Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi

The Transcendental state identity with Brahman places the man in harmony with everything, and there is nothing apart from his Self.

The happiness is inherent in man and is not due to external causes. One must realise his Self in order to open the store of unalloyed happiness.

The body is the waterproof coat.

If you keep hold of your Self, you will not see the objective world.

Let Omnipotence (Iswaratva) be accomplished first and then the other question may be raised.

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.

The mind comes under control spontaneously in the presence of a superior power. Such is the greatness of association with the wise (satsanga).

The karmas carry the seeds of their own destruction in themselves.

The realisation is the result of the Master’s grace more than teachings, lectures, meditation, etc. They are only secondary aids, whereas the former is the primary and the essential cause.

D.: What are the aids for realisation?
M.: The teachings of the Scriptures and of realised souls

You cannot deny yourself at any time. The Self is ever there and continues in all states.

D.: So, then, I must go back tracing the source of thoughts.
M.: Quite so; in that way the thoughts will disappear and the Self alone will remain. In fact there is no inside or outside for the Self. They are also projections of the ego. The Self is pure and absolute.

D.: It is understood intellectually only. Is not intellect a help for realisation?
M.: Yes, up to a certain stage. Even so, realise that the Self transcends the intellect — the latter must itself vanish to reach the Self.

Why do you mourn the loss of our parents? I shall tell you where they are; they are only within ourselves and are ourselves. They are nothing but manifestations of the Self so that one’s parents are not outside the Self. So there is no reason to mourn. Learn it, realise it and be happy.

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, minutes, etc. Time is immaterial for the Path of Knowledge. 

For a realised being the Self alone is the Reality, and actions are only phenomenal, not affecting the Self. Even when he acts he has no sense of being an agent. His actions are only involuntary and he remains a witness to them without any attachment.

Constant search for ‘I’, the source of the ego. Find out ‘Who am I?’ The pure ‘I’ is the reality, the Absolute Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. When That is forgotten, all miseries crop up; when that is held fast, the miseries do not affect the person.

Brahmacharya is ‘living in Brahman’. It has no connection with celibacy as commonly understood. A real brahmachari, that is one who lives in Brahman, finds bliss in the Brahman which is the same as the Self. Why then should you look for other sources of happiness?

It is a matter of fitness of mind. Married or unmarried, a man can realise the Self, because that is here and now. If it were not so, but attainable by some efforts at some other time, and if it were new and something to be acquired, it would not be worthy of pursuit. Because what is not natural cannot be permanent either. But what I say is that the Self is here and now and alone.

Maharshi quoted the Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 17 - He who is free from the notion of ego, whose intellect is unattached, though he annihilates all the worlds, he slayeth not, nor is he bound by the results of his actions.

The fact is that there is neither birth nor death.

The ego therefore is the same in wakefulness, dream and sleep. Find out the underlying Reality behind these states. That is the Reality underlying these. In that state there is Being alone. There is no you, nor I, nor he; no present, nor past, nor future. It is beyond time and space, beyond expression.

The original primeval Master of antiquity (Dakshinamurti), who cleared the doubts of his rishi disciples in silence, has left shoots which are ever multiplying.

One might be in the thick of the world and maintain serenity of mind; such a one is in solitude. Another may stay in a forest, but still be unable to control his mind. He cannot be said to be in solitude. Solitude is a function of the mind. A man attached to desire cannot get solitude wherever he may be; a detached man is always in solitude.

Realisation of the Self is the greatest help that can be rendered to humanity. Therefore, the saints are said to be helpful, though they remain in forests. But it should not be forgotten that solitude is not in forests only. It can be had even in towns, in the thick of worldly occupations.

There are no others to mix with. The Self is the one and only Reality.

That which results in peace is the highest perfection (siddhi).

Lectures may entertain individuals for a few hours without improving them. Silence on the other hand is permanent and benefits the whole of humanity.

D.: Are there restrictions for the realised man in a similar manner?
M.: No. He is steady and not influenced by the food he takes.

Thoughts must cease and reason disappear for ‘I-I’ to rise up and be felt. Feeling is the prime factor and not reason.

If one is active with such remembrance, Such a person’s actions are God’s and therefore they must be right.

Transcend the present plane of relativity. A separate being (Self) appears to know something apart from itself (non-Self). That is, the subject is aware of the object. The seer is drik; the seen is drisya. There must be a unity underlying these two, which arises as ‘ego’. This ego is of the nature of chit (intelligence); achit (insentient object) is only negation of chit. Therefore the underlying essence is akin to the subject and not the object. Seeking the drik, until all drisya disappears, the drik will become subtler and subtler until the absolute drik alone survives. This process is called drisya vilaya (the disappearance of the objective world).

The object is unreal. All drisya (including ego) is the object. Eliminating the unreal, the Reality survives. When a rope is mistaken for a snake, it is enough to remove the erroneous perception of the snake for the truth to be revealed. Without such elimination the truth will not dawn.

It is complete when the relative subject, namely the mind, is eliminated. The mind is the creator of the subject and the object and is the cause of the dualistic idea. Therefore, it is the cause of the wrong notion of limited self and the misery consequent on such erroneous idea.

The mind is by nature restless. Begin liberating it from its restlessness; give it peace; make it free from distractions; train it to look inward; make this a habit. This is done by ignoring the external world and removing the obstacles to peace of mind.

Loss of interest in non-Self, (vairagya) is the first step. Then the habits of introspection and concentration follow. They are characterised by control of external senses, internal faculties, etc. (sama, dama, etc.) ending in samadhi (undistracted mind).

Passions are attended with irregular breathing, whereas calm and happiness are attended with slow and regular breathing. Paroxysm of joy is in fact as painful as one of pain, and both are accompanied by ruffled breaths. Real peace is happiness. Pleasures do not form happiness.

D.: How do all thoughts cease when the mind is in the Heart?
M.: By force of will, with strong faith in the truth of the Master’s teaching to that effect.

D.: What is the good of this process?
M..: (a) Conquest of the will - development of concentration.
(b) Conquest of passions - development of dispassion.
(c) Increased practice of virtue - (samatva) equality to all.

D.: How long is the practice to continue?
M.: Till success is achieved and until yoga-liberation becomes permanent.

D.: What is the nature of the Reality?
M.: (a) Existence without beginning or end - eternal.
(b) Existence everywhere, endless, infinite.
(c) Existence underlying all forms, all changes, all forces, all matter and all spirit. The many change and pass away (phenomena), whereas the One always endures (noumenon).
(d) The one displacing the triads, i.e., the knower, the knowledge and the known. The triads are only appearances in time and space, whereas the Reality lies beyond and behind them. They are like a mirage over the Reality. They are the result of delusion.

Dispassion (vairagya) must be very strong to do this. Eagerness to do it must be equal to that of a man kept under water trying to rise up to the surface for his life.

But men want absolute and permanent happiness. This does not reside in objects, but in the Absolute. It is Peace free from pain and pleasure - it is a neutral state.

Self-Realisation is Bliss; it is realizing the Self as the limitless spiritual eye (jnana dristi) and not clairvoyance; it is the highest self-surrender. Samsara (the world-cycle) is sorrow.

It is wise to drop the sense of responsibility and free-will by regarding ourselves as the ordained instruments of the All-wise and All-powerful, to do and suffer as He pleases. He carries all burdens and gives us peace.

Divine Grace is essential for Realisation. It leads one to God-realisation. But such Grace is vouchsafed only to him who is a true devotee or a yogin, who has striven hard and ceaselessly on the path towards freedom.

Everything is the Self. There is nothing but that.

We are God (Iswara). Iswara Drishti (i.e., seeing ourselves as God) is itself Divine Grace.

Gradually the obstacles are all overcome and your current becomes stronger. Everything comes right in the end. Steady determination is what is required.

The Self enlightens the individual to see light and darkness.

D.: Is it not necessary or at least advantageous to render the body invisible in one’s spiritual progress?
M.: Why do you think of that? Are you the body?

Visibility and invisibility refer to a seer. Who is that seer? Solve that first. Other matters are unimportant.

People think that freedom (moksha) is somewhere yonder and should be sought out. They are wrong. Freedom (moksha) is only knowing the Self within yourself. Concentrate and you will get it. Your mind is the cycle of births and deaths (samsara).

You see this and that. Why not see God? Only you must know what God is. All are seeing God always. But they do not know it. You find out what God is. People see, yet see not, because they know not God.

Mental japa is very good. That helps meditation. Mind gets identified with the repetition and then you get to know what worship (puja) really is - the losing of one’s individuality in that which is worshipped.

Jnana Marga and Bhakti Marga (prapatti) are one and the same. Self-surrender leads to realisation just as enquiry does. Complete self-surrender means that you have no further thought of ‘I’. Then all your predispositions (samskaras) are washed off and you are free. You should not continue as a separate entity at the end of either course.

find out whence the present problem arises and there is the solution also. You will discover that there is no birth, no present trouble or unhappiness, etc. All is That; All is Bliss; we are freed from rebirth in fact.

Achievement of the Real alone matters. The loss of the ‘I’ is the main fact, and not the loss of the body. Identity of the Self with the body is the real bondage. Leave off the false notion and perceive intuitively the Real. That alone matters.

The aspirant (abhyasi) starts with the definition, that which is real exists always; then he eliminates the world as unreal because it is changing. It cannot be real; ‘not this, not this!’ The seeker ultimately reaches the Self and there finds unity as the prevailing note. Then, that which was originally rejected as being unreal is found to be a part of the unity. Being absorbed in the Reality, the world also is Real. There is only being in Self-Realisation, and nothing but being.

‘Who am I?’ The Self alone. This is contemplation. It is how I did it. By this process attachment to the body (dehavasana) is destroyed. The ego vanishes. Self alone shines. One method of getting mind-dissolution (manolaya) is association with great ones - the yoga adepts (Yoga arudhas). They are perfect adepts in samadhi. Self-Realisation has been easy, natural, and perpetual to them. Those moving with them closely and in sympathetic contact gradually absorb the samadhi habit from them.

Identification with the body is dvaita. Non-identification is advaita.

Did we know our relatives before their birth that we should know them after their death?

D.: “What is the way for liberation?” 
Maharshi replied: “The way already taken leads to liberation.”

A Self-Realised sage (Atma Jnani) alone can be a good Karma yogi. “After the sense of doership has gone let us see what happens.

Know Thyself. Then let us see whose action it is. Whose is it? Let action complete itself. So long as there is the doer he must reap the fruits of his action. If he does not think himself the doer there is no action for him. He is an ascetic who has renounced worldly life (sanyasin).”

The Brahmin questioner resumed: “How do we know that action is ours or not?”
M.: If the fruits of actions do not affect the person he is free from action.

Meditation on forms is according to one’s own mind. It is meant for ridding oneself of other forms and confining oneself to one form. It leads to the goal. It is impossible to fix the mind in the Heart to start with. So these aids are necessary.

Each one thinks of God according to his own degree of advancement.

D.: So we must rid ourselves of lust (kama), anger, (krodha), etc.
M.: Give up thoughts. You need not give up anything else. You must be there to see anything. It is the Self. Self is ever-conscious.

‘I’ should be destroyed. Self is not to be reached. Is there any moment when Self is not? It is not new. Be as you are. What is new cannot be permanent. What is real must always exist.

M.: We are in our Self. We are not in the world.

You carry heaven and hell with you. Your lust, anger, etc., produce these regions. They are like dreams.

You are always in the Self and there is no reaching it. The eyebrow is only a place where attention is to be fixed (seat of meditation - upasanasthana).

D.: What is Heart?
M.: It is the centre of the Self. The Self is the centre of centres. The Heart represents the psychic centre and not the physical centre.

Do not leave Karma. You cannot do so. Give up the sense of doership. Karma will go on automatically. Or Karma will drop away from you. If Karma be your lot according to prarabdha, it will surely be done whether you will it or not; if Karma be not your lot, it will not be done even if you intently engage in it.

When the doubter ceases to exist, there will be no doubts arising. From where will they arise? All are jnanis, jivanmuktas. Only they are not aware of the fact. Doubts must be uprooted. This means that the doubter must be uprooted. Here the doubter is the mind.

Concentration of mind accomplishes the work.

For whom is inside or outside? They can be only so long as there are the subject and object. For whom are these two again? They both will resolve into the subject only. See who is in the subject. The investigation leads you to pure consciousness beyond the subject.

If you have surrendered, you must be able to abide by the will of God and not make a grievance of what may not please you. Things may turn out differently from what they look apparently. Distress often leads men to faith in God. by you... You must only trust God.

There is only one consciousness, which subsists in the waking, dream and sleep states. If it is known you will see that it is beyond thoughts.

There is solitude everywhere. The individual is solitary always. His business is to find it out within, and not seek it without.

D.: The work-a-day world is distracting.
M.: Do not allow yourself to be distracted. Enquire for whom there is distraction. It will not afflict you after a little practice.

