Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-79

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Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-79

 

The ultimate aim of life, according to Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

and other Advaita teachers, is to transcend the illusion that one is

an individual person who functions through a body and a mind in a

world of separate, interacting objects. Once this has been achieved,

one becomes aware of what one really is: immanent, formless

consciousness. This final state of awareness, which is known as Self-

realization, can be achieved, in Bhagavan's view, by practicing a

technique he called self-enquiry. The following explanation

summarizes both the practice and theory behind it:

 

It was Sri Ramana's basic thesis that the individual self is nothing

more than a thought or an idea. He said that this thought, which he

called the "I"-thought, originates from a place called the Heart-

centre, which he located on the right side of the chest in the human

body. From there the "I"-thought rises up to the brain and

identifies itself with the body: "I am this body." It then creates

the illusion that there is a mind or an individual self which

inhabits the body and which controls all its thoughts and actions.

The "I"-thought accomplishes this by identifying itself with all the

thoughts and perceptions that go on in the body. For example, "I"

(that is the "I"-thought) am doing this, "I" am thinking this, "I"

am feeling happy, etc. Thus, the idea that one is an individual

person is generated and sustained by the "I"-thought and by its

habit of constantly attaching itself to all the thoughts that arise.

Sri Ramana maintained that one could reverse this process by

depriving the "I"-thought of all the thoughts and perceptions that

it normally identifies with. Sri Ramana taught that this "I"-thought

is actually an unreal entity, and that it only appears to exist when

it identifies itself with other thoughts. He said that if one can

break the connection between the "I"-thought and the thoughts it

identifies with, then the "I"-thought itself will subside and

finally disappear. Sri Ramana suggested that this could be done by

holding onto the "I"-thought, that is, the inner feeling of "I"

or "I am" and excluding all other thoughts. As an aid to keeping

one's attention on this inner feeling of "I", he recommended that

one should constantly question oneself "Who am I?" or "Where does

this "I" come from?" He said that if one can keep one's attention on

this inner feeling of "I", and if one can exclude all other

thoughts, then the "I"-thought will start to subside into the Heart-

centre.

 

This, according to Sri Ramana, is as much as the devotee can do by

himself. When the devotee has freed his mind of all thoughts except

the "I"-thought, the power of the Self pulls the "I"-thought back

into the Heart-centre and eventually destroys it so completely that

it never rises again. This is the moment of Self-realization. When

this happens, the mind and the individual self (both of which Sri

Ramana equated with the "I"-thought) are destroyed forever. Only the

Atman or the Self then remains.

 

The following practical advice was written by Bhagavan himself in

the 1920s...

 

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

thought "Who am I?", destroying all other thoughts, will itself

finally be destroyed like the stick used for stirring the funeral

pyre. If other thoughts arise one should, without attempting to

complete them, enquire, "To whom did they arise?" What does it

matter how many thoughts arise? At the very moment that each thought

rises, if one vigilantly enquires, "To whom did this arise?", it

will be known "To me". If one then enquires "Who am I?", the mind

will turn back to its source and the thought which had risen will

also subside. By repeatedly practicing thus, the power of the mind

to abide in its source increases.

 

FROM "LIVING BY THE WORDS OF BHAGAVAN", PAGES 24 TO 26,

BY DAVID GODMAN