THE MOUNTAIN PATH JANUARY 1964

[Guest guest]

Outside the Scriptures

 

By Dr. T. N. Krishnaswami

 

 

 

 

 

A special transmission outside the scriptures;

No dependence upon words or letters;

Direct pointing at the heart of man;

Seeing into one's own nature, and the attainment of Liberation.

 

These are the reflections of a traveller on the Mountain Path laid down by the Maharshi. The Maharshi's wordless doctrine is unlike the usual traditional teachings. There are no creeds to be elaborated, so there is no need for preaching. There is nothing for the mind to theorise or philosophise about. What is needed is immediate, intuitive understanding of the heart. "The intricate maze of philosophy of the various schools is said to clarify matters and to reveal the Truth, but in fact it creates confusion where none need exist. To understand anything there must be the Self. The Self is obvious. So why not remain as the Self? What need to explain the non-self?"*

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* (The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi in his own Words, p. 15, Rider's edition, p. 10, Sri Ramanasramam edition.)

 

What the seeker has to do is rather to unlearn and let go all his preconceived ideas about the Self. Indeed, the Maharshi has been known to say that in the end even the scriptures must be given up and unlearned. "All scriptures without exception proclaim that for attaining salvation the mind should be subdued. And once one knows that control of the mind is their final aim, it is futile to make an interminable study of them. What is required for such control is actual enquiry into oneself by self-interrogation: 'Who am I?' How can this enquiry in quest of the Self be made by means of a study of the scriptures?"*

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* (Ibid., p. 63/75.)

 

This reminds one of Chuang Tsu's saying that if one gets rid of small wisdom great wisdom comes in.

 

There are no precepts for special austerities, while at the same time indulgence is not condoned. The question always is: who is it that seeks all this. To refer a second time to a Taoist Sage, it is like Lee Tsu's story of the animal trainer who subdued his tigers (the vasanas) by treating them quite impersonally, neither gratifying their desires nor provoking their anger..

 

All thinking is out of place as a means of sadhana. It is not one's true nature. It creates all errors and, what is worst of all, creates, as the father of them a false entity, the ego or individual being. "Concentration is not thinking of one thing. On the contrary it is excluding all thoughts, since all thoughts obstruct the sense of one's true being. All efforts are to be directed simply to removing the veil of ignorance."*

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* (Ibid., p. 127/160.)

 

The Maharshi says that the Self is not in books; if it were, anybody might become a Sage by study. Also it is not in any hermitage, and going to live in solitude will not help. "Why do you think you are a householder? The similar thought that you are a sannyasin will haunt you even if you go forth as one. Whether you continue in the household or renounce it and go to live in the forest, your mind haunts you. The ego is the source of thought. It creates the body and the world and makes you think of being a householder. If you renounce, it will only substitute the thought of renunciation for that of family, and the environment of the forest for that of the household. But the mental obstacles are always there for you. They even increase greatly in the new surroundings. Change of environment is no help. The one obstacle is the mind and this must be overcome whether in the home or in the forest. If you can do it in the forest, why not in the home? So why change the environment? Your efforts can be made even now, whatever be the environment.."* Nor is the Self something to be attained at some future date. "No one is ever away from his Self, and therefore everyone is in fact Self-realized: only - and this is the great mystery - people do not know this and want to realize the Self. Realization consists only in getting rid of the false idea that one is not realized. It is not anything new to be acquired. It must already exist or it would not be eternal, and only what is eternal is worth striving for."**

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* (Ibid., p. 78/94.)

** (Ibid., p. 23/21)

 

All doctrines are made by the ego and for the ego. The ego flourishes on them. But on the Maharshi's path the very existence of the ego is denied right from the start, both that of the teacher and that of the taught. "There is no ego. If there were you would have to admit of two selves in you. Therefore there is no ignorance. If you enquire into the Self, ignorance, which is already non-existent, will be found not to exist and you will say that it has fled."*

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* (Ibid., p. 25/23)

 

Is there anything in the human body that can be called 'I'? There are mental and vital processes but investigation reveals no person there to be designated as 'I'.*

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* [it will be observed that this is the same as the Buddhist doctrine of 'anatta'. - Editor]

 

The negative process consists of intellectually eliminating the not-I so that one can see that he who eliminates everything else cannot eliminate himself. Such intellectual investigation may prepare the way for Self-enquiry but is not the enquiry itself.

 

"Visitor: I begin with asking myself 'Who am I?' and eliminate the body as not-I, the breath as not-I, the mind as not-I, but then I am unable to proceed further.

