The Essence of Instruction

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Upadeshasaram:

The Essence of Instruction

of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

New translation and commentary by Vamadeva

Background

 

Upadeshasaram means the essence of instruction. In this Bhagavan

Ramana Maharshi explains the all main yogic practices culminating in

jnana yoga, the yoga of knowledge its main method of Self-inquiry

that he emphasized. He shows how aspirants grow and mature from

preliminary practices into the higher knowledge and finally into Self-

realization.

 

The first half of the teaching consists of the foundational practices

of the yogas of karma, bhakti, mantra, and prana. The second half

consists of a specific explication of jnana yoga and its various

methods.

 

Some people, noting Ramana's emphasis on Self-inquiry, have come to

the wrong conclusion that he rejected the other yogas as useless. In

this teaching he shows their place and their stage by stage

unfoldment. That so much could be contained in a mere thirty verses

is quite amazing to say the least. I have added a commentary that

tries to show the practices intended by the verses and their

relationship.

 

1. By the command of the Creator one gains the fruit of one's deeds.

Karma is not the supreme. Karma by itself is inert.

2. Karma is the cause of falling into the vast ocean of action. Its

fruit is transient and it prevents us from achieving our goal of

liberation.

 

The first stage of spiritual practice is recognizing the law of karma

by which we are caught in the cycle of rebirth and its resultant

sorrows of birth and death. Karma, the fruit of our actions, accrues

owing to the will of God, which has the power to take us beyond them.

Recognizing that karma depends upon the Divine we cease to pursue

action as our goal in the life and look to its source.

 

Because of our past deeds we are trapped in the ocean of samsara that

binds us to the transient and prevents us from contacting the freedom

of our eternal nature. Recognizing this we gain detachment from outer

actions, which is the necessary basis of all yogic practices.

 

3. Action dedicated to the Lord, not done by desire, is the means of

purifying the mind and of facilitating liberation.

 

Karma yoga in general is now defined, which is the beginning of

spiritual practice. The way out of the web of karma is through karma

yoga or selfless service, action dedicated to God. This purifies our

minds and aids us in gaining liberation. It is not karma that binds

us but desire. Desireless action is the foundation of the spiritual

path and all its methods, which should be free of selfish

motivation.

 

4. The supreme duties of body, speech and mind are ritual, mantra and

meditation.

 

Our nature compels us to act. Liberating action consists of spiritual

practices. These are threefold according to the three aspects of our

nature as body, speech and mind. The supreme bodily duty is puja or

service to God and humanity. The supreme duty of speech is mantra or

repetition of Divine names. The supreme duty of the mind is

meditation.

 

5. Service to the world should be done with the thought of God.

Ritualistic worship should be of the Lord who takes the form of the

eight aspects of creation.

 

This verse explains the two aspects of karma yoga done with the body

as service (seva) and devotional worship (puja). Service to the world

should be done with the thought that the world is a manifestation of

God. Ritual worship, as of Divine images, should be based upon the

recognition of the Divine presence in the world, the Creator who

takes the form of the eight aspects of creation. These are the five

elements, mind, ego and nature that are embodied in the different

aspects of puja. Without this inner recognition service or ritual

remain mechanical and ineffective. Note that yogic asanas come under

ritual as a form of bodily practice.

 

6. Better than loud chanting of mantras, is the soft muttering of

them, best is their mental repetition.

 

This verse explains mantra yoga that deals with speech, which is

usually the next stage after karma yoga that deals with the body.

Mantras take three forms. Loud chanting helps us imbibe the basic

quality of the mantra. Soft muttering of mantras connects them with

the breath. Mental repetition, in which they come to reverberate in

the subconscious mind, has the strongest transformative effect.

Practicing mantras in these three stages and holding them at the

third stage is the best.

 

The Ramanashram, since Ramana's time, has always held daily Vedic

chanting for its power to calm and purify the mind. Ramana also

recommended to various people the chanting of mantras like OM and

various Divine names, particularly the name of Shiva or Arunachala

mountain (OM Arunachala Shivaya Namah!).

 

7. Like the flow of ghee in a steady stream, the simple and sustained

thought is better than that which is complex and broken.

 

This verse explains the basis of meditation or concentration

(dharana). Meditation, of whatever form, should be simple, pure and

unbroken like a pouring stream of warm ghee (clarified butter). This

follows the mental repetition of the mantra, which should become a

stream of meditation.

 

8. From meditation on difference, one proceeds to meditating on " He

am I. " Meditation without difference is regarded as most purifying.

 

This verse shows the form aspect of devotional meditation or bhakti

yoga. One begins with meditation on forms, like those of Gods like

Shiva, Vishnu or the Goddess, as different from oneself. Then by

degree one comes to understand that the Gods are just forms of one's

own deeper Self or pure consciousness, the Divine presence in the

heart. This is the realization as " He the Self within the Deity) am

I. " One comes to meditate upon the deity as oneself. This seeing of

the Self in the deity is the real purifying power, not the particular

form that one uses, however useful that is as a vehicle.

