A REVOLUTION IN ONESELF

N. Sri Ram

A Talk given at Adyar

IT has been said that he who sets out to tread the spiritual or occult Path has to turn himself inside out.

That seems a large statement to make; yet I think it expresses literally the truth of what has to take

place, which is nothing less than a complete revolution in oneself. This, too, may seem exaggerated

and even incomprehensible, but we might approach the nature of the change in this manner:

Let each one examine himself as he is, his present condition. Leaving the body alone, as it is only the

outer vesture, if he looks at the reactions and ideas present in his mind he will see that it is not a far-

fetched comparison to describe it as a kind of sack which has varied contents, with its mouth very

nearly closed. Each one has packed it with a certain amount of information about the world around

him, and also with various ideas as to his relationship with that world, his needs, desires, possessions,

beliefs, and so on. His thinking moves very largely round and in between these ideas.

If we study ourselves, we will see that when we start thinking on any subject the mind tends to go

over the same track as before. Every movement of the mind produces a certain groove along which its

energies tend to flow again. We may shift our ideas a little, manipulate and reorder them, transpose

them variously, but fundamentally it is ideas accumulated over a period of time and the reactions

connected with them which constitute the structure of our minds. For the most part the mind is closed

and does not readily admit any ideas or truth which will disturb its settled condition.

What has now to take place is the turning of this enclosed mind, which is like a bag, into something

open and different. The turning of it inside out means the emptying of the mind, the complete

purgation of its contents, so that it is no longer the mind as it has come to be but a pure expanse of

consciousness with nothing adhering to it. We are all acquainted with Einstein’s idea of space and

time as a continuum, that is, an expanse which would be perfectly smooth and regular but for the fact

that there are various objects in it, all the objects in the universe, which pull it in different ways and

create irregularities. Thus this space becomes finite and enclosed. This is a highly illuminating

conception, whether or not the theory is absolutely correct. Various ideas which are formed exert each

its pressure upon the consciousness, so that at various points it is pulled towards a certain centre

which we call ourselves or pushed away from it, and what should be a smooth, open expanse becomes

an enclosed sack.

It is when everything that it holds is let go that the consciousness, which in itself must be thought of

as indestructible and extraordinary elastic - everything about it is extraordinary - is restored to its

original condition, without any distortion, all the irregularities evened out completely, and the various

pressures that wrinkle and constrain it no longer present. More than that, it becomes free even from

any stain or trace of its association with the past contents. We can see what a wonderful state of mind

and heart this would be, open at every point to reflect, record and know everything with absolute

truth. Such a mind, without that centre of a self to which everything was previously pulled, is a pure

mind capable of reflecting the truth.

Its condition then is a condition of humility, in which alone there is the possibility of wisdom.

Humility is not self-depreciation, as many people think. When I say I am an insignificant person, I am

deploring my insignificance, expressing the feeling that I am not as important as I should like to be. It

is the desire for importance, putting oneself on the map prominently and playing a part, which

generates the regretful feeling that one is not there already. Humility is like the darkness of an

extraordinary sensitive photographic film or plate, in which everything that is before it is truly and

faithfully reflected. To reach this condition one does not have to engage in any pursuit, which would

be the pursuit of a self-projected aim, but one has to denude oneself of everything that stands in the

way of being able to reflect the truth, which truth is about everything and oneself. Truth manifests

itself as in a mirror when there is the condition in which it can do so. One does not then have to run

after it. It is a

state of masterful negativity in which everything positive within its field is automatically

comprehended. Those whom we call the Masters of the Wisdom, as I understand them, are persons

who have arrived at this condition.

In such a state of humility, which is pure and absolute self-negation, in which there is a complete

absence of egoism and no element of self-assertion, the truth of whatever happens to confront that

state becomes absolutely plain and self-evident. Any assertion of oneself, which means also of the

ideas which the self has attached to itself and made part of itself, the swelling or pushing of oneself,

trying to impress others, and all such activities of the self have to cease for that intrinsic negativity,

which is also purity and humility, to come into existence.

When we think of an Adept or a great spiritual Being we generally form an idea of what he is, which

reflects our ignorance. It does not represent the reality of his state of being. We think of him as having

various extraordinary powers, as a person who has access to hidden worlds and is in a position to

grant favours. He may have such powers, but that is not the essence of his being. It is not the

possession of powers which constitutes perfection. It is the beauty of his nature, the truth of what he

is, which evokes one’s spontaneous love and wonder.

We have all read about that nature or principle in man which is termed Buddhi in Sanskrit. It is

generally translated as spiritual Intuition. In the old days Dr. Annie Besant called it “the pure

Reason”. But these descriptions convey but a partial idea of what it is in its totality. We might think of

it simply as the deeper spiritual nature of man. The reason for my referring to it here is that it is only

in the condition of purity and humility, which I have been picturing, that this extraordinary faculty of

Buddhi, or truth-consciousness as it has been called, unfolds itself. It has been said that the heart is the

seat of Buddhi, whereas the brain is the seat of Manas. The heart is that nature which gives of itself

freely.

The fundamental difference between Manas and Buddhi lies in the fact that whereas Manas is an

energy directed outwards to different particulars or parts of a whole, and attempts to know them and

their mutual relations, Buddhi has a different approach. It embraces the whole with all its parts from

within. It knows the truth of a thing by identification with it, this truth being not merely the truth of

what it is outwardly, the truth of its form, but also and primarily what it is in itself apart from the

form, the truth of the indwelling life. It is a different aspect of the totality of one’s being which

responds to the quality or inner nature of a thing. There is such a response when there is love of the

type that gives itself.

