Sree Ramana Maharshi
“Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can
render the world.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“Happiness is your
nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when
it is inside.”
― Sri Ramana Maharshi
“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 the words 'Be still'. What does stillness mean? It means destroy
yourself. Because any form or shape is the cause for trouble. Give up the notion
that 'I am so and so'. All that is required to realize the Self is to be still.
What can be easier than that?”
― Ramana Maharshi
“Whatever is destined not
to happen will not happen, try as you may. Whatever is destined to happen will
happen, do what you may to prevent it. This is certain. The best course,
therefore, is to remain silent.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self
is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on
stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“Have faith in God and in
yourself; that will cure all. Hope for the best, expect the best, toil for the
best and everything will come right for you in the end.”
― Sri Ramana Maharshi
“There is neither
creation nor destruction,
neither destiny nor free will, neither
path nor achievement.
This is the final truth.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“There is neither Past
nor Future. There is only the Present.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“You can only stop the flow of thoughts by refusing to have any
interest in it.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“If the mind falls asleep,
awaken it. Then if it starts wandering, make it quiet. If you reach the state
where there is neither sleep nor movement of mind, stay still in that, the
natural (real) state.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“If you go on working
with the light available, you will meet your Master, as he himself will be
seeking you.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“Realisation is not
acquisition of anything new nor is it a new faculty. It is only removal of all
camouflage”
― Ramana Maharshi
“All that is required to
realise the Self is to “Be Still.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“Aim high, aim at the highest, and all lower aims are thereby
achieved. It is looking below on the stormy sea of differences that makes you
sink. Look up, beyond these and see the One Glorious Real, and you are
saved.”
― Sri Ramana Maharshi
“Eventually, all that one
has learnt will have to be forgotten.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“Time is only an idea.
There is only the Reality Whatever you
think it is, it looks like that. If you call it time, it is time. If you
call it existence, it is existence, and so on. After calling it time, you
divide it into days and nights, months, years, hours, minutes, etc.
Time is immaterial for the Path of Knowledge. But some of these
rules and discipline are good for beginners.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“What is illusion?
M.: To whom is the illusion? Find it out. Then illusion will vanish.
Generally people want to know about illusion and do not examine
to whom it is. It is foolish. Illusion is outside and unknown. But
the seeker is considered to be known and is inside. Find out what
is immediate, intimate, instead of trying to find out what is distant
and unknown.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Let what comes
come.
Let what goes go.
Find out what remains.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“The greatest error of a
man is to think that he is weak by nature, evil by nature. Every man is divine
and strong in his real nature. What are weak and evil are his habits, his
desires and thoughts, but not himself.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“Know that the eradication of the identification with the body
is charity, spiritual austerity and ritual sacrifice; it is virtue, divine
union and devotion; it is heaven, wealth, peace and truth; it is grace; it is
the state of divine silence; it is the deathless death; it is jnana, renunciation,
final liberation and bliss.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“No one succeeds without effort... Those who succeed owe their
success to perseverance.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“The pure mind is itself
Brahman; it therefore follows that Brahman is not other than the mind of the
sage.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“If you hold this feeling
of ‘I’ long enough and strongly enough, the false ‘I’ will vanish leaving only
the unbroken awareness of the real, immanent ‘I’, consciousness itself”
― Ramana Maharshi
“Become conscious of being conscious. Say or think “I am”, and
add nothing to it. Be aware of the stillness that follows the “I am”. Sense
your presence, the naked unveiled, unclothed beingness. It is untouched by
young or old, rich or poor, good or bad, or any other attributes. It is the
spacious womb of all creation, all form.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“Remain still, with the conviction that the Self shines as
everything yet nothing, within, without, and everywhere.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“When one remains without
thinking one understands another by means of the universal language of
silence.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“The explorers seek happiness in finding curiosities,
discovering new lands and undergoing risks in adventures. They are thrilling.
