 129. Psychology |
C. G. Jung States:
Sri Ramana is a true son of the Indian earth. He is genuine and, in addition to that, something quite phenomenal. In India he is the whitest spot in a white space. What we find is the life and teachings of world-liberated and liberating humanity, it is a chant of millenniums. This melody is built up on a single, great motif, which, in a thousand colorful reflexes, rejuvenates itself within the Indian spirit, and the latest incarnation of which is Sri Ramana Maharshi himself.
The identification of the Self with God will strike the European as shocking. It is a specifically Oriental realization, as expressed is Sri Ramana's utterances, Psychology cannot contribute anything further to it, except the remark that it lies beyond its scope to propose such a thing. However, it is clear to the Indian that the Self as spiritual Source is not different from God; and in so far as man abides in his Self, he is not contained in God but is God Himself. Si Ramana is quite clear in this respect.
The Goal of Eastern practices is the same as that of Western mysticism: the focus is shifted from the "I" to the Self, from man to God. This means that the "I" disappears in the Self, and the man in God. A similar effort is described in the exercitia spiritualia, in which the "personal property," the "I" subjugate to the highest possible degree to the possessor ship of Christ.Sri Ramakrishna (Eastern Spirituality) adopted the same position in regard to the Self, only with him the dilemma between the "I" and the Self comes a little more closely to the foreground. Sri Ramana declares unmistakably that the real purpose of spiritual practice is the dissolution of the "I" Ramakrishna, however, shows a somewhat hesitating attitude in this respect. Though he says, "As long as the I-sense lasts, so long are true Knowledge (jnana) and Liberation (mukti) impossible," yet he must acknowledge the fatal nature of ahamkara. He says, "How very few can obtain this Union (samadhi) and free themselves from this 'I'? It is very rarely possible. Talk as much as you want, isolate yourself continuously, still this 'I' will always return to you. Cut down the poplar tree today, and you find tomorrow out forms new shoots. When you ultimately find that this 'I' cannot be destroyed, let it remain as 'I' the servant. In relation to this concession, Sri Ramana is certainly the more radical. The changing relations between these two quantities, the "I" and the Self, represent a field of experience which the introspective consciousness of the East has explored to a degree almost unattainable by the Western human being. The philosophy of the East, which is so very different from ours, represents to us a highly valuable present, which , however, we "must obtain in order to process." Sri Ramana's words once again sum up the principal things which the Spirit of India has accumulated during thousands of years in contemplation of the Inner Self; and the individual life and work of the Maharshi exemplifies once more the innermost striving of the Indian people to find the liberating original Source.
The Eastern nations are threatened by a quick disintegration of their spiritual goods, and what comes into their place cannot always be considered to belong to the best of the Western mind. Therefore, one may look upon a sage like Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Ramana as modern prophets. They not only remind us of the thousands-of-years-old spiritual culture of India, but also directly embody it. Their life and teachings form an impressive warning not to forget the demand of the soul in all the new things of Western civilization and their materialistic-technical and commercial concerns of the world. The breathless impulse to obtain and possessing the political, social and intellectual fields, which is rummaging the apparent, unappeasable passion in the soul of the Westerner, is also spreading continuously in the East and threatens to bear consequences not yet to be overlooked. Not only in India but also in China, much has already been lost in which once the life of the soul lived and flourished. The externalization-culture of the West can truly clear away many evils, the destruction of which seems to be very desirable and advantageous. But, as experience has shown, this progress is brought too dearly with a loss of spiritual culture. It is undoubtedly more comfortable to dwell in a well ordered and hygienically furnished house, but that does not answer the question as to who is the dweller in this house, and weather his soul enjoys a similar state of order and purity, that is like that of the house serving for external life. Once man is set to the pursuit of external things, he is never satisfied, as experience shows, with the mere necessities of life, but always strives after more and more, which, true to his prejudices, he always seeks in external things.
