Bhagawan Sri Ramana Maharshi

[Guest guest]

Devotee: I am a man with a family. Is it possible for those in a family to get

release, and if so how?

Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi: Now what is family? Whose family is it? If the answers

to these questions are found the other questions solve themselves. Tell me: Are

you in the family, or is the family in you?

The visitor did not answer.

Then Sri Bhagavan's answer was continued: Who are you? You include three aspects

of life, namely, the waking, the dream and the sleep states. You were not aware

of the family and their ties in your sleep and so these questions did not arise

then. But now you are aware of the family and their ties and therefore you seek

release. But you are the same person throughout.

D: Because I now feel that I am in the family it is right that I should seek

release.

M: You are right. But consider and say: Are you in the family or is the family

in you?

Another visitor interposed: What is family?

M: That´s it. It must be known.

D: There is my wife and there are also my children. They are dependent on me.

That is my family.

M: Do the members of the family bind your mind? Or do you bind yourself to them?

Do they come and say to you " We form your family. Be with us " ? Or do you

consider them as your family and that you are bound to them?

D: I consider them as my family and feel bound to them.

M: Quite so. Because you think that so-and-so is your wife and so-and-so are

your children you also think that you are bound to them. These thoughts are

yours. They owe their very existence to you. You can entertain these thoughts or

relinquish them. The former is bondage and the latter is release…So long as you

consider yourself as an individual, a Guru is necessary to show to you that you

are not bound by limitations and that your nature is to be free from

limitations. "

.... Bhagawan Sri Ramana Maharshi