Talks mar 4

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

144

Talk 147. 

In answer to a Canarese Sanyasi, 

Sri Bhagavan said: 

There are different grades of mind. 

Realisation is of Perfection. 

It cannot be comprehended by the mind. 

Sarvajnatva (the state of all-knowing) is to be sarvam (the all); ‘the all’ pertains only to the mind. 

The known and unknown together form ‘the all’. 

After transcending the mind you remain as the Self. 

The present knowledge is only of limitation. 

That Knowledge is unlimited. Being so it cannot be comprehended by this knowledge. 

Cease to be a knower, then there is perfection.

...

Talk 150. 

Mrs. and Mr. Kelly, an elderly couple from America, and others of their company desired to know what they should do to gain concentration in face of discomforts of sitting and the sting of mosquitoes, etc. 

M.: The discomforts will not worry you if your concentration is right. Do not mind the discomforts. Keep your mind steady in meditation. If you have not the strength and endurance to bear mosquito stings how do you hope to gain realisation of the Self? 

Realisation must be amidst all the turmoils of life. 

If you make yourself comfortable and go to bed you fall asleep. Face the troubles but keep yourself steady in meditation.

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D.: I mean meditation as signified in The Secret Path and Who am I? 

M.: Long for it intensely so that the mind melts in devotion.

 After the camphor burns away no residue is left.

 The mind is the camphor. 

When it has resolved itself into the Self without leaving even the slightest trace behind, 

it is Realisation of the Self.

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

Talk 154.

 The next day he asked about pranayama. 

M.: Pranayama according to jnana is: 

“Na aham” I am not this = out-breathing 

“Koham” Who am I? = in-breathing 

“Soham” I am He = Retention of breath 

This is vichara. 

This vichara brings about the desired result. 

For one not so advanced as to engage in it, some meditation brings about suspension of breath and the mind ceases to be restless. 

Control of mind spontaneously effects control of breath; rather kevala kumbhaka (spontaneous retention of breath, without attention to inhalation or exhalation) results. 

For one unable to do this also, regulation of breath is prescribed for making the mind quiescent. Quiescence lasts only so long as the breath is controlled. So it is transient. 

The goal is clearly not pranayama. 

It extends on to pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. 

Those stages deal with the control of mind. 

Such control becomes easier for the man who had earlier practised pranayama. 

Pranayama leads him to the higher stages involving control of mind. 

Therefore control of mind is the aim of yoga also. 

A more advanced man will naturally go directly to control of mind without wasting his time in practising control of breath. 

A simple development of pranayama alone may confer siddhis which so many hanker for. 

When asked if there are any food restrictions, Sri Bhagavan said: “Mita hita bhuk” - agreeable food in moderate quantity. 

When asked about the efficacy of bhakti, Sri Bhagavan said: So long as there is vibhakti, there must be bhakti. 

So long as there is viyoga, there must be yoga. 

So long as there is duality, there must be God and devotee. 

Similarly also in vichara. So long as there is vichara, there is duality too. 

But merging into the Source there is unity only. 

So it is with bhakti too. 

Realising the God of devotion, there will be unity only.

 God too is thought of in and by the Self. 

So God is identical with the Self. If one is told to have bhakti for God and he does so straightaway, it is all right. 

But there is another kind of man who turns round and says: “There are two, I and God. 

Before knowing the far-off God, let me know the more immediate and intimate ‘I’.” For him the vichara-marga has to be taught. There is in fact no difference between bhakti and vichara.

.........

 Talk 155. 

The same man again asked about the nature of samadhi and the means to get samadhi.

 M.: When the one who asks the nature of samadhi and the method of getting into it vanishes, samadhi will result.

Maj. Chadwick: It is said that one look of a Mahatma is enough; that idols, pilgrimages, etc. are not so effective. I have been here for three months, but I do not know how I have been benefited by the look of Maharshi. 

M.: The look has a purifying effect. Purification cannot be visualised. Just as a piece of coal takes long to be ignited, a piece of charcoal takes a short time, and a mass of gunpowder is instantaneously ignited, so it is with grades of men coming in contact with Mahatmas.

Mr. Cohen: I get into meditation and reach a point which may be called peace and a contemplative mood. What should be the next step? 

M.: Peace is Self-Realisation. Peace need not be disturbed. One should aim at Peace only. 

D.: But I do not have the satisfaction. 

M.: Because your peace is temporary. If made permanent it is called Realisation.

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

148 solitude?

Mr. Cohen: I get into meditation and reach a point which may be called peace and a contemplative mood. What should be the next step?

 M.: Peace is Self-Realisation. Peace need not be disturbed. One should aim at Peace only.

 .....................

D.: But I do not have the satisfaction. 

M.: Because your peace is temporary. If made permanent it is called Realisation.

Moreover, how are thoughts to be erased in solitude? Should it not be done in the present environment?

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D.: But the mind is distracted now. 

M.: Why do you let go the mind?

  Solitude amounts to making the mind still. 

This can be done in a crowd too. Solitude cannot efface one’s thoughts. Practice does it. The same practice can be made here too.

....

Talk 157. 

D.: In the quest of I, the seeker is at a certain stage directed to keep the mind in a negative attitude for Grace to enter. How can a negative yield positive result? 

M.: The Self is always there - not to be newly got. 

D.: I mean to ask, what has been done in the negative attitude to deserve the Grace? 

M.: Are you asking this question without Grace? Grace is in the beginning, middle and end. 

Grace is the Self. Because of the false identification of the Self with the body the Guru is considered to be with body. 

But from the Guru’s outlook the Guru is only the Self. The Self is one only. He tells that the Self alone is. Is not then the Self your Guru? 

Where else will Grace come from? It is from the Self alone. 

Manifestation of the Self is a manifestation of Grace and vice versa. All these doubts arise because of the wrong outlook and consequent expectation of things external to oneself. Nothing is external to the Self.

.......

Talk 158. 

Mr. Frydman: Janaka was a Jnani and still he ruled his dominions. Does not action require activity of the mind? What is the rationale of the working of a jnani’s mind? 

M.: You say, “Janaka was a Jnani and yet active, etc.” Does Janaka ask the question? The question is in your mind only. The Jnani is not aware of anything besides the Self. He has no doubts of the kind.

.......

Talk 159. 

Mr. Cohen desired to know if trance is a sine qua non for Self Realisation. 

M.: You are always in the Self - now, in trance, in deep sleep, in Realisation. 

If you lose hold of the Self and identify yourself with the body or the mind, these states appear to overtake you, and it also looks like a blank in trance, etc.; whereas you are the Self and ever-present.

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