Sri Ramana Maharshi

THE SELF

1. Reality must be always real. It is not with

forms and names. That which underlies

these is the reality. It underlies limitations,

being itself limitless. It is not bound. It

underlies unrealities, itself being real.

Reality is that which is. It is as it is. It

transcends speech. It is beyond the

expressions existence, non-existence, etc.

2. The reality which is the mere

consciousness that remains when ignorance

is destroyed along with knowledge of

objects, alone is the Self. In that

Brahma-swarupa, which is abundant

Self-awareness, there is not the least

ignorance.

3. The reality which shines fully, without

misery and without a body, not only when

the world is known, but also when the world

is not known, is your real form.

4. The radiance of consciousness-bliss, in

the form of one awareness shining equally

within and without, is the supreme and

blissful primal reality. Its form is silence and

it is declared by jnanis to be the final and

unobstructable state of true knowledge.

5. Know that jnana alone is non-attachment;

jnana alone is purity; jnana is the attainment

of God; jnana which is devoid of

forgetfulness of Self alone is immortality;

jnana alone is everything.

6. You are awareness. Awareness is another

name for you. Since you are awareness there

is no need to attain or cultivate it. All that

you have to do is to give up being aware of

other things, that is of the not-Self. If one

gives up being aware of them, then pure

awareness alone remains and that is the Self.

7. There is no duality. Your present

knowledge is due to the ego and is only

relative. Relative knowledge requires a

subject and an object, whereas the

awareness of the Self is absolute and

requires no object.

8. Remembrance also is similarly relative,

requiring an object to be remembered and a

subject to remember. When there is no

duality, who is to remember whom? The

Self is ever-present. Each one wants to know

the Self. What kind of help does one require

to know oneself? People want to see the Self

as something new. But it is eternal and

remains the same all along. They desire to

see it as a blazing light etc. How can it be

so? It is not light, not darkness. It is only as

it is. It cannot be defined. The best definition

is I am that I am. The srutis speak of the

Self as being the size of ones thumb, the tip

of the hair, an electric spark, vast, subtler

than the subtlest, etc. They have no

foundation in fact. It is only being, but

different from the real and the unreal; it is

knowledge, but different from knowledge

and ignorance. How can it be defined at all?

It is simply being.

9. There is no seeing. Seeing is only being.

The state of Self-realisation, as we call it, is

not attaining something new or reaching

some goal which is far away, but simply

being that which you always are and which

you always have been. All that is needed is

that you give up your realisation of the

not-true as true. All of us are regarding as

real that which is not real. We have only to

give up this practice on our part. Then we

shall realise the Self as the Self; in other

words, Be the Self. At one stage you will

laugh at yourself for trying to discover the

Self, which is so self-evident. That stage

transcends the seer and the seen. There is no

seer there to see anything. The seer who is

seeing all this now ceases to exist and the

Self alone remains.

10. If we talk of knowing the Self, there

must be two selves, one a knowing self,

another, the self which is known, and the

process of knowing. The state we call

realisation is simply being oneself, not

knowing anything or becoming anything. If

one has realised, one is that which alone is

and which alone has always been. One

cannot describe that state. One can only be

that. Of course, we loosely talk of

Self-realisation, for want of a better term.

How to realise or make real that which

alone is real?

11. For those who live in Self as the beauty

devoid of thought, there is nothing which

should be thought of. That which should be

adhered to is only the experience of silence,

because in that supreme state nothing exists

to be attained other than oneself.

12. That state which transcends speech and

thought is mouna. That which is, is mouna.

How can mouna be explained in words?

Sages say that the state in which the thought

I does not rise even in the least, alone is

Self which is silence. That silent Self alone

is God; Self alone is the jiva. Self alone is

this ancient world. All other knowledge are

only petty and trivial knowledge; the

experience of silence alone is the real and

perfect knowledge. Know that the many

objective differences are not real but are

mere superimpositions on Self, which is the

form of true knowledge.

13. If the idea I am the body is accepted,

the selves are multiple. The state in which

this idea vanishes is the Self, since in that

state there are no other objects. It is for this

reason that the Self is regarded as one only.

Since the body itself does not exist in the

natural outlook of the real Self, but only in

the extroverted outlook of the mind which is

deluded by the power of illusion, to call

Self, the space of consciousness, dehi, the

possessor of the body, is wrong. The world

does not exist without the body, the body

never exists without the mind, the mind

never exists without consciousness and

consciousness never exists without the

reality.

14. For the wise one who has known Self by

diving within himself, there is nothing other

than Self to be known. Why? Because since

the ego, which identifies the form of a body

as I, has perished, he, the wise one, is the

formless existence-consciousness. The jnani

knows he is the Self and that nothing,

neither his body nor anything else, exists but

the Self. To such a one what difference

could the presence or absence of a body

make?

15. It is false to speak of realisation. What is

there to realise? The real is as it is always.

We are not creating anything new or

achieving something which we did not have

before. The illustration given in books is

this. We dig a well and create a huge pit.

The space in the pit or well has not been

created by us. We have just removed the

earth which was filling the space there. The

space was there then and is also there now.

Similarly we have simply to throw out all

the age long samskaras which are inside us.

When all of them have been given up, the

Self will shine alone.

16. Liberation is our very nature. We are

that. The very fact that we wish for

liberation shows that freedom from all

bondage is our real nature. It is not to be

freshly acquired. All that is necessary is to

get rid of the false notion that we are bound.

When we achieve that, there will be no

desire or thought of any sort. So long as one

desires liberation, so long, you may take it,

one is in bondage.

