Invocation Blemishless supreme Guru! I have listened To all the greatness of the undivided Knowledge as imparted to me. My Guide! by your compassion, I carry in my uninhibited mind the steadfast Knowledge. I have received in my differenceless mind The indescribable, undivided Supreme Brahman. I have attained the indivisible state In my nonattached, innate nature. -Song of Ribhu, 39:5 Good Guru! by your grace, Rid of all ignorance—the arch-enemy of undivided Knowledge— Attaining the Knowledge of the attributeless Supreme Brahman, Indifferent to all kinds of action, Devoid of the delusion of the existence of the phenomenal universe, Free from all the inhibiting fear of duality, Becoming of the nature of the decayless Supreme Brahman, Oh, I have reached the fearless Abode that has nothing apart from it. - Song of Ribhu, 39:6 Best among Gurus, oh! by your compassion, Rid of all restricting ideas of differences and with great steadfastness I have instantaneously reached The certitude that all is Brahman. Oh! by this expansive, definite certitude, I am at peace within myself, the Absolute, And with all the spreading misery of the mundane existence removed, Oh, I have, indeed, attained the blemishless, Supreme Bliss. - Song of Ribhu, 39:7 Contents Boundless Wisdom of Sri Ramana Maharshi From Letters from Sri Ramanasramam................ 1 The Quintessence of True Being.................. 6 Undifferentiated Being Satsang, June 24, 2012 .................................... 13 From the Ramana Way ...................................... 20 From the Temple Archives................................ 23 Insights Into SAT Board Meetings................ 30 Announcements...................................................... 33 Upcoming Special Events.................................. 34 Sri Sadisvara Mandiram .................................... 35 Reflections, April, May, June 2013 Copyright 2013 Society of Abidance in Truth 1834 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 USA Ph: 831-425-7287 / e-mail: [email protected] web: www.SATRamana.org SAT Temple Blog: www.satramana.wordpress.com The Boundless Wisdom of Sri Ramana Maharshi (From Letters from Sri Ramanasramam) January 28, 1947 Nature This afternoon at 3 o’clock an Englishman asked Bhagavan something in English in which the word “Nature” occurred a number of times and Bhagavan replied as follows: “These ques- tions would not arise if one knew one’s own nature well. They will continue to arise till one knows it. 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 realize 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 is Ramanasramam. 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 Pan- duranga 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 center 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 further. 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 1 same lamp as now in the third quarter. It dawns, and they sing, “We have arrived at Pandarpur. This is Pandarpur,” and so say- ing, 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 say 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 ques- tion. Bhagavan replied, “If the mind subsides, the whole world subsides. Mind is the cause of all this. If that subsides, the nat- ural 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 pZyet! 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?” Some one else asked. Bhagavan said: “If the sky is taken as an illustration it must be stated to be of three varieties, chidakasa, chittakasa and buthakasa.” The natural state is called chidakasa, the “I” feeling that is born from chidakasa is chittakasa. As that chit- takasa expands and takes the shape of all the butas (elements) this is all bhuthakasa. After all, the mind is a part of the body, is it? When the chittakasa which is consciousness of the self, ‘I’ does not see the chidakasa but sees the bhuthakasa; it is said to be mano akasa; and when it leaves mano akasa and sees 2 chidakasa it is said to be chinmaya. “The subsiding of the mind means, the idea of multiplicity of object vanishes, 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 Nalubadhi, (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 si- multaneously, and that which shines as the only One becomes the natural state of the ultimate reality.” February 2, 1947 Divine Force I went to the hall at 2:30 this afternoon. Bhagavan was there already, reading a slip of paper which someone had handed over to him. I sat there waiting to hear what Bhagavan would say. Bhagavan folded the paper with a smile and said, “All this will occur if one thinks that there is a difference between Bha- gavan and oneself. If one thinks that there is no such difference, all this will not occur.” Is it enough if we say, that there is no difference between Bhagavan and ourselves? Is it not necessary to enquire who oneself is, and what one’s origin is, before one thinks that there is no difference between oneself and Bhagavan? Why is Bha- gavan saying this? I was thinking of asking Bhagavan why he was thus misleading us but could not summon up enough courage to do so. I do not know if Bhagavan sensed this mis- giving of mine; but anyway he himself began speaking again as follows: “Before one could realise that there is no difference be- tween him and Bhagavan, one should first discard all these un- real attributes which are really not his. One cannot perceive truth unless all these qualities are discarded. There is a Divine force (Chaitanya Sakti) which is the source of all things. All these other qualities cannot be discarded unless we get hold of that force. Sadhana is required to get hold of that force.” 