The following excerpt is from the text Aham Sphurana 14th August 1936 – you can download the entire text here
Questioner: Is your teaching the same as Sri Ramakrishna’s?
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi: Absolutely.
Q.: If I-am-God is the Truth, does it not amount to arrogance?
B.: It does not mean you – as you incumbently imagine yourself to be – are God. It means, God is the Real “I”.
Q.: There is a self which is co-eval with the personality and attaches itself to the body. This is known as the mind. Then there is the Parabrahman mentioned in the Vedanta. This is known as the Impersonal Essence of man. Which is my true self? Can I have more than one self?
B.: The mind is a phantom. In the Impersonal Essence the mind is nowhere to be found.
Q.: How to reach it?
B.: There is nobody there to reach it. Thus there is no reaching it. Subside and let the Light shine forth. Subside as the mind and shine as the Self.
Q.: Practically what is the method for it?
B.: The investigation, ‘Who-am-I?’.
Q.: But this investigation also is made with mind only.
B.: It commences no doubt in the mind. It ends in no-mind.
Bhagavan asked Major Chadwick to read out ‘Who-am-I?’ to him in French. This was done and the creature listened carefully, cocking his huge head against a meagre shoulder, so that his left ear should be better exposed to the sounds emanating from Chadwick’s lips. Presently he extracted a small ear-trumpet from the folds of his laborious clothes and grooved the ear-piece of the same into his left ear.
The bell of the contraption was positioned to face Major Chadwick.’s direction. Bhagavan looked at the surprised faces in the Hall and laughed. Presently –
Q.: What is the authority for saying that the world is a dream? Where is the proof, I mean?
B.: Did you exist in sleep?
Q.: Yes.
B.: Do you exist now?
Q.: Yes.
B.: Then what is the difference [in the 2 states]?
Q.: I am not aware of my body and world [in sleep].
B.: Being aware of the body and world is called dreaming. Remain unaware of them now also. That verily is Jnana or Reality. This alone is the state of true wakefulness.
Q.: But how can we call this world a dream?
B.: Why not?
Q.: There are so many people on the Earth. If it is a dream, whose dream might it be?
B.: Yours.
Q.: But why pick me out specifically? For instance it may even be the dream of the amiable Monsieur Chadwick here.
B.: Only you are there.
Q.: What about you, then, sir?
B.: No, I am not here or there. I AM. There is no here or there or anywhere. I AM THAT I AM.
Q.: I comprehend not.
B.: Evidence produced by the sensory organs is merely mental in nature. All knowledge of diversity is fictitious mental information. Your Being is Real. There is nothing else.
Q.: I want proof.
B.: If proof is given to you, how will you be able to believe it?
Q.: I comprehend not.
B.: The proof given to you, if any, is also going to be mere mental information only.
Q.: What can be believed, then, as true?
B.: Whatever is believed is false only. Truth is in Being only.
Q.: How to attain this Being?
B.: By giving up the idea that there could be anything to be attained and all other ideas.
Q.: Practically, how can I go about it?
B.: Investigate ‘Who-am-I?’.
Q.: Will repetition of sacred syllables not be helpful? Do not the sacred incantations of your religion hold some sort of latent spiritual power? By unlocking this power or energy can we not reach the state of Enlightenment?
B.: You have been appraised of the direct method.
Q.: The others are by-lanes or diversions?
B.: Yes.
Q.: Should food restrictions be followed by a seeker after Enlightenment? Can I eat pork?
B.: Try to thrive on grain and fruit.
Q.: Can the investigation of ‘Who-am-I?’ be done in your presence only? If I do it at, say, Nantes, would I able to succeed in Enlightening myself? Is your physical presence needed? In order so as to bring about a successful outcome to the practise, I mean?
B.: It is the mind that matters. If the mind is kept steadily poised in introversion, such questions cannot arise even.
Q.: Is worship of, or even belief in, a personal God permissible?
B.: Yes.
Q.: Does it not thwart one’s progress toward Enlighenment?
B.: When you become ripe enough, you will no longer feel that it is you who are praying.
Q.: Is philanthropy a distraction or ought one to try to help the suffering world?
B.: It varies according to the temprament of the individual’s psyche.
Q.: I see. What about my case?
B.: When you see suffering, what thought first crosses your mind?
Q.: “I wish God had created a world in which there was no suffering.”
B.: Those destined to help think – impetuously- “Let me see what I can do here…”.
Q.: Is there any need to officially renounce my affirmed affiliation into the La Rochelle Temple?
B.: No.
Q.: Occasionally I become frightened when my health takes a turn for the worse. How to remain free from such fears?
B.: You already know that for this perishable body made of the elements, destruction is certain one day. Why crib over the inevitable?
Q.: But how do I keep fear at bay?
B.: By not identifying the Self with the body or mind.
Q.: But how to get rid of such erroneous identification?
B.: Only by relentless pursuit of the investigation, ‘Who am I?’.
Then the Distraught One proudly produced a gift for Bhagavan – a small tin box which rattled. Bhagavan opened it and smiled.
Q.: [beaming happily] They are roasted seeds belonging to the St. Ignatius fruit – fruits produced by the tree Strychnos ignatius! Very difficult to obtain ever since the War, sir! Specially procured for your consumption, if I may be permitted to say so, sir!
The following excerpt is taken from the text Aham Sphurana 7th August 1936. You can download the entire text for free here.
Questioner: Those who have a great, insatiable taste or longing thirst for art, those who are profoundly moved by the intricate and subtle beauties of art: is it true that they find it easier to introvert the mind?
Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi: Yes.
Q.: Why so?
B.: Being moved by art renders the mind sensitive. Its dross-content burns up. But the intensity of the passion must be extreme… The idea is that the mind must NOT [be permitted to] peacefully rest content with the present state of Body-am-I consciousness. The Grace of the Guru or the company of a Jnani sparks off the commencement of a regular war within the mind between the 2 elements of sattvagunam and tamogunam. Really the battle is between satvas and tamas only; rajas is merely a form of manifestation of tamas. [Tom: this is a wonderful and deep insight here – tamas is ignorance, and rajas is the projecting or active power that results for springs forth from ignorance; note that nescience, mentioned below, is a synonym for ignorance] So, we are fighting against sleep. Sleep or oblivion is the worst enemy of man. Sleep is the anti-thesis of Realisation. Permanent destruction of sleep or nescience is Realisation.
Q.: Only a Jnani can dispense with sleep altogether.
B.: True. The sadhaka, excluding the neophyte, should try to restrict sleep to 6 hours; very gradually this may be reduced to 4, and then after yet more time has elapsed, 3, hours. It is possible provided the correct lifestyle and dietary patterns are followed. Needless to say it requires vairagyam. All changes introduced should be gradual. Any violent upheaval will toxify the mind and may kill the body. Suddenly trying to reach perfection men try to remain without sleep and food for long periods, imagining they are yogis. Retribution, bodily and mental, is swift and harsh; he is frightened off the spiritual-path forevermore; this is a duplicitous stratagem followed by the mind to prevent its own extinction.
Q.: I sleep for 10 hours a day, but still feel sleepy whilst I am awake.
B.: More sleep produces more craving for more sleep.
Q.: Yes, I observe it to be so. How to break the addiction to sleep?
B.: Change in lifestyle and diet.
Q.: Am I to give up my sybaritic and sedentary pattern of living?
B.: Yes.
Q.: Am I to give up my daily appetite for barbecued hogget?
B.: Yes.
Q.: Will it not be painful to give up these long-cherished habits?
B.: Yes!
Q.: How to avoid the pain?
B.: Do not think, ‘I am feeling pain.’.
Q.: Merely imagining pain to go away does not make it go away.
B.: You are not asked to imagine pain to go away. You are asked to cease imagining the presence of pain.
Q.: The body’s pains are very real to me. I am not able to dismiss it away as fiction.
B.: Get rid of the root cause.
Q.: Which is?
