From ~~~ Maharshi’s Gospel, B.I, Ch.VI.
Q.:
Does my Realization help others?
M.: (Sri Ramana Maharshi)
Yes,
and it is the best help
that you can possibly render to others.
Those who have discovered great truths
have done so in the still depths of the Self.
But really there are no ‘others’ to be helped.
For,
the Realized Being sees only the Self,
just as the goldsmith sees only the gold
while valuing it in various jewels
made of gold.
When you identify yourself with the body,
name and form are there.
But when you transcend the body consciousness,
the ‘others’ also disappear.
The Realized one
does not see the world
as different from Himself.
Q.:
Would it not be better if the saints mix with others?
M.:
There are no ‘others’ to mix with.
The Self is the only Reality.
Q.:
Should I not try to help the suffering world?
M.:
The Power that created you
has created the world as well.
If it can take care of you,
it can similarly take care of the world also ....
if God has created the world,
it is His business to look after it,
not yours.
Q.:
Is it not our duty to be patriots?
M.:
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 summarized in
‘be still’.
And what does stillness mean?
It means ‘destroy yourself ’;
because,
every name and form
is the cause of trouble.
‘I-I’ is the Self.
‘I am this’ is the ego.
When the ‘I’ is kept up
as the ‘I’ only,
it is the Self.
When it flies off
at a tangent and says
‘I am this or that,
I am such and such’,
it is the ego.
Q.:
Who then is God?
M:
The Self is God.
‘I AM’ is God.
If God be apart from the Self,
He must be a Selfless God,
which is absurd.
All that is required
to realize the Self is to be still.
What can be easier than that?
Hence
atma vidya (Self-knowledge)
is the easiest to attain.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
