ramana maharishi

BHAGAVAN SRI RAMANA'S TALKS

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 you will enjoy profusely. J.k.Sivan

Devotee: Sri Bhagavan says that the Heart is the Self. Psychology has it that malice, envy, jealousy and all passions have their seat in the heart. How are these two statements to be reconciled?

Maharishi.: The whole cosmos is contained in one pinhole in the Heart. These passions are part of the cosmos. They are avidya (ignorance).

D.: How did avidya arise?

M.: Avidya is like Maya [she who is not is maya (illusion)]. Similarly that which is not is ignorance. Therefore the question does not arise. Nevertheless, the question is asked. Then ask, “Whose is the avidya? Avidya is ignorance. It implies subject and object. Become the subject and there will be no object.

D.: What is avidya?

M.: Ignorance of Self. Who is ignorant of the Self? The self must be ignorant of Self. Are there two selves?

D.: Does Bhagavan see the world as part and parcel of Himself? How does He see the world?

M.: The Self alone is and nothing else. However, it is differentiated owing to ignorance. Differentiation is threefold: (1) of the same kind: (2) of a different kind, and (3) as parts in itself. The world is not another self similar to the self. It is not different from the self; nor is it part of the self.

D.: Is not the world reflected on the Self?

M.: For reflection there must be an object and an image. But the Self does not admit of these differences.

D.: Does not then Bhagavan see the world?

M.: Whom do you mean by Bhagavan?

D.: A jiva advanced more than I.

M.: If you understand your jiva the other jiva is also understood.

D.: I do not want to discuss. I want to learn. Please instruct me.

M.: Because you desire to learn, discussion is unavoidable. Leave all this aside. Consider your sleep. Are you then aware of bondage or do you seek means for release? Are you then aware of the body itself? The sense of bondage is associated with the body. Otherwise there is no bondage, No material to bind with and no one to be bound.

These appear, however, in your wakeful state. Consider to whom they appear.

D.: To the mind.

M.: Watch the mind. You must stand aloof from it. You are not the mind. And the Self will remain ever.

D.: Does Sri Bhagavan believe in evolution?

M.: Evolution must be from one state to another. When no differences are admitted, how can evolution arise?

D.: Why does Sri Krishna say, “After several rebirths the seeker gains knowledge and thus knows Me.” There must be evolution from stage to stage.

M.: How does Bhagavad Gita begin?” Neither I was not, nor you, nor these chiefs, etc.” “Neither it is born, nor does it die, etc.” So there is no birth, no death, no present as you look at it. Reality was, is, and will be. It is changeless. Later Arjuna asked Sri Krishna how he could have lived before Aditya. Then Krishna, seeing Arjuna was confounding Him with the gross body, spoke to him accordingly.

The instruction is for the one who sees diversity. In reality there is no bondage nor mukti for himself or for others from the jnani’s standpoint.