Behind My Hand

vicāra vāhana vāhita "Driven off by the vehicle of Self Enquiry."

The Sage Gautama once spoke a parable, in order to discourage questions about the origin of bondage; he said: “Here you are, bound hand and foot by desire and fear, and here is the straight path to Deliverance. You ask questions about how you came to be bound. They are irrelevant. You should be content to know how you can become free. Do not act like the man who died because he raised untimely questions, and insisted on getting answers. He was going through a forest. An enemy who was waiting for him in an ambush shot him with a poisoned arrow. Accidentally the wounded man was seen by a friend, who went and spread the news. Soon his kinsmen came to him with all necessary appliances. They wanted to pull out the arrow and apply antidotes, to save his life. But the wounded man prevented them, saying ‘You must first inquire and find out all possible details about the enemy — whether he is of high or low caste, tall or short, fair or dark and so on — and about the a...

An important point and one that continues to cause confusion. " Dr. Srinivasa Rao asked Bhagavan, “When we enquire within ‘who am I?’ what is that?” Bhagavan: It is the ego. It is only that which makes the vichara also. The Self has no vichara. That which makes the enquiry is the ego. The ‘I’ about which the enquiry is made is also the ego. As the result of the enquiry the ego ceases to exist and only the Self is found to exist." Day By Day 21-11-45

Transmuting lead into gold, Forged in the fire of Vicara,  Deep ... In the cave of the Heart. Alchemists one and all,  Having taken refuge in Him,  Multiplicity melts.  - MWright 2002

Noticing the to-ing and fro-ing of the mind, the vigilant one immediately practices vichara. But the quieted mind, having no distractions, has no need to practice. (cf. Ashtavakra Samhita, Chapter 18, stanza 17)

It is the universe in its diversity which is generally spoken of as reality. The pairs of opposites (dvandvas) vie for our attention. Good/bad, hot/cold, rich/poor, spiritual/material etc., we give our attention to all of these in order to make judgements on their relative merits. They are the all important opposites. All important because without them the universe as we 'know' it would collapse into Unity. This is how simple the task is. There is no mystery.  Ramana Maharshi appeals to us to sacrifice everything for Truth. It is not that the mind of the jnani (Sage) and the mind of the ajnani (one who 'believes' enlightenment has yet to come) are different. This is simply thought. The sum and substance of the enquiry "Who am I?" is "...to remain still." The wrong identification of Self with body and senses etc. is solved with this enquiry. This state of equilibrium is not unknown to us. To think it is, is again just thought.  samatvam yoga ucy...

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