To look for God ignoring Thee who art Being and Consciousness is like going with a lamp to look for darkness. Only to make Thyself known as Being and Consciousness, Thou dwellest in different religions under different (names and) forms. If (yet) they do not come to know Thee, they are indeed the blind who do not know the sun. O Arunachala the great! Thou peerless Gem, abide and shine Thou as my Self, One without a second!

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, verse 4, Sri Arunachala Ashtakam

The ending of suffering

Since you are intent on driving out suffering, you should know that your real nature is bliss alone.

Confusion and agitation are erroneous superimpositions upon consciousness, within which they have no real existence.

For all the many distressful diseases the peerless medicine is definitely the certainty of the real nature of the Self.

Why do you become distressed and suffer to no purpose over things that are not worthy of your concern? Let go of the mind's anxieties.

Those adepts who have perfected their sadhana will not become dejected and perturbed when they are beset by trials and tribulations.

In what way do lamentations benefit the jiva? The sensible policy is to terminate the tyrannical insurgency of the mind.

Until you enquire into your real nature, seeing and abiding as it, the triple miseries experienced by you will not cease.

~ Padamalai, Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi Recorded by Muruganar

one-pointed enquiry

D: How then does ignorance of this one and only Reality unhappily arise in the case of the ajnani?

M: The ajnani sees only the mind which is a mere reflection of the light of Pure Consciousness arising from the heart. Of the heart itself he is ignorant. Why? Because his mind is extroverted and has never sought its Source.

D: What prevents the infinite, undifferentiated light of Consciousness arising from the heart from revealing itself to the ajnani?

M: Just as water in the pot reflects the enormous sun within the narrow limits of the pot, even so the vasanas or latent tendencies of the mind of the individual, acting as the reflecting medium, catch the all-pervading, infinite light of Consciousness arising from the heart and present in the form of a reflection the phenomenon called the mind. Seeing only this reflection, the ajnani is deluded into the belief that he is a finite being, the jiva.

If the mind becomes introverted through enquiry into the source of aham-vritti, the vasanas become extinct, and in the absence of the reflecting medium the phenomenon of reflection, namely, the mind, also disappears being absorbed into the light of the one Reality, the heart.

This is the sum and substance of all that an aspirant needs to know. What is imperatively required of him is an earnest and one-pointed enquiry into the source of aham-vritti.

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, Maharshi's Gospel

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

that serious and sustained confusion

In a deeper and generally more suitable way of thinking, each of these elements is a projection, in a subtotality of yet higher 'dimension'. So it will ultimately be misleading and indeed wrong to suppose, for example, that each human being is an independent actuality who interacts with other human beings and with nature. Rather, all these are projections of a single totality. As a human being takes part in the process of this totality, he is fundamentally changed in the very activity in which his aim is to change that reality which is the content of his consciousness. To fail to take this into account must inevitably lead one to serious and sustained confusion in all that one does.

~ David Bohm, Wholeness and the Implicate Order

our refuge

For those who, thinking without thought,
‘Whence does the “I” arise?’
so that ‘I’ is destroyed within the Heart,
wherein the ‘I’ does not arise,
have died to the five senses [and the mind]
and dwell steadfastly in the Heart,
their minds become Sivam,
the sanctum sanctorum.

Yours are the holy feet of Sivam,
the true, the divine,
which you clearly revealed to me
through the power of consciousness [chit sakti]
as I was whirling, through fear, in confusion
amongst imaginary appearances.

Our Lord! Know that, through all the seven births,
your feet of pure gold,
which are truly worthy to behold,
are the one refuge for us, your devotees!