B.: The idea that you are this body or are in it.
Q.: How to get rid of the idea?
B.: Formulas are so as for accquisition not discardal. [Tom: it is the ego-mind that wants the formula, so the seeking of a formula, rather than simply letting go or being still, is an ego-preservation strategy. The ego may pose as if it is sincerely asking ‘How do I let go?…How do I be still?’, but this is actually all a delaying tactic, an ego-preservation strategy]
Q.: But what am I to do to be rid of misery?
B.: Doing is misery. Doing cannot get rid of misery. More doing brings more misery. Try non-doing. See what a refreshing change it brings.
Q.: Well, then, how to not do anything?
B.: [laughing] Can non-doing be accomplished by doing? If it were possible there would be no such thing as non-doing and therefore no possibility of Realisation. You have become so used to doing that when asked to put an end to it all, you ask how this is to be accomplished! Can non-doing be accomplished? Give up everything. Summa iru. That is non-doing.
Q.: Is Summa-iruththal the most efficacious means to Self-Realisation?
B.: It is Self-Realisation [itself].
Q.: Doing and non-doing in Bhagavan’s vocabulary refer to the mind alone; am I correct?
B.: Yes.
Q.: The body is to be kept active in some worthy pursuit or the other, preferrably one of an altruistic nature. Am I correct?
B.: Leave the body to its prarabdha and attend to yourself. One destined to work cannot keep idle. One destined to keep idle cannot find work. It is not in our hands at all.[Tom: whatever is destined to happen will happen, whatever is destined not to happen will not happen; relatively speaking, all happens according to God’s will at all times in all places, thus has Bhagavan taught us]
Q.: May I be assured of Bhagavan’s blessings upon my endeavours?
B.: There cannot be any fruitful endeavour in the absence of Bhagavan’s blessings.
Q.: Are my efforts fruitful or not?
B.: Do not bother with this question; it does not lead anywhere.
Q.: I want some support or encouragement that I am on the right track.
B.: If the mind remains simply AWARE, without being aware of anything, you are on the right track. [Tom: ie. mind turned inwards, away from all objects/phenomena, merely being self only]
The following is taken from Aham Sphurana 19th July 1936
A convivial, middle-aged Caucasian asked – Questioner: I understand that according to Bhagavan, Reality refers to consciousness unsullied by thought.
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi: What you comprehend, or think you are able to apprehend, can never be Reality. That suble space in which this fleeting you, as you are now falsely imagining yourself to be, ceases to exist, so exposing the actual, permanent you lying underneath as true Being, is Reality.
Q.: It is said that this mountain Arunachala posseses a powerful spiritual energy. If I carry away rocks from the mountain back home, will the mountain’s power accompany me? From which portion of the Hill should rocks be gathered for maximum beneficious effect?
B.: Is there any use in going on rock-hunting expeditions? The contumacious [Tom: stubborn and disobedient] mind must be introverted and destroyed. That [regaining the natural state of Self] is the only worthwhile thing to do in life.
Q.: I am interested in experimenting with alternate forms of medicine. What is Bhagavan’s opinion on Hahnemann’s system of ‘Like-cures-like.’? How can diluting a substance make its effect upon the patient more potent?
B.: [no answer]
Q.: What is Bhagavan’s opinion on the present German Chancellor? Today morning I met a Brahmin in this place, who confidently asserts that he is a divine incarnation, or a servile instrument in God’s hands, meant to ruthlessly put down injustice wherever it occurs in the world, commencing from Germany. Is deployment of violence justified to root out injustice? Does not Mr. Gandhi advocate –
At that moment, an excited voice, in strained English, suddenly announced into the air from the back of the Hall –
‘I am convinced that Sri Hitler and Sri Bhagawan are in the same supreme state of Brahmajnana [Tom: Brahman-knowledge, ie. self-knowledge]. But perhaps Hitler may be a Brahma-rakshasha [Tom: an evil spirit arisen from a sinful or fallen Brahmin].Nevertheless he is also a Jnani, nothing inferior to that… Has not his deputy said, “Do not seek Hitler with the mind. It is through the Heart that you shall succeed in finding Him.”? Is this not Bhagawan’s teaching verbatim, when people question Him about finding God? Hitler may use violent methods because it is his ordained style of functioning. Nonetheless, He is an avatar. I know… Consider his inspiring words – “It is a necessity of human evolution that the individual should be imbued with the spirit of sacrifice in favour of the common weal, and that he should not be influenced by the morbid notions of those knaves who pretend to know better than Nature and who have the impudence to criticize her decrees.”, “The Strong is Mightiest Alone.”, “Man has become great through perpetual struggle. In perpetual peace his greatness must decline.”, “He who would live must fight. He who does not wish to fight in this world, where perpetual struggle is the only permanent law of life, has not the right to exist.”, “The sledgehammer of fate which strikes down the one so easily suddenly finds the counter-impact of Steel when it strikes at the other.”, and many more. Are these not the words of a Jnani? Is it not self-evident that it must be so? If Bhagavan will give permission I want to read out more, so that everyone can be benifitted by these holy words uttered by a great Jnani.’
There was no response from Bhagavan. The brahmin retreated into silence.
Q.: Yes, this is the man. What is to be made out of his outlandish claims? Is Herr Hitler really a divine instrument in God’s hands?
B.: நாம் எல்ேலாேம அவரால் ஆட்ைவக்கப்பட்ட ைகப்பாைவகள் தாேன. [All sentient beings are verily divine instruments in the hands of the Supreme Lord {Parameshwara}.]
Q.: Sri Bhagawan wears only underwear. I hear, whilst living in the Hill, He was totally nude. What is the philosophy behind it? Is it aversion to luxury? Will being nude help in Realising the Self?
B.: Mental nudity is the way to the Self.
Q.: And what is that?
B.: Mind denuded of vrittis.
Q.: What is a vritti?
B.: A strand of modification in and of pure consciousness.
Q.: Still, what is the reason Bhagavan won’t wear any clothes?
B.: Have you come all the way from the New World only to ask this question?
Q.: It is said that the Jnani never sleeps. Is it true? Do you never sleep?
B.: On the other hand, I am always asleep. I have permanently put myself to Eternal Sleep from which no waking could ever be possible.
Q.: Bhagavan is now talking to me. How can he be asleep? Is he talking in his sleep, then?
B.: Yes.
Q.: I am beginning to guess there is a hidden layer of meaning in all your answers…
B.: The Jnani’s mind is asleep in Brahman. It is awake to Brahman but unaware of anything else – rather, there is no ‘anything else’ for him, apart from Brahman, to be aware of. “I” am not talking to “you”; these [are appearances that] are inseperable from Brahman. Their substratum or vasthu [Tom: truth or reality] is Brahman only. There cannot be a not-Brahman. What IS, is only Brahman. What IS NOT, cannot BE. Thus the import of Sri Krishna’s wisely enunciated words: Nasatho vidyathey bhavo nabhavo vidyathey sathaha [Tom: ‘Of the unreal, there is no being; of the Real, there is no non-being…’ This is the first section of Bhagavad Gita verse 16.2]
Q.: The yogi smears his body all over with ash from the crematorium. What is the purpose?
B.: To remember: ‘One day I shall likewise be reduced into ash.’
Q.: Why keep on reflecting upon such a macabre truth?
B.: To get rid of the idea, ‘I am this body.’; so long as such an idea, or any other vritti, remains, Realisation cannot be had, even in dreams.
Q.: How, and why, did the Absolute Self or ‘the Brahman’ fall from his high state of Godhood, and become the mind?
B.: He never fell.
Q.: What then is to account for the existence of the mind?
B.: Its own ignorance.
Q.: How did that ignorance arise?
B.: On the false strength of the one who meaninglessly asserts, ‘I am ignorant.’.
Q.: If the assertion ‘I am ignorant.’ is wrong, all are then Jnanis.
B.: Quite so.
Q.: I am also a Jnani like Bhagavan, then? Am I not a mere mortal?
