Fwd: Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-26

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ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362 wrote:

 

Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-26

 

TALK 170:

 

D.: Can a yogi know his past lives?

 

M.: Do you know the present life so well that you wish to know the

past. Find out the present life, then the rest will follow. Even

with our present limited knowledge we suffer so much. Why do you

wish to burden yourself with more knowledge and suffer more?

 

D.: Can fasting help realisation?

 

M.: But it is temporary. Mental fast is the real aid. Fasting is not

an end in itself. There must be spiritual development side by side.

Absolute fasting makes the mind weak too. You cannot derive

sufficient strength for the spiritual quest. Therefore take moderate

food and go on practising.

 

D.: They say that after breaking a month's fast, ten days afterwards

the mind becomes pure and steady and remains so forever.

 

M.: Yes, if the spiritual quest has been kept up right through the

fast also.

 

TALK 172:

 

A visitor: What is the difference between meditation (dhyana) and

investigation (vichara)?

 

M.: Both amount to the same. Those unfit for investigation must

practice meditation. In this practice the aspirant forgetting

himself meditates `I am Brahman' or `I am Siva'; thus he continues

to hold to Brahman or Siva; this will ultimately end on the residual

Being as Brahman or Siva which he will realise to be Pure Being,

i.e. the Self.

 

He who engages in investigation starts holding on to himself,

asks `Who am I?' and the Self becomes clear to him.

 

D.: Will the knowledge gained by direct experience be lost

afterwards?

 

M.: Kaivalya Navanita says it may be lost. Experience gained without

rooting out all the vasanas cannot remain steady. Efforts must be

made to eradicate the vasanas. Otherwise rebirth after death takes

place. Some say direct experience results from hearing from one's

master; others say it is from reflection; yet others say from

onepointedness and also from samadhi. Though they look different on

the surface, ultimately they mean the same.

 

Knowledge can remain unshaken only after all the vasanas are rooted

out.

 

TALK 173:

 

D.: Lord, how can the grip of the ego be slackened?

 

M.: By not adding new vasanas to it.

 

TALK 174:

 

Dr. Hand, the American gentleman, asked: Are there two methods for

finding the source of the ego?

 

M.: There are no two sources and no two methods. There is only one

source and only one method.

 

D.: What is the difference between meditation and enquiry into the

Self?

 

M.: Meditation is possible only if the ego be kept up. There is the

ego and the object meditated upon. The method is indirect. Whereas

the Self is only one. Seeking the ego, i.e., its source, ego

disappears. What is left over is the Self. This method is the direct

one.

 

D.: Then what am I to do?

 

M.: To hold on to the Self.

 

D.: How?

 

M.: Even now you are the Self. But you are confounding this

consciousness (or ego) with the absolute consciousness. This false

identification is due to ignorance. Ignorance disappears along with

the ego. Killing the ego is the only thing to accomplish.

Realisation is already there. No attempt is needed to attain

realisation. For it is nothing external, nothing new. It is always

and everywhere here and now too.

 

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