Sri Ramana Maharshi Quotes

Happiness is your nature. 

It is not wrong to desire it. 

What is wrong is seeking it outside  

when it is inside. 

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Nearly all mankind 
is more or less 
unhappy 

because nearly all 
do not know 

the true Self. 

Real happiness abides 

in Self-knowledge alone.  

All else is fleeting.   

To know one's Self 

is to be blissful always.  

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...Bliss is not something to be got. 

On the other hand you are always Bliss.

This desire [for Bliss] is born of the sense of incompleteness. 

To whom is this sense of incompleteness? 

Enquire. 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.

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Wanting to reform the world 

without discovering one's true self 

is like trying to cover the world 

with leather to avoid the pain 

of walking on stones and thorns. 

It is much simpler to wear shoes.

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We loosely talk of Self-realization, for lack of a better term.  But how can one realize or make real that which alone is real? All we need to do is to give up our habit of regarding as real that which is unreal. All religious practices are meant solely to help us do this. When we stop regarding the unreal as real, then reality alone will remain, and we will be that.

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'That inner Self, as the primeval Spirit, 

Eternal, ever effulgent, full and infinite Bliss, 

Single, indivisible, whole and living, 

Shines in everyone as the witnessing awareness. 

That self in its splendor, shining in the cavity of the heart 

This self is neither born nor dies, 

Neither grows nor decays, 

Nor does it suffer any change. 

When a pot is broken, the space within it is not, 

And similarly, when the body dies the Self in it remains eternal.

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Every living being longs always to be happy, untainted by sorrow; and everyone has the greatest love for himself, which is solely due to the fact that happiness is his real nature. Hence, in order to realize that inherent and untainted happiness, which indeed he daily experiences when the mind is subdued in deep sleep, it is essential that he should know himself. For obtaining such knowledge the inquiry 'Who am I?' in quest of the Self is the best means."

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Reality is simply the loss of ego. Destroy the ego by seeking its identity.  Because the ego is no entity it will automatically vanish and reality will shine forth by itself. 

"God dwells in you, as you, and you don't have to 'do' anything to be God-realized or Self-realized, it is already your true and natural state." Just drop all seeking, turn your attention inward, and sacrifice your mind to the One Self radiating in the Heart of your very being. For this to be your own presently lived experience, Self-Inquiry is the one direct and immediate way."

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It is false to speak of realisation. What is there to realise?

The real is as it is always. We are not creating anything new or

achieving something which we did not have before. The illustration

given in books is this. We dig a well and create a huge pit. The

space in the pit or well has not been created by us. We have just

removed the earth which was filling the space there. The space

was there then and is also there now. Similarly we have simply

to throw out all the age-long samskaras [innate tendencies] which

are inside us. When all of them have been given up, the Self will

shine alone.

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There is no greater mystery than this, that we keep

seeking reality though in fact we are reality.   We 

think that there is something hiding reality and that

this must be destroyed before reality is gained.

How ridiculous!   A day will dawn when you will laugh

at all your past efforts.  That which will be the day

you laugh is also here and now.

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Relative knowledge pertains to the mind and not to the Self.  It is therefore illusory and not permanent.  Take a scientist, for instance.  He formulates a theory that the Earth is round and goes on to prove it on an incontrovertible basis.  When he falls asleep the whole idea vanishes; his mind is left a blank.  What does it matter whether the world remains round or flat when he is asleep?  So you see the futility of all such relative knowledge.  One should go beyond relative knowledge and abide in the Self.  Real knowledge is such experience, and not apprehension by the mind.

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'I exist' is the only permanent self-evident experience of everyone.  Nothing else is so self-evident as 'I am'. What people call self-evident, that is, the experience they get through the senses, is far from self-evident.  The Self alone is that.  So to do self-enquiry and be that 'I am' is the only thing to do. 'I am' is reality. I am this or that is unreal. 'I am' is truth, another name for Self.

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"Heart" is merely another name for the Supreme Spirit, 

because He is in all hearts. 

  

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. 

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Your own Self-Realization

is the greatest service you can

render the world.

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You and I are the same. 

What I have done is surely possible for all. 

You are the Self 

now and can never be anything else.

Throw your worries to the wind,

turn within and find Peace. 

~by Sri Ramana Maharshi

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Awareness Has No Stance

Instead of being in the middle of drama, remain in awareness. Do not attach yourself to what is being said. Your true self becomes lost in the drama and the false self (the ego) takes over. The ego attacks and defends its position. It’s a losing battle. Two or more egos, at war with words, only hurts each other’s egos. Do not immerse yourself in the drama. What is so important that you must lose your peace? Do not judge what the other person is saying. Do not attach yourself to it. Do not identify yourself with it. When you feel threatened by something that someone else is saying, your ego has taken over. Awareness has disappeared and you are engulfed in the drama. Let go and you will return to peace.

~Written by Pamela J. Wells

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The Purpose of Life

~by Krishnamurti

So, we must find out very clearly what we mean by purpose, if there is a purpose. You may say there is a purpose: to reach reality, God, or what you will. But to reach that, you must know it, you must be aware of it, you must have the measure, the depth, the significance of it. Do we know reality for ourselves, or do we know it only through the authority of another? So, can you say that the purpose of life is to find reality when you do not know what reality is? 

Since reality is the unknown, the mind that seeks the unknown must first be free from the known, must it not? If my mind is clouded, burdened with the known, it can only measure according to its own condition, its own limitation, and therefore it can never know the unknown, can it?

So, what we are trying to discuss and find out is whether life has a purpose, and whether that purpose can be measured. It can only be measured in terms of the known, in terms of the past; and when I measure the purpose of life in terms of the known, I will measure it according to my likes and dislikes. Therefore, the purpose will be conditioned by my desires, and therefore it ceases to be the purpose. Surely, that is clear, is it not?

I can understand what is the purpose of life only through the screen of my own prejudices, wants, and desires - otherwise I cannot judge, can I? So, the measure, the tape, the yardstick, is a conditioning of my mind, and according to the dictates of my conditioning, I will decide what the purpose is. But is that the purpose of life? It is created by my want, and therefore it is surely not the purpose of life.

To find out the purpose of life, the mind must be free of measurement; then only can it find out - otherwise, you are merely projecting your own want. This is not mere intellection, and if you go into it deeply, you will see its significance. After all, it is according to my prejudice, to my want, to my desire, to my predilection, that I decide what the purpose of life is to be. So, my desire creates the purpose. Surely, that is not the purpose of life.

Which is more important - to find out the purpose of life, or to free the mind itself from its own conditioning and then inquire? And perhaps when the mind is free from its own conditioning, that very freedom itself is the purpose. Because, after all, it is only in freedom that one can discover any truth.

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