About ten days after my arrival I [Annamalai Swami] asked Bhagavan, 'How to avoid misery?'
This was the first spiritual question I ever asked him.
Bhagavan replied, 'Know and always hold onto the Self. Disregard the body and the mind. To identify with them is misery. Dive deep into the Heart, the source of being and peace, and establish yourself there.'
I then asked him how I could attain Self-realisation and he gave me a similar answer: 'If you give up identifying with the body and meditate on the Self, which you already are, you can attain Self-realisation.'
As I was pondering on these remarks Bhagavan surprised me by saying, 'I was waiting for you. I was wondering when you would come.'
As a newcomer I was still too afraid of him to follow this up by asking how he knew, or how long he had been waiting. However, I was delighted to hear him speak like this because it seemed to indicate that it was my destiny to stay with him.
A few days later I asked another question: 'Scientists have invented and produced aircraft which can travel at great speeds in the sky. Why do you not make and give us a spiritual aircraft in which we can quickly and easily cross over the sea of samsara?'
... 'The path of self-enquiry,' replied Bhagavan, 'is the aircraft you need. It is direct, fast and easy to use. You are already travelling very quickly towards realisation. It is only because of your mind that it seems that there is no movement. In the old days, when people first rode on trains, some of them believed that the trees and countryside were moving and that the train was standing still. It is the same with you now. Your mind is making you believe that you are not moving towards Self-realisation.'
~ Living by the Words of Bhagavan by David Godman
Showing posts with label self-enquiry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self-enquiry. Show all posts
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Thursday, October 2, 2008
What are the hindrances to the realization of the true Self?
I turned to him. "But you had no guru?" A rustle of shocked horror ran through the hall. But the Maharshi was not in the least disturbed by my audacious remark. On the contrary, he looked at me with a twinkle in his eye. Then he threw back his head and gave a joyous, whole-hearted laugh. It endeared him to me as nothing else could. A saint who can turn the laugh against himself is a saint indeed.
... I had been in despair at ever getting the Maharshi alone. It is hard to unburden the soul before a crowd. But early one morning I came into the hall and found him there unattended, emanating a wonderful stillness and peace. I asked quietly if I might talk with him. He nodded, smiling, and sent for someone to translate. On the arrival of a devotee, I put my first question.
"What are the hindrances to the realization of the true Self?"
"Memory chiefly, habits of thought, accumulated tendencies."
"How does one get rid of these hindrances?"
"Seek for the Self through meditation in this manner. Trace every thought back to its origin, which is only the mind. Never allow thought to run on. If you do, it will be unending. Take it back to its starting place -- the mind -- again and again, and it and the mind will both die of inaction. The mind only exists by reason of thought. Stop that and there is no mind. As each doubt and depression arises, ask yourself, 'Who is it that doubts? What is it that is depressed?' Go back constantly to the question, 'Who is the "I"? Where is it?' Tear everything away until there is nothing but the Source of all left. And then -- live always in the present and only in it. There is no past and future, save in the mind."
~ from Mrs. Piggot's account in Arunachala's Ramana: Boundless Ocean of Grace, Volume III
Sunday, July 27, 2008
"Just keep quiet and Bhagavan will do the rest."
Ramana has said:
“The removal of ignorance is the aim of practice and not acquisition of Realisation.” (Talks).
The most fundamental piece of ignorance is that there exists an individual self who is going to do sadhana, and that by doing sadhana, this individual self will disappear or be merged in some super-being.
Until this concept is eliminated on the mental level, it is not an exaggeration to say that one is wasting one’s time in attempts to surrender or to enquire ‘Who am I?’ Correct attitude and correct understanding of this matter are of pre-eminent importance if the application of Ramana’s teaching is to be successful.
Returning now to the practice of surrender, and bearing in mind the necessity of maintaining the right attitude with regard to the nonexistence of the individual self, there remains the problem of how to surrender since the mere desire to surrender invents an illusory person who is going to surrender.
The key to this problem and the key to all problems connected with the practice of Ramana’s teachings, is to bypass the mind and move to the realm of being. One cannot truly surrender without escaping from that vast accumulation of ideas and desires we call the mind, and according to Ramana, one cannot escape or destroy the mind by any kind of mental activity.
Ramana’s solution is to let the mind subside to the point where it disappears, and what remains when the mind has subsided is the simple, pure being that was always there. In a conversation in Talks Ramana gives the following illuminating answer. He says:
“It is enough that one surrenders oneself. Surrender is to give oneself up to the original cause of one’s being … One’s source is within oneself. Give yourself up to it. That means that you should seek the source and merge in it.”
(Talks p.175).
This is an immensely profound statement which not only sweeps away many of the myths that surround the practice of surrender – it also shows an indication that the route to the rediscovery of the Self is the same whether one chooses to label it “surrender” or “self-enquiry”.
If we examine this statement closely it is possible to extract three important conclusions regarding Ramana’s attitude and approach to surrender. Firstly, there is no external deity or manifestation to whom one must surrender; secondly, the source of one’s being is within us; and thirdly, and most importantly, true surrender is to go back to the original cause of one’s being and remain firmly and continually rooted there.
