If You Don’t Go to the Minds Report Then No Problem to Solve

Reading from page ten, ‘Be as You Are, The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharishi’, edited by David Godman. The questioner asks, ‘What is reality?’ Bhagwan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] says, ‘Reality must always be 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. ‘The reality, which is the mere consciousness that remains when ignorance is destroyed along with the knowledge of objects, alone is the Self (atma). In that Brahma-swarupa, (real form of Brahman), which is abundant Self-awareness, there is not the least ignorance. ‘The reality that 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 (nija-swarupa). ‘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 the jnanis (the ones who have realised the Self) to be the final and unobstructable state of true knowledge jnana (knowledge of the Self). ‘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.’ Then the questioner says, ‘What is this awareness and how can one obtain and cultivate it?’ These are beautiful few paragraphs I’m going to read, if you have some attention left it will be good if you can provide it for this. ‘What is this awareness and how can one obtain and cultivate it?’ Bhagwan says, ‘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.’ The questioner says, ‘If the Self is itself aware, why am I not aware of it even now?’ Bhagwan says, ‘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. ‘Remembrance is also similarly relative, requiring an object to be remembered and a subject to be 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 Self 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 (scriptures) speak of the Self as being the size of one’s 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 unreal. It is knowledge but different from knowledge and ignorance. How can It be defined at all? It is simply Being. ‘Questioner: “When a man realises the Self what will he see?” ’ Bhagwan says, ‘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 you give up your realisation of the not-true as true.’ I am going to read this sentence again and the way that I want you to hear these words. Bhagwan is saying something about ‘all that is needed’. Now all of you may have some concept about what is needed, you see. Now, if Bhagwan is the master, then you should follow what he is saying as ‘all that is needed’ and throw away all your ideas about ‘all that is needed’ as you hear this, as you hear any of this [pointing to the earlier verses he has read], this is the way to correctly hear. That is, he’s saying, ‘all that is needed is’. Now you take out everything [pointing to his head] that you think is needed and listen to what he is saying. He is saying that you give up your realisation of the not-true as true. Which means that whatever you considered to be true but is actually untrue, you give up that. It is not Self-realisation that you have to acquire, only the giving up of that which you considered to be true but is actually false.