Prajnana (Absolute Knowledge) is always shining even in sleep

Ramana Maharishi:  Prajnana (Absolute Knowledge) is that from which vijnana (relative knowledge) proceeds.

Devotee:  In the state of vijnana one becomes aware of the samvit (cosmic intelligence). But is that suddha samvit aware by itself without the aid of antahkaranas (inner organs)?

Ramana Maharishi:  It is so, even logically.

Devotee:  Becoming aware of samvit in jagrat by vijnana, prajnana is not found self-shining. If so, it must be found in sleep.

Ramana Maharishi:  The awareness is at present through antahkaranas. Prajnana is always shining even in sleep. If one is continuously aware in jagrat the awareness will continue in sleep also
Moreover, it is illustrated thus: A king comes into the hall, sits there and then leaves the place. He did not go into the kitchen. Can one in the kitchen for that reason say, “The king did not come here”? When awareness is found in jagrat it must also be in sleep.

How is an avatar different from a Jnani; or how can there be an avatar as distinct from the universe?

Devotee:  The avatars are said to be more glorious than the self-realised jnanis. Maya does not affect them from birth; divine powers are manifest; new religions are started; and so on.

Ramana Maharishi:  (1) “Jnani tvatmaiva me matam.” (2) “Sarvam khalvidam brahma.” How is an avatar different from a Jnani; or how can there be an avatar as distinct from the universe?

Their purpose is to know the Truth. The purpose having been gained, there is no use engaging in studies.

Asked if Sri Bhagavan had read Kamba Ramayana,

Sri Bhagavan said: No. I have not read anything. All my learning is limited to what I learnt before my 14th year. Since then I have had no inclination to read or learn. People wonder how I speak of Bhagavad Gita, etc. It is due to hearsay. I have not read Gita nor waded through commentaries for its meaning. When I hear a sloka I think that its meaning is clear and I say it. That is all and nothing more. Similarly with my other quotations. They come out naturally. I realise that the Truth is beyond speech and intellect. Why then should I project the mind to read, understand and repeat stanzas, etc.? Their purpose is to know the Truth. The purpose having been gained, there is no use engaging in studies.

Ajnani thinks dehaiva Atma (only the body is myself), whereas the Jnani knows all is of the Self (Atmamayam sarvam),

Ramana Maharishi:  Karma is posited as past karma, etc., prarabdha, agami and sanchita. There must be kartritva (doership) and karta (doer) for it. Karma (action) cannot be for the body because it is insentient. It is only so long as dehatma buddhi (‘I-am-the-body idea’) lasts. After transcending dehatma buddhi one becomes a Jnani. In the absence of that idea (buddhi) there cannot be either kartritva or karta. So a Jnani has no karma. That is his experience. Otherwise he is not a Jnani. However an ajnani identifies the Jnani with his body, which the Jnani does not do. So the ajnani finds the Jnani acting, because his body is active, and therefore he asks if the Jnani is not affected by prarabdha.

Devotee:  Is there no dehatma buddhi (I-am-the-body idea) for the Jnani? If, for instance, Sri Bhagavan be bitten by an insect, is there no sensation?

Ramana Maharishi:  There is the sensation and there is also the dehatma buddhi. The latter is common to both Jnani and ajnani with this difference, that the ajnani thinks dehaiva Atma (only the body is myself), whereas the Jnani knows all is of the Self (Atmamayam sarvam), or (sarvam khalvidam Brahma) all this is Brahma. If there be pain let it be. It is also part of the Self. The Self is poorna (perfect).

Contemplation is a forced mental process, whereas samadhi lies beyond effort.

Devotee:  I maintain that the physical body of the man sunk in samadhi as a result of unbroken contemplation of the Self becomes motionless for that reason. It may be active or inactive. The mind fixed in such contemplation will not be affected by the body or the senses being restless. A disturbance of the mind is not always the forerunner of physical activity. Another man asserts that physical unrest certainly prevents nirvikalpa samadhi or unbroken contemplation. What is your opinion? You are the standing proof of my statement.

Ramana Maharishi:  Both of you are right, you refer to sahaja nirvikalpa and the other refers to kevala nirvikalpa. In the one case the mind lies immersed in the Light of the Self (whereas the same lies in the darkness of ignorance in deep sleep). The subject discriminates one from the other - samadhi, stirring up from samadhi, and activity thereafter, unrest of the body, of the sight of the vital force and of the mind, the cognizance of objects and activity, are all obstructions for him. In sahaja, however, the mind has resolved itself into the Self and has been lost. Differences and obstructions mentioned above do not therefore exist here. The activities of such a being are like the feeding of a somnolent boy, perceptible to the onlooker (but not to the subject). The driver sleeping on his moving cart is not aware of the motion of the cart, because his mind is sunk in darkness. Similarly the sahaja Jnani remains unaware of his bodily activities because his mind is dead - having been resolved in the ecstasy of Chit Ananda (Self). The two words contemplation and samadhi have been used loosely in the question. Contemplation is a forced mental process, whereas samadhi lies beyond effort.

