STILLING THE MIND THROUGH VICHARA AS TAUGHT BY SRI RAMANA

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STILLING THE MIND THROUGH VICHARA AS TAIGHT BY SRI BHAGAVAN

 

Self-enquiry as taught by Sri Ramana offers a highly practicable

method suited to modern conditions. The quest is

universal. "Circumstance, time and Grace are aids to the quest."

 

Through the potent Grace of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, the path of

Self-enquiry was brought within the competence of men and women of

this age, was indeed fashioned into a new path that can be followed

anonymously in the conditions of the modern world, with no forms or

ritual-nothing to distinguish a person outwardly from the world

wherein he moves. This creation of a new path to suit the needs of

the age has made Arunachala the spiritual center of the world. More

than ever, now that He has shed His physical body and is one with

Arunachala as he has always been, the Grace and guidance that

emanates from Him to those who turn to Him and seek his aid is

centered at Arunachala. It is the Holy place and center and many are

drawn there, both those who were disciples of the Maharshi in his

lifetime and those who have come later.

 

In Vivechudamani, translated by Bhagavan while he was living in the

Virupaksha Cave, Shankara also enjoins Self-enquiry as a shortcut

and royal road to Self-realization.

 

Bhagavan says that knowledge of the Truth of the Self is obtained by

Self-enquiry and not by any number of actions, which lead only to

purification of the mind and not to Realization…It is mainly through

enquiry that he who is competent achieves knowledge of the Self;

circumstance, time and Grace are aids to the quest. Such a man must

be tireless in practice, and be able to discriminate between the

Real and the unreal or hold on to the essential and reject the

inessentials. The sine qua non of the quest is an ardent desire for

liberation and faithfully following the path shown by the Guru.

 

We cannot do better than quote what Bhagavan says about Self-enquiry

in the Reality in Forty Verses:

 

11. Is it not ignorance to know everything else without knowing the

Self which is the source of knowledge?

 

12. What is neither knowledge nor ignorance is (real) knowledge.

Knowledge of (objects) cannot be real knowledge. The Self which

shines without there being anything else to know or be known is

knowledge. Know that it is not nothingness.

 

14. If the first person exists the second and third persons will

also exist. If the reality of the first person is enquired into and

the first person (ego) ceases to exist, the second and third persons

will also cease to exist and all will shine as One.

 

25. Attaching itself to a form (that is the body) this formless

ghost of an ego comes into existence. Attaching itself to a form it

endures. Attaching itself to a form it feels (experiences) and

grows. On relinquishing one form it attaches itself to another. But

when sought after, it takes to flight. This know.

 

26. If the ego is, everything else is too. If the ego is not,

nothing else is. Indeed the ego is everything. Therefore the enquiry

what it is really means giving up everything illusory.

 

28. Just as one would dive into the water to recover an article that

had fallen in, one should dive deeply into oneself with speech and

breath restrained, and find out the place from which the "I" arises.

This know.

 

30. When the mind, turning inward, inquires, "Who am I?" and reaches

the heart, that which is "I" (ego) sinks crestfallen and the One

(Self) appears of its own accord as "I-I"…the real Self.

 

When a man begins to practice the vichara (enquiry), his attempted

concentration is always disturbed by thoughts, but that is no cause

for despondency. Indeed it can be turned to advantage, since in this

way he can see his thoughts objectively, as on a screen, and can

discover the weaknesses and impurities that have to be overcome.

When asked about this the Maharshi replied: "Yes. All kinds of

thought arise in meditation. That is right; for what lies hidden in

you is brought out. Unless it rises up, how can it be destroyed?

Thoughts therefore rise up spontaneously in order to be extinguished

in due course, thus strengthening the mind." (Maharshi's Gospel, 1,

p.29).

 

This is an indirect but necessary use of the vichara in discovering

and dissolving lower tendencies by knowledge. This is necessary

before the ego, which consists of them, can dissolve into the Self.

There are paths in which this process and others are clearly

differentiated and different methods are employed for them. If this

is not so with the use of the vichara, it is not because the process

can be omitted, but only because the vichara is a universal weapon,

and the supreme Wisdom and silent guidance of the Maharshi turn it

in the direction that is necessary without the sadhaka (spiritual

aspirant) needing to know how or why this is being done. In any case

investigation into the mechanism of the mind does not lead to Self-

knowledge for it leaves unanswered the one essential question: who

am I so constructed and affected? For this it is necessary not to

analyze the influences and reactions of the ego but to discover the

Source of it, behind all this.

 

The Maharshi also describes how, in what is really a later stage,

the vichara is used more directly to deal with thoughts as they

rise: "Even when extraneous thoughts sprout up during such enquiry,

do not seek to complete the rising thought, but instead deeply

enquire within, "To whom has this thought occurred?" No matter how

many thoughts thus occur to you, if you would with acute vigilance

enquire immediately as and when each individual thought arises as to

whom it has occurred, you would find it is to "me". If then you

enquire "Who am I?" the mind gets introverted and the rising thought

also subsides. In this manner, as you persevere more and more in the

practice of Self-enquiry, the mind acquires increasing power to

abide in its Source." (Who am I?, pp10-11).

 

"Since every other thought can occur only after the rise of the "I"-

thought, and since the mind is nothing but a bundle of thoughts, it

is only through the enquiry "Who am I?" that the mind subsides.

Moreover, the integral "I"-thought, implicit in such enquiry, having

destroyed all other thoughts, gets itself finally destroyed or

consumed, even like the stick used for stirring the burning funeral

pyre gets consumed." (Who am I?, p 10).

 

Self-enquiry practice as the Maharshi enjoins is the most purely

advaitic method, since its quest of the Self never admits the

duality of seeker and sought. This means that it is the most central

and direct and the least affected by the character of the religion

in which it is used.

 

At the highest level and for some maybe the easiest way from the

start, depending on their temperament and spiritual qualifications,

would be to ignore thoughts and let them pass over like waves in the

sea. Under the waves all is quiet. Bhagavan said: "If one fixed the

attention on the Self or the Heart and ignored all thoughts which

come up, remembering that they do not really affect one, the mind

will be controlled. Just as by holding one's breath it is possible

by practice to withstand the onslaught of one wave after another, so

it is possible to get over any number of thoughts if one can hold on

only to the "I."

 

NOTE: TAKEN FROM "BE STILL, IT IS THE WIND THAT SINGS", BY ARTHUR

OSBORNE, PAGES 65 TO 68.