Ramana Maharshi stories

1. The Siddhas' Lesson

In the Vasishtam it is stated that Rama, after his return from a pilgrimage, found that the whole world was full of misery and that bearing the body was itself a cause of misery.

He, therefore left everything, even things like eating and drinking, and remained motionless. When Viswamitra asked Dasaratha to send Rama to guard his oblations ceremony
(yagna), Dasaratha said that Rama was like a mad man and
described some of the signs of his madness.

On hearing them, Viswamitra said that he was very pleased to hear of those symptoms, that such madness did not come to many people and that he would like to see him and asked for him to be brought.

Rama accordingly came, prostrated before all those present and sat down. Viswamitra saw him and asked him the cause of his
madness, and addressing Vasishta, said, “Please teach Rama
the knowledge of the Self, the knowledge which Brahma taught
you and me.”

Vasishta agreed to do so. While he was teaching, siddhas from all over came to listen to him and they thought to themselves, “Rama has gained so much knowledge at such a young age. How surprising! How great! What is the use of our living so long?”

Yogi's Penance

Bhagavan narrated the following story to illustrate the distinction between manolaya (stillness of mind) and manonasa (destruction of mind).

A Yogi was doing penance (tapas) for a number of years on the banks of the Ganges. When he had attained a high degree of concentration, he believed that to remain in that state for prolonged periods constituted salvation and therefore continued practising it.

One day, before going into samadhi (a state of deep concentration), he felt thirsty and asked his disciple to bring some water for drinking from the Ganges; but before the disciple could return with the water, he had gone into samadhi, and he remained in that state for countless years.

When he woke up from this experience, the first thing he did was to say, “water! water!”; but there was neither his disciple nor the Ganges in sight.

The first thing which he asked for was water because, before going into deep concentration, the topmost thought in his mind was about water; by concentration, however deep and prolonged it might have been, he had only been able to lull his thoughts temporarily; therefore when he revived consciousness this topmost thought flew up with all the speed and force of a flood breaking through the dykes.

If this was the case with regard to a thought which took shape immediately before he sat for meditation, there is no doubt that other thoughts which had taken deeper root earlier would still remain unannihilated. If annihilation of thoughts is salvation, can he be said to have attained salvation?

The moral is that one should not be taken away by the
spell of temporary stillness but pursue the enquiry till the last
vasana is eradicated.