Fwd: Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-74

[Guest guest]

ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362 wrote:

 

Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-74

 

TALK 355:

 

D.: Does not education make a sage more useful to the world than

illiteracy?

 

M.: Even a learned man must bow before the illiterate sage.

Illiteracy is ignorance: education is learned ignorance. Both of

them are ignorant of their true aim; whereas a sage is not ignorant

because there is no aim for him.

 

TALK 356:

 

D.: Why should there be sleep in the world?

M.: Owing to sin only.

D.: Can it be destroyed?

M.: Yes.

D.: It ends only after making itself felt, they say.

M.: Why then devotion to God?

D.: How can sleep be destroyed?

M.: Be not aware of its activities and effects.

D.: How can it be done?

M.: Only by enquiry of the Self.

 

TALK 363:

 

The lady asked: The spiritual leaders in the West say that the

spiritual centre is in India. Is there any contact among the

spiritual leaders in India? Or is contact possible between the

leaders of the East and the West?

 

M.: What do you mean by spiritual centre?

D.: The spiritual centre is the seat of spiritual leaders.

M.: What do you understand by `spiritual leaders'?

 

D.: In the West there is a crisis. Scientific knowledge is far

advanced. Such knowledge is used for generating destructive forces.

There is a movement for making them constructive. When thus diverted

it will be for the good of the world. The leaders of this movement

are the redeemers.

 

M.: By `spiritual leaders' we understand those who are `spiritual'

as opposed to `physical'. Spirit is unlimited and formless. Such too

is the spiritual centre. There is only one such centre. Whether in

the West or in the East the centre cannot differ; nor has it any

locality. Being unlimited it includes the leaders, the men, the

world, the forces of destruction and of construction. There is no

differentiation. You speak of contact because you are thinking of

the embodied beings as spiritual leaders. The spiritual men are not

bodies; they are not aware of their bodies. They are only spirit,

limitless and formless. There is always unity among them and all

others; nay, they comprise all. The spirit is the Self. If the Self

is realised, these questions cannot arise at all.

 

Mrs. Jinarajadasa from Adyar: Self Realisation sounds so easy, but

yet is so difficult in practice.

 

M.: What can be easier? The Self is more intimate than anything

else. If that cannot be realised, is it easy to realise what is

apart and farther away?

 

D.: Self Realisation is so illusory. How can it be made permanent?

 

M.: The Self can never be illusory. It is the only Reality. That

which appears will also disappear and is therefore impermanent. The

Self never appears and disappears and is therefore permanent.

 

D.: Yes - true. You know that, in the Theosophical Society, they

meditate to seek the masters to guide them.

 

M.: The Master is within. Meditation is meant for the removal of

ignorance, of the wrong idea that he is without. If he be a stranger

whose advent you await he is bound to disappear also. Where is the

use of transient being like that? However, as long as you think that

you are an individual or that you are the body, so long the master

also is necessary and he will appear with a body. When this wrong

identification ceases the master will be found to be the Self. There

is a stanza in Kaivalya:

 

" My Lord! You had remained as my Self within, protecting me in all

my past incarnations. Now, by your Grace, you have manifested

yourself as my master and revealed yourself as the Self " .

 

Just see what happens in sleep. There is no ego, no India, no

seekers, no master, etc.; and yet you are - and happy too. The ego,

India, seekers, etc., appear now; but they are not apart from nor

independent of you.

 

One…asked about reincarnation.

 

M.: Reincarnation can only be so long as there is ignorance. There

is no incarnation either now, nor was there before, nor will be

hereafter. This is the truth.

 

D.: What is the ego-self?

 

M.: The ego-self appears and disappears and is transitory, whereas

the real Self always abides permanent. Though you are actually the

true Self yet you wrongly identify the real Self with the ego-self.

 

D.: How does the mistake come about?

 

M.: See if it has come about.

 

D.: One has to sublimate the ego-self into the true Self.

 

M.: The ego-self does not exist at all.

 

D.: Why does it give us trouble?

 

M.: To whom is the trouble? The trouble also is imagined. Trouble

and pleasure are only for the ego.

 

D.: Why is the world so wrapped up in ignorance?

 

M.: Take care of yourself. Let the world take care of itself. See

your Self. If you are the body there is the gross world also. If you

are spirit all is spirit alone.

 

D.: It will hold good for the individual, but what of the rest?

 

M.: Do it first and then see if the question arises afterwards.

 

D.: Is there avidya?

 

M.: For whom is it?

 

D.: For the ego-self.

 

M.: Yes, for the ego. Remove the ego; avidya is gone. Look for it,

the ego vanishes. The real Self alone remains. The ego professing

avidya is not to be seen. There is no avidya in reality. All sastras

are meant to disprove the existence of avidya.

 

D.: How did the ego arise?

 

M.: Ego is not. Otherwise do you admit of two selves? How can there

be avidya in the absence of the ego? If you begin to enquire, the

avidya which is already non-existent, will be found not to be or you

will say it has fled away. Ignorance pertains to the ego. Why do you

think of the ego and also suffer? What is ignorance again? It is

that which is non-existent. However the worldly life requires the

hypothesis of avidya. Avidya is only our ignorance and nothing more.

