You are the Answer
30th December 1879 is the birthday of the Hindu sage Ramana Maharishi, revered as an enlightened being world-wide.
He left his home aged 17 after he had a vision of death where he identified a “Self” or “I” which was neither the body nor the senses but a state of unintermittent self-awareness. Thereafter, he became a sannyasin at the holy hill Arunachala, Tamil Nadu. He began teaching self-enquiry as the path to liberation. He suggested seekers pay constant attention to the “I” to reach a state of effortless self-awareness where the ego evaporates. His method of self-enquiry comprises of questioning “who am I” within, till one arrives at the true nature of Self, which is Awareness.
He was of the view that meditation at specific hours of the day is good for beginners but self-enquiry should be a continuum throughout one’s waking hours. He discouraged renunciation of family or work in favour of a monk’s life of meditation. He emphasized that the path of self-enquiry can be blended with day to day life.
Osho has spoken on Raman Maharishi in His discourses. Osho says Raman Maharishi had no Master, he had nobody to guide him; but just sitting silently watching his own mind, he transcended his mind and he came to know himself. So, whenever anybody asked him – What are we supposed to do? – he had only one answer his whole life: Meditate on “Who am I?” Just by watching; a moment comes when all thinking disappears. As your watchfulness grows, the mind disappears. And the disappearance of the mind is the beginning of knowing your Self. This is the highest peak of consciousness, and unless a man achieves it, he has wasted his life in trivia.
Birthday of Enlightened Sage Ramana Maharishi
30th December 1879 is the birthday of the Hindu sage Ramana Maharishi, revered as an enlightened being world-wide.
He left his home aged 17 after he had a vision of death where he identified a “Self” or “I” which was neither the body nor the senses but a state of unintermittent self-awareness. Thereafter, he became a sannyasin at the holy hill Arunachala, Tamil Nadu. He began teaching self-enquiry as the path to liberation. He suggested seekers pay constant attention to the “I” to reach a state of effortless self-awareness where the ego evaporates. His method of self-enquiry comprises of questioning “who am I” within, till one arrives at the true nature of Self, which is Awareness.
He was of the view that meditation at specific hours of the day is good for beginners but self-enquiry should be a continuum throughout one’s waking hours. He discouraged renunciation of family or work in favour of a monk’s life of meditation. He emphasized that the path of self-enquiry can be blended with day to day life.
Osho has spoken on Raman Maharishi in His discourses. Osho says Raman Maharishi had no Master, he had nobody to guide him; but just sitting silently watching his own mind, he transcended his mind and he came to know himself. So, whenever anybody asked him – What are we supposed to do? – he had only one answer his whole life: Meditate on “Who am I?” Just by watching; a moment comes when all thinking disappears. As your watchfulness grows, the mind disappears. And the disappearance of the mind is the beginning of knowing your Self. This is the highest peak of consciousness, and unless a man achieves it, he has wasted his life in trivia.
BELOVED OSHO,
WHO ARE YOU? SOMEWHERE I FEEL THE ANSWER WILL BE THERE WHEN I REALIZE WHO AM I, YET, WHAT I GET IS ALREADY SO MUCH. TO SIT AT YOUR FEET IS THE GREATEST BLESSING OF ALL MY LIVES. SUDDENLY, I KNOW I AM LOVED BY EXISTENCE. WHAT A DEEP, DEEP JOY TO REALIZE THIS. I AM DANCING IN YOUR GARDEN. THIS IS MORE A SONG OF MY HEART THAN A QUESTION.
WHO ARE YOU, MY BELOVED MASTER? MY TEARS FLOW IN AWE AND WONDER.
Prem Anna, the question is easy and natural, but it is impossible to answer it. “Who am I?” has been asked for thousands of years and it has helped thousands of people to discover themselves, but nobody has been able to find the answer, because one’s being is a mystery. You can ask a question about it, you can experience the mystery, but the answer is not possible, because the answer murders the mystery. An answer is a way of demystifying. You can feel me, you can rejoice with my joy, you can be filled with my song, you can dance to abandon, but these are all making the mystery deeper; they are not answers. One day, you will understand — when you come to know yourself. Knowing is possible, but bringing it to words is impossible.
It is just not in the nature of things to formulate an answer about your innermost being. It is a secret and it is going to remain a secret. In fact, the more you enter into it, the more you are overwhelmed with wonder, not with knowledge — enchanted by its magic, by its silence, by its grandeur, almost breathlessly … you see the greatest beauty that you have ever imagined. But you cannot find any words to describe it, it defies all description; it negates all explanations. The question is significant because the question is nothing but a quest. The question takes you closer to yourself, hoping that you will find the answer — that you will find yourself — but you don’t find the answer. In fact, you find that the question was fundamentally unanswerable.
One of the most enlightened people of this century, Raman Maharishi, had only a simple meditation …. He was uneducated; he left his home when he was seventeen. Somebody, perhaps his mother or father, had died and the shock was so much that for him, the whole world became meaningless. Rather than going to the funeral with the others, he simply escaped into the mountains. The fact — that death is going to take you over any day — made him aware, “I have to know myself before death comes.” He was just a boy, uneducated — he knew nothing of scriptures, he knew nothing of meditation techniques, but out of his innocence, he simply sat in the hills asking only one question: Who am I? He wanted to know before death came. He was not willing to die without knowing himself. WHO AM I? became his only concern, the ultimate concern. At first it was only a question in the mind. Slowly, slowly, it penetrated his blood, his bones, his marrow. A moment came when it was no longer a question — his whole being became thirsty; it became a thirst, a quest. Even the question went beyond words and he was no longer asking, Who am I? His whole being was transformed into the question: Who am I? It was no longer a mental exercise; it became an existential experience.
