Fwd: Desirelessness

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Chapter 1: Discrimination

 

2-DESIRELESSNESS

 

Part 1

 

24. The mind revels in the sense objects, turning away from her

rightful lord the Real Self, who is bliss; this is sheer unchastity.

(12)

 

(12) Here the mind is compared to an unchaste wife; real happiness

is in the Self, not in objects of sense.

 

25. The Realization of the truth of the Self, whose nature is

Reality, Consciousness and Bliss, comes easily to those who, as a

result of their good deeds in past lives, are unattached to the

pleasures that there are in this and other worlds. (13)

 

(13) All worlds are alike within relativity and are hence to be

transcended; the world in which the gods live, and to which good men

go after death, namely heaven, is not desirable, because the

happiness enjoyed there is the fruit of Karma, and hence must come

to an end, after which they must come back and be born again.

 

26. The realization of the Self is not easy for those whose minds

are in slavery to desires; let them attain desirelessness by

profound devotion to God, who is desireless.

 

27. As one that, being caught in the flood of a river, and trying to

reach the shore, fails to do so, being prevented by boys throwing

stones at him, so those that try to attain Self-Realization, which

is the shore of the river Samsara (relative existence), fail to

reach it, being hindered by the vasanas (taints of the mind). (14)

 

(14) The mind is usually burdened with habits of attachments and

modes of thought, accumulated and confirmed through many lives;

these are called vasanas; the mind needs to be purified of these,

before it can take to the Quest taught here.

 

28. If the vasanas that come forth from the mind, like soldiers from

within a fort, are then and there killed by the sword of the Quest

of the Self, the mind is (finally) conquered.

 

29. The seeker of liberation must understand that the truth of

desirelessness is the prompt extinguishment of every thought, as and

when it arises, in its source (the Heart), by the practice of the

Quest. (15)

 

(15) Every thought that arises is an occasion for the question " To

whom does this thought arise? " The answer to this being " To me " , the

next step is to raise and keep hold of the question " Who am I? " Thus

the thought is displaced. Practice in this way leads to subjugation

of the mind.

 

Note: Taken from Guru-Ramana-Vachana-Mala by " Who " , pages 8 and 9.

 

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ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362> wrote:

 

Chapter 1: Discrimination

 

2-DESIRELESSNESS

 

Part 2

 

30. The ignorant look upon Peace and Power as two things, distinct

from each other; that which is Peace in the introverted state (of

the mind), is Power in the (mind's) extroverted state. (16)

 

(16) Peace, the cessation of the mind's restlessness, is itself the

State of Liberation. It is the fullness of power; whoever has Peace

has all power. Powers of various kinds are desired by those who,

being ignorant of the truth here stated, do not care for Peace;

their folly is described in what follows.

 

31. Praying for powers – which should be despised (Sadhakas) – from

God who is ready to give His own Self to His devotees, is like

begging for stale food from a rich person that gives freely. (17)

 

(17) God is the all; so he that gets God himself by devotion has

all; he cannot possibly have unfulfilled wish. " he attains the

fulfillment of all desires at once " - says an Upanishad. Jesus said

the same thing when He said: " Seek ye the Kingdom of God first, and

all these things will be added unto you.

 

32. Restfulness of the mind is itself Liberation; that being so, how

can they, whose minds are fixed on (attainment of} powers, which are

to be won by mental activity, ever attain the bliss of Liberation?

(18)

 

(18) Not by striving, but by ceasing to strive, does the Peace come,

which transcends the mind. The reason is that this Peace is our own

Nature; not something to be won. Those that seek to win these

powers – which are called siddhis – are misguided men, who forge for

themselves stronger fetters than those that bind common men, whose

desires are pitched lower.

 

Note: Taken from Guru-Ramana-Vachana-Mala by " Who " , pages 9 and 10

 

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ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362> wrote:

 

Chapter 1: Discrimination

 

2-DESIRELESSNESS (selected verses)

 

Part 4 (end of section 2)

 

39. A hungry man is satisfied by eating unappetizing food, just as

if he had eaten tasty food; it follows that pleasure is not from the

object, but from the (cessation of the) desire for it. (21)

 

(21) Earthly enjoyment is here shown to be due to the temporary

quiescence of the mind in the heart, due to the cessation of desire;

while desire prevailed, the natural happiness of the Self was

obstructed; when it ceased, that happiness became free from

obstruction; no new happiness is ever created. If it were otherwise,

insipid food can never be tasty, which it is sometimes.

 

40. A dog gets pleased, tasting its own blood, when it chews a bone

without any meat in it; likewise men are infatuated over sense-

objects, enjoying only the happiness that is their own.

 

41. Even after experiencing great happiness in sleep, where there

are no objects, man desires objects for the sake of pleasure,

because of ignorance due to want of inquiry. (22)

 

(22) The process of this inquiry is set forth in the second chapter

of " MAHA YOGA " .

 

42. The truth about happiness and suffering, which has been

correctly determined by the wise, is this: outwardness of mind is

suffering; (its) inwardness is happiness.

 

44. Desire exaggerates an object, which is unattained, to the size

of the Meru; after it is attained, it reduces the same thing to

atomic size; there we know of no abyss so difficult to fill up as

desire.

 

45. Since it has been said that desire for even the Supreme State

should be renounced, need it be said that love of things other than

the Self, such as the body, should be altogether renounced by

strivers for liberation?

 

46. " The individual, the world and God are illusory creations in the

Supreme Reality, like the snake in the rope, " knowing thus, be happy

in unity with that blissful One, by dissolving the three in Him.

 

47. Self-Realization is non-appearance of the world as world and non-

Self; desirelessness is the renunciation of it, realizing its

illusory nature. (24)

 

(24) Here the distinction between the sage and the duly qualified

Sadhaka is explained; the former has transcended relativity and

hence does not see the world as world; to him the Self alone

appears. The latter sees the world as we do, but has the conviction

that the names and forms of which it consists, together with time,

space and other elements that sustain its variety, are unreal.

Desirelessness when based on such a conviction is likely to be more

complete than when it is based on a knowledge of its futility as a

means of happiness.

 

Note: Taken from Guru-Ramana-Vachana-Mala by " Who " , pages 11 to 13

 

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