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You need not stop thinking. Just cease being interested. It is disinterestedness that liberates. Don't hold on, that is all.
The silence is another way of saying to keep your mind stayed on God all the time. God is the silence and you are that. Feel the silence right now. You can feel it. It's a thing of beauty. You know when you're getting into the true silence, you begin to become happier, and happier and happier for no reason. It makes no difference what's going on in the world. The world is in one place and you're in another place. In the deep silence you are identifying with the substratum of creation. Always remember to go into the silence. A sage is always in the silence. A sage may be talking, listening, partaking of activities, but to the sage there's only silence.
Question: What is the sadhana for achieving the natural state? Maharaj: Hold on to the sense 'I am' to the exclusion of everything else. When thus the mind becomes completely silent, it shines with a new light and vibrates with new knowledge. It all comes spontaneously, you need only hold on to the 'I am'. Just like emerging from sleep or a state of rapture you feel rested and yet you cannot explain why and how you come to feel so well, in the same way on realisation you feel complete, fulfilled, free from the pleasure-pain complex, and yet not always able to explain what happened, why and how. You can put it only in negative terms: 'Nothing is wrong with me any longer.' It is only by comparison with the past that you know that you are out of it. Otherwise - you are just yourself. Don't try to convey it to others. If you can, it is not the real thing. Be silent and watch it expressing itself in action.
For the man of Truth, seeking experience of the supreme state, the heroic action needed, is to draw in, the outward darting mind, and fix it firmly in the Heart.
Take the instance of moving pictures on the screen in the cinema-show. What is there in front of you before the play begins? Merely the screen. On that screen you see the entire show, and for all appearances the pictures are real. But go and try to take hold of them. What do you take hold of? Merely the screen on which the pictures appeared so real. After the play, when the pictures disappear, what remains? The screen again!
So with the Self. That alone exists; the pictures come and go. If you hold on to the Self, you will not be deceived by the appearance of the pictures. Nor does it matter at all if the pictures appear or disappear.
Ignoring the Self the ajnani thinks the world is real, just as ignoring the screen he sees merely the pictures, as if they existed apart from it. If one knows that without the seer there is nothing to be seen, just as there are no pictures without the screen, one is not deluded. The jnani knows that the screen, the pictures and the sight thereof are but the Self. With the pictures the Self is in its manifest form; without the pictures It remains in the unmanifest form. To the jnani it is quite immaterial if the Self is in the one form or the other. He is always the Self. But the ajnani seeing the jnani active gets confounded.
So with the Self. That alone exists; the pictures come and go. If you hold on to the Self, you will not be deceived by the appearance of the pictures. Nor does it matter at all if the pictures appear or disappear.
Ignoring the Self the ajnani thinks the world is real, just as ignoring the screen he sees merely the pictures, as if they existed apart from it. If one knows that without the seer there is nothing to be seen, just as there are no pictures without the screen, one is not deluded. The jnani knows that the screen, the pictures and the sight thereof are but the Self. With the pictures the Self is in its manifest form; without the pictures It remains in the unmanifest form. To the jnani it is quite immaterial if the Self is in the one form or the other. He is always the Self. But the ajnani seeing the jnani active gets confounded.
Not like a boat's sail, outspread wide and worn away by wind and weather, but like the humble anchor, sunk in the vast ocean's depth, the mind should plunge and settle in the heart of wisdom.
Question: I begin by asking myself "Who am I?" and eliminate the body as not 'I', the breath as not 'I', the mind as not 'I', but then I am unable to proceed further.
Bhagavan: Well, that is all right so far as the mind goes. Your process is only mental. Actually all the scriptures mention this process only in order to guide the seeker to the Truth. The Truth cannot be directly indicated; that is why this mental process is used. You see, he who eliminates all the 'not-I' cannot eliminate the 'I'. In order to be able to say 'I am not this' or 'I am That', there must be the 'I' to say it. 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 the rest is uprooted at the same time. Therefore seek the root 'I'; question yourself: "Who am I?"; find out the source of the 'I'.
Then all these problems will vanish and the pure Self alone will remain.
Bhagavan: Well, that is all right so far as the mind goes. Your process is only mental. Actually all the scriptures mention this process only in order to guide the seeker to the Truth. The Truth cannot be directly indicated; that is why this mental process is used. You see, he who eliminates all the 'not-I' cannot eliminate the 'I'. In order to be able to say 'I am not this' or 'I am That', there must be the 'I' to say it. 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 the rest is uprooted at the same time. Therefore seek the root 'I'; question yourself: "Who am I?"; find out the source of the 'I'.
