Ramana Maharshi's Teachings On The Guru - Session 6

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.

So I hope you did your homework of recognizing that people,

Situations and things are just projections.

How many of us realized at least one instance where we created something and at least one instance where I withdrew from creation and I was successful?

How many of us realized it?

Could do it?

Fantastic.

Great.

So today we will move ahead with Ramana Maharshi into understanding more on this.

It will open up more and more slowly but it opens up petal by petal,

Petal by petal.

That's how your understanding opens up.

Spirituality is nothing else but progression in the level of your understanding of who you are.

Spirituality is nothing else but the progression of your own levels of understanding of who you are.

When you come to that understanding that there is no subject,

There is no object,

There is merely a field of being,

A field of existence,

A field of awareness,

A field of consciousness.

You are home.

You are home.

So let's move on and see what Ramana has to say today.

For the people who had the book,

We stopped at page 96.

For the people who had the online PDF,

We are at the bottom of the page 138.

So if you remember in the first answer,

He has said that the Guru,

The God and the Self are all here and it is all created.

Everything has just been created.

Everything is my own creation.

So not only this material world is the projection and creation of myself,

It is even the spiritual world,

Even the Guru is my own creation.

And how?

There is a God aspect in me,

There is a Guru aspect in me and there is the Self aspect in me.

Guru,

God and the Self are identical.

They are one and the same and it is me.

External Guru is also projected by me only.

He comes to help me look within,

Look within,

Look within.

We remember yesterday's answer.

Now we move ahead to the next question after that.

In the Theosophical Society,

We meditate in order to seek Masters to guide them.

The answer is the Master is Ridden.

Meditation is meant to remove the ignorant idea that He is only outside.

If He is a stranger whom you await,

He is bound to disappear also.

What is the use of a transient being like that?

But so long as you think you are separate or that you are the body,

An external Master is also necessary and He will appear to have a body.

Again,

Highlight that.

He will appear to have a body.

When the wrong identification of oneself with the body ceases,

The Master will be found to be none other than the Self.

I have forgotten who I am.

I have forgotten that I am this pure witness,

Pure consciousness.

I have become one with the mind,

With the ego,

With the intellect,

Memory and I think this is my reality.

This is who I am.

I think I am the body.

I don't think I have a body.

I think I am the body and because I think I am the body,

I feel that the Guru also in front of me is the body.

Not only the Guru,

I feel the husband,

The wife,

The child,

Everybody has solid material bodies.

This entire world is a solid material world.

It's only an appearance.

What is the meaning of appearance?

You are walking on the road,

You see a rope line but you mistake it for a snake.

Is there a snake there?

It isn't.

But I out of my fear project a snake out there,

Out of my own karma sanskara.

Understand this.

My own impression,

I have projected a snake out there.

It does not really exist there.

Then some good Samaritan walking on the same road comes by and shines a torch and says,

No see,

It is only a rope.

It is not a snake,

It is only a rope.

The snake,

Was it there and has it gone now?

No,

The snake was not there to begin with.

The snake is an appearance.

The snake is an illusion.

Is this clear?

It appears to be so.

It does not really exist.

What is the colour of the sky?

You will say blue.

But you have done it in physics.

No,

It is not blue colour,

Right?

We all did it in class 5,

6.

The sky is not blue.

It appears to be blue because of refraction of light.

You understand it.

You go to physics class,

You actually study refraction of light.

You do your physics practical,

You understand it.

What is refraction of light?

You come out of the physics laboratory,

You look up,

What do you see?

Blue.

Is the sky really blue?

It is not.

Are you understanding where I am going?

Even after enlightenment,

Even after recognising I am the witness,

You will still see the same world of people,

Situations and things.

You will see the same people creating drama in your life.

But now you know,

It is just an illusion.

It is not really a snake.

It is a rope.

It is the same awareness,

Same Brahman consciousness projecting pictures on a screen.

When I project pictures on a screen,

They seem very real.

You go to the movies,

Right?

And you see the heroine,

You see the hero,

You become one with the hero heroine.

