https://selfdefinition.org/ramana/Talks-with-Sri-Ramana-Maharshi--complete.pdf
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D.: What is the method?
M.: ‘Who am I?’ is the investigation.
D.: May we perform japa?
M.: Why should you think I am this? Investigate and the thoughts cease.
What is, namely the Self, will be revealed as the inescapable residue.
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Reality can be reached by holding on to prana or intellect. Hatha yoga is the former; Vichara is the latter.
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D.: I meditate neti-neti (not this - not this).
M.: No - that is not meditation.
Find the source.
You must reach the source without fail.
The false ‘I’ will disappear and the real ‘I’ will be realised.
The former cannot exist apart from the latter.
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D.: We surrender; but still there is no help.
M.: Yes.
If you have surrendered, you must be able to abide by the will of God
and not make a grievance of what may not please you.
Things may turn out differently from what they look apparently. Distress often leads men to faith in God.
D.: But we are worldly. There is the wife, there are the children, friends and relatives. We cannot ignore their existence and resign ourselves to Divine Will, without retaining some little of the personality in us.
M.: That means you have not surrendered as professed by you. You must only trust God.
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Look, the Self is only Be-ing.
Not being this or that.
It is simple Being. Be - and there is an end of the ignorance.
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M.: The sea is not aware of it's wave. Similarly the Self is not aware of its ego.
Note: This makes clear what Sri Bhagavan means by quest for the source of ego.
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Talk 49. Some men asked the Master questions which ultimately resolved themselves into one, that ‘I’ is not perceptible however much they might struggle. The Master’s reply was in the usual strain: “Who is it that says that ‘I’ is not perceptible? Is there an ‘I’ ignorant, and an ‘I’ elusive?
Are there two ‘I’s in the same person? Ask yourself these questions.
It is the mind which says that ‘I’ is not perceptible. Where is that mind from? Know the mind. You will find it a myth.
King Janaka said, ‘I have discovered the thief who had been ruining me so long.
I will now deal with him summarily.
Then I shall be happy.’
Similarly it will be with others.”
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D.: How to know the ‘I’?
M.: The ‘I-I’ is always there. There is no knowing it.
It is not a new knowledge acquired. What is new and not here and now will be evanescent only.
The ‘I’ is always there. There is obstruction to its knowledge and it is called ignorance.
Remove the ignorance and knowledge shines forth.
In fact this ignorance or even knowledge is not for Atman.
They are only over growths to be cleared off.
That is why Atman is said to be beyond knowledge and ignorance. It remains as it naturally is - that is all.
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D.: There is no perceptible progress in spite of our attempts.
M.: Progress can be spoken of in things to be obtained afresh. Whereas here it is the removal of ignorance and not acquisition of knowledge. What kind of progress can be expected in the quest for the Self?
D.: How to remove the ignorance?
M.: While lying in bed in Tiruvannamalai you dream in your sleep that you find yourself in another town. The scene is real to you. Your body remains here on your bed in a room. Can a town enter your room, or could you have left this place and gone elsewhere, leaving the body here? Both are impossible. Therefore your being here and seeing another town are both unreal. They appear real to the mind. The ‘I’ of the dream soon vanishes, then another ‘I’ speaks of the dream. This ‘I’ was not in the dream. Both the ‘I’s are unreal.
There is the substratum of the mind which continues all along, giving rise to so many scenes.
An ‘I’ rises forth with every thought and with its disappearance that ‘I’ disappears too.
Many ‘I’s are born and die every moment.
The subsisting mind is the real trouble. That is the thief according to Janaka. Find him out and you will be happy.
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Talk 50. Sri Bhagavan read out, from the Prabuddha Bharata, Kabir’s saying that all know that the drop merges into the ocean but few know that the ocean merges into the drop. This is para bhakti, said he.
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The Master pointed out that Dakshinamurti did not teach anything of the kind. He did not say that Brahman is related to Sakti or not related. All that was, was only silence; and the doubts of the sishyas (disciples) were cleared.
