Questioner: When Sri Bhagavan is actually of the opinion that Ajata-advaita is the only truth, why does he recommend Bhakti to some people who come here? Is it not doing them an injustice?

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi: What do you know about Bhakti?

Q.: I know that it posits duality by making the sadhaka [Tom: seeker] presuppose the existence of a personal God; whereas, according to Bhagavan, from the stand-point of Truth or Reality the personal God does not exist at all.

B.: When, as a result of supreme unconditional Love for God, the mind melts away without the slightest trace of residue, it is Realisation of the non-dual Self.

Q.: My question is why people are not being discouraged by Bhagawan from continuing their dualistic practices of ritual worship, when the personal God does not even exist according to the Ajata-advaita school, which is the system of philosophy endorsed by Bhagawan.

B.: Worship of name and form is also a means to Realise the Nameless and Formless, provided there is motiveless Love- that is to say, unconditional surrender.

Q.: How so?

B.: Obsessive fixation on any one particular thought to the exclusion of all else, is the way. The one who does Jnana-vichara asks himself ‘Who-am-I?’ every time a thought occurs. The thought disappears and he is re-absorbed into the current of pure consciousness. The one who yearns in fathomlessly intense longing Love for God severs thoughts as and when they arise, by telling himself that it is not for him to think thoughts in which his beloved finds no place. Always immersed in thoughts of his beloved, he speedily reaches the stage where it has become fully obvious to him that rather than think about his beloved and thus cognise him indirectly, he might experience his beloved directly by feeeling-contact, which is the same as self-immersion in the current of divine Love latent in the sadhaka always. Is this current different from pure consciousness? No. So, Bhakti or Jnana, the aim is the same: total destruction of thought. Only those desperate to escape from samsara, no matter what the cost or price might be, Realise; the others remain sadhakas.

Imagine you have fallen into a cataleptic condition caused by an unfortunate concussion to the head. You are mistaken for dead and deposited inside an opulent ebony-wood coffin. The exquisitely carved lid is nailed shut and you are lowered deep into the bowels of the earth. Next the earth is filled in, a monumental stela is erected over the spot, eulogies are read out and then everybody disperses. Minutes later you wake up and all the sensory information that your brain had been unconsiously registering all this while flashes in upon you in a moment. Being trapped in this situation, the same exact desperation you would feel then, if you are able to feel now for being stuck in samsara – for there is not much difference – Realisation is assured; else you may go on contentedly telling yourself, ‘Once I am done with these my toilsome wordly responsibilities, I shall focus myself exclusively to the cause of discovery of my true Self…’ or other similar drivel, life after imaginary life…

Have you seen fish captured in a net? The complacent ones become food, but some jump about so uncontrollably that they manage to fall back into the ocean. Likewise, Sri Ramakrishna describes a high-souled creature known as the Homa bird. For one who is wont to postpone Realisation to the future, this ‘future’ never arrives. Till he goes to the grave, one concern after the other occupies him. Increasingly frustrated, each time he tells himself, ‘Immediately after solving this problem I shall be in a position to commence my steadfast sadhana, which even the heavens will not be able to shake…

But let me wait until this one last fleeting problem is solved, for I do not want anything else to occupy my attention once I have commenced my assiduous sadhana…’. Invariably, once one problem is over the next reveals itself soon after. It is like chasing your own shadow when the sun is behind you. Can you ever catch it? Therefore, Realisation is in the here and now. When Hanuman was asked what day of the week it was, he said, ‘Brother, I know naught about these things. To me only Rama exists.’. So, that is the attitude of the ideal sadhaka. Mundane matters do not succeed in gaining access to his mind. Yet he may be impeccably discharging countless professional and household duties. The onlooker might think, ‘Oh! poor man. What an encumbered life is this!’. In fact one who has altogether surrrendered is not doing anything.

Q.: Should not one try to discover one’s true Self by the dint of one’s own efforts, rather than soliciting the assistance of imaginary deities, who really do not exist at all, according to Bhagavan’s teaching?

B.: If you are real in this body and mind they are too. You cannot be selective in your approach to the Truth.

Q.: My body is a tangible physical existence. The gods mentioned in the scriptures are not to be found anywhere.

B.: The one fiction is gross; the other is subtle.

Q.: How long should Jnana-vichara be practised?

