Fwd: Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-2

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" saikali6362 " <saikali6362 wrote:

 

Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-2

 

From Ramana Gita

 

*Translation and commentary by A. R. NATARAJAN

 

Verse 4: Will the discrimination between the " Real " and the " Unreal "

itself be enough to liberate? Or is there any other spiritual

practice for it?

 

Commentary: The freedom sought is from the cycle of Karma, of birth

following death and death following birth without a break. Actions,

good and bad, have an ethical content producing results in time, in

accordance with the divine law. The effort of all spiritual seekers

is to be free of this bondage to karma, to sorrow…Ramana points out

that liberation and the sense of doership are linked. As long as one

considers that he is a doer there is no escape from the fruits of

action. He further points out that it is only one who thinks he is

bound who has to think in terms of the opposite, freedom. So one

should question for whom is this bondage? For whom is this

liberation? Such an enquiry would reveal the true nature of the

individual to whom they relate.

 

Verse 10: Self-abidance alone can release one from all bondage.

However, the discrimination between the " Real " and the " Unreal "

leads to distaste for the transient.

 

Commentary: It is only the fire of knowledge which can burn away

karma and liberate. Such knowledge would be firm only if based on

experience, based on Self-abidance…Bondage id born of attachment to

the pleasurable and dislike for the unpleasant. The discrimination

aforesaid produces a firm intellectual conviction of the lack of

value of all things transient. It therefore ripens the mind for

single minded pursuit of the effort necessary for Self-abidance…

Ramana says that :an examination of the ephemeral nature of external

phenomena leads to " vairagya " (dispassion) " Hence this

discrimination is " the first step to be taken and will result in

contempt for wealth, fame, ease, pleasure etc. The " I " – thought

becomes clearer for inspection " .

 

Verse 11: The profound jnani is always rooted in the Self alone. He

does not think of the universe as " Unreal " nor does he see it as

apart from himself.

 

Commentary: The attention of a wise person is always fixed on the

consciousness within, he does not move away from the Self. Though

engaged in activity, he is not distracted from the Self. His mind is

never externalized…The world is unreal if seen only as form and name

and not if the underlying consciousness is seen. The wise perceives

both, the differences, the names and forms, and the underlying

unity. Since nothing is seen apart from himself, the world too is

seen as permeated by consciousness and cannot therefore be " Unreal " .

Ramana (also) points out that it is futile to endlessly debate about

the nature of the world,whether it is " Real " or " Unreal " , " conscious

energy " or " matter " , and so on, instead of abiding in the exalted

state where neither the individual nor the world is seen to exist,

separately. He also states that while the existence of the world is

accepted by both the wise and the ignorant, the difference lies in

the fact that the ignorant foist an independent reality on the world

while the wise are conscious only of the Self, the Real.