Maha Yoga - The Sage of Arunachala, #3

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The Sage of Arunachala

 

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Thus he reflected: “Who or what is it that dies? It is this

visible body that dies; the kinsmen come and take it away and

burn it to ashes. But when this body dies, shall I also die? That

depends on what I really am. If I be this body, then when it

dies, I also would die; but if Ibe not this, then Iwould survive.”

Then there arose in his mind an overpowering desire to

find out, then and there, whether he — the real Self of him —

would survive after death. And it occurred to him that the

surest way to find it out would be to enact the process of

death. This he did by imagining that the body was dead. A

dead body does not speak nor breathe; nor has it any sensation;

all this he imagined with such perfect realism, that his body

became inert and rigid just like a corpse; his vital energies

were withdrawn from it, and gathered into the mind, which

now turned inwards, animated by the will to find the real Self,

if any. At this moment a mysterious power rose up from the

innermost core of his being and took complete possession of

the whole mind and life; by that power he — that is to say, his

mind and life — was taken inwards. What then happened is a

mystery; but we can gather some idea of it from the teachings

of the Sage himself. We must take it that, possessed by this

power — which is identical with what devotees call ‘grace’

— the mind plunged deep into the Source of all life and mind

and was merged in It. All this happened while he was wide

awake, and therefore he became aware of his own Real Self,

free from all thought-movement; this Self was free from the

bondage of desires and fears and therefore full of peace and

happiness. The state which he now reached was just the

Egoless State described in a later chapter — the state in which

the Real Self reigns alone, and in serene calmness. Thus

Ramana became a Sage. We shall never know what that state

is like, until we ourselves shall reach it and abide in it; but

with the help of his Revelation we shall be able to understand

what it is not.

 

 

 

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taken from MAHA YOGA, by WHO