Renunciation is non-identification of the Self with the non-self.

Devotee:  Is not samsara a hindrance? Do not all the holy books advocate renunciation?

Ramana Maharishi:  Samsara is only in your mind. The world does not speak out, saying ‘I am the world’. Otherwise, it must be ever there - not excluding your sleep. Since it is not in sleep it is impermanent. Being impermanent it has no stamina. Having no stamina it is easily subdued by the Self. The Self alone is permanent. Renunciation is non-identification of the Self with the non-self. On the disappearance of ignorance the non-self ceases to exist. That is true renunciation

See for whom these doubts exist. Who is the doubter? Who is the thinker?

Devotee:  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.


Ramana Maharishi:  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…….
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.



Devotee:   How is that to be done?


Ramana Maharishi:   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.



Devotee:   It seems difficult. May we proceed by bhakti marga?


Ramana Maharishi:   It is according to individual temperament and equipment. Bhakti is the same as vichara.

What prevents you from being your own Self?

Devotee:  I am young and a grihini (housewife). There are duties of grihastha dharma (the household). Is devotion consistent with such a position?


Ramana Maharishi:  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?

Take care of the present, the future will take care of itself

Devotee:  What is the best thing to do for ensuring the future?


Ramana Maharishi:  Take care of the present, the future will take care of itself.


Devotee:  The future is the result of the present. So, what should I do to make it good? Or should I keep still?


Ramana Maharishi:  Whose is the doubt? Who is it that wants a course of action? Find the doubter. If you hold the doubter the doubts will disappear. Having lost hold of the Self the thoughts afflict you; the world is seen, doubts arise, also anxiety for the future. Hold fast to the Self, these will disappear.

Desire arises only after the rise of the ego; and this ego owes its origin to a Higher Power on which its existence depends

Ramana Maharishi:   Man owes his movements to another Power, whereas he thinks that he does everything himself - just like a lame man bluffing that, were he helped to stand up, he would fight and chase away the enemy. Action is impelled by desire; desire arises only after the rise of the ego; and this ego owes its origin to a Higher Power on which its existence depends. It cannot remain apart. Why then prattle, “I do, I act, or I function”? A Self-realised being cannot help benefiting the world. His very existence is the highest good.

Do you go out of the Self? What is meant by giving up?

Devotee:  “Should anyone desirous of spiritual progress take to action or renunciation (pravritti-marga or nivritti-marga)?”


Ramana Maharishi:  Do you go out of the Self? What is meant by giving up?

The karma which takes place without effort, i.e., involuntary action, is not binding.

Devotee:  Jiva is said to be bound by karma. Is it so?



Ramana Maharishi:  Let karma enjoy its fruits. As long as you are the doer so long are you the enjoyer.



Devotee: How to get released from karma?


Ramana Maharishi:  See whose karma it is. You will find you are not the doer. Then you will be free. This requires grace of God for which you should pray to Him, worship Him and meditate on Him. The karma which takes place without effort, i.e., involuntary action, is not binding. Even a Jnani is acting as seen by his bodily movements. There can be no karma without effort or without intentions (sankalpas). Therefore there are sankalpas for all. They are of two kinds (1) one, binding - bandha-hetu and the other (2) mukti-hetu - not binding. The former must be given up and the latter must be cultivated. There is no fruit without previous karma; no karma without previous  sankalpa. Even mukti must be the result of effort so long as the sense of doership persists.

Let action complete itself. So long as there is the doer he must reap the fruits of his action.

Ramana Maharishi:  A Self-Realised sage (Atma Jnani) alone can be a good Karma yogi. “After the sense of doership has gone let us see what happens. Sri Sankara advised inaction. But did he not write commentaries and take part in disputation? Do not trouble about doing action or otherwise. Know Thyself. Then let us see whose action it is. Whose is it? Let action complete itself. So long as there is the doer he must reap the fruits of his action. If he does not think himself the doer there is no action for him. He is an ascetic who has renounced worldly life (sanyasin).”

