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

D.: How did the ego arise?
Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
M.: It is not necessary to know it. Know the present. Not knowing
that, why do you worry about other times?
Maharshi said in reply to a question: “Is the world within you or
without you? Does it exist apart from you? Does the world come
and tell you ‘I exist’?”
Talk 40.
The Brahmin questioner resumed: “How do we know that action is
ours or not?”
M.: If the fruits of actions do not affect the person he is free from
action.
D.: Is intellectual knowledge enough?
M.: Unless intellectually known, how to practice it? Learn it
intellectually first, then do not stop with that. Practise it.
Maharshi then made certain remarks: “When you adhere to one
philosophical system (siddhanta) you are obliged to condemn
the others. That is the case with the heads of monasteries
(matadhipatis)”.
All people cannot be expected to do the same kind of action.
Each one acts according to his temperament and past lives.
Wisdom, Devotion, Action (jnana, bhakti, karma) are all
interlocked. Meditation on forms is according to one’s own mind.
It is meant for ridding oneself of other forms and confining oneself
to one form. It leads to the goal. It is impossible to fix the mind
in the Heart to start with. So these aids are necessary. Krishna
says that there is no birth (janma) to you, me, etc., and later says
he was born before Aditya, etc. Arjuna disputes it. Therefore it is
certain that each one thinks of God according to his own degree
of advancement.
You say you are the body in wakeful state; not the body in sleep.
Bodies being several-fold for an individual, should not there be
infinite capacities for God? Whichever method one follows, that
method is encouraged by the Sages. For it leads to the goal like
any other method.
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