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

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
the Self. The Self is always realised. But only you do not recognise
the fact. The Realisation is now obscured by the present worldidea.
The world is now seen outside you and the idea associated
with it obscures your real nature. All that is needed is to overcome
this ignorance and then the Self stands revealed. No special effort
is necessary to realise the Self. All efforts are for eliminating the
present obscuration of the Truth.
A lady is wearing a necklace round her neck. She forgets it, imagines
it to be lost and impulsively looks for it here, there and everywhere.
Not finding it, she asks her friends if they have found it anywhere, until
one kind friend points to her neck and tells her to feel the necklace
round the neck. The seeker does so and feels happy that the necklace
is found. Again, when she meets her other friends, they ask her if her
lost necklace was found. She says ‘yes’ to them, as if it were lost and
later recovered. Her happiness on re-discovering it round her neck
is the same as if some lost property was recovered. In fact she never
lost it nor recovered it. And yet she was once miserable and now she
is happy. So also with the realisation of the Self. The Self is always
realised. The Realisation is now obscured. When the veil is removed
the person feels happy at rediscovering the ever-realised Self. The
ever-present Realisation appears to be a new Realisation.
Now, what should one do to overcome the present ignorance. Be
eager to have the true knowledge. As this eagerness grows the wrong
knowledge diminishes in strength until it finally disappears.
D.: The other day you were saying that there is no awareness in deep
sleep. But I have on rare occasions become aware of sleep even
in that state.
M.: Now, of these three factors, the awareness, sleep and knowledge
of it, the first one is changeless. That awareness, which cognised
sleep as a state, now sees the world also in the waking state. The
negation of the world is the state of sleep. The world may appear or
disappear - that is to say, one may be awake or asleep - the awareness
is unaffected. It is one continuous whole over which the three states
of waking, dream and sleep pass. Be that awareness even now. That
is the Self - that is Realisation - there is Peace - there is Happiness.
The lady thanked Maharshi and retired.
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