HERE and NOW
YOU ARE THAT

Do not try to keep quiet,
do not make being quiet into a task to be performed.
Don't be restless about being quiet, miserable about being happy.
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj ~

There is no heaven, no final liberation, nor any soul in another world....
there are four elements, earth, water, fire and air and from
these four elements alone is intelligence produced....
The three authors of the Vedas were buffoons.
~ Carvaka ~  (India 600 BCE)

The mystical trend of our time, which shows itself particularly in the rampant growth of the so-called
Theosophy and Spiritualism, is for me no more than a symptom of weakness and confusion.

Since our inner experiences consist of reproductions, and combinations of sensory impressions,
the concept of a soul without a body seem to me to be empty and devoid of meaning.
~ Albert Einstein ~

One 'believes' that there is bondage and therefore seeks liberation.
But the fact is that there is no bondage but only Liberation.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

All religions are ancient monuments to superstition, ignorance
and modern religions are only ancient follies.
~ Paul Henri Thiry ~

The true Guru (honest person or pointer) will not estrange you from yourself.
He knows you need nothing, not even him, and is never tired of reminding you.

But the self-appointed Guru
is more concerned with himself than with his disciples...
All blessings come from within. Turn within. To that 'I' am you know.
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj ~

All national institutions of churches...  appear to me no other than human inventions,
set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.
~ Thomas Paine ~

I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to 
be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it.
- Albert Einstein ~

Liberation is our very nature. We are that.... It is not to be freshly acquired.
All that is necessary is to get rid of the false notion that we are bound.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

The world holds two classes of men, intelligent men without religion,
and religious men without intelligence.
Abu Ala Al-Maarri

Ignorant of this simple truth,
innumerable methods under different denominations, such as yoga, bhakti, karma,
each again with many modifications, are being taught with great skill and in intricate detail
only to entice the seekers and confuse their minds. So also are the religions and sects and dogmas.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

To find 'you' involves neither time nor means, the one who is dependent on seeking is veiled.
To seek 'you' is a remnant of separation and dispersion.
~ Abdullah Ansari ~
(11 th century)

Realisation is not the acquisition of anything new nor is it a new faculty.
It is only removal of all camouflage.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

What you call God, I call Nature,
the supreme intelligence that rules matter.
~ Thomas Edison ~

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations
~ Siddhartha Gautama a.k.a Buddha ~

You, being the Self (consciousness), want to know
how to attain the Self (consciousness).
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

Make no effort, your effort is the bondage.
All that is required to realize the Self (consciousness) is to be still.
What can be easier than that?
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

No one denies one’s own existence
any more than one denies one’s eyes, although one cannot see them.
The trouble lies with your desire to objectify the Self (consciousness), in the same way  
as you objectify your eyes when you place a mirror before them.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

There is no goal to be reached.
There is nothing to be attained.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

Ego is not!
Otherwise do you admit of two selves?
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

If you seek the ego you will find, it does not exist.

That is the way to get rid of it.
Look for it and it will not be found.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

Only remove ignorance. That is all there is to be done.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

The divinity of Jesus is made
a convenient cover for absurdity.
~ John Adams ~

If there be no God, there can be no soul.
If there is no soul then, Jesus
you also are not true.
~ Mother Teresa ~

Be content with what you are sure of.
And the only thing you can be sure of is 'I' am. The only fact you are sure of is that you are.
The only clue you have is your certainty of being.
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj ~

Knowing the Self (consciousness) is being the Self, and being means existence,
one’s own existence. No one denies one’s own existence.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

The experience is here and now. One cannot deny one’s own self.
Existence is the same as happiness and happiness is the same as being.
Why should one seek it?
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

If you want to be free. Get to know your real self.
It (consciousness) has no form, no appearance, no root, no basis, no abode,
but is lively and buoyant. Therefore when you look for it, you become further from it.
When you seek it, you turn away from it all the more.
~ Linji ~
(Chinese 9 th century)

It is impossible for anyone to get what he has not got already.
Even if he gets any such thing, it will go as it came. What comes will also go.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

We are 'imagining' we are bound and are making various, strenuous attempts to become free.
We will be surprised that we were frantically trying to attain something,
which we have always been and are.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

