Behind My Hand

9th November, 1935 Talk 93. All are aware of their own Self only. Wonder of wonders! They take what is not as what is, or they see the phenomena apart from the Self. Only so long as there is the knower is there knowledge of all kinds (direct, inferential, intellectual etc.); should the knower vanish they all vanish together with him; their validity is of the same degree as his. (Ramana Maharshi) An interesting statement but who reads it?

D.: Which is the best of the different yogas, Karma, Jnana, Bhakti or Hatha? M.: See stanza 10 of “Upadesa Sara” [ see below ]. To remain in the Self amounts to all these in their highest sense. Maharshi added: In dreamless sleep there is no world, no ego and no unhappiness. But the Self remains. In the waking state there are all these; yet there is the Self. One has only to remove the transitory happenings in order to realise the ever-present beatitude of the Self. Your nature is Bliss. Find that on which all the rest are superimposed and you then remain as the pure Self. ( Ramana Maharshi in Talk 189 ) —- Upadesa Saram v. 10 hrtsthalemanah svasthatAkriyA / bhaktiyogabodhAScaniScitam // The act (kriyA) of abiding in one’s natural state, the mind set in the Heart, is without doubt, Devotion, Yoga and Knowledge.   Notes: Here, kriyA (action) refers to the one truly continuous, uncaused, meritorious ‘act’ (kriyAyoga). This is eternal Being, the Self. Where the mind finds

Talk 191. Mr. Cohen, a resident disciple, was speaking of yoga method. Maharshi remarked: Patanjali’s first sutra is applicable to all systems of yoga. The aim is the cessation of mental activities. The methods differ. So long as there is effort made towards that goal it is called yoga. The effort is the yoga. The cessation can be brought about in so many ways. (1) By examining the mind itself. When the mind is examined, its activities cease automatically. This is the method of jnana. The pure mind is the Self. (2) Looking for the source of the mind is another method. The source may be said to be God or Self or consciousness. (3) Concentrating upon one thought make all other thoughts disappear. Finally that thought also disappears; and (4) Hatha Yoga. All methods are one and the same inasmuch as they all tend to the same goal. ( Ramana Maharshi in Talks ) —- —- —- Note : Patanjali’s first and second sutras 1. atha yoganusasanam - “Now, the principle of yoga” 2.

There is no point in becoming “like” Buddha or Ramana or any other so-called enlightened being. In effect, that is simply mindstuff. “The ideas of enlightenment and need for vichara belong to ego alone. When ego searches within the foothills of its own existence and finds its source it settles down exhausted, vanquished. At that point there is no longer any need for vichara. Only wayward mind needs the map of vichara. Self is ever self-aware of its whereabouts.” ( Excerpt From  Talks on Self Enquiry ,  Miles Wright & Gabriele Ebert) Don't think, do it!

Having ears, the attentive sadhaka does not dwell on what is heard. Having eyes, the attentive sadhaka does not dwell on what is seen. Although immersed in the world, the attentive sadhaka does not react, inappropriately, to the world. —- “If you do not make Atma vichara, then loka vichara creeps in. That which is not, is sought for, but not that which is obvious.” (Ramana Maharshi in Talk 186) Note: loka - that which is seen (and heard), worldly affairs. —- Atma vichara includes pratyahara which is turning away or withdrawing from external affairs and holding to the ongoing internal question posed by Enquiry. Buddhi (mind) stands at the doorway to liberation. Turning one way buddhi, wanders, discriminates, vocalises and rationalises a sequential description of worldly affairs where multiple views dependent on ahamkara (ego) are observed. Then undifferentiated Brahman appears to be differentiated like the snake in the rope. Turning the other way buddhi stops dead in its tracks

23rd December, 1936 Talk 298. A certain visitor formulated a question, saying that meditation is more direct than investigation, because the former holds on to the truth whereas the latter sifts the truth from untruth. M.: For the beginner meditation on a form is more easy and agreeable. Practice of it leads to Atmavichara which consists in sifting the Reality from unreality. What is the use of holding on to truth when you are filled with antagonistic factors? Atmavichara directly leads to realisation by removing the obstacles which make you think that the Self is not already realised. ( Ramana Maharshi )

D.: Even if the mind is brought to bear on the search for the Self, after a long struggle the mind begins to elude him and the man is not aware of the mischief until after some time. M.: So it would be. In the earlier stages the mind reverts to the search at long intervals; with continued practice it reverts at shorter intervals until finally it does not wander at all. It is then that the dormant sakti manifests. The sattvic mind is free from thoughts whereas the rajasic mind is full of them. The sattvic mind resolves itself into the Life-current. from Talk 91

 The original person is none other than the arising ‘I’.  “ The one Infinite Unbroken Whole (plenum) becomes aware of itself as ‘I’. This is its original name. All other names, e.g., OM, are later growths. Liberation is only to remain aware of the Self. The mahavakya “I am Brahman” is its authority. Though the ‘I’ is always experienced, yet one’s attention has to be drawn to it. Only then does knowledge dawn.” Ramana Maharshi in Talk 92, 7th November, 1935

There was a great need for a clear instruction to aspirants and a treatise based on the experience of a realised being would certainly be most welcome to the spiritually inclined. That intellectual conviction gained by mere knowledge of scriptures is all which constructed Gnyaana, has been widely prevalent among many pandits. This mistaken notion rendered superfluous the necessity of Saadhana (practice) of either a Mantra or otherwise. Some religious propagandists tried to impress the gullible with the cults of pseudo-love. The acquaintance with metaphysics and its lingo emboldened some to propagate the need to concentrate on an absolute attributeless Brahman, which cult merely degenerated into tall talk. As usual there were some who sought to provide materialistic interpretations to spiritual truths in the light of their understanding quite unsupported by practice or experiended. Then there were numerous commentaries on sacred works which successfully helped to highlight the erudition

