Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
Talk 97 - 19th November, 1935
A gentleman from Ambala, asked where the Heart is and what Realisation is.
Sri Ramana Maharshi : The Heart is not physical; it is spiritual. Hridayam = hrit + ayam - This is the centre. It is that from which thoughts arise, on which they subsist and where they are resolved. The thoughts are the content of the mind and, they shape the universe. The Heart is the centre of all. Yatova imani bhutani jayante (that from which these beings come into existence) etc. is said to be Brahman in the Upanishads. That is the Heart. Brahman is the Heart.
D.: How to realise the Heart?
Sri Ramana Maharshi : There is no one who even for a trice fails to experience the Self. For no one admits that he ever stands apart from the Self. He is the Self. The Self is the Heart.
D.: It is not clear.
Sri Ramana Maharshi : In deep sleep you exist; awake, you remain. The same Self is in both states. The difference is only in the awareness and the non-awareness of the world. The world rises with the mind and sets with the mind. That which rises and sets is not the Self. The Self is different, giving rise to the mind, sustaining it and resolving it. So the Self is the underlying principle. When asked who you are, you place your hand on the right side of the breast and say ‘I am’. There you involuntarily point out the Self. The Self is thus known. But the individual is miserable because he confounds the mind and the body with the Self. This confusion is due to wrong knowledge. Elimination of wrong knowledge is alone needed. Such elimination results in Realisation.
D.: How to control the mind?
Sri Ramana Maharshi : What is mind? Whose is the mind?
D.: Mind always wanders. I cannot control it.
Sri Ramana Maharshi : It is the nature of the mind to wander. You are not the mind. The mind springs up and sinks down. It is impermanent, transitory, whereas you are eternal. There is nothing but the Self. To inhere in the Self is the thing. Never mind the mind. If its source is sought, it will vanish leaving the Self unaffected.
D.: So one need not seek to control the mind?
Sri Ramana Maharshi : There is no mind to control if you realise the Self. The mind vanishing, the Self shines forth. In the realised man the mind may be active or inactive, the Self alone remains for him. For the mind, the body and the world are not separate from the Self. They rise from and sink into the Self. They do not remain apart from the Self. Can they be different from the Self ? Only be aware of the Self. Why worry about these shadows? How do they affect the Self?
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