B.: Until the natural state is regained. Consider this ancient story from Thracia:

Once upon a time, a hungry fox, seeing some bread and meat left behind by shepherds in the hollow of an aged oak-tree, stealthily crept into the hole and obtained for himself a hearty meal. When he finished eating, his stomach was so full that he was not able to get out. He began to groan and lament his fate.

Another Fox passing by heard his cries, and coming up, inquired the cause of his complaining. On learning what had happened, he said unto him, “Ah! you will have to remain there, my friend, until you become such as you were when you crept in; and then you will easily get out.”

So, without regaining the primal state of mind, escape from the infernal abyss known as samsara is not possible.

Q.: What is this natural state of the mind?

B.: Subjective-awareness-sustained-effortlessly-and-volitionlessly.

Q.: How can I not make an effort to do something and yet do it? It sounds quixotic and ridiculous.

B.: You are so used to doing that your true nature of restful non-doing has become alien to you. Since your departure from the natural state has plunged you into an ocean of unending activity, you are become quite alienated from your natural state of blissful inactivity. So you are framing the absurd question, ‘What can I do to regain the natural state?’. It is like asking, ‘In order for the maximum amount of light to be facilitated to spill forth from this lantern, in what position shall I hold my hand in front of the lens?’. If you simply take your hand away, the light shines clear and bright. So, let go of the ego, and the Self is revealed.

But people will not understand this. They want formulas, concepts, methods – in short, they want something they can ‘do’. Whenever they have wanted something in their lives, they have done something to obtain it, and probably succeeded. So they think Enlightenment can also be won this way.

Many charlatans also cater to the psychological requirements of such gullible people, prescribing mental exercises for them that plunge their minds into a state of delibrately sustained bliss; thus, the poor victims think they have successfully Enlightened themselves! [laughs] Alas, no! No amount of doing or ‘meditating’ can reveal the Self. The loftiest, most useful and most legitimate advice that can be given to an aspirant for Realisation is simply Summa Iru [Tom: ‘Just be’ or ‘be still’].

But people want a formula by means of which this can be acheived: therefore the Jnana-vichara is prescribed. One who is desperate enough in his want to Realise will not waste time in gossip; he will abandon everything; thus, only the Self remains.

Do not be attached to the body and do not aim at satisfaction of the never-ending requirements of the personal self; these are transient, illusory appearances in the One Real THAT. Whatever is born will certainly die. What is perishable is bound to perish. Why entrust your attachment unto something that is doomed to disappear one day?

Samsara is like a glowing red iron rod that one holds in one’s hand, wearing the glove of avidya maya. The evil power of avidya maya never allows the full might of the misery of samsara to impress itself upon your mind; nor is the pain withheld altogether. If you were to actually feel the full heat of the iron rod, you would instantly drop it, and avidya maya would be cheated out of her fun. So, the pain is given to you in manageable doses, so that you think foolishly, ‘Oh! this life is a mixture of happiness and sorrow.’; such an attitude allows the yearning for more experience of samsara to be still present in you.

One who longs for God with all his heart is helped by God in the following manner: the glove is forcibly ripped apart. So, one who is a devout Bhakta may sometimes have to face stupendous tragedies that may make people remark, ‘This is how God rewards his most sincere worshippers.’. This sarcastic statement is actually true in the literal sense. Whilst the glove is still on you can never be persuaded into dropping the red iron rod; once it is gone, discarding the furiously hot rod is inevitable, because, now, unlike before, the pain is too enormous to manage. ‘Totally letting go of all the mind’s contents’ is the only sadhana that is effective for Realisation, not ‘destroying the mind’. Mind, being fictitious, cannot be destroyed anymore than it is possible to kill a snake that one sees in a rope. When we talk of manonasha, it merely refers to a state where the illusion of the world is absent: that is all. How are you going to destroy what never was and what cannot be? If you want Realisation, all you need to do is this: LET GO OF EVERYTHING. In fact, all who have Realised have done only this in the end, having given up all sadhana to be useless skulduggery.

Q.: Is sadhana not necessary to Realise?

B.: The only genuine sadhana is to give up all sadhana. The aim of all practices is only to give up all practices.

[Tom’s comments: ‘give up all practices means to give up all practices’ together the ‘I’ that is doing them; if only the former is given up, ignorance or the ‘I thought’ still remains, and this is not liberating]

The above excerpt is taken from Aham Sphurana, 28th July 1936, see here for more information on this text.