Ramana Explains 'who Am I'
Posted 21st June 2008 at 11:24 PM by sunkan
How is one to enquire” who am I ?”
Ramana: actions such as ‘going’ and ‘coming ’ belong only to the body. And so when one says “I went, I came “ it amounts to saying that the body is “I” But can the body be said to be the consciousness “I”, since the body was not before it was born, is made up of five elements, is non existent in the state of deep sleep, and becomes a corpse when dead? Can this body which is inert like a log of wood be said to shine as “I” “I” ? There fore, the “I” consciousness which at first arises in respect of the body is referred to variously as self-conceit (tarbodham), egoity (ahankara), nescience (avidya), maya impurity (mala), and individual soul (jiva). Can we remain without enquiring in this? Is it not for our redemption through enquiry that all the scriptures declare that the destruction of “ self-conceit” is release (mukti)?, Therefore making the corpse-body remain as a corpse, and not even uttering the word “I”, one should enquire keenly thus; “now what is that rises as “I”. Then there would shine in the heart a kind of wordless illumination of the form ‘I’ ‘I’. That is, there would shine of its own accord the pure consciousness which is unlimited and one, the limited and the many thoughts have disappeared. If one remains quiescent witout abandoning that (experience), the egoity, the individual sense, of the form ‘I am the body’ will be totally destroyed, and at the end the final thought, viz. the ‘I’- form also will be quenched like the fire that burns camphor. The great sages and scriptures declare that this alone is release….
Ramana: actions such as ‘going’ and ‘coming ’ belong only to the body. And so when one says “I went, I came “ it amounts to saying that the body is “I” But can the body be said to be the consciousness “I”, since the body was not before it was born, is made up of five elements, is non existent in the state of deep sleep, and becomes a corpse when dead? Can this body which is inert like a log of wood be said to shine as “I” “I” ? There fore, the “I” consciousness which at first arises in respect of the body is referred to variously as self-conceit (tarbodham), egoity (ahankara), nescience (avidya), maya impurity (mala), and individual soul (jiva). Can we remain without enquiring in this? Is it not for our redemption through enquiry that all the scriptures declare that the destruction of “ self-conceit” is release (mukti)?, Therefore making the corpse-body remain as a corpse, and not even uttering the word “I”, one should enquire keenly thus; “now what is that rises as “I”. Then there would shine in the heart a kind of wordless illumination of the form ‘I’ ‘I’. That is, there would shine of its own accord the pure consciousness which is unlimited and one, the limited and the many thoughts have disappeared. If one remains quiescent witout abandoning that (experience), the egoity, the individual sense, of the form ‘I am the body’ will be totally destroyed, and at the end the final thought, viz. the ‘I’- form also will be quenched like the fire that burns camphor. The great sages and scriptures declare that this alone is release….
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