Final Part - Few Talks With Sri Ramana Maharshi By LUCY CORNELSSEN

Dvaita and Advaita are relative terms. They are based on the sense of duality. The Self is as It is. There is neither dvaita nor advaita, I AM THAT I AM. Simple Be-ing is the Self.(Talks, 433).

One’s efforts are directed only to remove one’s ignorance.Afterwards they cease and the real Self is found to be always there. No effort is needed to remain as the Self. (Talks, 66).

The Truth is that the Self is constant and unintermittent Awareness. The object of enquiry is to find the true nature of the Self as Awareness. Let one practise enquiry so long as separateness is perceived. Once realisation arises there is no further need for enquiry. The question will also not arise. Can awareness ever think of questioning who is aware? Awareness remains pure and simple. (Talks, 454).

The Self is known to everyone but not clearly. You always exist. The Be-ing is the Self. ‘I am’ is the name of God. Of all the definitions of God, none is indeed so well put as the Biblical statement ‘I am that I am’ in Exodus 3, Verse 14. None is so
direct as the name JEHOVAH... I AM. The Absolute Be-ing is what is... It is the Self. It is God. Knowing the Self, God is known. In fact God is none other than the Self. (Talks, 106).

There is a state beyond our efforts or effortlessness. Until it is realised effort is necessary. After tasting such Bliss, even once, one will repeatedly try to regain it. It is as difficult for a jnani to engage in thoughts as it is for an ajnani to be free from thoughts. (Talks, 141).

Reality is simply the loss of the ego. Destroy the ego by seeking its identity. Because ego is no entity it will automatically vanish and Reality will shine forth by itself. This is the direct method whereas all other methods are done only retaining the ego. In those paths there arise so many doubts and the eternal question remains to be tackled finally. But in this method the final question is the only one and it is raised from the very beginning. No sadhanas are necessary for engaging in this quest. (Talks, 146).

Effortlessness while remaining aware is the state of Bliss,and that is Realisation. (Talks, 295).

In a sense, speaking of Self-realisation is a delusion. It is only because people have been under the delusion that the non-Self is the Self and the unreal the Real that they have to be weaned out of it by the other delusion called Self-realisation,
because actually the Self always is the Self and there is no such thing as realizing it. Who is to realize what, and how, when all that exists is the Self and nothing but the Self? (Day by Day).

Free-will and destiny are ever-existent. Destiny is the result of past action; it concerns the body. Let the body act as may suit it. Why are you concerned with it? Why do you pay attention to it? Free-will and destiny last as long as the body lasts. But Wisdom (jnana) transcends both. The Self is beyond knowledge and ignorance. Should anything happen it happens as the resultant of one’s past actions, of divine will and other factors. (Talks, 193).

Free-will holds the field in association with individuality.As long as individuality lasts so long there is Free-will. All the scriptures are based on this fact and they advise directing the Free-will in the right channel. Find out to whom Free-will or
destiny matters. Abide in it. Then these two are transcended.That is the only purpose of discussing these questions. To who do they arise? Find out and be at peace. (Talks, 426).

Yoga implies prior division and it means later union of one with the other. Who is to be united with whom? You are the seeker, seeking union with something. That something is apart from you. You are aware of the Self. Seek it and be it.That will expand as the Infinite. Then there will be no question of yoga, etc. Whose is the separation (viyoga)? Find it. (Talks, 211).

He who instructs an ardent seeker to do this or that is not a true Master. The seeker is already afflicted by his activities and wants Peace and Rest. In other words he wants cessation of his activities. Instead of that he is told do so something in addition to or in place of his other activities. Can that be a help to the seeker? (Talks, 601).

Love postulates duality. How can the Self be the object of Love? Love is not different from the Self. Love of an object is an inferior order and cannot endure. Whereas the Self is Love,in other words, God is Love. (Talks, 433).

Turn your vision inwards and the whole world will be full of the Supreme Spirit. The world is said to be illusion. Illusion is really Truth. Even the material sciences trace the origin of the universe to some primordial matter... subtle, exceedingly subtle. (Talks, 199).

God is the same both to those who say the world is real and to their opponents. Their outlook is different. You need not entangle yourself in such disputations. The goal is one and the same for all. Look to it. (Talks, 199).

The Bible says ‘Be still and know that I am God’.Stillness is the sole requisite for the realisation of the Self as God. (Talks, 338).

Brahmacharya is ‘living in Brahman’. It has no connection with celibacy as commonly understood. A real Brahmachari finds Bliss in the Brahman which is the same as the Self. Why then should you look for other sources of happiness? In fact the emergence from the Self has been the cause of all the misery.(Talks, 17).

When there is contact of a desirable sort or memory thereof, and when there is freedom from undesirable contacts or memory thereof, we say there is happiness. Such happiness is relative and is better called pleasure. (Talks, 28).

But men want absolute and permanent happiness. This does not reside in objects, but in the Absolute. It is Peace, free from pain and pleasure... it is a neutral state. (Talks, 28).

This is the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven mentioned in the Bible and this world are not two different regions. ‘The Kingdom is within you’ says the Bible. So it is.The realised being sees this as the Kingdom of Heaven whereas others see it as ‘this world’. The difference lies only in the angle of vision. (Talks, 609).

Nirvana is Perfection. In the Perfect State there is neither subject nor object; there is nothing to see, nothing to feel,nothing to know. Seeking and knowing are the functions of the mind. In Nirvana there is nothing but the blissful pure consciousness ‘I am’. (Talks, 406).

Source: HUNTING THE ‘I’ according to Sri Ramana Maharshi By LUCY CORNELSSEN

My Spriritual Friend Subramanian R wants to add few points regarding the author

Lucy Cornlessen is one of the old devotees of Bhagavan Ramana.She came and stayed with Bhagavan Ramana till her liberation.When she took seriously ill, her daughter, popularly called Lucy Ma's daughter, came to Tiruvannamalai and stayed there having
darshan of Bhagavan and also simultaneously serving her ailing mother. She did not return to her homeland after her mother's liberation!

She is still in Sri Ramanasramam, even today. She wears a spotlessly clean white sari and a white blouse, with kumkum on her forehead. My wife talks to her whenever we are in Tiruvannamalai. "Lucy Ma's daughter has learnt Tamil and she told my wife: Where can I go? This is my home." She comes in the morning and evening to the Asramam, and she takes food and breakfast and tea there only.

Lucy Carnelessen is the author of her only book Hunting the I.