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All the evil in the world, and all the unhappiness, comes from the I-concept
One must know that one is not in order to be able to understand that we are.
In order to be effective truth must penetrate like an arrow — and that is likely to hurt.
There is no mystery whatever — only inability to perceive the obvious.
The Buddha forbore to specify: as long as there is any “one†to suffer — he will.
Why are you unhappy?
Because 99.9 per cent
Of everything you think,
And of everything you do,
Is for yourself -
And there isn't one.
Because 99.9 per cent
Of everything you think,
And of everything you do,
Is for yourself -
And there isn't one.
Having found no self that is not other, the seeker must find that there is no other that is not self, so that in the absence of both other and self, there may be known the perfect peace, of the presence of absolute absence.
If you do not find an intelligent companion, a wise and well-behaved person going the same way as yourself, then go on your way alone, like a king abandoning a conquered kingdom, or like a great elephant in the deep forest.
We are required to cease looking at objects as events apart from ourselves, and to know them at their source – which is our perceiving of them.
A myriad bubbles were floating on the surface of a stream.'What are you?' I cried to them as they drifted by. 'I am a bubble, of course' nearly a myriad bubbles answered, and there was surprise and indignation in their voices as they passed. But, here and there, a lonely bubble answered, 'We are this stream', and there was neither surprise nor indignation in their voices, but just a quiet certitude.
The Guru demands one thing only; clarity and intensity of purpose, a sense of responsibility for oneself. The very reality of the world must be questioned.
The body is made of food, as the mind is made of thoughts. See them as they are. Non- identification, when natural and spontaneous, is liberation. You need not know what you are. Enough to know what you are not. What you are you will never know, for every discovery reveals new dimensions to conquer. The unknown has no limits.
Every pleasure, physical or mental, needs an instrument. Both the physical and mental instruments are material, they get tired and worn out. The pleasure they yield is necessarily limited in intensity and duration. Pain is the background of all your pleasures. You want them because you suffer. On the other hand, the ve...ry search for pleasure is the cause of pain. It is a vicious circle.
Love is not selective, desire is selective. In love there are no strangers. When the centre of selfishness is no longer, all desires for pleasure and fear of pain cease; one is no longer interested in being happy; beyond happiness there is pure intensity, inexhaustible energy, the ecstasy of giving from a perennial source.
Bhagavan explains the difference between jnana-yoga (path of knowledge) and dhyana-yoga (path of meditation) thus: jnana is like subduing a self-willed bull by coaxing it with the help of a sheaf of green grass, while dhyana is like controlling it by using force. Just as there are eight limbs for dhyana-yoga, there are eight for jnana-yoga. The limbs of the latter are more proximate to the final stage than those of the former. For instance, while the pranayama of technical yoga consists in regulating and restraining breath, the pranayama that is a limb of jnana relates to rejecting the name-and-form world which is non-real and realizing the Real which is Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.
Self-Enquiry is not a ritual. It is simply a tool, a mirror of God.
Fixing their minds on psychic centres suchas the Sahasrara (the thousand petalled lotus Chakra), yogis remainany lengths of time without awareness of their bodies. As long asthis state continues, they appear to be immersed in some kind of joy.But when the mind, which has become tranquil emerges and becomesactive again it resumes its worldly thoughts. It is thereforenecessary to train it with the help of practices like Dhyana(meditation) whenever it becomes externalised. It will then attain astate in which there is neither subsistence nor emergence.Question:It is said that the Sakti manifests itself in five phases, tenphases, a hundred phases and a thousand phases. Which is true?SriRamana Maharshi: Sakti has only one phase. If it is said to manifestitself in several phases, it is only a way of speaking. The Sakti isonly one. Question: How to churn up the Nadis (psychic nerves) sothat the Kundalini may go up the Sushumna?Sri Ramana Maharshi: Thoughthe Yogi may have his methods of breath control for his object, theJnani's method is only that of enquiry. When by this method the mindis merged in the Self, the Sakti or Kundalini, which is not apartfrom the Self, rises automatically.The Yogis attach the highestimportance to sending the Kundalini up to the Sahasrara, the braincentre or the thousand petalled lotus. They point out the scripturalstatement that the life current enters the body through thefontanelle and argue that, Viyoga (separation) having come about thatway, yoga (union) must also be effected in the reverse way. Therefore,they say, we must, by yoga practice, gather up the Pranas (vitalforce) and enter the fontanelle for the consummation of yoga. TheJnanis on the other hand point out that the yogi assumes theexistence of the body and its separateness from the Self. Only ifthis standpoint of separateness is adopted can the yogi advise effortfor reunion by the practice of yoga.In fact the body is in the mindwhich has the brain for its seat. That the brain functions by lightborrowed from another source is admitted by the yogis themselves intheir fontanelle theory. The Jnani further argues: if the light isborrowed it must come from its native source. Go to the source directand do not depend on borrowed sources. That source is the Heart, theSelf.The Self does not come from anywhere else and enter the bodythrough the crown of the head. It is as it is, ever sparkling, eversteady, unmoving and unchanging. The individual confines himself tothe limits of the changeful body or of the mind which derives itsexistence from the unchanging Self. All that is necessary is to giveup this mistaken identity, and that done, the ever shining Self willbe seen to be the single non-dual reality.If one concentrates on theSahasrara there is no doubt that the ecstasy of Samadhi ensues. TheVasanas, that is the latent mental tendencies, are not howeverdestroyed. The yogi is therefore bound to wake up from the Samadhibecause release from bondage has not yet been accomplished. He muststill try to eradicate the Vasanas inherent in him so that they ceaseto disturb the peace of his Samadhi. So he passes down from theSahasrara to the Heart through what is called the Jivanadi, which isonly a continuation of the Sushumna. The Sushumna is thus a curve. Itstarts from the lowest Chakra, rises through the spinal cord to thebrain and from there bends down and ends in the Heart. When the yogihas reached the Heart, the Samadhi becomes permanent. Thus we seethat the Heart is the final centre.