Devotee: My son 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.
Maharishi: 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. 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 Realization 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.
Excerpted from Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi. The 134th birth anniversary of Sri Ramana Maharshi was observed on December 30.
Ramana Maharshi
