How are we to conceive of Supreme Consciousness (Chaitanya Brahman)?

Devotee:  How are we to conceive of Supreme Consciousness (Chaitanya Brahman)?

Ramana Maharishi:  As that which is.

Devotee:  Should it be realised as “I am not the body, nor the agent, nor the enjoyer, etc.”?

Ramana Maharishi:  Why these thoughts? Do we now think that we are men, etc.? By not thinking so, do we cease to be men?

Devotee:  If we think “I am the real,” will it do?

Ramana Maharishi:  All thoughts are inconsistent with realisation. The correct state is to exclude thoughts of ourselves and all other thoughts. Thought is one thing and realisation is quite another.

How to realise the Heart?

Devotee:  How to realise the Heart?

Ramana Maharishi:  There is no one who even for a trice fails to experience the Self. For no one admits that he ever stands apart from the Self. He is the Self. The Self is the Heart.

Devotee:  It is not clear.

Ramana Maharishi:  In deep sleep you exist; awake, you remain. The same Self is in both states. The difference is only in the awareness and the nonawareness  of the world. The world rises with the mind and sets with the mind. That which rises and sets is not the Self. The Self is different, giving rise to the mind, sustaining it and resolving it. So the Self is the underlying principle.

Your nature is now different from meditation.

Devotee:  How many hours a day should one devote to meditation?

Ramana Maharishi:  Your very nature is meditation.

Devotee:  It will be so when ripe, but not now.

Ramana Maharishi:  You become conscious of it later. That does not mean that your nature is now different from meditation.

Seeing and knowing are the functions of the mind. In nirvana there is nothing but the blissful pure consciousness “I am.”

Ramana Maharishi:  Nirvana is Perfection. In the Perfect State there is neither subject nor object; there is nothing to see, nothing to feel, nothing to know. Seeing and knowing are the functions
of the mind. In nirvana there is nothing but the blissful pure consciousness “I am.”

Everything is within. There is nothing without.

Devotee.:  I wish to go to Kailas.

Ramana Maharishi: One can see these places only if destined. Not otherwise. After seeing all, there will still remain more - if not in this hemisphere, maybe in the other. Knowledge implies ignorance of what lies beyond what is known. Knowledge is always limited. After some time Sri Bhagavan  continued: Appar was decrepit and old and yet began to travel to Kailas. Another old man appeared on the way and tried to dissuade him from the attempt, saying that it was so difficult to reach there. Appar was however obdurate and said that he would risk his life in the attempt. The stranger asked him to dip himself in a tank close by. Appar did so and found Kailas then and there. Where did all this happen? In Tiruvayyar, nine miles from Tanjore. Where is Kailas then? Is it within the mind or outside it? If Tiruvayyar be truly Kailas, it must appear to others as well. But Appar alone found it so. Similarly it is said of other places of pilgrimage in the South, that they are the abodes of Siva, and devotees found them so. This was true from their standpoint. Everything is within. There is nothing without.

God-vision is only vision of the Self objectified as the God of one’s own faith. Know the Self.

Devotee: “There is a girl of eleven in Lahore. She is very remarkable. She says she can call upon Krishna twice and remain conscious, but if she calls the third time she becomes unconscious and remains in trance for ten hours continuously.”

Ramana Maharishi:  So long as you think that Krishna is different from you, you call upon Him. Falling into trance denotes the transitoriness of the samadhi. You are always in samadhi; that is what should be realised.

Devotee:  God-vision is glorious.

Ramana Maharishi: God-vision is only vision of the Self objectified as the God of one’s own faith. Know the Self.

The sattvic mind resolves itself into the Life-current.

Devotee:  How is the mind controlled?

Ramana Maharishi:  What do you call ‘the mind’?

Devotee:   When I sit down to think of God, thoughts wander away to other objects. I want to control those thoughts.

