Michael James about nature of reality based on teachings of Ramana Maharshi - Part1

[Guest guest]

That which appears at one time will inevitably disappear at some other time.

Since it is not real either before it appears or after it disappears, it is

in truth not real even when it appears to be real. Its seeming reality is

only a transitory appearance or apparition, and is therefore not absolutely

true. That which appears at one time and disappears at another time merely

appears to exist, but does not really exist. That which really exists, that

which really is, must be at all times. Hence all temporal forms of existence

are mere appearances, and are therefore not real.

 

We cannot attain such happiness from anything that is impermanent,

imperfect, changeable, relative, conditional and dependent, and therefore we

can never be truly satisfied with any such thing. Something that is

relatively real can give only relative happiness, andonly that which is

absolutely real can give absolute happiness.

 

When we say that our mind, our body and this world, and the God who is

believed to have created all these things, are all unreal, we do not mean to

deny the fact that they are real in a relative sense. What we mean to say is

that they are not absolutely real – permanently, immutably, unconditionally

and independently real. They are all transitory appearances that are

conceived or perceived by our own mind, and hence their apparent reality

depends upon our mind,which is itself impermanent and ever changing.

 

Thus we have established the fact that our fundamental and essential

consciousness ‘I am’ is the absolute reality, and that it is also the

infinite fullness of being. However, it is not only absolute consciousness

and absolute being, but is also absolute happiness.

 

We experience unhappiness only in the states of waking and dream, in which

our mind has risen and is active, but in the state of deep sleep we

experience no such thing. In sleep we only experience happiness, and while

we experience that happiness it is not relative to any other thing. Though

it appears to come to an end when we wake up, the happiness that we

experience in sleep does not actually cease to exist but is merely obscured

when our mind rises.

 

Many people feel confused and frightened when they are first told that their

mind is not real, and that the world perceived by their mind and the God in

whom their mind believes are both as unreal as their mind. Though this truth

may at first appear to be very daunting and unpalatable, and for many people

therefore quite unacceptable, it is not actually as terrible or as

unpalatable as it may appear to be.

“If this world is unreal, like a dream, why should I not behave in any way I

wish? In an unreal world, what need is there for ethics or morality? If all

other people are just figments of my imagination,like the people I saw in a

dream, why should I care for their feelings,and why should I feel compassion

when I see them suffering? If this world is just a dream, why should I not

just enjoy it to my heart’s content, unmindful of any suffering that I may

thereby appear to cause to other people? Even if I cannot bring myself to

behave in such a heartless and uncaring manner, if everyone is told that

this world is just a dream, will not many of them begin to behave in such a

manner?”.

 

Questions such as these arise in the minds of some people when they first

come to know that sages such as Sri Ramana have taught that our life in this

world is just a dream, and some people even remark that this is potentially

a very dangerous philosophy, because it could induce people to act

irresponsibly. However these questions are all based upon a basic

misunderstanding of the truth taught by Sri Ramana and other sages. When

they say that this world and everything else that we know, except our basic

self-consciousness ‘I am’, is unreal, they mean only that none of these

things are absolutely real, and they do not mean to deny the relative

reality of anything.

 

The world we perceive, and the God we believe in, are both as real as our

mind. So long as we feel ourself to be real as an individual, the world and

God are also equally real, as are all our actions and their consequences.

The other people and creatures that we see in this world are as real as our

mind, which sees them, and hence their feelings – their happiness and their

sufferings – are all as

real as our own feelings.

 

If our actions cause harm to any other sentient being, we will have to

suffer the consequences of those actions, because the consequences we

experience are as real as the actions that we do. The laws of karma – which

include the fact that we must sooner or later experience the consequences of

each of our actions, whether good or bad, and the fact that the appropriate

time, place and manner in which we must experience those consequences are

all ordained by God in such a way that we gradually develop spiritual

maturity – are all real so long as we mistake ourself to be real as an agent

or ‘doer’ of action, and as the one who experiences the ‘fruit’ or

consequences of action.

 

As Sri Ramana says in verse 38 of Ulladu Narpadu:

 

If we are the doer of action, we will experience the resulting fruit [the

consequences of our actions]. When [we] know ourself [by] having

investigated ‘who is the doer of action?’, kartritva [our sense of doership,

our feeling ‘I am doing action’] will depart and the three karmas will slip

off [vanish or cease to exist]. [This state devoid of all actions or karmas

is] the state of liberation, which is eternal.

 

.... To Be Continued

 

--

Om namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prasanth Jalasutram