Hence there is no difference between God, Guru and Self.
D.: What is reality?
M.: Reality must be always real. It is not with forms and names. That which underlies these is the Reality. It underlies limitations, being itself limitless. It is not bound. It underlies unrealities, itself being real. Reality is that which is. It is as it is. It transcends speech, beyond the expressions
Until there is the `I-thought', there will be no other
thought. Until other thoughts arise, asking `To whom?' will
call forth the reply `To me'.
He who pursues this closely, questioning
`What is the origin of the I?'
and diving inwards reaches the seat of the mind in the Heart, becomes there the sovereign Lord of the Universe.
Oh boundless ocean of
grace and effulgence called Arunachala,
dancing motionless within the court of the Heart!
There is no longer any dream there of such dualities
as in and out, right and wrong, birth
and death, pleasure and pain, or light and darkness.
http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/430791_10151284644434631_778798216_n.png
Bhagavan.: When the Realised Man sees the world, he sees the Self that is the substratum of all that is seen. Whether the unrealised man sees the world or not, he is ignorant of his true being, the Self.
Take the example of a film on a cinema screen. What is there in front of you before the film begins? Only the screen. On that screen you see the entire show, and to all appearances the pictures are real. But go and try to take hold of them and what do you take hold of? The screen on which the pictures appear so real. After the play, when the pictures disappear, what remains? The screen again. So it is with the Self. That alone exists; the pictures come and go. If you hold on to the Self, you will not be deceived by the appearance of the pictures. Nor does it matter at all whether the pictures appear or disappear.
Question: Is samadhi an experience of calmness or peace?
Bhagavan: The tranquil clarity, which is devoid of mental turmoil, alone is the samadhi which is the firm base for liberation. By earnestly trying to destroy the deceptive mental turmoil, experience that samadhi as the peaceful consciousness which is inner clarity.
Question: What is the difference between internal and external samadhi?
Bhagavan: External samadhi is holding on to the reality while witnessing the world, without reacting to it from within. There is the stillness of a waveless ocean. The internal samadhi involves loss of body-consciousness.
Question: The mind does not sink into that state even for a second.
Bhagavan: A strong conviction is necessary that `I am the Self, transcending the mind and the phenomena.'
Question: Nevertheless, the mind proves to be an unyielding obstacle which thwarts any attempts to sink into the Self.
Bhagavan: What does it matter if the mind is active? It is so only on the substratum of the Self. Hold the Self even during mental activities.
Happiness is the very nature of the Self; happiness and the Self are not different. There is no happiness in any object of the world. We imagine through our ignorance that we derive happiness from objects. When the mind goes out, it experiences misery. In truth, when its desires are fulfilled, it returns to its own place and enjoys the happiness that is the Self. Similarly, in the states of sleep samadhi and fainting, and when the object desired is obtained or the object disliked is removed, the mind becomes inward-turned, and enjoys pure Self-Happiness. Thus the mind moves without rest alternately going out of the Self and returning to it.
Under the tree the shade is pleasant; out in the open the heat is scorching. A person who has been going about in the sun feels cool when he reaches the shade. Someone who keeps on going from the shade into the sun and then back into the shade is a fool. A wise man stays permanently in the shade. Similarly, the mind of the one who knows the truth does not leave Brahman. The mind of the ignorant, on the contrary, revolves in the world, feeling miserable, and for a little time returns to Brahman to experience happiness. In fact, what is called the world is only thought. When the world disappears, i.e. when there is no thought, the mind experiences happiness; and when the world appears, it goes through misery.
Upon destruction of the mind, the appearance of the world that adheres to you in the state of harmful delusion will stand illustrious as pure consciousness.
Under the tree the shade is pleasant; out in the open the heat is scorching. A person who has been going about in the sun feels cool when he reaches the shade. Someone who keeps on going from the shade into the sun and then back into the shade is a fool. A wise man stays permanently in the shade. Similarly, the mind of the one who knows the truth does not leave Brahman. The mind of the ignorant, on the contrary, revolves in the world, feeling miserable, and for a little time returns to Brahman to experience happiness. In fact, what is called the world is only thought. When the world disappears, i.e. when there is no thought, the mind experiences happiness; and when the world appears, it goes through misery.
