https://selfdefinition.org/ramana/Talks-with-Sri-Ramana-Maharshi--complete.pdf
104
M.: The ultimate Truth is so simple.
It is nothing more than being in the pristine state.
This is all that need be said.
Still, it is a wonder that to teach this simple Truth there should come into being so many religions, creeds, methods and disputes among them and so on!
Oh pity! Oh pity!
.....
Maj. Chadwick: But people will not be content with simplicity; they want complexity.
M.: Quite so.
Because they want something elaborate and attractive and puzzling, so many religions have come into existence and each of them is so complex and each creed in each religion has its own adherents and antagonists.
For example, an ordinary Christian will not be satisfied unless he is told that God is somewhere in the far-off Heavens not to be reached by us unaided. Christ alone knew Him and Christ alone can guide us. Worship Christ and be saved. If told the simple truth - “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you” - he is not satisfied and will read complex and far-fetched meanings in such statements.
Mature minds alone can grasp the simple Truth in all its nakedness.
Talk 97.
One Mr. Ramachandar, a gentleman from Ambala, asked where the Heart is and what Realisation is.
M.: The Heart is not physical; it is spiritual. Hridayam = hrit + ayam - This is the centre.
It is that from which thoughts arise, on which they subsist and where they are resolved. The thoughts are the content of the mind and, they shape the universe. The Heart is the centre of all. Yatova imani bhutani jayante (that from which these beings come into existence) etc. is said to be Brahman in the Upanishads. That is the Heart. Brahman is the Heart.
D.: How to realise the Heart?
M.: There is no one who even for a trice fails to experience the Self. For no one admits that he ever stands apart from the Self. He is the Self. The Self is the Heart.
D.: It is not clear.
M.: In deep sleep you exist; awake, you remain. The same Self is in both states. The difference is only in the awareness and the non awareness of the world. The world rises with the mind and sets with the mind. That which rises and sets is not the Self. The Self is different, giving rise to the mind, sustaining it and resolving it. So the Self is the underlying principle. When asked who you are, you place your hand on the right side of the breast and say ‘I am’. There you involuntarily point out the Self. The Self is thus known. But the individual is miserable because he confounds the mind and the body with the Self. This confusion is due to wrong knowledge. Elimination of wrong knowledge is alone needed. Such elimination results in Realisation.
D.: How to control the mind?
M.: What is mind? Whose is the mind?
D.: Mind always wanders. I cannot control it.
M.:
It is the nature of the mind to wander.
You are not the mind.
The mind springs up and sinks down.
It is impermanent, transitory, whereas you are eternal.
There is nothing but the Self.
To inhere in the Self is the thing.
Never mind the mind.
If its source is sought, it will vanish leaving the Self unaffected.
D.: So one need not seek to control the mind?
M.: There is no mind to control if you realise the Self.
The mind vanishing, the Self shines forth.
In the realised man the mind may be active or inactive, the Self alone remains for him. For the mind, the body and the world are not separate from the Self. They rise from and sink into the Self. They do not remain apart from the Self.
Can they be different from the Self?
Only be aware of the Self.
Why worry about these shadows? How do they affect the Self?
Talk 98.
Bhagavan further explained: The Self is the Heart. The Heart is self luminous. Light arises from the Heart and reaches the brain, which is the seat of the mind. The world is seen with the mind, that is, by the reflected light of the Self. It is perceived with the aid of the mind. When the mind is illumined it is aware of the world.
When it is not itself so illumined, it is not aware of the world. If the mind is turned in towards the source of light, objective knowledge ceases and Self alone shines forth as the Heart.
The moon shines by the reflected light of the sun. When the sun has set, the moon is useful for revealing objects. When the sun has risen, no one needs the moon, although the pale disc of the moon is visible in the sky. So it is with the mind and the Heart. The mind is useful because of its reflected light. It is used for seeing objects. When it is turned inwards, the source of illumination shines forth by itself, and the mind remains dim and useless like the moon in day-time.
