When Ramana Maharshi said, your own self realization is the greatest service you can render the world, he implied not indulging in rituals, religious practices; even following so-called spiritual masters’ of present times who supposedly advocated knowing everything about self realization. As the earthly timeframe for the physical body is limited (a 100 years span of life is generally assured as per Hinduism scriptures), we just could not while away our precious time in infirmities of day-to-day life.
Religious practices (rituals) never lead one towards self realization ever. As self realization is reached by travelling the journey within, no spiritual master could ever teach us how to reach stage of self realization, god realization. Ramana Maharshi by saying our own self-realization is the greatest service we can render the world, openly acknowledged and clarified that unless one reaches state of self realization, one could never know anything about it and could impart nothing to gullible seekers. One who has not yet climbed Mount Everest, how could one impart training to others to reach Mount Everest. The dictum of Maharshi was clear, first self realize!
In the journey towards self realization we have to narrow down on our requirements and goal of life. Maharshi Ramana in the early stages of life rightly realized that whatever we wanted to do or achieve, it had to be in this very life time. The present human frame is limited for one lifetime, the present earthly abode. As the present body is manifested by our soul atman, we should not be concerned with concepts of afterlife, reincarnation rebirth. Our present entity is limited to present life journey. In a limited time span of 70 to 80 years of earthly life, we had to achieve everything including reaching state of self realization, god realization; if that be our goal of life!
We just could not leave things to chance or next life, something totally unrelated to present physical manifest self. What form our soul atman manifests in next life is not our concern. We should only be concerned by the present earthly journey, the present journey of life. The present earthly journey belongs to our soul atman and the journey of life to the physical body manifested by it. As a human being, the highest manifest stage on earthly plane; our goal of life has to be becoming an enlightened one. Realization of self, becoming an enlightened one meant the same.
Even before reaching state of self realization, Ramana Maharshi indulging in self enquiry and practice of Neti (not this, not this) realized that everything one wanted to achieve on path of spirituality was contained within. The whole journey towards self realization was an inner journey that could be completed only by indulgence in contemplation (chintan) all the time. Mastering delicate art of contemplation (chintan) became the biggest forte of Maharshi Ramana.
Externally remaining silent all the time, Maharshi Ramana indulged in self enquiry, practice of Neti. He was an introvert of the highest order. On path of pure spirituality being an introvert is an added asset as we could remain concentrated on our goal of life all the time. Furthermore it has been advocated that remaining silent is golden. By remaining silent externally we could concentrate on our inner journey all the time. And this is exactly what Ramana Maharshi did, becoming a deadly preacher of maintaining silence all the time.
Journey of self realization automatically gets completed when we truly complete our search of god. The goal of life for a human being could never be reaching state of self realization. Self realization always follows as a byproduct when we indulged in welfare of entire mankind all the time. Thinking good of all when we indulged in search of god, we realized that to become a pure soul atman we had to negate karma to zero. To annihilate karma, overpowering five senses and mind forever was necessitated. The whole journey of spirituality meant lessening our desires and wishes in stages so that we could overpower five senses and mind forever.
To establish control over five senses and mind, Ramana Maharshi followed path of self enquiry. In the process of self enquiry we all the time engaged in communion with our true inner self, the spirit existing in heart. The voice of soul atman coming from within our heart was so prominent, distinct that a true seeker immediately realized its true value. As the soul atman was part of God Almighty, in pursuing our own soul atman we were pursuing God Almighty only.
Indulgence in pranayama (the breathing exercise) takes a Yogi nearer to god, state of self realization. Remaining an introvert most of time we could easily indulge in contemplation to evaluate for self the meaning of dharma, distinguishing religion from spirituality and realizing the hidden inner meaning of various cosmic principles of life, the gist of which never existed in literary form. Everything spiritual had to be realized from within by indulging in contemplation (chintan). Literally nothing could be learnt from books as far as spirituality is concerned. There was never a shortcut path to inner learning.
