https://selfdefinition.org/ramana/Talks-with-Sri-Ramana-Maharshi--complete.pdf
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Talk 600.
A young man asked in broken Tamil: How long will it be before Self-Realisation?
M.: First know what Self means and also what Realisation means: then you will know all.
D.: The mind must realise in the Heart.
M.: Be it so. What is mind?
D.: Mind, Heart are all avatars of Perumal (Vaishnavite term for incarnate God).
M.: If so no need to worry ourselves.
D.: On this basis how can we realise?
M.: Surrender the mind to Perumal (God). His avatar cannot remain independent of Him. Render unto Him what is His and be happy.
D.: How to do so?
M.: How is the mind known to us? Owing to its activities, namely, thoughts. Whenever thoughts arise remember they are all modes of Perumal and they cannot be otherwise, this is enough; this is the surrender of the mind.
Can anything exist independent of Perumal? All is Perumal alone. He acts through all. Why worry ourselves?
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Talk 602.
Dr. Emile Gatheir, S. J., Professor of Philosophy at the Sacred Heart College, Shembaganur, Kodaikanal, asked: “Can you kindly give me a summary of your teachings?”
M.: They are found in small booklets, particularly Who am l?
D.: I shall read them. But may I have the central point of your teachings from your lips?
M.: The central point is the thing.
D.: It is not clear.
M.: Find the Centre.
D.: I am from God. Is not God distinct from me?
M.: Who asks this question? God does not ask it. You ask it. So find who you are and then you may find if God is distinct from you.
D.: But God is Perfect and I am imperfect. How can I ever know Him fully?
M.: God does not say so. The question is for you. After finding who you are you may see what God is.
D.: But you have found your Self. Please let us know if God is distinct from you.
M.: It is a matter of experience. Each one must experience it himself.
D.: Oh! I see. But God is Infinite and I am finite. I have a personality which can never merge into God. Is it not so?
M.: Infinity and Perfection do not admit of parts. If a finite being comes out of infinity the perfection of infinity is marred. Thus your statement is a contradiction in terms.
D.: No. I see both God and creation.
M.: How are you aware of your personality?
D.: I have a soul. I know it by its activities.
M.: Did you know it in deep sleep?
D.: The activities are suspended in deep sleep.
M.: But you exist in sleep. So do you now too. Which of these two is your real state?
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Talk 607. S
Bhagavan said to Lady Bateman:
There is a fixed state; sleep, dream and waking states are mere movements in it. They are like pictures moving on the screen in a cinema show. Everyone sees the screen as well as the pictures but ignores the screen and takes in the pictures alone. The Jnani however considers only the screen and not the pictures. The pictures certainly move on the screen yet do not affect it. The screen itself does not move but remains stationary.
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D.: I see, but I can understand it only after I realise the Self.
M.: The Self is always realised.
Were Realisation something to be gained hereafter there is an equal chance of its being lost.
It will thus be only transitory. Transitory bliss brings pain in its train. It cannot be liberation which is eternal. Were it true that you realise it later it means that you are not realised now. Absence of Realisation of the present moment may be repeated at any moment in the future, for Time is infinite. So too, such realisation is impermanent. But that is not true. It is wrong to consider Realisation to be impermanent.
It is the True Eternal State which cannot change.
.......
Talk 610.
A devotee came with these questions.
1. Since individual souls and the Brahman are one, what is the cause of this creation?
2. Is the Brahma-Jnani liable to bodily pains and rebirth? Can he extend his span of life or curtail it?
M.: The object of creation is to remove the confusion of your individuality. The question shows that you have identified yourself with the body and therefore see yourself and the world around. You think that you are the body. Your mind and intellect are the factors of your wrong identity. Do you exist in your sleep?
D.: I do.
M.: The same being is now awake and asks these questions. Is it not so?
D.: Yes.
M.: These questions did not arise in your sleep. Did they?
D.: No.
M.: Why not? Because you did not see your body and no thoughts arose. You did not identify yourself with the body then. Therefore these questions did not arise. They arise now because of your identity with the body. Is it not so?
D.: Yes.
M.: Now see which is your real nature. Is it that which is free from thoughts or that which is full of thoughts?
Being is continuous. The thoughts are discontinuous. So which is permanent?
D.: Being.
M.: That is it. Realise it. That is your true nature. Your nature is simple Being, free from thoughts.
Because you identify yourself with the body you want to know about creation. The world and the objects including your body appear in the waking state but disappear in the state of sleep. You exist all through these states. What is it then that persists through all these states? Find it out. That is your Self.
D.: Supposing it is found, what then?
M.: Find it out and see. There is no use asking hypothetical questions.
D.: Am I then one with Brahman?
M.: Leave Brahman alone. Find who you are. Brahman can take care of Himself.
If you cease to identify yourself with the body no questions regarding creation, birth, death, etc., will arise. They did not arise in your sleep.