Ramana Maharishi:  In the Bhagavad Gita it is said that it is the nature of the mind to wander. One must bring one’s thoughts to bear on God. By long practice the mind is controlled and made steady. The wavering of the mind is a weakness arising from the dissipation of its energy in the shape of thoughts. When one makes the mind stick to one thought the energy is conserved, and the mind becomes stronger.

Devotee:   What is the meaning of the strength of the mind?

Ramana Maharishi:  Its ability to concentrate on one thought without being distracted.

Devotee:   How is that achieved?

Ramana Maharishi:  By practice. A devotee concentrates on God; a seeker, follower of the jnana-marga, seeks the Self. The practice is equally difficult for both.

Devotee:   Even if the mind is brought to bear on the search for the Self, after a long struggle the mind begins to elude him and the man is not aware of the mischief until after some time.

Ramana Maharishi:  So it would be. In the earlier stages the mind reverts to the search at long intervals; with continued practice it reverts at shorter intervals until finally it does not wander at all. It is then that the dormant sakti manifests. The satvic mind is free from thoughts whereas the rajasic mind is full of them. The sattvic mind resolves itself into the Life-current.

There is only one consciousness, which subsists in the waking, dream and sleep states.

Devotee:   I know that one can think, remaining forgetful of the physical body. Can one think without the mind? Is it possible to gain that consciousness which is beyond thoughts?

Ramana Maharishi:  Yes. There is only one consciousness, which subsists in the waking, dream and sleep states. In sleep there is no ‘I’. The ‘I-thought’ arises on waking and then the world appears. Where was this ‘I’ in sleep? Was it there or was it not? It must have been there also, but not in the way that you feel now. The present is only the ‘I-thought’, whereas the sleeping ‘I’ is the real ‘I’. It subsists all through. It is consciousness. If it is known you will see that it is beyond thoughts.

The purpose of one’s birth will be fulfilled whether you will it or not. Let the purpose fulfill itself.

Devotee:   How is work to be done ordinarily for an aspirant?

Ramana Maharishi:  Without self-identification with the actor. For instance, did you intend visiting this place while  in Paris?

Devotee:   No!

Ramana Maharishi:  You see how you are acting without your intention to do so? The Gita says that a man cannot remain without acting. The purpose of one’s birth will be fulfilled whether you will it or not. Let the purpose fulfill itself.

In all actions there is the sat as the underlying principle. “Remember it and act.”

A Devotee asked about Karma Yoga.

Ramana Maharishi:  Man should act as an actor on the stage. In all actions there is the sat as the underlying principle. “Remember it and act.”

Now what is your real nature? Is it writing, walking, or being? The one unalterable reality is Being.

Devotee:  Is it enough if I spend some time in the mornings and some time in the evenings for this atma-vichara? Or should I do it always - say, even when I am writing or walking?

Ramana Maharishi:  Now what is your real nature? Is it writing, walking, or being? The one unalterable reality is Being. Until you realise that state of pure being you should pursue the enquiry. If once you are established in it there will be no further worry. No one will enquire into the source of thoughts unless thoughts arise. So long as you think “I am walking,” “I am writing,” enquire who does it. These actions will however go on when one is firmly established in the Self. Does a man always say, “I am a man, I am a man, I am a man,” every moment of his life? He does not say so and yet all his actions are going on.

Devotee:  Is an intellectual understanding of the Truth necessary?

Ramana Maharishi:  Yes. Otherwise why does not the person realise God or the Self at once, i.e., as soon as he is told that God is all or the Self is all? That shows some wavering on his part. He must argue with himself and gradually convince himself of the Truth before his faith becomes firm.

Do you say that they (objects) exist, or do they come and announce their existence to you?

Ramana Maharishi:  Do the objects exist in the absence of the subject?

Devotee:  Their existence is independent of the subject.

Ramana Maharishi:  Do you say that they exist, or do they come and announce their existence to you?

Devotee:  I know that they exist.