Action without desire - is superior to knowledge with practice

Ramana Maharishi:   “Knowledge without practice accompanying it is superior to practice without knowledge. Practice with knowledge is superior to knowledge without practice accompanying it. Karmaphala tyagah Nishkama karma as of a Jnani - action without desire - is superior to knowledge with practice.”

Be the Self and that is Bliss

Devotee:  Why do I feel unhappy when I am in Vellore and feel peace in Your Presence?

Ramana Maharishi:  Can this feeling in this place be Bliss? When you leave the place you say you are unhappy. Therefore this peace is not permanent, nay it is mixed with unhappiness which is felt in another place. Therefore you cannot find Bliss in places and in periods of time. It must be permanent in order that it may be useful. Such permanent being is yourself. Be the Self and that is Bliss. You are always That. You say that you left Vellore, travelled in the train, arrived in Tiruvannamalai, entered the hall and found happiness. When you go back you are not happy in Vellore. Now, do you really move from place to place? Even considering you to be the body, the body sits in a cart at the gate of the home, the cart moves on to the railway station. Then it gets into a railway carriage which speeds on from Vellore to Tiruvannamalai. There it gets into another cart which brings the body here. Yet when you are asked, you say that you travelled all the way from Vellore. Your body remains where it was and all the places went past it. Such ideas are due to the false identity which is so deep-rooted.

The truth is that the world appears as a passing shadow in a flood of light.

A. W. Chadwick is copying the English translation of the Tamil Kaivalya Navaneeta. When he came across some technical terms in it and felt some difficulty in understanding them, he asked Sri Bhagavan about them.

Ramana Maharishi:   “Those portions deal with theories of creation. They are not material because the Srutis do not mean to set forth such theories. They mention the theories casually so that the enquirer may please himself if he be so inclined. The truth is that the world appears as a passing shadow in a flood of light. Light is necessary to see that shadow also. The shadow does not deserve any special notice, analysis or discussion. The book deals with the Self and that is its purpose. The discussions on creation may be omitted for the present.” 


Later, Sri Bhagavan continued: “The Vedanta says that the cosmos springs into view simultaneously with the seer. There is no detailed process of creation. This is said to be yugapat srshti (instantaneous creation). It is quite similar to the creations in dream where the experiencer springs up simultaneously with the objects of experience. When this is told, some people are not satisfied for they are so rooted in objective knowledge. They seek to find out how there can be sudden creation. They argue that an effect must be preceded by a cause. In short, they desire an explanation for the existence of the world which they see around them. Then the Srutis try to satisfy their curiosity by such theories of creation. This method of dealing with the subject of creation is called krama srshti (gradual creation). But the true seeker can be content with yugapat srshti - instantaneous creation.”

You are now thinking that you are the mind or the body which are both changing and transient. But you are unchanging and eternal.

Devotee:  I was reading Sri Bhagavata; it says that Bliss can be had only by the dust of the Master’s feet. I pray for Grace.


Ramana Maharishi:  What is Bliss but your own being? You are not apart from Being which is the same as Bliss. You are now thinking that you are the mind or the body which are both changing and transient. But you are unchanging and eternal. That is what you should know.


Devotee:  It is darkness and I am ignorant.


Ramana Maharishi:  This ignorance must go. Again, who says ‘I am ignorant’? He must be the witness of ignorance. That is what you are. Socrates said, “I know that I do not know.” Can it be ignorance? It is wisdom.

Your body, the society, the forest and the ways are all in you; you are not in them.

Devotee:  But I am obliged to move in society.


Ramana Maharishi:  Society is also an idea similar to that of the forest.



Devotee:  I leave my home and go and mix in society.


Ramana Maharishi:  Who does it?



Devotee:  The body moves and does all.


