Ramana on Soul and Reincarnation

[Guest guest]

D.: The Bible says that the human soul

 

may be lost.

 

M: The 'I-thought' is the ego and that

 

is lost. The real 'I' is " I am That I

 

Am. "

 

 

 

D.: Is there reincarnation?

 

M: Reincarnation can be if you are

 

incarnate now. EVEN NOW YOU ARE NOT BORN.

 

 

 

D.: There is the body also - the

 

senses and the mind. The soul makes use

 

of all these for knowing things.

 

M: The objects or feelings or thoughts

 

are all mental conceptions.

 

The mind rises after the rise of the I-

 

thought or the ego. Wherefrom does the

 

ego rise? From the abstract

 

consciousness or Pure intelligence.

 

 

 

D.: Is it the soul?

 

M: SOUL, MIND OR EGO ARE MERE WORDS.

 

THERE ARE NO ENTITIES OF THE KIND.

 

 

 

Consciousness is the only truth.

 

 

 

D.: There are pleasure and pain in

 

ordinary life. Should we not remain

 

with only pleasure?

 

M: Pleasure consists in turning and

 

keeping the mind within; pain in

 

sending it outward. There is only

 

pleasure. Absence of pleasure is called

 

pain. One's nature is pleasure - Bliss

 

(Ananda)

 

 

 

D.: Is it the soul?

 

M: SOUL AND GOD ARE ONLY MENTAL

 

CONCEPTIONS.

 

 

 

D.: That was the state before one's

 

birth.

 

M: WHY SHOULD ONE THINK OF BIRTH AND

 

DEATH? ARE YOU REALLY BORN?

 

THE RISING OF THE MIND IS CALLED BIRTH.

 

 

 

After mind the body-thought arises and

 

the body is seen; then the thought of

 

birth, the state before birth, death,

 

the state after death - all these are

 

only of the mind.

 

 

 

WHOSE IS THE BIRTH?

 

 

 

D.: Am I not now born?

 

M: So long as the body is considered,

 

birth is real.

 

 

 

But the body is not 'I'. The Self is

 

not born nor does it die. There is

 

nothing new. The Sages see everything

 

in and of the Self. There is no

 

diversity in it. Therefore there is

 

neither birth nor death.