Ramana Maharshi's Teachings On The Guru - Session 3

Listen to Ektaji talk about Ramana Maharshi's teachings on the Guru. These teachings are aimed at the experiential understanding of the true nature of the self and that consciousness is the only existing reality.

Transcript

Salaam.

Salaam.

Salaam.

Salaam.

Salaam.

Those who have the book,

It is page 95.

And those who have the online PDF,

It is page 137.

We'll just skip the previous introduction that you see on the previous page.

It is God Guru and Self are identical.

Identical,

You understand the meaning of identical.

Yeah?

One and the same.

They are not three separate entities.

It is identical.

Ekta,

The spiritual mentor.

Ekta,

The wife.

Ekta,

The daughter is identical.

One and the same.

Did you get it?

That is the meaning of God,

Guru and Self are identical.

One and the same.

They are not three separate entities that are equal to each other or similar to each other.

No.

It is just one entity.

That is who I am.

Crystal clear?

Yeah?

That is the part in the introduction.

So now we will begin with Chapter 8,

The Guru.

The term Guru is often loosely used to describe anyone who gives out spiritual advice.

But,

There is a big but there.

But in Sri Ramana's vocabulary,

The word has a much more restricted definition.

Which I already explained to you.

The external guru is not a guru.

It is just a guru positioning system.

You have lost your way and it is just telling you the direction to go in the correct path.

That's it.

For him,

A true guru is someone who has realised the Self and who is able to use his power to assist others towards the goal of Self-realisation.

Which power?

No miraculous power.

You are listening to me.

You have given Ictva the power that you tell me what is the right thing and I shall follow.

That's it.

This is the power that you have given me.

Now it becomes my responsibility.

It's a big responsibility to help you,

To guide you in the correct direction.

Not to derail you.

My job is not to tell you,

Oh you glorify me.

Sing Ictha great,

Ictha this,

Ictha that,

Ictha wa,

Ictha wo and you will get enlightened.

No!

Absolutely wrong!

By you singing glories to me,

How are you going to get enlightened?

It's not going to happen.

Okay?

So stop singing and dancing.

Stop even considering Ictha as guru.

No!

Ictha is GPS,

Spiritual GPS.

That's how you can address me.

Guru positioning system.

My job is to help you look within and recognise the guru within.

What is the guru within you?

That intuitive power.

That one which tells you this is right.

Don't do this.

This is wrong.

That intuitive power that brings up this knowledge at the right time when you are in a fight with your wife or your husband and you are just going to blurt out something and that intelligence comes and tells you,

See you are the knower of this turbulent situation.

That is the guru.

That is the real guru.

Yes?

In the texts,

In the Brahma Sutras,

It is called Adi Guru,

The first guru.

Adi Guru.

It means that the guru is here.

Self is here and God is also here.

Everything is here.

The external GPS is supposed to tell you,

Look inside.

You don't look at me.

You don't hold on to me.

You look inside.

There is no point of trying to be like Ekta.

There is no point of trying to appreciate or crave for Ekta.

The point is when I learn what she is telling me and I look within and recognise it.

Yay!

Finished.

GPS job done.

Then no more holding on to the GPS.

Yes,

You can help the GPS to help other people but that's it.

No more craving.

No more lusting.

Otherwise you are creating another big bubble of yours,

Another world and the story is going to continue.

Very clear?

Yeah?

So I am showing you the path to go in.

Look in.

Yes?

Not at the GPS outside.

Sri Ramana often said that God,

Guru and the Self are identical,

One and the same.

Yes?

It's one,

One identity.

They are not three different people,

Three different things.

Very clear?

The Guru is God in human form and simultaneously He is also the Self in the heart of each devotee.

So in me is that Self.

That Self has the creative function of creating whatever sankalpa I have.

It creates and it manifests outside a Guru in the human form.

That Guru in the human form is the external GPS that guides me to go internal.

Because He is both inside and outside,

His power works in two different ways.

The outer Guru gives instructions and by His power,

Again please put over there,

Not miraculous power,

The power that you have given Him that you tell me.

You give the power to somebody on the road.

I have lost my way.

Please can you tell me where is 5th Avenue?

Should I take a left here or should I go ahead and take a left?

And the guy says,

Oh you go ahead and take a left.

That's it.

You gave the power to that person to tell you what to do for this little task.

That's all.

There is no miraculous power.

There is no jing bang happening.

All that is stories for little kids.

Super clear?

The outer Guru gives instructions and by His power enables the devotee to keep his attention on the Self,

To keep your attention on your own self.

