The Kingdom of God

God does not reside in any place other than the Heart. It is due to illusion, caused by the ego, the 'I am the body' idea, that the Kingdom of God is conceived to be elsewhere. Be sure that the Heart is the kingdom of God.

Know that you are the perfect, Shining Light which not only makes the existence of God's Kingdom possible, but also allows it to be seen as a wonderful heaven. To know this alone is Jnana. Therefore, the Kingdom of God is within you.

The unlimited Space of Turiyatita which shines suddenly, in all its fullness, within the Heart of a highly mature aspirant during the state of complete absorption of mind, as if a fresh and previously unknown experience, is the rarely attained Shiva-Loka [i.e., Kingdom of God], which shines by the Light of the Self.

~ Guru Vachaka Kovai, verses 194-196, by Muruganar (translation by Michael James and Sadhu Om)

self-enquiry

David Godman explaining self-enquiry:

[Self-enquiry] is nothing to do with being aware of the contents of the mind. It's a very specific method that aims to find out where the individual sense of "I" arises. Self-enquiry is an active investigation, not a passive witnessing.

For example, you may be thinking about what you had for breakfast, or you may be looking at a tree in the garden. In self-enquiry, you don't simply maintain an awareness of these thoughts, you put your attention on the thinker who has the thought, the perceiver who has the perception. There is an "I" who thinks, an "I" who perceives, and this "I" is also a thought. Bhagavan's advice was to focus on this inner sense of "I" in order to find out what it really is. In self-enquiry you are trying to find out where this "I" feeling arises, to go back to that place and stay there. It is not simply watching, it's a kind of active scrutiny in which one is trying to find out how the sense of being an individual person comes into being.

You can investigate the nature of this "I" by formally asking yourself, "Who am I?" or "Where does this "I" come from?" Alternatively, you can try to maintain a continuous awareness of this inner feeling of "I". Either approach would count as self-enquiry. You should not suggest answers to the question, such as "I am consciousness" because any answer you give yourself is conceptual rather than experiential. The only correct answer is a direct experience of the Self.

... It needs practice and commitment. You have to keep at it and not give up. The practice slowly changes the habits of the mind. By doing this practice regularly and continuously, you remove your focus from superficial streams of thoughts and relocate it at the place where thought itself begins to manifest. In that latter place you begin to experience the peace and stillness of the Self, and that gives you the incentive to continue.

Bhagavan had a very appropriate analogy for this process. Imagine that you have a bull, and that you keep it in a stable. If you leave the door open, the bull will wander out, looking for food. It may find food, but a lot of the time it will get into trouble by grazing in cultivated fields. The owners of these fields will beat it with sticks and throw stones at it to chase it away, but it will come back again and again, and suffer repeatedly, because it doesn't understand the notion of field boundaries. It is just programmed to look for food and to eat it wherever it finds something edible.

The bull is the mind, the stable is the Heart where it arises and to where it returns, and the grazing in the fields represents the mind's painful addiction to seeking pleasure in outside objects.

Bhagavan said that most mind-control techniques forcibly restrain the bull to stop it moving around, but they don't do anything about the bull's fundamental desire to wander and get itself into trouble.

You can tie up the mind temporarily with japa or breath control, but when these restraints are loosened, the mind just wanders off again, gets involved in more mischief and suffers again. You can tie up a bull, but it won't like it. You will just end up with an angry, cantankerous bull that will probably be looking for a chance to commit some act of violence on you.

Bhagavan likened self-enquiry to holding a bunch of fresh grass under the bull's nose. As the bull approaches it, you move away in the direction of the stable door and the bull follows you. You lead it back into the stable, and it voluntarily follows you because it wants the pleasure of eating the grass that you are holding in front of it. Once it is inside the stable, you allow it to eat the abundant grass that is always stored there. The door of the stable is always left open, and the bull is free to leave and roam about at any time. There is no punishment or restraint. The bull will go out repeatedly, because it is the nature of such animals to wander in search of food. And each time they go out, they will be punished for straying into forbidden areas.

Every time you notice that your bull has wandered out, tempt it back into its stable with the same technique. Don't try to beat it into submission, or you may be attacked yourself, and don't try to solve the problem forcibly by locking it up.