But where is pleasure found? Only within. Pleasure is not to be sought in the
external world.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“All are gurus to us, the
wicked by their evil deeds say 'do not come near me'. the good are always good,
therefore all are like gurus to us.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“Everything in the world
was my Guru.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“The only useful purpose of the present birth is to turn within
and realize the Self.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“Mind your business. Take care of what you came here for. Find
the ‘I’ first and you may afterwards speak of other matters.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“You are awareness. Awareness is another name for you. Since you
are awareness there is no need to attain or cultivate it.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“It will come all right in the end.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“The revelation or intuition arises in its own time and one must
wait for it.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“Your concentration must come as easily as the breath. Fix
yourself on one thing and try to hold onto it. All will come right. Meditation
is sticking to one thought. That single thought keeps away other thoughts. The
dissipated mind is a sign of its weakness. By constant meditation it gains strength.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Do what is right at a given moment and leave it behind”
― Ramana Maharshi
“Grace is always present. You imagine it is something somewhere
high in the sky, far away, and has to descend. It is really inside you, in your
Heart, and the moment you effect subsidence or merger of the mind into its
Source, grace rushes forth, sprouting as from a spring within you”
― Ramana Maharshi
“There is nothing like
‘within’ or ‘without.’ Both mean either the same thing or nothing.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“The Power that created
you has created the world as well. If it can take care of you, it can
similarily take care of the world also. If God has created the world, it is His
business to look after it, not yours.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“The mind is by nature restless. Begin liberating it from its restlessness;
give it peace; make it free from distractions; train it to look inward; make
this a habit. This is done by ignoring the external world and removing the
obstacles to peace of mind.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“One of two things must be done. Either surrender because you
admit your inability and require a higher power to help you, or investigate the
cause of misery by going to the source and merging into the Self. Either way
you will be free from misery. God never forsakes one who has
surrendered.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“The enquiry ‘Who am I?’ is the principal means to the removal
of all misery and the attainment of the supreme bliss.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Complete surrender does require that you have no desire of your
own, that God’s desire alone is your desire and that you have no desire of your
own.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“That which is worth
taking up is the self-enquiry that reveals jnana; that which is worth enjoying
is the grandeur of the Self; that which is worth renouncing is the ego-mind;
that in which it is worth taking refuge, to eliminate sorrow completely, is one’s
own source, the Heart.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“The peace of mind which permeates the saint's atmosphere is the
only means by which the seeker understands the greatness of the saint.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“To perform one's duty is the greatest service to God.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“People such as inventors
searching for new material, make their discoveries in a state of
self-forgetfulness. It is in a condition of deep intellectual concentration
that this forgetfulness of the ego arises and the invention is revealed. This
is also a way of developing intuition.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“A day will dawn when you will laugh at your past efforts. What
you realize on the day you laugh is also here and now”
― Ramana Maharshi
“when there is no ‘I’ there is no karma.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Although the modes of meditation may appear to be different
from one another, in the end all of them become one. There is no need to doubt
this. One may adopt that path which suits the maturity of one’s mind.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“D.: There are six centres in the body and there are corresponding
centres in the world.
M.: Yes. What is in the world is in the body; and what is in the body
is in the world also.”
― Sri Ramana Maharshi
“Real peace is happiness.
Pleasures do not form happiness.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“you must achieve
liberation during your life time.
Even if you fail to do it during your lifetime, you must think of god at least
at the time of death, since one becomes what he thinks of
at the time of death. But unless all your life you have been thinking of God,
unless you have accustomed yourself to dhyana of 'God
always during life, it would not at all be possible for you think of God at the
time of death.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“The reply comes as
a current of awareness in the Heart, fitful at first and only achieved by
intense effort, but gradually increasing in power and constancy, becoming more
spontaneous, acting as a check on thoughts and actions, undermining the ego,
until finally the ego disappears and the certitude of pure Consciousness
remains.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Controlling speech and breath, and diving deep within oneself —
like one who, to find a thing that has fallen into water, dives deep down — one
must seek out the source whence the aspiring ego springs.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Both in Jnani and ajnani, ego is sprouting forth, but with this
difference, namely the ajnani's ego when it rises up is quite ignorant of its
source, or he is not aware of his sushupti in the dream and jagrat states;
whereas a Jnani when his ego rises up enjoys his transcendental experience with
this ego keeping his lakshya (aim) always on its source. This ego is not
dangerous: it is like the skeleton of a burnt rope: in this form it is
ineffective. By constantly keeping our aim on our source, our ego is dissolved
in its source. like a doll of salt in the ocean.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“I do not consider anyone to be my disciple. I have never sought
upadesh from anyone nor do I give ceremonial upadesh. If the people call
themselves my disciples I do not approve or disapprove.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“The body is the temple; the jiva is God (Siva). If one worships
him with the ‘I am He’ thought, one will gain release.”
