#root thought

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It is important to note the difference between this thought ‘I’, which is the mixed feeling ‘I am the body’, and the real ‘I’, which is the pure existence-consciousness ‘I am’.

Only when the nature of the root-thought, the first person thought ‘I’, is scrutinized will the ultimate truth that the mind has no existence whatsoever be realized.

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He who removes the darkness from within and without, having obtained that eternal state made of light, who uproots the ignorance of his devotees, who though seeing and sporting in this universe is beyond the universe, to him, Sri Ramana, the Guru of the world and destroyer of sorrow, salutations! ~  Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni -  Forty Verses in Praise of Sri Ramana, V. 22

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What is the Hridaya (Heart or Centre)?

On the 9th of August 1917, Sri Ramana Maharshi sat up at night in the Skandasramam. Kavyakantha and other bhaktas had gathered at his feet. For the benefit of all, Kavyakantha requested the Maharshi to explain fully 'the Heart' ( हृदय ) mentioned in his poem composed in 1915. [See "The Swami’s Verse”].

Maharshi thus answered: 

हृदय, i.e. the Heart (or Centre), is that from which all thoughts spring.

A description of it is given in various passages of the Vedas:

The above comparison of the Heart to the plantain bud or lotus bud and various other physical descriptions [The Upanishad compares it also to the leaf of the Aswatha tree (ficus religiosa)] are given to assist the yogi's practice of meditation.

How do we proceed to trace all thoughts to their source, you may ask. Well, let us discover if all thoughts could in the first place be traced to some one thought as their base of operations, and let us then go deeper and find the source of the basic thought. Is there then any such basic or fundamental thought underlying all other thoughts? Do you not see that the thought or idea 'I' – the idea of personality – is such a root thought?

For us, Maharshi explained later, whenever any thought arises, these questions arise and should be raised by the aspirant aiming at Realisation: 

'Does this thought exist independently of any person thinking, or does it exist only as the thought of a person, and if the latter is the case, to whom does it arise?' 

The answer is: 'This thought arises only as a person's thought and this thought arises in me.' So the 'I' idea may be regarded as a stem from which other thoughts branch forth.

Next let us see the root source of this (stem). But how? 

Dive deep in ecstatic concentration within yourself (i.e. within the 'I' thought) and perceive its source. There is nothing there to perceive in or through the senses. You have no guidance from sensation and rationalization for this search.

But if you have the right intuition, the Centre ‘ हृदय ‘ is immediately felt and the above or former 'I' which inquired disappears into this 'the Centre'. Thus, ‘ हृदय ‘ or the Heart Centre is the source of the 'I’-thought and of everything else.

The term ‘ हृदय ‘ (Heart) is however persistently identified by some who practice yoga with one of their six centres चक्रम् (chakram), i.e., their fourth centre called the (anahata chakram) situated in the chest. These yogis admit that ‘ हृदय ‘ denotes the source or abiding place of the personality. Well then, if these yogis wish to trace or promote the development of their personality or soul from its source or abiding place to its highest reach, as they profess to do, they should start its course from (anahata chakram), whereas they invariably start their course from (muladharam) which they style their first chakra. Hence one is perhaps well advised to confine the term, i.e., 'the Centre', to the Universal Centre or Brahman.

Brahman is often indicated in scripture as अयं' हृत् (ayam hrit), two words which make up ‘ हृदय ‘ (hridayam) when conjoined. Even the practicing yogi does not identify the ‘ हृदय ‘ (Heart) or (anahata) with the organ forming the centre of blood circulation (with its auricles and ventricles), and in the above stanza (vide Ch. II) the Heart ‘ हृदय ‘ is not used in a physiological sense, but rather as a metaphor and refers to the centre of consciousness. There is no harm, however, in taking ‘ हृदय ‘ to indicate an actual spatial region as is done in various parts of the scripture. There, ‘ हृदय ‘ is said to be on the right side of the chest (not on the left where the blood propeller is situated). From it radiates the sushumna nadi (or nerve), up which the current of consciousness or light goes to sahasrara (the thousand petalled – evidently referring to the brain with its numberless cells). From that sahasrara the light of consciousness passes again (evidently through the nerves) to all parts of the body and thereby the outside world is experienced by one.