This is very important for you to learn.

If ever,

I am only telling you,

If ever in future,

Ikta tells you keep your attention on ikta,

Don't keep your attention on you,

Then that is the time you leave ikta and run.

Yes?

Your attention needs to be inwards towards your own self.

That is pure spirituality.

Very clear?

The inner Guru pulls the devotee's mind back to its source,

Absorbs it in the self and finally destroys it.

Please highlight that.

The inner Guru,

That intelligence function in me,

It gets educated during Advaita session.

It helps me recognise,

Oh I am the witness and when I am in a turbulent situation in office where my boss is almost ready to fire me and I am boiling with anger,

At that moment my intelligence function comes up and says,

Hold it.

You are the witness of this situation.

Hold it.

You might regret what you say.

Hold it.

Happens?

Yes?

That is the inner Guru.

The outer Guru was that Advaita session that helped you again and again and again and again recognise the witness and cajoled your mind to forget its external attractions and for some time,

Two hours,

Just be absorbed in this knowledge of the witness.

That was the job of the outer Guru.

The inner Guru comes up and reminds you,

Remember that Advaita session,

Remember I am the witness,

Now is not the time to open your mouth.

Maybe he is not going to fire me but if I open my mouth,

I might just destroy the whole thing.

So,

I am just giving you simple examples that all of us experience.

You apply it to your own life.

We did this in St.

Kabir's also.

What is the Guru?

The two Gurus,

Antarhat Saharbhe Bahar Mare Chot.

The outer Guru keeps reminding you,

Look inside,

Look inside,

Inside,

Inside.

Because we are talking about a potter making a pot,

If you remember the Doha.

The potter is making the pot and how does he make the pot?

It's going round and round on his potter's wheel.

It is wet,

That clay is wet and he keeps beating it to bring it in shape.

Every Advaita session,

Every knowledge session beats you,

Brings you into shape.

But you need an inner hand also to support.

That inner hand is the real Guru.

That inner hand is that intelligence function within me.

Which in the Vedic scriptures we have learnt as Guru Tatva.

That is that intelligence function that comes up and reminds me,

I am the witness of this situation.

I am the witness of the mind feeling turbulent right now.

Antarhat Saharbhe Bahar Mare Chot.

The inner Guru supports you.

The outer Guru keeps hitting you.

Look inside,

Look inside.

It is a basic tenet of Sri Ramana's teaching that a Guru is necessary for almost everyone who is striving towards a permanent awareness of the Self.

The catalytic role of the Guru in spiritual development is therefore crucial.

What is a catalytic reaction?

There is a catalytic agent in whose presence the particular chemical reaction happens.

The catalytic agent does not participate,

Is not a part of it.

Just in its presence the entire reaction happens.

Yes,

Hydrogen and oxygen combine to make water in the presence of energy.

So a catalytic agent does not get involved.

A catalytic agent is just there.

What does it mean?

That your Guru is there just to give you the instruction,

The external Guru.

In the presence of that,

Whatever happens to you happens because of the internal Guru.

Happens because of your own earnestness on the path.

Happens because of your own sincerity.

It has got nothing to do with the involvement from any external agent.

And if you keep reminding yourself,

This external agent is also my mind's creation,

My own bubble,

My own creation.

And every night this creation ends.

You go back into nothingness,

Silence,

Darkness.

Every morning it's created.

How is it created every morning?

You didn't ask this question.

Your own karmic impressions,

Your own habit patterns,

Your own memory creates it every morning.

If you have noticed,

You forget some things.

Some things that happened yesterday,

They were like really boiling you in the night and you were like,

Oh,

In the morning it's not that strong.

I'm not boiling so much anymore.

Some things are even forgotten from yesterday.

Only the very strong impressions carry on today.

They create today's universe.

14 hours,

16 hours,

I am in that bubble of mine,

That creation of mine.

Again in the night,

The mind disappears,

The body has disappeared.

I go back into absolute nothingness.

Whatever impressions were created from the previous day,

The strongest ones,

Those remain in the mind and the mind again brings it up.

It's called the subtle body and that subtle body again brings up the next day's mind.

Everything is created on a daily basis.

You are creating it.

There's a story of a monk from the Himalayas.

A very earnest,

Sincere young 20 year old went to him and told him,

Tell me a path,

A sadhana.

I want to attain enlightenment and give me a shortcut.

I want to get there like right now.

Right now.

Shortcut.

You know how 20 year olds are.