It is ignorance or forgetfulness of the Self. Can there be darkness

before the Sun? Similarly, can there be ignorance before the Self-

evident and Selfluminous Self? If you know the Self there will be no

darkness, no ignorance and no misery. It is the mind which feels the

trouble, misery, etc. Darkness never comes nor goes. See the Sun and

there is no darkness. Similarly, see the Self and avidya will be

found not to exist.

 

D.: Sri Ramakrishna and others practised concentration.

 

M.: Concentration and all other practices are meant for recognising

the absence, i.e., non-existence of ignorance. No one can deny his

own being. Being is knowledge, i.e., awareness. That awareness

implies absence of ignorance. Therefore everyone naturally admits

nonexistence of ignorance. And yet why should he suffer? Because he

thinks he is this or that. That is wrong. " I am " alone is; and

not " I am so and so " , or " I am such and such " . When existence is

absolute it is right; when it is particularised it is wrong. That is

the whole truth. See how each one admits that he is. Does he look

into a mirror to know his being? His awareness makes him admit his

existence or being. But he confuses it with the body, etc. Why

should he do so? Is he aware of his body in his sleep? No; yet he

himself does not cease to be in sleep. He exists there though

without the body. How does he know that he exists in sleep? Does he

require a mirror to reveal his own being now? Only be aware, and

your being is clear in your awareness.

 

D.: How is one to know the Self?

 

M.: " Knowing the Self " means " Being the Self " . Can you say that you

do not know the Self? Though you cannot see your own eyes and though

not provided with a mirror to look in, do you deny the existence of

your eyes? Similarly, you are aware of the Self even though the Self

is not objectified. Or, do you deny your Self because it is not

objectified? When you say " I cannot know the Self " it means absence

in terms of relative knowledge, because you have been so accustomed

to relative knowledge that you identify yourself with it. Such wrong

identity has forged the difficulty of not knowing the obvious Self

because it cannot be objectified; and you ask. " How is one to know

the Self? " Your difficulty is centred in " How " ? Who is to know the

Self? Can the body know it? Let the body answer. Who says that the

body is perceived now? In order to meet this kind of ignorance the

sastras formulate the theory of God's leela or krida (i.e., play).

God is said to emanate as the mind, the senses and the body and to

play. Who are you to say that this play is a trouble to you? Who are

you to question the doings of God? Your duty is to be: and not to be

this or that. " I AM that I AM " sums up the whole truth. The method

is summed up in " BE STILL " . What does " stillness " mean? It

means " destroy yourself " . Because any form or shape is the cause of

trouble. Give up the notion that " I am so and so " . Our sastras say:

ahamiti sphurati (it shines as `I').

 

D.: What is sphurana (shining)?

 

M.: (Aham, aham) `I-I' is the Self; (Aham idam) " I am this " or " I

and that " is the ego. Shining is there always. The ego is

transitory; when the `I' is kept up as `I' alone it is the Self;

when it flies at a tangent and says " this " it is the ego.

 

D.: Is God apart from the Self?

 

M.: The Self is God. " I AM " is God. " I am the Self, O Gudakesa! "

(Ahamatma Gudakesa). This question arises because you are holding

the ego self. This will not arise if you hold the True Self. For the

Real Self will not and cannot ask anything. If God be apart from the

Self He must be a Self-less God, which is absurd.

 

D.: What is namaskara (prostration)?

 

M.: Prostration means " subsidence of the ego " . What is " subsidence " ?

To merge into the source of its origin. God cannot be deceived by

outward genuflexions, bowings and prostrations. He sees if the

individuality is there or not.

 

Mr. Shamanna: Is there a sixth sense to feel " I AM " ?

 

M.: Do you have it in your sleep? There is only one being

functioning through the five senses. Or do you mean that each sense

is independent of the Self and there are five selves admitting of a

sixth to control them? There is a power working through these five

senses. How can you deny the existence of such Power? Do you deny

your existence? Do you not remain even in sleep where the body is

not perceived? The same `I' continues to be now; so we admit our

existence, whether there is the body or not. The senses work

periodically. Their work begins and ends. There must be a substratum

on which their activities depend. Where do they appear and merge?

There must be a single substratum. Were you to say that the single

unit is not perceived, it is an admission of its being single: for

you say that there is no second one to know it. All these

discussions are only to get rid of ignorance. When that is done

everything will be clear. It is a matter of competence, or ripeness.

 

D.: Cannot Grace hasten such competence in a seeker?

 

M.: Leave it to Him. Surrender unreservedly. One of two things must

be done. Either surrender because you admit your inability and also

require a High Power to help you; or investigate into the cause of

misery, go into the source and merge into the Self. Either way you

will be free from misery. God never forsakes one who has

surrendered. Mamekam saranam vraja.

 

D.: What is the drift of the mind after surrender?

 

M.: Is the surrendered mind raising the question? (Laughter.)

 

--- End forwarded message ---