Behind My Hand

  Talk 1 A wandering monk (sannyasi) was trying to clear his doubt: “How to realise that all the world is God?” Maharshi: If you make your outlook that of wisdom, you will find the world to be God. Without knowing the Supreme Spirit (Brahman), how will you find His all-pervasiveness? (Ramana Maharshi in Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi) ————- “Dealing with the world is part of the illusion. It is symptomatic of the human condition which, having forgotten its own Self, dwells in an external, material universe. As long as one does not see the Self as the origin of all, and one's very identity, so long can it (world and objects) be described as illusionary.”   (Excerpt From Talks on Self Enquiry, Miles Wright & edited by Gabriele Ebert) ————- naiva cintyam na cAcintyam na cintyam cintyameva tat /   pakshapAtavinirmuktam brahma sampadyate tadA // 6 //   'Neither is that, which is conceivable (the phenomenal manifestation), to be ignored (or dismissed as unreal), nor th...

  Mahāvākyas       (- the following phrases are said to be phrases of truth) prajñānam brahma - "Knowledge is Brahman"       (Aitareya Upanishad) tat tvam asi - "That you are"                         (Chãndogya Upanishad) aham brahmāsmi - "I am Brahman"               (Bṛhadãranyaka Upanishad) ayam ātmā brahma - "This Self is Brahman"       (Mãndükya Upanishad) —- —- —- Ramana Maharshi, in Talk 105, discusses Chandogya Upanishad, Chapter 6, with Madhavaswami .  (Chandogya references added by MW) M.: Yena asrutam srutam bhavati (Chandogya Upanishad). (CU 6.1.3 - By which the unheard of becomes heard, the unthought of becomes thought of, the unknown becomes known.)  Madhavaswami, Bhagavan’s attendant: Are there nine methods of teaching the Mahavakya ‘ Tattvamasi ’ in the Chandogya Upanishad? M.: No. Not so. The metho...

tam yogam iti manyate sthiram indriya-dharanam                                                                     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). 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 ascertained other than to ascertain for itself,  “It is!” ———— Trans. MWright

yas tu sarvāṇi bhūtani ātmany evānupaśyati | sarvabhūteṣu catmānaṁ tato na vijugupsate ||6|| One who sees all beings in the Self alone, and the Self in all beings, thence feels no disdain . (Sri Isopani śad, 6)