Those who pursue the enquiry "Who am I?" until the last vestige of identification with the physical body is eradicated from their hearts, will be filled with the all pervading glory of the Self, shining alone as Sadasiva.

Praise to his holy feet, where the sun of truth rises, illuminating the boundless sphere of supreme bliss, which can never be expunged from the awareness of his devotees, whose stony hearts melt, as the senses' contamination comes to an end.

~ verses 411 & 419, Sri Ramana Anubuti

What is your worth?

What is your worth? You are the consciousness through which the world is expressed. Abide in that worthiness. Don't step down into mind and the body. Again, you must have the firm conviction that you are unaffected by birth and death. You are like space, not only like space, you are prior to space.

~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Prior to Consciousness

our Gracious Companions, these Holy Feet

They are like a great mirror, reflecting within the hearts of true devotees who seek with certain knowledge of their authentic nature. Gracious companions, ruling all that is in the heavens or upon the earth, they gave me, poor wretch that I was, a vision of the vastness of the Supreme, those holy feet of burnished gold.

~ Non-Dual Consciousness, The Flood Tide of Bliss,Sri Ramana Anubuti

unfailing guidance

Arunachala and Ramana are really one and indivisible. They embody the power and grace of God who governs the world. From this truth springs their unmatched power to grant boons asked or unasked and to provide unfailing guidance for returning to the source, to the spiritual heart. Theirs is the fire of knowledge in which the threefold karma is immolated. One is born anew, abiding always in the joyous natural state.

~ A.R. Natarajan, Arunachala, From Rigveda to Ramana Maharshi

Lakshmi Day

This year, Lakshmi Day is observed today. (The honouring of her Nirvana.)

Please see this http://bhagavanramana.blogspot.com/2007/06/deliverance-of-lakshmi-ii.html

drinking in the stillness

On other occasions there is neither celebration nor crisis nor any activity whatever but an abiding silence throughout the hall and Ashram. It can happen that, after a long period without rainfall, flash-flood showers sweep through in the early morning hours. The whole of the surrounding nature is awakened, brought to life again after the lingering drought. Frogs chant in full voice, the Ashram well fills to the brim and the sound of run-off streams from the mountain is heard in the distance. The fragrance of lemongrass, sage and pampas, undetectable during the dry months, fills the darshan hall while songbirds, as if appearing out of nowhere, sing their springtime songs once again. On such mornings, an infused silence permeates as Bhagavan, devotees, and often, Gomatha Lakshmi, sit in meditation, drinking in the stillness of the after-rain hush.

~ from The Life of Lakshmi the Cow

our refuge

Like a mother who rushes to her hungry baby, picks it up, offers her breast and gives milk, manifest within my heart and end my intense hunger for jnana.

There is no means of getting redeemed other than by having a mind that possesses love for you in such abundance that tears flow like a river.

My Lord! Without making me weary and frustrated with book knowledge, bestow on me the mind of a child that abounds with purity. Make me cling to you in this way.

I am caught in the mouth of the tiger, ego. Apart from you, who took me up as your slave, who else in this world has the responsibility to save me.

On that day when I caught hold of your feet, saying, 'You are my refuge,' you granted me freedom from fear by saying, 'Fear not'.

~ Sadhu Natanananda, Sri Ramana Darsanam

Aren't animals living beings and in reality the Self as well?

Bhagavan strokes the calf. She hops about excitedly, goes round Bhagavan and then begins licking Bhagavan's hand.

Pasupathi: Look! What a sight! It's going around Bhagavan with such devotion.

Bhagavan: Don't say, "It's going around," say, "she is going around". Aren't animals living beings and in reality the Self as well?

Pasupathi: Forgive me, Bhagavan, a slip of the tongue. The golden hand of Bhagavan has touched this calf. She is indeed blessed!

... while Bhagavan and Pasupathi Iyer converse, Lakshmi explores the Ashram and then returns to Bhagavan. Pasupathi Iyer falls prostrate in reverence to Bhagavan and then departs with mother cow and calf. Bhagavan goes inside and others follow.

Ramanathan: (To an ashramite nearby) Did you see how Bhagavan and the calf were looking so intently at each other?

Ashramite: Yes, I was wondering why Bhagavan was fixing his eyes on the calf like that.

Ramanathan: That was also my experience. Once when I was studying in the Vedapatsala, the magnetic gaze of Bhagavan was directed toward me. The instant the light from Bhagavan's lotus eyes fell upon me, springs of love for him began to open up and overwhelm me. I observed the same passion flooding the eyes of that calf. The two of them looked like mother and child gazing at one another.

Ramanatha softly recites a verse from Bhagavan's Aksharamanamalai:

As the magnet does to iron,
attract me ceaselessly and be merged into me,
O Arunachala!

~ from Sri Ramana, Friend of Animals, The Life of Lakshmi the Cow, A Story Adapted from Prani Mitra Bhagavan Ramanar

please see this: http://bhagavanramana.blogspot.com/2007/06/deliverance-of-lakshmi.html

the Grace of our Lord

Removing the false view of things which we find so bewildering, [Grace] grants us the supreme gift of awakening into the state of final liberation. Upon this broad earth, so full of contradictions, it rouses us from the fundamental sleep of the senses, which is ruled by desire alone, the Grace of our Lord.

~ Sri Ramana Anubhuti

attachment to the Guru?

What do you mean, attachment to the Guru? You and Guru are one, not two.

~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Prior to Consciousness

the direct path

16. It is true wisdom For the mind to turn away From outer objects and behold Its own effulgent form.

17. When unceasingly the mind Scans its own form, There is nothing of the kind. For everyone This path direct is open.

18. Thoughts alone make up the mind; And of all thoughts the `I' thought is the root. What is called mind is but the notion `I'.

19. When one turns within and searches Whence this `I' thought arises, The shamed `I' vanishes And wisdom's quest begins.

20. Where this `I' notion fades, Now there as I, as I, arises The One, the very Self, The Infinite.

~ Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, from The Essence of Instruction
for full text, please see http://ramana-collected-works.blogspot.com/2007/06/essence-of-instruction.html

Why does the mind always go outwards instead of inwards

Q: Why does the mind always go outwards instead of inwards?

Annamalai Swami: Because we don't ask the question, 'Why does the mind go outwards instead of inwards.'

This question arises because the nature of happiness is not properly understood. People are always looking for it in the wrong places and by doing the wrong activities. You begin with the impression, which is really a misunderstanding, that happiness is something that can be found outside you, and furthermore, that you have to do something or go somewhere to reach it. This is your illusion, and it is your belief in this illusion that makes the mind search for happiness in the outside world.

Even when you are told, 'Happiness is within you as your own Self. Look inwards and find it,' still you think that you have to do something or go somewhere to discover it. This is the power of Maya of illusion. This is like one fish in the sea asking another fish for directions to the ocean.

When you are not aware that your glasses are resting on your nose, you may look for them all day, thinking that they are an object to be found. Eventually, you realise that you were wearing them all the time.

While the search was on, that which was being sought was, in reality, that through which the seeing was taking place. You were looking for an object that finally turned out to be the subject that was doing the seeking. So it is with your mind and the Self. Mind sets up the notion that the Self needs to be found, and then proceeds to hunt for it as if it were some object that could be located in some interior place. This is as foolish as a man with a goat wrapped around his shoulders spending his time wandering around, looking for his goat, and asking everyone he meets where it might be.

~ from Final Talks, edited by David Godman