‘If a man adores God, who is nameless and formless, he will be liberated from the bondage due to names and forms.’ Such is the teaching of Sri Ramana.
Also the following.
The man who, being endowed with the divine temperament, meditates with devotion on God with a form, will attain that same State [of deliverance] that one attains by meditating on Him as formless.
The next verse shows that the devotee is free, for purposes of his devotion, to ascribe to God any name or form that appeals to himself as lovable.
One may adore that one Being by name and in any form, as one likes. Among the forms of the supreme one, the wise one, whose mind is pure, will not see any superiority or inferiority.
Thus true catholicity is the distinguishing feature of the teaching of Vedanta. Catholicity consists not in claiming that all people should give up their own faiths and embrace one’s own, but in recognising that all religions are paths to God. The advaitins are expected to understand this.
Then the dictum of the great poet, Kalidasa, on this point, is quoted.
‘There is only one God form; (but) It became divided into three; and common to all the three is superiority and inferiority [by turns].’
Among them, there is no real superiority, nor inferiority. But superiority or inferiority is allowed to be ascribed to them by devotees, to suit their needs. They are all equally forms of the formless Brahman, the real Self. These forms disappear when the real Self is experienced as it really is.
Which, of all available forms, is the best, is the next question, which is answered next.
Of all the forms of God, the best is the sage, who does not consider Himself as other than the Self. Indeed the sage, who is the Guru, is the second of the [three] forms of divine grace.
Bhagavan Sri Krishna himself says in the Gita: ‘I myself am the sage.’ Therefore to know this truth of him, as stated in the sacred lore, one should regard the sage as not different from God.
[Also] there is the text of the Upanishads, that one who wants deliverance must worship the knower of the Self. If he thinks of him [the sage, who is the Guru] as other than God, that thought will obstruct his path.
One of the prominent defects of devotees who regard God as other than the Self is next noticed.
Those devotees who worship God as not the Self are wanting in catholicity. In the case of a few of them, this defect ceases after a long time by a clarification of the intellect.
Narrowness of mind is a serious defect, and till it is overcome, the aspirant will not reach his goal.
The next topic is ‘God-vision’, on which some ignorance prevails.
The devotee yearns to see the form of God as conceived by himself. Sometimes he may even see that very form, but this vision is transitory and hence unreal.
The absurdity of this desire is now shown up.
Being himself that very Supreme Being, but regarding Him as other than the Self through ignorance, he strives through devotion to obtain a vision of Him! Is there anything more surprising than this?
Indeed this is topsy-turveydom!
How can the seeing of a form of the formless one be a true vision? And how can the vision as not-self, of Him that is the Self, be a true vision?
Bhagavan unties this riddle with ease.
All form is mental, and hence the form of the spectacle is inside the spectator. It is the truth of the seer that should be sought, since that is the truth of the Supreme Being.
The unreality of these visions is declared next.
‘The man who, by the practice of devotion, sees God as someone other than himself, sees only a mental form’ – such is the utterance of the most holy one [on this point].
What then is the reality of God?
That which remains over on the annihilation of the [would-be] seer, by the quest [for the truth of] the seer, is itself the truth of the Self and also the truth of the Supreme Being.
Here, the quest of the Self, the direct path taught by Bhagavan, is referred to. It will be dealt with later.
The real vision is the same.
That state, in which the mind, called the soul, is swallowed up and has become one with Him is itself both the true vision of the Self, and the right vision of God – so says the holy Guru, Sri Ramana.
The next question is about how to meditate on God.
Revelation prescribes that the aspirant should meditate on Him as one’s own real Self. The revelation styles as beasts those who meditate on Him as not-the-Self.
Bhagavan Vasishta has said that he who worships God as not-Self, turning away from the real God who is the Self, is like one who goes about seeking a precious stone, throwing away the gem named Kaustubha already in his hand!
This is a quotation from the Yoga Vasishtam. The same subject is dealt with from another point of view.
Since the most holy one has shown that the original sin [spoken of by Christians] is just the sense of ‘I am the body’, the sense of being separate from God, which is the outcome of this sin, is itself only sinful!
The completeness [allness] of the Supreme Being, asserted by revelation, becomes true only by His being the Self. The deluded ones are just denying this completeness of His by their notion of being separate from themselves.
