Blue Eyes Full of Love

And now have you known the essence

When T.K. Sundaresa Iyer was a boy of twelve he first visited the Maharishi on the Hill in 1908. That first meeting bonded him to Bhagvan for the remainder of his life and, consequently, he was a witness to many marvelous events in his Guru's presence. Here is one such incident on a holy Sivaratri night in Sri Ramanashram, as recorded in his book, At the Feet of Bhagvan.

It was Sivaratri Day. The evening worship at the Mother's shrine was over. The devotees had their dinner with Sri Bhagavan, who was now on his seat; the devotees at His feet sitting around him. At 8.00 PM one of the sadhus stood up, did pranam (offered obeisance) and with folded hands prayed: "Today is the Sivaratri Day; we should be highly blessed by Sri Bhagavan expounding to us the meaning of the Hymn to Dakshinamurthy (stotra)." Says Bhagavan: "Yes, sit down."

The sadhu sat, and all eagerly looked at Sri Bhagavan; Sri Bhagavan looked at them. Sri Bhagavan sat in his usual pose, no, poise. No words, no movement, and all was stillness! He sat still, and all sat still, waiting. The clock went on striking, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, one, two and three. Sri Bhagavan sat and they sat. Stillness, calmness, motionless - not conscious of the body, of space or time. Thus 8 hours passed in Peace, in Silence, in Being, as It is.

Thus was the Diving reality taught throught the speech of Silence by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Dakshinamurthy.

At the stroke of 4.00 AM Sri Bhagavan quitely said, "And now have you known the essence of the Dakshinamurthy Hymn?" All the devotees stood and made pranam to the holy form of the Guru in the ecstasy of their Being.

"Language is only a medium for communicating one's thoughts to another. It is called in only after thoughts arise; other thoughts arise after the 'I' thought rises; the 'I' thought is the root of all conversation. When one remains without thinking one understands another by means of the universal language of silence."

Sri Ramana Maharishi

Master and Disciple

What are the marks of a real teacher (Sadguru)?

Steady abidance in the Self, looking at all with an equal eye, unshakeable courage at all times, in all places and circumstances, etc.

What are the marks of a disciple ?

An intense longing for the removal of sorrow and attainment of joy and an intense aversion for all kinds of mundane pleasure.

What are the characteristics of spiritual instruction (upadesa)?

The word 'upadesa' means : 'near the place or seat' (upa - near, desa - place or seat). The Guru who is the embodiment of that which is indicated by the terms sat, chit, and ananda (existence, consciousness and bliss), prevents the disciple who, on account of his acceptance of the forms of the objects of the senses, has swerved from his true state and is consequently distressed and buffeted by joys and sorrows, from continuing so and establishes him in his own real nature without differentiation.

Upadesa also means showing a distant object quite near. It is brought home to the disciple that the Brahman which he believes to be distant and different from himself is near and not different from himself.

If it be true that the Guru is one's own Self (atman), what is the principle underlying the doctrine which says that, however learned a disciple may be or whatever occult powers he may possess, he cannot attain self-realization (atma-siddhi) without the grace of the Guru?

Although in absolute truth the state of the Guru is that of oneself it is very hard for the Self which has become the individual soul (jiva) through ignorance to realize its true state or nature without the grace of the Guru.

All mental concepts are controlled by the mere presence of the real Guru. If he were to say to one who arrogantly claims that he has seen the further shore of the ocean of learning or one who claims arrogantly that he can perform deeds which are well-nigh impossible, "Yes, you learnt all that is to be learnt, but have you learnt (to know) yourself? And you who are capable of performing deeds which are almost impossible, have you seen yourself?", they will bow their heads (in shame) and remain silent. Thus it is evident that only by the grace of the Guru and by no other accomplishment is it possible to know oneself.

What are the marks of the Guru's grace?

It is beyond words or thoughts.

If that is so, how is it that it is said that the disciple realizes his true state by the Guru's grace?

It is like the elephant which wakes up on seeing a lion in its dream. Even as the elephant wakes up at the mere sight of the lion, so too is it certain that the disciple wakes up from the sleep of ignorance into the wakefulness of true knowledge through the Guru's benevolent look of grace.

What is the significance of the saying that the nature of the real Guru is that of the Supreme Lord (Sarvesvara)?

