Question: There are two things which I hold very tightly. Raman Maharishi has written only these two pieces himself. One is – ‘Who am I?’ And the other one is – ‘Self Inquiry’.
I go through only these, because these are from a young man who was not conditioned, who did not have any religious upbringing or background, and who just became on his own. So, in my opinion, they are the purest form of learning that one can get.
I typically go and follow him, and somehow get back to whatever experience that I have, and check back with whatever he has written, or whatever was transcribed from what he has said.
And every time I read these lines, I get a different meaning.
Acharya Prashant Ji: The greatest proof will be, when you somehow don’t remember Raman Maharishi, and are still able to be what he said.
You said that you have your own thoughts, concepts in life, and you kind of match it against what he is saying……
Questioner: No . You know, what I am saying is that in his case, it happened spontaneously, very naturally. In my case, I have got so much of conditioning which has happened over a period of time, so many concepts which have all gone inside, I have to shed all that.
Acharya Prashant Ji: Even a Raman Maharishi, even a Krishna, carries his share of conditioning. It is just that he does not give it central importance.
Till the time you keep saying that you are conditioned, you will remain conditioned. Stop taking this statement too seriously, because Raman Maharishi too had his share of conditioning.
See, to know one language and not to know another language, to have one kind of genetic features and not have another kind of genetic features, all these things remain. But to say, to see, that these are not important, that is when you and Raman Maharishi come really close.
The idea can never be to emulate him.
It is always be, to disappear just like him.
Questioner: Yes, exactly. I do get this feeling once in a while, but I am not able to believe that this is real!
Acharya Prashant Ji: When it happens, then it is so damn mighty, and crazy, and overwhelming that you say, “No, no, no. It cannot be real.” The Truth is dying to come to you, and when it comes, you say, “No, No. This cannot be the Truth.” Raman Maharishi does not do that. When it comes, he says, “Alright, I knew you had to come. Now that you have come, wonderful.”
That is the only difference. It comes to everybody, we refuse to believe Him. We are faithless beings. A Raman Maharishi just opens his doors. He says, “Welcome, Welcome.”
We doubt.
Questioner: He says that Gyaan (Realisation) is not a progressive thing. It doesn’t come like one chapter a day, then second chapter another day. It comes in one lot. It just comes to you, and then it’s a part which is irreversible.
Acharya Prashant Ji: He is not saying this – in time.
He is not saying that it comes to you once in time. All he means is that – it is not a process, thereby meaning that it is not something ‘in time’. ‘ Gyaan is not something in time’ means that Gyaan is not material. That is all that he means.
Questioner: Okay.
Acharya Prashant Ji: It does not mean that something will happen to you once, and then it will continue. He is not talking of continuation.
Spirituality has nothing to do with continuation. It has everything to do with cessation.
Questioner: So we sometimes talk about ‘the burning’. So you burn what you are not, that’s a gradual process. Whereas, what he says is that Gyaan comes in one shot.
Acharya Prashant Ji: Even burning is in one shot.
(Picking up a glass kept on the table) Something is here. Suppose it is full. I am drinking. That which I am drinking, I am drinking right now. The next sip will be in the next moment, and that these two moments are not related.
Only when one moment is related to the other moment, you call it ‘time’. Time means causation. Time means past and future. If the so-called ‘next moment’ is not at all related to the previous moment, then it is not time.
Then it is Grace.
So, something has been burnt at 1 p.m., something has been burnt at 2 p.m. But if what is happening at 2 p.m., is not an effect of what happened at 1 p.m., then these two must be called spontaneous and complete activities in themselves. None of them is then incomplete.
Questioner: So, they are not related.
Acharya Prashant Ji: They are not related, hence they are total – total in themselves.
Questioner: That makes sense.
Acharya Prashant Ji: That does not mean that everything got burnt at 1 p.m. No. It kept burning from 1:00 pm till 6:00 pm, but because it is happening due to Grace, so what burnt at 5 p.m. had nothing to do with what burnt at 2 p.m. It is uncaused.
What is happening at 5 p.m. has nothing to do with what is happening at 4 p.m., what is happening at 4 has nothing to do with what is happening at 3, because what is happening at 4 p.m., is not a cause of what is happening at 5 p.m.
What is the cause of the thing happening at 5 p.m.?
What is happening at 5 p.m. is not caused by what is happening at 4 p.m.
Questioner: So it is not a continuous process.
Acharya Prashant Ji: So the 5 p.m. thing is being caused by Grace, the 4 p.m. thing is also being caused by Grace.
So they both are not inter- linked.
