Wake up!

I recently did a presentation on the life and teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, a Hindu saint that reached liberation at the young age of 16 and spent the rest of his life reflecting on his self discovery and teaching non-dualism to those who came to him with questions. It's really hard to sum up his life and teachings in a simple sentence like that, and doesn't do him justice, but I want to keep this somewhat concise and focused. In this entry I will strive to define non-dualism better than I did in my in-class presentation.
First of all, I realize not everyone reading this is in my class, so I'll give you some background. When I say he reached liberation I mean as a young boy Ramana Maharshi found self realization, discovering that while there is something beyond the physical body there is no separation between selves. Simply put everyone and everything is one. This is a fundamental belief in the Hindu philosophy. How does a 16 year old boy come to such a profound realization? One day Ramana was overwhelmed with the feeling that he was going to die. Rather than calling out for help he laid down and acted out his death, stopped his breathing, held himself stiff to imitate rigor mortis and mediated. Here are his remarks when asked about what is called his awakening:
"'Well then,' I said to myself, 'this body is dead. It will be carried stiff to the burning ground and there burn and reduced to ashes. But with the death of the 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. So I am the Spirit transcending the body. The body dies but the spirit transcending it cannot be touched by death. That means I am the deathless Spirit.' All this was not dull thought; it flashed through me vividly as living truths which I perceived directly almost without thought process. I was something real, the only real thing about my present state, and all the conscious activity connected with the body was centered on that I."

From that moment on he spent his life in temples meditating and teaching those who came to him with questions. That's pretty much a condensed version of my presentation from class, however in this entry I'm going to try and hone in on Non-dualism.

The trouble with understanding non-dualism is we are so used to thinking from the ego. This doesn't necessarily mean we are all self centered and egotistical, but in the society we live in most of what we do is either directly or indirectly driven by self gain or preservation. We think in terms of 'I' and 'Me'. Simply put we are subjective beings. I'm different than you. She's different that him. Non-dualism argues that although we perceive things subjectively we are all the same part of the whole. We are all one. Again, this is really hard to conceptualize in the world we live in. This is America man, we're worried about bringing home the bacon, making a profit, owning the newest fanciest ipod. I have always stood by the idea that in the end the money we make is just green paper, and the stuff we own is just stuff, and that if you let it, it will define you and own you. "The things you own end up owning you". Thanks for that Fight Club. But unfortunately we still live in a society where this is a reality. That's why it's so hard to believe and understand this concept; we live in constant competition with one another.

It's easier to understand Non-dualism if I relate it to something that may be more familiar to us...well...sort of. I remember sitting in my high school English class while my teacher tried to explain what a synecdoche was. Not only is it hard to spell, but it's a weird concept. It boils down to the part representing the whole. For example the phrase "A set of wheels" when referring to a car. This isn't exactly what Non-dualism means, but it's close, and it helps bridge that gap. The main difference is the fact that labeling something as "the part" of the whole, whether it represents the whole or not, creates separation. If something is a part it can't be the same as that other part. Non-dualism tries to teach us that we are more than parts, we are one. The self is eternal because the self is everything. That's why Ramana didn't fear death. Even in the days before the death of his body he showed no fear. He simply told his followers that they shouldn't be sad, for he wasn't going anywhere. Where could he go?

Yes, I realize this realization may seem trivial in our society. I'm not expecting anyone to burn their cash and live in a loin cloth. Ramana Maharshi didn't expect that either. However after learning all of this I couldn't help but have a different mindset in almost everything I did. This doesn't mean I believe all of this, I mean, that's why I'm a philosophy major, I'm constantly searching for the truth. But the mere possibility that we are all one changes things for me. There's a lot more than just the concept of Non-dualism, and if you want more just pick up the Bhagavad Gita. This entry was simply here to better define Non-dualism.