Category: Talks with Ramana Maharshi

War and Crime Mr. Evans-Wentz asked about loss of life. D.: God being immanent in all, one should not take life of any kind. Is society right in taking the life of a murderer? Can the State do so either? The Christian countries begin to think that it is wrong to do so. M.: What […]

Work, Practice, Celibacy Mr. Evans-Wentz began to ask questions, mostly relating to Yoga preliminaries, for all of which Maharshi replied that they are aids to Yoga, which is itself an aid to Self-realization, the goal of all. D.: Is work an obstruction to Self-realization? M.: No. For a realized being the Self alone is the […]

English Scholar asks more questions Devotee.: Which time is most suitable for meditation? Maharshi: What is time? D.: Tell me what it is! M.: Time is only an idea. There is only the Reality. Whatever you think it is, it looks like that. If you call it time, it is time. If you call it existence, […]

English Scholar’s Questions Mr. W. Y. Evans-Wentz, an English research scholar of Oxford University, brought a letter of introduction from Mr. Brunton and arrived on a visit. He was tired after his journey and required rest. He is quite accustomed to Indian ways of living, having visited this country several times. He has learned the […]

No reason to mourn The European visitor asked relating to the existence of departed souls and how best to serve them. With regard to the question concerning departed souls: So long as a man identifies himself with his gross body, the thought materialised as gross manifestations must be real to him. Because his body is imagined […]

Guest to see Maharshi Mr. Douglas Ainslie (Mr. Grant Duff), an aristocratic English gentleman, 70 years old, nephew of a former Governor of Madras, an author and poet formerly attached to the British Legation in Athens, Paris and The Hague, had come to Madras as a guest of Government House. He came to see Maharshi […]

Supreme Spirit is subtle A question was asked about the Upanishadic passage, “The Supreme Spirit is subtler than the subtlest and larger than the largest.” M.: Even the structure of the atom has been found by the mind. Therefore the mind is subtler than the atom. That which is behind the mind, namely the individual […]

Realization exists beyond expression An old man came and sat in the hall. Maharshi was reading Sarma’s revised Sanskrit edition of Arunachala Akshara Manamalai (the first of His Five Hymns on Arunachala). The man asked softly: “It is said that self-realization is beyond expression; and expression always fails to describe the realization. How is it?” M.: […]

The Self alone Is “Is a Master necessary for Self-realization?” Mrs. Piggot asked first. M.: The realization is the result of the Master’s grace more than teachings, lectures, meditation, etc. They are only secondary aids, whereas the former is the primary and the essential cause. Devotee: What are the obstacles which hinder realization of the […]

Peaceful Monkey Mrs. M. A. Piggot, an English lady, who had read “Search in Secret India”, came to see the Maharshi. The services of a disciple as interpreter were provided. There were many visitors at the time in the hall, including some ladies with their infants. The place resounded with noise. Finally silence prevailed. Suddenly […]

I know nothing A man asked the Maharshi to say something to him. When asked what he wanted to know, he said that he knew nothing and wanted to hear something from the Maharshi. M.: You know that you know nothing. Find out that knowledge. That is liberation (mukti, salvation). Talks With Ramana Maharshi – […]

Can destiny end D.: “Can destiny (karma) ever come to an end?” M.: The karmas carry the seeds of their own destruction in themselves. Talks With Ramana Maharshi – Part 1 March 28, 1935 Talk 11.