D.: But the answer does not come for the search inward.
M.: The enquirer is the answer and no other answer can come. What comes afresh cannot be true. What always is, is true.

D.: A stay of one day with Sri Bhagavan is good; a stay of two days is better; of three days, more so, and so on. If it is a continuous stay here, how shall we get on with our mundane work?
M.: Stay here or elsewhere must be understood to be the same and to have the same effect.

For everyone knows that he is. Do not confound yourself with the object, namely the body. This gives rise to the false ego, consequently of the world and your movements therein with the resulting misery. Do not think yourself to be this, that or anything; to be so and so, or to be such and such. Only leave off the falsity. The Reality will reveal itself. The scriptures say that the Self is nityasiddha, ever present, and yet speak of the removal of ajnana. If Self is (nitya) always and (siddha) present, how can there be ajnana? 

natwam naham neme janadhipah (not thou, nor I, nor these kings ...). Krishna plainly says that people confound Him with the body, whereas in reality He was not born nor will He die.

Realise your pure Be-ing. Let there be no confusion with the body. The body is the result of thoughts. The thoughts will play as usual, but you will not be affected. You were not concerned with the body when asleep; so you can always remain.

Actions form no bondage. Bondage is only the false notion. “I am the doer.” Leave off such thoughts and let the body and senses play their role, unimpeded by your interference.

The sea is not aware of its wave. Similarly the Self is not aware of its ego.

Progress can be spoken of in things to be obtained afresh. Whereas here it is the removal of ignorance and not acquisition of knowledge.

D.: How to remove the ignorance?
M.: While lying in bed in Tiruvannamalai you dream in your sleep that you find yourself in another town. The scene is real to you. Your body remains here on your bed in a room. Can a town enter your room, or could you have left this place and gone elsewhere, leaving the body here? Both are impossible. Therefore your being here and seeing another town are both unreal. They appear real to the mind. The ‘I’ of the dream soon vanishes, then another ‘I’ speaks of the dream. This ‘I’ was not in the dream. Both the ‘I’s are unreal. There is the substratum of the mind which continues all along, giving rise to so many scenes. An ‘I’ rises forth with every thought and with its disappearance that ‘I’ disappears too. Many ‘I’s are born and die every moment. The subsisting mind is the real trouble. That is the thief according to Janaka. Find him out and you will be happy.

Kabir’s saying that all know that the drop merges into the ocean but few know that the ocean merges into the drop. This is para bhakti,

D.: “My mind remains clear for two or three days and turns dull for the next two or three days; and so it alternates. What is it due to?”
M.: It is quite natural; it is the play of brightness (satva), activity (rajas) and darkness (tamas) alternating. Do not regret the tamas; but when satva comes into play, hold on to it fast and make the best of it.

Dakshinamurti did not teach anything of the kind. He did not say that Brahman is related to Sakti or not related. All that was, was only silence; and the doubts of the sishyas (disciples) were cleared. The significance is that there is nothing to be learnt, discussed and concluded. Everyone knows ‘I am.’ There is the confusion that the ‘I’ is the body 

The Self remains without the perception of body or of the world. Happiness reigns there.

‘Aham Brahmasmi’, relates to the state and not the mode of mind. One cannot become Brahman by continuing to repeat the mantra. It means that Brahman is not elsewhere. It is your Self. Find that Self; Brahman is found. Do not attempt to reach Brahman as if it were in some far off place.

The sadhu has already overcome the mind and remains in Peace. His proximity helps to bring about such condition in others. Otherwise there is no meaning in seeking a sadhu’s company.

Deho aham (I am the body) is limitation and is the root of all mean and selfish actions and desires. 
Brahma aham (I am Brahman) is passing beyond limitation and signifies sympathy, charity, love etc., which are divine and virtuous.

There is no help in the change of environment. The obstacle is the mind. It must be got over whether at home or in the forest.

One should be in spontaneous samadhi - that is, in one’s pristine state - in the midst of every environment.

There is an Upanishad mantra, atmajnam hyarchayet bhutikamah (one desirous of liberation or wealth must serve a Self-realised Sage).

Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma (All this is Brahman); Brahmavid Brahmaiva Bhavati (the knower of Brahman becomes Brahman Itself), show that a Jnani is sarvajna (all-knower). Let the people get jnana and then seek siddhis if they so desire.

One should hold on to the single Atman and not swerve therefrom. That is the whole gist of it.

Atma Dharma is inherence in the Self. There will be no distraction and no fear. Troubles arise only when there is a second to oneself.

Let the Higher Power do what is inevitable and let me act only according to its dictates. The actions are not mine. Therefore the result of the actions cannot be mine. If one thinks and acts so, where is the trouble?

Krishna said, “So long as you refuse to fight, you have the sense of doership. Who are you to refrain or to act? Give up the notion of doership. Until that sense disappears you are bound to act. You are being manipulated by a Higher Power. You are admitting it by your own refusal to submit to it. Instead recognise the Power and submit as a tool. (Or to put it differently), if you refuse you will be forcibly drawn into it. Instead of being an unwilling worker, be a willing one.

Mouna is constant speech. Inactivity is constant activity.

The present difficulty is that the man thinks that he is the doer. But it is a mistake. It is the Higher Power which does everything and the man is only a tool. If he accepts that position he is free from troubles; otherwise he courts them.

When the goal is reached it remains alone, and all the rest becomes useless.

Let him trace the ego to its source and he will reach that undifferentiated happy state which is sleepless sleep. The Self remains ever the same, here and now. There is nothing more to be gained. Because the limitations have wrongly been assumed there is the need to transcend them.

Salvation is permanent because the Self is here and now and eternal.

If the man dies while yet alive he need not grieve over others’ death. One’s existence is evident with or without the body, as in waking, dream and sleep. Then why should one desire continuance of the bodily shackles? Let the man find out his undying Self and die and be immortal and happy.

Take the instance of the cinema. There are pictures moving on the screen. Go and hold them. What do you hold? It is only the screen. Let the pictures disappear. What remains over? The screen again. So also here. Even when the world appears, see to whom it appears. Hold the substratum of the ‘I’. After the substratum is held what does it matter if the world appears or disappears? The ajnani takes the world to be real; whereas the Jnani sees it only as the manifestation of the Self. It is immaterial if the Self manifests itself or ceases to do so.

One’s efforts are directed only to remove one’s ignorance. Afterwards they cease, and the real Self is found to be always there. No effort is needed to remain as the Self.

Merge this individual consciousness into the Supreme One. That is what should be done.

Yatra naanyat pasyati yatra naanyat srunoti sa bhuma (where one does not see any other, hears nothing, it is Perfection).

Work proceeds, always in the presence of the Self only. Work is no hindrance to realisation. It is the mistaken identity of the worker that troubles one. Get rid of the false identity.

Consciousness alone remains and nothing more.

Silence is never-ending speech. Vocal speech obstructs the other speech of silence. In silence one is in intimate contact with the surroundings. The silence of Dakshinamurti removed the doubts of the four sages. Mouna vyakhya prakatita tatvam (Truth expounded by silence.) Silence is said to be exposition. Silence is so potent. For vocal speech, organs of speech are necessary and they precede speech. But the other speech lies even beyond thought. It is in short transcendent speech or unspoken words, para vak.

There is knowledge in Realisation. But this knowledge differs from the ordinary one of the relation of subject and object. It is absolute knowledge.

The object to be witnessed and the witness finally merge together and Absolute consciousness alone reigns supreme.

Swarupa (the Real Self) lies beyond mind, time and space. Distance does not count in the Self.

lokyate iti lokah (what is perceived is the world.

Even now the mind is not. Recognise it. How can you do it if not in everyday activities. They go on automatically.

Everyone has experience of the Self every moment of his life.

Effort is necessary up to the state of realisation. Even then the Self should spontaneously become evident. Otherwise happiness will not be complete. Up to that state of spontaneity there must be effort in some form or another.

When asked, you say that you travelled here all the way from your town. Is it true? Is it not a fact that you remained as you were and there were movements of conveyances all along the way. Just as those movements are confounded with your own, so also the other activities. They are not your own. They are God’s activities.

Grief exists only so long as one considers oneself to be of a definite form. If the form is transcended one will know that the one Self is eternal. There is no death nor birth. That which is born is only the body. The body is the creation of the ego.

In that state there are no individuals other than the Eternal Existence. 

Everyone is aware of the eternal Self. He sees so many dying but still believes himself eternal. Because it is the Truth.

The Reality never rises nor sinks. It remains Eternal. The master who has realised says so; the disciple hears, thinks over the words and realises the Self.

If you try to locate the mind, the mind vanishes and the Self alone remains. 

Christ-consciousness and Self-Realisation are all the same.

The wavering of the mind is a weakness arising from the dissipation of its energy in the shape of thoughts. When one makes the mind stick to one thought the energy is conserved, and the mind becomes stronger.

Can anything be as direct as the Self - always experienced without the aid of the senses? Sense-perceptions can only be indirect knowledge, and not direct knowledge. Only one’s own awareness is direct knowledge, as is the common experience of one and all. No aids are needed to know one’s own Self, i.e., to be aware.

Liberation is only to remain aware of the Self. The mahavakya “I am Brahman” is its authority. Though the ‘I’ is always experienced, yet one’s attention has to be drawn to it. Only then does knowledge dawn.

My reward consists in your permanent unbroken Bliss. Do not slip away from it.

The wrong knowledge of ‘I am the body’ is the cause of all the mischief. This wrong knowledge must go. That is Realisation.

The Self is unlimited and is not confined to the body.

Mature minds alone can grasp the simple Truth in all its nakedness.

Never mind the mind. If its source is sought, it will vanish leaving the Self unaffected.

The world is seen with the mind, that is, by the reflected light of the Self. If the mind is turned in towards the source of light, objective knowledge ceases and Self alone shines

Spiritual matters cannot be fitted into rationalism. Spirituality is transcendental. The miracle was after Draupadi had surrendered herself. The secret lies in surrender.

In deep sleep you were blissful: Now you are not so. What has interposed between that Bliss and this non-bliss? It is the ego. Seek its source and find you are Bliss.

If the eye becomes the Self, the Self being infinite, the eye is infinite. There is nothing else to see different from the Self.

The salt in the lump is visible; it is invisible in solution. Still its existence is known by taste. Similarly sat, though not recognised by the intellect, can still be realised in a different way, i.e., transcendentally.

The Hebrew word Jehovah = (I am) expresses God correctly. Absolute Be-ing is beyond expression.

Chitta suddhi is to engage in one thought only to the exclusion of all others. It is otherwise called one-pointedness of the mind. The practice of meditation purifies the mind.

The karma which takes place without effort, i.e., involuntary action, is not binding.

D.: Even thoughts are read by others.
M.: That shows that all are one.

Karmaphala tyagah Nishkama karma as of a Jnani - action without desire - is superior to knowledge with practice.

The Vedas also are eloquent in ‘neti’ - ‘neti’ (not this - not this) and then remain silent. Their silence is the Real State. This is the meaning of exposition by silence. When the source of the ‘I-thought’ is reached it vanishes and what remains over is the Self.

Identification with the Supreme is only the other name for the destruction of the ego.

Whatever may be the experiences, the experiencer is one and the same. ‘I’ is purna - perfection.

As we are not able to help ourselves, so we have to surrender ourselves to the Supreme completely. Then He will take care of us as well as the world.

D.: Is there any way to meet the appointed Guru for each?
M.: Intense meditation brings it about.

Samadhi must be the natural life of everyone. There is a state beyond our efforts or effortlessness. Until it is realised effort is necessary

Any kind of activity does not affect a Jnani; his mind remains ever in eternal Peace.

The awakened man says that he himself was in deep slumber but not aware. He does not say that the sleeper was different from the present one. There is only one Self. That Self is always aware. It is changeless. There is nothing but the Self.

Even the ignorant man sees only the Self when he sees objects. But he is confused and identifies the Self with the object, i.e., the body and with the senses and plays in the world. Subject and object - all merge in the Self. There is no seer nor objects seen. The seer and the seen are the Self. There are not many selves either. All are only one Self.

The state of equanimity is the state of bliss.

Realisation is already there. The state free from thoughts is the only real state. There is no such action as Realisation.

The Self is only one. If limited it is the ego. If unlimited it is Infinite and is the Reality.

There is no greater mystery than this - viz., ourselves being the Reality we seek to gain Reality.

In order to be aware even in that blank one must remember his own self.

Realisation must be amidst all the turmoils of life.

The Self is only one. Do you feel hurt if you blame yourself or scorn yourself for your errors? If you hold the Self there is no second person to scorn you. 

A more advanced man will naturally go direct to control of mind without wasting his time in practising control of breath. 

“Mita hita bhuk” - agreeable food in moderate quantity.

Peace is Self-Realisation. Peace need not be disturbed. One should aim at Peace only.

