Beauty ＆ Pure 257

 

From ~~~ Gems from Bhagavan, Ch. II
If the mind, the source of all knowledge and activity subsides, the vision of the world will cease. Just as knowledge of the real rope does not dawn till the fancied notion of the serpent disappears, vision (experience) of the Reality cannot be gained unless the superimposed vision of the universe is abandoned.
That which really exists is only the Self. The world, jiva (individual self) and Iswara (God) are mental creations, like the appearance of silver in mother of pearl. All these appear at the same time and disappear similarly. The Self alone is the world, the ego and Iswara.
As regards the existence of pain in the world, the wise one explains from his experience, that if one withdraws within the Self there is an end of all pain. The pain is felt so long as the object is different from oneself. But when the Self is found to be an undivided whole, who and what is there to feel?
~~~~~

Beauty ＆ Pure 256

 

An American lady asked Bhagavan
what his experiences of samadhi were.
When suggested that she should relate her experiences
and ask if they were right,
she replied that Sri Bhagavan’s experiences
ought to be correct and should be known,
whereas her own were unimportant.
She thus wanted to know if Sri Bhagavan
felt his body hot or cold in samadhi,
if he spent the first three and a half years
of his stay at Tiruvannamalai in prayers
and so on.
M.:
Samadhi transcends mind and speech
and cannot be described.
For example, the state of deep slumber
cannot be described;
samadhi state can still less be explained.
Q.:
But I know that I am unconscious in deep sleep.
M.:
Consciousness and unconsciousness
are only modes of the mind.
Samadhi transcends the mind.
Q.:
Still you can say what it is like.
M.:You will know only when you are in samadhi.

Beauty ＆ Pure 255

 

From ~~~ Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, 73

Bhagavan :
When you are everywhere, where are you to search?
The real delusion is the feeling that you are the body.
When you get rid of that delusion,
what remains is your Self.
You should search for a thing which is not with you
but where is the need to search for a thing
which is always with you?
All sadhanas are for getting rid of the delusion
that you are the body.
The knowledge that ‘I am’ is always there:
call it Atma, or Paramatma or whatever you like.
One should get rid of the idea that ‘I am the body’.
There is no need to search for that ‘I’ that is the self.
That Self is allpervading.
~~~~~~

Beauty ＆ Pure 254

 

There are two ways of achieving surrender.
One is looking into the source of the ‘I’
and merging into that source.
The other is feeling,
‘I am helpless myself,
God alone is all powerful,
and except by throwing myself completely on Him,
there is no other means of safety for me’;
and thus gradually developing the conviction
that God alone exists and the ego does not count.
Both methods lead to the same goal.
Complete surrender is another name
for jnana or liberation.
Bhakti is not different from mukti.
Bhakti is being as the Self.
One is always That.
He realizes It by the means he adopts.
What is bhakti?
To think of God.
That means only one thought prevails
to the exclusion of all other thoughts.
That thought is of God,
which is the Self,
or it is the self
surrendered unto God.
When He has taken you up,
nothing else will assail you.
The absence of thought is bhakti.
It is also mukti.
Bhakti is Jnana Mata, i.e.,
the mother of jnana.
It is asked,
why all this creation is so full of sorrow and evil.
All one can say is that it is God’s will,
which is inscrutable.
No motive, no desire,
no end to achieve can be attributed
to that infinite, all-wise
and all-powerful Being.
God is untouched by activities
which take place in His presence.
There is no meaning in attributing
responsibility and motive to the One,
before it became many.
But God’s will for the prescribed course of events
is a good solution for the vexed question of free-will.
If the mind is worried over what befalls us,
or what has been committed or omitted by us,
it is wise to give up the sense of responsibility and free-will,
by regarding ourselves as the ordained instruments
of the All-Wise and the All-Powerful,
to do and suffer as He pleases.
Then He bears all the burdens
and gives us peace.
~~~~~~

Beauty ＆ Pure 253

Q.:
Is it enough to introvert the mind
or should we meditate on ‘I am Brahman’?
M.:
To introvert the mind is the prime thing.
The Buddhists consider the flow of ‘I’ thought to be Liberation;
whereas we say that such flow proceeds
from its underlying substratum - the only - Reality.
Why should one be meditating ‘I am Brahman’?
Only the annihilation of ‘I’ is Liberation.
But it can be gained only by keeping the ‘I-I’ always in view.
So the need for the investigation of the ‘I’ thought.
If the ‘I’ is not let go, no blank can result to the seeker.
Otherwise meditation will end in sleep.
There is only one ‘I’ all along,
but what arises up from time to time is the mistaken ‘I-thought’;
whereas the intuitive ‘I’ always remains Self-shining,
i.e., even before it becomes manifest.
The birth of the gross body does not amount to one’s own birth,
on the other hand, the birth of the ego is one’s own birth.
For liberation, nothing new remains to be gained.
It is the original state and continues unchanged too.

Beauty ＆ Pure 252

 

O Arunachala! Hill of Patience! Bear with my
poor strains, considering them to be good
poetry and be Thou gracious. Thy will be done!
To go wrong is human, to grant pardon is divine. The
devotee-soul prays that the defects in her hymn of praise
should be overlooked, and the devotion that inspired it should
be accepted. Any attempt to praise the Lord is bound to fail;
for He is beyond the reach of words and thoughts. The
devotee-soul cannot but praise Him; but she does not ever
hope to find words that are adequate. The devotee-soul has
no will of her own. It is the Lord’s will that moves the world.

Beauty ＆ Pure 251

 

Sri Ramana Experience
I was a learned fool.
My flawed mind knew nothing till I came to dwell with Him
whose Glance filled my heart with the Light of Awareness.
Dwelling in that gracious state of Peace,
whose nature is Holy Silence,
so hard to gain and know,
I entered into union with the deathless state
of the Knowledge of Reality.
- Sri Muruganar