Talks with Ramana -6

Talk 150.  pg 145

Mrs. and Mr. Kelly, an elderly couple from America, and others of their company desired to know what they should do to gain concentration in face of discomforts of sitting and the sting of mosquitoes, etc. 

M.: The discomforts will not worry you if your concentration is right. Do not mind the discomforts. Keep your mind steady in meditation. 

If you have not the strength and endurance to bear mosquito stings how do you hope to gain realisation of the Self? 

Realisation must be amidst all the turmoils of life.

 If you make yourself comfortable and go to bed you fall asleep. Face the troubles but keep yourself steady in meditation. 

Talk 151. 

The American gentleman is a little hard of hearing. Being accustomed to be self-reliant from his youth he naturally feels worried on account of his hearing becoming defective. 

M.: You were not self-reliant; you were ego-reliant. It is good that ego-reliance is banished and that you become truly Self-reliant. Again Bhagavan said: “There is no cause for worry. Subjugation of senses is a necessary preliminary for Self-Realisation. One sense is subdued for you by God Himself. So much the better.”

The questioner said that he appreciated the humour, but that still his self-respect suffered. 

M.: The Self is only one. Do you feel hurt if you blame yourself or scorn yourself for your errors? If you hold the Self there is no second person to scorn you. 

When you see the world you have lost hold of the Self. 

On the contrary, hold the Self and the world will not appear.

.......

146

M.: Long for it intensely so that the mind melts in devotion. 

After the camphor burns away no residue is left. 

The mind is the camphor; when it has resolved itself into the Self without leaving even the slightest trace behind, it is Realisation of the Self.

............

A more advanced man will naturally go direct to control of mind without wasting his time in practising control of breath. 

A simple development of pranayama alone may confer siddhis which so many hanker for.

....

 When asked about the efficacy of bhakti, Sri Bhagavan said: 

So long as there is vibhakti, there must be bhakti. 

So long as there is viyoga, there must be yoga. 

So long as there is duality, there must be God and devotee. 

Similarly also in vichara. 

So long as there is vichara, there is duality too. 

But merging into the Source there is unity only. 

So it is with bhakti too. Realising the God of devotion, there will be unity only. God too is thought of in and by the Self. 

So God is identical with the Self. 

If one is told to have bhakti for God and he does so straightaway, it is all right. 

But there is another kind of man who turns round and says: 

“There are two, I and God. Before knowing the far-off God, let me know the more immediate and intimate ‘I’.” 

For him the vichara-marga has to be taught. 

There is in fact no difference between bhakti and vichara.

Talk 155. 

The same man again asked about the nature of samadhi and the means to get samadhi. 

M.: When the one who asks the nature of samadhi and the method of getting into it, vanishes, (meaning the questioner vanishes), then samadhi will result.

Maj. Chadwick: It is said that one look of a Mahatma is enough; that idols, pilgrimages, etc. are not so effective. I have been here for three months, but I do not know how I have been benefited by the look of Maharshi. 

M.: The look has a purifying effect. 

Purification cannot be visualised. Just as a piece of coal takes long to be ignited, a piece of charcoal takes a short time, and a mass of gunpowder is instantaneously ignited, so it is with grades of men coming in contact with Mahatmas.

Mr. Cohen: I get into meditation and reach a point which may be called peace and a contemplative mood. What should be the next step?

 M.: Peace is Self-Realisation. Peace need not be disturbed. One should aim at Peace only. 

D.: But I do not have the satisfaction. 

M.: Because your peace is temporary. If made permanent it is called Realisation.

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Talk 160. 

D.: What is the hridaya and what the sphurana therein? How do they appear? 

M.: The hridaya and the sphurana are the same as the Self. 

The sphurana requires a basis for its manifestation. This is explained in the book Vichara Sangraham (Self-Enquiry).

D.: How does the sphurana appear - as light, movement, or what? 

M.: How can it be described in words? It includes all these - It is the Self. Fix your attention on it and do not let go the idea of its ultimate character.

D.: What is yoga? 

M.: Yoga (union) is for one in viyoga (separation). But there is only one. If you realise the Self there will be no difference.

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Talk 172.

A visitor: What is the difference between meditation (dhyana) and investigation (vichara)? 

M.: Both amount to the same. 

Those unfit for investigation must practise meditation.

In this practice the aspirant forgetting himself meditates ‘I am Brahman’ or ‘I am Siva’; thus he continues to hold to Brahman or Siva; this will ultimately end on the residual Being as Brahman or Siva which he will realise to be Pure Being, i.e. the Self. 

He who engages in investigation starts holding on to himself, asks ‘Who am I?’ and the Self becomes clear to him.

D.: Will the knowledge gained by direct experience be lost afterwards?

M.: Kaivalya Navanita says it may be lost. 

Experience gained without rooting out all the vasanas cannot remain steady. 

Efforts must be made to eradicate the vasanas. 

Otherwise rebirth after death takes place. 

Sam: What it clearly means is: 

Tapa is apariharya ...no matter what. 

If vasanas are there, the experience given by the guru won't last long.

