--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The Self is here and now, it is the only…" description: "\"The Self is here and now, it is the only Reality. There is nothing else.\" — Ramana Maharshi" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d06/ramana-maharshi-915_here-and-now_the-self-is-here-and-now-it-is-the-only_2552005.jpg" --- # The Self is here and now, it is the only Reality. There is… ![“The Self is here and now, it is the only Reality. There is nothing else.” quote by Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d06/ramana-maharshi-915_here-and-now_the-self-is-here-and-now-it-is-the-only_2552005.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d06/ramana-maharshi-915_here-and-now_the-self-is-here-and-now-it-is-the-only_2552005.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d06/ramana-maharshi-915_here-and-now_the-self-is-here-and-now-it-is-the-only_2552005.jpg) > “The Self is here and now, it is the only Reality. There is nothing else.” [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The present moment is the only true existence; all else is illusion or mental construct. **In simple terms:** Only the present is real. Key Takeaway Focus on the now. Themes mindfulness reality spirituality Mood calm reflective Type philosophical spiritual When to use this quote - meditation - daily stress - decision making - relationships Key Concepts non‑dualism presence self‑inquiry Questions to Reflect On - How does recognizing only the now change your priorities? - What habits keep you anchored in the present? A Different Perspective Ignoring past or future can cause anxiety or neglect of planning. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Here and now](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/here-and-now/) [Identity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/identity/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) [Self Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-reality-1529219/) ## Related quotes > [The Self is the one Reality that always exists, and it is by the light of the Self that all other things are seen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/the-self-is-the-one-reality-that-always-exists-and-it-is-by-the-light/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [Happiness is your real nature. You identify with yourself with the body and mind, feel it's limitations, and suffer. Realize your true self in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/happiness-is-your-real-nature-you-identify-with-yourself-with-the/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [To know the self as the only reality and all else as temporal and transient is freedom, peace and joy. It is all very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-nisargadatta-maharaj/to-know-the-self-as-the-only-reality-and-all-else-as-temporal-and/) [Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-nisargadatta-maharaj/) > [“When you take a moment to peel back the layers of time and space in your current state of perception, you soon begin to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-hopkins/when-you-take-a-moment-to-peel-back-the-layers-of-time-and-space-in/) [Gary Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-hopkins/) > [Instead of indulging in mere speculation, devote yourself here and now to the search for the Truth that is ever within you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/instead-of-indulging-in-mere-speculation-devote-yourself-here-and-now/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [“Engage yourself in the living present. The future will take care of itself. Do not worry about the future. (p. 154)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/engage-yourself-in-the-living-present-the-future-will-take-care-of/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [Whatever be the means adopted, you must at last return to the Self, so why not abide as the Self here and now?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/whatever-be-the-means-adopted-you-must-at-last-return-to-the-self-so/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [There is no greater mystery than this, that we keep seeking reality though in fact we are reality. We think that there is something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/there-is-no-greater-mystery-than-this-that-we-keep-seeking-reality/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [There is no reaching the Self. 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Real attainment is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/the-mind-of-one-meditating-on-a-single-object-becomes-one-pointed-and/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [The more you prune a plant, the more it grows. So too the more you seek to annihilate the ego, the more it will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/the-more-you-prune-a-plant-the-more-it-grows-so-too-the-more-you-seek/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [Then all this earth shines like one house.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/then-all-this-earth-shines-like-one-house/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) ## More by Ramana Maharshi > [Then all this earth shines like one house.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/then-all-this-earth-shines-like-one-house/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [Silence is most powerful. Speech is always less powerful than silence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/silence-is-most-powerful-speech-is-always-less-powerful-than-silence/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [Meditation is sticking to one thought. That single thought keeps away other thoughts; distraction of mind is a sign of its weakness; by constant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/meditation-is-sticking-to-one-thought-that-single-thought-keeps-away/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [The more you prune a plant, the more it grows. So too the more you seek to annihilate the ego, the more it will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/the-more-you-prune-a-plant-the-more-it-grows-so-too-the-more-you-seek/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [Think of God; attachments will gradually drop away. If you wait till all desires disappear before starting your devotion and prayer, you