17. If you remain as you are now, you are in

the wakeful state; this becomes hidden in the

dream state; and the dream state disappears

when you are in deep sleep. You were there

then, you are there now, and you are there at

all times. The three states come and go, but

you are always there. It is like a cinema. The

screen is always there, but several types of

pictures appear on the screen and then

disappear. Nothing sticks to the screen, it

remains a screen. Similarly, you remain your

own Self in all the three states. If you know

that, the three states will not trouble you,

just as the pictures which appear on the

screen do not stick to it. On the screen, you

sometimes see a huge ocean with endless

waves; that disappears. Another time, you

see fire spreading all around; that too

disappears. The screen is there on both

occasions. Did the screen get wet with the

water or did it get burned by the fire?

Nothing affected the screen. In the same

way, the things that happen during the

wakeful, dream and sleep states do not affect

you at all; you remain your own Self.

18. The light within, that is the Self, gives

light to the ego, the intellect, the memory

and the mind without itself being subject to

processes of growth and decay. Although

during deep sleep and other states there is no

feeling of the ego, that Self remains

attributeless, and continues to shine of itself.

19. Actually, the idea of the Self being the

witness is only in the mind; it is not the

absolute truth of the Self. Witnessing is

relative to objects witnessed. Both the

witness and his object are mental creations.

20. There is only one state, that of

consciousness or awareness or existence.

The three states of waking, dream and sleep

cannot be real. They simply come and go.

The real will always exist. The I or

existence that alone persists in all the three

states is real. The other three are not real and

so it is not possible to say they have such

and such a degree of reality. We may

roughly put it like this.

21. Existence or consciousness is the only

reality. Consciousness plus waking, we call

waking. Consciousness plus sleep, we call

sleep. Consciousness plus dream, we call

dream. Consciousness is the screen on

which all the pictures come and go. The

screen is real, the pictures are mere shadows

on it. Because by long habit we have been

regarding these three states as real, we call

the state of mere awareness or consciousness

the fourth. There is however no fourth state,

but only one state. There is no difference

between dream and the waking state except

that the dream is short and the waking long.

Both are the result of the mind. Because the

waking state is long, we imagine that it is

our real state. But, as a matter of fact, our

real state is turiya or the fourth state, which

is always as it is and knows nothing of the

three states of waking, dream or sleep.

Because we call these three avasthas we call

the fourth state also turiyaavastha. But is it

not an avastha, but the real and natural state

of the Self. When this is realised, we know it

is not a turiya or fourth state, for a fourth

state is only relative, but turiyatita, the

transcendent state.

22. The Self alone remains as it ever is. The

three states owe their existence to

non-enquiry and enquiry puts an end to

them. However much one may explain, the

fact will not become clear till one attains

Self-realisation and wonders how one was

blind to the self-evident and only existence

so long.

23. The mind turned inwards is the Self;

turned outwards, it becomes the ego and all

the world. Cotton made into various clothes

we call by various names. Gold made into

various ornaments, we call by various

names. But all the clothes are cotton and all

the ornaments gold. The one is real, the

many are mere names and forms. But the

mind does not exist apart from the Self, that

is, it has no independent existence. The Self

exists without the mind, never the mind

without the Self.

24. That which is, is only sat. That is called

Brahman. The lustre of sat is chit and its

nature is ananda. These are not different

from sat. All the three together are known as

sat- chit-ananda.

25. Although the Self is real, as it comprises

everything, it does not give room for

questions involving duality about its reality

or unreality. Therefore it is said to be

different from the real and the unreal.

Similarly, even though it is consciousness,

since there is nothing for it to know or to

make itself known to, it is said to be

different from the sentient and the

insentient.

26. Sat-chit-ananda is said to indicate that

the Supreme is not asat, different from

being, not achit, different from

consciousness, and not an anananda,

different from happiness. Because we are in

the phenomenal world we speak of the Self

as sat-chit-ananda.

27. Perfect bliss is Brahman. Perfect peace

is of the Self. That alone exists and is

consciousness. That which is called

happiness is only the nature of Self. Self is

not other than perfect happiness. That which

is called happiness alone exists. Knowing

that fact and abiding in the state of Self,

enjoy bliss eternally.

28. If a man thinks that his happiness is due

to external causes and his possessions, it is

reasonable to conclude that his happiness

must increase with the increase of

possessions and diminish in proportion to

their diminution. Therefore if he is devoid of

possessions, his happiness should be nil.

What is the real experience of man? Does it

conform to this view? In deep sleep man is

devoid of possessions, including his own

body. Instead of being unhappy he is quite

happy. Everyone desires to sleep soundly.

The conclusion is that happiness is inherent

in man and is not due to external causes.

One must realise the Self in order to open

the store of unalloyed happiness.

29. Call it by any name, God, Self, the Heart

or the seat of consciousness, it is all the

same. The point to be grasped is this, that

Heart means the very core of ones being,

the centre, without which there is nothing

whatever. The Heart is not physical, it is

spiritual. Hridayam equals hrit plus ayam; it

means 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.

That from which beings come into existence

is said to be Brahman in the Upanishads.

That is the Heart. Brahman is the Heart.

30. There is no one who even for a moment

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.

The Heart is the centre from which

everything springs. Because you see the

world, the body and so on, it is said that

there is a centre for these, which is called the

Heart. When you are in the Heart, the Heart

is known to be neither the centre nor the

circumference. There is nothing else apart

from it.

31. The consciousness which is the real

existence and which does not go out to know

those things which are other than Self alone

is the Heart. Since the truth of Self is known

only to that consciousness, which is devoid

of activity, that consciousness which always

remains attending to Self alone is the

shining of clear knowledge.