Similarly they will not arise in the true state of the Self.
The object of creation is thus clear, that you should proceed from where you find yourself and realise your true Being.
You could not raise the question in your sleep because there is no creation there. You raise the question now because your thoughts appear and there is creation. Creation is thus found to be only your thoughts.
Take care of yourself and the Brahma-jnani will take care of Himself.
If you know your true nature, you will understand the state of Brahma-jnana.
It is futile to explain it now.
Because you think that you see a Jnani before you and you identify him with a body just as you have identified yourself with yours, you also think that he feels pains and pleasures like yourself.
.......
Talk 612.
Mrs. Hick Riddingh asked Sri Bhagavan in writing:
When Bhagavan writes about the help given towards attaining Self Realisation by the gracious glance of the Master or looking upon the Master, how exactly is this to be understood?”
M.: Who is the Master?
Who is the seeker?
D.: The Self.
M.: If the Self be the Master and also the seeker, how can the questions arise at all?
D.: That is just my difficulty. I must seek the Self within myself. What is then the significance of the writing above referred to? It seems contradictory.
M.: It is not.
The statement has not been rightly understood.
If the seeker knows the Master to be the Self, he sees no duality in other respects either; and is therefore happy, so that no questions arise for him.
But the seeker does not bring the truth of the statement to bear in practice.
It is because of his ignorance.
This ignorance is however unreal.
The Master is required to wake up the seeker from the slumber of ignorance and he therefore uses these words in order to make Reality clear to others.
The only thing that matters is that you see the Self.
This can be done wherever you remain.
The Self must be sought within.
The search must be steadfast.
If that is gained there is no need to stay near the Master as a physical being.
The ‘statement’ is meant for those who cannot find the Self remaining where they are.
.........
Mrs. H. R.: I understand the Self to be the Master and must be sought within. So I can do it where I live.
M.: The understanding has been theoretical.
When it is put into practice difficulties and doubts arise.
If you can feel the presence of the Master where you are, your doubts are readily overcome, for the Master’s part consists in removing the doubts of the seeker.
The purpose of your visit is fulfilled if the doubts do not arise hereafter, and you apply yourself steadily in the search for the Self
......
Uncertainties, doubts and fears are natural to everyone until the Self is realised. They are inseparable from the ego, rather they are the ego.
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605
The object here is the Universal Being-Consciousness which is all-pervading and therefore immanent in all. It need not be cognised by reflection alone; it is self-resplendent.
Therefore the seeker’s aim must be to drain away the vasanas from the heart and let no reflection obstruct the Light of Eternal Consciousness.
This is achieved by the search for the origin of the ego and by diving into the heart. This is the direct method for Self-Realisation.
One who adopts it need not worry about nadis, the brain, the Sushumna, the Paranadi, the Kundalini, pranayama or the six centres.
....
The individual confines himself to the limits of the changeful body or of the mind which derives its existence from the unchanging Self.
All that is necessary is to give up this mistaken identity, and that done, the ever-shining Self will be seen to be the single non-dual Reality.
....
........This concentration is called samyamana in the Yoga Sastras. One’s desires can be fulfilled by this process and it is said to be a siddhi. It is how the so-called new discoveries are made. Even worlds can be created in this manner. Samyamana leads to all siddhis.
But they do not manifest so long as the ego lasts.
Concentration according to yoga ends in the destruction of the experiencer (ego), experience and the world, and then the quondam desires get fulfilled in due course. This concentration bestows on individuals even the powers of creating new worlds.
It is illustrated in the Aindava Upakhyana in the Yoga Vasishta and in the Ganda Saila Loka in the Tripura Rahasya. Although the powers appear to be wonderful to those who do not possess them, yet they are only transient.
It is useless to aspire for that which is transient.
All these wonders are contained in the one changeless Self. The world is thus within and not without.
This meaning is contained in verses 11 and 12 - Chapter V of Sri Ramana Gita
“The entire Universe is condensed in the body,
and the entire body in the Heart.
Thus the Heart is the nucleus of the whole Universe.”
Therefore Samyamana relates to concentration on different parts of the body for the different siddhis. Also the Visva or the Virat is said to contain the cosmos within the limits of the body. Again, “The world is not other than the mind, the mind is not other than the Heart; that is the whole truth.”
So the Heart comprises all.
This is what is taught to Svetaketu by the illustration of the seed of a fig tree. The source is a point without any dimensions. It expands as the cosmos on the one hand and as Infinite Bliss on the other. That point is the pivot. From it a single vasana starts, multiplies as the experiencer ‘I’, experience, and the world. The experiencer and the source are referred to in the mantra. Two birds, exactly alike, arise simultaneously.
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Talk 618.
A gentleman from Hardwar: When I go on analysing myself I go beyond the intellect, and then there is no happiness.