B.: In fact, all are only Jnanis – at least in my vision it is so. One who feels otherwise should ask himself, ‘Who is the one who admits the apparent truth of his own ignorance?’.
Q.: Back to Who-am-I? again, I see!
B.: It is the only useful thing to do.
Q.: What is the purport of this investigation? I mean – what does it aim to reach?
B.: Subjective awareness maintained without volition and without effort is the objective of Atma-vichara.
Q.: If everything is a dream, right now what is the position? I mean: Is Bhagavan appearing in my dream? Or am I appearing in Bhagavan’s dream?
B.: Bhagavan does not dream. He is the Real.
Q.: So it is I who have imagined the great Ramana Maharshi, thus bringing him into existence! How great I must be, to have created not only this whole cosmos, but also Ramana Maharshi himself!
B.: [laughs]
Q.: You see the – pardon me – the absurdity of your thesis that the world is a dream… ?
B.: The world of name and form is the merest of illusions. Only the substratum underlying it is Real and True. Only by right Experience can this be further understood.
Q.: Can you give me ‘the saktipada’? It is said to be transfer of psychic energy from master to pupil.
B.: Who is the master and who is the pupil? In whose point of view?
Q.: I humbly pray that my request be considered favourably.
B.: Catch hold of the “I-Current” and remain still. It will give you all you need.
Q.: How to discover this psychic current?
B.: Once all thoughts have subsided, a steady stream of subjective consciousness remains as the residue. Hold on to it without effort and without volition. It will lead you to the Goal invariably.
Q.: There is said to have lived a saint called ‘Sadasiva Brahmendral’ in South India. He is said to have bodily manifested at the same measured time, at various different locations, perfectly simultaneously! Further, according to the same legend or story, once for some reason the King of the land became furious with him and ordered that his arms be chopped off. This was done.
The saint merely picked up the severed arms with his mouth, and holding them by the skin, betwixt his rows of teeth, demurely walked away from the place, blood trailing along in his wake. Even the slightest twitch of pain could not be observed in him. The king then begged for forgiveness. The saint said nothing; he seemed to be unaware of his environment; he would not even care to look at anyone. Just then, a beetle was about to drown in the pool of blood lying on the ground. Moved by compassion for the hapless creature, the saint dropped his severed arms from his mouth; instead of falling on the ground, the arms magically attached themselves in their original positions, and functioned normally! The saint rescued the beetle, which everyone else noticed only now, and went his way as if nothing at all had happened. What are we to make out of this story? Many otherwise normal people seem to believe in it!
B.: The world is under no obligation to produce forth only those events which lie within the horizon of your ability to comprehend.
Q.: So the supernatural… is real?
B.: Only as real as you are – you as the body or mind.
Q.: If I also try to get occult or thaumaturgic powers such as reading others’ thoughts, moving physical objects using the mind, manifesting objects and making them vanish, predicting the future, spontaneously coming to know of events happening far away, transmutation of base metals into gold, etc., will they carry me towards or away from Realisation of the Brahman?
B.: The latter.
Q.: Why so – may I know?
B.: Because the powers are exercised using the mind. Patanjali himself says, Bahirakalpita vrittir mahavideha tataha prakashavaranakshayaha [Tom: The ‘great bodiless state’ is a state of ‘mind’ that functions outside the body and is unimagined. From this, the covering of the light is destroyed.]. From this it is obvious that the Atman will never reveal itself unless and until one has transcended the mind in its entireity. Whilst I was living in Virupaksha-cave, in 1902 or 1903, a man came who showed me many tricks of the sort you mention. Then he drove Palanisamy out, and showed me his crowing act. Do you know what this crowning act was?
Q.: I am eager to hear it.
B.: [in English] He slanted his body. The lower jaw remained on the neck. The rest of his head rolled off. I picked it up and parted the hair in a neat manner. The half-mouth in my hand, somehow produced the sound ‘Thank you!’ – in English. I smiled at it and fitted it back.
I and another in the Hall who could understand English were horrified; the American coolly said –
Q.: Oh! Really! Bhagavan is sure it was not a mere dream?
B.: [waving at the Hall] As much as all this is.
Q.: Will the omnipotent Bhagavan do the same trick himself now and show me, so that I am convinced?
B.: What you should be convinced about is this – such powers are worthless. They lead you away from peace. The illusionist, once his head was safely back on, wept and wept in front of me. He had learnt these tricks from an occultist by serving him like a dog for three decades; only now did he see the pointlessness, the futility and the evil repercussions of it all. Now he was tempted to perform these everywhere. As a result of the distraction, he was unable to find the time for genuine spiritual pursuits. His peace of mind was now totally extinct. He begged me to take the powers away. To that effect, I gesticulated him to circumambulate the Hill that very night. He replied that it was ammavasai that night, hence he would not be able to see his way. I signalled it was all the better that he be not guided by his perfidious senses, but rather by God’s grace. Thanking me, he went away. I never saw him thereafter. A few days later Palanisamy, it seems, chanced to meet him near the Sona theertham. He had followed my advice, and now was bereft of his psychic abilities. He sent his many thanks to me through Palanisamy. I never heard of him since. So, what is the observation? Even one with such advanced powers finds them a nuisance. Thus you should aim for Realisation and Realisation alone.
Q.: But it is all said to be pre-determined: ‘One shall be able to Realise only if destiny permits it.’ Who knows what she permits? I have heard that Bhagavan himself is not even a determinist, but an absolute fatalist. Am I right?
B.: Destiny cannot so much as cause a ripple upon the introverted mind. Let her do what she will with the body. You merge in the Self.
Q.: ‘Destiny is powerless to disturb the introverted mind.’ Very well. Now – has she the power to thwart a mind that is endeavouring to introvert itself? If yes, what is the use of engaging in spiritual practices?
B.: That power goes on diminishing the more and more the introversion becomes intense.
Q.: I will now frame the question in a slightly different way – If everything is predestined, are my thoughts also predestined?
B.: Do you choose to forsake the Self and think, or do you choose to inhere in the Heart? This is the only choice given to you at any given point in time. The only freedom given to you is to turn inward and drown yourself in the Heart. This is the one and only free-will allowed to man.
Q.: I find nowadays that my faculty of memory often gives me the slip. What is the remedy?
B.: Forgetting [also the fact of] your forgetfulness.
Q.: Is it true that for the south-Indian and Japanese people, Realisation comes easily relative to other cultures on the Earth, on account of conducive psychological constitution caused by appropriate upbringing?
B.: It may or may not be true. But can you help your place of birth? Can it be retroactively changed? Impossible. So, make the best out of the prevailing circumstances and try to direct the mind into the Heart here and now. All other pursuits are ultimately proved futile.
Q.: Am I under any moral obligation to Realise the Self? Is it my rightful duty? Or do I have a choice to remain an ignoramus, should I so please? Is it wrong morally not to Realise?
B.: If and once you practically understand the personal-self to be an illusion [or delusion], the inescapable obligation [to Realise] does devolve on you invariably and automatically.
Q.: The direct means to regain the Absolute – according to Bhagavan, it is the one and only ‘Who-am-I?’ investigation, is that not so?
B.: Yes.
Q.: Why so?
At this point, Bhagavan said something to an attendant, whereupon the latter extracted a heavy-looking volume from the book-case in the Hall. The book was handed to Bhagawan. He opened it once and it had opened onto the very page he had been aiming for; this curious knack I have already noticed many times in the master. He handed the open book to the interpreter, and gave him some instructions. Presently the interpreter read as follows –
The following are the words of the Tibetian Yogi Milarepa:
‘Oh! Ignorant mortal! When you run after your thoughts, you are verily a dog chasing a stick. Everytime a stick is thrown, you run after it. Instead be like a lion. The lion, rather than chasing the stick, turns to face the thrower. One only throws a stick at a lion once.