will have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/think-of-god-attachments-will-gradually-drop-away-if-you-wait-till/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [That which rises and sinks is made up of what it rises from. The finality of the universe is the God Arunachala. Meditating on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/that-which-rises-and-sinks-is-made-up-of-what-it-rises-from-the/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [Food affects the mind. For the practice of any kind of yoga, vegetarianism is absolutely necessary since it makes the mind more pure and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/food-affects-the-mind-for-the-practice-of-any-kind-of-yoga/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/the-mind-of-one-meditating-on-a-single-object-becomes-one-pointed-and/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [Eating, bathing, going to the toilet, talking, thinking, and many other activities related to the body are all work. How is it that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/eating-bathing-going-to-the-toilet-talking-thinking-and-many-other/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [Knowing the Self, God is known.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/knowing-the-self-god-is-known/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [Every moment there is creation, every moment destruction. There is no absolute creation, no absolute destruction. Both are movement, and that is eternal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/every-moment-there-is-creation-every-moment-destruction-there-is-no/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [The entire Universe is condensed in the body, and the entire body in the Heart. Thus the Heart is the nucleus of the whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/the-entire-universe-is-condensed-in-the-body-and-the-entire-body-in/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [The state of self-realization, as we call it, is not attaining something new or reaching some goal which is far away, but simply being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/the-state-of-self-realization-as-we-call-it-is-not-attaining/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [God illumines the mind and shines within it. One cannot know God by means of the mind. One can but turn the mind inwards…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/god-illumines-the-mind-and-shines-within-it-one-cannot-know-god-by/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [We are so engrossed with the objects, or appearances revealed by the light, that we pay no attention to the light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/we-are-so-engrossed-with-the-objects-or-appearances-revealed-by-the/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) [Explore all 329 Ramana Maharshi quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) ## More Here and now quotes > [To refer even in passing to unpublished or struggling authors and their problems is to put oneself at some risk, so I will say…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kingsley-amis/to-refer-even-in-passing-to-unpublished-or-struggling-authors-and/) [Kingsley Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kingsley-amis/) > [The future and the past are equally meaningless because they are nebulous entities, times that do not exist, containing events which have no echo…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-lebbon/the-future-and-the-past-are-equally-meaningless-because-they-are/) [Tim Lebbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-lebbon/) > [... many folks take them seriously because they just 'know' that evolution can never be seen in the immediate here and now. 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I shall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/if-my-happiness-at-this-moment-consists-largely-in-reviewing-happy/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [It looks like half the enjoyment is just having Heaven in our hearts and Heaven in our Homes, feeling Heaven in our bodies in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berg/it-looks-like-half-the-enjoyment-is-just-having-heaven-in-our-hearts/) [David Berg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berg/) > [Why exactly are we so frightened of death that we avoid looking at it altogether? Somewhere, deep down, we know we cannot avoid facing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sogyal-rinpoche/why-exactly-are-we-so-frightened-of-death-that-we-avoid-looking-at-it/) [Sogyal Rinpoche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sogyal-rinpoche/) > [A poem is a frozen moment melted by each reader for themselves to flow into the here and now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilde-domin/a-poem-is-a-frozen-moment-melted-by-each-reader-for-themselves-to/) [Hilde Domin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilde-domin/) > [In whatever position one is in, or in whatever condition in life one is placed, one must find balance. Balance is the state of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-k-s-iyengar/in-whatever-position-one-is-in-or-in-whatever-condition-in-life-one/) [B.K.S. Iyengar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-k-s-iyengar/) > [To dwell in the here and now does not mean you never think about the past or responsibly plan for the future. The idea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-dwell-in-the-here-and-now-does-not-mean-you-never-think-about-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Absolute perfection is here and now, not in some future, near or far.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-nisargadatta-maharaj/absolute-perfection-is-here-and-now-not-in-some-future-near-or-far/) [Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-nisargadatta-maharaj/) > [The future will be in the hands of those of you who belong to the 21st century. You have the opportunity and responsibility to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/the-future-will-be-in-the-hands-of-those-of-you-who-belong-to-the/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [For Jesus, heaven and hell were present realities. Ways of living we can enter into here and now. 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