Self-enquiry as taught by Sri Bhagwan is enough

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Om Hridayam,

There are two English translations.  Both are excellent.  The one,
from original Tamizh, was the one recommended by Sri Bhagavan.
The other one is from Sanskrit original by Sri Lingeshwara Rao.  This is in some variation with the Tamizh version.  However, both can be
read.  The second one is also sold by Sri Ramanasramam.  The original Tamizh, by Ulaganatha Swamigal, is also available in Sri Ramanasramam.  The translation of Dr. Nome and Dr. H.
Ramamoorty was originally published by Society for Abidance
in Truth, California.  But the same copy is available in India in
Sri Ramanasramam.  This is printed in Bible-like think paper.     



Arunachala Siva.

[eranilkumarsinha]

  Dear Sri Subramanian Sir, I have  English version of the Ribhu Gita which was translated by Dr. H. Ramamoorthy and Nome from the original Tamizh and which was published by Sri Ramanasramam  by the name of ' The Song of Ribhu ' in arrangement with the Society of Abidance in Truth, California, USA.
Dear sir, you have mentioned in your post that the translation of Ribhu Gita from the Sanskrit original by Sri Lingeshwara Rao is in variation with the one translated from the Tamizh original and that translation from the Tamizh original was recommended by Sri Bhagwan. I understand Sanskrit with a little difficulty. However, I had hoped to request the Asramam to send the English translation of the Ribhu Gita from the original Sanskrit. But now that you have informed that Sri Bhagwan recommended the translation from the Tamizh original, I feel that I should drop the idea. Sir, I still wish to Know which Ribhu Gita is orinal ? Tamizh version or the Sanskrit verson ? Thank you. Regards. Anil

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

The original is from Sanskrit. It is from Skandam, one of the 18 epics.
You may buy that book of Lingeshwara Rao also and read.  However,
what Sri Bhagavan recommended many devotees, starting from Sampurnamma, the kitchen assistant, was the Tamizh one done in
verses by Sri Ulaganatha Swamigal, who has incidentally done Viveka
Choodamani also in Tamizh verses.  His another name is Bhikshu
Sastrigal. When Sri Bhagavan wrote Vivekachodmani, in Tamizh prose [available in Collected Works], He has mentioned the original Tamizh verses of Sri Ulaganatha Swamigal.

One can read both the versions.  But there are variations in chapters.  Dr. Nome and Dr. H. Ramamoorthy have done English
[The Song of Ribhu] only from Tamizh version.  Verse to verse, the
book has been translated.



Arunachala Siva.     

[eranilkumarsinha]

  Dear Sri Subramanian Sir, thank you so much for giving invaluable information on Ribhu Gita. Prior to this discussion on Ribhu Gita, I thought that the Ribhu Gitg is the divine utterances of the Sage Ribhu. You have mentioned in your post that it is from Skandam, one of the 18 epics. I think that you do not mean Skand Purana. I request you to kindly give some information in brief about Skanda and 18 epics. Regards. Anil

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sri Subramanian Sir,

This is to state with a little surprise that some one as great a devotee as Sri Sivaprakasam Pillai, who elicited epoch-making answers to his question on the nature of 'I' and who was responsible for publishing "Who Am I ?", the Magnum Opus of Sri Bhagwan, he should be afflicted with thoughts, such as burning sexual desire, troubled by suffering and anxiety for financial resources, as have been mentioned in the Power of The Presence and in Sri Osborne's Path of Self Realization.

He says that he wrote following three questions :
1. What should I do in this world so that no suffering approaches and bothers me ?
2. Can I marry the girl of my choice ? If not, why not ?
3. If yes, how am I to get the necessary financial resources ?
He says that he placed the sheet on which these questions were written in a Vinayaka temple with a plea to God that if these questions are not answered by Him, he will seek the help of Brahma Swami of Sri Arunachala. He did not get the reply, so he approached the Feet of Sri Bhagwan. After waiting for a few days, Sri Bhagwan remaining silent all the while, nevertheless, he felt as if  Sri Bhagwan is instructing him not to desire anything, and instead to make the expanding mind subside and to enquire into the Self and to abide as the Self. He says that Sri Bhagwan seemed to say that this alone is the right Path to attain and which is beneficial.