Reformers have come and gone; but the ancient smritis still stand. Why waste time over such matters? Let each one mind his business. All will be well.

If there be thoughts they will materialise. If they disappear there is nothing to materialise. Moreover if you are physical the world is physical and so on. Find out if you are physical.

The divinity is directing and controlling you.

The objects are only according to the seer.

The path is one and the realisation is only one.

The Man is sin. There was no man-sense in deep sleep. The body-thought brings out the idea of sin. The birth of thought is itself sin.

D.: What is Renunciation?
M.: Giving up of the ego.
D.: Is it not giving up possessions?
M.: The possessor too.

D.: Why do masters insist on silence and receptivity?
M.: What is silence? It is eternal eloquence.

Is America apart from you, or India apart? Get hold of it and see.

D.: What is the nature of that force?

M.: Just like iron filings drawn towards a magnet, the force is inside and not outside. Ramakrishna was in Vivekananda. If you think Vivekananda to be a body, Ramakrishna also is a body. But they are not bodies. Vivekananda could not go into Samadhi had not Ramakrishna been within him.

You are not physical. Why worry about what you are not. If the Self had any form it might be affected by objects. But the Self has no form, therefore it is immune from contact with things.

Spirit, Holy Ghost, Realisation, Love, etc., are all synonymous.

M.: Is there no samadhi now?
D.: Is it eternal?
M.: If not, how can it be real?

What is mind? Find it out. It is only an aggregate of thoughts.

D.: Can fasting help realisation?
M.: But it is temporary. Mental fast is the real aid. Fasting is not an end in itself. There must be spiritual development side by side.

Knowledge can remain unshaken only after all the vasanas are rooted out.

All are agreed on the annihilation of the ego. Let us get to business on the agreed point. 

There is nothing external in consciousness.

There is really nothing to witness. IT is. simple BEING.

Be what you are. There is nothing to come down or become manifest. All that is needful is to lose the ego, That what is, is always there.

The desire of getting something, are all the working of the ego.

To think is not your real nature.

That which is not created has no end. That which exists cannot be observed. It is unobservable. 

When once you have found what you seek, vichara (enquiry) also ceases and you rest in it.

Contemplation is a forced mental process, whereas samadhi lies beyond effort.

The essence of mind is only awareness or consciousness. When the ego, however, dominates it, it functions as the reasoning, thinking or sensing faculty. The cosmic mind being not limited by the ego, has nothing separate from itself and is therefore only aware. This is what the Bible means by “I am that I AM”.

SILENCE is the best language.

One has only to remove the transitory happenings in order to realise the ever-present beatitude of the Self. Your nature is Bliss. Find that on which all the rest are superimposed and you then remain as the pure Self.

The purpose of one’s birth will be fulfilled whether you will it or not. Let the purpose fulfil itself.

There is no leaving or returning.

In the beginning one has to be told that he is not the body, because he thinks that he is the body only. Whereas he is the body and all else. The body is only a part. Let him know it finally. He must first discern consciousness from insentience and be the consciousness only. Later let him realise that insentience is not apart from consciousness.

Free-will and Destiny last as long as the body lasts. But wisdom (jnana) transcends both. 

There is no end of grief. But if the mind be destroyed the grief will have no background and will disappear along with the mind.

The mind is only a bundle of thoughts. The thoughts arise because there is the thinker. The thinker is the ego. The ego, if sought, will vanish automatically. The ego and the mind are the same. The ego is the root-thought from which all other thoughts arise.

Dive within. You are now aware that the mind rises up from within. So sink within and seek.

The seer, the seen and the sight are all manifestations of the same consciousness - namely, ‘I-I’. Contemplation helps one to overcome the illusion that the Self must be visual. In truth, there is nothing visual. How do you feel the ‘I’ now? Do you hold a mirror before you to know your own being? The awareness is the ‘I’. Realise it and that is the truth.

The Self is the unassociated, pure Reality, in whose light, the body, the ego, etc. shine. On stilling all thoughts the pure consciousness remains over.

Just on waking from sleep and before becoming aware of the world there is that pure ‘I-I’. Hold to it without sleeping or without allowing thoughts to possess you. If that is held firm it does not matter even though the world is seen. The seer remains unaffected by the phenomena.

Your efforts can extend only thus far. Then the Beyond will take care of itself. You are helpless there. No effort can reach it.

Does the world tell you ‘I am the world’? Does the body say ‘I am body’? You say, “This is the world”, “this is body” and so on. So these are only your conceptions. Find out who you are and there will be an end of all your doubts.

In fact, after realisation the body and all else will not appear different from the Self.

Does God come and tell you that He has placed you in difficulties? It is you who say so. It is again the wrong ‘I’.

A person begins with dissatisfaction. Not content with the world he seeks satisfaction of desires by prayers to God; his mind is purified; he longs to know God more than to satisfy his carnal desires. Then God’s Grace begins to manifest. God takes the form of a Guru and appears to the devotee; teaches him the Truth; purifies the mind by his teachings and contact; the mind gains strength, is able to turn inward; with meditation it is purified yet further, and eventually remains still without the least ripple. That stillness is the Self. The Guru is both exterior and interior. From the exterior he gives a push to the mind to turn inward; from the interior he pulls the mind towards the Self and helps the mind to achieve quietness. That is Grace. Hence there is no difference between God, Guru and Self.

Satisfaction can be only when you reach the source. Otherwise restlessness exists.

There is no such thing as ignorance. It never arises. Everyone is Knowledge itself. 

Turn your vision inward and then the whole world will be full of Supreme Spirit. 

Here light would mean the consciousness which reveals as the Self only.

Everything is dear to us because of love of the Self.

The Self is that to which we surrender our ego and let the Supreme Power, i.e., the Self, do what it pleases.

The Visishtadvaitins say that the Self is first realised and the realised individual soul is surrendered to the universal soul. Only then is it complete. The part is given up to the whole. That is liberation and sayujya union.

The fact is: There is Reality. It is not affected by any discussions. Let us abide as Reality and not engage in futile discussions as to its nature, etc.

Wherefrom is the ‘I’ thought? Probe into it. The ‘I-thought’ will vanish. The Supreme Self will shine forth of itself. No further effort is needed.

The Brahadaranyaka Upanishad says, “The wife is dear because of the love of the Self”. If the wife and others are identified with the Self, how then will pain arise?

“What if anyone is dead? What if anyone is ruined? Be dead yourself - be ruined yourself”. In that sense there is no pain after one’s death. What is meant by this sort of death? Annihilation of the ego, though the body is alive. If the ego persists the man is afraid of death.

Just as a labourer carrying a load on his head for the sake of wages bears the burden with no pleasure, carries it to the destination, and finally unburdens himself with relief and joy; so also the sage bears this body, awaiting the right and destined time to discard it.

Mourning is not the index of true love. It betrays love of the object, of its shape only. That is not love. True love is shown by the certainty that the object of love is in the Self and that it can never become non-existent.

All efforts are meant only to end ignorance. They have no use after realisation.

Do not delude yourself by imagining such source to be some God outside you. One’s source is within yourself. Give yourself up to it. That means that you should seek the source and merge in it.

You merge in the Self there will be no individuality left. You will become the Source itself. 

Finding this ‘I’ to be pure Consciousness beyond action and enjoyment, freedom and  happiness are gained. There is then no effort, for the Self is perfect and there remains nothing more to gain.

So long as there is individuality, one is the enjoyer and doer. But if it is lost, the divine Will prevails and guides the course of events.

Restrictions and discipline are for other individuals and not for the liberated.

The fire of wisdom consumes all actions. Wisdom is acquired by association with the wise, or rather, its mental atmosphere.

A Self-realised being cannot help benefiting the world. His very existence is the highest good.

Your Self is intimate to you. You are aware of the Self. Seek it and be it. That will expand as the Infinite. Then there will be no question of yoga, etc. Whose is the separation (viyoga)? Find it.

The Self is more intimate than the objects. Find the subject, and the objects will take care of themselves. 

The mind, if once it finds its inner happiness it will not wander outward.

The gross body is only the concrete form of the subtle stuff - the mind. When the mind melts away and blazes forth as light, the body is consumed in that process.

The subtle body is composed of light and sound and the gross body is a concrete form of the same. The universe resolves into sound and light and then into transcendence - Param.

D.: Is the body or the mind of any use for the Self?
M.: Yes, inasmuch as it helps Self-realisation.

The only useful purpose of the present birth is to turn within and realise it. There is nothing else to do.

Grace is always there. “Dispassion cannot be acquired, nor realization of the Truth, nor inherence in the Self, in the absence of Guru’s Grace,”

There is one from whom you can have the whole storehouse of honey by simply thinking or seeing or speaking of Him. Get within and hum to Him.

There is no moment when you are not.

The state of happiness and of no ‘I-thought’ in sleep is without effort. The aim should be to bring about that state even now. That requires effort.

The mind must be alert and meditation pursued unremittingly even when it is at peace. Then it sinks into the heart. Or the floating body might be loaded with weights and made to sink. So also association with the wise will make the mind sink into the Heart. 

If the mind is transformed into the Self it will no longer give trouble. That is done by meditation.

To be free from anxieties. Possessions create anxieties such as their safeguarding, their utilisation, etc. Non-possession does not bring any anxieties in its train. Divestment of possessions is the highest happiness.

D.: Is there thought in Samadhi? Or is there not?
M.: There will only be the feeling ‘I am’ and no other thoughts.
D.: Is not ‘I am’ a thought?
M.: The egoless ‘I am’ is not thought. It is realisation. The meaning or significance of ‘I’ is God. The experience of ‘I am’ is to Be Still.

The realisation must be by your finding out who you are and abiding as That, i.e. your Self.

All wish to rush out. There is no limit to going out. Happiness lies within and not without.

The elimination of thoughts is wisdom. It is the Absolute Existence.

A Muslim visitor asked about asana (physical posture).
M.: Abidance in God is the only true posture

“Whoever dies or is lost, what is that to you? Die yourself and lose yourself, becoming one with love.”

D.: How to communicate thought to each other?
M.: That is only when there is the notion of two.

However much you learn, there will be no bounds to knowledge. You ignore the doubter but try to solve the doubts. On the other hand, hold on to the doubter and the doubts will disappear.

You pervade all. See yourself and all are understood.

Engage yourself in the living present. The future will take care of itself. Do not worry about the future.

D.: The world is materialistic. What is the remedy for it?
M.: Materialistic or spiritual, it is according to your outlook. Drishtim jnanamayim kritva, Brahma mayam pasyet jagat — Make your outlook right. The Creator knows how to take care of His Creation

There is no destiny. Surrender, and all will be well. Throw all the responsibility on God. Do not bear the burden yourself. What can destiny do to you then?

D.: Is not destiny due to past karma?
M.: If one is surrendered to God, God will look to it.

Its nature is Bliss. Bliss alone is. There is no enjoyer to enjoy pleasure. Enjoyer and joy - both merge in it.

The fact is, you are neither within nor without. Sleep is the natural state of being.

Birth and death also are dreams in a sleep. Really speaking, there are no birth and death.

The Self has no sight or hearing. It lies beyond these - all alone, as pure consciousness.

When one remains without thinking one understands another by means of the universal language of silence.

Thoughts rule the life. Freedom from thoughts is one’s true nature - Bliss.

Reflection makes it clear that Knowledge is Self. One-pointedness reveals the Self as being Infinite and Blissful.

D.: I want to know how I can gain that peace of mind. Kindly be pleased to advise me.
M.: Yes - devotion and surrender.

The birth of the ego is called the birth of the person. There is no other kind of birth. Whatever is born is bound to die. Kill the ego: there is no fear of recurring death for what is once dead.

D.: Do we not see God in concrete form?
M.: Yes. God is seen in the mind. The concrete form may be seen. Still it is only in the devotee’s mind. The form and appearance of God-manifestation are determined by the mind of the devotee. But it is not the finality. There is the sense of duality.

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.

If you remain as the Self, there will be found to be nothing apart from the Self. Then there will be no need to control, etc.

If one dies, it results in grief for the other who lives. The way to get rid of grief is not to live. Kill the one who grieves. Who will remain then to suffer? The ego must die. That is the only way.

When all have become the one Self, who is there to be loved or hated?

Realisation is in the Self only. Dhyana must precede it. Whether you make dhyana of God or of Self, it is immaterial. The goal is the same.

People call me Maharshi and treat me like this. But I do not see myself as a Maharshi. On the other hand everyone is a Maharshi to me. It is good that you in this early age are attempting to seek God. Concentrate on Him. Do your work without desiring the fruits thereof. That is all that you should do.

Peace is the sole criterion of a Mahatma’s Presence.

Ask, “Whose is the avidya? Avidya is ignorance. It implies subject and object. Become the subject and there will be no object.

Reality was, is, and will be. It is changeless. 

In reality there is no bondage nor mukti for himself or for others from the jnani’s standpoint.

