Ramana Maharshi:

Know that the eradication of the identification with the

body is:
charity, spiritual austerity and ritual sacrifice;
it is virtue, divine union and devotion;
it is heaven, wealth, peace and truthfulness;
it is grace; it is the state of divine silence;
it is the deathless death;
it is knowing, renunciation, final liberation and Bliss.

1
2
The following excerpts are from the verbal responses from
Ramana from different occasions, that have been written down
and translated.
Ramana remained silent most of the time, but he would usually
respond to questions from visitors and sometimes would start
talking by himself.

He said silence is the most powerful spiritual force, and he

radiated that quite powerfully, as documented in the book
'Face to face with Ramana Maharshi'.

This book is a [short] collection taken from the already

existing books of Ramana, which mostly come from the
original notations of Sri Muruganar, namely:
Be As You Are – by David Godman
The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharsh in His Own
Words – Edited by Arthur Osborne
Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi – Sri Ramanashramam
Who Am I? [Nan Yar?] – Translation by Dr. T. M. P.
MAHADEVAN
GURU VACHAKA KOVAI – Sadhu Om and Micheal James
Day by Day with Bhagavan – A. Devaraja Mudaliar
Guru rama By. S. S. COHEN
Remninsence of sadhu by SADHU ARUNACHALA

All books are free to read online.

Often the term 'man' is used, this refers also to 'mankind',

women were treated equally in the Ashram and are seen
equally as the Self.

The quotes at the beginning of the chapters are all from

Ramana.

R stands for Ramana and Q stands for questioner.

3
4
1. GOD AND SUFFERING
2. WHO AM I?
3. SAMADHI
4. WAKEFUL SLEEP
5. SELF–ENQUIRY
6. MEDITATION
7. RIGHT CONDUCT AND SURRENDER
8. THE JNANI
9. ADDITIONAL INFO
10. THE LIFE OF RAMANA

5
 1. GOD AND SUFFERING

Not only by love being obstructed, but also by love being

wrongly forced, are living beings caught in and eaten up by all
kinds of miseries in life.

Q Buddha is said to have ignored questions about God.

R
Yes, and because of this he has been called an agnostic. In fact
Buddha was concerned with guiding the seeker to realise Bliss
here and now, rather than with academic discussions about
God and so forth.
–
Q Is there a separate being Iswara [personal God] who is the
rewarder of virtue and punisher of sins? Is there a God?

R
Yes.

Q What is he like?

R
Iswara has individuality in mind and body, which are
perishable, but at the same time he has also the transcendental
consciousness and liberation inwardly.
Iswara, the personal God, the supreme creator of the universe
really does exist.

But this is true only from the relative standpoint of those who
have not realized the Truth, those people who believe in the
reality of individual souls.
From the absolute standpoint the Sage cannot accept any other
existence than the impersonal Self, one and formless.

6
Iswara has a physical body, a form and a name, but it is not so
gross as this material body. It can be seen in visions in the
form created by the devotee.
The forms and names of God are many and various and differ
with each religion.
His essence is the same as ours, the real Self being only one
and without form.
Hence forms he assumes are only creations or appearances.
Iswara is immanent in every person and every object
throughout the universe.
The totality of all things and beings constitutes God. There is a
power out of which a small fraction has become all this
universe, and the remainder is in reserve. Both this reserve
power plus the manifested power as the material world
together constitute Iswara.

Q So ultimately Iswara is not real?

R
Existence of Iswara follows from our conception of Iswara. Let
us first know whose concept he is. The concept will be only
according to the one who conceives.
Find out who you are and the other problems will solve
themselves.
Iswara, God, the Creator, the personal God, is the last of the
unreal forms to go.
Only the absolute being is real.
Hence, not only the world, not only the ego, but also the
personal God are of unreality.
We must find the absolute – nothing less.
–
Q God is perfect. Why did he create the world imperfect?

R
Are you something separate from God that you should ask this
question?

7
So long as you consider yourself the body, you see the world as
external to you.
It is to you that the imperfection appears.
God is perfection and his work is also perfection, but you see it
as imperfect because of your wrong identification with the
body or the ego.
–
Q But why should there be suffering now?

R
If there were no suffering, how could the desire to be happy
arise?
If that desire did not arise, how could the quest of the Self
arise?
–
R
If a man thinks that his happiness is due to external causes and
his possessions, it is reasonable to conclude that his happiness
must increase with the increase of possessions and diminish in
proportion to their diminution.
Therefore if he is devoid of possessions, his happiness should
be nil.
What is the real experience of man? Does it conform to this
view?

In deep sleep the man is devoid of possessions, including his

own body. Instead of being unhappy he is quite happy.
Everyone desires to sleep soundly. The conclusion is that
happiness is inherent in man and is not due to external causes.
One must realise his Self in order to open the store of
unalloyed happiness.
–
Q But one may not be quite sure of God’s grace.

R
If the unripe mind does not feel God’s grace, it does not mean

8
that this is absent, for that would imply that God is at times not
gracious, that is to say, ceases to be God.

Q Is that the same as the saying of Christ According to thy

faith be it done unto thee?

R
Quite so.
–
Q Is God personal?

R
Yes, He is always the first person, the I, ever standing before
you.
Because you give precedence to worldly things, God appears
to have receded to the background.
If you give up all else and seek Him alone, He will remain as
the ‘I’, the Self.
–
R
Not from any desire, resolve, or effort on the part of the rising
sun, but merely due to the presence of his rays, the lens emits
heat, the lotus blossoms, water evaporates, and people attend
to their various duties in life. In the proximity of the magnet the
needle moves.

Similarly, the soul or jiva subjected to the threefold activity of

creation, preservation and destruction, which takes place
merely due to the unique Presence of the Supreme Lord,
performs acts in accordance with its karma, and subsides to
rest after such activity.

But the Lord Himself has no resolve; no act or event touches

even the fringe of His Being. This state of immaculate
aloofness can be likened to that of the sun, which is untouched
by the activities of life, or to that of the all–pervasive ether,

9
which is not affected by the interaction of the complex qualities
of the other four elements
–
Q Does he exist in any particular place or form?

R
If the individual is a form, even Self, the source, who is the
Lord, will also appear to be a form. If one is not a form, since
there then cannot be knowledge of other things, will that
statement that God has a form be correct? God assumes any
form imagined by the devotee through repeated thinking in
prolonged meditation.

With regard to his location, God does not reside in any place
other than the Heart.
It is due to illusion, caused by the ego, the `I am the body' idea,
that the kingdom of God is conceived to be elsewhere.

Be sure that the Heart is the kingdom of God. Know that you
are the perfect shining light which not only makes the existence
of God's kingdom possible, but also allows it to be seen as
some wonderful heaven.

To know this, is alone Jnana [knowledge].

–
Q Does knowing myself imply knowing God?

R
Yes, God is within you.

Q Then, what stands in the way of my knowing myself or God?

R
Your wandering mind and perverted ways.

Q I am a weak creature. But why does not the superior power

10
of the Lord within remove the obstacles?

R
Yes, He will, if you have the aspiration.

11
 2. WHO AM I?

Everyone is the Self and indeed, is infinite. Yet each person

mistakes his body for his Self.
In order to know anything, illumination is necessary.
This can only be of the nature of Light; however, it lights up
both physical light and physical darkness. That is to say, that it
lies beyond apparent light and darkness.

Q Who Am I?

R
The gross body which is composed of the seven humours
[dhatus] [Indian terminology for 7 different tissues; blood,
muscle, bone, etc.], I am not;
the five cognitive sense organs, viz. the senses of hearing,
touch, sight, taste, and smell, which apprehend their respective
objects, viz. sound, touch, colour, taste, and odour, I am not;
the five cognitive sense organs, viz. the organs of speech,
locomotion, grasping, excretion, and procreation, which have
as their respective functions speaking, moving, grasping,
excreting, and enjoying, I am not; the five vital airs, prana,
etc., which perform respectively the five functions of in–
breathing, etc., I am not; even the mind which thinks, I am not;
the nescience too, which is endowed only with the residual
impressions of objects, and in which there are no objects and
no functioning s, I am not.

Q If I am none of these, then who am I?

R
After negating all of the above–mentioned as ‘not this’, ‘not
this’, that Awareness which alone remains – that I am.

Q What is the nature of Awareness?

12
R
The nature of Awareness is Existence–Consciousness–Bliss
[Sat-Chit-Ananda].

Q When will the realization of the Self be gained?

R
When the world which is what–is–seen has been removed,
there will be realization of the Self which is the Seer.

Q Will there not be realization of the Self even while the world
is there [taken as real]?

R
There will not be.

Q When will the world which is the object seen be removed?

R
When the mind, which is the cause of all cognition’s and of all
actions, becomes quiescent, the world will disappear.
–
Q In what sense is happiness or Bliss our real nature?

