Ramana Maharshi was an Indian Hindu sage and jivanmukta. He was born Venkataraman Iyer, but is mostly known by the name Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. He was born in Tiruchuli, Tamil Nadu, India.
The upadesa of Sri Bhagavan, that is to say the guidance or instruction given by Him was secret in a sense. Although he was accessible to all alike, although questions were normally asked and answered in public, the guidance given to each disciple was nevertheless intensely direct and adapted to his character. When asked once by Swami Yogananda, a Swami with a large following in America, what spiritual instruction should be given to the people for their uplift, he replied: “It depends on the temperament and spiritual maturity of the individual. There can be no mass instruction.”
Submission to this Guru is not submission to any outside oneself but to the Self manifested outwardly in order to help one discover the Self within. “The Master is within; meditation is meant to remove the ignorant idea that he is only outside. If he were a stranger whom you were awaiting he would be bound to disappear also. What would be the use of a transient being like that? But as long as you think that you are separate or are the body, so long is the outer Master also necessary and he will appear as if with a body. When the wrong identification of oneself with the body ceases the Master is found to be none other than the Self.”
It is axiomatic that one who is a Guru in this supreme sense of having realized his identity with the Absolute does not say so, in as much as there is no ego left to affirm the identity. Also he does not say that he has disciples, for, being beyond otherness, there can be no relationship for him.
When asked whether he gave initiation Sri Bhagavan always avoided a direct answer. But the initiation by look was a very real thing. Sri Bhagavan would turn to the devotee, his eyes fixed upon him with blazing intentness. The luminosity, the power of his eyes pierced into one, breaking down the thought-process. Sometimes it was as though an electric current was passing through one, sometimes a vast peace, a flood of light. One devotee has described it: “Suddenly Bhagavan turned his luminous, transparent eyes on me. Before that I could not stand his gaze for long. Now I looked right back into those terrible, wonderful eyes, how long I could not tell. They held me in a sort of vibration distinctly audible to me.” Always it was followed by the feeling, the indubitable conviction, that one had been taken up by Sri Bhagavan, that henceforth he was in charge, he was guiding. Those who knew would perceive when such an initiation took place, but it would usually be inconspicuous; it might happen during the chanting of the Vedas or the devotee might feel a sudden impulse to go to Sri Bhagavan before daybreak or at some time when few or none would be present. The initiation by silence was equally real. It entered into those who turned to Sri Bhagavan in their hearts without being able to go bodily to Tiruvannamalai. Sometimes it was given in a dream, as with Natesa Mudaliar.
RAMANA MAHARSHI QUOTES ON SILENCE, LIFE, AND GOD
On Spiritual Awakening
“Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world.”
“Wanting to reform the world without discovering one’s true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.”
“Realisation is not acquisition or anything new nor is it a new faculty. It is only removal of all camouflage.”
“Aim high, aim at the highest, and all lower aims are thereby achieved. It is looking below on the stormy sea of differences that makes you sink. Look up, beyond these and see the One Glorious Real, and you are saved.”
“Time is only an idea. There is only the reality whatever you think it is, it looks like that. If you call it time, it is time. If you call it existence, it is existence, and so on. After calling it time, you divide it into days and nights, months, years, hours, minute, etc. Time is immaterial for the Path of Knowledge. But some of these rules and discipline are good for beginners.”
“Thoughts come and go. Feelings come and go. Find out what it is that remains.”
Through his teachings, Ramana explained that to realize the truth of existence would be the best way you could give back to the world. Instead of trying to please everyone, he emphasised the importance of dissolving the ego and understanding the nature of Self. This, in turn, would lead you to act as an expression of the infinite, which would be spontaneous, loving, and more fruitful for your community than acting from the perspective of personhood.
On Happiness
“Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.”
“The explorers seek happiness in findings curiosities, discovering new lands and undergoing risks in adventures. They are thrilling. But where is pleasure found? Only within. Pleasure is not to be sought in the external world.”
“If one’s mind has peace, the whole world will appear peaceful.”
“All unhappiness is due to the ego. With it comes all your trouble. If you would deny the ego and scorch it by ignoring it you would be free.”
“Man’s search for happiness is an unconscious search for his true Self. The true Self is imperishable; therefore when a man finds it, he finds a happiness which does not come to an end.”
“Everything in the world was my Guru.”
Happiness, as Maharshi explained it, was something that you essential were, not something that you had to attain. Through diligent self-inquiry, you would strip away the ideas that got in the way of your peaceful nature and contentment would become your permanent state. On God
“The greatest error of a man is to think that he is weak by nature, evil by nature. Every man is divine and strong in his real nature. What are weak and evil are his habits, his desires and thoughts, but not himself.”
“Have faith in God and in yourself; that will cure all. Hope for the best, expect the best, toil for the best and everything will come right for you in the end.”
“Know that the eradication of the identification with the body is charity, spiritual austerity and ritual sacrifice; it is virtue, divine union and devotion; it is heaven, wealth, peace and truth; it is grace; it is the state of divine silence; it is the deathless death; it is jnana, renunciation, final liberation and bliss.”
Though he wasn’t as big an advocate for Bhakti Yoga, the path of love and devotion to god, as some of his predecessors and disciples, Ramana was still entirely committed to the expression of the infinite he saw in Mount. Arunachala. As he explained when asked “Is it good to love God, is it not? Then why not follow the path of Love?”
“Who said you couldn’t follow it? You can do so. But when you talk of love, there is duality, is there not – the person who loves and the entity called God who is loved? The individual is not seperate from God. Hence love means one has love towards one’s own Self.
On Stillness and Silence
“The method is summed up in the words “Be still’. What does stillness mean? It means destroy yourself. Because any form or shape is the cause for trouble. Give up the notion that ‘I am so and so’. All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. What can be easier than that?”
“If the mind falls asleep, awaken it. Then if it starts wandering, make it quiet. If you reach the state where there is neither sleep nor movement of mind, stay still in that, the natural (real) state.”
“There is neither creation nor destruction, neither destiny not free will, neither path nor achievement. This is the final truth.”
“Silence is truth. Silence is bliss. Silence is peace. And hence Silence is the Self.”
“You can only stop the flow of thoughts by refusing to have any interest in it.”
“Remain still, with the conviction that the Self shines as everything yet nothing, within, without, and everywhere.”
“Become conscious of being conscious. Say or think “I am”, and add nothing to it.” Be aware of the stillness that follows the “I am.” Sense your presence, the naked unveiled, unclothed beingness. It is untouched by young or old, rich or poor, good or bad, or any other attributes.”
“When one remains without thinking one understands another by means of the universal language of silence.”
Stillness was a core motif throughout Ramana’s teachings. He saw the path of inquiry as leading to stillness and the perspective of stillness as leading to truth. The early years at his ashram saw him spending years meditating, often perfectly still in both body and mind.
If you’d like to learn more about this method from modern-day teachers who are better suited to explain in language we may understand, search YouTube for talks by any of the following experts:
Mooji
Adyashanti
Rupert Spira
Gary Weber
Gangaji
https://selfdefinition.org/ramana/Talks-with-Sri-Ramana-Maharshi--complete.pdf
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