4th January, 1936
Talk 126.
Dr. Syed again asked: "Should anyone desirous of spiritual progress take to action or renunciation (pravritti-marga or nivritti-marga)?"
Maharshi: Do you go out of the Self? What is meant by giving up?
An American Engineer asked about sat-sanga (association with sages).
Maharshi: Sat [?] is within us.
D.: In the book "Who am I??" you have said the Heart is the seat of the mind. Is it so?
Maharshi: The mind is Atman.
D.: Is it Atman itself or its projection?
Maharshi: The same.
D.: The Westerners look on the mind as the highest principle, whereas the Easterners think the contrary - why?
Maharshi: Where psychology ends, there philosophy begins. This is experience; the mind is born; we see it; even without the mind we exist. There is everyone's experience to prove it.
D.: In deep sleep I do not seem to exist.
Maharshi: You say so when awake. It is the mind which speaks now. You exist in deep sleep beyond mind.
D.: Western philosophy admits the Higher Self as influencing the mind.
Talk 125 Talk 127
Showing posts with label action. Show all posts
Showing posts with label action. Show all posts
Talk 40
22nd September, 1936
Talk 40.
The Brahmin questioner resumed: "How do we know that action is ours or not?"
Maharshi: If the fruits of actions do not affect the person he is free from action.
D.: Is intellectual knowledge enough?
Maharshi: Unless intellectually known, how to practice it? Learn it intellectually first, then do not stop with that. Practise it. Maharshi then made certain remarks: "When you adhere to one philosophical system (siddhanta) you are obliged to condemn the others. That is the case with the heads of monasteries (matadhipatis)". All people cannot be expected to do the same kind of action. Each one acts according to his temperament and past lives. Wisdom, Devotion, Action (jnana, bhakti, karma) are all interlocked. Meditation on forms is according to one's own mind. It is meant for ridding oneself of other forms and confining oneself to one form. It leads to the goal. It is impossible to fix the mind in the Heart to start with. So these aids are necessary. Krishna says that there is no birth (janma [?]) to you, me, etc., and later says he was born before Aditya, etc. Arjuna disputes it. Therefore it is certain that each one thinks of God according to his own degree of advancement. You say you are the body in wakeful state; not the body in sleep. Bodies being several-fold for an individual, should not there be infinite capacities for God? Whichever method one follows, that method is encouraged by the Sages. For it leads to the goal like any other method.
Talk 39 Talk 41
Talk 40.
The Brahmin questioner resumed: "How do we know that action is ours or not?"
Maharshi: If the fruits of actions do not affect the person he is free from action.
D.: Is intellectual knowledge enough?
Maharshi: Unless intellectually known, how to practice it? Learn it intellectually first, then do not stop with that. Practise it. Maharshi then made certain remarks: "When you adhere to one philosophical system (siddhanta) you are obliged to condemn the others. That is the case with the heads of monasteries (matadhipatis)". All people cannot be expected to do the same kind of action. Each one acts according to his temperament and past lives. Wisdom, Devotion, Action (jnana, bhakti, karma) are all interlocked. Meditation on forms is according to one's own mind. It is meant for ridding oneself of other forms and confining oneself to one form. It leads to the goal. It is impossible to fix the mind in the Heart to start with. So these aids are necessary. Krishna says that there is no birth (janma [?]) to you, me, etc., and later says he was born before Aditya, etc. Arjuna disputes it. Therefore it is certain that each one thinks of God according to his own degree of advancement. You say you are the body in wakeful state; not the body in sleep. Bodies being several-fold for an individual, should not there be infinite capacities for God? Whichever method one follows, that method is encouraged by the Sages. For it leads to the goal like any other method.
Talk 39 Talk 41
Talk 39
22nd September, 1936
Talk 39.
Conversing with R. Seshagiri Rao, a visitor, Maharshi remarked that a Self-Realised sage (Atma Jnani [?]) alone can be a good Karma yogi. "After the sense of doership has gone let us see what happens. Sri Sankara advised inaction. But did he not write commentaries and take part in disputation? Do not trouble about doing action or otherwise. Know Thyself. Then let us see whose action it is. Whose is it? Let action complete itself. So long as there is the doer he must reap the fruits of his action. If he does not think himself the doer there is no action for him. He is an ascetic who has renounced worldly life (sanyasin)."
D.: How did the ego arise?
Maharshi: It is not necessary to know it. Know the present. Not knowing that, why do you worry about other times?
Maharshi said in reply to a question: "Is the world within you or without you? Does it exist apart from you? Does the world come and tell you `I exist'?"
Talk 38 Talk 40
Talk 39.
Conversing with R. Seshagiri Rao, a visitor, Maharshi remarked that a Self-Realised sage (Atma Jnani [?]) alone can be a good Karma yogi. "After the sense of doership has gone let us see what happens. Sri Sankara advised inaction. But did he not write commentaries and take part in disputation? Do not trouble about doing action or otherwise. Know Thyself. Then let us see whose action it is. Whose is it? Let action complete itself. So long as there is the doer he must reap the fruits of his action. If he does not think himself the doer there is no action for him. He is an ascetic who has renounced worldly life (sanyasin)."
D.: How did the ego arise?
Maharshi: It is not necessary to know it. Know the present. Not knowing that, why do you worry about other times?
Maharshi said in reply to a question: "Is the world within you or without you? Does it exist apart from you? Does the world come and tell you `I exist'?"
Talk 38 Talk 40
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