That from which the 'I'-thought, the first thought, rises is the Heart, the Self, consciousness of being.

Pursue in the Heart the enquiry 'Who is this "I" that is the source for the manifestation of the ego and all the rest?'

~ verses 8 & 9, Self-enquiry chapter, Padamalai

can there be a greater bliss?

As Muruganar says, "Let us yearn for the day when we can live conscious, every single second, that Bhagavan's grace is our strength and sustenance." For this let us learn to turn towards Him and approach Him by every available means, be it by singing His glory, or by silently exchanging glances with His eloquent and magnetic eyes or by seeking and cherishing the company of His devotees.

In Sri Ramana Gita and in Sat Darshana Ramana gives us His central teaching that one must somehow inhere in the heart, be it by breath control or by self-enquiry. Similarly one can say that one should somehow bring the fickle mind to rest by being attracted by the multifaceted beauty of Ramana so that passion for Him consumes all that separates us from Him.

Let us with loving eagerness learn to lose ourselves in and abide as Ramana. Can there be a greater bliss than becoming the food for Him?

~ A. R. Natarajan, Loving Ramana

His grace

A liberating air of freedom comes to one's life when Ramana enters it. 'There is sweetness and joy in losing ourselves in love of Him, in a union in which the individuality merges. What does 'loving Ramana' mean? Is it an act of volition, an exercise of our will or is it the operation of His grace?

"In my loveless heart you planted love of you, O Arunachala", says Bhagavan in Aksharamanamalai. Muruganar too sings: "Your Grace it was I stumbled to your feet, your love that raised me up and made me yours" (Ramana Sannidhi Murai). One thing, however, is clear; that to be chosen, to be touched and transformed into this communion, is the greatest good fortune that can happen to anyone, for it is the nature of Ramana to give His Sivahood. His auspiciousness, His supreme state of Bliss, in exchange for one's narrow, limited self!

~ A. R. Natarajan, Loving Ramana

Knowing yourself as That
In which the worlds rise and fall
Like waves in the ocean,
Why do you run about so wretchedly?

For have you not heard?

You are pure awareness,
And your beauty is infinite!

~ The Heart of Awareness - a translation of The Ashtavakra Gita by Thomas Byrom

Be true to yourself.

Bhagavan Ramana asks us to ask ourselves, "Who am I?" and to ask now, instead of dillydallying. He says, "Take the plunge into the depths of being." The delay in taking the plunge is due to our thinking that there is something hiding our reality and that it must be destroyed before reality is gained. "It is a great game of pretending," says Bhagavan. Pretension ends when we let the dead bury the dead, cease to take thought for the morrow and live in the present. "There is only the present," says Sri Ramana.

Are we sincerely prepared to take the plunge? Most of us would rather postpone it for some reason or other. If we seriously wish to know the truth, if we truly desire to find out what we are, what life is, what is truly sacred, we have only to look, without any further delay, within.

That is the plunge. To look, to act. There is no technique or stored-up knowledge necessary to help us look within, to be what we really are.

We have kept a jewel in the safe. To take possession of it, all we have to do is open the safe. The jewel of reality, the kingdom of heaven is within. So look within. Then the life principle reveals itself. It is there as the "I" in which there is no "me", "you" or "he".

A few days before Sri Bhagavan dropped the body, Sri Sivananda Swami, one of his attendants, asked him with tears in his eyes, "Bhagavan! I am not learned. I do not know anything. Please bless me with a few words of upadesa so that I too may be redeemed."

Smiling graciously, Bhagavan said, "Be true to yourself."



When the Swami recounted this to me years later, I was thrilled. I sensed how deeply that simple sentence had impressed the artless attendant. It was Sri Bhagavan's testament of truth and freedom, not only for Sivananda Swami, but for all his devotees.

Are we true to ourselves? Begin with an honest answer. That's the beginning of the ending.

Bhagavan said, "It is grace which makes you ask Who am I?". And, "There is no answer to Who am I? The asking is the answer."

