#ahankara

Murti of Adi Sankara at the SAT Temple in Santa Cruz, California (via Wikipedia)

🕉️

THE WORLD – REAL OR ILLUSION?

Devotee.: Is Bhagavan’s teaching the same as Shankara’s? 

Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi: Bhagavan’s teaching is an expression of his own experience and realisation. Others find that it tallies with Sri Shankara’s. 

D.: When the Upanishads say that all is Brahman, how can we agree with Shankara that this world is illusory? 

B.: Shankara also said that this world is Brahman or the Self. What he objected to is one’s imagining that the Self is limited by the names and forms that constitute the world. He only said that the world has no reality apart from Brahman. Brahman or the Self is like a cinema screen and the world like the pictures on it. You can see the picture only so long as there is a screen. But when the observer himself becomes the screen only the Self remains.

Shankara has been criticised for his philosophy of Maya (illusion) without understanding his meaning. He made three statements:     1) Brahman is real     2) The universe is unreal     3) Brahman is the Universe He did not stop with the second. The third statement explains the first two; it signifies that when the Universe is perceived apart from Brahman, that perception is false and illusory. What it amounts to is that phenomena are real when experienced as the Self and illusory when seen apart from the Self.

The Self alone exists and is real. The world, the individual and God are, like the illusory appearance of silver in the mother-of-pearl, imaginary creations in the Self. They appear and disappear simultaneously. Actually, the Self alone is the world, the ‘I’ and God. All that exists is only a manifestation of the Supreme.

D.: What is reality? 

B.: Reality must always be real. It has no names or forms but is what underlies them. It underlies all limitations, being itself limitless. It is not bound in any way. It underlies unrealities, being itself Real. It is that which is. It is as it is. It transcends speech and is beyond description such as being or non-being. 

(He would not be entangled in apparent disagreements due merely to a different viewpoint or mode of expression.)

~ The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi in His Own Words Edited by: Arthur Osborne (pdf)

In the Hill of Light, Arunachala  ॐ  Om Arunachala!

🕉️  

What is that Self-Realisation which removes the discontent?

TALKS WITH RAMANA MAHARSHI

Talk 487 (extracts)  ~  Date: 2nd May, 1938 

D.: What is that Self-Realisation which removes the discontent? I am in the world and there are wars in it. Can Self-Realisation put an end to it? 

M.: Are you in the world? Or is the world in you? 

D.: I do not understand. The world is certainly around me. 

M.: You speak of the world and happenings in it. They are mere ideas in you. The ideas are in the mind. The mind is within you. And so the world is within you. 

D.: I do not follow you. Even if I do not think of the world, the world is still there. 

M.: Do you mean to say that the world is apart from the mind and it can exist in the absence of the mind? 

D.: Yes. 

M.: Does the world exist in your deep sleep? 

D.: It does. 

M.: Do you see it in your sleep? 

D.: No, I don’t. But others, who are awake, see it. 

M.: Are you so aware in your sleep? Or do you become aware of the other’s knowledge now? 

D.: In my waking state. 

M.: So you speak of waking knowledge and not of sleep-experience. The existence of the world in your waking and dream states is admitted because they are the products of the mind. The mind is withdrawn in sleep and the world is in the condition of a seed. It becomes manifest over again when you wake up. The ego springs forth, identifies itself with the body and sees the world. So the world is a mental creation. 

D.: How can it be? 

M.: Do you not create a world in your dream? The waking state also is a long drawn out dream. There must be a seer behind the waking and dream experiences. Who is that seer? Is it the body? 

D.: It cannot be. 

M.: Is it the mind? 

D.: It must be so. 

M.: But you remain in the absence of the mind.

D.: How? 

M.: In deep sleep. 

D.: l do not know if I am then. 

M.: If you were not how do you recollect yesterday’s experiences? Is it possible that there was a break in the continuity of the ‘I’ during sleep? 

D.: It may be. 

