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

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
A Kutichaka is one who takes sannyasa and lives in a hermitage;
A Bahudaka is one who takes sannyasa and goes to places of
pilgrimage;
A Hamsa is an upasaka sannyasi;
A Paramahamsa is a realised sannyasi.
27th November, 1938
Talk 589.
Somasundara Swami, a long standing devotee, asked: There is akasa in a
mirror and it reflects images. How are these contained in the mirror?
M.: Objects remain in space. Objects and space are together reflected
in the mirror. Just as the things are found in space, so they are in
the reflection also. The mirror is itself thin. How can these objects
be contained in its compass?
D.: How does the akasa in a pot illustrate this point?
M.: There is no reflection in the akasa of the pot. The reflection is only in
the water in it. Keeping several pots filled with water in a tank, the akasa
is reflected equally in the water in each of the pots and in the water of the
tank. Similarly the whole universe is reflected in each individual.
D.: The mouths of the pots must be above the surface of the water
in the tank.
M.: Yes, it must be so. Otherwise can the pots be recognised if sunk
in the tank?
D.: How does the reflection take place there?
M.: Pure ether cannot take reflections; only the ether of water can do
so. Glass cannot reflect objects; only a plate of glass with an opaque
lining on its back can reflect the objects in front of it. Similarly Pure
Knowledge does not contain objects in it nor reflect objects. Only
with the limiting adjunct, the mind, it reflects the world.
Neither in samadhi nor in deep sleep does the world remain. There
cannot be illusion either in bright light or in total darkness. Only
in dim light a rope seems a snake. Similarly Pure Consciousness
remains light only; it is pure knowledge. The mind rising from it
is deluded that the objects remain apart.
D.: So then the mind is the mirror.
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