Part 1 - Thus Spake Ramana

Turn your vision inward
and then the whole world
will be full of Supreme Spirit.
The world is said to be illusion.
Illusion is really truth.
Even science traces the origin
of the universe to one primordial matter;
Subtle, exceedingly subtle.
God is the same to those who say
the world is real and 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.

There is only one consciousness.
Without consciousness,
time and space do not exist.
They appear in consciousness.
It is like a screen on which these are cast as pictures,
and move as in a cinema show.
The absolute consciousness is our real nature.

Bliss is concurrent with
Being-Consciousness.
All the arguments relating
to the eternal being of that Bliss
apply to Bliss, also.
Your nature is Bliss.
Ignorance is now hiding that Bliss.
Remove the ignorance,
for Bliss to be freed.

The perception of an "I"
is associated with a form,
maybe the body.
There should be nothing associate
with the pure Self.
The Self is the unassociated,
pure Reality
in whose light the body,
the ego, etc, shine.
On stilling all thoughts,
the pure consciousness remains.

Even though the world is seen,
the Seer remains unaffected.

Because you are accustomed to identify with the body
and sight with the eyes, you say you do not see anything.
What is there to be seen? Who is to see? How to see?
There is only one consciousness which,
manifesting itself as "I"-thought, identifies itself with the body,
projects itself through the eyes and sees the objects around.
The individual is limited in the waking state
and expects to see something different.
The evidence of his senses will be the seal of authority.
But he will not admit, that the seer--the seen,
are all manifestations of the same consciousness.
Namely, "I-I"
Contemplation helps one overcome the illusion
that the Self must be visual. In truth nothing visual exists.
How do you feel the "I" now?
Do you hold a feeling in front of yourself to know your being?
The awareness is the "I". Realize it and that is the truth.

The mind is only a bundle of thoughts.
The thoughts arise because there is the thinker.
The thinker is the ego.
The ego, if sought, will vanish automatically.
The ego and the mind are the same.
The ego is the root-thought
from which all other thoughts arise.
Dive within.
You are now aware that the mind rise up from within.
So sink within and seek.

Seek the mind
on being sought
it will disappear.

Everyone wants only happiness.
Happiness, too as found
in the enjoyment of the senses.
This question was asked of a Guru,
and the latter answered, "Quite so,
That happiness which is a result of the
enjoyment of the senses
is the same as that of liberation.
That desire of such liberation is one
of the four requirements for Liberation
This is common to all.
So all are eligible for this knowledge;
Self- knowledge."

Pursuit of Self-knowledge
should not be abandoned.


Bhagavan replied, "Happiness is possible only if the mind is right. If the mind is not right, whatever else may be, there is no peace. The mind becomes ripe according to each person's fitness. A nastik (an agnostic) becomes an astik (a believer), an astik becomes a bhakta, a bhakta becomes a jignasu (one desirous of Knowledge) and a jignasu becomes a Jnani. This refers to the mind only.What is the use of saying it refers to the body? If the mind is happy, not only the body but the whole world will be happy.So one must find out the way of becoming happy oneself. One cannot do this except by finding out about oneself by Self-enquiry.

To think of reforming the world without doing that is like thinking of covering the whole world with leather to avoid the pain caused by walking on stones and thorns when the much simpler method of wearing leather shoes is available. When by holding an umbrella over your head you can avoid the sun, will it be possible to cover the face of the whole earth by tying a cloth over it to avoid the sun? If a person realises his position and stays in his own self, things that are to happen will happen.Things that are not to happen will not happen.The shakti that is in the world, is only one. All these troubles arise if we think that we are separate from that shakti."

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Nagamma: Letters, 17.05.1947

In the beginning one has to be told
that he is not the body, because
he thinks that he is the body only.
Whereas he is the body and all else.
The body is only a part.
Let him know it, finally.
He must first discern consciousness
from insentience
and be the consciousness only.
Later, let him realize that insentience
is not apart from consciousness.
This is discrimination [viveka]
The initial discrimination
must persist to the end.
It's fruit is Liberation.