Path of Self enquiry practiced and advocated by Maharishi Ramana
What the meaning of self enquiry was as understood by Maharishi Ramana? Indulging in self enquiry what did we expect to achieve? When the inner self itself is unknown, how could we concentrate on enquiry of the inner self supposedly existing in heart (many world over did not believe in the existence of inner spirit, a soul in our heart)! But one thing is certain, if Maharishi Ramana could do it so could others. We could just duplicate the path taken by Ramana Maharshi. Seems difficult but is not impossible in practice. An ardent seeker like Swami Vivekananda can definitely indulge in self enquiry to reach state of self realization in one’s lifetime.
Does this mean we have to become a Swami Vivekananda in real life, drown self in ocean of thoughts churning them all the time (something called Samudra Manthan in Hinduism and also Jainism)? Yes, to understand everything relating to self enquiry and self realization we have to duplicate path taken by Swami Vivekananda.
The process of self enquiry, the correct thought process is seeking answer to every single query existing within so as to reach the exact truth every single time. Truth can only be one. For example, persuaded by parents as children if we went to religious places like temples, churches and mosques… who would tell us what was right for us. Whether going to temples churches or mosques yielded anything on spiritual platform! We just could not continue going to religious congregations ritually repeatedly. This would simply be wastage of precious lifetime.
As early as 6 1/2 years of age I quit going to temples churches and mosques. I had some queries within. I wanted to know why we ritually went to a Jain Temple on religious occasions. None in the family or outside was willing to give answers to my queries. Realizing that people were practically blank, not knowing the answer themselves I became an introvert and hence started my inner journey, the quest for truth. On every single query I wanted to reach the abstract and only truth. Such was the seriousness of my queries that elders within the family and outside looked at me with awe. I also started enjoying the company of elders.
Still keeping in company of elders I gained nothing much. I was somehow fascinated by the truthful stories, fables told by them of the past history of Hinduism and Jainism. Everything that contained truth within attracted me all the time. The lot of my queries grew bigger and bigger. There was none who could give me satisfactory answers. No matter how best I tried, I could find none. Sometimes it so happened that while playing games and indulging in sports in the school and otherwise I was prompted from within. The moment I followed the inner saying, I won. Relying on this invisible power residing in my heart, I somehow started travelling path of truthfulness.
Whenever I wanted an answer to a query, I always got it from within.
In my spiritual travel I initially wanted a clear distinction between the meaning of dharma, religion and spirituality. No matter how much I contemplated within, the answer was nowhere in sight. It took many years before I all of a sudden realized the meaning of dharma, religion and spirituality. It was as if God Almighty was directly talking to me from within. After knowing the correct meaning of dharma, religion and spirituality my journey of spirituality, self enquiry expedited manifold. I was so happy from within. For days I was in a state of absolute bliss, ecstasy something truly beyond expression of words. Everything, all my experiences I always shared with my mother although she understood nothing of it. But seeing the bliss on my face, she realized all.
In my journey towards god, I wanted to understand the real meaning of truth. When I asked fellow students in class, they knew nothing about it. Once for a small mistake of mine in class, I was punished by the teacher to write 500 lines which said, honesty is the best policy. I was somehow fascinated by truthfulness so much that in my eagerness I continued writing the lines again and again continuing late in the night. When the teacher was handed the copy the next day he counted and said I had written 1000 times. The teacher just laughed the matter off not realizing that I was truly blessed for him having given me that unique punishment. By writing honesty was the best policy again and again I repeatedly affirmed my belief in truthfulness. The self enquiry, churning off thoughts within confirmed again and again that I was to become a totally truthful person in life.
And thus started my journey towards truth! It was my indulgence in self enquiry that I could realize the potential of truth. As I started dwelling on thoughts relating to truth all the time, I could feel nearness to god, something I could still not understand at that time. Indulging in self enquiry I finally realized that truth was God personified. I finally surmised that on the spiritual platform anything that related to God finally led to God. If I wanted to know God, reach God in my lifetime, I had to practice truthfulness all the time without any excuses. Practicing truthfulness finally became my forte. I am extremely grateful to Maharishi Ramana who directly taught me the art of self enquiry through various teachings available in India today.