R
Perfect Bliss is Brahman.
Perfect peace is of the Self.
That alone exists and is Consciousness.
That which is called happiness is only the nature of Self, Self is
not other than perfect happiness.
That which is called happiness alone exists.
Knowing that fact and abiding in the state of Self, enjoy Bliss
eternally.
–
Q What is reality?

13
R
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 of existence or
non–existence, etc.

The reality which is the mere Consciousness that remains when

ignorance is destroyed along with knowledge of objects, alone
is the Self.
In that real form of Brahman, which is abundant Self–
Awareness, there is not the least ignorance.

The reality which shines fully, without misery and without a

body, not only when the world is known but also when the
world is not known, is your real form.

The radiance of Consciousness–Bliss, in the form of one

Awareness shining equally within and without, is the supreme
and Blissful primal reality.

Its form is silence and it is declared by Jnanis [Self–realized

individuals] to be the final and unobstructable state of true
knowledge.
Know that Jnana alone is non–attachment;
Jnana alone is purity;
Jnana is the attainment of God;
Jnana which is devoid of forgetfulness of Self alone is
immortality;
Jnana alone is everything.

14
R
It is wrong to imagine that there is the world, that there is a
body in it and that you dwell in the body.
If the Truth is known, the universe and what is beyond it will be
found to be only in the Self.
The outlook differs according to the sight of the person.
The sight is from the eye. The eye must be located somewhere.
If you are seeing with the gross eyes you find others gross.
If with subtle eyes others appear subtle.
If the eye becomes the Self, the Self being infinite, the eye is
infinite.
–
Q Why did the Self manifest as this miserable world?

R
In order that you might seek it.
Your eyes cannot see themselves.
Place a mirror before them and they see themselves.
Similarly with creation. `See yourself first and then see the
whole world as the Self.'

Q So it amounts to this – that I should always look within.

R
Yes.

Q Should I not see the world at all?

R
You are not instructed to shut your eyes to the world. You are
only to `see yourself first and then see the whole world as the
Self'. If you consider yourself as the body the world appears to
be external. If you are the Self the world appears as Brahman.

15
 3. SAMADHI

The state in which the unbroken experience of Existence–

Consciousness is attained by the still mind, alone is samadhi.
That still mind which is adorned with the attainment of the
limitless supreme Self, alone is the reality of God.

Q What is samadhi?

R
In yoga [the spiritual tradition in India] the term is used to
indicate some kind of trance and there are various kinds of
samadhi.
But the samadhi I speak to you about is different. It is sahaja
samadhi [sahaja means natural or spontaneous].
In this state you remain calm and composed during activity.
You realise that you are moved by the deeper Real Self within
and are unaffected by what you do or say or think.
You have no worries, anxieties or cares, for you realise that
there is nothing that belongs to you as ego and that everything
is being done by something with which you are in conscious
union.
–
Q I have an impression that in deep sleep I have something
akin to samadhi. Is it so?

R
It is the waking ‘I’ that asks the questions – not the ‘I’ in sleep.
If you attain the state of wakeful sleep which is the same as
samadhi, while still awake, doubts will not arise.

Samadhi is one’s natural state. It is the under–current in all the

three states.
This – that is, ‘I’ – is not in those states, but these states are in
It.

16
If we get samadhi in our waking state that will persist in deep
sleep also.

The distinction between Consciousness and unconsciousness

belongs to the realm of mind, which is transcended by the state
of the Real Self.
–
[Note from author: Even though Ramana used 'samadhi' as a
synonym for Self–realization [also known as permanent
samadhi or sahaja samadhi], in another time and context there
was also a term used for a temporary state of samadhi here,
namely kevala, nirvikalpa or laya samadhi]
–
Q Can the meditator be affected by physical disturbances
during nirvikalpa samadhi? My friend and I disagree on this
point.

R
Both of you are right.
One of you is referring to kevala and the other to sahaja
samadhi.
In both cases the mind is immersed in the Bliss of the Self.

In the former [kevala], physical movements may cause

disturbance to the meditator, because the mind has not
completely died out. It is still alive and can, as after deep
sleep, at any moment be active again.
It is compared to a bucket, which, although completely
submerged under water, can be pulled out by a rope which is
still attached to it.

In sahaja, the mind has sunk completely into the Self, like the
bucket which has got drowned in the depths of the well along
with its rope.

In sahaja there is nothing left to be disturbed or pulled back to

17
the world.
One's activities then resemble that of the child who sucks its
mother's milk in sleep and is hardly aware of the feeding.

Q How can one function in the world in such a state?

R
One who accustoms himself naturally to meditation and enjoys
the Bliss of meditation will not lose his samadhi state whatever
external work he does, whatever thoughts may come to him.
That is sahaja nirvikalpa. Sahaja nirvikalpa is total destruction
of the mind.

Whereas kevala nirvikalpa is temporary abeyance of the mind.

Those who are in the laya samadhi state [a temporary trance
like state] will have to bring the mind back under control from
time to time.

If the mind is destroyed, as it is in sahaja samadhi, it will never

sprout again. Whatever is done by such people is just
incidental, they will never slide down from their high state.

Those that are in the kevala nirvikalpa state are not realized,
they are still seekers.

Those who are in the sahaja nirvikalpa state are like a light in
a windless place, or the ocean without waves; that is, there is
no movement in them.
They cannot find anything which is different from themselves.
For those who do not reach that state, everything appears to be
different from themselves.

Q Is the experience of kevala nirvikalpa the same as that of

sahaja, although one comes down from it to the relative world?

18
R
There is neither coming down nor going up – he who goes up
and down is not real.
In kevala nirvikalpa there is the mental bucket still in existence
under the water, and it can be pulled out at any moment.
Sahaja is like the river that has linked up with the ocean from
which there is no return.
Why do you ask all these questions? Go on practising till you
have the experience yourself.
–
R
Samadhi transcends mind and speech and cannot be described.
The state of deep sleep cannot be described; the state of
samadhi even less.

Q But I know that I was unconscious in deep sleep.

R
Consciousness and unconsciousness are modes of the mind.
Samadhi transcends the mind.

Q Still, you can tell me what it is like.

R
You will know only when you are in samadhi.
–
Q Will study of sacred books reveal the truth?

R
That will not suffice.

Q Why not?

R
Samadhi alone can reveal it.
Thoughts cast a veil over Reality and so it cannot be clear in

19
states other than samadhi.

Q Is there thought in samadhi? Or is there not?

R
There will only be the feeling ‘I am’ and no other thoughts.

Q Is not ‘I am’ a thought?

R
The egoless ‘I am’ is not thought. It is realisation.
The meaning or significance of ‘I’ is God.
The experience of ‘I am’ is to Be Still.

20
 4. WAKEFUL SLEEP

Destroying the waking state and transforming it into the

distinguished sleep
is subduing and destroying the sleep of delusion.
In the glorious state wherein the mind has died, even deep
sleep will become God Consciousness.

R
The ignorance of forgetfulness which makes you say that the
waking state is a state of illumination makes you also declare
that sleep is a sheath of ignorance.
If the belief that the waking state is the illustrious and unique
state of truth goes, then sleep will become and shine as pure
non–dual Reality.
–
R
Only those who have established themselves in the lotus–like
shrine of the Heart and who have settled in conscious sleep
there, without dwelling in the sense objects that deceive those
who trust them, have totally awakened to the world of
liberation, the firmament of being–consciousness.
The rest have entered the dense darkness, the false ignorance
that is termed worldly knowledge, and have gone to sleep
there.
–
R
Waking, dream and sleep are mere phases of the mind, not of
the Self.
The Self is the witness of these three states.
Your true nature exists in sleep.

Q But we are advised not to fall asleep during meditation

[meditation refers to concentration exercises to make the mind
one–pointed or still].

21
R
It is stupor [unconsciousness] which you must guard against.
That sleep which alternates with waking is not the true sleep.
That waking which alternates with sleep is not the true waking.

Are you awake now? No.

What you have to do is to wake up to your true state.
You should neither fall into false sleep nor remain falsely
awake.
Though present even in sleep, the Self is not then perceived.
It cannot be known in sleep straightaway.

It must first be realised in the waking state for it is our true

nature underlying all the three states.
Effort must be made in the waking state and the Self realised,
here and now.
It will then be understood to be the continuous Self
uninterrupted by the alteration of waking, dream and deep
sleep.
–
R
The state of the Jnani [Self–realized individual] is neither in
sleep nor in the waking state but in the intermediate between
the two.
There is the Awareness of the waking state and the stillness of
sleep.
It is called waking sleep.
Call it wakeful sleep or sleeping wakefulness or sleepless
waking or wakeless sleep.

It is not the same as sleep or waking separately.

It is beyond wakefulness and beyond sleep.
It is the state of perfect Awareness and perfect stillness
combined.

