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  • 1347462-Session01 - Swami Ramatirtha Lecture The Real Self

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    Ramesh Rajagopalan
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    self advaita

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    1347462-Session01_-_Swami_Ramatirtha_Lecture_The_Real_Self

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    self advaita

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    13 views18 pages

    1347462-Session01 - Swami Ramatirtha Lecture The Real Self

    Uploaded by

    Ramesh Rajagopalan
    self advaita

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 18
    THE REAL SELF Lecture delivered on January 7, 1903 at Golden Gate Hall, San Francisco. The All- Powerful God in the form of ladies and gentlemen, In a German folk-lore we hear about a man who lost his shadow. That is a very strange thing. A man lost his shadow and that man had to suffer for it. All his friends deserted him, all prosperity left him, and he was in a very sorry plight for it. What will you think of a man who instead of losing his shadow loses the substance ? There may be hope for aman who loses only the shadow, but what hope can there be for a man who loses the substance, the body? Such is the case of the majority of people in this world. eee Se a epee in ora reality. Wonder of wonders! The body is simply the shadow, and the real Self, the real Atman, is the reality. Everybody will tell us about his shadow, everybody will tell us anything and everything about his body, but how few are there who will tell us anything and everything about their real Self, the real Soul, the real Atman. What are you ? What is the use of gaining the whole world and losing your own soul? People are trying to gain the whole world but they miss the Soul, they miss the Atman. Lost, lost, lost. What is lost? The horse or the rider? The horseman is lost. The body is like the horse, and the Atman, the true Self, the Soul is like the rider. The rider is lost, the horse is there. Everybody will tell us anything and everything about the horse, but we want to know something about the rider, the horseman, the owner of the horse. Tonight we propose to know what the horseman or the rider, the true Self, the Atman is. That is a deep subject; that is a subject upon which the philosophers of the world have been racking their brains, upon 66 In Woods of God-Realization which each and all have been trying their best. It is a deep subject, and it is hard to do justice to this subject within this short space of one hour or so. Still we shall try to make it as easy as possible by means of an illustration or story. This subject was explained once to a young boy of the age of about 15 or 16, and he understood it thoroughly in a short time. If that boy of the age of 15 or 16 could understand it, each and all of you will be able to understand the subject thoroughly, provided you pay close, undivided attention. The method of exposition will be the same as was adopted in the case of that small boy. Once upon a time, the son of an Indian king came to Rama in the mountains, and put this question, “Swami, Swami, What is God?” “This is a deep question, a very difficult problem. This is the one subject which all the theologies and all the religions propose to investigate, and you want to know all about “it in a short time”. He said, “Yes, sir yes, Swami. Where shall | go to have it explained ? Explain it to me.” The boy was asked, “Dear prince, you want to know what God is, you want to make acquaintance with God, but do you not know that the rule is, when a man wants to see a_great personage, he will have to send his own card first, he will have to send to the chief his own address and name ? Now you want to see God. You had better send to God your card, you had better let God know what you are. Give Him your card. Rama will place it in the hands of God directly and God will come to you, and you will see what God is.” “Well”, the boy said, “It is all right, it is reasonable. | will directly let you know what | am. | am the son of king so and so, living on the Himalayas in Northern India. This is my name.” He wrote it out on a piece of paper. It was taken up by Rama and read. It was not put into the hands of God directly, but was given back to that prince and the prince was told, “O prince, you do not know what you are. You ike the illiters i erson to see your father, the The Real Self 67 king and cannot write his own name. Will your father, the king receive him? Prince, you cannot write your name. How will God receive you? First tell us correctly what you are, and then will Ce God come to you and receive you with open arms.” The boy reflected. He began to think and think over the subject. He said, “Swami, Swami, now | see, now | see. | made a mistake in writing my own name. | have given you the address of the body only, and | have not put upon the paper what | am.” There was an attendant of that prince standing by. The attendant could not understand it. Now the prince was asked to make his meaning clear to this attendant, and so the prince asked the attendant this question, “Mr. so and so, to whom does this card belong?” The man said, “To me.” and taking up a stick from the hands of the attendant the prince asked him, “Mr.so and so, to whom does this stick belong?” The man said “To me.” “Well, to whom does this turban of yours belong?” The man said, “To me.” The prince said, “All right. If the turban belongs is a relation between the turban and you; the turban is your property, and you are the owner. Then you are not the turban, the turban is yours.” He said, “Indeed, that is so plain.” “Well, the pencil belongs to you, the pencil is yours, and you are not the pencil.” He said, “Il am not the pencil because the pencil is mine; that is my property, !am the owner.” Ail right. Then the prince asked that attendant, taking hold of the ears of that attendant, “Whom do these ears belong to?” The attendant said, “To me.” The prince said, “All right, the ears belong to you, the ears are yours. As such you are not the ears.Similiarly the nose belongs to you. As the nose is yours, you are not the nose. Then, whose body is that?” (Just beckoning to the body of the attendant.) The attendant said, “The body is mine; this body is mine.” “If the body is yours, Mr. attendant, then you are not the body; you cannot be the body because you say that the body is yours; you cannot be the body. The very statement- my body, my ears, my head, my 68 In Woods of God-Realization hand proves that you are something else and the body together with the ears and hands and eyes, etc., is something else. This is your property, you are the owner, the master; the body is like your garment and you are the owner. The body is like your horse and you are the owner. Now, what are you?” The attendant understood it so far, and also concurred with the prince in saying that when the prince had put down on paper the address of the body andhad meant that this address stood for himself, the prince had made a mistake. “You are not the body, not the ears, not the Now the prince began to reflect, and said, “Well, well, | am the mind, | am the mind, | must be the mind.” “Is that so indeed ?” The question was put to that prince. “Now, can you tell me how many bones you have got in your body? Can you tell where the food lies in your body that you took this morning ?” The prince could make no answer, and these words escaped his lips, “Well, my intellect does not reach that. | have not read that. |_ have not yet read anythin: physiology or anatomy. My brain does cannot comprehend it.” Now the prince was asked, “Dear prince, O good boy, you say your mind cannot comprehend it intellect cannot reach up to that, your brain cannot understand this. By making these remarks id admit that the brain is yours, the mind is yours, the intellect'is yours. Well, if the intellect is yours, you are not the intellect. If the mind is yours, you are not very words of yours show that you are the master of the intellect, the owner of the brain and the ruler of the mind. You are not the mind, the intellect or the brain. What are you? Think, think, please. Be more careful and fet us now correct wbel-sou are. Then will God be just brought to you, and you will see Please tell us what you are.” The Real Self 69 The boy began to think, and thought and thought but a a could not go further. The body said, “My intellect, my mind cannot.reach further: eee a ere Oh, how true are these words! Indeed the mind or the intellect cannot reach the true Divinity or God within. The real Atman, the true God is beyond the reach of words and minds.

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