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

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
The visitor said he concentrated on the nasal base, but his mind wandered.
M.: Is there a mind?
Another devotee gently put in: The mind is only a collection of
thoughts.
M.: To whom are the thoughts? If you try to locate the mind, the mind
vanishes and the Self alone remains. Being alone, there can be no
one-pointedness or otherwise.
D.: It is so difficult to understand this. If something concrete is said,
it can be readily grasped. Japa, dhyana, etc., are more concrete.
M.: ‘Who am I?’ is the best japa.
What could be more concrete than the Self? It is within each one’s
experience every moment. Why should he try to catch anything
outside, leaving out the Self? Let each one try to find out the known
Self instead of searching for the unknown something beyond.
D.: Where shall I meditate on the Atman? I mean in which part of
the body?
M.: The Self should manifest itself. That is all that is wanted.
A devotee gently added: On the right of the chest, there is the Heart,
the seat of the Atman.
Another devotee: The illumination is in that centre when the Self
is realised.
M.: Quite so.
D.: How to turn the mind away from the world?
M.: Is there the world? I mean apart from the Self? Does the world
say that it exists? It is you who say that there is a world. Find out
the Self who says it.
16th October, 1935
Talk 82.
A question was raised about the differences in the various samadhis.
M.: When the senses are merged in darkness it is deep sleep; when
merged in light it is samadhi. Just as a passenger when asleep in a
carriage is unaware of the motion, the halting or the unharnessing
of the horses, so also a Jnani in sahaja samadhi is unaware of the
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