But if the experiencer views the experienced object as something distinct from himself, i.e., from the Self, then he is caught up in the whirl of samsara, the wheel of metempsychosis, or chain of births and deaths. The sahasrara (i.e., brain) of the Atma Nishta, i.e. the Self-realizer, is pure light or enlightenment. If any flitting or passing desires approach it, they perish therein immediately. They have no soil to flourish upon there. The sankalpas or seeds of desire that occur in the Atma Nishta, staying in pure light or suddha sattva, are referred to in the Upanishads as getting parched or fried. Such a भृष्टबीजं (brishtabijam) does not give birth to fresh vasanas (tendencies) or karma (action), as they consume themselves, "nor leave a wrack behind”. This expression is frequently found in other Upanishads, in Vasishta and the works of Sri Sankaracharya, but this reference will suffice.

With the pure light mentioned, outside objects (vishayaha) are sensed or experienced, and their impress received. But, if these impressions are colored or swallowed up in the prevailing non-differentiation of the perfected yogi (Self-realized one), his yoga or Self-realization is not marred thereby. Even when receiving outside impressions, the yogi maintains his consciousness of the unity of existence; and it is this state of central conscious-unity with a (so to speak) peripheral experience of objects (the central light swallowing up the peripheral rays), that is called Sahaja Sthiti. But when the yogi completely shuts out cognizance of outside objects, his state is described as Nirvikalpa Samadhi, i.e., pure concentration, or the Absolute Consciousness without attributes or characteristics.

What are these objects which constitute the external universe? The entire universe or macrocosm is found in man, the microcosm. The entire man is found in the Heart, or Ultimate Centre. Ergo, the entire universe is found within that Centre, the Heart ‘ हृदय ‘. Again, looked at in another way, the external world does not exist without the mind perceiving it. That is, unless a mind perceives and notes the existence of the worlds, how is that existence to be posited? And the mind does not exist without the Centre ‘ हृदय ‘. Ergo, the entire world of experience ends at the Centre.

The respective positions of the Heart (the Centre) and the mind may be illustrated by an analogy:

What the sun is to the solar system – the origin of all, the supporter of all, and that which lights up all – that, the Centre (i.e., the Heart, or that which has intuition), is to man. What the moon is in the external universe, casting a delectable but uncertain light, incapable of creating or sustaining real life or throwing clear light on all objects, that the mind is when it works in or with the brain (sahasrara). Just as the moon borrows its light from the sun, so does the mind derive its power of knowing from the Centre, or Heart. It is when man has no intuition or illumination from that Centre or Heart, that he sees the mind as the only basis of his conscious activity, just as one may have, at night (i.e., when there is no sun), to be content to work by moonlight. At such a time the man is ignorant (pamara), as he does not see the source of all light (i.e., consciousness), viz. the Real, the Atman, but sees objects with the help of the mind alone, and sees them as different from himself; hence, he wanders as in a maze. The Jnani, on the other hand, stationed in the Centre, sees within it the mind, no doubt; but that mind is of as little significance to him as the moon when seen in daylight. The term Prajna has for its superficial denotation (Vachyartha) the mind, but it is in reality, i.e. in its essential content (lakshyartha), the Centre (हृदय), the Heart. Brahman is naught but that. To those who perceive with the help of the mind only, the difference of seer and seen exists, but to those at the Centre, they are one and the same.

Now, as for the advice given in the second half of the stanza (i.e., Chapter II) that one should enter into the Self in the Heart, there are, apart from spiritual enlightenment, other instances of the mind disappearing into the Centre by reason of deep sleep, excessive emotions of joy, sorrow, terror, rage, catalepsy, possession or coma. These also strike the mind and drive it into its source. However, in these states, there is no illumination or even awareness of one's individuality, whereas in the condition of Samadhi, the Self-realization achieved by the yogi, one has such awareness and illumination. That is the difference between Samadhi and the above mentioned states.

~  The Sri Ramana Gita - Chapter V

https://archive.arunachala.org/newsletters/2010/jan-feb

2020-12-05 Sri Ramana Center, Houston: Michael James discusses Upadēśa Undiyār verse 18

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In a Zoom meeting with Sri Ramana Center, Houston, on 5th December 2020 Michael James discusses verse 18 of Upadēśa Undiyār:

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Thoughts alone are mind. Of all, the thought called ‘I’ alone is the root. What is called mind is ‘I’.

