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

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
be perfect before the painting is begun. Yes, but which is the screen
and which the painting? According to them the body is the screen
and the inquiry into the Self is the painting. But is not the body
itself a picture on the screen, the Self?
D.: But hatha yoga is so much spoken of as an aid.
M.: Yes. Even great pandits well versed in the Vedanta continue the
practice of it. Otherwise their minds will not subside. So you may
say it is useful for those who cannot otherwise still the mind.
D.: Saguna upasana (worship of the personal God) is said to be
imperfect. It is also said that nirguna upasana (devotion to the
impersonal) is hard and risky. I am fit for the former only. What
is to be done?
M.: The Saguna merges into the nirguna in the long run. The saguna
purifies the mind and takes one to the final goal. The afflicted one,
the seeker of knowledge, and the seeker of gains are all dear to
God. But the Jnani is the Self of God.
Talk 620.
D.: “Not this - not this”. That is the teaching to the seeker. He is told
that the Self is Supreme. How is it to be found?
M.: The Self is said to be the hearer, thinker, knower, etc. But that is
not all. It is also described as the ear of ear, the mind of mind, etc.;
and by what means to know the knower?
D.: But this does not say what the Self is.
M.: “Not this - not this”.
D.: It only negates.
M.: (Silence).
The devotee complains that the Self is not pointed out.
M.: A man wants to know what he is. He sees animals and objects
around him. He is told: ‘You are not a cow, not a horse, not a tree,
not this, not that, and so on’. If again the man asks saying ‘You
have not said what I am,’ the answer will be, ‘It is not said you are
not a man’. He must find out for himself that he is a man. So you
must find out for yourself what you are.
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