Talk 99.
A sannyasi asked: It is said that the Self is beyond the mind and yet the realisation is with the mind. Mano na manute, Manasa na matam, and Manasaivedamaptavyam (The mind cannot think it. It cannot be thought of by the mind and the mind alone can realise it). How are these contradictions to be reconciled?
M.: Atman is realised with mruta manas (dead mind),
i.e. mind devoid of thoughts and turned inward.
Then the mind sees its own source and becomes That.
It is not as the subject perceiving an object. When the room is dark a lamp is necessary to illumine and eyes to cognise objects. But when the sun is risen there is no need of a lamp, and the objects are seen; and to see the sun no lamp is necessary, it is enough that you turn your eyes towards the self luminous sun. Similarly with the mind. To see the objects the reflected light of the mind is necessary. To see the Heart it is enough that the mind is turned towards it. Then the mind loses itself and the Heart shines forth.
...
Talk 103. The next day Sri Bhagavan said: These people want some japa, dhyana, or yoga or something similar. Without their saying what they have been doing so far what more can be said to them? Again, why japa, its phalasruti, etc.? Who is it that makes the japa? Who gets the fruits thereof? Can they not look to the Self? Or again, even if instructed by others to do japa or dhyana, they do it for some time, but are always looking to some results, e.g., visions, dreams, or thaumaturgic powers.
If they do not find them they say they are not progressing or the tapas is not effective. Visions, etc. are no signs of progress. Mere performance of tapas is its progress also. Steadiness is what is required. Moreover they must entrust themselves to their mantra or their God and wait for its Grace. They don’t do so. Japa even once uttered has its own good effect, whether the individual is aware or not.
....
The Master said to him: atmaivaham gudakesa, i.e. I am Atman; Atman is the Guru; and Atman is Grace also. No one remains without the Atman. He is always in contact. No external touch is necessary
D.: I understand. I do not mean external touch.
M.: Nothing is more intimate than the Atman.
112
D.: Again Sri Krishna appeared to me three months back and said, “Why do you ask me for nirakara upasana? It is only sarva bhutesu cha atmanam sarva bhutani cha atmani. (The Self in all and all in the Self.)
M.: That contains the whole truth. Even this is oupacharika (indirect). There is in fact nothing but the Atman. The world is only a projection of the mind. The mind originates from the Atman. So Atman alone is the One Being.
D.: Yet it is difficult to realise.
M.: There is nothing to realise. It is nitya suddha buddha mukta (the Eternal, pure, aware and liberated) state. It is natural and eternal. There is nothing new to gain. On the other hand a man must loose his ignorance. That is all. This ignorance must be traced to its origin. To whom is this ignorance? Of what is one ignorant? There are the subject and the object. Such duality is characteristic of the mind. The mind is from the Atman.
......
Talk 105.
M.: Yena asrutam srutam bhavati (Chandogya Upanishad). (By knowing which, all the unknown becomes known.)
...
Madhavaswami, Bhagavan’s attendant: Are there nine methods of teaching the Mahavakya ‘Tattvamasi’ in the Chandogya Upanishad?
M.: No. Not so. The method is only one. Uddalaka started teaching Sat eva Somya (There is only Being ) illustrating it with Svetaketu’s fast.
(1) Sat, the Being in the individual, is made obvious by the fast.
(2) This (sat) Being is similar in all, as honey gathered from different flowers.
(3) There is no difference in the sat of individuals as illustrated by the state of deep sleep. The question arises - if so, why does not each know it in sleep?
(4) Because the individuality is lost. There is only sat left. Illustration: rivers lost in the ocean. If lost, is there sat?
(5) Surely - as when a tree is pruned it grows again. That is a sure sign of its life. But is it there even in that dormant condition?
(6) Yes, take the instance of salt and water. The presence of the salt in water is subtle. Though invisible to the eye it is recognised by other senses. How is one to know it? What is the other means?
