Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge

“Till now you seriously considered yourself to be the body and to have a form. That is the primal ignorance which is the root cause of all trouble.

Why should you worry about the future? You don’t even know the present properly. Take care of the present and the future will take care of itself.

“A Master in meditation, though the eyes and ears be open, fixes his attention so firmly on ‘That which sees’ that he neither sees nor hears, nor has any physical consciousness at all — nor mental either, but only spiritual.

SP: When will external objects vanish? B: If the mind, which is the cause of all thoughts and activities, vanishes, external objects will also vanish.

Dharma : Harmony, harmonious life or action. Also a man’s role in life, since what is harmonious conduct for one (say, a soldier) may not be so for another (say, a priest).

“Do not fix your attention on all these changing things of life, death and phenomena. Do not think of even the actual act of seeing or perceiving them, but only of that which sees all these things — that which is responsible for it all.

“It is possible to perform all the activities of life with detachment and regard only the Self as real.

The instruction, then, was to sit concentrating on the heart at the right side and ask ‘Who am I?’ When thoughts arise during the meditation one is not to follow them up but to watch them and ask: ‘What is this thought? Where did it come from? And to whom? To me — and who am I?’

the mind creates the illusion of a separate individuality.