Ramana Hridayam

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NO THEORY IS NECESSARY

D.: What certainty is there that something awaits there to
receive me?

B.: When a person is sufficiently mature he becomes
convinced naturally.

D.: How is this maturity to be attained?

B.: Various ways are prescribed. But whatever previous
development there may be, earnest Self-enquiry hastens it.

D.: That is arguing in a circle. I am strong enough for the
quest if I am mature and it is the quest that makes me mature.

(This is an objection that was often raised in one form or
another and the reply to it again emphasises that it is not
theory that is needed, but practice.)

B.: The mind does have this sort of difficulty. It wants a fixed
theory to satisfy itself with. Really, however, no theory is necessary
for the man who seriously strives to approach God or his true Self.
Everyone is the Self and indeed, is infinite. Yet each person
mistakes his body for his Self. In order to know anything,
illumination is necessary. This can only be of the nature of Light;
however, it lights up both physical light and physical darkness.
That is to say, that it lies beyond apparent light and darkness. It
is itself neither, but it is said to be light because it illumines
both. It is infinite and is Consciousness. Consciousness is the
Self of which everyone is aware. No one is ever away from the
Self and therefore everyone is in fact Self-realised; only – and
this is the great mystery – people do not know this and want to
realise the Self. Realisation consists only in getting rid of the
false idea that one is not realised. It is not anything new to be
acquired. It must already exist or it would not be eternal and
only what is eternal is worth striving for.

Once the false notion ‘I am the body’ or ‘I am not realised’
has been removed, Supreme Consciousness or the Self alone
remains and in people’s present state of knowledge they call this
‘Realisation.’ But the truth is that Realisation is eternal and
already exists, here and now.
Consciousness is pure knowledge. The mind arises out of
it and is made up of thoughts.
The essence of the mind is only awareness or consciousness.
However, when the ego overclouds it, it functions as reasoning,
thinking or perceiving. The universal mind, not being limited
by the ego, has nothing outside itself and is therefore only aware.
This is what the Bible means by ‘I am that I am.’
The ego-ridden mind has its strength sapped and is tooweak to resist distressing thoughts. The egoless mind is happy,as we see in deep, dreamless sleep. Clearly, therefore, happiness
and distress are only modes of the mind.

TEACHINGS OF RAMANA MAHARSHI IN HIS OWN WORDS
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