BHAGAVAN RAMANA -- THE SVARAAT
(SOVEREIGN OF THE SELF)
By K. Sivaraj and Smt. Vimala Sivaraj
IF Sri Bhagavan Ramakrishna ushered in the spiritualresurgence
of India in the last century, Sri Bhagavan Ramana helped establish
firmly man's spiritual identity and the eternal truth of sanatana
dharma. His advent as a jnani [?] was particularly timely for
twentieth century man, obsessed with his scientific and
technological progress and his crass materialism.
Having attained atmanusandhana [?] at the tender age of 16,
a fatherless son being educated in an uncle's house, he sought
out Arunachaleswara and with sublime vairagya [?], he lived on
and in the vicinity of the hill of the holy beacon, from 1896
till his Maha Nirvana in April, 1950. Out of infinite
compassion born of strength and Brahmic bliss, he revealed
the truth in an inimitable manner to all devotees. His very
active, open and lustrous life was one prolonged revelation
of the truth of the Upanishads [?]. He wore only a loin cloth but
was a sovereign master (svaraat).
Witnessing the changes of body and mind,
Naught but the Self within him beholding,
Heedless of outer or inner and middle,
Blest indeed is he in the loin-cloth. 1
The core of his teachings consists in the fact that between
the luminous Self (or Pure Consciousness or Isvara) that we
truly are and the jada (insentient) body, a spurious `I' or ego-self,
formless like a phantom, arises; our little self limited by the
body struts about in the world of nama and rupa. This ego-self
is an impostor and has only a shadow reality and if investigated
will flee. The elimination of this phantom which is the cause of
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all illusion, is the goal of all religions. When the little `I' recedes
and `dies', and `I-I' current emerges and stands revealed, that
is the poornam or the plenitude, eternal and perfect. To be that
`I-I' is the aim and purpose of human life.
Ramana constantly urged that Self-realisation or jnana [?] is
our true nature. Realisation consists only in giving up as unreal
what is unreal. There is nothing new to be sought or gained.
You are the Self always. The jiva, jagat and Isvara -- all
three of them (the interrelationship amongst which has been
the subject of all religions) do not exist apart from `I'. Seek
your true Self and you shall know the truth. To the curious
who asked him about God, he would say, "Leave God alone.
Do you exist or not? Find out who you are".
Bhagavan repeatedly emphasised that the Self-enquiry (Atma
Vichara) method is the only direct or infallible means to realise
the unconditioned, absolute Being that one really is. All other
kinds of sadhana [?] presuppose the retention of the mind as the
instrument for carrying on the sadhana [?] and without the mind,
they cannot be practised. If the sadhana [?] itself assumes the
existence of limitations, how can it help one to transcend them?
The ego may take different and subtler forms at different stages
of one's practice, for myriad are the hues of the veil of maya [?],
but is itself never destroyed. When King Janaka exclaimed,
"Now I have discovered the thief who has been ruining me all
along; he shall be dealt with summarily", the King was really
referring to the ego or the mind.
The attempt to destroy the ego or the mind through
sadhanas other than Atma Vichara, is just like a thief turning
a policeman to catch the thief that is himself. Atma Vichara
alone can reveal the truth that neither the ego nor the mind
really exists, and enables one to realise the pure
undifferentiated Being. Yes, in vichara [?] also a small portion
of the mind is used for the enquiry, but is like the pole used to
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stoke the embers in the funeral pyre, which eventually gets
consumed in the fire. Having realised the Self, nothing remains
to be known, because it is perfect bliss, it is the all.
Man is constantly seeking happiness, but does not realise
that it comes from within. What is required is to remove the
cause of misery which is not in the life without but in us as
the ego. We impose limitations on ourselves in the first
instance and then make a vain struggle to transcend them.
What happiness can be got from things extraneous to
ourselves? When we get it, how long will it last?
Bhagavan was a perfect guru who made no distinction
between one disciple and another. Many have actually
experienced a single look from him breaking through many
coverings or encrustations of their ego and have felt the radiant
Presence in the core of their being. His gaze was so powerful
that it churned the interior of the seeker beyond the latter's
own comprehension. Silence, he would say, is more powerful
than the spoken word. And as Dakshinamurthi incarnate, he
could by a single gaze dissolve the doubts of his devotees.