Upon destruction of the mind, the appearance of the world that adheres to you in the state of harmful delusion will stand illustrious as pure consciousness.
Even the gods in the heavens cannot stir those deeply peaceful ones who shine, having killed their minds.
Those who do not keenly attend to and know the existence-consciousness which shines ever-unsetting in the heart, fall into Maya through the objective attention caused by the ego, which rises and attacks with dense delusion. (Guru Vachaka Kovai, 644)
Those who do not keenly attend to and know the existence-consciousness which shines ever-unsetting in the heart, fall into Maya through the objective attention caused by the ego, which rises and attacks with dense delusion. (Guru Vachaka Kovai, 644)
The following conversation comes from the diary of a devotee called Sri Yalamanchili who met Bhagavan in 1928 and had a discussion with him on self-enquiry. It was published in Arunachala Ramana in February 1982:
Question: How to realize the Atman?
Bhagavan: Whose Atman?
Question: Mine.
Bhagavan: Then you yourself have to do it.
Question: I am unable to do and know it.
Bhagavan: To whom is it not known?
Question: To myself.
Bhagavan: Try to know who is that ‘myself’.
Question: That is what you have to tell.
Bhagavan: [Smiling] It seems you have come here to test me. Will it really benefit you if I tell you what you are? Will you be satisfied if I just tell you? Ask yourself ‘Who am I?’ After questioning you will get the answer within yourself, and that will satisfy you.
Question: I have been doing sadhana for a long time but in vain.
Bhagavan: You will have to search for ‘I’ [aham]. Then, the apparent ‘I’ will vanish.
Question: Please give me the details of the process.
Bhagavan: Mind is, in reality, a bundle of thoughts. And every thought springs from the ‘I’. So, it is the first thought. Instead of dwelling on the secondary thoughts, the seeker has to concentrate on the primary thought, which is this ‘I’.
Question: What is the difference between a thought and the ‘I’?
Bhagavan: Thoughts are not independent. They have a standing only when they are associated with the ‘I’. But the ‘I’ can stand by itself. Actually, this ‘I’ is also not independent. In its turn it is supported by the Atman.
Again and again it rises from the Self and sinks there. It subsides in deep sleep and it comes out again in waking. We have to find out the place of its birth with an introverted vision.
Question: I have been questioning in this way but getting no answer.
Bhagavan: If you ask this question with zeal and proceed inward, the false ‘I’ disappears and the real ‘I’ emerges.
Question: What is the real ‘I’?
Bhagavan: This is what we call ‘soul’ or ‘God’.
Question: When I start the enquiry numerous thoughts come in the way and obstruct me. When I eliminate one, another appears in its place. It seems there is no end.
Bhagavan: I am not telling you to grapple with the thoughts. There will be no end if you do it that way. Here lies the secret: there is the ‘I’, the source of all thoughts, and we have to catch it and see from where it arises. This is absolutely necessary. As a dog traces his master by following the track of his smell, you have to follow the inner development of the ‘I’ to reach its source, which is the [true] soul.
Question: From this I understand that one can reach the source by one’s own effort.
Bhagavan: It is by the grace of God that you come to desire to know yourself. This desire to know yourself is itself a clear sign of the Atman’s grace. So, there is grace already working as the source of your effort. Grace is not an external quality of the Self but its very nature. It abides in your Heart, pulling you inward into itself. The only task you must do is turn your attention inward and search the source of ‘I’. This is the only personal effort we have to put in. That is why [one can say that] where there is no grace, there is no desire at all for the quest for the Self.
Question: Is there no need for a Guru then?
Bhagavan: When it is necessary the Self itself will take the form of an external Guru and initiate you into the process. He will push you in and hand you over to the inner Guru who is already there. Finally, the Atman, which abides in the Heart, embraces you there.
