Category: Talks with Ramana Maharshi

Will Maharshi extend his Grace to me too ? – Ramana

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Will Maharshi extend His Grace to me too ?


An aristocratic lady looking very intelligent, though pensive, asked:

“We had heard of you, Maharajji, as the kindest and noblest soul. We had long desired to have your darsan1. I came here once before, on the 14th of last month, but could not remain in your holy presence as long as I wished. Being a woman and also young, I could not stand the people around, and so broke away hurriedly after asking one or two simple questions. There are no holy men like you in our part of the country. I am happy as I have everything I want. But I do not have that peace of mind which brings happiness. I now come here seeking your blessing so that I may gain it.”

M.: Bhakti fulfils your desire.

D.: I want to know how I can gain that peace of mind. Kindly be pleased to advise me.
M.: Yes – devotion and surrender.

D.: Am I worthy of being a devotee?
M.: Everyone can be a devotee. Spiritual fare is common to all and never denied to anyone – be the person old or young, male or female.

D.: That is exactly what I am anxious to know. I am young and a grihini (housewife). There are duties of grihastha dharma (the household way of life). Is devotion consistent with such a position?
M.: Certainly. What are you? You are not the body. You are Pure Consciousness. Grihastha dharma and the world are only phenomena appearing on that Pure Consciousness. It remains unaffected. What prevents you from being your own Self?

D.: Yes I am already aware of the line of teaching of Maharshi. It is the quest for the Self. But my doubt persists if such quest is compatible with grihastha life.
M.: The Self is always there. It is you. There is nothing but you. Nothing can be apart from you. The question of compatibility or otherwise does not arise.

D.: I shall be more definite. Though a stranger, I am obliged to confess the cause of my anxiety. I am blessed with children. A boy – a good brahmachari – passed away in February. I was grief-stricken. I was disgusted with this life. I want to devote myself to spiritual life. But my duties as a grihini do not permit me to lead a retired life. Hence my doubt.
M.: Retirement means abidance in the Self. Nothing more. It is not leaving one set of surroundings and getting entangled in another set, nor even leaving the concrete world and becoming involved in a mental world.

The birth of the son, his death, etc., are seen in the Self only.

Recall the state of sleep. Were you aware of anything happening? If the son or the world be real, should they not be present with you in sleep? You cannot deny your existence in sleep. Nor can you deny you were happy then. You are the same person now speaking and raising doubts. You are not happy, according to you. But you were happy in sleep. What has transpired in the meantime that happiness of sleep has broken down? It is the rise of ego. That is the new arrival in the jagrat state.

There was no ego in sleep. The birth of the ego is called the birth of the person. There is no other kind of birth. Whatever is born is bound to die. Kill the ego: there is no fear of recurring death for what is once dead. The Self remains even after the death of the ego. That is Bliss – that is Immortality.

D.: How is that to be done?
M.: See for whom these doubts exist. Who is the doubter? Who is the thinker? That is the ego. Hold it. The other thoughts will die away. The ego is left pure; see where from the ego arises. That is pure consciousness.

D.: It seems difficult. May we proceed by bhakti marga?
M.: It is according to individual temperament and equipment. Bhakti is the same as vichara.

D.: I mean meditation, etc.
M.: Yes. Meditation is on a form. That will drive away other thoughts. The one thought of God will dominate others. That is concentration. The object of meditation is thus the same as that of vichara.

D.: Do we not see God in concrete form?
M.: Yes. God is seen in the mind. The concrete form may be seen. Still it is only in the devotee’s mind. The form and appearance of God-manifestation are determined by the mind of the devotee. But it is not the finality. There is the sense of duality.

It is like a dream-vision. After God is perceived, vichara commences. That ends in Realisation of the Self. Vichara is the ultimate route.

Of course, a few find vichara practicable. Others find bhakti easier.

D.: Did not Mr. Brunton find you in London? Was it only a dream?

M.: Yes. He had the vision. He saw me in his mind.

D.: Did he not see this concrete form?
M.: Yes, still in his mind.

D.: How shall I reach the Self?
M.: There is no reaching the Self. If the Self were to be reached, it would mean that the Self is not now and here, but that it should be got anew. What is got afresh, will also be lost. So it will be impermanent. What is not permanent is not worth striving for. So I say, the Self is not reached.

