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THE MOTHER QUESTIONS FOR THE QUARTER

Questions by readers- Answers by The Mother! These answers are in no way definitive; nor do they make any claims to authenticity. These are supposed to answer the seeking. The insights contained in these answers issue from patrons of The Mother, among who are saints, holy men, scholars and advanced seekers. To submit a question, send email to editor.themother@gmail.com. Do not feel disappointed if The Mother does not publish the answer to your questions. The Editorial Board will choose questions to be published in The Mother depending upon its significance and service to the spiritual seekers at large. However, we will strive to answer most queries and personally communicate the answers to those who put forth genuine queries. Editor.

ANSWERS BY SRI RAMAN MAHARSHI

Q.

Whichever way one turns, one finds that the mind has to be subdued. We are told it has to be controlled, can this really be done when on the one hand the mind is an entity not easily grasped and on the other one continues to have worldly worries?

SRI RAMAN MAHARSHI:

A person who has never seen an ocean must make a trip to it to know about it. Standing there before the huge expanse of water, this person may wish to bathe in the sea. Of what use is it if, seeing the roaring and rolling of the waves, he were to just stand there thinking, ‘I shall wait for all this to subside. When it does, I shall enter it for a quest bath just as in the pond back home? He has to realize either by himself or by being told, that the ocean is restlessness and that it has been so from the moment of creation and will continue likewise till Pralaya (destruction). He will then resolve to learn to bathe in it, as it is. He may wade into it by and by, and perhaps, through prior instruction, learn to duck under a wave and let it pass over him. He would naturally hold his breath, While doing so, soon he would be skilled enough to duck, at a stretch, wave after wave, and thus achieve the purpose of bathing without coming to grief. The ocean may go on and though in it, he is free from its grip”. Bhagavan then added,  after a pause, “So too here”.

Q.

When I am engaged in enquiry as to the source from which ‘I’ springs I arrive at a stage of stillness of mind. The experience is pleasing. I have no thought of any kind and there is emptiness or blankness. Should I continue this practice?

SRI RAMAN MAHARSHI:

Such a condition is called manolaya or temporary stillness of thought. As soon as it ceases, thoughts, old and new, rush in as usual. It will never end. The practitioner must therefore be ever on the alert and enquire within as to who has this experience, who is aware of its pleasantness? Failing this enquiry he would fall into a long trance.

Q.

Sometimes, after stillness of thoughts intervenes, I used to hear some sounds like what is heard near a rolling mill or a whistle.

SRI RAMAN MAHARSHI:

Ask who hears the sound? Repeat the question now and then.

Q.

I have not learnt to control my mind. So I intend to seek life in solitude in North India and want Sri Bhagavan’s grace.

SRI RAMAN MAHARSHI:

You have come all the way to Tiruvannamalai for solitude and that too in the immediate presence and vicinity of Ramana Bhagavan, yet you do not appear to have obtained mental quiet; now you want to go elsewhere and from there you will desire to go to some other place. At this rate there will be no end to your travels. You do not realize that it is your mind, which drives you in this manner. Control your mind first and you will be happy wherever you are. One must attempt to get to the very bottom from which thought springs and roots out thought, desire and mind.

Q.

If solitude and abandonment is not required, where was the necessity for Bhagavan to come here in the seventeenth year?


SRI RAMAN MAHARSHI:

If the same force that took this (meaning himself) here, should take you also out of your home by all means let it, but there is no use deserting your home by an effort of your own. You duty lies in practice, continuous practice of self-enquiry.

Q.

Why did Bhagavan leave Skandasramam?

SRI RAMAN MAHARSHI:

The same sakti which brought me from Madurai to Tiruvannamalai got me down here from the hill. I had no sankalpa whatsoever.

 

(By Sanjeev Nayyar- Courtesy & Copyright Ramana Maharishi Center for Learning)