RAMANA MAHARSHI

BHAGAVAN SRI RAMANA'S TALKS : J.K. SIVAN

IT IS NOT DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND BHAGAVAN RAMANA IF YOU READ THE QUESTIONS PUT TO HIM AND THE ANSWERS GIVEN BY HIM, SLOWLY, CONCENTRATING ON EACH WORD ATTENTIVELY WITH INVOLVEMENT AND INTEREST TO LEARN.- It is made simple for you so that you will enjoy His teaching profusely. JKS

Devotee: “Sri Bhagavan! When I heard of you, a strong desire

arose in me to see you. Why should it be so?”

Maharishi: The desire arose in the same way as the body arises to the Self.

D.: What is the purpose of life?

M.: To seek to know the significance of life is itself the result of good karma in past births. Those who do not seek such knowledge are simply wasting their lives.

D: “Sri Bhagavan can know when I shall become a Jnani. Please tell me when it will be.”

M.: If I am Bhagavan then there is no one apart from me to whom jnana should arise or to whom I should speak. If I am an ordinary man like others then I am as ignorant as the rest. Either way your question cannot be answered.

D: Bhagavan, why and what about the use of ganja (hashish) used by some ascetics

M: “Oh ganja! The users feel immensely happy when they are under its influence. How shall I describe their happiness! They simply shout ananda! ananda ...”

D.: What is svarupa (form) and arupa (formless) of the mind?

M.: When you wake up from sleep a light appears, that is the light of the Self passing through Mahat tattva. It is called cosmic consciousness. That is arupa. The light falls on the ego and is reflected therefrom. Then the body and the world are seen. This mind is svarupa. The objects appear in the light of this reflected consciousness. This light is called jyoti.

There is a statement in the book Vichara Sangraha that though a person realises the Self once, he cannot, for that simple reason alone, become a mukta. He continues to remain a victim of vasanas (latencies).

D: Is the realisation the same as the jnani’s, and if so why there should be a difference in their effects?

M.: The experience is the same. Every person experiences the Self consciously or unconsciously. The ajnani’s experience is clouded by his latencies whereas the jnani’s is not so. The jnani’s experience of the Self is therefore distinct and permanent.

A practiser may by long practice gain a glimpse of the Reality. This experience may be vivid for the time being. And yet he will be distracted by the old vasanas and so his experience will not avail him. Such a man must continue his manana and nididhyasana so that all the obstacles may be destroyed. He will then be able to remain permanently in the Real State.