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RANJIT MAHARAJ

Ranjit Maharaj was born in Bombay on January 4th, 1913. At the age of 12, he met his master Siddharameshwar Maharaj, a great unknown master of the age. Ranjit Maharaj did not begin to teach until 1983 at the age of 70 when increasing numbers of seekers kept showing up at his door. His teaching is in the continuity of his master's, which emphasises simplicity and directeness in language -"Everything comes from zero and everything goes to zero, so why worry?"

The specificity of Maharaj's teaching is its radical stand and directness - All is illusion, the "I" is illusion, so whatever the "I" does is also illusion. Therefore, he does not give any method to improve that which is not, the illusion. Through knowledge and the rejection of all false identifications that one has taken upon oneself, the veils of ignorance are removed and we realise our true nature."To find out your true nature is the easiest thing since you are That."

Knowledge is a mere remedy to cure the disease of ignorance, and once ignorance has vanished, knowledge has no more entity. "In Reality, there is neither knowledge nor ignorance. When I do not exist, when I am not, He only is and that is Reality, that is Ourselves without ourselves."

Ranjit Maharaj passed away on November 15th, 2000 at 6:16 PM at his residence in Bombay. Maharaj's words during his last few days were, "It is of no use now, this has to go".

Ranjit Maharaj
- Bombay, 1999 -

Meeting Ranjit Maharaj
Compiled by Anne and Darrell Newberg

Ranjit Maharaj and Nisargadatta Maharaj are both disciples of the great Master Siddharameshwar Maharaj. They are all recipients of teachings of the small Hindu group known as the 'Navnath Sampradaya'. According to these non-dualistic teachings, the direct intuitive knowledge of Reality has to be experienced within the heart. This direct perception is realised through dissolution of the sense of 'I-ness' - that which separates us from Reality.

Ranjit Maharaj, who is in his eighties, is a vital force and presence. Everday he meets with seekers and speaks of the awakening to the living presence of Truth within our heart. During his stay in Brittany, on the French Atlantic coast, in June of 1996, we visited with him over a three-day period, during which he answered questions from seekers. His relentless conviction that Truth IS, and we exist as That, bears witness to his lifelong commitment to living a truly awakened life. Ranjit speaks very simply, often using homely examples to make a point. The following selections are from our meeting.

Reality
If you want to follow a practise, you have to follow someone who is realised. Methods are full of frustrations and give no real satisfaction. Reality has no method. Illusion has many methods, many problems and many concepts. To overcome illusion, or concepts, one should ask, "From where does all this thinking arise?" Thinking is always of other things. To know the thoughtless Reality, no thinking is required. It is where there is no thought. Whatever thing you think of doesn't exist. Everything is He only, and apart from Him there is nothing in the world. Whatever is thought of, makes Him something other than what He is. When thinking ends, what happens? You go to zero.

Awakening is nothing but a complete, thorough understanding. A clear cut understanding of a thing is awakening. Reality is not to be achieved, it is there. After this thorough understanding, nothing is required.

As long as the body is there, he acts. He calls his mother 'mother', and his wife 'wife'. But still he knows. If somebody asks him, "What is your name?", he gives his name, but he knows, "I am not this." That clear cut understanding is required. Complete understanding is called 'That'. Be in 'That'. Be like a lotus leaf - you are produced in water, you live in water , but you are not touched by water. Stay like that, nothing else. Once you know, "I am not this", then you become doubtless. My Master told me, "After understanding, if you want to stay, then stay. Stay in jail, but remember: "I am not a victim."" One cannot afford to leave the illusory so fast, so live there, but understand that , "I'm not the victim." Ego is such; in very many different shapes and different ways, he remains. So, one should always be aware, and then, once you are complete, there is nothing to worry about. What you see is illusion. If you understand that 'myself' is illusion, then where does everything remain? People don't understand that illusion is nothing. How can it block you? How can nothing block you?

What you see and perceive is in you and not outside. You are not the body, take it for granted. When the mind takes up any thought and gets attached to it, then everything is seen as 'other' than Him.

In human nature, fear is always there. Everyone has fear, because, they believe "I am the body." Mind creates this fear and is nothing but your own concept. Fear arises in the mind due to the unsteadiness of the world. Every minute is changing. If you go beyond darkness and knowledge, then there is no fear at all. For example, a screen has no fear of any picture because it is steady. So, that which is not steady always has fear. Your mind changes every moment and cannot remain steady by itself. If your mind knows its own source or its own beginning, then only it can be happy. As long as there is a body, there is fear. If you want to be fearless, be what is fearless, because that which is has no end. The final Reality has no end and no beginning, it is limitless. It is so subtle, that all thoughts and concepts stop. Duality contains fear, oneness has no fear.