Sooner or later even the dimmest of bulls will understand that, since there is a perpetual supply of tasty food in the stable, there is no point wandering around outside, because that always leads to sufferings and punishments. Even though the stable door is always open, the bull will eventually stay inside and enjoy the food that is always there.

This is self-enquiry. Whenever you find the mind wandering around in external objects and sense perceptions, take it back to its stable, which is the Heart, the source from which it rises and to which it returns. In that place it can enjoy the peace and bliss of the Self. When it wanders around outside, looking for pleasure and happiness, it just gets into trouble, but when it stays at home in the Heart, it enjoys peace and silence. Eventually, even though the stable door is always open, the mind will choose to stay at home and not wander about.

that one text

... if anyone wants a single text of Sri Bhagavan's teachings in which clear expositions of all the various secrets of spiritual wisdom that should be known by the world are gathered together, that one text is Guru Vachaka Kovai ...

~ from an essay by Sri Sadhu Om on Sri Muruganar, in Ramana's Muruganar, compiled & edited by A.R. Natarajan

The necessity of grace

It is impossible for anyone to get established in the experience of reality, being-consciousness, except through the power of grace, the Mother [chit-para-sakti].

Other than through grace, the Mother, no one can attain reality, the experience of Sivam, which is truth.

Except through that exalted light, which is the grace of consciousness, the supreme power, it is impossible to transcend the conceptualizing power of the mind.

The ego can only be destroyed by the power of grace, not by the dark, perverted knowledge [suttarivu].

~ Padamalai, Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi Recorded by Muruganar

real surrender

... If one enquires as to who one is and what one is, and finds out the truth, one becomes oneself. To resolve all inherent desires into one’s own Self is real surrender. After that, our burden is His.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, quoted in Letters from Sri Ramanasramam by Suri Nagamma

Bhagavan taught as much by example as instruction. His life was a teaching: he was invariably courteous to others; he never accepted something unless others could share; he wasted nothing that was available; he never asked another to do something he could not do himself. In short, he was as self-sufficient as any human being could be on this terrestrial plane. When people came to see him he did not take, rather he gave: he gave respect, he gave understanding, he gave patience and love. It was as natural to him as breathing.

~ The Mountain Path, January, 2006

The very name fills the heart with delight.

What about his name? The name always goes with the form. It is ordinarily identified with a particular body. Not so Ramana's. He was named Venkataraman by his parents in 1879. Ganapati Muni changed his name to Ramana in an expression of his gratitude as a guru who revealed the truth to him. He re-christened him as Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi. Bhagavan is an adjective to indicate that the person has in him all the six-fold powers of God. Maharshi means a preeminent one among seers of truth. The name itself was changed from Venkataraman to Ramana. This was in 1907. The new name has different shades of meaning, "dear darling," "one who revels in the Self," "one who is the Self." It has been a magical name for devotees and seekers. Just three syllables "Ra," "Ma," "Na." What power to draw within and fix one in the Self! The very name fills the heart with delight. The power of the name is such that though to begin with it may be integral only to meditation time, gradually the remembrance of the name goes on amidst all activities of life as well. For the beauty of the name grows on one. It becomes not just a name but a name amongst names. "The Name, It will be doing its job of ripening one to be rid of the dross, so that the inner pull of the Self would be felt strongly. Nurturing and protecting, it watches over loving devotees, whose delusion is immolated in the vast fullness of final realization." [last quote from Non-dual Consciousness, "Seventy Verses in Praise of the Guru's Holy Feet" by Muruganar]

~ A. R. Natarajan, Timeless in Time, Sri Ramana Maharshi

Abidance in pure being
Transcending thought through love intense
Is the very essence
Of supreme devotion.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, The Essence of Instruction

without turning inwards

Without turning inwards and merging in the Lord -- it is His light that shines within the mind and lends it all its light -- how can we know the Light of lights with the borrowed light of the mind?

~ Reality in Forty Verses

distraction may be overcome, but the veiling might still remain

"Everyone has to come to Arunachala", said he [our Beloved Bhagavan Ramana].