[Note: Commentary by David Godman:Sri Ramana Maharshi never advised his devotees to parctise KundaliniYoga since he regarded it as being both potentially dangerous andunnecessary. He accepted the existence of the Kundalini power and theChakras but he said that even if the Kundalini reached the Sahsrara itwould not result in realisation. For final realisation, he said, theKundalini must go beyond the Sahasrara, down another Nadi (psychicnerve) he called Amritanadi (also called the Paranadi or Jivanadi)and into the Heart-centre on the right hand side of the chest. Sincehe maintained that self-enquiry would automatically send theKundalini to the Heart-centre, he taught that separate yoga exerciseswere unnecessary.The practitioners of Kundalini Yoga concentrate onpsychic centres (Chakras) in the body in order to generate aspiritual power they call Kundalini. The aim of this practice is toforce the Kundalini up the psychic channel (the Sushumna) which runsfrom the base of the spine to the brain. The Kundalini Yogi believesthat when this power reaches the Sahasrara (the highest Chakralocated in the brain), Self-realisation will result.Sri RamanaMaharshi taught that the Self is reached by the search for the originof the ego and by diving into the Heart. This is the direct method ofSelf-realisation. One who adopts it need not worry about Nadis, thebrain centre (Sahasrara), the Sushumna, the Paranadi, the Kundalini,Pranayama or the six centres(Chakras)
Who is the Adhikari, i.e., the person competent to launch on this Atma Vichara, the Self-quest? Can anyone judge for himself if he has the necessary competency?
Maharshi: He whose mind has been purified through upasana [worship] and other means or by merit acquired in past lives, who perceives the imperfections of the body and sense-objects, and feels utter distaste whenever his mind has to function among sense-objects and who realises that the body is impermanent, he is said to be a fit person for self-enquiry.
By these two signs, that is by a sense of the transitoriness of the body and by non-attachment to sense-objects, one’s own fitness for self-enquiry can be known. (Sri Ramana Gita, chapter 7, verses 8, 9, 10, 11)
Maharshi: He whose mind has been purified through upasana [worship] and other means or by merit acquired in past lives, who perceives the imperfections of the body and sense-objects, and feels utter distaste whenever his mind has to function among sense-objects and who realises that the body is impermanent, he is said to be a fit person for self-enquiry.
By these two signs, that is by a sense of the transitoriness of the body and by non-attachment to sense-objects, one’s own fitness for self-enquiry can be known. (Sri Ramana Gita, chapter 7, verses 8, 9, 10, 11)
In true meditation there is no meditator or object of meditation.In true meditation there is no goal, not even for enlightenment.In true meditation, the silence, stillness and emptiness will lead to I-am-nessIn true meditation the transcendence of I-am-ness will lead to beingness. Beingness is the impersonal witnessing of all events.In true meditation, beingness will finally be dissolved to Cosmic Consciousness.
Man's fivefold body (physical etc.) has potential powers beyond our wildest dreams. Not only is the entire universe reflected in man, but also the power to control the universe is waiting to be used by him. The wise man is not anxious to use such powers, except when the situation calls for them. He finds the abilities and skills of the human personality quite adequate for the business of daily living. Some of the powers can be developed by specialised training, but the man who flaunts such powers is still in bondage. The wise man counts nothing as his own. When at some time and place some miracle is attributed to some person, he will not establish any causal link between events and people, nor will he allow any conclusions to be drawn. All happened as it happened because it had to happen everything happens as it does, because the universe is as it is.
Look, my thumb touches my forefinger. Both touch and are touched. When my attention; is on the thumb, the thumb is the feeler and the forefinger -- the self. Shift the focus of attention and the relationship is reversed. I find that somehow, by shifting the focus of attention, I become the very thing I look at and experience the kind of consciousness it has; I become the inner witness of the thing. I call this capacity of entering other focal points of consciousness -- love; you may give it any name you like. Love says: 'I am everything'. Wisdom says: 'I am nothing' Between the two my life flows. Since at any point of time and space I can be both the subject and the object of experience, I
express it by saying that I am both, and neither, and beyond both.
express it by saying that I am both, and neither, and beyond both.
There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs.
SELF-ENQUIRY
Bhagavan: To ask the mind to kill the mind is like making thethief the policeman. He will go with you and pretend to catch... See Morethe thief, but nothing will be gained. So, you must turn inwardand see where the mind rises from and then it will cease toexist. B.: Of course, we are employing the mind. It is well knownand admitted that only with the help of the mind, can the mindbe killed. But instead of setting about saying there is a mindand I want to kill it, you begin to seek its source, and then youfind it does not exist at all. The mind turned outwards results inthoughts and objects. Turned inwards it becomes itself the Self.
Bhagavan: To ask the mind to kill the mind is like making thethief the policeman. He will go with you and pretend to catch... See Morethe thief, but nothing will be gained. So, you must turn inwardand see where the mind rises from and then it will cease toexist. B.: Of course, we are employing the mind. It is well knownand admitted that only with the help of the mind, can the mindbe killed. But instead of setting about saying there is a mindand I want to kill it, you begin to seek its source, and then youfind it does not exist at all. The mind turned outwards results inthoughts and objects. Turned inwards it becomes itself the Self.
The more you sweat in practice. The less you bleed in battle!
That in whom reside all beings and who resides in all beings, who is the giver of grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe, the limitless being -- I am that.
All waiting is futile. To depend on time to solve our problems is self-delusion. The future, left to itself merely repeats the past. Change can only happen now, never in the future.
Beings
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