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

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
M.: Yes. Being attached, he acts and also reaps the fruits. If the fruits
are according to his desire he is happy; otherwise he is miserable.
Happiness and misery are due to his attachment. If actions were to take
place without attachment there would be no expectation of fruit.
D.: Can actions take place spontaneously without individual effort?
Should we not cook our food in order to eat it later?
M.: Atman acts through the ego. All actions are due to efforts only. A
sleeping child is fed by its mother. The child eats food without being
wide awake and then denies having taken food in sleep. However the
mother knows what happened. Similarly the Jnani acts unawares.
Others see him act, but he does not know it himself. Owing to fear
of Him wind blows, etc. That is the order of things. He ordains
everything and the universe acts accordingly, yet He does not
know. Therefore He is called the great Doer. Every embodied being
(ahankari) is bound by niyama. Even Brahma cannot transgress it.
[This devotee later explained the significance of his question. He
hears Sri Bhagavan say that the world goes on and the individual
needs are met by Divine Will. But he finds that Sri Bhagavan wakes
up the Asramites at about 4 a.m. to cut vegetables for the day’s
curry. He wanted to have the doubt cleared for his own benefit and
the question was not meant for discussion].
10th March, 1938
Talk 468.
As Sri Bhagavan was going out, the following Vedic chant was heard
from a hut:
Antaraditya manasa jvalantam - Brahmana vindat. Sri Bhagavan
drew our attention to it and remarked:-
In the Taittriya Upanishad also, He is said to be made of gold, etc.
What does it all mean? Although the sun and the other luminaries are
said to be self luminous, yet they do not shine forth of themselves
but they shine by the light of the Supreme Being. (na tatra
suryo....vibhati). So long as they are said to be separate from Brahman
their ‘Self-luminosity’ is the luminosity of Brahman. All these mantras
mentioning the sun, etc., speak only of Brahman.
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