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Forty Verses
on Reality by Ramana Maharshi
A Brief
Overview
Forty Verses on
Reality was written at the request of Muruganar, who wanted a
concise synopsis of Ramana’s teaching, and wanted 40 verses to
fit a classical Hindu poetic form. Ramana wrote the verses as
they came to him, and Muruganar arranged them in a particular
order. Forty Verses contains a short and pithy presentation of
Ramana’s teaching of nonduality and practice of inquiry.
Advaita,
non-duality, Identity, is the supreme doctrine. Jnana marga, the
path of knowledge, is the approach to it: Self-enquiry, 'Who am
I?', is the technique Bhagavan taught for this path. There is no
more profound and comprehensive statement of it than his 'Forty
Verses on Reality' which are here given.
Forty Verses
on Reality
Invocatory
i. If Reality
did not exist, could there be any knowledge of existence? Free
from all thoughts, Reality abides in the Heart, the Source of
all thoughts. It is, therefore, called the Heart. How then is
one to contemplate it? To be as it is in the Heart, is Its
contemplation.
ii. Those who
know intense fear of death seek refuge only at the feet of the
Lord Who has neither death nor birth. Dead to themselves and
their possessions, can the thought of death occur to them again?
Deathless are they.
Verses
1. From our
perception of the world there follows acceptance of a unique
First Principle possessing various powers. Pictures of name and
form, the person who sees, the screen on which he sees, and the
light by which he sees: he himself is all of these.
2. All
religions postulate the three fundamentals, the world, the soul,
and God, but it is only the one Reality that manifests Itself as
these three. One can say, 'The three are really three' only so
long as the ego lasts. Therefore, to inhere in one's own Being,
where the 'I', or ego, is dead, is the perfect State.
3. "The world
is real." "No, it, is a mere illusory appearance." "The world is
conscious." "No." "The world is happiness." "No."
What use is
it to argue thus? That State is agreeable to all, wherein,
having given up the objective outlook, one knows one's Self and
loses all notions either of unity or duality, of oneself and the
ego.
4. If one has
form oneself, the world and God also will appear to have form,
but if one is formless, who is it that sees those forms, and
how? Without the eye can any object be seen? The seeing Self is
the Eye, and that Eye is the Eye of Infinity.
5. The body
is a form composed of the five-fold sheath; therefore, all the
five sheaths are implied in the term, body. Apart from the body
does the world exist? Has anyone seen the world without the
body?
6. The world
is nothing more than an embodiment of the objects perceived by
the five sense-organs. Since, through these five sense-organs, a
single mind perceives the world, the world is nothing but the
mind. Apart from the mind can there be a world?
7. Although
the world and knowledge thereof rise and set together it is by
knowledge alone that the world is made apparent. That Perfection
wherein the world and knowledge thereof rise and set, and which
shines without rising and setting, is alone the Reality.
8. Under
whatever name and form one may worship the Absolute Reality, it
is only a means for realizing It without name and form. That
alone is true realization, wherein one knows oneself in relation
to that Reality, attains peace and realizes one's identity with
it.
9. The
duality of subject and object and trinity of seer, sight, and
seen can exist only if supported by the One. If one turns inward
in search of that One Reality they fall away. Those who see this
are those who see Wisdom. They are never in doubt.
10. Ordinary
knowledge is always accompanied by ignorance, and ignorance by
knowledge; the only true Knowledge is that by which one knows
the Self through enquiring whose is the knowledge and ignorance.
11. Is it
not, rather, ignorance to know all else without knowing oneself,
the knower? As soon as one knows the Self, which is the
substratum of knowledge and ignorance, knowledge and ignorance
perish.
12. That
alone is true Knowledge which is neither knowledge nor
ignorance. What is known is not true Knowledge. Since the Self
shines with nothing else to know or to make known, It alone is
Knowledge. It is not a void.
13. The Self,
which is Knowledge, is the only Reality. Knowledge of
multiplicity is false knowledge. This false knowledge, which is
really ignorance, cannot exist apart from the Self, which is
Knowledge-Reality. The variety of gold ornaments is unreal,
since none of them can exist without the gold of which they are
all made.
14. If the
first person, I, exists, then the second and third persons, you
and he, will also exist. By enquiring into the nature of the I,
the I perishes. With it 'you' and 'he' also perish. The
resultant state, which shines as Absolute Being, is one's own
natural state, the Self.
15. Only with
reference to the present can the past and the future exist. They
too, while current, are the present. To try to determine the
nature of the past and the future while ignoring the present is
like trying to count without the unit.
16. Apart,
from us where is time and where is space? If we are bodies, we
are involved in time and space, but are we? We are one and
identical now, then, and forever, here, and everywhere.
Therefore we, timeless, and spaceless Being, alone are.
17. To those
who have not realized the Self, as well as to those who have,
the word 'I' refers to the body, but with this difference, that
for those who have not realized, the 'I' is confined to the body
whereas for those who have realized the Self within the body the
'I' shines as the limitless Self.
18. To those
who have not realized (the Self) as well as to those who have,
the world is real. But to those who have not realized, Truth is
adapted to the measure of the world, whereas to those that have,
Truth shines as the Formless Perfection, and as the Substratum
of the world. This is all the difference between them.