Regards,
   Anil   
   

[Subramanian.R]

[b

Dear Anil,

Yes. M. Sivaprakasam Pillai did not re-marry.  Nevertheless, sexual thoughts were obsessing him for long years.  Once when he approached Sri Bhagavan, with some sexual thoughts haunting him,
Sri Bhagavan told a dog which had come near with excreta on its mouth:  "If you come like this, you do not come here hereafter.  Leave this dirty habit."  Sivaprakasam Pillai understood immediately this chiding of the dog by Sri Bhagavan and then left the sexual thoughts thereafter.  He indicates this in his Sri Ramana Deva Maalai, Verse 16.

Sivaprakasam Pillai eventually merged with Sivam, and Sri Bhagavan confirmed this by saying after his liberation: Sivaparakasam Sivaprakasam aanar.  Sivaprakasam Pillai had
become the effulgence of Siva.



Arunachala Siva.     

[eranilkumarsinha]

There is no 'seer' apart from the Supreme Brahman.
There is nothing to be seen apart from the Supreme Brahman.
There is no 'I' apart from the Supreme Brahman.
There is no 'you' apart from the Supreme Brahman.
There is no one apart from the Supreme Brahman.
There is nothing apart from the Supreme Brahman.
All is the Supreme Brahman, and That am I.
By attaining such Knowledge of the Supreme, you yourself
become the Supreme.

17-17, Song of Ribhu

When a devotee said that Advaita aims at becoming one with God, Sri Bhagwan replied that there is no becoming one with God. The thinker is himself ever the Real, a fact which he ultimately realises.

Dear seekers, there is no becoming. Becoming implies ' I Am Not' and I shall be at a future date, where as I am assured of my existence Here and Now. Becoming implies present non-being which is an absurdity. Thank you. Anil
    (Posted from a train by a mobile Phone) 

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

"Becoming" is felt only due to "suttarivu" - objective consciousness.
The objective consciousness makes one feel separate as I and then
there is You and He.  I want to become You, is the objective knowledge.

Muruganar says in Guru Vachaka Kovai, Verse 645:

The purport of the scriptures that drum into you, "Know the truth of
yourself." is only the elimination of the false knowledge that knows
the non-Self objectively.  Why?  Because one's truth, "I exist",
shines like the sun within everyone.   

Muruganar adds his own comments here:  Know that when the false suttarivu [suttu = to point out as something different], is eliminated, true Jnana will spontaneously shine forth.

Sri Ramana Puranam says:

Bhagavan:

When the "I" thought does not arise,
and I unite as pure being with Him,
He remains merged with me,
shining out as my very own fullness.
However, the very moment
I raise my head [thinking "I"],
to perceive his ancient form
he sees my oddness, scorns me,
and conceals himself from me.

[Tr. David Godman]



Arunachala Siva.   
     

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sri Subramanian Sir,

That is a very nice and very,very important post for me. " one's truth ' I exist ' shines like the sun within everyone." Bliss surges even contemplating upon the Existence that is 'I'. I wish to say a few words on this post when I reach home. Thank you so much sir. Regards. Anil

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sri Subramanian Sir,

Suttarivu- objective consciousness or relative consciousness that makes one feel separate first as ‘I’ and then as you and he
Suttu- to point out as something different
From the above, it follows that suttarivu is the false knowledge of differentiation on the substratum of the Pure Knowledge in which there is no differentiation and utterly no other whatever.

Ji, yes, “ I want to become one with God is an objective knowledge in which there is a subject ‘I’ who wants to know the object God. This is gross ignorance and sheer absurdity.
Ji, “when I-thought does not arise and I unite as pure being with Him, shining out as my own being”.

May I say that the very moment suttarivu arises I see myself separated from God and then I do not see Him shining out as my own being. God scorns me at this pathetic oddness and conceals Himself from me ?

There is no becoming.
There is only Be-ing.
Becoming implies that I am not at this moment right now and I shall ‘be’ at some time in the future. Sometimes I shall be and sometimes not.which is contrary to even our empirical experience. There can be no denying our existence ever and becoming implies non-being or non-existence in the present which is absurd to say the least.

Dear sir, therefore, it follows:
Eliminate ‘suttarivu’.
‘Summa Iru’ and experience THAT, FULLNESS OF CONSCIOUSNESS.

THIS IS ARUNACHL SAMPRADAYAM.

Thank you so much, Sir.

                                                                                                      Regards
                                                                                                         Anil
   

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

Yes.  Muruganar says in Guru Vachaka Kovai, Verse 951:

Will those Jnanis who have attained the experience of the Self,
the fullness, be aware of another experience that exists apart from
It?  Their supreme bliss, which shines without "another", excelling
all else, it atita [transcendent].  How, therefore, can it be possible
for the fragmented minds of others, who delude themselves and
suffer by regarding, through suttarivu, the false world as real, to think of It [the Supreme Bliss of Jnana] as having a specific nature?  [Tr. David Godman].