If this is translated into terms of practical advice, then surrender comes down to two words: being and stillness.
In Talks Ramana says:
“Your duty is to be, and not to be this or that, ‘I am that I am’ sums up the whole truth. The method is summed up in ‘Be still’.” (Talks, p.333).
The stillness and the being of which Ramana speaks co-exist with each other and reveal themselves in their full radiance whenever interest in one’s thought stream dries up. Thus, for Ramana, the practice of surrender is to find within oneself this feeling of beingness and surrender oneself completely to it. On this level of surrender, practice consists of giving up wrong ideas by refusing to give them attention.
~ from "The Unity of Surrender and Self-Enquiry" by David Godman
Saturday, July 5, 2008
The conscious introspective concentration of Self-Enquiry (Who am I?) kills all thoughts and and destroys the dense darkness of nescience; it effaces all worry; it illuminates the intellect with the radiance of pure awareness; it wipes out all conceptual confusions; it fixes one in the effulgent Siva-Self; it transforms a host of impending disasters into auspicious events; and lastly, it destroys the ego-mind utterly with all its afflictions.
~ Ribhu Gita, Ch. 32, V. 24, translated by Prof. N. R. Krishnamurti Aiyer
~ Ribhu Gita, Ch. 32, V. 24, translated by Prof. N. R. Krishnamurti Aiyer
Friday, June 27, 2008
Rather than worrying about the fact that we are still not able to experience even a tenuous undercurrent of self-remembrance or self-consciousness at all times, in all states and in the midst of all our activities, we should concentrate just on being clearly self-conscious now, at this very moment. We cannot know our real timeless self either in the past or in the future, or even in the passage of time, but only now, in this precise present moment.
Past and future are both only thoughts that occur in the present, as is the passing of time itself, so any thought about any moment or period of time other than the precise present moment will distract our attention away from our own ever-present self-conscious being, ‘I am’. Therefore ignoring all thought of the past or future, we should concentrate only on being uninterruptedly — unforgettingly or pramada-lessly — self-attentive now, at this present moment. If we diligently take care to be undistractedly self-attentive now, our love to be clearly self-conscious at this present moment will spill over into each coming present moment, and thus due to our perseverant effort to be self-attentive at each present moment, the strength, depth, clarity and persistence of our self-attentiveness will steadily and surely increase.
The experience of absolutely clear self-knowledge will dawn in just a single moment — that is, a single moment of completely uninterrupted self-attentiveness — and that single moment is available to us at each and every moment. Therefore our aim at any moment should not be to be uninterruptedly self-attentive for a certain period of time, or even for all time to come, but should only be to be uninterruptedly self-attentive — wholly and exclusively self-conscious — now, at this very moment.
Now there is no other moment that matters. This present moment is the only moment that is now available for us to experience ourself as we really are. Therefore forgetting every other moment, let us just be wholly and uninterruptedly self-attentive now. That is, let us forget about any pramada that might interrupt our self-attentiveness at some other moment, and instead just be vigilant at this very moment to concentrate our entire attention on our present self-consciousness, thereby preventing it from being interrupted now by even the least momentary pramada or self-negligence.
Only if we thus cultivate the love and habit to be vigilantly self-attentive at each given present moment, thereby excluding any thought of what might happen at some other moment, will our self-attentiveness eventually blossom into the true experience of perpetually uninterrupted — absolutely pramada-free — clear self-consciousness, which is eternally our own real nature, ‘I am’.
~ Michael James
Past and future are both only thoughts that occur in the present, as is the passing of time itself, so any thought about any moment or period of time other than the precise present moment will distract our attention away from our own ever-present self-conscious being, ‘I am’. Therefore ignoring all thought of the past or future, we should concentrate only on being uninterruptedly — unforgettingly or pramada-lessly — self-attentive now, at this present moment. If we diligently take care to be undistractedly self-attentive now, our love to be clearly self-conscious at this present moment will spill over into each coming present moment, and thus due to our perseverant effort to be self-attentive at each present moment, the strength, depth, clarity and persistence of our self-attentiveness will steadily and surely increase.
The experience of absolutely clear self-knowledge will dawn in just a single moment — that is, a single moment of completely uninterrupted self-attentiveness — and that single moment is available to us at each and every moment. Therefore our aim at any moment should not be to be uninterruptedly self-attentive for a certain period of time, or even for all time to come, but should only be to be uninterruptedly self-attentive — wholly and exclusively self-conscious — now, at this very moment.
Now there is no other moment that matters. This present moment is the only moment that is now available for us to experience ourself as we really are. Therefore forgetting every other moment, let us just be wholly and uninterruptedly self-attentive now. That is, let us forget about any pramada that might interrupt our self-attentiveness at some other moment, and instead just be vigilant at this very moment to concentrate our entire attention on our present self-consciousness, thereby preventing it from being interrupted now by even the least momentary pramada or self-negligence.
