Revelation (Ulladu Narpadu)
Commentary
Verse No. 4 - The meaning of the first benedictory verse is briefly this : The mind is itself bondage; by liquidating the mind in its source - the Real Self - one attains ones own Natural State of being, as the Real Self; and that is Deliverance.
The first sentence was explained by the Master himself as follows : “Everyone is aware of two things, namely himself the seer and the world which he sees; and he assumes also that they are both real. But that alone is real, which has a continuous existence : judged by this test the two, the seer and his spectacle, are both unreal. These two, appear intermittently; they are apparent in the waking and dream states alone; in the state of deep sleep they cease to appear; that is they appear whenever the mind is active, and disappear as soon as the mind ceases to function. Therefore the two are but thoughts of the mind. There must be something from which the mind arises, and into which it subsides. That something must have a continuous, uninterrupted existence; that is, It must be the Reality."
The Master conveys in the above the essential teaching of Revelation, namely that both the world and the individual soul are unreal appearances arising from a Source, the Reality; they are like the imaginary snake seen in a rope. This is the meaning of the first sentence of the translation : “Can there be sense of existence without something that is?"
Then the question arises : 'Is This Reality self-manifest, or otherwise?' Things which are without consciousness are not self-manifest; they become manifest by something else; consciousness alone is self-manifest. Thus the question is whether the Reality established above is consciousness or otherwise. The answer is given by the second sentence; 'Is Real Consciousness a thing other than That?' The implication is that the Reality is itself Consciousness.
A question may be put - Why should the Reality be described as Consciousness, and not as conscious? The answer is as follows; the mind is conscious; but its consciousness is discontinuous; in deep sleep it loses Consciousness; if the Reality also were only Conscious, and not consciousness as here taught, then It would be discontinuously conscious, just like the mind; that would compel us to imagine another conscious being, into which its consciousness subsides, and so on endlessly; there can be finality only in a being whose very nature is consciousness. Therefore It is consciousness; in fact, Its being consciousness constitutes Its reality.
This teaching is confirmed as follows. The world and its seer are but thoughts in the mind; the mind is unreal, because it has no continuity of existence; but though unreal, it is conscious; that which gives to the mind its appearance of reality is its consciousness; but this consciousness is not its own, but belongs to its source; this source must necessarily be consciousness, as otherwise it cannot be the source of the mind's consciousness; since the mind includes the world, the world cannot have a separate source. To distinguish this Consciousness which is the sole Reality, It is called Pure Consciousness. The term 'Real Consciousness' also conveys a more intimate revelation than would appear at first sight. What we call the 'soul' is just the seer of the world, who is unreal, being but a thought of the mind. The Self, on the other hand, is an indisputable reality. Therefore, this so-called soul is not the Self. What than is the Self? It must be the Real Consciousness - the Pure Consciousness - which is the source of both the world and its seer, Revelation tells us that this is so; the Real Self - as distinguished from the false self, the personal soul - is this Pure Consciousness, which aloneis real; therefore in our real nature we are not finite and bound; we are that transcendental Reality; bondage and suffering are delusions arising in the mind.
The question then arises; Why are we not aware of ourselves as this Pure Consciousness, mindless and worldless? Why do we falsely imagine ourselves to be finite selves in this manifold world? The answer is given in the first part of the third sentence, 'Since that (Reality) dwells, thought-free, in the Heart.'
In our present state of being, as finite selves associated with minds, the Light of Consciousness which is the Reality is obscured by the clouds of thoughts that pass in the mind; it may be said that the mind itself veils the Reality, because the mind is nothing but thoughts. Unreal as the mind is, it has the power to conceal effectually the Reality from which it derives existence and consciousness, just as the unreal snake conceals the rope in which the snake is seen. Just as the rope cannot be seen as rope so long as it is being seen as a snake, so too the Reality cannot appear as it really is, so long as it is mistakenly seen as the world of selves and objects. But when this false appearance ceases finally - not as in deep sleep, but as it does on the extinction of the mind in the State of Deliverance - then the Reality is manifest in its true nature, as the Pure Consciousness which is the Real Self, The mind becomes extinct once for all when it returns to its Source, the Real Self, by the Quest taught here. A hypothetical place, called the Heart, is tentatively mentioned as the source of the mind, in order to help the novice in the Quest; the Heart is also tentatively described as the dwelling place of the Reality; but it is presently explained that the Reality is itself the Heart - that It is placeless, just as It is timeless.
