UPADESA SAARAM OF RAMANA MAHARSHI – AN APPRECIATION (Verse 13)

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UPADESA SAARAM OF RAMANA MAHARSHI – AN APPRECIATION (Verse 13)

 

Layavinaasane ubhaya rodhane

Layagatam punarbhavati nomirtam.

 

Layavinasaane - Absorption and annihilation

Ubhaya rodhane - are the two ways to prevent or obstruct the endless

play of the mind.

Layagatam - (The mind which is ) merely absorbed

Punah bhavati - comes back again (but it is)

No( ) never (so, if it is)

Mirtam - dead.

 

Absence of the play of the mind takes place in two ways, namely,

laya and vinaasa – temporary absorption and total annihilation. The

mind that is `absorbed' stages a comeback, but never so, if it is

dead.

 

Laya is a state in which the mind remains absorbed in its potential

state for some time, for example, as in deep sleep. But it comes

back to its usual state of incessant movements and modifications,

once the causal factor of such laya withdraws itself.

 

Praanayaama is a technique to bring the mind into a state of laya.

All attention being turned on breath and its regulation, other

interests are lost. The seeker feels enchanting aananda of the

quietude and yearns to prolong the state. He may even delusively

believe that mano-laya is his final destination. Actually in mano-

laya he is in a condition of the bird in a hunter's net. At sometime

or other it has to leave the net. And the first thing that the bird

does is to fly.

 

The happiness of peace obtained by mental quiet in mano-laya can be

made lasting if we train the mind to abide in the state that is

devoid of the delusion that `I am the body'.So long as aham- vritti

endures as an immovable and strong background, it acts as a spring-

board for the mind to explode again and again after each period of

laya or absorption. So, what a seeker really achieves is a

transient state of hush giving a sense of bliss or peace as a result

of absorption of the mind.

 

A spiritual student should aim at not merely mano-laya but mino-

vinaasa, that is, extinction of the mind with its root aham-vritti.

With the dissolution of aham-vritti one can be lifted into nitya-

samaadhi, which brings a transformation in every cell of the brain

and body. One's comprehension and perception of the world changes

and a totally new vision of life comes into being. To such a person,

the world does not appear as an objective reality apart from

oneself. When this state of Self-realization is attained one finds

oneself poised on the submit of bliss.

 

It is important to appreciate and understand that what is sought to

be destroyed is the impure part of the mind, the psychological

structure of the vasana base deep within, founded and centered in

the ego or aham-vritti. To destroy the mind, one should enquire

about the source of the mind and if such enquiry is persisted in,

then the mind would be merged at its source, the Heart, which is on

the right side of the chest. When the mind is merged and stays so

merged, then the mind is destroyed.

 

When the ego center is blasted, a different order of the mind

emerges. It is like a rope burnt to ashes. Such a rope retains

the form and appearance of a rope, but it cannot bind anything with

it. Such a mind is described as suddha sattva. According to B.V.

Narasimhaswami, author of Self Realization, the Gita (ch.18 verse

40) says that there is nothing in existence without the admixture of

the three gunaas. In this context also the description of the mind

as suddha sattva is right because therein the sattvic element

preponderates so overwhelmingly over the other elements as to drown

them or blot them out of view, if not out of existence. The will of

a saint is surrendered. He has no attachment or desire and his deeds

do not produce any vasana or bondage. If there is any deviation,

there is the doctrine of `substantial compliance', according to

which neither the religion nor law would take note of the trifles.

 

The destruction of the mind should not be misunderstood. It is not

the destruction of the perceiving mind by which we transact with the

world. It is only destruction of the ego- mind, which continuously

gropes in the darkness of ignorance and illusion and yet thinks

itself to be wise and intelligent. (Main source: Reflections on

Upadesa Saaram by Bhimasena Rao)

 

 

prof laxmi narain (prof_narain)

 

Source and courtesy: Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad

This article was published in Sri Ramana Jyothi,

monthly magazine of the Kendram.