Behind My Hand

Sri Bhagavan said: Sannyasa is mentioned for one who is fit. It consists in renunciation not of material objects but of attachment to them. Sannyasa can be practised by anyone even at home. Only one must be fit for it. Ramana Maharshi in Talk 588

Talk 557. A visitor asked: “We are advised to concentrate on the spot in the forehead between the eyebrows. Is it right?” M.: Everyone is aware, ‘I am’. Leaving aside that awareness one goes about in search of God. What is the use of fixing one’s attention between the eyebrows? It is mere folly to say that God is between the eyebrows. The aim of such advice is to help the mind to concentrate. It is one of the forcible methods to check the mind and prevent its dissipation. It is forcibly directed into one channel. It is a help to concentration. But the best means of realisation is the enquiry “Who am I?” The present trouble is to the mind and it must be removed by the mind only. Ramana Maharshi in Talks.

Talk 549. Sri Bhagavan often speaks of namaskar (prostration) in the following strain: “This namaskar was originally meant by the ancient sages to serve as a means of surrender to God. The act still prevails but not the spirit behind it. The doer of namaskar intends to deceive the object of worship by his act. It is mostly insincere and deceitful. It is meant to cover up innumerable sins. Can God be deceived? The man thinks that God accepts his namaskar and that he himself is free to continue his old life. They need not come to me. I am not pleased with these namaskars. The people should keep their minds clean; instead of that they bend themselves or lie prostrate before me. I am not deceived by such acts.” - Sri Ramana Maharshi

From Talk 548 The creation is said to have an origin. How? Like a tree and the seed from which it has grown. How was the seed produced? From a similar tree. Where is the end to the series of questions? Therefore one must know one’s Self before the world is known. - Ramana Maharshi This quote is a wonderful koan.  Which came first the chicken or the egg.

All insights, however extraordinary they may be, are worthless because it is thought that has created what we call insight and through that it is maintaining its continuity and status quo. - U G Krishnamurti in “The Natural State”

There have been so many saints, sages, and jnanis, and each one has been enamored of a particular concept that he wanted the world to know about. Ultimately, the different religions were only individual concepts which appealed to the consciousness in a particular individual at a particular time. - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, 12 March 1981,  “Consciousness and the Absolute”.

The doubts arise in the mind. The mind is born of the ego. The ego rises from the Self. Search the source of the ego and the Self is revealed. That alone remains. The universe is only expanded Self. It is not different from the Self.  Ramana Maharshi - from Talk 106