You are the Self. You are already That. The fact is that you are ignorant of your blissful state. Ignorance supervenes and draws a veil over the pure Bliss. Attempts are directed only to remove this ignorance. This ignorance consists in wrong knowledge. The wrong knowledge consists in the false identification of the Self with the body, the mind, etc. This false identity must go and there remains the Self.

D.: How is that to happen?
M.: By enquiry into the Self.

D.: It is difficult. Can I realise the Self, Maharaj? Kindly tell me. It looks so difficult.
M.: You are already the Self. Therefore realisation is common to everyone. Realisation knows no difference in the aspirants. This very doubt, “Can I realise?” or the feeling, “I have not realised” are the obstacles. Be free from these also.

D.: But there should be the experience. Unless I have the experience how can I be free from these afflicting thoughts?
M.: These are also in the mind. They are there because you have identified yourself with the body. If this false identity drops away, ignorance vanishes and Truth is revealed.

D.: Yes, I feel it difficult. There are disciples of Bhagavan who have had His Grace and realised without any considerable difficulty. I too wish to have that Grace. Being a woman and living at a long distance I cannot avail myself of Maharshi’s holy company as much as I would wish and as often as I would. Possibly I may not be able to return. I request Bhagavan’s Grace. When I am back in my place, I want to remember Bhagavan. May Bhagavan be pleased to grant my prayer!

M.: Where are you going? You are not going anywhere. Even supposing you are the body, has your body come from Lucknow to Tiruvannamalai? You had simply sat in the car and one conveyance or another had moved; and finally you say that you have come here. The fact is that you are not the body. The Self does not move. The world moves in it. You are only what you are. There is no change in you. So then even after what looks like departure from here, you are here and there and everywhere. These scenes shift.

As for Grace – Grace is within you. If it is external it is useless. Grace is the Self. You are never out of its operation. Grace is always there.

D.: I mean that when I remember your form, my mind should be strengthened and that response should come from your side too. I should not be left to my individual efforts which are after all only weak.
M.: Grace is the Self. I have already said, “If you remember Bhagavan, you are prompted to do so by the Self.” Is not Grace already there? Is there a moment when Grace is not operating in you? Your remembrance is the forerunner of Grace. That is the response, that is the stimulus, that is the Self and that is Grace.

There is no cause for anxiety.

D.: Can I engage in spiritual practice, even remaining in samsara?
M.: Yes, certainly. One ought to do so.

D.: Is not samsara a hindrance? Do not all the holy books advocate renunciation?
M.: Samsara is only in your mind. The world does not speak out, saying ‘I am the world’. Otherwise, it must be ever there – not excluding your sleep. Since it is not in sleep it is impermanent. Being impermanent it has no stamina. Having no stamina it is easily subdued by the Self. The Self alone is permanent. Renunciation is non-identification of the Self with the non-self. On the disappearance of ignorance the non-self ceases to exist. That is true renunciation.

D.: Why did you then leave your home in your youth?
M.: That is my prarabdha (destiny). One’s course of conduct in this life is determined by one’s prarabdha. My prarabdha is this way. Your prarabdha is that way.

D.: Should I not also renounce?
M.: If that had been your prarabdha, the question would not have arisen.

D.: I should therefore remain in the world and engage in spiritual practice. Well, can I get realisation in this life?
M.: This has been already answered. You are always the Self. Earnest efforts never fail. Success is bound to result.

D.: Will Maharshi be pleased to extend Grace to me also!
Maharshi smiled and said “Um! Um!” With blessings and salutation, the interview came to a close and the party departed directly.

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
29th September, 1936
Talk 251.

Why do you say you are a sinner?

Why do you say you are a sinner? – Ramana

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Why do you say you are a sinner ?



D.: I am a sinner. I do not perform religious sacrifices (homas), etc. Shall I have painful rebirths for that reason? Pray save me!

M.: Why do you say that you are a sinner? Your trust in God is sufficient to save you from rebirths. Cast all burden on Him.