 

"Bhagavan: Well, that is all right so far as the mind goes. Your process is only mental .... The Truth cannot be directly indicated; that is why this mental process is used. You see, he who eliminates all the not-I cannot eliminate the 'I'. In order to be able to say 'I am not this' or 'I am That' there must be the 'I' to say it. This 'I' is only the ego or the 'I-thought'.. After the rising up of this 'I-thought' all other thoughts arise. The 'I-thought' is therefore the root thought. If the root is pulled out the rest is at the same time uprooted. Therefore seek the root 'I'; question yourself: 'Who am I?' find out the source of the 'I'. Then all these problems will vanish and the pure Self alone will remain."*

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* (Ibid., p. 117/146-7)

 

Why was the Maharshi so against thought? Why was he not satisfied with mental investigation? Because it cannot see beyond itself. It is created by the ego and therefore cannot pierce to the Self underlying the ego. But will its renunciation not result in a mere blank? It can, that is what happens in deep sleep. But it can also result in awakening into pure Sat-Chit-Ananda, Being-Consciousness-Bliss. This is what is called Realization. "Absence of thought does not mean a blank. There must be someone to be aware of that blank. Knowledge and ignorance pertain only to the mind and are in duality, but the Self is beyond them both. It is pure Light. There is no need for one Self to see another. There are no two selves. What is not Self is mere non-Self and cannot see the Self. The Self has no sight or hearing; it lies beyond them, all alone, as pure Consciousness."*

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* (Ibid., p. 25/23)

 

Then does one who has realized the Self remain absorbed in pure, formless Consciousness, oblivious of any outer world? He can; that is the state of trance known as nirvikalpa samadhi. But he need not. Full and complete Realization involves return to formal consciousness also, with full perception of the outer world, not as a self-subsistent reality but as a manifestation of the Self. The mind and senses can still cognize; when one says that the mind is dead, that means only that it no longer presumes to imagine, create or originate, as it formerly did. This is the state the Maharshi was in. It is known as sahaja samadhi.

 

"To those who have not realized the Self, as well as to those who have, the word 'I' refers to the body, but with this difference, that, for those who have not realized, the 'I' is confined to the body, whereas, for those who have realized the Self within the body, the 'I' shines as the limitless Self.

 

"To those who have not realized as well as to those who have, the world is real. But to those who have not realized, Truth is adapted to the measure of the world, whereas to those who have, Truth shines as the Formless Perfection and as the Substratum of the world. This is all the difference between them."*

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* (Forty Verses on Reality, vv. 17-18, from The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi, Riders, London, and Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai.)

 

Why is the Maharshi so insistent against the ego? Because the ego is the usurper that claims to be the Self, the mask that conceals the Reality. Its elimination is the only way to realization of the true Self that underlies It. The seeker has no alternative. There can be no chick unless the eggshell is broken. The true Self cannot be realized until the false is renounced. Therefore, the Maharshi says, since this is ultimately necessary, why not start with it straight away; since you must finally remain as the Self, why not do so from the start; since other paths will lead you roundabout and finally face you with the alternative of Self or pseudo-self, why not go direct and face it here and now? "This is the direct method. All other methods are practised while retaining the ego and therefore many doubts arise and the ultimate question still remains to be tackled in the end. But in this method the final question is the only one and is raised from the very beginning.... Because every kind of path except Self-enquiry presupposes the retention of the mind as the instrument for following it, and cannot be followed without the mind. The ego may take different and more subtle forms at different stages of one's practice but it is never destroyed. The attempt to destroy the ego or the mind by methods other than Self-enquiry is like a thief turning policeman to catch the thief that is himself. Self-enquiry alone can reveal the truth that neither the ego nor the mind really exists and enable one to realize the pure, undifferentiated Being of the Self or the Absolute."*

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* (Ibid., p. 112/139-40)

 

Many hesitate and find this method too harsh, because of all renunciations this seems to them the most severe, renouncing not merely enjoyment but him who desires and enjoys it. But this is a wrong idea. If it were true, a Self-realized man such as the Maharshi would be the most miserable of men, whereas in fact he is the most happy, in pure, unbroken, unalloyed happiness, regardless of whether outer circumstances seem favourable or unfavourable. This is because in renouncing the ego one really renounces nothing except a wrong conception of 'I', an error whose removal reveals the eternal Truth and unalloyed happiness that is one's real nature. "The individual being which identifies its existence with that of the life in the physical body as 'I' is called the ego. The Self, which is pure Consciousness, has no ego-sense about it. Neither can the physical body, which is inert in itself, have this ego-sense. Between the two, that is between the Self or Pure Consciousness and the inert physical body, there arises mysteriously the ego-sense or 'I-notion', the hybrid which is neither of them, and this flourishes as an individual being. The ego or individual being is at the root of all that is futile and undesirable in life. Therefore it is to be destroyed by any possible means; then That which ever is alone remains resplendent. This is Liberation or Enlightenment or Self-Realization."*