~ Sri Bhagavan and Sri Muruganar, Ramana Puranam, lines 523-530 (translation & editing by Robert Butler, T. V. Venkatasubramanian and David Godman)

Devoted association with grace is living with the Guru

The mind is always operating through the senses. The vasanas, continually moving towards sense objects, make the mind resemble a lamp flickering in the wind. If it is desireless, the same mind will become motionless, like a lamp in still air. Living with the Guru is the best means for accomplishing this. However, living with the Guru is not, as some people think, the association of one body with another. The Sadguru is God in human form, but if the aspirant regards the Guru as being a form, in the same way that he takes himself to be a body, his own I-am-the-body idea will not cease. So long as this root problem does not cease, the devotee's real nature will not manifest, bondage will not end, and liberation will not be obtained. The aspirant should therefore practice worshipping the Sadguru as the unconditional supreme Brahman. Through this practice he will in due course realise that his real nature is not different from the true nature of the Sadguru. This realisation will remove the I-am-the-body idea and the devotee will attain jivanmukti.

In essence, the aspirant should take consciousness of the Self -- which shines within him just as it shines within the Sadguru -- as his gracious Guru, and abide, through Self-attention, in its presence. This is the true meaning of living with the Guru.

~Sadhu Natanananda, Sri Ramana Darsanam

this thing called mind

'When the mind appears every morning don't jump to the usual conclusion, 'This is me; these thoughts are mine'. Instead, watch these thoughts come and go without identifying with them in any way. If you can resist the impulse to claim each and every thought as your own, you will come to a startling conclusion: you will discover that you are the consciousness in which the thoughts appear and disappear. You will discover that this thing called mind only exists when thoughts are allowed to run free. Like the snake which appears in the rope, you will discover that the mind is only an illusion which appears through ignorance or misperception.

You want some experience which will convince you that what I am saying is true. You can have that experience if you give up your life-long habit of inventing an 'I' which claims all thoughts as 'mine'. Be conscious of yourself as consciousness alone, watch the thoughts come and go. Come to the conclusion, by direct experience, that you are really consciousness itself, not its ephemeral contents.'

~ Annamalai Swami, Living by the Words of Bhagavan

'i am' itself is God

Q: Why has God made me as I am?

Sri Nisargadatta: Which God are you talking about? What is God? Is he not the very light by which you ask the question? ‘I am” itself is God. The seeking itself is God. In seeking you discover that you are neither the body nor the mind, and the love of the self in you is for the self in all. The two are one. The consciousness in you and the consciousness in me, apparently two, really one, seek unity and that is love.

Q: How am I to find that love?

Sri N: What do you love now? The ‘I am’. Give your heart and mind to it, think of nothing else. This, when effortless and natural, is the highest state. In it love itself is the lover and the beloved.


~ I Am That

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

Mount Arunachala's exalted Son

Since all praised him as one of unbounded liberality, I came to him expectantly, and with joy. The bounteous 'giver' looked at me and stealthily plundered my very self! Great indeed is the liberality of this bountiful giver!

Even as I grieved, thinking thoughts I should not think, he became my Lord, spreading his radiance within my Heart so that I tasted the sweet nectar of his bliss. He is the heavenly one who fills my sight with his form, which is pure consciousness. He is Mount Arunachala's exalted Guru Ramana.

~ from Padam's Grace Towards Muruganar in Padamalai (originally from Sri Ramana Jnana Bodham and Sri Ramana Anubhuti)

(May you plunder us completely,
Beloved Bhagavan,
leaving no trace of anything
that is not You. Drown us
in your nectar. Destroy us
with your love. Restore our eyes
so we can see
You alone.)

more than anything else in this world

As you look at the world without interpretation, as you look at the world without attachment, what the world is will be revealed to you. The world will be revealed to you as no thing. As an image on the screen of Consciousness. You will become radiantly happy for no reason whatsoever. You will find the peace that you never dreamed existed.

You have to want this. You have to love this. You have to want this more than anything else in this world.

...Never allow yourself to believe that something's wrong in your life. Catch it before it starts. And say to yourself:"I am effortless, choiceless, Pure Awareness." Whatever comes up, say that. Know the truth about yourself. God has no problems. Neither do you. For you are That.

