Be As You Are - Life in the world, (1)

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This is the beginning of chapter 12: Life in the world,

 

taken from BE AS YOU ARE, The Teaching of Sri Ramana Maharshi

edited bty David Godman

 

 

 

 

There is a well-established Hindu tradition which prescribes four stages of life (asramas) for serious spiritual seekers:

1. Brahmacharya (celibate study). A long period of scriptural study prior to marriage, usually in an institution which specialises in Vedic scholarship.

2. Grihastha (marriage and family). At the conclusion of his studies the aspirant is expected to marry and to discharge his business and household duties conscientiously, but without attachment to them.

3. Vanaprastha (forest hermit). When all family obligations have been fulfilled (which usually means when the children are married off), the aspirant may retire to a solitary place, usually a forest, and engage in full-time meditation.

4. Sannyasa (wandering monk). In the final stage the seeker drops out of the world completely and becomes a wandering medicant monk. Having no material, social or financial entanglements the sannyasi has theoretically removed all the attachments which previously impeded his progress towards Self-realization. This time-honoured structure sustained the common Indian belief that it was necessary to abandon one's family and take to a meditative life of celibate asceticism if one was seriously interested in realising the Self. Sri Ramana was asked about this belief many times but he always refused to endorse it. He consistently refused to give his devotees permission to give up their worldly responsibilities in favor of a meditative life and he always insisted that realization was equally accessible to everyone, irrespective of their physical circumstances. Instead of advising physical renunciation he told all his devotees that it would be spiritually more productive for them to discharge their normal duties and obligations with an awareness that there was no individual `I' performing or accepting responsibility for the acts which the body performed. He firmly believed that mental attitude had a greater bearing on spiritual progress than physical circumstances and he persistently discouraged all questioners who felt that a manipulation of their environment, however slight, would be spiritually beneficial.

The only physical changes he ever sanctioned were dietary. He accepted the prevailing Hindu theory of diet which claimed that the type of food consumed affected the quantity and quality of one's thoughts and he recommended a moderate intake of vegetarian food as the most useful aid to spiritual practice. The Hindu dietary theory which Sri Ramana endorsed classifies different foods according to the mental states that they induce: 1. Sattva (purity or harmony) Dairy produce, fruit, vegetables and cereals are deemed to be sattvic foods. A diet which consists largely of these products helps spiritual aspirants to maintain a still, quiet mind.

2. Rajas (activity) Rajasic foods include meat, fish and hot spicy foods such as chillies, onions and garlic. Ingestion of these foods results in an overactive mind.

3. Tamas (sluggishness) Foods which are decayed, stale or the product of a fermentation process (e.g. alcohol) are classified as tamasic. Consumption of these foods leads to apathetic, torpid states of mind which hamper clear decisive thinking.

..............to be continued