More on 'The Soul'

[Guest guest]

Further to a member's recent post on finding the word, "Jiva" in

Sanskrit and Tamil dictionaries, we quoted a porttion from Lakshmana

Sarma's Maha Yoga. Here's the next paragraph from that chapter:

 

 

 

"Now, the thought `I am this body' is the primary thought.It is

like a thread on which all the other thoughts are strung. Hence the ego

is indistinguishable from the mind. In fact the mind is but an expanded

form of the ego. Hence the Sage tells us that the mind and the subtle

body are the same as this hypothetical little self, which is no other

than the ego. Conversely we can say that the little self is not other

than these."

this is from Chapter Six, called "The Soul", and the entire book can be

downloaded free-of-charge from the websaite of Sri Ramanasramam.

 

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

 

anbudan

 

John

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

We thus learn that the so-called soul is nothing but the ego, which is

due to a confusion of two elements which are distinct and can never mix,

because one of them — the body — is non-existent, being a mere

mental image. There can be a real mixture only if both the elements be

real. The mixing up of the two, explains the Sage, is like a marriage

contracted by a bachelor in a dream, where the bridegroom is real, but

the bride is not; when the dreamer awakes, he finds himself as much a

bachelor as before. Hence the real Self who is the Reality — did not

really become limited; He never really became the soul or little self;

He was not really married to the body. Thus it is made clear that the

individual soul has no real existence. All those questions that relate

to that soul are meaningless, because they assume the existence of a

soul.

 

There is only one real Self, the Pure Consciousness, which is beyond

time. We shall see later on why He is described as Consciousness and not

as as "conscious"; we shall then see that there is a fundamental

difference between the two descriptions.

 

 

this is from Chapter Six, called "The Soul", and the entire book can be

 

downloaded free-of-charge from the websaite of Sri Ramanasramam.

 

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

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

 

anbudan

 

John

RamanaMaharshi, "John" <ramanachala wrote:

>

>

> Further to a member's recent post on finding the word, "Jiva" in

> Sanskrit and Tamil dictionaries, we quoted a porttion from Lakshmana

> Sarma's Maha Yoga. Here's the next paragraph from that chapter:

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Since the mind has no existence apart from this spurious

 

entity, the ego, it follows that all the creations of the mind,

 

including ignorance and bondage, and the consequent

 

conditioned existence consisting of enjoyment and suffering

 

- which we call 'life' - are outgrowths of the ego, and partake

 

of its unreality. That ignorance is unreal will be seen later on.

 

 

 

 

....more from Chapter Six, called "The Soul". The entire book can be

downloaded free-of-charge from the website of Sri Ramanasramam.

 

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

 

anbudan

 

John

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

....From our previous post...

 

 

> the consequent

> conditioned existence consisting of enjoyment and suffering

> - which we call 'life' - are outgrowths of the ego, and partake

> of its unreality. That ignorance is unreal will be seen later on.

 

[To continue...}

"That this teaching is correct will be clear to us if we look

at the facts without bias. By the most careful analysis of the

whole of our past experience we can find no proof of an

individual soul other than the ego. The ego itself is just the

primary ignorance, the recognition of which is the starting

point of our inquiry. It is here shown that it is an imaginary

entity being a compound of two uncompoundable elements.

Thus the whole of this conditioned existence, which we call

life, is founded on this lie, the individual soul. It is natural

therefore that life should be full of lies, and therefore full of

disappointments. This teaching may be difficult to grasp. But

it is the fundamental truth as taught by the ancient lore."

 

> ...more from Chapter Six, called "The Soul". The entire book can be

> downloaded free-of-charge from the website of Sri Ramanasramam.

>

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

>

> anbudan

>

> John

[Guest guest]

.....From our previous post...

"...It is natural therefore that life should be full of lies, and therefore full

of disappointments. This teaching may be difficult to grasp. But it is the

fundamental truth as taught by the ancient lore."

[To continue...}

"..There can be no correct understanding of the ancient lore, if this teaching

be not accepted. So long as the notion of individuality is retained, all

philosophical inquiries are bound to prove useless; for they cannot lead us out

of the primary ignorance. This was clearly taught by the Sage Sankara as

follows: "Only so long as there is an identification (effected by the mind) of

the real Self with the intellect is there an appearance of individuality and of

conditioned existence for that Self. But in reality there is no such being as

the individual soul, other than the spurious entity imagined by the intellect.

In the study of the Vedanta we do not find (support for the existence of) any

conscious entity having an existence of its own, apart from the Supreme Being,

who is ever-free and all-knowing; the sacred texts say: 'There is no seer,

hearer, thinker or knower apart from this Being';

'There is none but He, that sees, hears, thinks or knows';

'Thou art That'; 'I am the Reality';

 

these and hundreds of other texts are our authorities."

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

.....From our previous post...