It lies between sleep and waking; it is also the interval between

22
two successive thoughts.
It is the source from which thoughts spring; we see that when
we wake up from sleep.
In other words thoughts have their origin in the stillness of
sleep.
The thoughts make all the difference between the stillness of
sleep and the turmoil of waking.
Go to the root of the thoughts and you reach the stillness of
sleep.
You reach it in the full vigour of search, that is, with perfect
Awareness.
–
Q What is the difference between the Bliss enjoyed in sleep
and the Bliss enjoyed in turiya [turiyameaning the 4th state,
the state of wakeful–sleep, the state on which the 3 states of
waking, dreaming and sleeping appear]?

R
There are not different Blisses. There is only one Bliss which
includes the Bliss enjoyed in the waking state, the Bliss of all
kinds of beings from the lowest animal to the highest Brahma.
That Bliss is the Bliss of the Self. The Bliss which is enjoyed
unconsciously in sleep is enjoyed consciously in turiya, that is
the only difference.
The Bliss enjoyed in the waking state is second–hand, it is an
adjunct of the real Bliss.
–
R
The state of waking sleep will arise through continuous
enquiry in the form of self–questioning. Until this pervades and
illumines both the waking and the dream states, you should
practice that enquiry unceasingly.

23
 5. SELF–ENQUIRY

Vichara is the process and the goal also.

‘I Am’ is the goal and the final Reality.
To hold to it with effort is vichara, when spontaneous and
natural it is realisation.

R
What is the ego? Enquire.
The body is insentient and cannot say `I'.
The Self is pure Consciousness and non–dual, it cannot say `I'.
No one says `I' in sleep.

What is the ego then?

It is something intermediate between the inert body and the
Self. It has no right to appear.
If sought for it vanishes like a ghost.
–
Q When I think `Who am I?', the answer comes `I am not this
mortal body but I am Consciousness, the Self .' And suddenly
another question arises, `Why has Consciousness come into
this illusionary world?' or in other words, `Why has God
created this world?'

R
To enquire `Who am I ?' really means trying to find out the
source of the ego or the `I'–thought.
You are not to think of other thoughts, such as `I am not this
body'.
Seeking the source of `I' serves as a means of getting rid of all
other thoughts.
–
Q Am I to keep on repeating `Who am I?' so as to make a
mantra of it? [mantra meaning as a repetition of sound]

24
R
No. `Who am I ?' is not a mantra.
It means that you must find out where in you arises the `I'–
thought which is the source of all other thoughts.
–
R
Really Vichara [Self–enquiry] begins when you cling to your
Self and are already off the mental movement, the thought–
waves.

Q Then Vichara is not intellectual?

R
No, it is an inner quest.
–
Q Thoughts suddenly cease and ‘I–I’ [meaning the true I]
rises up equally suddenly and continues. It is only a feeling,
not a thought. Can it be right?

R
Yes, it is quite right.
Thoughts have to cease and reason to disappear for the ‘I–I’ to
rise up and be felt.
Feeling is the main thing, not reason.
–
Q Why should Self-enquiry alone be considered the direct path
to Realisation?

R
Because every kind of path except Self-enquiry presupposes the
retention of the mind as the instrument for following it, and
cannot be followed without the mind.
The ego may take different and more subtle forms at different
stages of one’s practice but it is never destroyed.

The attempt to destroy the ego or the mind by methods other

25
than Self-enquiry is like a thief turning policeman to catch the
thief that is himself.

Self-enquiry alone can reveal the truth that neither the ego nor
the mind really exists and enable one to realise the pure,
undifferentiated Being of the Self or the Absolute.
–
Q How can I tell if I am making progress with my enquiry?

R
The degree of the absence of thoughts is the measure of your
progress towards Self–realization.
But Self–realization itself does not admit of progress, it is ever
the same.

The Self remains always in realization. The obstacles are

thoughts.
Progress is measured by the degree of removal of the obstacles
to understanding that the Self is always realized.

So thoughts must be checked by seeking to whom they arise. So

you go to their source, where they do not arise.

Q Doubts are always arising. Hence my question.

R
A doubt arises and is cleared. Another arises and that is
cleared, making way for yet another; and so it goes on. So
there is no possibility of clearing away all doubts.

See to whom the doubts arise. Go to their source and abide in

it.
Then they cease to arise. That is how doubts are to be cleared
–
Q When I do this and cling to my self, that is, the `I'–thought,
other thoughts come and go, but I say to myself `Who am I ?'

26
and there is no answer forthcoming. To be in this condition is
the practice. Is it so?

R
This is a mistake that people often make [to think there will
come a mental answer or a vision etc.].

What happens when you make a serious quest for the Self is
that the `I'–thought disappears, and something else from the
depths takes hold of you, and that is not the `I' which started
the quest.

Q What is this something else?

R
That is the real Self, the import of `I'. It is not the ego. It is the
Supreme Being itself.

Q But you have often said that one must reject other thoughts
when one begins the quest but the thoughts are endless.
If one thought is rejected, another comes and there seems to be
no end at all.

R
I do not say that you must go on rejecting thoughts. Cling to
yourself, that is, to the `I'–thought.
When your interest keeps you to that single idea, other
thoughts will automatically get rejected and they will vanish.

Q And so rejection of thoughts is not necessary?

R
No. It may be necessary for a time or for some.
You fancy that there is no end if one goes on rejecting every
thought when it rises. It is not true, there is an end.
If you are vigilant and make a stern effort to reject every

27
thought when it rises you will soon find that you are going
deeper and deeper into your own inner self.
At that level it is not necessary to make an effort to reject
thoughts.

Q Then it is possible to be without effort, without strain.

R
Not only that, it is impossible for you to make an effort beyond
a certain extent.

Q I want to be further enlightened. Should I try to make no

effort at all?

R
Here it is impossible for you to be without effort.
When you go deeper, it is impossible for you to make any
effort.
–
R
Your duty is to be and not to be this or that. `I am that I am'
sums up the whole truth.

The method is summed up in the words `Be still'.

What does stillness mean? It means destroy yourself.

Because any form or shape is the cause of trouble. Give up the

notion that `I am so and so'.
All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. What can be
easier than that ?
Hence Self–knowledge is the easiest to attain.

The truth of oneself alone is worthy to be scrutinised and

known.
Taking it as the target of one's attention, one should keenly
know it in the Heart.

28
–
R
This knowledge of oneself will be revealed only to the
Consciousness which is silent, clear and free from the activity
of the agitated and suffering mind.
Know that the Consciousness which always shines in the Heart
as the formless Self, `I', and which is known by one's being
still, without thinking about anything as existent or non–
existent, alone is the perfect reality.

[Note from the author: To sum up, the method is simply:

1. Having the mindset to find out the truth about your own Self:
'Who [what or where] is the I?'
2. Have the attention on the feeling of I, simply being still.
(If being still seems too difficult, one can still use
contemplation or self-focus).]

29
 6. MEDITATION

Does not one find some kind of peace while in meditation?

That is the sign of progress.
That peace will be deeper and more prolonged with continued
practice.
It will also lead to the goal.

Q My mind is very unsteady. What should I do?

R
Fix your attention on any single thing and try to hold on to it.
Everything will come right.

Q I find concentration difficult.

R
Keep on practising and your concentration will come to be as
easy as breathing. That will be the crown of your achievement.
–
R
What is meditation? It is the suspension of thoughts.
You are perturbed by thoughts which rush one after another.
Hold on to one thought so that others are expelled.

Continuous practice gives the necessary strength of mind to

engage in meditation.
Meditation differs according to the degree of advancement of
the seeker.

If one is fit for it one can hold directly to the thinker [the
feeling of I am]; and the thinker will automatically sink into his
source, which is Pure Consciousness.
–
Q I find it said in Maha Yoga that in the beginning of

30
meditation one may attend to the breath, that is, its inspiration
and expiration, and that after a certain amount of stillness of
mind is attained, one can dive into the Heart seeking the
source of the mind. I have been badly in want of some such
practical hint. Can I follow this method? Is it correct?

R
The thing is to kill the mind somehow.
Those who have not the strength to follow the enquiry method
are advised to adopt pranayama as a help to control the mind.
This pranayama is of two kinds, controlling and regulating the
breath, or simply watching the breath.
–
D. Should I not go on with repetition of sacred syllables,
[mantra japa], e.g., Krishna or Rama’s name, when I worship
images?

R
Mental japa is very good [repeating [the name of God] in
thought].
That helps meditation.
Mind gets identified with the repetition and then you get to
know what worship [puja] really is – the losing of one’s
individuality in that which is worshipped.

[He also recommended 'I', 'I', 'I', as a means for a mantra]

–
Q Can I use forms and images of God and mantras?

