Individual Gods and Goddesses and their particular powers will appear to be real only in the imagination of those minds which admire them. Such mental delusion is at all times completely non-existent for Self, which transcends the
mind.
119
It is only due to the false sense-bound knowledge of the ignorant that they say that
Muktas who have realized the Truth have individuality [vyakti]. Truly, universality
[avyakti] is the real state of a Jnani, whose nature is the Expanse of Consciousness; the individuality seen in Him by devotees is a reflection of their own individuality.
Sadhu Om: In this verse it is stressed that people who say, “Not only do we know that the
Jnani is an individual, but even He feels that He has individuality” are totally wrong; what they see in Him is merely the reflection of their own nature.
120
That which shines in the heart of an earnest aspirant as the Supreme Reality is mere
Jnana itself. Why therefore, after the annihilation of the ego, point out “This One is a great
Jnani, and that One is another”? Are They merely the bodies?
Appendix 3, ‘Who is a
Jnani?’ in The Path of Sri Ramana, Part 1, will explain in more detail this verse and the following two.
121
With great eagerness and wonder you fly to see one Mahatma here and another Mahatma there! If you inquire, attain and know the
Maha-Atma [i.e. the Great Self] within your own heart, then every Mahatma is none other than that One [within you].
122
Whatever high and wonderful state of tapas one may have attained, if one still identifies oneself with an individuality, one cannot be a
Sahaja-Jnani [i.e. One in the State of Effortlessness]; one is only
an aspirant of, perhaps, an advanced stage.
Sadhu Om:The intention behind Sri Bhagavan’s instructions to us in this verse is that we should each of us see for ourselves whether or not we have the notion of individuality, ignoring the fact that others may call us a
Jnani or an ajnani, and that we should try, on this principle, to set ourselves right. This verse is not intended to give us a yardstick with which to measure others as
Jnanis or ajnanis.
123
Leaving aside that true Self-Consciousness, which is devoid of the least feeling of individuality, and displaying any number of
siddhis, is a sheer waste. Who but those fools who are incapable of knowing Self, will desire these senseless
siddhis?
Sadhu Om:A
Jnani will not feel himself to be the doer of any siddhis which, according to
prarabdha, He may appear to display; they will not therefore make Him proud and happy, and despite them, He will remain as ever, revelling in Self. Refer to verse B 2
[169] of this work, which is also verse 15 of
Ulladu Narpadu [Reality Revealed in Forty Verses] Supplement.
124
The Jnani, the Formless One who ever abides as the Supreme Self, is a collected totality of all individual
siddhis. All the siddhis which function through them are His alone, since He is the witness of them. Know Him as none other than Lord
Dakshinamurti!
Sadhu Om:The
Jnani is described as ‘the Formless One’.
Since individual siddhas, even if they possess all the eight-fold siddhis, are unable to display them proudly in front of a
Jnani, who possesses
Atma-Siddhi [i.e., abidance in Self], which is the highest of all siddhis, they are said to be contained within Him. Since the
Jnani is the Self of God, from whom siddhas borrow their powers, all
siddhis are here said to be His alone.
The Jnani is neither a Murti [i.e., the form of an individual
God], nor even an Avatar or
Amsa [i.e., an aspect or part] of the Trimurthis [i.e., the three Gods of Creation, Sustenance and
Dissolution]. Since the
Jnani, the Guru-Murti, is above the Trimurthis, He is described here as Lord Dakshinamurti, the Primal Guru.
Give up thinking that the loathsome body is ‘I’. Know Self, which is eternal Bliss. Cherishing the ephemeral body as well as trying to know Self is just like using a crocodile as a raft to cross a river.
Sadhu Om: Some of the verses in this work were composed by Bhagavan himself. The are numbered independently of the main work as B1, B2, B3, etc. The B stands for Bhagavan. This particular verse also appears as verse twelve in
Ulladu Narpadu Anubandham.
The phrase “Cherishing the ephemeral body” is liable to be misunderstood by aspirants; Sri Bhagavan merely intends to give a warning through this verse to those aspirants who believe that, in order to realise Self, they must live a long life in a healthy body. Such people sometimes go to extremes and, calling themselves yogis, waste most of their waking life doing certain yoga practices and preoccupying themselves to the point of hypochondria with a concern about sattvic diet, physical cleanliness, handsome appearance, good health and so on. These foolish people, as a result, are merely a trouble to their benefactors and useless parasites on society.
