Theosophy - A Revolution in OneSelf by N.Sri Ram
A
REVOLUTION IN ONESELF
N.
Sri Ram
A Talk
given at Adyar
IT has
been said that he who sets out to tread the spiritual or occult Path has to
turn himself inside out. That seems a large statement to make; yet I think it
expresses literally the truth of what has to take place, which is nothing less
than a complete revolution in oneself. This, too, may seem exaggerated and even
incomprehensible, but we might approach the nature of the change in this manner:
Let each
one examine himself as he is, his present condition. Leaving the body alone,
as it is only the outer vesture, if he looks at the reactions and ideas present
in his mind he will see that it is not a far-fetched comparison to describe
it as a kind of sack which has varied contents, with its mouth very nearly closed.
Each one has packed it with a certain amount of information about the world
around him, and also with various ideas as to his relationship with that world,
his needs, desires, possessions, beliefs, and so on. His thinking moves very
largely round and in between these ideas.
If we
study ourselves, we will see that when we start thinking on any subject the
mind tends to go over the same track as before. Every movement of the mind produces
a certain groove along which its energies tend to flow again. We may shift our
ideas a little, manipulate and reorder them, transpose them variously, but fundamentally
it is ideas accumulated over a period of time and the reactions connected with
them which constitute the structure of our minds. For the most part the mind
is closed and does not readily admit any ideas or truth which will disturb its
settled condition.
What
has now to take place is the turning of this enclosed mind, which is like a
bag, into something open and different. The turning of it inside out means the
emptying of the mind, the complete purgation of its contents, so that it is
no longer the mind as it has come to be but a pure expanse of consciousness
with nothing adhering to it. We are all acquainted with Einstein’s idea
of space and time as a continuum, that is, an expanse which would be perfectly
smooth and regular but for the fact that there are various objects in it, all
the objects in the universe, which pull it in different ways and create irregularities.
Thus this space becomes finite and enclosed. This is a highly illuminating conception,
whether or not the theory is absolutely correct. Various ideas which are formed
exert each its pressure upon the consciousness, so that at various points it
is pulled towards a certain centre which we call ourselves or pushed away from
it, and what should be a smooth, open expanse becomes an enclosed sack.
It is
when everything that it holds is let go that the consciousness, which in itself
must be thought of as indestructible and extraordinary elastic - everything
about it is extraordinary - is restored to its original condition, without any
distortion, all the irregularities evened out completely, and the various pressures
that wrinkle and constrain it no longer present. More than that, it becomes
free even from any stain or trace of its association with the past contents.
We can see what a wonderful state of mind and heart this would be, open at every
point to reflect, record and know everything with absolute truth. Such a mind,
without that centre of a self to which everything was previously pulled, is
a pure mind capable of reflecting the truth.
Its condition
then is a condition of humility, in which alone there is the possibility of
wisdom. Humility is not self-depreciation, as many people think. When I say
I am an insignificant person, I am deploring my insignificance, expressing the
feeling that I am not as important as I should like to be. It is the desire
for importance, putting oneself on the map prominently and playing a part, which
generates the regretful feeling that one is not there already. Humility is like
the darkness of an extraordinary sensitive photographic film or plate, in which
everything that is before it is truly and faithfully reflected. To reach this
condition one does not have to engage in any pursuit, which would be the pursuit
of a self-projected aim, but one has to denude oneself of everything that stands
in the way of being able to reflect the truth, which truth is about everything
and oneself. Truth manifests itself as in a mirror when there is the condition
in which it can do so. One does not then have to run after it. It is a state
of masterful negativity in which everything positive within its field is automatically
comprehended. Those whom we call the Masters of the Wisdom, as I understand
them, are persons who have arrived at this condition.
In such
a state of humility, which is pure and absolute self-negation, in which there
is a complete absence of egoism and no element of self-assertion, the truth
of whatever happens to confront that state becomes absolutely plain and self-evident.
