October 3, 1935

A very devoted and simple disciple had lost his only son, a child of three years. The next day, he arrived at the Asramam with his family. The Master spoke with reference to them:

Training of mind helps one to bear sorrows and bereavements with courage. But the loss of one's offspring is said to be the worst of all griefs. Grief exists only so long as one considers oneself to be of a definite form. If the form is transcended, one will know that the one Self is eternal. There is no death nor birth. That which is born is only the body. The body is the creation of the ego. But the ego is not ordinarily perceived without the body. It is always identified with the body. It is the thought which matters. Let the sensible man consider if he knew the body in deep sleep. Why does he feel it in the waking state? But, although the body is not felt in sleep, did not the Self exist then? Hoe was he in deep sleep? How is he when awake? What is the difference? Ego rises up and that is waking. Simultaneously, thoughts arise. Let him find out to whom are the thoughts. Wherefrom do they arise? They must spring up from the conscious Self. Apprehending it even vaguely facilitates the extinction of the ego. Thereafter, the realization of the one Infinite Existence becomes possible. In that state, there are no individuals other than the Eternal Existence. Hence there is no thought or wailing.

If a man considers he is born, he cannot avoid the fear of death. Let him find out if he has been born or if the Self has any birth. He will discover that the Self always exists, that the body which is born resolves itself into thought and that the emergence of thought is the root of all mischief. Find wherefrom thoughts emerge. Then you will abide in the ever-present, inmost Self and be free from the idea of birth or the fear of death.

- from Talks with Ramana Maharshi: On Realizing Abiding Peace and Happiness, contributed to MillionPaths by Viorica Weissman

He not busy being born is busy dying

- Bob Dylan

So I will say again,it is not casual. The surrender, truly, to Truth, is the most ruthless act of a lifetime. It is the willingness to die to all pleasure, all pleasure. The willingness to die to that. Then see what is received. You can't die to that so that you get some more pleasure. You've tried that. And what you get is more suffering, with some pleasure.

You must expect the deepest, vastest, most thrilling displays of phenomenal temptation. You must expect what in the latent, latent recesses of your mind you have hungered for - as if that would give you who you are.

Whether this is some display of personal power like flying or levitating, or some appearance of the hungered-for soulmate, or some winning of the lottery - do you understand? - or some recognition, or finally, some control. Latent tendencies, subconscious, all will present themselves, because they lie in wait.

This is not a trivial matter. What makes if difficult and hard is holding on to some idea of personal gratification. This in itself is hell. This is hell.

When you are willing - I don't mean willing to be a martyr so that you'll get in heaven; that's not what I'm speaking of; this cannot be a martrydom - when you are willling to face whatever temptation, horrible or exquisite. fully and completely, you die to all fantasies of personal gratification of personal lack of gratification. And you discover gratification itself as WHO YOU ARE.

- Gangaji quoted by Amber Terrell in her book Surprised by Grace: A Journey Beyond Personal Enlightenment, published by True Light Publishing.

 

Q: You are giving a certain date to your realization. It means something did happen to you at that date. What happened?

M: The mind ceased producing events. The ancient and ceaseless search stopped - I wanted nothing, expected nothing - accepted nothing as my own. There was no 'me' left to strive for. Even the bare 'I am' faded away. The other thing that I noticed was that I lost all my habitual certainties. Earlier I was sure of so many things, now I am sure of nothing. But I feel that I have lost nothing by not knowing, because all my knowledge was false. My not knowing was in itself knowledge of the fact that all knowledge is ignorance,that 'I do not know' is the only true statement the mind can make. Take the idea 'I was born'. You may take it to be true. It is not. You were never born, nor will you ever die. It is the idea that was born and shall die, not you. By identifying yourself with it you became mortal. Just like in a cinema all is light, so does consciousness become the vast world. Look closely, and you will see that all names and forms are but transitory waves on the ocean of consciusness, that only consciousness can be said to be, not its transformations.

In the immensity of consciousness a light appears,a tiny point that moves rapidly and traces shapes, thoughts and feelings, concepts and ideas, like the pen writing on paper. And the ink that leaves a trace is memory. You are that tiny point and by your movement the world is ever re-created. Stop moving, and there will be no world. Look within and you will find that the point of light is the reflection of the immensity of light in the body, as the sense 'I am'. There is only light, all else appears.

-excerpt from I Am That by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, published by Acorn Press, contributed to MillionPaths by Yarden

 

You know, people love to give enormous credit to their effort. And that's okay. "It was my effort that got me here." "It was my effort in working on myself that I could hear you." But better than that, give the effort to all those who went before you. Give the credit to them. Give the credit to Christ, to Buddha, to Ramana, to all the unknown and known saints. Give the credit to their effort. They have done it for you. That's the great privilege of these times. Enough have gone before you that you simply can be carried by what is revealed.

I'm not speaking of no discomfort. There will be experiences of discomfort. But to experience that is effortless. To deny that, to repress that, takes some effort, with the object in mind "I shouldn't be uncomfortable. I will effort to to find comfort again."

As long as there is this sensory apparatus, there is the experience of the polarity of mind. There's no problem with that, as long as you recognize and realize that this arises from - effortless, permanent, eternal Self. Life. Not personal and not impersonal. Both personal and impersonal.

- Gangaji quoted by Amber Terrell in her book Surprised by Grace: A Journey Beyond Personal Enlightenment, published by True Light Publishing.

Available here: http://www.truelightpub.com/index.htm