Karma yoga

Sri Ramana Maharshi ~~~ Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk 643:

M.: The Gita starts saying that you are not the body,
that you are not therefore the karta.(...he who does an act....)

Q.: What is the significance?

M.: That one should act without thinking that oneself is the actor.
The actions go on despite his egolessness.

The person has come into manifestation for a certain purpose.
That purpose will be accomplished whether he considers
himself the actor or not.

Q.: What is Karma yoga?
Is it non-attachment to Karma or its fruit?

M.: Karma yoga is that yoga in which the person
does not arrogate to himself the function of being the actor.
The actions go on automatically.

Q.: Is it the non-attachment to the fruits of actions?

M.: The question arises only if there is the actor.
It is being all along said that you should not consider yourself the actor.

Q.: So Karma yoga is kartrtva buddhi rahita karma -
action without the sense of doership.

M.: Yes. Quite so.

Q.: The Gita teaches active life from beginning to end.

M.: Yes, the actor-less action.

Q.: Is it then necessary to leave the home and lead a life of renunciation?

M.: Is the home in you? Or are you in the home?

Q.: It is in my mind.

M.: Then what becomes of you when you leave
the physical environment?

Q.: Now I see.
Renunciation is only action without the sense of being the karta.
Is there not action for a jivanmukta?

M.: Who raises the question? Is he a jivanmukta or another?

Q.: Not a jivanmukta.

M.: Let the question be raised after jivanmukti is gained,
if it is found necessary.
Mukti is admitted to be freedom from the mental activities also.
Can a mukta think of action?

Q.: Even if he gives up the action, the action will not leave him.
Is it not so?

M.: With what is he identified in order that this question might apply?

Q.: Yes, I see all right.
My doubts are now cleared.

Emptiness

Thoughts manifest themselves within emptiness and are reabsorbed into it like a face appears and disappears in a mirror; the face has never been in the mirror, and when it ceases to be reflected in it, it has not really ceased to exist.

The mirror itself has never changed.

So, before departing on the spiritual path, we remain in the so-called "impure" state of samsara, which is, in appearance, governed by ignorance. When we commit ourselves to that path, we cross a state where ignorance and wisdom are mixed.

At the end, at the moment of Enlightenment, only pure wisdom exists. But all the way along this spiritual journey, although there is an appearance of transformation, the nature of the mind has never changed: it was not corrupted on entry onto the path, and it was not improved at the time of realisation.
- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

NO MIND

NO MIND

There is no entity, as such, which we can call 'mind'. Because thoughts emerge, we assume that there is something from which they emerge, and we term it 'mind'. When we probe to see what it is, we discover that there is nothing there. After it has thus disappeared, eternal peace remains.

'Thinking' or 'the dis­criminating faculty' are mere names. Whether it is 'ego', 'mind' or 'intellect', it is the same. Whose mind is it? Whose intellect is it? It is the ego's. Is the ego real? No. We are confused by the ego and call it 'intellect' or 'mind'.

Desire for sleep or the fear of death exists when the mind is active, and not in the respective states themselves. The mind knows that the body entity persists and reappears after sleep. Therefore sleep is not attended with any fear but with the pleasure of being without a body. No existence is sought. On the other hand, the mind is not sure of its reappearance after so­ called death and therefore dreads it.
- Conscious Immortality

The awakened state that

"Actually, there is one aspect of the awakened state that is truly amazing - the fact that conceptual thinking and the three poisons (negative emotions) are totally absent. If we look around, apart from rigpa (pure awareness), what can really bring an end to thought, the very creator of samsara (suffering)? Sentient beings are never apart from thisunchanging, innate nature of mind for even an instant, yet they do not see it. Just as the nature of fire is heat and the nature of water is moisture, the nature of our mind is rigpa, nondual awareness.

The naked state of awareness has been clouded over by the dualistic frame of mind, as expressed in thoughts of the past, present and future. When awareness is free of thoughts of the three times, it is like being naked.
To repeat an important point: What is recognized is that there is no 'thing' to recognize. Nondual awareness is not a thing that can be identified or pinpointed.
This is most essential because without recognizing that there is no thing to recognize, you will always hold onto some idea about the awakened state. Clinging to subject and object in the recognition is none other than a dualistic frame of mind.
Recognize that there is no thing to recognize (grasp, know or understand), then totally let go of clinging to a "thing" and relax deeply into the open spaciousness. Remain without observer and observed. As long as there is something to identify or think about there is still concept. It is this dualistic mind of continually affirming or denying that is exhausting."
- Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

The gross body is only the concrete form of the subtle stuff: mind

The gross body is only the concrete form of the subtle stuff: mind.

