D.: What is yoga?
MAHARSHI .: Yoga (union) is necessary for one who is in a state of viyoga (separation). But really there is only one. If you realise the Self there will be no difference.
D.: Is there any efficacy in bathing in the Ganges?
MAHARSHI : The Ganges is within you. Bathe in this Ganges; it will not make you shiver with cold.
D.: Should we sometimes read the Bhagavad Gita?
MAHARSHI .: Always.
D.: May we read the Bible?
MAHARSHI .: The Bible and the Gita are the same.
D.: The Bible teaches that man is born in sin.
MAHARSHI .: Man is sin. There is no feeling of being man is deep sleep. The body-thought brings out the idea of sin. The birth of thought itself is sin.
D.: The Bible says that the human soul may be lost.
MAHARSHI .: The ‘I’-thought is the ego and that is lost. The real ‘I’ is ‘I am that I am’.
The doctrine of the Trinity was explained: God the Father is equivalent to Ishwara, God the Son to the Guru, and God the Holy Ghost to the Atman. Isvaro gururatmeti murti bheda vibhagine vyomavad vyapta dehaya dakshinamurtaye namah, means that God appears to His devotee in the form of a Guru (Son of God) and points out to him the immanence of the Holy Spirit.
That is to say, that God is Spirit, that this Spirit is immanent everywhere and that the Self must be realised, which is the same as realising God.
A religion involves two modes of activity; what might be called the horizontal and the vertical. Horizontally it harmonises and controls the life of the individual and society in conformity with its faith and morality, giving opportunity and incentive for a good life leading to a good death. Vertically it provides spiritual paths for those who strive to attain a higher state or realise the ultimate truth during this life on earth. Horizontally, religions are mutually exclusive, but not really contradictory. Bhagavan was concerned rather with the vertical mode, the paths to realisation, and therefore his teaching clashed with no religion. He guided those who would follow him on the most direct and central path, the quest of the Self; and for this any religion could serve as a foundation. He approved of every religion and if some devotees came to him who followed no formal religion, he did not insist they should do so. When asked about the different religious practices, he would stress their deeper meaning, and about different religions their basic unity. (A. Osborne)
From "TEACHINGS OF RAMANA MAHARSHI IN HIS OWN WORDS"
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