It is mandatory that vasanas will have to be eradicated.

..........

Some say direct experience results from hearing from one’s master; others say it is from reflection; yet others say from one pointedness and also from samadhi. Though they look different on the surface, ultimately they mean the same. 

Knowledge can remain unshaken only after all the vasanas are rooted out.

Sv am: Not otherwise

160

D.: What is the difference between meditation and enquiry into the Self? 

M.: Meditation is possible only if the ego be kept up. There is the ego and the object meditated upon. 

The method is indirect. 

Whereas the Self is only one. Seeking the ego, its source, ego disappears. 

What is left over is the Self. 

This method is the direct one.

D.: Then what am I to do? 

M.: To hold on to the Self. 

D.: How? 

M.: Even now you are the Self. But you are confounding this consciousness (or ego) with the absolute consciousness. This false identification is due to ignorance. Ignorance disappears along with the ego. 

Killing the ego is the only thing to accomplish. Realisation is already there. No attempt is needed to attain realisation. For it is nothing external, nothing new. It is always and everywhere here and now too.

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Talk 178. 

D.: What is the flame mentioned in Vichara Sangraha. It is said to be Atma Jyoti and one is directed to find the reality behind it. 

M.: The Vedas mention the flame, Tasyas sikhaya madhye paramatma vyavasthitah. That flame is to be identified with the ego-consciousness.

144

With self-imposed limitations you think that there is a witness of mind and of oblivion. 

You also say, “I am the witness”. That one who witnesses the oblivion must say, “I witness oblivion”. The present mind cannot arrogate to itself that position.

The whole position becomes thus untenable. Consciousness is unlimited. On becoming limited it simply arrogates to itself the position. There is really nothing to witness. IT is simple BEING.

.....

M.: Be what you are. There is nothing to come down or become manifest. All that is needful is to lose the ego. 

That what is, is always there. Even now you are That. You are not apart from it. 

The blank is seen by you. You are there to see the blank. What do you wait for? 

The thought “I have not seen,” the expectation to see and the desire of getting something, are all the working of the ego. 

You have fallen into the snares of the ego. The ego says all these and not you. Be yourself and nothing more!

...........

Talk 184.

 M.: To imagine Muladhara at the bottom, the Heart at the centre, or the head at the top or over all these, is all wrong. 

In one word, to think is not your real nature.

.....

168

M.: Both of you are right, you refer to sahaja nirvikalpa and the other refers to kevala nirvikalpa. 

In the one case the mind lies immersed in the Light of the Self (whereas the same lies in the darkness of ignorance in deep sleep). The subject discriminates one from the other - samadhi, stirring up from samadhi, and activity thereafter, unrest of the body, of the sight of the vital force and of the mind, the cognizance of objects and activity, are all obstructions for him. 

In sahaja, however, the mind has resolved itself into the Self and has been lost. Differences and obstructions mentioned above do not therefore exist here. The activities of such a being are like the  feeding of a somnolent boy, perceptible to the onlooker (but not to the subject). 

The driver sleeping on his moving cart is not aware of the motion of the cart, because his mind is sunk in darkness. Similarly the sahaja Jnani remains unaware of his bodily activities because his mind is dead - having been resolved in the ecstasy of Chit Ananda (Self). 

The two words contemplation and samadhi have been used loosely in the question. Contemplation is a forced mental process, whereas samadhi lies beyond effort.

The ego-ridden mind has its strength sapped and is too weak to resist the torturing thoughts. The egoless mind is happy in deep, dreamless sleep. Clearly therefore Bliss and misery are only modes of mind; but the weak mode is not easily interchangeable with the strong mode. Activity is weakness and consequently miserable; passivity is strength and therefore blissful. The dormant strength is not apparent and therefore not availed of.

The cosmic mind, manifesting in some rare being, is able to effect the linkage in others of the individual (weak) mind with the universal (strong) mind of the inner recess. 

Such a rare being is called the Guru or God in manifestation.

........

Talk 191.  pg 173

Mr. Cohen, a resident disciple, was speaking of yoga method. 

Maharshi remarked:

 Patanjali’s first sutra is applicable to all systems of yoga. The aim is the cessation of mental activities. The methods differ. So long as there is effort made towards that goal it is called yoga. The effort is the yoga. The cessation can be brought about in so many ways. 

(1) By examining the mind itself. When the mind is examined, its activities cease automatically. This is the method of jnana. The pure mind is the Self. 

(2) Looking for the source of the mind is another method. The source may be said to be God or Self or consciousness. 

(3) Concentrating upon one thought make all other thoughts disappear. Finally that thought also disappears; and 

(4) Hatha Yoga. 

All methods are one and the same in as much as they all tend to the same goal.

  It is necessary to be aware while controlling thoughts. Otherwise it will lead to sleep. 

That awareness, the chief factor, is indicated by the fact of Patanjali emphasising pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, samadhi even after pranayama. Pranayama makes the mind steady and suppresses thoughts. Then why develop further? Because awareness then is the one necessary factor. Such states can be imitated by taking morphia, chloroform, etc. They do not lead to Moksha because they lack awareness.

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