The significance is that there is nothing to be learnt, discussed and concluded. Everyone knows ‘I am.’ There is the confusion that the ‘I’ is the body.
Because the ‘I’ arises from the Absolute and gives rise to buddhi (Intellect). In buddhi the ‘I’ looks the size and shape of the body, na medhaya means that Brahman cannot be apprehended by buddhi.
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How can such buddhi crossing over aham discover Brahman? It is impossible. Just get over the false conception of the ‘I’ being the body. Discover to whom the thoughts arise. If the present ‘I’-ness vanishes, the discovery is complete. What remains over is the pure Self. Compare deep sleep and wakefulness. Diversity and body are found only in the latter. In the former the Self remains without the perception of body or of the world. Happiness reigns there.
The Sruti vakya, ‘Aham Brahmasmi’, relates to the state and not the mode of mind. One cannot become Brahman by continuing to repeat the mantra. It means that Brahman is not elsewhere. It is your Self. Find that Self; Brahman is found. Do not attempt to reach Brahman as if it were in some far off place
The Pandit remarked that thoughts are so persistent that the aham cannot be reached.
The Master said:
The Brahma akara vritti helps to turn the mind away from other thoughts. Either some such practice is necessary or association with sadhus should be made.
The sadhu has already overcome the mind and remains in Peace. His proximity helps to bring about such condition in others. Otherwise there is no meaning in seeking a sadhu’s company.
Deho aham (I am the body) is limitation and is the root of all mean and selfish actions and desires. Brahma aham (I am Brahman) is passing beyond limitation and signifies sympathy, charity, love etc., which are divine and virtuous.
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para is the terminology of jnana, whereas sushumna is that of Yoga.
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72
The meaning is that, with Self-Realization, real and incessant tapas results.
With the maturing of such tapas some jnanis can make their bodies intangible and invisible. They are known as siddhas.
Later, “the greatness of the siddhas is incomprehensible. They are equal to Siva and can even grant boons.” So said Sri Bhagavan.
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Later, “the greatness of the siddhas is incomprehensible. They are equal to Siva and can even grant boons.” So said Sri Bhagavan.
There is an Upanishad mantra, atmajnam hyarchayet bhutikamah (one desirous of liberation or wealth must serve a Self-realised Sage).
Here is no mention of siddha for granting boons. The Jnani can do so.
The mantras again, swe mahimni pratishtitah (abiding in his own grandeur), anantam Brahma (Brahman is infinite), will seem confounding when read with the slokas cited above.
Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma (All this is Brahman);
Brahmavid Brahmaiva Bhavati (the knower of Brahman becomes Brahman Itself), show that a Jnani is sarvajna (all-knower). What then is the distinction between the Jnani and the siddha, and the ability of the latter to grant boons, implying the absence of it in the former?
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This was the doubt.
The master explained: “The Gita questions were asked in a certain spirit. The answers were according to it. People look to the body only and they want siddhis also. With Self-Realisation no powers can extend even into it, and how can they extend beyond? People anxious for siddhis are not content with their idea of jnana and so want siddhis associated with it.
They are likely to neglect the supreme happiness of jnana and aspire for siddhis.
For this they are going through the by-lanes instead of the royal path and so will likely lose their way.
In order to guide them aright and keep them on the royal road alone the siddhis are said to accompany jnana. In fact jnana comprises all, and a Jnani will not waste even a thought on them. Let the people get jnana and then seek siddhis if they so desire.
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In order to display siddhis there must be others to recognise them. That means there is no jnana in the one who displays them. Therefore siddhis are not worthy of any thought. Jnana alone is to be aimed at and gained.
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Some people think that there are different stages in jnana.
The Self is nitya aparoksha, i.e., ever-realised, knowingly or unknowingly.
Sravana, they argue, should therefore be aparoksha jnana (directly experienced) and not paroksha jnana (indirect knowledge). But jnana should result in duhkha nivriti (loss of misery) whereas sravana alone does not bring it about.
Therefore they say, though aparoksha, it is not unshaken; the rising of vasanas is the cause of its being weak (not unchanging); when the vasanas are removed, jnana becomes unshaken and bears fruit.
