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

1916. Skandasramam.
Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
1922. The Ramanasramam site on the southern slope of the Hill.
25th September, 1935
Talk 72.
Mr. K. S. N. Iyer, a railway officer, asked about japa.
M.: The utterance and then remembrance and later meditation are the
successive stages finally ending in involuntary and eternal japa. The
japakarta (doer of japa) of that kind is the Self. Of all the japas,
‘Who am I?’ is the best.
27th September, 1935
Talk 73.
Mr. Ekanatha Rao, the engineer, asked, “What about the despondency
of not obtaining any encouragement from the Master - much less his
Grace?”
M.: It is ignorance only. The quest must be made as to who is
despondent and so on. It is the phantom of the ego arising after
sleep which falls a prey to such thoughts. In deep sleep the person
was not afflicted. Who is afflicted now while awake? The sleep
state is about the normal one. Let him search and find out.
D.: But there is no incentive for want of encouragement.
M.: Does not one find some kind of peace while in meditation? That is
the sign of progress. That peace will be deeper and more prolonged
with continued practice. It will also lead to the goal. Bhagavad
Gita - Chapter XIV - the final verses speak of gunatita (one who
has transcended the gunas). That is the final stage.
The earlier stages are asuddha satva (impure being), misra satva
(mixed being), and suddha satva (Pure Being).
Of these, the impure being is when overpowered by rajas and tamas;
the mixed being is that state in which the being - satva - asserts itself
spasmodically; the suddha satva overpowers rajas and tamas. After
these successive stages there comes the state transcending gunas.
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