Ramana Maharishi on Self-realization

<>Disciple: How can you achieve Self-realization?

Master: Self-realization is not something that needs to be achieved. He is already in us.

All we have to do is eliminate the idea that “I didn’t realize Him.”
Stillness and peace mean Self-realization, and if we have the feeling that we have not realized Him, we must make sustained efforts to completely eliminate these thoughts.
They are due to the fact that we realize a confusion between the Self and what is not the Self. When the latter disappears, the Self remains alone.
To make room for it, it is enough to eliminate the crowd from your mind. There is no need to bring the necessary space by taking it from somewhere else.

Disciple: Since Realization is not possible without Vasanakshaya (annihilation of the Vasanas—tendencies, latent psychics that cause the appearance of desires),
how should I realize this state in which the Vasanas are actually destroyed?

Master: You are in this state right now.

Disciple: Does this mean that by immersing myself in Himself, the Vasanas will be destroyed as they present themselves?

Master: They are destroyed by themselves if you remain in the natural state of immersion in the Self.

Disciple: How can I achieve Self-realization?

Master: It is not about attaining the Self.
If it had been something that had to be conquered, it would have meant that it is not already here, now and forever.
Therefore, it is not permanent. Is it worth putting so much effort into something that doesn’t last? That is why I say that the Self does not conquer itself.

You are the Self, you are already the One.

In reality you ignore your natural state of preafericire. This ignorance will dominate and put a veil over the pure Self that is bliss. Your efforts must be uniquely directed towards removing this veil which is the identification of the Self with the body, with the mind, etc.

Ignorance must disappear to leave room for the Self. Achievement is accessible to everyone.

It makes no difference between aspirants. The only obstacles come from doubts about your abilities and the belief that you have to say “I didn’t realize it.”

You need to remove these obstacles entirely.

Disciple: What happens in the state of Samadhi? Does thinking still subsist in this state?

Master: Only Samadhi allows us to discover the truth.

Thoughts throw a veil over Reality, which is why it is impossible to attain entirely in states other than that of Samadhi.

In Samadhi only one and only one feeling survives: “I am” which excludes all other thoughts.

“I am” means “to always remain at peace.”

Disciple: What do I have to do in order to attain the state of Samadhi again and find the Peace that I feel here?

Master: The present experience is due to the influence of the ambience in which you are integrated here. Do you find the same state when you’re away?
This is, for the time being, a transitional state, and the practice is indispensable for it to become permanent.

Disciple: There are moments when sudden lights shine against the background of a consciousness whose center is outside the ordinary ego and which seems to encompass the totality.
Independently of any philosophical concept, how do you advise me to act in order to obtain, maintain and emphasize these far too rare illuminations?
Abhyasa (spiritual practice) for attaining such experiences necessarily involves withdrawal (isolation)?

Master: On the outside. Who experiences an exterior and an interior? They are concomitant in the existence of the subject and the object.
But, who again, is aware of the latter? After a deep examination you will discover that they were never only one: the subject.
Then look for who this unique topic can be. This analysis will end up leading you to pure consciousness, beyond the subject.
What you call the “ordinary self” is the mind. Narrow limitations encompass this mind while pure consciousness is beyond all limitation.
We can reach it through a search of the kind I have already mentioned.

Get- The self is always there. You only have one thing to do, which is to eliminate the wave that hides it.

To maintain – The self from the moment it was realized, becomes our direct and immediate experience.

Withdrawal – To remain in Yourself means loneliness. Nothing is foreign to the Self. Withdrawal involves moving to one place or state to another.
But neither one nor the other can be external to the Self. All is the Self; withdrawal is impossible because it is unthinkable.

Abhyasa – means not to let anything come to mind that disturbs the inherent peace of the Self. But, you are always in this natural state, whether you practice Abhyasa or not. To remain as you are, without questions and doubts, this is your natural state.

Disciple: When the state of Samadhi is experienced, can Siddhis be attained at the same time?

Master: In order to manifest the Siddhis, other people must recognize them. Any person who shows his powers in this way (indiscriminately) cannot be a Jnani (liberated).
Therefore, Siddhis do not deserve even the shadow of a thought. Jnana (ultimate knowledge) must be the sole purpose of your search.

<>Disciple: Does my realization help others?

Master: Yes, this is the greatest service you can do to them. He who discovered great truths has reached the silent depths of the Self.
But there is no “other” who has to help him. The realized being sees only the Self, just as the goldsmith pays attention only to the gold of the jewels adorned with precious stones that are given to him for evaluation. When you identify with the body, you are also fatally aware of names and shapes. But when you transcend the body, so does the idea of “the others.”
The Realized Being sees that the world is no different from itself.

Disciple: Wouldn’t it be preferable for the saints (the realized beings) to live in the presence of others?

Master: For them there is no “other” near which they can live. The self is the only reality.

Disciple: but shouldn’t I try to help the suffering world?

Master: The force that created you also created the world. If she takes care of you, she can just as well take care of the world. Because God created the world, it is His job to deal with it, not yours.

Disciple: And our duty as patriots?

Master: Your duty is to BE and not to be something or something else. “I am who I am” – this is the essence of the whole truth.
The method can be summed up in the phrase: “To remain in Peace”.
And what does peace mean? She wants to say “Destroy your lower nature” because every name and every form are a cause of peace disturbance.
“I-I” is the Self.
“I am this” is the ego.
When the “I” remains alone and unique, it is the Self. When he looks at himself and says “I am this or that, I am like this or that”, then it is the ego.

Disciple: Then who is God?

Master: The self is God. The feeling of “I am” is God. If God were external to the Self, there would have been a God devoid of Himself, and a Godless Self, which is absurd.
All that is necessary for Self-Realization is to BE AT PEACE. What could be easier?
That is why Atma-Vidya is the easiest path to follow.

Excerpt from the work “Who am I?” by Ramana Maharishi

Acharya Leonard Radutz