Take out the thorn of the ego. Take out the name and the shape and there is nothing. You see by your own understanding that everything is illusion. Experience it! You don't want to see because the mind doesn't allow you to see. The mind is the only hurdle which keeps you away from you. The mind says, "It is true." Tell the mind, "It is not true." Understand the mind, and then it doesn't remain.

You can see the space, you can observe the space, you can feel the space, but Reality is beyond space. Space is zero, where there is no silence, no voice, no peace, no state. All these are conditional things. Silence is also not He, peace is not He. He has nothing. If anything would have been there, then that would have been Reality, and not He. Nothing can disturbs Him because it doesn't exist. Nothing is required for Reality, otherwise it would have disturbed that Reality.

Then, the aspirant may ask, "What should I do?" Do nothing! Words only go up to the space. Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, "There, from where the words come, That is my Self." That is my Self. In the Bible, Christ also said the same thing: "Know thyself and you know the world." Go up to where thinking ends, go up to That, and there is the Self. So, I always call it, "Self without self". Self-realisation is Self without self. As long as 'realising' remains, self remains. The eyes have got the habit to see that which is not. The Master takes you up to That, up to the Reality and says, "Understand yourself." This is the position.

Knowledge and Ignorance
Siddharameshwar Maharaj first gave knowledge, while our mythologists say that one should have renunciation first, then receive knowledge. He said that renunciation without knowledge is useless. It becomes a bondage of the mind. For example, a nice meal is prepared. There is a sweet smell and everybody wants to eat. But you tell the others, "Don't eat." They ask you, "Why not?" You then let them know that there is poison in the food. The knowledge of the poison leads to immediate renunciation. So, if at first there is knowledge, renunciation automatically must come.

First mental understanding is required and after that comes a practical understanding. Intellectual talent is the greatest thing. Without the intellect, one cannot understand. So, you have to understand with the full intellect and then, that knowledge, or that understanding will submerge, because knowledge is a thought. A good thought or a bad thought, both are thoughts. So, knowledge is a golden thorn, and ignorance is an ordinary thorn and both are bondage. Suppose your hands have been put in handcuffs. Maybe they're iron cuffs or maybe they're golden, but it's still bondage. So, both are thorns. One should understand and throw them away. It is very difficult to throw out the knowledge, because ego remains up till knowledge. Knowledge is the ego, nothing else. To erase that knowledge, one should say, "I know nothing." As Socrates said; "I know that I don't know."

There is no experience in Reality. What experience have you got when you sleep? That knowledge, or power is there and everything else is not. It is beyond ignorance and knowledge. For example, darkness and light go together. A light goes off and darkness is there, and if you turn on the light, darkness automatically goes away. They are one. In the same way, knowledge and ignorance are both one. In my Master's words, Siddharameshwar Maharaj, "Knowledge is the greatest ignorance." Through knowledge, we know That, which is nothing, and this is a trick, nothing else! One should know this trick.

What you know today, what you are going to know tomorrow, is all the same. In the same way, knowledge never changes. Due to ignorance, the effects differ. When you place a cover over the light, then there will be darkness, and when you take off the cover, light returns.

Remove the veil of ignorance which has come upon you. Take away the cloth in front of the light, and the light is there! In sleep one goes to this 'end'. Go to the "end" and find your Self. Finding out means forgetting your mind, your thoughts and your individuality.

Nothing needs to be demolished. Why demolish anything? What are these things? Things don't trouble you, but you go in and get troubles. This chair never says, "I am yours." You say, "It is my chair." So, who is at fault? Not the chair, but yourself. You have nothing to do with it. You should see the world that way.

You have to keep going. Hurdles must be there, but the hurdles should be overtaken. One should overcome the problems. A problem is a thought. From your childhood, you have accumulated many thoughts. Who has given you all those thoughts? Your father, your mother, your friends in your circle. Everything has come to you. They are all ignorant people, so what can they give you? What can darkness give to light? Tell me. Nothing, isn't it? What can you find in darkness? Nothing! All thoughts, all habits are not true. All have come to you due to ignorance. Go to the source from where they arise and they dissolve! All bondage is only a mental bondage which you have borrowed from someone else. Money that is borrowed is not yours. In the same way, you have borrowed the thoughts of others and have taken them as your own bondage. How can it be? Throw off that bondage! Who stops you? Give the money to the creditor, and you are free of all debt! You have to be free of debt.