In the Tiruvachagam it is said: “Though I am worse than a dog, you have graciously undertaken to protect me. This delusion of birth and death is maintained by you. Moreover, am I the person to sift and judge? Am I the Lord here? Oh Maheswara! It is for you to roll me through bodies (by births and deaths) or to keep me fixed at your own feet.” Therefore have faith and that will save you.

D.: Sir, I have faith – and still I encounter difficulties. Weakness and giddiness afflict me after I practise concentration.

M.: Breath-control (pranayama) properly performed should increase one’s strength.

D.: I have my professional work and yet I want to be in perpetual dhyana. Will they conflict with each other?

M.: There will be no conflict. As you practise both and develop your powers you will be able to attend to both. You will begin to look on business as a dream. Says the Bhagavad Gita: “That which is the night of all beings, for the disciplined man is the time of waking; when other beings are waking, then is it night for the sage who sees.” (11.69.)

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
4th February, 1935
Talk 31.

Let go the passing thoughts...

Let go the passing thoughts – Ramana

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Let go the passing thoughts and hold on to the Unchanging Self



Another pilgrim asked: I am a man with a family. Is it possible for those in a family to get release, and if so how?
M.: Now what is family? Whose family is it? If the answers to these questions are found the other questions solve themselves.
Tell me: Are you in the family, or is the family in you?

The visitor did not answer. Then Sri Bhagavan’s answer was continued: Who are you? You include three aspects of life, namely, the waking, the dream and the sleep states. You were not aware of the family and their ties in your sleep and so these questions did not arise then. But now you are aware of the family and their ties and therefore you seek release. But you are the same person throughout.

D.: Because I now feel that I am in the family it is right that I should seek release.
M.: You are right. But consider and say: Are you in the family or is the family in you?
Another visitor interposed: What is family?
M.: That’s it. It must be known.

D.: There is my wife and there are also my children. They are dependent on me. That is the family.
M.: Do the members of the family bind your mind? Or do you bind yourself to them? Do they come and say to you “We form your family. Be with us”? Or do you consider them as your family and that you are bound to them?

D.: I consider them as my family and feel bound to them.
M.: Quite so. Because you think that so-and-so is your wife and so-and-soare your children you also think that you are bound to them.
These thoughts are yours. They owe their very existence to you. You can entertain these thoughts or relinquish them. The former is bondage and the latter is release.

D.: It is not quite clear to me.
M.: You must exist in order that you may think. You may think these thoughts or other thoughts. The thoughts change but not you. Let go the passing thoughts and hold on to the unchanging Self. The thoughts form your bondage. If they are given up, there is release. The bondage is not external. So no external remedy need be sought for release. It is within your competence to think and thus to get bound or to cease thinking and thus be free.

D.: But it is not easy to remain without thinking.
M.: You need not cease thinking. Only think of the root of the thoughts; seek it and find it. The Self shines by itself. When that is found the thoughts cease of their own accord. That is freedom from bondage.

D.: Yes. I understand it now. I have learnt it now. Is a Guru necessary?
M.: So long as you consider yourself as an individual, a Guru is necessary to show to you that you are not bound by limitations and that your nature is to be free from limitations.

Talks With Ramana Maharshi
2nd October, 1938
Talk 524.

Divinity and Regrets

If Divine, why regrets? – Ramana

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If Divine, why do we have regrets?



A middle-aged Andhra visitor:

D.: A man is said to be divine. Why then does he have regrets?
M.: Divinity refers to the essential nature. The regrets are of Prakriti1.

D.: How is one to overcome regrets?
M.: By realising the Divinity in him.

D.: How?
M.: By practice.

D.: What kind of practice?
M.: Meditation.

D.: Mind is not steady while meditating.
M.: It will be all right by practice.

D.: How is the mind to be steadied?
M.: By strengthening it.

D.: How to strengthen it?
M.: It grows strong by satsanga (the company of the wise).

D.: Shall we add prayers, etc.?
M.: Yes.

D.: What of the one who has no regrets?
M.: He is an accomplished Yogi2. There is no question about him.

D.: People cite disasters, e.g., earthquakes, famines, etc., to disprove God. How shall we meet their contention?
M.: Where from have they come – those who argue?

D.: They say, “Nature”.
M.: Some call it “Nature” – others “God”.

D.: Are we to keep anything against a rainy day; or to live a precarious life for spiritual attainments?
M.: God looks after everything.

