The Mad Race And Self Knowledge-II

Ramana Maharshi

oi-Staff

By Staff

Tuesday, March 24, 2009, 14:03

Ramana assures that if one's attention is held on to the question 'When am I?', then the sense of separateness, by the superimposition of a separate 'I; would be lost in the vast silence of the true subject referred to as Self, Brahman and Heart. The individual 'I', which could be compared to a river, would have reached its ocean home when the mind submerges there. This happens because the individual 'I' which is linking one with the body and the world partakes the conscious nature of the Self. It has a scent of it. Ramana would compare it to a bubble in the ocean which too is only water. When the bubble bursts it loses its separateness and becomes one with the ocean from which it had surfaced.

Self-knowledge, knowledge about the true subject dawns because the Ramana path is holistic. The unitary nature of the Self is never lost sight of and attention is held from the beginning exclusively on the subject.

The Ramana way cuts at the root of time as a factor in sadhana. The time factor means the past, present and the future, time being divided into three. I was like this before; I want to be like this in the future; so I must do something in the present to become different, to change, to begin a new chapter. But this will not work since the sadhana would be a movement in time and not out of it. One is always the pure one, one is ever auspicious, ever joyous. When one is Self-attentive one's attention is on each moment which is fresh. A complete transformation takes place because one is totally focussed on the “NOW'. It is not the process of 'Becoming' something different but simply 'Being' aware of one's true nature as pure and joyous. The load of the past is off one's back. The future does not beckon. Where is its lure when each moment is complete?

When one has reached the heart by Self-attention a new life blossoms. Life would then be heart-based. There would be not more seeking. What is there to seek when one has anchored oneself in the overwhelming bliss of the Self? All movement of thought and action would be spontaneous. It would begin when needed and end when its purpose is done. The mind would be rid of its back and forth movement. The vast silence of a mind totally attentive to the moment would fill one with peace.

This experience, without an experiencer, of enveloping bliss, is a benediction flowing from Ramana's constant presence which makes the fruition of one's sadhana possible. His grace is there in many ways; through his gracious touch, through his eyes bathed in love, and through his indescribable silence. He captures the deluded mind, and directs it back from its wayward wanderings, to its source, to that haven of peace and silence.

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