Questions for an Enlightened Being | Ramana Maharshi

Before I forget, I would like to acknowledge all those people who are with us, not physically, but in other parts of the world. And apparently if I look straight ahead into the camera, then I can connect with them visually. It's nice to have you with us wherever you are, whatever time it is, where you are, of course, it's the present moment. There may be more people there than here, but it doesn't really matter. I have a feeling that we may have questions and answers in this session. It's no more than a feeling, so we'll see. Remember being here in this environment, especially sensory perception, not just visual and auditory. Have you noticed that there's a fragrance. Scent in the air, a very wonderful freshness and scent. Be aware of that. There's a breeze coming from the sea, can feel it on your skin. So you have all the senses simultaneously that should bring you into the present moment. Can't do a lot of thinking when you're aware simultaneously of visual, auditory, tactile, and, I suppose, olfactory senses. Very helpful. And have you noticed that there are quite a few ancient olive trees around here, which. These must have been here, of course, before this was built. There must have been olive groves or olive tree plantations here. And you can see that some of them are of an enormous age. What perhaps you may not know, I know it because I googled, is olive trees can reach an age of 2 to 3,000 years. So the. It's not impossible that you look at a tree here. It may be 2500 years old and was a young tree when Socrates walked past it or sat or looked at it, or said what a lovely young tree that is. Or some other ancient Greek philosopher might have already been sitting, leaning against this young olive tree and giving philosophical discourse. They have almost a presence. They have a presence almost like a. An old, even almost a personality in addition to an invisible presence. One last bit of information. There's a tree apparently on the Isle of Crete, not that far from here, that is supposed to be the oldest or one of the very few oldest, that is probably 3,000 years old olive tree that was 500 years before the Buddha. But that tree continuously lives in the timeless dimension of now, deeply rooted not only in the earth, but also deeply rooted in being it. If I start speaking now, there may be no end to it. So I won't say too much in order to allow time for questions in case any questions have still survived in you after being present here. Some questions, you may notice, dissolve at some point because they're not important, because the mind Wants at a curiosity. I wonder. I wonder, Eckhart, how many incarnations have you had? What did you have for breakfast? Questions like that tend to dissolve in the Presence and other questions. An answer may suddenly arise from within you because you became. Still, there's a story of. I believe it was a British writer, Paul Brunton, I think it was, who in the 30s, visited the guru, spiritual teacher Ramana Maharshi at his ashram in India in order to. He was preparing a book on the spiritual teachers of India. The book was later published under the title In Search of Secret India. And he visited Ramana Maharshi. The guru at that time was not too well known outside his immediate circle. And he had a list of questions, very important questions for his book. So he came into Ramana's room and Ramana looked at him in a state of thoughtless awareness, and Paul Brunton looked at him and he didn't ask a single question. All the questions dissolved in the presence on that particular occasion. That was the first time he met him. He may later have asked him questions. Another little anecdote connected with Ramana Maharshi, the famous British writer, visited the ashram, Somerset Maughan is his name. And again he was preparing a book, a novel that involved an Indian spiritual teacher. And just before he was to meet Ramana Maharshi, Somerset Maugham fainted, probably because it was so hot. So they carried him into a room and he was lying there on a bed. And when he came to, Ramana Maharshi was sitting there next to his bed, looking at him, and he was confused and didn't know what to say. And Ramanaashi said something like, silence is the best speech. And that was the end of that encounter. And later on, in a novel called the Razor's Edge, Ramana Maharshi appears as one of the characters.