Then all these problems will vanish and the pure Self alone will remain.
The restless mind does not take easily to self-investigation and quickly runs after familiar distractions. In many cases, it must first be reined in or pacified through the practice of japa, prayer, yoga or association with wise and holy company. Only then will it gradually develop the strength and attraction to enquire into its root nature. Gradually, this will result in the weakening of the tendency to rush outward. Eventually, the mind will sink inside the Shiva Being.
The Self is Pure Consciousness. Yet a man identifies himself with the body which is insentient and does not itself say: ‘I am the body’. Someone else says so. The unlimited Self does not. Who does? A spurious ‘I’ arises between Pure Consciousness and the insentient body and imagines itself to be limited to the body. Seek this and it will vanish like a phantom. The phantom is the ego or mind or individuality. All the scriptures are based on the rise of this phantom, whose elimination is their purpose. The present state is mere illusion. Its dissolution is the goal and nothing else.
The central truth of the Upanishads, the essence of the Vedanta, the goal of all wisdom and all spiritual practices, the reality of all realities, the quintessence of truth is that the individual self, the embodied soul, the Jiva, is identical with the Supreme, the Absolute, the Brahman, and this is what is meant by the great utterance of Self-revelation of the Upanishads: 'Tat Tvam Asi', That thou art. The nature of the inner essence of yourself and the nature of Brahman is one and the same, free from all change, impersonal and all-pervasive, infinite consciousness.
Is the Self the Witness?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: The idea of the Self being the Witness is in the mind. It may be useful for helping to still the mind's restlessness. But it is not the absolute Truth of the Self. Witnessing is relative to objects witnessed. Both the witness and his object are mental creations.
Sri Ramana Maharshi: The idea of the Self being the Witness is in the mind. It may be useful for helping to still the mind's restlessness. But it is not the absolute Truth of the Self. Witnessing is relative to objects witnessed. Both the witness and his object are mental creations.
The heart is the source of our entire being. All our different faculties are like different rays branching out from the central light of the heart which is like the Sun. All our energies are conduits of the energy of the heart, however far they may wander from it. In deep sleep we return to this inner light for peace and renewal, showing that we cannot remain apart from it even for a day.
You are beyond space and time, uncaused, the very matrix of existence, the Supreme Absolute, the Noumenon- not unknowable, but unperceivable, un-objectival, inseparable- neither material nor mental, neither objective nor subjective- the Source of being, life, and consciousness.
Don't meditate at intervals. Abide without a break of steady Self-awareness. Instead of plucking hair after itching hair of thought, better shave the whole scalp clean.
Self-inquiry must be done continuously. It doesn't work if you regard it as a part-time activity.
Always remember, the highest teaching in the world is silence.
We learn to shut up, to keep still, to stop talking.
Remember when you talk, you spoil the truth from your heart that wants to express itself.
We learn to shut up, to keep still, to stop talking.
Remember when you talk, you spoil the truth from your heart that wants to express itself.
To want something leads to suffering because, at the outset, you think you are missing something. If and when you get it, it cannot last. Wanting is suffering. Not wanting is the natural state.
There is no point in reading these words without taking the step to find out who/what is the ultimate seer deep within. If you glide over these words without taking an earnest look within, you are throwing away the most precious diamond that existence can give you. Your natural state is this emptiness and if there is direct experience of this, even the definitions of emptiness and nothingness fall short.
Your mind can take you to form and the formless I AM. To go beyond the mind simply stop thinking, stop using the instrument that creates the concept of you that you hold onto so dearly. Let mind relax: thoughts will come and go. Do not let your attention cling to any thought in particular. Let go, relax. Without any effort at all, just settle. No doing, no effort
On another occasion, on 4th October 1946, when a devotee named Professor D.S. Sarma asked Him whether there was ever any period of purgation or sadhana in His life,
Sri Bhagavan replied :-
“I know no such period. I never performed any pranayama or japa. I knew no mantras. I had no idea of meditation or contemplation. Even when I came to hear of such things later, I was never attracted by them. Even now my mind refuses to pay any attention to them. Sadhana implies an object to be gained and the means of gaining it. What is there to be gained which we do not already possess? In meditation, concentration and contemplation, what we have to do is only not to think of anything, but to be still! Then we shall be in our natural state. This natural state is given many names – moksha, jnana, atma, etc. There was a time when I used to remain with my eyes closed. That does not mean that I was practising any sadhana then. Even now I sometimes remain with my eyes closed. If people choose to say that I am doing some sadhana at the moment, let them say so. It makes no difference to me. People seem to think that by practising some elaborate sadhana the Self would some day descend upon them as something very big and with tremendous glory and they would then have what is called sakshatkaram (realization). The Self is sakshat (direct), all right, but there is no karam (doing) or kritam (done) about it. The word karam implies one’s doing something. But the Self is realized not by one’s doing something, but by one’s refraining from doing anything – by remaining still and being simply what one really is!”