D.: Is not dhyana one of the efficient processes for Realisation?

M.: Dhyana is concentration on an object. It fulfils the purpose of keeping away diverse thoughts and fixing the mind on a single thought, which must also disappear before Realisation. But Realisation is nothing new to be acquired. It is already there, but obstructed by a screen of thoughts. All our attempts are directed for lifting this screen and then Realisation is revealed. If a true seeker is advised to meditate, many may go away satisfied with the advice. But someone among them may turn round and ask, "Who am I to meditate on an object?" Such a one must be told to find the Self. That is the finality. That is Vichara.

D.: Will vichara alone do in the absence of meditation?

M.: Vichara is the process and the goal also. 'I AM' is the goal and the final Reality. To hold to it with effort is vichara. When spontaneous and natural it is Realisation.

Effortless and choiceless awareness is our Real State. If we can attain It or be in It, it is all right. But one cannot reach It without effort, the effort of deliberate meditation. All the agelong vasanas (latent tendencies) carry the mind outwards and turn it to external objects. All such thoughts have to be given up and the mind turned inward. For most people effort is necessary. Of course, everybody, every book says summa iru (be quiet or still). But it is not easy. That is why all this effort is necessary. Even if you find one who has effortlessly achieved the mouna (silence) or Supreme State you may take it that the effort necessary has already been completed in a previous life. Such effortless and choiceless awareness is reached only after deliberate meditation.

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Ramana Maharshi About Pure And Impure Mind

D: What is the authority for saying that Brahman can be apprehended by the mind and at the same time that it cannot be apprehended by the mind?

Bhagavan: It cannot be apprehended by the impure mind but can be apprehended by the pure mind.

D: What is pure mind and what is impure mind?

Bhagavan: When the indefinable power of Brahman separates itself from Brahman and, in union with the reflection of consciousness (Chidabhasa) assumes various forms, it is called the impure mind. When it becomes free from the reflection of consciousness (abhasa), through discrimination, it is called the pure mind.

Its state of union with the Brahman is its apprehension of Brahman. The energy which is accompanied by the reflection of consciousness is called the impure mind and its state of separation from Brahman is its nonapprehension of Brahman.

Source : Collected Works Of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi

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Ramana Maharshi Says Jnani Belongs To The Fourth Stage Of Jnana Bhoomikas

The seven jnana bhoomikas are:

(i). subheccha (the desire for enlightenment).
(ii). vicharana (enquiry).
(iii). tanumanasa (tenuous mind).
(iv). satwapatti (self-realization).
(v). asamsakti (non-attachment).
(vi). padarthabhavana (non-perception(sensing) of objects).
(vii). turyaga (transcendence).

Transcendence means A state of being or existence above and beyond the limits of material experience

Those who have attained the last four bhoomikas are called brahmavid, brahmavidvara, brahmavidvariya and brahmavidvaristha respectively.

D: To which of the seven stages of knowledge (jnana bhoomikas) does the sage (jnani) belong?

Bhagavan: He belongs to the fourth stage.

D: If that is so why have three more stages superior to it been distinguished?

Bhagavan: The marks of the stages four to seven are based upon the experiences of the realized person (jivanmukta). They are not states of knowledge and release. So far as knowledge and release are concerned no distinction whatever is made in these
four stages.

Source : Collected Works Of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi

My Spritual Friend Subramanian R garu wants to add few more points

Yes.The seven stages are called Sapta Jnana Bhoomikas.It appears in Kaivalya Navaneetam.The 4th to 7th stages are of Jnanis, but of different calibers. The first three belong to sadhakas of different maturities.

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Ramana Maharshi Says State Of Sahaja Nirvikalpa Alone To Be The Ultimate State

D: As some sacred texts say that the supreme state is that in which the sense organs and the mind are completely destroyed, how can that state be compatible with the experience of the body and the senses?

