Fwd: Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-56

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ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362 wrote:

 

Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-56

 

TALK 286:

 

D.: Why can we not remain in sushupti as long as we like and be also

voluntarily in it just as we are in the waking state?

 

M.: Sushupti continues in this state also. We are ever in sushupti.

That should be consciously gone into and realised in this very

state. There is no real going into or coming from it. Becoming aware

of that is samadhi. An ignorant man cannot remain long in sushupti

because he is forced by nature to emerge from it. His ego is not

dead and it will rise up again. But the wise man attempts to crush

it in its source. It rises up again and again for him too impelled

by nature, i.e., prarabdha. That is, both in Jnani and ajnani, ego

is sprouting forth, but with this difference, namely the ajnani's

ego when it rises up is quite ignorant of its source, or he is not

aware of his sushupti in the dream and jagrat states; whereas a

Jnani when his ego rises up enjoys his transcendental experience

with this ego keeping his lakshya (aim) always on its source. This

ego is not dangerous: it is like the skeleton of a burnt rope: in

this form it is ineffective. By constantly keeping our aim on our

source, our ego is dissolved in its source. like a doll of salt in

the ocean.

 

D.: Sri Ramakrishna says that nirvikalpa samadhi cannot last longer

than twenty-one days. If persisted in, the person dies. Is it so?

 

M.: When the prarabdha is exhausted the ego is completely dissolved

without leaving any trace behind. This is final liberation. Unless

prarabdha is completely exhausted the ego will be rising up in its

pure form even in jivanmuktas. I still doubt the statement of the

maximum duration of twenty-one days. It is said that people cannot

live if they fast thirty or forty days. But there are those who have

fasted longer, say a hundred days. It means that there is still

prarabdha for them.

 

D.: How is realisation made possible?

 

M.: There is the absolute Self from which a spark proceeds as from

fire. The spark is called the ego. In the case of an ignorant man it

identifies itself with an object simultaneously with its rise. It

cannot remain independent of such association with objects. This

association is ajnana or ignorance, whose destruction is the

objective of our efforts. If its objectifying tendency is killed it

remains pure, and also merges into the source. The wrong

identification with the body is dehatmabuddhi (`I-am-the-body'

idea). This must go before good results follow.

 

D.: How to eradicate it?

 

M.: We exist in sushupti without being associated with the body and

mind. But in the other two states we are associated with them. If

one with the body, how can we exist without the body in sushupti? We

can separate ourselves from that which is external to us and not

from that which is one with us. Hence the ego is not one with the

body. This must be realised in the waking state. Avasthatraya (the

three states of waking, dream and deep sleep) should be studied only

for gaining this outlook.

 

The ego in its purity is experienced in intervals between two states

or two thoughts. Ego is like that caterpillar which leaves its hold

only after catching another. Its true nature can be found when it is

out of contact with objects or thoughts. Realise this interval with

the conviction gained by the study of avasthatraya (the three states

of consciousness).

 

D.: How do we go to sleep and how do we wake up?

 

M.: Just at nightfall the hen clucks and the chicks go and hide

themselves under her wings. The hen then goes to roost in the nest

with the chicks in her protection. At dawn the chicks come out and

so does the hen. The mother-hen stands for the ego which collects

all the thoughts and goes to sleep. At sunrise the rays emerge forth

and are collected again at sunset. Similarly, when the ego displays

itself, it does so with all its paraphernalia. When it sinks,

everything disappears with it.

 

D.: What does sushupti look like?

 

M.: In a cloudy dark night no individual identification of objects

is possible and there is only dense darkness, although the seer has

his eyes wide open; similarly in sushupti the seer is aware of

simple nescience.

 

Sri Bhagavan is said to have remarked to an inquisitive

person: " What is the meaning of this talk of truth and falsehood in

the world which is itself false? "

 

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