Gita Society of Belgium
Branch of International Gita Society (IGS/USA)
2001-2012
Self Enquiry
(Vicharasangraham)
of
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi
Visual illustrations by Philippe L. De Coster, B.Th., D.D.
Eighth edition 1971
Ninth edition 1981
Tenth edition 1990
Reprint 1994
A new translation by
Dr T. M. P. Mahadevan,
M.A., Ph.D.
From the original Tamil
Published by
V. S. RAMANAN
President, Board of
Trustees
SRI RAMANASRAMAM
TIRUVANNAMALAI (S.
INDIA)
Gita Satsang Ghent, Belgium
January 2013 Philippe L. De Coster, B.Th., D.D., Ghent, Belgium
(Non commercial, for personal and Satsang use only)
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Foreword of the Illustrator of Self-Enquiry
Who Am I? (Nan Yar?) and Self-Enquiry are
two manuscripts one should ponder on
continually, and bring them in daily living,
making as such the teaching of Bhagavan Sri
Ramana Maharshi a way of life. My body is not
my real self, it is only an instrument to move
about in the world, the real Self is within the
physical body. I saw the other day a man
worshipping in his beautiful home-temple. That is
fine, but does he know that the real temple, the
Holy of Holies, is within himself, reachable
through meditation and correct living? The Guru
is both external and internal. From the exterior he gives a push to the mind to
turn it inwards. From the interior he pulls the mind towards the Self and helps in
the quietening of the mind. That is Guru's grace. There is no difference between
God, Guru and the Self. The master is within; meditation is meant to remove the
ignorant idea that he is only outside. If he is a stranger whom you await, he is
bound to disappear also. What is the use of a transient being like that? But so
long as you think you are separate or that you are the body, an external master is
also necessary and he will appear to have a body. When the wrong identification
of oneself with the body ceases, the master will be found to be none other than
the Self. Enter your inner-self, work at your Higher Self Within (your soul),
and you will be able to say with firmness, I am the Power, I am the Glory, I am
another God. The world is perceived as an apparent objective reality when the
mind is externalised, thereby forsaking its identity with the Self. When the world
is thus perceived, the true nature of the Self is not revealed: conversely, when
the Self is realized, the world ceases to appear as an objective reality. This state
of mere inherence in pure Being is known as the Vision of Wisdom. Such
inherence means and implies the entire subsidence of the mind in the Self.
Nothing other than this and no psychic powers of the mind, such as thought
reading, telepathy and clairvoyance, can be Wisdom. Let us not worry about the
future. Let us think of the present. As you sow, so you reap. The present
prepares the future.
January 2013 - Philippe L. De Coster, B.Th., D.D.
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INTRODUCTION
by
T. M. P. MAHADEVAN, University Of Madras. November 15, 1965.
The present work in prose consists of forty questions with answers covering the
entire range of spiritual disciplines required for the gaining of release (moksha).
The questioner was Gambhiram Seshayya, one of the early devotees of
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. He was a Municipal Overseer at
Tiruvannamalai about 1900. Besides being an ardent Ramabhakta (worshipper
of Rama) he was interested in the study and practice of Yoga. He used to read
Swami Vivekananda's lectures on the different yoga's as also an English
translation of the Rama-Gita. For resolving the difficulties which he came across
while studying these books and in his spiritual practices, he approached
Bhagavan Sri Ramana from time to time. Bhagavan, who was only twenty-one
years old, was then living in Virupaksha cave on Arunachala Hill. As he was
keeping silent at the time not because of any vow taken but because he was not
inclined to talk - he wrote out his answers to Seshayya's questions on bits of
paper. These writings over the period 1900-1902 were later copied in a note-
book by Seshayya. The material thus gathered was published by Sri
Ramanasramam under the little Vichara-sangraham which literally means 'A
Compendium of Self-Enquiry.' A digest of the teaching contained in this work
was later printed in English bearing the title 'Self-Enquiry'. In that English
version, the questions were omitted and the substance of Bhagavan's teaching
was given, classifying it in twelve short chapters with appropriate headings. The
present English translation is of the entire original text Vichara-sangraham as it
is in Tamil. The Vichara-sangraham has unique value in the sense that it
constitutes the first set of instructions given by Bhagavan in his own hand-
writing.
A careful study of the instructions given by Bhagavan here will reveal that they
are based on his own plenary experience as confirmed by the sacred texts which
were brought to his notice by the early devotees and which he perused for the
purpose of clearing the doubts that arose in the minds of the devotees. In the
course of his instructions, Bhagavan makes use of such expressions as, 'the
scriptures declare', 'thus say the sages,' etc.; he also cites passages from texts like
the Bhagavad-gita and the Vivekachudamani and once he mentions by name the
Ribhu-gita. But it is quite clear that these citations are offered only as
confirmations of the truth discovered by Bhagavan himself in his own
experience.