The fetters of the heart are broken, all doubts are dissolved
and one's works melt away when he that is both high and
low is seen. 2
Such is the direct result of his grace which is ever-flowing.
Bhagavan says, "What does it matter if one is a hundred or a
thousand miles away; IT ACTS". The Sun is ever shedding
its lustre. Why should we see darkness? All we have to do is
to turn in the right direction.
Bhagavan never asked anyone to shun the world or give up
family responsibilities, as true sannyasa [?] is in the mind and not
in the change of robes or location of the body. The mind alone
is the cause of bondage and liberation. Self-realisation is not
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something to be sought in the distant future by the chosen few;
it is the goal of all sadhana [?] and man's ineluctable destiny. It is
near at hand, nay, here and now, for the earnest seeker.
While living on this earth we realise that;
Realising Him thus, one becomes immortal here;
He realises Brahman here; then the mortal
Becomes immortal, and attains Brahman here. 3
In the Ramana Gita, all aspects of human life and
endeavour are succinctly described and many abstruse topics
clarified. To sum up: the universe is nothing but the mind and
the mind is nothing but the Heart. Thus the entire story of the
Universe culminates in the Heart.
This is the Hridaya Vidya to be learnt by the new technique
of Atma Vichara. No doubt, such Self-enquiry is referred to
in older texts, but the technique of using it for removing the
upadhis or sense of separation and reaching the Centre of
Being, was taught by Bhagavan throughout his whole life,
coupled with the outpouring of his grace to evoke the actual
experience in his devotees.
He is the one God hidden in all beings and
pervading all things; He is the self within
of all creatures, the ordainer of all deeds, the
dweller in all beings, the witness, the knower,
the Alone, the One who is devoid of all qualities.4
He made no distinction of caste or creed, neither did he
regard animals and birds inferior to man; he did not
differentiate between different religions. The pure Self that
he was, his samadrishti is as exemplified in the Gita:
The knowers of the Self look with an equal eye on a
Brahmana endowed with learning and humility, a cow, an
elephant, a dog, and an outcaste.
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He used to decry his mother's insistence on outer purity
and ideas of pollution; in his own life, many of his attendants
(how fortunate they were indeed!) were the so-called
untouchables and he treated them on an equal footing. His
teachings crossed the man made frontiers of denominations.
He assured everyone that their own religion, if properly
understood, would take them surely to the goal.
The jnani [?] is in the permanent state of Pure Awareness
absolute, the state of jagrat-sushupti and his mind is like the
moon in the noon-day sky or like a burnt rope, a form to see
but none in reality.
As early as in 1902, answering a question by Sri
Sivaprakasam Pillai, Sri Bhagavan described the nature of
the Self with clarity and authority:
The Self is that when there is absolutely no `I'-thought.
That is called Silence The Self itself is the world; the Self
itself is `I'; the Self itself is God; all is Siva, the Self.
The quintessence of our vast Vedantic literature is enshrined
in this simple and direct sutra of Bhagavan. He has described
elsewhere how as one progresses with the Atma Vichara, the
frenzied thought-processes slowly subside and one reaches a
calm expanse of Consciousness which is the region of the
Self .5 It is not a void; it is the plenum or infinitude, a state of
vibrant Silence, in which all things are so to say like beads
strung on a thread.6
The old meditation hall where Bhagavan held his Chitsabha
is more hallowed than ever before and his grace is ever
available to the earnest seeker. It is open to anyone to visit
this shrine of eternal peace and glory and imbibe his vibrant
grace. Like the moth which seeks the light and is consumed
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by it, we can lose our identification with the ego and the
phenomenal world and the sense of separation from him.
In this vast cosmic wheel in which all things live and rest
the soul flutters about as long as it thinks that it is different
from the Mover. But when it is blessed by Him then it
gains immortality. 7
Bhagavan, you allow every one to follow the path best
suited to him or her, for you know very well that they all
reach you at last, as all rivers flow finally into the sea!
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