More Talks of Ramana Maharshi

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...... to think is not your real nature. (Talks 184).

 

Just on waking from sleep and before becoming aware of the world there is

that pure ‘I’—‘I’. Hold it without sleeping or without allowing thoughts to

possess you. If that is held firm it does not matter even though the world

is seen. The seer remains unaffected by the phenomena. (Talks, 196).

 

Your duty is to be; and not to be this or that. ‘I AM THAT I AM’ sums up the

whole truth. The method is, summed up in ‘BE STILL’. What does stillness

mean? It means ‘destroy yourself ’. Because any form or shape is the cause

of trouble. Give up the notion ‘I am so and so’. (Talks, 363).

 

It is in the mind that birth and death, pleasure and pain,in short, the

world and ego, exist. If the mind is destroyed all else are destroyed too.

Note that it should be annihilated, not just made latent. For the mind is

dormant in sleep. It does not know anything. Still, on waking up you are as

you were before.There is no end of grief. But if the mind be destroyed the

grief will have no background and will disappear along with the mind.

(Talks, 195).

 

‘Be still and know that I am God’. To be still is not to think. Know, and

not think, is the word! (Talks, 131).

 

Solitude is in the mind of man. One might be in the thick of the world and

maintain serenity of mind; such a one is in solitude. Another may stay in

the forest but still be unable to control his mind. He cannot be said to be

in solitude. Solitude is a function of the mind. A man attached to desire

cannot get solitude wherever he many be; a detached man is always in

solitude. (Talks, 20).

 

Jnana-marga and bhakti-marga are one and the same. Selfsurrender leads to

realisation just as enquiry does. Complete self-surrender means that you

have no further thought of ‘I’.Then all your vasanas are washed off and you

are free. You should not continue as a separate entity at the end of either

course. (Talks, 31).

 

Dvaita and Advaita are relative terms. They are based on the sense of

duality. The Self is as It is. There is neither dvaita nor advaita, I AM

THAT I AM. Simple Be-ing is the Self. (Talks, 433).

 

The Self is known to everyone but not clearly. You always exist. The Be-ing

is the Self. ‘I am’ is the name of God. Of all the definitions of God, none

is indeed so well put as the Biblical statement ‘I am that I am’ in Exodus

3, Verse 14. None is so direct as the name JEHOVAH... I AM. The Absolute

Be-ing is what is... It is the Self. It is God. Knowing the Self, God is

known. In fact God is none other than the Self. (Talks, 106).

 

The Bible says ‘Be still and know that I am God’.Stillness is the sole

requisite for the realisation of the Self as God. (Talks, 338).

 

But men want absolute and permanent happiness. This does not reside in

objects, but in the Absolute. It is Peace, free from pain and pleasure... it

is a neutral state. (Talks, 28).

 

Nirvana is Perfection. In the Perfect State there is neither subject nor

object; there is nothing to see, nothing to feel,nothing to know. Seeking

and knowing are the functions of the mind. In Nirvana there is nothing but

the blissful pure consciousness ‘I am’. (Talks, 406).

 

Source: HUNTING THE ‘I’ according to Sri Ramana Maharshi By LUCY CORNELSSEN

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Om namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prasanth Jalasutram