Ramana Maharshi Says State Of Sahaja Nirvikalpa Alone To Be The Ultimate State

D: As some sacred texts say that the supreme state is that in which the sense organs and the mind are completely destroyed, how can that state be compatible with the experience of the body and the senses?

Bhagavan: If that were so there would not be any difference between that state and the state of deep sleep. Further, how can it be said to be the natural state when it exists at one time and not at another? This happens, as stated before, to some persons according to their karma (prarabdha) for some time or till death. It cannot properly be regarded as the final state.

If it could it would mean that all great souls and the Lord, who were the authors of the Vedantic works (jnana granthas) and the Vedas, were unenlightened persons.If the supreme state is that in which neither the senses nor the mind exist and not the state in which they exist, how can it be the perfect state (paripurnam)?

As karma alone is responsible for the activity or inactivity of the sages, great souls have declared the state of sahaja nirvikalpa (the natural state without concepts) alone to be the ultimate state.

Source : Collected Works Of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi

Read More

Shankaracharya's Drik Drisya Vivekam

Readers Note: Drik Drisya Vivekam Commentary By sri Sundara Chaitanya Swami Garu videos in telugu are available in the below link

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=DhrugDhrushyaVivekam+Volume&search_type=&aq=f


This composition of Shankaracharya was translated into Tamil by Sri Bhagavan. Bhagavan also composed the following introductory verse and introduction.

Oh thou divine Shankara,
Thou art the Subject
That has knowledge
Of subject and object.
Let the subject in me be destroyed
As subject and object.
For thus in my mind arises
The light as the single Siva.

Introduction

‘Brahman is only one and non-dual’ declare the Srutis.Since Brahman is the sole reality, according to advaita, how is it that Brahman is not apparent to us, whereas the prapancha (world, i.e., non-Brahman) is so vivid? Thus questions the advanced sadhaka.

In one’s own Self, which is no other than Brahman, there is a mysterious power known as avidya (ignorance) which is beginningless and not separate from the Self. Its characteristics are veiling and presentation of diversity.

Just as the pictures in a cinema, though not visible either in sunlight or in darkness,become visible in a spot of light in the midst of darkness, so in the darkness of ignorance there appears the reflected light of the Self, illusory and scattered, taking the form of thought.

This is the primal thought known as the ego, jiva or karta (doer), having the mind as the medium of its perceptions.The mind has a store of latent tendencies which it projects as the object of a shadow-show in the waking and dream states.This show, however, is mistaken for real by the jiva. The veiling aspect of the mind first hides the real nature of the Self and then presents the objective world to view.

Just as the waters of the ocean do not seem different from the waves, so also for the duration of objective phenomena, the Self, though itself the sole being, is made to appear not different from them. Turn away from the delusion caused by latent tendencies and false notions of interior and exterior. By such constant practice of sahaja samadhi, the veiling power vanishes and the non-dual Self is left over to shine forth as Brahman itself.

This is the whole secret of the advaita doctrine as taught by the master to the advanced sadhaka. Here the same teaching is contained, which Sri Shankaracharya has expounded concisely without any elaboration, in the following text.

The Text

All our perception pertains to the non-Self. The immutable Seer is indeed the Self. All the countless scriptures proclaim only discrimination between Self and non-Self.

The world we see, being seen by the eye, is drisya (object);the eye which sees it is drik (subject). But the eye, being perceived by the mind is drisya (object) and the mind which sees it is drik (subject). The mind, with its thoughts perceived by the Self, is drisya (object) and the Self is drik (subject).The Self cannot be drisya (object), not being perceived by anything else. The forms perceived are various, blue and yellow, gross and subtle, tall and short, and so on; but the eye that sees them remains one and the same. Similarly, the varying qualities of the eye, such as blindness, dullness and keenness and of the ears and other organs, are perceived by the mind singly. So, too, the various characteristics of the mind, such as desire, determination, doubt, faith, want of faith, courage,want of courage, fear, shyness, discrimination, good and bad,are all perceived by the Self singly. This Self neither rises nor sets, neither increases nor decays. It shines of its own luminosity. It illumines everything else without the need for aid from other sources.

Note: Sri Sundara Chaitanya Swami says

We are self(witness) because we are witnessing various thoughts perceived by the mind and hence we are not mind also but only witness.

Buddhi, as the sum total of the inner organs, in contact with the reflected consciousness has two aspects. One is called egoity and the other mind. This contact of the buddhi with the reflected consciousness is like the identity of a red-hot
iron ball with fire. Hence the gross body passes for a conscious entity. The contact establishing identity between the ego and the reflected Consciousness, is of three kinds.