M.: If so, a Johnson may wake up as a Benson. How will the identity of the individual be established? 

D.: I don’t know. 

M.: If this argument is not clear, follow a different line. You admit “I slept well”, “I feel refreshed after a sound sleep”. So sleep was your experience. The experiencer now identifies himself with the ‘I’ in the speaker. So this ‘I’ must have been in sleep also. 

D.: Yes. 

M.: So ‘I’ was in sleep, if the world was then there, did it say that it existed? 

D.: No. But the world tells me its existence now. Even if I deny its existence, I may knock myself against a stone and hurt my foot. The injury proves the existence of the stone and so of the world. 

M.: Quite so. The stone hurts the foot. Does the foot say that there is the stone? 

D.: No. - ‘I’. 

M.: Who is this ‘I’? It cannot be the body nor the mind as we have seen before. 

This ‘I’ is the one who experiences the waking, dream and sleep states. The three states are changes which do not affect the individual. The experiences are like pictures passing on a screen in the cinema. The appearance and disappearance of the pictures do not affect the screen. So also, the three states alternate with one another leaving the Self unaffected. The waking and the dream states are creations of the mind. So the Self covers all. To know that the Self remains happy in its perfection is Self-Realisation. Its use lies in the realisation of Perfection and thus of Happiness. 

D.: Can it be complete happiness to remain Self-realised if one does not contribute to the happiness of the world? How can one be so happy when there is a war in Spain, a war in China? Is it not selfishness to remain Self-realised without helping the world? 

M.: The Self was pointed out to you to cover the universe and also transcend it. The world cannot remain apart from the Self. If the realisation of such Self be called selfishness that selfishness must cover the world also. It is nothing contemptible. 

D.: Does not the realised man continue to live just like a non-realised being? 

M.: Yes, with this difference that the realised being does not see the world as being apart from the Self, he possesses true knowledge and the internal happiness of being perfect, whereas the other person sees the world apart, feels imperfection and is miserable. Otherwise their physical actions are similar. 

D.: The realised being also knows that there are wars being waged in the world, just like the other man. 

M.: Yes. 

D.: How then can he be happy? 

M.: Is the cinema screen affected by a scene of fire burning or sea rising? So it is with the Self. The idea that I am the body or the mind is so deep that one cannot get over it even if convinced otherwise. One experiences a dream and knows it to be unreal on waking. Waking experience is unreal in other states. So each state contradicts the others. They are therefore mere changes taking place in the seer, or phenomena appearing in the Self, which is unbroken and remains unaffected by them. Just as the waking, dream and sleep states are phenomena, so also birth, growth and death are phenomena in the Self. which continues to be unbroken and unaffected. Birth and death are only ideas. They pertain to the body or the mind. The Self exists before the birth of this body and will remain after the death of this body. So it is with the series of bodies taken up in succession. The Self is immortal. The phenomena are changeful and appear mortal. The fear of death is of the body. It is not true of the Self. Such fear is due to ignorance. Realisation means True Knowledge of the Perfection and Immortality of the Self. Mortality is only an idea and cause of misery. You get rid of it by realising the Immortal nature of the Self.

https://selfdefinition.org/ramana/Talks-with-Sri-Ramana-Maharshi--complete.pdf

Adi Shankaracharya

🕉️

O MUNDO – REAL OU ILUSÃO?

Devoto: O ensinamento de Bhagavan’s é igual ao de Shankara?

Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi: O ensinamento de Bhagavan é uma expressão da sua própria experiência e realização. Os outros o vêem como correspondente ao ensinamento de Sri Shankara.

D.; Como podemos concordar com Shankara que diz que este mundo é ilusório se os Upanishads dizem que tudo é Brahman?

B.: Shankara também disse que este mundo é Brahman ou Eu Real. o que ele desaprovava era imaginar que o Eu Real é limitado pelos nomes e formas que constituem o mundo. Ele apenas disse que o mundo não possui nenhuma realidade além de Brahman. Brahman ou o Eu Real é como uma tela de cinema, e o mundo é como as imagens que aparecem nela. Você só vê a imagem enquanto há uma tela. Mas quando o observador se torna a tela, apenas o Eu Real permanece.