I know the teaching sounds absurd to most people. And yet this is the teaching that has been propagated by rishis, sages, since the beginning of time. This is it. This is your opportunity to awaken. Why not use it?

~ Robert Adams, Silence of the Heart

Realise with a still mind your own true nature

Hemalekha is addressing her husband Hemachuda in Tripura Rahasya:


92. "Therefore, Prince, realise with a still mind your own true nature which is the one pure, undivided Consciousness underlying the restless mind which is composed of the whole universe in all its diversity.

93. "If one is fixed in that fundamental basis of the universe (ie., the Self), one becomes the All-doer. I shall tell you how to inhere thus. I assure you - you will be That.

94. "Realise with a still mind the state between sleep and wakefulness, the interval between the recognition of one object after another or gap between two perceptions.

99. "Be also free from the thought 'I see'; remain still like a blind man seeing. What transcends sight and no sight that you are. Be quick."

100. Hemachuda did accordingly, and having gained that state referred to by his wife, he remained peaceful a long time, unaware of anything beside the Self.

To read the whole story, see http://sss.vn.ua/tripura1.htm

from Silence of The Heart by Robert Adams:

"A question I am commonly asked over the telephone or in person is this: "Robert, how do you see the world?"

How am I supposed to see the world?

Someone tells me, "I know you see Consciousness, you don't see us."

If I didn't see you, I would not be able to function. Of course I see you.

Someone else tells me, "You see bright lights and sacred images."

Again, if I see bright lights and sacred images, I'd get run over by a truck. I see exactly what you see. Nothing. The only difference is this: I look at the world and I laugh, for I realize I don't know or I don't think.

I realize that the world is none other than myself. The world is Consciousness. It is not the world as it appears, but it's still a superimposition. Therefore, a sage sees the world but realizes the world is Brahman, and is only an appearance. Whereas most people look at the world and they identify with the world. Therefore they have fears, frustrations, pains, arguments, wars, man's inhumanity to man. Only because they identify with the world."

Self Enquiry

from The Teachings of Bhagavan In His Own Words

D.: Why should Self-enquiry alone be considered the direct path to Realisation?

B.: Because every kind of path except Self-enquiry presupposes the retention of the mind as the instrument for following it, and cannot be followed without the mind. The ego may take different and more subtle forms at different stages of one's practice but it is never destroyed. The attempt to destroy the ego or the mind by methods other than Self-enquiry is like a thief turning policeman to catch the thief that is himself. Self-enquiry alone can reveal the truth that neither the ego nor the mind really exists and enable one to realise the pure, undifferentiated Being of the Self or the Absolute.

This statement that the mind is not used by the method of Self-enquiry was not always understood, and therefore Bhagavan, when asked, explained that it means that the mind is not taken for granted as a real entity but its very existence is questioned, and that this is the easiest way to dispel the illusion of its existence.

B.: To ask the mind to kill the mind is like making the thief the policeman. He will go with you and pretend to catch the thief, but nothing will be gained. So, you must turn inward and see where the mind rises from and then it will cease to exist. (In reference to this answer, Sri Thambi Thorai of Jaffna, who has been living as a sadhu in Pelakothu for over a year, asked me whether asking the mind to turn inward and seek its source is not also employing the mind. I put this doubt before Bhagavan.)

B.: Of course, we are employing the mind. It is well known and admitted that only with the help of the mind, can the mind be killed. But instead of setting about saying there is a mind and I want to kill it, you begin to seek its source, and then you find it does not exist at all. The mind turned outwards results in thoughts and objects. Turned inwards it becomes itself the Self.

It can be said that the mind ceases to exist or that it becomes transformed into the Self; the meaning is really the same. It does not mean that a person becomes mindless, like a stone, but that the Pure Consciousness of the Self is no longer confined within the narrow limits of an individualised mind and that he no longer sees through a glass darkly, but with clarity and radiant vision.