In response to questions by the devotee Natananandar (D) on nature of Self-Realization, Bhagavan Ramana (B) replies:
D: If this is the nature of moksha (union with Brahman alone), why do some scriptures connect it with the body and say that the individual soul can attain liberation only when it does not leave the body?
B: It is only if bondage is real that liberation and the nature of its experiences have to be considered. So far as the Self is concerned, it has really no bondage in any of the four states. As bondage is merely a verbal assumption according to the emphatic proclamation of the Vedanta system, how can the question of liberation, which depends upon the question of bondage, arise when there is no bondage? Without knowing this truth, to enquire into the nature of bondage and liberation, is like enquiring into the non-existent height, color etc. of a barren woman's son or the horns of the hare.
D: If that is so, do not the descriptions of bondage and release found in the scriptures become irrelevant and untrue?
B: No, they do not. On the contrary, the delusion of bondage fabricated by ignorance from time immemorial can be removed only by knowledge, and for this purpose the term 'liberation' (mukti) has been usually accepted. That is all. The fact that the characteristics of liberation are described in different ways proves that they are imaginary.
D: If that is so, are not all efforts such as study (sravana), reflection (manana) etc. useless?
B: No, they are not. The firm conviction that there is neither bondage nor liberation is the supreme purpose of all efforts. As this purpose of seeing boldly, through direct experience, that bondage and liberation do not exist, cannot be achieved except with the aid of the aforesaid practices, these efforts are useful.
D: If this is the nature of moksha (union with Brahman alone), why do some scriptures connect it with the body and say that the individual soul can attain liberation only when it does not leave the body?
B: It is only if bondage is real that liberation and the nature of its experiences have to be considered. So far as the Self is concerned, it has really no bondage in any of the four states. As bondage is merely a verbal assumption according to the emphatic proclamation of the Vedanta system, how can the question of liberation, which depends upon the question of bondage, arise when there is no bondage? Without knowing this truth, to enquire into the nature of bondage and liberation, is like enquiring into the non-existent height, color etc. of a barren woman's son or the horns of the hare.
D: If that is so, do not the descriptions of bondage and release found in the scriptures become irrelevant and untrue?
B: No, they do not. On the contrary, the delusion of bondage fabricated by ignorance from time immemorial can be removed only by knowledge, and for this purpose the term 'liberation' (mukti) has been usually accepted. That is all. The fact that the characteristics of liberation are described in different ways proves that they are imaginary.
D: If that is so, are not all efforts such as study (sravana), reflection (manana) etc. useless?
B: No, they are not. The firm conviction that there is neither bondage nor liberation is the supreme purpose of all efforts. As this purpose of seeing boldly, through direct experience, that bondage and liberation do not exist, cannot be achieved except with the aid of the aforesaid practices, these efforts are useful.
