How to find the Atman?

Devotee: How to find the Atman?

Ramana Maharishi:  There is no investigation into the Atman. The investigation can only be into the non-self. Elimination of the non-self is alone possible. The Self being always self evident will shine forth of itself. The Self is called by different names - Atman, God, Kundalini, mantra, etc. Hold any one of them and the Self becomes manifest. God is no other than the Self. Kundalini is now showing forth as the mind. When the mind is traced to its source it is Kundalini. Mantra japa leads to elimination of other thoughts and to concentration on the mantra. The mantra finally merges into the Self and shines forth as the Self

Is there any particular upasana which is more efficacious than others?

Devotee:  Is there any particular upasana which is more efficacious than others?

Ramana Maharishi:  All upasanas are equally efficacious. But each one takes easily to one kind of upasana which suits his previous vasanas.

What is Self-surrender?

Devotee:  What is Self-surrender?

Ramana Maharishi:  It is the same as self-control; control is effected by removal of samskaras which imply the functioning of the ego. The ego submits only when it recognises the Higher Power.  Such recognition is surrender or submission, or self-control. Otherwise the ego remains stuck up like the image carved on a tower, making a pretence by its strained look and posture that it is supporting the tower on its shoulders. The ego cannot exist without the Power but thinks that it acts of its own accord.

Silence is eternal eloquence

Devotee:  Why do masters insist on silence and receptivity?

Ramana Maharishi:  What is silence? It is eternal eloquence

Devotee:  What is receptive attitude of mind?

Ramana Maharishi:  Not to be distracted in mind.

Self-reform automatically brings about social reform.

Devotee:  What are your opinions about social reform?

Ramana Maharishi:  Self-reform automatically brings about social reform. Confine yourself to self-reform. Social reform will take care of itself.

There is no need to so imagine oneself as witness of the thoughts. It is best to remain as one’s Self.

Devotee:  “Can one imagine oneself as witness of the thoughts?”

Ramana Maharishi:  It is not the natural state. It is only an idea (bhavana) - an aid to stilling the mind. The Self is ever the witness, whether so imagined or not. There is no need to so imagine except for that purpose. But it is best to remain as one’s Self.

Turn inward to the Self; and then know that the world is not apart from the Self.

Devotee:  It is said Atma samstham manah krtva (fixing the mind in the Self). But the Self is unthinkable.

Ramana Maharishi:  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 (fixed in the Self).

Devotee:  If a form is given I can meditate on it and other thoughts are eliminated. But the Self is formless.

Ramana Maharishi:  Meditation on forms or concrete objects is said to be dhyana, whereas the enquiry into the Self is vichara (enquiry) or nididhyasana. Explaining adhyaropapavadabhyam (superimposition and its elimination), Sri Bhagavan pointed out that the first turns you inward to the Self; and then according to the second, you know that the world is not apart from the Self.

The egoless ‘I am’ is not thought. The experience of ‘I am’ is to Be Still.

Devotee:  Is there thought in Samadhi? Or is there not?

Ramana Maharishi:  There will only be the feeling ‘I am’ and no other thoughts.

Devotee:  Is not ‘I am’ a thought?

Ramana Maharishi:  The egoless ‘I am’ is not thought. It is realisation. The meaning or significance of ‘I’ is God. The experience of ‘I am’ is to Be Still.

The oral japa becomes mental and the mental japa finally reveals itself as being eternal.

Ramana Maharishi:  The object of mantra japa is to realise that the same japa is already going on in oneself even without effort. The oral japa becomes mental and the mental japa finally reveals itself as being eternal. That mantra is the person’s real nature. That is also the state of realisation.

Devotee:  Can the bliss of samadhi be gained thus?

Ramana Maharishi:  The japa becomes mental and finally reveals itself as the Self. That is samadhi

The desire for happiness is a proof of the ever existing happiness of the Self.

