quotes for Alton..Gloria

[Guest guest]

Dear Gloria:

Thanks for you always relevant and helpful posts.

Aloha, a very tired ALTON

 

RamanaMaharshi, "Gloria Lee" <glee@c...> wrote:

>

> Hi Alton,

> These seem relevant to some questions you have raised recently.

> Love,

> Gloria

>

> 28-6-46 (Day by Day)

>

> In the afternoon Khanna's wife appealed to Bhagavan in writing: "I

am not

> learned in the scriptures and I find the method of Self-enquiry too

hard for

> me. I am a woman with seven children and a lot of household cares,

and it

> leaves me little time for meditation. I request Bhagavan to give me

some

> simpler and easier method."

>

> Bhagavan: "No learning or knowledge of scriptures is necessary to

know the

> Self, as no man requires a mirror to see himself. All knowledge is

required

> only to be given up eventually as not-Self. Nor is household work

or cares

> with children necessarily an obstacle. If you can do nothing more,

at least

> continue saying `I, I' to yourself mentally all the time, as

advised in Who

> am I? Whatever work you may be doing and whether you are sitting,

standing

> or walking. `I' is the name of God. It is the first and greatest of

all

> mantras. Even OM is second to it."

>

> Khanna: The jiva is said to be mind plus illumination. What is it

that

> desires Self-realization and what is it that obstructs our path to

> Self-realization? It is said that the mind obstructs and the

illumination

> helps.

>

> Bhagavan: "Although we describe the jiva as mind plus the reflected

light of

> the Self, in actual practice, in life, you cannot separate the two,

just as,

> in the illustrations we used yesterday, you can't separate cloth and

> whiteness in a white cloth or fire and iron in a red-hot rod. The

mind can

> do nothing by itself. It emerges only with the illumination and can

do no

> action, good or bad, except with the illumination. But while the

> illumination is always there, enabling the mind to act well or ill,

the

> pleasure or pain resulting from such action is not felt by the

illumination,

> just as when you hammer a red-hot rod, it is not the fire but the

iron that

> gets the hammering."

>

> Khanna: "Is there destiny? And if what is destined to happen will

happen is

> there any use in prayer or effort, or should we just remain idle?"

>

> Bhagavan: "There are only two ways to conquer destiny or be

independent of

> it. One is to enquire for whom is this destiny and discover that

only the

> ego is bound by destiny and not the Self, and that the ego is non-

existent.

> The other way is to kill the ego by completely surrendering to the

Lord, by

> realizing one's helplessness and saying all the time, `Not I but

Thou, oh

> Lord!', and giving up all sense of `I' and `mine' and leaving it to

the Lord

> to do what he likes with you. Surrender can never be regarded as

complete so

> long as the devotee wants this or that from the Lord. True

surrender is love

> of God for the sake of love and nothing else, not even for the sake

of

> salvation. In other words, complete effacement of the ego is

necessary to

> conquer destiny, whether you achieve this effacement through Self-

enquiry or

> through bhakti-marga."

>

> Khanna: "Are our prayers granted?"

>

> Bhagavan: "Yes, they are granted. No thought will go in vain. Every

thought

> will produce its effect some time or other. Thought-force will

never go in

> vain.

>

>

>

>

>