Shri Ramana maharishi

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Ramana says

must not become too ‘intellectual’ about these things. 

(Spi matters)

It is better just to meditate and have no ‘thought’. Let the ‘mind’ rest quietly on the Self — in the cave of the Spiritual Heart. Soon this will become natural and then there will be no need for questions. 

Do not imagine that this means being inactive. ‘Silence’ is the only real activity.”

Aksharamanamalai — “O Arunachala, when will my ‘thoughts’ subside so that I will intuit the subtle-most Infinite Space, the Divine Nature of Thine?” (Verse 57)

Death experience 

Bhagavan said, “In the vision of death, though all the senses were benumbed, the aham sphurana (Self-awareness) was clearly evident, and so I realised that it was that awareness that we call ‘I’, and not the body. This Self-awareness never decays. It is unrelated to anything. It is Self-luminous. Even if this body is burnt, it will not be affected. Hence, I realised on that very day so clearly that that was ‘I’.

“I want to go home, Bhagavan, but I am afraid of falling back into family muddles.” He would reply, “Where is the question of our falling into anything when all comes and falls into us?”

On another occasion, I said, “Swami, I am not yet freed from these bonds.” Bhagavan replied, “Let what comes come, let what goes go. Why do you worry?” (Yes, if only we could realise what that ‘I’ is, we should not have all these worries.)

Bhagavan, looking at him endearingly and smiling, said, “How do you know that you do not know anything?” 

He said, “After I came here and heard the questions asked by all these people and the replies Bhagavan is pleased to give them, the feeling that "I" do not know anything has come upon me.”

 “Then it is all right. You have found out that you do not know anything; that itself is enough. What more is required?” said Bhagavan. 

“How to attain mukti by that much alone, Swami?” said the questioner. 

“Why not? There is some one to know that he does not know anything. It is sufficient if you could enquire and find out who that someone is. 

Ego will develop if one thinks that one knows everything. Instead of that, isn’t it much better to be conscious of the fact that you do not know anything and then enquire how you could gain moksha?”

While the pigeons were on his lap, one devotee came and asked, "What is this?" Bhagavan said, without attachment but assuming responsibility, "Who knows? They come, and decline to go back. They say they will stay here only. Another family has come upon me, as if what I already have is not enough.. Dear brother, it is very interesting to witness these strange happenings. It is said that in olden days Emperor Bharatha renounced the world and performed great tapas (meditation), but towards the end of his life he could think only of his pet deer and so was born a deer in his next life."

Bhagavan had told us long ago: "Any living being that comes to me, it is only to work out the balance of its karma. So don't prevent anyone from coming to me."