Self Devotee

CONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY

Q: Why is it written in one of the Upanishads, 'Those whom the Atman chooses, to them alone does It reveal Itself, not to others'? Isn't this rather arbitrary?

M: No. It is correct. It chooses only those who devote them selves to It, who become Its devotees. Such It draws inwards to Itself. One must turn inwards to find the Atman. Whoever thinks of It, It will draw to Itself.

All thoughts such as, 'Attainment is hard,' or 'Self-realization is far from me,' or 'I have to overcome many difficulties to know Reality,' should be given up, as they are obstacles and are created by this false self, ego.

They are untrue.

Do not doubt that you are the Reality; live in that understanding. Never question it by deferring your realization of it to some future time. It is because people are victimized and hypnotized by such false thoughts that the Gita says that few out of millions realize the Self.

The order of ashramas was established as a general principle to regulate the gradual development of the ordinary run of humanity, but in the case of one highly mature and fully ripe for atma vichara there is no graduated development. In this case jnana vichara, i.e.Self-enquiry, and the blooming of jnana, are immediate and quick.

p. 158

Conscious Immortality

CONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY

There are neither good nor bad qualities in the Self.
The Self is free from all qualities. Qualities pertain to the mind only.

The enquiry should be where the 'I' is. After the rise of the 'I' -thought, there is false identification of the 'I' with the body, the senses, and the mind. Self is wrongly associated with them; one has lost sight of the true Self.

In order to sift the pure 'I' from the contaminated I', this discarding (of the koshas or sheaths referred to in the Shastras) is mentioned. It does not mean exactly the discarding of the non-self, but more the find ing of the real Self.

The real Self is the infinite 'I-I' in perfection. It is eternal. It has no origin and no end. The other 'I' is born and dies. It is impermanent. See to whom the changing thoughts occur. They will be found to arise after the 'I'-thought. Hold onto the 'I'-thought and they will subside. The Self alone will remain.

- p 157

Sansara

D: How can I escape from samsara which seems to be the real cause for making the mind restless? Is not renunciation an effective means to realise tranquillity of mind?

M: Samsara is only in your mind. The world does not speak out saying, ‘Here I am, the world’. If it did so, it would be ever there, making its presence felt by you even in your sleep. Since, however, it is not there in sleep, it is impermanent. Being impermanent, it lacks substance. Having no reality apart from the Self it is easily subdued by the Self. The Self alone is permanent. Renunciation is the non-identification of the Self with the not-Self. When the ignorance which identifies the Self with not-Self is removed, not-Self ceases to exist, and that is true renunciation.

('Maharshi's Gospel': I.III)

Abide in self

Mr. K. Mahatani asked in continuation of the above, “If we want to succeed in any enterprise in the world, we must give our whole mind and heart to it. Otherwise we cannot succeed. So it is rather impracticable to devote one’s mind both to God and worldly activity.”

Bhagavan: If one keeps fixed in the Self, the activities will still go on and their success will not be affected. One should not have the idea that one is the doer. The activities will still go on. That force, by whatever name you may call it, which brought the body into existence will see to it that the activities which this body is meant to go through are brought about.

Mr. Mahatani was still not quite satisfied and thereupon Bhagavan referred him to read an article on renunciation which is found at the end of the Gita Press edition of Bhagavad Gita. This article mentions seven stages of renunciation and Bhagavan said, “Let Mr. Mahatani see if anything in this article appeals to him”. I read out the whole article in the hall for the benefit of all, as Bhagavan desired. It is said there that one who has reached the seventh stage of renunciation will not feel even when his body is cut by a weapon or some other suffering is inflicted on him.

Continuing this topic, I said, “It is true such things are said in the books. But we see that the jnani feels pain. Even one like Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa felt pain when he had cancer of the throat and cried out, ‘Why has mother sent this pain to me?’”

Bhagavan: It may be like that in the beginning, due to long association or habit. But afterwards it will pass off.

In this connection I must record that long ago, once when Bhagavan was suffering from some illness and I expressed concern, Bhagavan was pleased to explain to me that he felt the pain as in a dream and no more.

Day by Day, 9-10-45 Afternoon

The mind

The mind is commonly said to be strong if it can think furiously....
But here
the mind is strong if it is free from thoughts....

Talks....p...631...

Jnani

A jnani has no karma [that is, a jnani performs no actions]. That is his [her] experience. Otherwise he is not a jnani. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
from Be As You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi ~

नामबोध

श्रीब्रह्मचैतन्य श्रीगोंदवलेकर महाराजांचा नामबोध
२३ मे
देवाकरिता स्वतःला विसरावे.
तुम्ही स्वतःला दिवसातून एकदा तरी विसरता की नाही ? हल्ली आपण आपल्याला विसरतो, पण ते विषयाकरिता विसरतो. स्वतःला विसरावे, पण ते विषयाकरिता विसरू नये. भजन करीत असताना देहभाव विसरून भजन करावे. आपण आता तसे करतो का ? भजन म्हणत असताना कोणी ताल चुकला की लगेच आपण रागावतो; ते खरे भजन होत नाही. म्हणून भजन करावे आणि तशी सवय ठेवावी, म्हणजे देहभाव विसरता ये‍ईल. विषयाच्या अधीन न होता संसार करावा. व्यवहारात काम, क्रोध, लोभ वगैरे सर्व काही असावे, पण आपण त्यांच्या स्वाधीन न होता, त्यांना आपल्या ताब्यात ठेवून वागावे; म्हणजे देहभाव आपोआप नष्ट हो‍ऊन जाईल. हे सर्व साधायला, परमेश्वराला शरण जाणे हा एकच सोपामार्ग आहे; आणि त्याकरिता नामस्मरणात राहणे हेच साधन आहे. विषय बरोबर घेऊन गुरूकडे गेलो, तर गुरूची खरी भेट होईल का ? ती शक्य नाही. याकरिता, ते सांगतील ते साधन आधी करावे म्हणजे चित्त शुद्ध होते, आणि ते झाल्यावर त्यांची खरी भेट होते.
परमात्म्याचे स्मरण । यातच विषयाचे विस्मरण ॥
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