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Post by Reefs on Feb 15, 2013 2:15:50 GMT -8
This thread is for posting Ramana quotes only.
Two simple rules:
#1) you may not post comments
#2) you may post other Ramana quotes
If someone wants to discuss these quotes, that can be done in a separate thread, "The Daily Ramana (discussion)" thread.
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Post by Reefs on Feb 15, 2013 2:55:01 GMT -8
Mirror & Dream
Ramana: The mirror reflects objects; yet they are not real because they cannot remain apart from the mirror. Similarly, the world is said to be a reflection in the mind as it does not remain in the absence of mind. The question arises: if the universe is a reflection, there must be a real object known as the universe in order that it might be reflected in the mind. This amounts to an admission of the existence of an objective universe. Truly speaking, it is not so. Therefore the dream illustration is set forth. The dream world has no objective existence. How then is it created? Some mental impressions should be admitted. They are called vasanas. How were the vasanas in the mind? The answer is: they were subtle. Just as a whole tree is contained potentially in a seed, so the world is in the mind.
Then it is asked: A seed is the product of the tree which must have existed once in order that it may be reproduced. So the world also must have been there some time. The answer is, No! There must have been several incarnations to gather the impressions which are re-manifested in the present form. I must have existed before as I do now. The straight way to find an answer will be to see if the world is there. Admitting the existence of the world I must admit a seer who is no other than myself. Let me find myself so that I may know the relation between the world and the seer. When I seek the Self and abide as the Self there is no world to be seen. What is the Reality then? The seer only and certainly not the world.
Such being the truth the man continues to argue on the basis of the reality of the world. Whoever asked him to accept a brief for the world?
Yoga Vasishta clearly defines Liberation as the abandonment of the false and remaining as Being.
8th January, 1938
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Post by Reefs on Feb 16, 2013 2:15:21 GMT -8
Nothing new
Ramana: What is to be done? Reality is One only. How can It be realized? Realization is thus an illusion. Practice seems to be necessary. Who is to practice? Looking for the doer, the act and the accessories disappear. Moreover, if Realization is not present here and now, how can It, newly got, be of any use? What is permanent must be eternally present. Can it be newly got and be permanent also? Realize what is present here and now. The sages did so before and still do that only. Hence they say that it looks as if newly got. Once veiled by ignorance and later revealed, Reality looks as if newly realized. But it is not new.
3rd January, 1938
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Post by Reefs on Feb 18, 2013 1:19:41 GMT -8
Illusory being watching illusory world
Visitor: The illustration of the mirror relates to the sense of sight only. The world is perceived by the other senses also. Can the unreality be established to other senses as well?
Ramana: A figure on the screen in the cinema show appears to watch the whole world. What is the reality behind the subject and the object in the same show? An illusory being watches an illusory world.
Visitor: But I am the witness of the show.
Ramana: Certainly you are. You and the world are as real as the cinema figure and the cinema world.
8th January, 1938
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Post by Reefs on Feb 19, 2013 3:56:24 GMT -8
No degrees of illusion
Visitor: Are there degrees of illusion?
Ramana: Illusion is itself illusory. Illusion must be seen by one beyond it. Can such a seer be subject to illusion? Can he then speak of degrees of illusion? There are scenes floating on the screen in a cinema show. Fire appears to burn buildings to ashes. Water seems to wreck vessels. But the screen on which the pictures are projected remains unscorched and dry. Why? Because the pictures are unreal and the screen is real. Again reflections pass through a mirror; but the mirror is not in any way affected by the quality or quantity of the reflections on it. So the world is a phenomenon on the single Reality, which is not affected in any manner. Reality is only one. The discussion about illusion is due to the difference in the angle of vision. Change your angle of vision to one of jnana and then find the universe to be only Brahman. Being now in the world, you see the world as such. Get beyond it and this will disappear: the Reality alone will shine.
24th January, 1938
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Post by Reefs on Feb 20, 2013 3:49:47 GMT -8
Knower of Brahman
The Upanishads say: "The Knower of Brahman becomes Brahman." There are more than one Knower of Brahman at a time. “Are all of them the same? Are they not separate?” So ask some persons. They look to the bodies only. They do not look to the realization. There is no difference in the realization of the Knower of Brahman. That is the Truth. But when the question is raised from the standpoint of the body the reply is necessarily bound to be “Yes. They are different”. This is the cause of the confusion.
24th January, 1938
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Post by sufilight on Feb 21, 2013 2:29:06 GMT -8
I exist' is the only permanent self-evident experience of everyone. Nothing else is so self-evident as 'I am'. What people call self-evident, that is, the experience they get through the senses, is far from self-evident. The Self alone is that. So to do self-enquiry and be that 'I am' is the only thing to do. 'I am' is reality. I am this or that is unreal. 'I am' is truth, another name for Self.
"Be As You Are"
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
Edited by David Godman
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Post by Reefs on Feb 24, 2013 7:21:12 GMT -8
Mind in Brain or Brain in Mind?