‘Oh! Ignorant mortal! Know this for certain – all worldly pursuits have but one unavoidable and inevitable end, and that is sorrow. Accquisition ends in dispersion, building in destruction, meetings in seperation, births in death, and so on. Knowing this, one should, from the very beginning, renounce accquisition, accumulation, and the like.
‘Oh! Ignorant mortal! How long will you go on dreaming, rotting in this odious marsh of births and deaths? Do you not want to taste the sweet, intoxicating nectar of immortality? For this, investigate your “I”. Do not entertain hopes or ambition for Realisation, but sincerely practise all your life.’
Q.: Are there pre-requisites or qualifications needed for one who wishes to follow this path of inquiry?
B.: Only one – complete absence of belief in the world as an objectively real, self-supporting, or continuous entity.
The following is taken from the text Aham Sphurana, 19th September 1936:
Questioner: In ‘Ulysses’ we find Mr. Joyce to have deployed the words, “And we stuffing food in one hole and out behind: food, chyle, blood, dung, earth, food: have to feed it like stoking an engine.” I am frequently beginning to think on such lines now-a-days. We feed and clothe the body; we find for it a warm shelter to live under. In return, what is our gain? The body keeps getting new diseases and fills us with agony and misery by putting us in pain. This is a traitorous body which returns evil for good. I don’t want it anymore. Is the body a gift from God? Is it a sin to refuse to remain in acceptance of it anymore?
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi: It is not so easy to get rid of the body. Physical annihilation of the body might remove it from this earthly realm, but again your mind will find another body for you. The body was manufactured only by the mind. There is only one way to kill the body: that is to kill the mind.Mind dead, not only does the body die, but also the whole of the cosmos. Our effort must therefore be directed toward killing the mind, not the body.
[Tom: Bhagavan is stating that it is the mind, also known as ego or ignorance, that ‘manufactures’ or creates/projects the body as well as the world and entire cosmos. If we merely kill the body, the mind will project a new body to inhabit, so samsara does not end. However, if we kill the mind, that is realise the self and thereby destroy ego/ignorance, then all that will remain is the worldless formless Self]
The body is not a gift from God inasmuch as God never asked you to take the form of the body – i.e., to imagine that you are one and identical with the body. You ask what is gained by holding on to the body. Who is it who says he is holding on to what he refers to as being his body? Discover the identity of that villain. Then you Realise that you never did have any body. The body has nothing to do with you.
You are bodiless always. Realise It. How? The same Mr. Joyce mentioned by you also writes, “…remember, my dear boys, that we have been sent into this world for one thing and for one thing alone: to do God’s holy will and to save our immortal souls. All else is worthless. One thing alone is needful, the salvation of one’s soul. What doth it profit a man to gain the whole world if he suffer the loss of his immortal soul? Ah, my dear boys, believe me there is nothing in this wretched world that can make up for such a loss.” If the soul is immortal how can it be lost? So, what is attempted to be communicated? The Immortal and Imperishable Soul is seemingly lost because of avarana [Tom: the veiling power of tamas]. That is the meaning. To tear asunder this veil of iniquity is the one and only relevant goal of one’s life.
Q.: And it can be accomplished by asking oneself, ‘Who am I?’?
B.: People who come here say, I practise the investigation ‘Who am I?’ for an hour each day, or for a few hours each day. What can we say to them? It is not a practice that is to be pursued a few hours each day. It is a fundamental change or shift in the direction in which one’s extroverted mind happens to incumbently be oriented. Relentlessly pursue the investigation day-in and dayout till the Self is Realised.
Q.: How can the investigation, which seeks to curb thought, be at all combined with activities that necessarily entail thinking?
B.: With persistent practise of the practice, activities – that you now think are being done by you – will automatically go on effortlessly. Your intervention will then be unnecessary – in fact, impedimentous. We are under the impression that we do things. What is the fact? It is the Higher Power that does everything. Is it the chiselled figures found at and forming part of the base of the Rajagopuram that bear the weight of the same? Is it not the earth that bears the entire load? Yet those sculpted figures have facial features that are wildly contorted with the evident strain of carrying the huge structure. It is a clever, artistic sham. Likewise here. The ego never does anything, but simply appropriates to itself credit for the body’s actions, which happen exclusively and spontaneously in accordance with Ishwara’s pre-destined script for it.
In other words, thoughts do not cause action to take place. Actions always go on only of their own accord: only we assign to them a spurious sense of personal doership or individual agency, and suffer thinking that free-will is real.
Q.: But actions follow thoughts. First I think and decide; then I act accordingly.
B.: That is just what is NOT true.
Q.: How so?
B.: The apparent causal-synchronicity between thought and action is a sham. That alone transpires which is destined to transpire. The preceding thought motivating the [body’s] action is not the result of free-will. Why? Because there is no such thing as free-will. How then is there cohesion between thought, which occurs first, and action, which occurs in subsequent concatenation? It is because the extroverted mind is also subject to destiny, just as the body’s actions are subject to destiny.
Q.: How cheerless to think that free-will is a myth…
B.: It cannot be denied that from the standpoint of the individual person free-will is indispensable. But where is the need to be an individual person when you can BE THAT?
The following is taken from the text Aham Sphurana, from the date 20th July 1936. See here to find out more about this text and also to download it for free:
Questioner: It is said that the legendary Sanjeevani herb is found somewhere in this Arunachala hill, by consuming which one attains to state of Immortality. Will Bhagavan please let me know where it is in the hill?
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi: The hill itself bestows immortality.
Q.: How?
B.: Constant rememberance of Arunachala’s formsteadily but surely introverts the mind. Then the mind accquires the strength to plunge inward, or rather loses the strength to move outwards, towards thoughts, intellectual concepts or physical objects. Eventually it becomes still entirely; then the Arunachala within pulls it into itself and destroys it once and for all. This is the Sanjeevani shakti [Tom: shakti means ‘power’] of Arunachala about which you are asking.
[Tom’s comments: here we have Bhagavan explaining how remembrance of Arunachala introverts the mind, pulling it inwards away from both gross and subtle objects, until it becomes entirely still. Arunachala then does the final step of destroying the mind, the result of which is explored below]
Q.: Is it not a herb?
B.: I have said what I know.
Q.: Is the ultimate aim of spiritual practice, only destruction of mind?
B.: Yes.
Q.: One whose mind is dead would perhaps have life in the body, but he would be in a state of comatose senselessness, like a stony, frigid vegetable, unable to understand anything. Is that the perverse fate toward which all spiritual aspirants are gravitating?
B.: Absence of mind is pure Bliss. It is possible to function in the world normally, without mind.
Q.: Oh! How so?
B.: Some power takes over his body and animates it without his knowledge.
Q.: Is it God?
B.: Give it any name you like- God, Providence, Fate, Karma, etc.; the nomenclature matters not.
[Tom’s comments: Bhagavan first confirms that manonasa, or destruction of mind, is indeed the ultimate aim of spiritual practice, thus equating manonasa with both self-knowledge or liberation. Then he goes onto explain that the body can continue to function without the mind under another higher power. This is done without the Jnani’s knowledge or awareness. Of course, Bhagavan is describing this form the relative standpoint, or the standpoint of ignorance/maya. Below we will see a higher teaching given later]
Q.: Are names unimportant in the scheme of things, then? How to call someone if he has no name?
B.: The fact is that in order to escape its own destruction the mind creates a world of name and form over the pure vastu [Tom: vastu means reality] that is the Atman. It abhors chaos and randomness and prefers order and systematisation. It creates cause-consequence relationships and gives itself to understand ideas about its environment, which is actually merely its own projection. It tries to study the nature of its body’s physical surroundings and formulates laws by means of which it then expects those surroundings to function; deviations from existing laws give rise to the birth of new laws! Never once does it wonder, ‘What is my self?’; thinking to conquer its surroundings, it foolishly occupies itself with sensory perceptions, thoughts, and intellectual hypotheses. Thus it is born again and again and needlessly undergoes all sorts of tribulations. Then it asks, ‘Alas! Why has God done this to me?’. Who is to blame for our mistake, if not ourselves?