God created man; and man created God. They both are the originators of forms and names only. In fact, neither God nor man was created.

If the longing is there, Realisation will be forced on you even if you do not want it.

M.: A Higher Power is leading you. Be led by the same.
D.: But I am not aware of it. Please make me aware of it.
M.: The Higher Power knows what to do and how to do it. Trust it.

The difference ‘He’ and ‘I’ are the obstacles to jnana.

D.: What about practice?
M.: Meditation must always be practised.
D.: A Persian mystic says: “There is nothing but God.” The Quran says: “God is immanent in all.”
M.: There is no ‘all’, apart from God, for Him to pervade. He alone is.

The feeling “I work” is the hindrance. Enquire, “Who works?” Remember, “Who am I?” The work will not bind you. It will go on automatically. Make no effort either to work or to renounce work. Your effort is the bondage. What is bound to happen will happen.

When you remain as the Self, as in sleep, the world and its sufferings will not affect you. Therefore look within. See the Self! There will be an end of the world and its miseries.

The world is not external. Because you identify yourself wrongly with the body you see the world outside, and its pain becomes apparent to you. But they are not real. Seek the reality and get rid of this unreal feeling.

If you consider yourself as the body the world appears to be external. If you are the Self the world appears as Brahman.

They all mean the Self. Para means‘not relative’ or ‘beyond the relative’, that is to say, the Absolute.

D.: Should I meditate on the right chest in order to meditate on the Heart?
M.: The Heart is not physical. Meditation should not be on the right or the left. Meditation should be on the Self. Everyone knows ‘I am’. Who is the ‘I’? It will be neither within nor without, neither on the right nor on the left. ‘I am’ - that is all.

Swa swarupanusandhanam bhaktirityabhidheeyate (Reflection on one’s own Self is called bhakti). Bhakti and Self-Enquiry are one and the same.

Atma is pratyaksha (self-evident). Know it and be done with speculation.

They are only in the Self and remain as the Self. Realisation of the Self is the one Goal of all.

D.: I wish to go to Kailas.
M.: One can see these places only if destined. Not otherwise. After seeing all, there will still remain more - if not in this hemisphere, maybe in the other. Where is Kailas then? Is it within the mind or outside it? Everything is within. There is nothing without.

The Self is bodiless. Even now it is so.

There is no duality. Your present knowledge is due to the ego and only relating. Relative knowledge requires a subject and an object. Whereas the awareness of the Self is absolute and requires no object.
Remembrance also is similarly relative, requiring an object to be remembered and a subject to remember. When there is no duality, who is to remember whom?

The ego in its purity is experienced in intervals between two states or two thoughts. 

Mind without an aim is restless, with an aim it remains at peace.

D.: I am not able to do so by myself. I am in search of a force to help me.
M.: Yes, what is called Grace. Individually we are incapable because the mind is weak. Grace is necessary. Sadhu seva is meant only for it. There is however nothing new to get. Just as a weak man comes under the control of a stronger one, the weak mind of a man comes under control easily in the presence of the strong-minded sadhus. That which is - is only Grace; there is nothing else.

One has to practise reflection (manana) and one-pointedness (nididhyasana). These two processes scorch the seeds of vasanas so that they are rendered ineffective.

Bring sleep into the waking state (jagrat sushupti) and you will be all right. Ya nisa sarva bhootanam ... pasyato muneh ... (That which is night for the ignorant is day for the wise).

D.: When duhka (misery) overpowers me, enquiry is impossible.
M.: Because the mind is too weak. Make it strong.
D.: By what means?
M.: Sat-sanga, Isvara Aradhana, Pranayama - (association with the wise, worship of God, breath control).
D.: What happens?
M.: Misery is removed; our aim is removal of misery. You do not acquire happiness. Your very nature is happiness. Bliss is not newly earned. All that is done is to remove unhappiness. These methods do it.

Atmanishtha (to be fixed as the Self). Atmanishtha is your real nature. Remain as you are. That is the aim.

Effortlessness while remaining aware is the state of Bliss, and that is Realisation.

You are the witness of jagrat(waking), svapna (dream) and sushupti (sleep) - rather, they pass before you. 

The peace often gained must be remembered at other times. That peace is your natural and permanent state. By continuous practice it will become natural. That is called the ‘current.’ That is your true nature.

You see the physical body and so you find limitations. Time and space operate on this plane. So long as you think of the gross body there will be differences found as different bodies. On the other hand, knowledge of the real Maharshi will set all doubts at rest.

Space is in you. The physical body is in space, but not you.

Being without the body you were happy too in sleep. You are the same now too. 

There was no body but only experience of happiness in sleep. 

What is contemplation? It is merging into the source consciously. 

Does he leave you any moment? It is you who allow your mind to wander away. He remains always steady.

The continuous consciousness transcends the mind. This is the natural, primal state of the Jnani or the liberated being. Aham sphurana (the light of ‘I-I’) is unbroken, continuous. After the thoughts subside, the light shines forth.

Because your outlook is externally directed you speak of a without. In that state you are advised to look within. This within is relative to the without you are seeking. In fact, the Self is neither without nor within.

The Real Existence is the only One devoid of objective knowledge. That is absolute consciousness. That is the state of happiness, as admitted by all of us. That state must be brought about even in this waking state. It is called jagrat sushupti. That is mukti.

Do you go to the dream world or does it occur in you? Surely the latter. Just the same with incarnations. The ego remains changeless all along.

Just on rising up from sleep, and before seeing the objective world, there is a state of awareness which is your pure Self. That must be known.

If you are not aware of the ajapa (unspoken chant) which is eternally going on, you should take to japa. Japa is made with an effort. The effort is meant to ward off other thoughts. Then the japa becomes mental and internal. Finally, its ajapa and eternal nature will be realised.

The Self is all. Now I ask you: Are you apart from the Self? Can the work go on apart from the Self? Or is the body apart from the Self? None of them could be apart from the Self. The Self is universal. So all the actions will go on whether you engage in them voluntarily or not. The work will go on automatically. Attending to the Self includes attending to the work.

The Self is the screen on which the pictures, namely activities, are going on. The man is aware of the latter, ignoring the former. All the same he is not apart from the Self. Whether aware or unaware the actions will continue.

Imagine the actor in the picture asking if he could enact a scene without the screen. Such is the case of the man who thinks of his acting apart from the Self.

The phenomena are real as the Self and are myths apart from the Self.

Trance is not something apart to be got anew. Your natural state is that of trance. 

There are two kinds of vasanas: (1) bandha hetuh, causing bondage for the ignorant, and (2) bhoga hetuh, giving enjoyment for the wise. The latter do not obstruct realisation.

Attachment is bondage. Attachment disappears with the elimination of the ego.

Do actions without caring for the result. Do not think that you are the doer. Dedicate the work to God. That is the skill and also the way to gain it.

See the common factor (sama) in all the objects. When that is done equality in the pairs of opposites (dwandwani) naturally follows. It is the latter which is however spoken of as equanimity ordinarily.

Grace is both the beginning and the end. Introversion is due to Grace: Perseverance is Grace; and Realisation is Grace. That is the reason for the statement: Mamekam saranam vraja (only surrender to Me). If one has entirely surrendered oneself is there any part left to ask for Grace? He is swallowed up by Grace.

D.: I do not know anything of my sleep experience.
M.: But you know that it was happiness. Otherwise you would not be saying “I slept happily”. When there is no thought, no ‘I’, and nothing In fact except yourself, you are happy. That is the whole Truth.

Here a play is going on in which the One Single Being becomes manifold is objectified and then withdrawn. There must be a Sakti (Power) to do it, and wonderful too! She cannot also be independent of Her origin. In the Self-shining Pure Being this Sakti cannot be seen. Nevertheless, Her actions are only too well-known. How sublime!

If you find that you are not this body but the spirit, you will be free from gross or subtle bodies, and then there will be no limitations. Where is the world, physical or spiritual, in the absence of any limitations?

If the mind is watched thoughts cease. Peace results and it is your true nature.

The object of japa or dhyana is the exclusion of several thoughts and confining oneself to one single thought. Then that thought too vanishes into its source - absolute consciousness, i.e., the Self. The mind engages in japa and then sinks into its own source.

If you feel injured turn within and find out the cause of the injury. It is not external to you. The external causes are mere superimpositions. If you cannot injure yourself, will the all-merciful God injure you in any manner?

All are dear because the Self is beloved of all. One’s happiness is within; the love is of the Self only. It is only within; do not think it to be without: then differentiation ceases to operate.

To be the Self is the same as seeing the Self. There are no two selves for the one to see the other.


Now that you are contracted within the limits of the body you say “I have not realised”. Why do you limit your Self and then feel miserable? Be of your true nature and happy.

The body has its birth subsequent to ‘I-thought’. So its birth is secondary. Get rid of the primary cause and the secondary one will disappear by itself.

Meditation implies mental imagery, whereas investigation is for the Reality. The former is objective, whereas the latter is subjective.

The Bible says, “Be still and know that I am God”. Stillness is the sole requisite for the realisation of the Self as God.


There is always consciousness and nothing but that. What you are now considering to be body-consciousness is due to superimposition. If there is only consciousness and nothing but it, the meaning of the Scripture Atmanastu kamaya sarvam priyam bhavati - (All are dear because of the love of the Self) becomes clear.

The error lies in the identification of the Self with the body. If Bhagavan is the body you may ask that body. But understand him whom you address as Bhagavan. He is not the body. He  the Self.

Mind, being unaware of the body, cannot be aware of its pains or pleasures. Read the story of Indra and Ahalya in Yoga Vasishta; there death itself is said to be an act of mind.

Even your surroundings are not of your own accord; they are there as a matter of course. You must rise above them and not get yourself involved.

To reject the three bodies consisting of the five sheaths (physical, vital, mental, gnostic and blissful) as not ‘I’ and to extract through subtle. enquiry of “Who am I?” - even as the central blade of grass is delicately drawn out from its whorl - that which is different from all the three bodies and is existent as one and universal in the heart as Aham or ‘I’ and denoted by the words Tvam (in the Scriptural dictum - ‘Tat-tvam-asi’ - That thou art).

The disciple surrenders himself to the master. That means there is no vestige of individuality retained by the disciple. If the surrender is complete all sense of individuality is lost and there is thus no cause for misery. The eternal being is only happiness. That is revealed.

Surrender once 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.

“Be still and know that I am God.” Here stillness is total surrender without a vestige of individuality.

A victim of illusion would ask “Who am I?” and not a man fully aware of himself.

Jnana is ever present. That is the ultimate goal also. When an effort is made the effort is called upasana; when it is effortless it is jnana, which is the same as mukti.

The spiritual men are not bodies; they are not aware of their bodies. They are only spirit, limitless and formless. There is always unity among them and all others; nay, they comprise all.

What can be easier? The Self is more intimate than anything else. If that cannot be realised, is it easy to realise what is apart and farther away?

If you know the Self there will be no darkness, no ignorance and no misery.

“I am” alone is; and not “I am so and so”, or “I am such and such”. When existence is absolute it is right; when it is particularised it is wrong. That is the whole truth.

Your duty is to be: and not to be this or that. “I AM that I AM” sums up the whole truth. The method is summed up in “BE STILL”. What does “stillness” mean? It means “destroy yourself”. Because any form or shape is the cause of trouble. Give up the notion that “I am so and so”. Our sastras say: ahamiti sphurati (it shines as ‘I’).

This question arises because you are holding the ego self. This will not arise if you hold the True Self. For the Real Self will not and cannot ask anything.

Either surrender because you admit your inability and also require a High Power to help you; or investigate into the cause of misery, go into the source and merge into the Self. Either way you will be free from misery. God never forsakes one who has surrendered. Mamekam saranam vraja.

Anything seen cannot be real. That is the truth.

D.: How to meditate?
M.: Concentrate on that one whom you like best. If a single thought prevails, all other thoughts are put off and finally eradicated. So long as diversity prevails there are bad thoughts. When the object of love prevails only good thoughts hold the field. Therefore hold on to one thought only. Dhyana is the chief practice.

When dhyana is well established it cannot be given up. It will go on automatically even when you are engaged in work, play or enjoyment. It will persist in sleep too. Dhyana must become so deep-rooted that it will be natural to one.

What is jnana? Jnana means realisation of the Truth. It is done by dhyana. Dhyana helps you to hold on to Truth to the exclusion of all thoughts.

The body is only one. Still, how many functions are performed by it? The source of all the functions is only one. It is in the same way with the Gods also.

Misery is due to multifarious thoughts. If the thoughts are unified and centred on a single item there is no misery, but happiness is the result. Then, even the thought, “I do something” is absent; nor will there be an eye on the fruit of action.

The Bliss of samadhi is a perfectly clear experience and its recollection also is similar. But the experience of sleep is otherwise.

Whatever one does after the ego has vanished is akarma.