Cannot the mind, without losing itself in the Reality get admission to Its presence in some way? The answer is given by the remainder of the third sentence.
It is the very nature of the mind to go on creating multiplicity, as mind it differentiates between the seer and the seen, that is, it will be for ever creating, by its power of self-delusion, this world- appearance, which veils the Reality. The mind, therefore, falsifies the Reality in its efforts to conceive It; it cannot but do so; the utmost the mind can do is to imagine the Reality as a personal God, a Being supposed to be not the self. This God is to be possessed and enjoyed just as sense-objects are here enjoyed! But Revelation tells us that the Reality is the Self hence He, the Reality, cannot become an object of thought, of meditation, as He really is.
It follows that the mind must lose itself in the Heart the Reality, in order that It may shine as It really is. This state of mindlessness is here described as the true meditation of the Reality, because in it that Reality is manifest in Its true nature, that is, as the Self. This state is called Deliverance, because when once it is reached, there can be no revival of the cause of bondage and suffering. This state and the path of its attainment are the subject of this Revelation.
Verse No. 5 - The Master has told us that there are only two ways of reaching the State of Deliverance, namely the Quest of the Self and self-surrender. The first method is the subject of the first benedictory verse, the second method is the subject of the second benedictory verse. By the grace of God - who is really no other than the Self, but can be imagined only as God by the ignorant - the seeker of Deliverance finds that this worldly existence is evil and also that his own personal efforts are wholly unequal to the task of transcending it; he, therefore, surrenders himself to God, trusting himself entirely to His grace; this surrender leads surely, though slowly, to the extinction of the ego and the mind in the true nature of God, the Real Self, thus the aspirant transcends the limitations of worldly existence.
CH. I. DISCRIMINATION. 6 - This verse starts the process of discrimination of the Real from the unreal : the Real self is here likened to the moveless lighted screen of a cinema show, on which the pictures come and go. Note that the spectator - he that sees the world - is himself one of the pictures, unlike the spectator of a cinema show.
7. The Self is obscured by the ego-sense; while the ego is taken at its face-value, as the Self, the Self cannot be realized as He really is; hence egolessness must be achieved; metaphysical speculations about the Self are vain.
8. At heart everyone is in love with the egoless state where the Self is what He really is; that state is to be won by turning away from the world; to one who is in earnest to win that state, discussions about the reality of the world and the like are irrelevant; but in the following verses the subject is dealt with for the sake of aspirants who are unable to avoid these questions.
9. Apart from forms there is no world; but forms appear only because of the ego-sense; forms are unreal, because the true Self is infinite and therefore formless.
10. The world cannot be seen but for the identification of the Self with a body, gross or subtle.
11. The world appears by the mind alone; hence it is nothing but thoughts.
12. Both world and mind are unreal, being discontinuous; their substratum, the Self is alone real.
13. Worship of the Real Self as God is legitimate; but He, being formless, never becomes an object of vision; He can only be experienced as the Self.
14. Vision implies the triad of the seer, the seen and the act of seeing; but all triads, as well as all the duads, are unreal, being in the realm of ignorance. 15 to
18. It follows that the duad of knowledge and ignorance is also unreal, and does not exist in the Natural State, called Deliverance. This state is one of pure, undifferentiated Consciousness, which is the sole Reality; on it the manifold false knowledge, namely the knowledge of objects, is superimposed by ignorance; as the world is nothing but this false knowledge, it is unreal as such.
19. The unreality of the manifold extends also to the plurality of selves imagined by the ego-mind.
20. Researches into the past, as well as speculations concerning the future are doomed to failure, conducted as they are by men who neither know, nor care to know, the Self, who is ever present.
21. Time and space are unreal. 22 &
23. The Reality (the Self) is infinite and formless; the body and the world have no existence apart from that; this does not mean that the body is the Self, or that the world is real, in the sense in which they are taken to be so by the ignorant.
24. The conflict between fate and free will exists only for the ignorant, not for the Sage who has transcended both. 25 &
26. Since God is really the same as the Self, He cannot be seen as an object of vision.
27. Neither can He be rightly known, as an object different from oneself.
CH. II. THE QUEST.
