Saturday, March 1, 2008

sadhana in not doing, but being

Therefore, all that we are to practice is to be still [summa iruppadu] with the remembrance of the feeling ‘I’. It is only when there is a slackness of vigilance during Self-attention that thoughts, which are an indication of it, will rise.

In other words, if thoughts rise it means that our Self-attention is lost. It is only as a contrivance to win back Self-attention from thought-attention that Sri Bhagavan advised us to ask ‘To whom do these thoughts appear?’. Since the answer ‘To me’ is only a dative form of ‘I’, it will easily remind us of the nominative form, the feeling ‘I’.

However, if we question ‘Who thinks these thoughts?’, since the nominative form, the feeling ‘I’ , is obtained as an answer, will not Self-attention which has been unnoticed, be regained directly? This regaining of Self-attention is actually being Self (that is, remaining or abiding as Self)! Such ‘being’ alone is the correct sadhana; sadhana is not doing, but being!

~ Sadhu Om, The Path of Sri Ramana, Part One

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