Talks mar 7

 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 ...).

 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, 

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.

...

D.: Is the Supreme Being with or without attributes? 

M.: Know first if you are with or without attributes. 

.........

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.

.

D.: From where did ignorance come? 

M.: There is no such thing as ignorance. It never arises. Everyone is Knowledge itself. Only Knowledge does not shine easily. 

The dispelling of ignorance is Wisdom which always exists 

- e.g. the necklace remaining round the neck though supposed to have been lost; or each of the ten fools failing to count himself and counting only the others. To whom is knowledge or ignorance?

......

D.: Can we not proceed from external to internal? 

M.: Is there any difference like that? Do you feel the difference - external and internal - in your sleep? This difference is only with reference to the body and arises with body-consciousness (‘I thought’). The so-called waking state is itself an illusion. 

Turn your vision inward and then the whole world will be full of Supreme Spirit. 

The world is said to be illusion. Illusion is really Truth. Even the material sciences trace the origin of the universe to some one primordial matter - subtle, exceedingly subtle. God is the same both to those who say the world is real and to their opponents. Their outlook is different. You need not entangle yourself in such disputations. The goal is one and the same for all. Look to it.

.......

182

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, “That 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”.

.............183...........end.....................................

Talks mar 6

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

174

Talk 192. 

Maharshi explained in the course of conversation: 

Whoever desires liberation? Everyone wants only happiness - happiness too as found in the enjoyment of the senses. 

This question was asked of a Guru, and the latter answered: “Quite so. That happiness which is the result of enjoyment by the senses is the same as that of liberation. That desire of such liberation is one of the four qualifications for attainment. This is common to all. So all are eligible for this knowledge - Self-knowledge.”

 In fact there may not be found any individual in the world who possesses all the qualities in perfection necessary for an aspirant as mentioned in Yoga Sutras, etc.

Still pursuit of Self-knowledge should not be abandoned. 

Everyone is the Self by his own experience. Still he is not aware, he identifies the Self with the body and feels miserable. This is the greatest of all mysteries. 

One is the Self. Why not abide as the Self and be done with miseries? In the beginning one has to be told that he is not the body, because he thinks that he is the body only. Whereas he is the body and all else. The body is only a part. Let him know it finally. He must first discern consciousness from insentience and be the consciousness only. Later let him realise that insentience is not apart from consciousness. This is discrimination (viveka). 

The initial discrimination must persist to the end. Its fruit is liberation.

......

Talk 194. 

Mr. Subba Rao, a visitor from Amalapuram, asked: How to control the mind? 

M.: Get hold of the mind. 

D.: How? 

M.: Mind is intangible. In fact, it does not exist. 

The surest way of control is to seek it. Then its activities cease.

...........

 Talk 195. 

Mr. Jharka, a gentleman from the University of Benares, holding the M.A. and the M.Sc. degrees, said that he was stricken with grief due to bereavement of wife and children. He sought peace of mind and asked how to get it. 

M.: It is in the mind that birth and death, pleasure and pain, in short the world and ego exist. 

If the mind is destroyed all these are destroyed too. 

Note that it should be annihilated, not just made latent. 

For the mind is dormant in sleep. It does not know anything. Still, on waking up, you are as you were before. There is no end of grief. But if the mind be destroyed the grief will have no background and will disappear along with the mind. 

.........

D.: How to destroy the mind?

 M.: Seek the mind. On being sought, it will disappear. 

D.: I do not understand. 

M.: The mind is only a bundle of thoughts. 

The thoughts arise because there is the thinker. 

The thinker is the ego. 

The ego, if sought, will vanish automatically. 

The ego and the mind are the same. 

The ego is the root-thought from which all other thoughts arise. 

D.: How to seek the mind?

M.: Dive within. 

You are now aware that the mind rises up from within. 

So sink within and seek.

 ..........

D.: I do not yet understand how it is to be done. 

M.: You are practising breath-control. Mechanical breath-control will not lead one to the goal. It is only an aid. 

While doing it mechanically, 

take care to be alert in mind

 and remember the ‘I’ thought and seek its source. 

Then you will find that where breath sinks, there ‘I-thought’ arises. 

They sink and rise together. 

The ‘I-thought’ also will sink along with breath. 

Simultaneously, another luminous and infinite ‘I-I’ will become manifest, which will be continuous and unbroken. 

That is the goal. 

