Ramana Maharishi

[Guest guest]

A youngster was pursuing study in the scientific

discipline in college.

He would attend lectures in science given by eminent

scientists such as Sir C. V. Raman. He was convinced

that a career in scientific research would provide

fulfilment in his life. On the eve of graduation

with a Bachelor of Science degree, he wanted to visit

a few places before returning to his hometown.

 

He happened to think of Tiruvannamalai, a town where

his father used to frequently visit Sri Ramanasramam.

Having never seen a Sage in person, an urge to visit

the Sage's Ashram arose in him. After arriving in

Tiruvannamalai and entering the Ashram, he obtained

the Maharshi's darshan. This Sage he saw did not

appear like the one he had seen in the movies. The

Sage was wearing koupinam and appeared to be an

ordinary person. The youngster bowed down before the

Sage and sat in the hall in front of him. Maharshi was

seated and remained silent. There were many people

present in the hall, but the hall was quiet.

 

 

Some time passed in this manner. After a while, the

youngster was unable to continue sitting in a quiet

manner. He did not know what to speak to the Maharshi.

Fortunately, there were a few books near Maharshi. He

picked up one of them and began to read. It was an

English translation of Ulladu Narpadu with

explanations.

 

 

In that book, concepts such as " Being is One, " " The

world is unreal, " were enunciated. But the youngster

could not understand them. At that time, his knowledge

was confined to science. He could not help feeling

confused in the following line of thoughts: " Why

should God create me? Where was I? Where will I be?

Why should I remain here? Is all that I see false? I

do know the presence of objects using my five senses.

Don't I see the Maharshi sitting in front of me? " He

could not read the book anymore. He fell into a

contemplative mood. Just at that time, the Maharshi

addressed the youngster thus: " What is the doubt? " The

youngster raised his head and said, " There is a human

figure on the sofa. There is one on the floor. Upon

looking with my eyes, I perceive these two very

clearly. But you say that in Reality there is only

One. How can that be true? " Maharshi smiled and kept

quiet for a little while. After the passing of a few

minutes, he replied to the youngster's question and sa

id, " You must be used to performing experiments in

your laboratory. Let us say that you are examining an

object. The amount of detail you see depends on the

quality of the instrument you use to examine the

object; the more detail your instrument shows, the

more you know about the object. Even in the presence

of such a fine instrument, if your eyesight is poor

you will know very little about the object. If your

eyesight is good and if the brain is not normal, the

object's true nature is not known to you. Similarly,

if your brain is fine but if your mind does not pay

attention to what you are observing, the less you will

know about the object. In summary, the amount you know

about an object is dependent on an entity called mind.

 

What is mind? It is thoughts. All the thoughts spring

up from a single thought. This single thought forms

the source of all the other thoughts comprising the

mind. This thought is the I-am-this-body thought.

Without such a thought, the other thoughts that

identify various external objects and cause the body

to be identified separately from the external objects

cannot occur. In deep sleep, devoid of I-am-the-body

thought, this alienation of external objects does not

happen; further, there are no other thoughts in that

state.

 

Upon waking up, the first thought to occur is the

I-am-this-body thought. There are two components in

this thought. One component is body and the other

component is I. The body is of transient nature; it is

subject to change and it depends on external factors

for its

existence, such as food. But the nature of 'I' is

opposite from that of the body. What exists in truth

should be existing always.

 

The body does not exist all the time, so that is not

the truth. The 'I' exists in all states including

waking, dream sleep and deep sleep. Hence 'I' is the

truth; body is untrue.

 

 

Both of these combined cannot exist as one entity that

is true. How will night and day, light and darkness

coexist? When there is light, there is no darkness;

when there is darkness, there is no light. Similarly,

there is no entity that has as its basis the

coexistence of 'I' and body. So the I-am-the-body

thought has no basis in truth. If we examine the world

with this untrue thought as the basis, how could we

learn the Truth? " .

 

 

At that moment, he felt that the foundation of his

knowledge being shaken up and his conviction in

scientific pursuit providing the ultimate fulfilment

suddenly disappeared. Further, the Maharshi said that

one can realize the truth about the world after

knowing the Truth about oneself. He spoke about

Self-Enquiry as the means to knowing Oneself.

 

 

The upadesa the youngster received changed his mental

attitude and, subsequently, his daily activities. The

youngster pursued life in the same environment he had

before. But he looked for life's fulfilment in the

spiritual path, blessed by the Maharshi. He took up

graduate studies and further undertook a career in

teaching. However, he had no desire to achieve fame

anymore. He felt that the Grace of Maharshi allowed

him to lead a harmonious life.

 

 

 

 

 

Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax

http://taxes./