Sri Ramana Maharshi

· Nobody doubts that he exists, though he may doubt the existence of God. If he finds out the truth about himself and discovers his own source, this is all that is required.

· We loosely talk of Self-realization, for lack of a better term. But how can one realize or make real that which alone is real? All we need to do is to give up our habit of regarding as real that which is unreal. All religious practices are meant solely to help us do this. When we stop regarding the unreal as real, then reality alone will remain, and we will be that.

· Affection toward the good, compassion toward the helpless, happiness in doing good deeds, forgiveness toward the wicked; all such things are natural characteristics of the Master.

· If the mind is happy, not only the body but the whole world will be happy. So one must find out how to become happy oneself. Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like trying to cover the whole world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.

· Every being in the world longs to be always joyful, without any taint of sorrow. At the same time, everyone loves himself best. Love is caused by joy. Therefore, joy must lie inside oneself. In order to realize this inherent and untainted joy, which indeed we experience every night when the mind is subdued in deep dreamless sleep, it is essential that one know oneself.

· The ultimate truth is so simple. It is nothing more than being in the pristine state. This is all that need be said.

All religions have come into existence because people want something elaborate and attractive and puzzling. Each religion is complex, and each sect in each religion has its own adherents and antagonists. For example, an ordinary Christian will not be satisfied unless he is told that God is somewhere in the far-off heavens, not to be reached by us unaided. Christ alone knew Him and Christ alone can guide us. Worship Christ and be saved. If he is told the simple truth, that "the kingdom of heaven is within you," he is not satisfied and will read complex and far-fetched meanings into such statements.

Only mature minds can grasp the simple truth in all its nakedness.

· Question: What are the signs by which one can recognize a true teacher?

Answer: A true teacher is always at home in the depths of the Self. He never sees a difference between himself and others, is never moved by false ideas or distinctions (for example, the idea that he himself is an enlightened sage, that he has realized the truth and attained freedom, while the others around him pine away in bondage and ignorance). His courage and self-control are at all times unshakable. No experience that he encounters can lead him astray.

Question: What qualifications should a true student possess?

Answer: He should have a constant and passionate longing to break free from life's sorrow – not by running away from it, but by growing beyond his mind and thoughts and by experiencing in himself the reality of the Self, which knows neither birth nor death. He should long for the supreme spiritual bliss and have no other desires.

· Reality is simply the loss of the ego. Destroy the ego by seeking its identity. It will automatically vanish and reality will shine forth by itself. This is the direct method.

There is no greater mystery than this, that we keep seeking reality though in fact we are reality. We think that there is something hiding reality and that this must be destroyed before reality is gained. How ridiculous! A day will dawn when you will laugh at all your past efforts. That which will be on the day you laugh is also here and now.

· People often say that a liberated Master should go out and preach his message to the people. How can anyone be a Master, they argue, as long as there is misery by his side? This is true. But who is a liberated Master? Does he see misery beside him? They want to determine the state of a Master without realizing the state themselves. From the standpoint of the Master their contention amounts to this: A man dreams a dream in which he finds several people. On waking up, he asks, "Have the dream people also woken up?" How ridiculous!

In the same way, a good man says, "It doesn't matter if I never get liberation. Or let me be the last man to get it so that I may help all others to be liberated before I am." Wonderful. Imagine a dreamer saying, "May all these dream people wake up before I do." The dreamer is no more absurd than this amiable philosopher.

· Silence is a perennial flow of language, interrupted by words. It is like electricity. When there is resistance to its passage, it glows as a lamp or revolves as a fan. But in the wire it remains as pure energy. In the same way, silence is the eternal flow of language.

· God's grace is the beginning, the middle, and the end. When you pray for God's grace, you are like someone standing neck-deep in water and yet crying for water. It is like saying that someone neck-deep in water feels thirsty, or that a fish in water feels thirsty, or that water feels thirsty.

· The Heart is the center of the Self, behind the ego-self. As to where in the body it is located, you cannot know it with your mind or picture it with your imagination but it is here (pointing to the right side of the chest).

· As opposed to what is commonly called meditation, I teach Self-enquiry, i.e. introspection. Meditation requires an external object on which to meditate – introspection shuts out the external, quiets the mind (world) to find Center/Source. In Self-enquiry there is only the subject and no object.

· The ego-ridden mind has its strength sapped and is too weak to resist distressing thoughts. The ego-less mind is happy, as we see in deep, dreamless sleep.

