Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi Complete ... - BrahminVoice.org

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
M.: Dive within. You are now aware that the mind rises up from within.
So sink within and seek.
D.: I do not yet understand how it is to be done.
M.: You are practising breath-control. Mechanical breath-control will
not lead one to the goal. It is only an aid. While doing it mechanically
take care to be alert in mind and remember the ‘I’ thought and seek its
source. Then you will find that where breath sinks, there ‘I-thought’
arises. They sink and rise together. The ‘I-thought’ also will sink
along with breath. Simultaneously, another luminous and infinite
‘I-I’ will become manifest, which will be continuous and unbroken.
That is the goal. It goes by different names - God, Self, Kundalini
Sakti, Consciousness, Yoga, Bhakti, Jnana, etc.
D.: Not clear yet.
M.: When the attempt is made, it will of itself take you to the goal.
9th June, 1936
Talk 196.
A visitor asked about the three methods mentioned in Ramana Gita
- Chapter II.
Maharshi pointed out that breath-retention is an aid to control of mind,
i.e., suppression or annihilation of thoughts. One person may practise
breath-control, inhalation, exhalation and retention or retention only. Still
another type of practising meditator, on controlling the mind, controls
the breath and its retention automatically results. Watching the inhalation
and exhalation is also breath-control. These methods are only apparently
three-fold. They are in fact really one, because they lead to the same
goal. They are however differently adopted according to the stage of the
aspirant and his antecedent predisposition or tendencies. Really there are
only two methods: enquiry and devotion. One leads to the other.
D.: Seeking the ‘I’ there is nothing to be seen.
M.: Because you are accustomed to identify yourself with the body and
sight with the eyes, therefore, you say you do not see anything. What
is there to be seen? Who is to see? How to see? There is only one
consciousness which, manifesting as ‘I-thought’, identifies itself
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