As H.P.B. says, Manas and Buddhi have to be brought into harmony with each other, so that they

constitute the unity of Buddhi-Manas. Then there open out various possibilities, all of which flower

out of a condition of giving oneself, the whole of one’s interest and love to life in every form. The

complete giving of oneself is a state of surrender which cannot be produced by any act of will. Such

giving has to be free and unforced. Only when the self which is a product of the formula, “I want,”

has completely gone, been purged out of one’s nature, does one attain that absence of tension, purity

and sensitiveness in which truth is made manifest. The change from one point of view is a becoming,

but not a self-becoming. It is an unfoldment made possible by the breaking up of the self, which

process, when it is initiated, proceeds quickly, like the melting of congealed waters at the onset of

spring. It cannot be a conscious becoming, as it is becoming without self. It is the sense of a separate

self which breaks up the unconscious unity that was our original state. The self, as we can all see, is a

thing of many wants. It is really a product of contradictory desires. As all desire, for anything

whatsoever, is basically self-centred, it is a question whether it is not the wanting of different things,

holding and possessing them , which creates the illusion of an ego with many contradictory impulses.

I am not referring to that “Ego” in our Theosophical literature which is the sum of all realized spiritual

possibilities, containing within itself the thread which connects them.

It is the dissolution of the centre of separateness, which has many forms of action and expression,

which throws out tentacles by which it grasps what it desires and strives to hold it for its own

enjoyment, which is the revolution in oneself. It is the absence of egoism, manifesting an

understanding of one’s fellow beings not based on one’s reactions, which gives rise to love in the true

spiritual sense. Then instead of an empire of egoism, there is set up in the heart a different kind of

empire, one of love and understanding. And this empire or state is not static but a constant flowering

or burgeoning from within. There is in it a continual upwelling of the waters of life, a fountain which

takes a new shape from moment to moment.

Even to perceive the possibility of such a change has great value. The moment we see the goal we

know at least the direction in which to proceed. A single glimpse of that goal which is in oneself

brings a tremendous assurance and an unconcern with any other thing beside it. One is not misled by

counsels of ignorance into by-paths which are all ways of turning round the self or selfinvolution.

The revolution which has to take place is not a revolution in the ordinary sense, not partial, not

violent. It is a revolution which has to take place in a condition of understanding and freedom from

conflict, and is the establishment of an order different from the order - or rather, the chaos - which

exists in us at present, an order that is a state of freedom and gives rise to a love which casts its rays

upon all, making what is divinely lovely in others manifest to one’s vision. We are not in that

condition at present. What are we to do to create this love? The answer to this would be: All those

things which are of the greatest beauty and significance can be produced only by Nature, that is, by a

wholly natural process, not by our will or a mind which is limited and ignorant. It is Nature, the

universal Mother, that knows how to bring to fruition the possibilities that lie latent in all life, how to

bring about a complete change, how to produce something absolutely new. All that we can do is to

remove the impediments in ourselves that prevent that flowering which must take place by itself.

An individual may be old, stale, encrusted, limited in various ways. Can he become young at heart,

fresh and completely rejuvenated? How is this to be achieved? Not by any planning on his part or by

the will. It cannot be done that way, because it is only life, which rejuvenates and we must make it

possible for this life to flow freely. As has been said of old, death is the gateway to life - the renewal

of life. Death means the death of all the elements which block the fountain of life. It is life upwelling

from one’s eternal roots which rejuvenates the individual so that he becomes completely new in his

inner being.

A state of being in which there is no deterioration, a condition of timeless youthfulness, is possible on

the planes of consciousness. The liberated man may have a physical body which grows old in course

of time - that is inevitable, because the body changes according to the laws of physical Nature - but

inwardly in his heart and being, in his consciousness, he is ever fresh and new, ever like the new-born

child along with all his wisdom. There is no virtue in prolonging one’s life, but there is virtue in

remaining young at heart, new, innocent, unconditioned, free and incorrupt. That is the nature of the

Adept.

If such a change has to take place unforcedly by a natural process, what then are we concerned with?

“We” means our will and intelligence which can remove the impediments to that process and liberate

that nature which is susceptible to no conditioning, which we call the spiritual nature. Therefore we

are concerned only with two things: first, truth, or rather, the understanding of truth; second, the

direction of our will towards such unself-seeking action as is possible, the service we can render for

no gain. It seems to me that if life can be reduced to these two essentials, if we can concentrate on

them, and not have any other aims or desires, whatever can take place in that state of freedom from

preoccupation with oneself, will represent the truth of our fundamental being.

Understanding is not the understanding of abstractions or gaining the knowledge that is in

encyclopaedias, but it is an understanding of how to live, of our own minds, of others, how we must

act, the way in which to look at things. It is an understanding which has a direct bearing on all the

aspects of our living. It is only by understanding that the will is changed from being self-will to a

selfless will. We often use the word “will,” but its nature is difficult to understand. It is so often

misunderstood as the so-called will of a dominant, insistent person. It is stupid to maintain one’s stand

doggedly against reason or considerations affecting the happiness and welfare of all. Will as ordinary

understood generates a consciousness of power which intensifies the sense of separateness and creates

obstacles in the way of the One Will that is at the back of all life and evolution, the way Life moves

when there is no compulsion.

The will of the Spirit is not the will of blind matter, of mechanical self-assertion or aggressive self-

defence.

When we understand these things, we begin to see the direction in which we should proceed and the

possibility of proceeding along it, avoiding different things which divert us from the road, such as

seeking psychic powers, the enhancement of one’s personality, status, success, and so forth. One has

to leave all that alone to tread that path of which it has been said: “There is no other path at all to go,”

because that path, which is a way of life, and oneself in one’s truest nature are realized to be the same.

The Theosophist 1965

Occultism means that a man takes himself in hand, and not others.

Annie Besant