If there be anything new and hitherto unknown upadesa will be appropriate. Here it happens to be stilling the mind and remaining free from thoughts.

So long as the daily life is imagined to be different from the spiritual life these difficulties arise. If the spiritual life is rightly understood, the active life will be found to be not different from it.

One does not know the Self owing to the interference of thoughts. The Self is realised when thoughts subside.

Whenever the turbulent mind wavers, then and there pull it and bring it under control.” (Bh. Gita, VI, 26.) “Seeing the mind with the mind” (manasa mana alokya)

It is true in the same degree as the seer (drashta), subject, object and perception form the triad (triputi). There is a reality beyond these three. These appear and disappear, whereas the truth is eternal.

D.: How is the mind to be steadied?
M.: By strengthening it.
D.: How to strengthen it?
M.: It grows strong by satsanga (the company of the wise).

D.: Are we to keep anything against a rainy day; or to live a precarious life for spiritual attainments?
M.: God looks after everything.

It is in fact the consciousness which enables the individuals to function in different ways. Pure Consciousness is the Self. All that is required to realise the Self is to “Be Still.”

Existence is your nature.

D.: Do you mean to say that there is no progress?
M.: Progress is perceived by the outgoing mind. Everything is still when the mind is introverted and the Self is sought.

The ajnani has doubt but not a Jnani.

The scriptures say that jnana is the fire which burns away all karma (sarvakarmani). When there is no karta none of them can hold out any longer.

There is only the Self which manifests in such variety. There is no body or karma apart from the Self, so that the actions do not affect him.

The ajnani thinks dehaiva Atma (only the body is myself), whereas the Jnani knows all is of the Self (Atmamayam sarvam), or (sarvam khalvidam Brahma) all this is Brahma. If there be pain let it be. It is also part of the Self. The Self is poorna (perfect).

Brahman is certainly no other than the jnani’s mind. The vasanas cannot bear fruit in that soil. His mind is barren, free from vasanas, etc.

However, since prarabdha was conceded in his case, vasanas also must be supposed to exist. If they exist they are only for enjoyment (bhogahetu).

His vasanas simply exhaust themselves by activities ending in enjoyment only (bhogahetuka karma). In fact, his karma is seen only from the ajnani’s standpoint. He remains actionless only.

How can there be liberation (mukti) or bondage (bandha) for him? He is beyond both. He is not bound by karma, either now or ever. There is no jivanmukta or videhamukta according to him.

Good tendencies (suvasana) are cultivated and they must also be finally destroyed by jnana.

The so-called genius is one who worked hard in his past births and acquired knowledge and kept it in store as samskaras. He now concentrates his mind until it merges in the subject. In that stillness the submerged ideas flash out. That requires favourable conditions also.

One must be a Jnani to understand a Jnani or Isvara.

Jnanis are the Supreme (varishta), the best (variya), better (vara), and good (vit). Their fruits are reaped in three ways: (1) of our own will (swechha), and by others’ will (parechha) and involuntarily (anichha). There have been jnanis like Gautama, Vyasa, Suka and Janaka.

You have no form in sleep, but in the waking state you identify yourself with a form. See which is your real state. That is understood to be without form on investigation. If you know your Self to be formless by your jnana, should you not concede the same amount of jnana to God and understand Him to be formless?

D.: In Sri Ramakrishna’s Life it is said that an idol, Ramlal was animate. Is it true?
M.: Can you account for the animation of this body? Is the movement of the idol more mysterious than the movement of this body?
D.: Metal does not move itself.
M.: Is not the body a corpse? You will probably consider it a mystery if the corpse moves. Is that so?

They have no existence independent of the subject. Find out what you are and then you understand what the world is.

The greatest of things are also conceptions, the conceptions are of the mind; beyond the mind there is the Self. So the Self is subtler than the subtlest.

There may be any number of theories of creation. All of them extend outwardly. There will be no limit to them because time and space are unlimited. They are however only in the mind. See the mind; time and space are transcended and the Self is realised.

In the absence of identification as in sushupti you see nothing. The objects seen bear a relation to the state of the seer. The same applies to visions of God.

Visions of God have their place below the plane of Self-Realisation.

Meditation requires an object to meditate upon, whereas there is only the subject without the object in vichara.

Vichara is the process and the goal also. ‘I AM’ is the goal and the final Reality. To hold to it with effort is vichara. When spontaneous and natural it is Realisation.

Fortunate is the man who does not involve himself in this maze!

D.: How is the mind to be stilled?
M.: Looking at the mind with the mind, or fixing the mind in the Self, brings the mind under control of the Self.

Forgetfulness of your real nature is the present death; 
remembrance of it is the rebirth. It puts an end to successive births. Yours is eternal life.

Now that you identify yourself with the body you think that you are separate from the Spirit - the true Self. You must regain your source before the false identity ceases and you are happy.

The body identity is due to extroversion and the wandering of the mind. To continue in that state will only keep one in an endless tangle and there will be no peace. Seek your source, merge in the Self and remain all alone.

Whether one understands it or not, one is not away from the centre. Practice of yoga or vichara is done, always remaining in the centre only.

There is only the Self. Thoughts can function only if there are objects. But there are no objects. How can thoughts arise at all?

The habit makes us believe that it is difficult to cease thinking. If the error is found out, one would not be fool enough to exert oneself unnecessarily by way of thinking.

Because you are with a body you think that he is also a body in order to do something tangible to you. His work lies within. How is Guru gained? God, who is immanent, in his Grace takes pity on the loving devotee and manifests Himself as a being according to the devotee’s standard. The devotee thinks that he is a man and expects relationship as between bodies. But the Guru, who is God or Self incarnate, works from within, helps the man to see the error of his ways, guides him in the right path until he realises the Self within.

When frustrated externally and driven internally, we feel “Oh! oh! There is a power higher than man.” The existence of the higher power must be admitted and recognised. The ego is a very powerful elephant and cannot be brought under control by anyone less than a lion, who is no other than the Guru in this instance; whose very look makes the elephant tremble and die. We will know in due course that our glory lies where we cease to exist. In order to gain that state, one should surrender oneself saying “LORD! Thou art my Refuge!” The master then sees “This man is in a fit state to receive guidance,” and so guides him.

No one succeeds without effort. Mind control is not one’s birthright. The successful few owe their success to their perseverance.

A passenger in a train keeps his load on the head by his own folly. Let him put it down: he will find the load reaches the destination all the same. Similarly, let us not pose as the doers, but resign ourselves to the guiding Power.

Thayumanavar says: “Oh Lord! Coming with me all along the births, never abandoning me and finally rescuing me!” Such is the experience of Realisation.

In fact, wakefulness and dream are equally unreal from the standpoint of the Absolute.

Again the appearance of water in a mirage persists even after the knowledge of the mirage is recognised. So it is with the world. Though knowing it to be unreal, it continues to manifest.

Your dream-hunger can be satisfied only by eating dream-food. Dream-wants are satisfied by dream-creations only.

The result of these efforts is concentration of mind, which ends in the goal. 

The world is said to be nothing more than a cinema-show.

If the light, i.e., the cogniser or the consciousness is seen, there will be no object to be seen. Pure light, i.e., Consciousness, will alone remain over.

Vairagya accompanied by ego is of no value, whereas all possessions in the absence of ego do not matter.

Nirvana is Perfection. In the Perfect State there is neither subject nor object; there is nothing to see, nothing to feel, nothing to know. Seeing and knowing are the functions of the mind. In nirvana there is nothing but the blissful pure consciousness “I am.”

Everything happens in its own time. The one who is ready for the absolute knowledge will be made somehow to hear of it and follow it up. He will realise that Atmavidya is the highest of all virtues and also the end of the journey.

External samadhi is holding on to the Reality while witnessing the world, without reacting to it from within. There is the stillness of a waveless ocean. The internal samadhi involves loss of body-consciousness.

All that is necessary is the stern belief that you are the Self. Say rather that the other activities throw a veil on you.

A vairagi can alone be a good householder.

Japa means clinging to one thought to the exclusion of all other thoughts. That is the purpose of japa; it leads to dhyana which ends in Self-Realisation.

The samskaras are yet latent in the child and thus its innocence is complete. When they are eradicated even a grown up man becomes a child once again, and thus remains God.

The purpose is to know the Truth. The purpose having been gained, there is no use engaging in studies.

There is only He. He and His Light are the same. There is no individual to perceive other things, because the perceiver and the perceived are only He.

He who thinks he is the doer is also the sufferer.

Your idea of will-power is success insured. Will-power should be understood to be the strength of mind which makes it capable for meeting success or failure with equanimity. It is not synonymous with certain success. Why should one’s attempts be always attended with success? Success develops arrogance and the man’s spiritual progress is thus arrested. Failure on the other hand is beneficial, inasmuch as it opens the eyes of the man to his limitations and prepares him to surrender himself. Self-surrender is synonymous with eternal happiness. Therefore one should try to gain the equipoise of mind under all circumstances. That is will-power. Again, success and failure are the results of prarabdha and not of will-power.

The mind in its external activities gives rise to the world. Such activities fritter away the strength of the mind. Its strength lies in being confined to itself with the external activities arrested.

D.: Is success not dependent on Guru’s Grace?
M.: Yes, it is. Is not your practice itself due to such Grace? The fruits are the result of the practice and follow it automatically. There is a stanza in Kaivalya which says, “O Guru! You have been always with me watching me through several reincarnations, and ordaining my course until I was liberated.” The Self manifests externally as Guru when occasion arises; otherwise He is always within, doing the needful.

One should not use the name of God artificially and superficially without feeling. To use the name of God one must call upon Him and surrender to Him unreservedly. After such surrender the name of God is constantly with the man.

The jnani’s mind is known only to the Jnani. One must be a Jnani oneself in order to understand another Jnani. However the peace of mind which permeates the saint’s atmosphere is the only means by which the seeker understands the greatness of the saint.

The one who was in sleep is now in waking state just speaking. You were not the body in sleep. Are you the body now? Find it out. Then the whole problem is solved.

Sanyasa is to renounce one’s individuality. This is not the same as tonsure and ochre robes. A man may be a grihi; yet, if he does not think he is a grihi, he is a sanyasi.

People see the world. The perception implies the existence of a seer and the seen. The objects are alien to the seer. The seer is intimate, being the Self. They do not however turn their attention to finding out the obvious seer but run about analysing the seen. The more the mind expands, the farther it goes and renders Self-Realisation more difficult and complicated. The man must directly see the seer and realise the Self.

D.: The mind is said to be a bundle of thoughts.
M.: Because it functions on account of a single root the ‘I-thought’. It has no real existence as a separate entity.

The thick cloud of bhakti, formed in the transcendental sky of the Lord’s Feet, pours down a rain of Bliss (ananda) and fills the lake of mind to overflowing. Only then the jiva, always transmigrating to no useful end, has his real purpose fulfilled.

If only Devotion be there - the conditions of the jiva cannot affect him. However different the bodies, the mind alone is lost in the Lord’s Feet. Bliss overflows! 

Only lay the single flower, the heart, at the feet of Siva and remain at Peace. Not to know this simple thing and to wander about! How foolish! What misery!

What is that you seek to gain? Everyone seeks happiness. Happiness is one’s lot in everyday sleep. Bring about that state of happiness even in the waking state. That is all.

The Jnani is not the body. He is the Self of all.

The sastras are not for the Jnani. He has no doubts to be cleared.

Jnana is beyond knowledge and nescience. There can be no question about that state. It is the Self.

Love is not different from the Self. Love of an object is of an inferior order and cannot endure. Whereas the Self is Love, in other words, God is Love.

Yogas chitta vritti nirodhah - (Yoga is to check the mind from changing) - which is acceptable to all. That is also the goal of all.

Bhakti, Yoga, Jnana are all the same. Svasvarupanusandhanam bhaktirity abhidheeyate (Self contemplation is called bhakti).

Mowna (silence) is the best and the most potent diksha. That was practised by Sri Dakshinamurti. Touch, look, etc., are all of a lower order. Silence (mowna diksha) changes the hearts of all. There is no Guru and no disciple. He has transcended the body.

There are differences from the standpoint of the phenomenal world but not from that of Reality.

Sat denotes being beyond sat and asat; Chit beyond chit and achit; Ananda beyond bliss and non-bliss. 
What is it then? Even if not sat nor asat, It must be admitted to be sat only. Compare the term jnana. It is the state beyond knowledge and ignorance. Yet jnana is not ignorance but knowledge. So also with Sat-chit-ananda.

D.: Is there any use of the man of Realisation for the seeker?
M.: Yes. He helps you to get rid of your delusion that you are not realised.

D.: Does God have any limits?
M.: Leave God alone. What limits were there for your Self in your sleep?
D.: Death must then be the highest state.
M.: Yes. We are now living in Death. Those who have limited the unlimited Self have committed suicide by putting on such limitations.

D.: What is visvarupa?
M.: It is to see the world as the Self of God.