[Tom’s comments: here Bhagavan explains that the mind creates the universe of name and form and superimposes this onto the formless objectless reality that is Atman, one’s true self. It then projects cause and effect, or karma, and starts to study the environment around it, which is actually nothing but its own projection, never asking or enquiring ‘who am I?’. Below Bhagavan will again confirm, as he has done many times in his own writings, the nature of Jnana:]
Q.: The state without mind is called Jnana?
B.: Yes.
Q.: Then what or who is a Jnani?
B.: One who has mastered the art of not knowing anything and not doing anything.
Q.: I am unable to divine the explication underlying Bhagavan’s sibylline [Tom: mysterious] words.
B.: The Jnani’s senses are unhinged from the world about him. He is sunk in the Self and quite irrevocably lost there.
[Tom’s comments: Bhagavan is explaining that the Jnani does not truly perceive the world, something he only intimated above, and he will expand on this below]
Q.: How is he different from the man on the Clapham omnibus (சாதாரண மனிதன) [Tom: the Tamil phrase given here means ‘the common man/person’ which the translator has translated as ‘the man on the Clapham omnibus’ a phrase popular in the 1930s which also means ‘the common everyday person’; this latter phrase was very common amongst lawyers, and the person who was said to have recorded these dialogues, Sri Gajapathi Aiyyer, was also said to have been a lawyer]
B.: The standard of reality employed by the man on the Clapham omnibus is the jagrat [Tom: waking] state in the jagrat state, and so on. For the Jnani the standard of reality is Reality itself.
Q.: What is this Reality?
B.: Man’s true Self.
Q.: How am I to realise this true Self?
B.: Whose Self is it?
Q.: Mine… but really who am I?
B.: Yes. All other questions lead up only to this supreme question.
[Tom’s comments: all paths eventually lead to self-enquiry]
Q.: What is the answer to the question?
B.: The discovery that the personal self, including the one making the discovery, never existed.
Q.: What remains thereafterward?
B.: Only the Truth; it is the state where the world of word, name and form perishes and silence alone prevails.
[Tom: here Bhagavan has clearly stated that for the jnani there is no world or name and form, only the Self or Silence remaining. Now Bhagavan will explain the method of Self-Enquiry:]
Q.: How to communicate thoughts to others without the assistance of words?
B.: That is only necessary so long as duality still persists in the mind.
Q.: How to get abiding shanti [Tom: peace]?
B.: Shanti is the natural state. The mind obstructs one’s inherent peace. Atma-vichara is only in the mind; it does not affect the Self. Investigate the mind; it will disappear. There is no entity by name mind. Because of emergence of thoughts, we surmise the existence of something from which they must originate; this we term mind. When we probe inwards to see what it is, there is nothing to be found except the real Self. After the false mind has vanished, Peace will be found to be Eternal.
Q.: Then what is buddhi?
B.: The thinking or discriminating faculty. These are only names. Call it the ego, the mind or the intellect; it is all the same. Whose mind? Whose intellect? The ego’s. Is the ego real? No. We confound ourselves with the ego and call it intellect or mind. This is because of the evil influence of avidyamaya [Tom: avidya means ignorance, maya means the power which projects the illusion of the body, mind and world. Here Sri Ramana is equating or compositing the two], which has superimposed this ephemeral, illusory, and worthless world of name and form over the ever-existing substratum, which is verily pure Reality and the supreme Peace itself. How to escape from the illusion? By searching for the mind and finding it, including that very finder, to be non-existent, to have been always non-existent, and in fact impossible of existence.
Q.: Emerson says, “Soul answers soul by itself – not by description or words.”
B.: Quite so. However much you learn, there can never be an end to objective knowledge. You ignore the doubter but try to solve the doubts. On the other hand, search for the doubter, and the doubter and his doubts will both disappear.
Q.: Therefore, the question resolves itself into one of knowing the Self.
B.: Quite so.
Q.: How to know the Self?
B.: Enquire into what the self is. What you are now imagining to be your Self, is really either the mind, the intellect or the ‘I-thought’. [Tom: Bhagavan has already said above that these three are the one same thing] Other thoughts are able to arise only after the ‘I-thought’ rises. So, hold on to the I-thought without pause. Soon, you will find that all thoughts vanish leaving the Self alone as the residue.
Q.: The difficulty lies in reaching the Self.
B.: There is no reaching it at all because it is eternal, here and now. If the Self were to be gained anew, it would not be permanent. What is impermanent is not worth striving for.
Q.: How to obtain equilibrium of mind? What is the best way?
[Tom’s comments: We will see Bhagavan subtly rebuking the questioner here – Bhagavan has advised self-enquiry in which the mind is no more, and instead the questioner is asking ‘how to obtain equilibrium of the mind?’]
B.: Just now you were asked to investigate the mind. It is eliminated and the Real you remain over. Let your standpoint become that of Jnana and then the world will be found to be not apart from the Self. Drishtin jnanamayim kritva pashyaet Brahmamayam jagat [Tom: ‘Having made your outlook one of Jnana, one will see the world full of Brahman’ ~Tejobindu Upanishad 1.29; this was a phrase often repeated by Sri Ramana, eg. also see Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk 238, which is likely a record of the same conversation given here]. So, the question is one of outlook. The Atman pervades all. You have now lost hold of your Self and go on doubting about other things. Find your Real Self and all your problems and doubts will disappear.
Q.: But how to find this Real Self?
B.: Are there two ‘I’s in the same One? How do you know your own existence now? Do you see yourself with these eyes? Investigate into yourself. How does this question arise? Do I remain to ask it or not? Can I find my Self as in a mirror? Because your outlook has, owing to the poisonous delusion of ignorance, become outward-bent, it has lost sight of the actual Self and your vision is external. The Self is not to be found in external objects. Turn your gaze within and plunge within; you will be the Self.
Q.: It is said that the unknowable can be attained only by the grace of the unknowable.
B.: Yes. He helps you to Realise, if only you would forsake the external world of word, name and form. Such is His merciful Grace.
Q.: How to kill the mind, since the death of the mind is said to bring about Realisation easily?
B.: Will a thief betray himself? Will the mind find itself? The mind cannot kill the mind. You abandon what is real and are holding on to the mind which is unreal and also trying to find what this unreal mind is. Was there any mind in your sleep? No. It is now here. It is therefore impermanent. Can the mind be found by you? You are not the mind. You think you are the mind and therefore ask me how it is to be checked. If it is there it can be checked. But it does not exist at all. Understand this truth by search. Search for unreality is fruitless. Therefore seek the reality, i.e., the Self. That is the way to ruin the mind. There is only one thing Real, and that is Reality, which is the same as man’s true Self.
Q.: What is the nature of the true Self of man? Is it always happy?
B.: It alone is what IS: the ‘other elements’ are only appearances. Diversity is not the nature of the Real. We read the printed characters on the newspaper but ignore the paper which is the background. Similarly you are obsessed with the modifications of the mind and ignore the ever-present background of pure consciousness. Whose fault is it?
Q.: Is there a limit to the Real Self?
B.: What is the Real Self?
Q.: The Individual soul is the only self I know. According to Bhagavan it is unreal.
B.: What is the individual soul? What is the cosmic soul? Is there any difference between the two or are they identical? Any appearances are bound to disappear. Anything created will certainly be destroyed. The eternal is not born – consequently, nor can it die. We are now confounding appearances on Reality with Reality itself. Any appearance carries its own end in itself. Can there be anything that appears newly? If you cannot find the Self through the Jnana-vichara method, surrender to the substratum of appearances unreservedly; then, actual Reality will be left over as the residue.
Q.: What happens to a man after death?
