The charm of
the World
in the words of Sri Ramana Maharshi
Extract of the book GURU VACHAKA KOVAI
written by Sri Muruganar a great disciple of Sri Ramana Maharshi
The Allurement of the World
71 Just as the goat’s beard wanders and wags for nothing, people roam about
merrily but in vain, doing Karmas for the fulfilment of their worldly desires,
while despising the disciplines [followed by aspirants] which lead to eternal
Moksha (Liberation) in Self. Ah, what a pitiable spectacle is the condition of these worldly
people!
72 Longing for a tiny grain of pleasure, people toil so hard using the mind to
plough the field of the five senses, but they never wish for the flood of Bliss which is the fruit that comes by ploughing the Heart, the Source of the mind,
with [simple] Self-attention. Ah, what a wonder!
73 The moon-like jiva [the mind], ever wedded to the sun-like Self, should
always remain in her home, the Heart; to forsake the Bliss of Self and go
astray for worldly pleasures, is like the madness of a wife who spoils her
precious chastity.
74 Only when the world’s allurement is lost will true Liberation be possible
[and its allurement cannot be lost unless it is found to be unreal]. Hence, to
try to foist reality upon this world is to be just like an infatuated lover who
tries to foist chastity upon a prostitute.
75 Only for the mad folk who are deluded, mistaking this fictitious world as a
fact, and not for the Jnani, is there anything to revel in except Brahman,
which is Consciousness.
76 Will those who are rooted in the Knowledge of Truth stray to worldly ways?
Is it not the base and weak nature of animals that descends to the sensual pleasures of this unreal world?
77 If you ask, “What is the benefit of sacrificing the innumerable sensual
pleasures and retaining mere Consciousness?”, [we reply that] the fruit of
Jnana is the eternal and unbroken experience of the Bliss of Self.
78 Truly there is not the least happiness in any single worldly objects, so how
then is the foolish mind deluded into thinking that happiness comes from them?
79 Fools are now so proud and happy of the wealth and pleasure of this world,
which may at any time abandon them in disappointment and distress.
80 Suffering from the heat of the three-fold desires, all living beings wander
in the empty and arid desert of this dream-world, which is created by the whirl
of past tendencies. The shade of the Bodhi-tree which can completely cool this
heat is only Self, which shines as Turiya [the fourth state].
All desires and pleasures are related with the ego. In reality the ego is only a bundle of desires, likes-deslikes, passions, ambitions, fear, anger etc. It is our real enemy, it is the thief of freedom, peace and real happiness- bliss. This ego virus creates the illusory sense the body is 'Me' or 'I'. ~ Nityamuktananda
Peace, Love, Harmony