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* (Ibid., p. 21/18)

 

It is to remove this error that the Maharshi prescribes the enquiry 'Who am I?' from the very start. He had no graded methods. Nor did he grade his disciples according to seniority. Progress was an inner state which only he perceived. The aspirant is expected to understand that he does not know his self, to investigate into it in order to find out what it really is. He must see: "I am possessed of a wrong view of 'I'. I am a slave of a pseudo-I. I should not take him for the real 'I' or lend him that name. This tragedy of wrong thinking has brought on me the sickness of a wrong 'I'. The Maharshi has prescribed the right medicine to cure me. I am under the spell of the ego which has hypnotised and enslaved me. I myself gave it the power to do so by thoughtlessly bestowing my I-sense on it. By doing so I am helping it to rob me of my very Self." Indeed, the Maharshi often referred to the story of King Janaka who, on attaining Realization, exclaimed: "Now I have caught the thief who has been robbing me all these years!"

 

Why do I thus misplace my I-sense? Because I take sense-perceptions for true. I have to learn to realize the true 'I' which underlies mind and senses and the whole objective world.

 

Man's mind and senses are used to cognize objective things, but this talent is of no use for knowing the Self, in which there is no trace of objectivity. One cannot have a vision of the Self or know the Self as one knows another, because that would imply two selves in you, one to know the other. "You speak of a vision of Siva, but a vision always presumes an object. That implies the existence of a subject. The value of the vision is the same as that of the seer. That is to say the nature of the vision is on the same plane as that of the seer."* A vision of God is only a vision of the Self objectified as the God of your particular faith. What you have to do is to know the Self."** And to know the Self is only to know, to be aware, to be.

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* (Ibid., p. 167/213)

** (Ibid., p. 168/215)

 

"Devotee: When I seek the 'I', I see nothing.

 

"Bhagavan: You say that because you are accustomed to identify yourself with the body and sight with the eyes, but what is there to be seen? And by whom? And how? There is only one Consciousness and this, when it identifies itself with the body, projects itself through the eyes and sees the surrounding objects. The individual is limited to the waking state; he expects to see something different and accepts the authority of his senses. He will not admit that he who sees, the objects seen, and the act of seeing are all manifestations of the same Consciousness - the 'I-I'. Self-enquiry helps to overcome the illusion that the Self is something to see. How do you recognize yourself now? Do you have to hold a mirror up in front of yourself to recognize yourself? The awareness is itself the 'I'. Realize it and that is the truth."*

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* (Ibid., P. 24/22)

 

However the ego is engrossed with seeing, hearing, feeling and objective knowing. It values these functions and considers them as belonging to the Self. Blinded by this view, one does not experience the brilliance of the true 'I'. One's attention is to be drawn away from such objective perceptions to That with respect to which there is unknowingness.* If That were known and experienced as It is, It would be recognized as one's very Self, and then the false 'I' would fade out.

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* [This expression recalls the title of the 14th Century English mystic's guide to aspirants, 'The Cloud of Unknowing - Editor.]

 

The outer man is unreal and should be made passive, a mere recipient of impressions. Self-enquiry helps to do this. The journey is inwards through territory unknown to the senses.

 

So long as life remains one should strive to reach one's source. This is the only worthy aim in life, the only goal worth seeking, the only use of life that can put an end to suffering and frustration, and reveal the pure Bliss, the radiant Consciousness, the unruffled Being that one really is. The weapon for doing this, on the Maharshi's path, is concentration on the 'I-sense'. This is not like other thoughts that come and go and can be dismissed at will. One's attention must be constantly drawn to feeling of pure awareness, pure consciousness of 'I-am-ness'. At first this can be done only during concentrated sessions of Self-enquiry known loosely as 'meditation' but later the awareness of 'I-am-ness' becomes an undercurrent underlying all one's activities. This 'I-sense is the scent, by tracing which to its source, one reaches the Self, as a dog tracks out its master.

 

"Am I worse than a dog? Steadfastly will I track Thee out and regain Thee, Oh Arunachala."*

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* (First of the Five Hymns to Arunachala, verse 39. - The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi, Riders, London and Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai.)

 

The Maharshi says that if one earnestly seeks the 'I', the false 'I' vanishes, leaving only the true to shine in all its prinstine glory. His teaching is based on his own experience not on learning or reasoning, and nothing he says is for the sake of argument. What can be more heartening to the traveller on the Mountain Path?