Others say sravana is only paroksha jnana. By manana (reflection) it becomes aparoksha spasmodically. The obstruction to its continuity is the vasanas: they rise up with reinforced vigour after manana.
They must be held in check.
Such vigilance consists in remembering, “I am not the body” and adhering to the aparoksha anubhava (direct experience) which has been had in course of manana (reflection).
Such practice is called nididhyasana and eradicates the vasanas.
Then dawns the sahaja state.
That is jnana, sure.
The aparoksha in manana cannot effect dukha nivritti (loss of misery) and cannot amount to moksha, i.e., release from bondage because the vasanas periodically overpower the jnana.
Hence it is adridha (weak) and becomes firm after the vasanas have been eradicated by nididhyasana (one-pointedness).
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Mr. T. K. S. Iyer, a devotee, was speaking of the chakras
Sri Bhagavan said: Atman (the Self) alone is to be realised.
Its realisation holds all else in its compass.
Sakti, Ganapati; siddhis, etc., are included in it.
Those who speak of these have not realised the Atman.
Atman is in the heart and is the Heart itself.
The manifestation is in the brain. The passage from the heart to the brain might be considered to be through sushumna or a nerve with any other name. The Upanishads say pare leena - meaning that sushumna or such nadis are all comprised in para, i.e., the atma nadi. The yogis say that the current rising up to sahasrara (brain) ends there. That experience is not complete. For jnana, they must come to the Heart. Hridaya (Heart) is the alpha and omega.
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Even if interpreted as varnasrama dharma the significance is only this much. Such dharma bears fruit only when done selflessly. That is, one must realise that he is not the doer, but that he is only a tool of some Higher Power. Let the Higher Power do what is inevitable and let me act only according to its dictates. The actions are not mine. Therefore the result of the actions cannot be mine. If one thinks and acts so, where is the trouble?
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M.: What does the Gita say? Arjuna refused to fight.
Krishna said, “So long as you refuse to fight, you have the sense of doership.
Who are you to refrain or to act?
Give up the notion of doership.
Until that sense disappears you are bound to act.
You are being manipulated by a Higher Power.
You are admitting it by your own refusal to submit to it.
Instead recognise the Power and submit as a tool.
Or to put it differently, if you refuse you will be forcibly drawn into it.
Instead of being an unwilling worker, be a willing one.
“Rather, be fixed in the Self and act according to nature without the thought of doership.
Then the results of action will not affect you. That is manliness and heroism.”
Thus, ‘inherence in the Self’ is the sum and substance of Gita teaching.
Finally, the Master Himself added, “If a man be established in the Self these doubts would not arise. They arise only until he is established there.”
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Talk 62.
Mr. Ekanatha Rao: What is sphurana (a kind of indescribable but palpable sensation in the heart centre)?
M.: Sphurana is felt on several occasions, such as in fear, excitement, etc. Although it is always and all over, yet it is felt at a particular centre and on particular occasions. It is also associated with antecedent causes and confounded with the body.
Whereas, it is all alone and pure; it is the Self.
If the mind be fixed on the sphurana and one senses it continuously and automatically it is realisation.
Again sphurana is the foretaste of Realisation. It is pure.
The subject and object proceed from it. If the man mistakes himself for the subject, objects must necessarily appear different from him.
They are periodically withdrawn and projected, creating the world and the subject’s enjoyment of the same. If, on the other hand, the man feels himself to be the screen on which the subject and object are projected there can be no confusion, and he can remain watching their appearance and disappearance without any perturbation to the Self.
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qualified...unqualified monism etc ref.............. Let us not forestall the conclusion. Keep an open mind, dive within and find out the Self. The truth will itself dawn upon you. Why should you determine beforehand if the finality is unity absolute or qualified, or duality? There is no meaning in it. The ascertainment is now made by logic and by intellect.
The intellect derives light from the Self (the Higher Power).
How can the reflected and partial light of the intellect envisage the whole and the original Light?
The intellect cannot reach the Self and how can it ascertain its nature?
