Who am I, Paragraph 31 and 32

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Paragraph 31

 

It is pleasant under the shade of a tree, and scorching in the heat

of the sun outside. A person toiling in the sun seeks the cool shade

of the tree and is happy under it. After staying there for a while,

he moves out again but, unable to bear the merciless heat of the sun,

he again seeks the shade. In this way he keeps on moving from shade

to sun and sun to shade.

 

COMMENTS

 

Ramana uses the metaphor of standing in the shade vs. standing in the

sun as a way to talk about standing as the body/mind/ego vs. standing

as the Self, the source of all happiness.

 

This movement from sun to shade is like the person seeking happiness

that is seen to be external to the seeker. Finding the happiness is

like moving to the shade. The shade is enjoyed after a desire is

met. But soon there arises yet another desire, and the seeker again

moves into the hot sun. Is thing going to bring any permanent relief

from the heat?

 

In spiritual practice one learns that there is a choice. One learns

to make choices that enhance ones spiritual practice. This is an

important step. You should note that making these choices often

involves choosing something other than what ego desires, so in this

way they represent a stepping beyond ego.

 

Paragraph 32

 

It is an unwise person who acts thus, whereas the wise man never

leaves the shade: in the same way the mind of the Enlightened Sage

(Jnani) never exists apart from Brahman, the Absolute. The mind of

the ignorant, on the other hand, entering into the phenomenal world,

suffers pain and anguish; and then, turning for a short while towards

Brahman, it experiences happiness. Such is the mind of the ignorant.

 

COMMENTS

 

The wise person, Ramana says, never leaves the shade. The sage never

leaves the Bliss of the Self. The mind of the ignorant is attached

to the world and the body and all that these imply. This attachment

brings pain, suffering, fear, etc., except for those few moments in

which a desire was met, the mind quiets, and the Bliss of Being is

experienced. The most that the ignorant can hope for is periods of

inner peace mixed with periods of anguish.

 

Sages talk about the continuous Bliss of Being. As long as one holds

to the mind, nothing will be continuous. There is a deep message in

the idea of the continuous Bliss of Being, that message is to move

past the ups and downs of the mind (and body, senses and ego.)

 

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Your comments or relating from your won spiritual experience are

invited.

 

We are Not two,

Richard