The Purpose of Life

Do you fear Death?

Ramana Maharishi (1879-1950) was a South Indian sage and self-realised master of international renown. He taught that the direst method to attain self-realisation is self-enquiry.

This chapter is about the enlightenment of Ramana Maharishi as explained by himself.

"It was about six weeks before I left Madurai for good that the great change in my life took place. It was quite sudden."

"I was sitting alone in a room on the first floor of my uncle's house. I seldom had any sickness and on that day, there was nothing wrong with my health... but a sudden violent fear of death overtook me."

"There was nothing in my state of health to account for it. I just felt I am going to die and began thinking what to do about it. It did not occur to me to consult a doctor or my elders or friends. I felt that I had to solve the problem myself... then and there."

"The shock of the fear of death drove my mind inwards and I said to myself mentally without actually framing the words: Now death has come. What does it mean? What is it that is dying? The body dies..."

"And I, at once, dramatised the occurence of death. I laid with my limbs stretched out stiff as though rigor mortis had set in and imitated a corpse so as to give greater reality to the enquiry."

"I held my breath and kept my lips tightly closed so that no sound could escape. Well then, the body is dead. It will be carried to the burning ground and reduced to ashes."

"But with the death of this body, am I dead? Is the body "I"? It is silent and inert but I feel the full force of my personality and even the voice of "I" within me, apart from it."

"I am the Atman... in the eternally transcended state! The body dies but the atman can never be touched by death. That means "I" am the deathless Atman!"

"All this was not a dull thought, it flashed through me vividly as living truth that I perceived directly... almost without thought process. "I" was something very real, the only real thing about my present state."

"All the conscious activity connected with my body was centered on that "I". From that moment onwards, the "I" focused my attention to itself by a powerful fascination. The fear of death had vanished once and for all. Absorption in the self continued unbroken from that time on."

"Other thoughts might come and go like the varoius notes of music. But the "I" continued like the fundamental shruti note that underlines and blends with all the other notes."

(Shruti: The monotone persisting throughout a Hindu piece of music, like the thread on which beads are strung.)

"Wether the body was engaged in talking, reading or anything else, I was still centered on "I". Previous to that crisis, I had no clear perception of myself and was not consciously attracted to it. I had no interest in it, much less any inclination to dwell permanently in it!"

"Your own self-realisation is the greatest service you can render to the world."

--- Ramana Maharishi