Page 16 of 29 ·
Jump to page #:
Go
· Jump To Random Page 
Questioner: How to find the Atman [Self]?
Ramana Maharshi: There is no investigation into the Atman. The investigation can only be into the non-self. Elimination of the non-self is alone possible. The Self being always self evident will shine forth of itself.
Ramana Maharshi: There is no investigation into the Atman. The investigation can only be into the non-self. Elimination of the non-self is alone possible. The Self being always self evident will shine forth of itself.
If the unripe mind does not feel His Grace, it does not mean that God's Grace is absent.
On a cold morning, when I was in Virupaksha cave, I was sitting in the open. I was feeling cold. People used to come, see me and go back. A group of Andhra visitors had come. I did not notice what they were doing. They were behind me. Suddenly a noise `tak' - and water over my head! I shivered with cold. I looked back. They had broken a coconut and poured the water on me. They thought that it was worship. They took me for a stone image.
Vichara (investigation) is the process and the goal also.
'I AM' is the goal and the final Reality.
To hold onto it with effort is vichara.
When spontaneous and natural it is Realization.
'I AM' is the goal and the final Reality.
To hold onto it with effort is vichara.
When spontaneous and natural it is Realization.
WE ARE ALREADY THAT >>>>>>>>>> "BUT"
All the age long vasanas (impressions) carry the mind outwards and turn it to external objects. All such thoughts have to be given up and the mind turned inward. For that effort is necessary, for most people. Of course, everybody, every book says ‘Be quiet or still’. But it is not easy. That is why all this effort is necessary.
All the age long vasanas (impressions) carry the mind outwards and turn it to external objects. All such thoughts have to be given up and the mind turned inward. For that effort is necessary, for most people. Of course, everybody, every book says ‘Be quiet or still’. But it is not easy. That is why all this effort is necessary.
Actions form no bondage.
Bondage is only the false notion - " I-am-the-doer ".
Leave off such thoughts and let the body and senses play their role, unimpeded by your interference.
Bondage is only the false notion - " I-am-the-doer ".
Leave off such thoughts and let the body and senses play their role, unimpeded by your interference.
The self cannot be found in books. You have to find it for yourself, within yourself.
Persist in the enquiry throughout your waking hours. That would be quite enough. If you keep on making the enquiry till you fall asleep, the enquiry will go on during sleep also. Take up the enquiry again as soon as you wake up.
Once the current of awareness of the self is set afoot, it becomes everlasting and continuous by intensification.
Know that the eradication of the identification with the body is charity, spiritual austerity and ritual sacrifice; it is virtue, divine union and devotion; it is heaven, wealth, peace and truth; it is grace; it is the state of divine silence; it is the deathless death; it is jnana, renunciation, final liberation and bliss.
All metaphysical discussion is profitless unless it causes us to seek within the Self for the true reality. All controversies about creation, the nature of the universe, evolution, the purpose of God, etc., are useless. They are not conducive to our true happiness. People try to find out about things which are outside of them before they try to find out 'Who am I?' Only by the latter means can happiness be gained.
Abhyasa [spiritual practice] consists in withdrawal within the Self every time you are disturbed by thought. It is not concentration or destruction of the mind but withdrawal into the Self.
That which should be adhered to is only the experience of Silence, because in that Supreme State nothing exists to be attained other than oneself. That which Is is Mouna (Silence). How can Mouna be explained in words? The highest form of Grace is Silence. The experience of Silence alone is the real and perfect knowledge.
Married or unmarried, a man can realize the Self; because That is here and now. If it were not so, but attainable by some effort at some time, and if it were new and had to be acquired, it would not be worth pursuit. Because, what is not natural is not permanent either. But what I say is that the Self is here and now, and alone.
He is, even while working, in solitude. To engage in your duty is the true namaskar... and abiding in God is the only true asana.
Having known one's nature one abides
As being with no beginning and no end
In unbroken consciousness and bliss.
As being with no beginning and no end
In unbroken consciousness and bliss.
There is no reaching the Self. If Self were to be reached, it would mean that the Self is not here and now but that it is yet to be obtained. What is got afresh will also be lost. So it will be impermanent. What is not permanent is not worth striving for. So I say the Self is not reached. You are the Self; you are already That.
Look for it, the ego vanishes. The real Self alone remains.
A subtle illumination will be experienced as ‘I-I’ which is no other than the Absolute, the Self, seated in the lotus of the Heart, in the city of the body, the tabernacle of God.
ONE PATH AND DIFFERENT FORMS OF ITS expression
D: Which path is best suited to me? Won’t all help be
provided by God?
Bhagavan: Bhakti, Karma, Jnana and Yoga, all these paths are one. You cannot love God without knowing Him nor know Him without loving Him. Love manifests itself in everything you do and that is Karma. The development of mental perception (Yoga) is the necessary preliminary before you can know or love God in the proper way.
