This is one of my favourite answers by Ramana Maharishi. This dialogue happened between Him and Papaji who was meeting Bhagwan Ramana for the first time after coming down from his residence in the North. (There is an interesting story as how Papaji was drawn to Bhagwan, which I will post later.)
The ancient teaching that you are not the body must have seeped into the subcontinent's culture and everyday life so much that it surfaces even in regular expressions. In Tamil and Kannada for instance, when someone is not well, they say, 'Body is not right' (That is 'odambu sari ille' in Tamil or 'Mai seri illa' in Kannada). In Hindi too the question/greeting 'Kya hal hai? is a query on health, not how are you, which identifies you with your body. When greeting people it is customary to ask 'sowkyama?' which means 'are you healthy?'
Only in English, which is possibly a reflection of the Western values, do you equate body and Self as in, 'How are you?'. Which probably makes it harder for the Western mind to come to grips with you being separate from your body whereas it feels more easily digestible to the Indian constitution. Once, an elderly Buddhist monk was travelling, accompanied by a young disciple. As they crossed many villages and towns, they came upon a river that was swollen with the torrential rain that had been falling in those parts. They saw a young, beautiful woman standing on the shore looking worried. When she saw the monks, she hurried to them and said, 'Sirs, can you please help me cross the river to the other shore? I need to go back to my village and it is getting dark".
The elderly monk immediately took her hand, swung her on his shoulders, crossed the raging river and let her down on the other shore. She thanked him profusely and went on her way. The young disciple couldn't come to grips with the fact that his revered master who had undertaken the vow of celibacy had not only touched a woman, a beautiful one at that, but had carried her on his shoulders for over half an hour. After a few days, not being able contain his disappointment any longer, he said to the elderly monk, "You shouldn't have done that" The monk asked, surprised, "What shouldn't I have done?" "You shouldn't have touched that beautiful girl, or carried her. It wasn't right". The elderly monk smiled and said, "Look, I was helping someone in need, I wasn't looking at how young or beautiful she was. Besides, I left her on that shore, why are you still carrying her?" We do this all the time, don't we? We carry the monkey of guilt, anger, disappointment, resentment and injustice on our backs, long after the incident. Let's drop it on the other shore and lighten our load. As Ramana Maharishi said once about surrender, 'Do you still carry your baggage even after boarding the train on your journey?"
Once there was a king who was arrogant. He thought too highly of himself. One day he heard that a venerable sage had come to his kingdom and was giving blessings to everyone, so he decided to go.
When he went to the edge of the forest where the guru was staying with a few of his students, he was told by one of the students that the sage was inside finishing his meditation. When the student, who was new to the place, asked him who should he say was calling on the sage, the king said, 'Tell your guru that I have come'. The student went in and came out after a few minutes. The king enquired impatiently,'Well, what did he say?' The student said, 'Sir, I conveyed your message to my master and these are his words, he said to tell you: " Come after I have died"' This is a translated story from Tamil, so the rough meaning is, the master says to come after the death of me (Naan setha pinbu vaa). Which means he wants the king to come after he has annihilated his ego, the 'I'.
Most shops in South India, at least in Tamil Nadu, will have a small poster on their walls with a picture of Lord Krishna speaking to Arjuna from his chariot. Called 'Geetacharam' or the essence of Gita (Bhagvad Gita), this summarises the teachings of the Lord.. I always found it useful as it puts things in perspective.. It's in Tamil, I've given my translation here based on my limited knowledge of both the languages.
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AuthorWorking with the available light as Ramana Maharishi said. Archives
November 2020
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