Who am I? Paragraph 2

[Guest guest]

Who am I? Paragraph 2

 

`Who am I?' I am not this physical body, nor am I the five organs of

sense perception, I am not the five organs of external activity, nor

am I the five vital forces, nor am I even the thinking Mind. Neither

am I that unconscious state of nescience which retains merely the

subtle vasanas (latencies of the mind) which being free from the

functional activity of the sense organs and of the mind, and being

unaware of the existence of the objects of sense perception.

 

COMMENTS FROM A SEEKER:

 

We are told that Realization is something that we are, not something

that we somehow acquire or gain. Realization is then a process of

releasing those things that obscure our own nature. It is often

described as bringing a light into a dark room. Where did the

darkness go?

 

Right away Ramana instructs to seeker to engage in a practice of

negation. The rope that appears as a snake so long as one holds to

the idea of rope-as-snake. When the rope-as-snake is thoroughly

eliminated, it is a rope, and forever to be a rope. Was the snake

ever real?

 

As Ramana instructs in negation, he directs that the seeker proceed

from gross to subtle. First is the body, then the senses, then

the "organs of action" (hands, feet, mouth, doer, etc.), then

the 'vital forces' (prajna), then the mind, then the tendencies that

lay quiet during deep sleep.

 

I would have to notice that included within this list is NOT the ego-

I. This confused me for some time. Now I understand that this ego-I

is like an inchworm. It must hold to something to exist, it has no

existence of its own. If you watch the ego-I in action, you may

notice that it identifies with this, then that, then something else.

Until enough discrimination is achieved, the ego-I's identifications

seem continuous. Take away all support and what happens? If you

notice that the ego-I is not continuous, then who are you when the

ego-I is not active?

 

***********

 

I would invite others on this group to add their comments of their

own understanding, or their questions. I want to invite us all into a

deeper practice of inquiry.

 

The translation that I am using is the one from Osborn's "Collected

works of Ramana Maharshi."

 

We are Not two,

Richard