Ramana Maharshi Quote

Shri Ramana Teachings and Meditations

Just today a disciple of Shri Ramana Maharshi’s teachings, Rukmani, asked me to visit her website Ramana Maharshi – A Student’s Journey and see if I wanted any input from her.  As I am myself a big fan of Bhagavan’s and the teachings of Advaita Vedanta (non-duality), I headed over to her blog right away, and found a great quote which I would like to share with you below.

As I have said before, meditation is not complex and to understand what is required of you, it is best to approach it simply.  This is what the following quote from Shri Ramana does.  It presents the core of meditation and enlightened living in very simple terms.  The ability to communicate in this manner is the mark of true and profound teachings.

So below please find the quote from Ramana, below which are a few of my thoughts on it:

Shri Ramana Maharshi Quote:

Ramana Maharshi says, “In the ordinary man when a thought occurs the ego takes delivery of it as ‘my thought’ and gets involved. The thinking mind is nothing but the ego identifying with a thought and getting involved. In the enlightened Sage, when a thought arises, witnessing happens and involvement with the thought does not take place. Ramana Maharshi says, “The Sage has no thinking mind and therefore there are no ‘others’ for him.” 

Ramana Maharshi Meditation Teachings:

The above quote is telling you what meditation is.  It is act of Witnessing the thinking mind from moment to moment and not getting absorbed by the thoughts that are occurring.  In my series Insights from Advanced Meditation Practice, this is the recurring theme and you can read how such teachings translates to real meditative practice in the following article from that series: No Mind Meditation.

The Silent Mind Meditation Technique which comprises the heart of the Free Advanced Meditation Program is a step by step breakdown of how this particular teaching is applied during meditation practice.  Other articles that discuss Advaita Vedanta and Ramana Maharshi’s teachings are:

Enlightenment via WHO AM I, Neti Neti Advaita Vedanta Technique

Transcendence Techniques from the Spiritual Science of Advaita Vedanta

So what is important is that you try to retain the Witnessing Consciousness at all times.  Regardless of whether you are sitting in formal meditation and deeply inspecting the thinking mind, or if you are in the midst of your daily activities, try to always keep the light of awareness burning and simply bear witness to what is happening.

To remind yourself to stay as just a witness, use the following mantra: OM SAKSHI AHAM (I Am Witness To All My Actions – from the article The Best Jnana Yoga Mantra Meditation). 

Of course to read more great quotes from Shri Ramana or discuss other profound teachings of this enlightened master please do visit Rukmani’s blog – Ramana Maharshi – A Student’s Journey.