Maharshi said: “There is a state when words cease and silence prevails.” (From Talk 238)

“... the talk drifted to the various schools of thought, one saying there is only reality, others saying there are three eternal entities such as jagat, jiva and Ishwara, or pati, pasu and pasam. In this connection, Bhagavan observed humorously, “It is not at all correct to say that Advaitins or the Shankara school deny the existence of the world or that they call it unreal. On the other hand, it is more real to them than to others. Their world will always exist, whereas the world of the other schools will have origin, growth and decay and as such cannot be real. Only, they say the world as world is not real, but that the world as Brahman is real. All is Brahman, nothing exists but Brahman, and the world as Brahman is real. In this way they claim they give more reality to the world than the other schools do. For example, according to schools which believe in three entities, the jagat is only one-third of the reality whereas according to Advaita, the world as Brahman is reality, the wor

Pratibhā pratibhā is every individual’s pre-thought experience of reality as it is. This level of speech is called paśyanti. It is undifferentiated in any way and word and meaning remain without sequence or form. This is the unmanifested Śabdabrahman. The essential prompt of this inner self stimulates a wordless intuition of the complete and indivisible reality.    However as soon as words arise, division ensues. Words may attempt to describe it but they can do no more than offer an unreal representation of it. Bhartrhari writes: śabdeśvevāśritā śaktir viśvasyāsya nibandhani /  yannetrah pratibhātmāyam bhedarupah pratiyate // (VP, 1. 118) “The power which resides in words is the sole cause of this universe. Led by that intuitive self, this appearance of division is recognised.” Pratibhā is innate in all living beings. It is the reason that the natural behaviour of birds and animals takes place without instruction or any other prompting. It is the reason the Ind

naiva vācā na manasā prāptum śakyō na cakṣuṣā    astīti bruvato’nyatra katham    tadupalabhyatē  Katha Upanishad, 6.12 Not by speech, nor by mind, nor by eye is it to be obtained. How else can it be known, other than to tell itself, “ It is !”

tam yogam iti manyate sthiram indriyadharanam apramattas tada bhavati yogo hi prabhavapyayau Katha Upanishad 6.11 Yoga is considered to be the continuous concentration of the senses. One then becomes attentive, thereby yoking the coming and going (of thought).

D.: It is not necessary that the saints should mix with people and be helpful to them? M.: The Self alone is the Reality; the world and the rest of it are not. The realised being does not see the world as different from himself. D.: Thus then, the saint’s realisation leads to the uplift of humanity without the latter being aware of it. Is it so? M.: Yes. The help is imperceptible but is still there. A saint helps the whole of humanity, unknown to the latter. D.: Would it not be better if he mixed with others? M.: There are no others to mix with. The Self is the one and only Reality. Sri Ramana Maharshi in Talk 20

D.: On what should we meditate? M.: Who is the meditator? Ask the question first. Remain as the meditator. There is no need to meditate. ( Ramana Maharshi, Talk 205 ) —- — —- Why should one be meditating ‘I am Brahman’? Only the annihilation of ‘I’ is Liberation. But it can be gained only by keeping the ‘I-I’ always in view. So the need for the investigation of the ‘I’ thought. If the ‘I’ is not let go, no blank can result to the seeker. Otherwise meditation will end in sleep. There is only one ‘I’ all along, but what arises up from time to time is the mistaken ‘I-thought’; whereas the intuitive ‘I’ always remains Self-shining, i.e., even before it becomes manifest. ( Ramana Maharshi, Talk 139 ) —- —- —- Why do you wish to meditate at all? Because you wish to do so you are told Atma samstham manah krtva (fixing the mind in the Self); why do you not remain as you are without meditating? What is that manah (mind)? When all thoughts are eliminated it becomes Atma samstha (fi

“The fact is: There is Reality. It is not affected by any discussions. Let us abide as Reality and not engage in futile discussions as to its nature, etc.” (Ramana Maharshi in Talk 201)

You give up this and that of ‘my’ possessions. If you give up ‘I’ and ‘Mine’ instead, all are given up at a stroke. The very seed of possession is lost. Thus the evil is nipped in the bud or crushed in the germ itself. Dispassion ( vairagya ) must be very strong to do this. Eagerness to do it must be equal to that of a man kept under water trying to rise up to the surface for his life. ( Sri Ramana Maharshi in Talk 28 )

Human thought evolved to help navigate the world which resulted in self consciousness. However, thought, having developed a tendency to constantly feed on itself, has created the illusion of separation from the universe upon which, in reality, it relies absolutely.

चित्तमणीयो   वित्तं   य   इदं   मूल्ये   प्रपञ्चतोऽप्यधिकम्   । हृदयगुहायां   निहितं   जानीते   स   विजहाति   बहिराशाः   ॥   ४ . २१॥ “Whoever has found that pure mind, encamped within the Cave of the Heart, worth more than the conceptual universe, gives up all desires.” ( Kavyakanta Ganapati Muni,   trans. MWright) Ramana’s explanation of the above verse as found in Nayana’s Biography by Dr G. Krishna (1978; p. 194): “Ramana explained slowly - Nayana has extolled the very precious nature of Chitta in the first sloka and then explained his own experience gained by spiritual practice. Though the radiance passing from Heart to head gets entangled in external influences due to its association with sense organs, it will be experienced in its pristine purity by those who arrest the flow of the current in between in the Amritanadi. This radiance is not anything different form the Pure Awareness of the Heart. Chitta is the subtlest essence of the mind and intellect. What proceed