Sri Nannagaru, a living Master who used to visit Arunachala during his lifetime, attributed his realisation to the Grace of Arunachala-Sri Ramana and stated that the core of Ramana Maharshi’s teachings are set out in the slim booklet ‘Who am I?” And that an earnest seeker will receive incalculable benefit by daily reading a small part of that booklet.
Sri Nannagaru
Around 1902 a visitor to Arunachala, Sivaprakasam Pillai, visited Ramana Maharshi who was then living in silence at Virupaksha Cave on the slopes of Arunachala. On his visit the seeker posed a series of spiritual questions starting with ‘Who Am I?’ The questions posed were answered by the silent Saint in writing and constitute, what is believed to be, one of his first sets of spiritual instructions.
Answers specifically addressing Self-enquiry can be found in another booklet entitled “Self-Enquiry”. The book was compiled from answers to questions asked by Gambhiram Seshayya, a devotee of Lord Rama and yoga practitioner. In the same way as “Who am I?”, the questions raised by Gambhiram Seshayya were answered by the then silent Ramana living in the Virupaksha Cave in the 1900s.
To read more about Self Enquiry and to download a number of free PDF booklets including the above-mentioned, go to this link here.
Who Am I?
Question 14: Is it possible for the residual impressions of objects that come from beginningless time, as it were, to be resolved, and for one to remain as the pure Self?
Ramana Maharshi: Without yielding to the doubt “Is it possible, or not?”, one should persistently hold on to the meditation on the Self. Even if one be a great sinner, one should not worry and weep “O! I am a sinner, how can I be saved?”; one should completely renounce the thought “I am a sinner”; and concentrate keenly on meditation on the Self; then, one would surely succeed. 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.
Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi
The mind should not be allowed to wander towards worldly objects and what concerns other people. However bad other people may be, one should bear no hatred for them. Both desire and hatred should be eschewed. All that one gives to others one gives to one’s self. If this truth is understood who will not give to others? When one’s self arises all arises; when one’s self becomes quiescent all becomes quiescent. To the extent we behave with humility, to that extent there will result good. If the mind is rendered quiescent, one may live anywhere.
