Fwd: SRI RAMANA'S FORTY VERSES

[Guest guest]

ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362> wrote:

 

FORTY VERSES ON

REALITY

 

BY SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI

 

Translation & Commentary by

 

S. S. Cohen

 

TEXT

 

1. Because the world is seen, we have to infer a common cause

(a Lord) possessing unlimited powers to appear as the diversity. The

picture consisting of names and forms, the seer, the canvas, the

light – all these are He Himself.

 

Synopsis: Awareness is all – the seer and seen, the real and

apparent.

 

The " Forty " begins here. To understand Bhagavan's meaning we have to

use the key with which he supplies us in the Invocation. There he

declares Reality to be the thought-free Awareness which dwells in

the heart. Here he brings in the world in order to meet on their own

ground those disciples who do perceive a " real " , external world. He

is saying something like this: " You see a world and ascribe an

omnipotent creator to it. But as we have already seen, this creation

is only an appearance, a manifestation of that Awareness of which we

were speaking. It has no more reality in itself than have the

pictures projected on a screen. " From the heart thoughts

spontaneously arise, like vapour from the ocean, and turn into a

kaleidoscope world of names, forms, colours, sounds, smells and

other impressions. These are in it, or on it as on a canvas of which

the heart is itself the seer and the sight.

 

Pure Consciousness or Pure Mind is thus the pictures, the screen,

the seer, and the light or sight.

 

2. All schools of thought postulate the fundamental triad –

God, soul, and world – although all three are manifestations of the

One. The belief that the three remain eternally three lasts only as

long as the " I " or ego lasts. To destroy the ego and remain in one's

own state is best.

 

Synopsis: The triad – God, soul and world – is the creation of the

ego and disappears with the ego.

 

Most religions are based on the assumption that the triad mentioned

in the text is eternal. Bhagavan rejects this assumption as being

the child of the ignorant ego which mistakes itself for the body.

The " I-am-the-body " notion compels the admission of an individuality

(jiva), a world, and its creator, as three distinct, perennial, co-

existing entities. Bhagavan, as we have seen, perceives a single

existence of which these three are an illusory manifestation which

however, vanishes the moment the eternal " I " is apprehended and ego

perishes.

 

TO BE CONTINUED…

 

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[Guest guest]

ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362> wrote:

 

FORTY VERSES ON

REALITY

 

BY SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI

 

Translation & Commentary by

 

S. S. Cohen

 

39. Bondage and Liberation exist so long as thoughts of bondage and

liberation exist. These come to an end when an enquiry is made into

the nature of he who is bound or free, and the ever – present ever –

free Self is realized.

 

Synopsis: Bondage and Liberation are mere notions in the mind: they

cease when he who is bound is enquired into and realized.

 

This has a close resemblance to the last verse, which makes the

sense of doership to be the cause of karma. Likewise the sense of

being bound or free makes bondage and liberation exist. Thus wrong

notions about oneself are responsible for all the acts of destiny:

birth, death, bondage, ignorance etc. But wrong notions can be

rectified by right knowledge, which can be had only through an

enquiry into the nature of the person who is the victim of the wrong

notions. Then his real Self will reveal itself and will dispel all

notions, all senses, and all thoughts, including the sense and

thought of jivahood (individuality) itself.

 

TO BE CONTINUED…

 

--- End forwarded message ---

[Guest guest]

ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362 wrote:

 

FORTY VERSES ON

REALITY

 

BY SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI

 

Translation & Commentary by

 

S. S. Cohen

 

40. It is said that Liberation is with form or without form, or with

and without form. Let me tell you that Liberation destroys all the

three as well as the ego which distinguishes between them.

 

Synopsis: True Liberation has no form, and destroys the very ego

which distinguishes between one kind of it and another.

 

All these forms of liberation, some of which are said to take place

in a disembodied state in some super-sensuous worlds – Vaikunta,

Satyaloka, etc. are hypothetical. At best they offer encouragement

to the sadhakas who are partial to them. The fact of the matter is

that true and absolute jnana (knowledge of the Absolute), which

alone can destroy ignorance, either in this body or in one of the

following bodies. For there are no planes nor states of

consciousness where radical salvation is possible, other than the

waking state, i. e. in a body, where bondage and ignorance are felt

and attempts for redemption made; least of all in the state of after-

death where there is no body to feel the limitations and

retributions of karma.

 

Therefore he who aspires to reach the highest has to exert himself

hard here and now, preferably by the vichara method which Bhagavan

has so graciously propounded and so often reiterated in these

verses. The determined sadhaka will not fail to verify these truths

bu his own experience if he puts them to the test, full of

confidence in his own self and the unfailing silent support of the

Master, who is not other than the very Reality he is so earnestly

seeking, and who ever and ever abides in his own heart as Existence,

Consciousness and Bliss – Sat Chit Ananada.

 

OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTIHI

 

END.

 

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