march part 19

 460

https://selfdefinition.org/ramana/Talks-with-Sri-Ramana-Maharshi--complete.pdf

He was requested to say if contact with saints could be a danger. Sri Bhagavan then quoted a Tamil stanza which says that contact with Guru should be kept up till videhamukti (being disembodied).

Again he asked where is the Satpurusha? He is within. Then he quoted another stanza meaning: “O Master, Who has been within me in all my past incarnations and Who manifested as a human being, only to speak the language understood by me and lead me.”

462

Your nature is Peace and Happiness. Thoughts are the obstacles to realisation. One’s meditation or concentration is meant to get rid of obstacles and not to gain the Self. Does anyone remain apart from the Self? No! The true nature of the Self is declared to be Peace. 

If the same peace is not found, the non-finding is only a thought which is alien to the Self. 

One practises meditation only to get rid of these alien fancies. So, then, a thought must be quelled as soon as it rises. Whenever a thought arises, do not be carried away by it. You become aware of the body when you forget the Self. But can you forget the Self? Being the Self how can you forget it? There must be two selves for one to forget the other. It is absurd. So the Self is not depressed; it is not imperfect: it is ever happy. The contrary feeling is a mere thought which has actually no stamina in it. Be rid of thoughts. Why should one attempt meditation? Being the Self one remains always realised, only be free from thoughts.

462

M.: Surrender can take effect only when done with full knowledge. 

Such knowledge comes after enquiry. 

It ends in surrender.

.......

Talk 465. 

Sri Bhagavan explained to a retired Judge of the High Court some points in the Upadesa Saram as follows:- 

(1) Meditation should remain unbroken as a current. If unbroken it is called samadhi or Kundalini sakti. 

(2) The mind may be latent and merge in the Self; it must necessarily rise up again; after it rises up one finds oneself only as ever before. For in this state the mental predispositions are present there in latent form to remanifest under favourable conditions. 

(3) Again the mind activities can be completely destroyed. This differs from the former mind, for here the attachment is lost, never to reappear. Even though the man sees the world after he has been in the samadhi state, the world will be taken only at its worth, that is to say it is the phenomenon of the One Reality. 

The True Being can be realised only in samadhi; what was then is also now. 

Otherwise it cannot be Reality or Ever-present Being. 

What was in samadhi is here and now too. Hold it and it is your natural condition of Being. 

Samadhi practice must lead to it. 

Otherwise how can nirvikalpa samadhi be of any use in which a man remains as a log of wood? 

He must necessarily rise up from it sometime or other and face the world.

 But in sahaja samadhi he remains unaffected by the world. 

So many pictures pass over the cinema screen: fire burns away everything; water drenches all; but the screen remains unaffected. 

The scenes are only phenomena which pass away leaving the screen as it was. Similarly the world phenomena simply pass on before the Jnani, leaving him unaffected. You may say that people find pain or pleasure in worldly phenomena. It is owing to superimposition. This must not happen. With this end in view practice is made. 

Practice lies in one of the two courses: devotion or knowledge. 

Even these are not the goals.

 Samadhi must be gained. 

It must be continuously practised until Sahaja Samadhi results. 

Then there remains nothing more to do.

Talk 466. 

Mr. Vaidyalingam, an employee of the National Bank: By meditation manifestation disappears and then ananda results. It is short-lived. How is it made ever abiding? 

M.: By scorching the predispositions.

468  Yogi Ramaiah's question:

Talk 469. 

Yogi Ramiah asked: A master is approached by an aspirant for enlightenment. The master says that Brahman has no qualities, nor stain, nor movement, etc. Does he not then speak as an individual? How can the aspirant’s ignorance be wiped off unless the master speaks thus? Do the words of the master as an individual amount to Truth? 

M.: To whom should the master speak? Whom does he instruct? Does he see anyone different from the Self? 

D.: But the disciple is asking the master for elucidation. 

M.: True, but does the master see him as different? 

The ignorance of the disciple lies in not knowing that all are Self-realised. Can anyone exist apart from the Self?

The master simply points out that the ignorance lies there and therefore does not stand apart as an individual. What is Realisation? Is it to see God with four hands, bearing conch, wheel, club, etc.? 

Even if God should appear in that form, how is the disciple’s ignorance wiped out? 

The truth must be eternal realisation. 

The direct perception is ever-present Experience. 

God Himself is known as directly perceived. It does not mean that He appears before the devotee as said above. Unless the Realisation be eternal it cannot serve any useful purpose. Can the appearance with four hands be eternal realisation? It is phenomenal and illusory. There must be a seer. The seer alone is real and eternal. Let God appear as the light of a million suns: Is it pratyaksha? To see it, the eyes, the mind, etc. are necessary. It is indirect knowledge, whereas the seer is direct experience. The seer alone is pratyaksha. All other perceptions are only secondary knowledge. 

The present super-imposition of the body as ‘I’ is so deep-rooted, that the vision before the eyes is considered pratyaksha but not the seer himself. No one wants realisation because there is no one who is not realised. Can anyone say that he is not already realised or that he is apart from the Self? No. Evidently all are realised. 

What makes him unhappy is the desire to exercise extraordinary powers. He knows that he cannot do so. Therefore he wants God to appear before him, confer all His powers on the devotee, and keep Himself in the background. In short, God should abdicate His powers in favour of the man.

 .......474

D.: Grace is necessary for it. 

M.: Grace is ever present. All that is necessary is that you surrender to It.

D.: I surrender and pray that even if I go wrong I may be forcibly drawn to it. 

M.: Is this surrender? Surrender to be complete must be unquestioning. 

