Is the universe whole and not subject to time apart from when we look?
Can the future change the past as the past affects the future?
The following illustrates that we are free we don't have to know the real I as it is unaffected by the magic show before our eyes. Is it just a game an endless one played out by "nobody"?
BE
AS YOU ARE: The Core Direct Teaching of Ramana Maharshi
Compiled by Peter Holleran
From Talks with Ramana Maharshi. You can not deny yourself at any time. The Self is ever there and continuous in all states.
The Self is pure and absolute.. A man can realize the Self, because that is here and now. If it were not so, but attainable only by some efforts at some other time, and if it were new and something to be acquired, it would not be worthy of pursuit. Because what is not natural can not be permanent, either. But what I say is that the Self is here and now and alone.The "I" casts off the illusion of "I" and yet remains "I". Such is the paradox of Self-realization. The realized do not see any contradiction in it. The "I" has no location. Everything is the Self. There is nothing but that. But in truth we are everywhere, we are all that is, and there is nothing else.
What comes afresh cannot be true. What always is, is true.
People seem to think that by practicing some elaborate meditation the Self will one day descend upon them as something very big and with tremendous glory, giving them what is called sakshatkaram [direct experience]. The Self is sakshat [direct] all right, but there is no karam or kritam about it. The word karam implies doing something. But the Self is realised not by doing something but by refraining from doing anything, by remaining still and being simply what one really is.
Do not think yourself to be this, that or anything, to be so and so, or to be such and such. Only leave off the falsity. Reality will reveal itself.
The “I” is always there. There is no knowing it. It is not a new knowledge acquired. What is new and not here and now will be evanescent only. (last a short time) The “I” is always there.
Progress can be spoken of in things to be attained afresh. Whereas it is the removal of ignorance and not acquisition of knowledge. What kind of progress can be expected in the quest for the Self?
You know that you know nothing. Find out that knowledge. That is liberation (mukti).
The ultimate Truth is so simple. It is nothing more than being in the pristine state. This is all that need be said.
There is no one who for a trice fails to experience the Self. For no one admits that he ever stands apart from the Self. He is the Self. The Self is the Heart.
Where are you now that you want to realize the heart? Are you standing apart from the Self?
You are always in the Heart. You are never away from it in order that you should reach it.
The idea of difficulty is itself wrong. It will not help you to gain what you want. Again I ask: “Who finds it difficult?”
It is wrong to imagine that there is the world, that there is a body in it and that you dwell in the body. If the Truth is known, the universe and what is beyond it will be found to be only the Self.
People want to see the Self as something new. But it is eternal and remains the same all along. They desire to see it as a blazing light, etc. How can it be so? It is not light, nor darkness. It is only as it is and cannot be defined. The best definition is ‘I AM that I AM.’
The
state of being is
now and here all along. The Real Self is continuous and unaffected.
The reincarnating ego belongs to a lower plane, namely thought. It is
transcended by Self-realization.
The Self is certainly within the direct experience of everyone, but not as one imagines it to be. It is only as it is.
People would not understand the simple and bare truth - the truth of their everyday, ever-present and eternal experience. Because they love mystery and not the bare truth, religions pamper them - only to bring them around to the Self. Wandering hither and thither, you must return to the Self only. Then why not abide in the Self here and now?
If there is a goal to be reached, it cannot be permanent. The goal must already be here. We seek to reach the goal with the ego, but the goal exists before the ego. Realization is always here.
Realization is simply loss of the ego. Because the ego is no entity, it will automatically vanish and reality will shine forth by itself. This is the direct method, whereas all other methods are done retaining the ego. In those paths there arise so many doubts and the eternal question remains to be tackled. But in this method, the final question is the only one and it is raised from the very beginning. No sadhanas (discipline)are necessary for engaging in this quest.
There is no mystery greater than the following: ourselves being the Reality, we seek to gain reality. We think there is something hiding our reality, and that it must be destroyed before the reality is gained. That is ridiculous. A day will dawn when you will yourself laugh at your past efforts. That which will be on that day you laugh is also here and now.
