THE WAY TO KNOW THE REALITY

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THE WAY TO KNOW THE REALITY

 

 

Although the Real is not so easily recognizable, yet it is certainly

knowable. `How to know it?' It is pure awareness, it dwells in the

Heart, nay, it is the Heart itself. [Not the physical heart but the

spiritual heart, on the right side of the chest.] It is the source

of all thoughts, itself being free from thoughts, and so forth.

Reality is not only consciousness, but also changeless. Thoughts

emanate from it, and like shadows cast on it, obstruct our view of

it. To have an immediate understanding of it we have to part from

all thoughts and remain – thought-free. The vichara, or enquiry, is

the easiest method by which one can attain this objective of jnana,

or knowledge of the absolute reality which is one's own Self.

(Source: Forty Verses on Reality by Ramana Maharshi.)

 

 

As we identify ourselves with the body, we fear death. Seeing the

dissolution of the body, we deduce our own dissolution simultaneous

with it. Our only hope of safety lies in the worship of the Lord,

who alone is deathless. Those who through sadhana or spiritual

discipline transcend the false identification with the body, they

are videhas, bodiless, although they continue to occupy a body.

-- Ramana Maharshi

 

 

According to the Maharshi all the troubles afflicting us arise due

to mistaken identity. The remedy is to become introvert and

persistently ask the question of all questions, namely, Who am I?

And merge the mind in the Self .It is the only way we can understand

ourselves

 

 

prof laxmi narain (prof_narain)

 

Source and courtesy: Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad

This article was published in Sri Ramana Jyothi,

monthly magazine of the Kendram.