The Nature of The Self - [3]

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Question: You some times say the Self is silence. Why is this?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: For those who live in Self as the beauty devoid

of thought, there is nothing, which should be thought of. That which

should be adhered to is only the experience of silence, because in

that supreme state nothing exists to be attained other than oneself.

 

Question: What is Mouna (silence)?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: That state which transcends speech and thought

is mouna. That which is, is mouna. How can mouna be explained in

words?

 

Sages say that the state in which the thought " I " (the ego) does not

rise even in the least, alone is Self (swarupa) which is silence

(mouna). That silent Self alone is God; Self alone is the jiva

(individual soul). Self alone is this ancient world.

 

All other kinds of knowledge are only petty and trivial knowledge;

the experience of silence alone is the real and perfect knowledge.

Know that the many objective differences are not real but are mere

superimpositions on Self, which is the form of true knowledge.

 

Question: As the bodies and the selves animating them are everywhere

actually observed to be innumerable how can it be said that the Self

is only one?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: If the idea `I am the body' is accepted, the

selves are multiple. The state in which this idea vanishes is the

Self since in that state there are no other objects. It is for this

reason that the Self is regarded as one only.

 

Since the body itself does not exist in the natural outlook of the

real Self, but only in the extroverted outlook of the mind which is

deluded by the power of illusion, to call Self, the space of

consciousness, Dehi (the possessor of the body) is wrong.

 

The world does not exist without the body, the body never exists

without the mind, the mind never exists without consciousness, and

consciousness never exists without the Reality.

 

For the wise one who has known Self by diving within himself, there

is nothing other than Self to be known. Why? Because since the ego,

which identifies the form of a body as " I " has perished, he (the wise

one) is the formless existence– consciousness.

 

The jnani (one who has realised the Self) knows he is the Self and

that nothing, neither his body nor anything else, exists but the

Self. To such a one what difference could the presence or absence of

a body make?

 

It is false to speak of realisation. What is there to realise? The

Real is as it always is. We are not creating anything new, or

achieving something, which we did not have before.

 

The illustration given in books is this. We dig a well and create a

huge pit. The space in the pit or the well has not been created by

us. We have just removed the earth, which was filling the space

there. The space was there then and is also there now. Similarly we

have simply to throw out all the age-long Samskaras (innate

tendencies) which are inside us. When all of them have been given up,

the Self will shine alone.

 

Question: But how to do this and attain liberation?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Liberation is our very nature. We are that. The

very fact that we wish for liberation shows that freedom from all

bondage is our real nature. It is not to be freshly acquired. All

that is necessary is to get rid of the false notion that we are

bound. When we achieve that, there will be no desire or thought of

any sort. So long as one desires liberation, so long, you may take

it, one is in bondage.