More on the Essential Teaching

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Sri Ramana once said to Madahva, his attendant, "I am not real Madhava!"

Bhagavan often pointed out that if we take Ramana to be the body, it is

a mistake. Ramana is the Heart, the Self which is of the nature of

consciousness, Existence, Bliss. It is the Bliss which is Self-Knowing,

Self-Aware and free from sorrows. It is found in One's Own Self and not

anywhere else. What is illusion? It must be something that stems from

Reality. What is individuality? It is that which arises from the Self.

So no need for resistance and no need to despise the mind or the ego or

individuality for its limitations and weaknesses. It is simply the

nature of things. If we understand the nature of things and are

accepting of our divinity and humanity as equally natural then we do not

create artificial barriers in our mind. Becoming gentle, both with

ourselves and with others, or at least having that perspective of

gentleness, allows us not to contend. A victory that is costly to others

is not a victory. Real strength always lies in good humor, forgiveness,

and readiness to embrace. Self is the ultimate form of nonviolence.

 

A wave that rises high seems like it has become separate from the ocean

but in fact always has its foundation and home in the ocean. The nature

of water in the wave and ocean is the same. A wave rises high and

appears to become separate. The fear is in the separation, in the

individual becoming separate from the whole. Then after some time the

wave merges back. It is in that merging where the wave has started to

fall back on the ocean that the wave realizes the Truth. I am the Ocean!

I have always been the Ocean! Similarly, the essence of the

individuality and the Self are the same. Mind rises from the Heart but

is never separate from it. It is always supported by the Heart and the

essence of the Heart permeates it as consciousness. Individuality rises

from the Self and subsides back into it. On the merging of the mind in

the Heart arises a Self - Knowing which has always been present as the

undercurrent but now manifests to itself in full and overwhelming

force. Then the mind and the Heart become One and this Knowing Knows It

Self fully and completely as the Self. The One without a second.

 

 

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"Love itself is the actual form of God."

 

Sri Ramana

 

In "Letters from Sri Ramanasramam" by Suri Nagamma