Sri Ramakrishna prepared Vivekananda. What is the power behind?

Devotee:  Sri Ramakrishna prepared Vivekananda. What is the power behind?

Ramana Maharishi:  The power is only one in all.

Devotee:  What is the nature of that force?

Ramana Maharishi:  Just like iron filings drawn towards a magnet, the force is inside and not outside. Ramakrishna was in Vivekananda. If you think Vivekananda to be a body, Ramakrishna also is a body. But they are not bodies. Vivekananda could not go into Samadhi had not Ramakrishna been within him.

There is no difference in their wisdom (jnana) of liberated souls

Devotee:  Are jivanmuktas (living liberated souls) of different kinds?

Ramana Maharishi:  What does it matter if they differ externally? There is no difference in their wisdom (jnana).

Incidents interest a child only so long as they last......So it is with a Sage.

Ramana Maharishi:  A child and a Sage (Jnani) are similar in a way. Incidents interest a child only so long as they last. It ceases to think of them after they have passed away. So then, it is apparent that they do not leave any impression on the child and it is not affected by them mentally. So it is with a Sage.

Japa means clinging to one thought to the exclusion of all other thoughts; it leads to dhyana which ends in Self-Realisation.

Devotee:  While making nama-japa and after continuing it for an hour or more I fall into a state like sleep. On waking up, I recollect that my japa has been interrupted. So I proceed again.

Ramana Maharishi:  “Like sleep.” That is right. It is the natural state. Because you are now associated with the ego you consider the natural state to be something which interrupts your work. You must repeat the experience until you realise that it is your natural state. You will then find that japa, etc., is extraneous. Still, it will be going on automatically. Your present doubt is due to the false identity. Japa means clinging to one thought to the exclusion of all other thoughts. That is the purpose of japa; it leads to dhyana which ends in Self-Realisation.

The Highest Form of Grace is Silence (mowna). It is also the highest upadesa.

Devotee:  Is it the mind of the Guru acting on the mind of the disciple or anything different?

Ramana Maharishi:  The Highest Form of Grace is Silence (mowna). It is also the  highest upadesa.

Are there two ‘I’s

Devotee:  Is there any use of the man of Realisation for the seeker?

Ramana Maharishi:  Yes. He helps you to get rid of your delusion that you are not realised.

Devotee:   So, tell me how.

Ramana Maharishi:  The paths are meant only to de-hypnotise the individual.

Devotee:   De-hypnotise me. Tell me what method to follow.

Ramana Maharishi:  Where are you now? Where should you go?

Devotee:   I know ‘I am’; but I do not know what I am.

Ramana Maharishi:  Are there two ‘I’s then?

Devotee:   It is begging the question.

Ramana Maharishi:  Who says this? Is it the one who is, or is it the other who does not know what he is?

Devotee:   I am, but do not know what or how?

Ramana Maharishi:  ‘I’ is always there.

Devotee:   Does the ‘I’ undergo any transformation, say in death?

Ramana Maharishi:  Who witnesses the transformation?

God, Guru and Self are only different forms of the same.

Devotee:  Grace was said to be the Self. Should I then surrender to my own Self?

Ramana Maharishi:  Yes. To the one from whom Grace is sought. God, Guru and Self are only different forms of the same.

Devotee:  Please explain, so that I may understand.

Ramana Maharishi:  So long as you think you are the individual you believe in God. On worshipping God, God appears to you as Guru. On serving Guru He manifests as the Self. This is the rationale.

The best is heart to heart speech and heart to heart hearing. That is the best upadesa.

Ramana Maharishi: The best is heart to heart speech and heart to heart hearing. That is the best upadesa.

Devotee:  Is not guidance from Guru necessary?

Ramana Maharishi:  Are you apart from Guru?

Devotee: Is proximity helpful?

Ramana Maharishi:  Do you mean physical proximity? What is the good of it? The mind alone matters. The mind must be contacted.

What are the aids for realisation?

Devotee:  What are the aids for realisation?

Ramana Maharishi:  The teachings of the Scriptures and of realised souls

Devotee:   Can such teachings be discussions, lectures and meditations?

Ramana Maharishi:  Yes, all these are only secondary aids, whereas the essential is the Master’s grace.

Devotee:   How long will it take for one to get that?

Ramana Maharishi:  Why do you desire to know?

Devotee:   To give me hope.

