"The Self is realised not by doing something but by refraining from doing anything, by remaining still and being simply what one really is." ---Ramana Maharshi (The Power of the Presence, part three, pp. 131-3) as quoted on http://sri-ramana-maharshi.blogspot.com/2008/06/yes-but-what-do-i-do.html
Everyone knows ‘I am.’ There is the confusion that the ‘I’ is the body. Because the ‘I’ arises from the Absolute and gives rise to buddhi (Intellect). In buddhi the ‘I’ looks the size and shape of the body, na medhaya means that Brahman cannot be apprehended by buddhi. (Source: Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, … Continue reading Ramana Maharshi on the “I Am”
Book learning and the capacity to repeat the scriptures by rote are of absolutely no use. To know the truth, you need not undergo this torture of learning. Not by reading do you arrive at the truth. Be quiet - that is the truth. Be still - that is God. You use the mirror for … Continue reading Ramana Maharshi on Learning
The Ordainer controls the fate of souls in accordance with their past deeds. Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try how hard you may. Whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you may to stop it. This is certain. The best course, therefore, is to remain silent. (Source: https://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/ramana-maharshi/at-arunachala/) Questioner: “Are … Continue reading Ramana Maharshi on Free-Will and Destiny
Happiness is the very nature of the Self; happiness and the Self are not different. There is no happiness in any object of the world. We imagine through our ignorance that we derive happiness from objects. When the mind goes out, it experiences misery. In truth, when its desires are fulfilled, it returns to its … Continue reading Ramana Maharshi on Happiness
The present difficulty is that the man thinks that he is the doer. But it is a mistake. It is the Higher Power which does everything and the man is only a tool. If he accepts that position he is free from troubles; otherwise he courts them. Take for instance, the figure in a gopuram … Continue reading Ramana Maharshi on Sense of Doership, Karma and Karma Yoga
If you surrender yourself to the Higher Power all is well. That Power sees your affairs through. Only so long as you think that you are the worker you are obliged to reap the fruits of your actions. If on the other hand, you surrender yourself and recognize your individual self as only a tool … Continue reading Ramana Maharshi on Surrender
Here is David Godman describing what the self-enquiry method taught by Ramana Maharshi is and how it can be practiced (Source: Introduction to Chapters 4 and 5 of David Godman's book Be As You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi): It will be remembered that in the chapter on Self-awareness and Self-ignorance Sri Ramana … Continue reading Self-Enquiry Method of Ramana Maharshi
These [Ramana Maharshi's] verbal teachings flowed authoritatively from his direct knowledge that consciousness was the only existing reality. Consequently, all his explanations and instructions were geared to convincing his followers that this was their true and natural state. Few of his followers were capable of assimilating this truth in its highest and most undiluted form and … Continue reading David Godman on Ramana Maharshi’s Highest Teaching
Ignorance - ajnana - is of two kinds: (1) Forgetfulness of the Self. (2) Obstruction to the knowledge of the Self. Aids are meant for eradicating thoughts; these thoughts are the re-manifestations of predispositions remaining in seed-form; they give rise to diversity from which all troubles arise. These aids are: hearing the truth from the … Continue reading Ramana Maharshi on Ignorance
