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

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
Talk 635.
An Andhra gentleman of Hospet has returned from pilgrimage to
Kailas, Amarnath, etc. He described how fine those places are and how
difficult the journey was. He finally asked for something to remind
him of Maharshi, meaning some instruction.
M.: You have been to Kailas etc. Have you been to Muktinath?
D.: No. It was too difficult a journey for me. I have however been in
Nepal. Have you been to those places?
M.: No, no. I mentioned Muktinath casually.
Then Sri Bhagavan remarked: “To go to Kailas and return is just a
new birth. For there the body-idea drops off.”
Talk 636.
Mrs. Kelly Hack asked if the waking and the dream states might be
imagined to be excursions from the natural state of the Self.
M.: There must be a place for excursions. The place must also lie
outside oneself. It is not possible in the true nature of the Self.
D.: But I meant that it might be imagined to be so.
M.: One might as well imagine the true nature of the Self
D.: The illustration of the screen is very beautiful.
M.: The cinema screen is not sentient and so requires a seer, whereas
the screen of the Self includes the seer and the seen - rather, it is
full of light.
The pictures of the cinema-show cannot be seen without the help of
darkness, for you cannot have a show in broad daylight. Similarly,
the mind thinks thoughts and sees objects owing to an underlying
ignorance (avidya). The Self is pure knowledge, pure light where
there is no duality. Duality implies ignorance. The Knowledge of the
Self is beyond relative knowledge and ignorance, the Light of the Self
is beyond the ordinary light and darkness. The Self is all alone.
Talk 637.
There was some question about progress.
Sri Bhagavan said that progress is for the mind and not for the Self.
The Self is ever perfect.
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