Ramana Maharshi Quotes from Guru Vachaka Kovai

1. For those who allow their mind to wander here and there, everything will go wrong.
2. Just as the sun cannot be seen in a densely clouded sky, so one’s own Self cannot be seen in a mind-sky which is darkened by a dense cloud of thoughts.
3. All the benefit to be obtained by inner enquiry is only the destruction of the deceptive ‘I’-sense [the ego]. It would be too much to say that it is to attain Self, which always shines clear and ever-attained.
4. Firmly abiding as ‘I am I’, without any movement of the mind, is the attainment of Godhood.
5. When scrutinized, among all the many qualities necessary for those who wish to attain the imperishable Liberation, it is the attitude of a great liking to be in permanent solitude that must be well established in their mind.
6. According to the outlook of different people the same woman is considered to be wife, husband’s sister, daughter-in-law, wife of one’s brother-in-law, mother, and so on. Yet in truth she does not at all undergo any change in her form.
7. Unless one realizes oneself to be the unattached Self, which is like the space that remains not even in the least attached to anything, though it exists inside, outside and pervading everything, one cannot remain undeluded.
8. One who has destroyed the mind is the emperor who rides on the neck of the elephant of supreme Jnana (self-knowledge). Know for certain that the turmoil of the mind is the sole cause of the miserable bondage of the cruel and fierce birth [and death].

How to get out of Fear ?

Question : How does one get rid of fear ?

Ramana Maharshi : What is fear ? It is only a thought. If there is anything besides the Self there is reason to fear. Who sees things separate from the Self ? First the ego arises and sees objects as external. If the ego does not rise, the Self alone exists and there is nothing external. For anything external to oneself implies the existence of the seer within. Seeking it there will eliminate doubt and fear. Not only fear, all other thoughts centred round the ego will disappear along with it.

Question : How can the terrible fear of death be overcome?

Ramana Maharshi : When does that fear seize you? Does it come when you do not see your body, say, in dreamless sleep? It haunts you only when you are fully `awake' and perceive the world, including your body. If you do not see these and remain your pure Self, as in dreamless sleep, no fear can touch you. If you trace this fear to the object, the loss of which gives rise to it, you will find that that object is not the body, but the mind which functions in it. Many a man would be only too glad to be rid of his diseased body and all the problems and inconvenience it creates for him if continued awareness were vouchsafed to him. It is the awareness, the consciousness, and not the body, he fears to lose. Men love existence because it is eternal awareness, which is their own Self. Why not then hold on to the pure awareness right now, while in the body, and be free from all fear?


Answer of this question, I am not able to understand.
http://bhagwan-ramana-maharshi.blogspot.com/

Ramana Maharshi : Renunciation is always in the mind

Question : In the early stages would it not be a help to a man to seek solitude and give up his outer duties in life?
Ramana Maharshi : Renunciation is always in the mind, not in going to forests or solitary places or giving up one's duties. The main thing is to see that the mind does not turn outward but inward. It does not really rest with a man whether he goes to this place or that or whether he gives up his duties or not. All these events happen according to destiny. All the activities that the body is to go through are determined when it first comes into existence. It does not rest with you to accept or reject them. The only freedom you have is to turn your mind inward and renounce activities there.

Question : But is it not possible for something to be a help, especially to a beginner, like a fence round a young tree? For instance, don't our books say that it is helpful to go on pilgrimages to sacred shrines or to get sat-sanga?
Ramana Maharshi : Who said they are not helpful? Only such things do not rest with you, whereas turning your mind inward does. Many people desire the pilgrimage or sat-sanga that you mention, but do they all get it ?