Divine Discourse by Shri Datta Swami on 14th April, 2013

Generally, people think that Shri Ramana Maharshi is a

follower of Advaita. If this is correct, Shri Ramana should have
told that the meaning of ‘I’ is God. According to the followers of
Advaita, the ‘I’ is God (Aham Brahma Asmi). But, Shri Ramana
was always telling that you should search for the source of ‘I’. If
‘I’ is God, there cannot be the source of ‘I’ since God is the
ultimate source of this whole creation. The ‘I’ stands for the
human soul. In Advaita, the soul is said to be God. Shri Ramana
was telling that everybody should search for the source of ‘I’ and
never told that anything about the source of ‘I’. If Shri Ramana
has any information about the source of ‘I’, He should have
revealed that information straight and in that case, there is no need
of the strenuous search for the devotees. Guru is expected to give
the information about critical points. He is not guru if he says that
you should search for the information about a critical point.
People approach guru only to know the information about the
critical point, who are unable to take up the strenuous analysis in
search. Moreover, people may go wrong in searching a critical
point and therefore, the guru is approached so that they can avoid
all these possibilities of risk and danger. Therefore, does this mean
that Shri Ramana is not guru? Certainly, Shri Ramana is not only
guru but also satguru because He is the incarnation of Lord
Subrahmanya, who is the son of Lord Shiva. The main
characteristic of satguru is to give the right information about any
critical point in the spiritual knowledge. All this shows that Shri
Ramana should have given the right information about the source
of ‘I’. But, He did not give it. The reason for that is that the source
of ‘I’ can never be known. The source of ‘I’ is God, who is
unimaginable. Veda and Gita clearly establish this point
(Yasyaamatam..., Maamtu veda na...). Hence, the meaning for the
search of ‘I’ is that God is unimaginable to any extent of analytical
search. In such case, Shri Ramana should have told straight that
God is unimaginable. Here, the practical point is that if you say

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about the unimaginable nature of God, people will not directly
accept it. They may have a doubt that since you are unable to
know God, you are telling that God is unimaginable. Hence, to
realize that God is unimaginable, one has to search through
analysis by himself or herself. Hence, Shri Ramana did not
directly reveal that God is unimaginable and only told that one has
to continuously search the source of ‘I’, which is God till he
arrives to the conclusion that God is unimaginable.
People often quote the incident in which Shri Ramana allowed
an operation of the boil on His body without anaesthesia. Based
on this, people think that the divine soul has the power to tolerate
the pain in the operation. This is the knowledge due to
misunderstanding. The correct concept here is that if you are
identifying yourself as the soul and not as the body, you can easily
detach from the body and will not be affected by any damage of
the body. Gita says that the body is like the shirt of the soul
(Vaasaamsi...). If the shirt is cut by a blade, you need not be hurt
by it. This is called as self-realization (Atma Yoga), which has no
connection with divinity. Self-realization is as good as the
medicine of anaesthesia. Of course, self-realization is better than
such medicines since a poor man may not afford to purchase the
medicine. Moreover, the medicine has always side reactions
affecting your health. Hence, this incident is only a demonstration
of the fruit of Atma yoga, which is purely related to the realm of
this creation (Pravrutti) and has nothing to do with the subject of
creator (Nivrutti).
No doubt, that Shri Ramana is incarnation of God and can do
anything by His will alone. But, such power is not possible in the
case of every ordinary human being. Hence, if He behaves like
God, people also imitate His behaviour thinking that they are also
God. The reason for such misunderstanding is that Shri Ramana is
already misunderstood as the follower of Advaita according to
which every soul is God. Therefore, Shri Ramana always behaved
as an ordinary human being in order to avoid such

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misunderstanding based on misinterpretation of the correct
concept. Hence, Shri Ramana prayed Lord of Arunachala to cure
His mother affected by illness. If Shri Ramana is God by Himself
since every soul is God, He should have cured the illness by His
mere will. In fact, He should have preached His mother also that
she herself is God to cure her illness without depending on others.
Shri Ramana is God based on the concept of human incarnation
and Shri Ramana is not God based on the concept that every soul
is God. If He performs the miracle, people will take the second
concept and not the first. Therefore, to avoid this misconception,
Shri Ramana did not perform the miracle.
Shankara Himself is Lord Shiva and Shri Ramana is
incarnation of the son of Lord Shiva. Being the son, He gave the
correct the interpretation of the philosophy of His father. Shankara
also never told that every soul is God. Shankara only told that He
alone is God based on the concept of human incarnation. Shankara
told that He is God (Shivoham). The disciples did not take this
based on the first concept but took this based on the second
concept. Therefore, everybody started stating that he is God.
Shankara swallowed the molten lead and asked the disciples to do
the same. The disciples unable to do that fell on His divine feet.
Then Shankara modified His statement with more accuracy stating
that He alone is God (Shivah kevaloham). Hence, the conclusion
is that Shri Ramana being the incarnation of Lord Subrahmanya
gave further clarification of the philosophy of His father Shankara
to remove the misunderstanding from the minds of the followers
of Advaita.
Shri Ramana was telling that the ‘I’ will vanish by spiritual
effort repeated practically and God is remained. This appears as if
the ‘I’ (Jeeva or individual soul or thought or mind) is transformed
into God. This is again the misinterpretation of the logic. Suppose,
there are two items: A and B. Suppose, A vanished and B alone is
left over. It appears as if the A has become B. But, actually, the A
being the part of creation disappeared and B being the eternal

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creator, is left over. You must cross over this apparent illusion and
identify the actual truth.
People should realise that they are different from Shri
Ramana like the non-electrified metallic wires different from the
electrified wire. Shri Ramana is the human incarnation in which
the soul is charged by the unimaginable God. The other souls are
not charged by the unimaginable God. Hence, any ordinary human
being should not imitate the human incarnation and should
understand the message given by the human incarnation in the
right sense using the sharp analytical faculty (Buddhi) given by
God. In such case, all the misunderstandings rising from
misinterpretations will vanish and the ordinary human being can
take up the spiritual journey in the right path to reach the right
goal.

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