They are crying,

You start crying.

You become one.

And then suddenly,

You shake out of it and you wake up and say,

Oh,

Okay,

What am I doing?

Why am I crying like this?

A moment comes where there is this recognition of separation.

Now you can enjoy the movie,

You can eat the same popcorn,

You can watch the same hero heroine.

Everything remains the same but now there is a clarity there that I am not that tragedy.

My mind was crying with that but I am not that.

This world is exactly like this.

When you get enlightened,

You recognise I am the witness.

You will still have the projection of all these pictures.

Same wife,

Same husband,

Same child,

Same money,

Same job,

Everything remains the same.

But there is a very clear understanding that it is nothing else other than the projection.

There is only one thing,

The pure consciousness and I am merely creating this reality out of it.

How is this reality still continuing?

Though I know I am the witness,

I can see I am the witness.

Why is it still continuing?

It is continuing because of your past karma seeds.

Those will keep sprouting,

No?

This body is created by my past karma seeds.

Suppose,

Just an example,

One million seeds went into creating this body called Ekta.

All the one million seeds have to sprout,

Give their results.

Then only at the one millionth seed will this body kick the bucket.

Till that time I have to go through that karma.

Do you see what I am saying?

So even if you recognise,

Oh I am the witness,

I am not this body mind,

The drama will still continue because the karmic seeds are still sprouting.

But I have understood that it is just a projection,

Just a projection,

Just a created seeming reality but they are just pictures on the screen.

What is the truth of pictures on the screen?

The background screen.

This is also another example used by Ramana Maharshi a lot.

There is a story I think Swami Sarva Priyananda says.

I will repeat that story to you.

A little child from the village who has never ever seen a cinema.

He is from a very small rural town.

He has never ever seen the cinema or TV or movies,

Anything like that in his life.

His father says,

Come I will show you something new today.

I will take you to the town and I will show you a movie for the first time in your life.

So the child says,

Okay what is a movie?

So there will be lots of pictures projecting on a white screen.

There will be a projector,

There will be a screen and there will be pictures projecting on it.

So he says okay.

Now they are a little delayed.

They are coming all the way from the village to the town.

So the movie starts.

When they enter the cinema,

The pictures are already up there.

In ten minutes the little child sits there and is watching all these images and then he says,

Where is that screen you were talking about?

You say,

There!

Behind that beautiful girl's hand.

Oh behind the hand is the fence.

That is the screen.

No,

No,

No.

See,

You see those people at the beach.

Now behind that is the water.

No,

No,

Even behind that he cannot understand what is the screen.

This is my plight.

I keep showing you the witnesses behind the mind when you are so stuck in the images of your mind.

You just can't see that there is a screen behind.

There is a very silent,

Quiet background screen on which the images of your own mind are playing.

Take your attention from the images to the background screen.

This is who you are.

This is the reality of that movie.

The images come,

The images go.

People come,

People go.

The truth is this permanent background reality.

This is who I am.

The same thing Ramana is saying,

I have to recognise very clearly that I am the truth.

I am that pure witness and that pure witness is not different from God because that pure witness creates these images.

So it is the creator of this reality.

It is God.

There is no God outside and when it creates these images,

It creates husband,

Wife,

Child,

Parent,

Family,

Money,

Job,

Career and the guru and the spiritual path.

So the guru projected outside is nothing else but my own creation.

The master is within.

This is the master.

Meditation is meant to remove the ignorant idea that he is only outside.

When you meditate,

Really what is the whole point of meditation?

To drop this thinking,

Thinking,

Thinking mind and go to that quiet expanse which is beyond the thoughts.

That's where you say,

Oh I want peace.

I am tired of these thoughts.

There is just turbulence.

So meditation is meant to show you this is the master,

This is God,

This is self.

This is who I truly am.

That is the purpose of meditation.

If he is a stranger,

He means your guru,

Somebody outside,

Some image.

If he is a stranger whom you await,

He is bound to disappear also because these images come,

These images go.

People come in my life,

They go.

