UPADESA SAARAM OF RAMANA MAHARSHI – AN APPRECIATION (Verse 14)

[Guest guest]

prof laxmi narain (prof_narain)

 

Source and courtesy: Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad

This article was published in Sri Ramana Jyothi,

monthly magazine of the Kendram.

 

UPADESA SAARAM OF RAMANA MAHARSHI – AN APPRECIATION (Verse 14)

 

 

Praana bandhanallina maanasam

Ekachintanaannasametyadah

 

Praanabandhanaath:By the restraint of vital airs

Lina maanasm: the mind gets absorbed.

Adhah: This (absorbed mind)

Ekachintanaath:by contemplation upon the One (Reality)

Naasam eti: goes to destruction.

 

The mind that gets absorbed by the restraint of breath gets destroyed

when it is seriously engaged in contemplation upon the One Supreme

Reality.

 

Initially by the method of pranayama or the observation of the

breath, the mind is relatively quietened. Slowly and steadily the

multitudes of thoughts that usually cluster the mind, get reduced.

The mind eventually comes to cling to one thought. Though the mind

revels in variety, it cannot do so for a long time if the seeker

persists in his efforts. In the end the mind gives up its attachment

to the single thought also, and returns to its source. It is like the

spoilt child who being compelled to play with one toy only,

eventually throws away that toy also and returns to the mother, the

permanent and the sure source of joy to the child.

 

Sri Bhagavan says that the mind in quietude should be intelligently

harnessed into the channel of contemplation upon the one dwelling

Reality, that is, `I am Pure Consciousness'. However, certain inner

adjustments need to be made within oneself before one can come upon

the state of or contemplation upon the

Reality that is one without a second.

 

One could preserve the precious energy of the mind by using such as

aids as fixing one's intense gaze at the Heart (which is on the right

side of the chest) in the form of a flame of light shining in the

middle of the eight-petalled lotus which is the Self or Brahman. When

such contemplation continues with intense fervour there arises in

time bhaava sunya sadbhaava susthiti

That indeed is the finest moment when the little self or ego finds

its dissolution overwhelmed by the ineffable efflugence of Pure Self,

one's own Being.

 

The scripture also says that the all-pervasive Brahman itself shines

in the Heart with a subtle throb as `I'- `I'. If one enquires whence

this throb and who am I?, one discovers that it is the throb of one's

own Being in the lotus of the Heart. As the meditation progresses,

one becomes aware of oneself and loses the mind completely in the

Self. Even the subtle pulsation ceases. That is the state of samadhi.

However, during these subtle movements into the subtler planes of

consciousness one must guard against the irresistible attack of

sleep.

 

Mano-naasa or destruction of the mind does not mean brain-death. It

only means ego-cide – aham-vritti naasa. When the ego is lost what

really happens is that the thinker, the object of thought and

thinking all merge in the one Source which is consciousness and Bliss

itself. (Main source: Reflections on Upadesa Saaram by M.Bhimasena

Rao).