Lord Krishna says in the Gita (X:20), "I am the Self, O Gudakesa, seated in the hearts of all beings. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings." That "I" is you!

When you look, what happens? You become silent. Watch. Follow. This silence is life, our true nature. Remain in that silence -- that's all. Thinking is not our real nature. Put a stop to it. Just be. Dive within and be that silence. That silence is the real "you". That's the reality. This is Bhagavan Ramana's assurance. Be courageous, a dheera. Accept this and act. We may say, "It's all right for a Ramana Maharshi. It was possible for him. But not for me. I am nowhere near it at all."

Bhagavan anticipated this. "In this quest," he said, "the first thing to give up is the notion that it is difficult. Such a thought is the sure way of handicapping oneself."

Have faith in the grace of Sri Maharshi. Take the plunge. Faith is essential. Grace flows.

~ V. Ganesan, The Mountain Path, December, 1991

Sri Nisargadatta: To go beyond the mind, you must have your mind in perfect order. You cannot leave a mess behind and go beyond. He who seeks Liberation must examine his mind by his own efforts, and once the mind is purified by such introspection Liberation is obtained and appears obvious and natural.

Q: Then why are sadhanas prescribed?

Nisargadatta: Freedom to do what one likes is really bondage, while being free to do what one must, what is right, is real freedom.

Q: How can the absolute be the result of a process?

Nisargadatta: You are right, the relative cannot result in the absolute. But the relative can block the absolute, just as the non-churning of the cream may prevent butter from separating. It is the real that creates the urge; the inner prompts the outer and the outer responds in interest and effort." "You seem to want instant insight, forgetting that the instant is always preceded by a long preparation. The fruit falls suddenly, but the ripening takes time.

It is not a question of whether there is a God apart from you but whether there is a you apart from God.

~ Arthur Osborne

Once I cried and told the Maharshi that I knew nothing about Vedanta nor could I practice austerity, being a householder. I prayed to him to help me by showing me the Reality or the way to it. I also frankly told him that his method of self-enquiry was too hard for me.

He then graciously said, "You know Ulladu Narpadu [Truth in Forty Verses]. It imparts Pure Truth, deals with it and explains it. Go on reading it verse by verse. The words of the verses will in course of time vanish and Pure Truth (sat) alone wil shine, like the snake relinquishing its skin and coming out shining.

~ R. Narayana Iyer, Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi

D.: Does the sage use occult powers for making others realise the Self or is the mere fact of his Self-Realisation enough for it?

Sri Ramana Maharshi: The force of his Self-Realisation is far more powerful than the use of all other powers. Inasmuch as there is no ego in him, there are not others for him. What is the highest benefit that can be conferred on others? It is happiness. Happiness is born of Peace. Peace can reign only when there is no disturbance. Disturbance is due to thoughts which arise in the mind. When the mind itself is absent there will be perfect Peace. Unless a person had annihilated his mind he cannot gain peace and be happy. Unless he himself is happy he cannot bestow happiness on others. When there is no mind he cannot be aware of others. So the mere fact of his Self-Realisation is itself enough to make all others happy.

~ Talk 596, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi

If you completely avoid attachment to your body and mind, then all other attachments will vanish. Identify with that which is neither body nor mind, and all attachments will go. You can only put your attention on one thing at a time. While it is on the mind or the body, it cannot be on the Self. Conversely, if you put attention on the Self and become absorbed in it, there will be no awareness of mind and body.

~ Annamalai Swami, Final Talks, Edited by David Godman

in all matters

It appears that when I was a baby of about a year and a half, I had a sudden attack of severe colic pain. Mother could not quieten me, and not knowing what to do, rushed with me in her arms, in the scorching midday heat to the Ashram. Bhagavan was seated on the verandah picking out the stones from the black gram meant for making appalams, along with a few others. Mother placed me in Bhagavan's lap saying, "The baby is crying incessantly, and I do not know what to do". Then freed of all anxiety, she went and sat with the others and started cleaning the gram. Bhagavan passed his hand over my stomach and I fell asleep, relieved of the pain. Only when Bhagavan asked mother, "Why Rajamma, do you remember the baby", did she realise she had left me in Bhagavan's lap for a long time, and hurried to pick me up. In all matters great or small, Bhagavan is our only refuge.

