When we endeavor into spiritual path a
lot of questions arise in us, specifically around the practice to achieve the
purpose of human life. The questions may
include dos and don’ts in the spiritual path, the meaning expounded in sacred
texts such as Bhagavad Gita, the nature of Self or Reality, the nature of ego or mind, the significance
of the Guru, Spiritual experiences, the different Spiritual paths, devotion, surrender and the world.
The book “Talks with Sri Ramana
Maharishi” published by Sri Ramanasramam comprises of many such questions posed
to Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharishi.
We begin with so many questions and
even if all those questions are suitably answered, new questions come up all
the time. There seems to be no end of
sight for these questions. Why? The questions pertain to the doubter. The doubter has a limited knowledge and there
is always something unknown to the doubter.
Thus there is no dearth of questions.
Interestingly enough in response to
these questions Bhagavan always turn the questioner’s attention towards the
questioner itself rather than to the question.
In other words, he asks the questioner to question the doubter
(self-inquiry). Here is one of the talks
from that book.
Devotee:
Doubts
are always arising. Hence my question.
Maharishi: A doubt arises and is
cleared; another arises and that is cleared, making way for another, and so it
goes on. So there is no possibility of clearing away all doubts. See to whom
the doubts arise. Go to their source and abide in it. Then they cease to arise.
That is how doubts are to be cleared.
If we have truly comprehended the above
response, then we do not need the read the rest of the talks. Still the doubts
arise time to time on various topics.
So, whenever such doubts arise it is imperative to read the Bhagavan’s
responses on that specific topic. Nevertheless,
Bhagavan’s response is going to point towards the questioner itself. Then why we should read this? The benefit is whenever we read these conversations
the attention is turned towards the questioner rather than to the response to
the question. Then the topics or the questions do not matter
anymore, but what matters is the quest of questioner itself. This paves the path to self-inquiry.
The “Introduction” of “Talks with Sri
Ramana Maharishi“ book states that “Not one word to be passed over lightly, or one
conversation to be dismissed as superfluous. It is all pure gold.” It is hard to leave out any word in this
book. However, in this blog, selected
portions of “Talks with Sri Ramana Maharishi” were chosen and organized by
specific topics for quick reference. In
that process, this document might have missed some important responses, please
pardon the compiler of this document of those omissions.
Please check in for a new post every day.
Each topic may have more than one conversation. Some of the conversations are repeated as they are found to be relevant on multiple topics.
Each topic may have more than one conversation. Some of the conversations are repeated as they are found to be relevant on multiple topics.
Once again, the importance of providing
the topics is not to get so called “right answer” to that specific topic or
question. Since the topic is bothering the seeker, the
seeker won’t be able to stop the urge to look for the answer. But by reading the response, if one’s
attention has turned towards the questioner itself, then Bhagavan’s teaching (response)
starts working, paving the way to self-inquiry.
Quoting Bhagavan’s words:
“All thoughts arise after the arising of the ‘I-thought’.
See to whom the thoughts arise. Then you transcend them and they subside. This
is to say, tracing the source of the ‘I-thought’, you realise the perfect
‘I-I’. ‘I’ is the name of the Self.”
Paraphrasing
the above quote in relevance to the questions on various topics, “All thoughts
(questions on different topics) arise after the arising of the ‘I-thought’
(questioner). See to whom the thoughts
(questions) arise. Then you transcend
them and they subside. This is to say,
tracing the source of the ‘I-thought’ (questioner), you realize the perfect
‘I-I’ is the name of the Self.
Those who are interested to purchase the book can do so by clicking on one of the links -
The book extract is available at
http://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Talks_Exract.pdf
Bhagavan reminds and repeats throughout the book “You are the Self, nothing but the Self, anything else is just imagination, so BE the Self here and now.” By reading those conversations, with the grace of Bhagavan let us question (doubt) the questioner (doubter), perform self-inquiry, recognize the Self and abide in and as the Self.
Bhagavan reminds and repeats throughout the book “You are the Self, nothing but the Self, anything else is just imagination, so BE the Self here and now.” By reading those conversations, with the grace of Bhagavan let us question (doubt) the questioner (doubter), perform self-inquiry, recognize the Self and abide in and as the Self.
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