March part 8

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

180

D.: What is Guru’s Grace? How does it work? 

M.: Guru is the Self. 

D.: How does it lead to realisation?

 M.: Isvaro gururatmeti ... (God is the same as Guru and Self ...). Ishvar Guru Atma Iti

 A person begins with dissatisfaction. 

Not content with the world he seeks satisfaction of desires by prayers to God. His mind is purified. He longs to know God more than to satisfy his carnal desires. Then God’s Grace begins to manifest. 

God takes the form of a Guru and appears to the devotee; teaches him the Truth;

 purifies the mind by his teachings and contact.

 The mind gains strength and  is able to turn inward. 

With meditation it is purified yet further, and eventually remains still without the least ripple. 

That stillness is the Self. 

The Guru is both exterior and interior. 

From the exterior he gives a push to the mind to turn inward; from the interior he pulls the mind towards the Self 

and helps the mind to achieve quietness. 

That is Grace. 

Hence there is no difference between God, Guru and Self.

.....

Talk 199. 

The ladies later asked several questions relating to their present inability to realise the already realised, eternal Self. The sign of Realisation would be Bliss, which was absent.

Maharshi said: There is only one consciousness. But we speak of several kinds of consciousness, as body-consciousness, Self consciousness. They are only relative states of the same Absolute consciousness. Without consciousness, time and space do not exist. They appear in consciousness. It is like a screen on which these are cast as pictures and move as in a cinema show. The Absolute consciousness is our real nature.

..........

Ones's True Nature is Samadhi.

Swatahachi sahaja sthithi.

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

D.: What is samadhi? 

M.: One’s own true nature. 

D.: Why then is effort necessary to attain it? 

M.: Whose is the effort? 

D.: Maharshi knows that I am ignorant. 

M.: Do you know that you are ignorant? Knowledge of ignorance is no ignorance. All scriptures are only for the purpose of investigating if there are two consciousnesses. Everyone’s experience proves the existence of only one consciousness. Can that one divide itself into two? Is any division felt in the Self? Awaking from sleep one finds oneself the same in the wakeful as well as in the sleep states. That is the experience of each one. The difference lies in seeking, in the outlook. Because you imagine that you are the seer separate from the experience, this difference arises. Experience shows that your being is the same all through.

Talk 200. 

Mr. Cohen desired an explanation of the term “blazing light” used by Paul Brunton in the last chapter of A Search in Secret India. 

Maharshi: Since the experience is through the mind only it appears first as a blaze of light. The mental predispositions are not yet destroyed. The mind is however functioning in its infinite capacity in this experience. As for nirvikalpa samadhi i.e. samadhi, of non-differentiation (undifferentiated, supreme, beatific repose), it consists of pure consciousness, which is capable of illumining knowledge or ignorance; it is also beyond light or darkness. That it is not darkness is certain; can it be however said to be not light? At present objects are perceived only in light. Is it wrong to say that realisation of one’s Self requires a light? Here light would mean the consciousness which reveals as the Self only

The yogis are said to see photisms of colours and lights preliminary to Self-Realisation by the practice of yoga. Once before Goddess Parvati practised austerities for realising the Supreme. She saw some kinds of light. 

She rejected them because they emanated from the Self, leaving the Self as it was ever before.

She determined that they were not supreme. She continued Her austerities and experienced a limitless light. She determined that this also was only a phenomenon and not the Supreme Reality. Still she continued Her austerities until she gained transcendental peace. She realised that it was Supreme, that the Self was the sole Reality.

 The Taittiriya Upanishad says, “Seek Brahman through penance”. Later on, “Penance is Brahman”. 

Another Upanishad says, “Itself is penance which is again made up of wisdom alone”. 

“There the sun shines not, nor the moon, nor the stars, nor fire; all these shine forth by Its light”.

........

M.: Aurobindo advises complete surrender. Let us do that first and await results, and discuss further, if need be afterwards and not now. There is no use discussing transcendental experiences by those whose limitations are not divested.

  Learn what surrender is.

It is to merge in the source of the ego. 

The ego is surrendered to the Self. Everything is dear to us because of love of the Self.

The Self is that to which we surrender our ego and let the Supreme Power, i.e. the Self, do what it pleases. The ego is already the Self’s. We have no rights over the ego, even as it is. However, supposing we had, we must surrender them.

.........

D.: What about bringing down divine consciousness from above?

 M.: As if the same is not already in the Heart? 

“O Arjuna, I am in the expanse of the Heart,” says Sri Krishna “He who is in the sun, is also in this man”, says a mantra in the Upanishads. “The Kingdom of God is within”, says the Bible. All are thus agreed that God is within. What is to be brought down? From where? Who is to bring what, and why? Realisation is only the removal of obstacles to the recognition of the eternal, immanent Reality. Reality is. It need not be taken from place to place.

.........

The fact is: There is Reality. It is not affected by any discussions. Let us abide as Reality and not engage in futile discussions as to its nature, etc.

185

M.: “I am Brahman” is only a thought. Who says it? Brahman itself does not say so. What need is there for it to say it? Nor can the real ‘I’ say so. For ‘I’ always abides as Brahman. To be saying it is only a thought. Whose thought is it? All thoughts are from the unreal ‘I’. i.e. the ‘I’- thought. Remain without thinking. So long as there is thought there will be fear

D.: As I go on thinking of it there is forgetfulness, the brain becomes heated and I am afraid. 

