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Sri Ramana Maharshi : The Testimony to Spiritual Truth
Self-knowledge is verily the panacea to all the problems of a man. - This is mainly demonstrated by the sage of Arunachala in his life characterised by a sublime peace which He radiated. For more than fives decades, this 'liberated soul' remained firmly anchored in the 'Self'; indeed, He remains as the 'Self', with only the body, mind etc. let go. When devotees, knowing that the physical form of the Master would soon be no more, implored him to stay on for more time, He only laughed and said, "All along I taught you that you are not the body; now you teach me that I am the body to be 'no more' soon".
The firmness of Self-knowledge necessarily means 'no identification' with the body. As 'Self', there is no change whatsoever to one. In Maharshis' own words ,'Na Pashyatam Sat Chalanam Kadapi' i.e. There is no drift to those who see the Truth'. (Saddarshana11). The scriptures compare such firm abidance (nishta) to that of the Meru-mountain which no wind, however turbulent, can shake. (compare Rama Gita -24). Maharshi was such a Brahmanishta whom nothing of the world could ever move!
Great indeed is the tradition of Vedanta. Yet it is necessary that, at every age of this ever changing human society, the age old philosophy is given a 'touch up' that lends it a freshness of look making it easy of comprehension. While the classical Vedanta deals elaborately with God and man indicated by Tat and Tvam respectively, Ramana's approach is a 'Self exploration' by man and hence can be considered tvam-pada-pradhana.
Ask yourself 'who am I?'. Find the source of the very 'I am so and so thought'. Delve into the depth of yourself where even the mind originates.
However, it is not to ignore God really. Rather the Maharshi lays much importance on surrender. Enquiry and Surrender, He says, are the two paths to Realisation. Therefore, in His Upadesha-Saram. He does deal with Karma and Bhakti, where offering ourselves to God is pivotal. But then the path of Enquiry is where His most significant contribution lies. 'Saddarshana' is a modem classic of unparallelled beauty on Self-knowledge. It is the Sanskrit version of 'Ulladu Narpadu' of Ramana in Tamil. The goal and the path, the knowledge and the practice, the essential and the secondary - are all summarised in this divine text of 42 verses.
The rise of the notion of individuality in us which takes the form of' 'I am this body' is pin pointed as the cause of all trouble (28). Therefore the investigation into where from this sense of individuality comes is the pivot of the path of Self- enquiry (31). This leads one to discover the truth on which the play of our mind and the world takes place (9). It is the immediate perception of this underlying truth, even while the world continues to appear, that makes a man of wisdom distinct from an ignorant man (20). Following this discovery, one stays put in the state of understanding where the 'sense of individuality rises not' (29) and this is the supreme state!
The pointers like those quoted above are of immense value to a modern mind for here is no ritualistic jargon, nor mythological references which in these days do not make much sense to most of us. With these as the core, one is in a fine position to study other philosophic literature which support and promote true understanding. 30th December 1879 brought the physical form of Sri Ramana to us in this world. This was the point in time which gave us once more , a great Master who taught the truth on which the play of time goes on.
About the author
B.R.Loknath Chaitanya
The article is written by B.R.Loknath Chaitanya for Vedanta Vani, Chinmaya Mission.
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