Fwd: Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-16

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ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362 wrote:

 

Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-16

 

TALK 92:

 

A visitor said: Some say that one should practise meditation on

gross objects only: it may be disastrous if one constantly seeks to

kill the mind.

 

M.: For whom is it disastrous? Can there be disaster apart from the

Self? Unbroken `I-I' is the ocean infinite, the ego, `I' thought,

remains only a bubble on it and is called jiva, i.e., individual

soul. The bubble too is water; when it bursts it only mixes in the

ocean. When it remains a bubble it is still a part of the ocean.

Ignorant of this simple truth, innumerable methods under different

denominations, such as yoga, bhakti, karma....... each again with

many modifications, are being taught with great skill and in

intricate detail only to entice the seekers and confuse their minds.

So also are the religions and sects and dogmas. What are they all

for? Only for knowing the Self. They are aids and practices required

for knowing the Self. Objects perceived by the senses are spoken of

as immediate knowledge (pratyaksha). Can anything be as direct as

the Self - always experienced without the aid of the senses? Sense-

perceptions can only be indirect knowledge, and not direct

knowledge. Only one's own awareness is direct knowledge, as is the

common experience of one and all. No aids are needed to know one's

own Self, i.e., to be aware. The one Infinite Unbroken Whole

(plenum) becomes aware of itself as `I'. This is its original name.

All other names, e.g., OM, are later growths. Liberation is only to

remain aware of the Self. The mahavakya " I am Brahman " is its

authority. Though the `I' is always experienced, yet one's attention

has to be drawn to it. Only then does knowledge dawn. Thus the need

for the instruction of the Upanishads and of wise sages.

 

TALK 95:

 

A question was raised as follows by Maj. A. W. Chadwick:- Mr. Edward

Carpenter, a certain mystic, has written in a book that he had Self-

Realisation on some occasions and that its effects lasted sometimes

afterwards, only to be gradually lost. Whereas Sri Ramana Gita

says, " Granthi (knot = bondage), snapped once, is snapped for ever. "

In the case of this mystic, the bondage seems to have persisted even

after Self-Realisation. How can it be so?

 

The Master cited Kaivalya as follows:- The disciple, after realising

the all-shining, unitary, unbroken state of Being-Knowledge-Bliss,

surrendered himself to the master and humbly prayed to know how he

could repay the master's Grace.

 

The Master said: " My reward consists in your permanent unbroken

Bliss. Do not

slip away from it. "

 

D.: Having once experienced the Supreme Bliss, how can one stray

away from it?

 

M.: Oh yes! It happens. The predisposition adhering to him from time

immemorial will draw him out and so ignorance overtakes him.

 

D.: What are the obstacles to remaining steady in unbroken Bliss?

How can they be overcome?

 

M.: The obstacles are:

 

(1) Ignorance which is forgetfulness of one's pure being.

(2) Doubt which consists in wondering if even the experience was of

the Real or of the unreal.

(3) Error which consists in the " I-am-the-body " idea, and thinking

that the world is real. These are overcome by hearing the truth,

reflection on it and concentration.

 

The Master continued: Experience is said to be temporary or

permanent. The first experience is temporary and by concentration it

can become permanent. In the former the bondage is not completely

completely destroyed; it remains subtle and reasserts itself in due

course. But in the latter it is destroyed root and branch, never to

appear again. The expression yogabhrashta (those who have fallen

down from yoga) in Srimad Bhagavad Gita refers to the former class

of men.

 

D.: Is then hearing the Truth meant only for a limited few?

 

M.: It is of two kinds. The ordinary one is to hear it enunciated

and explained by a master. However, the right one is to raise the

question for oneself and seek and find the answer in oneself as the

unbroken `I-I'.

 

To be reflecting on this experience is the second stage. To remain

one-pointed in it is the third stage.

 

D.: Can the temporary experience be called samadhi?

 

M.: No. It forms part of the third stage.

 

D.: It looks then as if even hearing the Truth is limited to a very

few.

 

M.: The seekers fall into two classes; kritopasaka and akritopasaka.

The former having already overcome his predisposition by steady

devotion, his mind thus made pure, has had some kind of experience

but does not comprehend it; as soon as he is instructed by a

competent master, permanent experience results.

 

The other class of seeker needs great effort to achieve this end.

How will the hearing of the Truth, reflection and concentration help

him?

 

They comprise upasana (the nearest approach to Truth) and will end

in his Self-Realization.

 

The fourth stage is the final one of liberation. Even there some

distinction is made according to the degree, as

 

(1) the knower of the Brahman (Brahmavid)

(2) Brahmavid-vara

(3) Brahmavid-varya

(4) Brahmavid-varishta

 

But all of them are in fact liberated even while alive.

 

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