Behind My Hand

The art of vichara is a bit like fishing. We cast the line (vichara) at an angle which we think will reach the target but, like light refraction (Snell's Law) or waves on the surface, the process can be foiled.

  Ultimately there is no separation of the phenomenal world and Brahman.

Sabdapurvayoga is the return to that state prior to the arising of the ego. The Grammarian Bhartrhari’s method for attaining the Self involves tracing the mind back to its source. At that point the unreality of the ego is discovered. This is the true purification of the word. When Brahman is known to be all there is, there can no longer be any misunderstanding.  Bhartrhari has stated that Grammar is the straight road for those who would attain liberation in Brahman. The twentieth century Sage of Arunåcala, Ramana Maharshi, similarly referred to the discipline of åtmavicåra as the straight path to Self-realisation. The essence of Bhartrhari’s method is åtmavicåra. Sabdapurvayoga is atmavichara. Sabdapurvayoga and atma vicara

“God created man; and man created God. They both are the originators of forms and names only. In fact, neither God nor man was created.”  -Ramana Maharshi, Talk 264

Talk 98 Ramana Maharshi  The Self is the Heart. The Heart is self- luminous. Light arises from the Heart and reaches the brain, which is the seat of the mind. The world is seen with the mind, that is, by the reflected light of the Self. It is perceived with the aid of the mind. When the mind is illumined it is aware of the world. When it is not itself so illumined, it is not aware of the world. If the mind is turned in towards the source of light, objective knowledge ceases and Self alone shines forth as the Heart. The moon shines by the reflected light of the sun. When the sun has set, the moon is useful for revealing objects. When the sun has risen, no one needs the moon, although the pale disc of the moon is visible in the sky. So it is with the mind and the Heart. The mind is useful because of its reflected light. It is used for seeing objects. When it is turned inwards, the source of illumination shines forth by itself, and the mind remains dim and useless like the moon in day...

 Talk 49. Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi 24th April, 1935 Some men asked the Master questions which ultimately resolved themselves into one, that ‘I’ is not perceptible however much they might struggle. The Master’s reply was in the usual strain: “Who is it that says that ‘I’ is not perceptible? Is there an ‘I’ ignorant, and an ‘I’ elusive? Are there two ‘I’s in the same person? Ask yourself these questions. It is the mind which says that ‘I’ is not perceptible. Where is that mind from? Know the mind. You will find it a myth. King Janaka said, ‘I have discovered the thief who had been ruining me so long. I will now deal with him summarily. Then I shall be happy.’ Similarly it will be with others.”

 From Talk 49 Progress can be spoken of in things to be obtained afresh. Whereas here it is the removal of ignorance and not acquisition of knowledge. What kind of progress can be expected in the quest for the Self? -Ramana Maharshi

  “Now, when we study metaphysics, we come to know the world is one, not that the spiritual, the material, the mental, and the world of energies are separate. It is all one, but seen from different planes of vision. * When you think of yourself as a body, you forget that you are a mind, and when you think of yourself as a mind, you will forget the body. There is only one thing, that you are; you can see it either as matter or body — or you can see it as mind or spirit. Birth, life, and death are but old superstitions. None was ever born, none will ever die; one changes one's position — that is all. I am sorry to see in the West how much they make of death; always trying to catch a little life. "Give us life after death! Give us life!" They are so happy if anybody tells them that they are going to live afterwards! How can I ever doubt such a thing! How can I imagine that I am dead! Try to think of yourself as dead, and you will see that you are present to see your own dead...

 D.: Do not one’s actions affect the person in after-births? M.: Are you born now? Why do you think of other births? The fact is that there is neither birth nor death. Let him who is born think of death and palliatives therefore. Ramana Maharshi talking to Evans Wentz - 24 January 1935, Talk 17

Maharshi then read out from the Tamil version of Yoga Vasishta the story of Deerga Tapasi who had two sons, Punya and Papa. After the death of the parents the younger one mourned the loss and the elder brother consoled him as follows: “Why do you mourn the loss of our parents? I shall tell you where they are; they are only within ourselves and are ourselves. For the life-current has passed through innumerable incarnations, births and deaths, pleasures and pains, etc., just as the water current in a river flows over rocks, pits, sands, elevations and depressions on its way, but still the current is unaffected. Again the pleasures and pains, births and deaths, are like undulations on the surface of seeming water in the mirage of the ego. The only reality is the Self from where the ego appears, and runs through thoughts which manifest themselves as the universe and in which the mothers and fathers, friends and relatives appear and disappear. They are nothing but manifestations of the Self...

