"Just as children are given their food first, these dogs, as well as birds, cows , etc.

, are first given their food and sweets, if any; and thereafter the beggar -guests, daridranarayana (God in the guise of the poor) , who wait outside, are given their doles of food; and lastly Maharshi, his guests and inmates of the As ram take the remaining food. Whether it is coffee or candy, cake or other cooked food these children must be served first." "When the mind becomes one-pointed and, thereby acquiring strength and power of endurance, easily reaches perfection in the method of enquiry in quest of the Se lf." "But the man only gains that liberty when he realises that he was never bound. T he I, I, I s who feel so bound are really the illimitable Spirit. I am bound becau se I know nothing that I do not sense by one of the senses. Whereas I am all the time that which senses in every body, in every mind. These bodies and minds are only the tools of the I , the illimitable Spirit." "If the mind, which is the instrument of knowledge and, is the, basis of all act ivity, subsides, the perception of the world as an objective reality ceases." "Maharshi s treatment of dogs, monkeys, etc., did not stop with these attentions. He was unmarried and had no children; but it was God s will to give him other child ren not begotten of him. That did not make any difference in their treatment." "This phenomenal world, however, is nothing but thought. When the world recedes from one s view that is when one is free from thought the mind enjoys the Bliss of the Self. Conversely, when the world appears that is when thought occurs the mi nd experiences pain and anguish." "EVERY living being longs always to be happy, untainted by sorrow; and everyone has the greatest love for himself, which is solely due to the fact that happines s is his real nature" "All scriptures without any exception proclaim that for attaining Salvation, the mind should be subdued; and once one knows that control of the mind is their fi nal aim, it is futile to make an interminable study of them." "Maharshi s sympathy gained the confidence of even crows and squirrels. These woul d come with their young ones and take eatables from his palm and thrust bits of them into the young ones mouths. Even a snake once exhibited similar confidence. Snakes were his fellow-lodgers in several of these caves." "Then Maharshi asked me, of his own accord, if the book in my hand was Gita and if I was a member of the Theosophical Society and remarked even before I answere d his queries, It is doing good work. My second question also being thus anticipat ed, I waited with eager mind for the third." "Echammal repeated her visits to the Asram day after day, and in a few days she could talk of her departed children and recall facts associated with them withou t being overwhelmed by tears and without even a bitter pang in her heart. How th e dense cloud of sorrow, the whirlwind of grief gave place to a comparative calm in her breast, she could not understand. It was all his grace, the kindness of the Maharshi on the hill." "Just as the spider draws out the thread of the cobweb from within itself and wi thdraws- it again into itself, in the same way the mind projects the world out of itself and absorbs it back into itself." "This (food) alone is the service (needed) for this (body). Ramana Maharshi s writ

ten reply to Tambiran who wished to worship him formally." "For the subsidence of mind there is no other means more effective and adequate than Self-enquiry. Even though by other means the mind subsides, that is only ap parently so; it will rise again." "By a steady and continuous investigation into the nature of the mind, the mind i s transformed into That to which the I refers; and that is in fact the Self."