In the study of the Vedanta we do not find (support for the existence of) any

conscious entity having an existence of its own, apart from the Supreme Being,

who is ever-free and all-knowing; the sacred texts say: 'There is no seer,

hearer, thinker or knower apart from this Being';'There is none but He, that

sees, hears, thinks or knows';'Thou art That'; 'I am the Reality';

 

[To continue...}

 

"The ego is the only source of all our life-experiences; they are what they are

because of the ego. We say, ‘I am so-and-so’, ‘I am a doer of actions’, ‘I am

happy’, ‘I am miserable’, and so on. In every single thought we can find this

‘I am’. It is in fact the common factor of all thoughts without exception. No

thought can arise, which does not contain this ‘I am’. But this ‘I am’ is not a

property of the mind; so we learn from the Sage and from Upanishadic Lore. We

are told that this ‘I am’ is the Light of the real Self. That Self being

infinite and unqualified, this ‘I am’ is not really the little thing we take it

to be. And we take it to be limited, imperfect and bound to the wheel of

pleasure and pain, only because we do not discriminate and distinguish the

element of reality in the ego from that which is false. Hence it ought to be

clear to us that what obscures the real Self is simply the acceptance of this

ego at its face-value, as our true Self, which it is not, as shown here."

 

this is from Chapter Six, called "The Soul": the entire book can be

downloaded free-of-charge from the website of Sri Ramanasramam.

 

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

 

anbudan

 

John

[Guest guest]

life-experiences; they are what they are because of the ego. We say, ‘I am

so-and-so’, ‘I am a doer of actions’, ‘I am happy’, ‘I am miserable’, and so

on. In every single thought we can find this ‘I am’. It is in fact the common

factor of all thoughts without exception. No thought can arise, which does not

contain this ‘I am’. But this ‘I am’ is not a property of the mind; so we learn

from the Sage and from Upanishadic Lore. We are told that this ‘I am’ is the

Light of the real Self. That Self being infinite and unqualified, this ‘I am’

is not really the little thing we take it to be. And we take it to be limited,

imperfect and bound to the wheel of pleasure and pain, only because we do not

discriminate and distinguish the element of reality in the ego from that which

is false. Hence it ought to be clear to us that what obscures the real Self is

simply the acceptance of this ego at its face-value, as our true Self, which it

is not, as shown here." this is from Chapter Six, called "The Soul": the

entire book can be downloaded free-of-charge from the website of Sri

Ramanasramam. http://www.ramana-maharshi.org/ anbudan John

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[Guest guest]

- John

RamanaMaharshi

Tuesday, February 28, 2006 3:36 PM

[RamanaMaharshi] Re: More on 'The Soul'

.....From our previous post...

Hence it ought to be clear to us that what obscures the real Self is simply the

acceptance of this ego at its face-value, as our true Self, which it is not, as

shown here."

[To continue...}

 

"The individual soul being unreal, it follows that there is no perceiver of the

world. This may be surprising; but it need not be so. The seer and his

spectacle are inseparable; they are like the two ends of a single stick; as a

stick will always have two ends, so every perception involves the two, the seer

and his spectacle. The three, namely the seer, the spectacle and the relation of

seeing form a triad, of which the essential element is the seeing, which becomes

possible by the light of Consciousness; by that light both the seer and the seen

are manifested. It is not possible to attribute reality to the seer, while

denying it to the spectacle. If we accept the view that the spectacle, namely

the world, is unreal in any sense, then we must also accept the view that the

seer of the world is unreal in the same sense and to the same extent. The

spectator is in fact an integral part of the world; both in waking and in dream

the spectator and the spectacle form one single whole, appearing and vanishing

together.."

 

this is from Chapter Six, called "The Soul" in the book Maha Yoga: the entire book can be

downloaded free-of-charge from the website of Sri Ramanasramam.

 

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

 

anbudan

 

John

[Guest guest]

.....From our previous post...

If we accept the view that the spectacle, namely the world, is unreal in any

sense, then we must also accept the view that the seer of the world is unreal

in the same sense and to the same extent. The spectator is in fact an integral

part of the world; both in waking and in dream the spectator and the spectacle

form one single whole, appearing and vanishing together.."."

[To continue...}

 

"

The Sage brings home to us the spurious nature of the ego — the individual soul

— by means of a parable. On the occasion of a marriage an uninvited guest, an

utter stranger to both the parties, came in pretending to be an intimate friend

of the bridegroom. At first the hosts, namely the bride’s party, believed him

and honoured him accordingly. But after a time suspicions arose and inquiries

began to be made as to who he was and what right he had to come in. The two

parties met and began to question each other. The impostor saw that he was sure

to be exposed and treated as he deserved if he remained; so he quietly

disappeared. Just like the impostor in this parable is the ego. It is neither

the real Self, nor the body; so long as no inquiry is made, the ego persists

and enjoys the status of the real Self; but when an inquiry is made — when the

quest of the real Self is begun and persisted in — it will vanish, leaving no

trace. This is exactly what we are told by the Sage in the following passage:

“This ego, which is but a ghost without a form of its own, comes into being by

taking hold of a form; keeping hold of the form and enjoying sense-objects, it

waxes greatly in strength: if the truth of it be sought, it will run away.”*

* = Forty Verses on Reality, Verse 25.

this is from Chapter Six, called "The Soul" in the book Maha Yoga: the entire

book can bedownloaded free-of-charge from the website of Sri

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