“Solitude is in the mind
of man. One might be in the thick of the world and maintain serenity of mind;
such a one is in solitude. Another may stay in a forest, but still be unable to
control his mind. He cannot be said to be in solitude. Solitude is a function
of the mind. A man attached to desire cannot get solitude wherever he may be; a
detached man is always in solitude.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“If a person overlooks the faults of others, and sees only their
merits, and thus keeps his mind serene, his whole life will be happy. To be
unconcerned in all things, with the mind cool, free of desires and without
hate, is beautiful in a seeker.” ― Ramana Maharshi
“The ego in its purity is experienced in intervals between two
states
or two thoughts. Ego is like that caterpillar which leaves its hold
only after catching another. Its true nature can be found when it is
out of contact with objects or thoughts.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“He who has renounced (the ‘I-thought’) thus, remains the same
whether he is alone or in the midst of the extensive samsara”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“The man who prays, the prayer, and the God to whom he prays all
have reality only as manifestations of the Self.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Silence is also
conversation.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“Be equally indifferent
to both and abide in the faith of God. That will be so only when one’s faith is
strong that God looks after all of us.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“42. The colour of
milk is one, the colours of the cows many, So is the nature of knowledge,
observe the wise ones. Beings of various marks and attributes, Are like the
cows, their realisation is the same; This is an example we should know.” ― Ramana Maharshi,
“The ultimate Truth is so simple. It is nothing more than being
in the pristine state. This is all that need be said. till, it is a wonder that
to teach this simple Truth there should come into being so many religions,
creeds, methods and disputes among them and so on! Oh the pity! Oh the
pity!”
― Ramana Maharshi
“If the light of the sun
is invisible to the owl it is only the fault of that bird and not of the
sun.” ― Ramana Maharshi,
“When the mind that is subtle goes out through the brain and the
sense-organs, the gross names and forms appear; when it stays in the Heart, the
names and forms disappear.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“What is said is given
out to suit the temperament of the hearers”
― Sri Ramana Maharshi
“Does a man who is acting
on the stage in a female part forget that he is a man? Similarly, we too must
play our parts on the stage of life, but we must not identify ourselves with
those parts.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“While God sustains the burden of the world, the spurious ego
assumes its burden, grimacing like an image on a tower, seeming to support it.
If the traveller in a carriage, which can carry any weight, does not lay his
luggage down but carries it painfully on his head, whose is the fault?”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Thoughts of bondage and of freedom last only as long as one
feels, ‘I am bound’. When one enquires of oneself, ‘Who am I, the bound one?’
the Self, Eternal, ever free, remains. The thought of bondage goes; and with it
goes the thought of freedom too.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“So long as they make
efforts they will not be sages (jnanis).”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Finally there comes a stage when a person feels helpless
notwithstanding the sadhanas. He is unable to pursue the much-cherished sadhana
also. It is then that Gods power is realized. The self reveals itself.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“Enlightened enquiry alone leads to liberation. Supernatural
powers are all illusory appearances created by the power of maya (mayashakti).
Self-realization which is permanent is the only true accomplishment (siddhi).
Accomplishments which appear and disappear, being the effect of maya, cannot be
real. They are accomplished with the object of enjoying fame, pleasures, etc.
