ON READING BOOKS

On reading books. Fragment of interview to Ramana Maharshi. “Who am I”, The spiritual teaching of Ramana Maharshi. Boston and Londres: Shambala, 1988.





Are there no other means for making the mind quiescent?

[…] Like the practice of breath control, meditation on the forms of God, repetition of mantras, restriction on food, etc., are but aids [Guruji would say, “toys”] for rendering the mind quiescent.

Through meditation on the forms of God and through repetition of mantras, the mind becomes one-pointed. The mind will always be wandering. Just as when the chain is given to an elephant to hold in its trunk it will go along grasping the chain and nothing else, so also when the mind is occupied with a name or form it will grasp that alone. When the mind expands in the form of countless thoughts, each thought becomes weak; but as thoughts get resolved the mind becomes one-pointed and strong; for such a mind Self-inquiry will become easy. Of all the restrictive rules, that relating to the taking of sattvic food in moderate quantities is best; by observing this rule, the sattvic quality of the mind will increase, and that will be helpful to Self-inquiry.
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Is it any use reading books for those who long for release?

All the texts say that in order to gain release one should render the mind quiescent; therefore their conclusive teaching is that the mind should be rendered quiescent; once this has been understood there is no need for endless reading. In order to quiet the mind one has only to inquire within oneself what one’s Self is; how could this search be done in books? One should know one’s Self with one’s own eye of wisdom. The Self is within the five sheaths [“Yoga and psychology”, Guruji]; but books are outside them. Since the Self has to be inquired into by discarding the five sheaths, it is futile to search for it in books. There will come a time when one will have to forget all that one has learned.
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