After attaining the enlightenment, do all people renounce the world, sit unmovable in the cave, not taking care of the body, focusing only on inner reality as young Ramana Maharishi did?
Not necessary. In the end, it always comes to the fact that such people do eat. They are also cleaned up and healed if necessary – by others. They may be in the mood of not wanting it – that I understand. Sometimes, this shiny illusion we call the world is just too much. The feeling of tiredness and overwhelmingness prevails. It is only right to stop all this and gracefully die. There are hundreds of people who died that way. Other people saved only some of them. And those saved, become well-known saints.
They are, in the way, pushed forward by Life itself. It was not their wish; it happened that way.
However, it is dubious to think that it always has to be “saved by the people” scenario. Since there is no difference between this body and the body of someone else, there is no difference between this mind and the mind of someone else. The desire to be “saved” and preserved for the world, can come from this mind too.
Regarding „not caring to live“ situation, there are two scenarios. One is that anyone, not enlightened, can fall into the trap of a death wish. The instinct to survive can be overridden by sickness, despair, fear, even love. It is in no way the sign of true enlightenment. Or, in other words, you can not judge enlightenment by that.
The second situation is the enlightenment itself. It seems that enlightened ones do tend to test the will of the Life with complete surrender. It goes like this: “Ok, there is nothing else coming to this mind. Maybe it is time to give up? If it is not, then something will happen.”
And something happens. Or not.
In the first case, you live. In the second case, you die.
Now, you have to understand that enlightened people are always born into some culture. They are born not-enlightened, and then by some struck of the lightning, they become enlightened. Anyway, they are part of that culture.
Ramana Maharishi was born as Venkataramana Ayyar. An Indian. In the year of 1879. You can not expect from him to behave like someone born in America two hundred years before, or in France, a hundred years later.
So, he did what was implicit in his cultural environment. He becomes a sanyasi. As such, it was only logical not to care about the body, thinking that ants may as well eat it. And when it comes to his food… well, he will certainly not do anything to provide it for himself. Dying from hunger was an acceptable option.
He was respected for that. He would be respected even today. Back then, it was a part of Indian collective mind that such things happen: from time to time, a divinity descends upon people. And with such background, what else Venkatarmana could do? It was logical, implicit, and unavoidable.
But, that does not mean that you should do it (you don’t have to do anything specific, of course), or that this is a sign of true enlightenment.
You could stand a mosquitos and ants bites, and you could give them to eat you alive. Probably, it will be a horrible experience, and you will scream and cry and suffer. But, you could even get your self into the state of not feeling the pain and horror of such a destiny. All this would mean nothing and have no connection with enlightenment whatsoever.
It is just scenery.
To continue reading click on Pay 10 (micropayment of 10 XLM). If you are not sure what is these about and how to do it (it is simple), you can found out about SatoshiPay system, Lumen cryptocurrency, and detailed instruction how to use it in the article SATOSHIPAY MICROPAYMENT SYSTEM.
Do unenlightened dream spiritual sheep?
Many devotees had visions of Ramana Maharishi.
Yes, if you stare long enough in someone’s picture, you will have visions too.
If you are immersed in the collective belief that someone is a Bhagavan, a divine incarnation, and if you participate in travels, darshans, visits, thinking, prayers… all directed to that someone, you will have visions too.
People did have visions and dreams of me. And I was not even close to that kind of drama as was Ramana Maharishi. I was just a person who knows something, a lecturer, a writer; a westerner with an aura of something different — spiritual aura, to be precise. People read what I wrote; they saw me when I was speaking; they participated in my courses. And some of them – many of them, but not all – said that I was visiting them in their dreams. Or they saw me somewhere while I was somewhere else, and such things.
I have no recollection of doing astral travels or being in more than one place at once. I always said to such dreamers that it is their dream, their vision, and it has nothing to do with me. Some did get the point, but many didn’t. They kept their belief because it suited them. It was great to have someone special – someone with secret powers, capable of performing miracles. The fact that someone is himself denying and discouraging any attention to such a thing was not relevant to them at all.
As far I can read, Ramana Maharishi also discouraged big fas around it. He knew it is not real – it is a product of a twisted mind. The mind is prone to create an illusion to satisfy his desires. And he will do so whenever the chance occurs.
If you are willing to exploit that tendency, you can play with a practically infinite number of tricks. People will believe in whatsoever. Some “spiritual” figures, “prophets,” gurus and such, are famous for that. They are still worshiped as saints and Bhagavan’s by millions.
It is rubbish. Not worth mentioning.
Oh, God! Give me a normal life!
“However, it does call for consideration that the full outer normality and participation in the daily routine of life which Sri Bhagavan exemplified so perfectly in later years and which he enjoined upon his followers was not possible for himself immediately after the Awakening at his uncle’s house at Madura. The answer is that what had become possible for Sri Bhagavan he by his Grace, makes it possible for those who follow him.” Osborne, Arthur (2012-07-09). The Mind of Ramana Maharshi (Kindle Locations 1155-1158). Jaico Books. Kindle Edition.
