Fwd: Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-76

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ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

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Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-76

 

TALK 381:

 

Mr. Bose…asked the meaning of the last stanza of Atma Vidya

(Knowledge of the Self).

 

Sri Bhagavan explained on the following lines:

 

There is the world perceived, the perception is only apparent; it

requires location for existence and light. Such existence and light

are simultaneous with the rise of mind. So the physical existence

and illumination are part of mental existence and illumination. The

latter is not absolute, for the mind rises and sinks. The mind has

its substratum in the Self which is self-evident, i.e. its existence

and self-luminosity are obvious. That is absolute being, continuous

in sleep, waking and dream states also. The world consists of

variety, which is the function of the mind.

The mind shines by reflected light - i.e. light reflected from the

self. Just as the pictures in a cinema show are seen only in

diffused, i.e. artificial light, but not in a strong glare or in

thick darkness, so also the world pictures are perceptible only in

diffused, i.e. reflected light of the Self through the darkness of

avidya (ignorance). The world cannot be seen either in pure

ignorance as in sleep, or in pure light as in Self-Realisation.

Avidya is the Cause of variety.

The Engineer said that he understood it only intellectually.

 

M.: Because intellect holds you at present, i.e. you are in the grip

of intellect in the waking state when you discuss these matters.

Later it was added that Grace is needed for Realisation.

 

The Engineer asked how Grace has to be got.

 

M.: Grace is the Self. It is not manifest because of ignorance

prevailing. With sraddha, it will become manifest. Sraddha, Grace,

Light, Spirit are all synonymous with the Self.

 

TALK 383;

 

Swami Lokesananda, a sanyasi, asked Sri Bhagavan: Is there prarabdha

for a jivanmukta?

 

M.: Who is the questioner? From whom does the question proceed? Is

it a jivanmukta who is asking?

 

D.: No, I am not a mukta as yet.

 

M.: Then why not let the jivanmukta ask the question for himself?

 

D.: The doubt is for me.

 

M.: Quite so. The ajnani has doubt but not a Jnani.

 

D.: According to the creed that there is no creation (ajatavada),

the explanations of Sri Bhagavan are faultless; but are they

admissible in other schools?

 

M.: There are three methods of approach in Advaita vada. (1) The

ajatavada is represented by no loss, no creation, no one bound, no

sadhaka, no one desirous of liberation, no liberation. This is the

Supreme Truth. (Mandukya Karika, II - 32). According to this, there

is only One and it admits of no discussion. (2) Drishti Srishtivada

is illustrated thus:- Simultaneous creation. There are two friends

sleeping side by side. One of them dreams that he goes to Benares

with his friend and returns. He tells his friend that both of them

have been in Benares. The other denies it. That statement is true

from the standpoint of one and the denial from that of the other.

(3) Srishti Drishtivada is plain (Gradual creation and knowledge of

it). Karma is posited as past karma, etc., prarabdha, agami and

sanchita. There must be kartritva (doership) and karta (doer) for

it. Karma (action) cannot be for the body because it is insentient.

It is only so long as dehatma buddhi (`I-am-the-body idea') lasts.

After transcending dehatma buddhi one becomes a Jnani. In the

absence of that idea (buddhi) there cannot be either kartritva or

karta. So a Jnani has no karma. That is his experience. Otherwise he

is not a Jnani. However an ajnani identifies the Jnani with his

body, which the Jnani does not do. So the ajnani finds the Jnani

acting, because his body is active, and therefore he asks if the

Jnani is not affected by prarabdha.

 

The scriptures say that jnana is the fire which burns away all karma

(sarvakarmani). Sarva (all) is interpreted in two ways: (1) to

include prarabdha and (2) to exclude it. In the first way: if a man

with three wives dies, it is asked. " can two of them be called

widows and the third not? " All are widows. So it is with prarabdha,

agami and sanchita. When there is no karta none of them can hold out

any longer.