It goes by different names - God, Self, Kundalini Sakti, Consciousness, Yoga, Bhakti, Jnana, etc. 

...........

D.: Not clear yet. 

M.: When the attempt is made, it will of itself take you to the goal.

........

176

Really there are only two methods: enquiry and devotion. One leads to the other.

....

D.: Seeking the ‘I’ there is nothing to be seen. 

M.: Because you are accustomed to identify yourself with the body and sight with the eyes, therefore, you say you do not see anything. 

What is there to be seen? Who is to see? How to see? 

There is only one consciousness which, manifesting as ‘I-thought’, identifies itself with the body, projects itself through the eyes and sees the objects around. 

The individual is limited in the waking state and expects to see something different. The evidence of his senses will be the seal of authority. 

But he will not admit that the seer, the seen and the sight are all manifestations of the same consciousness - namely, ‘I-I’. 

Contemplation helps one to overcome the illusion that the Self must be visual. 

In truth, there is nothing visual. 

How do you feel the ‘I’ now? 

Do you hold a mirror before you to know your own being? 

The awareness is the ‘I’. Realise it and that is the truth.

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

D.: On enquiry into the origin of thoughts there is a perception of ‘I’. But it does not satisfy me. 

M.: Quite right. The perception of ‘I’ is associated with a form, maybe the body. 

There should be nothing associated with the pure Self. 

The Self is the unassociated, pure Reality, in whose light, the body, the ego, etc. shine. 

On stilling all thoughts the pure consciousness remains over. 

Just on waking from sleep and before becoming aware of the world there is that pure ‘I-I’. 

Hold on to it without sleeping or without allowing thoughts to possess you. 

If that is held firm it does not matter even though the world is seen. 

The seer remains unaffected by the phenomena.

.......

Talk 197. 

Gul and Shirin Byramjee, two Parsi ladies of Ahmedabad, arrived this day. They spoke at night to Maharshi: 

“Bhagavan! We have been spiritually inclined from our childhood. We have read several books on philosophy, and are attracted by Vedanta. So we read the Upanishads, Yoga Vasishtha, Bhagavad Gita, etc. We try to meditate, but there is no progress in our meditation. We do not understand how to realise. Can you kindly help us towards realisation?” 

M.: How do you meditate? 

........

The method:

D.: I begin to ask myself “Who am I?”, eliminate body as not ‘I’, the breath as not ‘I’, the mind as not ‘I’ and I am not able to proceed further. 

M.: Well, that is so far as the intellect goes. Your process is only intellectual. 

Indeed, all the scriptures mention the process only to guide the seeker to know the Truth.

 The Truth cannot be directly pointed out. Hence this intellectual process. 

You see, the one who eliminates all the not I cannot eliminate the ‘I’. 

To say ‘I am not this’ or ‘I am that’ there must be the ‘I’. 

This ‘I’ is only the ego or the ‘I-thought’.

 After the rising up of this ‘I-thought’, all other thoughts arise. 

The ‘I-thought’ is therefore the root-thought. 

If the root is pulled out all others are at the same time uprooted. 

Therefore seek the root ‘I’, question yourself “Who am I?”; find out its source. 

Then all these will vanish and the pure Self will remain ever. 

D.: How to do it? 

M.: The ‘I’ is always there - in deep sleep, in dream and in wakefulness. The one in sleep is the same as that who now speaks. 

There is always the feeling of ‘I’.

 Otherwise do you deny your existence? You do not. 

You say ‘I am’. Find out who is. 

D.: Even so, I do not understand. ‘I’, you say, is the wrong ‘I’ now. How to eliminate this wrong ‘I’? 

M.: You need not eliminate the wrong ‘I’. 

How can ‘I’ eliminate itself? 

All that you need do is to find out its origin and abide there. 

Your efforts can extend only thus far. 

Then the Beyond will take care of itself. 

You are helpless there. 

No effort can reach it.

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

 D.: If ‘I’ am always - here and now, why do I not feel so? 

M.: That is it. Who says it is not felt? Does the real ‘I’ say it or the false ‘I’? Examine it. 

You will find it is the wrong ‘I’. The wrong ‘I’ is the obstruction.

It has to be removed in order that the true ‘I’ may not be hidden. 

The feeling that I have not realised is the obstruction to realisation. In fact it is already realised; there is nothing more to be realised. 

Otherwise, the realisation will be new; it has not existed so far, it must take place hereafter. 

