upadeśa sāraṃ (ramaṇa maharṣi)

The fruit of action is attained by the command of the Creator (or the law of karma). How can action be the Supreme? Action is insentient.

Action results in impermanent fruits and binds the individual to the ocean of karma, thereby hindering the path to liberation.

Actions performed as an offering to God, without desire for their fruits, purify the mind and lead to liberation.

Worship through the body, speech, and mind—performed in that order—consisting respectively of ritual service, repetition of sacred names (Japa), and meditation, is the highest form of practice.

Seeing the world as the manifestation of God and serving it with that attitude is true worship of the Divine, who bears the eight forms.

Better than praising God loudly is whispering; better still is silent repetition of His name; but the best is meditation originating from the heart.

Like a steady stream of oil or a flowing river, the constant, unbroken flow of meditation on the Divine is superior to interrupted, intermittent thought.

Instead of maintaining the duality of "I am separate from Him," the attitude of "I am He" (So-ham) is considered the most purifying of all meditations.

Abiding in the natural state of Being, free from all thought-constructs, is the highest form of devotion (Bhakti), powered by the strength of this meditation.

The mind, having subsided into its source, the Heart, is the true state of action, devotion, yoga, and knowledge; this is the definitive truth.

By the restraint of the breath, the mind is dissolved; this is a means of control, just as a net captures a bird.

The mind and the vital breath are both composed of thought and action; they are like two branches, both rooted in the same source.

Dissolution and destruction are the two states of restraint; when the mind is merely dissolved, it rises again, but when it is destroyed, it does not.

When the mind is dissolved through the restraint of the vital breath, it ceases to be by focusing on the One.

For the supreme yogi whose mind has been destroyed, there is no further action to perform, for he has attained his own true state.

When the mind is withdrawn from the objects of the world and fixed on its own nature as Consciousness, that is the vision of the Truth.

When one searches for what the mind truly is, it is discovered that there is no such entity as the mind; this is the direct path.

The various mental impressions depend upon the "I" thought; the impressions themselves constitute the mind, and the "I" is the mind.

When one inquires deeply into the source from which the "I" arises, the ego vanishes; this is the inquiry into the Self.

When the ego is destroyed, the true Self shines forth in the heart of its own accord as the supreme, all-encompassing Existence.

When the mind merges into the Source and the sense of "I" vanishes, the Reality persists of its own accord, manifesting eternally as the true "I."

The body, senses, vital breath, mind, and ignorance are all inert and unreal; I am none of these, for I am the one true Existence.

Since there is no other consciousness to illuminate existence, the Self is Consciousness itself. This Consciousness is our very being; thus, the Self is existence, consciousness, and bliss.

Although God and the individual soul appear different due to their respective forms and attributes, in their fundamental nature, they are the one absolute Reality.

When the individual sheds all adventitious forms and attributes, the vision of the Self occurs, which is truly the vision of God, for God is the very nature of the Self.

To abide as the Self is to realize the Self, because the Self is devoid of duality; this state of being established in the Self is the true path.

True Knowledge is that Consciousness which is beyond both knowledge and ignorance. In the Self, there is no object to be known, so how could there be knowledge of another?

When one turns inward to realize the nature of the Self, one discovers it to be infinite, changeless, unborn, and the fullness of Consciousness and Bliss.

Having transcended both bondage and liberation, one attains that supreme, divine happiness while still in this very life.

That state in which the ego has perished and the Self shines forth as the sole Reality—this is the supreme austerity taught by Ramana.