Q: How can we restrain the mind?

M: Will a thief hand over a thief? Will the mind find itself? The mind cannot seek the mind. You have ignored what is real and are holding onto the mind which is unreal, and are also trying to find out what it is.

Was the mind there in your sleep? It was not, but it is here now. The mind is therefore impermanent. Can you find the mind? The mind is not you.

You think you are the mind, and therefore you ask me how it can be restrained. If it is there, it can be checked. But it is not. Understand this truth by your own search. You will discover that searching for unreality is useless — so seek the Reality, i.e. the Self.
That is the way to control the mind.

There is only one thing that is real. Everything else is only an appearance. Diversity is not its nature. We are reading the printed characters on the paper but ignoring the paper which is the background. Similarly, you are taken up by the manifestations of the mind and do not hold onto the background. Whose fault is that?

The essence of the mind is only awareness or Consciousness.
When the ego, however, dominates it, it functions as the reasoning, thinking or sensing faculty. The cosmic mind is not
limited by the ego, and so has nothing separate from itself and is therefore simply aware.

This is what the Bible means by 'I am that I AM.'

- Conscious Immortality

Spiritual pages list

1. YogaVasistha
2. RamanaMaharshi
3. RamanaHridayam

mukti

Q: How long does it take to reach mukti [liberation]?

Sri Ramana Maharshi :

Mukti is not to be gained in the future. 
It is there for ever, here and now.

Q: I agree, but I do not experience it.

Sri Ramana Maharshi :

The experience is here and now.
One cannot deny one's own Self.

Q: That means existence and not happiness.

Sri Ramana Maharshi :

Existence is the same as happiness
and happiness is the same as being.

The word mukti is so provoking.
Why should one seek it?

One believes that there is bondage
and therefore seeks liberation.

But the fact is that there is no bondage but only liberation.
Why call it by a name and seek it?

Q: True - but we are ignorant.

Sri Ramana Maharshi :

Only remove ignorance.
That is all there is to be done.
All questions relating to mukti are inadmissible.

Mukti means release from bondage
which implies the present existence of bondage.
There is no bondage and therefore no mukti either.

~ From Be as you are book

Quotes 3.5

Self

Suffering

We cannot get rid of suffering by saying, "I will not suffer." 
We cannot eliminate attachment by saying, "I will not be attached to anything," nor eliminate aggression by saying, "I will never become angry." 

Yet, we do want to get rid of suffering and the disturbing emotions that are the immediate cause of suffering. The Buddha taught that to eliminate these states, which are really the results of the primary confusion of our belief in a personal self, we must get rid of the fundamental cause. 

But we cannot simply say, "I will not believe in the personal self." The only way to eliminate suffering is to actually recognize the experience of a self as a misconception, which we do by proving directly to ourselves that there is no such personal self. We must actually realize this. 

Once we do, then automatically the misconception of a self and our fixation on that "self" will disappear. Only by directly experiencing selflessness can we end the process of confused projection. This is why the Buddha emphasized meditation on selflessness or egolessness. 

However, to meditate on egolessness, we must undertake a process that begins with a conceptual understanding of egolessness; then, based on that understanding, there can be meditation, and finally realization.

Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, from Pointing Out the Dharmakaya

Present moment

When it is realized that you live in the present moment, that you are indeed the present moment, (the what-is here and now) and that therefore apart from this there is no past and no future, you cannot but relax and taste to the full, the pleasure or the pain, His will - the present moment. And then everything becomes obvious: why this universe exists, why sentient beings have been produced, why sensitive organs, why space, time and change. The whole problem of analyzing and justifying nature, of trying to make life mean something in terms of words and lateral thinking - all this becomes meaningless. Obviously, it all exists for this moment, this kshana. It is a dance, and when you are dancing, there is only the dance, not any intent of getting somewhere.

