 |
| Merovingian = the circus master, keeping beings trapped with conditioning and code. Ramana = the voice that reminds you: You are not what you’ve been trained to think. The Bear = the ego/body — acting out its script until that terrifying moment of direct self-recognition. |
Vira Chandra: There are moments in films that pierce deeper than entertainment. One of them comes in The Matrix Reloaded, when the Merovingian, a decadent exile program, delivers his infamous monologue:
"You see, there is only one constant, one universal, it is the only real truth: causality. Action. Reaction. Cause and effect... Beneath our poised appearance, the truth is we are completely out of control."
He speaks with cruel delight, pointing to a woman affected by a programmed dessert. Each sensation in her body — heat, pulse, desire — arises not from free will, but from code. He revels in this, not as a philosopher, but as a manipulator. To him, knowledge of causality is power over others. A sorcerer ruling from within the prison.
And the sting of his words? It lands because it feels true.
That truth is echoed by a very different being: Ramana Maharshi, the silent sage of Arunachala. In a recorded conversation with his devotee Devaraja Mudaliar (in "My recollections of Bhagavan Sri Ramana"), the question was raised:
"I can understand that the outstanding events in a man's life, such as his country, nationality, family, career or profession, marriage, death, etc. are all predestined by his karma, but can it be that all the details of his life, down to the minutest, have already been determined? Now, for instance, I put this fan that is in my hand down on the floor here. Can it be that it was already decided that on such and such a day, at such and such an hour, I shall move the fan like this and put it down here?"
Ramana replied firmly:
"Certainly. Whatever this body is to do and whatever experiences it is to pass through was already decided when it came into existence."
This is the same doctrine of causality, stripped of drama. Not a tool of domination, but a mirror to wakefulness. Ramana confirms: everything the body does is prarabdha karma — the unfolding of destiny. Even the slightest motion, like placing a fan on the floor, is not random. It is written. Already decided.
But here is where the two roads part.
The Merovingian sees this determinism and declares: You are a slave. He clutches it like a whip.
Ramana sees the same truth and whispers: You are not the body.
"The only freedom man has is to strive for and acquire the jnana (knowledge) that will enable him not to identify with the body. The body will go through the actions rendered inevitable by prarabdha... and a man is free either to identify himself with the body and be attached to the fruits of its actions, or to be detached from it and be a mere witness of its activities."
Where the Merovingian builds his empire within the simulation, Ramana turns the gaze inward and breaks the illusion itself.
The question, "Do I have free will or not?" is not resolved by choosing one side. Ramana points beyond the question. He asks:
"Who is it that has this fate or freewill? Find that out, and this question will not arise."
It is a reply that does not comfort the ego — it destroys it.
Ramana once quoted Thayumanavar on this point:
"This is not to be taught to all. Even if we tell them, it will only lead to endless discussion."
And in his Forty Verses, he gives the ultimate answer:
"Such questions worry only those who have not found the source of both freewill and fate. Those who have found this source have left all such discussions behind."
 |
| Ramana |
So yes, the Merovingian's words hit hard because they speak to a mechanical truth we feel inside. We are shaped by causes. Our emotions, preferences, reactions — even our hunger for freedom — all seem triggered.
But Ramana shows what the Merovingian cannot: that the deepest Why is not a cause, but a doorway. When turned inward, the obsession with causality becomes fuel for the ultimate question:
Who am I?
And when that inquiry burns everything else away, one sees:
The body is bound. The ego is a phantom. But the Self was never touched by cause or effect.
That is the only real freedom.
The Merovingian rules the prison.
Ramana invites you to see:
There was no prisoner at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment