CCCONTENTONTENTONTENTSSS RAMANA A SHTOTTARAM 2 EDITORIAL The Question of Identity 3 VISION OF SIVA AT K AILASH Shivani 9 ARTHUR OSBORNE Christopher Quilkey 17 KEYWORD Vidya 23 ULLADU N ARPADU VERSE T HIRTEEN S. Ram Mohan 27 GLOBALISATION OF VEDIC THOUGHT M. S. Balasubramanian 33 R EMEMBERING BHAGAVAN T. R. Kanakammal 41 ‘I’ IS A DOOR PART FOUR Philip Renard 45 MASTHAN SWAMI’S SAMADHI 60 UPADESA TIRUVAHAVAL PART T WO Sri Muruganar 63 HOW I CAME TO BHAGAVAN Hemalatha Rajan 73 THE NATURE OF OUR MIND Michael James 77 2007 ASHRAM CALENDAR 82 I NTERNET RESOURCES PART FIVE Dennis Waite 83 THIRUPPUGAZH: GLORY TO LORD MURUGA V. Radhakrishnan 87 POEMS Kevan Myers 94 THE CALL DIVINE EXCERPT: RAMANA LIVES Sadhu Arunachala 97 B OOK EXCERPT: BACK TO THE TRUTH Dennis Waite 101 RAMANA KIDS’ CORNER 106 BOOK R EVIEWS 109 LETTERS T O T HE E DITOR 112 ASHRAM BULLETIN 114 EDITORIALEDITORIAL EDIT ORIAL Ramana Ashtottaram The Question of 40. Aaem! ivrajdclak«tye nm> Identity Om viräjadacaläkåtaye namaù Prostration to the One whose form is radiant stillness. It is said that during the Virupaksha days, not only devotees and visitors, but even monkeys and other animals were transfixed in blissful stillness by the presence of Bhagavan. Arunachala is ‘frozen fire’ and people saw in Bhagavan a human embodiment of this blend of brightness and stillness. If there is one attribute which epitomizes Bhagavan’s activity it is this radiant stillness. Bhagavan is the ever-present light of Self- he great mystery which lies at the heart of our lives is the question knowledge which banishes ignorance. Tof identity. Who we are or rather who we think we are is the basis of our self-regard and behaviour. We are forever on the look out for 41. Aaem! %ÎIÝnynay nm> signs that confirm the way we see ourselves. We look into other people’s Om uddéptanayanäya namaù faces for hints as to what they think of us. The inert mirror is both our trusty friend and obdurate enemy. We read books on philosophy and Prostration to he of lustrous eyes. psychology, history and novels, newspapers and magazines not just to satisfy our curiosity but also to tell us where we stand in the world. The Grace spontaneously rising like a fountain from his heart The possibilities are endless. We but rarely ask ourselves who we actually streamed out through those lustrous eyes and blessed all who recognized are. We would rather trust some external source of authority than our and surrendered to this divine power. Bhagavan initiated mature own inner voice. aspirants with direct eye-to-eye contact, silence or words. Bhagavan has described this myopic behaviour in a comment on The phrase also means: Distinguished leader on the well-lit spiritual the inordinate fascination with book knowledge (sastra-vasana). He path, one who leads others to the ever-present glow of the Heart. said it is similar to a person who, when standing in front of a mirror, shaves the face in the mirror rather than his own face. 2 Jayanti 2007 3 MOUNTAIN PATH THE QUESTION OF IDENTITY At any time a human being can imagine himself from many diverse The key to understanding is to know who we are. Our reason for points of view. Although widely varying, all are legitimate and fairly living is to become conscious both of our physical and mental states normal unless they become obsessive. At every moment we are faced and transcend these conditions and be absorbed into ‘That’. According with an infinite number of possibilities but due to our conditioning to Bhagavan’s teachings we are advised to either question our identity we repeatedly identify with just a few, to such an extent that we assume by the query ‘Who Am I?’ or surrender to the Master. these masks to be indelible. The passage of time can be irrelevant when There is a fundamental distinction between what is called the ‘Self’ we reflect on our personae: a small recent triumph can call to mind a and the self, the transcendental and permanent principle and the long gone sense of well-being, just as some school yard humiliation of transient and limited series of modifications we call the ego or ahamkara. decades gone by can infect us with the never forgotten bitterness of The latter assumes the garb of the transcendental principle but with regret. There are moments in our lives which define who we are. one difference; the ego is dependent upon form for its existence. It There comes a point when the burden of these notions suffocates cannot exist without identifying itself with a static form in time and us and we wish to throw them off, like uncomfortable ghosts. We