[Chaturamnaya] Sri Ramana Gita as a Dialogue - 10

[S Jayanarayanan via Chaturamnaya]

(Continued from previous post)


The Maharshi later contrasted the difference between the pandit and the illiterate
in his "Ulladu Narpadu Anubhandam" to the disadvantage of the latter, thus:

34. For men of little understanding, wife, children and such others, comprise the
family. Know that for the learned, in their mind itself, there is the family of
countless books as an obstacle to yoga.

35. What avails (all) the learning of those 1  who do not seek to wipe out the
letters (from the book of life), 2  by enquiring 'Whence is the birth of us who
know the letters?' They have (verily) acquired the status of a gramophone.
What else are they, tell (me), O Arunachala!

36. It is verily those not learned that are saved rather than those for whom, in spite
of all their learning, the ego has not subsided yet. (For) the unlearned are saved
from the unrelenting grip of the devil of self-infatuation; they are saved from the
malady of a myriad whirling thoughts and words; they are saved from (the travail of)
running after wealth. Know that it is not from one indeed (but from many an ill)
that they are saved.

This ahankara (egoism), or sense of a separate self in one's Self, has to be wrecked
and sunk to the bottom of the bottomless ocean. How? Seek its root, and then you root
it out; enquire into the origin of this separate-seeming entity and it proves unreal.
It has no reality, except as part and parcel of the Unity of the Real. As a result of
your enquiry, the seeming or only apparent 'I' (Atmabhasa) is dissolved (leena) like
the salt-doll. A salt doll made of salt was originally the salt of the ocean.
If immersed in the waters of the ocean it disappears, and what remains is the water
alone.

Numerous other illustrations are given of this truth in the Scriptures. For example,
the individuality of the river water exists only so long as it flows on the riverbed,
but when you trace its origin or its destination, the identity disappears and you
have only water or the ocean as the remaining truth. Similarly, drops of honey retain
their separate individuality only when they are on the tree or flower from which they
are gathered. The individuality of the honey is not discernible in time or space in
the bee's hive or in the vendor's hands.

Similarly, taking the human ahankara (ego) with the body-idea, the same ego has passed
through numerous bodies of various insects, reptiles, quadrupeds and other human forms
before attaching itself to the present particular human body. Ultimately, all these
forms get transformed into the matter of the Universe.

So says Uddalaka Aruni to his son Swetaketu, in the Chandogya Upanishad, after each of
his nine illustrations: तत्त्वमसि श्वेतकेतु (Tat Tvam Asi Svetaketu) 'You (first thought of as a
separate ego) are That! (the one Sat or Brahman), O Svetaketu'. The ego is but an
image of the Atman (Brahman). What remains therefore when the 'I', the separate ego,
is thus dissolved? The pure Atman present in all, everywhere. That is to be realized.
Vide Chandogya Upanishad, 62 Prapatatha, Kanda 8, 9, 10, etc.

Your next query is 'What use is Atma Vichara?' No rational being acts without a
purpose and an object. Everything he does or omits to do is to secure happiness
and avoid pain or sorrow. Now, you have put this question as to the purpose of
Atma Vichara. Why? The making of the enquiry by this very question gives you pleasure.
The soul derives a pleasure in its very existence and in the exercise and resting of
its faculties. The soul is conscious, its nature is thought, learning facts of theories;
its nature is brought into play and it derives pleasure. Even the prospect of pleasure
is pleasure - a sort of reflection. The reflection of the sun in the focus of a lens
placed under solar rays exhibits the properties of light and heat from the sun.
So this image or reflection known as jiva, this ego, is but the image of the great
Brahman's Chaitanya locked up in a small focus of this human lens. It is naturally
drawn by its affinity to its source and realizes supreme bliss in the act of realizing
its nature, its identity with the One Reality.

By this very act, all its sorrows cease (sarvaklesha nivati सर्वक्लेश निवति). This is the fruit of Atma Vichara.
This is mentioned in the true philosophical sense. Joy and pain (sukhaH duHkhaH सुखः दुःखः) are the attributes
of the buddhi (intellect) or the ahankara (ego). When by Atma Vichara you realise you
are not that sheath, where is pleasure or pain for you? Your real nature transcends all
such feelings as pleasure and pain. So the benefit of your Atma Vichara is tangible,
in the fact that you escape from all the ills and sorrows of life. What more can
man desire? 


(To be continued)
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