If I consider guru to be that,

He is bound to come and he is bound to disappear.

Yes?

And he will come with all his flaws because all these images are not the reality.

They are not the truth.

There is only one truth,

The background screen.

What is the use of a transient being like this?

Transient means changing.

He is constantly changing.

Images are constantly changing.

They come and go.

The only permanent thing is the screen behind.

Yes?

This self,

This awareness,

This consciousness is that permanent space in which everything appears,

Plays for a while and goes away.

But so long as you think you are separate or that you are the body,

An external master is also necessary.

Till the time I think I am here,

I am an image,

Then I need the help of another image to come and show me.

Look,

Look behind the screen,

Behind,

Behind,

Behind this,

Behind that.

I need somebody outside to come and tell me that.

But that external person is not the guru.

The external person is just a guru positioning system,

A GPS.

And his job is to point inwards.

If he is doing any other job other than helping you look inwards,

Then time to change the GPS.

GPS is Kaput.

You probably bought some GPS from the Chor Bazaar.

Come on.

Next.

It will be a higher brand.

Go to a better brand.

But come to the truth who you are.

When the wrong identification of oneself with the body ceases,

The master will be found to be none other than the self.

Now you will understand the meaning of this.

When the student is ready,

The teacher appears.

When the student is truly ready,

The teacher disappears.

How will the teacher disappear?

Only if you don't have a craving for that teacher.

You are not holding on to the teacher.

You have not made him another object of attraction in life.

So,

It is the teacher's job to just be a GPS in your life,

To show you,

Look within.

And he disappears from the scene,

So you stop looking at him,

You stop getting attracted to him and you look within.

That is the true job of a teacher.

Ladsu was one of the very very well known so-called saints.

You can read him up too.

So the next question.

Will the guru help us to know the self through initiation?

We have initiation with some mantra and some japa and some mala and something.

He is asking that question.

So the answer is,

Does the guru hold you by the hand and whisper in your ear?

You may imagine him to be what you are yourself.

Whatever you imagine,

That will project in your life.

What is he saying?

If you found a guru who said,

Oh,

I was living 200 km below the earth and then humanity went through crisis,

So I came back on earth and I started giving this jnana and I am going to live in this body for 200 years.

You created him,

You wanted that kind of a guru.

That's why you got that kind of a guru.

You were attracted to miracles.

So you got somebody like that in your life.

If your guru told you,

Oh,

Wear this red colour stone,

Whatever the name is,

I don't know the names now,

But that red colour stone and wear a big one in a gold ring and all your problems will go away.

Don't blame him.

No,

You attracted that kind of a guru.

You create in your own mind and you attract that kind of a person.

That person comes and gives you that kind of relief.

And it's all okay.

You should not blame yourself on this.

We grow in stages like we discussed yesterday.

I had to go to school to go to middle school.

I had to go to middle school to reach high school.

I had to go to high school to go to college.

I cannot directly jump up.

I am going to go up stepwise and that's fine.

That was my preparation and that's okay.

But recognize I have to go up.

I have to go up.

I have to keep moving.

Don't make a house on the bridge.

It's a bridge.

Keep moving,

Keep moving,

Keep moving,

Keep moving.

So whatever you imagine him to be,

That is what will come to you.

And it is nothing else other than what you are yourself.

Because you think you are a body,

You think he is also a body and that he will be something tangible to you.

But really the Guru is not in the body.

His work lies where?

Within the spiritual realm which means here.

Everything is here.

Everything is happening here.

I am God.

I am Guru.

I am the Self.

Yes,

The external is just the GPS.

It points me inwards.

Correct Guru.

He pointed me inwards.

He didn't point me in his direction.

He pointed inwards.

Correct Guru.

Correct GPS.

Good.

But don't crave.

Don't hold on.

It's his time to disappear.

When you reach your destination,

What happens?

Do you still sit in the car?

You reached home.

You are in the garage.

GPS is telling you,

Get out.

No,

I love you my dear GPS.

I am going to sit in this car my whole life and hug my GPS.

Get out of the car.