Only if we thus cultivate the love and habit to be vigilantly self-attentive at each given present moment, thereby excluding any thought of what might happen at some other moment, will our self-attentiveness eventually blossom into the true experience of perpetually uninterrupted — absolutely pramada-free — clear self-consciousness, which is eternally our own real nature, ‘I am’.
~ Michael James
Thursday, June 19, 2008
never alone
Just as the stems, branches, leaves, flowers and fruit of a tree will continue sprouting so long as its root survives, so our vasanas, desires and thoughts will continue rising and distracting us away from our self-attentiveness so long as their root, our mind, survives. Therefore Sri Ramana begins the eleventh paragraph of Nan Yar? by saying:
Until we achieve by our persistent practice of atma-vicharanai — self-investigation, self-scrutiny or self-attentiveness — sufficient maturity to be willing and able to surrender our mind entirely in the absolute clarity of pure self-consciousness, we will continue to be distracted by our thoughts, which we form in our mind due to the driving force of our own vishaya-vasanas, our desires to think of and experience things that appear to be other than ourself. Therefore the struggle between our svatma-bhakti — our love just to be and to know only our own real self — and our vasanas or outward-going desires will continue in us until our mind is completely destroyed by the clear light of true self-knowledge.
Therefore, though we should always aim to maintain an unbroken continuity of self-attentiveness or self-remembrance, and thereby to sink deep into our own self-conscious being, ‘I am’, in practice our attempts to do so will often fail, and we will therefore repeatedly succumb to the powerful attraction of our desires and consequent thoughts. However, we should not be disheartened by our repeated failure to be constantly self-attentive, but should just calmly persevere in our efforts to restore our self-attentiveness whenever we find that we have lost our hold on it.
This constant struggle between self-attentiveness and pramada — self-negligence or self-forgetfulness — is the nature of true sadhana or spiritual practice, so calm, patient and steady perseverance is required to win this battle. However many times and however frequently we may fall from our natural state of serene self-conscious being, we should rise again and try our best to stand firm in it.
In this long inner warfare we are never alone, because the grace of our sadguru, Sri Ramana, is always shining peacefully in our heart as ‘I am’, giving us all the subtle help and support that we need in our earnest efforts to return to his real presence by sinking into the innermost depth of our own clearly self-conscious being, which is his own true form. As we strive to turn wholly selfwards, the powerful attraction of his grace is always drawing us inwards, waiting to consume us entirely whenever we are ready to yield ourself completely to him.
~ Michael James, happinessofbeing.blogspot.com
As long as vishaya-vasanas exist in [our] mind, so long nanar ennum vicharanai [the investigation ‘who am I?’] is necessary. As and when thoughts arise, then and there it is necessary [for us] to annihilate them all by vicharanai [investigation, that is, self-investigation or keen and vigilant self-attentiveness] in the very place from which they arise. ...
Until we achieve by our persistent practice of atma-vicharanai — self-investigation, self-scrutiny or self-attentiveness — sufficient maturity to be willing and able to surrender our mind entirely in the absolute clarity of pure self-consciousness, we will continue to be distracted by our thoughts, which we form in our mind due to the driving force of our own vishaya-vasanas, our desires to think of and experience things that appear to be other than ourself. Therefore the struggle between our svatma-bhakti — our love just to be and to know only our own real self — and our vasanas or outward-going desires will continue in us until our mind is completely destroyed by the clear light of true self-knowledge.
Therefore, though we should always aim to maintain an unbroken continuity of self-attentiveness or self-remembrance, and thereby to sink deep into our own self-conscious being, ‘I am’, in practice our attempts to do so will often fail, and we will therefore repeatedly succumb to the powerful attraction of our desires and consequent thoughts. However, we should not be disheartened by our repeated failure to be constantly self-attentive, but should just calmly persevere in our efforts to restore our self-attentiveness whenever we find that we have lost our hold on it.
This constant struggle between self-attentiveness and pramada — self-negligence or self-forgetfulness — is the nature of true sadhana or spiritual practice, so calm, patient and steady perseverance is required to win this battle. However many times and however frequently we may fall from our natural state of serene self-conscious being, we should rise again and try our best to stand firm in it.
In this long inner warfare we are never alone, because the grace of our sadguru, Sri Ramana, is always shining peacefully in our heart as ‘I am’, giving us all the subtle help and support that we need in our earnest efforts to return to his real presence by sinking into the innermost depth of our own clearly self-conscious being, which is his own true form. As we strive to turn wholly selfwards, the powerful attraction of his grace is always drawing us inwards, waiting to consume us entirely whenever we are ready to yield ourself completely to him.
~ Michael James, happinessofbeing.blogspot.com
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Immediately he asked Him the question 'Who am I?'