Visitor: How can the world be an imagination or a thought? Thought is a function of the mind. The mind is located in the brain. The brain is within the skull of a human being, who is only an infinitesimal part of the universe. How then can the universe be contained in the cells of the brain?
Ramana: So long as the mind is considered to be an entity of the kind described, the doubt will persist. But what is mind? Let us consider. The world is seen when the man wakes up from sleep. It comes after the ‘I-thought’. The head rises up. So the mind has become active. What is the world? It is objects spread out in space. Who comprehends it? The mind. Is not the mind, which comprehends space, itself space? The space is physical ether. The mind is mental ether which is contained in transcendental ether. The mind is thus the ether principle. Being the principle of knowledge, it is identified with ether by metaphysics. Considering it to be ether, there will be no difficulty in reconciling the apparent contradiction in the question. Pure mind is ether. The dynamic and dull (rajas and tamas) aspects operate as gross objects, etc. Thus the whole universe is only mental.
Again, consider a man who dreams. He goes to sleep in a room with doors closed so that nothing can intrude on him while asleep. He closes his eyes when sleeping so that he does not see any object. Yet when he dreams he sees a whole region in which people live and move about with himself among them. Did this panorama get in through the doors? It was simply unfolded to him by his brain. Is it the sleeper’s brain or in the brain of the dream individual? It is in the sleeper’s brain. How does it hold this vast country in its tiny cells? This must explain the oft-repeated statement that the whole universe is a mere thought or a series of thoughts.
4th February, 1938
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Post by Reefs on Feb 26, 2013 8:00:06 GMT -8
Toothache
Visitor: I feel toothache. Is it only a thought?
Ramana: Yes.
Visitor: Why can I not think that there is no toothache and thus cure myself?
Ramana: When engrossed in other thoughts one does not feel the toothache. When one sleeps toothache is not felt.
Visitor: But toothache remains all the same.
Ramana: Such is the firm conviction of the reality of the world that it is not easily shaken off. The world does not become, for that reason, any more real than the individual himself.
Visitor: Now there is the Sino-Japanese war. If it is only in imagination, can or will Sri Bhagavan imagine the contrary and put an end to the war?
Ramana: The Bhagavan of the questioner is as much a thought as the Sino-Japanese war.
4th February, 1938
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Post by Reefs on Mar 2, 2013 19:47:01 GMT -8
Method of Realization
Visitor: What is the method of Realization?
Ramana: Holding the mind and investigating it is advised for a beginner. But what is mind after all? It is a projection of the Self. See for whom it appears and from where it rises. The ‘I-thought’ will be found to be the root-cause. Go deeper; the ‘I-thought’ disappears and there is an infinitely expanded ‘I-consciousness’. That is otherwise called Hiranyagarbha (universal consciousness). When it puts on limitations it appears as individuals.
4th May, 1938
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Post by Reefs on May 30, 2013 5:58:50 GMT -8
The Heart
Visitor: How is the mind to dive into the Heart?
Ramana: The mind now sees itself diversified as the universe. If the diversity is not manifest it remains in its own essence, that is the Heart. Entering the Heart means remaining without distractions. The Heart is the only Reality. The mind is only a transient phase. To remain as one’s Self is to enter the Heart.
Because a man identifies himself with the body he sees the world separate from him. This wrong identification arises because he has lost his moorings and has swerved from his original state. He is now advised to give up all these false ideas, to trace back his source and remain as the Self. In that state, there are no differences. No questions will arise.
All the sastras are meant only to make the man retrace his steps to the original source. He need not gain anything new. He must only give up his false ideas and useless accretions. Instead of doing it he tries to catch hold of something strange and mysterious because he believes that his happiness lies elsewhere. That is the mistake. If one remains as the Self there is bliss. Probably he thinks that being quiet does not bring about the state of bliss. That is due to his ignorance. The only practice is to find out “to whom these questions arise.”
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Post by Reefs on Jan 11, 2014 22:41:30 GMT -8
Child and Sage
Visitor: Why is it said in scriptures that the Sage is like a child?
Ramana: A child and a Sage (Jnani) are similar in a way. Incidents interest a child only so long as they last. It ceases to think of them after they have passed away. So then, it is apparent that they do not leave any impression on the child and it is not affected by them mentally. So it is with a Sage.
15th May, 1935
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Post by Reefs on Jan 13, 2014 6:00:10 GMT -8
Satsang
Visitor: How to control the mind?
Ramana: It is to be done by controlling the breath. If you practice it by yourself without other help, then the mind is controlled. Otherwise the mind comes under control spontaneously in the presence of a superior power. Such is the greatness of association with the wise (satsanga).
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Post by Reefs on Jan 15, 2014 1:57:19 GMT -8
Illusion
Visitor: What is illusion?
Ramana: To whom is the illusion? Find it out. Then illusion will vanish. Generally people want to know about illusion and do not examine to whom it is. It is foolish. Illusion is outside and unknown. But the seeker is considered to be known and is inside. Find out what is immediate, intimate, instead of trying to find out what is distant and unknown.
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Post by fredvd on Jan 17, 2014 17:57:35 GMT -8
it is interesting that you don't take this advice.
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