The GPS keeps telling you,

Get out of the car.

Yes?

Don't fall in love with any of these images on the screen.

They are meant to take us back home.

Which means at the right time,

The Guru's job,

The teacher's job is to disappear.

How is the Guru to be found?

God who is eminent.

Eminent means operating within.

The one who is operating within.

God who is operating within in His grace takes pity on the loving devotee and manifests himself according to the devotee's development.

Remember these three functions of yourself?

Inside,

Only the whole revolution happens.

The body,

Mind,

Intellect,

Memory,

Ego together are called the devotees.

The body,

Mind,

Intellect,

Memory,

Ego is the disciple or the devotee and the pure witnessing is the God.

This devotee yearns for God.

He cannot understand that God is inside.

He is always looking outside.

So now,

What does this God decide?

Okay.

Now to help him,

I have to manifest another image outside so that he is attracted to that image and that image tells him,

Inside,

Inside,

Look inside,

Turn in,

Turn in.

He keeps looking outside.

He's turning.

He keeps looking out.

He's turning.

Finally,

When he turns in,

This teacher's job is to disappear from the scene.

He has turned in and he recognises,

I am the Self.

I am God.

I am the One.

Do you get it?

This is what Ramana is explaining.

You are the Self.

You are God.

Just wake up and see the truth.

Now this happens for your development of your mind,

He says.

The devotee thinks that he is a man and expects a relationship between two physical bodies.

That is why the projection happens of the guru outside and there is a relationship outside.

But the guru who is God or Self incarnate works from within.

He's working from within.

His job is looking,

Looking,

Looking inside,

Looking inside,

Looking inside.

He helps the man to see the error of his ways and guides him on the right path until he realises the Self within.

So the next question,

What are the marks of a real teacher or Sadguru?

Now how should I know whether my external GPS is Chor Bazaar GPS or it's really a good GPS?

The external guru positioning system is an authentic teacher who is going to guide me in the right direction or not authentic.

Steady abidance in the Self.

Sounds like a big word but it's very simple.

It means that the GPS of yours in every single talk,

In every single interaction,

His job is only to push you inwards towards your own Self,

Towards your own Self.

Even if once that GPS tries to attract you towards itself,

It is increasing your Radhas and Dveshas.

And if it is increasing your Radhas and Dveshas,

It is not steadily abiding in the Self.

Very clear?

Even if the external GPS says,

Oh now make a sankalpa.

Wrong GPS,

Teaching you something wrong.

We just learnt that by making sankalpas,

I create my own world and that same world creates Dukha in my life.

That same GPS that is telling you this,

Oh is kaput.

Chor Bazaar,

Chor Bazaar,

Red Alert,

Red Alert.

Wake up.

That external GPS is telling you,

Come,

Come to me,

Bring more people,

Bring your whole family.

GPS is interested in fame,

Not interested in your development,

Not talking to you about looking within,

Telling you look outside.

Are you seeing this?

Like that you decide whatever things you see are wrong.

And the GPS says,

GPS says give me money,

Give me name,

Give me fame,

Put me on a pedestal,

Give me power.

Then wrong GPS,

Wrong GPS,

Wrong GPS.

Only if the GPS says 100% again and again,

Every talk is about look within,

Go within,

The master is within,

The teacher is within,

God is within,

You are the pure witness,

You are awareness.

If this is not repeated in every talk,

Then there is something kaput with the GPS.

It is our job.

We have only so many years to live.

We just assume that oh,

I am going to live a long life.

You never know.

You never know.

You have a very short time.

Live like that.

I have a very short time to live and let me just focus on my own spiritual growth.

How quickly can I recognise I am the witness and just be?

There is no more doing after this.

There is just being.

Just being.

Just being.

So,

Guidance in the self,

That is the meaning.

Second,

He looks at all with an equal eye.

Why this will happen?

Because that guru is supposed to have reached the self.

He is supposed to have reached the field of awareness,

Consciousness and he recognises,

Oh this field of awareness,

Consciousness is the same everywhere.

