Timeless wisdom from one of life’s modern greats

Image of Ramana Maharishi in his later years — taken from wikicommons.org

Over the years, spiritual teachers have taken complex ideas and made them easy to understand.

“We become what we think.” The Buddha said on the power of thoughts.

“Love thy neighbour as thyself.” Jesus said on cultivating empathy.

“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.” — Marcus Aurelius said on the importance of having values.

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” Said Mother Teresa about having compassion for others.

And Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” When it came to inspiring a nation.

So, when it was Ramana Maharishi’s turn to share his wisdom on attaining peace, he didn’t mince his words either:

“Let what comes, come. Let what goes, go. See what remains.”

For the past 8 years, I’ve been inquiring into what he meant. I’ve experimented with different techniques and philosophies and came to my own understanding.

For the remainder of this article, I’ll be exploring each line in more depth as well as adding wisdom from some of my favourite spiritual teachers.

Let what comes, come

As much as we are the creators of our own lives, we also have nothing to do with it. So when things come into our lives – whether good or bad – the only thing we can control is how we react.

Something that puts this into perspective for me is the Story of Maybe. I first heard it from Alan Watts and it goes like this:

“Once upon a time there was a Chinese farmer whose horse ran away. That evening, all of his neighbors came around to commiserate.

They said, “We are so sorry to hear your horse has run away. This is most unfortunate.”

The farmer said, “Maybe.”

The next day the horse came back bringing seven wild horses with it, and in the evening everybody came back and said, “Oh, isn’t that lucky. What a great turn of events. You now have eight horses!”

The farmer again said, “Maybe.”

The following day his son tried to break one of the horses, and while riding it, he was thrown and broke his leg.

The neighbors then said, “Oh dear, that’s too bad,” and the farmer responded, “Maybe.”

The next day the conscription officers came around to conscript people into the army, and they rejected his son because he had a broken leg. Again all the neighbors came around and said, “Isn’t that great!”

Again, he said, “Maybe.”

After telling the story Alan Watts went on to explain:

“The whole process of nature is an integrated process of immense complexity, and it’s really impossible to tell whether anything that happens in it is good or bad — because you never know what will be the consequence of the misfortune; or, you never know what will be the consequences of good fortune.”

Ramana Maharishi’s greatness was to summarise this idea into four simple words: “Let what comes, come.” And it’s something I try and live by every day.

Let what goes, go

Following on from that, whatever comes into our lives must eventually go. Whether that be material belongings or our own bodies. How much we cling onto these things ultimately determines how much suffering we experience.

I remember being confronted with this when my ex-girlfriend fell in love with another man in front of my eyes. Initially, I wanted to hold on and beg for another chance because I was hurting. But then I realised that that’s not what love is. Love does not trap or cage from a place of fear, love releases and sets free from a place of gratitude. So I summoned the strength to let her go and I watched love blossom in all its glory.

A year or so later I came across The Butterfly In the Hand metaphor and it captured the essence of my experience perfectly:

If a beautiful butterfly lands in the palm of your hand, the temptation is to make a fist and capture its beauty. But this only kills the butterfly. So, in order to enjoy its presence you must keep your palm open while knowing that it may fly away at any moment.

You must then continue to keep it open even though it flies away because it (or another) can fly back in whenever it’s your time again.

This is a great reminder for me of what letting things go really means. It’s not that I dismiss, disregard, or detach myself from love, it’s loving with all of my heart until life twists and turns. Then I release love with the same acceptance and openness that brought it into my life.

“Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world.” — Ramana Maharishi

See What Remains

Beyond all material things, relationships, and life experiences lies an essential self, one that many spiritual teachers call “I”. However, it’s not an individualistic I, it’s more of an all-encompassing One that some people call God, The Divine, Buddha, Allah, Mohammed, Jesus, The Great Spirit, and more.

“God dwells in you, as you, and you don’t have to ‘do’ anything to be God-realized or Self-realized, it is already your true and natural state” — Ramana Maharishi

I’ve been lucky to experience this through many years of meditation, breathwork, and psychedelic experiences. Each time I do I tap into something greater than myself and it humbles me and puts things into perspective.

What I realise is that we are a mere speck of dust in a great cosmic unfolding, traveling through space on an infinite timeline.

Perhaps Jim Carrey captured the essence of this best when he said: “I used to be a guy who was experiencing the Universe, but now I feel like the Universe experiencing a guy.”

That’s what remains when things come and go and it’s more magnificent than ever.

“Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.” — Alan Watts