[Advaita-l] Ramana Yoga Sutras (8)

[S Jayanarayanan]

(Continued from previous post)
 
http://www.arunachala.org/newsletters/2011/sep-oct
 
VI. ““majjata va”” By dipping in
 
1. In the previous aphorisms, Bhagavan advocated the
discipline of moving away from name and form which, if
they exist, form an obstacle on the path. In this aphorism,
the discipline taught is a unique one because it takes the
very name and form used to denote the Divinity as steps to
the realization of the ultimate Divine, the Atman. For, as it is
said in ““Ulladu Narpadu”,” ““By whatever name or form you
worship, or in whatever way you worship, the worship will
lead you to That which has no name or form.””
 
2. A name is but an idea; it reminds you of a quality
(guna), or of an action (kriya), of a genesis (jati) or of a
symbol having a particular significance. At least that is so in
Sanskrit. If we say ‘‘Siva’’, it means ‘‘good to the universe’’.
So in that word ‘‘Siva’’ an attribute is described. If we say
‘‘Vishnu’’, that means ‘‘One who is omnipresent’’. Being
everywhere is an action. If we say ‘the ‘Formless’’, we indicate
the genesis of a form. And if in Mantra Sastra we say ‘‘A’’,
we are using the symbol for the Creator. Therefore, the use
of all the different languages means the use of different ideas.
The basis of all languages is sound and the different
manifestations of sound are in the letters. Sound is the basis
of all creation. ““In the beginning there was the Word,”” says
the Bible. The Word could not have existed without an idea.
The Word should have been comprised of different
deflections of sound; and it was the Word out of which the
world arose.
 
3. The worship of the Divine through words or ideas
generally means recitation of the names of the Lord with the
help of hymns, songs, a stuti or mantra, the combination of
words of mystical import.
 
In this aphorism Bhagavan advocates sticking to the
name or a mantra. He says in ““Upadesa Saram””: ““Japa of
mantras is better than hymnal praise; and the mental
repetition of the mantra or the Name is more effective
than the oral utterance or whisper”.” And then he explains,
““If you continue sticking to the sound or the idea there will
come a stage when there will be only a sound,
undifferentiated even into various letters.”” As you go
deeper and deeper, even the sound dissolves, and that
process he calls ‘‘dipping in’’.
 
4. There is a link between this ‘‘‘dipping in’’ and the
previous path advocated, that of Self-enquiry. When you
repeat a name or mantra, Bhagavan says that you should
watch the source of the sound or the one that produces
the sound, that being the Atman alone. You have to follow
the sound to the Atman. This is a finer point of Atma vichara.
That is what he taught to Ganapati Muni. Here we find the
reconciliation between Mantra Sastra and Vedanta.
 
5. As with the name, the process of ‘‘‘dipping in’’’ can
be carried on with the help of a form. The most popular
form taken up is that of an idol, an icon, a symbol like a
swastika, a yantra, like the six-pointed star, or a chakra in
the form of a Sri Chakra. Hold on to any of these forms.
Remember them every minute of your life. The form
disappears. There will be a light—not of this earth. It will
be the Divine Light and that Light will disappear into the
sunya, or the void, the ‘‘hrid’’ (Centre). In technical language,
the name is defined as nada and the final form of the form
is the kala. Both disappear into the bindu, the vast void,
wherein take place these phenomena, or creation. In this
method we see clearly that thoughts are only thoughts,
forms are only thought forms. There is no effort to reach
their source, the source is reached automatically. Negate
all thoughts of name and form except those which you
have adopted. With this as your aid, dip in or slip into
your Self. Reject every other idea. At the source of
creation, you are– you, being the Atman.
 
6. All sadhanas advocated in all the religions are
included in the process of ‘‘‘dipping in’’. Clinging to a name
or form is bhakti. Worshipping a form or name is karma.
Knowing a form or name and its significance is jnana.
Keeping your attention fixed on a name or form to the
exclusion of all others is raja yoga. All the religions of the
world have their basis in this: clinging to the One and
‘‘‘dipping in’’’. All meet in this Ramana doctrine. This is the
method he has advocated in the previous aphorism as the
real Vichara. In ““Ulladu Narpadu””, he says: ““Do not utter
‘‘I-I’’ aloud; collect all your prana and dip into That. That
is the real Atma-Vichara.”
 
7. It may be interesting to note that the idea that
sound, being the subtlest medium through which we can
dip into the Atman, is also the opinion held by our great
musician Thyagaraja. He says that without knowledge of
music, the art of utilizing sound, and without knowledge
of the sound in the muladhara (sound as a concept), one
can never attain liberation. He followed the bhakti marga
and his practice was also ‘‘‘‘dipping in’’’, into the music, and
merging with the primal sound. He also used the technique
of yoga, by the control of the movement of prana through
the various channels and through the sahasrara.
 
VII. ““sakshat bhati”” Directly experienced
 
1. In aphorism five, nirgunopasana or the worship of
Brahman without attributes is advocated. In aphorism six,
the way of saguna Brahman upasana is explained. In this
aphorism, Bhagavan tells us that the fruition of all spritual
endeavour lies in the direct experience of the Atman.
 
2. There are two kinds of experiences, one is mediate,
the other immediate. When we perceive by means of the
eye and know a thing it is mediate experience. When
suddenly a thought flashes intuitively in the mind, it is
immediate experience. The experience of Brahman can
only be immediate, and unlike conventual experiences
which imply the triad of experiencer, experienced and
experience, this experience of the Atman is a direct and
immediate. Bhagavan used to add: ““Think of a person
going down into a well in search of some lost article. He
sees it and takes it but is unable to communicate this to
the people outside the well itself. Similarly, a man having
the experience of the Atman (in samadhi) is unable to
speak of it when he is in samadhi. Unlike the first case
(mediate experience), in the second, even after he returns
to normal consciousness, he cannot actually reveal his
experience in words, for words only come after the
appearance of phenomena, and in Brahman there is no
phenomenon.”
 
(Continued in next post)