Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi Complete ... - BrahminVoice.org

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
7th September, 1938
Talk 510.
Mr. T. K. S. Iyer read out a passage from a book which admitted of
five different divisions of antahkaranas as follows: (1) Ullam, (2)
mind, (3) intellect, (4) chittam, (5) ego.
Sri Bhagavan said: Four divisions are usual. The fifth item ullam has
been brought in to correspond to five tattvas thus:
(1) Ullam (consciousness) is akasa (ether) tattva from the cranium
to the brows.
(2) Manas (thinking faculty) is vayu (air) tattva from the brows
to the throat.
(3) Buddhi (intellect) is agni (light) tattva from the throat to the
heart.
(4) Chitta (memory) is jala (water) tattva from the heart to the
navel, and,
(5) Ahankar (ego) is prithvi (earth) tattva from the navel to the
coccyx.
Ullam is thus the pure mind or the mind in its pure being, i.e., mind
divested of all thoughts. It is the ether of mind corresponding to the
expanse of mind without being crowded by thoughts.
When a person wakes up from sleep the head is raised and
there is the light of awareness. This light was already there in
the heart which is later reflected on the brain and appears as
consciousness. But this is not particularised until ahankar steps
in. In the undifferentiated state it is cosmic (cosmic mind or cosmic
consciousness). This state lasts usually for a minute interval and
passes off unnoticed. It becomes particularised or differentiated
by the intrusion of the ego and the person says ‘I’. This is always
associated with an entity (here, the body). So the body is identified
as ‘I’ and all else follows.
Because ullam is only the reflected light, it is said to be the moon.
The original light is in the heart which is said to be the sun.
510