 

Ramana himself worshipped Lord Shiva in the form of Arunachala

mountain and as the main deity of the Tiruvannamalai temple,

experiencing directly the form path of bhakti yoga. He also

worshipped the Goddess both at Madurai and at Tiruvannamalai. Many of

Ramana's great devotees, including Ganapati Muni, worshipped Ramana

himself in the form of Lord Skanda or Dakshinamurti.

 

9. From the absence of any particular state comes abidance in the

state of being. From the strength of that feeling comes the highest

devotion.

 

This verse shows the formless aspect of bhakti yoga. Once one goes

beyond the feeling for a particular form one comes to the state of

pure being. From the strength of feeling that pure being in all comes

the highest devotion that goes beyond all forms. Note that the

Maharshi first explains karma, mantra and bhakti yogas as the basis

for jnana that is taught later.

 

10. When the mind attains its composure in its abode within the

heart, this is certainly the essence of karma, bhakti, yoga and

jnana.

 

This verse explains the essence of all yogic practices described in

the previous verses which is knowing the origin of the mind within

the heart. Though they have different mean their goal is the same.

 

After this Ramana focuses on the how to abide in the heart, which

mainly has two methods of yoga (control of prana) and jnana (mind

control) as the heart is the source of both mind and prana.

 

11. By controlling the breath, the mind comes to rest like a bird in

a net. Breath control is a means to control the mind.

 

The mind can be controlled by controlling the prana. This is the

basis of yoga sadhana that emphasizes the practice of pranayama.

Generally only rare advanced aspirants can control the mind directly.

For most practitioners the use of prana to control the mind is a

great aid. Without the net of prana, the bird of the mind is almost

impossible to catch.

 

Ramana mentioned that if one is not in the company of a great teacher

or sadhu, pranayama is the best method to gain power and energy in

one's practice. It should not be ignored by those of us in the West

who don't have such company or circumstances to inspire us. Pranayama

purifies the body and energizes the mind for meditation. It helps us

control the unruly senses that draw the mind outward into external

involvements.

 

12. Mind and prana are endowed with knowledge and action. They are

two branches whose root is a common power.

 

The mind is the power of knowledge and prana is the power of action.

They are like the two wings of a bird. Knowledge implies action and

action requires knowledge. The mind has its energy and the prana has

its intelligence. Both have a common power behind them which is that

of the Self. One can control both of them by going to their root

energy, the power of consciousness.

 

13. Mergence and dissolution are the two types of mind control. The

mind that is merged will rise up again. The dissolved mind is dead.

14. Through control of the prana, the mind is merged. From meditation

on the One, the mind is dissolved.

15. The superior yogi has a dissolved mind. What further duty can he

have, who abides in his own nature?

 

Breath control temporarily suspends the mind. Self-knowledge

dissolves the mind permanently. Therefore, however useful a tool

breath control is, without advancing to direct mind control the aim

of dissolving the mind cannot be attained. So one should use

pranayama as a means to mind-control and not stop short with it as

the goal. The highest yogi goes beyond it.

 

16. The mind dissolved in the Self repels all objectivity. The vision

of pure consciousness is the vision of truth.

 

The key to dissolving the mind is turning one's attention away from

all objectivity. This is the practice of pratyahara or control of the

outgoing mind and senses. It links control of prana with control of

the mind. Ramana himself practiced total pratyahara, simulating the

death experience, and drawing all his prana into the heart, when he

had his realization as a lad of sixteen. Without withdrawal from

sensory activity and external attachments, the practice of Self-

inquiry is like gathering water in a vessel with holes in it.

Therefore pratyahara should be practiced as the basis for Self-

inquiry.

 

Having explained mind control in general, Ramana now focuses on the

specific methods of Self-inquiry that bring this about.

 

17. What is the nature of the mind? When the search is accomplished,

there is no mind. This is the direct path.

 

When pratyahara has been achieved and one has turned completely away

from the world, one can look directly into the nature of the mind.

Without the support of any external object on which it depends, the

mind itself disappears. This is the direct path for which one has to

hold the mind in the heart. If we look for the mind we will not find

it because the mind itself is a form of external seeking which

introversion removes. The first stage of the direct path is to look

into the nature of the mind.

 

18. All mental activities are rooted in the I-thought. The mind is

its thoughts. Know that the ego is the mind.

19. Meditating " from where does this I come " the ego falls away. This

is Self-inquiry.

20. When the ego is destroyed the pure I, the heart opens by itself

as the supreme fullness of being.

 

These three verses explain the practice of Self-inquiry which

involves tracing the I thought back to its origin in the heart.

