The Heart of the Ribhu Gita
(as Taught by Sri Ramana Maharshi)
Excerpt:
The Central Teaching of the Ribhu Gita
(Six Verses selected by Sri Ramana Maharshi):
The concept “I-am-the-body” is the sentient
inner organ, the mind. It is also the illusive bondage to identification
with birth and death. It is the source of all groundless fears. If there
is no trace of it at all everything will be found to be the Reality of
the Supreme Absolute Being.
The concept “I-am-the-body” is the primal
ignorance. It is known as the firm knot of the heart. It gives rise to
the concepts of existence and non-existence. If there is no trace of it
at all everything will be found to be the Reality of the Supreme Absolute
Being.
The ego or separate soul is a concept. God, the
world, the mind, desires, action, sorrow and all other things are all concepts.
Abiding without concepts is the undifferentiated
state. It is inherence in the Supreme Being. It is wisdom. It is Liberation.
It is the natural and true state. It is the Reality of the Supreme Absolute
Being. It is the Supreme Formless God. If there is no concept at all everything
will be found to be the Reality of the Supreme Absolute Being.
The body and the various functions of manifest
existence are only concepts. Hearing, reasoning and contemplating are concepts.
Enquiry into the ultimate nature of one’s own existence is a concept. All
other things are also concepts. Concepts give rise to the world, the separate
souls, and God. There is nothing whatever except concepts. Everything is
in truth the Reality of the Supreme Absolute Being.
The mind is unreal. It is like a magic show. It
is like the son of a barren woman. It is absolutely non-existent. Since
there is no mind there are no concepts, no Master, no disciple, no world,
no separate soul. All concepts are really the Reality of the Supreme Absolute
Being.