The Ninth Chapter of the Ramana Gita

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>From S R I R A M A N A G I T A *

 

By Ganapati Muni

 

(Chapter 9)

 

ON CUTTING THE KNOT

 

On the night of the 14th of August, I put a question to the Maharshi, regarding

granthibheda

(severance of the Knot), on which even the learned have doubts.

 

The effulgent Bhagavan, Sri Ramana Maharshi, listened to my question, remained

silent for a while

and in his divine way, spoke :

 

"The nexus of the body and the Self is called the granthií (conjunction). It is

only by this

connection with the Self that one is aware of the body.

 

This body is insentient. The Self is Pure Awareness. The connection between the

two is deduced

through the intellect.

 

Oh child ! Enveloped by the diffused Light of Pure Awareness, the body

functions. Owing to

non--apprehension (of the world) in sleep, (swoon) and so on, the location of

the Self has to be

inferred.

 

Even as subtle forces like the electric current pass through visible wires, the

Light of Awareness

flows through a nadi in the body.

 

The effulgent Light of Pure Awareness, taking hold of a Centre, lights up the

entire body, as the

Sun illumines the world.

 

Owing to the diffusion of that Light in the body, one has experience in the

body. That Centre of

radiation, the Sages say, is the Heart

..

>From the play of forces in the nadis, one infers the flow of the Light of

Awareness. The forces

course through the body, each hugging its special nadi.

 

The particular nadi through which Pure Awareness flows is called Sushumna. It

is also called

Atma Nadi , Para Nadi and Amrita Nadi.

 

As the Light pervades the entire body, one gets attached to the body, mistakes

the body for the

Self and regards the world as different from oneself.

 

When the discerning one renounces attachment and the identification of himself

with the body and

pursues one-pointed enquiry, a churning starts in the nadis.

 

With this churning of the nadis, the Self, gets separated from the other

nadis and, clinging

to the Amrita Nadi alone, shines forth.

 

When the effulgent Light of Awareness shines in the Amrita Nadi (Atma Nadi)

alone, nothing else

shines except the Self.

 

Anything that appears before (such a Jnanií ) has no separate existence. He

knows the Self, as

clearly as the ignorant one knows his body.

 

He for whom the Atman (Self) alone shines, within, without and everywhere,

as clearly as

objects to the ignorant, is called one who has cut the knot.

 

This nexus is two-fold : one, the bond of the nadis the other, mental

attachment. The perceiver,

though subtle, perceives through the bond of the nadis the entire gross world.

 

When the Light, withdrawn from all the other nadis, dwells in one nadi alone,

the knot

(between Awareness and the body) is sundered and the Light abides as the Self.

 

As a heated iron-ball appears as a ball of fire, this body heated in the fire of

Self-Enquiry,

shines as the Self.

 

The old vasanas pertaining to the body, (mind and so on) are destroyed.

Being free from

body-consciousness, one never has the sense of doership.

 

Since such a one has no sense of doership, his karma it is said, is completely

destroyed. As

nothing but the Self exists, no doubts arise for him.

 

Once the knot is cut, one is never bound again. This is considered the state of

Power Supreme and

Peace Supreme.

 

 

* all three of the only translations have been used to clarify difficult

passages .

 

1.KrishnaBhikshu, 2 Kapali Sastriar , 3 A.R.Natarajan