R
Yes, of course. All these things can help, or why would they be
recommended in the [holy] books?
Various things are prescribed to suit various natures. Each
person must choose what seems easiest and appeals to him
most.
–

31
R
Meditation on nada [sound] is one of the several approved
methods.
The adherents claim a very special virtue for the method.
According to them it is the easiest and the most direct method.
Just as a child is lulled to sleep by lullabies, so nada soothes
one to the state of samadhi; again just as a king sends his state
musicians to welcome his son on his return from a long
journey, so also nada takes the devotee into the Lord’s Abode
in a pleasing manner. Nada helps concentration. After it is felt
the practice should not be made an end in itself.
Nada is not the objective; the subject should firmly be held;
otherwise a blank will result.
Though the subject is there even in the blank he would not be
aware of the cessation of nada of different kinds. In order to be
aware even in that blank one must remember his own self.
Nada upasana [meditation on sound] is good; it is better if
associated with investigation. In that case the nada is made up
of chinmaya and also tanmaya [of knowledge and of Self].
Nada helps concentration.
–
Mrs. and Mr. Kelly, an elderly couple from America, and
others of their company desired to know what they should do to
gain concentration in face of discomforts of sitting and the
sting of mosquitoes, etc.

R
The discomforts will not worry you if your concentration is
right. Do not mind the discomforts. Keep your mind steady in
meditation. If you have not the strength and endurance to bear
mosquito stings how do you hope to gain realisation of the
Self? Realisation must be amidst all the turmoils of life.
If you make yourself comfortable and go to bed you fall asleep.
Face the troubles but keep yourself steady in meditation.
–
A lady asked whether good thoughts were not helpful in

32
seeking Realisation, at any rate in the early stages, like the
lower rungs of the ladder.

R
Yes, insofar as they keep off bad thoughts; but they themselves
must disappear before the state of Realisation.
–
R
As soon as you begin meditation other thoughts will crowd
together, gather force and try to sink the single thought to
which you try to hold.
The good thought must gradually gain strength by repeated
practice.
After it has grown strong the other thoughts will be put to
flight.
–
R
Chanting [japa] will lead to meditation and it is the means for
realising the Self.

Q Will half an hour a day do for it?

R
It must be done always, or as long as you can.
–
Q It is said “Know thyself” or see who the “I” in you is.
What is the way to do it? Is it by simply repeating the mantra
mechanically all along or have you to do it, remembering
every moment why you are repeating the mantra?

R
You are always repeating the mantra automatically. If you are
not aware of the ajapa [the unspoken chant] which is eternally
going on, you should take to japa.
Japa is made with an effort. The effort is meant to ward off
other thoughts.

33
Then the japa becomes mental and internal.
Finally, its ajapa and eternal nature will be realised.
For it will be found to be going on even without your effort.
The effortless state is the state of realisation.
–
Q The yogis say that one must renounce this world and go off
into secluded jungles if one wishes to find the truth.

R
The life of action need not be renounced.
If you meditate for an hour or two every day you can then
carry on with your duties.
If you meditate in the right manner then the current of mind
induced will continue to flow even in the midst of your work. It
is as though there were two ways of expressing the same idea;
the same line which you take in meditation will be expressed in
your activities.
–
Q Is meditation to be practised with eyes open or closed?

R
It may be done either way. The important thing is that the mind
should be turned inwards and kept active in its quest.
Sometimes, it happens that when the eyes are closed, latent
thoughts rush forth with great vigour; but, on the other hand, it
may be difficult to turn the mind inwards with the eyes open. It
requires strength of mind.
The mind is pure by nature but contaminated by taking in
objects. The great thing is to keep it active in its quest without
taking in external impressions or thinking of other things.
–
Q How long can the mind stay or be kept in the Heart [the
Self]?

R
The period extends by practice.

34
Q What happens at the end of the period?

R
The mind returns to the present normal state. Unity in the
Heart is replaced by a variety of perceived phenomena. This is
called the outgoing mind. The Heart–going mind is called the
resting mind.

When one daily practises more and more in this manner, the
mind will become extremely pure due to the removal of its
defects and the practice will become so easy that the purified
mind will plunge into the Heart as soon as the enquiry is
commenced.

Q Is it possible for a person who once has had the experience

of Sat–Chit–Ananda [Being–Consciousness–Bliss] in
meditation to identify himself with the body when out of
meditation?

R
Yes, it is possible, but he gradually loses the identification in
the course of his practice.
In the floodlight of the Self the darkness of illusion dissipates
for ever.

Experience gained without rooting out all the vasanas [mental

tendencies] cannot remain steady. Efforts must be made to
eradicate the vasanas; knowledge can only remain unshaken
after all the vasanas are rooted out.
We have to contend against age–long mental tendencies. They
will all go.
Only they go comparatively soon in the case of those who have
made spiritual practice in the past and later in the case of
others.
–

35
Q Is a set meditation necessary for strengthening the mind?

R
Not if you keep the idea always before you, that it is not your
work..
At first effort is needed to remind yourself of it, but later on it
becomes natural and continuous. The work will go on of its
own accord and your peace will remain undisturbed.
Meditation is your true nature. You call it meditation now,
because there are other thoughts distracting you. When these
thoughts are dispelled, you remain alone – that is, in the state
of meditation, free from thoughts; and that is your real nature,
which you are now trying to realise by keeping away other
thoughts. Such keeping away of other thoughts is now called
‘meditation’. But when the practice becomes firm, your real
nature shows itself as true meditation.
–
Q Is solitude necessary for vichara?

R
There is solitude everywhere. The individual is solitary always.
His business is to find it out within, not to seek it outside
himself. Solitude is in the mind of man. One might be in the
thick of the world and maintain serenity of mind. Such a one is
in solitude. Another may stay in a forest, but still be unable to
control his mind. Such a man cannot be said to be in solitude.
Solitude is a function of the mind. A man attached to desires
cannot get solitude wherever he may be, whereas a detached
man is always in solitude.
–
Q So one should not try to perpetuate Blissful or ecstatic
states?

R
The final obstacle in meditation is ecstasy; you feel great Bliss
and happiness and want to stay in that ecstasy. Do not yield to

36
it but pass on to the next stage which is great calm. The calm is
higher than ecstasy and it merges into samadhi.
Successful samadhi causes a waking sleep state to supervene.
In that state you know that you are always consciousness, for
consciousness is your nature. Actually, one is always in
samadhi but one does not know it. To know it all one has to do
is to remove the obstacles.

[Note from author: Some people may wonder how to preform

mental japa, in my experience, one should repeat the mantra
with the rhythm that one is comfortable with [either during
activity or in meditation], but only enough repetition to ward
off getting lost in thinking, so that one may learn to come into
silence].

37
 7. RIGHT CONDUCT AND SURRENDER.

True surrender is love of God for the sake of love and nothing
else, not even for the sake of liberation.

R
Now, I will ask you a question. When a man gets into a train,
where does he put his luggage?

Q Either in the compartment or in the luggage van.

R
He doesn’t carry it on his head or in his lap while in the train?

Q Only a fool would do so.

R
It is a thousand times more foolish to bear your own burden
once you have undertaken the spiritual quest, whether by the
path of knowledge or devotion.
–
Q Will not right conduct be enough to secure salvation?

R
Salvation for whom? Who wants salvation? And what is right
conduct? What is conduct? And what is right? Who is to judge
what is right and what is wrong? According to previous
samskaras [mental impressions or predispositions], each one
regards something or other as right. Only when the reality is
known can the truth about right and wrong be known. The best
course is to find out who wants this salvation. Tracing this
`who' or ego to its original source is the right conduct for
everyone.

Q Will not the practice of good conduct lead to salvation?

Several books state that it will.

38
R
It is said so in books. Who denies that good conduct is good or
that it will eventually lead you to the goal? Good conduct or
sat karma purifies the mind and gives you pure mind.
The pure mind attains Jnana [knowledge], which is what is
meant by salvation.
So, eventually, Jnana must be reached, that is, the ego must be
traced to its source.

Q What about motives? Are the motives for performing actions

not important?

R
Whatever is done lovingly, with righteous purity and with
peace of mind, is a good action.
Everything which is done with the stain of desire [craving] and
with agitation, filling the mind, is classified as a bad action.
Do not perform any good action through a bad means, thinking
`It is sufficient if it bears good fruit.' Because, if the means is
bad, even a good action will turn out to be a bad one.
Therefore, even the means of doing actions should be pure.
–
Q In the case of persons who are not capable of long
meditation, will it not be enough if they engage themselves in
doing good to others?

R
Yes, it will do. The idea of good will be in their Heart. That is
enough.
Good, God, love, are all the same thing.
If the person keeps continuously thinking of any one of these, it
will be enough.
All meditation is for the purpose of keeping out all other
thoughts

39
Q So one should try to ameliorate suffering, even if one knows
that ultimately it is non–existent?

R
There never was and never will be a time when all are equally
happy or rich or wise or healthy. In fact none of these terms
has any meaning except in so far as the opposite to it exists.
But that does not mean that when you come across anyone who
is less happy or more miserable than yourself, you are not to
be moved to compassion or to seek to relieve him as best you
can.

