The
Guru’s Teaching
THE ESSENCE
OF THE TEACHING
In the course of a conversation
with Sri Bhagavan Ramana, I once had occasion to say that having spent
a lifetime in contact with Him, having imbibed His teachings as given
in numerous conversations and discussions with others, and having also
studied the works of Sri Bhagavan, I felt I could in a word summarize
His teachings.
On being graciously ordered to do so, I said that all His teachings amounted to this – that He (or the Self) alone Is, and everything else only seems to be but really is not.
Sri Bhagavan smiled, and saying “Yes, yes, yes!” left it there.
I quoted from His teachings: “The fourth or transcendental state (turiya) alone is; the ordinary appearances of the three states (waking, dreaming and sleeping) are naught.”
WHAT DOES THE GURU SAY?
In the restlessness of our mind, finding no satisfaction in anything done or achieved, we approach the Guru. He gives us His benign look of Grace; in that one look is the real touch of Grace. His proximity is the harbor of Peace; in Him you find your haven of safety. He is the healer of all sores in you. You seem to be melted and lost in Him, and are now again still. The Guru says, “Be still, and Know that I am God.” This knowing is the understanding of the absolute and relative values of Life.
What is this understanding? It is the distinctive knowledge (vijnana) of the eternal unchanging Truth of your very Self. In the background of this eternal and unchanging Truth, the changeful and varying states of your sense of “doership” move about and cloud your understanding of the Real Truth of your Being.
To put this more clearly, in the words of Sri Bhagavan, “You are the Self (atman).” Now no one will deny he is the Self, the eternal changeless basis of himself. This Self is Pure Being, conscious of Itself. It is Pure Bliss, in the sense that in Itself it is not touched or affected by the pleasures and pains of your varying states. Know to fix yourself as this Self, and to abide as such, unmoved by the fluctuating feelings of pain and pleasure, which pass and re-pass before you, the unaffected Self.
There must be no clouded vision of yourself. Whatever the nature of your doership and enjoyership, painful or pleasurable, you are always tranquil in the firmness of your real Being, as realized by the distinctive knowledge (vijnana) of yourself. This is the surest way to Peace, as taught by the Upanishads and by Bhagavan Sri Ramana.
Now you have been told
about the constant part of yourself, and you also have to be told about
the variable quantity in you. It is the mind. This is responsible for
all your moods and states of being, and their activities, painful and
pleasurable. Its nature is to identify itself with the body and induce
it to activities, leading to pleasure or pain. This is due to its rajasic
(active) and tamasic (inert and dark) nature. Through these
qualities the mind not only identifies itself with the gross body, but
it also veils and hides the constant part of yourself, the atman
(real Self).
But there is also a saving
grace about the mind. Apart from its rajasic and tamasic
nature, there is in it a sattvic (calm, harmonious, pure) aspect.
The wise try ever to enhance this sattvic aspect through intentionally
dedicating all activities to God. You can learn how to improve this
aspect of the mind through study of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita. This sattvic
aspect should be so developed as to first control the rajasic
and tamasic qualities (gunas), and later to annihilate
them, so that the sattvic quality comes to be 100 per cent
of the mind. In this state, the mind can be used as an instrument to
get understanding (vijnana) of the constant quantum of your
Being – the sat-chit-ananda, or Being-Consciousness-Bliss.
This understanding can
be had by separating the mind from the gross body, to which it has been
so long outwardly projecting, and taking it inwards towards the Self,
your constant Being. When the mind is so trained as to be more and more
in contact with the Self, then there arises perfect understanding and
abidance in the Real.
[NOTE: This is sooner
made possible by your constant, steady practice of Self-Inquiry, Sri
Bhagavan Ramana's method taught here at AHAM, which can be done with
eyes open even while engaged in ordinary daily activities. Or, it can
be practiced with eyes closed at your usual quiet times as your meditation
method. But it will occur more easily and quickly if you practive
Self-Inquiry in both ways – i.e. constantly, both with eyes open
and closed.]
You are (then) really free
in yourself; the clouds do not really affect you. Yet you are also outwardly
active, according to the latencies of the past karma in you, which work
out according to the law of their karma. The potter has given up his
hold on the wheel; yes, but the wheel still moves on owing to the momentum
still left in it.
In the same way you move,
and yet you are unaffected, no longer clinging to the action. You do;
yet you feel you are no more the doer. You enjoy or suffer; yet you
feel you are no more the one who suffers or enjoys. You are a mere witness
of all things in your varying states: waking, dreaming and sleeping.
You are you, or I am I, or the Self is the Self, and these states pass
and re-pass. This is the state of real Knowledge (jnana) or
real Devotion (bhakti). This is the message of the “Bhagavad
Gita.” This is equally the message of our benign guru, Sri Ramana
Maharshi.
Let us heed it and in our
desperate need take full courage. May Gurudeva Sri Bhagavan so bless
us that we abide as the Self, and so have done with the egoic “I”
and its endless round of coming and going. Lokamanya Tilak declared:
“Swaraj (independence, self-rule) is my birthright, and
I shall have it.” So too Gurudeva Sri Bhagavan declares, “Pure
Knowledge is your Birthright, and you shall have it.”
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