RAMANA MAHARSHI | SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTIONS 9. What is the end of devotion and the path of siddhanta [tradition]? It is to learn the truth that all one’s actions performed with unselfish devotion, with the aid of the three purified instruments [body, speech and mind], in the capacity of the servant of the Lord, become the Lord’s actions, and to stand forth free from the sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. This is also the truth of what the Saiva siddhantins [worshipper of Shiva] call Supreme devotion or living in the service of God. 10. What is the end of the path of knowledge or Vedanta? It is to know the Truth that the ‘I’ is not different from the absolute Reality [Ishwara] and to be free from the feeling of being the doer. 11. How can it be said that the end of both these paths is the same? Whatever the means, the destruction of the sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ is the goal, and as these are interdependent, the destruction of either of them causes the destruction of the other; therefore in order to achieve that state of silence which is beyond thought and word, either the path of knowledge which removes the sense of ‘I’ or the path of devotion which removes the sense of ‘mine’, will suffice. So there is no doubt that the end of the paths of devotion and knowledge is one and the same. 12. What is the mark of the ego? The individual soul of the form of ‘I’ is the ego. The Self which is of the nature of intelligence has no sense of ‘I’. Nor does the insentient body possess a sense of ‘I’. The mysterious appearance of a delusive ego between the intelligent and the insentient being the root cause of all these troubles, upon its destruction by whatever means, that which really exists will be seen as it is. This is called liberation.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 16:26:07 +0000
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