~ from Hamsa Ramiah's Reminiscences

Let us pay total attention to that pure life principle, and remain there.

You have to face yourself. Many people find this very difficult. Everyone is prepared to do -- bhajans, japa, puja, build temples, raise funds in the name of God. But to remain without doing, to refrain from doing is more difficult, and few are prepared or capable of it. Ultimately we have to face ourselves and be ourselves in stillness and silence.

It is so difficult not to do. Not doing means remaining in that Reality. Maharshi wants us to be still, to be that Reality. That Reality is Maharshi himself. We identify Maharshi with that picture, with that name: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. But, behind that picture, behind the name, the reality that is throbbing within every one of us -- that is Maharshi. And Maharshi want[s] us to wake up to that Reality within us, the same Reality that is Ramana Maharshi.

... Let us pay homage to Ramana Maharshi by turning within and becoming fully aware of that knowledge which defies death, that life principle which is the screen on which this body comes and goes. Let us pay total attention to that pure life principle, and remain there.

It is easy.

It is direct and simple.

~ V. Ganesan (Bhagavan's grand-nephew)

Devotee: What is unconditional surrender?

Sri Ramana Maharshi: If one surrenders oneself there will be no one to ask questions or to be thought of. Either the thoughts are eliminated by holding onto the root thought 'I' or one surrenders oneself unconditionally to the Higher Power. These are the only two ways for Realization.

~ Talk 321, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi

Remain what you are.

It was a summer evening, and we were all sitting outside in the open space by the well. Suddenly one of the visitors started weeping bitterly.

'I am a horrible sinner. For a long time I have been coming to you, but there is no change in me. Can I become pure at last? How long am I to wait? When I am here near you, I am good for a time. But when I leave this place, I become a beast again. You cannot imagine how bad I can be -- hardly a human being. Am I to remain a sinner forever?'

'Why do you come to me? What have I to do with you?' demanded Bhagavan. 'What is there between us that you should come here and weep and cry in front of me?'

The man started moaning and crying even more, as if his heart were breaking.

'All my hopes of salvation are gone. You were my last refuge and you say you have nothing to do with me! To whom shall I turn now? What am I to do? To whom am I to go?'

Bhagavan watched him for some time and said, 'Am I your Guru that I should be responsible for your salvation? Have I ever said that I am your Master?'

'If you are not my Master, then who is? And who are you, if not my Master? You are my Guru. You are my guardian angel. You must take pity me and release me from my sins!'

He started sobbing and crying again.

We all sat silent, overcome with pity. Only Bhagavan looked alert and matter-of-fact.

'If I am your Guru, what are my fees? Surely you should pay me for my services.'

'But you won't take anything,' cried the visitor. 'What can I give you?'

'Did I ever say that I don't take anything? And did you ever ask me what you can give me?'

'If you would take, then ask me. There is nothing I would not give you.'

'All right. Now I am asking. Give me. What will you give me?'

'Take anything. Everything I have is yours.'

'Then give me all the good you have done in this world.'

'What good could I have done? I have not a single virtue to my credit.'

'You have promised to give. Now give. Don't talk of your credit. Just give away all the good you have done in your past.'

'Yes, I shall give. But how does one give? Tell me how the giving is done and I shall give.'

'Say like this: "All the good I have done in the past I am giving away entirely to my Guru. Henceforth I have no merit from it nor have I any concern with it." Say it with your whole heart.'

'All right, Swami. "I am giving away to you all the good I have done so far, if I have done any, and all its good effects. I am giving it to you gladly, for you are my Master and you are asking me to give it all away to you.'

'But this is not enough,' said Bhagavan sternly.

'I gave you all I have and all you asked me to give. I have nothing more to give.'

'No, you have. Give me all your sins.'

