Bhagawan Sri Ramana Maharshi

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Question: You say one can realise the Self by a search for it. What is

the character of this search?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: You are the mind and think that you are the mind.

The mind is nothing but thoughts. Now behind every particular thought

there is a general thought, which is the 'I', that is yourself. Let us

call this 'I' the first thought. Stick to this 'I'-thought and

question it to find out what it is. When this question takes strong

hold on you, you cannot think of other thoughts.

 

Question: When I do this and cling to myself, that is, the 'I'-

thought, other thoughts come and go, but I say to myself 'Who am I ?'

and there is no answer forthcoming. To be in this condition is the

practice. Is it so?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: This is a mistake that people often make. What

happens when you make a serious quest for the Self is that the 'I'-

thought disappears and something else from the depths takes hold of

you and that is not the 'I' which commenced the quest.

 

Question: What is this something else?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: That is the Self, the import of 'I'. It is not

the ego. It is the supreme being itself.

 

Questioner: But you have often said that one must reject other

thoughts when one begins the quest but the thoughts are endless. If

one thought is rejected, another comes and there seems to be no end at

all.

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: I do not say you must go on rejecting thoughts.

Cling to yourself, that is, to the 'I'-thought. When your interest

keeps you to that single idea, other thoughts will automatically get

rejected and they will vanish.