But devotion practised without a sense of difference is the way of accepting this completeness of God; and Bhagavan, our Guru, says that this devotion is most excellent and highly purifying for the aspirant for deliverance.
Bhagavan also shows that devotion with sense of difference does not lead to the goal.
Also, the most holy one has shown that, like the man who pursues darkness, light in hand, the devotee who meditates on God as separate does not reach God [so long as he has this false notion].
The light in the hand is the real Self, and the darkness is the non-existent, separate God. This is said by Bhagavan in the Arunachala Ashtakam.
The superior devotion, on the other hand, leads to the goal, which is the egoless state.
Since the better devotee approaches God as the Self, knowing that the notion of difference, due to the ego, is false, for this aspirant for deliverance, the annihilation of the ego will be accomplished quickly.
Another point is this.
In the case of him who adores God as non-Self, the surrender of himself is a sham, just like the gift of a coconut [to a guest] is a sham in the Chola region.
The analogy given here is the custom of placing a coconut on a plate, just for form’s sake, without intending to give it.
Another consequence of the sense of difference is next noted.
When the Supreme Being is reduced to the status of non-Self, the result is that He is not the most beloved of all. For according to both revelation and the common experience of all creatures, the Self is the dearest of all!
The concluding verse of the teaching in the Gita is a riddle. How Bhagavan, our Master, solved this riddle is shown next.
Bhagavan, our Guru, declared the secret of the correct meaning of the last verse of the Gita in the following way: ‘One should make surrender of oneself to the supreme one by giving up the attributes falsely ascribed to the real Self, namely that one is a “soul” and so on.’
The word dharma in that verse of the Gita must not be taken as meaning righteous action, but as meaning ‘status’ or ‘quality’. Thus interpreted, the verse makes good sense, not otherwise.
This brings us to the topic of self-surrender, which is now explained.
What is called surrender of oneself to God is the final consummation of the practice of devotion. This can be achieved by the purified mind when the might of the ego is greatly reduced.
Just as a small magnet becomes united to a big one by the juxtaposition of the opposite poles, so the finite soul becomes one with the Supreme Being by the conjunction of its head with His feet.
This simile of the magnet serves to bring out the need of perfect humility of the devotee. If the ego is rampant, there can be no self-surrender.
How the one that has surrendered himself to God must get through life until he attains perfect egolessness is described next.
Also the following.
The man who, being endowed with the divine temperament, meditates with devotion on God with a form, will attain that same State [of deliverance] that one attains by meditating on Him as formless.
The next verse shows that the devotee is free, for purposes of his devotion, to ascribe to God any name or form that appeals to himself as lovable.
One may adore that one Being by name and in any form, as one likes. Among the forms of the supreme one, the wise one, whose mind is pure, will not see any superiority or inferiority.
Thus true catholicity is the distinguishing feature of the teaching of Vedanta. Catholicity consists not in claiming that all people should give up their own faiths and embrace one’s own, but in recognising that all religions are paths to God. The advaitins are expected to understand this.
Then the dictum of the great poet, Kalidasa, on this point, is quoted.
‘There is only one God form; (but) It became divided into three; and common to all the three is superiority and inferiority [by turns].’
Among them, there is no real superiority, nor inferiority. But superiority or inferiority is allowed to be ascribed to them by devotees, to suit their needs. They are all equally forms of the formless Brahman, the real Self. These forms disappear when the real Self is experienced as it really is.
Which, of all available forms, is the best, is the next question, which is answered next.
Of all the forms of God, the best is the sage, who does not consider Himself as other than the Self. Indeed the sage, who is the Guru, is the second of the [three] forms of divine grace.
Bhagavan Sri Krishna himself says in the Gita: ‘I myself am the sage.’ Therefore to know this truth of him, as stated in the sacred lore, one should regard the sage as not different from God.
[Also] there is the text of the Upanishads, that one who wants deliverance must worship the knower of the Self. If he thinks of him [the sage, who is the Guru] as other than God, that thought will obstruct his path.
One of the prominent defects of devotees who regard God as other than the Self is next noticed.
Those devotees who worship God as not the Self are wanting in catholicity. In the case of a few of them, this defect ceases after a long time by a clarification of the intellect.
Narrowness of mind is a serious defect, and till it is overcome, the aspirant will not reach his goal.
The next topic is ‘God-vision’, on which some ignorance prevails.
The devotee yearns to see the form of God as conceived by himself. Sometimes he may even see that very form, but this vision is transitory and hence unreal.
