DISSOLVING IN ONENESS
During one of our walks near the foot of the hill, TPR was in an exalted, happy mood. He was humming Bhagavan’s Upadesa Undiyar. When he came to the fourth verse, he started repeating it a few times. Suddenly, his face filled with joy and he uttered aloud, “Ondril ondru” which literally means, better than the previous. He repeated it again and again. I asked him what he was trying to convey.
Instead of directly answering my question, TPR said, “There are great advantages when one lives in close proximity with the guru. For the guru will sometimes, suddenly come out with something unique, a never before heard aspect of the Truth!”
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After a long pause he continued, “The usual meaning of this verse, as contained in all publications, is, ‘This is certain: worship, incantation, meditation are performed with body, voice and mind respectively, and are in an ascending order of value’.
But that morning, Bhagavan turned to me when we were walking on the hill and said, ‘The catch words in this particular verse are Ondril ondru. Its meaning is given in all translations as if meditation is better than incantation and incantation is better than worship. It is true, ondru in Tamil means ‘one’. But the deeper meaning of it is, merge, dissolve. Therefore, Ondril ondru truly means, if the seeker merges or dissolves oneself totally in any one of these methods – worship, incantation or meditation – that itself will fully emancipate him. Dissolving one’s ego, one’s mind in the Self, is the crux of all spiritual effort. So, the verse means that, worship, incantation, meditation are performed, respectively, with body, voice, mind. Each one of these methods is equally effective if one dissolves oneself totally, in any one of them. This is certain’.
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TPR continued, “An assurance is needed only when one wants to emphasise a secret or when a rare meaning is expounded, isn’t it? All the methods are equally meritorious, that is, each one is efficacious. Then, where is the need to give an ascending or descending order of value to them? Merging the outgoing mind in the Self is all that is needed of a seeker!”
Let us meditate on this never before heard aspect of Truth graciously uttered by Bhagavan.
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