Ramana Maharishi:  Quite so. Now that you identify yourself with the body you feel the trouble. The trouble is in your mind. You think that you are the body or that you are the mind. But there are occasions when you are free from both. For example in deep slumber, you create a body and a world in your dream. That represents your mental activities. In your waking state you think that you are the body and then the idea of forest and the rest arise. Now, consider the situation. You are an unchanging and continuous being who remains in all these states which are constantly changing and therefore transient. But you are always there. It follows that these fleeting objects are mere phenomena which appear on your being like pictures which move across a screen. The screen does not move when the picture moves. Similarly, you do not move from where you are even when the body leaves the home and mixes in society. Your body, the society, the forest and the ways are all in you; you are not in them. You are the body also but not this body only. If you remain as your pure Self, the body and its movements need not affect you.

You are as you are and yet you speak of a forest and ways.

Devotee:  “I seem to be wandering in a forest because I do not find the way.”


Ramana Maharishi:  This idea of being in a forest must go. It is such ideas which are at the root of the trouble.


Devotee:  But I do not find the way.


Ramana Maharishi:   Where is the forest and where is the way unless they are in you? You are as you are and yet you speak of a forest and ways.

The ego, the world and the individuals are all due to the person’s vasanas.

Ramana Maharishi:  Multiplicity of individuals is a moot point with most persons. A jiva is only the light reflected on the ego. The person identifies himself with the ego and argues that there must be more like him. He is not easily convinced of the absurdity of his position. Does a man who sees many individuals in his dream persist in believing them to be real and enquire after them when he wakes up? This argument does not convince the disputant. Again, there is the moon. Let anyone look at her from any place at any time; she is the same moon. Everyone knows it. Now suppose that there are several receptacles of water reflecting the moon. The images are all different from one another and from the moon herself. If one of the receptacles falls to pieces, that reflection disappears. Its disappearance does not affect the real moon or the other reflections. It is similar with an individual attaining Liberation. He alone is liberated. The sectarian of multiplicity makes this his argument against non-duality. “If the Self is single, if one man is liberated, that means that all souls are liberated. In practice it is not so. Therefore Advaita is not correct.” The weakness in the argument is that the reflected light of the Self is mistaken for the original Light of the Self. The ego, the world and the individuals are all due to the person’s vasanas. When they perish, that person’s hallucinations disappear, that is to say one pitcher is broken and the relative reflection is at an end. The fact is that the Self is never bound. There can therefore be no Release for It. All the troubles are for the ego only.

Is it necessary to take to sanyasa for Self-Realisation?

Devotee:  Is it necessary to take to sanyasa for Self-Realisation?


Ramana Maharishi:  Sanyasa is to renounce one’s individuality. This is not the same as tonsure and ochre robes. A man may be a grihi; yet, if he does not think he is a grihi, he is a sanyasi. On the contrary a man may wear ochre robes and wander about: yet if he thinks he is a sanyasi he is not that. To think of sanyasa defeats its own purpose.
Sri Bhagavan remarked:  People see the world. The perception implies the existence of a seer and the seen. The objects are alien to the seer. The seer is intimate, being the Self. They do not however turn their attention to finding out the obvious seer but run about analysing the seen. The more the mind expands, the farther it goes and renders Self-Realisation more difficult and complicated. The man must directly see the seer and realise the Self.

It(Dream) is due to the samskaras (impressions) of the jagrat (waking) state.

Devotee:  The dream world is not purposeful as the jagrat world, because we do not feel that wants are satisfied.


Ramana Maharishi:  You are not right. There are thirst and hunger in dream also. You might have had your fill and kept over the remaining food for the next day. Nevertheless you feel hungry in dream. This food does not help you. Your dream-hunger can be satisfied only by eating dream-food. Dream-wants are satisfied by dream-creations only.


Devotee:  We recollect our dreams in our jagrat but not vice-versa.


Ramana Maharishi:  Not right again. In the dream you identify yourself with the one now speaking.


Devotee:  But we do not know that we are dreaming as apart from waking as we do now.