In the case of the individual soul which desires to attain the state of true knowledge or the state of Godhood (Isvara) and with that object always practises devotion, when the individual's devotion has reached a mature stage, the Lord who is the witness of that individual soul and identical with it, comes forth in human form with the help of sat-chit-ananda, His three natural features, and form and name which he also graciously assumes, and in the guise of blessing the disciple, absorbs him in Himself. According to this doctrine the Guru can truly be called the Lord.

How then did some great persons attain knowledge without a Guru?

To a few mature persons the Lord shines as the light of knowledge and imparts awareness of the truth.

What is the end of devotion (bhakti) and the path of Siddhanta (i.e., Saiva Siddhanta)?

It is to learn the truth that all one's actions performed with unselfish devotion, with the aid of the three purified instruments (body, speech and mind), in the capacity of the servant of the Lord, become the Lord's actions, and to stand forth free from the sense of 'I' and 'mine'. This is also the truth of what the Saiva-Siddhantins call para-bhakti (supreme devotion) or living in the service of God (irai-pani-nittral).

What is the end of the path of knowledge (jnana) or Vedanta?

It is to know the truth that the 'I' is not different from the Lord (Isvara) and to be free from the feeling of being the doer (kartrtva, ahamkara).

How can it be said that the end of both these paths is the same?

Whatever the means, the destruction of the sense 'I' and 'mine' is the goal, and as these are interdependent, the destruction of either of them causes the destruction of the other; therefore in order to achieve that state of Silence which is beyond thought and word, either the path of knowledge which removes the sense of 'I' or the path of devotion which removes the sense of 'mine', will suffice. So there is no doubt that the end of the paths of devotion and knowledge is one and the same.

NOTE: So long as the 'I' exists it is necessary to accept the Lord also. If any one wishes to regain easily the supreme state of identity (sayujya) now lost to him, it is only proper that he should accept this conclusion.

What is the mark of the ego?

The individual soul of the form of 'I' is the ego The Self which is of the nature of intelligence (chit) has no sense of 'I'. Nor does the insentient body possess a sense of 'I'. The mysterious appearance of a delusive ego between the intelligent and the insentient, being the root cause of all these troubles, upon its destruction by whatever means, that which really exists will be seen as it is. This is called Liberation (moksha).

Interview with Shri Ramana Maharishi

On Discipleship

Though in each of us there is a large element of selfishness, there is undoubtedly also a Divine gift that we should all be able to give. The selfishness lies in the pleasure that we desire to feel from what we give and the Divinity consists in giving selflessly, in the feeling of devotion and in the feeling of affection.

Each one of us has that faculty of giving, either through selfishness, or because he is big enough to give for its own sake and for its own value, and those that give with both hands and heart, must have some inner urge that forces them to embrace and give, and to withhold nothing. When one gives in that way there is always at the background an intense belief, either the belief in an Ideal or the belief in some Teacher.

So it must be with each one of us. If we give, we must give either because we love some one, or because our ideal is so strong that we are willing to give ourselves; or we must give because the future counts on us and we can withhold nothing. We can withhold nothing because we believe and believe strongly.

The belief of such an individual is of great value, because it is stronger than the personality, stronger than the individuality and stronger than selfish desire, and to have such a belief we must have an Ideal big enough to sweep all before it. You cannot have a bigger motive or a belief than in the Coming of a Teacher.

Because we have that belief we are bound to evoke in ourselves the longing to be like Him. It is an easy matter if you have such a belief to act. But belief comes first either because we have suffered or desire to see others who are suffering, happy. If you see a plant or a tree dying, give it water, if those around you who are starving, you must nourish them; you must give happiness to those who are unhappy.

The belief in the Coming of a Great Teacher provides such nourishment to our imagination and to our affection. But we often ask ourselves what we can give to make our ideal so strong that it will make others happy. No one requires anything but our services. We should be able to give ourselves entirely. We should have the intense desire that forces us to give ourselves. What is it that we can give? It is first affection, the affection that you show to your brother, to your father, to your wife and to your children.

That must be given to the Teacher and especially to the Teacher that you have found in your neighbour. The affection that comes forth when you see a bird singing or a bud blossoming, the affection that creates, the affection that helps, the affection that is efficient and not merely visionary or dreamy, such an affection is latent in each one of us. We must kindle it, we must awaken it, either through suffering ourselves, or by having such a vision, such openness of heart and mind that you long to make others who are suffering happy.