B.: Engage yourself in the living present. The future will take care of itself. There is no need to worry about the future. The state before creation, the process of creation, etc., etc. are all dealt with in the scriptures in order that you may finally endeavour to know the present. Because you say you are born, therefore they say, yes, and add that God created you. But do you see God or anything else in your sleep? If God be real why does He not shine forth in your sleep also? You are always – now the same as you were in sleep.
You are not different from the one in sleep. Thus, why should there be any difference in the feelings or experiences governing the two states? Did you ask, while asleep, the question regarding your birth? Did you ask then, where do I go after death? Why think of all this now in the wakeful state? Let what is born think of its birth, the remedy, the cause and the ultimate results. What is birth? Is it of the ‘I-thought’ or of the body? Is ‘I’ separate from the body or identical with it? How did this ‘I-thought’ arise? Is the ‘I-thought’ your nature? If not, what is your Real nature?
Q.: To whom to ask these questions?
B.: Exactly – that is it. There is no end to it all.
Q.: Are we then to merely keep quiet?
B.: Doubts cease when your apparent ignorance is transcended.
Q.: How did this ignorance originally arise?
B.: Is ignorance asking you, ‘Why have I arisen?’. It is you who are asking the question. So, find out who you are. Then other things will take care of themselves.
Q.: The vichara again! Why should I engage in this Atma-vichara?
B.: Because if Atma-vichara is not pursued, loka-vichara creeps in [Tom: Loka means world, vichara means enquiry, Atma means self]. Engage in Self-investigation; thereby the non-self disappears. The true Self is left over. This is self-investigation of the Self. The one word ‘தான்’ [Tom: ‘Thaan’ or ‘Self’ or ‘oneself’] is equivalent to the mind, body, man, individual, the Supreme and all else.
This Satsang arose after an hour of silent self-inquiry, with the teaching emerging from a settled recognition rather than from theory. Tom begins by revisiting the familiar Advaita pointer, “We are not the doer, we are not the enjoyer”.
He then reads Question and Answer 13 from the text Self Enquiry in the The Collected Works of Sri Ramana Maharshi, turning attention to Ramana’s uncompromising instruction on action, agency, and the Self. The emphasis is on the mind resting in its source so completely that even subtle movements such as “Is this right? Is that wrong? Should I do this or that?” are seen as vasanic ripples to be noticed and not followed.
From here, Tom speaks about Ramana’s “indifference” not as dullness or avoidance, but as the natural non-grasping of a heart absorbed in the Divine. When happiness is tasted at the core, the world is not rejected, yet its pull softens; functioning continues, prarabdha unfolds, but the “I am the one doing” thought is not given a foothold.
For seasoned seekers, this meeting points less to managing life and more to a radical, practical abidance: staying as the Self while activity and karma play out on the surface. The flavour is one of resolute devotion — Bhakti expressed as a quiet refusal to leave the Self for the mind’s next concern, and a willingness to let love of God outshine every other priority.
This video was recorded live during a Satsang meeting with Tom Das on January 1, 2026 and put together by volunteers.
This is one of a series of introductory articles – please see the homepage of tomdas.com for more introductory articles.
This post is also an extract of a much larger post which you can read here which provides extensive quotes from Shankara, Gaudapada, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Yoga Vasistha and Ribhu Gita to give scriptural backing to the 20 points below.
There was a particular conceptual world-view that great sages such as Sri Ramana Maharshi encouraged us to take on, if we are able to, in order to facilitate our spritual practice and thereby attain self-realisation or liberation.
For lower seekers of liberation, meaning for those whose minds were unable to be open to the higher teachings, Sri Ramana Maharshi and the great sages often did not give the teachings we will outline below, but for those whose minds were ready and ripe, he would often encourage this following view of creation and the world, as it is this conceptual view that most readily allows the seeker’s mind to properly do self-enquiry and thereby realise the Self.
However, rest assured, that regardless of how one conceives of the world, meaning that even if you do NOT agree with the teachings below, if one makes an earnest attempt to understand and carry out Self-Enquiry, liberation will be assured irrespective of your conceptual view on liberation and the world. Then you will discover the truth for yourself.
A warning/disclaimer
The teachings that are given below, whilst they are open to anyone, are very radical in their nature. It is not recommended that you read them if you are not an earnest seeker of liberation or if your mind is likely to be destabilised by a more radical notion of the nature of the universe or what liberation looks like.
We will see that these same exact teachings have been given for many centuries, but traditionally these teachings would only be given to a prepared mind, a mind prepared by devotion, faith and loving surrender. This infuses the mind and heart with an energy of peace, calm and loving kindness and happiness. It is this stable peaceful mind that is most able to receive these teachings, although it is possible there can be some exceptions to this.
Some people can find these teachings quite distressing and destabilising and the author of this post takes no responsibility for providing this information to you that has been traditionally written about and taught for many centuries and is already in the public domain.
Be open minded to receive these teachings
Similarly, the ego-mind will often reject these teachings when it first hears them. Often a person’s ego will only be able to come to these teachings once it has suffered enough. The more insight the ego has into suffering, and the more it is able to contemplate the causes of suffering, then the more likely it is able to appreciate the truth of these teachings.
Usually only a sharp intellect is usually able to discern these teachings. Many people read these types of spiritual teachings and immediately project their own preconceived ideas onto them, and so distort the teachings from the very beginning. If we keep an open mind and read the range of quotes given, we will inevitably see what they are truly pointing too. If we cling to our own preconceived notions then we are less likely to receive these teachings in the way they were intended.
These teachings are rare and often misunderstood
Many prominent spiritual teachers, including prominent teachers of advaita and non-duality, give out distorted versions of these teaching, so it is important to be able to temporarily put aside all you have learnt whilst reading or listening to these teachings if you really want to understand what the intended communication actually is.
It is also important to not assume that all spiritual teachers are teaching their own versions of the Same One Teaching, and be open to the fact that they may be teaching very different things; just because a teaching is helpful, doesn’t mean it is liberating; and just because a teaching isn’t liberating, it doesn’t mean it will not be helpful to you.
My recommendation is that you listen to what Sri Ramana Maharshi has to say, and the best way to do that now that his body has passed is to read his own writings themselves.
The Jnani does not see the world
Sri Ramana often said that the Jnani (self-realised or liberate Sage) is totally unaware of the body, the mind and the world, and that the liberated sage also has no awareness of the 3 states of dream, deep sleep or waking, all of which are a projection of ignorance (aka the mind). We will see below that Sri Shankara says the same, as does his guru’s guru, Sri Gaudapada, as well as his student, Sri Suresvara. The quotes given in the later part of this post will concentrate on demonstrating that this was indeed the teachings of these great teachers.
The Conceptual Teaching Framework for the Teachings
The following conceptual teaching framework is consistently given from the Vedas, the Upanishads, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Gaudapada, Sri Shankara, and Sri Suresvara as well as others such as Ramakrishna, Vasistha and Ashtavakra, and it is this larger framework that the quotes that will be given later fit into. It is essentially a combination of the Ajata Vada and Dristi Sristi Vada views. The reason for different views on how the world is created in explained by Sri Ramana Maharshi in his answer to question 10 in his text Self-Enquiry (click here to download the text) as follows:
Question: If the entire universe is of the form of mind, then does it not follow that the universe is an illusion? If that be the case, why is the creation of the universe mentioned in the Veda?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: There is no doubt whatsoever that the universe is the merest illusion. The principal purport of the Veda is to make known the true Brahman, after showing the apparent universe to be false. It is for this purpose that the Vedas admit the creation of the world and not for any other reason. Moreover, for the less qualified persons creation is taught, that is the phased evolution of prakriti (primal nature), mahat-tattva (the great intellect), tanmatras (the subtle essences), bhutas (the gross elements), the world, the body, etc., from Brahman [Tom: ie. the lower seeker is taught a traditional creation model of the world in which the subtle elements progressively evolve into more complex structures, etc], while for the more qualified simultaneous creation is taught, that is, that this world arose like a dream on account of one’s own thoughts induced by the defect of not knowing oneself as the Self [Tom: ie. the defect of not knowing oneself is ignorance, and this creates thoughts, and these project the world akin to a dream, so the world is a creation of ignorance or delusion]. Thus, from the fact that the creation of the world has been described in different ways it is clear that the purport of the Vedas rests only in teaching the true nature of Brahman after showing somehow or other the illusory nature of the universe. That the world is illusory, every one can directly know in the state of realization which is in the form of experience of one’s bliss-nature
Without understanding the creation framework that the teachings are operating in, the teachings are much more difficult to follow. The opposite is also true, in that understanding this framework may greatly aid our journey to liberation. Please note that all of the following points have strong scriptural support and form the clearest most consistent interpretation of the scriptures according to the great sages who have proclaimed them – see the recommended reading list for books that explain these teachings more thoroughly and in greater detail:
1. There is only the Self and you are That. Self-realisation and liberation are synonyms and they represent the highest possible ‘attainment’ in which duality, suffering and any sense of individuality are competely destroyed never to return again. See a summary of Sri Ramana Maharshi’s teachings here for more on this and how to realise this for yourself.