· [The Bhagavan, holding tightly to the truth of non-duality, refused to admit the existence of the ego.] There is no ego. If there were, you would have to admit of two selves in you. Therefore there is no ignorance. If you enquire into the Self, ignorance – which is already non-existent - will be found not to exist and you will say that it is fled.

· Waking, dream and sleep are mere phases of the mind, not of the Self. The Self is the witness of these three states. Your true nature exists in sleep.

· Meditation is a fight. As soon as you begin meditation, other thoughts will crowd together, gather force and try to overwhelm the single thought to which you try to hold. This thought must gradually gain strength by repeated practice – when it has grown strong the other thoughts will be put to flight.

· Agitation of mind is the cause of desire, of the sense of being the doer, of personality. If that is stopped, there is quiet. In this sense, “knowing” means “being”; it is not relative knowledge involving triads of Knower, Knowledge and Known.

· The Self manifests externally as the Guru when occasion demands; otherwise he always remains within, doing what is required.

· Realization of the Self is the greatest help that can be rendered to humanity; therefore saints are said to be helpful even when they remain in the forests. But it should not be forgotten that solitude is not to be found in the forests only. It can be had even in towns in the thick of worldly occupation.

· To say that one is apart from the primal source is a pretension; to add that one divested of the ego becomes pure yet retains individuality only to enjoy or serve the Supreme is a deceitful stratagem. What duplicity is this – just to appropriate what is really His, and then pretend to experience and serve Him! Isn’t this all known to Him?

· [In explaining the relative value of sangsaric knowledge vrs. wisdom] – There may come a time when one shall have to forget all that has been learnt. Rubbish that is swept together and heaped up is to be thrown away. No need is there to make any analysis of it.

· There are no two things such as a good mind and an evil mind. It is one and the same mind. Tendencies cause desires and attractions which may be at times good and at other times bad. The mind when influenced by good tendencies is, for the time being, considered good and - when under the influence of bad or evil tendencies - bad. However bad some may be at times, they ought not to be disliked, nor should we conceive prejudice in favor of those that seem for the time being friendly and beneficent to us. Shun both likes and dislikes.

· After all, the world is merely a thought or idea. When the mind ceases to think, the world vanishes, and there is bliss indescribable. When the mind begins to think, immediately the world reappears and there is suffering.

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Extracts from “Talks with - - ”

M. Thirst for rebirth is the desire to be reborn so as to end successive births. The spirit is at present moribund ; it must be revived so that rebirth may take place after the present apparent death. Forgetfulness of your real nature is the present death; remembrance of it is the rebirth. It puts an end to successive births. Yours is eternal life.

Q. I the meaning of ' clinging to life', is the desire for eternal life.

M. No doubt it is so. How does the desire arise ? Because the present state is unbearable. Why? Because it is not your true nature. Had it been your real nature no desire would disturb you. How does the present state differ from your real nature? You are spirit in truth. However that spirit is wrongly identifying itself with the gross body. The body has been projected by the mind; the mind itself has originated from the spirit. If the wrong identification ceases, there will be peace and permanent untellable bliss.

Q. Life is of the body and rebirth is to incarnate in another body.

M. Mere change of body produces no effect. The ego associated with this body is transferred to another body. How can that satisfy any one?

Moreover, what is life? Life is existence which is your Self. That is life Eternal. Otherwise can you imagine a time when you are not?

That life is now conditioned by the body and you wrongly identify your being with that of the body. You are life unconditioned. These bodies attach themselves to you as mental projections and you are now afflicted by ‘I-am-the-body’ idea. If this idea ceases you are your Self.

Where or how were you before being born? Were you in sleep? How were you? You exist then too without the body. Then the ego arises, and then the mind which projects the body. ‘I-am-the-body’ idea is the result. Because the body exists you say that it was born and that it will die, and transfer the idea to the Self, saying that you are born and that you will die. In fact you remain without the body in sleep but now you remain with the body. The Self can remain without the body, but the body cannot exist apart from the Self.

‘I-am-the-body’ thought is ignorance; that the body is not apart from the Self is knowledge. That is the difference between knowledge and ignorance.

The body is a mental projection; the mind is the ego; and the ego rises from the Self. So the body-thought is distracting and strays away from the Self. For whom is the body or the birth? It is not for the Self, the Spirit. It is for the non-self which imagines itself separate. So long as there is the sense of separation there will be afflicting thoughts. If the original source is regained and the sense of separation is put an end to, there is peace.

