Who Am I? - (Nan Yar?) The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

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“Who am I?” is the title given to a set of questions and answers bearing on

Self-enquiry. The questions were put to Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi by one

Sri M. Sivaprakasam Pillai about the year 1902. Sri Pillai, a graduate in

Philosophy, was at the time employed in the Revenue Department of the South

Arcot Collectorate. During his visit to Tiruvannamalai in 1902 on official

work, he went to Virupaksha Cave on Arunachala Hill and met the Master

there. He sought from him spiritual guidance, and solicited answers to

questions relating to Self-enquiry. As Bhagavan was not talking then, not

because of any vow he had taken, but because he did not have the inclination

to talk, he answered the questions put to him by gestures, and when these

were not understood, by writing. As recollected and recorded by Sri

Sivaprakasam Pillai, there were fourteen questions with answers to them

given by Bhagavan. This record was first published by Sri Pillai in 1923,

along with a couple of poems composed by himself relating how Bhagavan’s

grace operated in his case by dispelling his doubts and by saving him from a

crisis in life. ‘Who am I?’ has been published several times subsequently.

We find thirty questions and answers in some editions and twenty-eight in

others. There is also another published version in which the

questions are not given, and the teachings are rearranged in the form of an

essay. The extant English translation is of this essay. The present

rendering is of the text in the form of twenty-eight questions and answers.

 

1. Who am I ?

 

The gross body which is composed of the seven humours (dhatus), I am not;

the five cognitive sense organs, viz. the senses of hearing, touch, sight,

taste, and smell, which apprehend their respective objects, viz. sound,

touch, colour, taste, and odour, I am not; the five cognitive

senseorgans,viz. the organs of speech, locomotion, grasping, excretion, and

procreation, which have as their respective functions speaking, moving,

grasping, excreting, and enjoying, I am not; the five

vital airs, prana, etc., which perform respectively the five functions of

in-breathing, etc., I am not;even the mind which thinks, I am not; the

nescience too, which is endowed only with the residual impressions of

objects, and in which there are no objects and no functioning’s, I am not.

 

2. If I am none of these, then who am I?

 

After negating all of the above-mentioned as ‘not this’, ‘not this’, that

Awareness which alone remains - that I am.

 

3. What is the nature of Awareness?

 

The nature of Awareness is existence-consciousness-bliss

 

4. When will the realization of the Self be gained?

 

When the world which is what-is-seen has been removed, there will be

realization of the Self which is the seer.

 

5. Will there not be realization of the Self even while the world is there

(taken as real)?

 

There will not be.

 

6. Why?

 

The seer and the object seen are like the rope and the snake. Just as the

knowledge of the rope which is the substrate will not arise unless the false

knowledge of the illusory serpent goes, so the realization of the Self which

is the substrate will not be gained unless the belief that the world is real

is removed.

 

7. When will the world which is the object seen be removed?

When the mind, which is the cause of all cognition’s and of all actions,

becomes quiescent, the world will disappear.

 

8. What is the nature of the mind?

 

What is called ‘mind’ is a wondrous power residing in the Self. It causes

all thoughts to arise.Apart from thoughts, there is no such thing as mind.

Therefore, thought is the nature of mind. Apart from thoughts, there is no

independent entity called the world. In deep sleep there are no thoughts,and

there is no world. In the states of waking and dream, there are thoughts,

and there is a world also. Just as the spider emits the thread (of the web)

out of itself and again withdraws it into itself,likewise the mind projects

the world out of itself and again resolves it into itself. When the mind

comes out of the Self, the world appears. Therefore, when the world appears

(to be real), the Self does not appear; and when the Self appears (shines)

the world does not appear. When one persistently inquires into the nature of

the mind, the mind will end leaving the Self (as the residue).What is

referred to as the Self is the Atman. The mind always exists only in

dependence on something gross; it cannot stay alone. It is the mind that is

called the subtle body or the soul (jiva).