On the contrary, you must love all and help all, since only in
that way can you help yourself. When you seek to reduce the
suffering of any fellow man or fellow creature, whether your
efforts succeed or not, you are yourself evolving spiritually
especially if such service is rendered disinterestedly, not with
the egotistic feeling `I am doing this', but in the spirit `God is
making me the channel of this service; he is the doer and I am
the instrument.'
If one knows the truth that all that one gives to others is giving
only to oneself, who indeed will not be a virtuous person and
perform the kind act of giving to others ? Since everyone is
one's own Self, whoever does whatever to whomever is doing it
only to himself.
–
Q It is said in some books that one should cultivate all the
good or divine qualities in order to prepare oneself for Self–
realisation.

R
All good or divine qualities are included in spiritual knowledge
and all bad or demoniac qualities are included in ignorance.
When knowledge comes, ignorance goes and all the divine
qualities appear automatically. If a man is Self–realised he
cannot tell a lie or commit a sin or do anything wrong.

40
It is no doubt said in some books that one should cultivate one
virtue after another and thus prepare for ultimate realisation,
but for those who follow the Jnana marga [path of knowledge]
Self-enquiry is quite enough for acquiring all the divine
qualities, they need not do anything else.
–
Q Is there predestination? And if what is destined to happen
will happen, is there any use in prayer or effort or should we
just remain idle?

R
There are only two ways in which to conquer destiny or be
independent of it.
One is to enquire who undergoes this destiny and discover that
only the ego is bound by it 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 realising one’s helplessness and saying all the
time ‘Not I, but Thou, Oh, my Lord’, and giving up all sense of
‘I’ and ‘mine’ and leaving it to the Lord to do what he likes
with you.
Surrender can never be regarded as complete so long as the
devotee wants this or that from the Lord. True surrender is
love of God for the sake of love and for nothing else, not even
for the sake of salvation.

In other words, complete effacement of the ego is necessary to

conquer destiny, whether you achieve this effacement through
Self enquiry or through bhakti–marga [meaning the path of
bhakti, devotion, love].
–
Q It is said that the whole universe is God's play of
consciousness and that everything is full of Brahman. Then
why should we say that bad habits and bad practices should be

41
discarded?

R
Suppose there is some wound inside the human body. If you
neglect it, on the assumption that it is only a small part of the
body, it causes pain to the whole body. If it is not cured by
ordinary treatment, the doctor must come, cut off the affected
portion with a knife and remove the impurities. If the diseased
part is not cut off it will fester. If you do not bandage it after
operating, pus will form. It is the same thing with regard to
conduct. Bad habits and bad conduct are like a wound in the
body. Every disease must be given appropriate treatment.
–
Q Should we then not think of and work for the welfare of the
country?

R
First take care of yourself and the rest will naturally follow.

Q I am not speaking individually but for the country.

R
First surrender and then see. Doubts arise because of the
absence of surrender.
Acquire strength by surrender and then your surrounding will
be found to have improved to the degree of strength acquired
by you.
–
Q Surrender is impossible.

R
Yes. Complete surrender is impossible in the beginning.
Partial surrender is certainly possible for all.
In course of time that will lead to complete surrender.
Well, if surrender is impossible, what can be done? There is no
peace of mind.

42
You are helpless to bring it about. It can be done only by
surrender.
–
R
Let one not doubt whether God’s Grace, the great support, has
been bestowed on one or not, for the fact that one’s mind is
much interested in enquiry, having a great liking for release
from bondage, is itself sufficient proof that God’s Grace has
been bestowed.

43
 8. THE JNANI

It is impossible to express the greatness of a Jnani.

He alone knows the beauty of His existence.
He is vaster than the space, He is firmer than a mountain.
Having scrutinized and destroyed the ‘I am the body’ feeling,
know this truth clearly.

R
Only those ignorant ones who do not enquire and know Heart,
the Supreme Thing, will be frightened and deluded by the
deceitful illusion of the world.
But bright Jnanis, who have experienced the supreme Self, the
ocean of Bliss, will not be afraid of it.
–
R
It is only to the spectator that the enlightened householder
seems to be occupied with his domestic duties; for even though
apparently engaged in domestic duties, he is not really
engaged in any activity at all.
His outer activity does not prevent him from realising the
perfect peace of withdrawal, and he is free from the restless
urge to activity even in the midst of his activities.
–
Q I see you doing things. How can you say that you never
perform actions?

R
The radio sings and speaks, but if you open it you will find no
one inside. Similarly, my existence is like the space; thou this
body speaks like the radio, there is no one inside as a doer.
–
A visitor said Realised men generally withdraw from active
life and abstain from worldly activity.

44
R
They may or they may not.
Some, even after Realisation, carry on trade or business or
rule a kingdom. Some withdraw to solitary places and abstain
from all activity more than the minimum necessary to keep life
in the body. We cannot make any general rule about it.
–
Q Can it be complete happiness to remain Self–realised if one
does not contribute to the happiness of the world? How can
one be so happy when there is a war in Spain, a war in China?
Is it not selfishness to remain Self–realised without helping the
world?

R
The Self was pointed out to you to cover the universe and also
transcend it.
The world cannot remain apart from the Self.
If the realisation of such Self be called selfishness that
selfishness must cover the world also.
It is nothing contemptible [descipible, bad].

Q The realised being also knows that there are wars being
waged in the world, just like the other man.

R
Yes.

Q How then can he be happy?

R
Is the cinema screen affected by a scene of fire burning or sea
rising?
So it is with the Self.
–
Q Why is it said in scriptures that the Sage is like a child?

45
R
A child and a Sage are similar in a way.
Incidents interest a child only so long as they last. It ceases to
think of them after they have passed away. So then, it is
apparent that they do not leave any impression on the child
and it is not affected by them mentally.
So it is with a Sage.
–
Q Does a jnani have desires?

R
The main qualities of the ordinary mind are sloth and
excitement; hence it is full of egoistic desires and weaknesses.
But the jnani's mind is pure harmony and formless, functioning
in the subtle sheath of knowledge, through which he keeps
contact with the world. His desires are therefore also pure.
–
Q: Does a Jnani have dreams?

R
Yes, he does dream, but he knows it to be a dream, in the same
way as he knows the waking state to be a dream. You may call
them dream no. l and dream no. 2.
The Jnani being established in the fourth state – turiya, the
supreme reality – he detachedly witnesses the three other
states, waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep, as pictures
superimposed on it.
For those who experience waking, dream and sleep, the state
of wakeful sleep, which is beyond those three states, is named
turiya [the fourth]. But since that turiya alone exists and since
the seeming three states do not exist, know for certain that
turiya is itself turiyatita [that which transcends the fourth].

Q: For the Jnani then, there is no distinction between the three

states of mind?

46
R
How can there be, when the mind itself is dissolved and lost in
the light of consciousness? For the Jnani all the three states
are equally unreal. But the ajnani is unable to comprehend
this, because for him the standard of reality is the waking state,
whereas for the Jnani the standard of reality is reality itself.
This reality of pure consciousness is eternal by its nature and
therefore subsists equally during what you call waking,
dreaming and sleep.
To him who is one with that reality there is neither the mind
nor its three states and, therefore, neither introversion nor
extroversion.

His is the ever–waking state, because he is awake to the

eternal Self; his is the ever-dreaming state, because to him the
world is no better than a repeatedly presented dream
phenomenon; his is the ever-sleeping state, because he is at all
times without the 'body–am–I' Consciousness.
–
Q: The Jnani seems to be more accurate in his expressions, he
appreciates the differences better than the ordinary man. If
sugar is sweet and wormwood is bitter to me, he too seems to
realize it so. In fact, all forms, all sounds, all tastes, etc., are
the same to him as they are to others. If so, how can it be said
that these are mere appearances? Do they not form part of his
life-experience?

R
I have said that equality is the true sign of Jnana. The very
term equality implies the existence of differences. It is a unity
that the Jnani perceives in all differences, which I call equality.
Equality does not mean ignorance of distinctions. When you
have the realization you can see that these differences are very
superficial, that they are not at all substantial or permanent,
and what is essential in all these appearances is the one truth,
the real. That I call unity.

47
You referred to sound, taste, form, smell, etc. True, the Jnani
appreciates the distinctions, but he always perceives and
experiences the one reality in all of them. That is why he has
no preferences. Whether he moves about, or talks, or acts, it is
all the one reality in which he acts or moves or talks. He has
nothing apart from the one supreme truth.
–
R
The glance of the Jnani who is rich in true knowledge, which is
the supreme life that surges like the rising of a hundred suns
without ever diminishing, will easily bestow the unequalled
Jnana upon those who bathe in it, thereby saving them and
leading them to the goal of immortality.
–
Q: They say that the Jnani conducts himself with absolute
equality towards all?