Question: Now, may I know sir, what is the distinguishing feature of this method?
Bhagavan: The sense of ‘I’ is always present in us. So, it is relatively easy to find the Self through this ‘I’, which is an emanation of the Self. Further, if, before the ‘I’ ramifies into many forms, we put our attention via this method on the parent-form of the ‘I’, this makes for the direct dissolution of the ‘I’ in its source.
Otherwise, if you begin the enquiry when the ‘I’ has already taken many forms, you will be swept away by its illusive power and never reach its source.
Question: The Self is nameless and formless. How then can we find it by the questioning of this ‘I’ that has a name and a form?
Bhagavan: The false ‘I’ or ego stands between the soul and the body, and connects them. Now, soul is conscious while the body is inert. The false ‘I’ binds them together. So, it is also called the knot between matter and spirit [chit-jada-granthi].
From this we see that it has its feet in the Self and its head in the body. Therefore, by enquiring into the origin of the ego, we can easily proceed and reach the formless Self.
- from David Godman's blog
EGO, MIND and AWARENESS
The essence of mind is only awareness or consciousness. However, when the ego dominates it, it
functions as the reasoning, thinking or sensing faculty.
The cosmic mind not limited by the ego, has nothing
separate from itself and is therefore only aware. This is what the Bible means by “I am that I AM”.
The ego-ridden mind has its strength sapped and is too weak to resist torturing thoughts. The egoless
mind is happy in deep, dreamless sleep.
Clearly, therefore, bliss and misery are only modes of mind; but the weak mode is not easily interchangeable with the strong mode. Activity is weakness and, consequently,
miserable; passivity is strength and, therefore, blissful. One’s dormant strength is not apparent and, therefore, not availed of.
The cosmic mind, manifesting in some rare beings, is able to effect the linkage in others of the individual (weak) mind with the universal (strong) mind of the inner recess. Such a rare being is called the GURU or God in manifestation.
– Talks With Sri Ramana Maharshi, No. 188
Question: How to realize the Atman?
Bhagavan: Whose Atman?
Question: Mine.
Bhagavan: Then you yourself have to do it.
Question: I am unable to do and know it.
Bhagavan: To whom is it not known?
Question: To myself.
Bhagavan: Try to know who is that ‘myself’.
Question: That is what you have to tell.
Bhagavan: [Smiling] It seems you have come here to test me. Will it really benefit you if I tell you what you are? Will you be satisfied if I just tell you? Ask yourself ‘Who am I?’ After questioning you will get the answer within yourself, and that will satisfy you.
Question: I have been doing sadhana for a long time but in vain.
Bhagavan: You will have to search for ‘I’ [aham]. Then, the apparent ‘I’ will vanish.
Question: Please give me the details of the process.
Bhagavan: Mind is, in reality, a bundle of thoughts. And every thought springs from the ‘I’. So, it is the first thought. Instead of dwelling on the secondary thoughts, the seeker has to concentrate on the primary thought, which is this ‘I’.
Question: What is the difference between a thought and the ‘I’?
Bhagavan: Thoughts are not independent. They have a standing only when they are associated with the ‘I’. But the ‘I’ can stand by itself. Actually, this ‘I’ is also not independent. In its turn it is supported by the Atman.
Again and again it rises from the Self and sinks there. It subsides in deep sleep and it comes out again in waking. We have to find out the place of its birth with an introverted vision.
Question: I have been questioning in this way but getting no answer.
Bhagavan: If you ask this question with zeal and proceed inward, the false ‘I’ disappears and the real ‘I’ emerges.
Question: What is the real ‘I’?
Bhagavan: This is what we call ‘soul’ or ‘God’.
Question: When I start the enquiry numerous thoughts come in the way and obstruct me. When I eliminate one, another appears in its place. It seems there is no end.
