IN
QUEST OF TRUTH
Kasturi Bhaskara Rao
Self-enquiry is an inward Quest. It is a state of realization that the “I” in the Atman, the self-effulgent, is a direct lesson for being still and losing oneself in the Infinite. Its field is obviously the Self. It is a state of realization, the realization that the “I” is the Atman, the Self-effulgent. The Quest is a Sadhana, not a mere study or adhyana. It calls for withdrawal and collectedness, not action in the sense-presented world and dissipation of attention in external objects. The secret of this Sadhana lies in tracking down the mind to its source in the Self. The entire weight and force of the thought is shifted away from its content to its source. The answer to the question regarding the identity of the thinker leads further into the depths of one’s being as the self. This is an awakening in silence not an achievement in Action. It is rediscovering of the self as All-that-there-is. The Self is realized as Being, as pure Being-“I am that I am”
When the Atman is revealed as true basis of all beings, nothing else subsists, the world and the mind do not rise together, teaches Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, but it is the mind that sees the world endure with all its charms and deceptive potentialities. Hence the Sadhana of Self-enquiry adopts the technique of a direct attack on the mind. When the mind is brought to absolute tranquility, the distinction of meditation, mediator and object of meditation vanishes. The veil of illusion gets thin. The spear-point of inquiry pierces through. The Knot of the heart is cut. All doubts and despondencies are resolved. If man is to be free from bondage, the mind has to be serene and radiant through discipline and meditation. And the spirit of enquiry into the meaning of the Mahavakyas - “THAT, THOU ART (Tattvamasi) and “I am Brahman” (Aham Brahmasmi) has to break the bondage of duality for ever, It is one thing to know in theory and another to be able to accept in practice. True enquiry is the courage to see the upsetting man’s fundamental assumptions based on ignorance.
Maharshi’s life was a dedicated one from the beginning to realization and an insistent and absorbed search directed to Vairagya and God-Quest, Renunciation, Realization and the power that comes from both, seem to have been the prerogatives of the Maharshi from his early youth. The Hindu ideal has always been in favour of teaching through life and not so much through words. He was described as being always in Sahaja Samadhi, an uninterrupted state of realization, being able to attend to any work that turned up without feeling disturbed or distracted. As was stated of Sri Dakshinamurthi, Maharshi taught more by silence than by sermons.
The search for truth stems from deep spiritual unrest within. The Upanishads are the expressions of the experiences of those great seers in their communion with the reality. It is only because of the presence of self or Atman that all is known. Upanishads direct man to know the nature of his own self, the source of real knowledge and eternal bliss ‘KNOW THY SELF’. They hint at a comparative study of the microcosm and macrocosm and through it lead us to the Brahman, the absolute!.
The quest is a Sadhana, not a mere study or Adhyayana. It calls for withdrawal and collectedness, not action in external objects. The secret of this sadhana lies in tracking down the mind to its source in the Self. Some Rishis and Acharayas have approached the Great Reality, as the Mother, some as the Lover, some as the Friend or devotee and some through knowledge. But the experience of the Divine as the Infinite has been the culmination in all cases, All diverging view points, looking at different sides of the One Reality, meet at one point –‘Realization’ an all-embracing, all comprehending experience. The Conscious unity of God, Soul and Nature, in one’s own Consciousness is the sure foundation of perfection and realization of all harmonies – It is the voice of the Rishis.
Bhagavan’s life is study in divine illumination based on dynamic silence. He set before us, the glory and goal of life, recovery of full divine consciousness of our own native and naked nature, which is not something to be created or attained but which is fully aware of itself with awareness that can neither begin nor end, being eternal. He said that absolute is the self, the ‘I am’ in each individual life ever being itself. He stands for the unity of existence, the non-duality of the Godhead and the harmony of religions. He shines as the Sun of Wisdom in the firmament of the Self, radiating serenity, Sublimity and solemnity. He is a beacon of light, a center of the Spiritual world impulse.
The realization is the result of Master’s grace more than teaching, lectures and meditation etc. They are only secondary aids, where as the former is the primary and the essential cause. All the lower passions of the ego can be sublimated, provided we adopt the path of Self-enquiry. The ultimate solution to any problem in Vedanta is to dissolve it in the highest reality. Maharshi taught the technique of Karma yoga through concrete living without any sense of egoity by example. Unless every minute that we live, we are conscious of that spirit of Sri Ramana we cannot progress towards our ultimate goal.
If we remember and shape our life in accordance with it, then we can deem ourselves as the worthy children of the sage Ramana! The great Tamil poet and a close devotee of Maharshi Sri Muruganar sang Bhagavan’s message as
“Seeing all being in himself,
And himself in all,
Humbler than the humblest
Through meekness the Supreme,
Conceals and yet reveals,
His true Supremacy” –
The ultimate Truth is simple. It is nothing more than being in the pristine state. Wherever there is a sense of separateness from the source there is agitation and movement, until the sense of separation is lost-so it is with yourself!
Sri Ramana’s message to modem man is a call to recapture the spiritual dimension of life on earth. As he told once to an English disciple “That one point where all religions meet is the realization – not in the same mystical sense, and the more worldly and everyday and practical the better – of the fact that God is everything and everything is God”!
“May I destroy the tree of my Own Aham (Self-Importance) May I become absolutely pure and renounce myself completely in the cause of God which is the establishment of Dharma. May I become a worthy instrument in His hands or a worthy offering for that great Yagna!
(Taittariya Upall–Sikshavalli-10)