Ramana Maharshi  Nan Yar ? Who am I ?

Happiness is the very nature of the Self; Happiness & the Self are not different.

There is no Happiness in any Object of the World.

We imagine through our Ignorance that we derive Happiness from Objects.

When the Mind goes out, it experiences suffering.

In truth, when its desires are fulfilled,

the Mind returns to its own place & enjoys the Happiness that is the Self.

Similarly, in the states of Deep Sleep, Samadhi & fainting, &

when the Object desired is obtained or the Object disliked is removed,

the Mind becomes inward-turned, & enjoys pure Self-Happiness.

The Mind moves without rest alternately going out of the Self & returning to it.

Under the Tree the Shade is pleasant; out in the open the Heat is scorching.

A person who has been going about in the Sun feels cool when he reaches the Shade.

Someone who keeps on going from the Shade into the Sun &

then back into the Shade is a fool. A wise man stays permanently in the Shade.

Similarly, the Mind of the one who knows the Truth does not leave Brahman.

The Mind of the ignorant, on the contrary, revolves in the World, feeling miserable,

& for a little time returns to  Brahman to experience Happiness.

In fact, what is called the World is only Thought.

When the World disappears, i.e. when there is no Thought,

The Mind experiences Happiness; & when the World appears, it goes through suffering.

Maharshi Awakening in Childhood:

It was about six weeks before I left Madura for good that the Great Change in my Life took place. It was quite sudden. I was sitting alone in a room on the first floor of my uncle's house ... I just felt "I am going to die." ... The shock of the fear of death drove my Mind inward and I said to myself mentally, without actually framing the words: "Now Death has come; what does it mean? What is it that is dying? This Body dies." ... But with the Death of this Body, am I dead? Is the Body I? The Body is silent and inert but I felt the full force of my personality and even the voice of the "I" within me, apart from it. So I am Spirit transcending the Body. The Body dies but the Spirit that transcends it cannot be touched by Death. That means I am the deathless Spirit." All this was not dull thought; it flashed through me vividly as living Truth which I perceived directly, almost without thought-process. "I" was something very real, the only real thing about my present state, and all the conscious activity connected with my Body was centered on that "I". From that moment onwards the "I" or Self would focus attention on itself by a powerful fascination. Fear of Death vanished once and for all. Absorption in the Self continued unbroken from that time on. Thoughts might come and go like various notes of music, but the "I" continued.