Any assertion of oneself, which means also of the ideas which the self has attached
to itself and made part of itself, the swelling or pushing of oneself, trying
to impress others, and all such activities of the self have to cease for that
intrinsic negativity, which is also purity and humility, to come into existence.
When
we think of an Adept or a great spiritual Being we generally form an idea of
what he is, which reflects our ignorance. It does not represent the reality
of his state of being. We think of him as having various extraordinary powers,
as a person who has access to hidden worlds and is in a position to grant favours.
He may have such powers, but that is not the essence of his being. It is not
the possession of powers which constitutes perfection. It is the beauty of his
nature, the truth of what he is, which evokes one’s spontaneous love and
wonder.
We have
all read about that nature or principle in man which is termed Buddhi in Sanskrit.
It is generally translated as spiritual Intuition. In the old days Dr. Annie
Besant called it “the pure Reason”. But these descriptions convey
but a partial idea of what it is in its totality. We might think of it simply
as the deeper spiritual nature of man. The reason for my referring to it here
is that it is only in the condition of purity and humility, which I have been
picturing, that this extraordinary faculty of Buddhi, or truth-consciousness
as it has been called, unfolds itself. It has been said that the heart is the
seat of Buddhi, whereas the brain is the seat of Manas. The heart is that nature
which gives of itself freely.
The fundamental
difference between Manas and Buddhi lies in the fact that whereas Manas is an
energy directed outwards to different particulars or parts of a whole, and attempts
to know them and their mutual relations, Buddhi has a different approach. It
embraces the whole with all its parts from within. It knows the truth of a thing
by identification with it, this truth being not merely the truth of what it
is outwardly, the truth of its form, but also and primarily what it is in itself
apart from the form, the truth of the indwelling life. It is a different aspect
of the totality of one’s being which responds to the quality or inner
nature of a thing. There is such a response when there is love of the type that
gives itself.
As H.P.B.
says, Manas and Buddhi have to be brought into harmony with each other, so that
they constitute the unity of Buddhi-Manas. Then there open out various possibilities,
all of which flower out of a condition of giving oneself, the whole of one’s
interest and love to life in every form. The complete giving of oneself is a
state of surrender which cannot be produced by any act of will. Such giving
has to be free and unforced. Only when the self which is a product of the formula,
“I want,” has completely gone, been purged out of one’s nature,
does one attain that absence of tension, purity and sensitiveness in which truth
is made manifest. The change from one point of view is a becoming, but not a
self-becoming. It is an unfoldment made possible by the breaking up of the self,
which process, when it is initiated, proceeds quickly, like the melting of congealed
waters at the onset of spring. It cannot be a conscious becoming, as it is becoming
without self. It is the sense of a separate self which breaks up the unconscious
unity that was our original state. The self, as we can all see, is a thing of
many wants. It is really a product of contradictory desires. As all desire,
for anything whatsoever, is basically self-centred, it is a question whether
it is not the wanting of different things, holding and possessing them , which
creates the illusion of an ego with many contradictory impulses. I am not referring
to that “Ego” in our Theosophical literature which is the sum of
all realized spiritual possibilities, containing within itself the thread which
connects them.
It is
the dissolution of the centre of separateness, which has many forms of action
and expression, which throws out tentacles by which it grasps what it desires
and strives to hold it for its own enjoyment, which is the revolution in oneself.
It is the absence of egoism, manifesting an understanding of one’s fellow
beings not based on one’s reactions, which gives rise to love in the true
spiritual sense. Then instead of an empire of egoism, there is set up in the
heart a different kind of empire, one of love and understanding. And this empire
or state is not static but a constant flowering or burgeoning from within. There
is in it a continual upwelling of the waters of life, a fountain which takes
a new shape from moment to moment.
Even
to perceive the possibility of such a change has great value. The moment we
see the goal we know at least the direction in which to proceed. A single glimpse
of that goal which is in oneself brings a tremendous assurance and an unconcern
with any other thing beside it. One is not misled by counsels of ignorance into
by-paths which are all ways of turning round the self or self-involution.
