Ancient self-enquiry

[Guest guest]

In another thread, we've been discussing self-enquiry in

19th century English literature. All well and good. But

it occurs to me that some people here may be unaware

that the first recorded remarks about self-enquiry are

found in the oldest documents about realization that have

come down to us from ancient times, the Brhadaranyaka

and Chandogya Upanishads.

 

Which leads me to wonder: Is self-enquiry the oldest

method ever practiced for seeking realization?

 

Here are a few quotations from these ancient texts about

self-enquiry:

 

.. You see, Maitreyi -- it is one's self (atman) which one

.. should see and hear, and on which one should reflect

.. and concentrate. For by seeing and hearing one's

.. self, and by reflecting and concentrating on one's self,

.. one gains the knowledge of this whole world.

.. -- Brhadaranyaka Upanishad 2.4.5

 

.. The self (atman) that is free from evils, free from old

.. age and death, free from sorrow, free from hunger and

.. thirst; the self whose desires and intentions are real --

.. that is the self that you should try to discover, that is the

.. self that you should seek to perceive. When someone

.. discovers that self and perceives it, he obtains all the

.. worlds, and all his desires are fulfilled.

.. -- Chandogya Upanishad 8.7.1

 

(Both quotations from "The Early Upanisads" translated

by Patrick Olivelle.)

[Guest guest]

Here's another quotation from the Brhadaranyaka

Upanishad:

 

.. This same self {atman) is the trail to this entire world,

.. for by following it one comes to know this entire

.. world, just as by following their tracks one finds [the

.. cattle].

.. -- Brhadaranyaka Upanishad 3.4.7 tr. by Olivelle

 

For comparison, a remark by Sri Ramana Maharshi:

 

.. Self-enquiry by following the clue of Aham-vrtti is

.. just like the dog tracing his master by his scent. The

.. master may be at some distant, unknown place, but

.. that does not at all stand in the way of the dog tracing

.. him. The master's scent is an infallible clue for the

.. animal, and nothing else, such as the dress he wears,

.. or his build and stature etc., counts. To that scent the

.. dog holds on undistractedly while searching for him,

.. and finally it succeeds in tracing him.

.. -- Maharshi's Gospel chapter VI

 

Various translations of this passage of the Upanishad

differ greatly in clarity. Here is Radhakrishnan's version:

 

.. This self is the foot-race of all this, for by it one

.. knows all this, just as one can find again by foot-

.. prints (what was lost).

 

Shree Purohit Swami and W.B. Yeats:

 

.. He is the footprint that brings a man to his goal.

 

Swami Nikhilananda:

 

.. Of all these, this Self alone should be known, for

.. one knows all these through it, just as one may find

.. [an animal which is lost] through its footprints.

 

Hume:

 

.. That same thing, namely, this self, is the trace

.. (padaniya) of this All, for by it one knows this All.

.. Just as, verily, one might find by a footprint (pada),

.. thus---.

[Guest guest]

Dear All:

 

reading the quotes (given here by Sri. Rob Sacks) from Upanishads and

even thinking about other vedantic works made me wonder if anyone

else or any other scriptural work has expressed the "process"

("the 'how' to do" of it) more clearly than Sri. Bhagavan.

 

the phrase "Self Enquiry" ("athma vichara") could be understood in

two ways I think:

 

a) that one should enquire about the SELF (in other words "the goal"

or the "aim" (or 'what' one should go after in preference to other

pursuits) aspect)

 

or

 

b) the process (the 'how' part of it) by which the "SELF" should be

enquired into...

 

I think whereas all the upanishadic texts (please re-read the quotes

given by Sri. Rob Sacks) and the 'baashyams' (interpretations) done

later by several saints and self-realized ones concentrated on a)

(that is stressing the importance of "what" and "why" of SELF

ENQUIRY) they did not elaborate a clear-cut, simple process for it

(or the 'how' of it),

 

except Sri. Bhagavan who clearly said:

 

isolate and stick to your "individual 'I' thought" by inquiring where

each of your other thoughts come from (or who is it that is getting

those thoughts) thereby excluding all your 2nd and 3rd person

thoughts and that "single 'I' thought" (just by dying (or vanishing)

itself) will leave you alone with that ONE Source ...

 

thanks and love to all, Murthy

 

RamanaMaharshi, "Rob Sacks" <editor@r...>

wrote:

> Here's another quotation from the Brhadaranyaka

> Upanishad:

>

> . This same self {atman) is the trail to this entire world,

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Murthy,

 

> reading the quotes (given here by Sri. Rob Sacks)

> from Upanishads and even thinking about other vedantic

> works made me wonder if anyone else or any other

> scriptural work has expressed the "process" ("the 'how' to

> do" of it) more clearly than Sri. Bhagavan.

 

That's a good, practical question. The most precise

instructions for self-enquiry that I've run across are in the

Tripura Rhasya. This book belongs to the Shakta tradition

rather than to Vedanta, but Sri Ramana Maharshi thought

very highly of it, and Sri Ramanashramam publishes an

edition.

 

The Tripura describes what to do in such explicit detail that

it almost seems like a modern "how-to" book. In fact I just

noticed that it contains a stream-of-consciousness

description of a meditator's experiences (chapter IX, verses

37-38). This form of writing is generally supposed to have

been invented by European novelists in the nineteenth

century.

 

I would quote a little bit to give the flavor of the book, but

it would be misleading, because the instructions get their

power from being divided into several lessons that build on

each other.

 

Two other books that jump to mind in this respect are

"The Path of Shri Ramamana -- Part I" by Sri Sadhu Om

and "Experience and Philosophy" by Franklin Merrell-

Wolff.

 

Best wishes,

 

Rob

 

-

"manof678" <manof678

<RamanaMaharshi>

Wednesday, May 26, 2004 11:50 PM

[RamanaMaharshi] Re: Ancient self-enquiry

 

 

> Dear All:

>

> reading the quotes (given here by Sri. Rob Sacks) from Upanishads and

> even thinking about other vedantic works made me wonder if anyone

> else or any other scriptural work has expressed the "process"

> ("the 'how' to do" of it) more clearly than Sri. Bhagavan.

>