- Ramesh S. Balsekar, 'A Living Gem from Ramesh’ - Advaita Fellowship Newsletter, August 2010

Quotes 3.3

Quotes 3.2

Quotes 3.1

Jnani

CONVERSATIONS WITH ANNAMALAI SWAMI

Q: The jnani appears to us to have a form. Do the gunas affect the functioning of this form? 

AS: The jnani does not regard himself as having a form; he only regards himself as the Self. If we limit Bhagavan to a form, that is our mistake, not his. The form we mistakenly regard as Bhagavan may appear to be governed by the activities of the gunas, but from Bhagavan's point of view there is no form at all, there is only the Self. 

So long as we identify ourselves and Bhagavan with particular 
forms, we cannot be aware of him as he really is. 

Bhagavan once said to me, 'All forms are God and all activities are His’. This does not mean that each separate form is a manifestation of God because in the Self there is no such thing as separateness. All people, all things, and the gunas which cause them to appear to react with each other, are just inseparable appearances in the indivisible and unmanifest Self.

- Living by the Words of Bhagavan

Ramana says

Ramana says:

"God dwells in you, as you, and you don't have to 'do' anything to be God-realized or Self-realized, it is already your true and natural state." Just drop all seeking, turn your attention inward, and sacrifice your mind to the One Self radiating in the Heart of your very being. For this to be your own presently lived experience, Self-Inquiry is the one direct and immediate way."

Self

There is no difference between the dream and the waking state except that the dream is short and the waking long. Both are the result of the mind. Our real state is called turiya, which is beyond the waking, dream and sleep states.

The Self alone exists and remains as It is. The three states owe their existence to avichara (non-enquiry), and enquiry puts an end to them. However much one may explain, this fact will not become clear until one attains Self-realization, and wonders how he was blind to the self-evident and only existence for so long.

All that we see is a dream, whether we see it in the dream state or waking state. On account of some arbitrary standards about the duration of the experience and so on, we call one experience a dream and another waking experience. With reference to Reality both the experiences are unreal. A man might have an experience such as getting anugraha (grace) in his dream, and the effects and influence of it on his entire subsequent life may be so profound and abiding, that one cannot call it unreal – whilst calling real some trifling incident in the waking life that just flits by, which is casual, of no consequence and is soon forgotten. Once I had an experience, a vision or a dream, whatever you may call it. I and some others, including Chadwick, had a walk on the hill. Returning, we were walking along a huge street with great buildings on either side. Pointing out the street and the buildings, I asked Chadwick and others, whether anybody could say that what we were seeing was a dream, and they all replied, ‘Which fool will say so?’ We then walked along, entered the hall and the vision or dream ceased, or I woke up. What are we to call this?

Just before waking up from sleep, there is a very brief state, free from thought. That should be made permanent. In dreamless sleep there is no world, no ego and no unhappiness, but the Self remains. In the waking state there are all of these. Yet there is the Self. One has only to remove the transitory happenings in order to realize the ever-present beatitude of the Self.

Your nature is bliss. Find that on which all the rest are superimposed and you then remain as the pure Self. In sleep there is no space or time. They are concepts, which arise after the ‘I-thought’ has arisen. You are beyond time and space. The ‘I-thought’ is the limited ‘I’. The real ‘I’ is unlimited, universal, beyond time and space. Just while rising from sleep and before seeing the objective world, there is state of awareness which is your Pure Self. That must be known.

~Ramana Maharshi

Mind vs self

Q: What is the difference between the mind and the Self ? 

Sri Ramana Maharshi : 

There is no difference. 
The mind turned inwards is the Self; turned outwards, 
it becomes the ego and all the world. 

Cotton made into various clothes we call by various names. 

Gold made into various ornaments, 
we call by various names. 
But all the clothes are cotton and all the ornaments gold. 

The one is real, the many are mere names and forms. 
But the mind does not exist apart from the Self, 
that is, it has no independent existence. 

The Self exists without the mind, never the mind without the Self.

Q: Brahman is said to be sat-chit-ananda. What does that mean? 

Sri Ramana Maharshi : 

Yes. 
That is so. 
That which is, is only sat.
That is called Brahman. 

The luster of sat is chit and its nature is ananda. 
These are not different from sat. 
All the three together are known as satchit-ananda.

