Part 2 -- Talks of Ramana Maharshi

[Guest guest]

News of someone’s death was brought to the Master. He remarked: “Good. The

dead are indeed happy. They have got rid of the troublesome overgrowth — the

body.The dead man does not grieve. The survivors grieve for him. Do men fear

sleep? On the contrary they court it and on waking up they remark that they

have had a happy sleep. Yet sleep is nothing but temporary death. Death is a

long sleep.” -- Talks 64

 

“See how a tree, whose branches are cut grows again. So long as the

life-source is not affected it will grow. Similarly the samskaras sink into

the heart in death: they do not perish. They are reborn. Just as a big

banyan tree sprouts from a tiny seed, so the wide universe with names and

forms sprouts forth from the Heart.” -- Talks 108

 

“If a person we love dies, grief results. Shall we avoid grief by loving all

alike, or by not loving at all?” Bhagavan: “Both amount to the same thing.

When all have become the one Self, who remains to be loved or hated? The ego

that grieves must die. That is the only way.” -- Talks 252

 

“As long as you feel yourself the doer of action so long you are bound to

enjoy its fruits. But if you find out whose karma it is, you will see that

you are not the doer. Then you will be free. This requires the Grace of God,

for which you should pray to Him and meditate on Him.” -- Talks 115

 

“Action without motive does not bind. Even a Jnani acts and there can be no

action without effort and without sankalpas — motives. Therefore there are

sankalpas for everyone. But these are of two kinds, the binding

(bandha-hetu) and the liberating (mukti-hetu). The former must be given up

and the latter cultivated.” -- Talks 115

 

“It is not enough that one thinks of God while doing karma (service, or

worship), but one must continually and unceasingly think of Him. Only then

will the mind become pure.” Bhagavan’s attendant then remarked: “Is it then

not enough that I serve Bhagavan physically, but must also remember him

constantly?” To which Bhagavan remarked: “‘I-am-the-body’ idea must vanish

through vichara.” -- Talks 337

 

“Your idea of will-power is success insured, whereas willpower should be

understood as the strength of mind which meets success and failure with

equanimity. It is not synonymous with certain success.Why should one’s

attempts be always attended with success? Success develops arrogance and

one’s spiritual progress is thereby arrested. Failures on the other hand are

beneficial, inasmuch as they open one’s eyes to one’s limitations and

prepare him to surrender himself. Therefore one should try to gain equipoise

of mind under all circumstances. That is will-power. Again success and

failure are the results of prarabdha and not of will-power. One man may be

doing only good and yet prove a failure. Another may do otherwise and yet be

uniformly successful. This does not mean that the will-power is absent in

one and present in the other.” -- Talks 423

 

“Leave off false notions and perceive intuitively the Real.That alone

matters. If you melt a gold ornament what matters how it is melted, whole or

in parts, or of what shape the ornament had been? You are only interested in

the gold. Realise the Self.” -- Talks 31

 

“Celibacy is certainly an aid to realisation among so many other aids.” --

Talks 17

 

“Is not then celibacy indispensable? Can a married man realise the Self?”

Bhagavan: “Certainly, it (Realisation) is a matter of fitness of mind.

Married or unmarried one can realise the Self, because the Self is here and

now.” -- Talks 17

 

“How does a grihasta fare in the scheme of Moksha?” Bhagavan: “Why do you

think yourself to be a grihasta? If you go out as a sannyasi, the thought

that you are a sannyasi will haunt you. You will be only substituting one

thought by another. The mental obstacles are always there. They even

increase in new surroundings. There is no help in the change of environment.

The mind is the obstacle. Therefore why change the environment?” -- Talks 54

 

.... To Be Contined

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Om namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prasanth Jalasutram