This is also described in ULLadu Narpadu, Verse 31, by Sri Bhagavan.



Arunachala Siva.     

[eranilkumarsinha]

"Without the shining light of Grace, what can the insignificant jivas do to escape from the net of delusion and gain clarity ?" 

  Dear Sri Subramanian Sir, I do not know whether you have the priceless diary and calender brought out by Sri Ramamasramam for the year, 2011. The verse cited above is Verse no. 634, Guru Vachaka Kovai and has been taken here from its leaf (28 July). Every leaf of the diary contains an important verse from GVK besides mind stilling photographs of Sri Bhagwan. But the verses printed in the diary are slightly different in structure from the verses in GVK edited by Sri David Godman. I do not know from which edition they have been taken. Thank you. Regards. Anil     

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

I got the Diary 2011 and monthly calendar from Sri Ramanasramam,
through post only since I could not visit the Asramam, after Sept.
2010.  I also found that the translations of GVK are not Godman's.
I also checked up with translation of select verses by Prof. K. Swaminathan. [The Garland of Guru's Sayings, 1996 reprint].  It is
also not of Swaminathan's.  Perhaps, the Asramam might have used
the translation of some other persons, specially for the purpose.

For example, GVK Verse 634, that you have mentioned,

Prof. K. Swaminathan  has translated it as:

Not at all by one's own effort,
But by the light of Grace alone,
Pure gift of God supreme, can one
Behold the light that shines in darkness,
The bliss of being Awareness true,
Even mid the darkness of the world.

[Siva, the Lord who dances in darkest midnight, stands for the
Awareness which sees both light and its absence.]

David Godman translates as under:

In this world, which associates with the Jiva in the state of ignorance, it is quite impossible, except through God's pure light
of grace, for the deluded Jiva to experience the bliss of reality,
the being-consciousness that shines even in the state of darkeness
[sleep].

Muruganar's own comments for the verse:

There can be darshan of reality without grace.  Bhagavan has said
[in Atma Vidya Kirtanam] 'Grace too is necessary'.  Those  who think
that Jnana can be attained by their own might will not attain it until they take refuge in the might of grace.

I am not sure, perhaps, this could also be the translation of Michael
James. 



Arunachala Siva.   

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Seekers and Devotees,

Sri Bhagwan says that the Self is only one. If limited it is the ego. If unlimited it is Infinite and is the Reality. The import and the significance of this statement of Sri Bhagwan needs to be traced and understood.

Sri Bhagwan says that the Reality is simply the loss of the ego. When the search light of the enquiry is focused on it, it can take subtler forms to escape the strangle-hold of the enquiry and try to be elusive. Sri Bhagwan says that the tenacious ego can be destroyed only by seeking its identity. What is it ? WhoDear Seekers a am I ? Whence am I ? When attention is thus focused on the ego, it being no entity, being spurious and rather phantom-like, it will take to flight. It will simply vanish and the Reality will shine forth by Itself. This is the Straight Path. This is the Direct Method. All other methods are done only retaining the ego. A thief made a police man to catch that very thief. It will pretend to catch but the endeavour is not likely to succeed. In those paths the seekers may get lost in the streets and by-lanes with so many nagging doubts and questions and Sri Bhagwan says that the eternal question will still remain to be finally tackled, ego still waxing eloquent.

BUT IN ATMAVICHARA ( SELF ENQUIRY ) THE FINAL QUESTION IS THE ONLY ONE AND IT IS RAISED FROM THE VERY BEGINNING.

Sri Bhagwan says that there can be no greater mystery than this that we ourselves are the Reality, we seek to gain the Reality. It is ridiculous.

Sri Bhagwan : A day will dawn when you will yourself laugh at your past efforts. That which will be on the day you laugh is also here and now.
Devotee : So it is a great game of pretending ?
Sri Bhagwan : Yes. In Yoga Vasishtha it is said, “ What is Real is hidden from us, but what is false, is revealed as true. We are actually experiencing the Reality only; still, we do not know it. IS IT NOT A WONDER OF WONDERS ?
                                                                      Talks, no. 146

                                                                                                     Thank You,
                                                                                                          Anil     

[eranilkumarsinha]

In the post above, "Dear Seekers" got mixed up with 'Who am I ?' by posting error. Kindly read accordingly.
                                                                                                               Thank You,
                                                                                                                  Anil