Sri Ramana Maharshi

The mind is only a projection from the Self, appearing in the waking state. In deep sleep, you do not say whose son you are and so on. As soon as you wake up you say you are so and so, and recognise the world and so on. 

The world is only lokah, lokah = lokyate iti lokah (what is perceived is the world). That which is seen is lokah or the world. Which is the eye that sees it? That is the ego which rises and sinks periodically. But you exist always. Therefore That which lies beyond the ego is consciousness - the Self. 

In deep sleep mind is merged and not destroyed. That which merges reappears. It may happen in meditation also. But the mind which is destroyed cannot reappear. The yogi’s aim must be to destroy it and not to sink in laya. In the peace of dhyana, laya ensues but it is not enough. It must be supplemented by other practices for destroying the mind. 

Some people have gone into samadhi with a trifling thought and after a long time awakened in the trail of the same thought. In the meantime generations have passed away in the world. Such a yogi has not destroyed his mind. 

Its destruction is the non-recognition of it as being apart from the Self. Even now the mind is not. Recognise it. How can you do it if not in everyday activities. They go on automatically. Know that the mind promoting them is not real but a phantom proceeding from the Self. That is how the mind is destroyed.  

 

                   "Talks with Ramana Maharshi"

29 Sep 1935

Sri Ramana Maharshi

D.: I want to know how I can gain that peace of mind. Kindly be pleased to advise me.

M.: Yes - devotion and surrender.

 

D.: Am I worthy of being a devotee?

M.: Everyone can be a devotee. Spiritual fare is common to all and never denied to anyone - be the person old or young, male or female.

 

D.: That is exactly what I am anxious to know. I am young and a grihini (housewife). There are duties of grihastha dharma (the household). Is devotion consistent with such a position?

M.: Certainly. What are you? You are not the body. You are Pure Consciousness. Grihastha dharma and the world are only phenomena appearing on that Pure Consciousness. It remains unaffected. What prevents you from being your own Self?

 

D.: Yes I am already aware of the line of teaching of Maharshi. It is the quest for the Self. But my doubt persists if such quest is compatible with grihastha life.

M.: The Self is always there. It is you. There is nothing but you. Nothing can be apart from you. The question of compatibility or otherwise does not arise.

 

D.: I shall be more definite. Though a stranger, I am obliged to confess the cause of my anxiety. I am blessed with children. A boy - a good brahmachari - passed away in February. I was grief-stricken. I was disgusted with this life. I want to devote myself to spiritual life. But my duties as a grihini do not permit me to lead a retired life. Hence my doubt.

M.: Retirement means abidance in the Self. Nothing more. It is not leaving one set of surroundings and getting entangled in another set, nor even leaving the concrete world and becoming involved in a mental world. The birth of the son, his death, etc., are seen in the Self only. Recall the state of sleep. Were you aware of anything happening? If the son or the world be real, should they not be present with you in sleep? You cannot deny your existence in sleep. Nor can you deny you were happy then. You are the same person now speaking and raising doubts. You are not happy, according to you. But you were happy in sleep. What has transpired in the meantime that happiness of sleep has broken down? It is the rise of ego. That is the new arrival in the jagrat state. There was no ego in sleep. The birth of the ego is called the birth of the person. There is no other kind of birth. Whatever is born is bound to die. Kill the ego: there is no fear of recurring death for what is once dead. The Self remains even after the death of the ego. That is Bliss - that is Immortality.

 

D.: How is that to be done?

M.: See for whom these doubts exist. Who is the doubter? Who is the thinker? That is the ego. Hold it. The other thoughts will die away. The ego is left pure; see where from the ego arises. That is pure consciousness.

 

 

Extract from “Talks with Ramana Maharshi”

 

Sathya Sai Vahini - Post 55

Chapter XXII.

 

The Eternal Truths

 

The Veda is the Mother of all the scriptures (sastras). The Veda emanated from God Himself as inhalation and exhalation. The great sages, who were the embodiments of the treasure gained by long ascetic practices, received the Veda as a series of sounds and spread it over the world by word of mouth from preceptor to pupil.

