Talk 34

4th February, 1935
YOGI RAMIAH'S ACCOUNT OF HIS EXPERIENCES

Sitting in Maharshi's presence brings peace of mind. I used to sit in samadhi for three or four hours together. Then I felt my mind took a form and came out from within. By constant practice and meditation it entered the Heart and was merged into it. I conclude that the Heart is the resting place of mind. The result is peace. When the mind is absorbed in the Heart, the Self is realised. This could be felt even at the stage of concentration (dharana ^[?]).

I asked Maharshi about contemplation. He taught me as follows:- When a man dies the funeral pyre is prepared and the body is laid flat on the pyre. The pyre is lit. The skin is burnt, then the flesh and then the bones until the whole body falls to ashes. What remains thereafter? The mind. The question arises, `How many are there in this body - one or two?' If two, why do people say `I' and not `we'? There is therefore only one. Whence is it born? What is its nature (swaroopa)? Enquiring thus the mind also disappears. Then what remains over is seen to be `I'. The next question is `Who am I??' The Self alone. This is contemplation. It is how I did it. By this process attachment to the body (dehavasana ^[?]) is destroyed. The ego vanishes. Self alone shines. One method of getting mind-dissolution (manolaya ^[?]) is association with great ones - the yoga adepts (Yoga arudhas). They are perfect adepts in samadhi. Self-Realisation has been easy, natural, and perpetual to them. Those moving with them closely and in sympathetic contact gradually absorb the samadhi habit from them.

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