talks mar 5

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

150

Talk 160. 

D.: What is the hridaya and what the sphurana therein? How do they appear? 

M.: The hridaya and the sphurana are the same as the Self. 

The sphurana requires a basis for its manifestation. This is explained in the book Vichara Sangraham (Self-Enquiry).

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D.: How does the sphurana appear - as light, movement, or what? 

M.: How can it be described in words? 

It includes all these - It is the Self. 

Fix your attention on it and do not let go the idea of its ultimate character.

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154

D.: The Bible teaches that Man is born in sin. 

M.: The Man is sin. There was no man-sense in deep sleep. The body thought brings out the idea of sin. The birth of thought is itself sin.

To another question the Master said: 

Everyone sees only the Self. 

The divine forms are only like bubbles in the ocean of Reality, or like pictures moving on a screen.

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159

Talk 172. 

A visitor: What is the difference between meditation (dhyana) and investigation (vichara)? 

M.: Both amount to the same. Those unfit for investigation must practise meditation. In this practice the aspirant forgetting himself meditates ‘I am Brahman’ or ‘I am Siva’; thus he continues to hold to Brahman or Siva; this will ultimately end on the residual Being as Brahman or Siva which he will realise to be Pure Being, i.e. the Self. He who engages in investigation starts holding on to himself, asks ‘Who am I?’ and the Self becomes clear to him.

......

D.: Will the knowledge gained by direct experience be lost afterwards? 

M.: Kaivalya Navanita says it may be lost. 

Experience gained without rooting out all the vasanas cannot remain steady. 

Efforts must be made to eradicate the vasanas. 

Otherwise rebirth after death takes place. 

Some say direct experience results from hearing from one’s master; others say it is from reflection; yet others say from one pointedness and also from samadhi. Though they look different on the surface, ultimately they mean the same. 

Knowledge can remain unshaken only after all the vasanas are rooted out

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160

D.: What is the difference between meditation and enquiry into the Self? 

M.: Meditation is possible only if the ego be kept up. There is the ego and the object meditated upon. The method is indirect. 

Whereas the Self is only one. Seeking the ego, i.e. its source, ego disappears. What is left over is the Self. This method is the direct one. 

D.: Then what am I to do? 

M.: To hold on to the Self. 

D.: How?

 M.: Even now you are the Self.

 But you are confounding this consciousness (or ego) with the absolute consciousness. 

This false identification is due to ignorance. 

Ignorance disappears along with the ego. 

Killing the ego is the only thing to accomplish.

 Realisation is already there. No attempt is needed to attain realisation. For it is nothing external, nothing new. It is always and everywhere here and now too.

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Talk 183. 

A gentleman from Bombay said: “I asked Mother in Sri Aurobindo Ashram the following question: ‘I keep my mind blank without thoughts arising so that God might show Himself in His true Being. But I do not perceive anything.

 “The reply was to this effect: ‘The attitude is right. The Power will come down from above. It is a direct experience’.” So he asked what further he should do.

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D.: Why is Atma vichara necessary? 

M.: If you do not make Atma vichara, then loka vichara creeps in. 

That which is not, is sought for, but not that which is obvious. 

When once you have found what you seek, vichara (enquiry) also ceases and you rest in it. 

As long as one is confusing the body with the Atman, Atman is said to be lost and one is said to seek for it, but the Atman itself is never lost. 

It always exists. 

A body is said to be Atman, an indriya is said to be Atman, then there is the Jivatman and Paramatman and what not. There are a thousand and one things called Atman. The search for Atman is to know that which is really Atman.

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Samadhi: keval and sahaja Talk 187. 

D.: I maintain that the physical body of the man sunk in samadhi as a result of unbroken contemplation of the Self becomes motionless for that reason. It may be active or inactive. The mind fixed in such contemplation will not be affected by the body or the senses being restless. A disturbance of the mind is not always the forerunner of physical activity. Another man asserts that physical unrest certainly prevents nirvikalpa samadhi or unbroken contemplation. What is your opinion? You are the standing proof of my statement. 

M.: Both of you are right, you refer to sahaja nirvikalpa and the other refers to kevala nirvikalpa. 

In  one  the mind lies immersed in the Light of the Self . Whereas the same lies in the darkness of ignorance in deep sleep.

 The subject discriminates one from the other - samadhi, stirring up from samadhi, and activity thereafter, unrest of the body, of the sight of the vital force and of the mind, the cognizance of objects and activity, are all obstructions for him. In sahaja, however, the mind has resolved itself into the Self and has been lost. Differences and obstructions mentioned above do not therefore exist here. The activities of such a being are like the feeding of a somnolent boy, perceptible to the onlooker (but not to the subject). The driver sleeping on his moving cart is not aware of the motion of the cart, because his mind is sunk in darkness. Similarly the sahaja Jnani remains unaware of his bodily activities because his mind is dead - having been resolved in the ecstasy of Chit Ananda (Self). The two words contemplation and samadhi have been used loosely in the question. Contemplation is a forced mental process, whereas samadhi lies beyond effort.

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Talk 188. 

The essence of mind is only awareness or consciousness. 

When the ego dominates it, it functions as the reasoning, thinking or sensing faculty. 

The cosmic mind being not limited by the ego, has nothing separate from itself and is therefore only aware. 

This is what the Bible means by “I am that I Am”. 

The ego-ridden mind has its strength sapped and is too weak to resist the torturing thoughts. 

The egoless mind is happy in deep, dreamless sleep. 

Clearly therefore Bliss and misery are only modes of mind; but the weak mode is not easily interchangeable with the strong mode. Activity is weakness and consequently miserable; passivity is strength and therefore blissful. The dormant strength is not apparent and therefore not availed of.

The cosmic mind, manifesting in some rare being, is able to effect the linkage in others of the individual (weak) mind with the universal (strong) mind of the inner recess. Such a rare being is called the Guru or God in manifestation.

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D.: Which is the best of the different yogas, Karma, Jnana, Bhakti or Hatha? 

M.: See stanza 10 of “Upadesa Sara”. To remain in the Self amounts to all these in their highest sense. 

Maharshi added: In dreamless sleep there is no world, no ego and no unhappiness. But the Self remains. In the waking state there are all these; yet there is the Self. One has only to remove the transitory happenings in order to realise the ever-present beatitude of the Self. Your nature is Bliss. Find that on which all the rest are superimposed and you then remain as the pure Self.\

173

Talk 191. 

Mr. Cohen, a resident disciple, was speaking of yoga method. 

Maharshi remarked: Patanjali’s first sutra is applicable to all systems of yoga. The aim is the cessation of mental activities. The methods differ. So long as there is effort made towards that goal it is called yoga. The effort is the yoga. The cessation can be brought about in so many ways.

 (1) By examining the mind itself. When the mind is examined, its activities cease automatically. This is the method of jnana. The pure mind is the Self. 

(2) Looking for the source of the mind is another method. The source may be said to be God or Self or consciousness. 

(3) Concentrating upon one thought make all other thoughts disappear. Finally that thought also disappears; and 

(4) Hatha Yoga. All methods are one and the same in as much as they all tend to the same goal. It is necessary to be aware while controlling thoughts. Otherwise it will lead to sleep.

 That awareness, the chief factor, is indicated by the fact of Patanjali emphasising pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, samadhi even after pranayama. Pranayama makes the mind steady and suppresses thoughts. Then why develop further? 

Because awareness then is the one necessary factor. 

Such states can be imitated by taking morphia, chloroform, etc. They do not lead to Moksha because they lack awareness.

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