Ramana Maharshi Meditation Sayings and Quotes

• Take no notice of the ego and its activities, but see only the light behind.
   
• See whose thoughts they are. They will vanish. They have their root in the single `I'-thought. Hold it and they will disappear.
   
• The ego's phenomenal existence is transcended when you dive into the source from where the `I'-thought rises.
   
• Food affects the mind. For the practice of any kind of yoga, vegetarianism is absolutely necessary since it makes the mind more sattvic [pure and harmonious].
   
• You have to ask yourself the question `Who am I ?' This investigation will lead in the end to the discovery of something within you which is behind the mind. Solve that great problem and you will solve all other problems.
   
• Search for the source of the `I'-thought. That is all that one has to do. The universe exists on account of the `I'-thought. If that ends there is an end to misery also. The false `I' will end only when its source is sought.
   
• The birth of the `I'-thought is one's own birth, its death is the person's death. After the `I'-thought has arisen, the wrong identity with the body arises. Get rid of the `I'-thought. So long as `I' is alive there is grief. When `I' ceases to exist there is no grief.
   
• Peace is absence of disturbance. The disturbance is due to the arising of thoughts in the individual, which is only the ego rising up from pure consciousness. To bring about peace means to be free from thoughts and to abide as pure consciousness.
   
• Just on waking from sleep and before becoming aware of the world there is that pure `I, I'. Hold on to it without sleeping or without allowing thoughts to possess you. If that is held firm it does not matter even if the world is seen. The seer remains unaffected by the phenomena.
   
• You are awareness. Awareness is another name for you. Since you are awareness there is no need to attain or cultivate it. All that you have to do is to give up being aware of other things, that is of the not-Self. If one gives up being aware of them then pure awareness alone remains, and that is the Self.
   
• The `I'-thought is like a spirit which, although not palpable, rises up simultaneously with the body, flourishes and disappears with it. The body-consciousness is the wrong `I'. Give up this body-consciousness. It is done by seeking the source of the `I'. The body does not say `I am'. It is you who say, `I am the body '. Find out who this `I' is. Seeking its source it will vanish.
   
• This `I' is only the ego or the `I'-thought. After the rising up of this `I'-thought, all other thoughts arise. The `I'-thought is therefore the root-thought. If the root is pulled out all others are at the same time uprooted. Therefore seek the root `I', question yourself `Who am I?'. Find out its source, and then all these other ideas will vanish and the pure Self will remain.