Ramana Maharshi - That bliss of the Self is always with you

Q: In this life beset with limitations can I ever realize the bliss of the Self ?

Ramana Maharshi - That bliss of the Self is always with you, and you will find it for yourself, if you would seek it earnestly. The cause of your misery is not in the life outside you, it is in you as the ego. You impose limitations on yourself and then make a vain struggle to transcend them.

All unhappiness is due to the ego; with it comes all your trouble. What does it avail you to attribute to the happenings in life the cause of misery which is really within you? What happiness can you get from things extraneous to yourself ? When you get it, how long will it last ?

If you would deny the ego and scorch it by ignoring it, you would be free. If you accept it, it will impose limitations on you and throw you into a vain struggle to transcend them. To be the Self that you really are is the only means to realize the bliss that is ever yours.

Q: If truly there is neither bondage nor liberation, what is the reason for the actual experience of joys and sorrows?
Ramana Maharshi - They appear to be real only when one turns aside from one's real nature. They do not really exist.