M.: Yes, the mind is concentrated in the brain and hence you get a hot sensation there. It is because of the ‘I-thought’. So long as there is thought there will be forgetfulness. There is the thought “I am Brahman”; forgetfulness supervenes; then the ‘I-thought’ arises and simultaneously the fear of death also. Forgetfulness and thought are for ‘I-thought’ only. Hold it; it will disappear as a phantom. What remains over is the real ‘I’. That is the Self. ‘I am Brahman’ is an aid to concentration. It keeps off other thoughts. That one thought alone persists. See whose is that thought. It will be found to be from ‘I’. Where from is the ‘I’ thought? Probe into it. The ‘I thought’ will vanish. The Supreme Self will shine forth of itself. No further effort is needed. When the one Real ‘I’ remains alone, it will not be saying; “I am Brahman”. Does a man go on repeating “I am a man”? Unless he is challenged, why should he declare himself a man? Does anyone mistake oneself for a brute, that he should say “No. I am not a brute; I am a man”? Similarly, Brahman or ‘I’ being alone, there is no one there to challenge it and so there is no need to be repeating “I am Brahman”.

188

18th June, 1936 

Talk 204. 

Maharshi on Self-Illumination: The ‘I’ concept is the ego. I-illumination is the Realisation of the Real Self. It is ever shining forth as ‘I-I’ in the intellectual sheath. It is pure Knowledge; relative knowledge is only a concept. The bliss of the blissful sheath is also but a concept. Unless there is the experience, however subtle it is, one cannot say “I slept happily”. From his intellect he speaks of his blissful sheath. The bliss of sleep is but a concept to the person, the same as intellect. However, the concept of experience is exceedingly subtle in sleep. Experience is not possible without simultaneous knowledge of it (i.e. relative knowledge). 

The inherent nature of the Self is Bliss. Some kind of knowledge has to be admitted, even in the realisation of Supreme Bliss. It may be said to be subtler than the subtlest. 

The word vijnana (clear knowledge) is used both to denote the Realisation of the Self and knowing the objects. The Self is wisdom. It functions in two ways. When associated with the ego the knowledge is objective (vijnana). 

When divested of the ego and the Universal Self is realised, it is also called vijnana. 

The word raises a mental concept. Therefore we say that the Self-Realised Sage knows by his mind, but

his mind is pure. Again we say that the vibrating mind is impure and the placid mind is pure. The pure mind is itself Brahman; therefore it follows that Brahman is not other than the mind of the sage.

The Mundaka Upanishad says: “The knower of Brahman becomes the Self of Brahman.” Is it not ludicrous? To know Him and become Him? They are mere words. The sage is Brahman - that is all. Mental functioning is necessary to communicate his experience. He is said to be contemplating the unbroken expanse. The Creator, Suka and others are also said never to swerve from such contemplation.

Such ‘contemplation’ is again a mere word. How is that to be contemplated unless it is divided (into the contemplator and the contemplated). When undivided, how is contemplation possible? What function can Infinity have? Do we say that a river after its discharge into the ocean has become an ocean-like river? Why should we then speak of contemplation which has become unbroken, as being that of unbroken Infinity? The statement must be understood in the spirit in which it is made. It signifies the merging into the Infinite.

Self-Illumination or Self-Realisation is similar to it. The Self is ever shining. What does this ‘I-illumination’ mean then? The expression is an implied admission of mind function.

The gods and the sages experience the Infinite continuously and eternally, without their vision being obscured at any moment. Their minds are surmised by the spectators to function; but in fact they do not. Such surmise is due to the sense of individuality in those who draw inferences. 

There is no mental function in the absence of individuality. Individuality and mind functions are co-existent. The one cannot remain without the other. The light of the Self can be experienced only in the intellectual sheath. Therefore vijnana of whatever kind (of object or of the Self) depends on the Self being Pure Knowledge.

Talk 205. 

Mr. Cohen had been cogitating on the nature of the Heart, if the ‘spiritual heart’ beats; if so, how; or if it does not beat, then how is it to be felt? 

M.: This heart is different from the physical heart; beating is the function of the latter. The former is the seat of spiritual experience. That is all that can be said of it. Just as a dynamo supplies motive power to whole systems of lights, fans, etc., so the original Primal Force supplies energy to the beating of the heart, respiration, etc. 

D.: How is the ‘I-I’ consciousness felt? 

M.: As an unbroken awareness of ‘I’. It is simply consciousness. 

D.: Can we know it when it dawns? 

M.: Yes, as consciousness. You are that even now. There will be no mistaking it when it is pure. 

D.: Why do we have such a place as the ‘Heart’ for meditation? 

M.: Because you seek consciousness. Where can you find it? Can you reach it externally? You have to find it internally. Therefore you are directed inward. Again the ‘Heart’ is only the seat of consciousness or the consciousness itself. 

D.: On what should we meditate? 

M.: Who is the meditator? Ask the question first. Remain as the meditator. There is no need to meditate.

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