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

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
8th September, 1936
Talk 245.
Misses Gulbai and Shirinbai Byramjee, two Parsi ladies, were asking
questions round one central point. All their questions amounted to one.
“I understand that the Self is beyond the ego. My knowledge is theoretical
and not practical. How shall I gain practical realisation of the Self?”
M.: Realisation is nothing to be got afresh. It is already there. All that
is necessary is to be rid of the thought: “I have not realised.”
D.: Then one need not attempt it.
M.: No. Stillness of mind or peace is realisation. There is no moment
when the Self is not.
So long as there is doubt or the feeling of non-realisation, attempt
must be made to rid oneself of these thoughts.
The thoughts are due to identification of the Self with the non-self.
When the non-self disappears the Self alone remains. To make room
anywhere it is enough that things are removed from there. Room is
not brought in afresh. Nay, more - room is there even in cramping.
Absence of thoughts does not mean a blank. There must be one to
know the blank. Knowledge and ignorance are of the mind. They
are born of duality. But the Self is beyond knowledge and ignorance.
It is light itself. There is no necessity to see the Self with another
Self. There are no two selves. What is not Self is non-self. The
non-self cannot see the Self. The Self has no sight or hearing. It
lies beyond these - all alone, as pure consciousness.
A woman, with her necklace round her neck, imagines that it has
been lost and goes about searching for it, until she is reminded of it
by a friend; she has created her own sense of loss, her own anxiety of
search and then her own pleasure of recovery. Similarly the Self is all
along there, whether you search for it or not. Again just as the woman
feels as if the lost necklace has been regained, so also the removal of
ignorance and the cessation of false identification reveal the Self which
is always present - here and now. This is called realisation. It is not
new. It amounts to elimination of ignorance and nothing more.
208