Whichever path may be followed it ends in `I' and the investigation of the nature of the `I-thought'. Its elimination is the sadhaka's hardest task. But what could be easier than to fall back on the experiencer and to ask oneself who perceives and who sees with each experience?

All methods of sadhana lead to one-pointedness of the mind; thus distraction or the vikshepa of the mind may be overcome, but the veiling or the avarana might still remain. If blankness prevails, unless one persists with the question, "To whom is the blankness? Who am I??" and holds a receptive attitude with absolute surrender for the grace to prevail, the veiling is not removed.

One day the door is opened and the meditator is merged in the ever-present, all-pervading peace. The peace is so profound and all absorbing that the sadhaka cannot give up till it is constant and abiding. A true sadhana begins and his inner monitor will guide him till that state is reached.

"My reward consists in your permanent unbroken bliss. Do not slip away from it", says the guru to a devotee in Kaivalya Navanita.

This is endless Ramana-Consciousness.

~ Ramana Smriti, Chapter 8: Ramana Sat-Chit-Ananda Guru, by Dr. Purnima Sircar

Where is that Gita?

Sri Bhagavan said of this incident in his own words, 'In 1913, Nayana asked some questions and got the answers for them. As the ideas were strongly imprinted in his mind when somebody asked something, he would create a sloka extempore and say it is in Ramana Gita at such and such a place and in such a Chapter. All this was done when he did not even put pen on paper for Ramana Gita. When he started to speak authoritatively, nobody could counter him. He used to be quite emotional. After doing like this for a long time, he wrote this Gita [Ramana Gita] now.'

One devotee expressed a doubt, 'Bhagavan! What would Nayana have done if somebody asked, "Where is that Gita?"'

Bhagavan smiled and said, 'Who would have dared to oppose him or argue with him? Who was there who had such courage? His demeanor was so authoritative that none could counter him. After creating Ramana Gita also he used to quote some slokas extempore as examples and say they were also in Ramana Gita. When somebody pointed out that it is not, he would say it was in Maha Ramana Gita. Perhaps he planned Maha Ramana Gita also. But now it happened otherwise.'

~ Sri A. V. Ramana, Mahatapasvi, Life Story of Sri Kavya Kantha Ganapati Muni

One hundred years ago today ...

All generations of Ramana's disciples and devotees must remain indebted to Muni because it was for his sake and seeing his great spiritual hunger and ripeness that Ramana broke his silence of eleven years and gave the oral upadesa. This happened on the epoch-making day, on November 18, 1907. Since then, the relationship between Ramana and the Muni has been a model. Ramana used to affectionately call him "Nayana," which has several shades of meaning in Telegu. It is a term of endearment, it is a term by which one refers to one's father and to a disciple as well.

~ A. R. Natarajan, Timeless in Time, Sri Ramana Maharshi

Nayana's Birthday

... Near the main shrine there is a small shrine of Dhundi Ganapati; here [Narasimha Sastry] did the japa of the Mahaganapati Mantra for a few days. One day when he was in deep meditation doing the japa he saw inwardly that a child came out of the Murthy of Ganapati, sat on his lap and disappeared. He opened his eyes and looked all around for the child, but to his dismay there was no child. However, backed by his knowledge of the sastras he thought, "Surely this event foretells the fulfillment of an auspicious desire. I am really blessed, as I have seen with my own eyes the workings of the Divine compassion expressed in such a concrete form."

At the time when Narasimha Sastry was a witness to the happening in Kasi, his wife, Narasamamba gave birth to a male child in her parental house.

~ S. R. Leela, Glory of Sri Vasistha Ganapati Muni

The child was named Ganapati. Twenty nine years and one day later, on Monday, the 4th day of Kartika Sukla, November 18, in 1907, Ganapati Muni reached the feet of Brahmana Swami on Arunachala. Here is his description:


When I reached the cave of the sage on top of the Arunachala Hill, it was two o'clock in the afternoon. I saw the sage sitting outside the cave. Those were the days of celebration everywhere. The car festival attracted crowds from far-off places. People were seen all over. I expected a number of visitors even here. However, it was a pleasant surprise to see the Swami all alone, free from the maddening crowd. I considered it to be an indication of the divine grace and I felt the strengthening of my inner being. I approached the Swami with jubilation. As I reached the Swami, I held his right foot with my right hand and left foot with my left hand and prostrated before him. I offered my sastanga pranam.

