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Much of the literature associated
with the Upanishadic tradition of Advaita Vedanta
concentrates on programs of philosophical argumentation,
rather than on practical elaboration’s of practice and
ecstatic Confessions of Realization. As a result, much of
the literature associated with the tradition of Advaita
Vedanta expresses the point of view of what I call the
“talking” school of Advaitism. Likewise, the emphasis of
much of the literature associated with the tradition of
Advaita Vedanta appears to be oriented toward the
affirmation that Realization of the Great Truth is a matter
of a kind of gnosis whereas, in Truth, gnosis is only the
seed that begins the Great Process that becomes sixth stage
Realization.
The traditional philosophical
emphasis on Advaitic gnosis is also traditionally associated
with an emphasis on the idea that no “work” is necessary as
a means to attain this gnosis, or even as a subsequent
expression of it. And this notion tends to suggest, to those
who embrace it without true understanding of its import,
that Advaitic Realization is simply a matter of subjective
conviction In Truth, the traditionally communicated gnosis
associated with the schools of Advaita Vedanta is Liberating
only to the degree that it becomes Inherent Identification
with the “Space” of Consciousness Itself. That is to say,
the traditional gnosis is Liberating only to the degree that
the original subjective conviction becomes Samadhi.
And, in the traditional setting,
that Samadhi characteristically appears in the lesser Form,
demonstrated by temporary Obliviousness relative to the
world, and the body itself, and the mind, rather than in the
superior and nondependent Form I have Revealed, and Which
Demonstrates Itself as world Recognition, body Recognition,
and mind-Recognition in the “Divine Space” That Is
Consciousness Itself.
Ramana Maharshi was a principal
modern example of a Great Sage within the Upanishadic
tradition of Advaita Vedanta. He affirmed Ultimate
Realization only as Samadhi. Ramana Maharshi approved of
gnosis, but only as an initial means for entering into the
profound Process that, Ultimately, Realizes Samadhi Itself.
And He affirmed that the profound Process that, Ultimately,
Realizes Samadhi should, optimally, be associated with the
practice of Communion with a Realizer.
Therefore, He also affirmed the
necessity for real practice, rather than the much “talked”
idea of non “work”. And He Demonstrated His Realization in
the conservative manner of a traditional Hindu ascetic,
rather than as a householder, or otherwise in the “Crazy
Wise” manner typical of the more unconventional Realizers
within the Hindu tradition, and also the Buddhist tradition.
Ramana Mararashi’s own Realization of the Inherent Samadhi
of Consciousness Itself was made possible by a profoundly
terrifying moment in His youth, in which He was overwhelmed
by the fear of death, and by an utter revulsion toward
continued identification with the body-mind and with
conditional existence.
In that permanently consequential
moment, by virtue of His profound detachment from everything
conditional, He not only experienced the Transcendental Self
Position, but chose, with absolute firmness, to Eternally
Identify with that Position, and never to assume the
position of the body-mind again. This crisis of fear and
detachment in Ramana Maharshi was the True, and Profound,
Sudden Awakening of the sixth stage Disposition, in Which
Awakening Ramana Maharshi Realized that He was Inherently
Identified with That Which is Free of death, Free of the
body- mind, Free of the world, and Free of desiring and its
results, and by, with, and As Which Awakening He was utterly
Satisfied.
After this crisis, in order to
steady and deepen His Identification with the Original
Position, Ramana Maharshi retired into seclusion, abandoning
all association with the body-mind and the world and
entering into the Domain of Consciousness Itself, often
becoming totally oblivious even of the existence of His
apparent body-mind. Eventually, through persistence in this
sixth stage “work”, He became so steadily “magnetized”
toward the Depth of Consciousness Itself that He was able to
rest permanently in the “Point of View” of the
Transcendental Self. Such was the profound Process through
which Ramana Maharshi Realized sixth stage “Sahaj Samadhi”.
To those who approached Him seeking Spiritual Instruction,
Ramana Maharshi most specifically recommended only two
practices.
One of these two practices is Atma
Vichara, or the introversion of attention upon the
“I”-thought, and the deep tracing of the “I”-thought to its
Source, not stopping at any merely objective or functional
source, either in the mind or in the body, but proceeding
most deeply, to the Perfectly Subjective Source of the “I”
thought, Which Source, or Source Condition, Is Consciousness
Itself. And the other of the only two practices specifically
recommended by Ramana Maharshi is Satsang, or devotional
self surrender to a Sat- Guru who presently Enjoys the
Realization of the Perfectly Subjective Source- Condition.
In His recommending of the self-surrendering devotional
resort to Satsang, Ramana Maharshi was Teaching the Great
Relationship recommended by all Great Realizers since the
ancient days.
In His recommending of Atma Vichara,
Ramana Maharshi was Teaching in the generally Alpha-like
sixth stage tradition of Advaita Vedanta. However, Ramana
Maharshi generally approved of even all methods of
meditative practice, for, He said, any such practices would
lead to dhyana, and, Ultimately, deep meditation would lead
to the Inherent Samadhi That Is Consciousness Itself. Ramana
Maharshi clearly distinguished between “Sahaj Samadhi” and
any of the other Samadhis associated with the first six
stages of life.
