Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi
If one can only realize at heart
What one’s true nature is,
One then will find that it is
Infinite wisdom, truth, and bliss,
Without beginning and
Without an end.
THIS IS LIBERATION OR ENLIGHTENMENT OR SELF-REALIZATION
The individual being which identifies its existence with that of the life in the physical body as “I” is called the ego. The Self, which is pure Consciousness, has no ego-sense about it. Neither can the physical body, which is inert in itself, have this ego-sense. Between the two, that is between the Self or Pure Consciousness and the inert physical body, there arises mysteriously the ego-sense or “I” notion, the hybrid which is neither of them, and this flourishes as an individual being. This ego, or individual being, is at the root of all that is futile and undesirable in life. Therefore, it is to be destroyed by any possible means; then That which ever is alone remains resplendent. This is Liberation or Enlightenment or Self-Realization.
“I AM THE DEATHLESS SPIRIT”
“It was about six weeks before I left Madura for good that the great change in my life took place. It was quite sudden. I was sitting alone in a room on the first floor of my uncle’s house. I seldom had any sickness, and on that day there was nothing wrong with my health, but a sudden, violent fear of death overtook me. There was nothing in my state of health to account for it, and I did not try to account for it or to find out whether there was any reason for the fear. I just felt ‘I am going to die’ and began thinking what to do about it. It did not occur to me to consult a doctor or my elders or friends; I felt that I had to solve the problem myself, there and then.
“The shock of the fear of death drove my mind inward and I said to myself mentally, without actually framing the words, ‘Now death has come; what does it mean? What is it that is dying? The body dies.’ And I at once dramatized the occurrence of death. I lay with my limbs stretched out stiff as though rigor mortis had set in and imitated a corpse so as to give greater reality to the inquiry. I held my breath and kept my lips tightly closed so that no sound could escape, so that neither the word ‘I’ nor any other word could be uttered. ‘Well then,’ I said to myself, ‘This body is dead. It will be carried stiff to the burning ground and there burnt and reduced to ashes. But with the death of this body am I dead? Is the body I? It is silent and inert, but I feel the full force of my personality and even the voice of the ‘I’ within me, apart from it. So, I am Spirit transcending the body. The body dies, but the Spirit that transcends it cannot be touched by death. That means I am the deathless Spirit.’ All this was not dull thought; it flashed through me vividly as living truth, which I perceived directly, almost without thought-process. ‘I’ was something very real, the only real thing about my present state, and all the conscious activity connected with my body was centered on that ‘I.’ From that moment onward, the ‘I’ or Self focused attention on itself by a powerful fascination. Fear of death had vanished once and for all. Absorption in the Self continued unbroken from that time on.”
THE SELF ALONE EXISTS
The Self alone exists;
and the Self alone is real.
Verily the Self alone is
the world, the “I” and God.
All that exists is
but the manifestation of the
Supreme Being.
SELF-INQUIRY or BHAKTI-MARGA
Bhagavan: There are only two ways to conquer destiny or to be independent of it. One is to inquire whose this destiny is and discover that only the ego is bound by it and not the Self and that the ego is nonexistent. The other way is to kill the ego by completely surrendering to the Lord, realizing one’s helplessness and saying all the time: “Not I, but Thou, oh Lord,” giving up all sense of “I” and “mine” and leaving it to the Lord to do what He likes with you. Surrender can never be regarded as complete so long as the devotee wants this or that from the Lord. True surrender is the love of God for the sake of love and nothing else, not even for the sake of salvation. In other words, complete effacement of the ego is necessary to conquer destiny, whether you achieve this effacement through Self-inquiry or through bhakti-marga.
IT IS ALL IN THE MIND OR MAYA
Our real nature is Liberation, but we imagine that we are bound and make strenuous efforts to get free, although all the while we are free. This is understood only when we reach that state. Then, we shall be surprised to find that we were frantically striving to attain something that we always were and are. An illustration will make this clear. A man goes to sleep in this hall. He dreams he has gone on a world tour and is traveling over hill and dale, forest and plain, desert and sea, across various continents, and, after many years of weary and strenuous travel, returns to this country, reaches Tiruvannamalai, enters the Asramam and walks into the hall. Just at that moment, he wakes up and finds that he has not moved at all but has been sleeping where he lay down. He has not returned after great efforts to this hall but was here all the time. It is exactly like that. If it is asked why, being free we imagine ourselves bound, I answer, “Why, being in the hall, did you imagine you were on a world-tour, crossing hill and dale, desert and sea?” It is all in the mind or maya.
