Words of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharishi In 1939 a man called Sathya Narayana Rao was dying in one of the

ashram rooms. He was apparently in great pain. A devotee brought news of this to the hall. Bhagavan initially seemed to be uninterested in the matter. What can I do? he asked. Am I a doctor? However, after a few minutes he got up and went with Krishnaswami to the room where the man was dying. Sathya Narayana Rao was lying on a be d in a small room which was next to the storeroom. Bhagavan sat next to him and put one hand on his head and the other on his Heart-centre. Sathya Naryana Rao had previously been twisting and turning in bed in an attempt to alleviate his pain, but a few seconds after Bhagavan touched him, he quietened down, closed his eyes, and lay still on the bed. After about half an hour Bhagavan said, We have finished here. We can go and eat. Bhagavan had delayed going for lunch because he had wanted to finish his work with Sathya Narayana Rao. While Bhagavan was eating, a devotee came to inform him that Sathya Narayana Rao had died. However, before he died he had opened his eyes, smiled, and reached out to touch his two sisters. When Bhagavan heard this he exclaimed, Ah! The thief came back again. I thought that his mind had completely subsided. His vasanas[mental habits and tendencies] came up again. His attachment to his sisters made him reach out and touch them. In the case of Palaniswami, Bhagavan said that the I thought escaped through the eyes at the moment of death and took another birth. One can assume that something similar happened in this case. This story was told to me by Krishnaswami who was an eyewitness to all these events. I also found that many of the circumstantial details were corroborated in an unpublished manuscript by Narasimha Rao, Sathya Narayanas brother. Devotee.: Being perfect, why do I not feel it? RM.: Nor is imperfection felt in deep sleep. The I in sleep being perfect, why does the waking I feel imperfect? Because the one who feels imperfect is a spurious offshoot, a differentiation from the Infinite a segregation from God. Devotee.: I am the same in all the three states. Did this ego submerge me or did I entangle myself into it? RM.: Did anything come up without you? Devotee.: I am always the same. RM.: Because you see it, this appears to have come up. Did you feel this difficulty in deep sleep? What is new now? Devotee.: The senses and the mind. RM.: Who says this? Is it the sleeper? If so he should have raised the question in deep sleep also. The sleeper has been lost hold of, some spurious offshoot has differentiated himself and speaks now. Can anything new appear without that which is eternal and perfect? This kind of dispute is itself eternal. Do not engage in it. Turn inward and put an end to all this. There will be no finality in disputations. Devotee.: Show me that Grace which puts an end to all this trouble. I have not come here to argue. I

want only to learn. RM.: Learn first what you are. This requires no sastras, no scholarship. This is simple experience. The state of being is now and here all along. You have lost hold of yourself and are asking others for guidance. The purpose of philosophy is to turn you inward. If you know your Self, no evil can come to you. Since you asked me I have taught you. The ego comes up only holding you (the Self). Hold yourself and the ego will vanish. Until then the sage will be saying, There is. - The ignorant will be asking Where? Devotee.: The crux of the problem lies in Know Thyself. RM.: Yes. Quite so.