~ From Be as you are book

Be

The only person who can write about Bhagavan is the person who really knows Him, and that only person who really knows Him is Bhagavan Himself. And it is perfectly certain that Bhagavan will never write about Himself.

You say: "If there is nothing, why write?"

Yes, why? The whole thing can be summed up in four words: 

THERE IS NOTHING. BE! 

When one understands those four words, one understands everything including Bhagavan Himself.

Then, there is no more to say.

(Source: Arunachala's Ramana., Boundless Ocean of Grace, Volume 6.
Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai.)

Be as u r

Q: In what sense is happiness or bliss (ananda) our real nature? 

Sri Ramana Maharshi :

Perfect bliss is Brahman.
Perfect peace is of the Self. 
That alone exists and is consciousness. 

That which is called happiness is only the nature of Self; 
Self is not other than perfect happiness. 
That which is called happiness alone exists. 
Knowing that fact and abiding in the state of Self, 
enjoy bliss eternally. 

If a man thinks that his happiness 
is due to external causes and his possessions, 
it is reasonable to conclude that 
his happiness must increase with the increase of possessions 
and diminish in proportion to their diminution. 
Therefore if he is devoid of possessions, 
his happiness should be nil. 

What is the real experience of man? 
Does it conform to this view? 

In deep sleep man is devoid of possessions, 
including his own body. 
Instead of being unhappy he is quite happy. 
Everyone desires to sleep soundly. 

The conclusion is that happiness is inherent in man 
and is not due to external causes. 

One must realize the Self in order to open the store of unalloyed happiness.

~ From Be as you are book

Self knowledge

The story of King Janaka was told by Sage Vasishta to Sri Rama as follows:

King Janaka took evening walks everyday in his royal garden, while his retinue stayed outside. One day Janaka, when alone in the garden, happened to hear the conversation of some invisible siddhas. The purport of the conversation is as follows: 

(1) When the knower and the known become one, then the bliss of the Self is experienced. This is known as Self -Knowledge and this is what one should aim at.

(2) To eradicate the vasanas one should contemplate on the Self which bestows light on the seer, seen and the act-of-seeing. One should thus contemplate on the eternal Self which is the centre between the being and non-being. 

(3) That in which this entire universe is established, to which it pertains, out of which it arises, for which it exists, by which it really is, that is the self-existent-reality, the Truth. Let us contemplate on that in the Heart.*

(4) One should contemplate the one eternal Self which reveals itself shining as "I"-"I". Instead of seeking the truth in the heart, the ignorant goes in search of God outside oneself. It is like a man throwing away the valuable Kaustubba gem in hand and going after conch shells. 

(5) The self can be realised only by those who have destroyed completely the hosts of desire. Knowing the absence of happiness in the baneful objects (both in the past and future) yet if one clings on to them one would remain in bondage and is no better than an ass. 

(6) Just as the celestial Indra struck down the mountains with his thunderbolt, let us strike at the senses which raise their hoods as hissing snakes, with our powerful discriminative mind. By this the mind acquires peace, gets equanimity and becomes one with the Blissful Self.

* Invocatory verse to Supplement to Forty Verses. The Sanskrit (original) verse was translated into Tamil by Bhagavan. 

Taken from Moments Remembered:Reminiscences of Bhagavan Ramana by Sri V Ganesan.

Illusion

D: What is Maya? Illusion?

B: Seeing ice without seeing that it is water is illusion, Maya. Therefore saying things like killing the mind or anything like that also has no meaning, for after all mind also is part and parcel of the Self. 

Resting in the Self or inhering in the Self is mukti, getting rid of Maya. Maya is not a separate entity. Absence of light is called darkness, so also absence of Knowledge, Illumination etc., is called ignorance, illusion or Maya.

D: What is samadhi?

B: When the mind is in communion with the Self in darkness, it is called nidra (sleep), i.e., the involution of the mind in ignorance. 

Involution in a conscious or wakeful state is called samadhi. 

Samadhi is continuous inherence in the Self in a waking state. Nidra or sleep is also inherence in the Self but in an unconscious state. In sahaja samadhi the communion is continuous.

- CrumbsfromHisTable

Brahman

TEACHINGS OF BRAHMAJNA MA

A disciple wrote to Her that he had been passing his days in a monotonous domestic life, having neither the courage to renounce these duties nor to take them up in right earnest and forget Her teaching. To him She replied:

"See and judge for yourself what you are doing in this wilderness of samsara, finding no pleasure in it: 

Day by day the end is drawing near, what have you done to prepare for it? 

