Behind My Hand

“|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