The state we call Realisation is simply being oneself.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

Look deep into Nature and you will
understand everything better.
~ Albert Einstein ~

The state of self-realisation, as we call it, is not attaining something new
or reaching some goal which is far away, but simply being that
which you always are and which you always have been.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

You wander restlessly from forest to forest
while the Reality is within your own dwelling.
~ Kabir ~
(15th Century)

The Self (consciousness) you seek to know is truly yourself.
Your supposed ignorance causes you needless grief
like that of the ten foolish men who grieved
at the loss of the tenth man,
who was never lost.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

Know the Truth!
That the 'I' is not different from the Lord (consciousness).
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

Realisation is nothing to be gained afresh, it is already there.
All that is necessary is to get rid of the thought I have not realised.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

For whoever seeks God (consciousness) in some special way,
will gain the way and lose God who is hidden in the way.

But whoever seeks God without any special way,
finds Him as He really is... He (consciousness) is Life itself.
~ Meister Eckhart ~
(13th century)

Who am 'I'?
After all, the only fact you are sure of is that you are.
'I' am is certain.
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj ~

I cannot show you God (consciousness) or enable you to see God (consciousness)
because God (consciousness) is not an object that can be seen.
God (consciousness) is the subject. He (consciousness) is the seer.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

Because you seek true (constant/unchanging) consciousness.
Where can you find it? Can you attain it outside yourself?
You have to find it internally. Therefore you are directed inward.
The heart is the seat of consciousness or
consciousness itself.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

Consciousness is indeed always with us.
Everybody knows 'I' am. No one can deny his own being.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

If you don't understand this consciousness itself, then you are in bondage
when you will understand what this (consciousness) is, then that is liberation.
Paradoxically you will realize that you are already liberated.
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj ~

All sentient (conscious) beings are essentially 'Buddhas'.
As with water and ice, there is no ice without water.
(No Life or existence without consciousness)
Not knowing how close the truth is, we seek it far away.
What a pity!
~ Hakuin Ekaku Zenji ~
( Japan 18th century)

Reality is at once being and consciousness.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

The Self (consciousness) is not something to be acquired from others.
All that is necessary is to know its existence in you.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

People want to see the Self (consciousness) as something new.
But it (consciousness) is eternal and remains the same all along.
They desire to see it as a blazing light etc.
How can it be so?
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

Is there anyone who is not aware of himself?
Each one knows, but yet does not know the Self (consciousness).
A strange paradox!
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

The Self (consciousness) is ever present. Each one wants to know the Self.
What kind of help does one require to know oneself?
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

He (consciousness) is the unseen seer, the unheard hearer, the unthought thinker.
There is no other seer but He. No other hearer but He.
No other thinker but He. No other knower but He.
He is yourself.
The inner controller, the immortal, the imperishable.
~ Brihadaranyaka Upanishad~
(approx. 3500 years old.)

To the ignorant the 'I' is the self limited to the body.
To the wise, the 'I' is the Infinite Self (consciousness).
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

On enquiry 'who' is bound?
The notion of bondage vanishes and so does that of Liberation.
The one eternally free alone remains self-revealed.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

It is pure awareness of being. It is that 'I' am you know so well.
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj ~

Simple changeless being is one's true nature.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

The state of pure being which is common to all and which is always
experienced directly by everybody is one's true nature.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

What have you to wait for when it is already here and now?
You have to only look & see. Look at your self, at your own being.

You know that you are and you like it. Abandon all imagining, that is all.
Do not rely on time, time is death, who waits dies. Life is now only!
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj ~

Sought-after Truth is found
by not seeking it.
~ Longchen-pa ~
(14 th century)

You are awareness.
Awareness is another name for you.
Since you are awareness, there is no need to attain or cultivate it.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

Just be aware that you are and remain aware.
You are aware anyhow, you need not try to be.
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj ~

'I' am is first hand and needs no proof.
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj ~

'I' am is the goal and final Reality.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

The best definition is 'I' am that 'I' am.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~

What you need is to be aware of being aware.
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj ~

The ultimate Truth is so simple.
~ Ramana Maharshi ~