  Talk 18 Mr. Evans-Wentz asked: There are yogis with occult powers. What does Maharshi think of them? M.: The powers are known by hearsay or by exhibition. Thus they are in the realm of the mind only. D.: Mr. Brunton mentions a yogi in Madras who is said to hold communion with his master in the Himalayas. M.: It is not more marvellous than telepathy - so commonly known. Telepathy cannot exist without the hearer and television without the seer. What is the difference between hearing from far and from near? It is only the hearer who matters. Without the hearer there cannot be hearing; without the seer there cannot be vision. D.: So you want me to consider the subject and not the object. M.: The subject and object appear only after the mind has arisen. The mind comprises them and also the occult powers. (Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi)

  “When discrimination comes and man finds there are not two but one, he finds that he is himself this universe.” From The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,  Volume Two

 16 September, 1947 Bhagavan with a smile, said: “Bliss is a thing which is always there and is not something which comes and goes. That which comes and goes is a creation of the mind and you should not worry about it.” Bhagavan  Sri Ramana Maharshi in Letters from Sri Ramanasramam 

 This succinct quotation, from Paul Brunton, which I came across in 1968, set me on the path of Self Enquiry. 

“|3| He, who seeks from where the ‘I’ arises,  with pure mind, turned inwards,  realising his own nature, O Arunachala,  merges in you... like the river in the sea.” (Excerpt From Arunachala Pancharatna by Ramana Maharshi)  “Atma-vichara is the means and the goal. The ‘I’ that rises and sets is not the real ‘I’. It is nothing more than the meandering cloud, which moves, changes, and finally empties when at last it approaches the mountain. When the mind becomes pure, it, naturally, rushes to its source, like a mountain stream rushing towards the sea, effortlessly overcoming all obstacles in its path. Atma-vichara is the purifying process which rids the mind of all impurities (mindstuff). Take up the quest ‘Who am I?’ Seek the impostor (ego-'I'). In the end, he is nowhere to be found!” (Excerpt from the commentary to  Ramana Maharshi’s above verse , by MNW. This material may be protected by copyright.)

It is false to speak of realization. What is there to realize? The real is as it is, ever. How to realize it? All that is required is this: We have realized the unreal, i.e., regarded as Real what is unreal. We have to give up this attitude. That is all that is required for us to attain Jnana. We are not creating anything new or achieving something which we did not have before. The illustration given in the books is this: We dig a well and create a huge pit. The akasa (space) in the pit or well has not been created by us. We have just removed the earth which was filling the akasa there. The akasa was there, then, and is also there now. Similarly we have simply to throw out all the age-long samskaras (innate tendencies) which are inside us. When all of them have been given up, the Self will shine alone. (Ramana Maharshi in Gems from Bhagavan, p. 27)

  ब्रह्म   सत्यं   जगन्मिथ्या   जीवो   ब्रह्मैव   नापर : Brahman alone is real, this  world is unreal, the individual soul  is not other than Brahman. Sankara in Vivekacudamani

 We are not different from the Reality. We imagine we are different, i.e., we create the bheda bhava (the feeling of difference) and then undergo great sadhanas to get rid of the bheda bhava and realize the oneness. Why imagine or create the bheda bhava and then destroy it? (Ramana Maharshi, Gems from Bhagavan , p. 26)

 The Heart is used in the Vedas and the scriptures to denote the place whence the notion ‘I’ springs. Does it spring only from the fleshy ball? It springs within us somewhere right in the middle of our being. The ‘I’ has no location. Everything is the Self. There is nothing but that. So the Heart must be said to be the entire body of ourselves and of the entire universe, conceived as ‘I’. But to help the practiser (abhyasi) we have to indicate a definite part of the Universe, or of the Body. So this Heart is pointed out as the seat of the Self. But in truth we are everywhere, we are all that is, and there is nothing else. - Ramana Maharshi in Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk 29

  Talk 54 Deho aham (I am the body) is limitation and is the root of all mean and selfish actions and desires. Brahma aham (I am Brahman) is passing beyond limitation and signifies sympathy, charity, love etc., which are divine and virtuous. - Ramana Maharshi in Talks

  Talk 227. The Master observed: “Being of the nature of Bliss why does one continue to crave for happiness? To be rid of that craving is itself salvation.  - Ramana Maharshi in Talks

  Talk 224. A disciple asked how he could recognise his own natural primal condition. M.: Absolute freedom from thoughts is the state conducive to such recognition. - Ramana Maharshi in Talks