Fwd: Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-67

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ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362 wrote:

 

Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-67

 

TALK 326:

 

In answer to a question by a long resident attendant Sri Bhagavan

said: " Everybody complains of the restlessness of the mind. Let the

mind be found and then they will know. True, when a man sits down to

meditate thoughts rush up by dozens. The mind is only a bundle of

thoughts. The attempt to push through the barrage of thoughts is

unsuccessful. If one can by any means abide in the Self it is good.

For those who are unable to do so, chanting or meditation (Japa or

dhyana) is prescribed. It is like giving a piece of chain to an

elephant to hold in its trunk. The trunk of the elephant is usually

restless. It puts it out in all directions when taken out in the

streets of the town. If given a chain to carry the restlessness is

checked. Similarly with the restless mind. If made to engage in japa

or dhyana, other thoughts are warded off: and the mind concentrates

on a single thought. It thus becomes peaceful. It does not mean that

peace is gained without a prolonged struggle. The other thoughts

must be fought out.

 

Here is another illustration. Suppose a cow plays rogue and strays

into neighbours' fields to graze. She is not easily weaned from her

stealthy habit. Think how she can be kept in the stall. If forcibly

tethered in the stall she simply bides her time to play the rogue.

If she is tempted with fine grass in the stall she takes one

mouthful on the first day and again waits for the opportunity to run

away. The next day she takes two mouthfuls; so she takes more and

more on each succeeding day, until finally she is weaned from her

wicked tendencies. When entirely free from bad habits she might be

safely left free and she would not stray into neighbours' pasture

land. Even when beaten in the stall, she does not afterwards leave

the place.

 

Similarly with the mind. It is accustomed to stray outward by the

force of the latent vasanas manifesting as thoughts. So long as

there are vasanas contained within they must come out and exhaust

themselves. The thoughts comprise the mind. Searching what the mind

is, the thoughts will recoil and the seeker will know that they

arise from the Self. It is the aggregate of these thoughts that we

call `mind'. If one realises that the thoughts arise from the Self

and abide in their source, the mind will disappear. After the mind

ceases to exist and bliss of peace has been realised, one will find

it then as difficult to bring out a thought, as he now finds it

difficult to keep out all thoughts. Here the mind is the cow playing

the rogue; the thoughts are the neighbours' pasture; one's own

primal being free from thoughts is the stall.

 

The bliss of peace is too good to be disturbed. A man fast asleep

hates to be awakened and ordered to mind his business. The bliss of

sleep is too enthralling to be sacrificed to the work born of

thoughts. The thought-free state is one's primal state and full of

bliss. Is it not miserable to leave such a state for the thought-

ridden and unhappy one?

 

If one wants to abide in the thought-free state, a struggle is

inevitable. One must fight one's way through before regaining one's

original primal state. If one succeeds in the fight and reaches the

goal, the enemy, namely the thoughts, will all subside in the Self

and disappear entirely. The thoughts are the enemy. They amount to

the creation of the Universe. In their absence there is neither the

world nor God the Creator. The Bliss of the Self is the single Being

only.

 

When Prahlada was in samadhi, Vishnu thought within Himself: " This

asura being in samadhi, all the asuras are in peace. There is no

fight, no trial of strength, no search for power, nor the means for

gaining power. In the absence of such means for power - yaga, yajna,

etc., i.e., the gods are not thriving; there is no new creation; nor

even is any existence justified. So I will wake him up; then the

asuras will rise up; their original nature will manifest itself; the

gods will challenge them: the asuras and others will then seek

strength and adopt the means for its acquisition. Yajnas, etc., will

flourish; the gods will thrive; there will be more and more of

creation, more of fight and I shall have enough to do " . So Vishnu

awakened Prahlada, blessing him with eternal life and jivanmukti.

Deva-asura fight was resumed and the old order of things was

restored so that the universe continues in its eternal nature.

 

D.: How could God Himself wake up the asura element and bring about

constant warfare? Is not Pure Goodness the nature of God?

 

M.: Goodness is only relative. Good always implies bad also; they

always co-exist. The one is the obverse of the other.

 

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