Shankara foi criticado pela sua filosofia de Maya (Ilusão) sem que fosse compreendido. Ele fez três declarações:     1) Brahman é real     2) O universo é  irreal     3) Brahman é o universo Ele não parou na segunda. A terceira declaração explica as duas primeiras - ela significa que a percepção do universo como separado de Brahman é falsa e ilusória. Equivale a dizer que os fenómenos são reais quando experienciados como sendo o Eu Real, e ilusórios quando vistos separados Dele.

Apenas o Eu existe e é real. O mundo, o indivíduo e Deus são criações imaginárias dentro do Eu, tal como o aparecimento da prata na madrepérola. Eles aparecem e desaparecem simultâneamente. Na verdade, apenas o Eu Real é o mundo, o “eu”, e Deus. Tudo o que existe é apenas uma manifestação do Eu Supremo.

D.: O que é a Realidade?

B.: A Realidade é sempre real. Ela não tem nomes nem formas, mas é o que os sustenta. Ela é a base de todas as limitações, sendo em si mesma ilimitada. Ela não é confinada a nada. Ela é a base de tudo o que é irreal, sendo em si Real. É aquilo que é. Ela é como é. A realidade transcende as palavras e está além de descrições tais como ser e não-ser.

(Ele não se enredava em contradições aparentes, sendo estas mero fruto de um ponto de vista diverso ou de uma maneira diferente de se expressar.)

     ~ The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi in His Own Words Edited by: Arthur Osborne (pdf)

In the Hill of Light, Arunachala

ॐ

23rd to 28th January, 1939 Talk 616.

[...] When I was staying in the Skandasramam I sometimes used to go out and sit on a rock. On one such occasion, there were two or three others with me including Rangaswami Iyengar. Suddenly we noticed some small moth-like insect shooting up like a rocket into the air from a crevice in the rock. Within the twinkling of an eye, it had multiplied itself into millions of moths which formed a cloud and hid the sky from view. We wondered at it and examined the place from which it shot up. We found that it was only a pinhole and knew that so many insects could not have issued from it in such a short time. 

That is how ahankara (ego) shoots up like a rocket and instantaneously spreads out as the Universe. [...]

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi -  Pg. 598

Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Arunachalaramanaya

Maharshi Ramana taught two paths as the main spiritual practices (sadhanas) for the salvation of humanity. They are 1) the path of Self- enquiry, that is, knowing oneself (one’s real nature) by enquiring ‘Who am I?’, and 2) the path of self-surrender, that is, surrendering oneself (the ego) completely to God. The former is the path of knowledge (jnana marga), and the latter is the path of devotion (bhakti marga).

The path of knowledge (jnana marga)

Is not the aim of all the various researches going on in the world to know about the world and God – the second and third persons –, rather than to know oneself, the first person? Man, who makes so much effort to know about the world and God, still does not know who he himself really is. How? We say ‘I am a man’; this is not a correct knowledge of ourself, but only ignorance. We feel that we are a man because we mistake a human body, our possession, for ‘we’, the possessor. Separating ourself from our possession (the body) by means of the enquiry ‘Who am I?’ and acquiring the right knowledge about the possessor (‘I’) is the best research of all and the best knowledge of all. The knowledge ‘I am the body’ (which is the ego) is a false knowledge of ourself. The true knowledge of ourself is that in which we know that we are the unlimited Self (atman).

