Ramana Maharshi
Ramana Maharshi Quotes about Consciousness
The mind of one meditating on a single object becomes one-pointed. And one-pointedness of mind leads to abidance in the self. Real attainment is to be fully conscious, to be aware of surroundings and the people around, to move among them all, but not to merge consciousness in the environment. One should remain in inner independent awareness.
Consciousness is indeed always with us. Everyone knows 'I am!' No one can deny his own being.
An unawakened person sees only his mind, which is merely a reflection of the light of pure consciousness arising from the Heart.
That is the ego which rises and sinks periodically. But you exist always. That which lies beyond the ego is consciousness - the Self.
Jnana is given neither from outside nor from another person. It can be realised by each and everyone in his own Heart. The jnana Guru of everyone is only the Supreme Self that is always revealing its own truth in every Heart through the being-consciousness 'I am, I am.' The granting of true knowledge by him is initiation into jnana. The grace of the Guru is only that Self-awareness that is one's own true nature. It is the inner consciousness by which he is unceasingly revealing his existence. This divine upadesa is always going on naturally in everyone.
When we turn the mind inwards, God manifests as the inner consciousness.
If you hold this feeling of ‘I’ long enough and strongly enough, the false ‘I’ will vanish leaving only the unbroken awareness of the real, immanent ‘I’, consciousness itself
See who is the subject; and this inquiry leads you to pure Consciousness beyond the subject.
See who is the doubter, who is the thinker. It is the ego. Hold it; the other thoughts will die away - the ego will be left pure. See the source from where the ego arises and abide in it. That is pure consciousness.
The normal self is the mind. The mind is with limitations. But pure Consciousness is beyond limitations, and is reached by investigation into the "I."
Pure Consciousness, which is the Heart, includes all, and nothing is outside or apart from it. That is the ultimate Truth.
The experience of not forgetting consciousness alone is the state of devotion which is the relationship of unfading real love, because the real knowledge of Self, which shines as the undivided supreme bliss itself, surges up as the nature of love. Love itself is the actual form of God. That is pure bliss. Call it pure bliss, God, Self, or what you will. That is devotion, that is realization and that is everything.
Call it by any name, God, Self, the Heart, or the Seat of Consciousness, it is all the same.
Mind is consciousness which has put on limitations. You are originally unlimited and perfect. Later you take on limitations and become the mind.