Such is the significance of the reference.
D.: One of the stanzas says that the scriptures so scrupulously studied in the earlier stages are ultimately of no use. At what stage do they become useless?
M.: When their essence is realised.
The scriptures are useful to indicate the existence of the Higher Power (the Self) and the way to gain it.
Their essence is that much only.
When that is assimilated the rest is useless.
But they are voluminous, adapted to the development of the seeker.
As one rising up in the scale finds the regions one has passed to be only steps to the higher stage, and so on, the steps ascended become purvapaksha successively until the goal is gained.
When the goal is reached it remains alone, and all the rest becomes useless.
That is how the sastras become useless.
We read so much. Do we remember all that we read? But have we forgotten the essentials?
The essential soaks in the mind and the rest is forgotten. So it is with the sastras.
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The fact is that the man considers himself limited and there arises the trouble. The idea is wrong. He can see it for himself. In sleep there was no world, no ego (no limited self), and no trouble. Something wakes up from that happy state and says ‘I’. To that ego the world appears. Being a speck in the world he wants more and gets into trouble.
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How happy he was before the rising of the ego! Only the rise of the ego is the cause of the present trouble. Let him trace the ego to its source and he will reach that undifferentiated happy state which is sleepless sleep. The Self remains ever the same, here and now. There is nothing more to be gained. Because the limitations have wrongly been assumed there is the need to transcend them. It is like the ten ignorant fools who forded a stream and on reaching the other shore counted themselves to be nine only. They grew anxious and grieved over the loss of the unknown tenth man. A wayfarer, on ascertaining the cause of their grief, counted them all and found them to be ten. But each one of them had counted the others leaving himself out. The wayfarer gave each in succession a blow telling them to count the blows. They counted ten and were satisfied.
The moral is that the tenth man was not got anew.
He was all along there, but ignorance caused grief to all of them.
Again, a woman wore a necklace round her neck but forgot it. She began to search for it and made enquiries. A friend of hers, finding out what she was looking for, pointed out the necklace round the seeker’s neck. She felt it with her hands and was happy. Did she get the necklace anew? Here again ignorance caused grief and knowledge happiness.
Similarly also with the man and the Self.
There is nothing to be gained anew.
Ignorance of the Self is the cause of the present misery;
knowledge of the Self brings about happiness.
Moreover, if anything is to be got anew it implies its previous absence. What remained once absent might vanish again. So there would be no permanency in salvation. Salvation is permanent because the Self is here and now and eternal.
Thus the man’s efforts are directed towards the removal of ignorance. Wisdom seems to dawn, though it is natural and ever present.
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The ajnani takes the world to be real; whereas the Jnani sees it only as the manifestation of the Self. It is immaterial if the Self manifests itself or ceases to do so.
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84.
.......But when the Master was approached on the subject he disentangled the skein very nicely, pointing out that all such confusion was due to the non-differentiation of the real ‘I’ from the false ‘I’. The attributes and modes pertain to the latter and not to the former. One’s efforts are directed only to remove one’s ignorance. Afterwards they cease, and the real Self is found to be always there.
No effort is needed to remain as the Self.
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M.: Bhuma (Perfection) alone is. It is Infinite. There arises from it this finite consciousness taking on an upadhi (limiting adjunct).
This is abhasa or reflection.
Merge this individual consciousness into the Supreme One. That is what should be done.....
D.: Bhuma is an attribute of Supreme Consciousness.
M.: Bhuma is the Supreme - yatra naanyat pasyati yatra naanyat srunoti sa bhuma (where one does not see any other, hears nothing, it is Perfection). It is indefinable and indescribable. It is as it is.
D.: There is a vastness experienced. Probably it is just below Bhuma but close to it. Am I right?
M.: Bhuma alone is. Nothing else. It is the mind, which says all this.
D.: Sri Bhagavan’s silence is itself a powerful force. It brings about a certain peace of mind in us.
M.: Silence is never-ending speech. Vocal speech obstructs the other speech of silence. In silence one is in intimate contact with the surroundings. The silence of Dakshinamurti removed the doubts of the four sages.
