Sri Ramana Maharshi
16-7-1946
Bhagavan: What do you mean by atma and by betterment?
Visitor: We don’t know all that; that is why we come here.
Bhagavan: The Self or atma is always as it is. There is no such thing as attaining it. All that is necessary is to give up regarding the not-Self as Self and the unreal as Real. When we give up identifying ourselves with the body the Self alone remains.
Visitor: But how is one to give up this identification? Will coming here and getting our doubts removed help in the process?
Bhagavan: Questions are always about things that you don’t know and will be endless unless you find out who the questioner is. Though the things about which the questions are asked are unknown, there can be no doubt that a questioner exists to ask the questions, and if you ask who he is, all doubts will be set at rest.
Visitor: All that I want to know is whether sat sang is necessary and whether my coming here will help me or not.
Bhagavan: First you must decide what is sat sang. It means association with sat or Reality. One who knows or has realized sat is also regarded as sat. Such association with sat or with one who knows sat is absolutely necessary for all.
Sankara has said (Bhagavan here quoted the Sanskrit verse) that in all the three worlds there is no boat like sat sang to carry one safely across the ocean of births and deaths.
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