The world is perceived as an apparent objective reality when the mind is externalized, thereby forsaking its identity with the Self. When the world is thus perceived, the true nature of the Self is not revealed: conversely, when the Self is realized the world ceases to appear as an objective reality.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Who Am I?

distraction may be overcome, but the veiling might still remain

"Everyone has to come to Arunachala", said he [our Beloved Bhagavan Ramana].

Whichever path may be followed it ends in `I' and the investigation of the nature of the `I-thought'. Its elimination is the sadhaka's hardest task. But what could be easier than to fall back on the experiencer and to ask oneself who perceives and who sees with each experience?

All methods of sadhana lead to one-pointedness of the mind; thus distraction or the vikshepa of the mind may be overcome, but the veiling or the avarana might still remain. If blankness prevails, unless one persists with the question, "To whom is the blankness? Who am I??" and holds a receptive attitude with absolute surrender for the grace to prevail, the veiling is not removed.

One day the door is opened and the meditator is merged in the ever-present, all-pervading peace. The peace is so profound and all absorbing that the sadhaka cannot give up till it is constant and abiding. A true sadhana begins and his inner monitor will guide him till that state is reached.

"My reward consists in your permanent unbroken bliss. Do not slip away from it", says the guru to a devotee in Kaivalya Navanita.

This is endless Ramana-Consciousness.

~ Ramana Smriti, Chapter 8: Ramana Sat-Chit-Ananda Guru, by Dr. Purnima Sircar

self-enquiry

D: Bhagavan, I have heard about your 'vichara marga' but I have no clear conception of it. Is it to sit in a quiet place and ask oneself the question 'Who am I?' repeatedly or meditate on that question as on a mantra?

Bhagavan: No, it is not repeating of or meditating on 'Who am I?'. It is to dive deep into yourself and seek the place from which the 'I' thought arises in you and to hold on to it firmly to the exclusion of any other thought. Continuous and persistent effort would lead you on to the Self.

~ from A Practical Guide to Know Yourself, Conversations with Sri Ramana Maharshi by A. R. Natarajan

Only the quest "Who am I?" is necessary.

Maharshi: Moksha is to know that you were not born. "Be still and know that I am God." To be still is not to think. Know, and not think, is the word.

D.: There are said to be six organs of different colours in the chest , of which the heart is said to be two finger-breadths to the right of the middle line. But the Heart is also formless. Should we then imagine it to have a shape and meditate on it?

Maharshi: No. Only the quest "Who am I??" is necessary. What remains all through deep sleep and waking is the same. But in waking there is unhappiness and the effort to remove it. Asked who wakes up from sleep you say `I'. Now you are told to hold fast to this `I'. If it is done the eternal Being will reveal Itself. Investigation of `I' is the point and not meditation on the heart-centre. There is nothing like within or without. Both mean either the same thing or nothing. Of course there is also the practice of meditation on the heart- centre. It is only a practice and not investigation. Only the one who meditates on the heart can remain aware when the mind ceases to be active and remains still; whereas those who meditate on other centres cannot be so aware but infer that the mind was still only after it becomes again active.

from Talk 131, Talks with Ramana Maharshi http://talks-with-ramana-maharshi.blogspot.com/2007/08/talk-131.html

Bhakti-Vichara

When one adopting self-enquiry
Reaches the journey's end and gains
Samadhi's bliss, it is solely due
To the grace of God, one's inmost Self,
Life of one's life.

Unless the Self, the God within,
By power of grace pulls in the mind,
Who has the strength through his own effort
To stop the rogue mind's outward drift
And merge it in the Heart and so
Gain peace?

Without the Guru's grace one cannot
Win the grace of God with eightfold form.
And this God's grace comes neither from
Learning nor from aught else but through
Devotion and devotion only.

Whether or not God's grace abundant
Sustains you, entertain no doubt.
That you, avid for freedom from bondage,
Have started self-enquiry, this
is proof enough of grace.

To tell the truth, God's grace supreme
And the keen quest "Who am I?",
Which means abidance in the Heart,
Will work together as mutual aids
And bring one to the state of oneness
With the Self supreme.

This maya world-dream will not end
Unless the Self within speaks out.
The enquiry "Who is the dreamer
Of this dream?" is prayer addressed
To Him to speak and wake us up.

It is said that meditation
On one's own being is supreme
Devotion to all-transcending God,
Because, though spoken of as two,
They are in substance one.

The way of knowledge and the way of love
Are interwoven close. Don't tear
Asunder these inseparables.
But practice both together holding
In the heart the two as one.


Meditation on the Self
Is devotion to the Lord
Supreme, since He abides as this
Our very Self.
-Sri Bhagavan


~ Sri Muruganar, Guru Vachaka Kovai

straight to the Heart

The Sage [of Arunachala] describes the method of the Quest in the following; "Just as one dives into a lake, seeking a thing that has fallen in, so should the seeker dive into the Heart, resolved to find wherefrom rises the ego-sense, restraining speech and the vital breath."[Ulladu Narpadu, v28].

This brings out the devotional aspect of the Quest; as the diver devotes himself to his purpose -- the recovery of the lost article -- by restraining the breath and diving with all his weight, so too the seeker must be devoted to the finding of the real Self -- the source of the 'I am' in the ego -- by the ingathering of all the vital and mental energies and directing them Heartwards.

The resolve to find the Self is the dynamic element of the Quest, without which there can be no diving into the Heart; the question 'Who am I?', or 'Whence am I?', implies this resolve. To him that so dives, says the Sage, success is assured; for then, says he, some mysterious force arises from within and takes possession of his mind and takes it straight to the Heart; if the seeker be pure of mind and free from love of individuality he would yield himself unreservedly to this force and get the highest of rewards; for whatever a man is devoted to, that he gets, and there is nothing higher than the real Self.

~ Lakshmana Sarma, Maha Yoga

Directing all the energies of body and mind into a single current

[Sri Bhagavan] says: "The direct method of winning the real Self is diving into the Heart, seeking the Source of the 'I am'; the meditation, 'I am not this, I am That,' is of course helpful; but it is not itself the method of finding the Self." Speaking to a visitor he said: "You are told that the ego is not your real Self; if you accept it, then you have only to search for and find that which is your real Self, the real being of which the ego is a false appearance. Why then do you meditate 'I am That'? That only gives a fresh lease of life to the ego. It is like some one trying to avoid 'thinking of the monkey when taking medicine'; by the very act of trying he admits the thought. The source or truth of the ego must be traced and found. Meditating 'I am That' is of no use; for meditation is by the mind, and the Self is beyond the mind. In the Quest of its own reality the ego perishes of itself; hence this is the direct method; in all else the ego is retained and hence so many doubts arise and the eternal question remains to be faces; until that question is faced there will be no end to the ego. Then why not face that question at once, without going through those other methods?" ...

The Quest of the real Self consists in gathering together all the energies of body and mind by banishing all alien thoughts, and then directing all those energies into a single current, namely the resolve to find the answer to the question 'Who am I?'. The question may also take the form of 'Whence am I?". 'Who am I?' means "What is the Truth of me?'; 'Whence am I?' means 'What is the Source of the sense of self in the ego?'

~ Maha Yoga, by Who (Lakshmana Sarma) (italicized quote by Sri Bhagavan is verse 34 from Ulladu Narpadu)