Getting up I appealed thus: "I have understood the deep meaning of Sastras; I have repeated the great mantras with contemplation; Many vratas have I performed; Missing still is the Lord's Grace."

"Were there lapses in my tapas? Have I missed its very nature? Though a scholar, I plead ignorance; I surrender to you, All-knowing One; Accept me as your disciple and bless me."

Thus, when I fell at his feet in agitated state of mind, desperately pleading for guidance, a soothing stream of the sage's compassionate look encompassed me. He was foremost among those who had their senses under perfect control. He could effortlessly gauge my confounded state and, as if comforting me, He looked at me for a while with His eyes exuding a cool placidity and said,

"If the mind, enquiring about the origin of the ego principle 'I", goes back and unites with its origin, then it becomes tapas."

"If the mind, trying to enquire about the origin of the sound of the mantra that is being repeated, gets back to the root cause of the sound, then it becomes tapas."

By receiving this teaching from a great teacher I was gratified. I experienced ecstasy after receiving this upadesa.

Till late in the evening, I sat meditating near the feet of the Guru. I enquired about the name of the Swami in his Purvasrama (early stage, before his stay in Arunachala). An attendant said " Venkataraman". On hearing this I called him by the name, Ramana, that combined brevity and beauty.

Then I declared to the world that Brahmanaswami will henceforth venerably be known as "Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi"

~ this description by Ganapati Muni was taken from: http://kavyakantha.arunachala.org/

the natural and true Reality

The natural and true Reality forever resides in the Heart of all. Not to realize It there and stay in It but to quarrel `It is', `It is not', `It has form', `It has not form', `It is one', `It is two', `It is neither', this is the mischief of maya.

~Sri Ramana Maharshi, Reality in Forty Verses

the Maharshi's eyes

When I was at Ramanasramam in the 1940's I used to spend hours looking at the Maharshi's eyes. They would be open and staring, but not focussed on anything. Though his eyes were open, they were not seeing anything. Those eyes were completely free of thoughts and desires. The mind is revealed very clearly in the eyes, but in those eyes there was nothing at all to see. In the hours that I concentrated on his eyes, I didn't once see even a flicker of a thought or a desire. I have not seen such utterly desireless eyes like his on any other face. I have met many great saints during my life, but no one has impressed me as much as the Maharshi did.

~ Papaji talking to David Godman about Sri Ramana Maharshi in Nothing Ever Happened, Volume Three

absolute equality toward all

Question: They say that the jnani conducts himself with absolute equality towards all?

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Yes.

"Friendship, kindness, happiness and such other bhavas (attitudes) become natural to them. Affection towards the good, kindness towards the helpless, happiness in doing good deeds, forgiveness towards the wicked, all such things are natural characteristics of the jnani." (Patanjali, Yoga Sutras, 1:37).

You ask about jnanis: they are the same in any state or condition, as they know the reality, the truth. In their daily routine of taking food, moving about and all the rest, they, the jnanis, act only for others. Not a single action is done for themselves. I have already told you many times just as there are people whose profession is to mourn for a fee, so also the jnanis do things for the sake of others with detachment, without themselves being affected by them.

The jnani weeps with the weeping, laughs with the laughing, plays with the playful, sings with those who sing, keeping time to the song. What does he lose? His presence is like a pure, transparent mirror. It reflects the image exactly as it is. But the jnani, who is only a mirror, is unaffected by actions. How can a mirror, or the stand on which it is mounted, be affected by the reflection? Nothing affects them, as they are mere supports. On the other hand, the actors in the world – the doers of all acts, the ajnanis - must decide for themselves what song and what action is for the welfare of the world, what is in accordance with the sastras (scriptures), and what is practicable.

the jnani lives in the Heart

Question: What is the difference between the Baddha and the Mukta, the bound man and the one liberated?