What is the benefit of thus attaining true Selfknowledge? It is only when one knows oneself as Self that real good can be done to all creatures on earth. How? Only when Self- knowledge dawns will the truth be known that we alone are the reality of all living beings, and only then will the true love towards all blossom in our heart. Until this Self-knowledge is obtained, one cannot truly love all creatures merely by talking and propagating on platforms. “Love thy neighbour as thyself”. It is only when one experiences the whole world and all the souls in it as the first person singular that the real love, a love for ‘not another’ (ananya-bhakti), will be achieved. Such Self-realization alone is the tap-root without which peace, love and happiness cannot thrive on earth. Therefore the sole and immediate need of the world is Self-enquiry, the medicine that destroys the evil ego. Only a true Knower of Self (atma-jnani) can really serve the world perfectly! The mere existence on earth of such a Jnani is sufficient to ensure the spiritual and moral welfare of the whole world.

The path of devotion (bhakti marga)

When correctly understood, self-surrender is the surrender of the ego (ahankara) to God. Self-surrender and Self-enquiry are in fact one and the same, both in their result – the extinction of the ego –, and in their practice. Self-surrender is the path, that of devotion, for those who believe in God. How? Since in fact the individual ‘I’ and the world are properties belonging to God, to claim the body as ‘I’ and ‘mine’ is the great sin of stealing the property of God. If this attachment to the body is surrendered (to be accurate, restored) to God, the state of egolessness will be achieved. This state devoid of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ is the state of Self.

Path of knowledge / Path of devotion, both are the same

Though on superficial observation there may appear to be a difference between the path of enquiry and the path of devotion, namely that an aspirant on the path of enquiry attends to Self while an aspirant on the path of devotion attends to God, it will be clear to one who earnestly applies himself to practice that both are the same, not only in the result, namely to be established in Self by means of the destruction of the ego, but also in practice. 

A sincere devotee who wants to surrender himself completely to God should refuse from the very start to continue taking the body as ‘I’ and ‘mine’. If he again thinks ‘I am the body’ or ‘this body is mine’, he is committing the sin of dattapaharam, that is, taking back what has already been offered to God (*). Thus, the correct way of practicing self-surrender is for him to be very vigilant that the thought ‘I am the body’ or ‘this body is mine’ does not rise in him again. Now, how does he do this? Does he not try to be very watchful within lest the first person – the feeling ‘I am the body’ – should rise again, that is, does he not try always to remain with a sharp attention fixed on the feeling ‘I’? Hence, the same Self-attention which is going on in an enquirer is also going on in a devotee! Thus it is clear that an attention withdrawn from second and third persons and focused on ‘I’ is the correct and practical method of surrendering oneself to God. On the other hand, if a devotee seeks God outside himself, it will amount to being a second person attention. Since God ever shines as the reality of the first person, attending to the first person is the right attention to God and this is the true path of devotion.

  — The Path of Sri Ramana, by Sri Sadhu Om

http://www.happinessofbeing.com/The_Path_of_Sri_Ramana_Part_One.pdf

By Durgadas (Rodney) Lingham.(c) Durgadas (Rodney) Lingham. All Rights Reserved. No part of this article may be copied or reproduced in any manner, except via direct persmission from the author in writing.____________________________________________________Where the first in the cosmos is awakened through prayer, where the great priest administers and conduct the ritualism of sacred shimmering…

The law of Cosmos and the natural law of Existence – Dharma is not comparison based philosophy of communism, socialism, capitalism or corporatism. But it is Responsibilism.

The idea of duty is different for different people, different countries, different cultures, and different religions. Hence the term ‘duty’ is impossible to clearly define. We have always been trained by society to consider certain acts as duty; some as good and others as bad. Duty and responsibility are totally different.For example, it is our duty to help elderly people, to follow principles of…

Your own suppressed part, which is yet to be realized, goes and sits in the other’s heart. When you fulfill the expectation of others, only then you realize that it is your own expectations that are fulfilled

In these verses, Kṛṣṇa beautifully explains what walking the talk means through His own example. He says there is nothing in the three worlds the nether world, earth or heaven, for Him to achieve. There is no duty that binds Him. Even though He has nothing to gain, lose or even to do, He is constantly engaged in action and enriching the three worlds. Why? After Enlightenment, I came from the…