Ramana Maharishi:  The dream is the combination of jagrat and sushupti. It is due to the samskaras of the jagrat state. Hence we remember dreams at present. Samskaras are not formed contrariwise; therefore also we are not aware of the dream and jagrat simultaneously. Still everyone will recollect strange perplexities in dream. One wonders if he dreams or is awake. He argues and determines that he is only awake. When really awake, he finds that it was all only a dream.

Maya is only Isvara-Sakti or the activity of Reality.

Devotee:  In the Vyavaharika, above mentioned, how does maya come in?


Ramana Maharishi:  Maya is only Isvara-Sakti or the activity of Reality.


Devotee:  Why does it become active?


Ramana Maharishi:  How can this question arise? You are yourself within its fold. Are you standing apart from that universal activity in order to ask this question? The same Power is raising this doubt in order that all doubts may finally cease.

Kill the jiva and there is no pain or pleasure but the mental bliss persists forever.

Ramana Maharishi:  Creation is to be considered in its two aspects, Isvara srishti (God’s creation) and jiva srishti (individual’s creation). Of these two, the universe is the former, and its relation to the individual is the latter. It is the latter which gives rise to pain and pleasure, irrespective of the former. A story was mentioned from Panchadasi. There were two young men in a village in South India. They went on a pilgrimage to North India. One of them died. The survivor, who was earning something, decided to return only after some months. In the meantime he came across a wandering pilgrim whom he asked to convey the information regarding himself and his dead companion  to the village in South India. The wandering pilgrim did so, but by mistake changed the names. The result was that the dead man’s parents rejoiced in his safety and the living one’s parents were in grief. Thus, you see, pain or pleasure has no reference to facts but to mental conceptions. Jiva Srishti is responsible for it. Kill the jiva and there is no pain or pleasure but the mental bliss persists forever. Killing the jiva is to abide in the Self.

You are only in your natural state whether you make abhyasa or not.

Devotee:  Are all in liberation?


Ramana Maharishi:  Where is all? There is no liberation either. It could be only if there was bondage. There was really no bondage and so, it follows, there is no liberation.


Devotee:   But to evolve through births, there must be practice, years of abhyasa.


Ramana Maharishi:  Abhyasa is only to prevent any disturbance to the inherent peace. There is no question of years. Prevent this thought at this moment. You are only in your natural state whether you make abhyasa or not.


Devotee:   Why do not all realise the Self in that case?


Ramana Maharishi:  It is the same question in another guise. Why do you raise this question? Inasmuch as you raise this question of abhyasa it shows you require abhyasa. Make it. But to remain without questions or doubts is the natural state. God created man; and man created God. They both are the originators of forms and names only. In fact, neither God nor man was created.

The Self is only one.

The American gentleman is a little hard of hearing. Being accustomed to be self-reliant from his youth he naturally feels worried on account of his hearing becoming defective.


Ramana Maharishi:  You were not self-reliant; you were ego-reliant. It is good that ego-reliance is banished and that you become truly Self-reliant. Again Bhagavan said: “There is no cause for worry. Subjugation of senses is a necessary preliminary for Self-Realisation. One sense is subdued for you by God Himself. So much the better.”


The questioner said that he appreciated the humour, but that still his self-respect suffered.


Ramana Maharishi:  The Self is only one. Do you feel hurt if you blame yourself or scorn yourself for your errors? If you hold the Self there is no second person to scorn you. When you see the world you have lost hold of the Self. On the contrary, hold the Self and the world will not appear.

Visions are not external. They appear only internally.

Ramana Maharishi:  Visions are not external. They appear only internally. If external they must assert themselves without there being a seer. In that case what is the warranty for their existence? The seer only.

