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

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
D.: A stay of one day with Sri Bhagavan is good; a stay of two days is
better; of three days, more so, and so on. If it is a continuous stay
here, how shall we get on with our mundane work?
M.: Stay here or elsewhere must be understood to be the same and
to have the same effect.
12th April, 1935
Talk 46.
After hearing the Malayalam version of Upadesa Sara chanted,
Mr. Ramachandra Iyer of Nagercoil asked in a characteristically
unsophisticated way about the mind, concentration and control.
The Master said that the mind is only identity of the Self with the
body. It is a false ego that is created; it creates false phenomena in
its turn, and appears to move in them; all these are false. The Self
is the only Reality. If the false identity vanishes the persistence of
the Reality becomes apparent. It does not mean that Reality is not
here and now. It is always there and eternally the same. It is also in
everyone’s experience. For everyone knows that he is. “Who is he?”
Subjectively, “Who am I?” The false ego is associated with objects;
this ego itself is its own object. Objectivity is the falsity. Subject is
alone the Reality. Do not confound yourself with the object, namely
the body. This gives rise to the false ego, consequently of the world
and your movements therein with the resulting misery. Do not think
yourself to be this, that or anything; to be so and so, or to be such
and such. Only leave off the falsity. The Reality will reveal itself.
The scriptures say that the Self is nityasiddha, ever present, and yet
speak of the removal of ajnana. If Self is (nitya) always and (siddha)
present, how can there be ajnana? For whom is the ajnana? These
are contradictory. But such statements are for guiding the earnest
seeker in the right way. He does not readily understand the only Truth
if mentioned in plain words as in natwam naham neme janadhipah
(not thou, nor I, nor these kings ...). Sri Krishna declared the Truth,
but Arjuna could not grasp it. Later Krishna plainly says that people
confound Him with the body, whereas in reality He was not born nor
will He die. Still Arjuna requires the whole Gita for the Truth to be
made clear to him.
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