Sunday, January 13, 2008

Yet the mind runs after ...

Q: There is more pleasure in dhyana than in sensual enjoyments. Yet the mind runs after the sensual enjoyments and does not seek the former. Why is it so?

Sri Ramana: Pleasure or pain are aspects of the mind only. Our essential nature is happiness. But we have forgotten the Self and imagine that the body or the mind is the Self. It is that wrong identity that gives rise to misery. What is to be done? This mental tendency is very ancient and has continued for innumerable past births. Hence it has grown strong. That must go before the essential nature, happiness, asserts itself.

~ S. Natanananda, Spiritual Instruction of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

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