In 1902 [Sivaprakasam Pillai] happened to visit Tiruvannamalai for the first time on some official duty, and there he heard of the saintly and ascetic life lived by a young boy on the Hill, whom all people referred to with great respect as Brahmana Swami. Sri Pillai at once climbed up the Hill to Guhainamasivayar temple, where the Brahmana Swami was then staying, and on seeing the divine lustre which shone in the face of the silent young ascetic, he felt strongly attracted to Him as a piece of iron to a magnet. Immediately he asked Him the question 'Who am I?' which had been haunting his mind for so many years. Little could he have known at that time, however, that the young Sage he saw seated quietly before him was born in this world with a divine mission to reveal the direct path of Self-enquiry, through which alone the true answer to the question 'Who am I?' could be experienced within the heart. Such is the working of divine Grace that the fit and worthy disciple had thus been automatically drawn to the proper Guru.
~ Michael James, The Mountain Path, Vol. 25, No. 1, January 1988
~ Michael James, The Mountain Path, Vol. 25, No. 1, January 1988
Saturday, May 24, 2008
If a pearl-diver remains on the shore of the ocean waiting for the roaring waves to subside, will he ever succeed in gathering pearls? If he plunges through the waves on the surface and dives deep into the ocean with a heavy stone tied to his waist, what waves will he find there in the depths? (Similarly, if we steadfastly dive beneath the waves of thoughts into the depths of our heart by keenly attending to the consciousness 'I', we will find that there are no thoughts there to disturb us).
58. Since a life of great peace exists deep within the ocean of our heart we should be completely indifferent towards the many tendencies (vasanas) which are tossing like heavy waves on the surface of that ocean, and with intense desirelessness (vairagya) we should dive deep into Self, the primal consciousness of our existence.
~ Sri Sadhu Om's Sadhanai Saram, translated by Sadhu Om and Michael James
58. Since a life of great peace exists deep within the ocean of our heart we should be completely indifferent towards the many tendencies (vasanas) which are tossing like heavy waves on the surface of that ocean, and with intense desirelessness (vairagya) we should dive deep into Self, the primal consciousness of our existence.
~ Sri Sadhu Om's Sadhanai Saram, translated by Sadhu Om and Michael James
Monday, April 7, 2008
How does the contemplation of 'I am" affect me?
Q: When asked about the means for Self-realization, you invariably stress the importance of the mind dwelling on the sense 'I am'. Where is the causal factor? Why should this particular thought result in self-realization? How does the contemplation of 'I am" affect me?
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj: The very fact of observation alters the observer and the observed. After all, what prevents the insight into one's true nature is the weakness and obtuseness of the mind and its tendency to skip the subtle and focus the gross only. When you follow my advice and try to keep your mind on the notion of 'I am' only, you become fully aware of your mind and its vagaries. Awareness, being lucid harmony (sattva) in action, dissolves dullness and quietens the restlessness of the mind and gently, but steadily changes its very substance. This change need not be spectacular; it may be hardly noticeable; yet it is a deep and fundamental shift from darkness to light, from inadvertence to awareness.
~ I am That
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj: The very fact of observation alters the observer and the observed. After all, what prevents the insight into one's true nature is the weakness and obtuseness of the mind and its tendency to skip the subtle and focus the gross only. When you follow my advice and try to keep your mind on the notion of 'I am' only, you become fully aware of your mind and its vagaries. Awareness, being lucid harmony (sattva) in action, dissolves dullness and quietens the restlessness of the mind and gently, but steadily changes its very substance. This change need not be spectacular; it may be hardly noticeable; yet it is a deep and fundamental shift from darkness to light, from inadvertence to awareness.
~ I am That
Monday, March 31, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Be true to yourself.
Bhagavan Ramana asks us to ask ourselves, "Who am I?" and to ask now, instead of dillydallying. He says, "Take the plunge into the depths of being." The delay in taking the plunge is due to our thinking that there is something hiding our reality and that it must be destroyed before reality is gained. "It is a great game of pretending," says Bhagavan. Pretension ends when we let the dead bury the dead, cease to take thought for the morrow and live in the present. "There is only the present," says Sri Ramana.
Are we sincerely prepared to take the plunge? Most of us would rather postpone it for some reason or other. If we seriously wish to know the truth, if we truly desire to find out what we are, what life is, what is truly sacred, we have only to look, without any further delay, within.
That is the plunge. To look, to act. There is no technique or stored-up knowledge necessary to help us look within, to be what we really are.
We have kept a jewel in the safe. To take possession of it, all we have to do is open the safe. The jewel of reality, the kingdom of heaven is within. So look within. Then the life principle reveals itself. It is there as the "I" in which there is no "me", "you" or "he".
A few days before Sri Bhagavan dropped the body, Sri Sivananda Swami, one of his attendants, asked him with tears in his eyes, "Bhagavan! I am not learned. I do not know anything. Please bless me with a few words of upadesa so that I too may be redeemed."
Smiling graciously, Bhagavan said, "Be true to yourself."
When the Swami recounted this to me years later, I was thrilled. I sensed how deeply that simple sentence had impressed the artless attendant. It was Sri Bhagavan's testament of truth and freedom, not only for Sivananda Swami, but for all his devotees.