The man looked wildly at Bhagavan, terror stricken.

'You do not know, Swami, what you are asking for. If you knew, you would not ask me. If you take over my sins, your body will rot and burn. You do not know me, you do not know my sins. Please do not ask me for my sins.'

He wept bitterly.

'I shall look after myself. Don't you worry about me,' said Bhagavan. 'All I want from you is your sins.'

For a long time the bargain would not go through. The man refused to part with his sins. But Bhagavan was adamant.

'Either give me your sins along with your merits, or keep both and don't think of me as your Master."

In the end the visitor's scruples broke down and he declared, 'Whatever sins I have done, they are no longer mine. All of them and their results, too, belong to Ramana.'

Bhagavan seemed to be satisfied. 'From now on there is no good nor bad in you. You are just pure. Go and do nothing, either good or bad. Remain yourself. Remain what you are.'

A great peace fell over the man and over us all. No one knows what happened to the fortunate visitor, for he was never seen in the ashram again. He might have had no further need to come.

~ from the Krishna Bhikshu chapter in The Power of the Presence, Part Three, by David Godman

D.: But I do not understand. It is difficult.

Sri Ramana Maharshi: This thought of difficulty is the chief obstacle. A little practice will make you think differently.

D.: What is the practice?

M.: To find out the source of `I'.

D.: That was the state before one's birth.

M.: Why should one think of birth and death? Are you really born? The rising of the mind is called birth. After mind the body-thought arises and the body is seen; then the thought of birth, the state before birth, death, the state after death - all these are only of the mind. Whose is the birth?

D.: Am I not now born?

M.: 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 in and of the Self. There is no diversity in it. Therefore there is neither birth nor death.

~ Talk 244, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi

To dwell in the infinite sky of holy silence at his feet is to remain within the heart, in one's authentic state, where there is neither soul not body, neither mind nor consciousness, neither 'I' nor 'mine', enjoying the fruits of a clear realization which is sweeter than nectar.

~ Sri Muruganar, Non-Dual Consciousness, The Flood Tide of Bliss

A human being is a part of the whole, called by us
"Universe," a part limited in time and space. He
experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as
something separated from the rest -- a kind of optical
delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind
of prison for us, restricting us to our personal
desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to
us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this
prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace
all living creatures and the whole of nature in its
beauty.

~ Albert Einstein

I see the face

I see the face
that was my home.

My loving says, I will let go
of everything for that.

My soul begins to keep rhythm
as if music is playing.

My reason says, What do you call
this cypress-energy that straightens
what was bent double?

All things change in this presence.
Armenians and Turks no longer know
which is which.

Soul keeps unfolding inward.
The body leaves the body.

A wealth you cannot imagine
flows through you.

Do not consider what strangers say.
Be secluded in your secret heart-house,
that bowl of silence.

Talking, no matter how humble-seeming,
is really a kind of bragging.

Let silence be the art you practice.

~ Rumi, from Rumi: Bridge to the Soul, by Coleman Barks

From the introduction to this book:

Rumi devotes a lot of attention to silence, especially at the end of poems, where he gives the words back into the silence they came from (khamush in Persian). It is truly one of the mysteries that flow through him. No other poet pays so much homage to silence. He was once asked, "Isn't it strange that you talk so much about silence?" He answered, "The radiant one inside me has never said a word."

Humility means seeing God in everything or perceiving one's own Self everywhere. Humility means accepting the Will of the Supreme. Humility means self-surrender, surrendering our will to the Will of God .... All reactions disappear. There are no more reactions, only acceptance. Therefore, humility can also be interpreted as total acceptance ... Real surrender is surrendering or renouncing one's ego at the feet of the Supreme Self.

~ Amma Mata Amritanandamayi

If you really want to understand this, you must give up your identification with the body. By all means, make use of the body, but don't consider yourself to be the body while acting in this world. Identify yourself with the consciousness, which dwells in the body; with that identity, you should act in the world. Will it be possible?

