Effort Is Needed

Sri Ramana Maharshi

17-2-1946

Some young men who had come an introduction from the Ramakrishna Mission at Madras asked B, "Which is the proper path for us to follow?"

B: When you speak of a path, where are you now? And where do you want to go? If these are known, then we can talk of a path. Know first where you are and what you are. There is nothing to be reached. You are always as you really are. But you don't realize it. That is all.

A little while later one of the visitors asked B, "I am now following the path of japa. Is that all right?"

B: Yes, it is quite good. You can continue in that.

The gentleman who asked about creation said, "I never thought I was going to have the good fortune of visiting B. But circumstances have brought me here and I find in his presence, without any effort on my part, I am having shanti. Apparently, getting peace does not depend on our effort. It seems to come only as the result of grace." 

B was silent. Meanwhile, another visitor remarked, "No, our effort is also necessary, though none can do without grace."

After sometime B remarked, "Mantra japam, after a time, leads to a stage when you become mantra maya, i.e., you become that whose name you have been repeating or chanting. First you repeat the mantra by mouth; later you do it mentally. First, you do this dhyana with breaks. Later, you do it without any break. At that state you realize you do dhyana without any effort on your part, that dhyana is your real nature. Till then, effort is necessary."