However, Bhagavan does not intend to deny the necessity or wisdom of taking a reasonable and moderate care of physical needs. A wise shopkeeper’s aim should not be merely to pay the rent on his shop, but should be to earn a large profit on top of the rent; similarly, an aspirant’s aim should not be merely to provide food, clothing and shelter
[the rent] for his body [the shop], he must remember that his business in this body is
Self-enquiry, and his aim is to make the worthy profit of Self-Knowledge. However, if the rent is not paid for this body, the business cannot thrive. On the other hand, however, paying the rent
[i.e., providing these necessities] should not become the sole endeavour of our whole life; the major portion of our attention must be aimed directly at attaining Self-Knowledge, while attending to a bare minimum of the necessities. Excessive anxiety about the physical necessities of life is like clinging to a crocodile which, instead of acting as a raft to help us cross the river of
samsara, will swallow us, making all our futile efforts come to nothing.
125
Those who show great care and love for their bodies, while saying that they are trying to know Self, are like one who tries to cross a river, mistaking a crocodile for a log.
126
Instead of attending to Sat-Chit-Ananda, the subtlest, which is beyond the reach of speech or mind, to spend one’s life attending merely to the welfare of the gross body is just like drawing water with great difficulty from a well in order to water some useless grass [instead of paddy].
127
Those who take to the petty life, mistaking the body as ‘I’, have lost, so to speak, the great life of unlimited Bliss in the Heart, which is ever waiting to be experienced by them.
128
Not knowing that the world is front of them brings only great harm, those who take it to be real and a source of happiness will drown in the ocean of birth and death, like one who takes hold of a floating bear as a raft.
Sadhu Om: If someone has caught hold of a floating bear, without knowing its true nature but hoping that it will serve as a raft, he will find it very difficult to leave it, even when he has discovered his mistake, since the bear will also have caught hold of him; similarly, even though someone has heard form the Guru that the world is a false appearance, he finds it very difficult to leave it aside, because of the tendencies of attraction which he created by his great desire for it, when he took it to be real. Such is the strength of the mind’s attachment to this world!
129
Just as the movement of a vehicle in which one is sitting are wrongly taken to be one’s own movements, so also those who do not have Self-Knowledge suffer form the delusion of mistaking the birth and death [i.e.,
samsara] experience by the ego as their [Self’s] own [birth and death]
130
If the ignorant one, who is clinging to the body and world as real, wants to have peace, he should, giving up his wrong notion, cling like an
udumbu to Self in his heart.
An
udumbu is a giant lizard found in India which grows up to three feet in length; its peculiarity is that it is able to cling to the flat surface of a wall so firmly that a man holding it can lift himself up.
131
Those who live the life of an ego, desirously entertaining themselves with the pleasures of false sense objects, will be doomed to delusion. The only life worth living is revelling in the Supreme Consciousness – that is, being Self.
Why do many of you call me a pandit? The correct sign of the real Pandit is the knowledge that the knower of the all arts and sciences is non-existent, and that all he has learnt throughout the past ages is therefore mere ignorance.
Sadhu Om: Here Sri Bhagavan is objecting to those who call Him a great Pandit simply because they see in Him poetical genius, fluent knowledge of the scriptures, a wonderful power of memory, sharp intelligence, skill in argument, acquaintance with many languages, medical knowledge, architectural skill, and so on. He denies that one who has learnt all the arts and sciences is a true Pandit. The ego, the wrong knowledge that “I am the body” is itself the primal ignorance, so how can the learning acquired by such ignorance be true knowledge? The knowledge of anything but Self is therefore mere ignorance.
However, Sri Bhagavan is Himself the true Pandit, because of His Self-Knowledge. He who is able to discriminate and understand this is alone fit to take to
Self-enquiry and gain Self-Knowledge, thus qualifying himself to be called a true
Pandit.
133
Enquiring, “Who is this ‘I’ that has learnt all these arts and sciences?”, and thereby reaching the Heart, the ego vanishes along with all its learning. He who knows the remaining Self-Consciousness is the true Pandit; how can others who have not realised It be Pandits?
134
Those who have learnt to forget all that was learnt, and to abide within, are alone the Truth-Knowers. Others, who remember everything, will suffer with anxiety, being deluded by the false
samsara.
Sadhu Om: The knowledge of all the sixty-four arts and sciences are nothing but the fruit of thinking, and thinking and forgetting are properties of the mind, which is lost in the State of Self-Knowledge, where Oneness prevails and where neither remembering nor forgetting take place. Bliss alone shines in this State, and only he who has learnt to experience this Bliss is the real
Pandit.
135
O scholar, you who bow your head in shame in front of a
Jnani when He asks you, “Oh, poor soul, who are you that has learnt all [these arts and sciences]?”, may your ignorant mind be damned.
