Ramana: Be where you are. There is no where to go. It is not necessary to strive to be different. Taking things away from ourselves is strictness, too severe. Gentleness is best, no pain, no cutting ones self up.

Questioner: Sometimes it seems that all I am doing is saying goodbye to the world.

Ramana: I say letting go of something no longer wanted is different than taking things away. It doesn't hurt to let go as this is desired. One may be aware of pain, but one is also aware of wholeness. One is not cut into pieces, divided. This way is best.

Questioner: What way?

Ramana: The way of devotion to Self. Sometimes there are things in your reality that are strongly associated with the past. Letting these things go is a good way to let the past go. Sometimes this is felt within the personality self and the pain is nothing more than the dissolution of the personality self. This is good if this is what one chooses, to be Self, not self. To continue to revisit the past can be an obstacle to discovering ones Self, to be there in the Self, complete and whole. It is wise to let go of past associations, anything that provokes the past. This no longer needs to be. To let these things go, whether items or behavior, requires desire, courage and trust. When accomplished, this restores right behavior and greater trust and strength, all aspects of Self. One restores oneself to Self. It is wise to let go. It is normal to grieve. It is the dissolution of the false self that is desired. This is the experience of devotion, this is the True practice. Show compassion to the grieving self. This is all that is to be done. All the rest is complete. A chapter closed, a door to the past no longer needed. One walks in trust into the unknown, unafraid, abiding in Self.

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