The Gita begins saying that no one was born; in the fourth chapter it says, “the numerous incarnations, yours and mine, have taken place; I know them but you do not.” Of these two statements, which is the truth? The instruction is according to the listener’s understanding. If the second chapter contains the whole Truth, why should so many more chapters follow it? 
In the Bible God says “I AM before Abraham.” He does not say “I was” but “I AM.”

As is the effect so is the cause. As is the tree so is its seed. The whole tree is contained in the seed which later manifests as the tree. The expanded tree must have a substratum which we call maya. As a matter of truth there is neither seed nor tree. There is only Being.

Dispassion, Realisation, all mean the same thing;

Reality is One only. How can It be realised? Realisation is thus an illusion. Practice seems to be necessary. Who is to practise? Looking for the doer, the act and the accessories disappear.

Reality looks as if newly realised. But it is not new.

Surrender yourself at first at the feet of the Guru and learn to know who the ‘I’ in you is. After finding the source of that ‘I’, merge your individuality in that Oneness - which is Self-existent and devoid of all duality.

The ordinary lotus blossoms in the light of the visible sun, whereas the subtle Heart blossoms only before the Sun of Suns. May Arunachala make my heart blossom so that His unbroken brilliance may shine all alone!

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.

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. 

The world is perceived by the mind through the senses. It is of the mind. The seer sees the mind and the senses as within the Self and not apart from it. The agent, remaining unaffected by the actions, gets more purified until he realises the Self.

There is no truth in the insentient (jada). One whole consciousness (chit) prevails all alone.

Brahmavid Brahmaiva bhavati (Knower of Brahman becomes Brahman).

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.

For a man who has controlled his mind where is the use of tapasya?
Give up ‘I-am-the-body’ idea and realise ‘I am not; Thou art all’.

the three formulae are:
Na - Aham (Not - I).
Ka - Aham (Who - I).
Sa - Aham (He - I).

A Jivanmukta's silence is the highest expression of the realised non-duality which is after all the true content of the Vedas. Though he instructs his disciples, yet he does not pose as a teacher, in the full conviction that the teacher and disciple are mere conventions born of illusion (maya), and so he continues to utter words (like akasvani); if on the other hand he mutters words incoherently like a lunatic, it is because his experience is inexpressible like the words of lovers in embrace. If his words are many and fluent like those of an orator, they represent the recollection of his experience, since he is the unmoving non-dual.

If he appears indulging in sexual pleasures, he must be taken to enjoy the ever-inherent Bliss of the Self, which, divided Itself into the Individual Self and the Universal Self, delights in their reunion to regain Its original Nature.

He lives only for the good of the world.

A jivanmukta is one who does not see anything separate from the Self.

Siva is the background underlying both the subject and the object, and again Siva in Repose and Siva in Action, or Siva and Sakti, or the Lord and the Universe. Whatever it is said to be, it is only Consciousness whether in repose or in action.

Pure mind (suddha manas) is ether (akasa). The dynamic and dull (rajas and tamas) aspects operate as gross objects, etc. Thus the whole universe is only mental.

To bring about peace means to be free from thoughts and to abide as Pure Consciousness. If one remains at peace oneself, there is only peace all about.

To see wrong in another is one’s own wrong. The discrimination between right and wrong is the origin of the sin. One’s own sin is reflected outside and the individual in ignorance superimposes it on another. The best course for one is to reach the state in which such discrimination does not arise. Do you see wrong or right in your sleep? Did you not exist in sleep? Be asleep even in the wakeful state. Abide as the Self and remain uncontaminated by what goes on around.

Be in the right yourself and remain silent. Your silence will have more effect than your words or deeds. That is the development of will-power. Then the world becomes the Kingdom of Heaven, which is within you.

If once realisation arises there is no further need for enquiry. The question will also not arise. Can awareness ever think of questioning who is aware? Awareness remains pure and simple.

When one sees the Self, the world is not seen. So see the Self and realise that there has been no creation.

The contact with Guru should be kept up till videhamukti (being disembodied).

The explorers seek happiness in finding 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.

You think that your health does not permit your meditation. This depression must be traced to its origin. The origin is the wrong identification of the body with the Self. The disease is not of the Self. It is of the body. But the body does not come and tell you that it is possessed by the disease. It is you who say it. Why? Because you have wrongly identified yourself with the body. The body itself is a thought. Be as you really are. There is no reason to be depressed.

Surrender can take effect only when done with full knowledge. Such knowledge comes after enquiry. It ends in surrender.

There is no difference between jnana and surrender.

The scenes are only phenomena which pass away leaving the screen as it was. Similarly the world phenomena simply pass on before the Jnani, leaving him unaffected.

Samadhi must be gained; it must be continuously practised until sahaja samadhi results. Then there remains nothing more to do.

D.: Is not the Self the witness only (sakshimatra)?
M.: ‘Witness’ is applicable when there is an object to be seen. Then it is duality. The Truth lies beyond both. In the mantra, sakshi cheta kevalo nirgunascha, the word sakshi must be understood as sannidhi (presence), without which there could be nothing. See how the sun is necessary for daily activities. He does not however form part of the world actions; yet they cannot take place without the sun. He is the witness of the activities. So it is with the Self.

Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, “I am not the doer and yet actions go on”. It is clear from the Mahabharata that very wonderful actions were effected by Him. Yet He says that He is not the doer. It is like the sun and the world actions.

Atman acts through the ego. All actions are due to efforts only. A sleeping child is fed by its mother. The child eats food without being wide awake and then denies having taken food in sleep. However the mother knows what happened. Similarly, the Jnani acts unawares. Others see him act, but he does not know it himself. Owing to fear of Him wind blows, etc. That is the order of things. He ordains everything and the universe acts accordingly, yet He does not know. Therefore He is called the great Doer. Every embodied being (ahankari) is bound by niyama. Even Brahma cannot transgress it.

The world goes on and the individual needs are met by Divine Will.

The truth must be eternal realisation. The direct perception is ever-present Experience. God Himself is known as directly perceived.

Let God appear as the light of a million suns: Is it pratyaksha?
To see it, the eyes, the mind, etc. are necessary. It is indirect knowledge, whereas the seer is direct experience. The seer alone is pratyaksha. All other perceptions are only secondary knowledge. The present super-imposition of the body as ‘I’ is so deep-rooted, that the vision before the eyes is considered pratyaksha but not the seer himself. No one wants realisation because there is no one who is not realised. Can anyone say that he is not already realised or that he is apart from the Self? No. Evidently all are realised. What makes him unhappy is the desire to exercise extraordinary powers. He knows that he cannot do so.

The longing for happiness never fades. That is bhakti.

Another visitor asked: The Atman is formless. How shall I concentrate on it?
M.: Leave alone the Atman which you say is formless or intangible. Mind is tangible to you. Hold the mind and it will do.

“Although all actions take place, I am not the doer.” It is like the sun towards the world activities. The Self always remains actionless, whereas thoughts arise and subside. The Self is Perfection; it is immutable; the mind is limited and changeful. You need only to cast off your limitations. Your perfection thus stands revealed. 

M.: Grace is ever present. All that is necessary is that you surrender to It.
D.: I surrender and pray that even if I go wrong I may be forcibly drawn to it.
M.: Is this surrender? Surrender to be complete must be unquestioning.

You can never find the mind through mind. Pass beyond it in order to find it non-existent.

Mind is consciousness which has put on limitations. You are originally unlimited and perfect. Later you take on limitations and become the mind.

When a man dreams, he creates himself (i.e., the ahamkar, the seer) and the surroundings. All of them are later withdrawn into himself. The one became many, along with the seer. Similarly also, the one becomes many in the waking state. The objective world is really subjective.

You see the world and the people in it. They are your thoughts. Can the world be apart from you?

Does one’s own being require a proof? Only remain aware of your own self, all else will be known.

Time and space are functions of thoughts. If thoughts do not arise there will be no future or the Earth.

D.: God made the world and He is not responsible for the present condition of the world. It is we who are responsible for the present state.
M.: Can you stop the wars or reform the world?
D.: No.
M.: Then why do you worry yourself about what is not possible for you? Take care of yourself and the world will take care of itself.
D.: We are pacifists. We want to bring about Peace.
M.: Peace is always present. Get rid of the disturbances to Peace. This Peace is the Self. The thoughts are the disturbances. When free from them, you are Infinite Intelligence, i.e., the Self. There is Perfection and Peace.
D.: The world must have a future.
M.: Do you know what it is in the present? The world and all together are the same, now as well as in the future.

After a few minutes one lady asked: “Do you ever intend to go to America?”
M.: America is just where India is (i.e., in the plane of thought).

If one is continuously aware in jagrat the awareness will continue in sleep also.

The sadhu is that Self of selves. He is immanent in all. Can anyone remain without the Self? No. So no one is away from sat sanga.

Until realisation there will be Karma, i.e., action and reaction; after realisation there will be no Karma, no world.

The universe is only an object created by the mind and has its being in the mind. It cannot be measured as an exterior entity. One must reach the Self in order to reach the universe.

Are there two selves for the one self to find the other?

D.: Please tell me the way.
M.: Is it necessary to show the way in the interior of your own home? This is within you.

Realisation means True Knowledge of the Perfection and Immortality of the Self. Mortality is only an idea and cause of misery. You get rid of it by realising the Immortal nature of the Self.

D.: One lives fifty years and finds a continuity in the waking experience which is absent in dreams.
M.: You go to sleep and dream a dream in which the experiences of fifty years are condensed within the short duration of the dream, say five minutes. There is also a continuity in the dream. Which is real now? Is the period covering fifty years of your waking state real or the short duration of five minutes of your dream? The standards of time differ in the two states. That is all. There is no other difference between the experiences.

The spirit is differentiated from matter and is full of life. The body is animated by it.

The more you rectify your Karma, the more it accumulates. Find the root of Karma and cut it off.

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. When it puts on limitations it appears as individuals.

The Self is always realised. The Realisation is now obscured. When the veil is removed the person feels happy at rediscovering the ever-realised Self. The ever-present Realisation appears to be a new Realisation.

Realisation itself is naishthika brahmacharya. The vow is not brahmacharya. Life in Brahman is brahmacharya and it is not a forcible attempt at it.

It is correct. Kama and krodha must vanish before Self-Realisation.

D.: Is it not necessary to wash off all impurities before Realisation?
M.: Jnana will wash them clean.

D.: Is the Hindu view of reincarnation correct?
M.: No definite answer is possible for this question. There are pros and cons for the view. Even the present birth is denied natvevaham jatu nasam etc., (Bhagavad Gita). We were never born, etc.

Even Suka had no confidence in his brahmacharya whereas Sri Krishna was sure of his brahmacharya. Self-Realisation is designated by so many different names, satya, brahmacharya, etc. What is natural to the state of Self-Realisation forms the disciplinary course in the other state. “I-am-the-body” idea will become extinct only on Self-Realisation. With its extinction the vasanas become extinct and all virtues will remain ever.

Concentration is our own nature (i.e. BE-ing). There is the effort now: but it ceases after Self-Realisation.

The more the desires are fulfilled, the deeper grows the samskara. They must become weaker before they cease to assert themselves. That weakness is brought about by restraining oneself and not by losing oneself in desires.

Are you now awake? You are not. You are required to wake up to your real state. You should not fall into false sleep nor keep falsely awake. Hence:
Laye sambodhayeccittam vikshiptam samayet punah.
What does it mean? It means that you should not fall into any one of these states but remain amidst them in your true unsullied nature.

You see the colours of the spectrum. Together they form the white light. But seven colours are seen through the prism. Similarly, the one Self resolves itself into so many phases, mind, world, body, etc. The Self is seen as the mind, the body or the world. That is to say, it becomes whatever you perceive it to be.

“Detachment in the interior and attachment in appearance,” says Yoga Vasishta.

Understand that there is a higher power guiding you, it is due to Grace. Grace is within you. Isvaro gururatmeti (Isvara, Guru and the Self are synonymous).

Samadhi is present even in vyavaharadasa (practical life). Our activities (vyavahara) have no existence apart from samadhi. The screen is there when the pictures move past on it and also when they are not projected. Similarly, the Self is always there in vyavahara (activity) or in shanti (peace).

The Jnani sees no one as an ajnani. All are only jnanis in his sight.

The true state is the non-dual Self. It is eternal and abides whether one is aware or not.

You mistake the body for the Guru. But the Guru does not think himself so. He is the formless Self. That is within you; he appears without only to guide you.

What lies behind both these assertions is pratyaksha. There is indriya pratyaksha (directly perceived by senses), manasa pratyaksha (directly perceived by the mind) and sakshat pratyaksha (realised as the very Being). The last alone is true. The others are relative and untrue. 

Pratyaksha is very being and it is not feeling, etc.

Jnana lies beyond relative knowledge. It is absolute. Reality lies beyond subject and object.