Ramana Maharishi: The desire for happiness (sukha prema) is a proof of the ever existing happiness of the Self. Otherwise how can desire for it arise in you? If headache was natural to human beings no one would try to get rid of it. But everyone that has a headache tries to get rid of it, because he has known a time when he had no headache. He desires only that which is natural to him. So too he desires happiness because happiness is natural to him. Being natural, it is not acquired. Man’s attempts can only be to get rid of misery. If that be done the ever-present bliss is felt. The primal bliss is obscured by the non-self which is synonymous with non-bliss or misery. Duhkha nasam = sukha prapti. (Loss of unhappiness amounts to gain of happiness.) Happiness mixed with misery is only misery. When misery is eliminated then the ever-present bliss is said to be gained. Pleasure
which ends in pain is misery. Man wants to eschew such pleasure. Pleasures are priya, moda and pra-moda. When a desired object is near at hand there arises priya: when it is taken possession of moda arises; when it is being enjoyed pra-moda prevails. The reason for the pleasureableness of these states is that one thought excludes all others, and then this single thought also merges into the Self. These states are enjoyed in the Anandamaya kosa only. As a rule Vijnanamaya kosa prevails on waking. In deep sleep all thoughts disappear and the state of obscuration is one of bliss; there the prevailing body is the Anandamaya. These are sheaths and not the core, which is interior to all these. It lies beyond waking, dream and deep sleep. That is the Reality and consists of true bliss (nijananda).

Guru creates conditions to drive you inward and prepares the interior to drag you to the center.

Ramana Maharishi:  Inasmuch as you say you are ignorant, you are wise. Is he a madman who says that he is mad? Guru’s Grace is like a hand extended to help you out of water, or it makes your way easier for the removal of ignorance.

Devotee:  Is it not like a medicine to cure the disease of avidya?

Ramana Maharishi:  What is medicine for? It is only to restore the patient to the original state of health. What is this talk of Guru. Grace, God, etc.? Does the Guru hold you by the hand and whisper something in your ear? You imagine him to be like yourself. Because you are with a body you think that he is also a body in order to do something tangible to you. His work lies within. How is Guru gained? God, who is immanent, in his Grace takes pity on the loving devotee and manifests Himself as a being according to the devotee’s standard.  The devotee thinks that he is a man and expects relationship as between bodies. But the Guru, who is God or Self incarnate, works from within, helps the man to see the error of his ways, guides him in the right path until he realises the Self within. After such realisation the disciple feels, “I was so worried before. I am after all the Self, the same as before but not affected by anything; where is he who was miserable? He is nowhere to be seen.” What should we do now? Only act up to the words of the master, work within. The Guru is both within and without. So he creates conditions to drive you inward and prepares the interior to drag you to the centre. Thus he gives a push from without and exerts a pull from within so that you may be fixed at the centre. In sleep you are centred within. Simultaneously with waking your mind rushes out, thinking this, that and all else. This must be checked.  It is possible only for the agent who can work both within and without. Can he be identified with a body? We think that the world can be conquered by our efforts. When frustrated externally and driven internally, we feel “Oh! oh! There is a power higher than man.” The existence of the higher power must be admitted and recognised.  The ego is a very powerful elephant and cannot be brought under control by anyone less than a lion, who is no other than the Guru in this instance; whose very look makes the  elephant tremble and die. We will know in due course that our glory lies where we cease to exist. In order to gain that state, one should surrender oneself saying “LORD! Thou art my Refuge!” The master then sees “This man is in a fit state to receive guidance,” and so guides him.

Is the Universal Soul (Paramatma) always different from us?

Devotee:  Is the Universal Soul (Paramatma) always different from us?

Ramana Maharishi:  That is the common belief, but it is wrong. Think of Him as not different from you, and then you achieve identity of Self with God.

If peace is permanent it is called Realisation

Devotee:  I get into meditation and reach a point which may be called peace and a contemplative mood. What should be the next step?

Ramana Maharishi:  Peace is Self-Realisation. Peace need not be disturbed. One should aim at Peace only.

Devotee:  But I do not have the satisfaction.

Ramana Maharishi:  Because your peace is temporary. If made permanent it is called Realisation

Thoughts are not real: the only reality is the Self

Devotee:  What is this mind?

Ramana Maharishi:  A bundle of thoughts.

Devotee:  Where from has it its origin?

Ramana Maharishi:  Consciousness of the Self.

Devotee:  Then thoughts are not real.

Ramana Maharishi:  They are not: the only reality is the Self.

One must always try to hold on to the Self

Devotee:  A person does something good but he sometimes suffers pain even in his right activities. Another does something wicked but is also happy. Why should it be so?

Ramana Maharishi:  Pain or pleasure is the result of past Karma and not of the present Karma. Pain and pleasure alternate with each other. One must suffer or enjoy them patiently without being carried away by them. One must always try to hold on to the Self. When one is active one should not care for the results and must not be swayed by the pain or pleasure met with occasionally. He who is indifferent to pain or pleasure can alone be happy.

