Behind My Hand

  “The time has now come to turn inwards, to learn to explore the inner space within the heart , and to make that long and exciting journey to the Centre . Compared with this, the exploration of the moon and planets is the play of children."   (Daily Readings with Bede Griffiths . Darton, Longman &Tod. 1990)  

 Breath and mind arise from the same place and when one of them is controlled, the other is also controlled. As a matter of fact, in the quest method — which is more correctly ‘Whence am I?’ and not merely ‘Who am I?’ — we are not simply trying to eliminate saying ‘we are not the body, not the senses and so on,’ to reach what remains as the ultimate reality, but we are trying to find whence the ‘I’ thought for the ego arises within us. The method contains within it, though implicitly and not expressly, the watching of the breath. When we watch wherefrom the ‘I’-thought, the root of all thoughts, springs, we are necessarily watching the source of breath also, as the ‘I’-thought and the breath arise from the same source. - Ramana Maharshi, Day by Day with Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, 1.12.45

 Achievement of the Real alone matters. The loss of the ‘I’ is the main fact, and not the loss of the body. Identity of the Self with the body is the real bondage. Leave off the false notion and perceive intuitively the Real. That alone matters. If you melt a gold ornament before testing it to be gold, what matters it how it is melted, whole or in parts, or of what shape the ornament was? All that you are interested in is if it is gold. The dead man sees not his body. It is the survivor that thinks about the manner in which the body is parted from. The realised have no death with or without the body, the realised man is equally aware and sees no difference. To him the one state is not superior to the other. To an outsider also the fortunes of a liberated one’s body need not be of any concern; mind your business. Realise the Self; after realisation there will be time to think of what form of death is preferable to you. It is the false identity of the Self with the body that causes t...

  samudre na síndhavo y ā damānāḥ “ Like rivers longing for the ocean. ” (Rig-Veda VI. 19, 5) ————- “…the waters of the ocean evaporate, form clouds which are moved by winds, condense into water, fall as rain and the waters roll down the hill in streams and rivers, until they reach their original source, the ocean, reaching which they are at peace. Thus, you see, wherever there is a sense of separateness from the source there is agitation and movement until the sense of separateness is lost. So it is with yourself. Now that you identify yourself with the body you think that you are separate from the Spirit - the true Self. You must regain your source before the false identity ceases and you are happy.” (Ramana Maharshi in Talk 396) ————-

  D.: So it is a great game of pretending?  M.:Yes. In Yoga Vasishtha it is said, “What is Real is hidden from us, but what is false, is revealed as true.” We are actually experiencing the Reality only; still, we do not know it. Is it not a wonder of wonders? The quest “Who am I?” is the axe with which to cut off the ego. - Ramana Maharshi in Talk 146

  Mr. P. Brunton: Why do religions speak of Gods, heaven, hell, etc.? M.: Only to make the people realise that they are on a par with this world and that the Self alone is real. The religions are according to the view-point of the seeker.  - from Talk 145

  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”

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)

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

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...

 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)

 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

 “20.6.2002 Truthfulness >Is truth in speech subjective and therefore varies according to ones conditioning?< Where truth is ... falsehood is not. Brahman is truth. The Self cannot be attained without practising truth. Suffering is the result of false relationships, false fears, false ideas. Liberation is truth. How is this liberation realised? Through right action of mind, speech and body. That is jnana, that is freedom, that is moksha. Self Enquiry is constant truth. Maintaining the quest even in the midst of worldly duties ensures right action.” - Excerpt From Talks on Self Enquiry, Miles Wright & Gabriele Ebert

  The universe is the game of the self, which plays hide and seek forever and ever. When it plays 'hide,' it plays it so well, hides so cleverly, that it pretends to be all of us, and all things whatsoever, and we don't know it because it's playing 'hide.' But when it plays 'seek,' it enters onto a path of yoga, and through following this path it wakes up, and the scales fall from one's eyes. - Alan Watts in “The World as Emptiness”.

  From N.N.Rajan's diary, November 6, 1943 After a brief discussion between Major Chadwick and Bhagavan on the necessity of periodic action to ensure that the body remains healthy, there was a ten-minute silence. Then a devotee asked, "It is stated that one should dive into oneself with a keen one-pointed mind controlling speech and breath. Is it necessary to control the breath also?" Bhagavan replied, "If all thoughts are controlled, automatically the breath is also controlled. By intense and sustained practice it will become habitual. Controlling the breath through various yogic exercises is like putting brakes to the train when the entire engine is working. But by watching the source of the mind with full concentration, the thoughts would get controlled. This method will be more effective and easy. It is like shutting the power of the engine and thereby stopping the train completely." 

ahamayamkuto bhavaticinvatah | ayipatatyaham nijavicAraNam ||19|| “Where does this ‘I’ come from?” For one who enquires …Aha! ... the ‘I’ falls away. This is Self-enquiry.     Notes When, at last, one pursues Self-enquiry with single-minded devotion, the inevitable result is for the ego-‘I’ simply to fall away, defeated, destroyed, leaving a spontaneous iteration of one’s true identity. All the ‘stuff’ that this ‘I’ had given substance to, vanishes in an instant. The subject/object relationship has shifted. (Excerpt From Essence of Instruction (Upadesa Saram) Ramana Maharshi, Miles Wright & Gabriele Ebert)