Holistic Meditation – I

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There must be some purpose why one is born. If there is no purpose, all our actions would then be meaningless. Would they not? We must go into the question of the purpose of life itself fundamentally. When someone asked Bhagavan, 'What is the purpose of life?' he replied that the very question itself can come only due to good karma. Because many people are not concerned at all about this. They live totally unconcerned, never questioning why they are here on this earth at all. They begin their lives, live and end it, totally wastefully. If there be no purpose to one's existence it would not be different from an animal existence.

Human beings have a highly evolved power of the mind. If we do not use this power even to enquire about the purpose of life itself, we would surely drift along purposelessly. One day would come and go, another would come and go, and so on endlessly. The dates in the calendar would be torn every month, the year's calendar would be folded and thrown away perhaps. Year after year would go by and one would be no wiser essentially than what one was when one was a toddler. So, it's a question which each one of us has to put to ourselves to prevent living a life which has no core meaning.

Individual, World, God

Ramana points out that all life is a relationship between the individual and the world, and the individual and the Supreme. All seeking on the spiritual path is concerned with two questions, 'How, should one relate to the world?' and 'How should one relate to the divine?' In both, the centre is the individual. Therefore the purpose of meditation is to discover the essential nature of the individual. Is he a mere automaton? Is he free or bound? Is he only a creature of circumstances or is he a free man? The individual's importance is always being stressed by Ramana. Ramana shifts the emphasis to the need for understanding the essential nature of the individual. Understanding the nature of the individual is all important.

The total picture

In Ramana's teachings, he places before us certain new ideas, new because we are not used to those ideas. They are based upon his steady abidance in the Self. In order to understand these new insights one has to proceed with reference to certain basic concepts. Ramana himself gives us clues to enable each one of us to experience one's own state of inherent happiness. We are all familiar with the thought that God is everywhere. We also say that God is an inner presence. Both are not contradictions. He who finds the divine presence within himself will find God everywhere. But we have lost touch with God's presence within. Why? Because we do not look within. For we do not know the meaning of what it is to look within.

If you don't know the meaning of what it is to look within, you will miss the magnificence of this inner presence. The inner presence has to be felt by being aware of it. When I give a public talk for instance, I am aware of some familiar faces, I am aware that some are interested, that some are not interested, I am aware of the direction that the talk is taking and so on. Awareness means a perception of what is happening around you, to be able to absorb the totality of the picture. We know only that which is 'outside'. But we miss the totality for we do not know that which is 'within'. The inner movement of the mind is not known to us.

About the author

A.R.Natarajan

Sri A.R.Natarajan has had the opportunity of a long association of over 50 years with the Ramanashram. He was the editor of "Mountain Path" for two years. He was the secretary of Ramana Kendra, New Delhi for ten years. He founded the Ramana Maharshi centre for learning, a non profit institution. He has authored more than thirty six books and eleven pocket books on the life and teachings of Bhagavan Ramana.

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