1   Nature
2  One who has achieved a high level of spiritual insight.

Talks With Ramana Maharshi
Talk 377.

Mind Control

Mind is Turbulent, how to control ? – Ramana

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Mind is Turbulent like a storm, how to control such a mind?



In a conversation with an Andhra visitor,

Sri Bhagavan quoted:

Asamsayam mahabaho mano durnigraham chalam
Abhyasena tu kaunteya vairagyena cha grihyate
Bhagavad Gita, Ch. VI, 35

Without doubt, O mighty-armed Hero, the mind is restless, hard to curb.
Yet by constant effort, Partha, matched with detachment – curbed it is.

To explain vairagya Sri Bhagavan again quoted:

Sankalpaprabhavan kamams tyaktva sarvan aseshatah
Manasaivendriyagramam viniyamya samantatah
(Bhagavad Gita, Ch. VI, 24)

Having cast out without remains all longing born of thought for self,
Having drawn in by mind alonehis team of senses from all sides…..

As for practice (abhyasa):

Sanaissanairuparamet buddhya dhritigrihitaya
Atmasamstham manah kritva na kinchidapi chintayet
(Bhagavad Gita, Ch. VI, 25)

By slow approaches let him come to rest, with patient, rock-poised Will;
His mind at home in Selfhood pure, Let him create no thought at all.

Again for jnana:

Yato yato nischarati manas chanchalam asthiram
Tatastato niyamyaitad atmanyeva vasam nayet
(Bhagavad Gita, Ch. VI, 26)

Though over and over the fickle mind, all restlessness, goes wandering,
Still over and over let it regain control, and poise it back in Self.

Talks With Ramana Maharshi
27th March, 1937
Talk 378.

Practice and Dispassion

Practice and Dispassion succeed gradually – Ramana

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Practice and Dispassion succeed gradually – Ramana



Mr. B. C. Das asked why the mind cannot be turned inward in spite of repeated attempts.

M.: It is done by practice and dispassion and that succeeds only gradually. The mind, having been so long a cow accustomed to graze stealthily on others’ estates, is not easily confined to her stall. However much her keeper tempts her with luscious grass and fine fodder, she refuses the first time; then she takes a bit; but her innate tendency to stray away asserts itself; and she slips away; on being repeatedly tempted by the owner, she accustoms herself to the stall; finally even if let loose she would not stray away. Similarly with the mind. If once it finds its inner happiness it will not wander outward.

Talks With Ramana Maharshi
20th June, 1936
Talk 213.

Mysterious Flower

Ego – The Ghost, The Wedding Crasher – Ramana

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The ego is itself unreal. What is the ego? Enquire.



M.: Uncertainties, doubts and fears are natural to everyone until the Self is realised. They are inseparable from the ego, rather they are the ego.

D.: How are they to disappear?
M.: They are the ego. If the ego goes they go with it. The ego is itself unreal. What is the ego? Enquire. The body is insentient and cannot say ‘I’ . The Self is pure consciousness and non-dual. It cannot say ‘I’ . No one says, ‘I’ in sleep. What is the ego then? It is something intermediate between the inert body and the Self. It has no locus standi. If sought for it vanishes like a ghost. You see, a man imagines that there is something by his side in darkness; it may be some dark object. If he looks closely the ghost is not to be seen, but some dark object which he could identify as a tree or a post, etc. If he does not look closely the ghost strikes terror in the person. All that is required is only to look closely and the ghost vanishes. The ghost was never there. So also with the ego. It is an intangible link between the body and Pure Consciousness. It is not real. So long as one does not look closely it continues to give trouble. But when one looks for it, it is found not to exist.

Again, in a Hindu marriage function, the feasts continue five or six days. A stranger was mistaken for the best man by the bride’s party and they therefore treated him with special regard. Seeing him treated with special regard by the bride’s party, the bridegroom’s party considered him to be some man of importance related to the bride’s party and therefore they too showed him special respect. The stranger had altogether a happy time of it. He was also all along aware of the real situation. On one occasion the groom’s party wanted to refer to him on some point. They asked for him. He scented trouble and made himself scarce. So it is with the ego. If looked for, it disappears. If not, it continues to give trouble.

