Be As You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi (Compass)

Product Information

Ramana gave upadesa, "instruction or guidance given to a disciple by his Guru", [web 6] pointing to the true Self of the devotees and showing them the truth of it. Although during deep sleep and other states there is no feeling of the ego, that Self remains attributeless, and continues to shine of itself. Renunciation is always in the mind, not in going to forests or solitary places or giving up one’s duties. The ‘Forty [Verses] on That Which Is’, is a Tamil poem that Sri Ramana composed in July and August 1928 when Sri Muruganar asked him to teach us the nature of the reality and the means by which we can attain it.

The essay version of the book ( Sri Ramana Nutrirattu) prepared by Ramana is considered definitive, as unlike the original it had the benefit of his revision and review. While superpowers sound cool, Sri Ramana (as well as Patanjali) warned against he pursuit of these abilities as they become distractions from obtaining self-realization. that they all may be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe [without any doubt] that You sent Me. The probable reading, therefore, is, That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; and the meaning is that the union of the Church may be of the same essential nature as that between the Father and the Son; yea, that the union of the Church may result from the union of individual members with the Father through the Son.This was my first book on Ramana Maharshi/Advaita vedanta and Jnana Yoga and now I'm hungry for more. His answers to every question, despite being somewhat disconnected from normal human experience, seem to be correct; truthful on a very fundamental level and there is so much consistency in all his answers. Sri Ramana Maharshi was a sage's sage, as well as everyone's sage, and his words have inspired a whole generation of western awakened. The body will go through the actions rendered inevitable by prarabdha and a man is free either to identify himself with the body and be attached to the fruits of its actions, or to be detached from it and be a mere witness of its activities.

Six weeks later he ran away to the holy hill of Arunachala where he would remain for the rest of his life. One is to enquire for whom is this destiny and discover that only the ego is bound by destiny and not the Self, and that the ego is non-existent. This practice of self-attention or awareness of the ‘I’-thought is a gentle technique which bypasses the usual repressive methods of controlling the mind. Though in the western world the word "Self" signifies the whole of the individual being, where-as in the Indian context it signifies the unchanging essence which is identical to Brahman. However there are two texts which stand out amongst all this verbiage: The Bhagavad Gita and this book, a collection of the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi who reawakened interest in this simple yet profound Practice in the early part of the 20th century.

The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.