Self-Realization

Sri Ramana Maharshi 1996 pamphlet

A pamphlet originally produced by Sri Ramanasramam reprinted by SAT, containing the essence of the Maharshi’s teachings about Self-Realization.

Below is an excerpt from the pamphlet:

Bhagavan: There are only two ways to conquer destiny or to be independent of it. One is to inquire whose this destiny is and discover that only the ego is bound by it and not the Self and that the ego is non-existent. The other way is to kill the ego by completely surrendering to the Lord, realizing one’s helplessness and saying all the time: “Not I, but Thou, oh Lord,” giving up all sense of “I” and “mine” and leaving it to the Lord to do what He likes with you. Surrender can never be regarded as complete so long as the devotee wants this or that from the Lord. True surrender is the love of God for the sake of love and nothing else, not even for the sake of salvation. In other words, complete effacement of the ego is necessary to conquer destiny, whether you achieve this effacement through Self-inquiry or through bhakti-marga.

Bhagavan: The Self is Pure Consciousness. Yet a man identifies himself with the body, which is insentient and does not itself say, “I am the body.” Someone else says so. The unlimited Self does not. Who does? A spurious “I” arises between Pure Consciousness and the insentient body and imagines itself to be like a phantom. The phantom is the ego or mind or individuality. All the sastras are based on the rise of this phantom, whose elimination is their purpose. The present state is mere illusion. Its dissolution is the goal and nothing else.