Sri Ramana Maharshi: The ordinary man lives in the brain unaware of himself in the Heart. The jnana-siddha (jnani) lives in the Heart. When he moves about and deals with men and things, he knows that what he sees is not separate from the one supreme reality, the Brahman which he realised in the Heart as his own Self, the real.

Question: What about the ordinary man?

Sri Ramana Maharshi: I have just said that he sees things outside himself. He is separate from the world, from his own deeper truth, from the truth that supports him and what he sees. The man who has realised the supreme truth of his own existence realises that it is the one supreme reality that is there behind him, behind the world. In fact, he is aware of the one, as the real, the Self in all selves, in all things, eternal and immutable, in all that is impermanent and mutable.

`Twos' and `threes' depend upon one thing, the ego.
If one asks in one's Heart, `What is this ego?' and finds it,
they slip away. Only those who have found this know the
Truth, and they will never be perplexed.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Reality in Forty Verses

The perfect meeting with the Infinite is eternally within ourselves

A grain of salt went to fathom the ocean’s depths, but when it became immersed, where did it go? What can it do and what can it measure when it has altogether ceased to exist?

My plight is like the plight of that grain of salt; though I desire to see you, to play my role, how and where shall I find you? It is beyond my imagination to conceive!

Like one who awakes in order to encounter sleep, and misses encountering it, here I am in order to encounter you who are completely pure and free like Nothingness.

It is certain that there is no darkness in the light of the Sun, and it is just as certain that there is no awareness of “I” in the absolute Self.

Thus, when I embrace you in purity, “I” and “Thou” will swallow each other. Truly, our meeting shall take place when “I” and “Thou” are both devoured. (46-50)

… It is in this place of inner vision that we shall see the place where ‘I’ and ‘Thou’ both die.

Therefore, swallow altogether these limitations of ‘I’ and ‘Thou,’ and we shall meet, the pure harmony and joy of such a meeting we shall surely relish always.

It will be like taste eating itself for the sake of enjoying taste, or like an eye becoming a mirror in order to see itself.

… The perfect meeting with the Infinite is eternally within ourselves. (52-4,57)

~ Jnaneshvar, Chângadeva Pâsashtî, translated by Swami Abhayananda

For a little more of this, please see this at enlightened-spirituality.com

The Divine gives light to the mind and shines within it. Except by turning the mind inward and fixing it in the Divine, there is no other way to know Him through the mind.

~ verse 22, Forty Verses on Reality

through the language of his gaze

The jnana-Guru actually abides as both the Atma-swarupa and the Siva-swarupa within the hearts of devotees, although in their externalised view he appears and moves around as if he is different [from them]. True jnana will not dawn for anyone who has not known experientially, through investigation in the heart, the essence of the upadesa "You are That" which [the Guru] silently and unceasingly conveys to his devotees through the language of his gaze.

~ Guru Vachaka Kovai

with the kind help of the Sat Guru one should enquire 'Who am I?'

69. By the persistent and continued bhavana of ‘I am
the Brahman-Self’ all thoughts and feelings of differentiation
of Self and non-Self will drop off and permanent abidance in
Brahman-Self will be achieved. This bhavana is possible only
for those with a keen inquiring mind intent on knowing the
Self and not for those who are indifferent about Self-knowledge.
(Ch.32, v.18)

70. Ignorance and indifference in regard to the enquiry
of the truth about one-self is the store house of nescience and
trouble, blocking the view of the Self, and creating in a split
second all sorts of illusions and harassment of mental worry.
Non-enquiry renders bhavana impossible. (Ch.32, v.19)

71. In short, non-enquiry will steep one for ever in the
ocean of samsara (earthly suffering). There is no greater enemy
for one than non-enquiry. Therefore, this habit must be
overcome in order to fix the mind in the bhavana which leads
to abidance in the Self. (Ch.32, v.20)

72. Enquiry should be made this wise: With the kind help
of the Sat Guru one should enquire ‘Who am I? what is this
world? what is the reality behind all these?’ (Ch.32, v.21)

~ The Essence of Ribhu Gita, Translation By Prof. N. R. Krishnamoorthi Aiyer

only one thing in the world worth achieving

From the moment Janaky Mata first came to Bhagavan Sri Ramana, He was her all. She reasoned,

"There is only one thing in the world worth achieving: the root cause of the whole universe, the 'One Without a Second'. I must attain it, realize it and experience it with Bhagavan's Grace."