Ramana Maharishi:  Even such a desire is an obstacle. The Self is ever there, there is nothing without it. Be the Self and the desires and doubts will disappear. Such Self is the witness in sleep, dream and waking states of existence.

Visions of God have their place below the plane of Self-Realisation.

Devotee:  What is the relation between Brahman and Isvara?

Ramana Maharishi:  Brahman is called Isvara in relation to the world.

Devotee:  Is it possible to speak to Isvara as Sri Ramakrishna did?

Ramana Maharishi:  When we can speak to each other why should we not speak to Isvara in the
same way?

Devotee:  Then why does it not happen with us?

Ramana Maharishi:  It requires purity and strength of mind and practice in meditation.

Devotee:  Does God become evident if the above conditions exist?

Ramana Maharishi:  Such manifestations are as real as your own reality. In other words, when you identify yourself with the body as in jagrat you see gross objects; when in subtle body or in mental plane as in svapna, you see objects equally subtle; in the absence of identification as in sushupti you see nothing. The objects seen bear a relation to the state of the seer. The same applies to visions of God. By long practice the figure of God, as meditated upon, appears in dream and may later appear in jagrat also.
…..
Visions of God have their place below the plane of Self-Realisation.

There are many process of creation. Which of them is true?

Devotee:  There is one process of creation mentioned in the Upanishads and another in Puranas. Which of them is true?

Ramana Maharishi:  They are many, and meant to indicate that the creation has a cause  and a creator should be posited so that one might seek the cause. The emphasis is on the purpose of the theory and not on the process of creation. Moreover, the creation is perceived by someone. There are no objects without the subject, i.e., the objects do not come and tell you that they are, but it is you who says that there are the objects. The objects are therefore what the seer makes of them. They have no existence independent of the subject. Find out what you are and then you understand what the world is. That is the object of the theory.

Devotee:  The soul is only a small particle whereas the creation is so huge. How can we surmise it?

Ramana Maharishi:  The particle speaks of the huge creation; where is the contradiction?  There are so many theories, scriptural and scientific. Have they reached any finality? They cannot. Brahman is said to be subtler than the subtlest, wider than the widest. Anu is an atom, infinitesimal. It ends in subtle perception. The subtlety is of the sukshma body, i.e., the mind. Beyond the mind there is the Self. The greatest of things are also conceptions, the conceptions are of the mind; beyond the mind there is the Self. So the Self is subtler than the subtlest. There may be any number of theories of creation. All of them extend  outwardly. There will be no limit to them because time and space are unlimited. They are however only in the mind. See the mind; time and space are transcended and the Self is realised. Creation is explained scientifically or logically to one’s own satisfaction. But is there any finality about it? Such explanations are called krama srishti (gradual creation). On the other hand, drishti srishti (simultaneous or sudden creation) is yugapad srishti. Without the seer there are no objects seen. Find the seer and the creation is comprised in him. Why look outward and go on explaining the phenomena which are endless?

Some people are attracted to one place of pilgrimage and others to another. Is it according to their temperaments?

Devotee:  Some people are attracted to one place of pilgrimage and others to another. Is it according to their temperaments?

Ramana Maharishi:  Yes. Just consider how all of you born in different places and living in other lands are gathered here today? What is the Force which has attracted you here? If this is understood the other Force is also understood.

The self-evident ‘I’, ignoring the Self, goes about seeking to know the non-Self. How absurd!

Devotee:  Idol worship does not seem good. They worship the formless God in Islam.

Ramana Maharishi:  What is their conception of God?

Devotee:  As Immanence, etc.

Ramana Maharishi:  Is not God even then endowed with attributes? Form is only one kind of attribute. One cannot worship God without some notions. Any bhavana premises a God with attributes (saguna). Moreover, where is the use of discussing the form or formlessness of God? Find out if you have a form. You can then understand God.

Devotee:  I admit I have no form.

Ramana Maharishi:  All right. You have no form in sleep, but in the waking state you identify yourself with a form. See which is your real state. That is understood to be without form on investigation. If you know your Self to be formless by your jnana, should you not concede the same amount of jnana to God and understand Him to be formless?

Devotee:  But there is the world for God.

Ramana Maharishi:  How does the world appear? How are we? Knowing this, you know God. You will know if He is Siva, or Vishnu or any other or all put together.

Devotee:  Is Vaikuntha in Paramapada, i.e., in the transcendent Self?

Ramana Maharishi:  Where is Paramapada or Vaikuntha unless in you?

Devotee:  Vaikuntha, etc., appear involuntarily.

Ramana Maharishi:  Does this world appear voluntarily?
The questioner returned no answer.

Ramana Maharishi:  The self-evident ‘I’, ignoring the Self, goes about seeking to know the non-Self. How absurd!