Ramana Maharishi:  So it is your knowledge of them only. Their existence is not absolute.

Devotee:  Even if I did not know they will continue to exist.

Ramana Maharishi:  Do you claim their existence in the absence of your knowledge of them? (Laughter).

“How is it that Atma vidya is said to be the easiest?”

Devotee:  “How is it that Atma vidya is said to be the easiest?”

Ramana Maharishi:  Any other vidya requires a knower, knowledge and the object to be known, whereas this does not require any of them. It is the Self.  Is anything be so obvious as that? Hence it  is the easiest. All that you need do is to enquire, “Who am I?”  A man’s true name is mukti (liberation)

Turn your vision inward and then the whole world will be full of Supreme Spirit.

Devotee:  Can we not proceed from external to internal?

Ramana Maharishi:  Is there any difference like that? Do you feel the difference - external and internal - in your sleep? This difference is only with reference to the body and arises with body-consciousness (‘Ithought’). The so-called waking state is itself an illusion. Turn your vision inward and then the whole world will be full of Supreme Spirit. The world is said to be illusion. Illusion is really Truth. Even the material sciences trace the origin of the universe to some one primordial matter - subtle, exceedingly subtle. God is the same both to those who say the world is real and to their opponents. Their outlook is different. You need not entangle yourself in such disputations. The goal is one and the same for all. Look to it.

How is one to meditate?

Devotee:  How is one to meditate?

Ramana Maharishi:  What is meditation? It is commonly understood to be concentration on a single thought. Other thoughts are kept out at that time. The single thought also must vanish at the right time. Thought-free consciousness is the goal.

Difference between external and internal samadhi

Ramana Maharishi:  External samadhi is holding on to the Reality while witnessing the world, without reacting to it from within. There is the stillness of a waveless ocean. The internal samadhi involves loss of body consciousness.

The Saguna (worship of the personal God) merges into the nirguna (devotion to the impersonal) in the long run.

Devotee:  Saguna upasana (worship of the personal God) is said to be imperfect. It is also said that nirguna upasana (devotion to the impersonal) is hard and risky. I am fit for the former only. What is to be done?

Ramana Maharishi:  The Saguna merges into the nirguna in the long run. The saguna purifies the mind and takes one to the final goal.

Be the Self; there will be no second thing to cause you fear.

Devotee:  What is the instrument by which we experience that state?

Ramana Maharishi:  We call it Mayakarana as opposed to the antahkarana to which we are accustomed in our other states. The same instruments are called differently in the different states, even as the anandatman of sleep is termed the vijnanatman of the wakeful state.

Devotee:  Please furnish me with an illustration for the mayakarana experiencing the ananda.

Ramana Maharishi:  How can you say “I slept happily”? The experience is there to prove your happiness. There cannot be the remembrance in the wakeful state in the absence of the experience in the sleep state.

Devotee:  Agreed. But please give me an illustration.

Ramana Maharishi:  How can it be described? If you dive into water for recovering an article you speak of its recovery only after rising out of the water. You do not say anything while remaining sunk in water.

Devotee:  I do not have fear in sleep whereas I have it now.

Ramana Maharishi:  Because dwiteeyadvai bhayam bhavati - fear is always of a second one. Of what are you afraid?

Devotee:  By reason of the perception of the body, the senses, the world, Isvara, doership, enjoyment etc.

Ramana Maharishi:  Why do you see them if they cause fear?

Devotee:  Because they are inescapable.

Ramana Maharishi:  But it is you who sees them. For whom is the fear? Is it for them?

Devotee:  No, it is for me.

Ramana Maharishi:  Because you see them, you fear them. Do not see them and there will be no fear.

Devotee:  What then should I do in the waking state?

Ramana Maharishi:  Be the Self; there will be no second thing to cause you fear.

To think or wish it is itself a thought. If the thinker is sought, the thoughts will disappear.