In my life I never looked forward to meeting great personalities like Maharishi Ramana. The reason being that I only wanted to duplicate the path taken by them, understand their teachings in totality! Indulging in self enquiry I could do just that. Remaining truthful all the time, I was sometimes so immersed in thoughts relating to God, the queries within that when I asked my mother for dinner, she looked at me and said it was breakfast time. The whole night had passed unknowingly. Indulging in self enquiry for longer stretches became my Forte. People called me an introvert, sort of a foolish person wasting my life. Even close friends and colleagues in class started avoiding me as I stopped replying to them. They just failed to understand that I was busy with self enquiry, contemplation on the unknown.
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No sooner I reached the abstract truth relating to a particular fundamental of life, the query dissolved itself. Taking one step at a time, I started dissolving queries within following path of self enquiry, contemplation all the time. While in engineering, one student in my class jokingly started calling me a Bhatakti Rooh meaning a wandering soul. For that student and others it was merely a laughable joke, but for me I was truly a wandering soul in the journey of life deeply contented from within. So many people in the society goaded me to quit my introvert behaviour but internally I was not agreeable to it. My mother and my grandfather always confided in me and they truly were my inner strength. As the headmaster (principal) of the school in which I studied often came to my grandfather for guidance, I also started believing and confiding in him.
With passage of time based on absolute truth I started developing a special bond with elders in the family and outside. I was always a favourite of all good teachers. Irrespective of how I fared in class, if something truthful was to be known, it would only be through me. I sort of became an embodiment of truth for the class and also the entire school. Developing a friendship with principal of the school meant a lot. At times I confided with the principal about the churning going on inside me. Unable to understand me, the principal often came to my grandfather for further guidance. Being a man of truth himself, the principal became a father figure for me outside the confines of home. My network sphere of truth started spreading its tentacles. I started enjoying company of people who were truthful most of time. I was totally unmindful of the fact that the age difference between me and the wise elders averaged above 40 years.
On path of self enquiry if we wanted to know why so many religions existed in this world, my surmise was that various seekers who finally became preceptors like Mahavira, Gautama Buddha even Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed finally developed a large following of their teachings. The congregation came to be called a religion. With Siddhartha Gautama (finally Gautama Buddha) advent Buddhism and Christianity developed from following of Jesus Christ. Both Jainism and Islam are always termed dharma (a way of life). Jainism had many preceptors with Mahavira being the 24th. Islam Dharma finally precipitated with coming of Prophet Mohammed.
Similar as we have many branches in a tree, we also have many religions world over. Before the first religion came into existence existed tree of Dharma! Slowly this tree of Dharma started branching. First advent Mahavira closely followed by Gautama Buddha. Then came Jesus Christ and few centuries later followed Prophet Mohammed. Indulging in self enquiry contemplation most of time I could clearly see the unity behind all religions. More than believing in different religions and preceptors I believed more in entity of God, the one and only creator of entire cosmos. At times relying on intuition I could surmise that the entire journey of life was created by God Almighty to facilitate the inner spirit to cleanse self of dross impurities within.
The biggest fact on path of pure spirituality, I realized indulging in self enquiry was that better than following the preceptors, various religions… why not become one. This is what was clearly advocated by Mahavira, the 24th preceptor Tirthankara (enlightened one) of Jainism. When a mortal, a commoner came to Vardhamana Mahavira with a dead child with the hope that Mahavira could make one come alive, Mahavira pointedly replied that in journey of spirituality there was no place for miracles. Miracles were never to be. He also stated that every single human being on mother earth had to one day become a Mahavira. There was no escape from this abstract fact of life. Dwelling on this thought I finally surmised that I should start my journey of spirituality with more vigor.
My grasp of spirituality, abstract truth grew day by day. The more I indulged in contemplation, self enquiry better was my understanding of spirituality, cosmic laws of life created by god. Finally, the inner voice coming from within my heart became my guide in the journey of life.
When Maharshi Ramana advocated practicing silence, it simply meant indulge in self enquiry, contemplation to realize the cosmic hidden truths of life. But none world over, the strength could be counted on fingers wanted to indulge in contemplation as did Ramana Maharishi. Most almost all became followers, none wanting to become a Maharshi Ramana. Since the time of departure of Maharshi Ramana from mother earth until now, none world over became a Maharishi himself. When Acharya Rajneesh (née Osho) came, people developed a belief that a wise amongst us existed but he also got entrapped into advocacy of practicing sex with yoga. Many wise people tried to follow path of self enquiry advocated by Maharishi Ramana but not until the end.