So long as you identify yourself as the body, your experience of pain and sorrow will increase day by day. That is why you must give up this identification, and you should take yourself as the consciousness. If you take yourself as the body, it means you have forgotten your true Self, which is the atman. And sorrow results for the one who forgets himself. When the body falls, the principle which always remains is You. If you identify yourself with the body, you will feel that you are dying, but in reality there is no death because you are not the body. Let the body be there or not be there, your existence is always there; it is eternal.

~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, The Ultimate Medicine: As Prescribed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Edited by Robert Powell

When I seek to unite myself to his fearless feet, noble Ramana, Lord Siva's own embodiment, will dispel my dread through the grace of his holy words. Becoming my teacher, He will shine within my heart like a great mountain, radiating the supreme reality of the Self which is the source of all happiness.

~ Sri Muruganar, Sri Ramana Anubuti, translation by Robert Butler

Abiding in Mauna through the Guru’s Grace

Those of perfect and mature wisdom will declare: ‘Reality, the consummation of jnana that shines in the perfectly pure state of mauna, the hard-to-attain vedantic experience, will, through the Guru’s grace, spontaneously flare up and shine as “I-I” within the Heart.’

By taking the Sadguru as your sole refuge, you should know that the cause of the continuous and distressing confusion that nurtures births is the fragmented mind which regards itself as different from God, Atma-swarupa. You should also learn from him the means for ending it [the fragmented mind] and, adopting that means, you should, through his grace, steadfastly unite with the Self, the ego-free swarupa, and abide in mauna. This alone bestows eminence.

Bear in mind that the true worship of the jnana Guru is only the Self-abidance in which the desire-free mauna surges once the disciple-consciousness that proclaimed itself as ‘I’ is destroyed by the raging fire of the consciousness of the jnana Guru, he who is God Himself.

To destroy the form of the mind, enquire into the ego, the delusion, and enter the Heart. Only this is the worship of the lotus feet of the Guru’s holy form, he who abides in the mauna that is beyond the mind.

~ from a forthcoming new translation of Guru Vachaka Kovai by Dr T. V. Venakatasubramanian, Robert Butler and David Godman

Who is this Ramana?

Amritanatha's question: Who is this Ramana in the Arunachala Cave, who is renowned as the treasure of compassion? Is he Vararuchi or Isa Guru? or Hari? or Yatindra? I am desirous of knowing the Guru's Mahima (supernatural powers).

Bhagavan's reply: Arunachala Ramana is the Paramatma Himself who plays about as Consciousness in the hearts of all living beings, from Hari downwards. He is the Supreme Being. It will be clear to you if you open the eye of jnana and see the truth.

~ Letter 84, Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

rushing out

At 8 a.m. the pet squirrel was watching for an opportunity to run out. The Master remarked, "All wish to rush out. There is no limit to going out. Happiness lies within and not without."

Talk 229, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi

Go deep into the sense of 'I am'

Even to say that you are not the body is not quite true. In a way you are all the bodies, hearts and minds and much more.

Go deep into the sense of ‘I am’ and you will find.

How do you find a thing you have mislaid or forgotten? You keep it in your mind until you recall it.

The sense of being, of 'I am' is the first to emerge. Ask yourself whence it comes, or just watch it quietly. When the mind stays in the 'I am' without moving, you enter a state which cannot be verbalised but can be experienced.

All you need to do is try and try again. After all the sense ‘I am’ is always with you, only you have attached all kinds of things to it -- body, feelings, thoughts, ideas, possessions etc. All these self-identifications are misleading. Because of them you take yourself to be what you are not.

~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That

Please see this as well.

stay put at the source of your creation

Some visitors ask me, "Please show us a path that will lead to Reality." How can I? All paths lead to unreality. Paths are creations within the scope of knowledge. Therefore, paths and movement cannot transport you into Reality, because their function is to enmesh you within the dimension of knowledge, while the Reality prevails prior to it.

To apprehend this, you must stay put at the source of your creation, at the beginning of the knowledge 'I am'. So long as you do not achieve this, you will be entangled in the chains forged by your mind and get enmeshed in those of others.

