'Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi' - 634 & 636

From - 634.

Devotee .: I have no pleasure in the house. There remains nothing for me to do in the family. I have finished doing what I had to do. Now there are grandsons and granddaughters. May I remain in the house, or should I leave it and go away?

Maharishi .: You should stay just where you are now. But where are you now? Are you in the house, or is the house in you? Is there any house apart from you? If you get fixed in your own place, you will see all things have merged into you, and there will be no cause for such questions as these.

D.: Yes. Then it seems as if I may remain at home.

M.: You must remain in your real state.


From - 636.

Maharshi .: The cinema screen is not sentient and so requires a seer, whereas the screen of the Self includes the seer and the seen - rather, it is full of light.

The pictures of the cinema-show cannot be seen without the help of darkness, for you cannot have a show in broad daylight. Similarly, the mind thinks thoughts and sees objects owing to an underlying ignorance (avidya). The Self is pure knowledge, pure light where there is no duality. Duality implies ignorance. The Knowledge of the Self is beyond relative knowledge and ignorance, the Light of the Self is beyond the ordinary light and darkness. The Self is all alone.

Sri Ramana Maharishi