2. In the Self there are no objects or arisings or appearances at all (this is the doctrine of ajata vada – no phenomena are created or born in it, not even as an appearance, see link for more). The Self is:
homogenous (the same throughout, without any variation whatsoever)
unchanging (without possibility of change arising within or being projected upon it)
‘one without a second’
formless (ie. without form and without the possibility of any form arising in it)
without karma (without action or movement, also known as ‘silence’ or ‘stillness’) or the possibility of karma/action (karma literally means action or change, more commonly refering to the chain of cause and effect)
without thoughts or the possibility of thoughts
non-dual (without duaity)
devoid of time and space and therefore devoid of samara (the cycle of birth and death)
blissful – it is heaven, the culmination of all desires, everything you have ever wanted and more, devoid of suffering and without any problems or questions or doubts.
Peace, Silence and Stillness. See herefor what it really means to be still according to Sri Ramana Maharshi.
Infinte unconditional Love – the Self is the only infinite unconditional love, infinite unconditional love not being possible in the realtive realm of objects, people and things, all of which are conditional, under the sway of cause and effect and temporary.
Divine, heavenly, godly
devoid of the appearances or arising of the 3 states (waking, dream and deep sleep)
devoid of body and mind and thought
without ignorance or the possibility of ignorance or any arisings ever arising in it
without describable characteristics; although it is often said to be Sat Chit Ananda, this is a metaphorical description, all descriptions of the Self ultimately fall short and can only be metaphorical at best
unable to be conceived, understood or thought about. All metaphors ultimately fall short when trying to describe or explain the Self, even though they may be provisionally be used as a pedagogical device (teaching aid).
The Self is also known as Turiya (the fourth), Samadhi, Nirvilkalpa Samadhi, Pure consciousness (the word ‘pure’ refers to the absense of arisings), Pure Being, Truth, Reality, True Nature, Jagrat-Susupti (waking-sleep), God, Heaven, the Abosolute, Brahman, etc.
3. The self is both the only ‘thing’ that is real and the only ‘thing’ that exists, although it is not actually ‘a thing’ at all. To know the Self is to know all, and there is no real ‘knowing’ of the self, the word ‘knowledge’ being a metaphor for the removal of ignorance or another word for the Self. To know the Self is just to be the Self devoid of any phenomenal arisings. See here for more on this teaching which explains the true nature of Jnana, or self-knowledge, according to Shankara, Ramana and the scriptures. Reality and Existence are in fact synonyms and the idea that something can be both unreal but still appear or arise is fallacious (a false teaching) and not a teaching found anywhere in the Vedanta scriptures or the Upanishads – see here for more on this teaching. Also see this article here: The Meaning of Real and Unreal in Advaita Vedanta
4. It is due to ignorance that the range of phenomenal appearances appear to arise – ie. the appearance of one’s apparent body-mind, apparent other people and living beings, and apparent things such as tables, chairs, cars, trees, plants, planets, celestial bodies and stars,etc – all of these are a mere projection of ignorance, as explained by Sri Ramana Maharshi in his answer to question 10 in his text Self-Enquiry which you can read here. This projection is known as ‘duality’. In the Self or in non-duality, there is no duality. We will see Shankara and others clearly give this teaching below many times. It is also explained in this video here:
5. This root ignorance also goes by other names such as ego, mind, maya(illusion), imagination, hallucination, nescience, delusion, the I-thought and the I am the body-mind idea. (See the text Self-Enquiry by Sri Ramana Maharshi where this is explained in the answer to question 3) Therefore it could equally just as well be said that the world (ie. body, mind and world) are a projection of any of the above words.
In some teachings it is said that there are 2 forms of ignorance, the macro-form called maya which projects the body mind and world, and the micro-form called ignorance which gives rise to the individual sense of being a person, and that vedanta teachings removes only ignorance, the limited sense of being a jiva, but not maya, and so the body-mind world continues after liberation. Please note this is not the teaching given in the Upanishads or by Shankara at all and is a later development by later commentators who were not able to understand the radical nature of the original true and liberating teachings, and changing the teachings in this way renders a potentially liberating teaching potentially non-liberating. We repeatedly see how the terms ignorance and maya are used interchangably throughout the scriptures.
6. It is also explained that ignorance creates the subtle sense of being identified as a seperate entity (ego), and then this subtle entity (ego) itself projects the body and mind and identifies with this, which is called being a jiva (a living embodied entity). Subsequently, or simultaneously, depending on how it is expounded, the ego also projects the appearance of an environment for the body-mind entity which we call the world, and within this world the body-mind entity roams and experiences various sense objects via the body and subtle objects via the mind (thoughts, feelings, emotions, imaginings). This is explained succinctly in the text ‘Who Am I?’ by Sri Ramana Maharshi – I recommend the Sri Sadhu Om version which is the more accurate of the main translations.
7. In this same way the ego or ignorance projects the 3 states which it then experiences in turn. This is all the realm of ignorance. When objects arise, it is called either the dream or waking state, and when objects temporarily cease, that is called deep sleep. In fact the scriptures go on to explain here that we could say there are only 2 states, one called dream, when object appear, and another called sleep, when there are no objects, and that what we call the waking state is merely another form of dream. These refer to ignorance and reality respectively, or maya (illusion) and satya (truth or reality) – see here for this rare teaching.
8. This ignorance or ego or maya is itself not a real entity and in truth (ie. in self-realisation) it is ‘seen’ to have never actually occurred at all. Nothing (phenomenal) ever really happened at all. This is the ajata teaching, that nothing was ever created or arose at all. There was never any ignorance/maya or even any appearance of ignorance.
9. Within the waking dream, there is a specific way for the apparent ego to apparently remove ignorance (self-enquiry, also known as surrender; these are analgous to the paths of knowledge, jnana, and devotion, bhakti), and when ignorance is removed, the entire effects of ignorance, namely all phenomenal arisings, also cease, the effects no longer having a cause to sustain them. Karma or action refers to movement which can only occur. This specific method is clearly explained in the The Path of Sri Ramana – part 1 and in the book The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss by Michael Langford, which you can download for free from the links given. The method specifially involves discovering who or what you really are – this is done by allowing the mind to quieten, allowing the attention to no longer go towards gross and subtle objects, and with attention inward turned discovering the true nature of the ‘I’ or ‘I Am’. Importantly no objects/ phenomena arise at the time of the discovery – it is Pure Self alone, devoid of duality/objects. The method is also explained in brief here and supporting quotes from Shankara and others can be found here.
Just because the waking dream is ultimately an illusion, it doesn’t mean there is not a specific method to escape it. Effort on this specific path is required for liberation.