How it is to be looked for is learnt from those who have already done so. That is the reason why the Master is approached.

Talks With Ramana Maharshi
19th January, 1939
Talk 612.

What is right and wrong:

What is right and wrong? – Ramana

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What is right and wrong? There is no standard by which to judge something to be right and another to be wrong.



Three ladies are on a short visit here, Mrs. Hearst from New Zealand, Mrs. Craig and Mrs. Allison from London.
One of them asked:

D.: If it is a question of doing something one considers wrong, and hereby saving someone else from a great wrong, should one do it or refrain?
M.: What is right and wrong? There is no standard by which to judge something to be right and another to be wrong. Opinions differ according to the nature of the individual and according to the surroundings. They are again ideas and nothing more. Do not worry about them. But get rid of thoughts. If you always remain in the right, then right will prevail in the world.

D.: What should one think of when meditating?
M.: What is meditation? It is expulsion of thoughts. You are perturbed by thoughts which rush one after another. Hold on to one thought so that others are expelled. Continuous practice gives the necessary strength of mind to engage in meditation.
Meditation differs according to the degree of advancement of the seeker. If one is fit for it one might directly hold the thinker; and the thinker will automatically sink into his source, namely Pure Consciousness.
If one cannot directly hold the thinker one must meditate on God; and in due course the same individual will have become sufficiently pure to hold the thinker and sink into absolute Being.

One of the ladies was not satisfied with this answer and asked for further elucidation.

M.: Sri Bhagavan then pointed out that to see wrong in another is one’s own wrong.
“The discrimination between right and wrong is the origin of the sin. One’s own sin is reflected outside and the individual in ignorance superimposes it on another. The best course for one is to reach the state in which such discrimination does not arise. Do you see wrong or right in your sleep? Did you not exist in sleep? Be asleep even in the wakeful state. Abide as the Self and remain uncontaminated by what goes on around.
Moreover, however much you might advise them, your hearers may not rectify themselves. Be in the right yourself and remain silent. Your silence will have more effect than your words or deeds. That is the development of will-power. Then the world becomes the Kingdom of Heaven, which is within you.”

Talks With Ramana Maharshi
8th February, 1938
Talk 453.

Some kind of grief

Some kind of grief or another – Ramana

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Men and Women of the world that we are, we have some kind of grief or another



Mr. T. Raghaviah, retired Diwan of Pudukottah State

Mr. Raghaviah: Men of the world that we are, we have some kind of grief or another and do not know how to get over it. We pray to God and still are not satisfied. What can we do?
M.: Trust God.

D.: We surrender; but still there is no help.
M.: Yes. If you have surrendered, you must be able to abide by the will of God and not make a grievance of what may not please you. Things may turn out differently from what they look apparently. Distress often leads men to faith in God.

D.: But we are worldly. There is the wife, there are the children, friends and relatives. We cannot ignore their existence and resign ourselves to Divine Will, without retaining some little of the personality in us.
M.: That means you have not surrendered as professed by you. You must only trust God.

Talks With Ramana Maharshi
28th March, 1935
Talk 43.

Let the purpose fulfill itself

Let the purpose fulfill itself – Ramana

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The Purpose will fulfill itself



Mr. M. Oliver Lacombe, a Frenchman

D.: How is work to be done ordinarily for an aspirant?
M.: Without self-identification with the actor. For instance, did you intend visiting this place while in Paris?

D.: No!
M.: You see how you are acting without your intention to do so? The Gita says that a man cannot remain without acting. The purpose of one’s birth will be fulfilled whether you will it or not. Let the purpose fulfill itself.

Talks With Ramana Maharshi
19th May, 1936
Talk 189.

Surrender, and all will be well – Ramana

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Surrender, and all will be well. Throw all the responsibility on God.



A Maharani Saheba spoke in a gentle and low voice, but quite audibly:

D.: “Maharajji, I have the good fortune to see you. My eyes have had the pleasure of seeing you, my ears the pleasure of hearing your voice.
“I am blessed with everything that a human being would like to have.” Her Highness’s voice choked. With great strength of mind she rallied and proceeded slowly, “I have all that I want, a human being would want …. But … But … I … I … do not have peace of mind … Something prevents it. Probably my destiny….”

