From ‘Ramana Smrti. A Birth centenary offering - 1980’ - Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai

The method is simply this: you ask yourself, “Who am I?” and try to keep your whole mind concentrated on getting an answer to that question. True, various thoughts will arise unbidden within you and assault you and try to divert your attention. For all these thoughts, however, the ‘I’ thought is the source and sustenance. So, as each thought arises, without allowing it to go on developing itself, ask who gets this thought. The answer will be ‘I’. Then ask yourself: “Who is this ‘I’ and whence?” The Maharshi says, “….. Follow the above method with faith and hope and you will surely succeed.” …… A keen effort of the mind, complete introversion of all the faculties, total absorption in the quest wherefrom the ‘I’ springs – all this is needed for success.



The Bible (Verse 2 of Chapter 10, Ecclesiastics) says, “A wise man’s heart is at his right hand, but a fool’s heart is at his left.” The Maharshi also quotes the Yoga Vasishta which says that the heart on the right side is the one to take note of, that this heart is……… the basis and source of all.



…… his main teaching, “Either know who you are or surrender.”



…… in the Gita: The knowers of the Self look with an equal eye on a Brahmana endowed with learning and humility, a cow, an elephant, a dog and an outcast.



….his words…… “All religions and spiritual practices have no other purpose than getting the mind under control…. In devotion, your mind is merged in the God you love and ceases to exist as separate from Him. He guides your mind step by step and no control is needed ……. Meditate on God or on some mental or material image of Him. This will slow down your mind and it will get controlled on it's own accord”



He also believed that fine grinding and careful cooking would make any food easily digestible. So we used to spend hours on grinding and stewing.



…….. Bhagavan told me that the deer had died. I said: “Some great soul came to you as a deer to gain liberation from your hands.” Bhagavan said: “Yes, it must be so. When I was on the hill, a crow used to keep me company. He was a rishi in a crow’s body…… ” Once a garuda, a white breasted eagle, which is considered holy in India, flew into the hall and sat on the top of a cupboard near Bhagavan. ……. “He is a siddha (a saint endowed with supernatural powers) who came to pay me a visit,” said Bhagavan most seriously.

The respect he showed to animals and birds was most striking. He really treated them as equals. They were served food first like some respected visitors, and if they happened to die in the Ashram, they would be given a decent burial and a memorial stone.



“…… You need not torture the body. ……just keep the body going so that it does not become a hindrance. For this, pure and fresh food, simply prepared and taken in moderation, is a great help.



…….Arunachala. Bhagavan declared it to be the spiritual axis of the earth and requested that it's other pole be sought on a map. This appeared to be in the sea off Peru, the west coast of South America. However, modern plate tectonics suggest that India was originally much further south, in the presumed location of Lemuria, which would place the opposite pole in California, a recognized spiritual center.



“It is not by action but by renunciation of action that one attains Liberation.”



Sri Bhagavan showed reverence for life …… “You may call a tree a standing man, and a man a walking tree.”