Behind My Hand

  21-11-45 Dr. Srinivasa Rao asked Bhagavan, “When we enquire within ‘who am I?’ what is that?” Bhagavan: It is the ego. It is only that which makes the vichara also. The Self has no vichara. That which makes the enquiry is the ego. The ‘I’ about which the enquiry is made is also the ego. As the result of the enquiry the ego ceases to exist and only the Self is found to exist. Ramana Maharshi in “Day by Day with Bhagavan”

  D.: In deep sleep I do not seem to exist. M.: You say so when awake. It is the mind which speaks now. You exist in deep sleep beyond mind.   - Ramana Maharshi in Talk 126

  mayy eva mana ādhatsva mayi buddhiṁ niveśaya | nivasiṣyasi mayy eva ata ūrdhvaṁ na saṁśayaḥ || Fix the mind on me alone, place the thought process in me. Hereafter, without doubt, you will abide in me alone.  (Bhagavad Gita 12.8, - Trans. MWright) Note: the thought process arises from “me”. Trace the source. Remain there.  The above Verse from Bhagavad Gita verse is a concise description of vicāra (Self-enquiry).  —- “Atma Vichara leads to the source of the ego. There the ego disappears. Remaining as that source the ego no longer arises.” (Excerpt From Talks on Self Enquiry, Miles Wright & Gabriele Ebert)  https://books.apple.com/gb/book/talks-on-self-enquiry/id1078197373)

11-1-46, Afternoon Bhagavan: There is no difference. The mind turned inwards is the Self; turned outwards, it becomes the ego and all the world. The cotton made into various clothes, we call by various names. The gold made into various ornaments, we call by various names. But all the clothes are cotton and all the ornaments gold. The one is real, the many are mere names and forms. But the mind does not exist apart from the Self, i.e., it has no independent existence. The Self exists without the mind, never the mind without the Self. (Ramana Maharshi in Day by Day with Bhagavan)

 “How are the three states of consciousness inferior in degree of reality to the fourth? What is the actual relation between these three states and the fourth?” Bhagavan: There is only one state, that of consciousness or awareness or existence. The three states of waking, dream and sleep cannot be real. They simply come and go. The real will always exist. The ‘I’ or existence that alone persists in all the three states is real. The other three are not real and so it is not possible to say they have such and such a degree of reality. We may roughly put it like this. Existence or consciousness is the only reality. Consciousness plus waking, we call waking. Consciousness plus sleep, we call sleep. Consciousness plus dream, we call dream. Consciousness is the screen on which all the pictures come and go. The screen is real, the pictures are mere shadows on it. Because by long habit we have been regarding these three states as real, we call the state of mere awareness or consciousness a...

liṅgam evāśrama-khyātāv anyonyāpatti-kāraṇam avṛttyā nyāya-daurbalyaṁ pāṇḍitye cāpalaṁ vacaḥ A person’s status in life will be known by external appearances alone, even as they change from one status to another.  A person without money will be considered weak while anyone using ill conceived or deceitful words will be considered to be a learned scholar. Bhagavata Purana, 12.2.4 (Trans. MWright) —- —- —- Kali Yuga is said to have commenced in 3102 B.C.E. marked by the death of Sri Krishna. Kali means “discord and argument”. Yuga means “age”. It is the age of hypocrisy, quarrel and discord.  —- From Day by Day with Bhagavan (Ramana Maharshi), 20-3-46 Girdhari Lal:   It is said that in the previous yugas e.g. satya yuga, man had not fallen to the low level in which he now is in this kaliyuga and that it was much easier for him then to attain liberation than now. Bhagavan:  On the other hand, it is said it is much easier to secure salvation in this yuga than in the saty...