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SriRamanaYash

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[ { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "Bhagavan has said that without the grace of the Guru one cannot attain the Self. What precisely does he mean by this? What is this Guru?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "From the stand point of the path of knowledge, it is the supreme state of the Self. It is different from the ego which you call yourself." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "Then, if it is the supreme state of my own self, in what sense does Bhagavan mean that I cannot reach it without the grace of the Guru?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "The ego is the individuality and is not the same as the Lord of all. When it approaches the Lord with sincere devotion, He graciously assumes name and form and takes it to Himself.Therefore they say that the Guru is none other than the Lord. Heis the human embodiment of Divine Grace." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "But there are some who seem to have had no human Guru at all?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "True. In the case of certain great souls, God reveals Himself as the Light of the Light from within." } ]

[ { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "Some people report Maharshi to deny the need of a Guru. Others say the reverse. What does Maharshi say?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "I have never said that there is no need for a Guru." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "Sri Aurobindo often refers to you as having had no Guru." }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "That depends on what you call Guru. He need not necessarily bein human form. Dattatreya had twenty-four Gurus – the elements, and so on.That means that any form in the world was his Guru. Guru is absolutely necessary.The Upanishads say that none but a Guru can take a man out of the jungle of mental and sense perceptions, so there must be a Guru." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "I mean a human Guru.The Maharshi didn’t have one." }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "I might have had at sometime or other.And didn’t I sing hymns to Arunachala? What is a Guru? Guru is God orthe Self. First a man prays to God to fulfil his desires, then a time comes when he does not pray for the fulfilment of a desire, but for God Himself. So God appears to him in some form or other, human or non-human, to guide him as a Guru in answer to his prayer." } ]

[ { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "Can one derive any benefit from repeating incantations picked up casually, without being initiated into them?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "No. One must be initiated into them and authorised to use them. A king once visited his minister at the latter’s house. There he was told that the minister was busy with his incantations.The king accordingly waited for him, and when he was free to meet him, asked him what incantation it was. The minister told him that it was the Gayatri.The king then asked the minister to initiate him into the use of it, but the latter declared that he was unable to. Thereupon the king learnt it from someone else and the next time he met the minister he repeated it to him and asked him whether it was right.The minister replied that theincantation was right but that it was not right for him to say it. The king asked why; the minister called an attendant who was standing nearby and told him to arrest the king. The order was not obeyed. The minister repeated it and still it was not obeyed.The king then flew into a temper and ordered the attendant to arrest the minister, which heimmediately did.The minister laughed and said that that was theexplanation the king had asked for. ‘How?’ the king asked. ‘Because the order was the same, and the executive was thesame but the authority was different. When I pronounced the order there was no effect; but when you did it, the effect was immediate. It is the same with incantation." } ]

[ { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "What arethe distinctive characteristics of a Guru by which one can recognise him?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "The Guru is one who at all times abides in the profound depths of the Self. He never sees any difference between himself and others and is quite free from the idea that he is the Enlightened or the Liberated One, while those around him arein bondage or the darkness of ignorance. His self-possession can never be shaken under any circumstances and he is never perturbed." } ]

[ { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "What is the essential nature of upadesa or spiritual instruction given by the Guru?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "The word upadesa literally means ‘restoring an object to its proper place’.The mind of the disciple, having become differentiated from its true and primal state of Pure Being, which is the Self and which is described in the scriptures as Sat-chit-ananda (Being-Consciousness-Bliss), slips away therefrom and, assuming the form of thought, constantly pursues objects of sense-gratification. Therefore it is assailed by the vicissitudes of life and becomes weak and dispirited. Upadesa consists in the Guru restoring it to its primal state and preventing it from slipping away from the state of Pure Being, of absolute identity with the Self or, in other words, the Being of the Guru." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "If, as this implies,the real being ofthe Guru isidentical with that of the disciple, why have the scriptures categorically declared that, however great powers one may attain, he cannot attain Self-realisation without the grace of the Guru?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "It is true that the being of the Guru is identical with that of the disciple; however, it is very seldom that a person can realise his true Being without the grace of the Guru." } ]

[ { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "Is it not really the bodily individual that is the Guru?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "What is your idea of a Guru? You think of him in human shape as a body of certain dimensions, complexion, and so on. A disciple, after Realisation once said to his Guru: ‘I now realise that you dwelt in my innermost heart as the one Reality in all my countless births and have now come before meis human shape and lifted this veil of ignorance. What can I do for you in return for such a great benefit?’ And the Guru replied: ‘You need not do anything. It isenough if you remain as you arein your true state.’That is thetruth about the Guru." } ]

[ { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "What is the Grace of the Guru?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "The Guru is the Self. At some time a man grows dissatisfied with his life and, not content with what he has, seeks the satisfaction of his desires through prayer to God. His mind is gradually purified until he longs to know God, more to obtain His Grace than to satisfy worldly desires. Then God’s grace begins to manifest. God takes the form of a Guru and appears to the devotee, teaches him the Truth and, moreover, purifies his mind by association with him.The devotee’s mind thus gains strength and is then able to turn inward. By meditation it is further purified until it remains calm without the least ripple. That calm Expanse is the Self. The Guru is both outer and inner. From outside he gives a push to the mind to turn inward while from inside he pulls the mind towards the Self and helps in quieting it. That is the Grace of the Guru. There is no difference between God, Guru and Self." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "In the Theosophical Society they meditate in order to seek masters to guide them." }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "The master is within; meditation is meant to remove the ignorant idea that he is only external. If he were some stranger whom you awaited, he would be bound to disappear also. What would be the use of a transient being like that? But as long as you think you are separate or that you are the body, so long is the outer master also necessary and he will appear as if with a body. When the wrong identification of yourself with the body ceases, the master will be found to be none other than the Self." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "Will the Guru help us to know the Self through initiation, and so on?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "Does the Guru hold you by the hand and whisper in your ear? You may imagine him to be what you are yourself. Because you think you have a body, you think that he has also and that he will do something tangible to you. His work lies within, in the spiritual realm." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "How is the Guru found?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "God, who is immanent, in His Grace takes pity on the loving devotee and manifests Himself according to the devotee’s development. The devotee thinks that he is a man and expects a relationship as between two physical bodies. But the Guru who is God or the Self incarnate, works from within, helps the man to see his mistakes and guides him in the right path until he realises the Self within." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "What should the devotee do then?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "He has only to act according to the words of the master and work inwardly. The master is both ‘within’ an ‘without’, so he creates conditions to drive you inward and at the same time prepares the ‘interior’ to drag you to the Centre. Thus he gives a push from ‘without’ and exerts a pull from ‘within’ so that you may be fixed at the Centre. You think that the world can be conquered by your own efforts. When you are frustrated externally and are driven inwards you feel, ‘Oh, there is a power higher than man.’ Theego is a very powerful elephant which cannot be brought under control by any creatureless powerful than a lion, which, in this instance, is none other than the Guru, whose very looks make the elephant-like ego tremble and die. You will know in due course that your glory lies where you cease to exist. In order to gain that state, you should surrender yourself. Then the master sees that you are in a fit state to receive guidance and He guides you." } ]

[ { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "What is the significance of saying that the Guru is the manifestation of God or Self?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "So long as you seek Self-realisation, the Guru is necessary. Guru is the Self. Take Guru to be the real Self, and yourself to be the individual self. The disappearance of this sense of duality is the removal of ignorance. So long as duality persists in you, the Guru is necessary. Because you identify yourself with the body, you think the Guru too is the body. You are not the body, nor is the Guru. You are the Self and so is the Guru. This knowledge is gained by what you call Self-realisation. You mistake the body for the Guru. But the Guru himself does not make that mistake. He is the formless Self. That is within you. He appears outwardly only to guide you." } ]

[ { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "Isn’t grace the gift of the Guru?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "God, Grace and Guru are allsynonymous and are both eternal and immanent. Isn’t the Self already within? Is it for the Guru to bestow it by his look? If a Guru thinks so, he does not deserve that name. The books say there are many kinds of initiation. They also say that the Guru performs various rites with fire, water, incantations and so on, and call such fantastic performances initiation, as if the disciple became ripe only after such processes were gone through by the Guru. If the individual is sought, he is nowhere to be found. Such is the Guru. Such is Dakshinamurthi. What did he do? He sat silent. The disciples appeared before him. He maintained silence, and their doubts were dispelled, which means they lost their individual identities. Jnana (spiritual knowledge) is that silent understanding and not the verbal definitions that are usually given for it. Silence is the most potent form of work. However vast and emphatic the scriptures may be, they fail in their effect. The Guru is quiet and peace prevails in all. His silence is vaster and more emphatic than all thescriptures put together.These questions arise because of the feeling that, in spite of having been here so long, heard so much, striven so hard, you have not gained anything.The process that goes on inside you is not apparent to you. In fact, the Guru is always within you." } ]

[ { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "It is said that one look of a Mahatma isenough; that idols, pilgrimages, and so on, are not so effective; but I have been here for three months and still do not know how I have been benefitted by the look of the Maharshi." }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "The look has a purifying effect. Purification cannot be visualised. Just as a piece of coal takes a long time to ignite and a piece of charcoal a shorter time, while a heap of gun powder is ignited instantaneously, so it is with different types of men coming in contact with a Mahatma." } ]

[ { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "After leaving this Asramam in October, I was aware of Bhagavan’s peace enfolding me for about ten days. All the time, while busy with work, there was an undercurrent of that peace of unity; it was almost like the dual consciousness while half asleep in a dull lecture. Then it faded out entirely and the old stupidities came instead. Work leaves no time for separate meditation. Is the constant reminder ‘I am’ and trying to feel this while actually at work enough?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "Itwill become constant when the mind is strengthened. Repeated practice strengthens the mind, and such a mind is capable of holding on to the current. Then, whether you are engaged in work or not, the current remains unaffected and uninterrupted." } ]

[ { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "Bhagavan says he has no disciples?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "Yes." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "He also says that a Guru is necessary if one wishes to attain liberation." }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "Yes." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "What then must I do? Has my sitting here all these years been just a waste of time? Must I go and look for some Guru in order to receiveinitiation, seeing that Bhagavan says he is not a Guru?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "What do you think brought you here such a long distance and made you remain here so long? Why do you doubt? If there had been any need to seek a Guru elsewhere, you would have gone away long ago. The Guru or Jnani (Enlightened One) sees no difference between himself and others. For him all areJnanis, all are one with himself, so how can a Jnani say that such-and-such is his disciple? But the unliberated onesees all as multiple, hesees all as different from himself, so to him the Guru-disciple relationship is a reality. For him there arethree ways of initiation: by touch, look and silence. (Sri Bhagavan here gave the disciple to understand that his way was by silence, as he has to many on other occasions.)" }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "Then Bhagavan does have disciples?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "As I said, from Bhagavan’s point of view there are no disciples, but from that of the disciple, the Grace of the Guru is like an ocean. If he comes with a cup he will get only a cupful. It is no use complaining of the niggardliness of the ocean; the bigger the vessel the more he will be able to carry. It is entirely up to him." } ]

[ { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "Can Sri Bhagavan help us to realise the Truth?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "Help is always there." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "Then, there is no need to ask questions. I do not feel the ever-present help." }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "Surrender and you will find it." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "I am always at your feet. Will Bhagavan give me some upadesa to follow? Otherwise how can I get the help, living six hundred miles away?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "The Sad-Guru is within." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "The Sad-Guru is necessary to guide me to understand that fact." }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "The Sad-Guru is within you." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "I want a visible Guru." }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "That visible Guru says that he is within." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "Will the Sad-Guru place his hand on my head to assure me of his help? Then I shall have the consolation of knowing that his promise will be fulfilled." }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "Next you will be asking me for a bond and filing a suit if you imagine that the help is not forthcoming." } ]

[ { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "How can one know whether a particular person is competent to be a Guru?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "By the peace of mind you feel in his presence and by the respect you feel for him." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "And if it turns out that he is not competent, what will be the fate of the disciple who has implicit faith in him?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "The fate of each one will be according to his merit." } ]

[ { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "what is the difference between Jivanmukti (Realisation while in the body) and Videhamukti (Realisation after death)?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "There is no difference. For those who ask, it is said: A Jnani with a body is a Jivanmukta and he attains Videhamukti when he sheds the body. But this difference exists only for the onlooker, not for the Jnani. His state is the same before and after the body is dropped. We think of the Jnani as a human form or as being in that form; but he knows that he is the Self, the one reality which is both inside and out, and which is not bounded by any form or shape. There is a verse in the Bhagavata (here Bhagavan quoted the verse in Tamil) which says: Just as a man who is drunk is not conscious whether his upper cloth is on his body or has slipped away from it, theJnani is hardly conscious of his body, and it makes no difference to him whether the body remains or has dropped off." } ]

[ { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "Bhagavan says: ‘The influence of the Jnani steals into the devotee in silence’. Bhagavan also says: ‘Contact with great men, exalted souls, is one efficacious means of realising one’s true being.’" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "Yes. What is the contradiction? Jnani, great men, exalted souls – does he differentiate between them?" }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "no." }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "Contact with them is good. They will work through silence. By speaking, their power is reduced. Speech is always less powerful than silence. So silent contact is the best." }, { "speaker": "Devotee", "utterance": "Does the contact continueeven after the dissolution of the physical body of the Jnani or only so long as he is in flesh and blood?" }, { "speaker": "Maharshi", "utterance": "The Guru is not in the physical form. So contact will remain even after his physical form vanishes. He who has earned the grace of the Guru will undoubtedly be saved and never forsaken, just as the prey that has fallen into the tiger’s jaw will never be allowed to escape." } ]