Darkness At Noon-Part VI

Continued From Part V

So what?

One is so much used to the grind that he seems ready to say 'So What?" All this is said to stress what needs to be stressed, that if one"s life is geared to and centred on enjoyment, one has opted for sowing seeds of sorrow in his life. In the need for more is the bitter cup. Enjoyment is ever a half-filled cup. Anything one enjoys, one desires its continuation. One dreads its end. Sorrow is the harvest one must reap. Is it 'Hands up" then? Where there is life, there is always a way out. The unfailing helping hand of Sadguru Ramana Maharshi is the life-belt. He will not let one be drowned in the sea of sorrow, though one might have voluntarily plunged into it.

The Adventure – Travel on the Untrodden Path

Ramana says that the one who the problem is the one who the problem. Is one what he has assumed himself to be without enquiring? How does one know? This enquiry about oneself is fun. It is an adventure into the unexplored but accessible, core area of the mind.

Those who are travelling on this untrodden path find that one has more courage, more persistence, more capacity all round than one had thought he had. The enquiry opens up this hidden strength, gradually the potential when one is not caught up in the time machine and the mind. Then there would be time to stand back, to be detached and just watch the thought caravan move on. Gradually and imperceptibly one gathers more and more strength for the final assault on the citadel, a mind that has not been understood, for want of enquiry.

The enquiry itself enables new vistas. One has glimpses of the wonderland where the mind is silent, potent and unified. Gradually, one is immersed more and more in the atmosphere of serenity and harmony that prevails when the mind is silent, potent and unified.

When one is in a dark railway tunnel, one is not sure about what is yet to be crossed. Light at the end of the tunnel may not be far off. For Ramana is the light who is lighting the path, unobtrusive, but always present.

About the author

A.R.Natarajan

Sri A.R.Natarajan has had the opportunity of a long association of over 50 years with the Ramanashram. He was the editor of "Mountain Path" for two years. He was the secretary of Ramana Kendra, New Delhi for ten years. He founded the Ramana Maharshi centre for learning, a non profit institution. He has authored more than thirty six books and eleven pocket books on the life and teachings of Bhagavan Ramana.