They come unsought to some persons through their karma. Know that union with
Brahman is the real aim of all accomplishments. This is also the state of
liberation (aikya mukti) known as union (sayujya).”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Reality must be always real. It is not with forms and names.
That which underlies all these is the reality. It underlies limitations, being
itself limitless. It is not bound. It underlies unrealities, itself being real.
Reality is that which is. It is as it is. It transcends speech. It is beyond
the expressions 'existence', 'non-existence' etc.” ― Ramana Maharshi,
“It is beyond words or thoughts.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“As the activities of the wise man exist only in the eyes of
others and not in his own, although he may be accomplishing immense tasks, he
really does nothing.” ― Ramana Maharshi,
“Giving up all notions about country, caste, blemishless
community,asrama (status as a bachelor, family man, ascetic or one who has
renounced the world) and associated matters, hold on to and practise always
meditation upon the Self, your own natural state.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Whatever draws the mind outward is unspiritual and whatever
draws the mind inward is spiritual”
― Ramana Maharshi
“Remaining quiet is what
is called wisdom-insight. To remain quiet is to resolve the mind in the Self.
Telepathy, knowing past, present and future happenings and clairvoyance do not
constitute wisdom-insight.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“The body which is matter says not ‘I’. Eternal Awareness rises
not nor sets. Betwixt the two, bound by the body, rises the thought of ‘I’.
This is the knot of matter and Awareness. This is bondage, jiva, subtle body,
ego. This is samsara, this is the mind.” ― Ramana Maharshi,
“there is no doubt that the end of the paths of devotion and
knowledge is one and the same.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“The fruition of this process is samadhi which yields release,
which is the state of unsurpassed bliss. The revered Gurus also have said that
release is to be gained only by devotion which is of the nature of reflection
on the truth of the Self.” ― Ramana Maharshi,
“When the pot is carried, the space within the pot, Though
conceived of as carried, Is it not the pot only that is carried? The Self too,
like Space, remains motionless. 53. When the pot breaks, the space in the pot
Merges one with the great Space. When the inert body passes away, the Self,
seemingly in the body, Becomes immediately one with the Supreme Self.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“In the middle of the
Heart-cave the pure Brahman is directly manifest as the Self in the form of ‘I-I’.” ― Ramana Maharshi,
“One can know oneself
only with one’s own eye of knowledge, and not with somebody else’s. Does he who
is Rama require the help of a mirror to know that he is Rama?”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Action and knowledge are not obstacles to each other.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“the delusion of bondage fabricated by ignorance from time
immemorial can be removed only by knowledge, and for this purpose the term
‘liberation’ (mukti) has been usually accepted. That is all. The fact that the
characteristics of liberation are described in different ways proves that they
are imaginary.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“If it is asked whether the wise man derives any benefit from
the discharge of domestic duties, it may be answered that, as he has already
attained the state of complete satisfaction which is the sum total of all
benefits and the highest good of all, he does not stand to gain anything more
by discharging family duties.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Self is only Being – not this or that. It is Simple Being. BE,
and that is the end of ignorance. Your duty is not to be this or that. I am
that I am sums up the whole truth. The method is summed up in the words Be
still. Be as you really are. Be yourself and nothing more. Remain aware of
yourself and all else will be known”
― Ramana Maharshia Maharshi
“The purpose of all these
illustrations is to direct the seeker's mind towards the one Reality underlying
them all.”
― Ramana Maharshi
“When one adopts the
practice (sadhana) by means of which one’smind, which is restless like the
wind, is made still perpetually, then the purpose of taking birth as a human
being is fulfilled. That is also the mark of a true scholar. 38. Do not
practise meditation by fixing the mind on the six adhara
chakras, the ones that are up or down or in the middle, or anywhere else.
Giving up all such meditations, make the mind always devoid of any support
(either inside or outside).”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Gods and goddesses,
merits, demerits and their fruits, which are likewise anya (other
than oneself), objects of attachment and the knowledge of those objects — all
these will lead one to bondage in mighty samsara.”