Devotee:  The sleep state is the state when the mind is quiet. I consider it a worse state.

Ramana Maharishi:  If that were so, why do all desire sleep?

Devotee:  It is the body when tired that goes to sleep.

Ramana Maharishi:  Does the body sleep?

Devotee:  Yes. It is the condition in which the wear and tear of the body is repaired.

Ramana Maharishi:  Let it be so. But does the body itself sleep or wake up? You yourself said shortly before that the mind is quiet in sleep. The three states are of the mind.

Devotee:  Are they not states of the soul functioning through the senses, etc.?

Ramana Maharishi:  They are not of the soul or of the body. The soul remains always uncontaminated. It is the substratum running through all these three states. Wakefulness passes off, I am; the dream state passes off, I am; the sleep state passes off, I am. They repeat themselves, and yet I am. They are like pictures moving on the screen in a cinema show. They do not affect the screen. Similarly also, I remain unaffected although these states pass off. If it is of the body, are you aware of the body in sleep?

Devotee:  No.

Ramana Maharishi:  Without knowing the body to be there how can the body be said to be in sleep?

Devotee:  Because it is still found after waking up.

Ramana Maharishi:  The sense of body is a thought; the thought is of the mind, the mind rises after the ‘I-thought’, the ‘I-thought’ is the root thought. If that is held, the other thoughts will disappear. There will then be no body, no mind, not even the ego.

Devotee:  What will remain then?

Ramana Maharishi:  The Self in its purity.

Devotee:  How can the mind be made to vanish?

Ramana Maharishi:  No attempt is made to destroy it. To think or wish it is itself a thought. If the thinker is sought, the thoughts will disappear.

Is there an Absolute Being? What is its relation to the relative existence?

Devotee:  Is there an Absolute Being? What is its relation to the relative existence?

Ramana Maharishi:  Are they different from each other? All the questions arise only in the mind. The mind arises with waking and subsides in deep sleep. As long as there is a mind, so long will there be such questions and doubts.

See the common factor (sama) in all the objects.

Devotee:  What is kousalam (skill) in Yogah karmasu kousalam (yoga is skill in action). How is that gained?

Ramana Maharishi:  Do actions without caring for the result. Do not think that you are the doer. Dedicate the work to God. That is the skill and also the way to gain it.

Devotee:  Samatvam yoga uchyate (Equanimity is yoga). What is that equanimity?

Ramana Maharishi:  It is unity in diversity. The universe is now seen to be diverse. See the common factor (sama) in all the objects. When that is done equality in the pairs of opposites (dwandwani) naturally follows. It is the latter which is however spoken of as equanimity ordinarily.

Devotee:  How is the common factor to be perceived in the diversity?

Ramana Maharishi:  The seer is only one. They do not appear without the seer. There is no change in the seer, however much the others may change.
Yogah karmasu kousalam = Skill in work is yoga,
Samatvam yoga uchyate = Equanimity is yoga,
Mamekam saranam vraja = Only surrender to Me,
Ekamevadwiteeyam = Only one without a second, representing Karma, Yoga, Bhakti and Jnana convey the same meaning. They are only the single Truth presented in different aspects.

Because your nature is happiness itself and it is natural that you come into your own.

Devotee:  How shall I overcome my passions?