THE SELF ALWAYS IS THE SELF
Bhagavan: In a sense, speaking of Self-Realization is a delusion. It is only because people have been under the delusion that the non-Self is the Self and the unreal the Real that they have to be weaned out of it by the other delusion called Self-Realization; because actually the Self always is the Self, and there is no such thing as realizing it. Who is to realize what, and how, when all that exists is the Self and nothing but the Self?
“THE SELF”
Self is only Being —
not being this or that.
It is simple Being.
BE, and
there is the end of ignorance.
SELF-INQUIRY
Bhagavan: To inquire, “Who am I that am in bondage?” and thus know one’s real nature is the only Liberation. To keep the mind constantly turned inward and to abide thus in the Self is the only Self-inquiry. Just as it is futile to examine the rubbish that has to be swept up only to be thrown away, so it is futile for him who seeks to know the Self to set to work enumerating the tattvas that envelop the Self and examining them instead of casting them away. He should consider the phenomenal world, with reference to himself, as merely a dream.
SEEK THIS (A SPURIOUS “I”) AND IT WILL VANISH LIKE A PHANTOM
Bhagavan: The Self is pure Consciousness. Yet a man identifies himself with the body, which is insentient and does not itself say, “I am the body.” Someone else says so. The unlimited Self does not. Who does? A spurious “I” arises between pure Consciousness and the insentient body and imagines itself to be limited to the body. Seek this, and it will vanish like a phantom. The phantom is the ego or mind or individuality. All the sastras are based on the rise of this phantom, whose elimination is their purpose. The present state is mere illusion. Its dissolution is the goal and nothing else.
THE ROOT OF BHEDA BUDDHI (DIVERSITY)
Bhagavan: There is an “I” that comes and goes and an “I” that always exists and abides. So long as the first “I” exists, the body consciousness and the sense of diversity or “bheda buddhi,” will persist. Only when that “I” dies, the Reality will reveal itself. For instance, in sleep, the first “I” does not exist. You are not then conscious of a body or a world. Only when that “I” comes up again as soon as you get out of sleep, do you become conscious of the body and of the world. But in sleep you alone existed. For when you wake up, you are able to say, “I slept soundly.” You that wake up and say so are the same that existed during sleep. You don’t say that the “I” that persisted during sleep was a different “I” from the “I” present in the waking state. That “I” that persists always and does not come and go is the Reality (though veiled). The other “I,” which disappears in sleep, is not real. One should try and realize in the waking state that state that unconsciously everyone attains in sleep, the state in which the small “I” disappears and the real “I” alone is.”
At this stage, the devotee asked, “But how is it to be done?” Sri Bhagavan replied, “By inquiring from where and how does this small ‘I’ arise. The root of all bheda buddhi (diversity) is this ‘I.’ It is at the root of all thoughts. If you inquire wherefrom it arises, it disappears.”
THE FALSE “I” IS THE OBSTRUCTION
Bhagavan: You need not eliminate any false “I.” How can “I” eliminate itself? All that you need do is to find out its origin and stay there. Your effort can extend only so far. Then the Beyond will take care of itself. You are helpless there. No effort can reach it.
D: If “I” am always – here and now – why do I not feel so?
Bhagavan: Who says that you do not? Does the real “I” or the false “I”? Ask yourself and you will find that it is the false “I.” The false “I” is the obstruction that has to be removed in order that the true “I” may cease to be hidden. The feeling that “’I’ have not realized” is the obstruction to realization. In fact, it is already realized. There is nothing more to be realized. If there were, the realization would be something new that did not yet exist, but was to come about in the future; but whatever is born wil also die. If realization is not eternal, it is not worth having. Therefore, what we seek is not something that must begin to exist but only what is eternal but is veiled from us by obstructions. All that we need do is to remove the obstruction. What is eternal is not recognized as such owing to ignorance. Ignorance is the obstruction. Get rid of it, and all will be well. This ignorance is identical with the “I” thought. Seek its source and it will vanish.
The “I”-thought is like a spirit that, although not palpable, rises up simultaneously with the body, flourishes with it and disappears with it. The body-consciousness is the wrong “I.” Give it up. You can do so by seeking the source of “I.” The body does not say, “I am.” It is you who say “I am the body.” Find out who this “I” is. Seek its source and it will vanish.
Some of the Writings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
Upadesa Sarah (Upadesa Saram): The Essence of the Spiritual Instruction