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

[Guest guest]

All that we know of the external world is actually only the images or

thoughts that our mind is constantly forming within itself. Do we not have

to accept, therefore, that the world that we think we perceive outside

ourself may in fact be nothing other than thoughts that our mind has formed

within itself, just as the worlds that we see in our dreams are? Even if we

are not ready to accept the fact that the world may actually be nothing but

our own thoughts, must we not at least accept the fact that the world as we

know it, and as we ever can know it, is indeed nothing but thoughts?

 

Of all the thoughts that are formed in our mind, the first is the thought

‘I’. Our mind first forms itself as the thought ‘I’, and only then does it

form other thoughts. Without an ‘I’ to think or know them, no other thoughts

could be formed.

 

Hence, though we use the term ‘mind’ as a collective term for both the

thinker and its thoughts, our mind is in essence just the thinker, the basic

thought ‘I’ that thinks all other thoughts. This simple but important truth

is expressed succinctly by Sri Ramana in verse 18 of Upadesa Undiyar:

 

[Our] mind is only [a multitude of] thoughts. Of all [the countless thoughts

that are formed in our mind], the thought ‘I’ alone is the root [base,

foundation or origin]. [Therefore] what is called ‘mind’ is [in essence just

this root thought] ‘I’.

 

Every day in sleep both our body and our soul (our mind or individual

consciousness) disappear, yet we continue to exist, and to know that we

exist. Therefore, since we remain in sleep without either our body or our

soul, neither of these two elements can be our real self. In truth,

therefore, these three elements constitute only our false individual self,

which is a mere illusion, and not our real self.

Our real self, our whole and complete self, does not consist of three

elements, but of only one element, the fundamental and essential element

that we call our ‘spirit’, which is our single non-dual consciousness of our

own being – our true self-consciousness ‘I am’.

 

As Sri Ramana says in verses 17 and 20 of Upadesa Undiyar:

 

When [we] scrutinise the form of [our] mind without forgetfulness

[interruption caused either by sleep or by thinking other thoughts], [we

will discover that] there is no such thing as ‘mind’ [separate from or other

than our fundamental consciousness ‘I am’]. For everyone, this is the direct

path [the direct means to experience true self-knowledge].

 

In the place [the state of clear self-knowledge] where ‘I’ [our mind or

spurious individual consciousness] merges [by thus scrutinising its own

form], the one [real being-consciousness] appears spontaneously as ‘I [am]

I’. That itself is the whole [the unlimited and undivided reality].

 

 

The cause and foundation of all our thoughts is our basic imagination that a

body is ourself, we can destroy all our thoughts only by destroying this

basic imagination, and since this basic imagination is an illusion – a

mistaken knowledge about what we are – we can destroy it only by keenly

scrutinising it in order to discover the reality that underlies it. We

cannot kill an imaginary snake by beating it with a stick, but only by

scrutinising it carefully in order to discover the reality that underlies

it. Likewise, we cannot destroy our imaginary feeling that we are a body by

any means other than keen self-scrutiny or self-attention.

 

When we look carefully at a snake that we imagine we see lying on the ground

in the dim light of night, we will discover that it is not really a snake

but is only a rope. Similarly, when we carefully scrutinise our basic

consciousness ‘I am’, which we now experience as our mind, our limited

consciousness that imagines itself to be a body, we will discover that we

are not really this finite mind or body, but are only the infinite non-dual

consciousness of our own being.

 

Because thinking is tiring, our mind needs to rest and recuperate its energy

every day, which it does by subsiding and remaining for a while in sleep. In

sleep our mind remains subsided temporarily in our own real self – our true

state of self-conscious being – and because our real self is the source of

all power, our mind is able to recharge its energy by remaining for a while

in sleep.

 

The energy or power that impels our mind to think is our desire to do

so. Desire

is the driving force behind all thought and all activity.Unless impelled by

some desire, we do not think or do anything.When we make effort to attend to

our consciousness of being, we do so because of our desire or love for true

self-knowledge.

 

.... To be Continued

 

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Om namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prasanth Jalasutram