What is born will also die. If realisation be not eternal it is not worth having. Therefore what we seek is not that which must happen afresh. It is only that which is eternal but not now known due to obstructions; it is that we seek. All that we need do is to remove the obstruction. That which is eternal is not known to be so because of ignorance. Ignorance is the obstruction. Get over this ignorance and all will be well.

The ignorance is identical with the ‘I-thought’. Find its source and it will vanish. 

The ‘I-thought’ is like a spirit which, although not palpable, rises up simultaneously with the body, flourishes and disappears with it. 

The body-consciousness is the wrong ‘I’. Give up this body consciousness. 

It is done by seeking the source ‘I’. 

The body does not say ‘I am’. It is you who say, ‘I am the body!’ 

Find out who this ‘I’ is. Seeking its source it will vanish. 

.........

D.: Then, will there be bliss? 

M.: Bliss is coeval with Being-Consciousness. All the arguments relating to the eternal Being of that Bliss apply to Bliss also. Your nature is Bliss. Ignorance is now hiding that Bliss. Remove the ignorance for Bliss to be freed. 

D.: Should we not find out the ultimate reality of the world, individual and God? 

M.: These are all conceptions of the ‘I’. 

They arise only after the advent of the ‘I-thought’. 

Did you think of them in your deep sleep? You existed in deep sleep and the same you are now speaking. If they be real should they not be in your sleep also? They are only dependent upon the ‘I-thought’. Again does the world tell you ‘I am the world’? Does the body say ‘I am body’? You say, “This is the world”, “this is body” and so on. 

So these are only your conceptions. 

Find out who you are and there will be an end of all your doubts.

................................178........end.................................. 

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).

...........

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.

..

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.

.....

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

.....

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.

.

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.

.....

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.

.......

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.

.....

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.

.....

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.

....................................174.......................end.................................... 

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.

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

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?

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

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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135

Mr. Ellappa Chettiar, a Member of the Legislative Council, from Salem, asked: “Is it enough to introvert the mind or should we meditate on ‘I am Brahman’?” 

M.: To introvert the mind is the prime thing. 

The Buddhists consider the flow of ‘I’ thought to be Liberation; whereas we say that such flow proceeds from its underlying substratum - the only - Reality. 

Why should one be meditating ‘I am Brahman’? Only the annihilation of ‘I’ is Liberation.

 But it can be gained only by keeping the ‘I-I’ always in view. 

So the need for the investigation of the ‘I’ thought.

 If the ‘I’ is not let go, no blank can result to the seeker.

 Otherwise meditation will end in sleep. 

There is only one ‘I’ all along, but what arises up from time to time is the mistaken ‘I-thought’. 

Whereas the intuitive ‘I’ always remains Self-shining, i.e. even before it becomes manifest. 

The birth of the gross body does not amount to one’s own birth, on the other hand, the birth of the ego is one’s own birth. For liberation, nothing new remains to be gained. It is the original state and continues unchanged too.

136

Talk 140. 

D.: What is reality? 

M.: Reality must be always real. It is not with forms and names. 

That which underlies these is the Reality. 

It underlies limitations, being itself limitless. 

It is not bound. It underlies unrealities, itself being real. Reality is that which is. It is as it is. It transcends speech, beyond the expressions, e.g., existence, non-existence, etc.

....

imp

Talk 141. 

The same gentleman later, after quoting a verse from Kaivalya, asked: “Can jnana be lost after being once attained?”

 M.: Jnana, once revealed, takes time to steady itself. 

The Self is certainly within the direct experience of everyone, but not as one imagines it to be. 

It is only as it is. 

This Experience is samadhi. 

Just as fire remains without scorching against incantations or other devices but scorches otherwise, so also the Self remains veiled by vasanas and reveals itself when there are no vasanas. 

Owing to the fluctuation of the vasanas, jnana takes time to steady itself. 

Unsteady jnana is not enough to check rebirths. 

Jnana cannot remain unshaken side by side with vasanas.

 True, that in the proximity of a great master, the vasanas will cease to be active, the mind becomes still and samadhi results, similar to fire not scorching because of other devices. Thus the disciple gains true knowledge and right experience in the presence of the master. 

To remain unshaken in it further efforts are necessary. 

He will know it to be his real Being and thus be liberated even while alive. Samadhi with closed eyes is certainly good, but one must go further until it is realised that actionlessness and action are not hostile to each other. 

