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QUESTION
39
Disciple: If it is true that the jiva has forgotten
itself, how does the 'I'-experience arise for all?
Master:
The veil does not completely hide the jiva;* it only
hides the Self-nature of 'I' and projects the 'I am
the body' notion; but it does not hide the Self's existence
which is 'I', and which is real and eternal.
*Ignorance
cannot hide the basic 'I', but it hides the specific
truth that the jiva is the Supreme (Self).
QUESTION
40
Disciple: What are the characteristics of the jivan-mukta
(the liberated in life) and the videha-mukta
(the liberated at death)?
Master:
'I am not the body; I am Brahman which is manifest as
the Self. In me who am the plenary Reality,* the world
consisting of bodies etc., are mere appearance, like
the blue of the sky'. He who has realized the truth
thus is a jivan-mukta. Yet so long as his mind has not
been resolved, there may arise some misery for him because
of relation to objects on account of prarabdha
(karma which has begun to fructify and whose result
is the present body), and as the movement of mind has
not ceased there will not be also the experience of
bliss. The experience of Self is possible only for the
mind that has become subtle and unmoving as a result
of prolonged meditation. He who is thus endowed with
a mind that has become subtle, and who has the experience
of the Self is called a jivan-mukta. It is the
state of jivan-mukti that is referred to as the
attributeless Brahman and as the Turiya. When
even the subtle mind gets resolved, and experience of
self ceases, and when one is immersed in the ocean of
bliss and has become one with it without any differentiated
existence, one is called a videha-mukta. It is
the state of videha-mukti that is referred to
as the transcendent attributeless Brahman and as the
transcendent Turiya. This is the final goal.
Because of the grades in misery and happiness, the released
ones, the jivan-muktas and videha-muktas,
may be spoken of as belonging to four categories: Brahmavid,
vara, variyan, and varishtha. But these distinctions
are from the standpoint of the others who look at them;
in reality, however, there are no distinctions in release
gained through jnana.
*If
there is prolonged meditation that the worlds are an
appearance in me who am the plenary Reality, where can
ignorance stand?
OBEISANCE
May the Feet of Ramana, the Master, who is the great
Siva Himself and is also in human form, flourish for
ever!
[THE
END OF SELF-ENQUIRY]
Copyright
Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, India.
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