Do not think

[Guest guest]

Hi Tom,

 

> >Buddha once said, "Stop. Stop. Do not talk.

>> The highest Truth is not even to think!"

 

Yes and this is very relevant to this list because

the main reason Sri Ramana's devotees were drawn

to him was not for any words he spoke or wrote but

rather for the power that emanated from him that

silenced their minds and plunged them into a deep

abiding in the Self. His devotees called this the

power of his presence -- a phrase that David Godman

has adapted for his recent books but which was also

used by other devotees.

 

This makes me think that all the talk about Sri Ramana's

"teachings" tends to be misleading. Even to say

his main teaching was silence probably isn't quite right

either. Despite his tremendous literary and intellectual

talents, he wasn't a teacher so much as an emanator of

some force that helped the people around him

put their minds aside. He was an electric dynamo,

as N. Balarama Reddy said in a passage I posted the

other day.

 

Many of Bhagavan's devotees wrote descriptions of

this sort of experience. Here is one from G.V

Subbaramayya (p. 1 of his memoir):

 

"But my immediate quest at the time was for peace

and solace. In the morning I had darshan of Sri

Bhagavan in the old Hall. As our eyes met, there

was a miraculous effect on my mind. I felt as if

I had plunged into a pool of peace, and with eyes

shut, sat in a state of ecstasy for nearly an hour.

When I came to normal consciousness, I found some

one spraying the Hall to keep off insects, and Sri

Bhagavan mildly objecting with a shake of his head."

 

(What an excellent writer! The juxtaposition of

the sublime and insect spray raises this to the

level of real literature. Has any other guru in

modern times attracted so many devotees who were

themselves talents of the first order in their fields?

There were also Sri Muruganar, T.M.P Mahadevan...

judging from the anniversary albums, there were dozens.)

 

Somewhere in one of the memoirs (I can't find it

at the moment) somebody says, more or less, that

he never bothered to do any sadhana after he came

to live at Sri Ramanasramam because simply sitting

in Sri Ramana's presence put him into a much deeper

state than anything he could attain by himself, so why

bother?

 

I think it's useful to keep these facts in mind

because otherwise, since we relate today

to Sri Bhagavan mainly through his writings, there's

a tendency to think that his main influence or

activity was through words. It wasn't.

 

Boy oh boy this is a lot of words about silence!

 

Volubly,

 

Rob

 

 

-

"Tom DiCorcia" <Tom_DiCorcia

<RamanaMaharshi>

Saturday, October 27, 2001 10:12 PM

Re: [RamanaMaharshi] Digest Number 369

 

 

> At 07:17 PM 10/26/2001 +0000, you wrote:

> >Buddha once said, "Stop. Stop. Do not talk. The highest

> >Truth is not even to think!" Alas, that's the rub. You can think

> >about enlightenment all you want, but that is not going to bring you

> >to it. What is needed is your own practice and effort, directed in a

> >way that can move your focus past your own mind and ego.

>

>