Bhagavan: I am not telling you to grapple with the thoughts. There will be no end if you do it that way. Here lies the secret: there is the ‘I’, the source of all thoughts, and we have to catch it and see from where it arises. This is absolutely necessary. As a dog traces his master by following the track of his smell, you have to follow the inner development of the ‘I’ to reach its source, which is the [true] soul.
Question: From this I understand that one can reach the source by one’s own effort.
Bhagavan: It is by the grace of God that you come to desire to know yourself. This desire to know yourself is itself a clear sign of the Atman’s grace. So, there is grace already working as the source of your effort. Grace is not an external quality of the Self but its very nature. It abides in your Heart, pulling you inward into itself. The only task you must do is turn your attention inward and search the source of ‘I’. This is the only personal effort we have to put in. That is why [one can say that] where there is no grace, there is no desire at all for the quest for the Self.
Question: Is there no need for a Guru then?
Bhagavan: When it is necessary the Self itself will take the form of an external Guru and initiate you into the process. He will push you in and hand you over to the inner Guru who is already there. Finally, the Atman, which abides in the Heart, embraces you there.
Question: Now, may I know sir, what is the distinguishing feature of this method?
Bhagavan: The sense of ‘I’ is always present in us. So, it is relatively easy to find the Self through this ‘I’, which is an emanation of the Self. Further, if, before the ‘I’ ramifies into many forms, we put our attention via this method on the parent-form of the ‘I’, this makes for the direct dissolution of the ‘I’ in its source.
Otherwise, if you begin the enquiry when the ‘I’ has already taken many forms, you will be swept away by its illusive power and never reach its source.
Question: The Self is nameless and formless. How then can we find it by the questioning of this ‘I’ that has a name and a form?
Bhagavan: The false ‘I’ or ego stands between the soul and the body, and connects them. Now, soul is conscious while the body is inert. The false ‘I’ binds them together. So, it is also called the knot between matter and spirit [chit-jada-granthi].
From this we see that it has its feet in the Self and its head in the body. Therefore, by enquiring into the origin of the ego, we can easily proceed and reach the formless Self.
- from David Godman's blog
EGO, MIND and AWARENESS
The essence of mind is only awareness or consciousness. However, when the ego dominates it, it
functions as the reasoning, thinking or sensing faculty.
The cosmic mind not limited by the ego, has nothing
separate from itself and is therefore only aware. This is what the Bible means by “I am that I AM”.
The ego-ridden mind has its strength sapped and is too weak to resist torturing thoughts. The egoless
mind is happy in deep, dreamless sleep.
Clearly, therefore, bliss and misery are only modes of mind; but the weak mode is not easily interchangeable with the strong mode. Activity is weakness and, consequently,
miserable; passivity is strength and, therefore, blissful. One’s dormant strength is not apparent and, therefore, not availed of.
The cosmic mind, manifesting in some rare beings, is able to effect the linkage in others of the individual (weak) mind with the universal (strong) mind of the inner recess. Such a rare being is called the GURU or God in manifestation.
– Talks With Sri Ramana Maharshi, No. 188
The ordainer controls the fate of souls in accordance with their prarabdha karma. Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may. Whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you want to prevent it. This is certain. The best course therefore is to remain silent'.
~Ramana Maharshi
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Ramana Maharshi’s message is such good news for parents. Our children are precious souls appearing from the unknown into our hands. In the play of consciousness they come to fulfill their destiny according to the law of the whole. In that light we can truly say 'children of the Universe', children of the One song, One verse. Hence we cannot 'have' them, nor 'own' them, nor do we know what part of the play they appear to be here for.
'The best course therefore is to remain silent', this really is beautiful and it relieves us directly from the duty of having to 'make' something out of our children! The quality of remaining silent is 'non touching'. All is perfect as it is and it cannot be anything else.
This makes us the host of our children, we are here to guide them, support them and love them, unconditionally love them. Simple? Yes it is. What does it take? It takes all! Nothing more, nothing less.
http://www.jivanjili.org/paranthood.html
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