Fwd: Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-102

[Guest guest]

ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362 wrote:

 

Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-102

 

TALK 548:

 

A visitor asked Sri Bhagavan (in writing) the following questions:

(1) Were the differences in the world simultaneous, with

creation? Or are they of later growth? (2) Is the Creator impartial?

Then why is one born lame, another blind, and so on? (3) Are the

eight Dikpalas, thirty-three crores of gods and the seven rishis

existent even today?

M.: Refer these questions to yourself and the answer will be found.

After a pause, Sri Bhagavan continued: if we first know our Self

then all other matters will be plain to us. Let us know our Self and

then enquire concerning the Creator and creation. Without first

knowing the Self, to seek knowledge of God, etc., is ignorance. A

man suffering from jaundice sees everything yellow. If he tells

others that all things are yellow who will accept his statement?

The creation is said to have an origin. How? Like a tree and the

seed from which it has grown. How was the seed produced? From a

similar tree. Where is the end to the series of questions? Therefore

one must know one's Self before the world is known.

 

TALK 549:

 

Sri Bhagavan often speaks of namaskar (prostration) in the following

strain: " This namaskar was originally meant by the ancient sages to

serve as a means of surrender to God. The act still prevails but not

the spirit behind it. The doer of namaskar intends to deceive the

object of worship by his act. It is mostly insincere and deceitful.

It is meant to cover up innumerable sins. Can God be deceived? The

man thinks that God accepts his namaskar and that he himself is free

to continue his old life. They need not come to me. I am not pleased

with these namaskars. The people should keep their minds clean;

instead of that they bend themselves or lie prostrate before me. I

am not deceived by such acts. "

 

TALK 551:

 

Man: " How is it that Atma vidya is said to be the easiest? "

M.: Any other vidya requires a knower, knowledge and the object to

be known, whereas this does not require any of them. It is the

Self. Can anything be so obvious as that? Hence it is the easiest.

All that you need do is to enquire, " Who am I? " A man's true name is

mukti (liberation)

 

TALK 553:

 

The Asramites once asked Sri Bhagavan, " How were we all in our

previous births? Why do we not know our own past? "

M.: God in His mercy has withheld this knowledge from people. If

they knew that they were virtuous, they will grow proud;

contrariwise they will be depressed. Both are bad. It is enough that

one knows the Self.

 

TALK 554:

 

M.: Just as a river does not continue its flow after its discharge

into the ocean, so also a person loses all movements after he merges

in the Self.

 

TALK 555:

 

Sri Bhagavan once recounted how Kavyakantha Ganapathi Muni asked

Him: My own opinion is that a man can live on Rs. 3 a month. What

is Sri Bhagavan's opinion in the matter?

M.: A man can live happily only if he knows that he requires nothing

wherewith to live.

 

TALK 556:

 

Maj. Chadwick asked Sri Bhagavan one night: The world is said to

become manifest after the mind becomes manifest. There is no mind

when I sleep. Is the world not existent to others at that time? Does

it not show that the world is the product of a universal mind? How

then shall we say that the world is not material but only dream-

like?

M.: The world does not tell you that it is of the individual mind or

of the universal mind. It is only the individual mind that sees the

world. When this mind disappears the world also disappears. There

was a man who saw in his dream his father who had died thirty years

earlier. Furthermore he dreamt that he had four more brothers and

that his father divided his property among them. A quarrel ensued,

the brothers assaulted the man and he woke up in a fright. Then he

remembered that he was all alone, he had no brothers and the father

was dead long ago. His fright gave place to contentment. So you

see - when we see our Self there is no world, and when we lose sight

of the Self we get ourselves bound in the world.

 

TALK 557:

 

Visitor: " We are advised to concentrate on the spot in the forehead

between the eyebrows. Is it right? "

M.: Everyone is aware, `I am'. Leaving aside that awareness one goes

about in search of God. What is the use of fixing one's attention

between the eyebrows? It is mere folly to say that God is between

the eyebrows. The aim of such advice is to help the mind to

concentrate. It is one of the forcible methods to check the mind and

prevent its dissipation. It is forcibly directed into one channel.

