Ramana.

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Question: How long can the mind stay or be kept in the Heart?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: The period extends by practice.

 

Question: What happens at the end of the period?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: The mind returns to the present normal state.

Unity in the Heart is replaced by a variety of perceived phenomena.

This is called the outgoing mind. The Heart-going mind is called the

resting mind.

 

When one daily practises more and more in this manner, the mind will

become extremely pure due to the removal of its defects and the

practice will become so easy that the purified mind will plunge into

the Heart as soon as the enquiry is commenced.

 

Question: Is it possible for a person who once has had the experience

of sat-chit-ananda in meditation to identify himself with the body

when out of meditation?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Yes, it is possible, but he gradually loses the

identification in the course of his practice. In the floodlight of

the Self the darkness of illusion dissipates forever.

 

Experience gained without rooting out all the Vasanas (latent

impressions or mental tendencies) cannot remain steady. Effort must

be made to eradicate the Vasanas; knowledge can only remain unshaken

after all the Vasanas are rooted out.

 

We have to contend against age-long mental tendencies. They will all

go. Only they go comparatively soon in the case of those who have

made Sadhana (spiritual practice) in the past and later in the case

of others.

 

Question: Do these tendencies go gradually or will they suddenly all

disappear one day? I ask this because although I have remained here

for a long time I do not perceive any gradual change in me.

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: When the sun rises, does the darkness go

gradually or all at once?

 

Question: How can I tell if I am making progress with my enquiry?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: The degree of the absence of thoughts is the

measure of your progress towards Self-realisation. But Self-

realisation itself does not admit of progress, it is ever the same.

The Self remains always in realisation. The obstacles are thoughts.

Progress is measured by the degree of removal of the obstacles to

understanding that the Self is always realised. So thoughts must be

checked by seeking to whom they arise. So you go to their source,

where they do not arise.

 

Questioner: Doubts are always arising. Hence my question.

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: A doubt arises and is cleared. Another arises

and that is cleared, making way for yet another; and so it goes on.

So there is no possibility of clearing away all doubts. See to whom

the doubts arise. Go to their source and abide in it. Then they cease

to arise. That is how doubts are to be cleared.

 

Question: Should I go on asking `Who am I?' without answering? Who

asks whom? Which Bhavana (attitude) should be in the mind at the time

of enquiry? What is `I', the Self or the ego?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: In the enquiry `Who am I?', `I' is the ego. The

question really means, what is the source or origin of this ego? You

need not have any Bhavana (attitude) in the mind. All that is

required is that you must give up the Bhavana (attitude) that you are

the body, of such and such a description, with such and such a name,

etc. There is no need to have a Bhavana about your real nature. It

exists as it always does. It is real and no Bhavana.

 

Question: But is it not funny that the `I' should be searching for

the `I'? Does not the enquiry `Who am I?' turn out in the end to be

an empty formula? Or, am I to put the question to myself endlessly,

repeating it like some mantra?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Self-enquiry is certainly not an empty formula

and it is more than the repetition of any mantra. If the enquiry `Who

am I?' were a mere mental questioning, it would not be of much value.

The very purpose of self-enquiry is to focus the entire mind at its

source. It is not, therefore, a case of one `I' searching for

another `I'. Much less is self-enquiry an empty formula, for it

involves an intense activity of the entire mind to keep it steadily

poised in pure Self-awareness.

 

Question: Is it enough if I spend some time in the mornings and some

time in the evenings for this atma-vichara (self-enquiry)? Or should

I do it always, even when I am writing or walking?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: What is your real nature? Is it writing, walking

or being? The one unalterable reality is being. Until you realise

that state of pure being you should pursue the enquiry. If once you

are established in it there will be no further worry.

 

No one will enquire into the source of thoughts unless thoughts

arise. So long as you think `I am walking' or `I am writing', enquire

who does it.

 

Question: If I go on rejecting thoughts can I call it Vichara

(enquiry)?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: It may be a stepping stone. But really vichara

begins when you cling to your Self and are already off the mental

movement, the thought waves.