28. There is a Real Self, the Source or Origin of the ego, which is the starting point of the world appearance; this Source of the ego must therefore be sought and found.
29. There is no individual soul, other than the ego.
30. The ego is unreal.
31. If the ego be put an end to by the Quest, the world appearance will cease of itself.
32. The Quest of the ego's Source is the only direct means of realising our true nature as the Soul.
33. The Quest consists in diving into the Heart with the Resolve to find the Source or Origin of the ego.
34. The meditation ‘I am That’ is not the direct method.
CH, III. EXPERIENCE.
35. How the Quest leads up to that State.
36. The Sage that is in that State has no duties to fulfil.
37. This State is quite other than that of the aspirant who, instead of diving into the Heart by the Quest, goes on meditating ‘I am That'.
38. The Sage does not say 'I know my Self'.
39. He is creedless and does not dispute about them; only ignorant ones are attached to creeds and love disputation.
40. His state is the only real Siddhi there is.
41. Being actually one with the Real, He does meditate on that oneness.
42. This Unity does not date from the Quest; It is beginningless, as well as endless.
43. The Sage does not really enjoy or suffer the consequences of actions done or being done.
44. The Sage is not aware of having been bound, and hence he is not aware of having become free.
45. There is no sense in the question whetheror not the Sage is a person - with form - since His State, the Egoless State, is beyond the power of understanding of the ego-mind.
Sri Ramana Jayanti Message
Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya
To All the Children of the Holy Ramana, NAMASKARTo us Ramana is himself the Message.
Ramana has no Jayanti of His own, because He is the Unborn, Timeless, Real Self in us. So what we call His Jayanti is only our jayanti - Our Birth in Him, our Real Self This birth is guaranteed to us, His sincere devotees, because He has looked on us with grace. Ramana is the Formless, Timeless and Spaceless Arunachala who dances as the “I” in the Heart. He has graciously taken a form, that we may be relieved of the bondage of form. He is not a geographical entity but the Moveless Brahman of the Upanishads. Grace is His Essence, and out of grace He has become our Guru. Grace is not simply in Tiruvannamalai, but resides in our hearts. The Heart is the True Arunachala.
The might of His Grace is infinite, It is invincible : By His look we were caught in the net of His Grace, and It will accomplish Its work. There is no escape from It
His Grace is like the unerring light of the Sun. As it devours the darkness, so Grace devours Ignorance and Unreality. We need do nothing at all, except to give our free consent that this work of Grace shall be accomplished.
To give our consent we must realise the truth about the work of Grace that it demands, in return for the gift of Ramana Himself, our own too much cherished, but wholly valueless false self, the ego, which makes us think and say, “I am so and so" We must ourselves ardently desire to win Him by paying this seeming price and surrender this ego to Him.
This highly profitable bargain is to be won by Faith and Loyalty. We need to have such Faith, since we know that Ramana is the same as Bhagavatpada Sri Sankaracharya and Sri Dakshinamurti, and that His words are the primary Upanishad, from which the ancient Upanishads themselves derive their authority. We do not go backward in time for our authority - we find the needful authority in Ramana alone.
Though He tells us about the Quest of the Self by the Question "Who am I?", He also tells us that even now - without our making the Quest - “We are that" and that “That Itself is we". In other words we are Free by nature and always - that we are Nitya-Muktas, Bondage is unreal.
Hence our Jayanti is not in the future; but now. All Difference (including Bondage, Karma, etc.,) is unreal - He laughs at us for asking how we can become One with Him, saying it is like a man in Tiruvannamalai, asking the way to that very place.
Let Him laugh at us. For that laugh is full of grace, and will make us realise that we are He, and do not need to become He.
There is no room for discouragement, or remorse for our sins, or for fear of failure. For Grace alone exists, and it is He. If we do wrong let us not weep for it, but forget it at once, and joyfully take Refuge in His Grace.
Must we do something, like the Squirrel at the Setu-Bandhan? Well let us think of some of these truths of Ramana's Grace, and surrender our little selves to it, once or twice a day, when we awake. At other times, if Remembrance comes of its own accord, let us rejoice in it. If we fail often to stick to our programme, let us not waste thought in sinful regret, but go on with faith in His Grace.