No Doership, No Difficulties

Sri Ramana Maharshi

From Sri Annamalai Swami's Diary Extracts

Q: Bhagavan, I want to attain mukti. For that you alone are my Guru. I do not seek anyone else. Kindly bestow your grace on me.

B: The attainment of mukti is not some new achievement. We are all in the form of mukti. Because we forget this and instead wrongly think, 'I am this body', many thousanfs of thoughts arise in wave after wave and conceal what we really are. Mukti will only shine when this thoughts is destroyed.

Q: How does one get rid of this thought, 'I am the body'?

B: Since you have prayed to the Guru, totally surrender to him.

Q: The Guru is not in the village where I live. What can I do?

B: The Guru is within you. Surrender to him there.

Q: What is within me is only my own Self.

B: Guru, Atma, Ishwara - these are only different names for the same thing. The essence of each is the same.

Q: After I surrender, will it be possible for me to carry on with my work?

B: Of course! But the thought, 'I am doing it', will not arise.

Q: If the I-thought is not there, how will my duties get done?

B: Whatever you get paid for, you do with indifference. Discharge your family duties with the same indifference that you discharge your office work. The things that come and go in your office don't cause you to worry. Do all your jobs and duties with this same detachment.

Q: Difficulties keep coming to me. When will they stop?

B: If you give up the I am the body idea all your difficulties will fly away.