Intellect ceases to function after a certain stage. When it thus ceases to function the Supreme Power is still left there all alone. That is Realisation; that is the finality; that is the goal. 

If one knows that Bliss is none other than the Self the mind becomes inward turned. If the Self is gained all the desires are fulfilled.

True strength accrues by keeping in the right direction without swerving from it.

D.: If swaraj is gained after a long struggle and terrible sacrifices, is not the person justified in being pleased with the result and elated by it?
M.: He must have in the course of his work surrendered himself to the Higher Power whose Might must be kept in mind and never lost sight of. How then can he be elated? He should not even care for the result of his actions. Then alone the karma becomes unselfish.

Your mind is outgoing. Because of that tendency it sees objects as being outside and the Master among them. But the Truth is different. The Master is the Self. Turn the mind within and you will find the objects within. You will also realise that it is the Master who is your very Self and there is nothing but Him. 

Nothing can escape the Self. How then can you move away from the Master who is your very Self? 

You surrender yourself and recognise your individual self as only a tool of the Higher Power, that Power will take over your affairs along with the fruits of actions. You are no longer affected by them and the work goes on unhampered. Whether you recognise the Power or not the scheme of things does not alter. Only there is a change of outlook

Reality is only one and that is the self. All the rest are mere Phenomena in it, of it and by it. The seer, the objects and the sight, all are the self only. Can anyone see or hear, leaving the self aside?

The only permanent thing is Reality; and that is the Self. You say “I am”, “I am going”, “I am speaking”, “I am working”, etc. Hyphenate “I am” in all of them. Thus I - AM. That is the abiding and fundamental Reality. This truth was taught by God to Moses: “I AM that I-AM”. “Be still and know that I-AM God.” so “I-AM” is God.

Sat and Chit are only one and the same.

There is diversity in the world. A unity runs through the diversity. The Self is the same in all. There is no difference in spirit. All the differences are external and superficial. You find out the Unity and be happy.

The ajnani has all kinds of vasanas, i.e., kartrtva (doership) and bhoktrtva (enjoyership), whereas the Jnani has ceased to be doer (karta). Thus only one kind of vasana obtains for him. That too is very weak and does not overpower him, because he is always aware of the Sat-Chit-Ananda nature of the Self. The tenuous bhoktrtva vasana is the only remnant of the mind left in the Jnani and he therefore appears to be living in the body.

The Yoga Vasishtha also says that Brahman is no other than the jnani’s mind. So Brahman is suddha manas only.

The Jnani has transcended the ego and therefore all the causes of bondage are inoperative. Bandha hetu is thus at an end and prarabdha (past karma) remains as bhoga vasana (to give enjoyment) only.

Mowna diksha is the most perfect; it comprises looking, touching and teaching. It will purify the individual in every way and establish him in the Reality.

Q.: Should we not then think of and work for the welfare of the country?
M.: First take care of yourself and the rest will naturally follow.

If you find the Self and abide therein there will be no trouble owing to the passions.

The thoughts change but not you. Let go the passing thoughts and hold on to the unchanging Self. The thoughts form your bondage. If they are given up, there is release...cease thinking and thus be free.

One should act in such a manner that the bondage is not strengthened but gets weakened. That is selfless action.

Even better than the man who thinks “I have renounced everything” is the one who does his duty but does not think “I do this” or “I am the doer”. Even a sannyasi who thinks “I am a sannyasi” cannot be a true sannyasi, whereas a householder who does not think “I am a householder” is truly a sannyasi.

D.: Is there no way of escape from the miseries of the world?
M.: There is only one way and that consists in not losing sight of one’s Self under any circumstances.
To enquire “Who am I?” is the only remedy for all the ills of the world. It is also perfect bliss.

Mowna is the utmost eloquence. Peace is utmost activity. How? Because the person remains in his essential nature and so he permeates all the recesses of the Self. Thus he can call up any power into play whenever or wherever it is necessary. That is the highest siddhi.

The person soaked in the “I-am-the-body” idea is the greatest sinner and he is a suicide. The experience of “I-am-the-Self” is the highest virtue. Even a moment’s dhyana to that effect is enough to destroy all the sanchita Karma. It works like the sun before whom darkness is dispelled. If one remains always in dhyana, can any sin, however heinous it be, survive his dhyana?

If the mind is active even solitude becomes like a market place. There is no use closing your eyes. Close the mental eye and all will be right. The world is not external to you. The good persons will not care to make plans previous to their actions. Why so? For God who has sent us into the world has His own plan and that will certainly work itself out.

Each one desires to become famous in the world. It is natural for man. But that desire alone does not bring about the end in view. He who is not accepted by God is certainly humiliated. He who has surrendered himself, body and mind, to God becomes famous all over the world. 

One must always try to hold on to the Self. When one is active one should not care for the results and must not be swayed by the pain or pleasure met with occasionally. He who is indifferent to pain or pleasure can alone be happy.

Can God be deceived? The man thinks that God accepts his namaskar and that he himself is free to continue his old life. They need not come to me. I am not pleased with these namaskars. The people should keep their minds clean; instead of that they bend themselves or lie prostrate before me. I am not deceived by such acts.”

Heart-talk is all talk. All talk must end in silence only.

Just as a river does not continue its flow after its discharge into the ocean, so also a person loses all movements after he merges in the Self.

A man can live happily only if he knows that he requires nothing wherewith to live.

Daily puja as prescribed in the Dharma sastras is always good. It is for the purification of the mind. Even if one feels oneself too advanced to need such puja, still it must be performed for the sake of others. Such action will be an example to one’s children and other dependents.

You are the seer. Remain as the seer only. What else is there to see? Such is the state in deep sleep.

Realise your existence and then enquire of your duties.

Vairagya is possible only for the wise.

Atma is always Sat-Chit-Ananda. Of these, the first two are experienced in all the states, whereas the last one is said to be experienced in sleep only.

Can knowledge be other than Being? Being is the core - the Heart. How then is the Supreme Being to be contemplated and glorified? Only to remain as the Pure Self

Surrender to the Lord of all.

Owing to the I-am-the-body notion, death is feared as being the loss of Oneself. Birth and death pertain to the body only; but they are superimposed on the Self, giving rise to the delusion that birth and death relate to the Self.

Surrender consists in giving up oneself and one’s possessions to the Lord of Mercy. Then what is left over for the man? Nothing - neither himself nor his possessions. The body liable to be born and to die having been made over to the Lord, the man need no longer worry about it.

Silence is the true upadesa. It is the perfect upadesa. It is suited only for the most advanced seeker. The others are unable to draw full inspiration from it. Therefore they require words to explain the Truth. But Truth is beyond words. It does not admit of explanation. All that is possible to do is only to indicate It.

Let anyone look at her from any place at any time; she is the same moon. Everyone knows it. Now suppose that there are several receptacles of water reflecting the moon. The images are all different from one another and from the moon herself. If one of the receptacles falls to pieces, that reflection disappears. Its disappearance does not affect the real moon or the other reflections. It is similar with an individual attaining Liberation. He alone is liberated. 

The fact is that the Self is never bound. There can therefore be no Release for It. All the troubles are for the ego only.

In fact, there is neither birth nor death. One remains only as what one really is. This is the only Truth.

There-must be ‘I’ who prays to God. ‘I’ is certainly immediate and intimate, whereas God is not thought so. Find out that which is more intimate and then the other may be ascertained and prayed to if necessary.

Every gift implies unselfishness. That is the whole content of nishkama Karma (unselfish action). It means true renunciation. If the giving nature is developed it becomes tyaga. If anything is willingly given away it is a delight to the giver and to the receiver. If the same is stolen it is misery to both.  

If one goes on wanting, one’s wants cannot be fulfilled. Whereas if one remains desireless anything will be forthcoming. 

Sannyasa is mentioned for one who is fit. It consists in renunciation not of material objects but of attachment to them.

Paramahamsa is a realised sannyasi.

"Remain free from thoughts,” and “It is realised only in the mind drawn within.” Therefore, the mind made free from thoughts, and merged in the Heart. is Chit Itself.

If a man remains in a dark room one need not take a lamp to find him. If called, he answers. He does not require a lamp to announce his presence. Consciousness is thus self-shining.

Even common sense dictates that one should abide by His Will.

Help yourself and that is itself according to God’s Will. Every action is prompted by Him only.

A Brahmin is one who has realised Brahman. Such a one has no sense of individuality in him.

the sense of separateness is ignorance. This ignorance is again the cause of feeling helplessness. You know that you are weak and helpless. How then can you help others? If you say, “By prayer to God”, God knows His business and does not require your intercession for others.

When the matter is understood intellectually the earnest seeker begins to apply it practically. He argues at every moment, “For whom are these thoughts? Who am I?” and so forth, until he is well-established in the conviction that a Higher Power guides us. That is firmness of faith. Then all his doubts are cleared and he needs no further instructions.

One man will practise hatha yoga for curing his bodily ills; another man will trust to God to cure them; a third man will use his will-power for it and a fourth man may be totally indifferent to them. But all of them will persist in meditation. The quest for the Self is the essential factor and all the rest are mere accessories. 

The Self is beyond the ego and is realised after the ego is eliminated. The elimination of the ego makes one unaware of others. How can the question of others arise and where is the use of occult powers for a Self-Realised Being?

Self-Realisation may be accompanied by occult powers or it may not be. These powers may also be sought and gained even after Self-Realisation. But then they are used for a definite purpose, i.e. the benefit of others as in the case of Chudala.

The force of his Self-Realisation is far more powerful than the use of all other powers.

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.

A practiser gains peace of mind and is happy. That peace is the result of his efforts. But the real state must be effortless. The effortless samadhi is the true one and the perfect state. It is permanent. The efforts are spasmodic and so also their results.

"By his non-action the sage governs all.”

Non-action is unceasing activity. The sage is characterised by eternal and intense activity. His stillness is like the apparent stillness of a fast rotating top (gyroscope). Its very speed cannot be followed by the eye and so it appears to be still. Yet it is rotating. So is the apparent inaction of the sage. 
This must be explained because the people generally mistake stillness to be inertness. It is not so.

What is time? It posits a state, one’s recognition of it, and also the changes which affect it. The interval between two states is called time. If the mind is not made use of there is no concept of time. Time and space are in the mind but one’s true state lies beyond the mind. The question of time does not arise at all to the one established in one’s true nature.

D.: The thought ‘I am a man’ is so firm that it cannot he got rid of.
M.: Be your true Self. Why should you think ‘I am a man’?

You are neither That nor This. The truth is ‘I am’. “I AM that I AM” according to the Bible also. Mere Being is alone natural. To limit it to ‘being a man’ is uncalled for.

M.: How were you in deep sleep? There was no thought of being a man.
Another: So, the state of sleep must be brought about even when one is awake.
M.: Yes. It is jagrat-sushupti.

Infinity and Perfection do not admit of parts. If a finite being comes out of infinity the perfection of infinity is marred. Thus your statement is a contradiction in terms.

Why not say ‘I am Thou’ and finish it?”

If the vishayi (i.e., the basis of the facts) be understood, the vishayas (i.e., the facts) become clear.

Were you told to meditate on the mantra or its meaning? You must think of the one who repeats the mantra.

The Jnani is fully aware that the true state of Being remains fixed and stationary and that all actions go on around him. His nature does not change and his state is not affected in the least. He looks on everything with unconcern and remains blissful himself.

His is the true state and also the primal and natural state of being. When once the man reaches it he gets fixed there. Fixed once, fixed ever he will be. Therefore that state which prevailed in the days of Pathala Linga Cellar continues uninterrupted, with only this difference that the body remained there immobile but is now active.

There is no difference between a Jnani and an ajnani in their conduct. The difference lies only in their angles of vision. The ignorant man identifies himself with the ego and mistakes its activities for those of the Self, whereas the ego of the Jnani has been lost and he does not limit himself to this body or that, this event or that, and so on. 

According to the Jnani: Ya nisha sarva bhootanam tasyam jagrati samyami.

The wise one is wide awake just where darkness rules for others. You must certainly wake up from the sleep which is holding you at present.

Find out to whom the questions arise. They resolve themselves immediately.

The sleep, dream and waking states are mere phenomena appearing on the Self which is itself stationary and also a state of simple awareness. 

For the Self is Pure Consciousness. No one can ever be away from the Self. The question is possible only if there is duality. But there is no duality in the state of Pure Consciousness.

So there is a continuity in the sleep and the waking states. What is that continuity? It is only the state of Pure Being.
There is a difference in the two states. What is that difference? The incidents, namely, the body, the world and the objects appear in the waking state but they disappear in sleep.

There is the continuity of Being in all the three states, but no continuity of the individual and the objects.

That which is continuous is also enduring, i.e. permanent. That which is discontinuous is transitory.

The sleep state is not recognised to be one of awareness by people, but the sage is always aware. Thus the sleep state differs from the state in which the sage is established.

