A.R. Natarajan, from thoughts to the thinker

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LET THERE BE AN ARMY OF THOUGHTS

 

from:

" Meditations " ,

by A.R. Natarajan,

posted by saikali to NamoRamana list

 

Life is a movement in time. Each moment is different from the one

that has gone by, the metabolism of the body changes every minute,

there is growth and decay all round in creation. When one feels this

sense of transience, a yearning dawns for finding out what life and

death mean. Janaka was a generous and virtuous king worshiped by the

people of his country. But he was content to let life go by till the

divine took a hand in transforming him. Once while enjoying his

beautiful park, he suddenly heard the songs of invisible siddhas

(those who have acquired supernatural powers and are capable of

working miracles). Their message was clear for Janaka, as for us:

the longest life is but a ripple in the ocean of time.

 

How does one make the best use of the time allotted to each one by

karma? Given the impulsive desire to be immortal, to be timeless

here and now, what should one do? Freedom from time's shackles is

certainly possible, assures Ramana. If one abides in the natural

state there is no fetter of time. This state is " available to all,

at all times, under all condition " . What veils and shrouds the

truth, clouds our understanding? If one enquires what it is that

obstructs, one discovers that it is only the screen of thoughts. We

are heirs to the multitude of thoughts born of incomplete action. As

Ramana points out, our actions " are performed with part of the mind

and with frequent breaks " . This is inescapable in a situation when

the mind is splintered by various desires pulling at cross purposes.

The desire to hang only to pleasant thoughts also adds to the

difficulty. The consequences of such action are the indelible memory

marks that make the past an integral part of the mind. The thought

force so created would give a directional push to current action

thereby shaping the future as well. The very vastness of such

thoughts and their variety is responsible for the diffidence felt

and the fear expressed to Ramana that one may always be a victim of

time, bound hand and foot to the past, to karma. Ramana would never

countenance such thoughts and would point out that thoughts such

as, " attainment is hard " , " Self-realization is not for me " , or " I

have many difficulties to overcome " should be given up as they are

obstacles and are not true. Why worry? Others have succeeded. Why

can't we? For, in the Ramana way, the past consisting of thoughts,

good, bad and indifferent, is just to be swept away without a second

look. Why fear the army of thoughts? " The objects are many, but the

subject is one " . Hence the repeated emphasis of Ramana on the need

to focus attention " on the thinker behind the thought " , " the one

behind the act of willing " , " the actor behind the action " .

 

What is being attempted is to gear spiritual practice to bestowing

attention on the consciousness behind the phenomenon. This was the

advice Humphreys got way back in 1911. " Do not fix your attention on

all these changing things, life, death and phenomenon. Do not think

even of the actual act of seeing them but only of that which sees

all these things " . What is advised is to " remain fixed in a steady,

non-objective, enquiry " . It is the individual's attention that

waters the thoughts and gives life to them. It is common experience

that only to the extent to which we are aware of other thoughts they

exist for us. Just as life of a tree is in its roots and not in its

numerous branches of thousand of leaves, so too it is the

individual's attention which matters. If it is not given, other

thoughts just wither and fade away.

 

One has to pause at this point to consider whether the mind is an

independent energy force. Reflecting on one's daily experience, one

finds that the mind (the individual and the other thoughts) is non-

existent in sleep even though there is no break in our

consciousness, which is continuous. So the mind, the individual, is

not self-conscious. If this is so, what is the source from which the

individual derives this consciousness? Ramana helps by indicating it

to be the spiritual heart. From this it would follow that the

shifting of attention from thoughts to the thinker, to the " I " , is

not an end in itself. It is only a step " in the process of

withdrawing attention and interest from what one is not " . Attention

of the mind on its core has to be sustained till one reaches

the " magnetic zone " of the heart. " The attitude of self-enquiry must

permeate our entire way of living " . Diving within with attention

clearly focused on the " I " leads one to the point where the power of

the heart takes over. The individual current merges with the

universal and one travels beyond the shores of time. One is born

anew to an awareness of oneness of life.