The mind knows that the body entity persists and reappears after sleep. Whereas the mind is not sure of reappearance after the so-called death and dreads it.

Devotee:  Fear is consequent on the possibility of non-existence. It pertains to the body. One is not aware of the body in sleep. One is not afraid of, but courts sleep, whereas one dreads death. Why is this difference between the two outlooks?

Ramana Maharishi:  Desire of sleep or fear of death are when the mind is active and not in the respective states themselves. The mind knows that the body entity persists and reappears after sleep. Therefore sleep is not attended with fear but the pleasure of non-bodily existence is sought. Whereas the mind is not sure of reappearance after the so-called death and dreads it.

That which rises and sets is the ego; that which remains changeless is the Self.

Devotee:  I do not know if the Self is different from the ego.

Ramana Maharishi:  How were you in your deep sleep?

Devotee:  I do not know.

Ramana Maharishi:  Who does not know? Is it not the waking Self? Do you deny your existence in your deep sleep?

Devotee:  I was and I am; but I do not know who was in deep sleep.

Ramana Maharishi:  Exactly. The man awake says that he did not know anything in the state of sleep. Now he sees the objects and knows that he is there; whereas in deep sleep there were no objects, no spectator, etc. The same one who is now speaking was in deep sleep also. What is the difference between these two states? There are objects and play of senses now which were not in sleep. A new entity, the ego, has risen up in the meantime, it plays through the senses, sees the objects, confounds itself with the body and says that the Self is the ego. In reality, what was in deep sleep continues to exist now too. The Self is changeless. It is the ego that has come between. That which rises and sets is the ego; that which remains changeless is the Self.

If one asks how to realise the Self it looks absurd. You are the Self. Remain as the Self. That is all.

Ramana Maharishi:  Surrender once for all and be done with the desire. So long as the sense of doership is retained there is the desire; that is also personality. If this goes the Self is found to shine forth pure. The sense of doership is the bondage and not the actions themselves. “Be still and know that I am God.” Here stillness is total surrender without a vestige of individuality. Stillness will prevail and there will be no agitation of mind. Agitation of mind is the cause of desire, the sense of doership and personality. If that is stopped there is quiet. There ‘Knowing’ means ‘Being’. It is not the relative knowledge involving the triads, knowledge, subject and object.

Devotee:  Is the thought “I am God” or “I am the Supreme Being” helpful?

Ramana Maharishi:  “I am that I am.” “I am” is God - not thinking, “I am God”. Realise “I am” and do not think I am. “Know I am God” - it is said, and not “Think I am God.”

It is said “I AM that I AM”. That means a person must abide as the ‘I’. He is always the ‘I’ alone. He is nothing else. Yet he asks “Who am I?” A victim of illusion would ask “Who am I?” and not a man fully aware of himself. The wrong identity of the Self with the non-self makes you ask, “Who am I?”

There are different routes to Tiruvannamalai, but Tiruvannamalai is the same by whichever route it is gained. Similarly the approach to the subject varies according to the personality. Yet the Self is the same. But still, being in Tiruvannamalai, if one asks for the route it is ridiculous. So also, being the Self, if one asks how to realise the Self it looks absurd. You are the Self. Remain as the Self. That is all. The questions arise because of the present wrong identification of the Self with the body. That is ignorance. This must go. On its removal the Self alone is.

Peace is your very nature

Devotee:  Peace is extolled more than anything else. How shall we gain it?

Ramana Maharishi:  It is your very nature. Forgetfulness never overtakes the Self. The Self is now confounded with non-self and that makes you speak of forgetfulness of the Self, Peace, etc. Oblivion will never rear up its head if this confusion is put an end to.

Devotee:  How is that done?

Ramana Maharishi:  Enquiry into the Self. One-pointedness means cessation of mental activities. Forgetfulness must be for the self - well, of what? Of the Self? Are there then two selves? Practice removes the samskaras.

Devotee:  But samskaras are infinite and eternal - from beginningless time.

Ramana Maharishi:  This itself is a samskara. Give up that idea and all samskaras will disappear at once. That is visranti (repose), santi (peace). Peace is ever present. But you hold it down and rise over it and thus disturb it. Then you say, “I want Peace”.

Devotee:  Will Peace be gradual?

Ramana Maharishi:  Yes. Make the mind gradually still (Sanaissanaih uparamet) says the Bhagavad Gita.