D: Can I go on thinking “I am God”? Is that right practice?
B: Why think that? In fact you are God. But who goes on thinking or saying “I am a man”, “I am a man”? If any contrary thought, for instance, that one was a beast had to be put down, then of course you might say “I am a man”. To the extent of crushing down the wrong notion that one is this or that, according to one’s erroneous fancies, to that extent the idea that he is not these but God or Self, may be indulged in, as a matter of practice but when practice is over, the result is not any thought at all (such as ‘I am God’) but mere Self-realization. That is beyond conceptual thought.
D: Which path is best suited to me? Won’t all help be
provided by God?
Bhagavan: Bhakti, Karma, Jnana and Yoga, all these paths are one. You cannot love God without knowing Him nor know Him without loving Him. Love manifests itself in everything you do and that is Karma. The development of mental perception (Yoga) is the necessary preliminary before you can know or love God in the proper way.
D: Can I go on thinking “I am God”? Is that right practice?
B: Why think that? In fact you are God. But who goes on thinking or saying “I am a man”, “I am a man”? If any contrary thought, for instance, that one was a beast had to be put down, then of course you might say “I am a man”. To the extent of crushing down the wrong notion that one is this or that, according to one’s erroneous fancies, to that extent the idea that he is not these but God or Self, may be indulged in, as a matter of practice but when practice is over, the result is not any thought at all (such as ‘I am God’) but mere Self-realization. That is beyond conceptual thought.
The real state must be effortless. The effortless samadhi is the true one and the perfect state. It is permanent.
"Who am I"
Question No 24: What is happiness?
Bhagawan: Happiness is the very nature of the Self; happiness and the Self are not different. There is no happiness in any object of the world. We imagine through our ignorance that we derive happiness from objects. When the mind goes out, it experiences misery. In truth, when its desires are fulfilled, it returns to its own place and enjoys the happiness that is the Self. Similarly, in the states of sleep, samadhi and fainting, and when the object desired is obtained or the object disliked is removed, the mind becomes inward-turned, and enjoys pure Self-Happiness. Thus the mind moves without rest alternately going out of the Self and returning to it. Under the tree the shade is pleasant; out in the open the heat is scorching. A person who has been going about in the sun feels cool when he reaches the shade. Someone who keeps on going from the shade into the sun and then back into the shade is a fool. A wise man stays permanently in the shade. Similarly, the mind of the one who knows the truth does not leave Brahman. The mind of the ignorant, on the contrary, revolves in the world, feeling miserable, and for a little time returns to Brahman to experience happiness. In fact, what is called the world is only thought. When the world disappears, i.e. when there is no thought, the mind experiences happiness; and when the world appears, it goes through misery.
Question No 24: What is happiness?
Bhagawan: Happiness is the very nature of the Self; happiness and the Self are not different. There is no happiness in any object of the world. We imagine through our ignorance that we derive happiness from objects. When the mind goes out, it experiences misery. In truth, when its desires are fulfilled, it returns to its own place and enjoys the happiness that is the Self. Similarly, in the states of sleep, samadhi and fainting, and when the object desired is obtained or the object disliked is removed, the mind becomes inward-turned, and enjoys pure Self-Happiness. Thus the mind moves without rest alternately going out of the Self and returning to it. Under the tree the shade is pleasant; out in the open the heat is scorching. A person who has been going about in the sun feels cool when he reaches the shade. Someone who keeps on going from the shade into the sun and then back into the shade is a fool. A wise man stays permanently in the shade. Similarly, the mind of the one who knows the truth does not leave Brahman. The mind of the ignorant, on the contrary, revolves in the world, feeling miserable, and for a little time returns to Brahman to experience happiness. In fact, what is called the world is only thought. When the world disappears, i.e. when there is no thought, the mind experiences happiness; and when the world appears, it goes through misery.
The enquiry “Who am I?” is the principal means to the removal of all misery and the attainment of the supreme bliss. When in this manner the mind becomes quiescent in its own state, Self-experience arises of its own accord, without any hindrance. Thereafter sensory pleasures and pains will not affect the mind. All (phenomena) will appear then, without attachment, like a dream. Never forgetting one’s plenary Self-experience is real bhakti (devotion), yoga (mind-control), jnana (knowledge) and all other austerities. Thus say the sages.
-from 'Self-Enquiry' ('VICHARASANGRAHAM'), Q&A No. 12
-from 'Self-Enquiry' ('VICHARASANGRAHAM'), Q&A No. 12
If one meditates keenly on the state that prevails at the end of waking and just before sleep, one attains unending happiness.
When the goal is reached, when you know the Knower, there is no difference between living in a house in London and living in the solitude of a jungle.
-Bhagavan quoted in ''A Search in Secret India' by Paul Brunton
-Bhagavan quoted in ''A Search in Secret India' by Paul Brunton
Beings
Follow us on Facebook