Bliss of the Self

Delve within to realise that you are the Inscrutable Power within you, says Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi.

After the two invocatory verses to his treatise Ulladu Narpadu, or 'Forty verses on Reality', Sri Ramana Maharishi draws attention in the first sloka to the inscrutable power that exists in each one of us. He says, with the senses turned outward, acceptance of a supreme source possessing the inscrutable power of appearing as many, is indisputable.

The world-picture of names and forms, the perceiver of it, namely the jiva, the screen on which the pictures of names and forms appear, the light of awareness that illumines them, all these are nothing but He, the Atman, who shines as 'I - I' in the heart.

The Real Experience

The process of going from what is perceived by the senses, to the direct and immediate awareness of the Self is called tatastha in the Sastras. This sloka begins with the three words 'we', 'the world' and 'seeing'. Among these, 'we', that is the 'I' (aham) or consciousness alone is real experience. This can be called direct experience (aparoksham).

The 'world' is what we perceive through the senses; it is pratiti. This may also be called pratyaksham, or that which is only sensory perception. The direct and immediate experience of 'I' is the reality. It is in this awareness that the world is perceived. An immeasurable power arising from this reality and expanding as the mind and the senses and manifesting itself as the world is called 'creation' (sarga).

It is inevitable that we need to acknowledge a power which is the cause for this manifestation. Ramana Maharshi himself says in Arunachala Ashtakam that 'there exists hidden in Thee an inscrutable power which is not separate from Thee'. But this same power turns into avidya, and veils the reality and gives rise to the division of the seer and the seen. It is this avarana that veils the truth. How can this veil be removed? nce (aparoksha).

The 'world' is what we perceive through the senses; it is pratiti. This may also be called pratyaksham, or that which is only sensory perception. The direct and immediate experience of 'I' is the reality. It is in this awareness that the world is perceived. An immeasurable power arising from this reality and expanding as the mind and the senses and manifesting itself as the world is called 'creation' (sarga).

It is inevitable that we need to acknowledge a power which is the cause for this manifestation. Ramana Maharshi himself says in Arunachala Ashtakam that 'there exists hidden in Thee an inscrutable power which is not separate from Thee'. But this same power turns into avidya, and veils the reality and gives rise to the division of the seer and the seen. It is this avarana that veils the truth. How can this veil be removed?

Removing the Veil

In faint light, one mistakes a garland for a snake and is frightened. This fear is based on an illusion. Yet, this illusion veils our intellect, and without affecting the garland in any way, projects it as a snake. This veiling does not affect the Self. This veiling is the defect of the intellect. Once light comes, the garland is seen as it is, and the illusion of the snake disappears. In the same way, when one wakes up to the grace of the Guru, non-dual awareness shines forth and the triputi caused by ignorance vanishes.

The individual-'I', the world and the light that illumines them - all these are nothing but the Atman, the substratum. Hari Nama Keerthanam, the great devotional and philosophical Malayalam text of the 16 century by Ezhutachan, refers to this as 'The primordial word, OM, splits into three and becomes the ego'. Vivekachudamani too expresses this idea in sloka 355 beginning ‘Idam aham idam itiyam kalpana buddhidosat.’

It is because of avidya (ignorance) that the vikalpas (images and concepts that veil the nature of the Self) such as 'I', 'you' and 'this' are fancied in Brahman, which is unconditioned, indivisible awareness. It is the everyday experience of all, that, in deep sleep these images do not arise. That which remains even there is the adhisthana, the Atman.

When through enquiry the adhisthana (substratum) is beheld in awareness, then there will arise the intuition 'I am that' and all - the names and forms, the seer, the seen, the screen and the light that illumines them - is only He, the Self. Although waves, bubbles, froth and icebergs appear in the ocean, the sole constituent for all these is water. He who understands this is a seer of Oneness. The Upanishad says, Salila eko drashta advaito bhavati.

Movie on the Screen

One who has seen his own Self, has seen God. For such a person, this world is merely a moving picture on the screen that is God. This world is perceived as an illusory appearance (vivarta) of the unchanging, eternal and self effulgent supreme Self. Seeing a snake in a rope is an example of vivarta (illusory appearance); milk changing into curd, is an example of parinama (evolution).

According to the authentic experiences of the sages, the world is a vivarta, it is not an evolution. That is, the appearance of the world has not brought about any change in Brahman. The movie on the screen is an apt example. For, the movie which appears on the screen causes no change whatsoever to the screen. In a movie, however, the seer remains separate from the picture and the screen. Here –the one who sees, that which is seen, the light and the screen - all this, is the supreme Brahman, which is Existence-ConsciousnessBliss.

This verse reveals the meaning of the Mahavakya - sarvam khalvidam Brahma - All this here is indeed Brahman; or atmaivedam sarvam - Everything here is the Atman. The Maharishi says in this verse, 'Attanayum tan am avan'. Here, avan or 'He', the third person singular, is the Nochur Sri Venkataraman U December 2022 21 Lord Himself who is the supreme first person: uttama purusha. Tane tane tattuvam, 'Indeed 'I am' is the truth; reveal it Yourself, O Arunachala!' sings the Maharshi in Aksharamanamalai.

Nochur Sri Venkataraman