THREE - The Method and What Hinders It
Question: I know Bhagavan has said:
“The obstacles that hinder realization are habits of the mind (vasanas), and the aids to realization are the teachings of the scriptures and of realized souls.”
What needs clarification are the methods of the teachings, especially in regard to Bhagavan’s method of reflection?
“Reflection (enquiry) is said to be one of the most effective and advanced techniques of spiritual attainment, for it leads to Self-realization. Reflection in Sanskrit is vichara, also sometimes called manana. Its foundation is based upon the quality of intellect. When the intellect is pure and subtle, one begins to reflect upon “Who am I”, what is the nature of this world, and what is my goal in this life and how am I going to attain it. These are all questions pertaining to an inward movement of the mind. But when the intellect is externalized it becomes tainted through attachment to the things of the world.
This attachment will in time render the intellect impure. The nature of reflection common to this impure intellect asks not questions vital to man’s inner search, but rather ones essential to the survival of the ego. This externalized mind is day and night occupied with acquiring wealth, sensual pleasures, name and fame. Then after acquisition of these, equal time is spent warding off troubles that might jeopardize their maintenance. We are consumed with brooding over these objects of the senses. Our attachment produces desire, from which sprouts anger when the desire is thwarted. From anger proceeds delusion and forgetfulness.” 1
Results of Actions
Thus we do not feel any of the consequences of indifference, inattention and procrastination concerning what in the beginning was merely a habit of bad choice, but now has matured into pramada (defined in the Upanishads as death). 2 Such reflection is never directed to our own Self, but is only associated with the temporary body it is dwelling within.
Thus the modes of our mental processes do not focus themselves on the central problem, which surrounds the essential purpose of life - the revelation of the Truth of our nature. Our attempts to settle matters in the external world of maya literally ‘blind’ us to the subtle and real problem of “Who am I”. This blindness alone constitutes our impurity. The fruitless but nevertheless endless and all-consuming effort put into an attempt to secure happiness from the outside world compounds our problem. The neon lights advertising worldly happiness initially cause us to postpone our inner search on the path to Life. If we remain distracted by the glamour of the world long enough, we will completely forget the goal of Higher Life. Thus sadly, the result will be that we have succumbed to the goal of the lower egotistic self - forgetfulness of God.
The vast majority of people have, in various degrees, this externalized intellect. Simply, they are not interested in the essential problem of “Who am I”, and unconcerned with its resolution. Inattention to spiritual practice at first only obscures the Light of God. By graded degrees, inattention spawns indifference, which results in blindness.
The Art of Reflection
The practicing aspirant, on the other hand, learns the art and application of reflection on “Who am I”. He allows the mental energy of a purified intellect to focus and concentrate with depth and regularity. The ego thrives in an individual in the absence of reflection. The whole world-process exists in the absence of reflection. If we reflect skillfully and long enough the obstructing thoughts of the world will be worn down and our problems will dissolve and our purified intellect will merge into the experience of our unity with God (samadhi). Bhagavan assures us of this by saying:
"We are ever in sushupti (absolute Being, in the dreamless deep sleep state). Becoming aware of it in jagrat (the waking state) is samadhi. The ajnani (a being ignorant of his true Being) cannot remain long in sushupti because his ego pushes him out of it. The jnani (Knower of the Self), although he has scorched the ego, it continues to rise again and again due to prarabdha (past life habitual tendencies). So, for both the jnani and the ajnani the ego springs up, but with this difference: whereas the jnani enjoys the transcendental experience, keeping its lakshya (aim, attention resulting in transformation) always fixed on its source, that of the ajnani is completely ignorant of it. The former is not harmful, being a mere skeleton of its normal self, like a burnt up rope. By constantly fixing its attention on the Source, the Heart, the ego gets dissolved into it like a salt doll which has fallen into the ocean." 3
The Higher and Lower Self
It is essential to understand the difference here in Bhagavan’s affirming that the ‘absolute Being that we really are’ (with a capital “B” denoting our higher divine Self) could very well be for many or most of us, without the process of transformation enjoined, a long time (life times) away from our present state of ‘being as we are’ (with a small “b” denoting our lower egotistic self). This is because though the ego seems to be ever concerned with our well being, it comes between our practical personality in this world and the spiritual personality of our higher Self.
