Part 1 - Michael James about Happiness And The Art Of Being based on teachings of Ramana Maharshi

[Guest guest]

Some other spiritual practices do force our mind to subside, but such

subsidence is only temporary, because it is not accompanied by clear

self-attentiveness. Therefore in the eighth paragraph of Nan Yar? Sri Ramana

says:

 

To make the mind subside [permanently], there are no adequate means other

than vichara [investigation, that is, the art of selfattentive being]. If

restrained by other means, the mind will remain as if subsided, [but] will

emerge again. Even by pranayama [breath-restraint], the mind will subside;

however,[though] the mind remains subsided so long as the breath remains

subsided, when the breath emerges [or becomes manifest] it will also emerge

and wander under the sway of [its] vasanas [inclinations, impulses or

desires]. The birthplace both of the mind and of the prana [the breath or

life-force] is one.Thought alone is the svarupa [the ‘own form’] of the

mind. The thought ‘I’ alone is the first [or basic] thought of the mind; it

alone is the ego. From where the ego arises, from there alone the breath

also arises. Therefore when the mind subsides the prana also [subsides],

[and] when the prana subsides the mind also subsides.However in sleep, even

though the mind has subsided, the breath does not subside. It is arranged

thus by the ordinance of God for the purpose of protecting the body, and so

that other people do not wonder whether that body has died. When the mind

subsides in waking and in samadhi [any of the various types of mental

absorption that result from yogic or other forms of spiritual practice], the

prana subsides. The prana is said to be the gross form of the mind. Until

the time of death the mind keeps the prana in the body, and at the moment

the body dies it [the mind] grabs and takes it [the prana] away.Therefore

pranayama is just an aid to restrain the mind, but will not bring about

mano-nasa [the annihilation of the mind].

 

Like pranayama, all other forms of spiritual practice except the art of

self-attentive being are merely aids which enable us to restrain our mind

temporarily, but which cannot by themselves enable us to destroy it. We can

effectively destroy our mind only by remaining in our natural state of

perfectly clear self-attentive being, and by no other means whatsoever.

 

This truth, which was explicitly stated by Sri Ramana in the first two

sentences of the eighth paragraph of Nan Yar?, is further emphasised by him

with some more examples in the ninth paragraph:

 

Just like pranayama, murti-dhyana [meditation upon a form of God],

mantra-japa [repetition of sacred words such as a name of God] and

ahara-niyama [restriction of diet, particularly the restriction of consuming

only vegetarian food] are [just] aids that restrain the mind [but will not

bring about its annihilation].By both murti-dhyana and mantra-japa the mind

gains onepointedness [or concentration]. Just as, if [someone] gives a chain

in the trunk of an elephant, which is always moving [swinging about trying

to catch hold of something or other],that elephant will proceed holding it

fast without [grabbing and] holding fast anything else, so indeed the mind,

which is always moving [wandering about thinking of something or other],

will, if trained in [the practice of thinking of] any one [particular] name

or form [of God], remain holding it fast [without thinking unnecessary

thoughts about anything else]. Because the mind spreads out [scattering its

energy] as innumerable thoughts, each thought becomes extremely weak. For

the mind which has gained one-pointedness when thoughts shrink and shrink

[that is, which has gained one-pointedness due to the progressive reduction

of its thoughts] and which has thereby gained strength, atma-vichara

[self-investigation, which is the art of self-attentive being] will be

easily accomplished. By mita sattvika ahara-niyama [the restraint of

consuming only a moderate quantity of pure or sattvika food], which is the

best among all restrictions, the sattva-guna [the quality of calmness,

clarity or ‘being-ness’] of the mind will increase and [thereby] help will

arise for self-investigation.

 

The quantity and quality of the food we should consume is described by Sri

Ramana as mita and sattvika. The word mita refers to the quantity of food we

should consume, and means measured, limited, frugal or moderate. The word

sattvika refers to the quality of food we should consume, and basically

means pure and wholesome, or more precisely, endowed with the quality known

as sattva, which literally means being-ness, ‘is’-ness, essence or reality,

and which by extension means calmness, clarity, purity, wisdom, goodness and

virtue. The restriction or niyama of eating only sattvika food means

abstaining from all types of non-sattvika food, which includes all meat,

fish and eggs, all intoxicants such as alcohol and tobacco, and all other

substances that excite passions or dull the clarity of our mind in any way.

 

Since one of the important principles underlying the observance of consuming

only sattvika food is ahimsa, the compassionate principle of ‘non-harming’

or avoidance of causing suffering to any living being, any food whose

production involves or is associated with the suffering of any human being

or other creature must be considered as being not sattvika. In our

present-day circumstances,therefore, the only food that can truly be

considered as being sattvika is that which is organically produced, fairly

traded and above all vegan.

 

This process of destroying our vasanas as soon as they rise in the form of

thoughts is described by Sri Ramana in more detail in the tenth and eleventh

paragraphs of Nan Yar?. In the tenth paragraph he says:

 

Even though vishaya-vasanas [our latent impulsions or desires to attend to

things other than ourself], which come from time immemorial, rise [as

thoughts] in countless numbers like oceanwaves,they will all be destroyed

when svarupa-dhyana [selfattentiveness] increases and increases. Without

giving room to the doubting thought, ‘Is it possible to dissolve so many

vasanas and be [or remain] only as self?’, [we] should cling tenaciously to

self-attentiveness. However great a sinner a person may be, if instead of

lamenting and weeping, ‘I am a sinner! How am I going to be saved?’, [he]

completely rejects the thought that he is a sinner and is zealous [or

steadfast] in self-attentiveness, he will certainly be reformed [or

transformed into the true ‘form’ of thought-free self-conscious being].

 

In the eleventh paragraph of Nan Yar? Sri Ramana goes on to explain more

about how the practice of self-attentive being enables us to destroy all our

vasanas or latent desires to experience things other than ourself:

 

As long as vishaya-vasanas [latent impulsions or desires to attend to

anything other than ourself] exist in [our] mind, so long the investigation

‘who am I?’ is necessary. As and when thoughts arise, then and there it is

necessary [for us] to annihilate them all by investigation [keen and

vigilant selfattentiveness] in the very place from which they arise. Being

[abiding or remaining] without attending to [anything] other [than ourself]

is vairagya [dispassion] or nirasa [desirelessness]; being [abiding or

remaining] without leaving [separating from or letting go of our real] self

is jñana [knowledge]. In truth [these] two [desirelessness and true

knowledge] are only one. Just as a pearl-diver, tying a stone to his waist

and submerging, picks up a pearl which lies in the ocean, so each person,

submerging [beneath the surface activity of their mind] and sinking [deep]

within themself with vairagya [freedom from desire or passion for anything

other than being],can attain the pearl of self. If one clings fast to

uninterrupted svarupa-smarana [self-remembrance] until one attains svarupa

[one’s own essential self], that alone [will be] sufficient. So long as

enemies are within the fort, they will continue coming out from it. If [we]

continue destroying [or cutting down] all of them as and when they come, the

fort will [eventually] come into [our] possession.

 

.... To Be Contiuned

 

--

Om namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prasanth Jalasutram