Ramana Maharshi says only obstacle is mind and not the environment

[Guest guest]

Disciple: What is the highest goal of spiritual experience for man?

 

Maharshi: Self-realization.

 

D: Should I not renounce my home?

 

M: If that had been your destiny the question would not have arisen.

 

D: How does a grihastha fare in the scheme of moksha? Should he not

necessarily become a mendicant in order to attain liberation?

 

M: Why do you think you are a grihastha? Similar thoughts that you are a

sannyasin will haunt you,even if you go out as a sannyasin. Whether you

continue in the household or renounce it and go to the forest, your mind

haunts you. The ego is the source of thought. It creates the body and the

world,and it makes you think of being the grihastha. If you renounce, it

will only substitute the thought of sannyasa for that of grihastha, and the

environment of the forest for that of the household. But the mental

obstacles are always there for you. They even increase greatly in the new

surroundings. It is no help to change the environment. The one obstacle is

the mind; it must be got over whether in the home or in the forest. If you

can do it in the forest, why not in the home? Therefore, why change the

environment? Your efforts can be made even now, whatever be the environment.

 

Source: Maharshi’s Gospel BOOKS 1 & II

 

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Om namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prasanth Jalasutram