The revolution
which has to take place is not a revolution in the ordinary sense, not partial,
not violent. It is a revolution which has to take place in a condition of understanding
and freedom from conflict, and is the establishment of an order different from
the order - or rather, the chaos - which exists in us at present, an order that
is a state of freedom and gives rise to a love which casts its rays upon all,
making what is divinely lovely in others manifest to one’s vision. We
are not in that condition at present. What are we to do to create this love?
The answer to this would be: All those things which are of the greatest beauty
and significance can be produced only by Nature, that is, by a wholly natural
process, not by our will or a mind which is limited and ignorant. It is Nature,
the universal Mother, that knows how to bring to fruition the possibilities
that lie latent in all life, how to bring about a complete change, how to produce
something absolutely new. All that we can do is to remove the impediments in
ourselves that prevent that flowering which must take place by itself.
An individual
may be old, stale, encrusted, limited in various ways. Can he become young at
heart, fresh and completely rejuvenated? How is this to be achieved? Not by
any planning on his part or by the will. It cannot be done that way, because
it is only life, which rejuvenates and we must make it possible for this life
to flow freely. As has been said of old, death is the gateway to life - the
renewal of life. Death means the death of all the elements which block the fountain
of life. It is life upwelling from one’s eternal roots which rejuvenates
the individual so that he becomes completely new in his inner being.
A state
of being in which there is no deterioration, a condition of timeless youthfulness,
is possible on the planes of consciousness. The liberated man may have a physical
body which grows old in course of time - that is inevitable, because the body
changes according to the laws of physical Nature - but inwardly in his heart
and being, in his consciousness, he is ever fresh and new, ever like the new-born
child along with all his wisdom. There is no virtue in prolonging one’s
life, but there is virtue in remaining young at heart, new, innocent, unconditioned,
free and incorrupt. That is the nature of the Adept.
If such
a change has to take place unforcedly by a natural process, what then are we
concerned with? “We” means our will and intelligence which can remove
the impediments to that process and liberate that nature which is susceptible
to no conditioning, which we call the spiritual nature. Therefore we are concerned
only with two things: first, truth, or rather, the understanding of truth; second,
the direction of our will towards such unself-seeking action as is possible,
the service we can render for no gain. It seems to me that if life can be reduced
to these two essentials, if we can concentrate on them, and not have any other
aims or desires, whatever can take place in that state of freedom from preoccupation
with oneself, will represent the truth of our fundamental being.
Understanding
is not the understanding of abstractions or gaining the knowledge that is in
encyclopaedias, but it is an understanding of how to live, of our own minds,
of others, how we must act, the way in which to look at things. It is an understanding
which has a direct bearing on all the aspects of our living. It is only by understanding
that the will is changed from being self-will to a selfless will. We often use
the word “will,” but its nature is difficult to understand. It is
so often misunderstood as the so-called will of a dominant, insistent person.
It is stupid to maintain one’s stand doggedly against reason or considerations
affecting the happiness and welfare of all. Will as ordinary understood generates
a consciousness of power which intensifies the sense of separateness and creates
obstacles in the way of the One Will that is at the back of all life and evolution,
the way Life moves when there is no compulsion. The will of the Spirit is not
the will of blind matter, of mechanical self-assertion or aggressive self-defence.
When
we understand these things, we begin to see the direction in which we should
proceed and the possibility of proceeding along it, avoiding different things
which divert us from the road, such as seeking psychic powers, the enhancement
of one’s personality, status, success, and so forth. One has to leave
all that alone to tread that path of which it has been said: “There is
no other path at all to go,” because that path, which is a way of life,
and oneself in one’s truest nature are realized to be the same.
The
Theosophist 1965
Occultism
means that a man takes himself in hand, and not others.
Annie
Besant
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