Extract from Talks with Ramana Maharshi

February 2, 2004

DECEMBER 25,1935• Q. (Mr. M. Frydman): Even without any initial desires there are some strangeexperiences for us. Where do they arise from?

• M. The desire may not be there now. Enough if it was there before. Though forgotten by you now, it is bearing fruit in due course. That is how the jnani is said to have prarabdha left for him. Of course, it is only according to others' point of view. Talks with Ramana Maharshi• Q. Jiva is said to be bound by karma. Is it so?M. Let karma enjoy its fruits. As long as you are the doer, so long you are the enjoyer.• Q. How to get released from karma?• M. See whose karma it is. You will find you are not the doer. Then you will be free. This requires Grace of God for which you should pray to Him, worship Him, and meditate on Him.The karma which takes place without effort, i.e., involuntary action, is not binding.Even a jnani is acting as seen by his bodily movements. There can be no karma without effort or without intentions (sankalpas). Therefore there are sankalpas for all. They are of two kinds: binding — bandha-hetu, and muktihetu — non-binding. The former must be given up and the latter must be cultivated. There is no fruit without previous karma; no karma without previous sankalpa. Even mukti must be the result of effort so long as the sense of doership persists.• A visitor from Ceylon (Sri Lanka): What is the first step for Realization of Self?Please help me towards it. There is no use in reading books.• Another: This one man's request is that of us all.• M. Quite so. If the Self were to be found in books, it would have been already realized. What wonder can be greater than that we seek the Self in books? Can it be found there?Of course, books have given readers the sense to ask this question and to seek the Self.• Q. Books are utterly useless. They should all be burnt. The spoken word alone is useful. Grace alone is useful.(Others spoke according to their own light, until finally they returned to theoriginal question, but Sri Bhagavan remained silent.)Mr. Rangachari, a Telugu Pundit in Voorhees' College at Vellore, asked aboutnishkama karma (motionless actions). There was no reply. After a time, Sri Bhagavan went up the hill and a few followed him, including the pundit. There was a thorny stick lying on the way, which Sri Bhagavan picked up; he sat down and began leisurely working at it. The thorns were cut off, the knots were made smooth, and the whole stick was polished with a rough leaf. The entire operation took about six hours. Everyone was wondering at the fine appearance of the stick made of a spiky material.A shepherd boy appeared on the way as the group became to leave. He had lost his stick and was at a loss. Sri Bhagavan immediately gave the new one in his hand to the boy and passed on.(The Pundit said that this was the matter-of-fact answer to his question.)At the same time there were four dogs living in the Asramam. Sri Bhagavan said that those dogs would not accept any food not partaken by himself. The pundit put the matter to the test. He spread some food before them; they would not touch it. Then Sri Bhagavan, after a time, put a small morsel of it into his mouth; immediately they fell to and devoured the food.Later, a man brought two peacocks with their eyes screened. When let loose in Maharshi's presence, they flew away to a distance. They were brought back, but still they flew away. Sri Bhagavan then said, "It is no use trying to keep them here. They are not ripe in their minds like these dogs." However much they tried to keep the peacocks, they would not remain there even a minute.Talk between the Master and two Moslems, on a previous occasion.• Q. Has God a form?

• M. Who says so?• Q. Well, if God has no form, is it proper to worship idols?• M. Leave God alone because He is unknown. What about you? Have you a form?• Q. Yes. I am this and so and so.• M. So then, you are a man with limbs, about three and a half cubits high, with beard, etc. Is that so?• Q. Certainly.• M. Then do you find yourself so in deep sleep?

• Q. After waking, I perceive that I was asleep. Therefore, by inference I remained thus in deep sleep, also.• M. If you are the body, why do they bury the corpse after death? The body must refuse to be buried.• Q. No, I am the subtle jiva within the gross body.• M. So you see that you are really formless; but you are at present identifying yourself with the body. So long as you are formful, (have a form) why should you not worship the formless God as being formful?• {The questioner was perplexed.)

Extract from "Talks with Ramana Maharshi"

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