You have read the Vedas and the Shastras and have heard about the Truth,

But your mind, illusioned by maya, is not yet awake and you have forgotten your own Self.

By your own mistake you are playing the role of jiva and courting birth and death times without number.

Know for certain that you will surely die if you are born,
No one lives eternally.

So when there is yet time, be acquainted with your own Self and put an end to fear and death. 

Day is ending, give up play, and by disclosing your own nature destroy the darkness. 

There is no pleasure in desiring sense-objects; fame, position and wealth are all sapless. 

Touch the real source of happiness and thereby destroying the monotony; drink the nectar of contentment, which is your Self. 
There is an abode of Shanthi where you can have rest. 
March on and on—Now is the time.”

In reply to a devotee who sayed that the "I" is always eluding his grasp, Mother dictated the following song: 

“Ascertain who you are –
Always you are speaking of yourseIf as ’I’, ’I’, ’I’.
Are you the five elements, including the akasha, or mind, intellect, body or the vital force ? 
What is your name, what is your form and where do you reside?
Tell me whether you are desire, anger, avarice or illusion;
Give me your acquaintance - are you purusha or prakriti, who is playing on the dramatic stage of maya? 

It is yourself who is playing and creating other players, father, mother and relations. 

Always the insatiable fire of desire is burning, hope is not quenched by sprinkling on it the water of enjoyment, the fire of tritap is always ablaze.

You are pure, conscious, free and always exist; body, intellect and ego are your illusory imaginations.

You are yourself Brahman by nature – see it by opening the eye of knowledge.

Master

B: Who is the Master? You think there is the Master here. You see the body of the Master, but how does the Master conceive of himself? 

He is the Self or Atma. He sees everybody as himself. Only if there is a world apart from him could he see a world. If the Self is identified with the world then where would be the world? There has been no creation, no destruction, no preservation. 

That which is, is ever the Self, the Atma. These appear according to each one’s standpoint, according to the maturity of the mind, and as you progress further and further these doubts will not arise.

That which exists is consciousness. Consciousness and existence are not different. Existence is the same as Consciousness, pure Consciousness, Absolute Consciousness. 

You say I am conscious of the body and so on, but pure Consciousness is beyond all this. It is Absolute Consciousness. 

There is no question of transition from unconsciousness to supreme pure Consciousness. Giving up these two, self- consciousness and unconsciousness, you inhere in the natural consciousness, that is pure Consciousness.

D: It is stated that the existence of the world is false, an illusion, Maya, but we see the world day after day. How can it be false?

B: By false it is meant that the conception of the world is a superimposition on reality, as the idea of a snake is superimposed on the reality of a rope, in darkness (in ignorance). That is Maya, illusion.

- Crumbs from His Table

Self

Yogi Ananda Saraswathi

You are not pizza to satiate every tongue in your neighborhood or make everyone happy. Neither are you facebook status for everyone to like. You don’t need to lose your dignity just to be super-nice, you are then playing into market-games. Just be yourself, be humble and live your truth. It is the other fellow’s problem if he or she cannot find you acceptable. Jai Maa Kali.

Self

SELF-REALIZATION

D: Can I get knowledge of the “Self,” that is can I experience direct realization of the “Self ”?

B: Why? Who is there without a knowledge of the “Self ”? Everyone has experience of the “Self ”.

D: But I do not realize it.

B: The fact is that all the while you know the “Self ”. How can the self not know the Self. Only you, the self, have got into the habit of thinking that you are this, you are that and you are the other. It is the wrong notion that produces or constitutes viparita bhavana of the Self at present, and that is why you say you do not know the Self. What is to be done is to get rid of that wrong notion of the Self. That then clears up the Self-knowledge or Self-realization.

D: How can I get rid of that viparita bhavana? Can any ordinary man get rid of it? If so, how?

B: Yes. That is possible and is being done. There are many ways — Bhakti, Jnana, Karma, Yoga, etc., are being adopted — all for the removal of this viparita bhavana. But the main way is simple.

D: But I am ignorant of the method and of the ‘Self ’.

