Bhagavan said, 'The greatest scripture is the silent exposition. Only if you read this scripture will all doubts cease!
To a complaining devotee who said, 'I do not know where the 'l' is,' Bhagavan answered by saying, 'Be where the 'l' is.
#SriRamanaMaharshi
The Higher Power knows what
and how to do it.
Trust It.
#SriRamanaMaharshi
You understand according to your capacity.
#SriRamanaMaharshi
When I am silent, I fall into the place where everything is music.
#Rumi
On my heart in beautiful calligraphy You've written words that only You and I can know.
#Rumi
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
#Rumi
First help yourself - which means to not think.
And then if you still need to you can ask me for help.
#Papaji
Whatever profession is given to you, do it with full consciousness and awareness.
Perform it as demanded of you.
#Papaji
Whatever you do, do it for the Lord of your heart.
#AnandamayiMa
There are sages and saints out there who, expecting nothing from nature or man, are filled with all-embracing love, the very embodiment of independence, act as the spirit moves them and are happy and supreme under all circumstances.
But you, in spite of all your attempts at security, are often frustrated and riddled with fear.
Shake yourselves free and try to become really great. By applying in your active day-to-day life, the power received from saints and sages, the world can be tremendously improved.
#AnandamayiMa
God is not only in the heart of all,
He is the prop of all, He is the source of all, their abiding place and their end.
All proceed from Him, have their stay in Him, and finally resolve into Him.
Therefore He is not separate.
#SriRamanaMaharshi
Bhagavan sometimes called Arunachala 'The medicine mountain'.
He used to say"': For all ailments of body and mind giri pradakshina is good medicine'.
In order to get people to sample this medicine, he often prescribed a daily pradakshina for those sadhus who spent most of their time sitting in meditation. He told them that doing pradakshina once a day was a good way to keep the mind in sattva guna [a quiet harmonious state].
Bhagavan once expounded on the greatness of Arunachala by comparing it to a famous mountain in the Ramayana.
'When Rama, Lakshmana and their army entered Lanka,' he said, 'Indrajit, the son of Ravana, launched a very powerful arrow against them.
The arrow caused even Rama and Lakshmana to lose consciousness.
Everyone in the army except Hanuman became unconscious. Hanuman went back to India and returned with a whole mountain which contained the healing herb sanjivini. When the air which had touched this herb touched Rama. Lakshmana and their army, they were all awakened and healed.' Bhagavan concluded his story by saying, 'This Arunachala mountain is more powerful than that mountain'.
Occasionally, when devotees asked Bhagavan about the greatness of the hill he would sit in silence. These exhibitions of mauna [silence] were his answers to the questions. At other times he was more willing to talk. In March 1938, in answer to a visitor's query, he gave a brief summary of some of the scriptural stories about Arunachala.
'The greatness of this hill has been spoken of by different people in many different ways. In the Puranas [scriptures dealing mainly with mythology] it is said that the inside of this Arunachala is in the form of a cave. It is also said that many siddhas [accomplished or perfected yogis] and ascetics live there. Guru Namasivaya has sung about the greatness of this hill. In one of his verses he says that the mountain summons those who are intensively practicing jnana-tapas. When Ambal, the consort of Siva, was performing tapas at Annamalai [one of the Tamil names for Arunachala], the buffalo-headed demon Mahishasura came and spoke to her.
'Why don't you marry me?" he asked. "What happiness have you found by doing tapas?'
'When Ambal turned him down he became violent. Ambal immediately transformed herself into Durga, the fearsome form of Ambal, merely by wishing that the change would take place. This transformation frightened Mahishasura so much that he decided to return home and gather his army before engaging in a fight. Ambal, who knew his plans, sent him the Hitopadesa through Saruga Muni.
Hitopadesa is a small treatise containing advice for Mahishasura. The word means 'good advice'.
As this Hitopadesa was only available in Sanskrit, I requested Bhagavan to write it in Tamil. Bhagavan graciously made a partial translation by composing the following verse:
"This holy place [Arunachala] is ever the abode of righteous people and devotees. Here base people who intend harm to others will perish, being afflicted with many diseases, and the power of the wicked will be lost in a second without leaving a trace. Therefore do not fall into the fierce fire of the anger of Lord Arunachala whose form is a hill of fire. "
Bhagavan concluded his lesson by telling us, 'Who can really speak about the greatness of Arunachala?'
Over the years Bhagavan translated a total of seven verses from Sri Arunachala Mahatmyam [The Greatness of Arunachala], the Sanskrit work which is the major scriptural source of stories about Arunachala. All seven are printed together in Five Hymns to Arunachala, pp. 18-19 (Collected Works).
A few months later Bhagavan spoke again about the greatness of Arunachala: This hill is not one which was formed at a certain time and which will be destroyed at another time. It is a swayambu [spontaneously manifesting] lingam. The word lingam can be subdivided: 'ling' means 'union' and 'gam' means 'that which forms'. There are many other meanings for the word such as God, Atman, form, and Siva.'
Swayambu lingams appear spontaneously as an act of God. They are not created or caused by any human or geologically natural activity.
'This hill is not really on earth. All the heavenly bodies are attached to it. The name of that which is the source of both arising and subsiding is lingam.'
While Bhagavan was reminiscing in this way he commented on some other puranic stories.
'The stories in the Puranas say that God collects the dust of the feet of his devotees in a box. Then, wrapping this dust in silk, he is said to do puja to it. He does so to show that he is the devotee of his devotees. He says, "I praise him who praises me in this world".
#SriRamanaMaharshi
The silent Self alone is
God.
#SriRamanaMaharshi