Editorial

The Two Paths

Granted that a path is necessary, the next question is: what path? It is held in India that there are three types of path: jnana marga, bhakti marga and karma marga, the paths of knowledge, devotion and action. Not completely conforming to any of these, there are also the technically intricate types of path of yoga and tantra. These last are difficult to follow in the conditions of our time. They are not considered here but are left to be dealt with later.

Karma marga, the path of action, is also left for later treatment. For the moment, let us consider the two great paths of knowledge and devotion, being and worship, the one aiming at Identity and the other at the union of two, to one or the other of which an aspirant is apt to be drawn by his own temperament. They are not in fact mutually exclusive, although they may seem to be so in theory. "The four margas, karma, bhakti, yoga and jnana, are not exclusive of one another. Each is, however, described separately in classical works only to convey an idea of the appropriate aspect of God to appeal readily to the aspirant according to his predisposition."¹ Nevertheless, aspirants do, in the main, follow either the path of knowledge or that of devotion, often with a certain admixture of the other and of the path of action.
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1 - The Maharshi's Commentary on his 'Five Stanzas to Sri Arunachala', Collected Works, Rider & Co., London, and Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai.

Starting with the path of knowledge: 'knowledge' in this sense does not imply learning, theory or philosophy but intuitive understanding. Indeed, it is the indirect paths that require elaborate theory. Only the bare minimum of theory is needed for the path of knowledge:

Simply that Being is, and you are That
Therefore to know the essential Self of you
Is to know all. But not by gazing at,
As one can know another, for not two
The Ultimate. Knowledge in that high sense
Is simple Being, Being alone is true.

This was the path that Bhagavan taught (although, as will appear later, he allowed for bhakti marga also). The method by which it is to be followed is Self-enquiry, the constant probing into the reality of one's Self. "Self-enquiry leads directly to Self-realization by removing the obstacles which make you think that the Self is not already realized."² It is not the same as meditation, although sometimes loosely so called. "Meditation requires an object to meditate on, whereas in Self-enquiry there is only the subject and no object. That is the difference between them."³ "Concentration is not thinking of one thing. On the contrary it is excluding all thoughts, since all thoughts obstruct the sense of one's true being."⁴ "The effort must be made to suspend thought while retaining consciousness. Usually when thought ceases one goes to sleep; what one must do is to remain awake and conscious and concentrate on the pure sense of being, of 'I am', that remains when thought subsides. It is not easy at first, but with effort and practice it can be done.
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2 - The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi in His Own Words, p. 112, Rider & Co., London, p. 139, Sri Ramanasramam edition.
3 - Ibid., p. 112/139.
4 - Ibid., p. 127/160.

Who am I? "Any answer the mind can give must be wrong," Bhagavan said. In fact the very attempt to give a verbal answer shows that the question has been wrongly considered a philosophical conundrum, when in fact it is a spiritual exercise. The answer begins to come as a current of awareness "body-sensed, mind-known, and yet from both apart."

It is no use thinking that the mind is going to absorb or possess the new knowledge; on the contrary, it must let go and consent to be absorbed by it.

I sought to devour Thee;
Come now and devour me,
Then there will be peace, Arunachala

The devotee or bhakta, on the other hand, does not go so far as to conceive of the non-existence of the ego. Therefore he can also not conceive of the non-existence of the world outside the ego or the God above it. The three go together; if one of them exists all three do. "All religions postulate the three fundamentals, the world, the soul and God; but it is only the one Reality that manifests itself as these three. One can say 'the three are really three' only so long as the ego lasts."⁵
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5 - Forty Verses, v. 2. Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi, Rider & Co., London, and Sri Ramanasramam. Tiruvannamalai.

Therefore the bhakta, instead of recognising 'That which is' as the very Self of him, the sole survivor after the dissolution of the illusory ego or individual being, regards It as the Creator and Sustainer of the individual being, the God to Whom the individual submits, the Lover whom he seeks, the Home to which he returns.

THE TWO PATHS

Don't ask if I believe in God
Not that the query,
But whether I believe in me,
In life and theory.
If I am then the world is, and above
A God that made me, God whose living love
Still draws me back to Him, until I yearn
For that last ineluctable return
To Oneness with Him, otherness burnt out
In fires of love — and find out thus I am not.
As though in dream through distant lands to roam,
Then wake where down you lay: that too a way,
And therefore good; for every way leads home,
Though roundabout.
For those who go direct
There is an austere, high mountain path to be
A haven to yourself, a lamp to yourself,
Knowing there is no separate you to pray
To be united with a separate God
Outside of you, knowing that there just IS.
Let scholars argue this or that is right
And follow neither; whichever way you choose
For you is right.

Bhakti marga is in general the path trodden by Christian and Muslim seekers (and indeed, the very word 'Islam' means 'submission'). The path of knowledge, on the other hand, is in keeping with the original genius of Buddhism and Taoism, although both found themselves obliged later to provide devotional paths for the many who could not aspire so high. Both paths exist side by side in Hinduism. Indeed, some of the greatest saints have been bhaktas. Sri Ramakrishna said "I don't want to become the honey but to remain separate so as to taste the honey." The great Marathi poet-saint Tukaram spoke sometimes from the viewpoint of Identity but was primarily a bhakta. He wrote: "I do not seek God-Consciousness (Brahma-Jnana). I shall always desire dual consciousness — Thou shalt ever remain my Lord and I Thy devotee."

In Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam, although not in Christianity, the most widely used bhakti technique is invocation of the name of God. "The simplest method is chanting the Name and freeing the mind from restlessness," said Swami Ramdas, a great modern bhakta⁶.
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6 - For an article on whom see our issue of January 1964.

The Maharshi also offered his devotees the path of devotion as an alternative to Self-enquiry. He always prescribed Self-enquiry in the first place, but if devotees complained that they found this too difficult he would often add: "There are two ways: ask yourself 'Who am I?' or submit." And indeed, many of his devotees did, and still do, follow him by the path of love, surrender, devotion. Even in this case, however, he did not give an invocation but only prescribed (as did Sai Baba also)⁷ complete surrender to the Guru. He has been known to make the tremendous statement: "Submit to me and I will strike down the mind." Or: "Only be still and I will do the rest."
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7 - For an article on whom see our Issue of July 1964.

It is not an easy thing to keep the mind still, without thoughts, or to submit as Bhagavan understood submission. When one does, the barrier to Truth is weakened and God, Self, Bhagavan does indeed break through and strike down the impostor ego. But what an assurance to receive! And what power in him who can give it!

The surrender has to be complete: not only surrender of all the ego's desires but of the ego that has the desires, until in the end it turns out to be an illusory thing, and bhakti becomes jnana.

Whichever path one follows, the thing is to follow it, not to argue about it. A Christian priest once told Bhagavan that he considered the goal of mystic union envisaged by Christians to be different from the Hindu goal of Moksha and superior to it, and Bhagavan replied: "All right, attain that first and then see whether you still find any difference or anything to criticise." That was always his reply — to turn the critic from theory to practice. Argument did not interest him, only understanding and sincere effort.