That is the state of the Jnani. It is neither sleep nor waking but intermediate between the two. There is the awareness of the waking state and the stillness of sleep. It is called jagrat-sushupti.

It is the state of perfect awareness and of perfect stillness combined. It lies between sleep and waking; it is also the interval between two successive thoughts. It is the source from which thoughts spring; we see that when we wake up from sleep.

You do not leave one place for another. You are always stationary. The scenes go past you. Even from the ordinary point of view you sit in your cabin and the ship sails but you do not move.

It is wrong to consider Realisation to be impermanent. It is the True Eternal State which cannot change.

You are already That. Time and space cannot affect the Self. They are in you; so also all that you see around you are in you.

D.: Being.
M.: That is it. Realise it. That is your true nature. Your nature is simple Being, free from thoughts.

D.: It is said pariprasnena sevaya (by questioning again and again and by service). So we should ask questions and the Master should kindly remove our doubts.
M.: Continue your quotation upadekshyanti tattvam (They give instructions in Truth).

The Self must be sought within. The search must be steadfast. If that is gained there is no need to stay near the Master as a physical being.

God hears his prayers, and responds by appearing in human shape as a Master in order to speak the language of the devotee and make him understand the Reality. The Master is thus God manifest as human being. He gives out His experience so that the seeker might also gain it. His experience is to abide as the Self. The Self is within. God, Master and the Self are therefore seeming stages in the Realisation of the Truth. 

Uncertainties, doubts and fears are natural to everyone until the Self is realised. They are inseparable from the ego, rather they are the ego.

You see, a man imagines that there is something by his side in darkness; it may be some dark object. If he looks closely the ghost is not to be seen, but some dark object which he could identify as a tree or a post, etc. If he does not look closely the ghost strikes terror in the person. All that is required is only to look closely and the ghost vanishes. The ghost was never there. So also with the ego. It is an intangible link between the body and Pure Consciousness. It is not real. So long as one does not look closely it continues to give trouble. But when one looks for it, it is found not to exist.

D.: If the search has to be made within, is it necessary to be in the physical proximity of the Master?
M.: It is necessary to do so until all doubts are at an end.

The Master’s state is like the state of the child. There is a difference between the two. The ego is potential in the child, whereas it is totally destroyed in the saint.

The Reality is alone and eternal. To understand it is good enough.

A disciple served a master a long time and realised the Self. He was in Bliss and wanted to express his gratitude to the master. He was in tears of joy and his voice choked when he spoke. He said, “What a wonder that I did not know my very Self all these years? I suffered long and you so graciously helped me to realise the Self. How shall I repay your Grace? It is not in my power to do it!” The master replied: “Well, well. Your repayment consists in not lapsing into ignorance over again but in continuing in the state of your real Self.”

One should not give place to feelings of pleasure or pain, come what may. How do the events affect the person? You do not grow by acquiring something nor wither away by losing it. You remain what you always are.

You may desire but be prepared for any eventuality. Make effort, but do not be lost in the result. Accept with equanimity whatever happens. pleasure and pain have no relation to the actualities but are mere mental modes.

The thief came as expected and the men rushed to catch him. He took in the situation at a glance and shouted “Hold him, hold him. There - he runs - there - there.” Saying so he made good his escape.
So it is with the ego. Look for it and it will not be found. That is the way to get rid of it.

All that is necessary is to give up this mistaken identity, and that done, the ever-shining Self will be seen to be the single non-dual Reality.

This concentration is called samyamana in the Yoga Sastras. One’s desires can be fulfilled by this process and it is said to be a siddhi. It is how the so-called new discoveries are made.

Although the powers appear to be wonderful to those who do not possess them, yet they are only transient. It is useless to aspire for that which is transient. All these wonders are contained in the one changeless Self. The world is thus within and not without. This meaning is contained in verses 11 and 12 - Chapter V of Sri Ramana Gita “The entire Universe is condensed in the body, and the entire body in the Heart. Thus the Heart is the nucleus of the whole Universe.”

Therefore Samyamana relates to concentration on different parts of the body for the different siddhis. Also the Visva or the Virat is said to contain the cosmos within the limits of the body. Again, “The world is not other than the mind, the mind is not other than the Heart; that is the whole truth.” So the Heart comprises all. This is what is taught to Svetaketu by the illustration of the seed of a fig tree. The source is a point without any dimensions. It expands as the cosmos on the one hand and as Infinite Bliss on the other. That point is the pivot. From it a single vasana starts, multiplies as the experiencer ‘I’, experience, and the world. The experiencer and the source are referred to in the mantra. Two birds, exactly alike, arise simultaneously.

A caterpillar crawls on a blade of grass and when it has come to the end, it seeks another support. While doing so it holds on with its hind-legs to the blade of grass, lifts the body and sways to and fro before it can hold another. Similarly it is with the Self. It stays in the Heart and holds other centres also according to circumstances. But its activities always centre round the Heart.

The being always abides in the Heart, as stated above. If in the jagrat state the Heart is not relinquished, the mental activities are stilled and Brahman alone is contemplated, the state is called the Turiya. Again when the individual being merges in the Supreme it is called the turyatita.

The vegetable kingdom is always in sushupti; the animals have both swapna and sushupti; the gods (celestials) are always in jagrat; man has all the three states; but the clear-sighted yogi abides only in turiya, and the highest yogi remains in turyatita alone. 

The Self is the basis of all the experiences. It remains as the witness and the support of them all. The Reality is thus different from the three states, the waking, the dream and the deep sleep.

‘There is no happiness’ is only a thought. The Self is bliss, pure and simple. You are the Self. So you cannot but be bliss; being so, you cannot say here is no happiness.

The Self is pure and absolute, One and alone. There are no two selves so that one may know the other. What is duality then? It cannot be the Self which is One and alone. It must be non-Self. Duality is the characteristic of the ego. When thoughts arise duality is present; know it to be the ego, and seek its source.

Progress is measured by the degree of removal of the obstacles to understanding that the Self is always realised.

There is no possibility of clearing away all doubts. See to whom the doubts arise. Go to their source and abide in it. Then they cease to arise. That is how doubts are to be cleared.

The desire for happiness (sukha prema) is a proof of the ever existing happiness of the Self. Otherwise how can desire for it arise in you?

One thought excludes all others, and then this single thought also merges into the Self. These states are enjoyed in the Anandamaya kosa only. As a rule Vijnanamaya kosa prevails on waking. In deep sleep all thoughts disappear and the state of obscuration is one of bliss; there the prevailing body is the Anandamaya. These are sheaths and not the core, which is interior to all these. It lies beyond waking, dream and deep sleep. That is the Reality and consists of true bliss (nijananda).

The Saguna merges into the nirguna in the long run. The saguna purifies the mind and takes one to the final goal. The afflicted one, the seeker of knowledge, and the seeker of gains are all dear to God. But the Jnani is the Self of God.

You are told, ‘You are not this body, nor the mind, nor the intellect, nor the ego, nor anything you can think of; find out what truly you are’. Silence denotes that the questioner is himself the Self that is to be found.

It is necessary to experience the Reality now in life in order that it may be experienced at death. See if this moment be different from the last one, and try to be in that desired state.

Meditation is described as kartru-tantra (as doer’s own), jnanam as vastu-tantra (the Supreme’s own).

But even without diving in, you are That. The ideas of exterior and interior exist only so long as you do not accept your real identity.

D.: That will take some years.
M.: Why years? The idea of time is only in your mind. It is not in the Self. There is no time for the Self. Time arises as an idea after the ego arises. But you are the Self beyond time and space; you exist even in the absence of time and space.

M.: Yes. In former times the Rishis sent their sons to others for education.
D.: Why?
M.: Because affection stood in the way.
D.: That cannot be for the jnanis. Was it in respect of the disciples?
M.: Yes.

If there were no suffering how could the desire to be happy arise? If that desire did not arise how would the Quest of the Self be successful?

So all suffering is due to the false notion “I am the body”. Getting rid of it is jnanam.

Asking “Who am I?” the subject and objects would coalesce. After that there is no quest. Till then thought will arise, things will appear and disappear; you ask yourself what has happened, and what will happen. If the subject be known then the objects will merge in the subject.

If the eternal Self be known subject and object merge into one, and the One without a second will shine.

To go to Kailas and return is just a new birth. For there the body-idea drops off.

The Self is pure knowledge, pure light where there is no duality. Duality implies ignorance. The Knowledge of the Self is beyond relative knowledge and ignorance, the Light of the Self is beyond the ordinary light and darkness. The Self is all alone. 

Leaving out what is intimate and immediate, why should one seek the rest? The scriptures say “That Thou art”. In this statement ‘Thou’ is directly experienced; but leaving it out they go on seeking ‘That’!

The Gita starts saying that you are not the body, that you are not therefore the karta.

The person has come into manifestation for a certain purpose. That purpose will be accomplished whether he considers himself the actor or not.

Karma yoga is that yoga in which the person does not arrogate to himself the function of being the actor. The actions go on automatically.

D.: The Gita teaches active life from beginning to end.
M.: Yes, the actor-less action.

If life and death be temporary, there must be something which is not temporary. Reality is that which is not temporary.

D.: What I mean is this. You are a Perfect Being; I am a sinner. You tell me that I being a sinner must be reborn in order to perfect myself?
M.: No, I do not say so. On the other hand I say that you have no birth and therefore no death.
D.: Do you mean to say that I was not born?
M.: Yes, you are now thinking that you are the body and therefore confuse yourself with its birth and death. But you are not the body and you have no birth and death.

The scriptures however say that the prana protects the body in sleep. For when the body lies on the floor, a wolf or a tiger may feed on it. The animal sniffs and feels that there is life within and therefore does not feed on it as on a corpse. That again shows that there is someone in the body to protect it in deep sleep. 

The present existence is within the experience of all. Realise the pure Being. There is an end to all discourses and disputes.

When someone teaches humility to the seeker, he will reach the way and not till then.

Bliss will reveal itself if one is still. 

The eternal Being is that state where you have disappeared. Are you not in it too? You, who cannot speak of it, do not be perplexed. Although you do not manifest, yet you are not lost. For you are eternal and also still. Do not be in pain. Here is Bliss - come on!

Being as ‘I’ is samadhi.

One must be free to do as one pleases, and should not be served by others.
‘No want’ is the greatest bliss. It can be realised only by experience. Even an emperor is no match for a man with no want. The emperor has got vassals under him. But the other man is not aware of anyone beside the Self. Which is better?

For God is not separate from you or the cosmos.

The absence of thoughts is bhakti. It is also mukti.

Jnana is said to be ekabhakti (single-minded devotion). The Jnani is the finality because he has become the Self and there is nothing more to do. He is also perfect and so fearless, dwitiyat vai bhayam bhavati - only the existence of a second gives rise to fear. This is mukti. It is also bhakti. 

The truth is that the world appears as a passing shadow in a flood of light. Light is necessary to see that shadow also. The shadow does not deserve any special notice, analysis or discussion. 

The Vedanta says that the cosmos springs into view simultaneously with the seer. There is no detailed process of creation. This is said to be yugapat srshti (instantaneous creation). It is quite similar to the creations in dream where the experiencer springs up simultaneously with the objects of experience.

The true seeker can be content with yugapat srshti - instantaneous creation.

The screen does not move when the picture moves. Similarly, you do not move from where you are even when the body leaves the home and mixes in society.
Your body, the society, the forest and the ways are all in you; you are not in them. You are the body also but not this body only. If you remain as your pure Self, the body and its movements need not affect you.

You are unchanging and eternal. That is what you should know.

The ignorance must go. Again, who says ‘I am ignorant’? He must be the witness of ignorance. That is what you are.

You cannot find Bliss in places and in periods of time. It must be permanent in order that it may be useful. Such permanent being is yourself. Be the Self and that is Bliss. You are always That.

You say that you left Vellore, travelled in the train, arrived in Tiruvannamalai, entered the hall and found happiness. When you go back you are not happy in Vellore. Now, do you really move from place to place? Even considering you to be the body, the body sits in a cart at the gate of the home, the cart moves on to the railway station. Then it gets into a railway carriage which speeds on from Vellore to Tiruvannamalai. There it gets into another cart which brings the body here. Yet when you are asked, you say that you travelled all the way from Vellore. Your body remains where it was and all the places went past it.

When you realise the Self on which these phenomena pass, will you love or hate them? That is the meaning of indifference.

Even if you try not to do your duty you will be perforce obliged to do it. Let the body complete the task for which it came into being.

Sri Krishna also says in the Gita, whether Arjuna liked it or not he would be forced to fight. When there is work to be done by you, you cannot keep away; nor can you continue to do a thing when you are not required to do it, that is to say, when the work allotted to you has been done. In short, the work will go on and you must take your share in it - the share which is allotted to you.
D.: How is it to be done?

M.: Like an actor playing his part in a drama - free from love or hatred.