Returning the mind and ego to the heart, one discovers infinite being

as one's true awareness. This is Ramana's most characteristic

teaching and the main path of jnana yoga.

 

21. This heart is known by the word I in our daily experience. Even

when the ego is forgotten in deep sleep, it continues as its

foundational being.

 

Another method of Self-inquiry is to trace our waking consciousness

back to the awareness that persists even in deep sleep when the mind

is put to rest. That deep sleep I is the real Self, while the waking

ego is an illusion. Once one has learned Self-inquiry in the waking

state one must carry it over to dream and deep sleep for it to be

really efficacious.

 

22. I am not the body, the senses, the prana, the intellect or the

ignorance behind them. I am the Unitary Being. That which is

dependent is non-being.

 

Yet another method is to discriminate between the seer and the seen

(drig drishya viveka). This is done on all levels of our being. We

must learn to differentiate our true Self, subjectivity and sentience

from our various bodies, vehicles or instruments which depend upon

it. This practice starts with the physical body which is an

instrument of action, to the senses, which are instruments of

knowledge, to the prana, which is the power of action, and the mind

that is the power of knowing. The Self that these depend upon is

different and abides in the heart behind all these

instrumentalities.

 

We must practice Self-inquiry not only on a conceptual level but in

our physical, sensory and pranic activities as well on all layers of

the mind down to its core. Self-inquiry is not just tracing the root

of thought into the heart but the root of our entire existence.

 

23. As the illuminator of Being how can Consciousness be different

from it? Consciousness exists as Being. That consciousness exists as

I.

 

Another method is to see being as consciousness and consciousness as

I or pure subjectivity. Once we have returned to that Unitary Being

we realize it as pure consciousness and the true Self.

 

24. God and the soul are distinguished by their vestures. Their Self-

nature as pure being is the supreme reality.

25. By eliminating the vestures in the perception of the Self-nature,

the vision of God takes the form of the Self.

 

God and the soul are the two ultimate factors of the universe, which

is their field of action. They differ by their vestures. God has an

all powerful mind and prana. The soul has a limited mind and prana.

Yet their common Self-nature unites them in the supreme reality. The

way to unite God and the individual soul is to negate their names and

forms and recognize the common Being and Consciousness behind both of

them. One can only truly know God as one Self. Otherwise knowledge of

God is indirect and not real. This method includes and unites both

jnana and bhakti.

 

26. The condition of the Self is the perception of the Self. From the

non-dual nature of the Self is abidance in the Self.

 

To see is to be. To see the Self is to be the Self. To be the Self is

to see the Self. Meditating on the unity of being and seeing is

another important approach. Actually there is no approach because the

Self simply is what it is.

 

27. Consciousness devoid of knowing and not knowing is the real

knowledge. What else is there to know?

 

Another method is to meditate on " What is knowledge? " The real

knowledge is devoid of any object to be known. It is self-luminous

self-aware wisdom. The highest knowing is going beyond knowledge.

This is not a mere theoretical leap but a revolution at the core of

consciousness.

 

28. What is the Self-nature? In the perception of the Self is the

immutable, unborn, consciousness bliss absolute.

 

Another method is to inquire as to what the Self-nature of all things

really is. The Self cannot be anything limited by objectivity, by

time, space or causation. It is no body and no thing.

 

29. The supreme bliss beyond bondage and release, who attains that

here is a Divine soul.

 

The soul becomes Divine by achieving that state beyond bondage and

release. This is the supreme goal of practice that is beyond all

goals. To reach it is a Divine gift and follows from all the

practices set forth in the previous verses. This bliss that is our

origin and end as the Upanishads say.

 

30. One's own awareness free of the ego, this is the great tapas and

the Word of Ramana.

 

This pure awareness beyond the separate self is the highest

knowledge. But it is not conceptual. It is like a great fire. It is

the tapas or ascetic practice that Ramana proved in his daily

actions. Ramana did not merely talk about Self-realization or teach

it as a mere theory, fantasy or emotion. He lived it, to the extent

of letting his body be eaten by ants and mosquitoes while he was in

samadhi. Those who want to achieve this state must have the tapas to

bring it about or they are only indulging in wishful thinking. Many

years of such tapas are usually necessary to achieve the goal.

 

This teaching is also Ramana's Divine Word. It arose from the Divine

Word in the heart and is not a product of human thought or any

person's ego, even Ramana's. It is very easy to read such teachings

and not difficult to understand them logically. One can use them to

create a mental or emotional high. But their true realization is

quite another matter and entirely beyond our human limitations. To

reach that we must dedicate ourselves to the task in all that we do

and in all that we are.

 

 

 

Vamadeva, also known as Dr David Frawley, is one of the world's most

important and respected Vedic Scholars. Check out his website at

http://www.vedanet.com/