Ramana Maharshi says Self alone is real direct knowledge

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Self alone is the real eye. Therefore Self, which is known by itself, alone

is the real direct knowledge.But insentient people, who do not have Self’s

sight,claim the knowledge of alien sense-objects to be direct knowledge.

 

Sadhu Om: Sri Bhagavan here describes those who do not see through the eye

of Self as ‘insentient people’, since they see only through the insentient

physical eyes. Such people say that the knowledge of the objects of this

world is direct knowledge [pratyaksha aparoksha jnana]. However, the world

seen in front of the eyes is not perceived directly, since it is known only

through the medium of the mind and the five senses. Self, the knowledge of

one’s own existence, is a more real and more direct knowledge than the

knowledge of any alien object. It is only after there is the first knowledge

‘I am’ that the knowledge ‘the world and all else exists’ can come into

being, and hence no knowledge except ‘I am’ can be direct knowledge; Self

alone is the ever-direct knowledge.

 

Will an ornament become gold only when its form is destroyed by melting? Is

it not [in reality] gold even while it is in the form of an ornament?

Therefore,know that all the three [unreal] entities [the world,soul and God]

formed by the mind, are likewise [in reality] nothing but

existence-consciousness [self].

 

Sadhu Om: Even while they appear to be many different things,the world, the

soul and God are in reality nothing but the one Self alone. It is wrong to

think that they will become Self only after their diverse forms have

disappeared. In truth, only Self, the substance or reality of those diverse

forms, is real, while the forms themselves are ever unreal.

 

If one does not take to the deluded life of modern civilization,if one

rejects the liking towards the useless worldly knowledges [such as sciences,

arts and languages],and if one removes the sense of differentiation

[bheda-buddhi] between Siva [or Paramatma] and the soul [or jivatma], then

only will the true import of Siva Jnana Bodham shine forth.

 

Source: GURU VACHAKA KOVAI The Light of Supreme Truth or THE COLLECTION OF

GURU’S SAYINGS translated from original Tamil By Sadhu Om and Michael James

 

Guru Vachaka Kovai is the biggest collection of Bhagavan’s spoken teachings

that was thoroughly checked and revised by him during his lifetime. As such

it has a unique place in the Ramana literature.

 

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Om namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prasanth Jalasutram