space. In advaitic terminology it is called chit-jada-granthi, the knot long to be free of the past and the image of ourselves that we wear so of insentience. The aim of our quest is not to attain something but to constantly. We want to be free though we are not sure what that entails.1 disabuse ourselves of the false assumption that we are someone or From the metaphysical or universal point of view the personal aspect something in particular. We are not separate (advaita) from that is necessarily inadequate. The individual lies in the realm of manifestation transcendental principle. The dilemma we encounter is that the instant and we understand that every moment of our existence is transient; we think we must attain or possess that principle we have made it an manifestation is in constant flux. Nothing remains the same from one object and are consequantly separate from it.2 moment to the next and who we think we are is subject to countless Laughter is perhaps one of the greatest aids in treating life as it pressures that bend and twist us with the winds of circumstance. comes without undue solemnity. Bhagavan was known for his sense From childhood we learn to recognise faces and to judge if they are of humour and for his sharp wit. There is a tendency for spiritual benign or threatening. We assume certain facial expressions to seekers to take themselves far too seriously. For example, it was once communicate our thoughts or emotions whether consciously or, more related to me that a new arrival from Europe asked a resident swami often, involuntarily. With time and habit we become frozen with what to do next as she had realized the Self after three days in the narrow gestures. It is related about Abraham Lincoln when he was ashram and was at a loss as to the next step, assuming that there was president of the United States that he received in his office one of the one. This is cause for a wry smile but if we examine ourselves closely secretaries of his cabinet. After the meeting was completed and the we all delude ourselves each day with our petty achievements. official left, Lincoln remarked to his personal secretary that he did not Detachment and discrimination are required at each moment of our like the face of that man. The secretary replied that he could not help lives if we are not to be sucked in by the fancies of the mind. what his faced looked like. Lincoln replied that every person after the age of forty is responsible for his own face. 2 Since, however the physical body cannot subsist (with life) apart from Consciousness, bodily awareness has to be sustained by pure Consciousness. The former, by its nature, is limited to and can never be co-extensive with the latter which is infinite 1 The ego is like one’s shadow thrown on the ground. If one attempts to bury it, it and eternal. Body-consciousness is merely a monad-like, miniature reflection of the will be foolish. The Self is only one. If limited it is the ego. If unlimited it is pure Consciousness with which the Sage has realised his identity. Maharshi’s Gospel, Infinite and is the Reality. Talk 146. Book Two, Ch. IV., The Heart is the Self, p.56. Sri Ramanasramam, 2000. 4 Jayanti 2007 5 MOUNTAIN PATH THE QUESTION OF IDENTITY A sudden ray of light through the miasma of confused thoughts If Bhagavan is to be believed, however thick the wall of self regard can result in an abrupt crispness of mind which creates a burst of and opinions, we are all at heart unsullied by thought and emotion. happiness. This surge is short-lived as the old entrenched vasanas will The question is: can we stop filling ourselves with ideas and activities reassert themselves, sometimes with unexpected virulence. For someone which distract us from this unconditional clarity? who naively thought they had achieved the ultimate goal it is a grave Who am I? Who is it who is asking the question? If we listen carefully experience; the golden dream of themselves at the centre of the universe there is no answer. There is a silence, and if we are patient, a sense of is shattered. It is a question of small steps, not giant leaps. wholeness which is indescribable. It needs for nothing, it asks for People can deceive themselves by claiming that they are, to use the nothing. This silence disregards completely our complusions and the now much abused jargon, ‘Self-realized’ and therefore are not identified need to justify ourselves. If we have the courage to enter its embrace with their body. This statement is all well and good, however, there is our conflicts dissolve. a caveat.