‘No want’ is the greatest bliss. It can be realised only by experience

Sri Bhagavan said that Tatva Rayar was the first to pour forth Advaita philosophy in Tamil. He had said that the Earth was his bed, his hands were his plates for taking food, the loin cloth was his clothing and thus there was no want for him. In Maharaja Turavu (the renunciation of the king) he says: He was seated on the bare ground, the earth was his seat, the mind was the chamara; the sky was the canopy; and renunciation was his spouse: Then Sri Bhagavan continued: I had no cloth spread on the floor in earlier days. I used to sit on the floor and lie on the ground. That is freedom. The sofa is a bondage. It is a gaol for me. I am not allowed to sit where and how I please. Is it not bondage?  One must be free to do as one pleases, and should not be served by others. ‘No want’ is the greatest bliss. It can be realised only by experience. Even an emperor is no match for a man with no want. The emperor has got vassals under him. But the other man is not aware of anyone beside the Self. Which is better?

The background of the mode is the ‘I’ in which the mind modes arise and sink.

Devotee:  With every thought the subject and the object appear and disappear. Does not the ‘I’ disappear when the subject disappears thus? If that be so how can the quest of the ‘I’ proceed?


Ramana Maharishi:  The subject (knower) is only a mode of mind. Though the mode (vritti) passes, the reality behind it does not cease. The background of the mode is the ‘I’ in which the mind modes arise and sink.

The enquiry into the Self is inclusive of all, faith, devotion, jnana, yoga and all.

Devotee:  Is the enquiry into the Self the same as the above mentioned faith?


Ramana Maharishi:  The enquiry into the Self is inclusive of all, faith, devotion, jnana, yoga and all.

The objects can be differentiated by means of their names and forms, whereas each one’s name is only one and that is ‘I’

Ramana Maharishi:  The mind remaining still is samadhi, no matter whether the world is perceived or not. Environment, time and objects are all in me. How can they be independent of me? They may change, but I remain unchanging, always the same. The objects can be differentiated by means of their names and forms, whereas each one’s name is only one and that is ‘I’. Ask anyone, he says ‘I’ and speaks of himself as ‘I’, even if He is Isvara. His name too is ‘I’ only. So also of a locality. As long as I am identified with the body so long a locality is distinguishable; otherwise not. Am I the body? Does the body announce itself as ‘I’? Clearly all these are in me. All these wiped out entirely, the residual Peace is ‘I’. This is samadhi, this is ‘I’.

To know that the Self remains happy in its perfection is Self-Realisation

Ramana Maharishi:  So ‘I’ was in sleep, if the world was then there, did it say that it existed?


Devotee:  No. But the world tells me its existence now. Even if I deny its existence, I may knock myself against a stone and hurt my foot. The injury proves the existence of the stone and so of the world.


Ramana Maharishi:  Quite so. The stone hurts the foot. Does the foot say that there is the stone?


Devotee:  No. - ‘I’.


Ramana Maharishi:  Who is this ‘I’? It cannot be the body nor the mind as we have seen before. This ‘I’ is the one who experiences the waking, dream and sleep states. The three states are changes which do not affect the individual. The experiences are like pictures passing on a screen in the cinema. The appearance and disappearance of the pictures do not affect the screen. So also, the three states alternate with one another leaving the Self unaffected. The waking and the dream states are creations of the mind. So the Self covers all. To know that the Self remains happy in its perfection is Self-Realisation. Its use lies in the realisation of Perfection and thus of Happiness.

The goal must be eternal and within. Find it within yourself

Devotee:  Have you reached the goal?


Ramana Maharishi:  The goal cannot be anything apart from the Self nor can it be something to be gained afresh. If that were so, such goal cannot be abiding and permanent. What appears anew will also disappear. The goal must be eternal and within. Find it within yourself

Can the world be apart from you?

Ramana Maharishi:  Real waking lies beyond the plane of differences.


Devotee:  What is the state of the world then?



Ramana Maharishi:   Does the world come and tell you “I exist”?


Devotee:   No. But the people in the world tell me that the world needs spiritual, social and moral regeneration.


Ramana Maharishi:  You see the world and the people in it. They are your thoughts. Can the world be apart from you?