Mouna vyakhya prakatita tatvam (Truth expounded by silence.)
Silence is said to be exposition. Silence is so potent. For vocal speech, organs of speech are necessary and they precede speech. But the other speech lies even beyond thought. It is in short transcendent speech or unspoken words, para vak.
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Vritti is often mistaken for consciousness. It is only a phenomenon and operates in the region of abhasa (reflected consciousness).
The knowledge lies beyond relative knowledge and ignorance. It is not in the shape of vritti. There are no subject and object in it.
Vritti belongs to the rajasic (active) mind. The satvic mind (mind is repose) is free from it. The satvic is the witness of the rajasic. It is no doubt true consciousness. Still it is called satvic mind because the knowledge of being witness is the function of abhasa (reflected consciousness) only. Mind is the abhasa.
Such knowledge implies mind. But the mind is by itself inoperative. Therefore it is called satvic mind. Such is the jivanmukta’s state. It is also said that his mind is dead. Is it not a paradox that a jivanmukta has a mind and that it is dead? This has to be conceded in argument with ignorant folk. It is also said that Brahman is only the jivanmukta’s mind. How can one speak of him as Brahmavid (knower of Brahman).
Brahman can never be an object to be known.
This is, however, in accordance with common parlance. Satvic mind is surmised of the jivanmukta and of Iswara. “Otherwise,” they argue, “how does the jivanmukta live and act?” The satvic mind has to be admitted as a concession to argument. The satvic mind is in fact the Absolute consciousness. The object to be witnessed and the witness finally merge together and Absolute consciousness alone reigns supreme. It is not a state of sunya (blank) or ignorance. It is the swarupa (Real Self). Some say that mind arises from consciousness followed by reflection (abhasa); others say that the abhasa (reflection) arises first followed by the mind. In fact both are simultaneous.
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Talk 70.
Sri Raju Sastrigal asked Sri Bhagavan about nada, bindu and kala.
M.: They are in Vedanta terminology prana, mana, buddhi (the life-current, mind and intellect). In the Tantras nada is said to be subtle sound with tejas - light - in it. This light is said to be the body of Siva. When it develops and sound is submerged, it becomes bindu. To be full of light (tejomaya) is the aim. Kala is a part of the bindu.
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M.: Does not one find some kind of peace while in meditation?
That is the sign of progress.
That peace will be deeper and more prolonged with continued practice.
It will also lead to the goal.
Gita, chp 14 - the final verses speak of gunatita, one who has transcended the gunas.
That is the final stage.
The earlier stages are asuddha satva (impure being), misra satva (mixed being), and suddha satva (Pure Being). Of these, the impure being is when overpowered by rajas and tamas; the mixed being is that state in which the being - satva - asserts itself spasmodically; the suddha satva overpowers rajas and tamas. After these successive stages there comes the state transcending gunas.
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The mind is only a projection from the Self, appearing in the waking state. In deep sleep, you do not say whose son you are and so on. As soon as you wake up you say you are so and so, and recognise the world and so on. The world is only lokah, lokah = lokyate iti lokah (what is perceived is the world). That which is seen is lokah or the world. Which is the eye that sees it? That is the ego which rises and sinks periodically. But you exist always. Therefore That which lies beyond the ego is consciousness - the Self
In deep sleep mind is merged and not destroyed.
That which merges reappears. It may happen in meditation also.
But the mind which is destroyed cannot reappear.
The yogi’s aim must be to destroy it and not to sink in laya.
In the peace of dhyana, laya ensues but it is not enough.
It must be supplemented by other practices for destroying the mind.
Some people have gone into samadhi with a trifling thought and after a long time awakened in the trail of the same thought. In the meantime generations have passed away in the world.
Such a yogi has not destroyed his mind.
It's destruction is the non-recognition of it as being apart from the Self.
Even now the mind is not. Recognise it.
How can you do it if not in everyday activities. They go on automatically. Know that the mind promoting them is not real but a phantom proceeding from the Self. That is how the mind is destroyed.