I have my professional work and yet I want to be in perpetual dhyana. Will they conflict with each other?

Devotee:  I have my professional work and yet I want to be in perpetual dhyana. Will they conflict with each other?

Ramana Maharishi:  There will be no conflict. As you practise both and develop your powers you will be able to attend to both. You will begin to look on business as a dream. Says the Bhagavad Gita: “That which is the night of all beings, for the disciplined man is the time of waking; when other beings are waking, then is it night for the sage who seeth.”

What becomes of the man who has not practised breath-control?

Devotee:  Is it necessary to control one’s breath? What becomes of the man who has not practised breath-control?

Ramana Maharishi:  Breath-control is only an aid for diving deep. One may as well dive down by control of mind. On the mind being controlled, the breath becomes controlled automatically. One need not attempt breathcontrol; mind-control is enough. Breath-control is recommended for the man who cannot control his mind straightaway.

Naham - I am not this - corresponds to rechaka
Koham - Who am I? (search for the I) - corresponds to puraka
Soham - He am I; (The Self alone) - corresponds to kumbhaka.
So these are the functions of pranayama. Again the three formulae are:
Na - Aham (Not - I).
Ka - Aham (Who - I).
Sa - Aham (He - I).

Delete the prefixes and hold on to the common factor in all of them. That is Aham-’I’, that is the gist of the whole matter.

The Self is not a seer. But here he is said to see the world. So he is differentiated as the Jiva.

A question was asked why it was wrong to say that there is a multiplicity of jivas. Jivas are certainly many. For a jiva is only the ego and forms the reflected light of the Self. Multiplicity of selves may be wrong but not of jivas.

Ramana Maharishi  Jiva is called so because he sees the world. A dreamer sees many jivas in a dream but all of them are not real. The dreamer alone exists and he sees all. So it is with the individual and the world. There is the creed of only one Self which is also called the creed of only one jiva. It says that the jiva is only one who sees the whole world and the jivas therein.

Devotee:  Then jiva means the Self here.

Ramana Maharishi:  So it is. But the Self is not a seer. But here he is said to see the world. So he is differentiated as the Jiva.

How does dream differ from waking?

Devotee: How does dream differ from waking?

Ramana Maharishi: In dreams one takes on different bodies, and they re-enter this body when one dreams of sense-contacts.

Just as a big banyan tree sprouts from a tiny seed, so the wide universe with names and forms sprouts forth from the heart.

Ramana Maharishi:  Just as the rivers discharged into the ocean lose their individualities, still the waters evaporate and return as rain on the hills and through rivers to the ocean, so also the individuals going to sleep lose their individualities and yet return as individuals according to their previous vasanas unawares. Thus, even in death, sat is not lost.

Devotee:  How can that be?

Ramana Maharishi:  See how a tree, whose branches are cut, grows again. So long as the life-source is not affected it will grow. Similarly the samskaras (anamneses) sink into the heart in death: they do not perish. They will in right time sprout forth from the heart. That is how the jivas are reborn.

Devotee:  How does the wide universe sprout forth from such subtle samskaras remaining sunk in the heart?

Ramana Maharishi:  Just as a big banyan tree sprouts from a tiny seed, so the wide universe with names and forms sprouts forth from the heart.

Devotee:  If the origin is sat why is it not felt?

Ramana Maharishi:  The salt in the lump is visible; it is invisible in solution. Still its existence is known by taste. Similarly sat, though not recognised by the intellect, can still be realised in a different way, i.e., transcendentally.

Devotee:  How?

Ramana Maharishi:  Just as a man blindfolded and left by robbers in a jungle enquires his way home and returns there, so also the ignorant one (blinded by ignorance) enquires of those not so blinded and seeks his own source and returns to it. Then, Gurupadesa - “Vang manasi sampadyate, manah prane, pranastejasi, tejah parasyam devatayam iti.”

Devotee:  If so, a Jnani or an ajnani dies in the same manner. Why is an ajnani reborn, whereas a Jnani is not?

Ramana Maharishi:  Just as an innocent man satyabhisandha is not affected by the test of touching red hot iron but a thief is affected, so also the sadbrahma satyabhisandha, i.e., a Jnani, enters into sat consciously and merges, whereas the other enters unaware and is thrown out unawares also.

Do not delude yourself by imagining such source to be some God outside you. One’s source is within yourself.

