Ramana Maharshi's Teachings On The Guru - Session 14

Listen to Ektaji talk about Ramana Maharshi's teachings on the Guru. These teachings are aimed at the experiential understanding of the true nature of the self and that consciousness is the only existing reality.

Transcript

Salaam.

Salaam.

Salaam.

Salaam.

Salaam.

How long is a guru necessary for Self-realization?

Guru is necessary so long as there is ignorance.

Ignorance is due to the self-imposed but wrong limitation of the self.

Very clear,

No?

What is the wrong limitation of the self?

That I am the body or I am the mind.

This is the wrong limitation of the self.

And this wrong understanding of your own self is called ajnana.

Ajnana translated into English is ignorance.

And ignorance is nothing else but limiting yourself,

Limiting the recognition of pure witness to the body or to the mind.

God on being worshipped.

Again,

This is the inner God,

Okay?

There is no God in the sky.

God on being worshipped bestows steadiness in devotion which leads to surrender.

Again,

Devotion is to what?

The fake I now devotes itself to the real universal I or there is no I really,

Just us,

The universal field of witnessing.

So devotes itself means again and again you take your attention there.

Again and again,

There.

Again and again,

There.

Come what me,

I do not lose sight of I am the witness.

That is being devoted to the witness and that leads to surrendering of the ego.

Then the ego disappears into the source.

The source is the pure witness.

On the devotee surrendering,

God shows his mercy by manifesting as the guru.

The guru,

Otherwise God,

Guides the devotee saying that God is within and that he is not different from the self.

This leads to introversion of mind and finally to realization.

The inner guru takes the form of the God and manifests my universe according to my needs.

An external guru comes up.

This external guru keeps pointing,

Oh your inner guru is the real guru.

The God within is the real God and that is also the self,

The pure witness.

You remain there.

This leads to introversion of the mind.

Please highlight.

I am going to explain this at the end a little more with the different paths and why different paths came up.

Why bhakti yoga,

Karma yoga,

Jnana yoga,

Why buddha's path,

Why advaita.

Only one purpose,

Introversion of the mind so that I see God inside,

Guru inside and the self inside.

Nothing outside.

That only leads to realization finally.

If grace is so important,

What is the role of individual effort?

Effort is necessary up to the state of realization.

Did you get this?

Effort is necessary up to the state of realization.

Realization is awakening or enlightenment.

Till that time.

Even then,

The self should spontaneously become evident otherwise happiness will not be complete.

Up to that state of spontaneity,

There must be effort in some form or another.

Let me explain that.

He is saying,

When you get established,

When I told you that opening happens and you just start to feel the state of opening happens and you just sink into the witness,

Into the knowingness,

That always is the state of the witness.

You cannot say that,

Oh I went step by step,

Step by step,

Step by step,

Step by step and I opened the door and went in.

That's only the practices that help do the introversion of the mind.

You cannot say that,

Oh I went step by step,

Step by step,

Step by step,

Step by step and I opened the door and went in.

That's only the practices that help do the introversion of the mind,

Are step by step,

Step by step and finally,

Instantly,

You get established in the witness,

In the knowingness,

In the self.

So you get glimpses before,

You make an effort before.

It is all the introversion of the mind.

You are working on the mind to stop being involved so much here and recognize who am I.

It happens in an instant.

Some of us have already experienced it,

Are already there.

Some of us need some more time and that's fine,

That's fine,

We'll all get there.

But what is he saying?

It happens spontaneously,

Instantly.

Yes?

It just opens up.

It's just a complete opening up suddenly.

Till that time,

Effort is required,

He is saying.

Very clear why he explained the spontaneity?

Till you experience that spontaneity,

Some or the other form of effort is required so that my mind is introverted.

Means moving in,

In the correct direction,

Looking in the correct direction.

There is a state beyond our efforts or effortlessness.

Until it is realized,

Effort is necessary.

That spontaneity is not in my hands.

I cannot say it should happen on this day at this date.

No,

It's not in my hands.

It will happen when it needs to happen.

It's a natural opening up.

It opens when it needs to open up.

Till that time,

I need to keep doing my effort.

Effort is necessary.

After tasting such bliss,

Even once,

One will repeatedly try to regain it.

Having once experienced the bliss of peace,

No one wants to be out of it or to engage in any other activity.

Obviously,

Once you have tasted peace,

Then how can anything be greater than peace?

Then you want to just be there.

Just be there.

So unless you have tasted it,

You will not know it.

And of course,

You cannot put a condition when that window should open.

