Body, A Thought

Sri Ramana Maharshi

The audience in the hall were very attentively listening. One of them, a sincere devotee of Sri Bhagavan, was so impressed by it that he soon lost himself. He later described his experience as follows:

“I was long wondering where the ‘current’ starts, within the body or elsewhere. Suddenly, my body grew tenuous until it disappeared. The enquiry ‘Who am I?’ went on very clearly and forcibly. The sound of ‘I-I-I’ alone persisted. There was one vast expanse and nothing more. There was a hazy perception of the occurrences in the hall. I knew that people stood up to salute at the end of the Vedic chant. I wanted to stand: the thought soon deserted me. I was again lost in the one expanse. The experience continued until I heard the voice of Sri Bhagavan. That made me collect myself. Then I stood up and saluted. A strange feeling continued for more than half an hour. I cannot forget it. It is still haunting me.” 

Sri Bhagavan listened to his words and was silent for some minutes. A few observations fell from his lips: 

One may seem to go out of the body. But the body itself is not more than our thought. There can be no body in the absence of thought; no outgoing or incoming in absence of body. However, owing to habit, the feeling of going out arises. 

A particle of hail falling on the surface of the sea melts away and becomes water, wave, froth, etc., in the sea. Similarly, the subtle intellect, rising up as the tiny dot (ego) from the heart and bulging out, finally enters into and becomes one with the Heart. 

Though milk remains as wide as the sea, can you drink it with a mouth as wide as the sea? You can suck it only through the tiny capillaries of the paps. 

Nammalvar, the Vaishnavite saint, has said: “Only my Self is you”. What does it mean? “Before I realised my Self I was wandering looking out for You; having now realised my Self I see that you are my Self”. How will this fit in with qualified monism? It must be explained thus: “Pervading my Self you remain as the antaryamin (Immanent Being). Thus I am a part of your body and you are the owner of the body (sariri)” Having given up one’s own body as not being oneself why should one become another’s (God’s) body? If one’s body is not the Self other bodies also are non-self. 

The protagonists of qualified monism think that individuality is necessary to experience the Bliss. Individuality, i.e., ‘I-ness’ should not be lost. Aha! The Self is not the body but your Self becomes the body of God! Is it not absurd? 

Or if you make prapatti (surrender yourself) to God, you have made yourself over to Him and you are His and no longer yours. If He is in need of a body let Him look out for Himself. You need not say He is the owner of a body.