Thus Spake Ramana 113

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THUS SPAKE RAMANA - 113

 

The undifferentiated Consciousness of Pure Being is the Heart or Hridayam

which you really are, as signified by the word itself (Hrit + Ayam = Heart

am I). From the Heart arises the 'I-am'-ness as the primary datum of one's

experience. By itself it is suddha sattva in character. It is in this

suddha sattva svarupa (that is uncontaminated by rajas and tamas) that the

'I' appears to subsist in the Jnani.

[Guest guest]

An expanded version of the above is in David Godman's "Be As You Are: The

Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi." (Chapter 3) This is also online at:

 

http://www.ramana-maharshi.org/

 

 

Q: Then what is the difference between the baddha and the mukta, the bound

man and the one liberated?

 

A: The ordinary man lives in the brain unaware of himself in the Heart. The

jnana siddha (jnani] lives in the Heart. When he moves about and deals with

men and things, he knows that what he sees is not separate from the one

supreme reality, the Brahman which he realized in the Heart as his own Self,

the real.

 

Q: What about the ordinary man?

 

A: I have just said that he sees things outside himself. He is separate from

the world, from his own deeper truth, from the truth that supports him and

what he sees. The man who has realized the supreme truth of his own

existence realizes the one supreme reality that is there behind him, behind

the world. In fact, he is aware of the one, as the real, the Self in selves,

in all things, eternal and immutable, in all that is impermanent and

mutable.

 

Q: What is the relation between the pure consciousness realized by the jnani

and the `I am'-ness which is accepted as the primary datum of experience?

 

A: The undifferentiated consciousness of pure being is the Heart or

hridayam, which is what you really are. From the heart arises the `I

am'-ness as the primary datum of one's experience. By itself it is

completely pure [suddha-sattva] in character. It is in this form of pristine

purity [suddha-sattva-swarupa], uncontaminated by rajas and tamas [activity

and inertia], that the `I' appears to subsist in the jnani.

 

Q: In the jnani the ego subsists in the pure form and therefore it appears

as something real. Am I right?

 

A: The existence of the ego in any form, either in the jnani or ajnani, is

itself an experience. But to the ajnani who is deluded into thinking that

the waking state and the world are real, the ego also appears to be real.

Since he sees the jnani act like other individuals, he feels constrained to

posit some notion of individuality with reference to the jnani also.

 

Q: How then does the aham-vritti [`I'-thought, the sense of individuality]

function in the jnani?

 

A: It does not function in him at all. The jnani's real nature is the Heart

itself, because he is one and identical with the undifferentiated, pure

consciousness referred to by the Upanishads as the prajnana [full

consciousness]. Prajnana is truly Brahman, the absolute, and there is no

Brahman other than prajnana.

 

Q: Does a jnani have sankalpas [desires]?

 

A: The main qualities of the ordinary mind are tamas and rajas [sloth and

excitement]; hence it is full of egoistic desires and weaknesses. But the

jnani's mind is suddha-sattva [pure harmony] and formless, functioning in

the subtle vijnanamayakosha [the sheath of knowledge], through which he

keeps contact with the world. His desires are therefore also pure.

 

Q: I am trying to understand the jnani's point of view about the world. Is

the world perceived after Self-realization?

 

A: Why worry yourself about the world and what happens to it after

Self-realization? First realize the Self. What does it matter if the world

is perceived or not ? Do you gain anything to help you in your quest by the

non-perception of the world during sleep? Conversely, what would you lose

now by the perception of the world? It is quite immaterial to the jnani or

ajnani if he perceives the world or not. It is seen by both, but their

view-points differ. . . .