It will open spontaneously and when it opens,

You will know.

You will get that glimpse.

And you will fall.

I am telling you right now.

You will get this glimpse and then you will fall again.

Why?

Because of my previous habit patterns,

They pull me.

My conditioning pulls me.

But now I know the way.

I know the house where God lives.

Yes,

I have found my home.

I have found my destination.

Yes,

The only thing is on those steps leading to God's house,

There is oil that is spilled.

And I keep slipping on that oil and I come back down.

You've played snakes and ladders,

No?

One snake of temptation will bite you and right from 99,

You will come down to 9.

Again,

You will start climbing up but now you know your way up.

Now it's very easy to get there.

So even if you slip,

You will get back.

You will slip,

You will get back.

You will slip,

You will get back and a moment will come when you will stop slipping.

That's it.

Job done.

Is Divine Grace necessary for attaining realization or can an individual's honest efforts by themselves lead to the state from which there is no return to life and death?

Divine Grace is essential for realization.

It leads one to God realization but such grace is vouchsafed.

Vouchsafed means granted only to Him who is a true devotee or a yogi.

It is given only to those who have striven hard and ceaselessly on the path towards freedom.

Again,

Who's this Divine Grace?

Some God up there?

No,

No,

No.

When I said I have reached God's home,

It is here.

Yes?

Now the strength of that pure witness,

That glimpse that you got,

That is the Divine Grace.

Till now it was the Guru's Grace who used to come up and say,

This is the right direction,

This is the right direction.

Intelligence function in us is the Guru that tells us,

Move in this direction,

Move in this direction,

Move in this direction.

That inner voice is the Guru's Grace.

The moment I get a glimpse of that realization,

Of the witness and being established there and that complete recognition that this is all dreamy and this is who I am.

Please don't imagine some great exhilarating moment.

There are cartoons out there that show that people expect that you are going to be on the seventh cloud like this sitting and your third eye will open and there is light and you imagine this is enlightenment but really the other page shows the cartoon where the person is sitting like this on the bed all afraid,

Oh my God,

This is what was enlightenment.

Like I told you,

The ego finds it something new.

It's like hit hard.

So don't imagine it as anything different other than being in the witness and being there established clearly.

No imagination,

No big story creation in the mind.

Simple recognition,

An absolute recognition,

I am the witness.

That's all.

It's that simple.

And that divine grace is given only to those people who really worked very hard to get there.

It means you got to that realization.

Now divine grace will again help you because you fell down the oily steps.

Again you will walk back up.

This time it will be divine grace helping you walk back up,

Not guru's grace.

Guru's grace is that intuitive voice,

That inner voice that is helping you right now to move towards that point of realization.

Very clear?

It is helping you choose the right path.

It tells you no,

This is right,

This is noble,

Don't go that way.

This is right.

It speaks softly,

That is the inner guru.

This is clear?

That inner voice telling you at the right time,

The right path is the grace of the inner guru.

That is clear?

Inner guru clear?

Grace of the inner guru clear?

Yeah?

Now I keep working on myself and I get enlightened.

I reach that stage where the realization happens spontaneously,

Naturally,

On its own.

I kept making efforts and it just opened up.

Yes?

But like I told you,

You will fall.

Why?

Because of previous habit patterns,

Ego will come up,

Fear will come up,

I will fall.

Now what will help me back up?

Now divine grace.

Because now I have entered the door,

I have entered God's house.

Now that same inner voice becomes very strong.

It's not anymore a meek,

Quiet voice.

It doesn't speak just sometimes here or there when you give it a chance to speak.

Now it is a strong inner voice.

And now it is called divine's grace.

Now nobody can take it away from you.

Very clear difference between guru's grace and divine's grace?

Does distance have any effect upon grace?

Time and space are within us.

We did this in Advaita level 1.

Time and space are only created by the mind.

And how do you understand this?

Even in your dream,

Your dream level has its own time and space.

In your dream,

You are a baby and you spend your entire life till old age and die also.

90 years covered in less than 10 minutes of dream.

So it has its own time and space.

Similarly,

This waking dream,

This has its own time and space.

Only in this waking dream,

I am in Germany,

You are in India,

You are in UK,

You are in Malaysia,

You are in US,

You are.

.

.

I forgot where you are.

So only in your dream do you have this time and space.

These are creations of the mind.

From this waking reality,

Time and space of the dream is Mithya.

Clear?

From the pure consciousness's point of view,

The time and space of this waking world is Mithya.

Illusion.

Clear?

So time and space are within us.