3 I got courage as I heard those words and said uncon- sciously, “So there is a force?” “Yes,” replied Bhagavan, “ There is a force. It is that force that is called swasphurana (conscious- ness of the Self).” I said with a quivering voice, “Bhagavan said casually that it is enough if we think that there is no difference between us and God. But we can discard these unreal attrib- utes only if we are able to get hold of that force. Let it be the Di- vine force or the consciousness of the Self. Whatever it is, should we not know it? We are not able to know it however much we try.” Never before this, did I ask Bhagavan questions in the pres- ence of others so boldly. Today, the inner urge was so great that words came out of my mouth of their own accord in the course of the conversation, and my eyes were filled with tears and so I turned my face towards the wall. A lady sitting next to me told me afterwards that Bhagavan’s eyes also became moist. How tender-hearted he is towards the humble! Bhagavan sometimes used to say, “The jnani weeps with the weeping, laughs with the laughing, plays with the playful, sings with those who sing, keeping time to the song. What does he lose? His presence is like a pure, transparent mirror. It re- flects our image exactly as we are. It is we that play the several parts in life and reap the fruits of our actions. How is the mirror or the stand on which it is mounted affected? Nothing affects them, as they are mere supports. The actors in this world—the doers of all acts—must decide for themselves what song and what action is for the welfare of the world, what is in accordance with sastras, and what is practicable.” That is what Bhagavan used to say. This is a practical illustration. February 4, 1947 Sleep and the Real State Somebody handed a slip of paper with a question on it to Bhagavan this afternoon. The purport of it was: “What happens to this world during sleep? In what state is the jnani during sleep?” Affecting surprise, Bhagavan replied, “Oh! Is that what you want to know? Do you know what is happening to your body 4 and in what state you are when you are asleep? During your sleep you forget that your body is here, in this place, on this mat, in this very condition, and you wander about somewhere and do something. It is only when you wake up that you realize that you are here. But you are always existent during the sleeping state as well as during the waking state. Your body is lying inert, without any activity during your sleep. Therefore you are not this body during the sleeping condition. Then, to what are you at- tached during sleep? There must be something which is the prop for these comings and goings. You lie down with a view to sleep. But you get dreams; then you sleep knowing happily noth- ing. It is a very happy sleep. So you admit that you were there in the sleeping state. And yet you say that you are aware of nothing in that state. What is real, you say you do not know. What is un- real and fleeting, you say you know. But in truth you know what is real. These fleeting things—let them come and go—they will not touch you. You do not know about yourself but you ask what happens to the world? What does the jnani experience in the sleeping state? If you first know what happens to you, the world will know about itself. You ask about jnanis; they are the same in any state or condition, as they know the Reality, the Truth. In their daily routine of taking food, moving about and all the rest, they, the Jnanis, act only for others. Not a single action is done for themselves. I have already told you many times that just as there are people whose profession is to mourn for a fee, so also the jnanis do things for the sake of others with detachment, without themselves being affected by them.” Another devotee took up the conversation and asked: “Swami, you say the real state must be known, and that medi- tation is necessary to realise that. But first of all what is medita- tion?” “Meditation means Brahman,” Bhagavan replied, “To get rid of the evils that are created by the mind, it is said that some nishta (religious practice) must be adopted, and meditation based on that must be practised. As you go on doing it, those evils will disappear. And, after they disappear, the meditation it- self becomes fixed as Brahman. Tapas also means the same thing. When you ask how to get rid of all these vasanas, they say, Do tapas. But what is the reward of tapas? It is said, tapas itself is the reward. Tapas means swarupe (realization of the 5 self). What is real is the swarupa, that is Atma, the Supreme Self, that is Brahman. That is everything. Of course in technical lan- guage you have to say, ‘Do meditation,’ but these doubts do not arise if you know who it is that is really meditating.” The same idea was conveyed in Bhagavan’s Upadesa Saram: Ahmpetk< injivÉankm!, mhidd< tpae rm[vaigym!. The Realization of That which subsists when all trace of “I” is gone is great tapas. So sings Ramana.” —Upadesa Saram, 30 \ Excerpt from: The Quintessence of True Being by Nome This book is a SAT Publication and is available in the SAT bookstore or online at the SAT website. äü sTy< jgiNmWya jIvae äüEv napr>, brahma satyaà jaganmithyä jévo brahmaiva näparaù | äü}anavlImala brahma-jïänä-valé-mälä Brahman is the Truth, the universe is false, the jiva (individual self) is Brahman, indeed, not another. 6