D: So it is a great game of pretending?
M: Yes.
Find the ego [“I”-thought], then the soul will be found.
Be what you are...That which is is always there...What are you waiting for? The thought, “I have not seen,” the expectation to see, and the desire of getting something are all the working of the ego. You have fallen into the snares of the ego. The ego says all that, and not you. Be yourself and nothing more.
To imagine Muladhara (root support) at the bottom, the Heart at the center, or the head at the top or over all those, is completely wrong. In one word, to think is not your nature.
Who says it is not felt? Does the real “I” say it or the false “I” ?
The feeling “I haved not realized” is the obstruction to realization. In fact, it is already realized; there is nothing more to be realized.
To say that one is apart from the Primal Source is itself pretension; to add that one divested of ego becomes more pure and yet retains individuality only to enjoy or serve the Supreme, is a deceitful strategem.
The very thought of difficulty is the chief obstacle.
Realization is nothing to be got afresh. It is already here. All that is necessary is to be rid of the thought, “I have not realized.
We are in our Self. We are not in the world.
You are always in the Self and there is no “reaching” it.
There is no reaching the Self. If the Self were to be reached, it would mean that the Self is not here and now, but that it should be got anew. What is got afresh, will again be lost. So it will be impermanent. What is not permanent is not worth striving for. So I say, the Self is not reached. You are the Self. You are already That.
The Self is certainly within the direct experience of everyone, but not as one imagines it to be. It is only as it is.
People would not understand the simple and bare truth - the truth of their everyday, ever-present and eternal experience. Because they love mystery and not the bare truth, religions pamper them - only to bring them around to the Self. Wandering hither and thither, you must return to the Self only. Then why not abide in the Self here and now?
If there is a goal to be reached, it cannot be permanent. The goal must already be here. We seek to reach the goal with the ego, but the goal exists before the ego. Realization is always here.
Realization is simply loss of the ego. Because the ego is no entity, it will automatically vanish and reality will shine forth by itself. This is the direct method, whereas all other methods are done retaining the ego. In those paths there arise so many doubts and the eternal question remains to be tackled. But in this method, the final question is the only one and it is raised from the very beginning. No sadhanas (discipline)are necessary for engaging in this quest.
There is no mystery greater than the following: ourselves being the Reality, we seek to gain reality. We think there is something hiding our reality, and that it must be destroyed before the reality is gained. That is ridiculous. A day will dawn when you will yourself laugh at your past efforts. That which will be on that day you laugh is also here and now.
D: So it is a great game of pretending?
M: Yes.
Find the ego [“I”-thought], then the soul will be found.
Be what you are...That which is is always there...What are you waiting for? The thought, “I have not seen,” the expectation to see, and the desire of getting something are all the working of the ego. You have fallen into the snares of the ego. The ego says all that, and not you. Be yourself and nothing more.
To imagine Muladhara (root support) at the bottom, the Heart at the center, or the head at the top or over all those, is completely wrong. In one word, to think is not your nature.
Who says it is not felt? Does the real “I” say it or the false “I” ?
The feeling “I haved not realized” is the obstruction to realization. In fact, it is already realized; there is nothing more to be realized.
To say that one is apart from the Primal Source is itself pretension; to add that one divested of ego becomes more pure and yet retains individuality only to enjoy or serve the Supreme, is a deceitful strategem.
The very thought of difficulty is the chief obstacle.
Realization is nothing to be got afresh. It is already here. All that is necessary is to be rid of the thought, “I have not realized.
We are in our Self. We are not in the world.
You are always in the Self and there is no “reaching” it.
There is no reaching the Self. If the Self were to be reached, it would mean that the Self is not here and now, but that it should be got anew. What is got afresh, will again be lost. So it will be impermanent. What is not permanent is not worth striving for. So I say, the Self is not reached. You are the Self. You are already That.