B: Who is ignorant of what? Ask the question and pursue the enquiry as to who it is that is said to be ignorant. Once you put the question, trying to probe into the ‘I’, the ‘I’ disappears. Then what survives is Self-knowledge or Self-realization.

- CrumbsfromHisTable

Mind

When a thought moves, simply recognize the thinker. 
The thinking then dissolves. 

No matter what the thought is about, the thinking and the thinker are empty. A thought in itself is not made of any concrete substance; it is simply an empty thought movement. By recognizing the empty essence in a thought, it vanishes like a bubble in water. 

That is how to deal with any particular present thought at hand. Once you know how to let the present thought dissolve, any subsequent thought can be dealt with in exactly the same way, as simply another present thought. 

But if we get involved in the thought, thinking of what is being thought of, and continue it, then there is no end.

It is only our thinking that propels us or forces us into further samsaric existence. As long as we get caught up in our own thinking, samsara doesn’t stop.

- Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

Ved

क्यों कम उम्र में ही कुछ लोग छोड़ देते हैं दुनिया? विदुर नीति में है इसका उत्तर...........saffron

वेदों में वर्णित है कि मनुष्य की आयु 100 वर्षों की है. फिर भी कई लोग इस आयु सीमा के इर्द-गिर्द भी नहीं पहुँच पाते. महाभारत में इस रहस्य को जानने की उत्सुकता धृतराष्ट्र को हुई. उन्होंने अपने मन की बात विदुर को बतायी. अपनी उत्सुकता जाहिर करते हुए धृतराष्ट्र ने पूछा-

शतायुरुक्त: पुरुष: सर्ववेदेषु वै यदा।
नाप्नोत्यथ च तत् सर्वमायु: केनेह हेतुना।।

अर्थात

जब सभी वेदों में पुरुष को 100 वर्ष की आयु वाला बताया गया है तो किस कारण से कोई अपनी पूर्ण आयु नहीं जी पाता?

धृतराष्ट्र के जवाब में विदुर कहते हैं-

अतिमानोअतिवादश्च तथात्यागो नराधिप।
क्रोधश्चात्मविधित्सा च मित्रद्रोहश्च तानि षट्।।
एत एवासयस्तीक्ष्णा: कृन्तन्यायूंषि देहिनाम्।
एतानि मानवान् घ्नन्ति न मृत्युर्भद्रमस्तु ते।।

अर्थात

अत्यधिक अभिमान, अत्यधिक बोलना, त्याग की कमी, क्रोध, स्वार्थ, मित्र द्रोह ये छह चीजें किसी मनुष्य की आयु को कम करती हैं.

महाभारत काल में इस तरह विदुर ने मनुष्यों के छह दोषों को उनके आयुु के कम होने का कारण माना. ये कारण निम्नवत हैं-

अभिमान-
अपनी प्रशंसा सुनने वाले, सबसे बलवान समझने का वहम रखने वाले अभिमान का शिकार हो जाते हैं. किसी व्यक्ति में इन दोषों के आ जाने के कारण वह स्वयं को सर्वोपरि मानने लगता है. यह अभिमान ही उसकी अल्पावधि में मृत्यु का कारण बनती हैं.

वाचाल-
अत्यधिक और व्यर्थ बोलने वाले ऐसी बातें बोल जाते हैं जिसके नकारात्मक परिणाम सामने आ सकते हैं. दूसरे बुद्धिमान प्राणियों पर उनका कोई प्रमाण नहीं होता. असंयमित वाणी का नकारात्मक असर मनुष्य के जीवन पर पड़ता है.

क्रोध-
क्रोध को मनुष्य का सबसे बड़ा शत्रु माना गया है. इस अवस्था में वह भावी परिणामों को भूल जाता है जो यदा-कदा उसके पतन का कारण बनते हैं.

त्याग की कमी-
त्याग की कमी मनुष्यों की आयु को कम करती है. सामाजिक मनुष्य होने के नाते भी मनुष्य के अंदर त्याग रूपी गुण का समावेश होना चाहिये.

स्वार्थ-
पाप के मूल में स्वार्थ लोलुप प्रवृत्तियाँ हैं. ये कुत्सित प्रवृतियाँ अनीति को बढ़ावा देकर सामाजिक असमानता को चौड़ा करने का कार्य करती हैं. इस पर यथाशीघ्र नियंत्रण जीवन को संयमित करता है.