 

9. What is the path of inquiry for understanding the nature of the mind?

 

That which rises as ‘I’ in this body is the mind. If one inquires as to

where in the body the thought ‘I’ rises first, one would discover that it

rises in the heart. That is the place of the mind’s origin.Even if one

thinks constantly ‘I’ ‘I’, one will be led to that place. Of all the

thoughts that arise in the mind, the ‘I’ thought is the first. It is only

after the rise of this that the other thoughts arise. It is after the

appearance of the first personal pronoun that the second and third personal

pronouns appear; without the first personal pronoun there will not be the

second and third.

 

10. How will the mind become quiescent?

 

By the inquiry ‘Who am I?’. The thought ‘who am I?’ will destroy all other

thoughts, and like the stick used for stirring the burning pyre, it will

itself in the end get destroyed. Then, there will arise Self-realization.

 

11. What is the means for constantly holding on to the thought ‘Who am I?’

 

When other thoughts arise, one should not pursue them, but should inquire:

‘To whom do they arise?’ It does not matter how many thoughts arise. As each

thought arises, one should inquire with diligence, “To whom has this thought

arisen?”. The answer that would emerge would be “To me”. Thereupon if one

inquires “Who am I?”, the mind will go back to its source; and the thought

that arose will become quiescent. With repeated practice in this manner, the

mind will develop the skill to stay in its source. When the mind that is

subtle goes out through the brain and the senseorgans,the gross names and

forms appear; when it stays in the heart, the names and forms disappear.

 

Not letting the mind go out, but retaining it in the Heart is what is called

“inwardness” (antarmukha).Letting the mind go out of the Heart is known as

“externalisation” (bahir-mukha). Thus,when the mind stays in the Heart, the

‘I’ which is the source of all thoughts will go, and the Self inauspicious.

When the mind is under the influence of auspicious impressions it is called

good; and when it is under the influence of inauspicious impressions it is

regarded as evil.

 

The mind should not be allowed to wander towards worldly objects and what

concerns other people. However bad other people may be, one should bear no

hatred for them. Both desire and hatred should be eschewed. All that one

gives to others one gives to one’s self. If this truth is understood who

will not give to others? When one’s self arises all arises; when one’s self

becomes quiescent all becomes quiescent. To the extent we behave with

humility, to that extent there will result good. If the mind is rendered

quiescent, one may live anywhere.

 

15. How long should inquiry be practised?

 

As long as there are impressions of objects in the mind, so long the inquiry

“Who am I?” is required. As thoughts arise they should be destroyed then and

there in the very place of their origin, through inquiry. If one resorts to

contemplation of the Self unintermittently, until the Self is gained, that

alone would do. As long as there are enemies within the fortress, they will

continue to sally forth; if they are destroyed as they emerge, the fortress

will fall into our hands.

 

16. What is the nature of the Self?

 

What exists in truth is the Self alone. The world, the individual soul, and

God are appearances in it. like silver in mother-of-pearl, these three

appear at the same time, and disappear at the same time. The Self is that

where there is absolutely no “I” thought. That is called “Silence”. The Self

itself is the world; the Self itself is “I”; the Self itself is God; all is

Siva, the Self.

 

17. Is not everything the work of God?

 

Without desire, resolve, or effort, the sun rises; and in its mere presence,

the sun-stone emits fire,the lotus blooms, water evaporates; people perform

their various functions and then rest. Just as in the presence of the magnet

the needle moves, it is by virtue of the mere presence of God that the souls

governed by the three (cosmic) functions or the fivefold divine activity

perform their actions and then rest, in accordance with their respective

karmas. God has no resolve; no karma attaches itself to Him. That is like

worldly actions not affecting the sun, or like the merits and demerits of

the other four elements not affecting all pervading space.

 

18. Of the devotees, who is the greatest?

 

He who gives himself up to the Self that is God is the most excellent

devotee. Giving one’s self up to God means remaining constantly in the Self

without giving room for the rise of any thoughts other than that of the

Self. Whatever burdens are thrown on God, He bears them. Since the supreme

power of God makes all things move, why should we, without submitting

ourselves to it, constantly worry ourselves with thoughts as to what should

be done and how, and what should not be done and how not? We know that the

train carries all loads, so after getting on it why should we carry our

small

luggage on our head to our discomfort, instead of putting it down in the

train and feeling at ease?