It comes in-between and lies; and our belief in the lie deludes us with the idea that we are only the body, without spiritual basis. Perhaps even a lie that declares that we can ‘be’ pure Being without the spiritual basis created by the process of transformation, which Bhagavan declared as essential. Led by the ego the individual experiences frustration and sorrows, which drags him from one embodiment to another.
When we practice reflection (enquiry) we begin to understand the illusory nature of the ego. The purpose of atma vichara (enquiry into the true nature of the Self) is to remove this illusion, which in essence melts the ego itself, or to transcend the ego through submission to God.
Through either path, gradually by degrees, God becomes the dominating factor in our lives. The verification of this achievement is actual experience (without the taint of human imagination) of the grace and bliss of stillness and peace, which Bhagavan promised is our higher Nature by inheritance.
Engaging the Enemy with Meditation
Before this revelation there must come a confrontation and a conquering, and sublimation through the rising of our selves by our own self-effort (swadharma).
“Let a Yogi lift himself (lower self) by himself (higher Self); he should not drag himself down into a degraded condition, because he himself is his only friend as well as his own enemy.” 4
Bhagavan gives us a choice of two means of practice. He would say:
“There are two ways: ‘Ask yourself- Who am I?’ or ‘Submit and I will strike down the ego’.” 5
For those who have set their hands to the plough of:
“Effort, which is itself yoga,” 6
it seems safe to assume that both of the means employ similar methods. Bhagavan’s statements concerning the success of either path exemplify this. A devotee who received instruction for a long period of time directly from Bhagavan asks:
“Although I have listened to the explanation of the characteristics of enquiry in such great detail, my mind has not gained even a little peace. What is the reason for this?”
Bhagavan replied: “The reason is the absence of strength or one-pointedness of mind.”
Devotee: “What is the reason for the absence of mental strength?”
Bhagavan: “The means that make one qualified for enquiry are meditation, yoga, etc. One should gain proficiency in these through graded practice, and thus secure a stream of mental modes that is natural and helpful. When the mind that has in this manner become ripe, listens to the present enquiry, it will at once realize its true nature, which is the Self, and remain in perfect peace, without deviating from that state. To a mind that has not become ripe, immediate realization and peace are hard to gain through listening to enquiry. Yet, if one practices the means for mind-control for some time, peace of mind can be obtained eventually.” 7
Once a devotee of Bhagavan asked:
D.: What is the meaning of the strength of the mind?
Maharshi: Its ability to concentrate on one thought without being distracted.
D.: How is that achieved?
M.: By practice. A devotee concentrates on God; a seeker, follower of the jnana-marga, seeks the Self. The practice is equally difficult for both. 8
Devotee: “What are the steps in practical sadhana?”
The Master: “They depend on the qualifications and the nature of the seeker. If you are doing idol worship, you should go on with it; it will lead you to concentration. Get one-pointed, and all will come out right. People think that Liberation is far away and should be sought out. They are wrong. It is only knowing (by direct experience) the Self within oneself. Concentrate and you will get it. The mind is the cycle of births and deaths. Go on practicing and concentration will be as easy as breathing. That will be the crown of your achievements.” 9
Constancy and Ardency
Here Bhagavan is stressing the graded practice of concentration that ultimately produces a one-pointed intellect. Every devotee of Bhagavan worth the name knows that this takes time because of the very fact that it is not theory. For God is not a theory, and thus it takes effort to think of Him with concentration at least equal to the effort we put forth in forgetting Him.
Though we forget God with apparent ease, the devotion required to attract the grace of remembrance of Him develops slowly, and deepens only with our ardent perseverance in concentration, meditation and prayer.