Fear of loss of samadhi while one is active is the sign of ignorance. 

Samadhi must be the natural life of everyone. 

There is a state beyond our efforts or effortlessness. Until it is realised effort is necessary. 

After tasting such Bliss, even once one will repeatedly try to regain it. 

Having once experienced the Bliss of Peace no one would like to be out of it or engaged himself otherwise. 

It is as difficult for a Jnani to engage in thoughts as it is for an ajnani to be free from thought. 

The common man says that he does not know himself; he thinks many thoughts and cannot remain without thinking. Any kind of activity does not affect a Jnani; his mind remains ever in eternal Peace.

.......

Talk 142. Mr. Prakasa Rao from Bezwada: Does not illusion become inoperative even before identity with Brahman results  (Brahmakaravritti)? Or does it persist even afterwards? 

M.: Illusion will not persist after vasanas are annihilated. 

In the interval between the knowledge of the identity and annihilation of vasanas, there will be illusion.

..

 Maj. Chadwick: I do not know if the Self is different from the ego. 

M.: How were you in your deep sleep? 

D.: I do not know. 

M.: Who does not know? Is it not the waking Self? Do you deny your existence in your deep sleep? 

D.: I was and I am; but I do not know who was in deep sleep

 M.: Exactly. The man awake says that he did not know anything in the state of sleep. Now he sees the objects and knows that he is there; whereas in deep sleep there were no objects, no spectator, etc.

The same one who is now speaking was in deep sleep also. What is the difference between these two states? There are objects and play of senses now which were not in sleep. A new entity, the ego, has risen up in the meantime, it plays through the senses, sees the objects, confounds itself with the body and says that the Self is the ego. In reality, what was in deep sleep continues to exist now too. The Self is changeless. It is the ego that has come between. That which rises and sets is the ego; that which remains changeless is the Self.

......

140 astral bodies discussion with p brunton

......

141

Talk 146.

 In reply to Miss Leena Sarabhai, a cultured Indian lady of high rank, 

Sri Bhagavan said: The state of equanimity is the state of bliss. The declaration in the Vedas ‘I am This or That’, is only an aid to gain equanimity of mind. 

........

D.: So, it is wrong to begin with a goal: is it? 

M.: If there be a goal to be reached it cannot be permanent. The goal must already be there. We seek to reach the goal with the ego, but the goal exists before the ego. What is in the goal is even prior to our birth, i.e. to the birth of the ego. 

Because we exist the ego appears to exist too. If we look on the Self as the ego then we become the ego, if as the mind we become the mind, if as the body we become the body. 

It is the thought which builds up sheaths in so many ways. The shadow on the water is found to be shaking. Can anyone stop the shaking of the shadow? If it should cease to shake you would not notice the water but only the light. Similarly to take no notice of the ego and its activities, but see only the light behind. 

The ego is the I-thought. 

The true ‘I’ is the Self.

 D.: It is one step to realisation.

M.: Realisation is already there. The state free from thoughts is the only real state. There is no such action as Realisation. Is there anyone who is not realising the Self? Does anyone deny his own existence? Speaking of realisation, it implies two selves - the one to realise, the other to be realised. What is not already realised, is sought to be realised. Once we admit our existence, how is it that we do not know our Self?

......

D.: Because of the thoughts - the mind. 

M.: Quite so. It is the mind that stands between and veils our happiness. How do we know that we exist? If you say because of the world around us, then how do you know that you existed in deep sleep? 

D.: How to get rid of the mind? 

M.: Is it the mind that wants to kill itself? The mind cannot kill itself. So your business is to find the real nature of the mind. Then you will know that there is no mind. When the Self is sought, the mind is nowhere. Abiding in the Self, one need not worry about the mind. 

D.: How to get rid of fear? 

M.: What is fear? It is only a thought. If there is anything besides the Self there is reason to fear. Who sees the second (anything external)? First the ego arises and sees objects as external. If the ego does not rise, the Self alone exists and there is no second (nothing external). For anything external to oneself implies the seer within. Seeking it there will arise no doubt, no fear - not only fear, all other thoughts centred round the ego will disappear along with it. 

D.: This method seems to be quicker than the usual one of cultivating qualities alleged necessary for salvation (sadhana chatushtaya)? 

