The one who has realized the Self knows he is the Self and that nothing, neither his body nor anything else, exists but the Self. To such a one what difference could the presence or absence of a body make?

For the wise one who has known Self by divining within himself, there is nothing other than Self to be known. Why?

Because since the ego which identifies the form of a body as `I' has perished, the wise one is the formless existence-consciousness. The one who has realized the Self knows he is the Self and that nothing, neither his body nor anything else, exists but the Self. To such a one what difference could the presence or absence of a body make?

 

It is false to speak of realization. What is there to realize? The real is as it is always. We are not creating anything new or achieving something which we did not have before. The illustration given in books is this. We dig a well and create a huge pit. The space in the pit or well has not been created by us. We have just removed the earth which was filling the space there. The space was there then and is also there now. Similarly we have simply to throw out all the age-long samskaras [innate tendencies] which are inside us. When all of them have been given up, the Self will shine alone.

 

Be as you are – The teachings of sri Ramana Maharishi

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