Bhagavan: If that were so there would not be any difference between that state and the state of deep sleep. Further, how can it be said to be the natural state when it exists at one time and not at another? This happens, as stated before, to some persons according to their karma (prarabdha) for some time or till death. It cannot properly be regarded as the final state.

If it could it would mean that all great souls and the Lord, who were the authors of the Vedantic works (jnana granthas) and the Vedas, were unenlightened persons.If the supreme state is that in which neither the senses nor the mind exist and not the state in which they exist, how can it be the perfect state (paripurnam)?

As karma alone is responsible for the activity or inactivity of the sages, great souls have declared the state of sahaja nirvikalpa (the natural state without concepts) alone to be the ultimate state.

Source : Collected Works Of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi

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Legend Behind Bhagavan Ramana's Upadesa Saram

There is a legend that a group of rishis once lived in the Daruka forest together, practising rites by which they acquired supernatural powers. By the same means they
hoped to attain final liberation. In this, however, they were mistaken, for action can only result in action, not in the cessation of action; rites can produce powers but not the peace of liberation which is beyond rites and powers and all forms of action. Siva determined to convince them of their error and therefore appeared before them as a wandering sadhu.

Together with him came Vishnu in the form of a beautiful lady. All the rishis were smitten with love for this lady and thereby their equilibrium was disturbed and their rites and powers were adversely affected. Moreover their wives, who were also living with them in the forest, all fell in love with the strange sadhu.

Incensed at this, they conjured up an elephant and a tiger by magic rites and sent them against him. Siva, however,slew them easily and took the elephant’s skin for a robe and the tiger’s for a wrap. The rishis then realized that they were up against one more powerful than themselves and they bowed down to him and asked him for instruction.

He then explained to them that it is not by action but by renunciation of action that one attains liberation.

The poet Muruganar wanted to write a hundred verses on this theme but he could not readily proceed beyond seventy verses. It then occurred to him that Bhagavan was the proper person to write the verses relating to Siva’s instructions. He therefore begged Bhagavan to compose them and Bhagavan accordingly composed thirty Tamil verses.

He himself later rendered them into Sanskrit. These thirty verses were subsequently translated by Bhagavan into Telugu under the name of Anubhuti Saram first, and Upadesa Saram afterwards.Bhagavan likewise rendered them into Malayalam. The
Sanskrit version, Upadesa Saram, was chanted before him daily together with the Vedas and continues to be chanted before his shrine; that is to say, it is treated as a scripture. He refers to the various paths to liberation, grading them in order
of efficiency and excellence, and showing that the best is Self-enquiry.

Source : Collected Works Of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi

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Is there a need to achieve anything in this world? By Sri Dr Surya Narayana Raju

Above Is latest photo of Dr Raju taken at entrance of Jk(J.krishna Murthy) center.

Mind and world appear and disappear simultaneously.So both are interrelated and interdependent.When the mind does not perceive the world as in deep sleep,swoon,samadhi it becomes no-mind.

So world must be a projection of the mind.Mind being consciousness in movement world must also be consciousness in movement.The sanskrit word Jagat(world) literally means that which always changes moves.So movement is common factor to both.If they don't move they cease to exist.

So mind is the world.

A child is born without any knowledge, any consciousness of his own self. And when a child is born the first thing he becomes aware of is not himself; the first thing he becomes aware of is the other. It is natural, because the eyes open outwards, the hands touch others, the ears listen to others, the tongue tastes food and the nose smells the outside. All these senses open outwards.

That is what birth means. Birth means coming into this world, the world of the outside. So when a child is born, he is born into this world. He opens his eyes, sees others. 'Other' means the thou. He becomes aware of the mother first. Then, by and by, he becomes aware of his own body. That too is the other,that too belongs to the world. He is hungry and he feels the body; his need is satisfied, he forgets the
body.So child observes the seen as a witnessing consciousness including his own body.He is yet to develop an ego so he sees the world without any separative feeling.

