[Chaturamnaya] Sri Ramana Gita as a Dialogue - 11

[S Jayanarayanan via Chaturamnaya]

(Continued from previous post)


http://www.arunachala.org/newsletters/2010/jul-aug.pdf
http://www.arunachala.org/newsletters/2010/jul-aug


Chapter VII

Self-Enquiry, Competence and Constituents

Referring to this discourse, the Maharshi was requested years later by some disciples
to make the matter clear as to what is meant by सर्वक्लेश निवति (removal of all sorrow):

Disciple: Does the Maharshi mean that, as a result of Realisation, there is a feeling of
positive pleasure, similar to our pleasures now experienced, or is it a mere colourless
negation of pain and pleasure that you refer to by that phrase? All pleasure is known to
us only by our knowledge of the contrasted state of pain; and hence, no pleasure is
experienced if the pain-idea is not also experienced or remembered to make the
pleasure-idea clear to the experiencer at the time of the experience.

Maharshi: You are right in drawing a distinction between the pleasure experienced in the
waking state and that referred to in the expression 'Bliss of the Self',
Sat-Chit-Anandam. You find reference to this distinction frequently in books on this
subject, as well as in your own experience.

Disciple: Pray, in what books do we find this distinction discussed?

Maharshi: See the Panchadasi and the Tamil Kaivalyam, Chap. II, v. 116. Also see
Vedanta Chudamani, reference to Ashta Vidanantam (eight pleasures) as being 'poli'
(false) — reflections or mere appearances or illusory bliss, and Sat-Chit-Anandam or
Swarupananda as the Real bliss. It is however preferable to avoid the use of the term
'positive' by referring to the former, and to use the term 'relative' for the former,
and 'Absolute' for the latter. In the latter, Bliss is itself Sat, itself Chit,
itself Anandam – the Three, being different names or aspects of the one Reality,
the Absolute. The bliss enjoyed in deep sleep is referred to as one of the eight
poli anandam, illusory pleasures, in the book Vedanta Chudamani.

K.V.'s Question: Does Maharshi also apply this सर्वक्लेश निवति (i.e., destruction of all sorrow)
as a result of Atma Vichara, in the field of suggestive therapeutics, e.g., in cases
of illness (as in William James' Varieties of Religious Experience, page 104) and
in the practical affairs of daily life to overcome the various painful experiences
met with?

Maharshi: Yes. The truth of the Self is one. Its applications are many. Sugar is one.
The clever cook or lady of the house embodies it and presents it in the shape of payasam,
halva, athirasam, jilebi, etc. But these are all transformations of sugar and cannot exist
without sugar. The Central Substance or Truth is applied according to the peculiar needs
or aspirations of each individual and to the purpose at hand. People who come here make
use of the Truth for their own affairs. One, for instance, like the lady earlier mentioned,
was complaining of dyspepsia and insomnia and, by applying the above Truth to herself
and impressing on her mind that she was not the sickly body but the pure Atman that cannot
be touched by disease, got over both her ailments. Many others have got over their stomach
or other troubles here in the same manner.
 


(To be continued)
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