There was silence for a few minutes. Then Maharshi in his usual sweet manner spoke:

M.: “All right. What need be said has been said. Well. What is destiny? There is no destiny. Surrender, and all will be well. Throw all the responsibility on God. Do not bear the burden yourself. What can destiny do to you then?”

D.: Surrender is impossible.
M.: Yes. Complete surrender is impossible in the beginning. Partial surrender is certainly possible for all. In course of time that will lead to complete surrender. Well, if surrender is impossible, what can be done? There is no peace of mind. You are helpless to bring it about. It can be done only by surrender.

D.: Partial surrender – well – can it undo destiny?
M.: Oh, yes! It can.

D.: Is not destiny due to past karma?
M.: If one is surrendered to God, God will look to it.

D.: This being God’s dispensation, how does God undo it?
M.: All are in Him only.

D.: How is God to be seen?
M.: Within. If the mind is turned inward God manifests as inner consciousness.

D.: God is in all – in all the objects we see around us. They say we should see God in all of them.
M.: God is in all and in the seer. Where else can God be seen? He cannot be found outside. He should be felt within. To see the objects, mind is necessary. To conceive God in them is a mental operation. But that is not real. The consciousness within, purged of the mind, is felt as God.

D.: There are, say, beautiful colours. It is a pleasure to watch them. We can see God in them.
M.: They are all mental conceptions.

D.: There are more than colours. I mentioned colours only as an example.
M.: They are also similarly mental.

D.: There is the body also – the senses and the mind. The soul makes use of all these for knowing things.
M.: The objects or feelings or thoughts are all mental conceptions. The mind rises after the rise of the I-thought or the ego. Wherefrom does the ego rise? From the abstract consciousness or Pure intelligence.

D.: Is it the soul?
M.: Soul, mind or ego are mere words. There are no entities of the kind. Consciousness is the only truth.

D.: Then that consciousness cannot give any pleasure.
M.: Its nature is Bliss. Bliss alone is. There is no enjoyer to enjoy pleasure. Enjoyer and joy – both merge in it

D.: There are pleasure and pain in ordinary life. Should we not remain with only pleasure?
M.: Pleasure consists in turning and keeping the mind within; pain in sending it outward. There is only pleasure. Absence of pleasure is called pain. One’s nature is pleasure – Bliss (Ananda)

D.: Is it the soul?
M.: Soul and God are only mental conceptions.

D.: Is God only a mental conception?
M.: Yes. Do you think of God in sleep?

D.: But sleep is a state of dullness.
M.: If God be real He must remain always. You remain in sleep and in wakefulness – just the same. If God be as true as your Self, God must be in sleep as well as the Self. This thought of God arises only in the wakeful state. Who thinks now?

D.: I think.
M.: Who is this ‘I’? Who says it? Is it the body?

D.: The body speaks.
M.: The body does not speak. If so, did it speak in sleep? Who is this I?

D.: I within the body.
M.: Are you within the body or without?

D.: I am certainly within the body.
M.: Do you know it to be so in your sleep?

D.: I remain in my body in sleep also.
M.: Are you aware of being within the body in sleep?

D.: Sleep is a state of dullness.
M.: The fact is, you are neither within nor without. Sleep is the natural state of being.

D.: Then sleep must be a better state than this.
M.: There is no superior or inferior state. In sleep, in dream and in the wakeful state you are just the same. Sleep is a state of happiness; there is no misery. The sense of want, of pain, etc., arises only in the wakeful state. What is the change that has taken place? You are the same in both, but there is difference in happiness. Why? Because the mind has risen now. This mind rises after the ‘I-thought’. The thought arises from consciousness. If one abides in it, one is always happy.

D.: The sleep state is the state when the mind is quiet. I consider it a worse state.
M.: If that were so, why do all desire sleep?

D.: It is the body when tired that goes to sleep.
M.: Does the body sleep?

D.: Yes. It is the condition in which the wear and tear of the body is repaired.
M.: Let it be so. But does the body itself sleep or wake up? You yourself said shortly before that the mind is quiet in sleep. The three states are of the mind.

