Bytes of Wisdom From Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi Compiled from Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi with commentary by Swami Sadasivananda This book is dedicated with respectful thanksgiving to Arthur Osborne, Who in his life of discipleship to Sri Ramana Maharshi sought to bring understanding for those “of little dust”. It is related (and the story is no less significant whether historically true or not) that after attaining Enlightenment the Buddha’s first impulse was to abide in the effulgence of Bliss without turning back to convey the incommunicable to mankind. Then he reflected, “Some there are who are clear sighted and do not need my teachings, and some whose eyes are clouded with dust who will not heed it though given, but between these two there are also some with but little dust in their eyes, who can be helped to see; And for the sake of these I will go back among mankind and teach.” For Those with Little Dust, Selected Writings of Arthur Osborne, p. 85 2 Contents First Byte from Bhagavan, Taste and See 5 Bhagavan on Trusting in the Divine 7 By practice does Bhagavan mean meditation? 9 How to seek the Grace of God 11 How to spell God 13 Transcending both Will and Fate 15 Lifetimes of avoiding Bhagavan’s Straight Talk! 17 Bhagavan on Jesus, His Cross 19 and our own Resurrection Sri Ramana Maharshi’s advise to us all: 21 “Stop Killing Yourself!” Happily accepting the gift of God 23 in the form of illness Sri Ramana on Spiritual Effort 25 Bhagavan’s first Nobel Truth – 27 Right Awareness Bhagavan on how to see God 29 Bhagavan on the most essential state – 31 A Strong and Pure Mind Seeking and Finding the Kingdom of Heaven 33 Knowledge that is more secret than all that is secret 35 Certainly! 37 The Lord is my Helper, I shall not Want 39 Meditation for the Mind, the Breath and the Self 41 3 Devotee: “Are we to keep anything against a rainy day; or to live a precarious life for spiritual attainments?” Maharshi: “God looks after everything.” Talk #377 4 First Byte from Bhagavan, Taste and See 18th June, 1935 - Talk #55 D.: Can Advaita be realized by japa of holy names; say Rama, Krishna, etc.? M.: Yes. D.: Is it not a means of an inferior order? M.: Have you been told to make japa or to discuss its order in the scheme of things? Many who lived with Bhagavan during his physical sojourn on Earth said that he embodied the purest simplicity, truth and tradition. Although his guidance was a revelation of Universal Truth, he brought each of his followers to a unique experience of God in their journey toward the realization of the Self. His traditional approach embraced the teaching of the Rishis, including the use of the Name of God as a means of divine ascent. In the diaries of Muruganar Swami, called Padamalai, he says: “Though Bhagavan rarely gave out mantras, when he did, he generally recommended “Siva, Siva’. Muruganar himself was given this mantra by Bhagavan, as were several other devotees including Annamalai Swami, the brother of Rangan (who was one of Bhagavan’s childhood friends), and also an unknown harijan.” Muruganar continues, making special note of Bhagavan’s teachings regarding the use of mantras: “Through grace, Padam (Muruganar’s epithet for Bhagavan) ensures that there is never any danger to those who remain in their heart, meditating ‘Sivaya Nama’.” Although these disciples daily bathed in the spiritual effulgence of Bhagavan’s presence, through his instruction to make japa in meditation, they learned to invoke and taste the Divine Flavor of the Name of God. Taste and see! 5 “Love and devotion to God are a bridge across the abyss to Salvation.” Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge p.174 6 Bhagavan on Trusting in the Divine 28th March, 1935 - Talk #43 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? Maharshi: Trust God. Those who live and move with Sri Ramana Maharshi, even though he has shed the physical body, are guided by the polestar of his Perennial Philosophy of “making the mind to bear on God”. (Talk #164) God, in His infinite wisdom, incarnates as an Avatar again and again to show us that the choice is not which method to use to achieve this, but rather which method to use first. Each path is designed to effect unique results that taken all together are essential for ultimate success. One path leads to the next, and they mutually nourish each other along the way. Is it not for this reason that Bhagavan points us toward the external manifestations of God at the onset of our approach to the illumination of the Self within? If we are to really follow him, then we surely ought to follow his guidance. He prayed to and worshiped the Lord in the form of Arunachala. He points us to the Divine Mother, physically present in the Yantra he himself consecrated. He urges us to read the Bhagavad Gita daily, wherein God Himself declares: “Fix your mind on Me, be devoted to Me, sacrifice to Me, bow down to Me. You shall come even to Me; truly do I promise unto you, (for) you are dear to Me.” (Gita 18:65) In our search to discover “Who we are” Sri Ramana urges us to seek from “Whence we are”, thus he directs our minds and hearts to a God in the flesh. For we must meet and draw close to God first, in order to truly trust Him. 7 “Mental japa is very good. That helps meditation. Mind gets identified with the repetition and then you get to know what worship (puja) really is - the losing of one’s individuality in that which is worshipped.” Talk #31 8 By practice does Bhagavan mean meditation? 22nd March, 1937 - Talk #377 A middle-aged Andhra visitor: A man is said to be divine. Why then does he have regrets? M.: Divinity refers to the essential nature. The regrets are of Prakriti. 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. No matter how many times Sri Ramana Maharshi stressed the need for meditation, there will always be those who declare that he never told people to meditate. But these same people are not to be condemned; for they suffer from the same contagious dilemma we all suffer from - human nature. May I site two scriptural sources for this seemingly outrageous statement? First is from the Bhagavatam, in the Udhaav Parva, where one of the mind-born sons of Brahma declares that death is pramada, literally defined as “the willful indifference to the consequences of ignoring God.” Thus, Bhagavan urges for the Divine to be realized within, and the means he stressed in the above quote was meditation (universally said to be the best way not only to avoid ignoring God, but to be acutely aware of His Presence). The second, and possibly more to the point, is Terry Pratchett’s fourth Discworld Novel Mort. Here Mort inquires of Death why people don’t see Him. Death, with a definably wistful air of sadness responds, “Though they all know that I am part of the arrangement, they refuse to accept what they don’t want to see.” By Divine Grace, Sri Ramana Maharshi and so many Saints and Sages, are also parts of the arrangement. But they are not afflicted by the contagion of humanity’s wants and dislikes. Bhagavan especially did not preach, nor did he seem to express sadness over the “human condition”. Nonetheless, he wept for his Lord Arunachala, he wept over personal human tragedy, he wept to the point of exhaustion while reading about the dedicated practice and sacrifice of the Saints. And having assumed our human form, he definitely did urge ‘those who had ears to hear’ to find and merge with the source of peace and love and the Divine “small still voice within”. He taught the ‘way that makes us perfect’ within the tradition to which he took birth. Those who have ‘ears to hear’ understand his guidance when he says: “Practice makes us perfect.” 9 "Grace is always there, it is only you who have to make yourself receptive to it." Talk #27 10 How to seek the Grace of God December 25th. 1935 - Talk #116 Devotee: Jiva is said to be bound by karma. Is it so? Maharshi: Let karma enjoy its fruits. As long as you are the doer so long are you the enjoyer. D.: How to get released from karma. M.: See whose karma it is. You will find you are not the doer. Then you will be free. This requires grace of God for which you should pray to Him, worship Him and meditate on Him. It was once said by Arthur Osborne, a close disciple of Bhagavan, that what was begun with Sri Ramakrishna ended with Sri Ramana Maharshi. In the process of this wealth of spiritual unfoldment we are guided with the simplest eloquence of grace.