Therefore, I repeat, you stabilize at the source of your Being and then all the chains will snap asunder and you will be liberated. You will transcend time, with the result that you will be beyond the reach of its tentacles and you shall prevail in Eternity.

And this sublime state can be attained only by drinking ceaselessly the nectar of the guru's sacred feet -- the guru-charan-amrita. It is a state of ecstatic beatitude -- the self subsiding blissfully in the Self. This ecstasy is beyond words; it is also awareness in total quietude.

The quintessence of the talk is clear. Your most important asset is the 'knowledge' that 'you are' prior to emanation of mind. Hold onto this 'knowledge' and meditate. Nothing is superior to this, not even devotion to a guru -- guru-bhakti -- or devotion to God -- Ishwara-bhakti.

~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, The Nectar of the Lord's Feet

Oh the wonder
That you made
A molehill
Me
Out of a mountain
You
O Arunachala!


For the rest of this song for Sivaratri please click here.

stillness is total surrender

Surrender once and for all and be done with the desire. So long as the sense of doership is retained there is the desire; that is also personality. If this goes the Self is found to shine forth pure. The sense of doership is the bondage and not the actions themselves.

"Be still and know that I am God." Here stillness is total surrender without a vestige of individuality. Stillness will prevail and there will be no agitation of mind. Agitation of mind is the cause of desire, the sense of doership and personality. If that is stopped there is quiet. There `Knowing' means `Being'. It is not the relative knowledge involving the triads, knowledge, subject and object.

~ Bhagavan Ramana, Talk 354, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi

The Leonine Power

Oh flaming Lion, Stern, Majestic, Holy,
Who can approach, yet who escape Thy Paws?
Oh Sovereign Lord, to be Thy sport is jolly,
For after Sport I dine in Nectarine Jaws!
Yet spare me not my Lord, destroy me all,
Lest slipping Thee I suffer shameful fall!

~ C.S. Bagi

D: .... I request Bhagavan's Grace. When I am back in my place, I want to remember Bhagavan. May Bhagavan be pleased to grant my prayer!

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Where are you going? You are not going anywhere. Even supposing you are the body, has your body come from Lucknow to Tiruvannamalai? You had simply sat in the car and one conveyance or another had moved; and finally you say that you have come here. The fact is that you are not the body. The Self does not move. The world moves in it. You are only what you are. There is no change in you. So then even after what looks like departure from here, you are here and there and everywhere. These scenes shift. As for Grace - Grace is within you. If it is external it is useless. Grace is the Self. You are never out of its operation. Grace is always there.

D.: I mean that when I remember your form, my mind should be strengthened and that response should come from your side too. I should not be left to my individual efforts which are after all only weak.

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Grace is the Self. I have already said, "If you remember Bhagavan, you are prompted to do so by the Self." Is not Grace already there? Is there a moment when Grace is not operating in you? Your remembrance is the forerunner of Grace. That is the response, that is the stimulus, that is the Self and that is Grace. There is no cause for anxiety.

~ Talk 251, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi

sadhana in not doing, but being

Therefore, all that we are to practice is to be still [summa iruppadu] with the remembrance of the feeling ‘I’. It is only when there is a slackness of vigilance during Self-attention that thoughts, which are an indication of it, will rise.

In other words, if thoughts rise it means that our Self-attention is lost. It is only as a contrivance to win back Self-attention from thought-attention that Sri Bhagavan advised us to ask ‘To whom do these thoughts appear?’. Since the answer ‘To me’ is only a dative form of ‘I’, it will easily remind us of the nominative form, the feeling ‘I’.

However, if we question ‘Who thinks these thoughts?’, since the nominative form, the feeling ‘I’ , is obtained as an answer, will not Self-attention which has been unnoticed, be regained directly? This regaining of Self-attention is actually being Self (that is, remaining or abiding as Self)! Such ‘being’ alone is the correct sadhana; sadhana is not doing, but being!

~ Sadhu Om, The Path of Sri Ramana, Part One