Shortcut.

Very fast I want to get there.

So he says,

The shortest cut,

That is very simple.

Really?

Yeah,

Very simple.

You have to do nothing.

Can you just be?

Do nothing?

Do nothing includes not thinking.

No sankalpa.

No sankalpa means no karma.

No karma means no karma.

No karma means no karma phala.

Do nothing.

He is like,

That's not simple.

You give me a sadhana.

Oh okay.

Then there is this long list of sadhanas.

Yeah?

You go.

Come back to me after 20-25 years.

When you do all these sadhanas and when it becomes all too much for you and you see that it is futile,

Then when you come back to me I'll give you the same shortcut.

Because there is only one way.

Not doing.

Just being.

So don't feel bad about what you created in the past.

I mean your spiritual creations.

It's okay because you were not ready for just being.

You wanted to do.

I want to do do do do.

No,

You give me some sadhana.

I should feel like a spiritual yogi.

Okay.

Take this technique,

That technique,

Do this,

Do that.

And you are busy.

You have kept yourself busy.

10 years,

20 years,

30 years,

40 years.

Now it's time to kick the bucket.

I really don't have that kind of time.

I wasted enough time.

And by that time you are also materially prosperous.

So your automatic dispassion towards material has also set in.

Some of us are lucky enough,

We carry this from our previous lifetimes.

Some of us are not so lucky.

We have to learn it in this lifetime.

The material dispassion sets in and then we learn to let go,

Learn to let go.

The seeking,

The going out,

The sankalpa creation,

The grabbing,

Grasping reduces slowly,

Slowly,

Slowly.

And that's where you settle in and you recognize,

Oh just being.

That is the formula.

It was so simple.

I didn't even have to go out,

Find a guru or a teacher to teach me just being.

Oh,

This was so simple.

And when you just be,

Just be,

Just be,

You will start noticing that you are projecting.

You start noticing that you are creating through a single thought.

The people who are a little more subtle will recognize even before the thought an image which is going to lead to the sankalpa.

It's called a ritti.

You've learnt this word in Patanjali.

That ritti,

Just the image has the capacity to propel the sankalpa to arise and go out and want to grasp.

Grinnati.

And you start recognizing this.

And when you start recognizing,

You yourself withdraw.

It's a very natural thing because now you recognize that I have done enough seeking and grasping and attaining and wanting and it is pointless.

There is no joy there.

The joy is in being.

And when you recognize the joy is in being,

Every time there is an image,

A ritti created in the mind that can pull me out,

I have learnt to withdraw from it,

Withdraw from it,

Withdraw from it.

Then automatically you will notice you become a silent person.

A personality change ensues.

You don't want.

You know that this is going to create a situation.

You know that this is going to create a particular thing.

A little ad on TV,

IPhone 11.

Image.

Nothing else.

It is actually light.

Eye sees light,

Captures it.

There are impulses,

Electrical impulses which create the image in your mind.

That image is the first ritti which is going to create the sankalpa.

Right at the level of the ritti,

The first image created in the mind,

There is a recognition.

If you become so subtle,

There is a recognition.

This is about to create another universe of mine.

I will start having a sankalpa to buy iPhone 11 and then the karma for it.

And then that karma will lead to a karma and that will lead to a karma phalam.

I will end up buying it.

Nothing wrong.

I am not saying don't buy iPhone 11.

Nothing against iPhone.

I just gave you an example.

Please buy.

But you start becoming very sensitive to rittis arising within you.

And you will withdraw from projecting.

You will withdraw from creating.

You will withdraw and a natural silence ensues.

It doesn't mean you stop functioning in the world.

If it is required,

There is a message on your phone.

Yes,

You will respond to the message.

It is required.

That is called vyavarik satyam.

We will come to that also.

A transactional reality.

You will transact whatever needs to be done in the world.

But you will stop creating from your side.

You will stop initiating.

You see the difference between the two?

It is also there in the Bhagavad Gita.

Krishna says there is no need to initiate something.

But if some ball has already rolled down,

Oh Arjuna,

You cannot stop that ball.

And if you are a part of that grass under the ball,

You will have to stick to the ball and do your karma phalam purti.

As in you will have to go through that situation.

It is a skill of an Advaita that he starts recognising the vritti of initiating something and withdraws from it simply because it creates a universe.

Very clear.

Let's go back to the book.

The catalytic role of the guru in spiritual development is therefore crucial except in rare instances.

Ignorance of the self is so deeply rooted that individual seekers are unable to escape from it by their own efforts.

