Means & Ends - 07.08.10

Student Comment: In the study group, we were discussing “The Seven Structures of Duality,” and I found myself thinking the phrase, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” And it seemed to me that if one had a good intention, that the end would justify the means. But if one’s good intentions are leading to hell . . .

“That’s correct, that’s why there must be a transcendence of that structure, means and ends. When the ego is in stillness, there is no longer any intention,” reveals Shunyamurti, the founder of the Sat Yoga Institute in Costa Rica. Ramana Maharshi was once asked a similar question from a professor of religion, a pundit, in India about Nishkama Karma, “and Ramana led him on a walk up the mountain of Arunachala. And along the way, on the trail, they found this stick that was full of thorns and branches, and Ramana just sat down very quietly, found an old leaf, and started polishing the stick. And the pundit who was with him didn’t know what was going on. He just sat and waited. And Ramana sat there for six hours polishing this stick until he got all of the little spines off of it. . . . And when it was done, he got up and started walking. And he had only taken about three steps when this Shepard boy, who lived on the mountain, ran past and was crying, and said he couldn’t capture his sheep because he lost his stick. And Ramana handed him the stick. . . . This was a major teaching for the pundit.” Recorded on the evening of Thursday, July 8, 2010.