Ramana Maharshi on thoughless state, free from thoughts

Ramana Maharshi on thoughless state, free from thoughts

Question : Can one remain without thoughts rising all the twenty-four hours of the day? Should I remain without meditation?
Ramana Maharshi : What is `hours' again? It is a concept. Each question of yours is prompted by a thought. Whenever a thought arises, do not be carried away by it. You become aware of the body when you forget the Self. But can you forget the Self ? Being the Self how can you forget it ? There must be two selves for one to forget the other. It is absurd.

So the Self is not depressed, nor is it imperfect. It is ever happy. The contrary feeling is a mere thought which has actually no stamina in it. Be rid of thoughts. Why should one attempt meditation? Being the Self one remains always realized. Only be free from thoughts.

You think that your health does not permit your meditation. This depression must be traced to its origin. The origin is the wrong identification of the body with the Self. The disease is not of the Self, it is of the body.

But the body does not come and tell you that it is possessed by the disease. It is you who say so. Why ? Because you have wrongly identified yourself with the body. The body itself is a thought. Be as you really are. There is no reason to be depressed.

Question : Suppose there is some disturbance during meditation, such as mosquito bites. Should one persist in meditation and try to bear the bites and ignore the interruption, or drive the mosquitoes away and then continue the meditation?
Ramana Maharshi : You must do as you find most convenient. You will not attain mukti simply because you drive them away. The thing is to attain one-pointedness and then to attain mano-nasa [destruction of the mind]. Whether you do this by putting up with the mosquito bites or driving the mosquitoes away is left to you. If you are completely absorbed in your meditation you will not know that the mosquitoes are biting you. Till you attain that stage why should you not drive them away?