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 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

Beauty ＆ Pure 250

 

Sri Muruganar :
This joyful Marital Garland of Letters which resembles a
beam of the rays of the rising sun was sung by the noble Sage
Ramana, the ocean of compassion, with the object of removing
the delusion of the devotees who sought his grace. Those who
look upon it as their sole refuge will realize within themselves
that they are Arunachala and will reign in the world of Siva.

Beauty ＆ Pure 249

 

There are said to be six (subtle) organs of different
colours in the chest, of which the spiritual heart is said to be the
one situated two fingers’ breadth, to the right from the centre!
But the heart is also said to be formless. Does that mean that we
should imagine it to have a form and meditate on this?
B.:
No; only the quest – ‘Who am I?’ is necessary. That
which continues to exist throughout sleep and waking is the same
being in both; but while waking there is unhappiness and therefore
the effort to remove it. When asked who awakes from sleep, you
say ‘I’. Hold fast to this ‘I’. If that is done the Eternal Being
reveals itself. The most important thing is the investigation of the
‘I’ and not concentration on the heart centre. There is no such
thing as the ‘inner’ and the ‘outer’. Both words mean the same or
nothing at all. Nevertheless, there is also the practice of
concentration on the heart-centre, which is a form of spiritual
exercise. Only he who concentrates on the heart can remain aware
when the mind ceases to be active and remains still, with no
thoughts, whereas those who concentrate on any other centre
cannot retain awareness without thought but only infer that the
mind was still after it has become active again.
In the following passage an English lady remarks on this
awareness without thought and Bhagavan approves.

Beauty ＆ Pure 248

 

Bhagavan.:

Short or long duration applies only
to the dream and waking states.
Someone may say:
‘we have lived so long
and these houses and belongings
are so clearly evident to us
that it surely can’t be all a dream’.
But we have to remember
that even dreams seem long while they last.
It is only when you wake up that you realize
that they only lasted a short time.
In the same way,
when one attains Realization (jnana),
this life is seen to be momentary.
Dreamless sleep means nescience;
therefore it is to be rejected in favour
of the state of pure Awareness.

Beauty ＆ Pure 247

 

If I know my presence then how I know the presence of other person . Is that any feeling in silence present ?