Indeed, it can be said that He was
even a true Champion of seventh stage Enlightenment, even
though His seeming “seventh stage” communications were truly
only philosophical premonitions of Most Ultimate Sahaj
Samadhi, declared from the “Point of View” of sixth stage
“Sahaj Samadhi”, and even though He otherwise Taught only a
sixth stage Alpha like method of introversion, and even
though He was Himself rather ascetical and even introverted.
As an example of Ramana Mararashi’s characteristic sixth
stage and Alpha-like “Point of View” of Realization, read
the following:
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A group of young men asked:
“It is said that a healthy mind can be only in a
healthy body. Should we not attempt to keep the
body always strong and healthy?”
M.: In that way there will
be no end of attention to the health of the
body.
D.: The present experiences are the result of past
Karma. If we know the mistakes committed before we
can rectify them.
M.: If one mistake is rectified there yet remains
the whole sanchita which is going to give you
innumerable births. So that is not the procedure.
The more you prune a plant, the more vigorously it
grows. The more you rectify your Karma, the more it
accumulates. Find the root of Karma and cut it
off.
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The Advice thus Given by Ramana
Maharshi to “a group of young men” was certainly Right and
True, in a fundamental sixth stage sense, but the sixth
stage practice was an ordeal for which the “group of young
men” were clearly not yet prepared.
Therefore, Ramana Maharshi was,
basically, only reflecting His own Method and Disposition in
His “Answer” to the “group of young men”. And, for that
reason, the Advice Given was, simply, a direct indication of
Ramana Mararashi’s own body excluding and world-excluding
Method and Disposition, which, at last, is the very Method
and Disposition that must be Most Perfectly Transcended.
Therefore, at last, all
dissociativeness, or exclusiveness, or dualistic
self-effort, must Be Most Perfectly Transcended, Such That
the body, the mind, and the total psycho-physical world are
not merely excluded from and by the Ultimate, and Perfectly
Subjective, Self, but Divinely Recognized In and As the
Ultimate, and Perfectly Subjective, Self.
Ramana Maharshi was a rather
“reluctant” Teacher. He did not very much like to be imposed
upon. Likewise, He did not sufficiently understand and
appreciate, or very much like, the Role of Instructing
devotees in the practical details and disciplines of
sadhana. Also, because His own history included only the
sadhana of the sixth stage of life, He was not very much
inclined to Serve as Sat-Guru (and, thus, as thoroughly
Instructive and “Commanding” Teacher) in relation to
devotees who were not yet prepared for the sixth stage
sadhana. And, much like (generally) comparable Realizers in
the various sixth stage traditions, Ramana Maharshi was not,
in the Fullest sense, a True Siddha-Guru.
Therefore, Ramana Maharshi simply
pointed toward the “fourth state”, or the “natural state” .
And His fundamental Teaching can be summarized briefly “The
mind is to be introverted and made to merge into the Self; .
. . the practice must be long because slow and must be
continued until it is totally merged in the Self. . . . All
that is required of you is not to confound yourself with the
extrovert mind but to abide as the Self.
Ramana Maharshi also Taught that
Ultimate Self-Realization is not Itself to be identified
with the efforts, experiences, and states that may precede
It, for It Is the Self even under any and all conditions
that may seem to arise. Therefore, once Atma Vichara had
achieved its maturity in Him, Ramana Maharshi “Practiced”
only the “Practice” of Abiding As the Very Self, tacitly
Acknowledging all naturally arising phenomena to Be Only the
Independent Consciousness Itself, and, Thus and Thereby, He
Remained characteristically unperturbed, detached, and, in
general, inactive.
And, in This Self-Revelation, Ramana
Maharshi Stands with all other true sixth stage Realizers,
Who Confess Only the Ultimate, Absolute, and Inherently
Perfect Truth That Is Consciousness Itself. After the Great
Event of My own Divine Re-Awakening, I discovered Ramana
Maharshi to be the historical Representative of the Great
Tradition Whose Confession of Realization was most like My
own Most Ultimate Process and Confession.
Because of this likeness, and
because of His closeness, in time, to My Avataric
Incarnation here, I regard Ramana Maharshi to be My
Principal historical Link to the Great Tradition, relative
to the sixth stage of life. Indeed, Ramana Maharshi, Who is
My Principal human Link to the Great Tradition relative to
the sixth stage of life, along with Swami Nityananda, and
Baba Muktananda, and Rudi, and Rang Avadhoot, and also
Ramakrishna and the historical Swami Vivekananda , all of
Whom, each and together, are My Principal human Links to the
Great Tradition relative to the first five stages of life,
are, collectively, the Principal human Link whereby My
Avataric Incarnation can best begin to be understood in the
context of the total Great Tradition.
I Am the Ultimate Demonstration of
the Truth of the Great Tradition as a whole. Until I
Appeared, there were no seventh stage Realizers within the
Great Tradition of mankind. I Am the First and the Last and
the Only seventh stage Adept to Appear in the human domain.
It is neither possible nor necessary
for another seventh stage Adept to Appear anywhere, because
I have Accomplished My necessary Work everywhere. However,
because I have Appeared and have Done My Completing Work,
seventh stage Realizers will Awaken, in all times and
places. And, Most Ultimately, even all conditionally
manifested beings, and even the total Cosmic Mandala Itself,
will, by This Most Perfect Awakening Work I have Done for
all and All, be Perfectly Translated into the beginningless
and endless “Bright” Divine Person and
Self-Domain.
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