Ramana Maharshi  Nan Yar ?  Who am I ? [continued]

As all living beings desire to be happy always, without suffering. As in the case of everyone there is

observed supreme Love for one's Self; & as Happiness alone is the cause for Love, in order to gain that Happiness which is one's Nature & which is experienced in the state of Deep Sleep where there is no Mind, one should know one's Self. For that, the path of Knowledge, the Inquiry of the form "Who am I?", is the principal means.

Notes on Nan Yar:

The verses of Nan Yar?, Who Am I? or the prose format represent the 2^nd purported record of Ramana Maharshi’s responses to questions of devotees, & the very 1^st to be published. The hallowed words speak well for themselves, so instead of presuming to contribute ordinary commentary, the goal here will be to offer short-hand “notes” on the text, as one might make for oneself. Pseudo-mathematical symbology will be used where helpful, taking license with equals signs, & simplified Symbolic Logic arrows.

Encouraging intuition & focus, this superfluous analysis of the direct & literal instructions given, hopes to contribute for some an additional assistance toward discovering the goal & meaning of Life. 

This goal & meaning of Life, in the spirit of the above & succeeding lines, can be indicated  by simplifying Life experience to be a simple sum of 2 functions:

                experience    =           h(Happiness)   +   s(suffering)                  h =   % of Life  =  Happiness

                                                                                                            s  =  %  of Life  =  suffering      

    experience (max)  =   100% (Happiness) + 0% (suffering)                 h =  100%

                                                                                                            s  =  0%          

     

The stated goal then is to have the experience of maximum satisfaction, hinted at by experience (max). No surprise there, that the ideal mix of Happiness & suffering has 100% Happiness &  0% suffering. Now we phrase in terms of a simple Logic arrow, meaning in various contexts: “results in; produces; if 1^st this, then there results that 2^nd.”

                                                                This   ==>  That                       This – leads to – That

Love for what brings Happiness, could inspire reminder “notes” like:

Happiness   ==>  Love             H  ==>  L              H  = Happiness

                                                                                    L  =  Love

Such symbols as in our “notes” might serve contemplation & evaluation of Happiness in simple terms of:  q  = Quantity or intensity/ magnitude, &  t  =  Time duration. Abbreviating maximum Happiness as Happiness (max) or H (max):

                H (max)            =          max Happiness (Quantity, Time-duration) 

                                    =          max    H (q, t)  

                                    =          H(∞,∞)            ==>      Love (max)    ==>       Love (Self)

As more fully described in later teachings texts of the Maharshi & other sages, the maximum Happiness, surely the goal in Life & purpose of Life, is identified in these notes as H(∞,∞), which is to say the Happiness unlimited in quantity & duration. The intent is correct there if we do not quibble about the Math & Logic, because these “notes” are admittedly fast & loose.

          Given the   H  ==>  L   above, it directly follows that:   H(∞,∞)   ==>   Love (max)

          As further indicated in the verses quoted above:  Love (max)  ==>  Love (Self)

 

          Introducing further “notes” in terms of Self-Knowledge, SK, we can equate:

SK    ==>   H(∞,∞)

SK is also designated in various traditions as Self-Realization, God-Realization, the Kingdom of Heaven, Enlightenment, Liberation, Awakening, Release, Nirvana, & so forth. The practice that secures SK & thus H(∞,∞) entails the deep inner quest “Who am I?” which practice is called Self-Inquiry, SI. Similarly abbreviating notes again:

"Who am I?"  =  Self-Inquiry       =  SI   ==>   Self-Knowledge   =   SK   =    H(∞,∞)

SI    ==>   SK   =    H(∞,∞)

Nan Yar? “notes”  &  paraphrase, with excerpts:

[ 1 ]  Enumerating a preliminary neti, neti, “not this, not that” from the Upanishads, the “I” whether yet regarded clearly or not, should be known with complete conviction to be NOT: the Body (deha) & its functions (dhatus); the 5 Sense organs & corresponding sensations; the fundamental signs or functions of Life, the actions; the forms of breath & vital energy; the Mind (manas, etc.); & the primal Ignorance (avidya) remaining as residual impressions in Deep Dreamless Sleep. Then, what at other times is Mind & the known Objects of the World are all absent. The Self is other than all of these.

[ 2 ] " If I am none of these, then: Who am I? After negating all of the above-mentioned as “not this”, “not this”, that Consciousness  which alone remains - that I am.

[3 – 5] What is the nature of the Self ? The nature of Self is Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.  When will the Realization of the Self be gained ? When the World which is what-is-seen has been removed, there will be Realization of the Self which is the Seer. Will there not be Realization of the Self even while the World is in Consciousness ? There will not be."

Again with the text speaking for itself, some symbolic “notes” could be appended as reminders, with S = Self, W = World.  Modified Symbolic Logic makes it easier for the eye untrained in formal Logic to see  “no–World”, for instance, as  “n-W” meaning no Consciousness of a World. This is the negation of  W  =  apparent Consciousness of a World. Similarly, Self-Knowledge = SK  will in turn have as its negation, as used above, the lack of Self-Knowledge or no Self-Knowledge   =   “n-SK”.

In these terms:                                    n-SK   ==>  W

n-W    ==>  SK

W indicates ignorant consciousness of a World, while SK  = Self-Knowledge or Realization of the Self. So then the 2 statements above are “contra-positives” of each other. In a conceptual mathematical “Universe” of possible realizations in Consciousness, we depict the mutually exclusive states of Knowledge, SK & W in a Venn diagram: