S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 6 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 2 0 9 Gejza M. Timčák made the heart to start working again. So, in a way the death experiencewas the first process that has led to the absorp - tion into the Being. The second one did no change his state of Being, only shows how the body loses and regains its ability to carry the Self. If one gets the possibility to experience the “death” of the body and the continuity of consciousness without it, this is a very important stage of the path to samādhi . It has to be said that if the guru is willing to help to part with the perception of the outer world and where the perception of the body also vanishes (one has to leave behind all that was perceptible before), it needs great courage to yield-in to this process. Godman is referring to such experience of Ramana Maharshi’s devotees, when they asked for enlightenment, and when Ramana Maharshi rested his sight and energy on them, they suddenly were not able to bear the feeling of “dying” and the process was interrupted (Godman 2015). The author’s experience with this process of letting go everything known and knowable in meditation happened during the inner guidance of an eminent Indian yogi Deoraha Baba. It was a process, where all had to be left behind and the body was as if left to die. It seems that very often this process depends on the help of a qualified yogi. 3.2.1 Mystical Death & Lokās As shown in Timčák (2018, 19), there may be also a question how to avoid reaching higher levels of beingness ( lokās ) during the sādhana andmystical death that requires sometimes more than one life span according to the Indian understanding of life, instead of merging into the Being. Ramana Maharshi himself noted, that some of his followers due to a sudden emergence of desires at the time of death, were to be born at a higher lokā (Godman 2015a) instead of liberation. Godman (2015, 2018) gives references to situations, when Ramana Maharshi expected that to happen. Venkataramiah (1968, 201–202) narrated the following events: It must be remembered that Sri Bhagavan has been with his mother from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. until she passed away. He was all along holding her head with one hand, the other hand placed on her bosom. What does it signify? He Himself said later that there was a struggle between himself and his mother until her spirit reached the Heart. Evidently the soul passes through a series of subtle experiences and Sri Bhagavan’s touch generates a current which turns the soul back from its wandering, into the Heart. The samskāras, however, persist and a struggle is kept up between the spiritual force set up by his touch and the innate samskāras, until the latter are entirely destroyed and the soul is led into the Heart to rest in eternal peace, which is the same as Liberation. Its entry into the Heart is signified by a peculiar sensation perceptible to the Mahātmā [Note: Ramana Maharshi] similar to the tinkling of a bell… When Maharshi attended on Palni swami on his death bed, he took away his hand after the above signal. But Palni swami’s eyes opened immediately, signifying that the spirit had escaped through them, thereby indicating a higher rebirth, but not Liberation. The quotation shows that the vāsanās in the ahamkāra are not easy to annihilate and here qualified help is needed. In case of Ramana Maharshi, only a few of his followers were helped in this process as only a few people appear to have been prepared for this. Nevertheless, even a partial success can make the inner journey to jñāna easier to follow. 3.3 Majjana or “Diving” into the Heart-cave Majjana is characterized as acceptance of the transitoriness of the body (willingness to let go any identification with the body) and non-attachment to sense objects, either internal or external (Ganapati 2016, 55, verse 11). Maharshi himself pro - vides us with the following description of this kind of diving : “ Diving into the Heart – restraining both speech and mind and seeking where shines the I–consciousness – is the direct means of winning the awareness of the Self ” (1991, 21). The diving into the Heart is practiced in a way, that one lets go everything, so that virtually one’s perceptible conscious - ness ‘sinks’ out of the perceptible domain. As mentioned, it is advised to do it in the direction of the Heart-cave ( hrdayakuha ). One of the tasks is to relax from the head-centered feeling of identity to the hridayamone, as the natural tendency is to identify with the body parts as sensed through the cortex (see Fig. 1).
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzgxMzI=