Extracted from Be As You Are: The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi

Questioner: Is it possible for a person who once has had the experience of sat-chit-ananda in meditation to identify himself with the body when out of meditation?

Ramana Maharshi: Yes, it is possible, but he gradually loses the identification in the course of his practice. In the floodlight of the Self the darkness of illusion dissipates for ever. Experience gained without rooting out all the vasanas cannot remain steady. Efforts must be made to eradicate the vasanas; knowledge can only remain unshaken after all the vasanas are rooted out.

We have to contend against age-long mental tendencies. They will all go. Only they go comparatively soon in the case of those who have made sadhana in the past and later in the case of others.

Questioner: How can I tell if I am making progress with my enquiry?

Ramana Maharshi: The degree of the absence of thoughts is the measure of your progress towards Self-realization. But Self-realization itself does not admit of progress, it is ever the same. The Self remains always in realization. The obstacles are thoughts. Progress is measured by the degree of removal of the obstacles to understanding that the Self is always realized. So thoughts must be checked by seeking to whom they arise. So you go to their source, where they do not arise.

Questioner: Should I go on asking `Who am I?' without answering? Who asks whom? Which bhavana [attitude] should be in the mind at the time of enquiry? What is `I', the Self or the ego?

Ramana Maharshi: In the enquiry `Who am I?', `I' is the ego. The question really means, what is the source or origin of this ego? You need not have any bhavana [attitude] in the mind. All that is required is that you must give up the bhavana that you are the body, of such and such a description, with such and such a name, etc. There is no need to have a bhavana about your real nature. It exists as it always does. It is real and no bhavana.

Questioner: I begin to ask myself `Who am I?', eliminate the body as not `I', the breath as not `I', and I am not able to proceed further.

Ramana Maharshi: Well, that is as far as the intellect can go. Your process is only intellectual. Indeed, all the scriptures mention the process only to guide the seeker to know the truth. The truth cannot be directly pointed out. Hence this intellectual process. You see, the one who eliminates all the `not I' cannot eliminate the `I'. To say `I am not this' or `I am that' there must be the `I'. This `I' is only the ego or the `I'-thought. After the rising up of this `I'- thought, all other thoughts arise. The `I'-thought is therefore the root thought. If the root is pulled out all others are at the same time uprooted. Therefore seek the root `I', question yourself `Who am I?'. Find out its source, and then all these other ideas will vanish and the pure Self will remain.

Questioner: Is not discarding of the sheaths (neti-neti) mentioned in the sastras?

Ramana Maharshi: After the rise of the `I'-thought there is the false identification of the `I' with the body, the senses, the mind, etc. `I' is wrongly associated with them and the true `I' is lost sight of. In order to sift the pure `I' from the contaminated `I', this discarding is mentioned. But it does not mean exactly discarding of the non - Self, it means the finding of the real Self. The real Self is the infinite `I'. That `I' is perfection. It is eternal. It has no origin and no end. The other `I' is born and also dies. It is impermanent. See to whom the changing thoughts belong. They will be found to arise after the `I'-thought. Hold the `I'-thought and they subside. Trace back the source of the `I'-thought. The Self alone will remain.

Questioner: Is soham (the affirmation `I am he') the same as `Who am I?'

Ramana Maharshi: Aham [`I'] alone is common to them. One is soham. The other is koham [Who am I?]. They are different. Why should we go on saying soham? One must find out the real `I'. In the question `Who am I?', `I' refers to the ego. Trying to trace it and find its source, we see it has no separate existence but merges in the real `I'.

You see the difficulty. Vichara is different in method from the meditation sivoham or soham [`I am Siva' or `I am he']. I rather lay stress upon Self-knowledge, for you are first concerned with yourself before you proceed to know the world and its Lord. The soham meditation or `I am Brahman' meditation is more or less a mental thought. But the quest for the Self I speak of is a direct method, indeed superior to the other meditation. The moment you start looking for the self and go deeper and deeper, the real Self is waiting there to take you in. Then whatever is done is done by something else and you have no hand in it. In this process, all doubts and discussions are automatically given up just as one who sleeps forgets, for the time being, all his cares.