19. Only
those who have no knowledge of the Source of destiny and
free-will dispute as to which of them prevails. They that know
the Self as the one Source of destiny and free-will are free
from both. Will they again get entangled in them?
20. He who
sees God without seeing the Self sees only a mental image. They
say that he who sees the Self sees God. He who, having
completely lost the ego, sees the Self, has found God, because
the Self does not exist apart from God.
21. What is
the Truth of the scriptures which declare that if one sees the
Self one sees God? How can one see one's Self? If, since one is
a single being, one cannot see one's Self, how can one see God?
Only by becoming a prey to Him.
22. The
Divine gives light to the mind and shines within it. Except by
turning the mind inward and fixing it in the Divine, there is no
other way to know Him through the mind.
23. The body
does not say 'I'. No one will argue that even in deep sleep the
'I' ceases to exist. Once the 'I' emerges, all else emerges.
With a keen mind enquire whence this 'I' emerges.
24. This
inert body does not say 'I'. Reality-Consciousness does not
emerge. Between the two, and limited to the measure of the body,
something emerges as 'I'. It is this that is known as Chit-jada-granthi
(the knot between the Conscious and the inert), and also as
bondage, soul, subtle-body, ego, samsara, mind, and so forth.
25. It. comes
into being equipped with a form, and as long as it retains a
form it endures. Having a form, it feeds and grows big. But if
you investigate it this evil spirit, which has no form of its
own, relinquishes its grip on form and takes to flight.
26. If the
ego is, everything else also is. If the ego is not, nothing else
is. Indeed, the ego is all. Therefore the enquiry as to what
this ego is, is the only way of giving up everything.
27. The State
of non-emergence of 'I' is the state of being THAT. Without
questing for that State of the non-emergence of 'I' and
attaining It, how can one accomplish one's own extinction, from
which the 'I' does not revive? Without that attainment how is it
possible to abide in one's true State, where one is THAT?
28. Just as a
man would dive in order to get something that had fallen into
the water, so one should dive into oneself, with a keen
one-pointed mind, controlling speech and breath, and find the
place whence the 'I' originates.
29. The only
enquiry leading to Self-realization is seeking the Source of the
'I' with in-turned mind and without uttering the word 'I'.
Meditation on 'I am not this; I am That' may be an aid to the
enquiry but it cannot be the enquiry.
30. If one
enquires 'Who am I?' within the mind, the individual 'I' falls
down abashed as soon as one reaches the Heart and immediately
Reality manifests itself spontaneously as 'I-I'. Although it
reveals itself as 'I', it is not the ego but the Perfect Being,
the Absolute Self.
31. For Him
who is immersed in the bliss of the Self, arising from the
extinction of the ego, what remains to be accomplished? He is
not aware of anything (as) other than the Self. Who can
apprehend his State?
32. Although
the scriptures proclaim 'Thou art That', it is only a sign of
weakness of mind to meditate 'I am That, not this', because you
are eternally That. What has to be done is to investigate what
one really is and remain That.
33. It is
ridiculous to say either 'I have not realized the Self' or 'I
have realized the Self'; are there two selves, for one to be the
object of the other's realization? It is a truth within the
experience of everyone that there is only one Self.
34. It is due
to illusion born of ignorance that men fail to recognise That
which is always and for everybody the inherent Reality dwelling
in its natural Heart-centre and to abide in it, and that instead
they argue that it exists or does not exist, that it has form or
has not form, or is non-dual or dual.
35. To seek
and abide in the Reality that is always attained, is the only
Attainment. All other attainments (siddhis) are such as are
acquired in dreams. Can they appear real to someone who has
woken up from sleep? Can they that are established in the
Reality and are free from maya, be deluded by them?
36. Only if
the thought 'I am the body' occurs will the meditation 'I am not
this, I am That', help one to abide as That. Why should we for
ever be thinking, 'I am That'? Is it necessary for man to go on
thinking 'I am a man'? Are we not always That?
37. The
contention, 'Dualism during practice, non-dualism on
Attainment', is also false. While one is anxiously searching, as
well as when one has found one's Self, who else is one but the
tenth man? [note - 1]
38. As long
as a man is the doer, he also reaps the fruit of his deeds, but,
as soon as he realizes the Self through enquiry as to who is the
doer his sense of being the doer falls away and the triple karma
[note - 2] is ended. This is the state of eternal Liberation.
39. Only so
long as one considers oneself bound, do thoughts of bondage and
Liberation continue. When one enquires who is bound the Self is
realized, eternally attained, and eternally free. When thought
of bondage comes to an end, can thought of Liberation survive?
40. If it is
said, that Liberation is of three kinds, with form or without
form or with and without form, then let me tell you that the
extinction of three forms of Liberation is the only true
Liberation.
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Notes
1 - This
refers to a traditional story of a party of ten fools who were
travelling together. They had to cross a river and on reaching
the other shore wanted to check up whether all of them had got
safely across. Each one counted in turn, but each one counted
the nine others and forgot himself. So they thought the tenth
man had been drowned and began to mourn him. Just then a
traveller came past and asked them what was the matter. He at
once saw the cause of their mistake and in order to convince
them he made them walk past him one by one, giving each one a
blow as he passed and telling them to count the strokes.
2 - Sanchita,
Agami and Prarabdha.
