"The very first step in understanding what this is all about is giving up the concept of an active, volitional 'I' as a separate entity and accepting the passive role of perceiving and functioning as a process." - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Monday, August 29, 2011

Householder and Moksha

Sri Ramana Maharshi

Q. How does a grihasta (householder) fare in the scheme of moksha (liberation)?

Why do you think you are a grihasta? If you go out as a sanyasi, a similar thought (that you are a sanyasi) will haunt you. Whether you continue in the household, or renounce it and go to the forest, your mind haunts you. The ego is the source of thoughts. It creates the body and the world and makes you think you are grihasta. If you renounce the world, it will only substitute  the thought sanyasi for grihasta and the environments of the forest for those of the household. But the mental obstacles are always there. They even increase in the new surroundings. There is no help in the change of environment. The obstacle is in the mind. It must be got over whether at home or in the forest. If you can do it in the forest, why not in the home? Then why change the environment? Your efforts can be made even now, in whatever environment you may be.

No comments:

Post a Comment

सर्वभूताधिवासं यद्भूतेषु च वसत्यपि।
सर्वानुग्राहकत्वेन तद्स्म्यहं वासुदेवः॥

That in whom reside all beings and who resides in all beings,
who is the giver of grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe, the limitless being:
I AM THAT. -- Amritabindu Upanishad