Do not limit yourself to the body

Establish yourself in the complete perfection of your own real nature. Do not limit yourself to the [body] upadhi.

Except through the rare medicine of direct experience it is impossible to escape from the I-am-the-body disease.

Unless the belief 'I am the body' is completely destroyed, true knowledge of the one Self is not possible.

The disappearance of the I-am-the-body notion, the wrong understanding that causes infatuation, is the experience of the Atma-swarupa.

In the state wherein the ego, the I-am-the-body delusion, has ceased, both yoga and bhoga [enjoyment], without becoming two, merge together as one.

~ verses 90-94, Individual Identity chapter, Padamalai, Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, Recorded by Muruganar, Translated by T. V. Venkatasubramanian, Robert Butler and David Godman, Edited and annotated by David Godman

as upon a lion-throne

Padam shines in my Heart in such a way that I rejoice intensely here, dwelling constantly with love on the gracious nobility with which he has governed me.

Hearing my call 'Save me!', Padam, saying 'What's the problem?' took pity on me and came down and governed me with relish, becoming my father who gave me birth in jnana.

Even though Padam, the Supreme, is the mother and father of all beings, he abides with me as my very own Lord in the Heart.

Padam, the supreme light of bliss, became my Lord, sheltering me at the feet of the adepts of jnana who have attained the Self.

Enthroned within the Heart of this guileless person, as upon a lion-throne, Padam exercises his rule over the entire, vast world.

~ Sri Muruganar, Padamalai, translated by Dr T. V. Venkatasubramanian, Robert Butler, and David Godman, edited and annotated by David Godman

Devotion

The amount of blissful grace that spreads out of your heart will only be in proportion to the amount of true devotion that flows steadily from you to God.

Q: Then what is true devotion [bhakti]?

Bhagavan: Whatever I do or consider myself doing is really the Lord's doing. Nothing really belongs to me. I am here for the service of the Lord. This spirit of service ... is really devotion supreme and the true devotee sees the supreme being as the Lord immanent in everything. Worship of Him by name and form leads one beyond all name and form. Devotion complete culminates in knowledge supreme.

Even when bhakti is actuated by worldly desires in the beginning, it does not cease when the desires are fulfilled. It increases by an unshakable faith growing perfectly into a supreme state of realisation.

~ Padamalai, Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi Recorded by Muruganar, edited and annotated by David Godman

more about the Promises

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.

The Heart

Those are truly wise who drink the flooding honey of Atma-swarupa, which shines in the Heart as the Heart, and feel contented.

Only in the silence of the Heart, where the movement of mind and intellect ceases, will the unique light of pure consciousness blaze forth, radiating brightly.

Thinking is imagination. The Heart, thought-free Atma-swarupa, is the reality, pure consciousness.

When perfection exists as the nature of your Heart, why do you lose your composure by dwelling on imperfections?

The Heart is the jiva-samadhi where the soul of the true devotee resides forever with bliss-consciousness.

~ from Padamalai

the necessity of serious sadhana

In order that your mind should become firm, observe with full attention you duty, which is the practice of sadhana.

Instead of practicing sadhana superficially, follow it intensively in such a way that your mind is totally immersed in it.

Only the aspiration towards the fair firmament of supreme consciousness, which has no final goal other than mauna, is most worthy endeavour.

Grace will not combine with a bat-like mentality. Stick with intensity to one [path].

~ Padamalai

Enter with love the temple that is your own Heart

Union with me (from Bhagavan's Promises and Declarations)

Seeking my true Nature in your Heart, discovering it and rejoicing
in it by bathing in the bliss of my jnana swarupa -- this is union.

Only bhakti sadhana performed continuously with love will
facilitate easily, in a gradual way, this union.

Enter with love the temple that is your own Heart and experience
the bliss of being absorbed in my swarupa, becoming one with it.

I myself will command and control a mind that has died by the
sacrifice of the ego.

from Padamalai, Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi Recorded by Muruganar
translated by Dr T. V. Venkatasubramanian, Robert Butler and David Godman
edited and annotated by David Godman