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The basic teaching is that of Advaita-Vedanta. The plenary experience of the
non-dual Self is the goal; enquiry into the nature of the self is the means. When
the mind identifies the self with the not-self (the body, etc.), there is bondage;
when this wrong identification is removed through the enquiry 'Who am I ?'
there is release. Thus, Self-enquiry is the direct path taught by Bhagavan
Ramana. The 'I'-experience is common to all. Of all thoughts, the 'I'-thought is
the first to arise. What one has to do is to enquire into the source of the 'I'-
thought. This is the reverse process of what ordinarily happens in the life of the
mind. The mind enquires into the constitution and source of everything else
which, on examination, will be found to be its own projection; it does not reflect
on itself and trace itself to its source. Self-discovery can be achieved by giving
the mind an inward turn. This is not to be confused with the introspection of
which the psychologists speak. Self-enquiry is not the mind's inspection of its
own contents; it is tracing the mind's first mode, the 'I'-thought to its source
which is the Self. When there is proper and persistent enquiry, the 'I'-thought
also ceases and there is the wordless illumination of the form 'I'-'I' which is the
pure consciousness. This is release, freedom from bondage. The method by
which this is accomplished, as has been shown, is enquiry which, in Vedanta, is
termed jnana, knowledge.
True devotion (bhakti), meditation (dhyana), and concentration (yoga) are
identical therewith. As Bhagavan makes it perfectly clear, not to forget the
plenary Self-experience is real devotion, mind-control, knowledge, and all other
austerities. In the language of devotion, the final goal may be described as the
resolution of the mind in its source which is God, the Self, in that of technical
yoga, it may be described as the dissolution of the mind in the Heart-lotus.
These are only different ways of expressing the same truth.
The path of Self-enquiry is found difficult by those who have not acquired the
necessary competence for it. The mind should first be rendered pure and one-
pointed. This is done through meditation, etc. So, the various paths, in their
secondary sense, are auxiliaries to the direct path which is Self-enquiry. In this
context, Bhagavan refers to three grades of aspirants: the highest, the medium,
and the lowest. For the highest type of aspirants, the path prescribed is Vedanta
enquiry; through this path, the mind becomes quiescent in the Self and finally
ceases to be, leaving the pure Self-experience untarnished and resplendent. The
path for the medium is meditation on the Self; meditation consists in directing a
continuous flow of the mind towards the same object; there are several modes of
meditation; the best mode is that which is of the form 'I am the Self'; this mode
eventually culminates in Self-realization. For the lowest grade of aspirants, the
discipline that is useful is breath-control which in turn results in mind control.
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Bhagavan explains the difference between jnana-yoga (path of knowledge) and
dhyana-yoga (path of meditation) thus: jnana is like subduing a self-willed bull
by coaxing it with the help of a sheaf of green grass, while dhyana is like
controlling it by using force. Just as there are eight limbs for dhyana-yoga, there
are eight for jnana-yoga. The limbs of the latter are more proximate to the final
stage than those of the former. For instance, while the pranayama of technical
yoga consists in regulating and restraining breath, the pranayama that is a limb
of jnana relates to rejecting the name-and-form world which is non-real and
realizing the Real which is Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.
Realization of the Self can be gained in this very life. In fact, Self-realization is
not something which is to be gained afresh. We are already the Self; the Self
alone is. It is ignorance that makes us imagine that we have not realized the Self.
When this ignorance is removed through Self-knowledge, we realize our eternal
Self-nature. One who has gained this realization is called a jivan-mukta
(liberated while living). To others, he may appear to continue to tenant a body.
For the benefit of those others it is stated that the body will continue so long as
the residue of the prarabdha-karma (that karma of the past which has begun to
fructify in the shape of the present body) lasts, and that when the momentum is
spent the body will fall and the jivan-mukta will become a videha-mukta. But
from the standpoint of the absolute truth, there is no difference in mukti. What
needs to be understood is that mukti or release is the inalienable nature of the
Self.
This, in substance, is Bhagavan Sri Ramana's teaching in the Vichara-
sangraham.
University Of Madras.
T. M. P. MAHADEVAN
November 15, 1965.
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Gita Satsang Ghent, Belgium
January 2013 Philippe L. De Coster, B.Th., D.D., Ghent, Belgium
(Non commercial, for personal and Satsang use only)
