Peace Always Exists; Practice Only Removes Wrong Ideas

Sri Ramana Maharshi

Meditation is with mind and how can it kill the mind in order to reveal the Self?

Meditation is sticking to one thought. That single thought keeps away other thoughts; distraction of mind is a sign of its weakness. By constant meditation it gains strength, i.e., to say, its weakness of fugitive thought gives place to the enduring background free from thoughts. This expanse devoid of thought is the Self. Mind in purity is the Self. 

Everyone says, "I am the body". It is the experience of the sage as also of the ignorant. The ignorant man believes that the Self is confined to the body only, whereas the wise man believes that the body cannot remain apart from the Self. The Self is infinite for him and includes the body also.

Mr. Bose said that he felt peace in His presence which lasts some time after. He added: 'Why is not enduring?'

That peace is the Real nature. Contrary ideas are only superimpositions. This is true bhakti, true yoga, true jnana. You may say that this peace is acquired by practice. The wrong notions are given up by practice. This is all. Your true nature always persists. These flashes are only signs of the ensuing revelation of the Self. 

The Heart is the Self. It is not within or without. The mind is Its shakti. After the emergence of the mind, the universe appears and the body is seen to be contained in it. Whereas all these are contined in the Self and they cannot exist apart from the Self.