This is the irony of present times that all wanted to follow enlightened ones but none tried to become one. Jainism was absolutely clear on this point of life and so was Lord Krishna in his teachings of Bhagavad Gita that God Almighty ordained journey of spirituality for one and all. Every single human being on mother earth has to one-day; indulge in self enquiry contemplation to reach hidden cosmic values of life. Mesmerized by glare of worldly riches, none wanted to abandon their fascination for worldly life. Gaining self realization, god realization is the final goal of human life. Either we do it now in present life or leave it purely to fate for next manifestation. Seekers like Swami Vivekananda did not leave things to chance. He indulged in spirituality yet did not gain self realization, god realization in his lifetime.
When Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa bluntly asked him why he had come to him if the goal of his life was not seeing God, Swami Vivekananda politely replied he only wanted to affirm presence of God Almighty, nothing more. The goal of life for Swami Vivekananda always was community service and he left realization of self for next manifestation. It was year 1902 when Swami Vivekananda left his mortal frame. It is for the world community to realize where Swami Vivekananda is now. Has the soul atman of Swami Vivekananda realized a new body or is still in waiting! Path of self enquiry, Neti undertaken by Swami Vivekananda was exemplary. He could have easily gained enlightenment in his lifetime under able preceptorship of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa but he bluntly refused for the same.
What a noble soul Swami Vivekananda was!
Path of Neti (not this, not this) practiced and preached by Maharishi Ramana
What do we mean when we talk of Neti, the path of indulging in self enquiry relating to God? Neti is the process of negation of everything that was not God. The primary precept of Neti is based on the fact that other than God Almighty nothing existed in cosmos. God was the only truth of life. The Advaita Vedanta doctrine propagated by Adi Shankaracharya believes in the fact that other than God nothing existed in cosmos. Even all souls’ atmans were part and parcel of God Almighty. The cosmic unity propagated by Adi Shankaracharya forms the core of Advaita Vedanta philosophy. Based on this surmise that God was the only truth of life, through path of Neti we negated everything that was not God. Indulging in contemplation, self enquiry within, we in stages deleted one by one all entities that were not God.
When I started my indulgence in Neti, I started with air. Was air God, no was my answer hence negated. Was nature God, no was my answer again and hence negated. Was jala (water) God and again the answer was no and hence negated. One by one I started negating everything that was not God. From a commoners’ point of view, the journey of Neti seems impossible to complete. Items were limitless and we have to negate all except God Almighty. Indulgence in Neti started consuming all my time. Even when going to sleep and in subconscious state, lying in shavasna pose of yoga my indulgence in Neti started with furore. Every single night I indulged in Neti, the self enquiry within to negate everything that was not God. How many years I could not exactly say! I started in search of God six years of age and finally at 37 in 1993 I realized self, realized god forever. As the dross impurities within my soul atman gradually removed, I could feel lighter day by day. My belief in Maharshi Ramana, his teachings of practicing silence and Neti proved a boon in my journey of spirituality. I practically duplicated path taken by Ramana Maharshi.
From my experience I could easily say that practice of Neti may take many lifetimes. Why not start the journey now in present life time. Keeping things in abeyance was not good for spirituality, the cosmic truth of life existing within us in abstract form as our soul atman. As a human being, the physical manifest form we could definitely delay our spiritual journey and leave everything for next manifestation. But from soul atman, core of life existing in heart point of view, we must embark on spiritual journey at the earliest. There was no dearth of spiritual literature in India. Enlightened souls like Mahavira, Gautama Buddha even Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed did not exist in physical form but their teachings do. Following the route of self enquiry, Neti as practiced by Maharshi Ramana we could easily duplicate path of Ramana Maharshi and also Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa, the revered spiritual master of Swami Vivekananda. Foremost of all, our goal should be to become one like Ramana Maharshi or Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa. Following a spiritual master ritually was meaningless, a simple waste of precious earthly life.
Having realized God in 1993, I had to quit my business in totality. There was never looking back. In 1997 Internet started in India. Since then I am imparting to world community teachings of spirituality contained in Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads.