Which one to erase? By Ramana Maharshi Disciple Viswanathan

The inner instruments consisting of mind(thoughts),Buddhi(intellect),chittam(memory) and ahamkara(I notion) known in sanskrit as antharkarna and collectively known as mind.Now the question arises which of the four affects jnani and ajnani and which one has to be erased.

- With regards to manas(thoughts), a person cannot recognize objects without the thought of that object.When we see an object,unless the thought of object is recognized by the mind, the eye cannot recognize the object.For example if my concentration is else where and at that moment if somebody passes in front of me and later if i am asked whether i have noticed a person passing in front of me , i will say that I have not noticed anybody passing me since my thoughts were elsewhere even though my eyes were wide open.Hence manas(thoughts) need not be erased.

-With regard to buddhi(intellect), both jnani and ajnani have to have buddhi, other wise one cannot differentiate between right & wrong, good and bad,dharma & adharma.Hence, buddhi also need not be erased.

-With regard to Chittam(memory) also,both jnani and ajnani should have memory otherwise one cannot recollect the events.Hence, chittam also need not be erased.

- With regard to ahamkara or the I notion also known as individuality or Ego,the jnani does not have Ego or I notion whereas agnani has very strong ego. This ego or individualitry also known as I notion is the one which identifies with self and claims itself to be the self(I notion) and also identifies with objects including the body and claims everything as mine.Bhagavan wants us to erase this ego only and not other three components of antharkarna.

- Now,unless one knows what is ego, he cannot erase it.Then how to recognize the ego?It can be easily identified.For example,if we sit for meditation,for some time the mind will be in a state free from thoughts.Suddenly an entity will pop up (rise) within and if we are not vigilant, that entity will immediately identify with objects and we will go along with the thought of objects.

That entity, the subject is the ego also known as ahamkara or I notion & is the root cause of all misery in life and Bhagavan wants this ego only to be erased.The rise of this ego is due to inherent tendencies also known as vasanas or imprints.As long as vasanas are there, ego cannot be erased.

- However,we should not lose hope since our savior, Bhagavan has given an unique method to erase the ego.Here, Bhagavan says that whenever thought appears, instead of going along with thought, he wants us to obsere to whom the thought comes and when we get the answer I, Bhagavan wants us to observe from where the I notion has come up.Then,the mind(ego or ahamkara or I notion) will merge in its source.

For some time there will be a complete silence for some time and again, due to vasanas, the mind will project thought and again we have to repeat the method given by Bhagavan.

By this repeated practice,Bhagavan says that mind (ego or I notion)will get its power to remain in its source( Self).This is Self enquiry as per Bhagavan.Bhagavan wants us not to obsere the thought and instead wants us to observe the thinker.

- Once the EGO is gone for ever then man becomes god.An easy definition for God is : MAN MINUS EGO IS GOD.

Source: http://www.arunachala-ramana.org/forum/index.php?topic=5935.msg0#new