Sri Bhagavan replied :-
“I know no such period. I never performed any pranayama or japa. I knew no mantras. I had no idea of meditation or contemplation. Even when I came to hear of such things later, I was never attracted by them. Even now my mind refuses to pay any attention to them. Sadhana implies an object to be gained and the means of gaining it. What is there to be gained which we do not already possess? In meditation, concentration and contemplation, what we have to do is only not to think of anything, but to be still! Then we shall be in our natural state. This natural state is given many names – moksha, jnana, atma, etc. There was a time when I used to remain with my eyes closed. That does not mean that I was practising any sadhana then. Even now I sometimes remain with my eyes closed. If people choose to say that I am doing some sadhana at the moment, let them say so. It makes no difference to me. People seem to think that by practising some elaborate sadhana the Self would some day descend upon them as something very big and with tremendous glory and they would then have what is called sakshatkaram (realization). The Self is sakshat (direct), all right, but there is no karam (doing) or kritam (done) about it. The word karam implies one’s doing something. But the Self is realized not by one’s doing something, but by one’s refraining from doing anything – by remaining still and being simply what one really is!”
It is possible to unplug from all identification you hold about yourself. It requires a retraining in thinking. Develop the habit of retaining your awareness as the observer of your life. This will yield an enormous freedom, but you will not be able to retain your awareness there permanently, for there is more to be uncovered.
When there is no idea of what silence is or is not, then there is silence. Yet this is not a happening: it simply is.
The real is, behind and beyond words, incommunicable, directly experienced, explosive in its effect on the mind. It is easily had when nothing else is wanted.
All things arise,
Suffer change,
And pass away.
This is their nature.
When you know this,
Nothing perturbs you,
Nothing hurts you.
You become still.
It is easy.
God made all things.
There is only God.
When you know this,
Desire melts away.
Clinging to nothing,
You become still.
Sooner or later,
Fortune or misfortune
May befall you.
When you know this,
You desire nothing,
You grieve for nothing.
Subduing the senses,
You are happy.
Whatever you do
Brings joy or sorrow,
Life or death.
When you know this,
You may act freely,
Without attachment.
For what is there to accomplish?
All sorrow comes from fear.
From nothing else.
When you know this,
You become free of it,
And desire melts away.
You become happy
And still.
“I am not the body,
Nor is the body mine.
I am awareness itself”
When you know this,
You have no thought
For what you have done
Or left undone.
You become one,
Perfect and indivisible.
“I am in all things,
From Brahma to a blade of grass.”
When you know this,
You have no thought
For success or failure
Or the mind’s inconstancy.
You are pure.
You are still.
The world with all its wonders
Is nothing.
When you know this,
Desire melts away.
For you are awareness itself.
When you know in your heart
That there is nothing,
You are still.
Suffer change,
And pass away.
This is their nature.
When you know this,
Nothing perturbs you,
Nothing hurts you.
You become still.
It is easy.
God made all things.
There is only God.
When you know this,
Desire melts away.
Clinging to nothing,
You become still.
Sooner or later,
Fortune or misfortune
May befall you.
When you know this,
You desire nothing,
You grieve for nothing.
Subduing the senses,
You are happy.
Whatever you do
Brings joy or sorrow,
Life or death.
When you know this,
You may act freely,
Without attachment.
For what is there to accomplish?
All sorrow comes from fear.
From nothing else.
When you know this,
You become free of it,
And desire melts away.
You become happy
And still.
“I am not the body,
Nor is the body mine.
I am awareness itself”
When you know this,
You have no thought
For what you have done
Or left undone.
You become one,
Perfect and indivisible.
“I am in all things,
From Brahma to a blade of grass.”
When you know this,
You have no thought
For success or failure
Or the mind’s inconstancy.
You are pure.
You are still.
The world with all its wonders
Is nothing.
When you know this,
Desire melts away.
For you are awareness itself.
When you know in your heart
That there is nothing,
You are still.
When you rest in quietness and your image of yourself fades, and your image of the world fades, and your ideas of others fade, what’s left? A brightness, a radiant emptiness that is simply what you are.
To accept defeat - to learn to die - is to be liberated from it. Once you accept, you are free to flow and to harmonize. Fluidity is the way to an empty mind. You must free your ambitious mind and learn the art of dying.
Beings
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