Sri Ramana Maharshi - Who am I ? ( cont..3)

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In yesterday's post we saw the answers given by Bhagawan to the following questions:

 

1) Will there be realisation of the Self even while the world is there, and taken to be real ?

 

2) What is the nature of the mind ?

 

Now let us proceed to the next ......

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi - Who am I ?

 

Question: What is the path of enquiry for understanding the nature of the mind?

 

That which arises in the physical body as 'I' is the mind. If one

enquires, ' In what place in the body does this "I" first arise?' it will be

known to be in the 'hridayam' . That is the birthplace of the mind. Even if one

incessantly thinks 'I, I' ,it will lead to that place. Of all thoughts that

arise in the mind, the thought 'I' is the first one. It is only after the rise

of this [thought] that other thoughts arise, It is only after the first

personal pronoun arises that the second and third personal pronouns appear.

Without the first person, the second and third persons cannot exist.

 

Question: How will the mind become quiescent ?

 

The mind will only subside by means of the enquiry 'Who am I?' The

thought 'Who am I?', destroying all other thoughts, will itself be finally

destroyed like the stick used for stirring the funeral pyre.

 

......... to be continued

[ Notes: It is interesting to read Sri.David Godman's commentary / explanation

on the term ' Hridayam '. He says ......

'Hridayam' is usually translated as 'Heart' , but it has no connection

with the physical heart. Bhagavan used it as a synonym for the Self, pointing

out on several occasions that it could be split up into two parts, 'hrit' and

'ayam', which together mean, 'this is the centre'. Sometimes he would say that

the 'I' -thought arises from the 'hridyam' and eventually subsides there again.

He would also sometimes indicate that the spiritual Heart was inside the body on

the right aside of the chest, but he would often qualify this by saying that

this was only true from the standpoint of those who identified themselves with

a body. For a 'jnani',one who has realised the Self, the 'hridayam' or Heart is

not located anywhere, or even everywhere, because it is beyond all spatial

concepts. The following answer (refer 'Day by Day with Bhagawan, 23.5.46.)

summarises Bhagavan's views on this matter :

" I ask you to see where the 'I' arises in your body, but it is not

really quite true to say that the 'I' rises from and merges on the right side

of the chest. The Heart is another name for the reality, and it is neither

inside nor outside the body. There can be no in or out for it since it alone is

.... so long as one identifies with the body and thinks that he is in the body,

he is advised to see where in the body the 'I' -thought rises and merges

again."

A hint of this can also be found in this paragraph of 'Who am I?' in the

sentance in which Bhagavan asks devotees to enquire 'In what place in the body

does this "I" first arise?'

Ordinarily, 'idam', which is translated here as 'place', means only that,

but Bhagavan often gave it a broader meaning by using it to signify the state

of the Self. Later in the essay, for example, he writes, The place [idam] where

even the slightest trace of "I" does not exist is 'swarupa' [one's real nature].

Sadhu Natanananda, on the flyleaf of his Tamil work 'Sri Ramana Darshanam',

records a similar statement from Bhagavan: 'Those who resort to this place

[idam] will obtain 'Atma-jnana' automatically'. Clearly, he cannot be speaking

of the physical environment of his ashram because paying a visit there didn't

necessarily result in enlightenment.

So, when Bhagavan writes 'In what place....' he is not necessarily

indicating that one should look for the 'I' in a particular location. He is

instead saying that that the 'I' rises from the dimensionless Self, and that

one should seek its source there.

As he once told Kapali Sastri, (pls refer 'Sad Darshana Bhashya' pp.xvii -

xix.) ' You should try to have rather than locate the experience '. ]

 

 

Ever Yours in Sri Bhagavan

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