March part 25

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

612

D.: Grace alone can help me to it. 

M.: Grace is not exterior. In fact your very desire for grace is due to grace that is already in you.

614

M.: The Saguna merges into the nirguna in the long run. The saguna purifies the mind and takes one to the final goal. The afflicted one, the seeker of knowledge, and the seeker of gains are all dear to God. But the Jnani is the Self of God.

.........

M.: So long as you think that Krishna is different from you, you call upon Him. 

Falling into trance denotes the transitoriness of the samadhi. 

You are always in samadhi; that is what should be realised.

...

M.: God-vision is only vision of the Self objectified as the God of one’s own faith. Know the Self.

.......

617

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 (vritti jnanam) 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).

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

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.

.....

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’.

........

621

Talk 631. The Sadhaka repeated his question in a different way: 

D.: The enquiry into the Self seems to lead to the ativahika, the puriashtaka or the jivatma. Is it right? 

M.: Yes. It is called ‘sarira’ (body or abode, city or individual, puri or jiva according to the outlook). They are the same.

Vritti-jnanam is usually associated with objective phenomena. When these cease there remains the atma-vritti or the subjective vritti that is the same as jnanam. Without it ajnanam will not cease. The puriashtaka also will not be found associated with anything outside, and the Self will shine forth uniform and harmonious.

.....

624

M.: There must be one to hear sounds or see visions. That one is the ‘I’. If you seek it, asking “Who am I?” the subject and objects would coalesce. After that there is no quest. Till then thought will arise, things will appear and disappear; you ask yourself what has happened, and what will happen. If the subject be known then the objects will merge in the subject. If without that knowledge, one applies the mind to objects, because these objects appear and disappear, and one does not know that one’s true nature is that which remains over as the Self. On the vanishing of objects, fear arises. That is, the mind being bound to objects there is suffering when the objects are absent. But they are transient and the Self is eternal. If the eternal Self be known subject and object merge into one, and the One without a second will shine.

.....

D.: Is there the merger of the Omkara? 

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.

626

D.: In order to find the oneness of ‘That’ and of ‘Thou’. 

M.: ‘Thou’ is the Inner Self immanent in all; in order to find the same, he leaves himself out and sees the world objectively. What is the world? What is Immanent in it? It is ‘That’. All such ideas arise only on forgetting one’s own Self. I never bothered myself with such matters. Only after a time it occurred to me that men had investigated such matters.

.....

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.

General remarks by Sri Bhagavan: 

All knowledge is meant only to lead the person to the realisation of the Self. The scriptures or religions are well-known to be for that purpose. What do they all mean? Leave alone what they say of the past or of the future; for it is only speculative. But the present existence is within the experience of all. Realise the pure Being. There is an end to all discourses and disputes. But the intellect of man does not easily take to this course. It is only rarely that a man becomes introverted. The intellect delights in investigating the past and the future but does not look to the present

Sri Bhagavan remarked how true the words were and emphasised each statement in the extract. 

Then He cited Thayumanavar in support of the state which is free from thoughts: 

“Although I had often heard that all the Srutis declare the state of stillness to be one of Bliss, all Bliss - yet I continued to be ignorant.

 Again I did not follow the advice of my Lord - the Silent Master - because of my folly. I wandered in the forest of illusion: alas! it was my fate.” 

“Bliss will reveal itself if one is still. Why then is this illusory yoga practice? Can it (i.e., Bliss) be revealed by directing the intellect in a particular way? Do not say so, you who are given to the practice and are therefore an innocent babe.”

 “The eternal Being is that state where you have disappeared. Are you not in it too? You, who cannot speak of it, do not be perplexed. Although you do not manifest, yet you are not lost. For you are eternal and also still. Do not be in pain. Here is Bliss - come on!”

......

D.: But Chudala says to Sikhidhvaja that she simply helped to trim the wick.

 M.: That refers to nididhyasana. 

By sravana, Knowledge dawns. That is the flame. 

By manana, the Knowledge is not allowed to vanish. 

Just as the flame is protected by a wind-screen, so the other thoughts are not allowed to overwhelm the right knowledge. 

By nididhyasana, the flame is kept up to burn bright by trimming the wick.

 Whenever other thoughts arise, the mind is turned inward to the light of true knowledge. 

When this becomes natural, it is samadhi. 

The enquiry “Who am I?” is the sravana. 

The ascertainment of the true import of ‘I’ is the manana. 

The practical application on each occasion is nididhyasana. 

Being as ‘I’ is samadhi.

/....

M.: The Gita says: Brahmano hi pratishtaham. If that ‘aham’ is known, the whole is known. 

.........

640

D.: Will bhakti lead to mukti? 

M.: Bhakti is not different from mukti. Bhakti is being as the Self (Swarupa). One is always that. He realises it by the means he adopts. What is bhakti? To think of God. That means: only one thought prevails to the exclusion of all other thoughts. That thought is of God which is the Self or it is the Self surrendered unto God. When He has taken you up nothing will assail you. The absence of thoughts is bhakti. It is also mukti. The jnana method is said to be vichara (enquiry). That is nothing but ‘supreme devotion’ (parabhakti). The difference is in words only. You think that bhakti is meditation on the Supreme Being. So long as there is vibhakti (the sense of separateness), bhakti (reunion) is sought. The process will lead to the ultimate goal as is said in Srimad Bhagavad Gita: arto jignasuh artharthi jnani cha Bharatarshabha tesham jnani nityayukta ekabhaktir visishyate — Ch. VII (l6, 17). 

Any kind of meditation is good. 

But if the sense of separateness is lost and the object of meditation or the subject who meditates is alone left behind without anything else to know, it is jnana. 

Jnana is said to be ekabhakti (single-minded devotion). 

The Jnani is the finality because he has become the Self 

and there is nothing more to do. 

He is also perfect and so fearless, dwitiyat vai bhayam bhavati - only the existence of a second gives rise to fear. This is mukti. It is also bhakti.

...........

644

M.: What is Bliss but your own being? You are not apart from Being which is the same as Bliss. You are now thinking that you are the mind or the body which are both changing and transient. But you are unchanging and eternal. That is what you should know.

645.......Talks with Ramana ends................