Let the purpose fulfill itself
The Purpose will fulfill itself
Mr. M. Oliver Lacombe, a middle-aged Frenchman who was on a visit to India being delegated by the Institute of Indian Civilisation of the University of Paris, came here from French India. Among others he had desired to meet Maharshi; he came and stayed here about three hours. He had read, in the Sanskrit original, the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads and the Sutras with commentaries by Sri Sankara and Ramanuja.
He asked: Is Maharshi’s teaching the same as Sankara’s?
M.: Maharshi’s teaching is only an expression of his own experience and realisation. Others find that it tallies with Sri Sankara’s.
D.: Quite so. Can it be put in other ways to express the same realisation?
M.: A realised person will use his own language. Sri Bhagavan added: SILENCE is the best language.
D.: What does Maharshi say about hatha yoga or Tantric practices?
M.: Maharshi does not criticise any of the existing methods. All are good for the purification of the mind. Because the purified mind alone is capable of grasping his method and sticking to its practice.
D.: Which is the best of the different yogas, Karma, Jnana, Bhakti or Hatha?
M.: See stanza 10 of “Upadesa Sara”. To remain in the Self amounts to all these in their highest sense.
Maharshi added: In dreamless sleep there is no world, no ego and no unhappiness. But the Self remains. In the waking state there are all these; yet there is the Self. One has only to remove the transitory happenings in order to realise the ever-present beatitude of the Self. Your nature is Bliss. Find that on which all the rest are superimposed and you then remain as the pure Self.
D.: Yes. It amounts to the removal of alien limitations for discovering the ever-present Self. That is what Sankara says. There is no attainment or loss.
M.: Quite so. (Aside) He understands.
D.: How is work to be done ordinarily for an aspirant?
M.: Without self-identification with the actor. For instance, did you intend visiting this place while in Paris?
D.: No!
M.: You see how you are acting without your intention to do so? The Gita says that a man cannot remain without acting. The purpose of one’s birth will be fulfilled whether you will it or not. Let the purpose fulfill itself.
Talks With Ramana Maharshi
19th May, 1936 – Talk 189.
