I’ve always loved Ramana Maharshi, but it took me a while to click with self-inquiry.
I couldn’t understand how self-realization is supposed to be attained through more mental activity.
I didn’t like saying, “Who am I?” then waiting for insight to strike.
Fortunately, this isn’t what Sri Ramana meant by self-inquiry.
It’s a common misunderstanding.
His highest teaching was silence.
When people had trouble assimilating his silence, he would sometimes remind them there is only Brahman or the Self.
He encouraged them to look directly at themselves, or turn toward the very ‘I’ itself.
You feel like you’re standing in your own way, but when you look for this obstructive object, it disappears.
Nothing is there but silence and peace.
You can take self-inquiry to mean either of two things:
(1) Look for the troublesome ego, or (2) look for the true Self.
It’s like asking for directions to John’s neighbor’s house when John lives alone on a rural route.
Even if you think there is a house in front of John’s, the directions will still take you straight to John’s house.
Likewise, even if you take ‘I’ to be the ego, the directions will still take you straight to the Self.
This is because there is no ego, only the Self.
Self-inquiry is also surrender.
To know what we actually are, we must surrender all mental activity.
Since we’re not an object, but the eternal Self, to know ourselves is simply to be ourselves.
“I am that I am” sums up the whole truth.
The method is summarized as: “Be still.”- Ramana Maharshi
No comments:
Post a Comment