Dialogue with Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi
-- *Mar**A Dialogue Between You and Ramana Maharshi* *Setting: The hall at Arunachala. Silence. A soft breeze. You approach with urgency; he sits in stillness.* ------------------------------ *You:* Bhagavan, the Earth is diseased. Technology has poisoned nature. Machines sever the living connections of the biosphere. We are living on a terminally ill Gaia. Must not nature be freed from technology completely? *Ramana Maharshi:* Who sees the disease? *You:* I see it. Anyone who looks can see it — polluted rivers, dying soil, poisoned air. *Ramana:* The rivers are polluted. The soil is damaged. That is seen. But first tell me — who is the seer? *You:* I am the seer. A human being watching destruction. *Ramana:* Who is this “I”? *You:* (pauses) I… the one who feels sorrow for the Earth. *Ramana:* Find that one. Before saving the world, know the one who would save it. ------------------------------ *You:* But Bhagavan, this is not abstraction. Machines are not part of nature’s emotional web. They have no feeling, no hormonal connection. They only extract and destroy. *Ramana:* Does the machine declare, “I destroy”? *You:* No. Humans use it to destroy. *Ramana:* Then is the machine the problem, or the mind that uses it? *You:* The mind, perhaps. But the machine amplifies the mind’s ignorance. *Ramana:* Yes. A small ego with a large instrument creates large disturbance. ------------------------------ *You:* Then should we not abolish the instruments? *Ramana:* If you remove the knife from an angry man, is anger gone? *You:* No. *Ramana:* If the ego remains, it will find another instrument — stone, stick, word, system. The root is not outside. ------------------------------ *You:* But nature suffers! Species vanish. Forests burn. Is inner inquiry enough while the planet collapses? *Ramana:* When you are in deep sleep, is there a collapsing planet? *You:* No. *Ramana:* Yet on waking, the world appears. The world you seek to save appears with the rising of the “I”-thought. Understand this correctly — I do not deny the world. I ask you to find its root. ------------------------------ *You:* Are you saying the ecological crisis is illusion? *Ramana:* The suffering is experienced. Therefore it is real to the experiencer. But inquire: who is the experiencer? If the ego acts, even noble action binds. If the Self acts, there is no doer and no bondage. ------------------------------ *You:* I feel anger toward technology. It feels like poison. *Ramana:* To whom does the anger arise? *You:* To me. *Ramana:* Investigate that “me.” When the “me” dissolves, what remains? *You:* Silence? *Ramana:* Silence is not absence. It is fullness without agitation. ------------------------------ *You:* But without strong resistance, the economic machine will consume everything. *Ramana:* Action may be required. But let it arise from clarity, not agitation. A mind in conflict creates conflict. A mind at peace acts without violence, even if the action appears firm. ------------------------------ *You:* So you would not condemn technology? *Ramana:* Condemnation strengthens the sense of doership. See clearly. Is technology separate from nature? Is the human separate from nature? Is the mind separate from the Self? Investigate separation itself. ------------------------------ *You:* If I follow your teaching fully, will ecological harmony return? *Ramana:* When the ego subsides, compassion flows naturally. Such a being cannot exploit. Whether the world changes quickly or slowly, that being is not a source of harm. Begin there. ------------------------------ *You:* You turn every question back to the Self. *Ramana:* Because all questions arise from the Self misidentified as the ego. You wish to heal Gaia. First discover if there are two — you and Gaia. ------------------------------ *You:* (after long silence) If there is no separate “I,” then who harms nature? *Ramana:* Ignorance harms. Knowledge dissolves it. ------------------------------ *You:* Then the real pandemic is ignorance? *Ramana:* Yes. Ignorance of one’s true nature. From it arise greed, fear, domination — and machines used without wisdom. Remove ignorance. The rest follows naturally. ------------------------------ *You:* Bhagavan… is there hope? *Ramana:* Hope and despair belong to the mind. The Self neither hopes nor despairs. It simply is. Know That — and act from That. *Silence fills the hall. The wind moves through the trees. Nothing is added. Nothing is taken away.* -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CACDCHCL1qaFr_rgahUkHYUdoq8HJEHprZmqSMy85Enb-aHSOfQ%40mail.gmail.com.