― Ramana Maharshi, i
“The Heart is used in the
Vedas and the scriptures to denote the place whence the notion ‘I’ springs.
Does it spring only from the fleshy ball? It springs within us somewhere right
in the middle of our being. The ‘I’ has no location. Everything is the Self.
There is nothing but that. So the Heart must be said to be the entire body of
ourselves and of the entire universe, conceived as ‘I’. But to help the
practiser we have to indicate a definite part of the Universe, or of the Body.
So this Heart is pointed out as the seat of the Self. But in truth we are
everywhere, we are all that is, and there is nothing else.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Because of the grades in misery and happiness, the released ones,
the jivanmuktas and videhamuktas, may be spoken of as belonging to four
categories — Brahmavid, Brahmavara, Brahmavariya and Brahmavarishtha. But these
distinctions are from the standpoint of the others who look at them; in
reality, however, there are no distinctions in release gained through
jnana.”
― Ramana Maharshi,i
“How is breath control the means for mind control? M: There is
no doubt that breath control is the means for mind control, because the mind,
like breath, is a part of air, because the nature of mobility is common to
both, because the place of origin is the same for both, and because when one of
them is controlled the other gets controlled.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“so the force of the Self also travels through the psychic
nerves and, pervading the entire body, imparts sentience to the senses, and
that if this knot is cut, the Self will remain as it always is, without any
attributes.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“The beginningless Consciousness is unborn, whole and,
residing forever in its natural home of the Heart-cave, is without form, world
or impurity. It is beyond comparison and completely unattached. It cannot be
comprehended by the mind nor can it be seen or felt by the senses.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“What introverted mind calls peace, outside as power is shown;
Those who have reached and found this truth, their unity have known.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Of all yogins, only he who rests his unwavering mind and love
in me is dear to me.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“57. Omniscience and bliss, and mature wisdom, Remaining independent,
limitless strength — Attaining all these, he shines ever, the Self without
afflictions. With an immaculate body, he, as the Self, merges in Siva.
58. Japa of the name, worship, bathing in holy waters, ritual
sacrifices, None of these or others are needed. The fruits
of dharma and adharma, Water oblations to forefathers, None of
these are for him. 59. No injunctions for observance, no fasts, Nothing
required by way of getting into or out of (any action), No vows of celibacy for
him, know this. 60. Not having any recourse to falling into the fire or
water, Or falling from the mountain top, Enjoy the feast of the Knowledge
of Siva, eternal and pure. Rid of the rules applying to all creation, move
about as you please. 61. I tell you this is the Truth, the Truth, the Truth,
thrice over. There is nothing greater than this, Nothing greater is there to be
known, Nothing at all, nowhere ever.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“It is enough that one surrenders oneself. Surrender is to give
oneself up to the original cause of one’s being. Do not delude yourself by
imagining such a source to be some God outside you. One’s source is within
oneself. Give yourself up to it. That means that you should seek the source and
merge in it.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Dio illumina la mente e splende in essa. Non si può conoscere
Dio per mezzo della mente, si può solo rivolgere la mente all'interno e
fondersi con Dio.”
― Sri Ramana Maharshi
“All religions first postulate three principles, the world, the
soul and God. To say that one principle alone appears as the three principles
or that the three principles are always three principles is possible only as
long as the ego exists.1” ― Ramana Maharshi,
“Lady with fair countenance! Understand that one who is not able
to realise the Truth in his Heart by this knowledge of spiritual wisdom known
as Kala Jnana, can never attain it even by studying countless
crores ofsastras (scriptures) spread out like the sky.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“Note: Some aspirants indulge in severe austerities and arduous
practices, mastering several techniques and incidentally attaining
extraordinary supernatural powers as well. All these are to be shunned as
they do not lead to ultimate peace and joy. On the other hand, the path
of Kala Jnana described here is a direct path
to mukti.”
― Ramana Maharshi,
“One who knows the secret of that LOVE finds the world full of
Universal Love”
― Sri Ramana Maharshi
“Let come what comes,
Let go what goes,
See what remains.”
― Ramana Maharshi
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