Self-Realization and Bliss
Mr. Evans-Wentz asked questions about Self-Realization and Samadhi (Perfect Bliss).
D.: How long did it take Maharshi to realize the Self?
M.: This question is asked because the name and form are perceived. These are the perceptions consequent on the identification of the ego with the gross body.
If the ego identifies itself with the subtle mind, as in dream, the perceptions are subtle also. But in sleep there are no perceptions. Was there not the ego still? Unless it was, there cannot be the memory of having slept. Who was it that slept? You did not say in your sleep that you slept. You say it now in your wakeful state. The ego therefore is the same in wakefulness, dream and sleep.
Find out the underlying Reality behind these states. That is the Reality underlying these. In that state there is Being alone. There is no you, nor I, nor he; no present, nor past, nor future. It is beyond time and space, beyond expression. It is ever there.
Just as a plantain tree produces shoots at its roots, before yielding fruits and perishing, and these shoots, being transplanted, do the same again, so also the original primeval Master of antiquity (Dakshinamurti), who cleared the doubts of his rishi disciples in silence, has left shoots which are ever multiplying. The Guru is a shoot of that Dakshinamurti. The question does not arise when the Self is realized.
D.: Does Maharshi enter the nirvikalpa samadhi?
M.: If the eyes are closed, it is nirvikalpa; if open, it is (though differentiated, still in absolute repose) savikalpa. The ever-present state is the natural state sahaja.
Note:
Samadhi is a state of intense concentration and perfect tranquility achieved through meditation. In Hindu yoga this is regarded as the final stage, at which union with the divine is reached.
Elucidation of Samadhi by Sri Ramana Maharshi:
| Sleep | Savikalpa Samadhi | Kevala Nirvikalpa Samadhi | Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi |
| (1) Mind Alive | (1) Mind Alive | (1) Mind Alive | (1) Mind Dead |
| (2) Sunk in Oblivion | (2) Holding on to the Reality with effort | (2) Merged and Sunk in Light | (2) Resolved into the Self; remaining in the pure natural state |
| (3) like a bucket with the rope left lying in the water in a well | (3) Like a river discharged into the ocean and its identity lost | ||
| (4) to be drawn out by the other end of the rope | (4) A river cannot be redirected from the ocean |
Talks With Ramana Maharshi – Part 1
January 24, 1935
Talk 17.