M.: Yes. All bad qualities centre round the ego. When the ego is gone Realisation results by itself. There are neither good nor bad qualities in the Self. The Self is free from all qualities. Qualities pertain to the mind only. It is beyond quality. If there is unity, there will also be duality. The numeral one gives rise to other numbers. The truth is neither one nor two. IT is as it is.

D.: The difficulty is to be in the thought-free state.

M.: Leave the thought-free state to itself. Do not think of it as pertaining to you. Just as when you walk, you involuntarily take steps, so too in your actions; but the thought-free state is not affected by your actions. 

D.: What is it that is discriminative in action? 

M.: Discrimination will be automatic, intuitive. 

D.: So Intuition alone matters; Intuition develops also. 

M.: Those who have discovered great Truths have done so in the still depths of the Self. 

The ego is like one’s shadow thrown on the ground. 

If one attempts to bury it, it will be foolish. 

The Self is only one. If limited it is the ego. 

If unlimited it is Infinite and is the Reality. 

The bubbles are different from one another and numerous, but the ocean is only one. 

Similarly the egos are many, whereas the Self is one and only one. 

When told that you are not the ego, realise the Reality. Why do you still identify yourself with the ego? 

It is like saying, “Don’t think of the monkey while taking medicine” - it is impossible. Similarly it happens with common folk. 

When the Reality is mentioned why do you continue to meditate Sivoham or Aham Brahmasmi?

  The significance must be traced and understood. 

It is not enough to repeat the bare words or think of them. 

Reality is simply the loss of the ego.

 Destroy the ego by seeking its identity.

Because the ego is no entity it will automatically vanish and Reality will shine forth by itself. 

This is the direct method. 

Whereas all other methods are done, only retaining the ego. 

In those paths there arise so many doubts and the eternal question remains to be tackled finally. But in this method the final question is the only one and it is raised from the very beginning. No sadhanas are necessary for engaging in this quest. There is no greater mystery than this - viz., ourselves being the Reality we seek to gain Reality. We think that there is something hiding our Reality and that it must be destroyed before the Reality is gained. It is ridiculous. A day will dawn when you will yourself laugh at your past efforts. That which will be on the day you laugh is also here and now.

D.: So it is a great game of pretending? 

M.: Yes. In Yoga Vasishtha it is said, “What is Real is hidden from us, but what is false, is revealed as true.” 

We are actually experiencing the Reality only; still, we do not know it. 

Is it not a wonder of wonders? The quest “Who am I?” is the axe with which to cut off the ego.

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114

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 (Chp. 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.: 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.

........

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.

.....

Talk 122.

 A crowd had gathered here during Christmas. 

D.: How to attain Unity Consciousness? 

M.: Being Unity Consciousness how to attain it? Your question is its own answer. 

D.: What is Atman (Self), anatman (non-self) and paramatman (Supreme Self)? 

M.: Atman is jivatman (the individual Self) and the rest are plain. The Self is ever-present (nityasiddha). Each one wants to know the Self. 

What kind of help does one require to know oneself? People want to see the Self as something new. But it is eternal and remains the same all along. 

They desire to see it as a blazing light, etc. How can it be so? 

It is not light, not darkness (na tejo, na tamah). It is only as it is. It cannot be defined. 

The best definition is ‘I am that I Am.’ 

The Srutis speak of the Self as being the size of one’s thumb, the tip of the hair, an electric spark, vast, subtler than the subtlest, etc. 

They have no foundation in fact. 

It is only Being, but different from the real and the unreal; it is Knowledge, but different from knowledge and ignorance. How can it be defined at all? It is simply Being. 

Again Sri Bhagavan said that in the whole Thayumanavar literature, he preferred one stanza which says: “Ego disappearing another ‘I-I’ spontaneously manifests in full glory,” etc. Again he cites Skandar Anubhuti: “Not real, nor unreal; not darkness nor light, it is.” One man said, that a siddha of Kumbakonam claimed to overcome the defects in Sri Sankara’s system which deals only with transcendentalism and not the work-a-day life. One must be able to exercise super-human powers in ordinary life, that is to say, one must be a siddha in order to be perfect. Sri Bhagavan pointed out a stanza in Thayumanavar which condemns all siddhis. Further he said that Thayumanavar mentions mouna (silence) in numerous places but defines it in only one verse. 

Mouna is said to be that state which spontaneously manifests after the annihilation of the ego. That state is beyond light and darkness, but still it is called light since no other proper word could be found for it. 

.......

128

D.: What is the difference between yoga and surrender? 