Sadhu Om: The strong-sounding words used here by Sri Bhagavan – “may your ignorant mind be damned” – should be understood to be a blessing rather than a curse, since the aim of the aspirant is the damnation
[i.e., the total annihilation] of his own mind. Refer also to
Upadesa Manjari [Spiritual Instruction] Chapter 1, Question 4.
136
One who is permanently established in Self-Consciousness – having destroyed delusion, which is in the form of doubt and misunderstanding – is the Supreme Pandit.
137
Know that he who, by annihilating the ego, knows the Supreme Thing as It is – that is as the real ‘I am’, which is the noun ‘I’, Self’s natural name, shining together with the verb ‘Am’ – is the true spotless
Pandit.
Responding with a melting heart for the past wrong use of his tongue in wretched human praise, let the poet live gloriously, taking to the new resolution, ‘I will no more sing in praise of any human being, but to the glory of God alone’.
139
Those who, instead of dedicating to God’s Feet the poetic flow which they achieved by His Grace, squander it in unworthy human praise are, alas, like those who compel their daughter, the tongue’s eloquence, to take to prostitution.
The words ‘their daughter, the tongue’s eloquence’ may alternatively be translated as ‘the Goddess of Eloquence
[Saraswati]’.
140
The divine flow of poetry can spring only from a heart which has become still, being completely freed by Self-attention from all attachment towards the five sheaths, starting with
Annamaya [the body composed of food].
After knowing that the purport at the heart of all scripture is that the mind should be subdued in order to gain Liberation, what is the use in continuously studying them? Who am I?
142
If those who are unfit even to live a life of religious morality, take to a critical study of Vedanta, it is nothing but a pollution of the purity of Vedanta.
Sri Muruganar: This verse emphasises that the purity of mind and heart is essential for those who take to the study of Vedanta.
143
For those who are very attached to their filthy bodies, all the study of Vedanta will be as useless as the swinging of the goat’s fleshly beard unless, with the aid of Divine Grace, their studies lead them to subdue their egos.
144
To be freed from ignorance by mere studies is as impossible as the horns of a horse, unless by some means the mind is killed and the tendencies are thus completely erased by the blossoming of Self-Knowledge.
Sadhu Om: Readers should remember that Bhagavan Sri Ramana recommended
Self-enquiry and self-surrender as the only two means by which the Truth may be known. The result of both these methods is both
mano-nasha [death of the mind] and vasana-kshaya [eradication of the
tendencies].
145
For the jiva’s weak and unsteady mind, which is ever wavering like the wind, there is no place to enjoy bliss except the Heart, its Source; the study of scriptures is, for it, like a noisy
shandai, [a cattle fair].
Sadhu Om: The arts are merely the skilful play of mental modifications
[mano-vrittis]; just as flowing rivers roar wildly until reaching their original source, the ocean, where they become peaceful and silent, so also the restlessly moving mind will not find peace and silence until, giving up such
vrittis, it returns and abides in its Source. Refer also to verse 8 of Arunachala Ashtakam
[The Eight Stanzas to Aruanchala].
146
Rooting out useless sense-desires is possible only for those expert enquirers who, giving up the vast
Vedas and Agamas, know through Self-enquiry, the Truth within the Heart.
The phrase ‘Vedas and Agamas’ refers to the portion of the scriptures that teaches ritualistic actions for achieving desired ends.
147
Though one learns the blemishes Jnana Sastras perfectly and with great enthusiasm, one has to forget, give up and be free of them when one tries to abide as Self.
Sadhu Om: It is necessary to have great enthusiasm for studying during the time of
Sravana [i.e., hearing from the scriptures and the Guru), but this desire and enthusiasm will fade away during the time of
Manana (i.e., reflection upon these teachings], because the ideas will then lose their novelty owing to one’s complete conviction in them. However, during the time of
Nididhyasana [i.e. practice], when the aspirant tries to turn Selfward, he finds that the scriptures learnt by him tend to rise as obstructing thoughts, due to the power of
Sastra vasanas. Thus, even the divine scriptures have to be discarded and forgotten, while the aspirant tries to remain alone and merge into the Heart.
Worldly people, deluded by sensual pleasures which lead to destruction, cannot know of the existence of the Truth. They call the fertile glory of the aspirant’s blossoming
Jnana, which was attained by dispassion towards sense-pleasures, as the ‘barren ground philosophy’.
149
The experience of Vedanta is possible only for those who have completely given up all desires. For the desirous it is far away, and they should therefore try to rid themselves of all other desires by the desire for God, who is free from desires.
