The core teaching of Ramana Maharshi focuses on dissolving one's sense of individual volition or doership , kartitva in Sanskrit. The sage mentions that the biggest mental tapas is to subsume one's sense of control and doership. This can be sought either through the path of bhakti, an unconditional acceptance of the will of a higher power, or through the path of jnan, a persistent inquiry into the source of one's thoughts to identify who we are - the query 'Who am I?' According to the sage, all other spiritual paths lead and end only in this quest. The saying 'Not a leaf moves except by His will' expresses this and finds resonance in all faiths. 'Thy Will Be Done' in Christianity and the Urdu phrase 'Manzur-e-Khuda' in Islam imply that acceptance of the will of the Divine is an essential prerequisite for one's peace and spiritual progress.
What we all unconsciously seek in life is peace. Conflict arises from not meeting our expected outcomes. The singular cause of this distress is our sense of control and volition. The Bhagwad Gita provides a solution: we have the right to actions but not the results. Outcomes are never in our control. Sometimes, great efforts do not produce expected outcomes; at other times, surprisingly pleasing outcomes are attained unexpectedly. However, our persistent and innate nature triggers us to ascribe all our successes primarily to our efforts. In his book The Tyranny of Merit, Michael Sandel points out that for all our striving, we are not self-made and self-sufficient. A lively sense of the contingency of our lot can inspire a certain humility, enabling us to accept that, 'There, but for the grace of God, or the accident of birth, or the mystery of fate, go I'. The wisdom of this understanding humbles us and changes our attitude to life for the better.
Far from advocating inaction, an absence of doership promotes non-action, a positive trait that focuses on being in the moment. Ramana Maharshi explains this by distinguishing freedom from free will and ego from egoism. Freedom, as Ramana says, is our birthright. We are ever free, more so as we persevere to associate with our true nature or Self. Our sense of illusory free will provokes disharmony, more so when outcomes and expectations are not met. Ramana also distinguishes ego and egoism. A sage's ego resembles that of a burnt rope, appearing to be independent but incapable of assigning volition to itself, exuding peace and divinity. He likens this to the state of 'wakeful sleep', meaning awake to what happens but without a sense of involvement. Children until around three years old are in this blissful state, with the difference that they are unaware of their innate divinity. Translating this from an intellectual understanding to living by it daily demands reflection and validation of events we experience. As we reflect on the everyday events and actions that we experience and ascribe ownership to, we realise that in almost all cases, our actions involve a thought, a call or an accidental meeting, over none of which we exercise control. Acknowledging this will, over time, help us reduce our entanglement with the sense of doership.
Authored by: Vijay Vancheswar
What we all unconsciously seek in life is peace. Conflict arises from not meeting our expected outcomes. The singular cause of this distress is our sense of control and volition. The Bhagwad Gita provides a solution: we have the right to actions but not the results. Outcomes are never in our control. Sometimes, great efforts do not produce expected outcomes; at other times, surprisingly pleasing outcomes are attained unexpectedly. However, our persistent and innate nature triggers us to ascribe all our successes primarily to our efforts. In his book The Tyranny of Merit, Michael Sandel points out that for all our striving, we are not self-made and self-sufficient. A lively sense of the contingency of our lot can inspire a certain humility, enabling us to accept that, 'There, but for the grace of God, or the accident of birth, or the mystery of fate, go I'. The wisdom of this understanding humbles us and changes our attitude to life for the better.
Far from advocating inaction, an absence of doership promotes non-action, a positive trait that focuses on being in the moment. Ramana Maharshi explains this by distinguishing freedom from free will and ego from egoism. Freedom, as Ramana says, is our birthright. We are ever free, more so as we persevere to associate with our true nature or Self. Our sense of illusory free will provokes disharmony, more so when outcomes and expectations are not met. Ramana also distinguishes ego and egoism. A sage's ego resembles that of a burnt rope, appearing to be independent but incapable of assigning volition to itself, exuding peace and divinity. He likens this to the state of 'wakeful sleep', meaning awake to what happens but without a sense of involvement. Children until around three years old are in this blissful state, with the difference that they are unaware of their innate divinity. Translating this from an intellectual understanding to living by it daily demands reflection and validation of events we experience. As we reflect on the everyday events and actions that we experience and ascribe ownership to, we realise that in almost all cases, our actions involve a thought, a call or an accidental meeting, over none of which we exercise control. Acknowledging this will, over time, help us reduce our entanglement with the sense of doership.
Authored by: Vijay Vancheswar