Now starts the genesis of the ego.

First he becomes aware of you, thou, other, and then by and by, in contrast to you, thou, he becomes aware of himself.This awareness is a reflected awareness. He is not aware of who he is. He is simply aware of the mother and what she thinks about him. If she smiles, if she appreciates the child, if she says, "You are beautiful," if she hugs and kisses him, the child feels good about himself. Now an ego is born.

Through appreciation, love, care, he feels he is good, he feels he is valuable, he feels he has some significance.

A center is born.

But this center is a reflected center. It is not his real being. He does not know who he is; he simply knows what others think about him. And this is the ego: the reflection, what others think. If nobody thinks that he is of any use, nobody appreciates him, nobody smiles, then too an ego is born: an ill ego; sad,rejected, like a wound; feeling inferior, worthless. This too is the ego. This too is a reflection.

First the mother - and mother means the world in the beginning. Then others will join the mother, and the world goes on growing. And the more the world grows, the more complex the ego becomes, because many others' opinions are reflected.

The ego is an accumulated phenomenon, a by-product of living with others. If a child lives totally alone,he will never come to grow an ego. But that is not going to help. He will remain like an animal. That doesn't mean that he will come to know the real self, no.

In this way the essential witnessing consciousness "I am" is mixed with adjuncts like the body,thinking faculty,intellect,memory resulting in a compound consciousness as "I' thought or I-am-the-body-idea" which imagines itself to be a body,so limited (kinchigna) so feels separated from rest of the existence,it is a distorted false form of "Real I" consciousness 'I am".So mind is imagining itself to be not only the body but also the underlying Self consciousness "I am".

Mind cannot rise without imagining itself to be our real Self consciousness.The mind comes into existence by superimposing imaginary adjuncts on the basic form of consciousness "I am".Human requires basic needs like food,shelter,clothing,medical aid,job etc for his maintenance.For this he has to earn in right means.This is normal and physiological.

Once ego is crystallized it starts comparing with others,becomes rabidly ambitious, competitive,starts possessing what he earns,because he has goal to reach through achieving lives a life of purpose and a man with purpose is angry,violent.

In this way an achieving life relates with the existence in a pathological way and thinks that the other separate and contrary to his life.In this process of achieving and becoming desiring takes strong roots which makes us future oriented bypassing the present.A man of desire misses and sacrifices the present moment for a future which is yet to be.Some monks have non-achievement as their life goal and this is also an attitude of achieving in a different manner.

We should go beyond achieving and non-achieving and live a natural way of life.Achieving attitude of mind is the seed of conflict,violence,disorder,strife,war in the society.Just imagine there are 750 crore achieving minds in the world whose interests are against each other.

Total wealth of the world is in the hands of 2% rich people and so rest of the population are denied the basic needs of life.So see the danger of achieving attitude of mind and its consequences on the individual and so the society.Achieving attitude is only to fulfill psychological appetites for which there is no limit.Can real be achieved?Is it wise to run after to achieve that which is false.

In life actually there is no need to achieve anything for psychological purpose. If one starts for achieving Self that is also a self centered activity.Self is not achievable but it is there for you to become one with it through Self-Inquiry.

Note: Through this message Dr Raju Garu is not asking people to be lazy and not to work.It is aimed to point out the consequences and futility of achieving something in life just for gratification of mind.Vast majority of humanity are denied access to basic needs because of rabid ambition of chosen few.In many countries it is the corporates that frame the laws which suits them and govern the whole world.They are given many subsidies to improve their industrial empires.

