All thinking is out of place as a means of sadhana

August 15, 2005

OUTSIDE THE SCRIPTURES

By DR. T. N. KRISHNASWAMI

A special transmission outside the scriptures;

No dependence upon words or letters;

Direct pointing at the heart of man;

Seeing into one’s own nature

and

the attainment of Liberation

These are the reflections of a traveller on the Mountain Path laid down by the Maharshi. The Maharshi’s wordless doctrine is unlike the usual traditional teachings. There are no creeds to be elaborated, so there is no need for preaching.

There is nothing for the mind to theorise or philosophise about.

What is needed is immediate, intuitive understanding of the heart.

“The intricate maze of philosophy of the various schools is said to clarify matters and to reveal the Truth, b u t it creates confusion where none need exist.

To understand anything there must be the Self. The Self is obvious. So why not remain as the Self? What need to explain the non-self?” 1

What the seeker has to do is rather to u n l e a r n and let go all his preconceived ideas about the Self.

Indeed, the Maharshi has been known to say „that in the end even the scriptures must be given up and unlearned. “

All scriptures without exception proclaim that for attaining salvation the mind should be subdued.

And once one knows that control of the mind is their final aim, it is futile to make an interminable study of them.

What is required for such control is actual enquiry into oneself by self-interrogation: ‘Who am I?’

How can this enquiry in quest of the Self be made by means of a study of the scriptures?”2

This reminds one of Chuang Tsu’s saying that if one gets rid of small wisdom great wisdom comes in.

There are no precepts for special austerities, while at the same time indulgence is not condoned.

The question always is: who is it that seeks all this?

To refer a second time to a Taoist Sage, it is like Lee Tsu’s story of the animal trainer who subdued his tigers (the vasanas) by treating them quite impersonally, neither gratifying their desires nor provoking their anger.

All thinking is out of place as a means of sadhana.It is not one’s true nature.

It creates all errors and, what is worst of all, creates, as the father of them a false entity, the ego or individual being.

“Concentration is not thinking of one thing. On the contrary it is excluding all thoughts, since all thoughts obstruct the sense of one’s true being.

All efforts are to be directed simply to removing the veil of ignorance.” 3

The Maharshi says that the Self is not in books; if it were, anybody might become a Sage by study.

Also it is not in any hermitage, and going to live in solitude will not help.

“Why do you think you are a householder? The similar thought that you are a sannyasin will haunt you even if you go forth as one.

Whether you continue in the household or renounce it and go to live in the forest, your mind haunts you.

The ego is the source of thought. It creates the body and the world and makes you think of being a householder.

If you renounce, it will only substitute the thought of renunciation for that of family, and the environment of the forest for that of the household.

But the mental obstacles are always there for you. They even increase greatly in the new surroundings.

Change of environment is no help.

The one obstacle is the mind and this must be overcome whether in the home or in the forest.

If you can do it in the forest, why not in the home?

So why change the environment?

Your efforts can be made even now, whatever be the environment.”4

Nor is the Self something to be attained at some future date.

“No one is ever away from his Self, and therefore everyone is in fact Self-realized: only - and this is the great mystery - people do not know this and want to realize the Self.

Realization consists only in getting rid of the false idea that one is not realized. It is not anything new to be acquired.

It must already exist or it would not be eternal, and only what is eternal is worth striving for.”5

1 The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi in his own Words, p. 15, Rider’s edition, p. 10, Sri Ramanasramam edition.

2 Ibid., p. 63/75.

3. Ibid., p. 127/160.

4. Ibid., p. 78/94.

5. Ibid., p. 23/21

end of part 1

to be continued

THE MOUNTAIN PATH

(Quarterly)

Editor: Arthur Osborne