Consider what happens when a stone is thrown up. It leaves its source and is projected up, tries to come down and is always in motion until it regains its source, where it is at rest. So also the waters of the ocean evaporate, form clouds which are moved by winds, condense into water, fall as rain and the waters roll down the hill in streams and rivers, until they reach their original source, the ocean, reaching which they are at peace. Thus, you see, wherever there is a sense of separateness from the source there is agitation and movement until the sense of separateness is lost. So it is with yourself. Now that you identify yourself with the body you think that you are separate from the Spirit - the true Self. You must regain your source before this false identity ceases and you are happy.

Gold is not an ornament, but the ornament is nothing but gold. Whatever shape the ornament may assume and however different the ornaments are, there is only one reality, namely gold. So also with the bodies and the Self. The single reality is the Self. To identify oneself with the body and yet to seek happiness is like attempting to cross a river on the back of an alligator. The body identity is due to extroversion and the wandering of the mind. To continue in that state will only keep one in an endless tangle and there will be no peace. Seek your source, merge in the Self and remain all alone.

Rebirth means discontent with the present state, and desire to be born where there will be no discontent. Births, being of the body, cannot affect the Self. The Self remains over even after the body perishes. The discontent is due to the wrong identity of the Eternal Self with the perishable body.

The body is a necessary adjunct of the ego. If the ego is killed the eternal Self is revealed in all its glory.

The body is the Cross. Jesus, the son of man, is the ego or ‘I-am-the-body’ idea. When he is crucified, he is resurrected as the Glorious Self - Jesus, the Son of God!

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Q. What are the means for gaining will-power?

M. Your idea of will-power is success insured. Will-power should be understood to be the strength of mind which makes it capable of meeting success or failure with equanimity. It is not synonymous with certain success. Why should one's attempts be always attended with success? Success develops arrogance and the man's spiritual progress is thus arrested. Failure on the other hand is beneficial, inasmuch as it opens the eyes of the man to his limitations and prepares him to surrender himself. Self-surrender is synonymous with eternal happiness. Therefore one should try to gain the equipoise of mind under all circumstances. That is will-power. Again, success and failure are the results of prarabdha (that part of one’s karma which is to be worked out in this life) and not of will-power. A man may be doing only good and noble actions and yet prove a failure. Another may do otherwise and yet be uniformly successful. This does not mean that the will-power is present in the one and not in the other.

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M. A mirror reflects objects; yet they are not real because they cannot remain apart from the mirror. Similarly, the world is said to be a reflection in the mind as it does not remain in the absence of mind. The question arises: If the universe is a reflection, there must be a real object known as the universe in order that it might be reflected in the mind. This amounts to an admission of the existence of an objective universe. Truly speaking, it is not so.

Therefore the dream illustration is set forth. The dream world has no objective existence. How then is it created? Some mental impressions should be admitted. They are called vasansa. How were the vasanas in the mind? The answer is: They were subtle. Just as a whole tree is contained potentially in a seed, so the world is in the mind.

Then it is asked: A seed is the product of the tree which must have existed once in order that it may be reproduced. So the world also must have been there some time. The answer is, No! There must have been several incarnations to gather the impressions which are re-manifested in the present form. I must have existed before as I do now. The straight way to find an answer will be to see if the world is there. Admitting the existence of the world I must admit a seer who is no other than myself. Let me find myself so that I may know the relation between the world and the seer. When I seek the Self and abide as the Self there is no world to be seen. What is the Reality then? The seer only and certainly not the world.

Such being the truth the man continues to argue on the basis of the reality of the world. Whoever asked him to accept a brief for the world?

Liberation is the abandoning of the false to remain as Being.

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The cinema screen is not affected by a scene of fire burning or sea rising. So it is with the Self.

The idea that I am the body or the mind is so deep that one cannot get over it even if convinced otherwise. One experiences a dream and knows it to be unreal on waking. Waking experience is unreal in other states. So each state contradicts the others. They are therefore mere changes taking place in the seer, or phenomena appearing in the Self, which is unbroken and remains unaffected by them. Just as the waking, dream and sleep states are phenomena, so also birth, growth and death are phenomena in the Self, which continues to be unbroken and unaffected. Birth and death are only ideas. They pertain to the body or the mind. The Self existed before the birth of this body and will remain after the death of this body. So it is with the series of bodies taken up in succession. The Self is immortal. The phenomena are changeful and appear mortal. The fear of death is of the body. It is not true of the Self. Such fear is due to ignorance. Realization means True Knowledge of the Perfection and Immortality of the Self. Mortality is only an idea and cause of misery. You get rid of it by realizing the Immortal nature of the Self.

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OM TAT SAT

(The Unmanifest God is the Essence of Existence)

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