[Advaita-l] An anecdote

[sreenivasa murthy]

Dear friends.An incident in Sri Bhagavan Ramana's life.
Quote:
 It was in 1940 that one day, oneof the devotees sitting in the hall raised the topic regarding the utility ofreading books on religion and philosophy,.

 In reply Sri Bhagavan said:

“You wake up in the morning and look into themirror and the mirror shows you that you have a growth and that you have to getrid of it.  You may go on looking into any number of mirrors; every mirrorwill tell you the same, but no mirror can ever shave you. You have to shaveyourself. Instead of wasting time looking into mirror after mirror it is bestto start shaving after having looked into the first mirror and known the truth.So also all the books will tell you the same truth perhaps in slightlydifferent ways. Instead of wasting time reading book after book why not realizefor yourself what  was obvious from the very first book”.

[Mountain Path; January,1972]

 

Justas it is fruitless for one to scrutanize the garbage which is to becollectively thrown away, so it is fruitless for one who is to know himself , to count the number and scrutinize theproperties of the tattvas  Whichare veiling oneself, instead of collectively casting all of them aside.   

                                   [ Who Am I?]

Unquote.
The readers / mumukshus can draw their own conclusions.With respectful namaskarsSreenivasa Murthy