Arun was right ... the "promises book" is Padamalai, Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi recorded by Muruganar.
Here is the start of the section called Bhagavan's Promises and Declarations:
Knowing and experiencing me
1. Padam [Bhagavan] tells and reveals: 'Instead of knowing with certainty by enquiry that I myself am present as your "I", why do you despair?
2. To become established as the Self within the Heart is to experience my real nature, which is pure bliss.
3. Know me as the true essence of jnana that shines uninterruptedly in your Heart. Destroy the objectifying awareness of the ego-mind that arrogantly cavorts as 'I'.
4. When I am shining in your Heart as 'I-I', your own real nature, your attempt to 'attain' me is indeed a great marvel!
5. To meditate on my swarupa [true nature], which possesses the light that is the source of life, all that is needed is your one-pointedness of mind.
6. Whether you retire to the forest or remain in the midst of everyday life, attain swarupa in the home that is the Heart.
7. Your search to attain me is like searching all over the world, ceaselessly straining to find the necklace around your own neck.
8. Just as you know that the necklace is there by feeling your neck, seek the treasure of the Self, your real nature, within the Heart, and know it.
9. Those who have come to my feet with love, and without delaying, are those whose birth has been graced by God. [Theirs is] an eminent and true life.
10. Through the thought of the feet of the Guru who has reigned over devotees, the intense darkness of ignorance [present in the] hearts of devotees will perish and ultimate liberation will be attained here and now.
~~~
more soon. and many, many thanks to David Godman and Sri Muruganar (and also translators Dr Venkatasubramanian and Robert Butler), whose extreme talents have been/are being used in such a way as to draw us deeper and deeper into our Lord.
~~~
note: the word Padam literally means 'the foot', and is used as a synonym for the Self. Sri Muruganar uses the word Padam to mean Sri Bhagavan himself.
Showing posts with label David Godman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Godman. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
Self-enquiry: an active investigation, not a passive witnessing
A conversation between David Godman and John David:
jd: Is he [Sri Ramana Maharshi] on the record as saying that it [self-enquiry] is the quickest and most direct way?
DG: Yes. He mentioned this on many occasions, but it was not his style to force it on people. He wanted devotees to come to it when they were ready for it.
jd: So even though he accepted whatever practices people were involved in, he was quite clear the quickest and most direct tool would be self-enquiry?
DG: Yes, and he also said that you had to stick with it right up to the moment of realization.
For Bhagavan, it wasn't a technique that you practiced for an hour a day, sitting cross-legged on the floor. It is something you should do every waking moment, in combination with whatever actions the body is doing.
He said that beginners could start by doing it sitting, with closed eyes, but for everyone else, he expected it to be done during ordinary daily activities.
jd: With regard to the actual technique, would you say that it is to be aware, from moment to moment, what is going on in the mind?
DG: No, it's 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.
jd: It's very clear what you just said, but almost impossible to accomplish. It sounds simple, but I know from my own experience that it's very hard.
DG: 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.
for the rest of this interview, see http://www.davidgodman.org/rteach/jd1.shtml
jd: Is he [Sri Ramana Maharshi] on the record as saying that it [self-enquiry] is the quickest and most direct way?
DG: Yes. He mentioned this on many occasions, but it was not his style to force it on people. He wanted devotees to come to it when they were ready for it.
jd: So even though he accepted whatever practices people were involved in, he was quite clear the quickest and most direct tool would be self-enquiry?
DG: Yes, and he also said that you had to stick with it right up to the moment of realization.
For Bhagavan, it wasn't a technique that you practiced for an hour a day, sitting cross-legged on the floor. It is something you should do every waking moment, in combination with whatever actions the body is doing.
He said that beginners could start by doing it sitting, with closed eyes, but for everyone else, he expected it to be done during ordinary daily activities.
jd: With regard to the actual technique, would you say that it is to be aware, from moment to moment, what is going on in the mind?
DG: No, it's 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.
jd: It's very clear what you just said, but almost impossible to accomplish. It sounds simple, but I know from my own experience that it's very hard.
DG: 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.
for the rest of this interview, see http://www.davidgodman.org/rteach/jd1.shtml
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