 

19. What is non-attachment?

 

As thoughts arise, destroying them utterly without any residue in the very

place of their origin is non-attachment. Just as the pearl-diver ties a

stone to his waist, sinks to the bottom of the sea and there takes the

pearls, so each one of us should be endowed with non-attachment, dive within

oneself and obtain the Self-Pearl.

 

20. Is it not possible for God and the Guru to effect the release of a soul?

 

God and the Guru will only show the way to release; they will not by

themselves take the soul to the state of release. In truth, God and the Guru

are not different. Just as the prey which has fallen into the jaws of a

tiger has no escape, so those who have come within the ambit of the Guru’s

gracious look will be saved by the Guru and will not get lost; yet, each one

should by his own effort pursue the path shown by God or Guru and gain

release. One can know oneself only with one’s own eye of knowledge, and not

with somebody else’s. Does he who is Rama require the help of a mirror to

know that he is Rama?

 

21. Is it necessary for one who longs for release to inquire into the nature

of categories (tattvas)?

 

Just as one who wants to throw away garbage has no need to analyse it and

see what it is, so one who wants to know the Self has no need to count the

number of categories or inquire into their characteristics; what he has to

do is to reject altogether the categories that hide the Self. The world

should be considered like a dream.

 

22. Is there no difference between waking and dream?

 

Waking is long and a dream short; other than this there is no difference.

Just as waking happenings seem real while awake. so do those in a dream

while dreaming. In dream the mind takes on another body. In both waking and

dream states thoughts. names and forms occur simultaneously.

 

23. Is it any use reading books for those who long for release?

 

All the texts say that in order to gain release one should render the mind

quiescent; therefore their conclusive teaching is that the mind should be

rendered quiescent; once this has been understood there is no need for

endless reading. In order to quieten the mind one has only to inquire within

oneself what one’s Self is; how could this search be done in books? One

should know one’s Self with one’s own eye of wisdom. The Self is within the

five sheaths; but books are outside them.Since the Self has to be inquired

into by discarding the five sheaths, it is futile to search for it in books.

There will come a time when one will have to forget all that one has

learned.

 

24. What is happiness?

 

Happiness is the very nature of the Self; happiness and the Self are not

different. There is no happiness in any object of the world. We imagine

through our ignorance that we derive happiness from objects. When the mind

goes out, it experiences misery. In truth, when its desires are fulfilled,it

returns to its own place and enjoys the happiness that is the Self.

Similarly, in the states of sleep,samadhi and fainting, and when the object

desired is obtained or the object disliked is removed,the mind becomes

inward-turned, and enjoys pure Self-Happiness. Thus the mind moves without

rest alternately going out of the Self and returning to it. Under the tree

the shade is pleasant; out in the open the heat is scorching. A person who

has been going about in the sun feels cool when he reaches the shade.

Someone who keeps on going from the shade into the sun and then back into

the shade is a fool. A wise man stays permanently in the shade. Similarly,

the mind of the one who knows the truth does not leave Brahman. The mind of

the ignorant, on the contrary, revolves in the world, feeling miserable, and

for a little time returns to Brahman to experience happiness. In fact,what

is called the world is only thought. When the world disappears, i.e. when

there is no thought,the mind experiences happiness; and when the world

appears, it goes through misery.

 

25. What is wisdom-insight (jnana-drsti)?

 

Remaining quiet is what is called wisdom-insight. To remain quiet is to

resolve the mind in the Self. Telepathy, knowing past, present and future

happenings and clairvoyance do not constitute wisdom-insight.

 

26. What is the relation between desirelessness and wisdom?

 

Desirelessness is wisdom. The two are not different; they are the same.

Desirelessness is refraining from turning the mind towards any object.

Wisdom means the appearance of no object. In other words, not seeking what

is other than the Self is detachment or desirelessness; not leaving the Self

is wisdom.

 

27. What is the difference between inquiry and meditation?

 

Inquiry consists in retaining the mind in the Self. Meditation consists in

thinking that one’s self is Brahman, existence-consciousness-bliss.

 

28. What is release?

 

Inquiring into the nature of one’s self that is in bondage, and realising

one’s true nature is release.

 

--

Om namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prasanth Jalasutram