A. R. Natarajan - On The Trail of the Mind

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ON THE TRAIL OF THE MIND

 

taken from

THE SILENT MIND

The Ramana Way,

by A. R. NATARAJAN,

Published by Ramana Maharshi Centre for Learning, Bangalore,

8th edition, 2004

edition

(originally posted to NamoRamana group by saikali)The dual characteristics of the mind-the essential consciousnessaspect and the accretions, the world of thoughts, would have beennoticed. The consciousness in the "I" is the scent to which one musthold on for the journey back to the source. This is the clue whichshould not be lost sight of. Ramana cites the analogy of a dogtracing its master by his scent. "The master's scent is theinfallible clue for the animal, nothing else such as the dress hewears, his build or stature etc. To this scent the dog holds onundistractedly while searching and it finally succeeds". If oneholds on to the consciousness aspect of oneself then the quest mustlead one to the pure mind.How does one hold on to the consciousness in the

"I"? The movementof the mind is twofold-the inner movement, the return to the sourcewhich is either involuntary, when sleep overpowers, or isvoluntarily achieved by practices which turn the mind inward. Whatprevents this inwardness of the mental movement is the second aspectof the mind, namely, the outward thrust of the mind caused by latentthoughts in the mind. The very vastness of these thoughts isfrightening. They represent the whole weight of the past. Sinceevery action leaves behind a memory mark, it is just waiting in thewings to reappear when the circumstances are appropriate for therepetition of the wanted experience.So, the first step without which one cannot proceed at all is to armoneself with a technique which sterilises the past and renders itimpotent. For achieving this, Ramana suggests an approach whichleaves all desires, all thoughts severely alone. He would say, "Donot run with the running mind". For,

any effort in which theattention is paid on the thoughts themselves, good, bad orindifferent, is no better than shadow chasing. It is said that whena child ties to catch a shadow by running after it and is distressedat not being able to do so, the mother prevents it from running.Similarly, one should closely look into the essence in any thoughtformation and not deal with the shadow, the rest of the thoughts. Inthis light, it is only the thinker, it is only the individual, whomatters. Shifting the mind's attention to its core, to the firstperson, is what is to be attempted. The second and the third personthoughts would no longer have the power to damage, since theattention of the "I" is not cast on them. An analogy would serve tohighlight this point. To say "do not have desires is like asking oneto take medicine without thinking of the monkey". Sure enough thedominant thought would then be the monkey. Instead Ramana's

methodgives a positive turn by saying, "drink the medicine thinking of theelephant". In other words it is like advising one who hasto "abandon the east" to "go west".Care is needed not to bestow attention on any particular thought.The danger in paying attention to any thought "even if it be to denyit, to recall a memory even if it be only to reject it is that oneruns the risk of investing it with fresh strength". When someonecomplained that he was unable to prevent the rush of thoughts,Ramana said that all that needs to be done is "to catch hold of theleading thought, the "I"-thought, giving thereby no chance to otherthoughts to distract you". This was the basic tune of Ramana fromthe early days of his spiritual ministration. An early seeker saidin dejection, "What can I do? If I reject one thought, anotherthought takes its place"-Ramana promptly advised, "cling to the "I"-thought-when your interest keeps you to that

single idea, the otherthoughts automatically vanish". The past in the form of the thoughtpower flowing from vasanas, the inherent tendencies, is pulverisedby attention. Those thoughts just wither and fade away. "Thoughtgrows with thought as fire with fuel. When attention is withdrawnthoughts die like flame without fuel". True, to begin with theydistract and one has to repeatedly bring the attention back to thethinker. Soon one is off the outward mental movement. The shiftingof attention to the subject does the trick.The advantage of keeping the thinker in focus, instead of thoughts,should be apparent, for we then deal with the root of the treeinstead of its branches and leaves. A single life-giving thought isheld firmly without bothering about other latent and surfacethoughts. The phrase "life-giving" is used advisedly for oneperceives that the other thoughts, however strong, cannot operatetill the individual gives them

attention, consciously orunconsciously. When one hold on to the "I" for inspecting it, one ison the trail of the mind. Attention to the single thought whichwaters the entire thought structure opens the door to anunderstanding of the mind.