There cannot be a Hindu enlightenment and Muslims don't reach enlightenment.

Wrong understanding.

There cannot be a Christian enlightenment and everybody else will not go to enlightenment.

Wrong understanding.

Do you see that?

There cannot be one person who is enlightened.

Buddha is wrong.

But Krishna is right.

Wrong understanding.

Do you see what I am saying?

Then that person has not reached there and he has not reached oneness.

He does not have an equal eye for everybody.

He will in fact say,

Oh everyone is enlightened.

Every path is the right path.

Everywhere you see,

It is the same consciousness,

The same awareness.

He will never put one guru or one teacher down.

If you see competition between two gurus,

Nowadays you get to see even on TV.

There is competition between two gurus.

I don't condemn them but this is not my way.

My way is to find the one who takes me to the self,

To the awareness,

To the consciousness,

To the witness.

Super clear?

Equal eye.

Very clear.

Equal means seeing the oneness in all.

An unshakable courage at all times,

In all places and all circumstances.

In Sanskrit the word is abhaya.

Abhaya,

Devoid of any fear.

He is very courageous.

So he is not afraid of any political debate.

He is not afraid of money going away or name or fame going away.

He is not trying to protect his gadi,

Seat,

Throne.

In fact,

He doesn't want a throne.

He is like water.

Water keeps flowing down.

Let me just be at the lowest level.

Nobody can push me down beyond that lowest level.

There is absolute humility.

There is no insecurity.

That is the meaning of unshakable courage.

So you check,

Examine is your GPS the correct GPS.

Even if you are calling me your GPS,

Please examine.

I am telling you to examine me.

Don't believe me blindly.

Why?

Because it is about your growth and you will not grow if you have doubts about me.

So if you have doubts about me,

You will have doubts about the teaching and if you have doubts about the teaching,

You will not make an effort to apply it.

You see where this goes?

So who does it affect in the end?

It affects you.

Get it out of the way.

All doubts need to be out of the way so you become very clear about your path.

You don't have too much time.

How much ever time I have,

Let me invest in finding out who am I.

And I can do it with my own self exploration.

I do not have to believe anybody externally.

If you really understood this,

External is nothing but an illusion.

An illusion created by me only.

How can you believe your illusions anymore?

Here,

This is the only correct direction.

There is no other way.

It's a one way street from the moment.

So look for all these qualities in your GPS.

Next question.

There are a number of spiritual teachers teaching various paths.

Whom should one take for one's guru?

He says choose the one where you find you get shanti or peace.

Very simply,

You will get peace where you have no doubts.

Correct?

If you have doubts about the guru,

It can never be at peace.

You will just be putting band aid again and again.

Oh it's okay,

Chalta hai.

Modern world is like this.

Oh chalta hai.

This is okay.

You put another band aid.

You put another band aid.

But because of that,

Your conviction is not strong.

You see what I'm saying?

And when your conviction is not strong,

You cannot walk the path.

You will keep stumbling and fumbling.

And that's why people spend 20 years,

30 years,

40 years with the wrong GPS.

And then they say,

Oh,

I spent so many years,

Wasted my time.

You wasted your time.

You did not correct it when it was time to correct.

Wake up.

Wake up.

Only you can wake up.

Nobody else can wake you up.

Yeah?

So choose the correct GPS,

The correct one.

Should we not also consider his teachings?

Okay,

A big blow coming now.

He who instructs an ardent seeker to do this or that is not a true master.

What is this or that?

Do this technique,

Do that technique,

Do this,

Do that.

Activity.

Giving you activity for the mind.

That is not a true master.

Why?

We will see ahead.

The seeker is already afflicted by his activities.

That means he has lots of activities and he wants peace and rest.

In other words,

He wants cessation of his activities.

Mind is already active,

Creating lots of noise.

You want this mind to seize.

So if I give you another activity,

Another technique,

Do this.

Again,

I am engaging your mind.

Again,

Another activity.

Is this clear?

You are actually looking for peace.

You are looking for cessation.