1. The identification of the ego with the reflected Consciousness is natural or innate.

2. The identification of the ego with the body is due to past karma.

3. The identification of the ego with the witness is due to ignorance.

The natural or innate contact continues as long as the buddhi, but on realization of the Self it proves to be false.The second mentioned contact,that born of past karma, ceases to exist on the destruction of innate tendencies (vasanas).The third mentioned contact is broken when it is discovered by experience that there is no sort of contact of anything at all with the Self, which is Being.

In the deep sleep state, when the body is inert, the ego is fully merged (in the causal ignorance).The ego is half manifest in the dream state, and its being fully manifest is the waking state. It is the mode or modification of thought (with its latent tendencies) that creates the inner world of dreams in the dream state and the outer world in the waking state. The subtle body, which is the material cause of mind and ego, experiences the three states and also birth and death.

Note: Acc to Sundara Chaitanya Swami Garu Here half ego in dreams means there is no kartha(doer) but only bhoktha(enjoyer).Reason is will a person who has lends money to person B asks the same amount in dreams and accepts the dream money? No because the dream body is different and there is no kartha in dreams.

Maya of the causal body has its powers of projecting (rajas) and veiling (tamas). It is the projecting power that creates everything from the subtle body to the gross universe of names and forms. These are produced in the Sat-Chit-Ananda (Being-Consciousness-Bliss) like foam in the ocean. The veiling power operates in such a way that internally the distinction between subject and object cannot be perceived,and externally that between Brahman and the phenomenal world. This indeed is the cause of samsara. The individual with his reflected light of Consciousness is the subtle body
existing in close proximity with the Self that is the vyavaharika (the empirical Self).This individual character of the empirical Self appears in the witness or sakshi also through false superimposition. But on the extinction of the veiling power (tamas), the distinction between witness and the empirical Self becomes clear; and the superimposition also drops away.

Note: Acc to Sundara Chaitanya Swami Garu superimposition is like rope and snake.So our ignorance(miseries) are like super imposition like we think i am thin,i am not good..etc though indeed we are only witness.

Maya has 2 charcteristics.One is avarana(veling power) is like covering the truth. Second is vikhepana(projection) means though there is no snake and only rope but we feel there is snake.

Aham Vritti is not there in deep sleep.

Avarana is like deep sleep where we are not aware of the world,body...

Similarly, Brahman shines as the phenomenal world of names and forms only through the effect of the veiling power which conceals the distinction between them. When the veiling ends,the distinction between the two is perceived, for none of the activities of the phenomenal world exist in Brahman.

Of the five characteristics, Being, Consciousness, Bliss,name and form, the first three pertain to Brahman and name and form to the world. The three aspects of Being,
Consciousness and Bliss exist equally in the five elements of ether, air, fire, water and earth and in devas (gods), animals,men, etc., whereas the names and forms are different.

Therefore, be indifferent to names and forms, concentrate on Being-Consciousness-Bliss and constantly practise samadhi (identity with Brahman) within the Heart or outside.

Note: Acc to Sundara Chaitanya Swami Garu we cannot accept ignorance,miseries anytime.

We will try to iradicate it immediately.For example before sleep husband tells wife that he will tell some secret in next morning.Naturally wife wants to iradicate he ignorance so she keeps asking some clues or atleast some idea etc.So it means our nature is to iradicate ignorance as soon as possible.

This practice of samadhi (identity with Brahman) is of two kinds: savikalpa (in which the distinction between knower,knowledge and known is not lost) and nirvikalpa (in which the above distinction is lost).

Savikalpa samadhi again is of two kinds: that which is associated with words (sound), and meditation on one’s own consciousness as the witness of thought forms such as desire, which is savikalpa samadhi (internal), associated with (cognizable) objects.

First kind is of Savikalpa samadhi is related to words(sound).
Other kind is of Savikalpa samadhi is related to Drusyam.


In Savikalpa samadhi Drik And Drusya are still existing.

Realizing one’s Self as ‘I am Being-Consciousness-Bliss(witness) without duality,unattached, self-effulgent’, is savikalpa samadhi (internal) associated with words (sound).

Coming to nirvikalpa samadhi from Savikalpa samadhi is like a river merged in a ocean

Giving up both objects and sound forms of the aforesaid two modes of samadhi and being completely absorbed in the Bliss experienced by the realization of the Self is nirvikalpa samadhi (internal).