Bhagavan affirmed this by saying:
"If bhakti is sufficiently developed, vairagya (dispassion for objects of the senses) and concentration follow as a matter of course. If devotion to an Ideal is also lacking, the seeker may resort to japa (repetition of the Name of God) or pranayama (awareness and control of breath) to arrest the restlessness of the mind. All these practices specifically aim at stopping the vritti, the ceaseless modification, the wanderings of the mind, so that the latter may be nailed to itself and may eventually cognize its own native state. Mental diffusiveness resembles a mixture of gold dust with sand, earth, ashes and dirt of all sorts. Concentration (dharana) and meditation (dhyana) are the sieve, which sifts the gold dust from the others. They churn the nadis (nerves) along which consciousness flows to the whole body and tracks them down to their source, the Heart. Relaxation of the nervous system then takes place, denoting the fing of the consciousness from the nadis back to the Heart. The ebbs and flows of the consciousness, which constant practice renders increasingly perceptible to the meditator, gradually loosen the consciousness from the body and end by separating them in samadhi, so that the sadhaka (spiritual practitioner) is enabled to perceive the consciousness alone and pure. This is the Self, God the Absolute.” 10
Our constancy in sadhana thus involves both a persistent development of focus and a deepening of devotion. The Lord is attracted not by the thoughts of the mind, but rather by the movement of our heart. We are reminded that we also have a skillful part to play in this act of grace when Bhagavan said:
"Grace is always there, it is only you who have to make yourself receptive to it." 11
Effort and Grace
Bhagavan's close disciple, Arthur Osborne, clarified the meaning and tradition of this statement saying:
"To do this constitutes the effort of which the teachers and scriptures speak. The mind has created the obstruction; the mind has to remove it. But merely to recognize this, to recognize, that is to say, that the ego is (according to the Advaitin or non-dualist) an illusory self or (according to the dualist) a creation of the Spirit, to which it should be totally submissive and passive, is far from constituting the full effort required. Indeed, it increases the obligation for total effort and therefore, so to speak, the guilt in not making effort." 12
Though 'grace is always there', it is natural and simply human to pray to Bhagavan for a physical support of grace. We know that in Bhagavan's physical presence a glance was enough. Though many have come to love him, there are those who feel 'born out of time', lacking that heartfelt devotion produced by the power of his presence even though he assured us that:
"They say that I am dying but I am not going away. Where could I go? I am here." 13
Through our abhyas (repeated effort), vichara (enquiry into one’s true Nature) and devotion we will experience him and thus know that he is eternally with us. He is for all a jagat guru (world teacher) that even today for many, through their love of him, is still a physical support of grace. He declared that if we "put his teaching into practice", our qualifing ripeness would be even his very embrace! For those of us whose love for him is still ripening we live with the assurance he gave:
"Mount Kailash is the abode of Shiva but Arunachala is Shiva Himself." "He saw the sacred hill as the form assumed by pure Spirit for the support and guidance of men. Now that the physical body of Bhagavan - the most precious of all supports of Grace - has been withdrawn from us, the Hill emits power and Grace for his devotees even more than before." 14
Following in His Footsteps
Perhaps even more assuring will be that through "the crown of our achievement" Bhagavan will declare to us when we come away from his Ashram and Arunachala the very same words he spoke to Arthur Osborne when he once left for Madras:
"He is taking the Swami with him." 15
For through our seeking with patient perseverance in transformative abhyas and vichara and our heeding Bhagavan's call to “think of the feet of the Lord”, we will discover the abode of those divine feet. Even though physically for us there is:
"No more the beloved face, no more the sound of his voice; (but) henceforth the lingam of polished black stone, the symbol of Siva, over the samadhi (as our) outer sign; inwardly (there will be) his footprints in the heart." 16
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1. This section includes quotes that originated from talks by Swami Jyotirmayananda, Yoga Research Foundation, Miami Florida, USA. www.yrf.org.
2. See Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, verses 62-63.
3. Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, recorded by Sri Munagala Venkataramiah, Sri Ramanashramam 2006, Talk 286. p. 255.
4. Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6, verse 5.
5. Be Still, It Is The Wind That Sings, Arthur Osborne, Sri Ramanashramam 2000, p. 64.
6. Guru Ramana, S.S. Cohen, Sri Ramanashramam 2006, p. 74.
7. Self-Enquiry (Vichara Sangraham) of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, translated by Dr. T.M.P. Mahadevan, Sri Ramanashramam 2005, p. 16-17.
8. Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, recorded by Sri Munagala Venkataramiah, Sri Ramanashramam 2003 (on-line), Talk 91. p. 89.
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9. Reflections on Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, S.S. Cohen, Sri Ramanashramam 2006, p. 134-135.
10. Reflections on Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, S.S. Cohen, Sri Ramanashramam 2006, notes on Talk 27, p. 133.
11. Be Still, It Is The Wind That Sings, Arthur Osborne, Sri Ramanashramam 2000, p. 74.
12. Be Still, It Is The Wind That Sings, Arthur Osborne, Sri Ramanashramam 2000, p. 73.
13. Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge, Arthur Osborne, Sri Ramanashramam 2006, p. 222.
14. Be Still, It Is The Wind That Sings, Arthur Osborne, Sri Ramanashramam 2000, p. 78-79.
15. Ibid.
16. Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge, Arthur Osborne, Sri Ramanashramam 2006, p. 225.
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