Introduction
This RIBHU GITA is an ancient
text. It means literally, “Ribhu’s Song,” and is Part
Six of the Shiva Rahasya, a legendary mystical text in India.
The whole of the RIBHU
GITA is said to represent the teaching given to the Sage Ribhu by God
Himself in the form of Lord Shiva, the formless aspect of the Divine
Activity in whom all beings and things are always already absorbed.
The Sage in turn gave the teaching to his reluctant disciple Nidagha.
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi
attributed unique value to it as being a lucid exposition of Supreme
Truth. He quite often referred to it in his talks with devotees and
seekers. He even stated that if one would repeatedly study Chapter 26
of the RIBHU GITA one could spontaneously pass into the state of sahaja
samadhi, or the natural state of true Self-realization.
This passage consists of
six verses selected by Sri Bhagavan from the whole text of the original
work, which together represents a summation of its central teaching.
It also contains a humorous
narrative Sri Bhagavan once told to his devotees about the Sage Ribhu
and his disciple Nidagha. Although it a humorous tale, it is like one
of Jesus’ parables, in that it discloses the Highest or Supreme
Truth.
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A Story of the Sage Ribhu
and His Disciple Nidagha
Although Ribhu taught his
disciple the Supreme Truth of the one Absolute Reality without a second,
Nidagha, in spite of his erudition and understanding, did not get sufficient
conviction to adopt and follow the spiritual Path of Self-knowledge,
but settled down in his native town to lead a life devoted to the observance
of ceremonial religion (i.e., rituals and sacraments).
But the Sage loved his
disciple as deeply as the latter venerated his Master. In spite of his
age, Ribhu would himself go to his disciple in the town just to see
how far the latter had outgrown his ritualism. At times the Sage went
in disguise, so that he might observe how Nidagha would act when he
did not know that he was being observed by his Master.
On one such occasion Ribhu,
who had put on the disguise of a village rustic, found Nidagha intently
watching a royal procession. Unrecognized by the town dweller Nidagha,
the village rustic enquired what the bustle was all about, and was told
that the king was going in procession.
“Oh! It is the king.
He goes in procession! But where is he?” asked the rustic.
“There, on the elephant,”
said Nidagha.
“You say the king
is on the elephant. Yes, I see the two,” said the rustic, “but
which is the king and which is the elephant?”
“What!” exclaimed
Nidagha. “You see the two, but do not know that the man above
is the king, and the animal below is the elephant? Where is the use
of talking to a man like you?”
“Pray, be not impatient
with an ignorant man like me,” begged the rustic. “But you
said ‘above’ and ‘below,’ what do they mean?”
Nidagha could stand it
no more. “You see the king and the elephant, the one above and
the other below. Yet you want to know what is meant by ‘above’
and ‘below’?” burst out Nidagha. “If things
seen and words spoken can convey so little to you, action alone can
teach you. Bend forward, and you will know it all too well.”
The rustic did as he was
told. Nidagha got on his shoulders and said, “Know it now. I am
above as the king, you are below as the elephant. Is that clear enough?”
“No, not yet,”
was the rustic’s quiet reply. You say you are above like the king,
and I am below like the elephant. The ‘king,’ the ‘elephant,’
‘above’ and ‘below,’ so far it is clear. But
pray, tell me what you mean by I and You?”
When Nidagha was thus confronted
all of a sudden with the mighty problem of defining the ‘you’
apart from the ‘I,’ light dawned on his mind. At once he
jumped down and fell at his Master’s feet saying: “Who else
but my venerable Master, Ribhu, could have thus drawn my mind from duality
and the superficialities of physical existence to the true Being of
the Self? Oh! Benign Master, I crave thy blessings.”
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The Central Teaching of
the Ribhu Gita
(Six Verses Selected by Sri Ramana Maharshi)
The concept “I-am-the-body”
is the sentient inner organ, the mind. It is also the illusive bondage
to identification with birth and death. It is the source of all groundless
fears. If there is no trace of it at all everything will be found to
be the Reality of the Supreme Absolute Being.
The concept “I-am-the-body”
is the primal ignorance. It is known as the firm knot of the heart.
It gives rise to the concepts of existence and non-existence. If there
is no trace of it at all, everything will be found to be the Reality
of the Supreme Absolute Being.
The ego or separate soul
is a concept. God, the world, the mind, desires, action, sorrow and
all other things are all concepts. Abiding without concepts is the undifferentiated
state. It is inherence in the Supreme Being. It is wisdom. It is Liberation.
It is the natural and true state. It is the Reality of the Supreme Absolute
Being. It is the Supreme Formless God. If there is no concept at all,
everything will be found to be the Reality of the Supreme Absolute Being.
The body is a concept,
and the various functions of manifest existence are only concepts. Hearing,
reasoning and contemplating are concepts. Inquiry into the ultimate
nature of one’s own existence is even a concept.
All other things are also
concepts. Concepts give rise to the world, the separate souls, and God.
There is nothing whatever except concepts. Everything is the Reality
of the Supreme Absolute Being.
The mind is unreal. It
is like a magic show. It is like the son of a barren woman. It is absolutely
non-existent. Since there is no mind there are no concepts, no Master,
no disciple, no world, no separate soul. All concepts are the Reality
of the Supreme Absolutely Being.
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