M.: Intellect is only an instrument of the Self. It cannot help you to know what is beyond itself.
D.: I understand it. But there is no happiness beyond it.
M.: The intellect is the instrument wherewith to know unknown things.
But you are already known, being the Self which is itself knowledge;
so you do not become the object of knowledge.
The intellect makes you see things outside, and not that which is its own source.
D.: The question is repeated.
M.: The intellect is useful thus far, it helps you to analyse yourself, and no further. It must then be merged into the ego, and the source of the ego must be sought. If that be done the ego disappears. Remain as that source and then the ego does not arise
D.: There is no happiness in that state.
M.: ‘There is no happiness’ is only a thought. The Self is bliss, pure and simple. You are the Self. So you cannot but be bliss; being so, you cannot say here is no happiness. That which says so cannot be the Self; it is the non-Self and must be got rid of in order to realise the bliss of the Self.
D.: How is that to be done?
M.: See where from the thought arises. It is the mind.
See for whom the mind or intellect functions. For the ego. Merge the intellect in the ego and seek the source of the ego. The ego disappears.
‘I know’ and ‘I do not know’ imply a subject and an object. They are due to duality.
The Self is pure and absolute, One and alone.
There are no two selves so that one may know the other. What is duality then? It cannot be the Self which is One and alone. It must be non-Self.
Duality is the characteristic of the ego. When thoughts arise duality is present; know it to be the ego, and seek its source.
The degree of the absence of thoughts is the measure of your progress towards Self-Realisation.
But Self-Realisation itself does not admit of progress; it is ever the same. The Self remains always in realisation.
The obstacles are thoughts.
Progress is measured by the degree of removal of the obstacles to understanding that the Self is always realised.
So thoughts must be checked by seeking to whom they arise.
So you go to their Source, where they do not arise.
........
D.: But hatha yoga is so much spoken of as an aid.
M.: Yes. Even great pandits well versed in the Vedanta continue the practice of it. Otherwise their minds will not subside. So you may say it is useful for those who cannot otherwise still the mind.
.....
regarding neti neti
The devotee complains that the Self is not pointed out.
M.: A man wants to know what he is. He sees animals and objects around him. He is told: ‘You are not a cow, not a horse, not a tree, not this, not that, and so on’. If again the man asks saying ‘You have not said what I am,’ the answer will be, ‘It is not said you are not a man’. He must find out for himself that he is a man. So you must find out for yourself what you are.
You are told, ‘You are not this body, nor the mind, nor the intellect, nor the ego, nor anything you can think of; find out what truly you are’. Silence denotes that the questioner is himself the Self that is to be found. In a svayamvara the maiden goes on saying ‘no’ to each one until she faces her choice and then she looks downwards and remains silent.
........
M.: Just so. The common man is aware of himself only when modifications arise in the intellect (vijnanamaya kosa); these modifications are transient; they arise and set. Hence the vijnanamaya (intellect) is called a kosa or sheath.
When pure awareness is left over it is itself the Chit (Self) or the Supreme. To be in one’s natural state on the subsidence of thoughts is bliss; if that bliss be transient - arising and setting - then it is only the sheath of bliss (Anandamaya kosa), not the pure Self.
What is needed is to fix the attention on the pure ‘I’ after the subsidence of all thoughts and not to lose hold of it.
This has to be described as an extremely subtle thought; else it cannot be spoken of at all, since it is no other than the Real Self. Who is to speak of it, to whom and how?
This is well explained in the Kaivalyam and the Viveka Chudamani.
Thus though in sleep the awareness of the Self is not lost, the ignorance of the jiva is not affected by it.
For this ignorance to be destroyed this subtle state of mind (vrittijnanam) is necessary.
In the sunshine cotton does not burn. But if the cotton be placed under a lens it catches fire and is consumed by the rays of the Sun passing through the lens.
So too, though the awareness of the Self is present at all times, it is not inimical to ignorance.
If by meditation the subtle state of thought is won, then ignorance is destroyed.
Also in Viveka Chudamani: ativa sukshmam paramatma tattvam na sthoola drishtya (the exceedingly subtle Supreme Self cannot be seen by the gross eye) and
esha svayam jyotirasesha sakshi (this is Self-shining and witnesses all).
This subtle mental state is not a modification of mind called vritti.
Because the mental states are of two kinds. One is the natural state and the other is a transformation into forms of objects.
The first is the truth, and the other is according to the doer (kartru-tantra).
When the latter perishes, jale kataka renuvat (like the clearing nut paste in water) the former will remain over.
The means for this end is meditation.
Though this is with the triad of distinction (triputi) it will finally end in pure awareness (jnanam)
Meditation needs effort: jnanam is effortless. Meditation can be done, or not done, or wrongly done, jnanam is not so. Meditation is described as kartru-tantra (as doer’s own), jnanam as vastu-tantra (the Supreme’s own)
........
