Fwd: Fw: [NDhighlights] #3151 - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - Editor: Jerry Katz

[Guest guest]

ThePowerOfSilence , " Gloria Lee " <gleelee

wrote:

 

 

 

#3151 - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - Editor: Jerry Katz

Nonduality Highlights - NDhighlights

 

 

 

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David Godman has a new blog entitled Arunachala and Sri Ramana

Maharshi.

 

http://sri-ramana-maharshi.blogspot.com/

 

Here is a selection:

 

In praise of the lazy ones

 

Verses 773 and 774 of Guru Vachaka Kovai are grouped together under a

chapter heading entitled `Being Still' or `Remaining Still'. The

second of these two verses immediately attracts attention because it

states quite clearly that abiding in swarupa, one's true state, is a

state of laziness:

 

 

The method of true and supreme tapas that our Lord Ramana declares

to be worthwhile and which the mind should firmly hold onto is this,

and no more: `Being still.' Other than this there are absolutely no

thoughts to think, nor any duties to be contemplated by it.

 

 

 

 

 

The lazy state wherein you exist motionlessly and shine is the

state of swarupa. In that supreme state you have become That. It

cannot be attained except by direct, excellent and rare tapas. You

should therefore honour those who are established in that laziness as

holy beings.

 

 

This state is described, perhaps a little ironically, as `lazy' only

because there is no one left there who can do anything. Muruganar

wrote in Padamalai that Bhagavan bestowed this state on him:

 

 

The golden Padam [bhagavan] completely abolished my wandering

around as a wicked one and made me shine as a perfect idler.

 

 

 

 

 

Even the actions I perform, believing them to be my own, are in

reality the actions of Padam, the complete and absolute truth.

 

 

(Padamalai, pp. 342, 343, vv. 62, 64)

 

Bhagavan also mentioned this state of laziness in Aksharamanamalai

verse 37:

 

If I sleep consciously as a lazy one, remaining still and consuming

bliss, this is the supreme state. Is there any [state] other than

this, O Arunachala? If there is, please tell me!

 

 

 

 

I have just done a quick check on the two English versions (Collected

Works and Prof. Swaminathan's Five Hymns to Arunachala) that are on

my bookshelf, and neither of them mentions the word `lazy' even

though it is clearly mentioned in the verse. I suspect the

translators felt that `lazy' as a description of the Self was more

than a little pejorative, so they toned the first phrase down and

used the more euphemistic phrases `lying in peaceful repose'

and `slumbering in quiet repose'. I would guess they were trying to

convey the idea that it was a state in which nothing could be done or

needed to be done. While this is a true description of the state

being described, the impact of the original phrase is considerably

watered down.

 

 

I think that Bhagavan, the author, intended to convey the full and

normal meaning of the word `lazy' when he composed this verse, not

some wishy-washy state of `quiet repose'. When Muruganar wrote his

Tamil commentary on Aksharamanamalai (Aksharamanamalai Vritti Urai)

and showed it to Bhagavan, Bhagavan endorsed this interpretation by

adding the following verse from Tirumandiram, one of the canonical

scriptures of Saivism, to the section of Muruganar's manuscript that

dealt with this verse:

 

 

The place where the lazy ones dwell is pure space.

 

The place where the lazy ones rest is pure space.

 

The consciousness of the lazy ones remains

 

in the place which the Vedas have abandoned

 

as beyond their scope.

 

The lazy ones have gained the state in which they are sleeping,

 

totally unaware of the Vedas.

 

 

 

 

(Tirumandiram, v. 127)

 

Arunachala and Sri Ramana Maharshi - http://sri-ramana-

maharshi.blogspot.com/

 

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