D.: Are they not states of the soul functioning through the senses, etc.?
M.: They are not of the soul or of the body. The soul remains always uncontaminated. It is the substratum running through all these three states. Wakefulness passes off, I am; the dream state passes off, I am; the sleep state passes off, I am. They repeat themselves, and yet I am. They are like pictures moving on the screen in a cinema show. They do not affect the screen. Similarly also, I remain unaffected although these states pass off. If it is of the body, are you aware of the body in sleep?

D.: No.
M.: Without knowing the body to be there how can the body be said to be in sleep?

D.: Because it is still found after waking up.
M.: The sense of body is a thought; the thought is of the mind, the mind rises after the ‘I-thought’, the ‘I-thought’ is the root thought. If that is held, the other thoughts will disappear. There will then be no body, no mind, not even the ego.

D.: What will remain then?
M.: The Self in its purity.

D.: How can the mind be made to vanish?
M.: No attempt is made to destroy it. To think or wish it is itself a thought. If the thinker is sought, the thoughts will disappear.

D.: Will they disappear of themselves? It looks so difficult.
M.: They will disappear because they are unreal. The idea of difficulty is itself an obstacle to realisation. It must be overcome. To remain as the Self is not difficult.

D.: It looks easy to think of God in the external world, whereas it looks difficult to remain without thoughts.
M.: That is absurd; to look at other things is easy and to look within is difficult! It must be contrariwise.

D.: But I do not understand. It is difficult.
M.: This thought of difficulty is the chief obstacle. A little practice will make you think differently.

D.: What is the practice?
M.: To find out the source of ‘I’.

D.: That was the state before one’s birth.
M.: Why should one think of birth and death? Are you really born? The rising of the mind is called birth. After mind the body-thought arises and the body is seen; then the thought of birth, the state before birth, death, the state after death – all these are only of the mind. Whose is the birth?

D.: Am I not now born?
M.: So long as the body is considered, birth is real. But the body is not ‘I’. The Self is not born nor does it die. There is nothing new. The Sages see everything in and of the Self. There is no diversity in it. Therefore there is neither birth nor death.

D.: If sleep be such a good state, why does not one like to be always in it?
M.: One is always only in sleep. The present waking state is no more than a dream. Dream can take place only in sleep. Sleep is underlying these three states. Manifestation of these three states is again a dream, which is in its turn another sleep. In this way these states of dream and sleep are endless. Similar to these states, birth and death also are dreams in a sleep. Really speaking, there are no birth and death.

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
Talk 243.

That power will see your affairs through

That Power sees your affairs through – Ramana

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If you surrender yourself to the Higher Power all is well. That Power sees your affairs through.



An American gentleman, Mr. J. M. Lorey, has been staying in the Asramam for about two months. He asked:

D.: I am leaving tonight. It gives me pain to tear myself away from this place. But I must go to America. I ask for a message from the Master. The Master understands me even better than I do myself. So I pray for a message to keep me up when I am away from the Master.
M.: The Master is not outside you as you seem to imagine. He is within, is in fact the Self. Recognize this truth. Seek within you and find Him there. Then you will have constant communion with Him. The message is always there; it is never silent; it can never forsake you: nor can you ever move away from the Master.

Mr. Lorey was struck by the answer although he was already familiar with the Master’s ways. He was even visibly moved. He prayed that the Grace of the Master might abide with him.

Sri Bhagavan: The Master being the Self. Grace is inseparable from the Self.

D.: I am a partner in an Engineering firm. But it is not of vital concern to me. I try to bring spiritual ideals into the work-a-day life of the firm.
M.: That is good. If you surrender yourself to the Higher Power all is well. That Power sees your affairs through. Only so long as you think that you are the worker you are obliged to reap the fruits of your actions. If on the other hand, you surrender yourself and recognize your individual self as only a tool of the Higher Power, that Power will take over your affairs along with the fruits of actions. You are no longer affected by them and the work goes on unhampered. Whether you recognise the Power or not the scheme of things does not alter. Only there is a change of outlook. Why should you bear your load on the head when you are traveling on a train? It carries you and your load whether the load is on your head or on the floor of the train. You are not lessening the burden of the train by keeping it on yourhead but only straining yourself unnecessarily. Similar is the sense of doership in the world by the individuals.

Talks With Sri Ramana Maharshi
17th August, 1938
Talk 503.