The steel king of the world Mr.Lakshmi Mittal is not paying any income tax while an old servant maid working in his house is paying 20% of her earnings as income tax.Kindly observe how corrupt is the social morality which is actually immoral.In Africa millions are dying due to starvation and in USA millions are suffering from over eating.So we are all responsible for suffering of fellow human beings.Mahatma Gandhi said world has enough resources to fulfill basic needs of all but its resources are not enough to fulfill the ambition of chosen few who are responsible for the suffering for fellow human being.Unless we bring in awareness that achieving attitude of mind brings destruction to the individual who is indulging in it and society at large.

Science has advanced so much that even if we work for four hours a day for 5 days in a week everybody will be provided with all basic facilities.The culture of exploiting and getting exploited must end through awareness of the futility of doing such stupid things.We should not work with doership with an eye on fruit of action which contaminates the action.Working without doership amounts to Akarma but laziness is not akarma.

About the Author

Sri Suryanarayana Raju is interested in Self-Enquiry in the light of Sri Ramana Maharshi,Osho,JK.He wrote two books on "Self-Enquiry" and "Commented on Upadesa Saram and Akshara Mana Malai". available for download at http://www.esnips.com/ web/ramana-maharshi

http://www.facebook.com/Arunachalasiva

Source: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=413053836864

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Final Part - Few Talks Of Bhagavan Ramana

"So long as the body is considered,
birth is real. But the body is not 'I.'
The Self is not born nor does it die.
There is nothing new. The sages
see everything as being in and of
the Self; there is no diversity in it.
Therefore, there is neither birth
nor death."

"Find out the source of 'I.' " - Ramana Maharshi

One day when the doctor was dressing Bhagavan's arm, they chatted about taking photos. Bhagavan said, "In a pin- hole camera, when the hole is small, you see shapes and col- ours. When the hole is made big, the images disappear and one sees only clear light. Similarly when the mind is small and narrow, it is full of shapes and words. When it broadens, it sees pure light. When the box is destroyed altogether, only the light remains. - Ramana Maharshi

Again, why mourn the dead? They are free from bondage. Mourning is the chain forged by the mind to bind itself to the dead. -Ramana Bhagavan

Just like one who is (seemingly) listening to a story when (his) mind has (in fact) gone far away, the mind (of the Atmajnani or knower of self) in which the tendencies (vasanas) have been erased, has not (in fact) done (anything) even though it has (seemingly) done (many things). (On the other hand) the mind (of an ajnani or one who does not know Self) which is saturated with them (tendencies or vasanas),has (in fact) done (many things) even though it has (seemingly) not done (anything), (just like) one who (thinks) in dream (that he) has climbed a hill and is falling over a precipice, even though (his body is in fact lying) here without movement (sleeping on his bed).

Therefore, since the states of activity, namely waking and dream, the state of absorption (nishta) and the state of sleep are all states which pertain only to the body and mind, they are not at all known to the Jnani, just as the moving, standing and unyoked states of a cart are unknown to someone who is asleep in the cart.

But in the non-dual state of self-abidance, in which the ego or individuality has been destroyed, one does not experience any sense of otherness-that is, one does not feel any such distinction as ‘This is me, that is someone else’ –and hence if one is praised or disparaged by ‘others’ it is as if one is praised or disparaged by oneself. In other words,since the Jnani knows that He alone exist, His perfect equanimity cannot be distrurbed even in the least by either praise or disparagement.

- Ramana Maharshi

Do understand that you are destined for enlightenment. Co-operate with your destiny,don't go against it, don't thwart it. Allow it to fulfill itself. All you have to do is to give attention to the obstacles created by the foolish mind.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj

When you build a house, you build doors as well. These doors are meant to facilitate easy entry and departure of friends and relatives. Only those who are authorised to enter are allowed through these doors. The door is not meant for dogs and donkeys to come into the house. Similarly through the doors of the senses, we should usher in only sacred thoughts, feelings and ideas. The heart is the abode of God. The Lord cannot be enthroned in a heart fouled by evil thoughts, ideas and feelings. We should not allow either animal or demoniac qualities to enter into that sacred abode of Divinity. -Baba

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