Ramana Maharshi

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http://www.leonardjacobson.com/mystic_set.html

 

Ramana Maharshi is famous for these quotes: " The Mind has to be

destroyed. " " Stay without thoughts and just BE. " " Go to the root of

the 'I' thought and find out 'Who Am I'? " How would one function

without thinking in this world? Isn't the Mind necessary for our

normal day-to-day functioning in this world? What does Ramana mean by

Destroying the Mind?

 

I find it difficult to believe that Ramana Maharshi could say that

the mind has to be destroyed, but if he did make such a statement,

then it is most unhelpful. The true nature of awakened Being is

utterly without judgment. It is neither for nor against anything and

so to say that the mind has to be destroyed would be inconsistent

with the true nature of Being. The suggestion or implication that

the ego will be annihilated or destroyed upon awakening is a common

one and it is a major obstacle to awakening. The mind/ego will never

allow itself to be destroyed and there is not a living human Being

with the power to destroy the mind/ego, for the simple reason that

the intention or attempt to destroy the ego is nothing more that ego

seeking to destroy itself and this cannot happen. It is a house

dividing against itself. All that happens is that the mind is

strengthened. It creates an inner tension and fear and the ego

becomes very resolved to make sure that this does not happen. It

wants to become spiritualized, but it does not want you to truly

awaken. Ramana Maharshi had awakened to a level where there was very

little mind/ego left in him. He experienced the bliss and freedom of

a life without the interference and limitations of the mind. But he

did not destroy his ego. It simply disappeared. It probably had more

to do with his past life preparation than anything else. Buddha did

not destroy his ego. It simply surrendered. The only way to bring

the ego into its rightful place is through love and acceptance. Love

is the most powerful energy in existence and ultimately it is only

love and acceptance that will bring the ego to a place of surrender.

When it is surrendered, it will no longer seek to keep you imprisoned

within the world of the mind. It will allow you to deepen into

Presence and there will come a time that you will be so deeply

grounded in Presence that you will feel that your ego has

disappeared. But it has not been destroyed. It has been loved and

accepted into the sweetest state of surrender. In fact, the ego has

no resistance to the power of love. Its nature is to fight force with

force. It is designed to deal with judgment and rejection. It

responds powerfully to threats against survival. Can you not see that

talk of its destruction will simply call it into defensive and

evasive action? Most people do not know what it means to truly be

loving and accepting of your self. It means that you allow and

acknowledge as a part of you all those aspects that you have

previously been denying, repressing or trying to get rid of. There

can be no hint of judgment. This is not as difficult as you might

imagine, because at the level of Being, you are love and acceptance.

So if you awaken into Being and then allow all those aspects of

yourself that you have been condemning to surface and be owned,

acknowledged and expressed within the consciousness of Being, a

tremendous relaxation will occur. It will allow you to deepen even

further into Presence and Being. You have quoted other statements

made by Ramana Maharshi. " Stay without thoughts and just be " Of

course, this is true. But how does one stay without thought? You

cannot stop thoughts. It is impossible. But you CAN choose to be

fully present in the moment of NOW. When you are fully present,

thoughts stop all by themselves. You are not trying to stop the

thoughts, which would be a form of judgment. You are simply choosing

to be present with that which is present. You cannot think about the

present moment. You can only think about the past or future and so if

you are truly present, thoughts will simply stop. To just " be " is

another way of saying " to just be present. " If you are fully

present, there are no thoughts. If there are no thoughts, then quite

literally, there is no time. There is no life outside of this moment.

You can no longer function in the world, because there is no world

outside of the moment. You would need a team of caretakers to take

care of you, or an ashram would have to develop around you to take

care of you and receive your enlightened utterances. When Ramana

awakened, he did not participate in the world. He remained in the

Silence and an Ashram developed around him. That is the beauty of

India, The Indian culture allows for one to enter into that fully

awakened state and remain there. They know how to respond to one who

is fully awakened But that is a very limited approach to awakening.

It is time for humanity to awaken at a collective level.

Enlightenment can no longer be for just a select few, who no longer

participate in the world. If there is to be an awakening at a

collective level, we will have to learn to function within the world.

This means that we will have to find a balance between the

timelessness of the fully awakened state and the world of time. It

is a question of balance. When you awaken, the deepest level of the

awakened state becomes the foundation of you and it becomes the

foundation of your life. You know that the present moment is the

truth of life and you never again become identified with life at the

level of mind. You know that everything that occurs at the level of

mind is illusory in nature and so you no longer believe in it as the

truth of life. You are no longer identified with any of it. You

recognize that life at the level of mind is simply play. (leela) It

is sometimes happy and sometimes sad, because it is a world of

duality. You relax and accept the dual nature of the world of the

mind and the world of experience. You are no longer for or against

anything. You have transcended judgment. Life is accepted fully and

so too is death. Joy is accepted fully and so too is pain. But you

are so deeply grounded in the moment of now, that you no longer get

caught in the movements of the mind and its world of thought and

emotion. You no longer believe in your ideas, beliefs, concepts and

opinions. You are deeply grounded in Oneness. You are able to return

to silence and Presence at will. In fact, silence and Presence is

always there as the foundation of your existence, even when you move

into the world of the mind. Ramana awakened fully into the

impersonal dimension of life. But the real challenge for us is not

only to awaken into the impersonal dimension of life, but to allow

the personal dimension to exist as a perfect expression of the

impersonal. This can only begin to occur as the ego is brought into a

state of surrender. I sometimes say to those who attend my

workshops, " You had better hurry up and get enlightened because that

is the easy part. The hard part is discovering how to live in the

world once you have awakened. And that is a long journey of trial and

error that will last the rest of your life. " The only thing you will

need on this long journey through life is the following

question: " Are the choices I am making in my life supporting me in

Presence and leading me deeper into peace, love and Oneness or are

the choices I am making leading me away from Presence? Is my action

in this moment in true alignment with the deepest levels of love and

Oneness, which is my true nature, or am I acting outside of

integrity. Finally, if you adhere to self enquiry as suggested by

Ramana, and really know how to ask the question " Who am I? " you will

inevitably be delivered into that state of silence and pure

consciousness that is your true Being. The question " Who am I? " will

ultimately deliver you into the " I am Presence. "