Ramana Maharshi says Death means the dissolution of the ego, and birth means the rebirth of the ego

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Yesterday, a sadhu came and sat in the Hall. He seemed anxious to speak to

Bhagavan, but hesitant. After some time, he approached him and said, “Swami,

it is said that the Self (atma), is all-pervading. Does that mean that it is

in a dead body also?”

 

“Oho! So that is what you want to know?” rejoined Bhagavan. “And did the

question occur to the dead body or to you?”

 

“To me,” said the sadhu.

 

Bhagavan: “When you are asleep do you question whether you exist or not? It

is only after you wake up that you say you exist. In the dream state also,

the Self exists. There is really no such thing as a dead or a living body.

That which does not move we call dead, and that which has movement we call

alive. In dreams you see any number of bodies, living and dead, and they

have no existence when you wake up. In the same way this whole world,

animate and inanimate, is non-existent. Death means the dissolution of the

ego, and birth means the rebirth of the ego. There are births and deaths,

but they are of the ego; not of you. You exist whether the sense of ego is

there or not. You are its source, but not the ego-sense. Deliverance (mukti)

means finding the origin of these births and deaths and demolishing the

ego-sense to its very roots. That is deliverance. It means death with full

awareness. If one dies thus, one is born again simultaneously and in the

same place with Aham sphurana known as ‘Aham, Aham (I, I)’. One who is born

thus, has no doubts whatsoever.”

 

Yesterday evening, after the chanting of the Vedas, a young European who

came four or five days ago, asked Bhagavan a number of questions. Bhagavan,

as usual,countered him with the question, “Who are you? Who is asking these

questions?” Unable to get any other elucidation, the young man as a last

resort asked Bhagavan which verse of the Gita he liked the most, and

Bhagavan replied that he liked them all. When the young man still persisted

in asking which was the most important verse, Bhagavan told him, Chapter X,

Verse 20 which runs: “I am the Self, Oh Gudakesa1, seated in the heart of

all beings. I am the beginning and the middle and the end of all beings.”

 

The questioner was pleased and satisfied and on taking leave, said, “Swami,

this unreal self is obliged to travel owing to the exigencies of work. I

pray that you may be pleased to recommend that this unreal self be merged

into the real Self.”

 

Bhagavan, smiling, replied, “Such a recommendation might be necessary where

there are a number of different selves — one to ask for a recommendation,

one to recommend and one to hear the recommendation. But there are not so

many selves. There is only one Self. Everything is in the one Self.”

 

Source: Letters from and Recollections of Sri Ramanasramam

 

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Love And Love Alone

 

Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prasanth Jalasutram