AWARENESS ABSOLUTE
Visvanatha Swami
IT WAS AT Skandasramam on Arunachala that I first metBhagavan Ramana (in January 1921). He was standing on
the open space in front of the Ashram building facing the
entrance as I approached. The very sight of him was thrilling;
something very subtle, seemingly with its centre in that body,
shone forth unlimited engulfing everything else. Needless to
say I felt swallowed up by it. I stayed for a week with Bhagavan
in that atmosphere of utter purity and serenity. I heard from
him how he came to Arunachala, irresistibly attracted and swept
off his feet by a tremendous benevolent force; how he was one
with it deep down within his heart almost oblivious of his body
and surroundings; and how only later on he gradually regained
the use of his senses and mind and was able to look about and
commune with others when they approached him.
Subsequently too, when I had come to Bhagavan for good,
the effect of his proximity continued the same way and I may
say that there was no necessity for any sadhana [?] in particular on
my part. Along with a few other inmates I had my share in the
work of the Ashram in the elevating company of Bhagavan and
I studied his few works, devotional and philosophical, and heard
his replies to various questions put by visitors. But the most
important thing was the mere Presence, the spiritually uplifting
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company of Bhagavan. As Bhagavan says in the Supplement to
the Reality in Forty Verses: "If one associates with Sages, where is
the need for any other rigorous sadhana [?]? No one looks for a
fan when there is the pleasant southern breeze."
The climax of my spiritual experience in the proximity
of Bhagavan was during his `last' moments. As I stood in that
small room along with a very few others, everything became
shadow enveloped by one indivisible Pure Awareness, the one
and only ever-present Reality. And so there was not the least
feeling of any separation from Bhagavan or the least vestige
of sorrow on that account. Not only that, there was a positive
ecstasy and elation of spirit which is nothing but the Natural
State of the Self.
All those who approached Bhagavan with spiritual
earnestness have had this experience of direct contact with the
Divine at the very first sight of Bhagavan. Ganapati Muni, the
great poet and tapaswin, saw an adept (a Siddha Purusha, a
Perfect Being) in Bhagavan, the moment he first beheld him by
chance on the Hill in the Ashram of Jataiswami. The scholar
became a disciple. Venkataramanier of Satyamangalam saw
Bhagavan as a clear manifestation of the all-pervading Supreme
Self and sang his five superb Hymns in Praise of Ramana.
Humphreys saw Bhagavan as a glowing centre of Divine
Radiance. Achyuta Dasa, Narayana Guru and so many others
seeing Bhagavan recognised his unique spiritual greatness.
Pascaline Mallet, a French lady, who stayed with Bhagavan for a
few months sang in a poem in praise of Bhagavan: "One Light,
One Life, One Love, shining through Thee, we see." And Grant
Duff (Douglas Ainslee), the cultured scholar and poet, says in
his preface to Bhagavan's Five Hymns to Arunachala: "I was in
direct contact with one who had passed beyond the boundaries
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of the senses and was merged in the Absolute Self. I do not
need any proof of the divinity of Ramana Maharshi, just as I do
not need any to prove the existence of the Sun."
What is the secret behind the common experience of
Divine Glory which so many intelligent devotees have had in
the presence of Bhagavan? Here is the answer given by Ganapati
Muni in his remarkable hymn of Forty Verses in Praise of
Bhagavan [?]: "Bow down to the holy Guru Ramana who reaching
the hidden source of the ego within has effaced all differentiation
and shines forth as the One Self of all beings with various mental
propensities and who is resplendent as the One Reality
transcending the body and the entire world-manifestation." "I
bow to Sri Ramana, the Great Teacher, the remover of all sorrow,
who established in the Eternal Abode of Pure Awareness dispels
the ignorance of earnest seekers, who though seeing and moving
within the world stands as the Supreme Being transcending it."
Whatever is seen is non-self and the Seer alone is the
unchanging Self. When we take to Self-enquiry holding on to
this fundamental principle of Vedanta, the physical body, the
life-current operating in it and the mind are eliminated as
non-self. Even the intellect, the highest known principle in man
with its reasoning faculty, has to be discarded as non-self as it is
only the faculty of one behind it, claiming it as his. Who is he?
He cannot stand by himself and so he disappears. What then
remains as the source of the elusive I-sense in us is the ultimate
Self, which is ever there as the Ground of all that appears and
disappears, of all perception in the waking and dream states
and non-perception of anything in deep sleep.
Though the truth of the ultimate Self is explained within a
few steps like this, the enveloping power of a mysterious force
of darkness known as avarana in Vedanta is such that it gets
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eradicated only after a vigilant self-enquiry constantly carried
on. The inherent tendencies (vasanas) of the mind based on a
phantom ego get annihilated only after a continuous earnest
attempt to abide at the Heart, the Source. So, Sankara says in
his Vivekachudamani that liberation (mukti [?]) is nothing but the
complete eradication of the ego with all its vasanas [?]. Bhagavan
says in his song on Atma Vidya that Grace is needed for the
dawn of jnana [?] as well as earnest aspiration and devotion on the
part of the seeker to deserve it. When earnest effort and Grace
meet, then there is the achievement of the highest spiritual
aspiration of man, viz., spontaneous inherence in the
ever-present Self.
The Self is Pure Awareness, unalloyed Awareness itself,
whereas the mind is awareness of this and that. The mind cannot
stand for a moment without an object, because it is by its very
nature a subject-object phenomenon. It disappears when it is
divested of objects, unable to stand by itself. And there, the
Self, the one indivisible absolute Awareness shines for ever as
stated in Sri Ramana Gita (Ch. vii, v.5): "When the ego which
is but a phantom of the Self totally disappears, what remains is
the real Self alone in all its plenitude and perfection." This is
jnana [?] and this is mukti [?] (liberation).
For one established in it thus, the subject-object phenomena
may appear and disappear but he will remain for ever unsullied
as Pure Awareness, since nothing has any existence apart from
it. This is known as Tanmaya Nishta. Being the Self is Awareness
of the Self.
From a relative standpoint, the proximity of such a Sage,
normally established in the Self under all circumstances of life,
serves as an eye-opener for those in the clutches of delusion and
as an invaluable aid supporting them in their spiritual quest.
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The operation of the Spiritual Force of such enlightened Ones
is not limited to the lifetime of their physical body. It continues
for ever and those who think of them, surrender themselves to
them, study their life and teachings and try to follow them do
get into the ambit of their Grace, non-different from Supreme
Divine Grace. This is the experience of so many spiritual
aspirants who had not met Bhagavan during his lifetime but
devoted themselves to him on hearing of him or coming to
know of him somehow or other. The enlightened Ones who
are themselves timeless belong to all time and by their very
nature shed light on the path of seekers and help them in ever
so many ways.
Ultimately one sees that one has no existence apart from
Pure Awareness, that there is no world apart from it and that
there is no other God than Pure Awareness. Blissful Awareness
is the sole Reality. Manifestation as the Many is nothing but its
Lila. Every one, in manifestation, has to play his part knowing
at heart that it is all nothing but Lila, the only Reality being
Absolute Blissful Awareness.
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