 

Since it was “heard” and preserved by generations, the Veda is known as sruthi, “that which was heard or listened to”. The Veda is endless.

 

The Vedas: divine revelations

 

Who composed the Vedas? Until today, it has not been possible to unveil their names. Those who recited it had perhaps no desire to earn renown, for the names are nowhere seen mentioned in the Veda. Perhaps they attached no importance to their names, clans, or sects, or it is likely they had no kith or kin or clan. 

 

The word Veda originated from the root vid, meaning “to know”. “That which reveals and makes clear all knowledge is Veda (Vidam thu anena ithi Vedah).” The Veda can be mastered neither by limited intellect nor by limited experience. The sacred Veda instructs in all that one requires for spiritual advancement. It instructs in the means and methods of overcoming all sorrows and grief. It instructs in all the spiritual disciplines that can give unshaken peace.

 

No one has understood correctly the beginning or end of the Veda, so it is hailed as beginningless and eternal. Since the first and the last of the Veda are not known, it is everlasting (nithya). The intelligence of humans is tainted, but since the Veda has no trace of taint, it is concluded that it cannot be a human product. So the Veda is also characterized as non-personal (a-pourusheya).

 

The Vedas: a unique source of all religions

 

The Veda is its own authority. Each Vedic sound is sacred because it is part of the Veda. Those who have faith in the Veda and its authority can personally experience this. The great sages were enriched by such experiences, and they have extolled it as the source of wisdom. 

 

Human intelligence can operate only within certain limits. (Buddhi-grahyam atheendriyam). But the Veda is beyond the reach of intelligence, which is restricted and can deal only with facts discoverable by the senses and experiences related to these. It can act only in the area of the visible, the viable.

 

The Vedas: source of all sciences

 

Mother Veda has been kind to her children —the human race. To sanctify its cravings and to uplift the race, she has posited the concept of time —and its components, the years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds. Even gods were declared to be bound by time. The individual (jiva) is caught in the wheel of time and space and rotates with it, unaware of any means of escape. But really, the individual is beyond the reach of time and space. The Veda is bent upon the task of making it know this truth and liberating it from this narrowness. Mother Veda is compassionate; she longs to liberate her children from doubt and discontent. She has no desire to inflame or confuse. Wise ones know this well.

 

The Vedas: drawn toward India

 

The atmosphere in India was congenial for the revelation and growth of the Vedas. The Vedas were drawn toward the hearts of the sages of this land, this land of Godward activity, this land of yoga, this land of renunciation. Since in India the spiritual quest was sincerely pursued, along with material objectives, people here had the good fortune of Mother Veda incarnating.

 

The heroic sages of India (Bharath) were able to receive the Vedic message as a result of their spiritual practice (sadhana) of denial and detachment, as well as their capacity to concentrate and to experience the bliss resulting from practicing it. 

 

The scriptural texts of India —the Vedas, limbs of the Veda (Vedangas), Upanishads, law codes (smrithis), Puranas (didactic ancient legends), and historical epics (ithihasas)— are repositories of profound wisdom. Each is an ocean of sweet sustaining milk, sacred and sanctifying.

 

Sanskrit: mother of all languages

 

A person who wants to understand clearly the sacred books and scriptural texts of India, to imbibe their message, must learn the Sanskrit language; that responsibility, that duty, cannot be avoided. The very mention of Sanskrit immediately arouses in many among us a prejudicial attitude. “It is the dead language of a dying culture; it is boosted by the fanatic attachment of antiquated conservatives”, contemporary moderns declaim.

 

Sanskrit is an immortal language; its voice is eternal; its call is through the centuries. It has imbedded in it the basic sustenance from all the languages of the world. Revere Sanskrit as the mother of languages. Do not ignore its greatness or talk disparagingly about it.

 

Contd...

 

Love.