D.: Yes, I surrender. You say I must dive into the ocean of the Self like a pearl-diver into the sea.

M.: Because you are now thinking that you are out of the ocean of Consciousness. 

D.: I practise pranayama. It generates heat in the body. What should I do? 

M.: The heat will pass away when the mind gains calm 

D.: That is true but most difficult. 

M.: This is again a thought which is an obstacle.

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

Talk 473. Someone remarked: It is said that they get mukti unasked who live or die within a radius of 30 miles round Arunachala. It is also admitted that only by jnana is liberation obtained. The purana also remarks that Vedanta Vijnana is difficult to get. So mukti is difficult. But life or death round about the Hill bestows mukti so easily. How can it be? 

M.: Siva says, “By My command.” Those who live here need no initiation, diksha, etc., but get mukti.. Such is the command of Siva. 

D.: The purana also says that those who are born here are Siva’s group of followers, such as ghosts, spirits, disembodied beings, etc. 

M.: So it is said of other kshetras as well, e.g., Tiruvarur, Chidambaram. 

D.: How does mere life or death here confer mukti? It is difficult to understand. 

M.: Darsanad Abhrasadasi jananat Kamalalaye, Kasyantu maranam muktih smaranad Arunachale. “To see Chidambaram, to be born in Tiruvarur, to die in Benares, or merely to think of Arunachala, is to be assured of Liberation.” 

Jananat Kamalalaye means “by being born in Kamalalaya”. 

What is it? It is the Heart. 

Similarly, Abhrasadasi - Seat of Consciousness. Again, Kasi is the Light of Realisation. Remembering Arunachala completes the verse. It must also be understood in the same sense.

D.: So bhakti is necessary. 

M.: Everything depends on the outlook. One sees that all born in Tiruvarur, or visiting Chidambaram, or dying in Banares, or contemplating Arunachala, are muktas.

Another devotee: What then is the mind? 

M.: Mind is consciousness which has put on limitations. You are originally unlimited and perfect. Later you take on limitations and become the mind. 

D.: It is avarana (veiling) then. How does this happen?

 M.: To whom is the avarana? It is the same as avidya (ignorance), ego or the mind. 

D.: Avarana means obscuration. Who is obscured? How does it arise? 

M.: The limitation is itself obscuration. No questions will arise if limitations are transcended.

.......

Talk 474. There was some reference to the heart. 

Sri Bhagavan said: 

The yoga sastras speak of 72,000 nadis, of 101 nadis, etc. A reconciliation is effected by others that 101 are the main nadis, which subdivide into 72,000. 

These nadis are supposed by some to spread out from the brain, by others from the Heart and by some others from the coccyx. 

They speak of a paranadi which is said to rise up from the coccyx through the Sushumna to the brain and descends to the heart. Others say that the Sushumna ends in Para. 

A few advise seeking realisation in the head (Sahasrara); a few between the eyebrows; a few in the heart; others in the solar plexus. 

If realisation amounts to gaining the Paranadi, one might enter it from the Heart. But the yogi is engaged in cleansing the nadis; then Kundalini is awakened which is said to rise up from the coccyx to the head. The yogi is later advised to come down to the Heart as the final step. The Vedas say: “The Heart is like a lotus turned down, or a plantain bud.”

479

M.: Real waking lies beyond the three states of waking, dream and sleep.

 D.: I am really awake and know that I am not in sleep. 

M.: Real waking lies beyond the plane of differences. 

........

480

M.: The goal cannot be anything apart from the Self nor can it be something to be gained afresh. If that were so, such goal cannot be abiding and permanent. What appears anew will also disappear. The goal must be eternal and within. Find it within yourself.

.......

Talk 481. 

Muruganar asked what prajnana is. 

M.: Prajnana (Absolute Knowledge) is that from which vijnana (relative knowledge) proceeds. 

D.: In the state of vijnana one becomes aware of the samvit (cosmic intelligence). But is that suddha samvit aware by itself without the aid of antahkaranas (inner organs)? 

M.: It is so, even logically. 

D.: Becoming aware of samvit in jagrat by vijnana, prajnana is not found self-shining. If so, it must be found in sleep. 

M.: The awareness is at present through antahkaranas. Prajnana is always shining even in sleep. If one is continuously aware in jagrat the awareness will continue in sleep also.

Moreover, it is illustrated thus: A king comes into the hall, sits there and then leaves the place. He did not go into the kitchen. Can one in the kitchen for that reason say, “The king did not come here”? When awareness is found in jagrat it must also be in sleep.

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

486

After a few minutes Maharshi continued: Everyone is the Self, indeed infinite. Yet each one mistakes the body for the Self. To know anything, illumination is necessary. Such illuminating agency can only be in the form of light which is however lighting the physical light and darkness. So then that other Light lies beyond the apparent light and darkness. It is itself neither light nor darkness but is said to be Light because It illumines both. It is also Infinite and remains as Consciousness. Consciousness is the Self of which everyone is aware. 

No one is away from the Self. So each one is Self-realised. Yet what a mystery that no one knows this fundamental fact, and desires to realise the Self? 

This ignorance is due to the mistaking of the body for the Self. 

Realisation now consists in getting rid of this false idea that one is not realised.

 Realisation is not anything newly got. It must be already there in order that it may be permanent. Otherwise Realisation is not worth attempting. 

After the false notion ‘I-am-the-body’ or ‘I have not realised’ is removed, Supreme Consciousness or the Self alone is left over, which is however called Realisation in the present state of knowledge.

However, the truth is that Realisation is eternal and already there, here and now. Finally, Realisation amounts to elimination of ignorance and nothing more or less.

.....................................................487 .........end..............................