September 19, 1979


Questioner: I started a course in concentration a few years ago, and after a while it helped me to find the hooks and handles for controlling the mind. I remained with one exercise for some time. It was the mental visualization of an object against a black background, to the exclusion of all else. I understand that the practice of concentration is so powerful that it can change the convolutions of the brain itself. Can I continue that practice and what will be the end result? 

Maharaj: Unless you know yourself you will not realize the effects of that concentration, and once you know your Self you will not need the concentration. Whose is the concentration; for what? 

Q: The ability to make the mind one-pointed is the precursor to any form of meditation. To be able to still the mind is the cornerstone of any type of realization, because all thoughts must be uprooted before that which is behind them makes itself evident. That's why I chose the study of meditation. 

M: Does whatever you want to learn, achieve, or realize come through meditation or concentration? Prior to meditation is some entity already present? 

Q: Yes. 

M: You are not going to have the birth of that entity through your meditation; it is already present. 

Q: I can identify that entity more readily if there are no obtrusive thoughts clouding it. 

M: It is only because of all those thoughts that you are not reaching the entity that you desire to reach. 

Q: But I am now, only because I have been able to still and control the mind through the practice of concentration. 

M: You will find your realization, or understanding, according to whatever meaning you attach to your conceptions or imaginations. 

Q: It's generally agreed that meditation is useful in trying to attain the prerequisite sensations. For instance, the meditation on “I am the all-penetrating and infinite light *1 Am’ ” will lead one to the threshold of the state to which Maharaj is referring. 

M: Yes, this meditation is to lead you to be a sadhaka. What are you seeking? Meditation is only an initial state. 

Q: But is it an aid? 

M: The sadhaka must practice meditation; to reach that particular center which you are seeking meditation is absolutely necessary. The meditator is prior to the meditation. 

Q: Last night in my meditation what Maharaj had said about the answer preceding the question came to mind, and I saw that, indeed, the question can only come from having contacted the answer. A problem arose; when Maharaj says that we are not the body, does he mean body as form? 

M: Have you any knowledge of how this body come into existence? 

Q: The body and awareness came about at the same time; I don’t have prior knowledge of the body. 

M: You must know why this body came, how this consciousness came on you. 

Q: If this question is to be answered truthfully, that is still before me, something which I am seeking to know. 

M: You think over only that point, that question. How did this consciousness appear on you? 

Q: If the Ultimate Reality is in all the atoms of the universe, is not the body in its very atomic substance the Ultimate Reality? 

M: What atom is responsible for this body? Have you an answer? 

Q: What is responsible for the body, world, jiva and God is the “I Am.” When it arises so do all the others. 

M: What next? 

Q: The body comes about as a conflux of two fluids; the instructions inherent in those fluids compose the form. That is how the body is derived. 

M: The knowledge “I Am” was absent during the nine months in the fetus. That ”1 Amness” came after the body was born. 

Q: No; Maharaj said that the ”1 Am” was created at the time of conception. 

M: At the point of conception did you know that you were present? 

Q: No, but that may be due only to my inability then. 

M: Until you met your mother did you know anything? After being indoctrinated you became conscious that you are a body, a son, etc. You did not even remember yourself until then. 

Q: That is not consistent with what has been said previously. 

M: Whatever was said previously does not pertain to you at all—throw it out. The material for making sugar is in the sugarcane; you take the sugar and throw the cane out. Similarly, whatever is said now is the sugar which has been derived from the cane. That sweetness has neither name nor form. You know it, I know it, this taste of sweetness that you are. What is going to happen to that taste? 

Q: I go on tasting. 

M: That taste is not everlasting, that taste will not last. Once you understand this, what is your future? 

Q: The future remains a mystery. 

M: Can that sweetness have a mystery? 

Q: That sweetness will eventually disappear, so the mystery can’t be in the sweetness. The taste is not the mystery, the taster is the mystery. Is consciousness the taster? 

M: You know that. You know the answer. The taste is of the five elements. The source of the body is the five elements; you are not the body. The combination of the body and the vital breath generates this consciousness; you are not the consciousness. You are the underlying principle. Be in That. 

Q: To be here and hear Maharaj repeat it over and over is quite a different matter from suddenly confronting it directly; and in that moment of first confrontation one is not completely clear. 

M: Who is to confront whom? It is all thoughts. You have understood something and you can’t admit that you have understood; so keep quiet, be in that. 

M: Where are you coming from? (To another:) You. 

Q: I am coming from Ramanasram. 

M: Are you having good samadhan there? 

Q: If samadhan means inner peace, yes, very much so. 

M: If a liquid is boiled to remove the impurities in it the condition when bubbles cease to rise is called samadhan. So long as there is any vritti [movement] in the mind it is not samadhan. 

Q: I am still getting some bubbles! The deeper my dhyana [meditation, contemplation], the weaker and more painful is my body. The condition distracts my mind. Would Maharaj suggest something? 

M: For some time such conditions may appear. Even Ramana Maharshi had some suffering at one time in the body [burning sensation]. Don’t be afraid of them. Gently continue your meditation, study, and nama smaranam [remembrance of the name]. In sadhana each one’s experience will be different due to the differences in the prakriti [nature] and gunas [qualities] of the instrument. 

Q: I request Maharaj to bless me with the necessary courage and inner strength to ignore the body and mind. 

M: With full unshakable faith in Ramana Maharshi continue your practice. You can come here and listen to me, but remember that your Sat Guru is Ramana Maharshi. 

Q: I am returning to Ramanasram tomorrow; would Maharaj give me something of his as prasad that I can keep with me? 

M: My prasad for you is this: that you should have Puma, Nishta Bhakti [full, unshakable devotion] to your Guru Ramana Maharshi, come what may. Rain or shine, pleasure or pain, life or death, your faith should not be shaken. You don’t have to go anywhere or see any other Saints. He is your Guru. 

Q: Would Maharaj tell us what is the benefit of being here in his presence. 

M: It cannot be measured. You cannot measure space, and, similarly, the good fortune of having a Sat Guru is immeasurable. If you can understand that you are fortunate. 

Q: Before coming here I thought that my heart was cold, but now I find that it is defrosting in the presence of the Great Defroster. 

M: Let anything come and go. You are only a witness. Don’t get wounded or involved in this melting process; it is only on the mental level and different from your Self. Whatever experience is derived through the mind cannot affect you. You are beyond mental cognition, beyond the five elements. The mind is made of those elements only. 

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