Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Do not entertain such thoughts

Devotee: Are my present qualities of faith, humility and surrender sufficiently intense, or are they still very imperfect and requiring further development? If so, how can I quickly develop them to perfection so as to deserve grace and early success in the realisation of Atman, or in the annihilation of the ego?

Bhagavan: Do not entertain such thoughts of imperfection, lack of qualities, etc. You are already perfect. Get rid of the ideas of imperfection and need for development. There is nothing to realise or annihilate. You are the Self. The ego does not exist. Pursue the enquiry and see if there is anything to be realised or annihilated. See if there is any mind to be controlled. Even the effort is being made by the mind which does not exist.

~ from A Practical Guide to Know Yourself, Conversations with Sri Ramana Maharshi, compiled and edited by Sri A. R. Natarajan

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