The Maharshi and His Message by Paul Brunton.
Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai
Ramana Maharshi guidance:
1. Know first that ‘I’ and then you shall know the truth.
2. There is only one thing to be done. Look into your own self. Do this in the right way and you shall find the answer to all your problems.
3. Through deep reflection on the nature of one’s self and through constant meditation, the light can be found.
4. How do you know that no progress has been made? It is not easy to perceive one’s progress in the spiritual realm.
5. Guru can give his discipline all that he needs for his quest.
6. Getting enlightenment depends upon the maturity of the seeker’s mind. The gun powder catches fire in an instant, while much time is needed to set fire to the coal.
7. Why should you trouble yourself about the future? You do not even properly know about the present! Take care of the present; the future will then take care of itself.
8. As you are, so is the world. Without understanding yourself, what is the use of trying to understand the world? People waste their energies over all such questions. First, find out the truth behind yourself; then you will be in a better position to understand the truth behind the world, of which yourself is a part.
9. When you go back there, you shall have this peace which you now feel, but its price will be that you shall henceforth can’t aside the idea that you are this body or this brain. When this peace will flow into you, then you shall have to forget your own self, for you will have turned your life over to THAT.
10. The life of action need not be renounced. If you will meditate for an hour or two every day, you can then carry on with your duties. If you meditate in the right manner, then the current of mind induced will continue to flow even in the midst of your work. It is as though there were two ways of expressing the same idea; the same line which you take in meditation will be expressed in your activities.
11. As you go on you will find that your attitude towards people, events and objects will gradually change. Your actions will tend to follow your meditations of their own accord.
12. A man should surrender the personal selfishness which binds him to this world. Giving up the false self is the true renunciation.
13. You have to ask yourself the question, ‘Who am I? This investigation will lead in the end to the discovery of something within you which is behind the mind. Solve that great problem, and you will solve all other problems thereby?
14. Man’s real nature is happiness. Happiness is inborn in the true self. His search for happiness is an unconscious search for his true self. The true Self is imperishable; therefore when a man finds it, he finds a happiness which does not come to an end. All men, without exception, are consciously or unconsciously seeking happiness. Even a sinner is trying to find the Self’s happiness in every sin which they commit. This striving is instinctive in man, but they do not know that they are really seeking their true selves, and so they try these wicked ways first as a means to happiness. Of course, they are wrong ways, for a man’s acts are reflected back to him.
15. To understand SELF, it is first necessary for a man to analyse himself. Because it has long been his habit to think as others think, he has never faced his ‘I’ in the true manner. He has not a correct picture of himself; he has too long identified himself with the body and the brain. Therefore, I tell you to pursue this enquiry, “Who am I”.
16. The first and foremost of all thoughts, the primeval thought in the mind of every man, is the thought ‘I’. It is only after the birth of this thought that any other thoughts can arise at all. It is only after the first personal pronoun ‘I’ has arisen in the mind that the personal pronoun ‘you’ can make its appearance. If you could mentally follow the ‘I’ thread until it leads you back to its source, you would discover that, just as it is the first thought to appear, so is it the last to disappear. This is a matter which can be experienced. It is possible to go inwards until the last thought ‘I’ gradually vanishes.
17. The sense of ‘I’ pertains to the person, the body and the brain. When a man knows his true Self for the first time, something else arises from the depths of his being and takes possession of him. That something is behind the mind; it is infinite, divine, eternal. Some people call it the kingdom of heaven, others call it the soul, still others name it Nirvana, and we Hindus call it Liberation; you may give it what name you wish. When this happens, a man has not really lost himself; rather, he has found himself.
18. ‘Who am I?, if you begin to perceive that neither the body nor the brain nor the desires are really you, then the very attitude of enquiry will eventually draw the answer to you out of the depths of your own beings; it will come to you of its own accord as a deep realization.
19. Know the real Self and then the truth will shine forth within your heart like sunshine. The mind will become untroubled and real happiness will flood it; for happiness and the true self are identical. You will have no more doubts once you attain this Self-awareness.
20. The greatest error of a man is to think that he is weak by nature, evil by nature. Every man is divine and strong in his real nature. What are weak and evil are his habits, his desires and thoughts, but not himself.
21. Who am I?
Am I this body of flesh, blood and bone?
Am I the mind, the thoughts and the feelings which distinguish me from every other person?
22. Pursue the enquiry ‘Who am I? Relentlessly. Analyse your entire personality. Try to find out where the I-thought begins. Go on with your meditations. Keep turning your attention within. One day the wheel of thought will slow down and an intuition will mysteriously arise. Follow that intuition let your thinking stop, and it will eventually lead you to the goal.
23. Trace thought to its place of origin. Watch for the real Self to reveal itself, and then your thoughts will die down on their own accord.
‘The Maharshi and His Message’ is a small book of around 80 pages which are the extracts of three chapters from the Paul Brunton’s ‘A Search in Secret India’ book. This book starts with the invitation to Brunton to visit Tiruvannamalai from a disciple of Ramana Maharshi and explains about all the personal experiences and discussions he had with Maharshi.
I like the second chapter “The Hill of the Holy Beacon” more.
Source: The Maharshi and His Message – Paul Brunton. Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai. Price Rs.20/-. Pages – 77.
Disclaimer – The above points are notes I have scrubbed down while reading the book “The Maharshi and His Message” written by Paul Brunton. I am blogging this material only to encourage the readers who see my blog to read the book and is not meant for any commercial purpose. It is just sharing information about a good book.
Regards,
Tirumalanath
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment