god and self
In The Spiritual Teachings of Ramana Maharishi, a disciple asks, "Should I not try to help the suffering world?" Ramana Maharishi answers, "If God has created the world, it is his business to look after it, not yours." Ramana Maharishi's response presumes many things about the nature of God, Self, and the world. It shows that the conventional view of morality and therefore, the disciple's question, is wrong. A point that Ramana Maharishi makes many times in his teachings is that ". . . the Self itself is God" (Maharishi 8). If you see God in all, then you should see God in the Self. Since God is an expression of the Self, in order to see God in Self, you have to be God. Ramana Maharishi says that "if God is apart from the Self, He must be a selfless God, which is absurd" (Maharishi 64). Therefore, if union with God was something that had to be obtained, then it is not real and only an illusion. Ramana Maharishi says that "the Self is the only sentient object. There is nothing apart from the Self" (Maharishi 22). The Self is the source of everything. Nothing occurs that is not related to the Self. The Self is the power and the ground for everything that we do. You never have to "fi
Ramana Maharishi also makes the point several times to the disciple that his problem is perspective. The question is frequently asked "How can I attain Self-realization?" (Maharishi 61). Ramana Maharishi explains to the disciple that "Realization is nothing to be gained afresh; it is already there. All that is necessary is to get rid of the thought ‘I' have not realized" (Maharishi 61). The disciple is asking the question from a state of non self - realization, a false knowledge about the world. nd" the Self. The Self is already there. It is never separate from us. Ramana Maharishi says that "what is not permanent is not worth striving for. So I say the Self is not reached. You are the Self; you are already That" (Maharishi 61). To ask how one can "find" the Self is to presume that the Self needs to be found. Clearly, the disciples question in itself is wrong. The problem is his perspective. He is asking from an unenlightened and unself-realized state of consciousness. Like Ramana Maharishi, once he has realized that the Self, the world, and God are one, his view of the world and conventional morality will be changed.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 936
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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