Talk 77.
The Master, while referring to the Bible for “Be still and know that I am God”, Psalm 46, found in the Ecclesiastes. “There is one alone and there is no second” and “The wise man’s heart is at the right hand and a fool’s heart is at the left.”
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Talk 78.
A man from Masulla asked the Master: “How to realise the Self?”
M.: Everyone has experience of the Self every moment of his life.
D.: But the Self is not realised as one would like.
M.: Yes. The present experience is viparita - different from real. What is not is confounded with what is.
D.: How to find the Atman?
M.: There is no investigation into the Atman. The investigation can only be into the non-self.
Elimination of the non-self is alone possible.
The Self being always self evident will shine forth of itself. The Self is called by different names - Atman, God, Kundalini, mantra, etc. Hold any one of them and the Self becomes manifest.
God is no other than the Self.
Kundalini is now showing forth as the mind. When the mind is traced to its source it is Kundalini. Mantra japa leads to elimination of other thoughts and to concentration on the mantra. The mantra finally merges into the Self and shines forth as the Self.
D.: How long is a Guru necessary for Self-Realisation?
M.: Guru is necessary so long as there is the laghu. (Pun on Guru = heavy; laghu = light). Laghu is due to the self-imposed but wrong limitation of the Self. God, on being worshipped, bestows steadiness in devotion which leads to surrender.
On the devotee surrendering, God shows His mercy by manifesting as the Guru.
The Guru, otherwise God, guides the devotee, saying that God is in you and He is the Self.
This leads to introversion of the mind and finally to realisation.
Effort is necessary up to the state of realisation.
Even then the Self should spontaneously become evident.
Otherwise happiness will not be complete.
Up to that state of spontaneity there must be effort in some form or another.
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“Training of mind helps one to bear sorrows and bereavements with courage. But the loss of one’s offspring is said to be the worst of all griefs. Grief exists only so long as one considers oneself to be of a definite form. If the form is transcended one will know that the one Self is eternal. There is no death nor birth. That which is born is only the body. The body is the creation of the ego. But the ego is not ordinarily perceived without the body. It is always identified with the body. It is the thought which matters. Let the sensible man consider if he knew his body in deep sleep. Why does he feel it in the waking state? But, although the body was not felt in sleep, did not the Self exist then? How was he in deep sleep? How is he when awake? What is the difference?
Ego rises up and that is waking. Simultaneously thoughts arise.
Let him find out to whom are the thoughts. Where from do they arise?
They must spring up from the conscious Self.
Apprehending it even vaguely helps the extinction of the ego.
Thereafter the realisation of the one Infinite Existence becomes possible.
In that state there are no individuals other than the Eternal Existence.
Hence there is no thought of death or wailing.
“If a man considers he is born he cannot avoid the fear of death.
Let him find out if he has been born or if the Self has any birth. He will discover that the Self always exists, that the body which is born resolves itself into thought and that the emergence of thought is the root of all mischief. Find where from thoughts emerge. Then you will abide in the ever-present inmost Self and be free from the idea of birth or the fear of death.”
A disciple asked how to do it.
M.: The thoughts are only vasanas (predispositions), accumulated in innumerable births before.
Their annihilation is the aim.
The state free from vasanas is the primal state and eternal state of purity.
D.: It is not clear yet.
M.: Everyone is aware of the eternal Self. He sees so many dying but still believes himself eternal. Because it is the Truth. Unwillingly the natural Truth asserts itself.
The man is deluded by the intermingling of the conscious Self with the insentient body. This delusion must end.
D.: How will it end?
M.: That which is born must end.
The delusion is only concomitant with the ego.
It rises up and sinks.
But the Reality never rises nor sinks. It remains Eternal.
The master who has realised says so; the disciple hears, thinks over the words and realises the Self. There are two ways of putting it.
The ever-present Self needs no efforts to be realised,
Realisation is already there.
Illusion alone is to be removed.
Some say the word from the mouth of the Master removes it instantaneously.
Others say that meditation, etc., are necessary for realisation.
Both are right; only the standpoints differ.
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