R
Yes. Friendship, kindness, happiness and such other attitudes
become natural to them.
Affection towards the good, kindness towards the helpless,
happiness in doing good deeds, forgiveness towards the
wicked, all such things are natural characteristics of the Jnani.

You ask about Jnanis: they are the same in any state or
condition, as they know the reality, the truth.
In their daily routine of taking food, moving about and all the
rest, they, the Jnanis, act only for others. Not a single action is
done for themselves. I have already told you many times that
just as there are people whose profession is to mourn for a fee,
so also the Jnanis do things for the sake of others with
detachment, without themselves being affected by them.

The Jnani weeps with the weeping, laughs with the laughing,
plays with the playful, sings with those who sing, keeping time
to the song. What does he lose? His presence is like a pure,

48
transparent mirror. It reflects the image exactly as it is. But the
Jnani, who is only a mirror, is unaffected by actions.
How can a mirror, or the stand on which it is mounted, be
affected by the reflections? Nothing affects them as they are
mere supports. On the other hand, the actors in the world – the
doers of all acts, the ajnanis – must decide for themselves what
song and what action is for the welfare of the world, what is in
accordance with the sastras, and what is practicable.
–
R
The pure mind of the Jnani, which exists and shines as the
witness who is unattached to anything, is a clear mirror which
reflects all the defective thoughts of the perverted minds of
others who come near Him and which deludes the minds of
people by making the Jnani appear to be defective.
–
Q Is a Jnani capable of or likely to commit sins?

R
An ajnani sees someone as a Jnani and identifies him with the
body. Because he does not know the Self and mistakes his body
for the Self, he extends the same mistake to the state of the
Jnani. The Jnani is therefore considered to be the physical
frame. Again since the ajnani, though he is not the doer,
imagines himself to be the doer and considers the actions of
the body his own, he thinks the Jnani to be similarly acting
when the body is active. But the Jnani himself knows the truth
and is not confounded. The state of a Jnani cannot be
determined by the ajnani and therefore the question troubles
only the ajnani and never arises for the Jnani.
If he is a doer he must determine the nature of the actions. The
Self cannot be the doer. Find out who is the doer and the Self is
revealed.
–
Q Is there no dehatma buddhi [I–am–the–body idea] for the
Jnani? If, for instance, Sri Bhagavan is bitten by an insect, is

49
there no sensation?

R
There is the sensation and there is also the dehatma buddhi.
The latter is common to both Jnani and ajnani with this
difference, that the ajnani thinks only the body is myself,
whereas the Jnani knows all is of the Self, or all this is
Brahman. If there be pain let it be. It is also part of the Self.
The Self is perfect.
After transcending dehatma buddhi one becomes a Jnani. In
the absence of that idea there cannot be either doership or a
doer. So a Jnani has no karma [that is, a Jnani performs no
actions]. That is his experience. Otherwise he is not a Jnani.
However the ajnani identifies the Jnani with his body, which
the Jnani does not do.
–
Q What are the fundamental tests for discovering men of great
spirituality, since some are reported to behave like insane
people?

R
The Jnani's mind is known only to the Jnani. One must be a
Jnani oneself in order to understand another Jnani. However
the peace of mind which permeates the saint's atmosphere is
the only means by which the seeker understands the greatness
of the saint. His words or actions or appearance are no
indication of his greatness, for they are ordinarily beyond the
comprehension of common people.

50
 9. ADDITIONAL INFO

Uncertainties, doubts and fears are natural to everyone until

the Self is realised.
They are inseparable from the ego, rather they are the ego.

Q: A certain mystic has written in a book that he had Self–

Realisation on some occasions and that its effects lasted
sometimes afterwards, only to be gradually lost.
Whereas Sri Ramana Gita says,“Granthi [knot in the body,
bondage], snapped once, is snapped for ever.”
In the case of this mystic, the bondage seems to have persisted
even after Self–Realisation. How can it be so?

Ramana cited Kaivalya as follows:

“The disciple, after realising the all–shining, unitary, unbroken
state of Being–Knowledge–Bliss, surrendered himself to the
master and humbly prayed to know how he could repay the
master’s Grace.”
My reward consists in your permanent unbroken Bliss. Do not
slip away from it.

Q Having once experienced the Supreme Bliss, how can one

stray away from it?

R
Oh yes! It happens. The predisposition adhering to him from
time immemorial will draw him out and so ignorance overtakes
him.

Q What are the obstacles to remaining steady in unbroken

Bliss? How can they be overcome?

R
The obstacles are:

51
[1] Ignorance which is forgetfulness of one’s pure being.
[2] Doubt which consists in wondering if even the experience
was of the real or of the unreal.
[3] Error which consists in the “I–am–the–body” idea, and
thinking that the world is real. These are overcome by hearing
the truth, reflection on it and concentration.

Experience is said to be temporary or permanent. The first

experience is temporary and by concentration it can become
permanent. In the former the bondage is not completely
destroyed; it remains subtle and reasserts itself in due course.
But in the latter it is destroyed root and branch, never to
appear again. The expression yogabhrashta [those who have
fallen down from yoga] in Srimad Bhagavad Gita refers to the
former class of men.
–
R
By turning Selfward, you destroy your delusion, this world;
what then remains as ‘this is void’ is known by you, Self; so, to
destroy this apparent void also, drown it in the ocean of Self-
Knowledge.
–
R
By the sharp edge of the sword of divine Silence cultivated in
the heart by the practice of jnana-vichara, one should dig out
and cast away the root, the ego, ‘I am the body’. This is the
means to attain the over-brimming happiness of peace.
–
Q Sri Bhagavan speaks of the Heart as the seat of
consciousness and as identical with the Self. What does the
Heart exactly signify ?

R
Call it by any name, God, Self, the Heart or the seat of
consciousness, it is all the same. The point to be grasped is
this, that Heart means the very core of one's being, the centre,

52
without which there is nothing whatever. The Heart is not
physical, it is spiritual. Hridayam equals hrit plus ayam; it
means `this is the centre'.
It is that from which thoughts arise, on which they subsist and
where they are resolved. The thoughts are the content of the
mind and they shape the universe. The Heart is the centre of
all. That from which beings come into existence is said to be
Brahman in the Upanishads. That is the Heart. Brahman is the
Heart.
–
Q How can I get rid of fear?

R
What is fear? It is only a thought.
When there is nothing besides the Self, there is no reason to
fear.
Who sees anything else? The ego arises first and sees an
object; if the ego does not exist, then the Self alone does, and
there cannot be a second.
On finding the Source within, there will be no doubt, no fear,
and all other thoughts centering around the ego will disappear
along with the ego. Weakness or strength are in the mind. The
Self is beyond mind.
–
R
If a man thinks that he is born he cannot escape the fear of
death. Let him find out whether he was ever born or whether
the Self takes birth. He will discover that the Self always exists
and that the body which is born resolves itself into thought,
and that the emergence of thought is the root of all mischief.
Find where thought comes from, and then you will abide in the
ever–present inmost Self and be free from the idea of birth and
fear of death.
–

53
Q How is the Guru found?

R
God, who is immanent, in his grace takes pity on the loving
devotee and manifests himself according to the devotee's
development. The devotee thinks that he is a man and expects a
relationship between two physical bodies. But the Guru who is
God or the Self incarnate works from within, helps the man to
see the error of his ways and guides him on the right path until
he realizes the Self within.
–
R
Through delusion the trickster sometimes arrogantly regards
the property of the boundless perfect one, the Lord of all, as
‘I’, and at other times, through attachment to it, regards it as
‘mine’.
If he enters the Heart, his source, and examines who he is, then
where is he to be found?
–
R
However sinful a person may be, if he would stop wailing
inconsolably ‘Alas, I am a sinner how shall I attain
liberation?’ and, casting away even the thought that he is a
sinner, if he would zealously carry on Self–attentiveness he
would certainly be transformed into one's true nature.
–
R
It is not right for the wise one to behave improperly, even
though he has known all that is to be known and attained all
that is to be attained. Therefore, observe the code of conduct
which is befitting to your outward mode of life.
–
R
Only those who do not know the nature of misery are terrified
of the tortures of hell. But if one understands what misery is,
one will know the way to end it, and will certainly attain one’s

54
natural state of Bliss.
–
R
The experience of not forgetting consciousness alone is the
state of devotion [bhakti] which is the relationship of unfading
real love, because the real knowledge of Self, which shines as
the undivided supreme bliss itself, surges up as the nature of
love. Only if one knows the truth of love, which is the real
nature of Self, will the strong entangled knot of life be untied.
Only if one attains the height of love will liberation be
attained. Such is the heart of all religions.
The experience of Self is only love, which is seeing only love,
hearing only love, feeling only love, tasting only love and
smelling only love, which is bliss.
–
Q Does my realisation help others?