मित्र को धोखा-
शास्त्रों के अनुसार मित्रों को धोखा देने वालों को अधम मनुष्यों की श्रेणी में रखा गया है. मित्रों से छल करने वालों का पतन निश्चित माना गया है. इस अवगुण से बचकर ही उल्लासपूर्ण जीवन की कल्पना की जा सकती है.

विदुर के इस उत्तर को सुन धृतराष्ट्र की सारी जिज्ञासा शांत हो गयी. आज के जीवन में भी विदुर की कही ये बातें प्रासंगिक है.
............................................saffron...

I am

CONSERVATIONS WIT ANNAMALAI SWAMI

Q: When I keep the mind on this feeling of 'I am', must I be relaxed and quiet? Should I see what is happening, without interfering, or should I be observing, scrutinizing, comparing, etc. ? 

AS: It is enough if you can simply relax in this 'I am’. Whatever happens in this 'I am’, this consciousness, just be indifferent to it. 

You are the consciousness itself, not the thoughts and ideas that appear in it. Many things both good and bad are going on in this world. We don't bother about most of them because we think, ‘these things are happening to somebody else and not to me’. 

In the same way, be the consciousness 'I am' and be indifferent to the various things that come and go in your mind. If you identify with thoughts, judge them, compare them, worry about them, try to suppress them, or get involved with them in any way, they will cause you trouble. Instead, be utterly indifferent to them. If you don't pay them any attention, they can never adversely affect you. 

Living by the Words of Bhagavan

Life

When this game of delusion gets boring or painful enough, something within you begins to stir. Out of the unsatisfactoriness of separation arises the intuition that there is something more real than you are now conscious of. It is the intuition that there is truth, although you do not know what it is. But you know, you intuit, that truth exists, truth that has absolutely nothing to do with your ideas about it. But somehow you know that the truth about you and all of life exists.

Once you receive this intuition, this revelation, you will be compelled to find it. You will have no choice in the matter. You will have consciously begun the authentic quest for enlightenment, and there is no turning back. Life as you’ve known it will never be quite the same.

-Adyashanti

Spiritual quotes

Eternal life

“There is a phase where we transition from a “personal” viewpoint–with all its personal will, motivations, and driving energy—to a way of being moved by the wholeness of Life which lacks the personal will, personal motivations, and personal energy. This is a massive transition, and part of this transition involves going through a plateau phase where the personal viewpoint is mostly dead and the wholeness of Life has not yet started to function through/as you in an obvious way.

During this plateau phase it can be very challenging to engage in life in the ways that are necessary. However, it is important to do the things that are necessary even though there is no personal energy or motivation to draw upon. As strange as this may sound, you function from a place of no energy and no drive. You simply do what you truly need to do without drawing upon any inner source of will or motivation. During this phase you are literally being weaned off of all forms of self-consciousness and the various forms of motivation and energy that self sustains itself with.

The danger is that some people become stuck in this no-man’s-land. They keep reaching back for something that is no longer there, and never learn to function from a place beyond self. They have unknowingly grasped onto and become stuck in the limbo state between self hollowed-out and self fallen-away. Either that happens, or what is left of self can hide away in a false rejection of society and life as a subtle means of sustaining itself.

While it is important to give yourself time to be still and silent (and unproductive) during this phase, it is also important not to become stuck in a non-functional state. The key is to stop looking at what is no longer there, which is a subtle form of self-consciousness, and experience Life from Life’s point of view, which is neither an “inner” experience nor an outer expression, but a non-relative knowing of Eternity here and now. This is of course, completely nonconceptual, nongraspable, and nonunderstandable until it has taken place—and self in all its subtle manifestations has fallen away.

Then there is an adaptation to a new way of being, and life goes on with great simplicity and beauty, and is lived by a totality that the mind can never know. While this may not sound compelling to the ego, it is quite literally, Eternity experiencing itself—timelessly.

And still, one is as unimpressive as they ever were.
Sitting here at home in a faded T-shirt,
typing words into an empty screen
in a world where nothing ever happened.
Strange how we keep meeting like this.
And still such joy,
Such joy.”

~ Adyashanti

Experiencing No Self Study Course

Ramana says 2.3

Ramana says 2.2

Ramana says 2.1