Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

Until then we will be under the delusion that all these
unnatural things are natural. We have to understand that
the true state is always there and at all times. We discard
that which is there and wish for that which is not there, and
suffer on that account. All that comes and goes is unreal.

The soul always remains in its natural place. As long as we
do not realise that truth, we suffer.”
“Where can we see this soul? How can we know it?” was
the next question.

“Where can we see the soul? This question is like staying
in Ramanasramam and asking where Ramanasramam is. The
soul is at all times in you and everywhere and to imagine
that it is somewhere far off and search for it, is like
performing Panduranga bhajan. This bhajan commences in
the first quarter of the night with tinkling bells tied to the
feet of the devotees and with the brass lamp stand placed
in the centre of the house. The devotees go round and
round the lamp stand, dancing rhythmically to the tune,
‘Pandarpur is thus far! Pandarpur is thus far! Come on!
proceed,’ but as they go round and round, they actually do
not proceed even half a yard closer to Pandarpur. By the
time the third quarter of the night is reached, they will
begin to sing, ‘See! there is Pandarpur. Here is Pandarpur.

See, see!” During the first quarter of the night they were
going round the same lamp as now in the third quarter. It
dawns, and they sing, ‘We have arrived at Pandarpur. This
is Pandarpur,’ and so saying, salute the same lamp stand
and end the bhajan. It is the same with this also. We go
round and round in search of atma (soul) saying, ‘Where is
atma? Where is it?’ till at last the dawn of jnana drishti (vision
of knowledge) is reached, and we say, ‘this is atma, this is
me.’ We should acquire that vision. When once that vision
is reached, there will be no attachments even if the Jnani
mixes with the world and moves about in it. When once
you put on shoes your feet do not feel the pain of walking
on any number of stones or thorns on the way. You walk
about without fear or care, whether there be mountains or
hillocks on the way. In the same way, everything will be
natural to those who have attained the jnana drishti. What
is there apart from one’s own self?
“That natural state can be known only after all this
worldly vision subsides.” “But how is it to subside?” was the
next question. Bhagavan replied, “If the mind subsides, the
whole world subsides. Mind is the cause of all this. If that
subsides, the natural state presents itself. The soul proclaims
itself at all times as ‘I’, ‘I’. It is self-luminous! It is here. All
this is THAT. We are in that only. Being in it, why search for
It? The ancients say:
†iò< }anmyI— k«Tva äümy< jgt!,
Making the vision absorbed in jnana one sees the world as
Brahman.

“It is said that Chidakasa itself is Atma Swarupa (image of
atma) and that we can view it only with the help of the mind.”
“How can we see it if the mind has subsided?” someone else
asked. Bhagavan said, “If the sky is taken as an illustration it
must be stated to be of three varieties — chidakasa, chittakasa
and bhuthakasa. The natural state is called chidakasa, the ‘I-
feeling’ that is born from chidakasa is chittakasa. As that
chittakasa expands and takes the shape of all the bhutas
(elements), this is all bhuthakasa. After all, the mind is a part
of the body, isn’t it? When it is chittakasa which is consciousness
of the self, ‘I’ does not see the chidakasa but sees the bhuthakasa;
This is said to be mano akasa; and when it leaves mano akasa
and sees chidakasa, it is said to be chinmaya.* The subsiding of
the mind means, the idea of multiplicity of object vanishes,
* icÄ< icidit janIyat! t-kar riht< yda,
t-karae iv;yaXyas> jparagae ywa m[aE.

Bereft of the letter “ta” mind becomes consciouness. “Ta” indicates
association with worldiness, just as a colourless gem manifests
colour in the proximity of a China Rose.

Sankara’s Sadacharanusandhanam
and the idea of oneness of objects appears. When that is
achieved everything appears natural.”
In accordance with this idea, Bhagavan has written in
his Unnadhi Nalupadhi, verse 14: “If it is said that there is the
first person ‘I’ then there are the second and third persons
‘you’ and ‘he’. When the real nature of the first person is
known and the ‘I’ feeling disappears, the ‘you’ and the ‘he’
disappear simultaneously, and that which shines as the only
One becomes the natural state of the ultimate reality.”