Only the rare one deserves to give up the scriptures

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

“All the texts say that in order to gain release one should render the mind quiescent; therefore their conclusive teaching is that the mind should be rendered quiescent. Once this has been understood, there is no need for endless reading.”

“In order to quieten the mind, one has only to inquire within oneself, what one’s Self is. How could this search be done in books?”

“One should know one’s self with one’s own eye of wisdom. The self is within the five sheaths, but the books are outside them. Since the self has to be inquired into by discarding the five sheaths, it is futile to search for it in the books. There will come a time when one will have to forget all that one has learned.”

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi