Gems From Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi

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Meditation is not so much thinking of the Self as giving up thinking of the

notSelf.When you give up thinking of outward objects and prevent your mind

from going outwards by turning it inwards and fixing it in the Self, the

Self alone remains.

 

The proper way to get rid of a desire is to find out " Who gets the desire?

What is its source? " When this is found, the desire is rooted out and it

will never again emerge or grow.

 

The mind turned inwards is the Self; turned outwards, it becomes the ego and

all the world.

 

You, being the Self, want to know how to attain the Self. It is something

like a man being at Ramanasramam asking how many ways there are to reach

Ramanasramam and which is the best way for him.

 

There is no alternative for you but to accept the world as unreal if you are

seeking the truth and the truth alone.

 

The idea of time is only in your mind. It is not in the Self. There is no

time for the Self. Time arises as an idea after the ego arises.

 

 

The mind is merely thoughts. Of all thoughts the thought " I " is the

root.Therefore, the mind is only the thought " I. "

 

When King Janaka exclaimed, " Now I have discovered the thief who has been

ruining me all along. He shall be dealt with summarily, " the king was really

referring to the ego or the mind.

 

The mind will subside only by means of the inquiry, " Who am I? " The thought

" Who am I, " destroying all other thoughts, will itself finally be destroyed

like the stick used for stirring the funeral pyre.

 

Just as a pearldiver tying a stone to his waist dives into the sea and takes

the pearl lying at the bottom, so everyone, diving deep within himself with

nonattachment,can attain the pearl of the Self.

 

He who thinks he is the doer is also the sufferer.

 

There is no standard by which to judge something to be right and another to

be wrong. Opinions differ according to the nature of the individual and

according to the surroundings. They are ideas, and nothing more.

 

 

Whatever this body is to do and whatever experiences it is to pass through

was already decided when it came into existence.

 

Surrender can never be regarded as complete so long as the devotee wants

this or that from the Lord.

 

The sense of doership is bondage, and not the actions themselves. " Be still

and know that I am God. " Stillness will prevail and there will be no

agitation of the mind. Agitation of the mind is the cause of desire, the

sense of doership, and of personality, or the personal sense of " I. " If that

is stopped,there is quiet.

 

Renunciation does not imply apparent divesting of costumes, family

ties,home, etc., but renunciation of desires and attachment.

 

 

There are only two ways to conquer destiny or be independent of it. One is

to enquire for whom is this destiny, and discover that only the ego is bound

by destiny and not the Self, and that the ego is non-existent.

 

The other way is to kill the ego by completely surrendering to the Lord, by

realizing one's helplessness and saying all the time, `Not I, but Thou Oh

Lord' and giving up all sense of `I' and `mine', and leaving it to the Lord

to do what he likes with you.

 

Complete effacement of the ego is necessary to conquer destiny, whether you

achieve this effacement through Self- enquiry or bhakti marga (path of

devotion).

 

From silence came thought, from thought the ego, and from ego speech. So, if

speech is effective, how much more so must be its source?

 

--

Om namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prasanth Jalasutram