M.: Surrender is Bhakti Yoga. To reach the source of the ‘I-thought’ is the destruction of the ego, is the attainment of the goal, is prapatti (surrender), jnana, etc.

D.: What is moksha (liberation)? 

M.: Moksha is to know that you were not born. “Be still and know that I am God.” To be still is not to think. Know, and not think, is the word.

D.: There are said to be six organs of different colours in the chest, of which the heart is said to be two finger-breadths to the right of the middle line. But the Heart is also formless. Should we then imagine it to have a shape and meditate on it? 

M.: No. Only the quest “Who am I?” is necessary. 

What remains all through deep sleep and waking is the same. But in waking there is unhappiness and the effort to remove it. Asked who wakes up from sleep you say ‘I’. Now you are told to hold fast to this ‘I’. If it is done the eternal Being will reveal Itself. Investigation of ‘I’ is the point and not meditation on the heart-centre. There is nothing like within or without. Both mean either the same thing or nothing. 

Of course there is also the practice of meditation on the heart centre. It is only a practice and not investigation. 

Only the one who meditates on the heart can remain aware when the mind ceases to be active and remains still; whereas those who meditate on other centres cannot be so aware but infer that the mind was still only after it becomes again active.

..........

M.: Identification with the Supreme is only the other name for the destruction of the ego.

...

132

Talk 134. 

A question about the Heart was raised. Sri Bhagavan said that one should seek the Self and realise it. The Heart will play its part automatically. The seat of realisation is the Heart. It cannot be said to be either in or out

....

133

D.: Can we hasten our illumination for greater service? and how? 

M.: As we are not able to help ourselves, so we have to surrender ourselves to the Supreme completely. Then He will take care of us as well as the world.

 D.: What do you consider the goal? 

M.: Self-Realisation. 

D.: Is there any way to meet the appointed Guru for each? 

M.: Intense meditation brings it about.

...........

Talk 136. 

Dr. G. H. Mees, a young Dutchman, was here for a few days. 

He asked Sri Bhagavan: “I have an impression that in deep sleep I have something akin to samadhi. Is it so?” 

M.: It is the waking ‘I’ that asks the questions - not the ‘I’ in sleep. If you attain the state of wakeful sleep which is the same as samadhi, while still awake, doubts will not arise.

Samadhi is one’s natural state. It is the under-current in all the three states. This - that is, ‘I’ - is not in those states, but these states are in It. If we get samadhi in our waking state that will persist in deep sleep also. The distinction between consciousness and unconsciousness belongs to the realm of mind, which is transcended by the state of the Real Self.

.....

Talk 137. 

Lakshman Brahmachari of Sri Ramakrishna Mission asked: “Can one imagine oneself as witness of the thoughts?” 

M.: It is not the natural state. It is only an idea (bhavana) - an aid to stilling the mind. The Self is ever the witness, whether so imagined or not. There is no need to so imagine except for that purpose. But it is best to remain as one’s Self

..

135

D.: What is the experience of samadhi?

 M.: It is as it is. For onlookers it may seem to be a swoon. Even to the practiser it may appear so in the early experiences. After a few repeated experiences it will be all right. 

D.: Do they soothe nadis or do they excite them by such experiences? 

M.: They are excited at first. By continued experience it becomes common and the man is no longer excited. 

D.: Proceeding on safe lines there should be no unpleasantness. Excitement is uncongenial to smooth being and working. 

M.: A wandering mind is on the wrong way; only a devotional mind is on the right way. 19th January, 1936

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D.: What is the meaning of the strength of the mind? 

M.: Its ability to concentrate on one thought without being distracted.

 ......

D.: How is that achieved? 

M.: By practice.

 A devotee concentrates on God; a seeker, follower of the jnana-marga, seeks the Self. The practice is equally difficult for both. 

D.: Even if the mind is brought to bear on the search for the Self, after a long struggle the mind begins to elude him and the man is not aware of the mischief until after some time. 

M.: So it would be. In the earlier stages the mind reverts to the search at long intervals.

With continued practice it reverts at shorter intervals until finally it does not wander at all.

 It is then that the dormant sakti manifests. The satvic mind is free from thoughts whereas the rajasic mind is full of them. The sattvic mind resolves itself into the Life-current.

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

D.: Can one keep the mind away from entering into the phase of thoughts before one experiences the current?

 M.: Yes; the current is pre-existent

...........