Well, you see, young Ramana, awakened, was confused. It was the time for facing the truth. And the truth was so “cruel” to all what he has known, that “all he has known” had to disappear. Or at least, to be withdrawn to oblivion. Again, due to tradition, he was born into, he chose to be silent. And not to care for the body. And not to live “normal.”
When an ordinary person from the West, and the East, hear about such life, it can be frightening. And threatening. It is not something anyone would want.
Not that wanting is essential, but when you look at what Ramana did in later years, you can see that the picture changed. His life was going more by “what people want.” He preaches non-violence. He is religious and advocates spiritual practice. He speaks and has an excellent knowledge of the scriptures (apparently, he had an eidetic memory, according to some). He is Christ-like, which is especially visible in his relationship with his mother.
All in all, he transformed himself in a much more acceptable saint-like figure, without extremes from his youth.
I can only suppose that he decided to give what was possible. So, he lied, and play along the usual line of the spiritual story.
It is like that, or he was not enlightened at all. Just highly developed spiritually.
I am going for enlightened, not because of his powers, life, stories, and status, but because of the words he repeated over and over again, in different situations. Those words may be somewhat different, but they do say the same thing: what enlightenment is, is not experienced by the person at all.
Somehow, with the usual help of goddess Maya, people do not hear the essence. They think only about themselves and what they will achieve when they come to the place Ramana is pointing to. They are getting it wrong.
Very soon, if enlightened one lives, he or she, clearly sees that people are incapable of hearing the truth. If they would be capable, there will be no need of saying it.
So, instead of truth, they are saying something else.
Sounds bad? It is even worse: they live something else.
That is the curse enlightenment brings to this world — a lie. A lie, you can’t believe anymore, but you are forced to live it.
So, when you hear about the life of Ramana Maharishi, you now know what do you hear about.
Just here and there, behind the phrasing suited for the spiritually indoctrinated audience, you can find a finger pointing to the exit. But, it is not the direction anyone wants to look.
Guru business
Consider the question of a Guru. Indians love the idea of surrendering oneself to a living human person who, supposedly, attained the enlightenment. Spiritual seekers from the West adopted that idea, too. There is certain magic in that.
Now, confronted with the prevailing idea of the Guru business, Maharishi Ramana did the only possible thing: he went with the flow and insisted that Guru is necessary.
But he himself didn’t have one! The awakening just happened to him at an early age. Well, he would say, Guru doesn’t need to have a human form. Nicely done, Ramana! All are happy now. Of course, Guru is more than a human – he can be a spiritual being, or even an element – the Universe itself.
Is he a Guru? No, he has no disciples – that was his first answer. Then, after the panic spreads among his devotees, he corrected that statement, not directly but with some sentences here and there. Predictable as they were, they interpreted that correction as: “Don’t worry. I am your Guru. You are safe.”
Pressed to the wall by the doctrine imprinted in the mind of cultural slaves around him, he used what he could, to make as little harm as possible with his words.
Further, you could hear from him that God has no purpose and no meaning in reality. Who is worshiping God, he would ask? Who is the God worshiped? It is the same question as in his vichara – “Who am I?”
Yet, on another occasion, God is everything, the only thing, the One – a synonymous with Self, Being, or the Real. It is all dependent about who was he talking to.
Sometimes, this game can be so funny and with so many layers — for example, the story about grace. When people ask about Grace, they think about something that is given to them, not something that you can earn somehow.
In spite of his constant insisting on meditation, concentration, and other spiritual efforts, Ramana did say firmly that grace of the Guru is the only thing that can give you enlightenment.
This is so Indian, so vedish, and so traditional that no one can say anything against it. But, if the students did listen to what he says on other occasions, they would hear the truth – the only truth per his path.
Enlightenment is not a result of an effort, spiritual or otherwise. The effort brings other consequences; rewards if you want to call them such. Thus, ” grace” is the right term. It just happens, like lightning.
“Guru” can be anything and everything, but it is always the truth – that what is real. Reality strikes you and reaps apart the world of illusion. That is how it happens. Not because you will do something, or live with someone, or serve few or many; not because you will meditate or think or do some austerity, punish yourself or drink gee. It will happen by grace.
You may prepare your self, but this is not how you induce the awakening, and it is not the reason you receive it. Grace is like winning the lottery. However, you can win only if you play. That is what spirituality is for.
Lakshmi, the enlightened cow
Ramana Maharishi had a cow. Her name was Lakshmi. When she was very old, and on her dying shed, he spends her last hours with her. He had held her head against his chick, comfort her, and whispers to her ears. They say she died peacefully.
He ordered for his devotees to bury her body, and set a wooden sculpture – a likeness of her – over her grave. The epitaph was written by Ramana Maharishi himself, stating that she attained moksha – liberation.
Don’t misunderstand me – what Ramana did is not a sign of enlightenment, but it is a sign of a free spirit, the one who is not afraid to look over the form of humanity, and see the same Truth in everything.
A need for a Guru? A living human person as a Guru? It is more likely that you will find it in a cow, or a dog, than in a human person.
You might also like
Leave a reply