Fwd: Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-94

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ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362 wrote:

 

Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-94

 

TALK 487:

D.: What is the object of Self-Realisation?

M.: Self-Realisation is the final goal and it is the end in itself.

D.: l mean, what is the use of Self-Realisation?

M.: Why should you seek Self-Realisation? Why do you not rest

content with your present state? It is evident that you are

discontented with the present state. The discontent is at an end if

you realise the Self.

D.: What is that Self-Realisation which removes the discontent? I am

in the world and there are wars in it. Can Self-Realisation put an

end to it?

M.: Are you in the world? Or is the world in you?

D.: I do not understand. The world is certainly around me.

M.: You speak of the world and happenings in it. They are mere ideas

in you. The ideas are in the mind. The mind is within you. And so

the world is within you.

D.: I do not follow you. Even if I do not think of the world, the

world is still there.

M.: Do you mean to say that the world is apart from the mind and it

can exist in the absence of the mind?

D.: Yes.

 

M.: Does the world exist in your deep sleep?

 

D.: It does.

 

M.: Do you see it in your sleep?

 

D.: No, I don't. But others, who are awake, see it.

 

M.: Are you so aware in your sleep? Or do you become aware of the

other's knowledge now?

 

D.: In my waking state.

M.: So you speak of waking knowledge and not of sleep-experience.

The existence of the world in your waking and dream states is

admitted because they are the products of the mind. The mind is

withdrawn in sleep and the world is in the condition of a seed. It

becomes manifest over again when you wake up. The ego springs forth,

identifies itself with the body and sees the world. So the world is

a mental creation.

D.: How can it be?

M.: Do you not create a world in your dream? The waking state also

is a long drawn out dream. There must be a seer behind the waking

and dream experiences. Who is that seer? Is it the body?

D.: It cannot be.

M.: Is it the mind?

 

D.: It must be so.

 

M.: But you remain in the absence of the mind.

 

D.: How?

 

M.: In deep sleep.

 

D.: l do not know if I am then.

 

M.: If you were not how do you recollect yesterday's experiences? Is

it possible that there was a break in the continuity of the `I'

during sleep?

 

D.: It may be.

 

M.: If so, a Johnson may wake up as a Benson. How will the identity

of the individual be established?

D.: I don't know.

M.: If this argument is not clear, follow a different line. You

admit " I slept well " , " I feel refreshed after a sound sleep " . So

sleep was your experience. The experiencer now identifies himself

with the `I' in the speaker. So this `I' must have been in sleep

also.

D.: Yes.

M.: So `I' was in sleep, if the world was then there, did it say

that it existed?

D.: No. But the world tells me its existence now. Even if I deny its

existence, I may knock myself against a stone and hurt my foot. The

injury proves the existence of the stone and so of the world.

M.: Quite so. The stone hurts the foot. Does the foot say that there

is the stone?

D.: No. - `I'.

M.: Who is this `I'? It cannot be the body nor the mind as we have

seen before. This `I' is the one who experiences the waking, dream

and sleep states. The three states are changes which do not affect

the individual. The experiences are like pictures passing on a

screen in the cinema. The appearance and disappearance of the

pictures do not affect the screen. So also, the three states

alternate with one another leaving the Self unaffected. The waking

and the dream states are creations of the mind. So the Self covers

all. To know that the Self remains happy in its perfection is Self-

Realisation. Its use lies in the realisation of Perfection and thus

of Happiness.

D.: Can it be complete happiness to remain Self-realised if one does

not contribute to the happiness of the world? How can one be so

happy when there is a war in Spain, a war in China? Is it not

selfishness to remain Self-realised without helping the world?

M.: The Self was pointed out to you to cover the universe and also

transcend it. The world cannot remain apart from the Self. If the

realisation of such Self be called selfishness that selfishness must

cover the world also. It is nothing contemptible.

D.: Does not the realised man continue to live just like a non-

realised being?

M.: Yes, with this difference that the realised being does not see

the world as being apart from the Self, he possesses true knowledge

and the internal happiness of being perfect, whereas the other

person sees the world apart, feels imperfection and is miserable.

Otherwise their physical actions are similar.

D.: The realised being also knows that there are wars being waged in

the world, just like the other man.

 

M.: Yes.

 

D.: How then can he be happy?

 

M.: Is the cinema screen affected by a scene of fire burning or sea

rising? So it is with the Self.

 

The idea that I am the body or the mind is so deep that one cannot

get over it even if convinced otherwise. One experiences a dream and

knows it to be unreal on waking. Waking experience is unreal in

other states. So each state contradicts the others. They are

therefore mere changes taking place in the seer, or phenomena

appearing in the Self, which is unbroken and remains unaffected by

them. Just as the waking, dream and sleep states are phenomena, so

also birth, growth and death are phenomena in the Self. which

continues to be unbroken and unaffected. Birth and death are only

ideas. They pertain to the body or the mind. The Self exists before

the birth of this body and will remain after the death of this body.

So it is with the series of bodies taken up in succession. The Self

is immortal. The phenomena are changeful and appear mortal. The fear

of death is of the body. It is not true of the Self. Such fear is

due to ignorance. Realisation means True Knowledge of the Perfection

and Immortality of the Self. Mortality is only an idea and cause of

misery. You get rid of it by realising the Immortal nature of the

Self.

The same lady continued: If the world is only a dream, how should it

be harmonised with the Eternal Reality?

M.: The harmony consists in the realisation of its inseparateness

from the Self.

D.: But a dream is fleeting and unreal. It is also contradicted by

the waking state.

M.: The waking experiences are similar.

D.: One lives fifty years and finds a continuity in the waking

experience which is absent in dreams.

M.: You go to sleep and dream a dream in which the experiences of

fifty years are condensed within the short duration of the dream,

say five minutes. There is also a continuity in the dream. Which is

real now? Is the period covering fifty years of your waking state

real or the short duration of five minutes of your dream? The

standards of time differ in the two states. That is all. There is no

other difference between the experiences.

D.: The spirit remains unaffected by the passing phenomena and by

the successive bodies of repeated births. How does each body get the

life to set it acting?

M.: The spirit is differentiated from matter and is full of life.

The body is animated by it.

D.: The realised being is then the spirit and unaware of the world.

M.: He sees the world but not as separate from the Self.

D.: If the world is full of pain why should he continue the world-

idea?

M.: Does the realised being tell you that the world is full of pain?

It is the other one who feels the pain and seeks the help of the

wise saying that the world is painful. Then the wise one explains

from his experience that if one withdraws within the Self there is

an end of pain. The pain is felt so long as the object is different

from oneself. But when the Self is found to be an undivided whole

who and what is there to feel? The realised mind is the Holy Spirit

and the other mind is the home of the devil. For the realised being

this is the Kingdom of Heaven. " The Kingdom of Heaven is within

you. " That Kingdom is here and now.

 

TALK 488:

 

A group of young men asked: " It is said that healthy mind can be

only in a healthy body. Should we not attempt to keep the body

always strong and healthy? "

M.: In that way there will be no end of attention to the health of

the body.

D.: The present experiences are the result of past Karma. If we know

the mistakes committed in the past, we can rectify them.

M.: If one mistake is rectified there yet remains the whole sanchita

which is going to give you innumerable births. So that is not the

procedure. The more you prune a plant, the more vigorously it grows.

The more you rectify your Karma, the more it accumulates. Find the

root of Karma and cut it off.

 

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