Fwd: Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-4

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ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362 wrote:

 

Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-4

 

D.: What is this mind?

 

M.: Mind is one form of manifestation of life. A block of wood or a

subtle machine is not called mind. The vital force manifests as life

activity and also as the conscious phenomena known as the mind.

 

D.: What is the relation between mind and object? Is the mind

contacting something different from it, viz., the world?

 

M.: The world is `sensed' in the waking and the dream states or is

the object of perception and thought, both being mental activities.

If there were no such activities as waking and dreaming thought,

there would be no `perception' or inference of a `world'. In sleep

there is no such activity and `objects and world' do not exist for

us in sleep. Hence `reality of the world' may be created by the ego

by its act of emergence from sleep; and that reality may be

swallowed up or disappear by the soul resuming its nature in sleep.

The emergence and disappearance of the world are like the spider

producing a gossamer web and then withdrawing it. The spider here

underlies all the three states - waking, dreaming, and sleep; such a

spider in the person is called Atman (Self), whereas the same with

reference to the world (which is considered to issue from the sun)

is called Brahman (Supreme Spirit). He that is in man is the same as

He that

is in the sun. (Sa yaschayam purushe yaschasavaditye sa ekah).

 

While Self or Spirit is unmanifest and inactive, there are no

relative doubles; e.g., subject and object - drik and drisya. If the

enquiry into the ultimate cause of manifestation of mind itself is

pushed on, mind will be found to be only the manifestation of the

Real which is otherwise called Atman or Brahman. The mind is termed

sukshma sarira or `subtle-body'; and jiva is the individual soul.

The jiva is the essence of the growth of individuality; personality

is referred to as jiva. Thought or mind is said to be its phase, or

one of the ways in which the jiva manifests itself - the earlier

stage or phase of such manifestation being vegetative life. This

mind is always seen as being related to, or acting on, some non-mind

or matter, and never by itself. Therefore mind and matter co-exist.

 

TALK 26:

 

D.:…How is the mind to be eliminated or relative consciousness

transcended?

 

M.: The mind is by nature restless. Begin liberating it from its

restlessness; give it peace; make it free from distractions; train

it to look inward; make this a habit. This is done by ignoring the

external world and removing the obstacles to peace of mind.

 

D.: How is restlessness removed from the mind?

 

M.: External contacts - contacts with objects other than itself -

make the mind restless. Loss of interest in non-Self, (vairagya) is

the first step. Then the habits of introspection and concentration

follow. They are characterised by control of external senses,

internal faculties, etc. (sama, dama, etc.) ending in samadhi

(undistracted mind).

 

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