Explanatory paraphrase: 

Thoughts alone are mind [or the mind is only thoughts]. Of all [thoughts], the thought called ‘I’ alone is the mūla [the root, base, foundation, origin, source or cause]. [Therefore] what is called mind is [essentially just] ‘I’ [namely ego, the root thought called ‘I’]. 

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While discussing the meaning of this verse Michael also discusses or refers to the following passages from Bhagavan’s writings: 

✨  Upadēśa Undiyār: 

Verse 16: https://happinessofbeing.blogspot.com... 

Verse 17: https://happinessofbeing.blogspot.com... 

✨  Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu:

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Verse 23: https://happinessofbeing.blogspot.com... 

Verse 24: https://happinessofbeing.blogspot.com... 

Verse 25: https://happinessofbeing.blogspot.com... 

Verse 26: https://happinessofbeing.blogspot.com... 

Verse 28: https://happinessofbeing.blogspot.com... 

Verse 31: https://happinessofbeing.blogspot.com... 

✨  Nāṉ Ār? (Who am I?): 

Paragraph 4: https://www.happinessofbeing.com/nan_... 

Paragraph 6: https://www.happinessofbeing.com/nan_... 

Paragraph 10: https://www.happinessofbeing.com/nan_... 

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✨  Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai verse 99: 

Arunachala, [by making it shine in my heart as my own experience] graciously give [me] the import of the Vedas [the reality to which the Vedas ultimately point, namely brahman, the nature of which is pure awareness (prajñāna)], which, [as declared] in Vedanta, shines without [anything] other [than itself].

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As I started working on this post, the irony was not lost on me--I had just come back from an intense swim session and was feeling so exhausted that all I wanted to do was sleep or watch a movie or while away my time on social media--in other words, I was just not in the mood to use my brains even though this post was scheduled to go out today. As soon as I was about to sink in this unholy state, I quickly picked myself up and switching off my greatest distraction--my IPhone 6SPlus, started working on another post that did not require so many brains. After working 2 hours at a stretch and battling with dryness and lethargy, I felt positively good for having done the right thing. Later in the evening, after a quiet period of meditation and introspection, I began to get my energy and enthusiasm back alongwith my brains, so that I was able to think clearly and write this post!

From my own experiences in life, here are some of the practical things that I am learning everyday to motivate myself to work especially when I don't feel like it and I hope my readers will also benefit from this post.

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1. Cut out the root thought

Don't let the seed of the first negative thought take root in the mind. As soon as the first thought that tells you to take it easy comes to the mind, immediately cut it out and throw yourself into your work without thinking about it! For eg. this morning after I came back from my swim, I really didn't want to work but as soon as the first thought of watching a movie came to my mind, I immediately opened my laptop and started going through my to-do list for today.

2. Start with something small and simple

When you really don't feel like working, even something as simple as opening your laptop may draw your interest to accomplishing your goal for the day. Even then if you are not inspired, start with doing something that does not require so much effort--it may rekindle in you the energy needed for performing bigger tasks.

3. Don't break the chain

Do anything but don't break the chain! Also called the Seinfeld's Productivity Secret, in simple words it means to spend some time everyday in doing that thing in which you want to succeed. For e.g. If I want to become a good content writer for my blog, I have to practise writing everyday whether I feel like it or not. On days I am not inspired, I still write, it may not be my collective best but it is still my best for the day. The point is not to wait for the day when I can write my best but to keep writing everyday, day after day and gradually emerge as a winner. The periods when I have been either unable to write or have given into bad habits of procrastination, my interest in writing has also dwindled and it has always taken me a superhuman effort to get back to it. This simple principle can be applied to accomplishing anything worthwhile in life whether it is writing or meditating or loosing weight.

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4. Live Consciously

Anybody who is determined to succeed in life will also start living a very conscious life--he or she will start becoming aware of those habit patterns and tendencies that are acting as hindrances to realizing his/her worthwhile goals and ambitions. In my own case, I know that there are particular periods during the day, when I start feeling passively content about accomplishing my goals and if I don't make an extra effort during these periods, I may end up wasting a lot of precious time that could have been otherwise used to bringing me closer to my goal.

5. Break bigger goals into smaller ones

When you break bigger goals into smaller ones, the accomplishment of each small goal will fill you with a sense of fulfillment and purpose in life and boost your energy to work for your next goal. For e.g., when you start a blog, your bigger goal is to make your blog a success but for success to happen, you need to start working on smaller goals like creating great content for your blog, posting articles and updating your website regularly.