(7) By enquiry, as the man left in the Gandhara forest regained his home.
(8) In evolution and involution, in manifestation and resolution, sat alone exists. Tejah parasyam, devatayam (the light merges in the Supreme).
(9) An insincere man is hurt by the touch of fire test. His insincerity is brought out by fire. Sincerity is Self-evident. A true man or a Self realised man remains happy, without being affected by the false appearances (namely the world, birth and death, etc.), whereas the false or ignorant man is miserable.
...........
Mr. C. R. Wright, his secretary, asked:
How shall I realise God?
M.: God is an unknown entity. Moreover He is external. Whereas, the Self is always with you and it is you. Why do you leave out what is intimate and go in for what is external?
D.: What is this Self again?
M.: The Self is known to everyone but not clearly. You always exist. The Be-ing is the Self. ‘I am’ is the name of God. Of all the definitions of God, none is indeed so well put as the Biblical statement “I am that I am' in exodus (Chap. 3).
There are other statements, such as Brahmaivaham, Aham Brahmasmi and Soham.
But none is so direct as the name Jehovah = I am.
The Absolute Being is what is - It is the Self. It is God. Knowing the Self, God is known. In fact God is none other than the Self.
D.: Why are there good and evil?
M.: They are relative terms. There must be a subject to know the good and evil. That subject is the ego. Trace the source of the ego. It ends in the Self.
The source of the ego is God. This definition of God is probably more concrete and better understood by you.
D.: So it is. How to get Bliss?
M.: Bliss is not something to be got. On the other hand you are always Bliss. This desire is born of the sense of incompleteness. To whom is this sense of incompleteness? Enquire. In deep sleep you were blissful: Now you are not so. What has interposed between that Bliss and this non-bliss? It is the ego. Seek its source and find you are Bliss. There is nothing new to get.
You have, on the other hand,
to get rid of your ignorance
which makes you think that you are other than Bliss.
For whom is this ignorance? It is to the ego. Trace the source of the ego. Then the ego is lost and Bliss remains over. It is eternal. You are That, here and now.… That is the master key for solving all doubts. The doubts arise in the mind. The mind is born of the ego.
The ego rises from the Self.
Search the source of the ego and the Self is revealed.
That alone remains.
The universe is only expanded Self.
It is not different from the Self.
..........
114
D.: What is the best way of living?
M.: It differs according as one is a Jnani or ajnani.
A Jnani does not find anything different or separate from the Self.
All are in the Self.
It is wrong to imagine that there is the world, that there is a body in it and that you dwell in the body. If the Truth is known, the universe and what is beyond it will be found to be only in the Self. The outlook differs according to the sight of the person. The sight is from the eye. The eye must be located somewhere. If you are seeing with the gross eyes you find others gross. If with subtle eyes (i.e., the mind) others appear subtle. If the eye becomes the Self, the Self being infinite, the eye is infinite. There is nothing else to see different from the Self. He thanked Maharshi. He was told that the best way of thanking is to remain always as the Self.
D.: If so, a Jnani or an ajnani dies in the same manner. Why is an ajnani reborn, whereas a Jnani is not?
M.: Just as an innocent man satyabhisandha is not affected by the test of touching red hot iron but a thief is affected, so also the sadbrahma satyabhisandha, i.e. a Jnani, enters into sat consciously and merges, whereas the other enters unaware and is thrown out unawares also.
118
M.: Samadhi transcends mind and speech and cannot be described. For example, the state of deep slumber cannot be described; samadhi state can still less be explained.
D.: But I know that I am unconscious in deep sleep.
M.: Consciousness and unconsciousness are only modes of the mind. Samadhi transcends the mind.
D.: Still you can say what it is like.
M.: You will know only when you are in samadhi.
Talk 111.
A Telugu gentleman asked about Brahma bhavana.
M.: Not to think “I am Brahman” or “All is Brahman” is itself jivanmukti.
He asked about inspired action.
M.: Let activities go on. They do not affect the pure Self.
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