M.: That means there are those vasanas. A dreamer dreams a dream. He sees the dream world with pleasures, pains. etc. But he wakes up and then loses all interest in the dream world. So it is with the waking world also.
Just as the dream-world, being only a part of yourself and not different from you, ceases to interest you, so also the present world would cease to interest you if you awake from this waking dream (samsara) and realise that it is a part of your Self, and not an objective reality.
Because you think that you are apart from the objects around you, you desire a thing. But if you understand that the thing was only a thought-form you would no longer desire it. All things are like bubbles on water. You are the water and the objects are the bubbles. They cannot exist apart from the water, but they are not quite the same as the water.
D.: I feel I am like froth.
M.: Cease that identification with the unreal and know your real identity. Then you will be firm and no doubts can arise.
D.: But I am the froth.
M.: Because you think that way there is worry. It is a wrong imagination. Accept your true identity with the Real. Be the water and not the froth. That is done by diving in.
.......
D.: If I dive in, I shall find........
M.: But even without diving in, you are That. The ideas of exterior and interior exist only so long as you do not accept your real identity.
D.: But I took the idea from you that you want me to dive in.
M.: Yes, quite right. It was said because you are identifying yourself with the froth and not the water. Because of this confusion the answer was meant to draw your attention to this confusion and bring it home to you.
All that is meant is that the Self is infinite inclusive of all that you see.
There is nothing beyond It nor apart from It.
Knowing this, you will not desire anything. Not desiring, you will be content.
The Self is always realised. There is no seeking to realise what is already - always - realised.
For you cannot deny your own existence.
That existence is consciousness - the Self.
Unless you exist you cannot ask questions.
So you must admit your own existence.
That existence is the Self. It is already realised.
Therefore the effort to realise results only in your realising your present mistake - that you have not realised your Self.
There is no fresh realisation.
The Self becomes revealed.
D.: That will take some years.
M.: Why years? The idea of time is only in your mind. It is not in the Self. There is no time for the Self. Time arises as an idea after the ego arises. But you are the Self beyond time and space; you exist even in the absence of time and space.
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Talk 626.
Another devotee: Is it not that the ‘I’ exists only in relation to a ‘this’ (aham - idam)?
M.: ‘I’, ‘this’ appear together now. But ‘this’ is contained (vyaptam) in the ‘I’ - they are not apart. ‘This’ has to merge into and become one with ‘I’. The ‘I’ that remains over is the true I.
.........
D.: If so would not this obstacle get removed along with all the others, through the Master’s grace?
M.: There will be delay. Owing to the disciple’s want of reverence, grace may become effective only after a long time.
It is said that awaking from ignorance is like awaking from a fearful dream of a beast.
It is thus. There are two taints of mind, namely veiling and restlessness (avarana and vikshepa).
Of the two, the former is evil, the latter is not so.
So long as the veiling effect of sleep persists there is the frightful dream.
On awaking the veiling ceases. There is no more fear. Restlessness is not a bar to happiness.
To get rid of the restlessness caused by the world, one seeks the restlessness (activity) of being with the Guru, studying the sacred books and worshipping God with forms, and by these awakening is attained.
What happens in the end? Karna was ever the son of Kunti. The tenth man was such all along. Rama was Vishnu all the time. Such is jnanam. It is being aware of That which always is.
............
D.: Enquiry into the Self seems to take one into the subtle body (ativahika sariram or puriashtakam or jivatma). Am I right?
M.: They are different names for the same state, but they are used according to the different points of view. After some time puriashtakam (the eight fold subtle body) will disappear and there will be the ‘Eka’ (one) only.
Vritti jnana alone can destroy ‘ajnana’ (ignorance). Absolute jnana is not inimical to ajnana. There are two kinds of vrittis (modes of mind).
(1) vishaya vritti (objective) and
(2) atma vritti (subjective).
The first must give place to the second. That is the aim of abhyasa (practice), which takes one first to the puriashtaka and then to the One Self.
.......
M.: Om is the eternal truth. That which remains over after the disappearance of objects is Om. It does not merge in anything. It is the State of which it is said: “Where one sees none other, hears none other, knows none other, that is Perfection.” Yatra nanyat pasyati, nanyat srunoti, nanyat vijanati sa bhuma? All the upasanas are ways to winning it. One must not get stuck in the upasanas, but must query “Who am I?” and find the Self.
....
Talk 642.
Mr. K. L. Sarma asked: Svasvarupanusandhanam bhaktirityabhidhiyate. Again - Svatmatattvanusadhanam bhaktirityapare joguh. What is the difference between the two?
M.: The former is vichara - Who am I? (Koham?) It represents jnana.
The latter is dhyana - Whence am I? (Kutoham?) This admits a jivatma which seeks the Paramatma.
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