gurus surrounded by great disciples who are themselves

firmly rooted in brahman, who is the prince among preceptors, who

shows by his hand the cin-mudrA, who is Bliss personified, who revels

in His own Self and who always radiates happiness.

 

Dear Sir,

There is a beautiful invocatory hymn addressed to

Lord Dakshinamurthy by the poet Paranjyoti Muni in his work, "Thiruvilaiyadal

Puranam", bringing out the essence of Advaita, similar to the one composed by

Bhaghavan Ramana in his work, "Reality on Forty Verses". This verse of the

Tamil poet has been inscribed in the Sannidhi for Dakshinamurthy in Kapaliswara

Temple in Chennai. Translated into English, this is to the following effect:

"Let us adore without any mentation that Supreme Lord, Who seated in the

shade of the Banyan tree in times of yore taught to the mature old disciples of

his, the supreme Knowledge of Wholeness born of the death of the verbal

knowledge, which is at once Immanent and Transcendent, Which reveals That Which

is as only That, through a communication that is not a communication, as it

were- let us adore Lord Dakshinamurthy thus non-verbally so as to cross the

ocean of birth and death."

yours truly,

Sankarraman

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Ganesan Sankarraman wrote:

> "Aloneness beyond loneliness", in one of the volumes of the work,

> "Commenaries on Living", which when the writer finds time shall quote

> it for better appreciation of this original thought of Krishnamurthy.

 

The notion of "Aloneness" is not original with Krishnamurti. Ancient

sages have clearly said that Self is One without a second. That is the

real meaning of Aloneness.

 

Harsha