Ramana Maharishi:  Find their root and then it will be easy. (Later) What are the passions? Kama (lust), krodha (anger), etc. Why do they arise? Because of likes and dislikes towards the objects seen. How do the objects project themselves in your view? Because of your avidya, i.e., ignorance. Ignorance of what? Of the Self. Thus, if you find the Self and abide therein there will be no trouble owing to the passions. (Later) Again, what is the cause of the passions? Desire to be happy or enjoy pleasure. Why does the desire for happiness arise? Because your nature is happiness itself and it is natural that you come into your own. This happiness is not found anywhere besides the Self. Do not look for it elsewhere. But seek the Self and abide therein. Still again, that happiness which is natural is simply re-discovered, so it cannot be lost. Whereas the happiness arising from other objects are external and thus liable to be lost. Therefore it cannot be permanent and so it is not worth seeking. Moreover craving for pleasures should not be encouraged. One cannot put out burning fire by pouring petrol over it. An attempt to satisfy your craving for the time being, so that the passion may later be suppressed, is simply foolish.
There are, no doubt, other methods for the suppression of passion. They are (1) regulated food, (2) fasting, (3) yoga practice, (4) medicines. But their effects are transitory. The passions reappear with greater force as soon as the check is removed. The only way to overcome them is to eradicate them. That is done by finding their source as stated above.

The object of enquiry is to find the true nature of the Self as Awareness

Devotee:  Sri Bhagavan advises practice of enquiry even when one is engaged in external activities. The finality of such enquiry is the realisation of the Self and consequently breath must stop. If breath should stop, how will work go on or, in other words, how will breath stop when one is working?

Ramana Maharishi: There is confusion between the means and the end (i.e., sadhana and sadhya). Who is the enquirer? The aspirant and not the siddha.  Enquiry signifies that the enquirer considers himself separate from enquiry. So long as this duality lasts the enquiry must be continued, i.e., until the individuality disappears and the Self is realised to be only the eternal Be-ing (including enquiry and enquirer). The Truth is that Self is constant and unintermittent Awareness. The object of enquiry is to find the true nature of the Self as Awareness. Let one practise enquiry so long as separateness is perceived. If once realisation arises there is no further need for enquiry. The question will also not arise. Can awareness ever think of questioning who is aware? Awareness remains pure and simple. The enquirer is aware of his own individuality. Enquiry does not stand in the way of his individual awareness; nor does external work interfere with such awareness. If work, seemingly external, does not obstruct the individual awareness, will the work, realised to be not separate from the Self, obstruct the uninterrupted Awareness of the Self, which is One without a second and which is not an individual separate from work?

What is the root-cause of maya?

Devotee:  What is the root-cause of maya?

Ramana Maharishi:  What is maya?

Devotee:  Maya is wrong knowledge, illusion.

Ramana Maharishi:  For whom is the illusion? There must be one to be deluded. Illusion is ignorance. The ignorant Self sees the objects according to you. When the objects are not themselves present how can maya exist? Maya is ya ma (maya is what is not). What remains over is the true Self. If you say that you see the objects, or if you say that you do not know the Real Unity, then are there two selves, one the knower and the other the knowable object. No one will admit of two selves in himself. The awakened man says that he himself was in deep slumber but not aware. He does not say that the sleeper was different from the present one. There is only one Self. That Self is always aware. It is changeless. There is nothing but the Self.

Only after thoughts arise the world comes into being; what can it be but thought?

Devotee:  What should one do in order to remain free from thoughts as advised by you? Is it only the enquiry “Who am I?”

Ramana Maharishi:  Only to remain still. Do it and see.

Devotee:  It is impossible.

Ramana Maharishi:  Exactly. For the same reason the enquiry “Who am I?” is advised.

Devotee:  Raising the question, no response comes from within.

Ramana Maharishi:  What kind of response do you expect? Are you not there? What more?

Devotee:  Thoughts rise up more and more.

Ramana Maharishi:  Then and there raise the same question, “Who am I?”

Devotee:  Should I do so as each thought arises? Well. Is the world our thought only?

Ramana Maharishi:  Leave this question to the world. Let it ask, “How did I come into being?”

Devotee:  Do you mean that it is not related to me?

Ramana Maharishi:  Nothing is perceived in deep sleep; all these are seen only after waking; only after thoughts arise the world comes into being; what can it be but thought?

There is only one ‘I’ all along, but what arises up from time to time is the mistaken ‘I-thought’

Devotee:  “Is it enough to introvert the mind or should we meditate on ‘I am Brahman’?”

