January 27, 2011

Ramana Maharshi expressed the self, the reality, the absolute as "I-i," written as a capitalized "I," a hyphenated connection "-," and a smaller "I." He takes language to the brink of the ineffable, reduces it to pointers towards that which can't be spoken. He was ingenious in the ways he translated the ancient teachings into something modern folk could sink their teeth into. The big "I" is primary, capitalized, before and above the smaller. It represents the primary effulgent source radiating form, forms with which we identify ourselves and the material cosmos. "I" engulfs "i," but they are both the same just as gold is the same as the ornament, the temporal shape it has taken. There are no real boundaries, just those conjured up by our minds and senses. We must awaken that supreme sense, consciousness without object, the empty infinite brimming, and abide in it.