"The very first step in understanding what this is all about is giving up the concept of an active, volitional 'I' as a separate entity and accepting the passive role of perceiving and functioning as a process." - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Monday, April 16, 2018

Arunachala is the Self

Sri Lakshmana Swamy

Q: The Self is everywhere, yet both you and Ramana say that Arunachala is the Self. In what way is this so?

LS: It is a great mystery but one cannot deny that it is so. One may say that Arunachaleshwara, who is not other the Self, took the form of Arunachala out of compassion for devotees. Just as the power of the Self can be transmitted through the Guru's body, this same Self-power is transmitted from the form of Arunachala. In your question you say that the Self is everywhere, but this is not strictly true. The Self cannot be explained in terms of time and space; it is beyond them both.

Q: You say that Arunachaleshwara took the form of Arunachala. Does this mean that there was a Self-realized being or entity called Arunachaleshwara who took the form of the mountain?

LS: No. There is only the Self. Arunachaleshwara is only another name for the Self. In its gross form it appears as the mountain. In its subtle form it may manifest as lights or visions. Sarada saw the subtle form of Arunachala when she had a vision of Siva dancing on the peak of the mountain. The real form cannot be perceived, it is the Self.

Ramana Maharshi sometimes recounted dreams and visions in which he had seen cities and people inside Arunachala. When he was once asked if they were real, he waved his hands around him and said, "They are as real as all this." This is the answer of a jnani. For a jnani the only difference between the waking state, the dream state and visions is the amount of time that they last. In all other respects they are equally real and equally unreal.


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सर्वभूताधिवासं यद्भूतेषु च वसत्यपि।
सर्वानुग्राहकत्वेन तद्स्म्यहं वासुदेवः॥

That in whom reside all beings and who resides in all beings,
who is the giver of grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe, the limitless being:
I AM THAT. -- Amritabindu Upanishad