More on 'The Soul'

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.....From our previous post...

“...Thus the ego is simply the ignorance that limits the real Self to a single

body out of a multitude of bodies, all of which are its own creation; this

world which it creates is thus divided by the ego into two parts, as self and

not-self, the former being a very small part, and the latter a very large one.

>From this arise the twin notions of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, which are the substance of

bondage."

 

[To continue...}

 

"Bondage is the outcome of the limitation of the notion of the self to a

single body. Hence it is evident that but for the ego there can be no bondage.

It thus becomes easy to accept the teaching of the Sages, that the real Self is

ever free — never became bound or subject to ignorance — and does not need to be

made free.

"The Sage, having no notion of being other than the real Self in Its utter

purity and perfection, is not aware of bondage; he is not even aware of having

been bound at any time, because time itself has been transcended by him.

'Bondage' is just a thought like any other thought, though it needs to be said

that the thought of bondage has its uses, in that it leads wise people to this

inquiry, which leads, through the Quest of the Self, to the realisation that

there is no bondage.

 

"But since bondage is inherent in the ego-sense itself, it will not cease so

long as the ego itself survives. Thus we have the curious result that the ego is

itself bondage, as well as the sufferer from it. It follows from this that the

ego is for ever debarred from the enjoyment of deliverance. How can bondage

ever become free? Besides, in that state, only what is utterly real can

survive, and the ego is not real.

 

"Those that nourish the hope of winning Deliverance without losing

individuality are doomed to disappointment. In fact the blessed regions which

they hope to win, and in which they are to retain their individuality, are as

unreal as this world.."

 

this is from Chapter Six, called "The Soul" in the book Maha Yoga: the entire

book can bedownloaded free-of-charge from the website of Sri

Ramanasramam.http://www.ramana-maharshi.org/anbudanJohn