It is important to listen not only to our own hearts and inner knowing, but to also listen to the words and teachings of the Guru who has already crossed over to the other shore of liberation. Why? Because even though the same teaching the True Guru (Sat Guru) gives is already shining and being sung in our hearts, due to ignorance our minds are turned outwards and emeshed with thoughts, we are often not able to truly listen to our Hearts (the True Guru Within) and instead our ego distorts the teachings. Therefore the Guru’s words are supremely important in aiding us who are genuinely interested in liberation and this is why tradition exaults the value of the Guru on the path to Self-Realisation.
There is no other newer or quicker way that can be discovered to know or realise the Self. This is not a dogmatic assertion, but should become clear once you start to understand the teachings and why Self-Enquiry is the only way to liberation, although the same process can go by other names. Similarly there is no different way for men versus women, for this, like any other science, is universal and is applicable for all.
10. This removal of ignorance is not a real thing at all, ignorance itself being unreal, the whole thing being an imagination that never happened. This paradoxical teaching only appears paradoxical to the mind, which is unable to understand it, the mind being a product or the nature of ignorance. In truth there was only the Self, which cannot even be said to be called the self, as it is beyond all words and concepts, but it is called the Self or witness (the self is not truly a witness) for the purpose of the teaching only – see here for more on this teaching.
11. In self-realisation only the real remains, and the false or unreal no longer appears or exists; only the Self remains and what was previously called non-self, ie. all objects, these no longer remain or appear/arise. When the scriptures say that the jnani sees all phenomenal arisings and objects as being unreal or being illusory, this is a lower teaching for those whose minds are unable to fathom that the jnani is (and themselves are) not a body-mind entity at all. In truth the illusory appearances no longer appear at all and the jnani is not a person.
12. Similarly, the self cannot be known by a body-mind entity or by the mind or the ego. There is no such thing as a ‘person who is self-realised’, although it may appear that way to a person (the ignorant onlooker). There is only the Self and you are that. This also means that, relatively speaking, a jnani cannot be identified by the way they act or behave in the world – what is important is the teaching they give – are they giving a liberating teaching either verbally or non-verbally?
13. Is is the ego or ignorance that creates or projects the world, so the ego is also known as Brahma (the creator deity) or Hiranyagarbha (the cosmic womb or cosmic egg that gives rise to the world) or Isvara (the creator and ruler of the world) or Maya (the magical power that creates the appearance of the world). Sometimes it is said that all creation proceeds from the Self, but this is a simpler or lower teaching for those who consider the world to be real. See here for more on levels of the teaching and how they are taught.
14. Whilst all phenomenal arisings are ultimately illusory, as long as the body mind and world appears, ‘you’ (ego) will think yourself to be a person (a body-mind entity, ie. a jiva) living in a world of people places and things (the world or jagat in Sanskrit). This world is governed by apparent rules and forces which can be personified as a ruler deity (Isvara, which means ruler or Lord). These three, jiva, jagat and isvara, are all illusory.
15. As long as the body mind and world appear, we will consider ourselves to be a jiva (person) living in a jagat (world), we will suffer accordingly, as these appearances are downstream from the root ignorance. Whilst this is the case, there is a clear method, often called Self-Enquiry, also known as the Path of Knowledge, that can be followed to attain liberation – this involves effort and application of the mind (as explained in the video above at point 12). Note that this means it is therefore not possible for appearances to arise and be experienced and simultaneously not indentify as a person/jiva or identify with what is arising. It is not possible for objects to arise in our consciousness and for ignorance to not be fully present. This is explained further in this video here:
16. The self only has to be realised once, and can only be realised once, and then that is the end of the spiritual journey. Then illusion and ignorance ends once and for all. Then all duality and suffering end once and for all, duality being another term for the arising of phenomena. There is no possibility of sadhana after realisation or integration after realisation, for there is no action or entities that exist after realisation. There is also no possibility of falling back into duality again – if that occurs, then it means the self was never truly realised to being with. The self can only be ‘experienced’ once, it can only be ‘abided’ in once, it can only be ‘known’ once (it cannot be truly experienced or known or abided in as it is not an object or container and no words truly apply, all words just being metaphors or pedagogical devices), and then the entire house of cards that is duality and maya and ignorance ends.
Expositions that advise repeated abidance or resting in the Self are just teaching devices to encourage repeated efforts in sadhana, for if we ‘rest’ in the Self just once, then Self is known in its entirely, that is all that is needed. Then there will be no question, no doubts, nor will there be possibility of questions or doubts. Whilst there can be degrees of ignorance and delusion, there are no degrees of liberation or self-knolwedge, which is one. Similarly ideas of different forms of liberation such as jivanmukti (liberation in the body whilst alive) and videhamukti (liberation after the body has died) are ultimately false view given as lower teachings for those requiring explanations on the level of ignorance – this is explained in Sri Ramana Maharshi’s answer to Question 40 in the text Self-Enquiry.
17. The idea that the sage is a person living in the world is only from the view of the ignorant ‘onlooker’ who considers themselves to be a peron, and so projects their own jivahood onto that of the ‘sage’. What we call the body-mind of a sage is in fact a projection of our own self/ignorance. The true Jnani is the self, devoid of thoughts or arisings. See here for more on this teaching. Ideas such as the ego of a Jnani being like a burnt rope or some kinds of karma persisting in liberation are lower teachings, as Sri Ramana Maharshi has explained here.
Relatively speaking, this also means that we are unable to tell who a True Jnani or Sat Guru is by outward signs such as the behaviour of their body-mind; the apparent Jnani can appear and manifest to us in a multitude of ways, according to what suits our own needs and our own ideas.
18. The parts of Maya (the appearance or waking dream) that lead us towards bhakti and self-enquiry and therefore self-realisation or liberation are called the teaching and the teacher. The teaching and the apparent teacher are themselves projections of ego, manifested by our desire for liberation, hence when the student is ready the teacher will appear. See here for more on this teaching.
19. Just as there is in truth only One Self, there is actually (if we concede to the existance of ignorance, which is truly non-existent, like the snake in the rope – see the quotes below for more on this) only one ignorance or one ego. There is only one jiva, just like in a dream. This is called Ek Jiva Vada (the doctrine of one jiva) – see here for more. Similarly, just as there is One Self and one ignorance, there is only One Teacher in truth (and you are That).
This means that only we have to realise our self – there is nobody else to save, no other sentient beings that need ‘enlightening’. When we realise the self, the whole world simultaneously attains liberation, for truth is non-dual. In realisation, there are no others, and where there are others, that is maya/ignorance. This is why Sri Ramana said that the greatest service we can render the world is our own realisation.
20. Note that whilst it is often said that it is the Self that witnesses or perceives the world, the Self, as we will see from the quotes below, is not a perceiver or a witness at all. To be technically correct, it is the ego or mind that sees the world. The self never sees any objects or any things, these objects and things being duality, and the self never admits of any duality or ignorance or multiplicity whatsoever. The self cannot see, hear, feel, think, etc, these all being unreal effects of ignorance only. Even to say the Self knows itself is mere poetic sentiment – the most we can say about the Self is that it IS.
Much of this teaching is given in the book Sadhanai Saram by Sri Sadhu Om, which bears repeated reading and study for those who need it, as well as in the book The Path of Sri Ramana which also explains much of the above but in less detail and can be found on the same link as Sadhanai Saram above.
This teaching is also given in Ribhu Gita, Yoga Vasista and many other places too – please click on the links for texts which concicely summarise these teachings in a wonderful way. See the recommended reading list for more.
Now, in the following multitude of quotes we will concentrate on the nature of the world, and how the Jnani doesn’t see the body mind or world because they are all non-existant in truth, as explained by Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Shankara, Sri Gaudapada (the Guru of Shankara’s Guru) and Sri Suresvara (Shankara’s student).
See here for the rest of this articlewhich provides extensive quotes from Shankara, Gaudapada, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Yoga Vasistha and Ribhu Gita to give scriptural backing to the 20 points above.
May you attain liberation!
May you make contact with the Grace of God!
May you be lovingly ferried to the shore of liberation, which is just your own Self!
May your mind be turned inwards and thereby find Peace!
Tom Das 