Who Is Experiencing These Thoughts? | Ramana Maharshi’s Direct Path to Freedom

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]Ramana Maharshi would not begin by saying the mind is your enemy.

[00:00:08]>> You think your mind belongs to you. You think it is your servant.

[00:00:12]I know I am bloating about something which is really disturbing.

[00:00:19]Because you have been thinking that the mind belongs to you and what I'm here going to talk about is something which is really important to understand about the mind.

[00:00:30]It is something inspired from Ramana Maharshi.

[00:00:35]You think every thought appearing inside your head is somehow your thought.

[00:00:40]But then explain something.

[00:00:43]If the mind truly belongs to you, why does it refuse to obey you?

[00:00:48]Try sitting silently for 1 minute.

[00:00:51]Just 1 minute.

[00:00:53]Close your eyes and decide.

[00:00:55]I will not think about anything.

[00:00:58]And suddenly something strange happens.

[00:01:02]Thoughts arrive from nowhere.

[00:01:04]Memories appear.

[00:01:06]Fear appears. Plans appear.

[00:01:10]Unfinished conversations written.

[00:01:13]Old wounds rise from the darkness.

[00:01:17]And then you discover something shocking.

[00:01:21]You wanted silence, but the mind wanted movement.

[00:01:25]You wanted peace, but the mind wanted noise.

[00:01:30]You wanted rest, but the mind wanted another journey.

[00:01:34]So, a question begins to burn inside.

[00:01:38]Why does the mind go against us?

[00:01:41]Ramana Maharshi would not begin by saying the mind is your enemy. No.

[00:01:46]Because once you create an enemy, conflict begins.

[00:01:51]He would perhaps ask something far more dangerous.

[00:01:55]He would ask, "To whom does this mind appear?"

[00:01:59]Immediately, the intellect wants to answer, "To me."

[00:02:04]But, wait.

[00:02:06]Who is this me?

[00:02:09]Don't answer quickly because the entire mystery begins here.

[00:02:15]Since childhood, you have been gathering identities.

[00:02:19]You say, "I am this body. I am this name.

[00:02:22]I am a man. I am a woman. I am successful.

[00:02:26]I am failure.

[00:02:28]I am spiritual." Slowly, these labels become your house.

[00:02:33]You live inside them for years.

[00:02:36]And one day, you forget they are labels.

[00:02:40]You start believing they are you.

[00:02:43]Ramana pointed towards something extraordinary.

[00:02:47]He indicated that the fundamental illusion is the idea, "I am this person."

[00:02:54]Everything else grows from that seed.

[00:02:57]Imagine a tree.

[00:03:00]The branches are fear.

[00:03:03]The leaves are desires.

[00:03:05]The flowers are hopes.

[00:03:07]The shadows are anxieties.

[00:03:10]People spend their whole lives cutting them.

[00:03:15]They fight fear. They fight anger. They fight jealousy. They fight sadness.

[00:03:20]Yet, new branches continue growing.

[00:03:24]Why?

[00:03:25]Because the root remains untouched.

[00:03:28]The root is the false sense of identity.

[00:03:31]And the mind survives because of that identity.

[00:03:35]Observe the mind carefully.

[00:03:38]Thoughts themselves are not powerful.

[00:03:42]They only become powerful because someone says, "This thought is mine."

[00:03:47]A cloud passes through the sky. The sky does not say, my cloud.

[00:03:54]It simply allows it to pass.

[00:03:57]But human beings do something different.

[00:03:59]A thought appears.

[00:04:01]What if I fail? And immediately my fear, another thought appears. What if people reject me?

[00:04:09]Immediately my anxiety.

[00:04:12]Another thought appears.

[00:04:13]I want more money.

[00:04:15]Immediately my ambition.

[00:04:19]Thought after thought arrives and slowly an entire prison is built.

[00:04:24]You see the game of the mind.

[00:04:30]The strange thing is this, the prison has no walls.

[00:04:34]It only has beliefs.

[00:04:37]You are not locked inside iron bars.

[00:04:41]You are locked inside ideas.

[00:04:43]Ramana's approach was radical because he did not say change your thoughts.

[00:04:49]He did not say think positively.

[00:04:52]He did not say replace bad thoughts with good thoughts because positive chains are still chains.

[00:05:00]Golden chains are still chains. He went deeper. He asked, "Who is the one experiencing these thoughts?"

[00:05:08]Watch carefully what happens. A thought appears, I am afraid. Instead of following the fear, ask, "To whom has this fear appeared?"

[00:05:19]The answer comes, "To me." Then ask, "Who am I?"

[00:05:24]Something unusual begins happening.

[00:05:26]Attention starts turning around.

[00:05:28]Normally attention runs outward toward objects, toward people, toward problems, toward memories, toward tomorrow, toward yesterday.

[00:05:39]Now suddenly attention begins moving inward like a river returning toward its source.

[00:05:46]And the moment attention turns inward, thoughts begin losing strength because thoughts need your participation.

[00:05:55]Thoughts are like thieves entering a house.

[00:05:58]If nobody welcomes them, they cannot stay long.

[00:06:01]Imagine sitting beside a road.

[00:06:04]Cars continue passing. Red cars, blue cars, small cars, large cars. You simply watch.

[00:06:11]You do not jump into every vehicle.

[00:06:14]But this is exactly what human beings do with thoughts.

[00:06:18]A thought passes.

[00:06:20]You are not good thoughts.

[00:06:23]Immediately, you jump inside.

[00:06:26]Another thought passes. You need more recognition.

[00:06:30]Again, you jump inside.

[00:06:32]Another thought says, "Remember what happened 10 years ago."

[00:06:36]And again, you enter.

[00:06:38]Then hours later, you wonder, "Why is my mind torturing me?"

[00:06:44]The mind is not torturing you.

[00:06:46]Identification is torturing you.

[00:06:49]The mind simply produces movement.

[00:06:52]That is its true nature.

[00:06:57]The wind moves, rivers flow, clouds drift, and the mind thinks.

[00:07:04]But somewhere along the journey, humanity made a mistake.

[00:07:09]People started believing, "I am my thoughts."

[00:07:13]Ramana pointed towards something beyond thought.

[00:07:16]Something untouched, something silent, something that remains whether thoughts exist or disappear.

[00:07:23]Imagine the ocean.

[00:07:24]On the surface, there are waves.

[00:07:27]Some waves are violent, some waves are beautiful, some waves are frightening.

[00:07:31]But deep beneath the surface, there is stillness.

[00:07:34]Absolute stillness. Human beings live on the surface. Ramana invites you into the depths.

[00:07:40]He says in essence, "Do not fight the waves.

[00:07:44]Do not fight the mind.

[00:07:47]Know yourself as the ocean because if you think you are wave, fear becomes unavoidable.

[00:07:54]A wave is born, a wave rises, a wave falls, a wave disappears. Naturally, it becomes afraid. Naturally, it becomes anxious.

[00:08:03]Naturally, it becomes an attachment. Naturally, it clings. But if the wave realizes, "I am water."

[00:08:12]everything changes.

[00:08:14]Then death becomes transformation. Then fear becomes unnecessary.

[00:08:20]Then the mind loses its power.

[00:08:22]You begin noticing something extraordinary.

[00:08:25]Thoughts still become.

[00:08:30]They no longer carry you away.

[00:08:33]Fear may arise, but you remain.

[00:08:36]Anger may arise, but you remain.

[00:08:39]Sadness may arise, but you remain.

[00:08:43]That is not the solution to keep the mind away from the confusion, but a depth to go into and perceive the beyond. Possibility to know who you are, and this is the self-realization.