Essential of Spiritual Life

 

Quote from the true charm and power of Vedanta

 

 Essential of Spiritual Life

 

The person who follows the path of selfless activity has to possess devotion, discrimination and concentration along with non-attachment. Aspirants of the other paths too, besides being endowed with common moral qualifications, should have-it may be in varying degree-all-these indispensable laments of spiritual life. Thus it is practically impossible in draw a dividing line between different types of aspirants and the paths they pursue. For example, evenness of mind which Sri Krishna speaks of as Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita is a virtue which all Yogis alike should possess. We may further quote the following verses of the Gita to illustrate the common features of the Yogas

 

“Content with what comes to him without effort, unaffected by the pairs of opposites, free from envy, and even minded in success and failure the wise man is not bound even though he be acting.

“Resigning mentally all deeds to me, the divine Being, having Me as the highest goal, and resorting to the devotion of right knowledge, ever fix your mind on me

“The Yogi who, being established in unity, worships, Me dwelling in all beings-he abides in Me, whatever his mode of life may be

All these words of Sri Krishna are more or less applicable to every type of Yoga. There is a conscious or unconscious combination of all noble attributes in the perfect ones as also in all real aspirants.

 

A simple method to attain Self-realisation

 

By Anup Taneja        

 
Paul Brunton, who visited Ramana Maharshi’s ashram in 1931, placed before the latter two fundamental questions: Is it necessary to renounce the world and move to secluded jungles or mountains to realise the Truth? What method should be pursued to attain Self-realisation?

 

In response to the first question, the Maharshi said that solitude is in the mind of a man. One might be in the thick of the world and yet maintain perfect equanimity; such a person is always in solitude. Another may stay in the jungle or mountain-top but still be unable to keep the mind calm. Such a person cannot be said to be in solitude. Solitude, thus, is an attitude of the mind; a detached man is always in solitude.

 

Ramana Maharshi further said that the life of action need not be renounced in case the seeker is able to meditate for an hour or two every day. This is because the spiritual currents generated during meditation will continue to flow even in the midst of one’s work. Then the seeker can perform his worldly activities in that very current at high efficiency and output levels. Thus, while the seeker is engaged in search of God ‘within’, ‘outer’ worldly activities go on spontaneously.

  
Replying to the second question, the Maharshi said that the method of Self-inquiry is the simplest and direct method for Self-realisation. He explained that the first and foremost of all thoughts, the primeval thought in the mind of every man, is the thought ‘I’. It is only after the birth of this that any other thought can arise at all. The thought ‘I’ is also known as ahankar, ego, feeling of one’s personality. Therefore, the seeker desirous of attaining jnana must constantly ask himself the question, ‘Who am I?’

 If you meditate on this question, said Ramana Maharshi, and “begin to perceive that neither the body and brain, nor desires are really you, then the very attitude of inquiry will eventually draw the answer to you out of the depths of your own being”. Something else will spontaneously arise from behind your mind and take complete possession of you. That ‘something’ is the Pure Self – infinite, divine and eternal.

 

The mind, according to Ramana Maharshi, is a mere bundle of thoughts and has no concrete existence. Further, there can be no thoughts in the absence of the thinker, the ego. Through constant self-inquiry, when the seeker delves deep into the innermost recesses of his being, the ego gets dissolved and merges in Pure Consciousness. When this happens, the seeker attains the exalted state of Self-realisation.

 

Ramana Maharshi illustrated the process of annihilation of the ego by giving the example of the stick that is used in cremating bodies in the cremation ground. The stick that helps in pushing the bodies into the funeral blaze is itself in the end consumed by the same blaze. The stick is the ego and the blaze is the fire of jnana, Pure Consciousness, which abides in eternity and destroys ignorance. Therefore, the seeker who wishes to extricate himself from the vicious cycle of transmigration, “must retreat into his impregnable citadel” by realising his identity with the Pure, Immortal Self, the One Ultimate Reality.

 

IF HE EXIST

 I drive joy there was a doctor in Benaras who spent 7 minutes in the morning and evening for mediation on God. Knowing this, his colleagues and friends laughed at him. One day they argued that he was wasting 7 precious minutes on something, which he had been misled into believing. The doctor replied, “Well, if God does not exist, I agree that I am wasting 7 minutes a day. But, if He exists? I am afraid you are wasting your entire lifetime. I prefer to waste 7 minutes rather than a lifetime. Why should you grudge me the 7minutes joy that I derive 4m.-

 

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