R
Yes, certainly. It is the best possible help. But really there are
no others to help, for a Realised Being sees only the Self just as
a goldsmith estimating the gold in various jewels sees only the
gold. Separate forms and beings exist only as long as you
identify yourself with the body. When you transcend the body,
others disappear along with your body-consciousness.
–
R
A Self-realised being cannot help benefitting the world. His
very existence is the highest good.
–
Q: How can you say that suffering is non–existent? I see it
everywhere.

R
One's own reality, which shines within everyone as the Heart,
is itself the ocean of unalloyed bliss. Therefore like the unreal
blueness of the sky, misery does not exist in reality but only in

55
mere imagination.
Since one's own reality, which is the sun of Jnana that cannot
be approached by the dark delusion of ignorance, itself shines
as happiness. Misery is nothing but an illusion caused by the
unreal sense of individuality. In truth no one has ever
experienced any such thing other than that unreal illusion. If
one scrutinises one's own Self, which is bliss, there will be no
misery at all in one's life. One suffers because of the idea that
the body, which is never oneself, is `I'; suffering is all due to
this delusion.
–
R
When, in the view of the one indivisible space, even the pot has
no separate existence, is it not foolish to say that the space
inside the pot moves with the movements of the pot?
Similarly, when, in the plenitude of Self-Consciousness, body
and world cannot even exist, being non-Self and incomplete, it
is ridiculous to say that Self moves because of the movements
of the mutable body and world.
Though Self, which is ever still because of Its wholeness, seems
to move with the movements of the unsteady mirror, the mind, it
is never the real Self that moves, but only its reflection, the
mind.
If it is asked, “How did the delusive upadhis [attributes such
as mind, intellect, chittam etc.] appear to arise for the Supreme
Self, which is One without a second?”, it must be replied that
they are seen to arise only in the view of the ignorant jiva, and
that in reality no attribute has ever arisen for Self. Thus you
should know!
–
Q Are there degrees of illusion?

R
Illusion itself is illusory. It must be seen by somebody outside
it, but how can such a seer be subject to it? So, how can he
speak of degrees of it?

56
You see various scenes passing on a cinema screen: fire seems
to burn buildings to ashes; water seems to wreck ships; but the
screen on which the pictures are projected remains unburnt
and dry. Why? Because the pictures are unreal and the screen
real.
Similarly, reflections pass through a mirror but it is not
affected at all by their number or quality.
In the same way, the world is a phenomenon upon the
substratum of the single reality which is not affected by it in
any way. Reality is only One. Talk of illusion is due only to the
point of view.

Change your viewpoint to that of Knowledge and you will

perceive the universe to be only Brahman.
Being now immersed in the world, you see it as a real world;
get beyond it and it will disappear and reality alone will
remain.
–
Q If ‘I’ am also an illusion, who casts off the illusion?

R
The ‘I’ casts off the illusion of ‘I’ and yet remains ‘I’.
Such is the paradox of Self–realisation.
The Realised do not see any contradiction in it.
–
R
Know that the knower of reality, who is well established in the
Heart and who is always contentedly rejoicing in the greatness
of Self, will neither think the world to be a dense delusion, nor
will think it to be other than Himself.
–
R
Though a dog barks at the sun, the insult will not affect the
sun. Similarly ignorant people’s petty words of blame will not
touch one who has attained the light of true knowledge, which
is bright like the sun.

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–
R
When there is contact of a desirable sort or memory thereof,
and when there is freedom from undesirable contacts or
memory thereof, we say there is happiness.
Such happiness is relative and is better called pleasure. But
man wants absolute and permanent happiness, this does not
reside in objects, but in the Absolute.
It is Peace free from pain and pleasure - it is a neutral state.
–
R
The minds of ignorant people, having forgotten the divine life
which is flourishing in the Heart and which is worthy of being
known and enjoyed, will meltingly long for the taste of sense–
pleasures, which are insignificant fragments.
–
R
Let him who weeps over the death of his wife and children,
weep first for the death of his ego – ‘I am the body’ – and
attend to his own Self, then all his miseries will die completely.
–
Q Has man any free will or is everything in his life
predetermined?

R
Free will exists together with the individuality. As long as the
individuality lasts, so long is there free will. All the scriptures
are based on this fact and advise directing the free will in the
right channel.
Find out who it is who has free will or predestination and
abide in that state. Then both are transcended. That is the only
purpose in discussing these questions.
To whom do such questions present themselves? Discover that
and be at peace.
[..]
As long as a man is the doer he also reaps the fruits of his

58
deeds, but as soon as he realises the Self through enquiry as to
who the doer is, his sense of being the doer falls away and the
triple karma [destiny] is ended. This is the state of eternal
liberation.
–
Q How long does it take a man to be reborn after death? Is it
immediately after death or some time after?

R
You do not know what you were before birth, yet you want to
know what you will be after death.
Do you know what you are now?
Birth and rebirth pertain to the body. You are identifying the
Self with the body.
It is a wrong identification.
You believe that the body has been born and will die, and
confound the phenomena relating to the body with the Self.
Know your real being and these questions will not arise. Birth
and rebirth are mentioned only to make you investigate the
question and find out that there are neither births nor rebirths.
They relate to the body and not to the Self. Know the Self and
don't be perturbed by doubts.
–
Q What becomes of the jiva [soul] after death?

R
The question is not appropriate for a jiva now living. A dead
jiva may ask me, if he wishes to. In the meantime let the
embodied jiva solve its present problem and find who he is.
Then there will be an end of such doubts.
–
Q Can a yogi know his past lives?

R
Do you know the present life so well that you wish to know the
past? Find the present, then the rest will follow. Even with your

59
present limited knowledge, you suffer much. Why should you
burden yourself with more knowledge? Is it so as to suffer
more?
–
R
Killing the innocent body is certainly wrong. Suicide must be
committed on the mind, where the suffering is deposited, and
not on the body, which is insentient and feels nothing. The
mind is the real culprit, being the creator of the anguish which
tempts to suicide, but by an error of judgement, the innocent,
insentient body is punished for it.
–
R
Deeds [karma] are not your enemy, only the sense of doership
is, therefore, live your life, having completely renounced that
enemy.
–
Q Are then past and future mere imagination?

R
Yes, even the present is mere imagination, for the sense of time
is purely mental. Space is similarly mental. Therefore birth and
rebirth, which take place in time and space, cannot be other
than imagination.
–
R
Your mind is the cycle of births and deaths.
–
R
O men who wish to live for ever, you do not know what is the
way to live. Seeing a day-dream through the darkness of
delusion which sprouts out from the void of maya, you are
proud to think and argue that that which is fallen, your present
fallen life, your so-called waking state. is the real life.
By clinging to the Self-consciousness, ‘I am’, and by thus
piercing through the void, which is the cause for the false

60
delusion of this waking state, achieve the real life, the ever-
imperishable state of Self.
–
R
Bliss will surge forth in the heart which is soaked in the
experience of the love-suffused true knowledge. Misery-
creating delusion-caused desire will not exist there. That
extremely pure natural life of Self will be full of peace.
–
Q Should we sometimes read the Bhagavad Gita?

R
Always.

Q May we read the Bible?

R
The Bible and the Gita are the same.

Q The Bible teaches that man is born in sin.

R
Man is sin. There is no feeling of being man is deep sleep.
The body-thought brings out the idea of sin.
The birth of thought itself is sin.

Q The Bible says that the human soul may be lost.

R
The ‘I’-thought is the ego and that is lost.
The real ‘I’ is ‘I Am that I Am’.
–
R
The scriptures serve to indicate the existence of the Higher
Power or Self and to point the way to It. That is their essential
purpose. Apart from that they are useless. However, they are

61
voluminous, in order to be adapted to the level of development
of every seeker. As a man rises in the scale he finds the stages
already attained to be only stepping stones to higher stages,
until finally the goal is reached. When that happens, the goal
alone remains and everything else, including the scriptures,
become useless.
–
R
The state of Self alone is the real and lovable state. On the
other hand, all the states of living in heaven, like a sky–lotus
[illusion], are only unreal mental states which feed more and
more upon delusion and which, like the water of a mirage,
appear due to imagination.
–
R
Be aware that the ‘I am the body’ ego is truly the one unique
cause of all the sorrows of samsara. Therefore, make genuine,
firm and steady efforts to destroy that ego, and desist from
making any other kind of effort.
–
Q Are the siddhis [occult powers] mentioned in Patanjali's
sutras true or only his dream?