In this state steady abidance is obtained, like the unflickering flame of a light kept in a place free from wind. So also, in the Heart, becoming indifferent to external objects of name and form and perceiving only Being of (or as) Sat, is savikalpa samadhi (external) associated with objects; and being aware continually of that Sat (true existence) as the unbroken single essence of Brahman is savikalpa samadhi (external) associated with words (sound).

After these two experiences, Being, which is uninterrupted like the waveless ocean, is nirvikalpa samadhi (external).One who meditates should spend his time perpetually in these six kinds of samadhi. By these, the attachment to the body is destroyed and the mind that perpetually abides in the Supreme Self (paramatman) wherever it may wander, is everywhere spontaneously in samadhi.

By this constant practice of samadhi, the supreme Self, who is both highest and lowliest,who encompasses Paramatman as well as jivatman is directly experienced, and then the knot of the Heart is loosened; all doubts are destroyed and all karmas (activities) cease too.

Of the three modes of individual being, the limited self (as in deep sleep), the empirical self (as in the waking state) and the dreaming self, only the individual limited by the deep sleep state is the true Self (paramarthika). Even he is but an idea. The Absolute alone is the true Self.

In reality and by nature he is Brahman itself, only superimposition creates the
limitations of individuality in the Absolute. It is to the paramarthika jiva that the identity of Tat-tvam-asi (That thou art) and other great texts of the Upanishads applies, and not to any other. The great maya (the superimposition without beginning) with her veiling and projecting power (tamas and rajas) veils the single indivisible Brahman and, in that Brahman, creates the world and individuals. The individual
(jiva), a concept of the empirical self in the buddhi, is indeed the actor and enjoyer and the entire phenomenal world is its object of enjoyment.

From time without beginning, till the attainment of liberation, individual and world have an empirical existence. They are both empirical. The empirical individual appears to have the power of sleep in the shape of the veiling and projecting powers. It is associated with Consciousness. The power covers first the individual empirical
self and the cognized universe, and then these are imagined in dream.

These dream perceptions and the individual who perceives them are illusory, because they exist only during the period of dream experience.We affirm their illusory nature,because on waking up from dream no one sees the dream,no one sees the dream objects. The dreaming self experiences the dream world as real, while the empirical self experiences the empirical world as real but, when the paramarthika jiva is realized, knows it to be unreal.

The paramarthika jiva, as distinguished from those of the waking and dream experiences,is identical with Brahman. He has no ‘other’. If he does see any ‘other’, he knows it to be illusory.

The sweetness, liquidity, and coldness of water are characteristics present equally in waves and foam. So, too,the Being-Consciousness-Bliss character of the Self (the
paramarthika) is present in the empirical self and through him in the dream self also, because of their being only illusory creations in the Self. The foam with its qualities, such as coldness, subsides in the waves, the waves with their characteristics, such as liquidity, subside in the water, and the ocean alone exists as at first. Similarly, the dream self and its objects are absorbed in the empirical self; then the empirical world with its characteristics is absorbed in the paramarthika and, as at first, Being-Consciousness-Bliss which is Brahman shines alone.

Source: The Collected Works Of Sri Ramana Maharshi

Readers interested are requested to read below article as well

http://prashantaboutindia.blogspot.com/2010/01/ramana-maharshi-answers-to-why-world.html

http://prashantaboutindia.blogspot.com/2010/03/ramana-maharshi-says-objects-existence.html

http://prashantaboutindia.blogspot.com/2010/03/drik-drishya-vivekam-explains-how-is.html

http://prashantaboutindia.blogspot.com/2010/02/ramana-maharshi-about-different-types.html

Read More

Ramana Maharshi About Different Types Of Samadhis

The following brief definitions formulated by Bhagavan Ramana should be sufficient to guide the uninititated through the terminological jungle of samadhi.

1. Holding on to reality is Samadhi.
2. Holding on to reality with effort is Savikalpa Samadhi.
3. Merging in reality and remaining unaware of the world is Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
4. Merging in ignorance and remaining unaware of the world is sleep.
5. Remaining in the primal, pure, natural state without effort is Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi or Sahaja Samadhi.

Source: Talks With Ramana Maharshi

Question : What is samadhi?

Ramana Maharshi : The state in which the unbroken experience of existence-consciousness is attained by the still mind, alone is samadhi. That still mind which is adorned with the attainment of the limitless supreme Self, alone is the reality of God.