Master
How can you know when you have found a Master? There is no test or statistics. What is written in the books of Knowledge by many saints and experienced persons, should be experienced by you. A Master says, "This is salt". Books also describe salt. Put it in your mouth and see for yourself if it is salty. What the Master says, you must experience. You can find out only by 'tasting'.

When the Master teaches you, you can get the experience. Nothing is impossible in the world. You are He, so what is impossible? You don't understand this, you don't take it to heart. Due to the identification with body and mind, you say that you are not perfect. Everything disappears in deep sleep, so why can you not go to the end of yourself? From where this power arises, find the source, and that is your Self. One can understand the final Reality if the Master gives you the right direction. If the address is wrong you cannot reach the destination. The Master should be perfect, only then he can show you the way to Reality.

All want to be a Master. Even between two boys, there is always one who will be the Master of the other. It is the nature of the power which is inside man. If you experience for yourself what the Master says, if you can put your own stamp on it, then it is true. Otherwise, separation between Master and aspirant remains. In truth there is no duality between them. So the question of fear does not exist. When that is fully satisfied and there is the feeling that nothing remains to be acquired in the world, then one feels completely at peace. That satisfaction comes to you. One should experience for himself and then speak, otherwise one should keep quiet.

Faith is required up till understanding, only. Afterwards, 'no faith' is also required. Suppose you have got 60 lakhs (6 million) francs in the bank, and I say, "Keep faith." Is there any meaning in it? You say, "No, I know I have got it." Once you understand, once the clear cut understanding comes, then even faith is not required. But to have faith, the ego should be surrendered. The small baby has so much faith in the mother, so the mother does everything for him. Before he cries, she gives him milk, and everything. Suppose the mother falls with her child. When she gets up, she first sees that her child is not hurt. In the same way, the Master is also that. When one has got the faith, He knows. All the aspirants' misunderstandings and doubts are cleared by Him. You have to know your Self only. You only represent or misrepresent yourself. If that understanding doesn't come then the ego will remain.

There is a saying in India, "With one piece of turmeric, one cannot open a grocer's shop." Many people talk of God even though they do not know God. Why? Because they are always moving in the opposite direction from Him. If you want to go to the mountains in the north, and you go to the south, how can you reach the mountains? Where is God and Who is God? One should know He is not outside, but within you! Thoughts are naturally directed to the outside; they should turn toward the Self with the help of the Master.

Find out, "Who you are." When all thoughts end, He is there. Forget everything that you have learned up till now, then He is there. In this way, one is at peace. Peace comes from within ourselves. Christ says: "Know thyself and you will know the world." When you go to the very end of yourself, the question of peace does not arise. Nothing remains; you are yourself.

Death
Understand for yourself that death is nothing. Know that, "I am birthless, I am deathless, I have never taken birth and I will never die." Take the poisonous tooth out of the serpent and play with him. You know it is not going to do any harm to you. Death is nothing. Everyday, when you sleep it is like a small death. Why to fear? Nothing is there. Everything is illusion. Keep your mind in that fearless state only. Just as the poisonous tooth is taken out, in the same way, play with the world, play with the illusion, there is no harm. It won't affect your mind. Live fearlessly; no death, no fear, knowing "I am that real Power." There is nothing! What will harm you?

I can tell you, but you have to take out the thorn. It doesn't exist, take it for granted. It doesn't exist, but you feel its existence. The difficulty is that you don't leave it alone. You are afraid of what will happen. Nothing else is going to happen. Nothing has happened up to now, and so what is going to happen now? So, to take out the thorn of the ego, always say: "I know nothing, I don't see, I don't hear, I don't eat, I don't sleep, I don't walk, I do nothing." Then, 'I' is not there and the ego must go.

One should be brave to truly live. When you are brave, fear does not remain. Be brave and have faith in the Master. Do what he says, because you and He are one. Throw off the veil. It is easy to leave that which is nothing, but difficult to see That which is present and which you have forgotten. There is an Indian custom in which sweets are distributed to all the relatives on the 13th day after death. What is the meaning of this? It is: The person is not dead, he never dies.

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