Know Yourself First

 Sri Ramana Maharshi

(Taken from Sri Annamalai Swami's Diary Extracts)

Q: [Submitted in the form of a written questionnarie]

1. Did God create the world in the beginning with as many differences as there are now? Or did these differences only come into being after sometime?

2. If God is common to everyone, why are some people good and some bad? One is lame, another is blind; one is a jnani while many other people are ajnanis. Why did he create all these differences?

3. Do the ashta dik palakas, the thirty-three crores of devas and the maharshis exist even today?

Bhagavan: [after glancing at the paper] The answer to all these three questions will whine forth of its own accord if you ask yourself, 'To whom did these questions occur?'

After knowing ourselves first, if we then look into the world created by God, we will understand the truth. To try to know God and the world without knowing oneself first is ignorance indeed. The opinions of a man who does not know himself are like those of a man suffering from jaundice who tells other people that the color of everything is yellow. Who will agree with him?

A small seed contains a big banyan tree, but which came first, the tree or the seed? What can one say in answer to this question?

There is one real answer to these questions: If one knows oneself, there is no world.

Bhagavan then supported this statement by quoting four lines from his own philosophical works.

Is it not ignorance to know all else without knowing the Self which is the source of all knowledge? Can it be knowledge?[Ulladu Narpadu, verse 11, lines 1 and ]

If one has a form, the world and God will also have forms.[Ulladu Narpadu verse 4, line 1]

What else is there to know for anyone when Self itselfis known? [Atma Vidya Kirtanam, verse 3, line2]

A little later Bhagavan gave a similar answer to another devotee who wanted information about God and creation.

Q: Why did God, who is presumably free from desires, create the world?

B: There will be a place for this question only if this question exists apart from God. Why question about such things? Who is he who questions in the first place? Does this question exist while you are asleep?

'I am one; God is another.' Who told you to think like that? Only when we know our own qualifications will be able to know about God's. Is this not correct? First find out who you are. What the Self is and what God is can be learned later on.