RAMANA GITA STUDY GROUP Ch 4....[ AR Natarajan]

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Chapter 4 ….'Nature of Knowledge'…(Bhagavan answers questions raised

by Ganapati Muni )

[AR Natarajan's translation & commentary]

 

Vs 1&2

Best of sages which these meditations, `I am Brahman', `Brahman am

I', `I am all', `All this is Brahman' can be termed `knowledge'? Or

is it different from all these four concepts?

 

Commentary

First two, affirm identity of the individual with Brahman, with the

Self.

Next two are indicative of the all pervasiveness of the Self from

which the individual is non-separate. These are scriptural

assertions of the Truth.

 

Vs3-4..answer

There is no doubt that all these meditations are conceptual.

Abidance in one's own pure state is `knowledge' according to the

wise.

 

Commentary

Self is beyond thoughts, cannot be reached by ideas. Therefore,

concepts , however lofty, cannot serve the purpose. Only direct

experience born of inhering in the Self can provide `knowledge'

which cuts the very basis of separative existence from the ignorance

of one's true nature. Ramana asks,'How then to know that which is

beyond the mind? To know it is to abide firmly in the Heart.'*

[*Sat Darshanam – Prayer 1]

The doubt then arises about the utility of scriptural

practices. ..intellectual comprehension of oneness and universality

of the Self, is of great help to purify the mind and prepare it for

practices leading to freedom. Ramana makes it clear that the

practice of affirmation of identity with the Self is an aid for Self-

knowledge,**….cutting at the root of idea- `I am the body'….The

strangle hold of long ingrained habit, of limiting the Selfto the

body, is corrected. Having thus comprehended the truth, …proceed to

be `That' by enquiring and reaching the Self.*~

[** Ibid vs36, *~ Ibid vs32]

 

Vs5-6

Lord of the sages, can Brahman be comprehended by thought? Please

remove this doubt arising in my mind.

 

Vs7-8…answer

If thought seeks to comprehend Brahman, which is one's own self, it

loses its separate identity and becomes `That'.

 

Commentary

Here the `vritti' or thought referred to can only be `Aham-vritti',

the `I'-thought. For, in self-enquiry, rejection of other thoughts

precedes focussing of attention on the root thought.

Ramana says elsewhere `meditating without thought on your formless

being, my form dissolves like a sugar doll in the sea'. The merging

of individuality in the Self is like ariver joining the sea. The

river can no longer be separated from the sea. The form of the pure

mind is Brahman itself, for it is non-separate.

…Ramana has said.. `..comprehension through thought is not to be

taken to mean "that the pure mind measures the immeasureable Self.

It means that the Self makes itself felt in the pure mind so that

even when you are in the midst of thoughts you feel the presence".*

[*Sat-darshan Bhasya – Talks Pxii]

 

Vs9

This brief, thrilling conversation took place on the 21st of July

1917.

 

[End of Chapter 4…'Nature of Knowledge' ]

 

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anu