When the mind is in communion with the Self in darkness, it is called nidra [sleep], that is, the immersion of the mind in ignorance.Immersion in a conscious or wakeful state is called samadhi. Samadhi is continuous inherence in the Self in a waking state. Nidra or sleep is also inherence in the Self but in an unconscious state. In sahaja samadhi the communion is con-tinuous.

Question : What are kevala nirvikalpa samadhi and sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi?

Ramana Maharshi :The immersion of the mind in the Self, but without its destruction, is kevala nirvikalpa samadhi. In this state one is not free from vasanas and so one does not therefore attain mukti. Only after the vasanas have been destroyed can one attain liberation.

Question : When can one practise sahaja samadhi?

Ramana Maharshi : Even from the beginning. Even though one practises kevala nirvikalpa samadhi for years together, if one has not rooted out the vasanas one will not attain liberation.

Question : May I have a clear idea of the difference between savikalpa and nirvikalpa?

Ramana Maharshi : Holding on to the supreme state is samadhi. When it is with effort due to mental disturbances, it is savikalpa. When these disturbances are absent, it is nirvikalpa. Remaining permanently in the primal state without effort is sahaja.

Question : Is nirvikalpa samadhi absolutely necessary before the attainment of sahaja?

Ramana Maharshi : Abiding permanently in any of these samadhis, either savikalpa or nirvikalpa, is sahaja [the natural state]. What is body-consciousness? It is the insentient body plus consciousness. Both of these must lie in another consciousness which is absolute and unaffected and which remains as it always is, with or without the body-consciousness. What does it then matter whether the body-consciousness is lost or retained, provided one is holding on to that pure consciousness? Total absence of body-consciousness has the advantage of making the samadhi more intense, although it makes no difference to the knowledge of the supreme.

Question : Can the meditator be affected by physical disturbances during nirvikalpa samadhi? My friend and I disagree on this point.


Ramana Maharshi : Both of you are right. One of you is referring to kevala and the other to sahaja samadhi. In both cases the mind is immersed in the bliss of the Self. In the former, physical movements may cause disturbance to the meditator, because the mind has not completely died out. It is still alive and can, as after deep sleep, at any moment be active again.

It is compared to a bucket, which, although completely submerged under water, can be pulled out by a rope which is still attached to it. In sahaja, the mind has sunk completely into the Self, like the bucket which has got drowned in the depths of the well along with its rope. In sahaja there is nothing left to be disturbed or pulled back to the world. One's activities then resemble that of the child who sucks its mother's milk in sleep, and is hardly aware of the feeding.

Question : How can one function in the world in such a state?

Ramana Maharshi : One who accustoms himself naturally to meditation and enjoys the bliss of meditation will not lose his samadhi state whatever external work he does, whatever thoughts may come to him. That is sahaja nirvikalpa. Sahaja nirvikalpa is nasa [total destruction of the mind] whereas kevala nirvikalpa is laya [temporary abeyance of the mind].

Those who are in the laya samadhi state will have to bring the mind back under control from time to time. If the mind is destroyed, as it is in sahaja samadhi, it will never sprout again. Whatever is done by such people is just incidental, they will never slide down from their high state.

Those that are in the kevala nirvikalpa state are not realized, they are still seekers. Those who are in the sahaja nirvikalpa state are like a light in a windless place, or the ocean without waves; that is, there is no movement in them. They cannot find anything which is different from themselves. For those who do not reach that state, everything appears to be different from themselves.

Question : Is the experience of kevala nirvikalpa the same as that of sahaja, although one comes down from it to the relative world?

Ramana Maharshi : There is neither coming down nor going up - he who goes up and down is not real.In kevala nirvikalpa there is the mental bucket still in existence under the water, and it can be pulled out at any moment. Sahaja is like the river that has linked up with the ocean from which there is no return. Why do you ask all these questions? Go on practising till you have the experience yourself.

Question : What is the use of samadhi and does thought subsist then?

Ramana Maharshi : Samadhi alone can reveal the truth. Thoughts cast a veil over reality, and so it is not realized as such in states other than samadhi. In samadhi there is only the feeling `I am' and no thoughts. The experience of `I am' is `being still'.

Question : How can I repeat the experience of samadhi or the stillness that I obtain here in your presence?

Ramana Maharshi : Your present experience is due to the influence of the atmosphere in which you find yourself. Can you have it outside this atmosphere? The experience is spasmodic(Occurring in spells and often abruptly). Until it becomes permanent, practice is necessary.

Sources:

1) From David Godman Excellent Book "Be As You are"
2) GURU VACHAKA KOVAI Part3 3rd Chapter

Read More