Are we true to ourselves? Begin with an honest answer. That's the beginning of the ending.
Bhagavan said, "It is grace which makes you ask Who am I?". And, "There is no answer to Who am I? The asking is the answer."
Lord Krishna says in the Gita (X:20), "I am the Self, O Gudakesa, seated in the hearts of all beings. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings." That "I" is you!
When you look, what happens? You become silent. Watch. Follow. This silence is life, our true nature. Remain in that silence -- that's all. Thinking is not our real nature. Put a stop to it. Just be. Dive within and be that silence. That silence is the real "you". That's the reality. This is Bhagavan Ramana's assurance. Be courageous, a dheera. Accept this and act. We may say, "It's all right for a Ramana Maharshi. It was possible for him. But not for me. I am nowhere near it at all."
Bhagavan anticipated this. "In this quest," he said, "the first thing to give up is the notion that it is difficult. Such a thought is the sure way of handicapping oneself."
Have faith in the grace of Sri Maharshi. Take the plunge. Faith is essential. Grace flows.
~ V. Ganesan, The Mountain Path, December, 1991
Are we sincerely prepared to take the plunge? Most of us would rather postpone it for some reason or other. If we seriously wish to know the truth, if we truly desire to find out what we are, what life is, what is truly sacred, we have only to look, without any further delay, within.
That is the plunge. To look, to act. There is no technique or stored-up knowledge necessary to help us look within, to be what we really are.
We have kept a jewel in the safe. To take possession of it, all we have to do is open the safe. The jewel of reality, the kingdom of heaven is within. So look within. Then the life principle reveals itself. It is there as the "I" in which there is no "me", "you" or "he".
A few days before Sri Bhagavan dropped the body, Sri Sivananda Swami, one of his attendants, asked him with tears in his eyes, "Bhagavan! I am not learned. I do not know anything. Please bless me with a few words of upadesa so that I too may be redeemed."
Smiling graciously, Bhagavan said, "Be true to yourself."
When the Swami recounted this to me years later, I was thrilled. I sensed how deeply that simple sentence had impressed the artless attendant. It was Sri Bhagavan's testament of truth and freedom, not only for Sivananda Swami, but for all his devotees.
Are we true to ourselves? Begin with an honest answer. That's the beginning of the ending.
Bhagavan said, "It is grace which makes you ask Who am I?". And, "There is no answer to Who am I? The asking is the answer."
Lord Krishna says in the Gita (X:20), "I am the Self, O Gudakesa, seated in the hearts of all beings. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings." That "I" is you!
When you look, what happens? You become silent. Watch. Follow. This silence is life, our true nature. Remain in that silence -- that's all. Thinking is not our real nature. Put a stop to it. Just be. Dive within and be that silence. That silence is the real "you". That's the reality. This is Bhagavan Ramana's assurance. Be courageous, a dheera. Accept this and act. We may say, "It's all right for a Ramana Maharshi. It was possible for him. But not for me. I am nowhere near it at all."
Bhagavan anticipated this. "In this quest," he said, "the first thing to give up is the notion that it is difficult. Such a thought is the sure way of handicapping oneself."
Have faith in the grace of Sri Maharshi. Take the plunge. Faith is essential. Grace flows.
~ V. Ganesan, The Mountain Path, December, 1991
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
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
Friday, February 29, 2008
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, English Translation By Prof. N. R. Krishnamoorthi Aiyer
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, English Translation By Prof. N. R. Krishnamoorthi Aiyer
Monday, February 25, 2008
Other things attract us because we wrongly believe we can obtain happiness from them, and we believe this due to our lack of viveka or true discrimination. However, by being constantly self-attentive, we will be feeding our mind with the natural clarity of viveka that exists within us as the clear light of our ever self-luminous consciousness of our own being, and thereby we will steadily gain an increasingly strong conviction that happiness lies only within ourself and not in any other thing. The stronger this conviction becomes, the more our bhakti or love for our own being and our vairagya or freedom from desire for anything other than our being will grow, and the easier it will therefore become for us to resist the false and destructive attraction of knowing anything other than being.
~ Michael James, Happiness and the Art of Being
~ Michael James, Happiness and the Art of Being
Saturday, February 23, 2008
by enquiry or melting
Thinking in the proper manner of the Guru's Grace, which is beyond expression, and being Still, remaining unattached to the false [world] appearance in front of us, is alone Blissful. (verse 288)
Sadhu Om commentary: Sri Bhagavan often used to say "Grace is Self, which shines in everyone as 'I-I'" Therefore, "thinking in the proper manner of the Guru's Grace" is nothing but attending uninterruptedly to Self. In order to show that this Self-attention is nothing but avoiding second and third person attention, it is described here as "remaining unattached to the false world-appearance in front of us". Remaining in Self-attention by "Being Still" is neither a state of laziness, nor is it remaining like a stone in kashta-samadhi or laya; it is the state of making an uninterrupted effort towards Self-attention. When this state is understood and experienced as our own Natural State, then Self-attention becomes effortless, and that is Sahaja Samadhi.