~ from Biography of Guru Devi Janaky Mata, by Dr G Swaminathan

Please see this at ramana-devotees.blogspot.com

when he has taken you up

Bhakti is not different from mukti. Bhakti is being as the Self. One is always That. He realizes It by the means he adopts.
What is bhakti? To think of God. That means only one thought prevails to the exclusion of all other thoughts. That thought is of God, which is the Self, or it is the self surrendered unto God. When He has taken you up, nothing else will assail you.
The absence of thought is bhakti. It is also mukti.

Bhakti is Jnana Mata, i.e., the mother of jnana.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Gems from Bhagavan

This is self-enquiry

The mind is only a bundle of thoughts.
They are dependent on the 'I'-thought.
Know the 'I'-thought to be the mind.

Wherefrom does the 'I'-thought arise?
If one enquires thus, it vanishes.
This is self-enquiry.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Upadesa Saram, Vs. 18 & 19

not an inch untrodden

One evening Nayana asked Bhagavan about the forests which at that time still existed on and around Arunachala, saying that he had been in forests in other parts of India but not here. Bhagavan, full of benevolence, at once offered to take him to see them.

He said with a radiant, almost boyish smile, 'Nayana, there is not an inch of ground on Arunachala that has not been trodden by these feet during the time when I was living on the hill, especially during the Virupaksha period. I have been up all the hills and down all the valleys. I have roamed about in the interior regions where no forest guard would dare to go.

~ Viswanatha Swami's account in The Power of the Presence, Part Two, by David Godman

tell me how to make good deeds prevail

I cried out, 'Lord and Master, tell me how
To make good deeds prevail
Against deluding evil deeds!'
My dear father, my Ramana, said,
'Stand untroubled in the centre.
Move only as you may be moved
By the grace of the Lord.'

~ Sri Muruganar, Sri Ramana Sannidhi Murai

46. The illusion that one is the body and that the world is
the basic reality has remained soaked over a long, long time,
and cannot be got rid of by the casual reading and mere
understanding of the truth. The basic illusion can be effaced
only by a long and unremitting practice of the bhavana that all
this is ‘I-am-Brahman-Self’. (Ch.24, v.28)

47. Everything is only a concoction of time, space and
energy. All else is the trite talk of people who dislike the effort
of sadhana which takes them to the Self. This talk is based on
their dense ignorance of the Self. Only by persistent practice
and experience of sadhana, can one arrive at the truth that all
concepts of souls, world, and the cause thereof are just evanescent
shadows on the screen of Siva-Self-Brahman. (Ch.24, v.31)

~ The Essence of Ribhu Gita, Translation By Prof. N. R. Krishnamoorthi Aiyer

"It's his age that is doing it!"

Kunju Swami was very young when he first came to Bhagavan. At times Kunju Swami and a friend, for fun, would see how many times they could run from Skandashram to Virupaksha Cave and back. Chinnaswami would object: "This boy is so irresponsible! It is his duty to bring us food from the town - what if he falls and breaks a leg!" Bhagavan would tenderly say, "It is not he who is doing it... It's his age that is doing it!" In speaking of a misdeed, the strongest word Bhagavan would use was "mischief".

Kunju Swami described Bhagavan's state of mind as all-knowing, yet without an element of personal will; that is, he did not "read" minds nor would he give any indication or display of this ability. It was simply his natural state. The thoughts and past deeds of all were immediately apparent to him. About this facet Bhagavan once commented, "It is true I know the innermost thoughts of you all, but if I brought them all to light would any of you stay here?" Kunju Swami narrated this with a laugh.

Bhagavan's complete and total disregard for siddhis set him apart from virtually all other saints, Kunju Swami noted. It seems on one occasion Bhagavan said he had experienced his body dissolving into the five elements, yet called it back. "There has never been a saint so unique as Bhagavan, who remained so human, so simple and so ordinary to all appearances," Kunju Swami exclaimed in ecstasy, "and I don't think there could ever be another one like him again!"

~ Evelyn Kaselow Saphier