Fwd: Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-106

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ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362 wrote:

 

Selections from TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI-106

 

TALK 594:

 

The Spanish lady raised a few questions there:

" If the individual Self merges into the universal Self, how can one

pray to God for the uplift of humanity? " The question seems to be

common among the thinkers of the West.

 

Sri Bhagavan said: They pray to God and finish with " Thy Will be

done! " If His Will be done why do they pray at all? It is true that

the Divine Will prevails at all times and under all circumstances.

The individuals cannot act of their own accord. Recognise the force

of the Divine Will and keep quiet. Each one is looked after by God.

He has created all. You are one among 2,000 millions. When He looks

after so many will He omit you? Even common sense dictates that one

should abide by His Will.

Again there is no need to let Him know your needs. He knows them

Himself and will look after them.

Still more, why do you pray? Because you are helpless yourself and

you want the Higher Power to help you. Well, does not your Creator

and Protector know your weakness? Should you parade your weakness in

order to make Him know it?

D.: But God helps those who help themselves.

M.: Certainly. Help yourself and that is itself according to God's

Will. Every action is prompted by Him only. As for prayer for the

sake of others, it looks so unselfish on the surface of it. But

analyse the feeling and you will detect selfishness there also. You

desire others' happiness so that you may be happy. Or you want the

credit for having interceded on others' behalf. God does not require

an intermediary. Mind your business and all will be well.

D.: Does not God work His Will through some chosen person?

M.: God is in all and works through all. But His presence is better

recognised in purified minds. The pure ones reflect God's actions

more clearly than the impure minds. Therefore people say that they

are the chosen ones. But the `chosen' man does not himself say so.

If he thinks that he is the intermediary then it is clear that he

retains his individuality and that there is no complete surrender.

D.: Are not the Brahmins considered to be the priests or

intermediaries between God and others?

M.: Yes. But who is a Brahmin? A Brahmin is one who has realised

Brahman. Such a one has no sense of individuality in him. He cannot

think that he acts as an intermediary. Again, as for prayer, a

realised man does not see others as different from oneself. How can

he pray at all, and to whom and for what? His very presence is the

consummation of happiness for all. So long as you think that there

are others different from you, you pray for them. But the sense of

separateness is ignorance. This ignorance is again the cause of

feeling helplessness. You know that you are weak and helpless. How

then can you help others? If you say, " By prayer to God " , God knows

His business and does not require your intercession for others.

Help yourself so that you may become strong. That is done by

complete surrender. That means you offer yourself to Him. So you

cannot retain your individuality after surrender. You then abide by

His Will. Thus Silence is the Highest of all achievements. Silence

is the ocean in which all the rivers of all the religions discharge

themselves. So says Thayumanavar. He also adds that the Vedic

religion is the only one which combines both philosophy and religion.

 

TALK 595:

 

Lady visitors: " Is the experience of the Highest State the same to

all? Or is there any difference? "

M.: The Highest State is the same and the experience is also the

same.

D.: But I find some difference in the interpretations put on the

Highest Truth.

M.: The interpretations are made with the mind. The minds are

different and so the interpretations are different.

D.: I mean to ask if the seers express themselves differently?

M.: The expressions may differ according to the nature of the

seekers. They are meant to guide the seekers. One seer speaks in the

terms of Christianity, another in those of Islam, a third of

Buddhism, etc.

 

Is that due to their upbringing?

 

M.: Whatever may be their upbringing, their experience is the same.

But the modes of expression differ according to circumstances.

 

TALK 596:

 

Visitor: Sri Bhagavan said last night that God is guiding us. Then

why should we make an effort to do anything?

M.: Who asks you to do so? If there was that faith in the guidance

of God this question would not have arisen.

D.: The fact is that God guides us. Then what is the use of these

instructions to people?

M.: They are for those who seek instructions. If you are firm in

your belief in the guidance of God, stick to it, and do not concern

yourself with what happens around you.

Furthermore, there may be happiness or misery. Be equally

indifferent to both and abide in the faith of God. That will be so

only when one's faith is strong that God looks after all of us.

Mr. Chopra: " How shall I secure that firm faith? "

M.: Exactly. It is for such as these who want instructions. There

are persons who seek freedom from misery. They are told that God

guides all and so there need not be any concern about what happens.

If they are of the best type they at once believe it and firmly

abide by faith in God.

But there are others who are not so easily convinced of the truth of

the bare statement. They ask: " Who is God? What is His nature?

Where is He? How can He be realised? " and so on.

In order to satisfy them intellectual discussion is found

necessary. Statements are made, their pros and cons are argued, and

the truth is thus made clear to the intellect.

When the matter is understood intellectually the earnest seeker

begins to apply it practically. He argues at every moment, " For whom

are these thoughts? Who am I? " and so forth, until he is well-

established in the conviction that a Higher Power guides us. That

is firmness of faith. Then all his doubts are cleared and he needs

no further instructions.

D.: We also have faith in God.

M.: If it had been firm no questions would have arisen. The person

will remain perfectly happy in his Faith in the Omnipotent.

D.: Is the enquiry into the Self the same as the above mentioned

faith?

M.: The enquiry into the Self is inclusive of all, faith, devotion,

jnana, yoga and all.

D.: A man sometimes finds that the physical body does not permit

steady meditation. Should he practise yoga for training the body for

the purpose?

M.: It is according to one's samskaras (predispositions). One man

will practise hatha yoga for curing his bodily ills; another man

will trust to God to cure them; a third man will use his will-power

for it and a fourth man may be totally indifferent to them. But all

of them will persist in meditation. The quest for the Self is the

essential factor and all the rest are mere accessories. A man may

have mastered the Vedanta philosophy and yet remain unable to

control his thoughts. He may have a predisposition (purva samskara)

which takes him to practise hatha yoga. He will believe that the

mind can be controlled only by yoga and so he will practise it.

D.: What is most suitable for gaining facilities for steady dhyana?

M.: It depends on one's samskara. One may find hatha yoga suitable

and another man nama japa, and so on. The essential point is the

atma-vichara - enquiry into the Self.

D.: Is it enough if I spend some time in the mornings and some time

in the evenings for this atma-vichara? Or should I do it always -

say, even when I am writing or walking?

M.: Now what is your real nature? Is it writing, walking, or being?

The one unalterable reality is Being. Until you realise that state

of pure being you should pursue the enquiry. If once you are

established in it there will be no further worry.

No one will enquire into the source of thoughts unless thoughts

arise. So long as you think " I am walking, " " I am writing, " enquire

who does it.

These actions will however go on when one is firmly established in

the Self. Does a man always say, " I am a man, I am a man, I am a

man, " every moment of his life? He does not say so and yet all his

actions are going on.

D.: Is an intellectual understanding of the Truth necessary?

M.: Yes. Otherwise why does not the person realise God or the Self

at once, i.e., as soon as he is told that God is all or the Self is

all? That shows some wavering on his part. He must argue with

himself and gradually convince himself of the Truth before his faith

becomes firm.

 

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