if aham is known, the whole is known

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The Teachings of BhagavanSri Ramana Maharshiin His Own WordsCHAPTER ONEGODBrahman is not to be seen or known. It is beyond thethree fold relationship of seer, sight and seen, or knower,knowledge and known. The Reality remains ever as it is. Theexistence of ignorance or the world is due to our illusion. Neitherknowledge nor ignorance is real; what lies beyond them, asbeyond all other pairs of opposites, is the Reality. It is neitherlight nor darkness but beyond both, though we sometimes speakof it as light and of ignorance as its shadow. 1When there was genuine search for understanding, Bhagavanwould explain in some details, always leading the seeker backto the doctrine of the One Self.Mr. Thompson, a very quiet young gentleman who hasbeen staying in India for some years and studying Hinduphilosophy as an earnest student, asked: Srimad Bhagavad Gitasays: `I am the prop for Brahman'. In another place it says: `Iam in the Heart of each one'. Thus the different aspects of theUltimate Principle are revealed. I take it that there are threeaspects, namely: (1) the transcendental, (2) the immanent, and(3) the cosmic. Is Realisation to be in any of these or in all ofthem? Coming to the transcendental from the cosmic, Vedantadiscards the names and forms as being maya. Again Vedantaalso says that the whole is Brahman, as illustrated by gold andornaments of gold. How are we to understand the truth?Bhagavan: The Gita says: Brahmano hi pratishtaham. If that ahamis known, the whole is known.Devotee: That is the immanent aspect only.B.: You now think that you are an individual; outside youthere is the universe and beyond the universe is God. So thereis the idea of separateness. The idea must go. For God is notseparate from you or the cosmos. The Gita also says:`I am the Self, O Gudakesa, seated in the heart of all beings;I am the beginning and the middle and also the end of all beings.' 2Thus God is not only in the heart of all, He is the prop ofall. He is the source of all, their abiding place and their end. Allproceed from Him, have their stay in Him, and finally resolveinto Him. Therefore He is not separate.1 Day by Day with Bhagavan by A. Devaraja Mudaliar (5th Edition, 2002), p. 250.2 Bhagavad Gita: X., 20.