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    Abide As That: Ramana Maharshi & The Song of Ribhu
    Abide As That: Ramana Maharshi & The Song of Ribhu
    Abide As That: Ramana Maharshi & The Song of Ribhu
    Ebook107 pages1 hour

    Abide As That: Ramana Maharshi & The Song of Ribhu

    By Jason Brett Serle

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    About this ebook

    There are some writings that transcend time and tradition and speak to the ever-present heart of the human experience. Simple yet profound, challenging yet compassionate, the Song of Ribhu is one such example of this. In the same tradition as the Bhagavad Gita or the Ashtavakra Gita, the Ribhu Gita, literally the Song of Ribhu represents the highest declaration of Advaita Vedanta, spoken by the enlightened sage Ribhu to his disciple Nidagha on the slopes of Mount Kedara in the Himalayas. Some 2,500 years later, another awakened master, Sri Ramana Maharshi was touched by these same words, considering them to be one of the most sublime expressions of the awakened state that humanity had ever produced. He spoke of it reverently and would even give copies to his devotees to read. The version that follows is a selection, made by Sri Ramana Maharshi himself, of 45 verses that capture the very essence of the Ribhu Gita - an essence that this fresh and masterful modern translation manages to communicate in simple and elegant English, perfectly adapted to the Western reader. The book also contains the story of Ribhu and Nidagha as told by Sri Ramana Maharshi, as well as excerpts from informal talks with his students to further clarify the themes.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn Hunt Publishing
    Release dateOct 25, 2019
    ISBN9781789042351
    Abide As That: Ramana Maharshi & The Song of Ribhu
    Author

    Jason Brett Serle

    Jason Brett Serle is a British writer, documentary filmmaker, musician, Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) Master and licensed hypnotherapist with a particular focus on psychology, spirituality, wellness and human potential. He has written articles for Jain Spirit and Watkins magazines, as well as interviewing Eckhart Tolle and Amado Crowley. He currently lives in Marbella, Spain.

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      Book preview

      Abide As That - Jason Brett Serle

      Acknowledgements

      Introduction

      Ramana’s Ribhu Gita

      In 1898, shortly after his awakening, Ramana Maharshi was given a copy of the Ribhu Gita by his first attendant, Palaniswami. Quick to recognise that its words were a faithful reflection of the state in which he now found himself naturally abiding in, he praised the text highly and, for the rest of his life, found it to be a valuable tool in teaching and a great aid in turning his devotees back towards the ultimate consideration.

      He said of this event some years later:

      I had read no books other than Periapuranam, my Bible lessons and bits of Tayumanavar or Tevaram. My notion of God (or Iswara as I called the Infinite but Personal Deity) was similar to that found in the Puranas. I had not heard then of Brahman, samsara, etc. I had no idea that there was an Essence or Impersonal Real underlying everything, and that myself and Iswara were both identical with it. At Tiruvannamalai, as I listened to Ribhu Gita and other works, I picked up these facts and discovered that these books were analysing and naming what I had previously felt intuitively without analysis and name.

      The book he was given was a translation into Tamil from Sanskrit, that was considered by many to surpass the original. It was certainly Bhagavan’s preferred version and it was often chanted, discussed, and read in his company; most often in the evening, sometimes for hours at a stretch. Occasionally, the readings would last the whole night. After one such marathon and as a testimony to its power, Bhagavan remarked, These readings from the Ribhu Gita are as good as samadhi.

      Recommended to aspirants as a powerful aid to their spiritual development, he would at times present a copy to a devotee to read. On one such occasion, the book was politely declined on the grounds that it was not understood. It doesn’t matter that you do not understand it, he replied, it will still be of benefit to you.

      According to one of his most intimate devotees, Annamalai Swami, Bhagavan often said that we should read and study the Ribhu Gita regularly. In the Ribhu Gita it is said, ‘That wilful consideration I am not the body, I am not the mind, I am Supreme Being, I am everything is to be repeated again and again until this becomes the natural state.’

      Later in his life, he would speak of the Ashtavakra Gita and the Ribhu Gita as being the two highest, most sublime expressions of the true nature of the Self and he is even reported to have said on occasion that by mere repetition of these texts, one could pass into the natural enlightened state.

      The version that follows is a selection, made by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi himself, of 45 verses that capture and communicate the very essence of the enlightened disposition as put forth in the Ribhu Gita. A second selection he made of only six verses has also been included.

      The Song of Ribhu

      The Ribhu Gita or Song of Ribhu is an ancient Indian spiritual text that is a small portion of a much larger body of writing; an epic poem dedicated to Siva called the Siva Rahasya.

      The complete text deals with religious observances, spiritual instruction, places of pilgrimage, holy rivers and so forth but in the sixth part of this twelve part work of some 10,000 verses, on the slope of Mount Kedara in the Himalayas, a dialogue takes place between the sage Ribhu and his disciple, Nidagha, in much the same manner as is found in the Upanishads. Indeed, other dialogues between Ribhu and Nidagha are to be found throughout the Upanishads and so it is generally thought that the Ribhu Gita originated during this same period, some 2,500 years ago.

      And just as its more famous

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