#immutable reality

🔱  Om Namo Bhagavathe Sri ArunachalaRamanaya   🔱  

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The Paramount Importance of Self Attention, by Sri Sadhu Om, As recorded by Michael James

Part Six - Mountain Path: July – August 2013 - Excerpt

Note of 7th January 1978 (Part 2)

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Ignorance is of two types: 'I know' and 'I don't know'. Both depend upon the rising 'I', and both disappear when that rising 'I' is scrutinised. In verse 9 of Ulladu Narpadu Bhagavan says: 

Dyads [pairs of opposites such as knowing and not knowing] and triads [the three factors of objective knowledge: the knower, the knowing and the known] exist [only by] clinging always to 'one' [namely our mind or ego, which alone experiences such knowledge or ignorance]. If [anyone] looks within the mind [to discover] what that 'one' is, they [the dyads and triads] will cease to exist [because the ego on which they depend will be found to be non-existent]. Only those who have seen [this non-existence of the ego] are those have seen the reality. See, they will not be confused.

In the state of jñāna [knowledge] no 'I' can rise either to say 'I know myself' or 'I do not knοω myself'. This is the truth that Bhagavan teaches us in both verse 33 of Ulladu Narpadu and verse 2 of Sri Arunāchala Ashtakam:

Saying 'I do not know myself' [or] 'I have known myself' is ground for ridicule. Why? To make oneself an object known, are there two selves? Because being one is the truth of everyone's experience.

When within [my] mind I investigated who the seer is, [and] when the seer [thereby] became non-existent, I saw that which remained [namely beginningless, endless and unbroken being-consciousness-bliss]. The mind does not [now] rise to say 'I saw', [so] in what way can the mind rise to say 'I did not see'? Who has the power to elucidate this [by] speaking, when in ancient times [even] you [as Dakshinamurti] elucidated [it] without speaking? Only to elucidate your state without speaking, you stood shining [from] earth [to] sky motionlessly [or as a hill].

To say 'I knοω myself' is as absurd as saying 'I do not knοω myself'. In verse twelve of Ulladu Narpadu Bhagavan says:

That which is completely devoid of knowledge and ignorance is [true] knowledge. That which knows [anything other than itself] is not true knowledge. Since it shines without anything that is other [than itself] to knοω or to make known, self is [true] knowledge. Know it is not a void.

Bhagavan once told Muruganar: "It is not only that self does not know other things, it does not even know itself as 'I am this'." In verse 26 of Upadesa Undiyar he says: 'Being self alone is knowing self, because self is devoid of two. ...'. That is, there are not two selves so that one could be known by the other. Since self is indivisibly single, it can know itself only by being itself. And since being conscious of itself is its very nature, its being itself is itself its knowing itself. In verse 8 of Ulladu Narpadu Bhagavan says:

Whoever worships [it] in whatever form giving [it] whatever name, that is the way to see that [nameless and formless] substance [the absolute reality or God] in name and form. However, knοω [that] knowing the reality of oneself [by] subsiding in and becoming one with the reality of that true substance is seeing [it] in reality.

Here 'knowing the reality [or truth] of oneself' may mean either knowing the non-existence of the ego or knowing what we really are. However, 'knowing the non-existence of the ego' fits better in this context, considering the phrase 'subsiding in the reality of that true substance', though both meanings amount to the same thing. Whichever way it is taken, 'the reality of oneself' can be correctly known only by our subsiding in and becoming one with the reality of that true substance, which is our real self.

Worshiping that true substance (which is also called 'the supreme reality' or 'God') in any name or form may be a means to see visions of it in that name and form, but it cannot be a means to experience knowledge of the true nature of that reality, which is devoid of any name or form. In order to knοω the true nature of the reality one must know the true nature of oneself, the knower. Therefore in verse 1073 of Guru Vachaka Kovai Bhagavan says:

Since the many [forms of] God that are obtained [as visions or other such dualistic experiences] by clear [pure-hearted] worship undergo appearance and disappearance and [thus] perish, only one's own [true] nature, which always exists with clarity [or certainty], is the true form of God that exists immutably.

If God is experienced or known as other than the knower, he becomes an object of knowledge and as such he depends for his existence upon the knower. Since the knower is unreal, so too is whatever it knows. Therefore, the absolute reality or God can only be known truly by the knower being one with it. When the knower and the known are both resolved into the one reality, that is true knowledge.

You declared: ‘Unless one reaches the throne of the Heart, it is impossible to see the brilliant light of reality.’ Praise be to you!  ~  Sri Muruganar  - ‘Upadesa Tiruvahaval’, 89-90

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UPADESA UNDIYAR (Tamil) or UPADESA SARAM (Sanskrit)

THE ESSENCE OF TEACHINGS - PART 19         (edited set)

NUL - TEXT  

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26.  Being Self is itself knowing Self, because Self is that which is not two. This is abidance as the Reality (tanmaya-nishta).

