easy yet difficult

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THE MAHARSHI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

November/December 2003Vol. 13 - No. 6

 

 

 

Produced & Edited byDennis HartelDr. Anil K. Sharma

 

 

 

Easy Yet Difficultby G. L. N.

This is a brief account of how my contact with Sri Ramana helped me. Truth transcends individuality. What I depict is my limited personal understanding of him.

My contact with him began in 1930. It was by Divine Providence, not by my planning, that I was able to spend a continuous period of three years at Sri Ramanasramam. It was a great blessing.I was a science graduate. I had learned about the atomic structure of the universe and how matter finally resolves into energy and the mind also is a form of energy. So the entire world of mind and matter, when traced to its source, is one uniform Energy, or God, or whatever you choose to call it.

This was my attitude of mind when I first went to Sri Ramanasramam. Bhagavan was then translating his ‘Ulladu Narpadu’ (Forty Verses) into Telugu at the request of Yogi Ramiah. After finishing it he threw the book to me and said, “ You are an Andhra; see if there are any mistakes of grammar in it.” This was an act of grace, for it was that translation which was responsible for turning my mind inwards and setting it on the right path.

The essence of what Bhagavan said to me in my talks with him was: “You say that on final analysis all that I see or think or do is one; but that really comprises two notions –the all that is seen and the I that does the seeing, thinking and doing, and says ‘I’. Which of these two is the more real, true and important? Obviously the seer, since the seen is dependent on it. So turn your attention to the seer who is the source of your ‘I’ and realize that. This is the real task. Up to now you have been studying the object, not the subject; now find out for what reality this word ‘ I’ stands. Find the entity which is the source of the expression ‘I’. That is the Self, the Self of all selves.”

This direct, simple teaching was like a tonic to me. It swept away the unrest and confusion that till then had haunted my mind. It is, of course, the essence of ‘Ulladu Narpadu’ and the central theme of all Bhagavan’s writings. The simplicity of it made me burst out: “ Then Bhagavan, Self-realization is very easy, just as you say in the poem ‘Atma Vidya’ !”

Bhagavan smiled and said, “ Yes, yes, it seems so at first, but there is difficulty too. You have to overcome your present false values and wrong identification. Therefore the quest requires concentrated effort and steadfast abidance in the Source when this is reached.”

However, even while warning me, he also added words of solace: “But don’t let that deter you.

The rise of the urge to seek for the ‘I’ is itself an act of Divine Grace. Once this urge gets hold of you, you are in its clutches. The grip of Divine Grace never relaxes and finally devours you, just as the prey in a tiger’s jaws is never allowed to escape.”

– The Mountain Path, January 1966