VEDANTA BHERI

Posted by admin on February 17th, 2009 in Ramana Maharshi

Thus Spake Ramana - Quotes of Ramana Maharshi - I

• You see, the one who eliminates all the not-I cannot eliminate the ‘I’. To say ‘I am not this’ or ‘I am that’ there must be the ‘I’. This ‘I’ is only the ego or the ‘I’-thought. After the rising up of this ‘I’-thought, all other thoughts arise. The ‘I’-thought is therefore the root-thought. If the root is pulled out, all others are at the same time uprooted. Therefore seek the root-’I’, question yourself ‘Who am I ?‘, find out its source. Then all these will vanish and the pure Self will remain over. (Talks 597)
• Only the annihilation of ‘I’ is Liberation. But it can be gained only by keeping the ‘I…I’ always in view. So the need for the investigation of the ‘I’-thought. There is only one ‘I’ all along; but what rises up from time to time is the mistaken ‘I’-thought; whereas the intuitive ‘I’ always remains Self-shining, i.e. even before it becomes manifest. (Talks 139)
  
• The ‘I’-thought is only limited ‘I’. The real ‘I’ is un­limited, universal, beyond time and space. They are absent in sleep, and before seeing the objective world, there is a state of awareness which is your pure Self. That must be known (Talks 311)
  
• Soul, mind and ego are words. There are no real entities of the kind. Consciousness is the only truth. (Talks 245)
• Just on waking from sleep and before becoming aware of the world there is that pure ‘I.. .I. Hold it without sleeping or without allowing thoughts to possess you. If that is held firm it does not matter even though the world is seen. The seer remains unaffected by the phenomena. (Talks 196)
  
• How is the ego to be destroyed? Hold the ego first and then ask how it is to be destroyed. Who asks this question? It is the ego. Can the ego ever agree to kill itself? This question is a sure way to cherish the ego and not to kill it. If you seek the ego you will find it does not exist. That is the way to destroy it. (Talks 615).
• Your duty is to be; and not to be this or that. ‘I AM THAT I AM’ sums up the whole truth. The method is, summed up in ‘BE STILL’. What does stillness mean? It means ‘destroy yourself’. Because any form or shape is the cause of trouble. Give up the notion ‘I am so and so’. (Talks 363)
  
• The ego is like one’s shadow thrown on the ground. If one attempts to bury it, it will be foolish. The Self is only one. If limited, it is the ego; if unlimited it is the Infinite and is the Reality. (Talks 146)
  
• ‘I am that I am’. ‘I am’ is God.. .not thinking, ‘I am God’. Realise ‘I am’ and do not think ‘I am’. ‘Know I am God’… it is said, and not ‘Think I am God’. (Talks 354)

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