Ramana Maharishi:  It is enough that one surrenders oneself. Surrender is to give oneself up to the original cause of one’s being. Do not delude yourself by imagining such source to be some God outside you. One’s source is within yourself. Give yourself up to it. That means that you should seek the source and merge in it. Because you imagine yourself to be out of it, you raise the question “Where is the source?”

Silence is the loudest form of prayer.

Devotee:  Vivekananda has also said that silence is the loudest form of prayer.

Ramana Maharishi:  It is so, for the seeker’s silence Guru’s silence is the loudest upadesa. It is also Grace in its highest form. All other dikshas (initiations), e.g., sparsa, chakshus are derived from mowna (silence). They are therefore secondary. Mowna is the primary form. If the Guru is silent the seeker’s mind gets purified by itself.

Peace is always present. Get rid of the disturbances to Peace. This Peace is the Self.

Devotee:  What do you consider the future of this Earth?

Ramana Maharishi: The answer to this question is contained in the other sheet.  Be still and know that I AM GOD. “Stillness” here means “Being free from thoughts”.

Devotee: This does not answer the question. The planet has a future - what is it to be?

Ramana Maharishi:  Time and space are functions of thoughts. If thoughts do not arise there will be no future or the Earth.

Devotee: Time and space will remain even if we do not think of them.

Ramana Maharishi:  Do they come and tell you that they are? Do you feel them in your sleep?

Devotee: I was not conscious in my sleep.

Ramana Maharishi:  And yet you were existing in your sleep.
…..

Devotee: Wars are going on in the world. If we do not think, do the wars cease?

Ramana Maharishi:  Can you stop the wars? He who made the world will take care of it.

Devotee: God made the world and He is not responsible for the present condition of the world. It is we who are responsible for the present state.

Ramana Maharishi:  Can you stop the wars or reform the world?

Devotee: No.

Ramana Maharishi:  Then why do you worry yourself about what is not possible for you? Take care of yourself and the world will take care of itself.

Devotee: We are pacifists. We want to bring about Peace.

Ramana Maharishi:  Peace is always present. Get rid of the disturbances to Peace. This Peace is the Self. The thoughts are the disturbances. When free from them, you are Infinite Intelligence, i.e., the Self. There is Perfection and Peace.

Devotee: The world must have a future.

Ramana Maharishi:  Do you know what it is in the present? The world and all together are the same, now as well as in the future.

Devotee: The world was made by the operation of Intelligence on ether and atoms.

Ramana Maharishi:  All of them are reduced to Isvara and Sakti. You are not now apart from Them. They and you are one and the same Intelligence.

What is the best way of living?

Devotee:  What is the best way of living?

Ramana Maharishi:  It differs according as one is a Jnani or ajnani. A Jnani does not find anything different or separate from the Self. All are in the Self. It is wrong to imagine that there is the world, that there is a body in it and that you dwell in the body. If the Truth is known, the universe and what is beyond it will be found to be only in the Self. The outlook differs according to the sight of the person. The sight is from the eye. The eye must be located somewhere. If you are seeing with the gross eyes you find others gross. If with subtle eyes (i.e., the mind) others appear subtle. If the eye becomes the Self, the Self being infinite, the eye is infinite. There is nothing else to see different from the Self. He thanked Maharshi. He was told that the best way of thanking is to remain always as the Self.

The object of all these is to rid the man of concepts and to make him inhere as the pure Self...Why not go straight to it?

Devotee: What is the Sun marga? What is the Moon marga? Which of them is easier?

Ramana Maharishi:  Ravi marga (Sun marga) is jnana. Moon marga is Yoga. They think that after purifying the 72,000 nadis in the body, sushumna is entered and the mind passes up to the sahasrara and there is nectar trickling. These are all mental concepts. The man is already overwhelmed by world concepts. Other concepts are now added in the shape of this Yoga. The object of all these is to rid the man of concepts and to make him inhere as the pure Self - i.e., absolute consciousness, bereft of thoughts! Why not go straight to it? Why add new encumbrances to the already  existing ones?

In the interval between the knowledge of the identity and annihilation of vasanas, there will be illusion.

Devotee:  Does not illusion become inoperative even before identity with Brahman results (Brahmakaravritti)? Or does it persist even afterwards?

Ramana Maharishi:  Illusion will not persist after vasanas are annihilated. In the interval between the knowledge of the identity and annihilation of vasanas, there will be illusion.