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

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
as to be able to say ‘I’. Who then says ‘I’? It is the link between the
pure Chit (the Self) and the jada (the body). That is the ego. Who
are you now? What is it that is born? The Self is eternal and cannot
be born. The body appears and disappears and your identity with
it makes you speak of birth and death. See if the true significance
of ‘I’ can ever take birth. For whom is transmigration?
D.: Sir, we are here to have our doubts cleared.
M.: Certainly.
D.: Our doubts can be cleared only when we ask questions.
M.: Yes. No one objects to questions being asked.
D.: It is said pariprasnena sevaya (by questioning again and again
and by service). So we should ask questions and the Master should
kindly remove our doubts.
M.: Continue your quotation upadekshyanti tattvam (They give
instructions in Truth).
D.: Yes. But our doubts must be cleared.
M.: So it was with Arjuna. For he says in the end nashto mohah
smritirlabdha (lost is my ignorance; memory restored).
D.: It was in the end. Before then he asked so many questions.
M.: The Truth was revealed even at the start. For the very first sloka of Sri
Krishna’s upadesa starts: “No birth and no death, no change, etc.”
D.: Sri Krishna also says, “We have had many rebirths. I am aware
of them; but you are not.”
M.: That was only because the question arose how Sri Krishna
could claim to have taught the eternal Truth to Aditya. The Truth
was stated even at the start. Arjuna did not understand it. The
jnani’s state was later described and also the means of attainment.
Incidentally Sri Krishna said that the Truth was eternal and that
He had originally taught the same to Aditya. Arjuna was all along
identifying himself with the body and therefore thought that Sri
Krishna also was the body in front of him. He therefore asked,
“How can it be? You (Sri Krishna) were born of Devaki some years
before. Aditya was among those who started creation. How could
you have taught this Truth to Aditya?”
588