RAMANA SAT-CHIT-ANANDA GURU

By Dr. Purnima Sircar

WHENEVER there are earnest seekers God manifests in human
form to guide and bestow grace upon them. The faceless Sat-
Chit-Ananda or the original name `I am' has been named
differently through the ages. In the Vedas it has been named
`Indra-Varuna' or `Indragni'. In the puranas it was
`Lakshminarayan' or `Siva-Parvati'. Sri Ramachandra called it
`Maheswar' and devotees of Rama, `Rama-Sita'. Jesus called it
`Father' and Christians, `Jesus the Christ.' Sri Ramana Maharshi
identified it as `Sri Arunachala Ramana', and his devotees, as
`Sri Arunachala Ramana'. One is the eternal aspect and the other
is the phenomenal aspect of one and the same thing.

What can be said about him whose voice is the
voicelessness or mouna ^[?]? "The sun is ever there; to see it you
have only to turn towards it". And man inevitably turns
towards the spiritual Sun. Somewhere in his evolution he has
to turn from the circumference to the centre and end his dizzy
circumambulation round his ego-self. Somewhere there is the
question, "Who is this `I'? What is its nature? And who seems
to suffer through all these changes yet remains throughout?"
A quest is launched upon, and again it is inevitable that man
must pursue the quest to the last because there lies his supreme
achievement and eternal bliss. "Though the `I' is always
experienced, yet one's attention has to be drawn to it. Then
only the knowledge dawns". Suitable guides can be found on
the path. One such is Ramana Satguru.

We, the latter day devotees were not fortunate enough to
be in his physical presence and yet not so unfortunate as to
miss him completely. For us he is the same all the time, the
perennial source of inspiration, guidance and grace. Many
will bear witness that even the physical manifestation was
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not withheld after his death to devout seekers, if earnestly
desired. What is impossible for him who is beyond any
limitation -- the ever-present guru?

"Everyone has to come to Arunachala", said he. Whichever
path may be followed it ends in `I' and the investigation of
the nature of the `I-thought'. Its elimination is the sadhaka's
hardest task. But what could be easier than to fall back on the
experiencer and to ask oneself who perceives and who sees
with each experience? All methods of sadhana ^[?] lead to one-
pointedness of the mind; thus distraction or the vikshepa of
the mind may be overcome, but the veiling or the avarana
might still remain. If blankness prevails, unless one persists
with the question, "To whom is the blankness? Who am I??"
and holds a receptive attitude with absolute surrender for the
grace to prevail, the veiling is not removed. One day the door
is opened and the meditator is merged in the ever-present,
all-pervading peace. The peace is so profound and all
absorbing that the sadhaka cannot give up till it is constant
and abiding. A true sadhana ^[?] begins and his inner monitor
will guide him till that state is reached. "My reward consists
in your permanent unbroken bliss. Do not slip away from it",
says the guru to a devotee in Kaivalya Navanita. This is
endless Ramana-Consciousness.

Truth is so simple that it is hard to grasp. Sri Bhagavan
said, "Who does not know that he exists? Everyone is Self-
realised, only he does not know". Who will believe that
Self-realisation is so simple a process? No elaborate rite and
ritual, no asana ^[?] and pranayama ^[?], no dispute and dissertation,
only turn the mind to its source. Ego is not boosted, not fed,
but simply dissolved in this process. Indeed Ramana's teaching
is hard for the confusion-ridden, samskara-bound mind; only
those who have already exhausted them can comprehend it.
But in the spiritual world intensity is counted and not numbers,
and the few are sufficient for our ever-shining guru.

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Sri Bhagavan says,"Ego in its purity is experience in
intervals between two states or two thoughts. . . Realise this
interval with conviction gained by study of the three states
(waking, dream and deep sleep). Just like the screen in the
cinema, the Self is ever there, no matter what the time or the
picture of the phenomena are. But we do not realise because
our outlook is objective and not subjective. You attach too
much importance to the body. In deep sleep there was no
world, no ego and no trouble. Something wakes up from that
happy state and says `I'. To that ego the world appears. Our
mistake lies in our searching in the wrong place". His
dispassion towards his body during his last illness, "Where is
pain if there is no mind"? -- is the same detachment he had
throughout his life. The Sat-Chit-Ananda Self and the body
without the intermediary ego-self and the reflecting media of
samaskaras -- such is Ramana Chaitayna Guru.

Ramana removes the confusion between manolaya and
manonasa, between kevala nirvikalpa and sahaja nirvikalpa
samadhi. The wrong idea that a man will be a log or a stone
after the dawn of wisdom is dispelled categorically. "If
everybody does sadhana ^[?], who will plough the field and sow
the seed"? is the fear that assails so many and keeps them
away from the quest. "The physical body will do whatever
work it has come for, and the body is bound by the prarabdha,
not your mind", he assures us. And then Sri Bhagavan, through
his teachings and by living among us for so long in sahaja samadhi
has set an outstanding example as to how a jnani ^[?]
works and lives without feeling the burden of it. "Who is there
to think about it"? was his reply to the devotees who pleaded
with him to cure himself. An example of complete surrender
to the higher power, by Ramana, ever-compassionate guru.

The profound mouna ^[?] that pervaded his holy presence not
only influenced and inspired whoever came under its spell,
but drew mature minds from all over the world to this spiritual
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centre. And it shall continue to draw such competent ones
like a magnet. To understand this silence it must be
experienced. In this age of unrestrained gibbering, lecturing
and preaching, who could have imagined the influence of
mouna ^[?] upon the human mind? What transformation is brought
about by turning the minds of innumerable devotees to the
source by the peace that emanates from his profound mouna ^[?].
"The highest form of grace is silence. It is also the highest
upadesa", said the ever blissful Guru Ramana.

Ramana's Self comprises all and blesses all. Any attempt
on our part to extol him is like worshipping the sun with an
oil lamp. He consoled his devotees, "I am not going away,
where can I go? I am here". So we are always at the feet of
Arunachala Ramana. To that grace personified, peace
profound, the eternal Satguru, our heartfelt reverence and
prostrations.

No Further Change

By Prof G.V. Subbaramayya

Questioned as to what changes he underwent after coming
to Arunachala, Sri Bhagavan replied, "I am ever the same.
There is neither sankalpa ^[?] (will) nor change in me. Till I
reached the Mango Grove I remained indifferent, with my
eyes shut. Afterwards I opened my eyes and began functioning
actively. Otherwise there is no change whatsoever in me".

"But Bhagavan," said one, "we do note many outward
changes in you".

"Yes," replied Bhagavan, "that is because you see me as
this body. So long as you identify yourself with your body
you cannot but see me as an embodied being".

from The Mountain Path, January 1966.

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