Fwd: Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-92

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ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362 wrote:

 

Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-92

 

TALK 479:

 

D.: Which is the best of all the religions? What is Sri Bhagavan's

method?

M.: All religions and methods are one and the same.

 

D.: Different methods are taught for liberation.

 

M.: Why should you be liberated? Why not remain as you are now?

 

D.: I want to get rid of pain. To be rid of it is said to be

liberation.

 

M.: That is what all religions teach.

 

D.: But what is the method?

 

M.: To retrace your way back.

 

D.: Whence have I come?

 

M.: That is just what you should know. Did these questions arise in

your sleep? Did you

not exist then? Are you not the same being now?

 

D.: Yes, I was in sleep; so also the mind; but the senses had

merged, so I could not speak.

 

M.: Are you jiva? Are you the mind? Did the mind announce itself to

you in sleep?

D.: No. But elders say that the jiva is different from Isvara.

 

M.: Leave Isvara alone. Speak for yourself.

 

D.: What about myself? Who am I?

 

M.: That is just it. Know it, when all will be known; if not, ask

then.

 

D.: On waking I see the world and I am not changed from sleep.

 

M.: But this is not known in sleep. Now or then, the same you

remain. Who has changed now? Is your nature to be changing or

remain unchanging?

 

D.: What is the proof?

M.: Does one's own being require a proof? Only remain aware of your

own self, all else will be known.

D.: Why then do the dualists and non-dualists quarrel among

themselves?

M.: If each one minds his own business, there will be no quarrel

 

TALK 480:

 

A European lady, Mrs. Gasque, gave a slip of paper on which was

written: We are thankful to Nature and the Infinite Intelligence for

your Presence among us. We appreciate that your Wisdom is founded

upon pure Truth and the basic principle of Life and Eternity. We are

happy that you remind us to " Be still and Know THAT " . What do you

consider the future of this Earth?

Answer: The answer to this question is contained in the other sheet.

Be still and know that I AM GOD. " Stillness " here means " Being free

from thoughts " .

 

D.: This does not answer the question. The planet has a future -

what is it to be?

 

M.: Time and space are functions of thoughts. If thoughts do not

arise there will be no future or the Earth.

D.: Time and space will remain even if we do not think of them.

M.: Do they come and tell you that they are? Do you feel them in

your sleep?

D.: I was not conscious in my sleep.

M.: And yet you were existing in your sleep.

D.: I was not in my body. I had gone out somewhere and jumped in

here just before waking up.

M.: Your having been away in sleep and jumping in now are mere

ideas. Where were you in sleep? You were only what you are, but with

this difference that you were free from thoughts in sleep.

D.: Wars are going on in the world. If we do not think, do the wars

cease?

M.: Can you stop the wars? He who made the world will take care of

it.

D.: God made the world and He is not responsible for the present

condition of the world. It is we who are responsible for the present

state.

M.: Can you stop the wars or reform the world?

D.: No.

M.: Then why do you worry yourself about what is not possible for

you? Take care of yourself and the world will take care of itself.

D.: We are pacifists. We want to bring about Peace.

M.: Peace is always present. Get rid of the disturbances to Peace.

This Peace is the Self.

The thoughts are the disturbances. When free from them, you are

Infinite Intelligence, i.e., the Self. There is Perfection and

Peace.

 

D.: The world must have a future.

 

M.: Do you know what it is in the present? The world and all

together are the same, now as well as in the future.

D.: The world was made by the operation of Intelligence on ether and

atoms.

M.: All of them are reduced to Isvara and Sakti. You are not now

apart from Them. They and you are one and the same Intelligence.

After a few minutes one lady asked: " Do you ever intend to go to

America?

M.: America is just where India is (i.e., in the plane of thought).

Another (Spanish) lady: They say that there is a shrine in the

Himalayas entering which one gets some strange vibrations which heal

all diseases. Is it possible?

M.: They speak of some shrine in Nepal and also in other parts of

the Himalayas where the people are said to become unconscious on

entering them.

 

TALK 481:

 

Muruganar asked what prajnana is.

M.: Prajnana (Absolute Knowledge) is that from which vijnana

(relative knowledge) proceeds.

D.: In the state of vijnana one becomes aware of the samvit (cosmic

intelligence). But is that suddha samvit aware by itself without the

aid of antahkaranas (inner organs)?

M.: It is so, even logically.

D.: Becoming aware of samvit in jagrat by vijnana, prajnana is not

found self-shining. If so, it must be found in sleep.

M.: The awareness is at present through antahkaranas. Prajnana is

always shining even in sleep. If one is continuously aware in jagrat

the awareness will continue in sleep also. Moreover, it is

illustrated thus: A king comes into the hall, sits there and then

leaves the place.

He did not go into the kitchen. Can one in the kitchen for that

reason say, " The king did not come here " ? When awareness is found in

jagrat it must also be in sleep.

 

TALK 482:

 

Dr. Pande asked leave of Bhagavan to ask questions so that his

doubts might be cleared. He wanted to be shown a practical way to

realise the Self.

M.: A man was blindfolded and left in the woods. He then enquired of

the way to Gandhara from each one he met on the way until he finally

reached it. So also all the ways lead to Self-Realisation. They are

aids to the common goal.

D.: Dhyana will be easy if there is a pratikam (symbol). But the

enquiry into the Self does not show any pratikam.

M.: You admit the existence of the Self. Do you point to the

pratikam (symbol) and say that it is the Self? Maybe you think the

body is the Self. But consider your deep sleep. You do exist then.

What is the pratikam there? So the Self can be realised without

pratikam.

D.: Quite true. I see the force of the words. But yet are not

mantras, etc., helpful?

M.: They are helpful. What is mantra? You are thinking of the simple

sounds of the mantra. Repetition of the same excludes all other

thoughts. The single thought of the mantra japa remains. That too

drops away giving place to the Infinite Self, which is the mantra

itself.

Mantra, dhyana, bhakti, etc., are all aids and finally lead to

Swarupa, the Self, which is they themselves.

After a few minutes Maharshi continued:

Everyone is the Self, indeed infinite. Yet each one mistakes the

body for the Self. To know anything, illumination is necessary.

Such illuminating agency can only be in the form of light which is

however lighting the physical light and darkness. So then that other

Light lies beyond the apparent light and darkness. It is itself

neither light nor darkness but is said to be Light because It

illumines both. It is also Infinite and remains as Consciousness.

Consciousness is the Self of which everyone is aware. No one is away

from the Self. So each one is Self-realised. Yet what a mystery

that no one knows this fundamental fact, and desires to realise the

Self? This ignorance is due to the mistaking of the body for the

Self. Realisation now consists in getting rid of this false idea

that one is not realised. Realisation is not anything newly got. It

must be already there in order that it may be permanent. Otherwise

Realisation is not worth attempting.

After the false notion `I-am-the-body' or `I have not realised' is

removed, Supreme Consciousness or the Self alone is left over, which

is however called Realisation in the present state of knowledge.

However, the truth is that Realisation is eternal and already there,

here and now.

Finally, Realisation amounts to elimination of ignorance and nothing

more or less.

D.: My profession requires my stay in my place. I cannot remain in

the vicinity of sadhus. Can I have realisation even in the absence

of sat sanga as necessitated by my circumstances?

M.: Sat is aham pratyaya saram = the Self of selves. The sadhu is

that Self of selves. He is immanent in all. Can anyone remain

without the Self? No. So no one is away from sat sanga.

 

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