Devotee:  This is Samkhya Yoga. Being the culmination of all kinds of other yogas, how can it be understood to start with? Is not bhakti antecedent to it?

Ramana Maharishi:  Has not Sri Krishna started the Gita with Sankhya?

Devotee:  Yes. I understand it now.

I have faith in murti dhyana (worship of form). Will it not help me to gain jnana?

Devotee:  I have faith in murti dhyana (worship of form). Will it not help me to gain jnana?

Ramana Maharishi:  Surely it will. Upasana helps concentration of mind. Then the mind is free from other thoughts and is full of the meditated form. The mind becomes it - and thus quite pure. Then think who is the worshipper. The answer is ‘I’, i.e., the Self. So the Self is gained ultimately.

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.

Vichara (self-enquiry) is the ultimate route

Devotee:   Do we not see God in concrete form?

Ramana Maharishi:  Yes. God is seen in the mind. The concrete form may be seen. Still it is only in the devotee’s mind. The form and appearance of God-manifestation are determined by the mind of the devotee. But it is not the finality. There is the sense of duality. It is like a dream-vision. After God is perceived, vichara commences. That ends in Realisation of the Self. Vichara is the ultimate route. Of course, a few find vichara practicable. Others find bhakti easier.

Devotee:  Did not Mr. Brunton find you in London? Was it only a dream?

Ramana Maharishi:  Yes. He had the vision. He saw me in his mind.

Devotee:  Did he not see this concrete form?

Ramana Maharishi:  Yes, still in his mind.

Long for it intensely so that the mind melts in devotion

Ramana Maharishi:  Long for it intensely so that the mind melts in devotion. After the camphor burns away no residue is left. The mind is the camphor; when it has resolved itself into the Self without leaving even the slightest trace behind, it is Realisation of the Self.

The Be-ing is in all cases real.

Mr. P. Brunton, while reading Upadesa Manjari, came across the statement that the ego, the world and God are all unreal. He desired to use a different word for God or at least a qualifying adjective, e.g., the Creative Force or personal God.

Sri Bhagavan explained that God means SAMASHTI - i.e., all that is, plus the Be-ing - in the same way as ‘I’ means the individual plus the Be-ing, and the world means the variety plus Be-ing. The Be-ing is in all cases real. The all, the variety and the individual is in each case unreal. So also in the union of the real and the unreal, the mixing up or the false identification is wrong. It amounts to saying sad-asadvilakshana, i.e., transcending the real and the unreal - sat and asat. Reality is that which transcends all concepts, including that of God. Inasmuch as the name of God is used, it cannot be true. The Hebrew word Jehovah = (I am) expresses God correctly. Absolute Be-ing is beyond expression.  The word cannot be replaced nor need it be replaced.

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.

Is it not possible to get a vision of God?

Devotee:  Is it not possible to get a vision of God?

Ramana Maharishi:  Yes. You see this and that. Why not see God? Only you must know what God is. All are seeing God always. But they do not know it. You find out what God is. People see, yet see not, because they know not God

To whom is svapna? or the knot? You are always saying “I ask.” Who is that ‘I’?

Ramana Maharishi:  See the Purusha (lord) also. What can prakrti do then?

Devotee:  There is a granthi (knot) between them.

Ramana Maharishi:  Whose is that knot? Is it of the Lord or of Nature? or of both?

Devotee:  Due to Brahman.

Ramana Maharishi:  Then Brahman must ask or must be asked. To whom is svapna? or the knot? You are always saying “I ask.” Who is that ‘I’?

All that is required of you is not to confound yourself with the extrovert mind but to abide as the Self. That is prasad.

Devotee:  The mind is admitted to be changing and unsteady (chanchala and asthira).

Ramana Maharishi:  It is also said in the same place that the mind is to be introverted and made to merge into the Self; that the practice must be long because it is slow; and must be continued until it is totally merged in the Self.

Devotee:  I want prasad, i.e., Grace, for it.

Ramana Maharishi:  It is always with you. All that is required of you is not to confound yourself with the extrovert mind but to abide as the Self. That is prasad.

Sat and Chit are only one and the same.

Explaining the opening stanza of Sad Vidya, Sri Bhagavan said: Sat (Being) is Chit (Knowledge Absolute); also Chit is Sat; what is, is only one. Otherwise the knowledge of the world and of one’s own being will be impossible. It denotes both being and knowledge. However, both of them are one and the same. On the other hand, be it Sat only and not Chit also, such Sat will only be insentient (jada). In order to know it another Chit will be needed; such Chit being other than Sat cannot be. But it must be. Now taking Chit to be Sat, since Sat is Jada, Chit also becomes jada which is absurd. Again to know it another Chit is required, which is also absurd. Therefore Sat and Chit are only one and the same.