'Tapas'

[Guest guest]

Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya.

 

"Tapas ( austerity ; to burn )

 

Though Kavyakanta Ganapati Muni had practiced numerous kinds of 'tapas'

according to the scriptural injunctions, he realised that his understanding was

inadequate and requested Bhagavan to explain the true meaning of 'tapas'.

Bhagavan replied: "If one watches whence the notion 'I' arises, the mind is

absorbed into That; that is 'tapas'. When a mantra is repeated, if one watches

the Source from which the mantra sound is produced the mind is absorbed in That;

that is 'tapas'."(Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge by A.Osborne

p.108.)

 

What is the means recommended by Bhagavan?

"When one investigates the source of 'I' within, the 'I' will die. This is self

enquiry." (Upadesa Undiyar, v.19.)

 

When we seek the source of our 'I' there is no definitive 'place' where it

resides. It is elusive like trying to catch the wind in your hands. It is not a

fixed entity that is dependent on time and space as we know it. So then, how are

we to find the source of 'I' with our mind when it does not exist in any

conventional locality?

 

Who asks this question? Who is the one who searches for oneself?

Bhagavan requests us to remain in the source of that consciousness which asks

the question. To turn the attention of the mind within so that it is fixed upon

the sence of existance of its source is 'tapas'. It is not the thoughts, which

reveal the truth; it is the pure consciousness (chit) which reveals the truth of

being (sat).

" There is no other consciousness to know that which exists (the reality or

sat). Therefore existance(sat) is also consciousness(chit) and we are that (the

real Self)." (Upadesa Undiyar, v.23.)

 

'Tapas' is the abidance in the Self. It is not abidance by the mind in the Self,

because that presupposes the mind and the so-called Self are different. Rather,

in that pure state of consciousness:

" Being the Self is knowing the Self, because the Self is (one and) not two.

This is Self abidance." (Upadesa Undiyar, v.26.)

 

( Source: The Mountain Path, Vol.42, No.3; Advent, July-Sept 2005 ; Published by

Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai. )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Free antispam, antivirus and 1GB to save all your messages

Only in Mail: http://in.mail.