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Nondual Highlights Issue #2144 Sunday, May 15, 2005
December
25, 1935
Talk between the Master and two Moslems:
D. Has God a form ?
Maharshi: Who says so ?
D. Well , if God has no form , is it proper to worship idols ?
M. Leave God alone because He is unknown . What about you ? Have
you a form ?
D. I am this and so and so.
M. So then , you are a man with limbs, about three and a half
cubits high, with beard, etc. Is that so ?
D. Certainly .
M. Then do you find yourself so in deep sleep ?
D. After waking , I perceive that I was asleep. Therefore , by
inference I remained thus in deep sleep, also.
M. If you are the body , why do they bury the corpse after death
? The body must refuse to be buried.
D. No, I am the subtle jiva within the gross body .
M. So you see you are really formless; but you are at present
identifying yourself with the body . So long as you are formful ,
why should you not worship the formless God as being formful ?
(The questioner was perplexed.)
- from Talks With Ramana Maharshi: On
Realizing Abiding Peace and Happiness,
edited by Robert Powell
Q. If someone understands the truth, does this have any effect on
the world at large?
The first thing that happens is that the individuality is lost,
and whatever happens then is seen as total functioning; the
understanding of the total functioning cannot be divided. There
is no question of "I" or "YOU" understanding
something. It IS understanding. This knowledge is not found in
books. It is not intellectual knowledge. Although this
consciousness functions through millions of forms, it is one and
the same consciousness. We have this conviction that I am, I
exist, I'm alive. That conviction is because of the
consciousness, and consciousness is not aware of itself unless
the body is there, so what is the relationship? Consciousness is
the taste of this physical form. If the form is not there, the
taste is not there. The body is the essence of food and the
consciousness is the essence of the physical form. If this is
properly understood, is there any individuality? This
individuality is a process of manifestation.
Q. Why does the consciousness want to preserve itself in a
particular form?
When the consciousness identifies itself with a form, it is the
nature of this identity to want to continue as long as possible.
Consciousness loves that identification so much that it wants to
continue.
Q. If this individuality is lost, will consciousness still want
to continue?
Once consciousness has lost its individuality and has become one
with the universe, it will have no need to continue.
- Nisargadatta from Consciousness and the
Absolute, posted to JustThis
Consciousness can handle your life without you and your
controlling ego ever being involved.
The movie screen has no need to control the characters that are
appearing in the movie.
The screen of Consciousness equally accepts every comedy,
melodrama, farce and tragedy - without any discrimination
whatsoever.
Consciousness is even big enough to welcome your perversions and
to tolerate your holiness.
It's only "you" who seem to have a problem in equally
embracing all of these passing phenomena.
- Chuck Hillig, from Seeds for the Soul,
Black Dot Publications, 2003, posted to AlongTheWay
Nisargadatta Maharaj: "The ever-awaited first moment was the
moment when I was convinced that I was not an individual at all.
The idea of my individuality and welfare had set me burning up to
then. The scalding pain was beyond my capacity to endure. But
there is not even a trace of it now. I am no more an individual.
There is nothing to limit my being now. With the disappearance of
the evil signs of individuality, and the accompanying defects,
the ideas of acquisition and renunciation have automatically
dropped away. The ever-present anxiety and the gloom of the
smoldering heart have vanished, and I am all beatitude, pure
knowledge, pure consciousness."
- from John Wheeler's book, The Natural State, quoting from
another book by Peter Brent, entitled Godmen
of India, posted to MillionPaths
The egoless persons having no feeling of a separate individuality
just float in the divine current for fulfilling its purposes.
What marks them out is their total faith in the cosmic order.
Ramana's remarks to Paul Brunton that "he who has given life
to the world knows how to look after it" typifies this
attitude. A prayer of Ramana to Arunachala is also worth
recalling for it reflects their unfailing remembrance of the fact
that it is the Creator's Law and His Grace which shape
everything- "Ordain that my burden should no more be mine
but yours, for what can be a burden for you, the all
sustainer". (Arunachala Padigam-verse 9).
For those whose mind has ceased further search, having reached
the heart of bliss, "life is a copious spring of ever fresh
experience"! Since there are no "others" for them
they are the "humbler than the humblest" and are
overflowing with love. Enveloped as they are in the infinite, in
them one finds the confluence of peace and power. Their very
presence is a benediction to humanity. (Garland of Guru's
Sayings-verse 202).
- from Divinity Here and Now
by A.R. Natarajan, posted to RamanaMaharshi