Be still and know I am GOD!

[Guest guest]

Questioner: Why then do we need to concentrate?

 

Bhagavan Ramana: Concentration, meditation and all spiritual

practices are not performed with the object of realizing the Self,

because the Self is ever-present, but of realizing the nonexistence

of ignorance. Every man admits his own existence and does not need a

mirror to prove it to him. Existence is awareness, which is the

negation of ignorance. Then why does a man suffer? Because he

imagines himself other then what he in reality is, e.g., the body,

this, that, and the other, "I am Gopal, son of Parashauram, father of

Natesan," etc. In reality he is the intelligent "I-am" alone,

stripped of qualities and superimposition of names and forms. Does he

see his body and all these qualities, shapes and colors in dreamless

sleep? Yet he does not deny that he is then himself existing even

without a body. He must hold on to that existence, that alone

being Kaivalya-even when he is in the waking state. The man of wisdom

simply is "I-Am-That-I-Am" sums up the whole Truth. The method is

summed up by "Be still and know that I am God."

 

>From the section: "EGO AND THE SELF" (pages 27-28) in the book, "MORE

DOUBTS AND 100 MORE ANSWERS ," compiled and edited by A.R.

Natarajan. Published by Ramana Maharshi Centre for Learning,

Bangalore, India.

 

 

aum shri ramanaya namaha!

 

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THANK YOU HARSHAJI FOR MAKING ME FEEL AT 'HOME'

 

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