And the day it happened, the clouds dispersed and he knew the ultimate glory of his being. He became famous all over the world. People from all over the world started coming, just to sit by his feet. He was not an orator; he had no knowledge as such. All that he could teach was simply one thing that had helped him, and that was, “Sit silently with me and just ask the question — `Who am I?’ Go on asking. It automatically comes to a point where words disappear but the question remains — just a feeling, a mood, an overwhelming sense of enquiry. And when it becomes so intense that you can only say that now it is a thirst of every fiber of your being, then, unpredictably, the explosion happens.”
The question disappears, but the answer is not found. The question disappears — you become the answer. First you became the question; now you become the answer. But no verbal answer is found. You don’t come to a logical conclusion that “I am A, or I am B, or I am C.” You know who you are, but your knowledge is far, far away from being reduced to language. You will sing out of sheer gratitude; you will dance out of sheer thankfulness; you will rejoice because you are blessed — when others are groping in the dark, your sky has become completely without clouds and you have come into the open. You are tasting your being, you are seeing your being, you are hearing the music of your being, you are full of the fragrance of your being — but nothing of it is possible to express in words.
Prem Anna, you are saying, “Who are you? Somewhere I feel the answer will be there when I realize who am I.” No, Prem Anna, there will not be any answer anywhere. When you realize, you will also laugh at the very question. You will be there, a tremendous ecstasy will be there, but no answer. It is not a question-answer thing. No answer can satisfy you. You can read all the books of religion and philosophy and theology; you can read all the answers that people have been formulating, but nothing is going to satisfy you. Just as the word `water’ is not going to quench your thirst … and if you are very scientific you can change the word `water’ into `H2O’, but that is not going to help you either. You need real water. And once your thirst is quenched, you cannot express the experience of deep satisfaction. You can just say, “Now there is no longer any thirst!”
That’s what the ultimate experience of oneself comes to: you can say, “Now there is no question at all. All the questions have disappeared — only I am, a light unto itself, a luminosity, a mystery, a wonder, but without any possibility of communicating it to anybody else.” Hence, the whole emphasis in the East has been to have a deep, intimate contact with the man who has come to know himself. He cannot communicate it, but his very being is vibrating and if you come close enough in your love, in your openness, you may be infected by him. He cannot answer, but he can help you catch it. It is not only that you get diseases by infection; you can get health also by infection, by being with a healthy person. You can also get your enlightenment as infection from being with an enlightened man. And this being with the enlightened man is the whole art of disciplehood. Remaining open and available, waiting for the right moment … neither do you know the right moment nor does the master, but the right moment comes.
When you are utterly silent and your ego is absolutely absent, the two flames of the master and the disciple become one. Then they dance hand in hand, then their eyes see into each other — the same source of life, the same mystery, the same spring, eternal spring; the same flowers, the same mysteries. This is called communion. You can get the feel of who you are, in communion with someone who has already reached there. The authentic master does not pretend to be superior to you; all that he can say is, “I am a little ahead of you.” Just a little time gap … which does not make the disciple inferior. You started late; you will reach a little later, but in the eternity of existence nothing is late. It does not matter when you reach. What matters is that you are on the right track. Then the final illumination is going to happen. And if you have seen a man who is already illuminated, he has given you the evidence of your own future. He has proved everything that you need. This creates a trust.
And remember, I make a great difference between belief, faith and trust. Belief is not trust, it is just to repress your doubts. Faith is the whole system of all your beliefs together. In a very systematic way, logical way, all beliefs are connected together and then it becomes your faith, your religion. Trust is just the opposite. It is not to repress your doubt, it is a spontaneous uprising in you, when there is no doubt. The question of repressing doubt does not arise; you have simply come in contact and you have felt your heart beating in the same tune, in a deep synchronicity with the master. It is a heartfelt experience; you know reality cannot be otherwise. Although you have not reached yet, you are on the right path. Your hand is in hands which are pouring their warmth and love, and making you courageous enough to take the quantum leap from the question to a no-answer experience. Your question was asking for the answer, but there is no answer as such.
Experience is the answer, you are the answer. Only your transformation of consciousness is going to quench your thirst.
Source:
Listen to complete discourse at mentioned below link.
Discourse series: From Death to Deathlessness Chapter #24
Chapter title: Blessed are those who doubt
29 August 1985 am in Rajneesh Mandir
References:
Osho has spoken on Mystics like Dadu, Daya, Farid, Gurdjieff, J. Krishnamurti, Kabir, Lalla, Magdalen, Mallibai, Meera, Nanak, Patanjali, Rabiya, Raman Maharishi, Rumi, Sahajo, Sai Baba, Saraha, Socrates, Teresa, Tilopa, Valmiki, Zarathustra and many more in His discourses. Some of these can be referred to in the following books/discourses:
- Sermons in Stones
- Come Come Yet Again Come
- The Hidden Splendour
- Beyond Enlightenment
- The New Dawn
- The Sword and The Lotus
- The Fish in the Sea is Not Thirsty
- Socrates Poisoned Again After 25 Centuries
- Yoga: The Alpha and the Omega
- The Path of Love
- The Book of Wisdom