And why is it crucial?

Why do you need it?

Because you are so lost in ignorance.

Ignorance definition is very important.

What ignorance?

Ignorant of who I really am.

What am I really?

What am I is more appropriate than who I am.

I want to be somebody.

Who wants to be somebody?

The ego wants to be somebody.

But there is no somebody here.

Once you have even got a glimpse of the witness,

The space of consciousness,

The chidakasha,

You know that there is no entity here.

There is no I here.

It is a field.

So what am I is more relevant than who am I.

Who am I is for people who are still beginners who have not realised.

But once you come here,

You realise what am I?

I am not this mind that is going on right now and wants to jump into this situation and participate and this witness.

Can I just be the witness?

So that is the meaning of ignorance.

Not knowing who you are.

Ignorance of the self is so deeply rooted that individual seekers are unable to escape from it by their own efforts.

That is why they seek the Guru.

They create their own world and a Guru,

External Guru manifests.

Although Sri Ramana taught that a Guru is indispensable for those seeking self-realisation,

He also pointed out that the Guru has no power to bring about realisation in those who are not energetically seeking it.

Please highlight.

There is a lot of people who say,

Why can't the Guru just make everybody enlightened?

No,

No,

No.

Again,

These are all those miracle stories.

You are just lost in stories.

The Guru has no such power.

You are the person who asks a question to another person that please guide me.

For that little while,

That person becomes your Guru.

He is telling you,

Look inwards.

Only if somebody asks me the question,

Can I guide them?

Correct?

If somebody does not ask me the question,

Can I guide such a person?

No,

Because there is no listening ear.

He or she is not listening,

Is not wanting to walk that path.

So only those who are energetically seeking for it,

They get it.

Another next homework for you.

Do you really have the thirst in you?

Are you really energetically seeking for it?

Some people have this intellectual seeking.

There is a difference between intellectual seeking and really wanting to know who you are or what you are.

So two different things.

And a lot of people on the Gyan Mahal get stuck because of intellectual analysis.

They love seeking philosophy and they think they are Gyan yogis.

Wrong understanding.

Look within.

I want you to introspect.

Are you becoming an obstacle on your own path by just relishing in the deliciousness of intellectual philosophy?

Advaita has that part to it.

It's super delicious for an intellectual.

So this is one major pitfall and you don't even know when it happens to you.

You just cannot figure it out.

Yeah,

When people come to me and I'm making an attempt to help them.

No,

I already know.

I have no questions.

Really?

Why doesn't it reflect in your personality if you already know?

Ask yourself this question.

Whenever that thing comes up in you,

I know.

No,

No,

No.

Only first step.

Shravana,

You've only done the intellectual analysis.

You've understood it intellectually.

Have you really recognized?

When you recognize it,

It's like tasting the most delicious thing in the world.

Then you cannot but keep yourself from being there again and again and again and again.

It's addictive.

Really,

It is addictive.

That happens only if you've really tasted it.

If you've not really tasted it,

Intellectually you've understood it.

By heart it ten books.

Not there yet.

Again,

Be compassionate with yourself.

We are not going to be hard with ourselves.

You have to just recognize this is what I am doing.

I'm being an obstacle on my own path.

Because the first thing that deliciousness does is,

You know what?

A humility arises where you feel,

Wow,

I don't know everything about whatever I learnt,

I read,

I heard.

I don't know everything.

Did you see the difference between step one and step two?

In Shravana,

You say,

I know everything.

In Manana,

The moment you recognize it and you get addicted to just being in that peace,

The more you know it,

You know that you know very little.

Exact opposites.

A lot of people are stuck on step one.

They don't progress ahead.

See that it does not happen to you.

It should be the first thing on your book that you should write for yourself.

If the individual seeker makes a serious attempt to discover the Self,

Then the grace and power of the Guru will automatically start to flow.

If no such attempt is made,

The Guru is helpless.

We will understand what is Guru's grace in the first question.

So,

I'm not going to explain this in my words.

We will learn it in Ramana's words.

But highlight that line.

If no such attempt is made,

The Guru is helpless.

If you are not going to ask for guidance,

The external real Guru,

True Guru is not going to say anything to you.

The GPS will not speak if you don't punch in the two addresses.

The two addresses are simply the question.

The conversations in this chapter summarise Sri Ramana's views on the nature of the Guru and the role he plays in bringing about realisation of the Self.

The distinctive way in which Sri Ramana utilised his own power will be explored in greater detail in Chapter 9.

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