Like the practice of breath control, meditation on the forms of God, repetition of mantras, food restrictions, etc., are but aids for rendering the mind quiescent.
Ramana MaharshiRead
The thing to do is to concentrate on the seer and not on the seen, not on the objects, but on the Light which reveals them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Focus on the source of perception rather than the objects being perceived.
This quote encourages a shift in perspective from what we observe in the world to the consciousness or awareness that allows us to experience those observations. It suggests that true understanding and insight come from recognizing the inner perception that illuminates our experiences, rather than being preoccupied with the transient objects themselves.
Themes
AwarenessPerceptionConsciousnessLightPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a meditation retreat, one might share this quote to emphasize the importance of inner awareness.
More from Ramana Maharshi
All quotes βThink of God; attachments will gradually drop away. If you wait till all desires disappear before starting your devotion and prayer, you will have to wait for a very long time indeed.
Ramana MaharshiRead
The mind of one meditating on a single object becomes one-pointed. And one-pointedness of mind leads to abidance in the self. Real attainment is to be fully conscious, to be aware of surroundings and the people around, to move among them all, but not to merge consciousness in the environment. One should remain in inner independent awareness.
Ramana MaharshiRead
You need not aspire for or get any new state. Get rid of your present thoughts, that is all.
Ramana MaharshiRead
Realisation is not acquisition of anything new nor is it a new faculty. It is only removal of all camouflage
Ramana MaharshiRead
Bliss is a thing which is always there and is not something which comes and goes. That which comes and goes is a creation of the mind.
Ramana MaharshiRead
Similar quotes
The truth is that the religious and the scientific processes, though involving different methods, are identical in their final aim. Both aim at reaching the most real.
Muhammad IqbalRead
The disc, being flat, has no real horizon. Any adventurous sailor who got funny ideas from staring at eggs and oranges for too long and set out for the antipodes soon learned that the reason why distant ships sometimes looked as though they were disappearing over the edge of the world was that they were disappearing over the edge of the world.
Terry PratchettRead
We have no right to luxuries while the poor want bread.
Thomas DayRead
The easiest rationalization for the refusal to seek the truth is the denial that truth exists.
Sidney HookRead
Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.
Edmund BurkeRead
A quality is something capable of being completely embodied. A law never can be embodied in its character as a law except by determining a habit. A quality is how something may or might have been. A law is how an endless future must continue to be.
Charles Sanders PeirceRead