SRI RAMANA MAHARISHI’S COMMENTS ON GANDHIJI’S DESCRIPTION OF HIS STATE OF MIND

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Gandhian Scholar

Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09415777229, 094055338

E-mail- [e-mail];[e-mail]

 

 

SRI RAMANA MAHARISHI’S COMMENTS ON GANDHIJI’S DESCRIPTION OF HIS STATE OF MIND

 

 

The Maharshi referred to the following passage of Gandhiji’s in the Harijan of the 11th instant:

“How mysterious are the ways of God! This journey to Rajkot is a wonder even to me. Why am I going, whither am I going? What for? I have thought nothing about these things. And if God guides me, what should I think, why should I think? Even thought may be an obstacle in the way of His guidance. “The fact is, it takes no effort to stop thinking. The thoughts do not come. Indeed there is no vacuum but I mean to say that there is no thought about the mission.”

He remarked how true the words were and emphasized each statement in the extract. Then He cited Thayumanavar in support of the state which is free from thoughts:

“Bliss will reveal itself if one is still. Why then is this illusory yoga practice? Can it (i. e., bliss) be revealed by directing the intellect in a particular way?”

D. Is not what Gandhiji describes the state in which thoughts themselves?

become foreign?

M. Yes. It is only after the rise of the ‘I’ thought that all other thoughts arise. The world is seen after you have felt “I am”. The ‘I’ thought and all other thoughts had vanished for him.

D. Then the body-sense must be absent in that state.

M. The body-sense also is a thought whereas he describes the state in which “thoughts do not come”.

D. He also says, “It takes no effort to stop thinking”.

M. Of course no effort is necessary to stop thought whereas one is necessary for bringing about thoughts.

D. Gandhiji adhered to Satya (Truth) so long and won realization of the Self.

M. What is Satya except the Self? Satya is that which is made up of sat. Again sat is nothing but the Self. So Gandhiji’s Satya is only the Self. The Upanishadic Text is the eternal Truth to which everyone who has realized owes his experience. After hearing the Self to be the Brahman the person finds the true import of the Self and reverts to it whenever he is diverted from it. Here is the whole process of Realization.