Shutting Off The Sun

Ramana Maharshi

oi-Staff

By Staff

Monday, July 13, 2009, 11:58

The joy and wonder of basking in the sun, of merging with the daylight and the dawn, the sunrise, the beauty of twilight and the setting sun is lost on the vast multitude. Theirs is a life in which most of their working hours are spent under artificial light, in air-conditioned rooms when all windows are shut. They leave their working places long after sunset. Even on Sundays they would rather not be disturbed by the bright sun. They ward it off through thick curtains whose, only purpose is precisely that. People travel in A. C. cars with darkened glasses, sun visors in the front and venetian blinds for the rear glass. If they travel by train they would not leave the comfortable darkness of their A. C. cabins. Not for them the changing moods of the evening sun when the door is open and the breeze keeps caressing.

In our spiritual endeavours too we do not even know that the splendour of the sun, the light of lights, even exists. For, Self-awareness and its significance is totally lost on us. One is content to live and die without caring to know the immensity of his own true self and its dancing splendour in the heart. The smug satisfaction of many is appalling. Content to live with splintered minds, putting their faith exclusively in objective pleasure, clinging to their possessions, to power, to ideas and relationships many allow life to move on in its endless monotony. Alas the lives of the vast multitude is lived unquestioningly, unaware of one's own true nature, totally missing out on the inherent joy of the natural state.

The entry of Ramana into one's life is like the dazzling sun brightening a cave which had been shrouded in darkness for ages. The dense darkness of ignorance of one's true nature cannot stand the searchlight of Ramana's radiant entry. One cannot dare to ask why one so unworthy has been blessed. What matters is His entry. That alone matters, all else really adds up to nothing.

The sun of sun's, the radiant Self is ever shining in the heart. It is the source of the mind. As long as the mind is merged at this place of its origin it will be illumined by the Self. Its nature as pure consciousness would enable the performance of the divinely allotted actions perfectly and un-distractedly. The mind would be silent, non-seeking and joyous. This merger is brought about only by self-enquiry, an enquiry about the true nature of the subject 'I'. There are fleeting moments of this knowledge immediately on waking, just prior to the first identification with name and form, and between thoughts. The mind moves away from its source compelled by habit, by false knowledge of locating happiness outside in objects which are assumed to be independent of the subject.

About the author

A.R.Natarajan

Sri A.R.Natarajan has had the opportunity of a long association of over 50 years with the Ramanashram. He was the editor of "Mountain Path" for two years. He was the secretary of Ramana Kendra, New Delhi for ten years. He founded the Ramana Maharshi centre for learning, a non profit institution. He has authored more than thirty six books and eleven pocket books on the life and teachings of Bhagavan Ramana.

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