It is a help to concentration. But the best means of realisation is

the enquiry " Who am I? " The present trouble is to the mind and it

must be removed by the mind only.

D.: Are there restrictions to be observed in food?

M.: Sattva food taken in moderation.

D.: There are several asanas mentioned. Which of them is the best?

M.: Nididhyasana (one-pointedness of the mind) is the best.

 

TALK 558:

 

A visitor asked: " Sri Bhagavan! When I heard of you, a strong desire

arose in me to see you. Why should it be so? "

M.: The desire arose in the same way as the body arises to the Self.

D.: What is the purpose of life?

M.: To seek to know the significance of life is itself the result of

good karma in past births. Those who do not seek such knowledge are

simply wasting their lives.

 

TALK 559:

 

Man: " Sri Bhagavan can know when I shall become a Jnani. Please tell

me when it will be. "

M.: If I am Bhagavan then there is no one apart from me to whom

jnana should arise or to whom I should speak. If I am an ordinary

man like others then I am as ignorant as the rest. Either way your

question cannot be answered.

 

TALK 562:

 

There is a statement in the book Vichara Sangraha that though a

person realises the Self once, he cannot, for that simple reason

alone, become a mukta. He continues to remain a victim of vasanas

(latencies). Sri Bhagavan was asked whether the realisation referred

to was the same as the jnani's, and if so why there should be a

difference in their effects.

M.: The experience is the same. Every person experiences the Self

consciously or unconsciously. The ajnani's experience is clouded by

his latencies whereas the jnani's is not so. The jnani's experience

of the Self is therefore distinct and permanent.

 

A practiser may by long practice gain a glimpse of the Reality. This

experience may be vivid for the time being. And yet he will be

distracted by the old vasanas and so his experience will not avail

him. Such a man must continue his manana and nididhyasana so that

all the obstacles may be destroyed. He will then be able to remain

permanently in the Real State.

 

D.: What is the difference between a man who makes no attempts and

remains an ajnani, and another who gains a glimpse and returns to

ajnana?

M.: In the latter case a stimulus is always present to goad him on

to further efforts until the realisation is perfect.

D.: The Srutis say: Sakrit vibhatoyam brahmaloka (This knowledge of

Brahman shines forth once and forever).

M.: They refer to the permanent realisation and not to the glimpse.

D.: How is it possible that a man forgets his very experience and

falls back into ignorance?

Sri Bhagavan illustrated it with the following story:

There was a king who treated his subjects well. One of his ministers

gained his confidence and misused the influence. All the other

ministers and officers were adversely affected and they hit upon a

plan to get rid of him. They instructed the guards not to let the

man enter the palace. The king noted his absence and enquired after

him. He was informed that the man was taken ill and could not

therefore come to the palace. The king deputed his physician to

attend on the minister. False reports were conveyed to the king that

the minister was sometimes improving and at other times collapsing.

The king desired to see the patient. But the pandits said that such

an action was against dharma. Later the minister was reported to

have died. The king was very sorry when he heard the news. The

arrogant minister was kept informed of all the happenings by spies

of his own. He tried to foil the other ministers. He waited for the

king to come out of the palace so that he might report himself to

the king. On one occasion he climbed up a tree, hid himself among

the branches and awaited the king. The king came out that night in

the palanquin and the man in hiding jumped down in front of the

palanquin and shouted his identity. The companion of the king was

equally resourceful. He at once took out a handful of sacred ashes

(vibhuti) from his pocket and scattered it in the air so that the

king was obliged to close his eyes. The companion shouted victory

(`jai') to the king and ordered the band to play so that the other

man's shout was drowned in the noise. He also ordered the palanquin-

bearers to move fast and he himself sang incantations to keep off

evil spirits. The king was thus left under the impression that the

dead man's ghost was playing pranks with him. The disappointed man

became desperate and retired into the forest for tapasya

(austerities). After a long time the king happened to go hunting. He

came across the former minister seated in deep contemplation. But he

hastened away from the spot lest the ghost should molest him.

The moral of the story is that even though the man was seen in flesh

and blood, yet the wrong notion that he was a ghost prevented right

values being taken. So it is with a forced realisation of the Self.

 

--- End forwarded message ---