Destroy the stealthy ego, which is the thought "I am the body", either by enquiring "Who am I?", or by melting into nothing by always thinking with love of God's feet. That which will then remain is the Light of Jnana. (verse 289)
~ Sri Muruganar, Guru Vachaka Kovai, translated by Sadhu Om and Michael James
Sadhu Om commentary: Sri Bhagavan often used to say "Grace is Self, which shines in everyone as 'I-I'" Therefore, "thinking in the proper manner of the Guru's Grace" is nothing but attending uninterruptedly to Self. In order to show that this Self-attention is nothing but avoiding second and third person attention, it is described here as "remaining unattached to the false world-appearance in front of us". Remaining in Self-attention by "Being Still" is neither a state of laziness, nor is it remaining like a stone in kashta-samadhi or laya; it is the state of making an uninterrupted effort towards Self-attention. When this state is understood and experienced as our own Natural State, then Self-attention becomes effortless, and that is Sahaja Samadhi.
Destroy the stealthy ego, which is the thought "I am the body", either by enquiring "Who am I?", or by melting into nothing by always thinking with love of God's feet. That which will then remain is the Light of Jnana. (verse 289)
~ Sri Muruganar, Guru Vachaka Kovai, translated by Sadhu Om and Michael James
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Why years?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: Just as the dream-world, being only a part of yourself and not different from you, ceases to interest you, so also the present world would cease to interest you if you awake from this waking dream (samsara) and realise that it is a part of your Self, and not an objective reality. Because you think that you are apart from the objects around you, you desire a thing. But if you understand that the thing was only a thought-form you would no longer desire it. All things are like bubbles on water. You are the water and the objects are the bubbles. They cannot exist apart from the water, but they are not quite the same as the water.
D.: I feel I am like froth.
M.: Cease that identification with the unreal and know your real identity. Then you will be firm and no doubts can arise.
D.: But I am the froth.
M.: Because you think that way there is worry. It is a wrong imagination. Accept your true identity with the Real. Be the water and not the froth. That is done by diving in.
D.: If I dive in, I shall find……..
M.: But even without diving in, you are That. The ideas of exterior and interior exist only so long as you do not accept your real identity.
D.: But I took the idea from you that you want me to dive in.
M.: Yes, quite right. It was said because you are identifying yourself with the froth and not the water. Because of this confusion the answer was meant to draw your attention to this confusion and bring it home to you. All that is meant is that the Self is infinite inclusive of all that you see. There is nothing beyond It nor apart from It. Knowing this, you will not desire anything; not desiring, you will be content. The Self is always realised. There is no seeking to realise what is already - always - realised. For you cannot deny your own existence. That existence is consciousness - the Self. Unless you exist you cannot ask questions. So you must admit your own existence. That existence is the Self. It is already realised.
Therefore the effort to realise results only in your realising your present mistake - that you have not realised your Self. There is no fresh realisation. The Self becomes revealed.
D.: That will take some years.
M.: Why years? The idea of time is only in your mind. It is not in the Self. There is no time for the Self. Time arises as an idea after the ego arises. But you are the Self beyond time and space; you exist even in the absence of time and space.
~ from Talk 625, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
D.: I feel I am like froth.
M.: Cease that identification with the unreal and know your real identity. Then you will be firm and no doubts can arise.
D.: But I am the froth.
M.: Because you think that way there is worry. It is a wrong imagination. Accept your true identity with the Real. Be the water and not the froth. That is done by diving in.
D.: If I dive in, I shall find……..
M.: But even without diving in, you are That. The ideas of exterior and interior exist only so long as you do not accept your real identity.
D.: But I took the idea from you that you want me to dive in.
M.: Yes, quite right. It was said because you are identifying yourself with the froth and not the water. Because of this confusion the answer was meant to draw your attention to this confusion and bring it home to you. All that is meant is that the Self is infinite inclusive of all that you see. There is nothing beyond It nor apart from It. Knowing this, you will not desire anything; not desiring, you will be content. The Self is always realised. There is no seeking to realise what is already - always - realised. For you cannot deny your own existence. That existence is consciousness - the Self. Unless you exist you cannot ask questions. So you must admit your own existence. That existence is the Self. It is already realised.
Therefore the effort to realise results only in your realising your present mistake - that you have not realised your Self. There is no fresh realisation. The Self becomes revealed.
D.: That will take some years.
M.: Why years? The idea of time is only in your mind. It is not in the Self. There is no time for the Self. Time arises as an idea after the ego arises. But you are the Self beyond time and space; you exist even in the absence of time and space.
~ from Talk 625, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
why witnessing falls short
questioner: I do self-inquiry just as you are describing it, and I guess you are using different words for it such as "tasting yourself," "seeing yourself directly." I set aside time to do it, and I guess it is different from meditation practices, where one would follow the breath or do different concentrative practices. I want to get a little clarification.
