“Silence is a perennial flow of language, interrupted by words.” This sentence speaks to me, although I am not quite sure what it means. What a kind-hearted enlightened being Ramana Maharshi was.
I enjoyed this reading very much, but had to re-read several times in an attempt to better understand Maharshi's message. And I still feel a bit cloudy. What I did enjoy was his simplified idea of the common understanding of reality. “When we stop regarding the unreal as real, than reality alone will remain.” However, I am still at a loss as to what or who Maharshi is referring to. I would like to think that he means that we see God in an unreal way. That God isn't the judge, or living up in heaven, but rather that God is in each one of us. I know that that is my reality.
Joy. What we all long for. Maharshi explains the power of joy so perfectly, in my opinion. I think it is wonderful that he states that love is caused by joy. Love for oneself will bring about unsurmountable amounts of joy, and to me that is comforting. In the world that we live in, sometimes it is hard to fully and completely love oneself, because it is not the most “popular” thing to do. Somehow, focusing on the things about ourselves that we don't like is easier than loving everything we like, and everything we don't like.
I enjoyed the question and answer part of this piece. I like to speculate that Maharshi is giving a warning against listening to people who push their beliefs on others by using fear. In my opinion, fear is sadly the backbone of many people's religious beliefs. The teacher sees himself as an equal to all beings, because he is all beings. He is no better, and no worse than anyone. The student should want to have a spiritual connection, and to long for the “supreme spiritual bliss.” In my belief, the student should find the teacher, not the other way around.
Maharshi makes quite clear that we are reality. In that, we are God, and God is us. I love this concept, because I feel that it the the one universal bit of knowledge that all religions can agree upon. We are all connected to each other, and so, we are all connected to God.
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4 comments:
I also had to re-read the reading of Ramana Maharshi. Every time I did, I understood his message a little better. I agree that the reading conveyed the message that God is in each one of us and not in a far away place.
Hailey, I was glad to read your comment that you also had to re-read it several times to better understand it. I too still don't feel I know completely what Ramana Maharshi's message is.
However, while you enjoyed it (BTW your comments were so pleasant to read it made me re-read it a 4th time!) I am frustrated by it.
Not knowing, in general, is frustrating to me. So in reality, I'm probably the type of person who needs to understand his meaning the most! I struggle with faith, especially when it comes to understanding why all the bad things happen in this world.
But I absolutely agree with you that God isn't up in Heaven, and that he is in all of us.
As for the first sentence you mention, my feeling is that the flow of language is going on perennially in your own mind, and that gets interrupted by words.
It speaks to me as well because I am big on silence!
Thank you for helping me get a better understanding of "When we stop regarding the unreal as real, than reality alone will remain."I was confused by that part and had to re-read it too. It makes sense that God isn't just up in Heaven, but that he is a part of all of us!
I also had to re-read it like 2 times and with every read it got easier to understand that god is with everyone and everything and not far away up in the sky which is the most common way of thinking.
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