Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi Volume II 23rd August, 1936 Talk 240. D.: The world is materialistic. What is the remedy for it? M.: Materialistic or spiritual, it is according to your outlook. Drishtim jnanamayim kritva, Brahma mayam pasyet jagat Make your outlook right. The Creator knows how to take care of His Creation. D.: What is the best thing to do for ensuring the future? M.: Take care of the present, the future will take care of itself. D.: The future is the result of the present. So, what should I do to make it good? Or should I keep still? M.: Whose is the doubt? Who is it that wants a course of action? Find the doubter. If you hold the doubter the doubts will disappear. Having lost hold of the Self the thoughts afflict you; the world is seen, doubts arise, also anxiety for the future. Hold fast to the Self, these will disappear. D.: How to do it? M.: This question is relevant to matters of non-self, but not to the Self. Do you doubt the existence of your own Self? D.: No. But still, I want to know how the Self could be realised. Is there any method leading to it? M.: Make effort. Just as water is got by boring a well, so also you realise the Self by investigation. D.: Yes. But some find water readily and others with difficulty. M.: But you already see the moisture on the surface. You are hazily aware of the Self. Pursue it. When the effort ceases the Self shines forth. D.: How to train the mind to look within? 201 M.: By practice. The mind is the intelligent phase leading to its own destruction, for Self to manifest. D.: How to destroy the mind? M.: Water cannot be made dry water. Seek the Self; the mind will be destroyed. 29th August, 1936 Talk 241. D.: How to avoid misery? M.: Has misery a shape? Misery is only unwanted thought. The mind is not strong enough to resist it. D.: How to gain such strength of mind? M.: By worship of God. D.: Meditation of the God of Immanence is hard to understand. M.: Leave God alone. Hold your Self. D.: How to do japa (repetition of mantras)? M.: It is of two kinds - gross and subtle. The latter is meditation on it, and it gives strength to the mind. D.: But the mind does not get steady for meditation. M.: It is due to lack of strength. D.: Sandhya is usually done mechanically. Similarly other religious duties. Is it useful? Is it not better to do japa, etc., knowing their meanings? M.: Um! Um! Talk 242. A Gujarati gentleman asked Sri Bhagavan: They say that choice is offered to us to enjoy merits or demerits after our death. Their succession will be according to our choice. Is it so? M.: Why raise these questions relating to events after death? Why ask “Was I born? Am I reaping fruits of my past karma,” and so on? They will not be raised some time hence when you fall asleep. Why? Are you now different from the one in sleep? You are not. Why do these questions arise now and not in sleep? Find out. 202 Talk 243. A middle-aged, weak-looking man came with a walking stick in his hand, placed it before Bhagavan, bowed low and sat near Maharshi. He got up and with great humility offered the stick to Bhagavan, saying that it was sandal-wood. Sri Bhagavan told him to keep it for himself. Because nothing of Bhagavan’s can be safeguarded. Being common property but coveted by some, it will be taken away by any visitor with or without Bhagavan’s permission. Then the donor may be displeased. But the man still humbly insisted. Sri Bhagavan could not resist his supplications, and said, “Keep it yourself as prasad from Bhagavan.” The man then requested that the stick might first be taken and then given to him by Sri Bhagavan with blessings. Sri Bhagavan received it, smelled it, said it was fine, nodded, and handed it back to the man, saying, “Keep it. It will make you always remember me.” Talk 244. 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. 203 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. 204 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 205 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.