The body is in pain, but you are not the body

1. A seeker is a blessed person, who because of experiences in previous lives, has been fortunate enough to begin searching for truth.
    
2. The universe is ultimate oneness beyond concepts. The mind cannot comprehend it.
    
3. It has come to my attention that many of you are trying to stop your thoughts, control your thoughts. You cannot really do this. Trying to stop your thoughts, as Ramana Maharshi says, is like a thief becoming a policeman to catch the thief. In other words, the thief that becomes the policeman will not catch the thief, because he is the thief himself, and so it is with our minds.
    
4. The reality is not the pain. The body is in pain, but you are not the body. So if you stick to your true self, you will hardly feel the pain. Let the body take care of itself. Do not concern yourself with the body. The body will still eat, it will still go to the bathroom, it will still take a shower, it will still take care of itself, but you have absolutely nothing to do with it. You are not the body, so why identify with the pain. Identify with consciousness, with the self, and then see what happens.
    
5. You've got to be mature enough to ask the question, "To whom does this world belong? Who lives in the world? Where did the world come from?" And your answer to all the questions begins with I. "I" live in the world. "I" partake in the world. "I" see the world. And we're back to I again. You finally get the idea that the whole world is hanging on I. The I has to be transcended.
    
6. “A devotee once told Ramana, ‘I have been here for many years. People got into Samadhi. I close my eyes for a minute and my mind travels around the world.’ Ramana replied, ‘Why do you think about others? Let them meditate, sleep or snore. Look to yourself. Whenever your mind goes astray bring it back to the quest.’
    
7. If you realize the reason why you came you'll be interested in one thing, awakening. And that will dominate your life. Nothing else will. You will not be concerned with what somebody else is doing, and you will be at peace with yourself and everybody else. Everything is preordained anyway. Everything is karmic. So what's going to happen will happen, whether you like it or not. So why get insulted. Why get your feelings hurt. Be at peace.
    
8. Aspirants should eat Satvic food, such as grains, vegetables mainly in small meals. Observe a day of fasting once a week or so. Food should not be important to you. Whatever is set before you, you should eat, and not think about it too much. People get lost in food, constantly worried about which food is right, which food is bad, which food makes you live longer. In the end, everyone dies anyway. It doesn't make that much difference.
    
9. Find out who this God is, from where this God came, and you will soon realize that you have created God in your image. There is no such God, but it's better than nothing. It's good to know you have a big daddy somewhere, who you can cry to, who you can scream at, and blame for all your problems. Yet, as we grow, as we unfold, as we let go of all this stuff we've been holding on to, something happens; we become lighter. The burden seems to disappear by itself. The only burden you've ever had is your mind.