And if a teacher tells him to do something in addition to or in place of his other activities,

Can that be a help to the seeker?

No.

You are only increasing the noise in my mind.

First I had only the material world noise,

Now I have spiritual world noise.

This tone,

That crystal,

This mantra,

That japa,

This technique,

That asana,

That pranayama.

It goes on.

The list is unending.

First I had material world noise,

Now I have spiritual world noise.

It just increased the noise in my mind.

How can this help me?

How can this help a true seeker who is looking for peace and rest?

Activity is creation.

Please highlight this.

Activity is creation.

We just learnt that we are creating.

We are constantly creating this world.

We are constantly creating.

Now we started creating the spiritual world also.

First I had less creation when I was not on the spiritual path.

Now I have increased my creation.

Activity is creation.

Super clear?

Activity is the destruction of one's inherent happiness because your happiness is in not doing,

Just being in that pure witness.

So it is a destruction of that happiness.

If activity is advocated,

The advisor is not a master but a killer.

These are strong words.

Basically he is again getting you into the same loop of creation,

Creation,

Creation.

You are projecting the same world.

Again stop blaming that other GPS outside.

Who created that GPS?

I.

Because I thought till now that oh this mantra,

This japa,

This asana,

This thing will quieten my mind.

I will get to the witness.

But it did not help you get to the witness.

It only increased your activity of the mind.

So he is saying,

Such a master is just a killer.

In such circumstances,

Either the creator,

Brahma or death,

Yama,

May be said to have come in the guise of a master.

Such a person cannot liberate the aspirant.

He can only strengthen his petals.

This comes as a big blow,

No?

Brahma is the word,

The Sanskrit word for the creative function in me.

So that creative function only projects this word according to my own interests,

My own inclinations.

I hear,

Oh doing this crystals and that voodoo magic is going to give me liberation.

I go and do all that magic and mystery and all those things,

Mystical things I get lost in.

But I don't reach anywhere.

Then I go to that astrologer,

That palmless because I feel that it's going to help me.

I create that world.

It does not take me anywhere.

So it is Brahma,

The one who's creating,

Who has come and created this whole non-working spiritual side of my life.

Or it is Yama,

Death.

Death here means the destruction of my happiness,

The death of my happiness.

Again,

Which is also because of me only.

Do not blame those external GPSs.

We are going to be very compassionate with them.

If it is not our path,

We gracefully exit,

Quietly exit.

It might be right for somebody else.

It's not right for me.

Why?

Because it is only increasing my fetters.

What is the meaning of fetter?

Fetter is a chain that binds you.

That's the translation.

That's the meaning of that word.

Fetter is a chain that binds you.

Attachment to a particular mantra binds me.

I'm again lost in the mind and I'm unable to go to the witness.

I'm stuck in this mind.

A particular technique binds me.

Again,

Another teacher and the mystical stories of that teacher,

They again bind me.

Anything that binds me,

Keeps me in my mind and prevents me from being in the pure witness where there is absolute silence,

Where there is no grief,

Where there is no happiness,

Where there is total peace.

It prevents me from going there.

My attachment to these things prevents me from going there.

Then these are nothing but bondage.

They are also holding me back.

Again,

Remember it is created by me only.

I have only projected that thinking that this is right.

This is the way to liberation.

This is the way out of my suffering.

But truly,

It is not the way out of suffering.

It multiplies the fetters in life.

Because it multiplies your doing.

Do this,

Do this,

Do this,

Do this.

We are lost in doing.

And we actually just want to be.

Rest.

You do experience a moment of rest here and there but that is because of your own tiredness of the doing.

But it is not taught to you that is the real thing.

It is not taught to you that that one glimpse that you had,

That is who you are.

What is taught to you?

Oh be stuck to this mantra,

Japa,

Rites,

Rituals,

This technique,

That technique.

Be stuck to it.

This is not taught that you have to move up.

It is a stepping stone.

A stepping stone is used to put one foot and then go beyond.

If it is being taught to keep both your legs there and not think about beyond,

Beyond is not even told that it exists,

Then it is a fetter.

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