INSIGHTS

[Guest guest]

The sacred words of Ramana are timeless. Because they are based on

his direct experience of steady Self-abidance. The hallmark of

Ramana was his accessibility. His doors were always open, be it in

the "Old Hall" or the "New Hall" or the "Nirvana Room". The only

thing he would insist upon was that none should be denied the

opportunity of meeting him. As a result there was a free flow of

visitors, devotees and serious seekers of truth. Their backgrounds,

their earnestness and spiritual evolution were different.

Consequently we have a variety of questions, a wide gambit of

spiritual doubts, which Ramana has handled with authority and simple

directness. It is open to all those concerned with truth, with the

search for Self-knowledge, to dwell on the meaning of his words,

statements and clarifications. They are like an "open book", from

which one can derive strength and inspiration. There is no need for

any special scriptural knowledge for understanding his teachings.

 

However it is absolutely necessary to ponder over and reflect on the

guidance given. Such a need is there for any path but it is more so

in the Ramana Way. Why? For it is bafflingly simple, seemingly

without steps between the practice and the goal. There is no system

of "dos" and "don'ts". No prescribed formulae. The nature of the

experience, natural happiness, is the same during practice, and what

one is used to calling the "ultimate" experience. The difference

being only that during the stage of practice one keeps on moving in

and out of this state of blissful, non-mental happiness. When the

experience of this state is steady and undistracted, that itself is

the goal.

 

The means and the goal being the same is so alien to our dualistic

thoughts. Hence one has to go back, time and again, to Ramana's

statements, to understand their true meaning for practice. When it

is a matter of unfoldment, of revelation, the progress is invisible

and cannot be judged with reference to tangible and measurable

yardsticks. Hence the great need for calm indwelling on the

practical implications of Ramana's direct path for getting a proper

insight into his teachings.

 

Ramana accepts all the traditional spiritual methods. He would

encourage people to continue their practice along the lines to which

they were naturally inclined. If ritualistic worship is your cup of

tea, fine, if you think action dedicated to God is your way, that

too is fine. If your faith is in the sacred syllables, by all means

do go ahead. If your attraction is for Patanjali and his breath-

regulation method it is quite all right. On the other hand if you

think that devotion to God is the way do not give it up. Ramana

would say that all these methods are purificatory. They would

prepare one for self-enquiry to which all seekers of truth have to

come in the end.

 

Here it is necessary to go into some essential aspects of Ramana's

path for it has special features of its own. As Ramana says, "Yoga

teaches control of the activities of the mind. But I say self-

enquiry. This is a practical way". What is the difference between

the extant practices and what Ramana teaches? One might say that all

other methods assume duality, the subject "I" and the object, be it

a sacred syllable, thoughts, or a form of a God held dear. Is this

division really valid? Am I not the mind? The thinker and his

thoughts are integral. Are they not? As Ramana remarks, "One must

learn to realize that the subject and object are one". Meditation on

an object would therefore be based on a non-existing division. By

ignoring the sense of oneness the other methods can take one only to

the threshold and prepare one for self-enquiry by purifying the

mind. Why? Because the sense of individuality, the feeling of

separate existence would remain untackled.

 

There would also be differences in practice. For, in other methods

one would necessarily be dealing with the content of the mind in

order to make it virtuous, pure and desireless. Cultivation of good

thoughts, cultivation of desirelessness, practice of regulation of

breath and so on, would be attempted.

 

In contrast self-enquiry incessantly stressed by Ramana is holistic,

unitary. Attention is only on the subject. The idea about one's

separate identity is constantly questioned until one discovers the

falsity of the notion. The question "Who am I?" is posed in order to

raise a doubt about one's assumption that one is a particular name

and form, "I am this" or "that". Unless one enquires, unless one is

saturated with the spirit of enquiry how can one find out? Attention

is not allowed to wander from thought to thought. The whole world of

thoughts, innumerable, varied and powerful in their numerical

strength, is negated, by shifting attention from thoughts to the

thinker. Can there be thoughts without the thinker? Can there be

doubts without the doubter? All dualistic ideas are put to sword for

thoughts cannot flourish when the individual's attention is not on

them. When the individual's association with his thoughts is cut, he

falls back on his true strength. The mind turns within and merges in

the universal current which is ever existent, all embracing and

whole. When this happens one is "inundated with happiness", with joy

which is at once spontaneous and natural.

 

What happens is the shedding of a great load; the load of thoughts.

The mind is so full of thoughts, is it not? Functional thoughts,

psychological thoughts and purposeless thoughts keep persisting.

Purposeless for they have no relevance to one's life. When there is

a "load shedding' of these thoughts, one feels free, happy. The mind

becomes spacious when its cluttering is cleared. Functioning

directly from the universal current, termed the "Heart by Ramana,

intuition and feeling will replace mental conceptualization. Each

moment would then be new and suffused with joy.

 

NOTE: TAKEN FROM THE INTRODUCTION TO "INSIGHTS", BY A. R. NATARAJAN,

1996 EDITION.