Self-Consciousness

Om Namo Bhagavate Shri Ramanaya!

When there is a knower within oneself who knows the body, and surpasses the mind, then I cannot be the body that I had identified myself so far with! (Read The Meaning Of Consciousness for a better understanding of this statement)

So whatever remained, after banishing the mind and the body is the ‘Self’. There is a being-ness that is alive, before the mind soon slips away in its vagabond ways which is self- consciousness.

It is the Grace of the Master that gets one to persevere in his efforts. The Seers say that the endless extension of this vibrant stillness is what the ultimate state is.

It is an interesting fact to notice the truth that goes unnoticed in our day to day life.

We say ‘My body,’ ‘My mind,’ ‘My hand’ etc. The ‘My,’ the truth goes unnoticed and the focus is on body, mind hand etc. Whose hand, body or mind? “It is mine (I)” So we are essentially self-conscious, just that we lose track of it.

So what happens of the body?

In the book ‘Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi,’ Talk 96, Page 94, Ramana answers thus to Major Chadwick, who upon understanding the nature of the true self asked,

Major Chadwick: “I try to shake off the body”

Ramana Maharshi: “How can the body be shaken off? Where will he leave it? Wherever it is, it is his still!”

Furthermore Ramana’s pointers from ‘Yoga Vasishtam’ appealed to me a lot which clearly indicates how one ought to go about in this world, of course with His Grace. It’s a difficult task indeed without His Grace.

"Quiet unattached at heart but for all appearance acting as with attachment, inwardly cool but outwardly full of fervour, act playfully in the world, O Raghava!"

 "Inwardly free from all desires, dispassionate and detached, but outwardly active in all directions, act playfully in the world, O Raghava!"

The above two verses says it all!

Om Namo Bhagavate Shri Ramanaya!