Ramana Maharishi:  To introvert the mind is the prime thing. We say that the flow of ‘I’ thought proceeds from its underlying substratum - the only - Reality. Why should one be meditating ‘I am Brahman’? Only the annihilation of ‘I’ is Liberation. But it can be gained only by keeping the ‘I-I’ always in view. So the need for the investigation of the ‘I’ thought. If the ‘I’ is not let go, no blank can result to the seeker. Otherwise meditation will end in sleep. There is only one ‘I’ all along, but what arises up from time to time is the mistaken ‘I-thought’; whereas the intuitive ‘I’ always remains Self-shining, i.e., even before it becomes manifest.  The birth of the gross body does not amount to one’s own birth, on the other hand, the birth of the ego is one’s own birth. For liberation, nothing new remains to be gained. It is the original state and continues unchanged too.

Just as the waking, dream and sleep states are phenomena, so also birth, growth and death are phenomena in the Self. which continues to be unbroken and unaffected.

Devotee:  Does not the realised man continue to live just like a non-realised being?

Ramana Maharishi:  Yes, with this difference that the realised being does not see the world as being apart from the Self, he possesses true knowledge and the internal happiness of being perfect, whereas the other person sees the world apart, feels imperfection and is miserable. Otherwise their physical actions are similar.

Devotee:  The realised being also knows that there are wars being waged in the world, just like the other man.

Ramana Maharishi:  Yes.

Devotee:  How then can he be happy?

Ramana Maharishi:  Is the cinema screen affected by a scene of fire burning or sea rising? So it is with the Self. The idea that I am the body or the mind is so deep that one cannot get
over it even if convinced otherwise. One experiences a dream and knows it to be unreal on waking. Waking experience is unreal in other states. So each state contradicts the others. They are therefore mere changes taking place in the seer, or phenomena appearing in the Self, which is unbroken and remains unaffected by them. Just as the waking, dream and sleep states are phenomena, so also birth, growth and death are phenomena in the Self. which continues to be unbroken and unaffected. Birth and death are only ideas. They pertain to the body or the mind. The Self exists before the birth of this body and will remain after the death of this body. So it is with the series of bodies taken up in succession. The Self is immortal. The phenomena are changeful and appear mortal. The fear of death is of the body. It is not true of the Self. Such fear is due to ignorance. Realisation means True Knowledge of the Perfection and Immortality of the Self. Mortality is only an idea and cause of misery. You get rid of it by realising the Immortal nature of the Self.

The fact is that God is all. There is nothing apart from Him.

Devotee:  Brahman is the one by whom all this is pervaded (yena sarvamidam thatham). But then how does Sri Krishna specify the vibhutis in Chapter X of Bhagavad Gita?

Ramana Maharishi:  The specifications are in reply to a definite question by Arjuna who required to know the Lord’s vibhutis for convenience of worship (upasana soukaryam). The fact is that God is all. There is nothing apart from Him.

If the man feels himself to be the screen on which the subject and object are projected there can be no confusion

Devotee:  What is sphurana (a kind of indescribable but palpable sensation in the heart centre)?

Ramana Maharishi:  Sphurana is felt on several occasions, such as in fear, excitement, etc. Although it is always and all over, yet it is felt at a particular center and on particular occasions. It is also associated with antecedent causes and confounded with the body. Whereas, it is all alone and pure; it is the Self. If the mind be fixed on the sphurana and one senses it continuously and automatically it is realisation. Again sphurana is the foretaste of Realisation. It is pure. The subject and object proceed from it. If the man mistakes himself for the subject, objects must necessarily appear different from him. They are periodically withdrawn and projected, creating the world and the subject’s enjoyment of the same. If, on the other hand, the man feels himself to be the screen on which the subject and object are projected there can be no confusion, and he can remain watching their appearance and disappearance without any perturbation to the Self.