 

The second explanation is, however, given only to satisfy the

enquirer. It is said that all karma is burnt away leaving prarabdha

alone. The body is said to continue in the functions for which it

has taken its birth. That is prarabdha. But from the jnani's point

of view there is only the Self which manifests in such variety.

There is no body or karma apart from the Self, so that the actions

do not affect him.

 

D.: Is there no dehatma buddhi (I-am-the-body idea) for the Jnani?

If, for instance, Sri Bhagavan be bitten by an insect, is there no

sensation?

 

M.: There is the sensation and there is also the dehatma buddhi. The

latter is common to both Jnani and ajnani with this difference, that

the ajnani thinks dehaiva Atma (only the body is myself), whereas

the Jnani knows all is of the Self (Atmamayam sarvam), or (sarvam

khalvidam Brahma) all this is Brahma. If there be pain let it be. It

is also part of the Self. The Self is poorna (perfect). Now with

regard to the actions of the Jnani, they are only so-called because

they are ineffective. Generally the actions get embedded

as samskaras in the individual. That can be only so long as the mind

is fertile, as in the case of the ajnani. With a Jnani the mind is

surmised; he has already transcended the mind. Because of his

apparent activity the mind has to be inferred in his case, and that

mind is not fertile like that of an ajnani. Hence it is said that a

jnani's mind is Brahman. Brahman is certainly no other than the

jnani's mind. The vasanas cannot bear fruit in that soil. His mind

is barren, free from vasanas, etc. However, since prarabdha was

conceded in his case, vasanas also must be supposed to exist. If

they exist they are only for enjoyment (bhogahetu). That is to say,

actions bear twofold fruits, the one for enjoyment of their fruits

and the other leaving an impress on the mind in the form of

samskaras for subsequent manifestation in future births. The jnani's

mind being barren cannot entertain seeds of karma. His vasanas

simply exhaust themselves by activities ending in enjoyment only

(bhogahetuka karma). In fact, his karma is seen only from the

ajnani's standpoint. He remains actionless only. He is not aware of

the body as being apart from the Self. How can there be liberation

(mukti) or bondage (bandha) for him? He is beyond both. He is not

bound by karma, either now or ever. There is no jivanmukta or

videhamukta according to him.

 

D.: From all this it looks as if a Jnani who has scorched all the

vasanas is the best and that he would remain inactive like a stock

or stone.

 

M.: No, not necessarily. Vasanas do not affect him. Is it not itself

a vasana that one remains like a stock or stone? Sahaja is the

state.

 

TALK 384:

 

The conversation turned on vasanas. Sri Bhagavan said that good

tendencies and bad ones (suvasana and kuvasana) are concomitant -

the one cannot exist without the other. Maybe that the one class

predominates. Good tendencies (suvasana) are cultivated and they

must also be finally destroyed by jnana.

 

A young prodigy was mentioned. Sri Bhagavan remarked that latent

impressions of previous births (purva janma samskara) were strong in

him.

 

D.: How does it manifest as the ability to cite well-known saints?

Is it vasana in the form of a seed only?

 

M.: Yes. Predisposition (samskara) is acquired knowledge and kept in

stock. It manifests under favourable circumstances. One with strong

samskara understands the thing when presented to him much quicker

than another with no samskara or weak samskara.

 

D.: Does it hold good with inventors also?

 

M.: " There is nothing new under the sun. " What we call inventions or

discoveries are merely rediscoveries by competent men with strong

samskara in the directions under consideration.

 

D.: Is it so with Newton, Einstein, etc.?

 

M.: Yes. Certainly. But the samskaras, however strong, will not

manifest unless in a calm and still mind. It is within the

experience of everyone that his attempts to rake up his memory fail,

whereas something flashes in the mind when he is calm and quiet.

Mental quiet is necessary even for remembrance of forgotten things.

The so-called genius is one who worked hard in his past births and

acquired knowledge and kept it in store as samskaras. He now

concentrates his mind until it merges in the subject. In that

stillness the submerged ideas flash out. That requires favourable

conditions also.

 

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