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Darkness At Noon-Part II

By Staff

Thought Addict, Ramana Maharshi
The loss and the gain

Since we are so used to profit and loss, the question would arise in each one"s mind 'What is there in it for me?" The answer is that one would have gained overflowing bliss of perennial happiness. In contrast what is lost is mere thoughts, the garbage gathered as if it were precious diamonds instead of putting it in the waste paper basket, which is its place. Unless one offloads this garbage, this mountainous waste of purposeless thoughts, they would stick like glue and give directional pulls to the mind depending on their strength. Then one would become a thought addict. What does such a mind know of inherent joy? That which is not experienced is taken to be non-existent and therefore not worth striving for. So thinking, the vast majority continue in their unthinking ways, little realising that in the bargain all that is beautiful and exhilarating in life, the abundance of natural joy is missing even in their vocabulary.

Each day, the dawn is new. It is a heralder of sunshine. Simultaneously for the one who lives in the cozy comfort of the known mental ways, darkness too arises. For the first thought on waking is the first person 'I". By particularising the 'I", the damage is already done.

The whistle of life has already been blown and the green flag shown at birth itself. It is a movement of the body-mind complex in time. If the brimming of thoughts is the objective then at the end of each day, that balance sheet would be negative. As old age grips the body, those who have filled their cups with enjoyment will find it empty. Life would be a day to day drudgery. Yet, each and everyone would hold on to what is called life, till its meaningless end, praying on bended knee to the doctor. Till the end they refuse to accept the truth. Unaware of the divinity within them, the divinity that surrounds them, they die when the karmic force that causes their birth causes their death too.

Should not seekers of truth abhor a similar fate? When will they have the passion to discover the truth of their natural state? Should one be content with homeopathic doses of exposure to it? The truth is that truth alone, embodied as Sadguru Ramana Maharshi can free one from the thralldom to which one would be wedded otherwise. To state all this may be hard-hitting, but its sole purpose is to awaken one from the dream of a life centred on and built around illusions.

Story first published: Monday, April 19, 2010, 11:26 [IST]