The following dialogue is characteristic as showing refusal to discuss theory and insistence on the need for practice.
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi (B): God is always the first person, the I, ever standing before you. Because you give precedence to worldly things, God appears to have receded to the background. If you give up all else and seek Him alone, He will remain as the ‘I’, the Self.
Devotee (D): The final state of Realisation is said, according to Advaita, to be absolute union with the Divine, and according to Visishtadvaita a qualified union, while Dvaita maintains that there is no union at all. Which of these should be considered the correct view?
B.: Why speculate about what will happen at some time in the future? All are agreed that the ‘I’ exists. To whichever school of thought he may belong, let the earnest seeker first find out what the ‘I’ is. Then it will be time enough to know what the final state will be, whether the ‘I’ will get merged in the Supreme Being or stand apart from Him. Let us not forestall the conclusion, but keep an open mind.
D.: But will not some understanding of the final state be a helpful guide even to the aspirant?
B.: No purpose is served by trying to decide now what the final state of Realisation will be. It has no intrinsic value.
D.: Why not?
B.: Because you proceed on a wrong principle. Your conclusion is arrived at by the intellect which shines only by the light it derives from the Self. Is it not presumptuous on the part of the intellect to sit in judgement over that from which it derives its little light? How can the intellect, which can never reach the Self, be competent to ascertain and much less decide the nature of the final state of Realisation? It is like trying to measure the sunlight at its source by the standard of the light given by a candle. The wax will melt down before the candle comes anywhere near the sun. Instead of indulging in mere speculation, devote yourself here and now to the search for the Truth that is ever within you.
B.: Why speculate about what will happen at some time in the future? All are agreed that the ‘I’ exists. To whichever school of thought he may belong, let the earnest seeker first find out what the ‘I’ is. Then it will be time enough to know what the final state will be, whether the ‘I’ will get merged in the Supreme Being or stand apart from Him. Let us not forestall the conclusion, but keep an open mind.
D.: But will not some understanding of the final state be a helpful guide even to the aspirant?
B.: No purpose is served by trying to decide now what the final state of Realisation will be. It has no intrinsic value.
D.: Why not?
B.: Because you proceed on a wrong principle. Your conclusion is arrived at by the intellect which shines only by the light it derives from the Self. Is it not presumptuous on the part of the intellect to sit in judgement over that from which it derives its little light? How can the intellect, which can never reach the Self, be competent to ascertain and much less decide the nature of the final state of Realisation? It is like trying to measure the sunlight at its source by the standard of the light given by a candle. The wax will melt down before the candle comes anywhere near the sun. Instead of indulging in mere speculation, devote yourself here and now to the search for the Truth that is ever within you.
Source: Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi in his own words – Arthur Osborne
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