The absurdity of this desire is now shown up.
Being himself that very Supreme Being, but regarding Him as other than the Self through ignorance, he strives through devotion to obtain a vision of Him! Is there anything more surprising than this?
Indeed this is topsy-turveydom!
How can the seeing of a form of the formless one be a true vision? And how can the vision as not-self, of Him that is the Self, be a true vision?
Bhagavan unties this riddle with ease.
All form is mental, and hence the form of the spectacle is inside the spectator. It is the truth of the seer that should be sought, since that is the truth of the Supreme Being.
The unreality of these visions is declared next.
‘The man who, by the practice of devotion, sees God as someone other than himself, sees only a mental form’ – such is the utterance of the most holy one [on this point].
What then is the reality of God?
That which remains over on the annihilation of the [would-be] seer, by the quest [for the truth of] the seer, is itself the truth of the Self and also the truth of the Supreme Being.
Here, the quest of the Self, the direct path taught by Bhagavan, is referred to. It will be dealt with later.
The real vision is the same.
That state, in which the mind, called the soul, is swallowed up and has become one with Him is itself both the true vision of the Self, and the right vision of God – so says the holy Guru, Sri Ramana.
The next question is about how to meditate on God.
Revelation prescribes that the aspirant should meditate on Him as one’s own real Self. The revelation styles as beasts those who meditate on Him as not-the-Self.
Bhagavan Vasishta has said that he who worships God as not-Self, turning away from the real God who is the Self, is like one who goes about seeking a precious stone, throwing away the gem named Kaustubha already in his hand!
This is a quotation from the Yoga Vasishtam. The same subject is dealt with from another point of view.
Since the most holy one has shown that the original sin [spoken of by Christians] is just the sense of ‘I am the body’, the sense of being separate from God, which is the outcome of this sin, is itself only sinful!
The completeness [allness] of the Supreme Being, asserted by revelation, becomes true only by His being the Self. The deluded ones are just denying this completeness of His by their notion of being separate from themselves.
But devotion practised without a sense of difference is the way of accepting this completeness of God; and Bhagavan, our Guru, says that this devotion is most excellent and highly purifying for the aspirant for deliverance.
Bhagavan also shows that devotion with sense of difference does not lead to the goal.
Also, the most holy one has shown that, like the man who pursues darkness, light in hand, the devotee who meditates on God as separate does not reach God [so long as he has this false notion].
The light in the hand is the real Self, and the darkness is the non-existent, separate God. This is said by Bhagavan in the Arunachala Ashtakam.
The superior devotion, on the other hand, leads to the goal, which is the egoless state.
Since the better devotee approaches God as the Self, knowing that the notion of difference, due to the ego, is false, for this aspirant for deliverance, the annihilation of the ego will be accomplished quickly.
Another point is this.
In the case of him who adores God as non-Self, the surrender of himself is a sham, just like the gift of a coconut [to a guest] is a sham in the Chola region.
The analogy given here is the custom of placing a coconut on a plate, just for form’s sake, without intending to give it.
Another consequence of the sense of difference is next noted.
When the Supreme Being is reduced to the status of non-Self, the result is that He is not the most beloved of all. For according to both revelation and the common experience of all creatures, the Self is the dearest of all!
The concluding verse of the teaching in the Gita is a riddle. How Bhagavan, our Master, solved this riddle is shown next.
Bhagavan, our Guru, declared the secret of the correct meaning of the last verse of the Gita in the following way: ‘One should make surrender of oneself to the supreme one by giving up the attributes falsely ascribed to the real Self, namely that one is a “soul” and so on.’
The word dharma in that verse of the Gita must not be taken as meaning righteous action, but as meaning ‘status’ or ‘quality’. Thus interpreted, the verse makes good sense, not otherwise.
This brings us to the topic of self-surrender, which is now explained.
What is called surrender of oneself to God is the final consummation of the practice of devotion. This can be achieved by the purified mind when the might of the ego is greatly reduced.
Just as a small magnet becomes united to a big one by the juxtaposition of the opposite poles, so the finite soul becomes one with the Supreme Being by the conjunction of its head with His feet.
This simile of the magnet serves to bring out the need of perfect humility of the devotee. If the ego is rampant, there can be no self-surrender.
How the one that has surrendered himself to God must get through life until he attains perfect egolessness is described next.
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