Note:

Since we do not have two selves, one self to be known by the other self, what is called Self-knowledge is nothing but the state of being Self – that is, the state of abiding as we really are, as the mere existence-consciousness ‘I am’, instead of rising as ‘I am this’ or ‘I am that’. 

This state of being Self is what is called ‘Self-abidance’ (atma-nishta) or ‘abidance as the reality’ (tanmaya-nishta).

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https://www.davidgodman.org/rteach/Upadesa_Undiyar.pdf

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ॐ  Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Arunachalaramanaya  ॐ

Glory to you who revealed clearly that true attainment [of jnana] as my own Self, the indivisible light!  ~ Sri Muruganar  - ‘Upadesa Tiruvahaval’, 166

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UPADESA UNDIYAR (Tamil) or UPADESA SARAM (Sanskrit)

THE ESSENCE OF TEACHINGS - PART 21           (edited set)

NUL - TEXT

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28.   If one knows what one’s own nature is, then what will remain and shine is only the beginningless, endless and unbroken existence-consciousness-bliss [anadi ananta akhanda sat-chit-ananda].

Note: 

This verse may also be interpreted to mean, 

‘If one knows what one’s own nature is, then it will be found to be the beginningless, endless and unbroken existence-consciousness-bliss’.

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https://www.davidgodman.org/rteach/Upadesa_Undiyar.pdf

However much power one has, without your Grace will ego get annihilated? My Father, will your kind heart bestow on me the experience of the true supreme devotion? ~ Sri Sadhu Om

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Talk 399 (extracts from), 15th April, l937 

[...] As was already said, the purpose of the whole philosophy is to indicate the underlying Reality whether of the jagrat, svapna and sushupti states [waking, dreaming and deep sleep], or the individual souls, the world and God.

There are three outlooks possible:-

(1) The Vyavaharika: The man sees the world in all its variety, surmises the creator and believes in himself as the subject. All these are thus reduced to the three fundamentals, jagat, jiva and Isvara [world, individual soul and creator]. He learns the existence of the creator and tries to reach him in order to gain immortality. If one is thus released from bondage, there are all other individuals existing as before who should work out their own salvation. He more or less admits the One Reality underlying all these phenomena. The phenomena are due to the play of maya. Maya is the sakti of Isvara or the activity of Reality. Thus, existence of different souls, objects, etc., do not clash with the advaitic point of view.

(2) The Pratibhasika: The jagat, jiva and Isvara are all cognised by the seer only. They do not have any existence independent of him. So there is only one jiva, be it the individual or God. All else is simply a myth.

(3) The Paramarthika: i.e., ajata-vada (no-creation doctrine) which admits of no second. There is no reality or absence of it, no seeking or gaining, no bondage or liberation and so on. The question arises why then do all the sastras speak of the Lord as the creator? How can the creature that you are create the creator and argue that the jagat, jiva and Isvara are mental conceptions only?

The answer is as follows:-

You know that your father of this jagrat state is dead and that several years have elapsed since his death. However you see him in your dream and recognise him to be your father, of whom you were born and who has left patrimony to you. Here the creator is in the creature. Again, you dream that you are serving a king and that you are a part in the administrative wheel of the kingdom. As soon as you wake up all of them have disappeared leaving you, the single individual, behind. Where were they all? Only in yourself. The same analogy holds good in the other case also.

~ Talks With Sri Ramana Maharshi

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

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Talk 188. 13th March 1936

The essence of mind is only awareness or consciousness. When the ego, however, dominates it, it functions as the reasoning, thinking or sensing faculty. The cosmic mind being not limited by the ego, has nothing separate from itself and is therefore only aware. This is what the Bible means by “I am that I AM”.

The ego-ridden mind has its strength sapped and is too weak to resist the torturing thoughts. The egoless mind is happy in deep, dreamless sleep. Clearly therefore Bliss and misery are only modes of mind; but the weak mode is not easily interchangeable with the strong mode. Activity is weakness and consequently miserable; passivity is strength and therefore blissful. The dormant strength is not apparent and therefore not availed of.

The cosmic mind, manifesting in some rare being, is able to effect the linkage in others of the individual (weak) mind with the universal (strong) mind of the inner recess. Such a rare being is called the GURU or God in manifestation.

~ Talks With Sri Ramana Maharshi (pdf)  

Maya is Abhinna Sakti of Brahman. ‘Abhinna’ means inseparable. Maya cannot be separated from Brahman. Just as heat is inseparable from fire, so also Maya is inseparable from Brahman.

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Avarana, The Veiling Power

49. Master: Avarana (the veiling power) veils the inner vision of all embodied beings, except unexcelled Ishvara and Self-realized jnanis, in the shape of: “It is not; It does not shine forth,” in the same way as the dense darkness of a wintry night hides the sky, the earth and the directions from our view. 