9th November, 1935 Talk 93. 

All are aware of their own Self only. Wonder of wonders! 

They take what is not as what is, or they see the phenomena apart from the Self.

 Only so long as there is the knower is there knowledge of all kinds (direct, inferential, intellectual etc.); should the knower vanish they all vanish together with him; their validity is of the same degree as his.

........

Talk 95. 

A question was raised as follows by Maj. A. W. Chadwick:- 

Mr. Edward Carpenter, a certain mystic, has written in a book that he had Self-Realisation on some occasions and that its effects lasted sometimes afterwards, only to be gradually lost. 

Whereas Sri Ramana Gita says, “Granthi (knot = bondage), snapped once, is snapped for ever.” In the case of this mystic, the bondage seems to have persisted even after Self-Realisation. How can it be so?

 The Master cited Kaivalya as follows:- 

The disciple, after realising the all-shining, unitary, unbroken state of Being-Knowledge-Bliss, surrendered himself to the master and humbly prayed to know how he could repay the master’s Grace. The Master said: “My reward consists in your permanent unbroken Bliss. Do not slip away from it.” 

D.: Having once experienced the Supreme Bliss, how can one stray away from it? 

M.: Oh yes! It happens. The predisposition adhering to him from time immemorial will draw him out and so ignorance overtakes him. 

D.: What are the obstacles to remaining steady in unbroken Bliss? How can they be overcome? 

M.: The obstacles are: 

(1) Ignorance which is forgetfulness of one’s pure being. 

(2) Doubt which consists in wondering if even the experience was of the Real or of the unreal.

 (3) Error which consists in the “I-am-the-body” idea, and thinking that the world is real. 

These are overcome by hearing the truth, reflection on it and concentration. 

The Master continued: Experience is said to be temporary or permanent. The first experience is temporary and by concentration it can become permanent. In the former the bondage is not completely  destroyed. 

It remains subtle and reasserts itself in due course. But in the latter it is destroyed root and branch, never to appear again. The expression yogabhrashta (those who have fallen down from yoga) in Srimad Bhagavad Gita refers to the former class of men. 

D.: Is then hearing the Truth meant only for a limited few? 

M.: It is of two kinds. 

The ordinary one is to hear it enunciated and explained by a master. 

However, the right one is to raise the question for oneself and seek and find the answer in oneself as the unbroken ‘I-I’. 

To be reflecting on this experience is the second stage. To remain one-pointed in it is the third stage.

D.: Can the temporary experience be called samadhi? 

M.: No. It forms part of the third stage. 

D.: It looks then as if even hearing the Truth is limited to a very few. 

M.: The seekers fall into two classes; kritopasaka and akritopasaka. The former having already overcome his predisposition by steady devotion, his mind thus made pure, has had some kind of experience but does not comprehend it; as soon as he is instructed by a competent master, permanent experience results. The other class of seeker needs great effort to achieve this end. How will the hearing of the Truth, reflection and concentration help him? They comprise upasana (the nearest approach to Truth) and will end in his Self-Realization. 

The fourth stage is the final one of liberation. Even there some distinction is made according to the degree, as (1) the knower of the Brahman (Brahmavid) (2) Brahmavid-vara (3) Brahmavid-varya (4) Brahmavid-varishta But all of them are in fact liberated even while alive

....

105

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.

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.

.........

D.: How to reach the Heart? 

M.: Where are you now that you want to reach the Heart? Are you standing apart from the Self? 

D.: I am in my body. 

M.: In a particular spot, or all over? 

D.: All over. I am extending all over the body. 

M.: Where from do you extend?

 D.: I do not know. 

M.: Yes. You are always in the Heart. 

You are never away from it in order that you should reach it. Consider how you are in deep sleep and in the waking state. These states are also not yours. They are of the ego. 

The consciousness remains the same and undifferentiated all through. 

...

D.: I understand but I cannot feel it so. 

M.: Whose is the ignorance? Find it out. 

D.: All this is so difficult. 

M.: The idea of difficulty is itself wrong. It will not help you to gain what you want. Again I ask: “Who finds it difficult?” 

D.: I see that I am coming round to ‘I’. 

M.: Because you are always that and never away from that. 

There is nothing so simple as being the Self. 

It requires no effort, no aid. 

One has to leave off the wrong identity and be in his eternal, natural, inherent state.

.........

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.

.......................113.........................end.........................................