R
He who is Brahman or the Self will not value those siddhis.
Patanjali himself says that they are all exercised with the mind
and that they impede Self–realization.
[..]
Greedily begging for worthless occult powers from God, who
will readily give himself, who is everything, is like begging for
worthless stale gruel from a generous–natured philanthropist
who will readily give everything.
–
R
Know that attributing greatness to the perfect one who abides
as Self because of the siddhis, is praising the greatness of the

62
fully shining sun by merely glorifying the wondrous beauty of
an atom of a bright ray which enters a house through a hole in
the roof.
–
R
Whatever high and wonderful state of tapas one may have
attained, if one still identifies oneself with an individuality, one
cannot be a Sahaja-Jnani [one in the state of effortlessness];
one is only an aspirant of, perhaps, an advanced stage.
–
R
Those who live in the world, clinging whole-Heartedly to God,
are like children who whirl round and round a pillar holding it
firmly. Since they have a strong and unshakeable hold on God,
they are devoid of ego and therefore will never fall a prey to
the delusion of the world.
–
R
Installing the Lord on the heart-throne and fixing the mind
uninterruptedly in Self in such a manner that it will become
one with It is the true and natural worship through Silence.
–
R
Among the multitudinous human race, only children [the
childlike sages] who are bereft of the mischievous mind, the
ego-sense, will be completely protected from distress by the
Mother-Father [God], who is always thinking of them.
Only the pure mahatmas in whom the changeful mind does not
rise even the least are fortunate people, because the joy of
sitting and playing for ever upon the lap of the Mother, who is
the source of happiness, is their complete experience.
–
R
The Lord who has fed you today will ever do so well.
Therefore, live carefree, placing all your burden at His feet and
having no thought of tomorrow or the future.

63
–
R
Only steadfastness in non–dual knowledge is heroism. On the
other hand, even conquest over one’s enemies is, on scrutiny,
found to be due not to heroism but only due to great fear
possessing the mind, which is shaken by the hubbub of the
unreal world of duality. Know thus.
–
Q If the world is only a dream, how should it be harmonised
with the Eternal Reality?

R
The harmony consists in the realisation of its inseparateness
from the Self.
–
R
Though the Heart is said to be both inside and outside, it truly
exists neither inside nor outside, because the appearance of the
body, which is the base of the difference ‘inside’ and ‘outside’,
is itself a mental conception .
–
R
Since time, place, etc., which seem to exist, cannot have a real
existence of their own apart from the undivided and perfect
Brahman, none of them can be unsuitable for practicing Self–
enquiry.
–
Q: Yes, I still understand only theoretically. Yet the answers are
simple, beautiful and convincing.

R
Even the thought `I do not realize' is a hindrance. In fact, the
Self alone is. Our real nature is Liberation. But we are
imagining we are bound and are making various, strenuous
attempts to become free, while we are all the while free. This
will be understood only when we reach that stage. We will be

64
surprised that we were frantically trying to attain something
which we have always been and are.

An illustration will make this clear. A man goes to sleep in this

hall. He dreams he has gone on a world tour, is roaming over
hill and dale, forest and country, desert and sea, across various
continents and after many years of weary and strenuous travel,
returns to this country, reaches Tiruvannamalai, enters the
ashram and walks into the hall. Just at that moment he wakes
up and finds he has not moved an inch but was sleeping where
he lay down. He has not returned after great effort to this hall,
but is and always has been in the hall. It is exactly like that; If
it is asked, `Why being free do we imagine that we are bound?'
I answer, `Why being in the hall did you imagine you were on a
world adventure, crossing hill and dale, desert and sea? It is
all mind or maya [illusion].

Q How then does ignorance of this one and only reality

unhappily arise in the case of the ajnani?

R
The ajnani sees only the mind which is a mere reflection of the
light of pure consciousness arising from the Heart. Of the
Heart itself he is ignorant.
Why? Because his mind is extroverted and has never sought its
source.
–
R
It is due to illusion born of ignorance that men fail to recognise
that which is always and for everybody the inherent Reality
dwelling in its natural Heart-centre and to abide in it.
And that instead they argue that it exists or does not exist, that
it has form or has not form, or is non–dual or is dual.
Can anything appear apart from that which is eternal and
perfect?
This kind of dispute is endless. Do not engage in it.

65
Instead turn your mind inward and put an end to all this.
There is no finality in disputations.
–
R
O foolish mind who is suffering due to the desire for the petty
pleasures of this world and of the next, if you remain quiet [i.e.
without desire] you will certainly attain that State of Bliss
which surely transcends the pleasures of these two.
–
R
If one wants to be saved, one is given the following true and
essential advice: just as the tortoise draws all its five limbs
within its shell, so one should draw the five senses within and
turn one’s mind Selfward. This alone is happiness.
–
R
People are afraid that when the ego or the mind is killed, the
result may be a mere blank and not happiness. What really
happens is that the thinker, the object of thought and thinking
all merge in the one Source which is Consciousness and Bliss
itself, and thus that state is neither inert nor blank. I don’t
understand why people should be afraid of a state in which all
thoughts cease to exist and the mind is killed.
They daily experience it in sleep. There is no mind or thought
in sleep. Yet when one rises from sleep one says, ‘I slept well’.
–
R
You can have, or rather you will yourself be, the highest
imaginable kind of happiness. All other kinds of happiness
which you have spoken of as ‘pleasure’, ‘joy’, ‘happiness’,
‘bliss’, are only reflections of the Ananda which, in your true
nature, you are.
–
R
The highest form of grace is silence. It is also the highest
spiritual instruction.

66
All other modes of instruction are derived from silence and are
therefore secondary.
Silence is the primary form.
–
R
Indeed, all the scriptures mention the process only to guide the
seeker to know the truth.
The truth cannot be directly pointed out.
–
Q The final state of Realisation is said, according to Advaita,
to be absolute union with the Divine, and according to
Visishtadvaita a qualified union, while Dvaita maintains that
there is no union at all. Which of these should be considered
the correct view?

R
Why speculate about what will happen at some time in the
future? All are agreed that the ‘I’ exists. To whichever school of
thought he may belong, let the earnest seeker first find out
what the ‘I’ is. Then it will be time enough to know what the
final state will be, whether the ‘I’ will get merged in the
Supreme Being or stand apart from Him. Let us not forestall
the conclusion, but keep an open mind.

Q But will not some understanding of the final state be a

helpful guide even to the aspirant?

R
No purpose is served by trying to decide now what the final
state of Realisation will be. It has no intrinsic value.

Q Why not?

R
Because you proceed on a wrong principle. Your conclusion is
arrived at by the intellect which shines only by the light it

67
derives from the Self. Is it not presumptuous on the part of the
intellect to sit in judgement over that from which it derives its
little light? How can the intellect, which can never reach the
Self, be competent to ascertain and much less decide the nature
of the final state of Realisation? It is like trying to measure the
sunlight at its source by the standard of the light given by a
candle. The wax will melt down before the candle comes
anywhere near the sun. Instead of indulging in mere
speculation, devote yourself here and now to the search for the
Truth that is ever within you.

68
 10. THE LIFE OF RAMANA

The teaching of Ramana is not just glorious in words, Ramana

himself lived it in every way.

On the 30th of December 1879 was born Venkataraman — who

later came to be known to the world as Ramana Maharshi.

He was a somewhat average child, indulged in an average

amount of mischief, was lazy at school, and he often liked to
wrestle and play sports with his friends.
He came from a pious, devotional and generous middle–class
Hindu family.

At the age of 16 he was overcome withe fear of death causing

him to enquire within who he was, and experienced a
dissolution of his ego, realization which stuck with him for the
rest of his life, he left home and sat in in silence for 16 years.

After having lived a meditative sadhu life, devoid of

possessions and sometimes so deep and long in meditation that
his body could have been eaten partly by insects without him
having noticed, he would eat and drink as people would feed
him.

At some point, people became attracted and aware of his

auspicious presence, and he began to life a more engaged life,
an Ashram was build around him, eventually attracting visitors
from all over the world.

He completely devoted himself to serve them all as best as he

could.
He got up early in the morning to help in the kitchen,
sometimes stitched leaf plates and worked as a builder as well
as an architect.

69
He only accepted gifts that could be shared with everyone
equally, his only possessions were his walking stick, loincloth
and drinking bowl.

Most impressively he gave up all his privacy and free time to

serve the desires of all his visitors who wanted to experience
his grace and get [a taste of] enlightenment.
He would be accessible to all people at all times, and to all
animal visitors, whom he looked out for and loved dearly and
always insisted should be treated with equal respect.

He would mostly sit in silence, with his eyes open, and his
presence would palpably radiate, causing people to experience
[a glimpse of] the silence and peace he felt.

At times he could look at someone in particular, intensifying

the effect and revealing to them [a glimpse of] enlightenment.
He spoke at times when needed or when he was asked, but he
remained mostly silent.
the book 'Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi' covers the
accounts of 202 individuals describing their mystical
meditative experiences they had experienced.

This is what he did throughout his whole life, he gave complete

transparency and service, he always lived, showed and stood
by what he said.
He did so until the very end of his life despite old age and
ailments.
And therefor is widely rightly regarded as [one of] the deepest
masters of our time.
May all beings be happy, may all beings live in peace.

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71