Each one of us has something of such an affection. But it is limited to our family, limited to our neighbours or to our nation. There is always limitation. We must transform that affection into something magnificent, into something glorious, and this only comes when we believe in an ideal, in the Master. For without affection, enlargement of feelings, of devotion is absolutely impossible.

You must have first the quality of affection, so that by degrees, by slow process of time and by watchfulness, it increases and becomes whole and not incomplete. That is the first thing that each one of us must give, give from the fullness of the heart, withholding no particle of its matter. As long as we have affection we can give.

The next thing that we must have the capacity to give is devotion. It is in the nature of every person, civilised or uncivilised to show respect to something greater than himself, to give devotion, to have humility in front of a gigantic personality. It happens with each one of us that when we see a mountain or a magnificent tree, in blossom, or tender leaves in Spring time, when we see some big individual full of enthusiasm, full of sacrifice, full of love for others, we feel devotion, to them we show our respect.

The respect that a Master shows to a disciple, the devotion that a mother has for a child, such a devotion we can all give, and though it may be small or big, we can make it evolve, make it grow so that it leaves us whole and clean and purified.

The third thing that we can give is the respect that we desire other people to show to ourselves, the respect that is born of a great patriotism and the respect that is born of innate bigotry, and the respect that you show to an invalid, to a man of sorrow and to a man who is suffering.

These three things we can give. We have all these three things and we can give them if we have the belief, the desire. Yet we do not evolve, we do not develop these three qualities to their fullest extent, so that we may embrace others.

In the old Testament it is told of the terrible state of the people of Jerusalem and of their sin and their sorrow and the misery of the land and so on. I find that all these conditions apply equally to our countrymen. Those of us who have not, do not know how to expect or how to spend what is given and those of us who have, do not give. We worship at temples, we have a caste system, we have ceremonies innumerable and yet none of us have the greatness to give with our whole hearts. Those of us who are Indian and those of us who are foreigners together can help to make India the country beloved by Gods.

If you look around you can see how low we have sunk, not knowing how to lift up our heads. This is no pessimism, nor is it that we have not the capacity to rebuild. But we have not the desire to give nor the spirit of sacrifice which withholds nothing. In each one of us there must be born the ideal of the Teacher, so that we can give with greater power and with greater certainty. We are willing to give when asked; we are willing to make sacrifices and if the Master asked us to throw ourselves into the river, I am sure there would be many to obey.

But a time must come and, I think it has come now when each one of us must of his own accord, give whatever he has, whether he is rich or poor. We have the capacity to give and yet we withhold, because we have not realised the ideal sufficiently, we have not seen the vision clearly so that we can give, and give entirely.

Take the various customs that in India each one has to face, the customs and traditions. In what way do we give to the country instead of merely following tradition? In what way do we bring the vision that we have seen down to the ordinary life of an individual?

Look at the way we treat our children. The older people do not understand the younger. Whose fault is it? It is our fault because we have not learnt to give.

We have heard all these things time out of number. We have realised them when in the company of Nature and yet we have not had the courage or the strength to give, to give so that we recreate instead of merely following and following.

We must sacrifice self in order to become Teachers, followers in miniature of the great Teacher. When we have learnt to give, we shall be able to co-operate with the Teacher, with the Master. We keep our devotion, our affection and our self-respect within four walls carefully guarded. We look at them occasionally, instead of utilising them so that other people may be benefited. What is the use of being Star members or Theosophists if we do not use our knowledge to make others happy, to make a person sorrow-ridden see the sunlight, the Evening Star. What is the outcome of all such teachings!

We have not the capacity to take the individual away from himself and force him to see that something exists greater than the self. And yet constantly we preach to the converted, and constantly the converted recognise their folly. How can it be done unless we are ourselves fundamentally great. How can we admire a picture or a piece of music, or a drama if we have not the faculty to appreciate. We have not understood how to learn what is in front of us. We are always turning our back to the light of Wisdom.

We are too unwilling and too unintelligent to come out of that dark shadow out into the bright light where we can understand and see and learn. For we must learn with the greatness of the mind and with the greatness of affection. For us who are Star members a new year has come for all of us. What shall we do in it and what is our duty who have seen the vision? Our duty is to give, to give that which we know to others, that ideal which will make them happy. The knowledge we have should make us the happiest people in the world and because of that happiness we should be able to attract others to our ideal.

-J. Krishnamurti