Who Am I?

by Ramana Maharshi

When the mind, which is the cause of all cognition and of all actions, becomes quiescent, the world will disappear.

Through meditation on the forms of God and through repetition of mantras, the mind becomes one-pointed. The mind will always be wandering. Just as when a chain is given to an elephant to hold in its trunk it will go along grasping the chain and nothing else, so also when the mind is occupied with a name or form it will grasp that alone. When the mind expands in the form of countless thoughts, each thought becomes weak; but as thoughts get resolved the mind becomes one-pointed and strong;

The residual impressions (thoughts) of objects appear unending like the waves of an ocean. When will all of them get destroyed?As

There are not two minds – one good and the other evil; the mind is only one. It is the residual impressions that are of two kinds – auspicious and inauspicious. When the mind is under the influence of auspicious impressions it is called good; and when it is under the influence of inauspicious impressions it is regarded as evil.

All that one gives to others one gives to one’s self.

What is the nature of the Self?What exists in truth is the Self alone.The world, the individual soul and God are appearances in it,

The Self is that where there is absolutely no ‘I’- thought. That is called ‘Silence’. The Self itself is the world; the Self itself is ‘I’; the Self itself is God; all is Siva, the Self.

Just as the pearl-diver ties a stone to his waist, sinks to the bottom of the sea and there takes the pearls, so each one of us should be endowed with non-attachment, dive within oneself and obtain the Self-Pearl.

world should be considered like a dream.

Happiness is the very nature of the Self;happiness and the Self are not different. There is no happiness in any object of the world. We imagine through our ignorance that we derive happiness from objects.

In fact, what is called the world is only thought. When the world disappears, i.e., when there is no thought, the mind experiences happiness; and when the world appears, it goes through misery.

What is the relation between desirelessness and wisdom?Desirelessness is wisdom. The two are not different; they are the same. Desirelessness is refraining from turning the mind towards any object. Wisdom means the appearance of no object. In other words, not seeking what is other than the Self is detachment or desirelessness; not leaving the Self is wisdom.

Inquiring into the nature of one’s self that is in bondage, and realising one’s true nature is liberation.