neti neti

.

The path of the Vedāntic discipline is the path of negation, "Neti", in which, by stern determination, all that is unreal is both negated and renounced. It is the path of jnāna, knowledge, the direct method of realizing the Absolute.


—Sri Ramakrishna

 

.

The Vedantins do not say that the world is unreal. 

That is a misunderstanding. If they did, what would be the meaning of the Vedantic text: ‘All this is Brahman’? 

They only mean that the world is unreal as world but real as Self. If you regard the world as non-self, it is not real. 

Everything, whether you call it illusion (Maya) or Divine Play (Lila) or Energy (Shakti) must be within the Self and not apart from it.


—Sri Ramana Maharshi

.

 A yogi has no particular path. He simply renounces "imagining” things. His mind then ceases out of its own accord, and "the perfect state" naturally occurs.

—Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj 

.

not two

   

. 

It is an easy thing to say that the world is an illusion,
but do you know what that really means? 

It is like the burning of camphor, 
which leaves no residue. 

It is not even like the burning of wood,
which leaves ashes behind. 

... there is absolutely no recognition of '¡', thou' 
and the universe.


—Sri Ramakrishna

.

It is the hand that lifts, but you say “I lift”.
The eyes see but you say, “I see”.
The nose smells, but you say, “I smell”.
All this is the power of the Self and yet you say, “I did it”.
That power belongs to God. 

Who is this ego arrogating ‘I’? 
He has no place in the palace, but once admitted inside, he
overrules the king and affirms his own existence. 
After some enquiry, this ego’s existence is easily disproved. 
Then the king once again affirms, “I am Reality.” 

There is one thing about this condition – there is bliss. 
If there are two, then there is pain. 
Where there is One, there is bliss.


—Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj

.

How many times is the world created when, 

each morning, we open our eyes? 

—Richard Jackson

.