You are always in yourself.

How do time and space affect it?

We did that little exercise,

No?

Even when you were a little kid,

There was a part of you that is untouched.

Teenage,

Untouched.

Adulthood,

Untouched.

Marriage,

Children.

Old age,

Untouched.

There is something that is untouched that is not ageing,

No?

Has that become old?

That is why when you meet your friend,

Your friend says,

Oh you are looking old but from inside you feel,

I am the same.

Who is feeling I am the same?

Are you recognizing this?

I,

The witness,

Feels I am the same.

I have not changed.

So time and space do not matter or do not exist in the witness.

It is only at the realm of the mind.

On the radio,

Those who are nearer,

Hear sooner.

You are Hindu.

We are American.

Does it make any difference?

He says no.

It doesn't matter where you come from.

It doesn't matter whether you are Hindu or Muslim or Jew or Christian.

Enlightenment is equal for all.

There cannot be a Hindu special enlightenment for Hindus only.

Reserved.

Reserved category.

Get out of this thing.

There is no special enlightenment for Muslims.

There is no special enlightenment for Christians.

Similarly,

There is no special enlightenment for Brahmin caste.

This caste system was also there in India and still prevalent today.

Brahmins are greater.

Shudras are lower.

Wrong understanding.

Absolutely wrong.

This creates divide in society.

This only increases more problems in society.

You are not spiritual if you believe in divide.

Forget about it.

Enlightenment is far away for the person who creates the divide in fact.

Today there are religious leaders creating divides.

They bring politics into religion.

Religion is not pure religion anymore.

That is why spirituality has separated out of religion.

Pure spirituality is only about who I am.

Stick to that path where it is absolutely pure,

Devoid of all these divides of Hindu,

Muslim,

Brahmin,

Shudra,

White,

Black,

Whatever.

No divides.

No rich,

Poor.

No divides of somebody who has more money and somebody who has less money.

Somebody who is prettier and uglier or people working in Hollywood,

Bollywood,

All Ambani's and Tata's and people who are middle class.

All divides.

All divides.

Wrong.

Recognize it.

The moment you see these divides somewhere,

Exit.

Not my path.

Not my path.

Not my path.

Not my path.

This will increase more suffering in the world.

Your path,

You should be very clear.

It's here.

That which does not create divide.

That which takes me to that realization that we are all one.

All one.

Black,

White,

Hindu,

Muslim,

American,

Indian,

Whatever.

Rich,

Poor,

All of us are one.

That is the highest point of spirituality.

Where you see everything is one.

Very few gurus,

Very few spiritual teachers reach this point.

I have told you,

There are levels in enlightenment.

The highest level is of oneness.

Very few teachers,

Very few gurus,

Very few enlightened people reach this last level of complete oneness in all.

Very few.

And they were the true teachers.

That is the Sadguru really who has given up craving and aversion for this world completely.

So if there is no craving and aversion,

How is a rich person more important than poor?

Both are equal.

If there is no craving and aversion in the guru,

Then how is a Hindu more important than Muslim or Muslim more important than Hindu?

No.

No cravings and aversions.

No divide.

That is the highest level of oneness.

If you want to really have a goal,

This should be your goal.

That I reach that oneness,

That purity,

The ultimate purity.

Even thoughts are read by others.

That shows that all are one.

There,

Ramana Maharshi was the guru who had reached the level of oneness.

That's why he never charged money,

Not even from the American who is asking this question.

He had reached oneness.

Does Bhagawan feel for us and show grace?

He must be tired of this question now.

The same thing again and again.

You are neck deep in water and yet cry for water.

It is as good as saying that one neck deep in water feels thirsty or that a fish in water feels thirsty or that water feels thirsty.

You are water.

You are grace and you are asking for external grace again and again.

Grace is always there.

This passion cannot be acquired,

Nor realization of the truth,

Nor inherence in the self,

In the absence of guru's grace.

Basically,

You have even come onto this path because of grace.

Recognize this.

That grace is inside.

Something from inside propelled you to come onto the spiritual path.

Give up some pleasures of the world and take up this to realize my own self.

Without that you wouldn't have come.

That is called the first jhalak,

Glimpse,

The first glimpse of dispassion in your life.

So without that dispassion you would have not come only.

So grace is always there.

Dispassion cannot be acquired from that first glimpse of dispassion all the way to self-realization.

It cannot happen without that inner grace.

What a relief,

No?

That the grace is here.

It's not external.

I don't have to go looking for it externally.

I was simply lost in the conditioning of the spiritual path and now I have found the real truth within.

