Five verses of Ramana Maharshi

Sri Ramana Maharsh was one of the greatest Indian Philosopher and saint. He strived to teach everyone that the easiest way to self realization was through self inquiry, and the

Silence of the mind.He also gave answers about Non-Duality. These verses have a very deep and profound meaning, which I leave the reader to interpret for himself.

Five Verses on the Self are the last verses composed by Sri Ramana Maharshi.

Ramanna Maharishi

Translated by Prof. K. Swaminathan
When, forgetting the Self, one thinks
That the body is oneself and goes
Through innumerable births
And in the end remembers and becomes
The Self, know this is only like
Awaking from a dream wherein
One has wandered over all the world.

One ever is the Self. To ask oneself
`Who and whereabouts am I?'
Is like the drunken man's enquiring
`Who am I??' and `Where am I?'
The body is within the Self. And yet
One thinks one is inside the inert body,
Like some spectator who supposes
That the screen on which the picture is thrown
Is within the picture.

Does an ornament of gold exist
Apart from the gold? Can the body exist
Apart from the Self?
The ignorant one thinks `I am the body';
The enlightened knows `I am the Self'.

The Self alone, the Sole Reality,
Exists for ever.
If of yore the First of Teachers
Revealed it through unbroken silence
Say who can reveal it in spoken words?