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

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
20th April, 1937
Talk 406.
Mr. Cohen, a resident disciple, has been for some days past thinking
about a book called Nirvana written by a prominent Theosophist,
wherein the author claims to reach nirvana every night after going
to sleep. He claims to see his own Master and other Masters of the
Theosophical Society as bright lights within the ocean of light which is
nirvana. He asked Sri Bhagavan how it could be possible, considering
the Advaitic teaching that the nirvanic experience is the same as that
of the pure consciousness of Being.
M.: Nirvana is Perfection. In the Perfect State there is neither subject
nor object; there is nothing to see, nothing to feel, nothing to know.
Seeing and knowing are the functions of the mind. In nirvana there
is nothing but the blissful pure consciousness “I am.”
D.: How then can a prominent T. S. leader, who claims clairvoyance
of a high order, praise the author for his supposed correct and vivid
description of nirvana, and why is the T. Society so much obsessed
by the idea of ‘Service’?
M.: Well, Theosophy and other kindred movements are good inasmuch
as they make a man unselfish and prepare him for the highest truth.
Service, like prayers, japas and even business done in God’s name,
lead to the highest goal - Self-Realisation.
D.: But after how long? and why should a man who is ready for the
Absolute knowledge stick to the knowledge of the Relative?
M.: Everything happens in its own time. The one who is ready for
the absolute knowledge will be made somehow to hear of it and
follow it up. He will realise that Atmavidya is the highest of all
virtues and also the end of the journey.
Then, asked about the difference between external and internal nirvikalpa
samadhis, referring to article 391 above, the Master said:
External samadhi is holding on to the Reality while witnessing
the world, without reacting to it from within. There is the stillness
of a waveless ocean. The internal samadhi involves loss of bodyconsciousness.
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