Source Text
After Realisation all intellectual loads are useless burdens and are to be thrown overboard.1 Pre-occupation with theory, doctrine and philosophy can actually be harmful, insofar as it distracts a man from the really important work of spiritual effort, by offering an easier alternative which is merely mental, and which therefore cannot change his nature.
The unlearned are saved from the relentless grip of the devil of self-infatuation; they are saved from the malady of a myriad whirling thoughts and words; they are saved from running after wealth. It is from more than one evil that they are saved.2
Can anything appear apart from that which is eternal and perfect? This kind of dispute is endless. Do not engage in it. Instead turn your mind inward and put an end to all this. There is no finality in disputations.1
Apart from that they are useless. However, they are voluminous, in order to be adapted to the level of development of every seeker.
higher stages, until finally the goal is reached. When that happens, the goal alone remains and everything else, including the scriptures, become useless.2
To understand anything there must be the Self. The Self is obvious, so why not remain as the Self? What need to explain the non-self?
Brahman or the Self is like a cinema screen and the world like the pictures on it. You can see the picture only so long as there is a screen. But when the observer himself becomes the screen only the Self remains.2
You see various scenes passing on a cinema screen: fire seems to burn buildings to ashes; water seems to wreck ships; but the screen on which the pictures are projected remains unburnt and dry. Why? Because the pictures are unreal and the screen real. Similarly, reflections pass through a mirror but it is not affected at all by their number or quality. In the same way, the world is a phenomenon upon the substratum of the single Reality which is not affected by it in any way. Reality is only One.
The world is perceived as an apparent objective reality when the mind is externalised, thereby abandoning its identity with the Self. When the world is thus perceived the true nature of the Self is not revealed; conversely, when the Self is realised the world ceases to appear as an objective reality.1 That is illusion which makes one take what is ever present and all pervasive, full to perfection and self-luminous and is indeed the Self and the core of one’s Being, for non-existent and unreal.
The world is indeed real, but not as an independent, self- subsistent reality, just as a man you see in a dream is real as a dream-figure but not as a man.
AI Summary
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi in His Own Words by Ramana Maharshi and Arthur Osborne presents key insights from the Advaita Vedanta tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
- [To be expanded]
Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
This entry was generated from Readwise highlights. Expand with additional context as appropriate.