But practice is also necessary.

Staying in the self by one's efforts is like training a roguish bull confined to his stall by tempting him with luscious grass and preventing him from straying.

Nice description,

No?

Who are we doing this to?

The mind.

You keep the mind from straying with luscious grass.

Knowledge is luscious grass,

No?

All these sessions,

What do they do?

They keep the mind introverted.

You listen to this scripture,

That scripture,

That talk.

What does it do?

It keeps the mind introverted.

So it's luscious grass for that roguish bull called mind that can stray away.

So this practice of continuously introversion of the mind is necessary.

I have recently come across a Tamil song in which the author laments,

He is not like the tenacious young monkey that can hold on to its mother tightly but rather like a puling kitten that must be carried by the neck in its mother's jaws.

The author therefore prays to God to take care of him.

My case is exactly the same.

You must take pity on me Bhagwan.

Hold me by the neck and see that I don't fall and get injured.

You know this,

No?

The mother cat holds the kitten from the neck,

Holds it up like that.

So he is saying I am like that little kitten.

I am not like the monkey who holds on to the mother.

I need my mother to hold on to me.

Again and again he has to answer the same question.

So he is saying you hold me by the neck and see that I don't fall and get injured.

What does he answer?

That is impossible.

Please highlight that.

That is impossible.

It is necessary both for you to strive and for the Guru to help.

There are no lies where Ramana is.

No lies,

No deception.

He is not telling you,

Ya ya you drop everything.

Guru's grace will take care of everything.

He does not deceive you.

He tells you point blank as it is.

You make your effort to look within again and again and my job will be to again point towards the inner Guru to help you look inside again and again.

I will continue as long as you continue your efforts.

Other than that I will take you.

It is impossible.

This is what I love about him.

Ramana,

Buddha,

Nisargadatta Maharaj,

Point blank,

Honest.

They didn't care for followers.

You want to come?

You come.

I am not looking for fame or name.

I am not thirsty.

I am not a craving,

Thirsty Guru looking for followers.

I am not a craving,

Thirsty Guru looking for money or name or fame or whatever,

Praise or politics or power.

None of this lured them.

They were very point blank and clear.

You make your effort to look within.

My job is to keep reminding you look within and I will keep doing my job as long as you do your job.

I really love these honest people.

Ya?

And if you are the honest type that means you created your universe for Ramana Maharshi to manifest in your life.

Hana,

How long will it take for one to get the grace of the Guru?

Why do you desire to know,

To give me hope?

Even such a desire is an obstacle.

Another thing to highlight.

If you keep looking for external grace,

External grace,

It is craving.

Ya?

We are looking to drop craving.

If you keep looking for external blessing,

You bless me,

You give me grace,

Then I am only hankering more.

I am only lusting more.

I am lost in karma.

Ya?

And that will be my obstacle because I will keep looking outside and I will not look within.

Even this hankering for external grace or external blessings is an obstacle.

The self is ever there.

There is nothing without it.

Be the self and the desires and the doubts will disappear.

You just be,

Remain that witness again and again and again.

You will see the desires disappear,

The doubts disappear and following that up and close suffering disappears.

You hold on to that detached aspect of who you are.

Grace is the beginning,

Middle and end.

Grace is the self.

Because of the false identification of the self with the body,

The Guru is considered to be a body.

But from the Guru's outlook,

The Guru is only the self.

The self is only one and the Guru tells you that the self alone is.

Is not then the self your Guru?

Look within.

Is not then the self your Guru?

Where else will grace come from?

It is from the self alone.

It is from the witness alone.

It is from the knowingness alone.

It is from the awareness alone.

Manifestation of the self is a manifestation of grace and vice versa.

Means,

If right now you can recognize the pure witness,

That itself is grace.

Can you recognize the witness?

The witness is acknowledging that it is looking through the eyes at Eka on the screen.

Yes?

That is the witness.

Behind the mind is the witness and this is grace.

You are bestowed with grace right here,

Right now.

All these doubts arise because of the wrong outlook and consequent expectation of things external to oneself.

Nothing is external to the self.

All your doubts are only because of all the spiritual conditioning that you got from outside.

Grace is here.

God is here.

Blessings are from here.

All this conditioning is what caused this doubt to arise.

Drop all this external wrong conditioning.

Look within and come to that final realization that there is nothing external to the self.

Reviews

Enjoyed, transformative talk, reflective of current thinking and how to dissolve such thinking and contemplate a more positive disposition 🙏🏽🍀🌺 many thanks!