Sadhu Om: The term Vedanta is commonly understood to mean a particular system of philosophy, but its true meaning is the experience of
Jnana which is gained as the conclusion [anta] of the Vedas.
The desire for sense objects, which are all 2nd or 3rd persons, is directly opposed to the desire for God, and so it is quite clear that God is not merely one among the many 2nd and 3rd personal objects, but that He must be the Reality of the 1st person. Therefore, we should understand that discarding all desires for 2nd and 3rd personal objects and having love for Self alone is the true devotion towards God. Verse B 13
[731] also asserts this same point.
The Wise, who know that all worldly experiences are formed by
prarabdha alone, never worry about their life’s requirements. Know that all one’s requirements will be thrust upon one by
prarabdha, whether one wills them or not.
151
Every jiva experiences his own prarabdha, which is catalysed by the mere Presence of Shiva as the Witness dwelling in the heart of each one. Hence, the
jiva who does not delude himself by thinking that he is the experiencer of
prarabdha, but knows that he is mere Existence-Consciousness, is none but Shiva.
Just as the dark shadow at the foot of a lamp ever remains unmoving, so delusive egos of some are not lost even though, due to their destiny
[prarabdha], they live, grow old and die at the Feet of the Jnana-Guru, the unlimited Light of Knowledge; this is perhaps because of their immaturity.
The immaturity referred to here is the lack of the desire to abandon the ego, because liberation can never be attained without
bhakti, which is the strong yearning in the aspirant to lose his ego. Thus this verse could more fittingly be included in chapter 21 ‘The Power of
Vasanas’. Or with verse 605 in Apaka Tiran.
153
Why is it that, even if one wishes, it is not possible to achieve the eight-fold
siddhis as well as Self-Knowledge? Because wealth and wisdom, being contrary to each other, will not generally be gained together in this world.
If
siddhis appear together with Jnana, they are due to the kamya karmas performed in a previous life-time, while the individual was still in the dark grips of ignorance. Thus, since
siddhis are according to prarabdha (one of the three karmas, which are all based upon the ego), and since
Jnana destroys the ego, it is opposed to siddhis. Moreover, as Jnana is based upon Self and not upon the ego, it is not bound by any of the three karmas.
Sri Muruganar: Therefore it is not necessarily true, as some say, that all siddhas should be
Jnanis and all Jnanis should have siddhis, or, as some others say, that
siddhas cannot be Jnanis and Jnanas cannot have siddhis.
The nature of the ego is similar to that of an elf, being
very enthusiastic, rising in many wicked ways by means of innumerable imaginations, being erratic in
behaviour, and knowing only things other than itself. But the nature of Self is mere Existence-Consciousness.
Some jivas suffer, being often thrown back into the eddying stream of
samsara by their vasanas, which are like mischievous boys not allowing them to cling fast to Self, the bank [of
samsara’s stream].
Sadhu Om: Small creatures, trying to climb out of the dangerous eddies of a stream, are sometimes pushed back again by mischievous boys; this is used as a simile for those
jivas who, while trying to cling to Self-Attention, find themselves being constantly pulled back by their
vasanas into samsara, the eddying stream of worldly thoughts.
The reason for our mistake of seeing a world of
objects in front of us is that we have risen as a separate ‘I’, the
seer, due to our failure to attend to the vast perfection of
Self-Consciousness, which is our Reality.
Sadhu Om: When our unlimited Existence is mistakenly confined by identification with the unlimited body, our own Self appears as the world and God, which seem to be entities separate from ‘I’, the seer. However, these separate objects appear only in the view of the ego, and not in the view of Self. This same idea is also expressed in verse 158.
157
The false, deceitful and self-blinded ego-knot, believing the body to be real, lusts after various allurements which are all fancied like the blueness of the sky, and thus it tightens itself.
158
It is only the sight which is blind to the unlimited Self, having veiled itself as “I am the body”, that also appears as the world before it.
159
The life of the filthy ego, which mistakes a body both as ‘I’ and as ‘my place’, is merely a false imagination seen as a dream in the pure, real, Supreme Self.
160
This fictitious jiva, who lives as ‘I [am the body]’, is also one of the pictures on the screen.
Compare verse 1218.
Sadhu Om: The jiva, our false being, is a mere projection upon the screen of our true Being, Self. In a cinema picture showing the scene of a royal court, the king is seen viewing his court; just as he appears to be a seer, though in fact he is one of the insentient pictures
[i.e., the seen], so also the
jiva appears to be a seer viewing the world, though in fact he is also one of the insentient pictures projected on the screen of Self. Refer to verse 871 and note.