John Sherman: That's good. I did it as a practice, when I finally abandoned my allegiance to these neo-advaita ideas about effortlessness, and not doing a practice, and so forth.
questioner: It's just a little confusing. I guess it's mainly because of the challenges inherent in talking about it. You say things such as "a practice can't help and it can't hurt."
John Sherman: When I talk about the practices that can't help and can't hurt, I mean the practices that try to change your mind; practices that seek to change the way in which this life unfolds.
questioner: But you also included the practice of witnessing, which to me seems very close to this that you describe.
John Sherman: It seems close, but it really isn't. From what I understand about witnessing, it is the practice of taking on the point of view of the witness, of sinking into the point of view of the non-involved, detached witness. But the enactment of that practice is witnessed by you. The only way it is possible to report on that is because you see it. So, the trying to adopt this viewpoint of the witness is still turning around this central idea that I am this life and this mind, and what is required here is for me to become detached, dispassionate, and witness only. It is okay. However, in no way does this practice bring you to a direct meeting with yourself. You are the one who is seeing all of this witnessing that is going on. You are the awareness of the witnessing. You are the source of that. You are the source of the impulse to do this practice. You are not a witness that is here today and gone tomorrow. You are here always. So, the practice of self-inquiry is, in all cases and all states whatsoever, to look for the subject: Okay, here I am, in the state of witnessing. Who sees that?
~ for the rest of this talk, see this.
And for Sadhu Om's view of the practice of witnessing, please see this post.
John Sherman: That's good. I did it as a practice, when I finally abandoned my allegiance to these neo-advaita ideas about effortlessness, and not doing a practice, and so forth.
questioner: It's just a little confusing. I guess it's mainly because of the challenges inherent in talking about it. You say things such as "a practice can't help and it can't hurt."
John Sherman: When I talk about the practices that can't help and can't hurt, I mean the practices that try to change your mind; practices that seek to change the way in which this life unfolds.
questioner: But you also included the practice of witnessing, which to me seems very close to this that you describe.
John Sherman: It seems close, but it really isn't. From what I understand about witnessing, it is the practice of taking on the point of view of the witness, of sinking into the point of view of the non-involved, detached witness. But the enactment of that practice is witnessed by you. The only way it is possible to report on that is because you see it. So, the trying to adopt this viewpoint of the witness is still turning around this central idea that I am this life and this mind, and what is required here is for me to become detached, dispassionate, and witness only. It is okay. However, in no way does this practice bring you to a direct meeting with yourself. You are the one who is seeing all of this witnessing that is going on. You are the awareness of the witnessing. You are the source of that. You are the source of the impulse to do this practice. You are not a witness that is here today and gone tomorrow. You are here always. So, the practice of self-inquiry is, in all cases and all states whatsoever, to look for the subject: Okay, here I am, in the state of witnessing. Who sees that?
~ for the rest of this talk, see this.
And for Sadhu Om's view of the practice of witnessing, please see this post.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
self-enquiry: eradicating the false belief
We are not seeking after some new thing to come to us. It is not about seeking after the realization and enlightenment to come to us. It is a practice, the purpose of which is to rid us of a disease, of a false belief.
Nothing can give you what you are, nothing.
There is no experience that will be authentic and then, "Oh, now I get it! Now I see what I am."
You are always the same; you never move, you never change. The purpose of the practice therefore is not to bring you realization, or to bring you enlightenment, or to bring you peace, or love, or anything at all, but to get rid of this false belief. Not to get rid of the thing that I falsely believe myself to be, even. Just to get rid of the belief, just to do away with that. In our spiritual adventure, we have heard that, and we have turned it into an idea that what we have to do is get rid of ego, because it is ego that I am falsely identified with. But nobody has had any luck at that, so that can't be it.
This false belief is the lens through which you see everything. It is not something that you can trade off and say, "Okay, I am going to believe something different." This belief is the lens through which you see everything, and the eradication of that belief is to just get rid of that lens.
That is what inquiry is intended to do. And it is intended to do that by the repeated meeting with the reality of what you are, because the lie can't stand up over repeated contact with reality, over time. No lie can. But it takes time. It takes time for that falseness to depart, to be eaten up, to be eroded away. For me, it took a long time, lot of work.
When you say long time, how long? (Laughter)
Hundred years? That's too long?
No. I think I have been doing that too, you know, hundred years.
In this lifetime, there was a time when there was the appearance of a real desperate need to be finished with this nonsense. Whatever the nonsense was, there was a real desperate need in me; I could not live unless I could be finished with this. You see, that’s the other thing about looking for love, or looking for peace, or looking for emptiness, or looking for awareness, or looking for Brahman, or looking for True Self. The desperate need brought me to the realization that what I needed absolutely to see was the reality of what I am, and not to see myself as love, and not to see myself as Brahman, and not to see myself as anything except the reality of what I am. Once that desperate need got a hold of me, it took a couple of years, before the false belief, the lie went away (I wouldn't know how else to speak of it).
