Ramana Maharishi - Experience

Question 1: What is the light which illuminates consciousness?

It is that which provides the self-existent Seer

with an understanding of the worlds of form both within and without.

Although not in itself an object, it is nonetheless the object of Brahman's illumination.

Question 2: What is knowledge?

Knowledge is best personified as the infinite tranquility

of a motionless ocean or a motionless sky.

When the disciple is as tranquil as such,

then he can be considered to be in knowledge.

Question 3: What is bliss?

Bliss is similar to deep sleep in that there is no thought

given to anything. In such a sate,

the mind is a blank void, wholly consumed by the reality of Brahman.

Question 4: Is there something beyond bliss?

When considering what is beyond bliss,

do not be so concerning or concentrated

on such things because the activity of the mind

is rendered useless due to the immense peace felt by the Self-Realized Soul.

Even though active in the world,

the mind of the Seer is nowhere to be found

and the Seer is as if a part of the world 

but is without a conception of the world.

Question 5: How are we to understand the statement

that the universe revolves around the Self?

While the Self is embodied in the world,

which is like a universe in itself,

all objects are perceived because there is a perceiver.

If you were to remove the perceiver from that which is perceived,

the world as we know of it will become Brahman.

When the world is Brahman, the universe bows down to the Self.

Question 6: As there are bodies and selves everywhere,

how can the Self be solely a unity?

When the body is accepted as the Self,

the Self appears to be divided and multiplied throughout the world.

But once every type of identity or thought

is rendered back to its essence, the Self is bodiless and therefore is one.

Question 7: How can some say that the mind

can be used to see Brahman whereas others say

that such a thing is impossible to accomplish with the mind?

The pure mind can see such things but the impurified mind cannot.

Question 8: What is the difference between

the pure mind and the impurified mind?

The impurified mind only sees the dim reflection

of Brahman's Consciousness, whereas the pure mind,

through discrimination, knows what is beyond all of the reflections

of every mind. Thus, the pure mind sees reality as it is

and the impurified mind is captured by the fragments of its own consciousness.

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