Final Part - Thus Spake Ramana

Devotee:

Being always Being-Consciousness-Bliss, why does God place us in difficulties? Why did He create us?

Bhagavan: Does God come and tell you that He has placed you in difficulties? It is you who say so. It is again the wrong ‘I’. If that disappears there will be no one to say that God created this or that.

source: Talk 197

People would not understand
the simple and bare truth.
--the truth of their everyday,
ever-present and eternal experience.
That Truth is that of the Self.

Because they love mystery
and not the bare truth,
religions pamper them.
Only to bring them around to the Self.
Wandering hither and thither,
you must return to the Self only.
Then, why not abide in the Self
right here and now?

Subject and object;
all merge in the Self.
All are only one Self.

A cultured lady, daughter of a well-known solicitor of Madras asked:
What should one do in order to remain free from thoughts as advised
by you? Is it only the enquiry "Who am I?"

M.: Only to remain still. Do it and see.

D.: It is impossible.

M.: Exactly. For the same reason the enquiry "Who am I?" is advised.

Ignorance vanishing,
the residue reveals itself.
It is experience,
not in the category of knowledge.

Everything is one's Self.
To see the world there must be a spectator.
There could be no world without the Self.
The Self is all comprising.
In fact, Self is all.
There is nothing besides the Self.

The Self is changeless;
it is the ego that has intervened.
That which rises and sets is the ego;
that which remains changeless is the Self.

Realize the Real Self.
It is all that is necessary.

The Self is ever the witness.
Whether imagined so or not.
There is no need to imagine it,
except for that purpose.
It is best to remain as one's self.

It is as it is.
They are excited at first.
By continued experience it becomes common
and then one is no longer excited.

A wandering mind is on the wrong track.
Only a devotional mind is on the right track.

A gentleman ... asked: "Swami, you say that finding out the self is the greatest thing in life. But for finding it out, is the Nama Japa (repeating the name of the Lord) good? Can we attain Moksha in htat way?"

Bhagavan said, "Yes it is good. That itself will take you in due course to the Goal. The repeating of the Name is to remove all extraneous things. Then everything extraneous disappears and what remians is the Name alone. That which remains is the Self or God or the Supreme Being. Nama Japa means we give a name to God and call HIM by that name. You give Him that name which you like most."

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from Nagamma: Letters, entry 29. July 1948

For whom is this ignorance [veiling?]
Does the Absolute tell you it is veiled?
It is the person that tells you something veils the Absolute
Find out for whom this ignorance exists.

For whom is this imperfection?
The Absolute is not imperfect and cannot ask.
The insentient cannot ask the question.
Between the two
something has risen up
and which raises these questions
and feels the doubt.
Who is it?
Is it the one who has now arisen?
Or is it the one who is eternal?
Being perfect, why do you feel yourself imperfect?
Such is the teachings of all the religions.
Whatever may be the experiences,
the experiencer is one and the same.

Reality must be always real.
It is not entangled with forms and names,
but is That which underlies these.
It underlies limitations, being itself limitless.
It is not bound.
It underlies unrealities, itself being real.
Reality is that which is. It is as it is.
It transcends speech and lies beyond
such expressions as existence, non-existence, etc

Each one wants to know the Self.
What kind of help does one require to know oneself?
People want to see the Self as something new.
But it remains eternal and is the same all along.

The best definition is, 'I Am That I Am.' - Ramana Maharshi

Bliss is not something to be got.
On the other hand, you are bliss.
This desire is born of the sense of incompleteness.
To whom is this sense of incompleteness?
Inquire. In deep sleep, you were blissful.
Now you are not so.
What is interposed between that bliss and this bliss?
It is the ego.
Seek its source and find you are bliss.

For whom is this ignorance?
It is the ego.
Trace the source of the ego.
Then the ignorance is lost and bliss remains.
It is eternal.
You are That, here and now.
Search the source of the ego,
and the Self is revealed.
That alone remains.

If the Self could be found in books,
it would already have been realized.
What wonder can be greater than
that we seek the Self in books?
Of course, books have given the
readers the sense to ask this question
and to seek the Self.

So you see that you are really formless
but you are at present identifying
yourself with the body.

There is a state beyond both effort
and effortlessness.
Until it is realized, effort is necessary.
After tasting such Bliss even once,
one will repeatedly try to regain it.
Having once experienced the Bliss of Peace,
no one would like to be out of it
or engage himself otherwise.

No activity of any kind affects a
Self-Realized man.
his mind remains ever in eternal Peace.
He will know it to be his real Being,
and thus be liberated even while alive.