You have to see that what you are looking for is the reality of what you are, and not something that will confirm some idea you have about what you should be — like love, or peace, or emptiness, or awareness. To see what you are, really. And how hard can that be? You are here! You know you are here. And it is hard to hold your attention on this reality, but it isn't hard at all to catch a flash of it. You are here. "What am I? What am I?"
And the reality of what you are never moves. Your attention will skitter away into movies and spiritual discourse, politics and other things, all of which are fine, no problem with them. But it is those moments of the direct, conscious seeing of that which nothing can be said about, of seeing it and knowing it to be you, it is the accumulation of those moments that destroys this false belief.
~ John Sherman (full talk)
Nothing can give you what you are, nothing.
There is no experience that will be authentic and then, "Oh, now I get it! Now I see what I am."
You are always the same; you never move, you never change. The purpose of the practice therefore is not to bring you realization, or to bring you enlightenment, or to bring you peace, or love, or anything at all, but to get rid of this false belief. Not to get rid of the thing that I falsely believe myself to be, even. Just to get rid of the belief, just to do away with that. In our spiritual adventure, we have heard that, and we have turned it into an idea that what we have to do is get rid of ego, because it is ego that I am falsely identified with. But nobody has had any luck at that, so that can't be it.
This false belief is the lens through which you see everything. It is not something that you can trade off and say, "Okay, I am going to believe something different." This belief is the lens through which you see everything, and the eradication of that belief is to just get rid of that lens.
That is what inquiry is intended to do. And it is intended to do that by the repeated meeting with the reality of what you are, because the lie can't stand up over repeated contact with reality, over time. No lie can. But it takes time. It takes time for that falseness to depart, to be eaten up, to be eroded away. For me, it took a long time, lot of work.
When you say long time, how long? (Laughter)
Hundred years? That's too long?
No. I think I have been doing that too, you know, hundred years.
In this lifetime, there was a time when there was the appearance of a real desperate need to be finished with this nonsense. Whatever the nonsense was, there was a real desperate need in me; I could not live unless I could be finished with this. You see, that’s the other thing about looking for love, or looking for peace, or looking for emptiness, or looking for awareness, or looking for Brahman, or looking for True Self. The desperate need brought me to the realization that what I needed absolutely to see was the reality of what I am, and not to see myself as love, and not to see myself as Brahman, and not to see myself as anything except the reality of what I am. Once that desperate need got a hold of me, it took a couple of years, before the false belief, the lie went away (I wouldn't know how else to speak of it).
You have to see that what you are looking for is the reality of what you are, and not something that will confirm some idea you have about what you should be — like love, or peace, or emptiness, or awareness. To see what you are, really. And how hard can that be? You are here! You know you are here. And it is hard to hold your attention on this reality, but it isn't hard at all to catch a flash of it. You are here. "What am I? What am I?"
And the reality of what you are never moves. Your attention will skitter away into movies and spiritual discourse, politics and other things, all of which are fine, no problem with them. But it is those moments of the direct, conscious seeing of that which nothing can be said about, of seeing it and knowing it to be you, it is the accumulation of those moments that destroys this false belief.
~ John Sherman (full talk)
Monday, February 11, 2008
the one infallible means
D: But is it not funny that the `I' should be searching for the `I'? Does not the enquiry, `Who am I?' turn out in the end an empty formula? Or, am I to put the question to myself endlessly, repeating it like some mantra?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: Self-enquiry is certainly not an empty formula; it is more than the repetition of any mantra. If the enquiry, `Who am I?' were a mere mental questioning, it would not be of much value. The very purpose of Self-enquiry is to focus the entire mind at its source. It is not, therefore, a case of one `I' searching for another `I'.
Much less is Self-enquiry an empty formula, for it involves an intense activity of the entire mind to keep it steadily poised in pure Self-awareness.
Self-enquiry is the one infallible means, the only direct one, to realise the unconditioned, Absolute Being that you really are.
~ Maharshi's Gospel
Sri Ramana Maharshi: Self-enquiry is certainly not an empty formula; it is more than the repetition of any mantra. If the enquiry, `Who am I?' were a mere mental questioning, it would not be of much value. The very purpose of Self-enquiry is to focus the entire mind at its source. It is not, therefore, a case of one `I' searching for another `I'.
Much less is Self-enquiry an empty formula, for it involves an intense activity of the entire mind to keep it steadily poised in pure Self-awareness.
Self-enquiry is the one infallible means, the only direct one, to realise the unconditioned, Absolute Being that you really are.
~ Maharshi's Gospel
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Even when extraneous thoughts sprout up during such enquiry, do not seek to complete the rising thought, but instead, deeply enquire within, 'To who has this thought occurred?' No matter how many thoughts thus occur to you, if you would with acute vigilance enquire immediately as and when each individual thought arises to whom it has occurred, you would find it is to 'me'. If then you enquire 'Who am I?' the mind gets introverted and the rising thought also subsides. In this manner as you persevere more and more in the practice of self-enquiry, the mind acquires increasing strength and power to abide in its Source.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Who Am I? - Nan Yar?
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Who Am I? - Nan Yar?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