50. Outwardly, this veiling power altogether obstructs the distinguishing of Brahman who is Perfection, from His modifications as the world, and inwardly that of the Self which is Pure Consciousness, from Its modifications as the inner faculties, that is, the ego, the mind. It is therefore the sole cause of that chronic disease, the endless series of births and deaths. 

51. The question then arises: Whereon does the superimposition rest when the substratum is completely hidden? And how can there be any superimposition if the substratum is not hidden? The answer is: The substratum is twofold: general and particular, of which the general substratum remains continuous and unbroken. Transient superimposition is particular. 

52. In the world, the common substratum, “This is”, can never be veiled; but only the particular identity, “This is a rope”. Similarly with the jiva, ignorance does not veil the substratum, “I AM”; but it veils the specific knowledge, “I am Brahman.” 

~ Kaivalya Navaneeta - The Cream of Liberation, by Tandavaraya Swami,  Section I - The Exposition of the Truth 

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http://ramana-maharshi.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/7/2/24723372/kaivalya_navaneeta_-_cream_of_liberation.pdf

Arunachala - This Linga can be seen on a shining seat in the house of nine gates — never installed there by anyone but having faces, hands, feet, heads and seats in all directions... It is revealed as the Unqualified Being by Vedanta. From it emerges the magnificent earth and is resolved into it. The three qualities namely, brightness, activity and darkness (sattva, rajas and tamas) of which the universe is made, manifests from it. ~The Glory Of Arunachala

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Disciple:  

When I dissociate myself from the five sheaths and look beyond, there remains only a blank. I see nothing more than that. Am I to take this blank for the supreme experience of the Self? 

Master:

71. “In the anecdote [The ten foolish men], the tenth man, of deluded intellect, after counting only nine men and not recognizing himself as the tenth, was stupefied. Can such stupor be the tenth man? Good son, you are the seer of all (i.e., blank and the five sheaths).”

 72. I speak the Truth: You are the unchanging Witness of the gross, subtle and (causal) ignorance, the waking, dream and sleep states, and the passage of time — past, present and future, which endlessly rise and fall, like waves in the Ocean of Bliss.

 73. Do not ask: “By what light shall I see myself who am the all-seeing witness?” Can there be a light to illumine the self-luminous Light? The tenth man knows himself as such among the others. Is there an eleventh man in him?

74. To argue that another knowledge is necessary to make knowledge known, is foolish, and leads to interminable controversy. You are neither known nor unknown. Realize yourself as self-shining Knowledge.

75. Is it what makes the sweets sweet not the nature of sugar to be sweet? Realize yourself as the meaning of ‘I’, which makes known objects as ‘this’ and ‘that’ (or the seen and unseen) [1] and Itself lies beyond them.

[1]  Or: “the seen” and “the unseen”.  

~ Kaivalya Navaneeta - The Cream of Liberation, by Tandavaraya Swami,  Section I - The Exposition of the Truth

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http://ramana-maharshi.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/7/2/24723372/kaivalya_navaneeta_-_cream_of_liberation.pdf

☀  “Nataraja” - by Indian visionary artist Mr. Asokan Nanniyodu  ☀

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Kaivalya Navaneeta -  The Cream of Liberation

SECTION I  -  The Exposition of the Truth (II)

(The seven stages of development of ‘jivas’, illustrated by the analogy of the ten foolish men)

58. Through this Maya, jivas experience seven stages of development as follows: ignorance, veiling, multiplicity, indirect knowledge, direct experience, freedom from misery, and supreme Bliss.

59 & 60. Of these, ignorance is to lose sight of the fact that the inner Self is no other than Brahman; veiling makes one say: “There is no Brahman. I do not see Him”; multiplicity springs up as, “I am a man. I am a jiva.”; indirect knowledge is to know the nature of the Self by the teachings of the Master; direct experience is to stay unshaken as the unitary Being after enquiry into the Self; freedom from misery is to end limitations and the sense of doership; and supreme Bliss is the final accomplishment, that is, release from bondage. 

61. I shall now relate to you a story to illustrate this: 

Ten men forded a stream and, on reaching the other shore, each of them counted nine others and omitted to count himself. They were all perplexed because the tenth man was missing. 

62 & 63. Ignorance is want of right understanding, which causes confusion. “The tenth man is missing, not to be found.” This thought is the veiling. Grief at the loss of the companion is vikshepa. To heed the words of a sympathetic passer-by who says: “The tenth man is among you,” is indirect knowledge. When the kindly man further makes one of them count the others and points to the teller as the tenth man, the discovery of oneself as the missing tenth man forms direct experience. The cessation of grief for the lost man is freedom from misery. The joy of indubitable ascertainment by oneself is supreme Bliss.

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