Spiritual life

3/26/2021

Death And birth

Past is death . Memories are death. Future is birth.

Mudita

3/22/2021

notes 2.9

Nurtureoneslife:

Attention pays attention to a lot of things,

but when attention pays attention to attention,

then there is a stillness,

and that stillness introduces you

to your Self.

🌻 Mooji

One whose mind is turned inward is ever in bliss. Sri sri

If you can win over your mind ,you can win over whole world. Sri sri

~ Krishna (Mahabharata) :

For the atma, there is never birth nor death.Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be.He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval.He is not slain when the body is slain.

Krishna :

Pleasure from the senses seems like nectar at first, but it is bitter as poison in the end.

विषयेन्द्रियसंयोगाद्यत्तदग्रेऽमृतोपमम्।

परिणामे विषमिव तत्सुखं राजसं स्मृतम्।।18.38।।

Krishna :

You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work. You should never engage in action for the sake of reward, nor should you long for inaction.

~ Krishna (Mahabharata) :

We behold what we are, and we are what we behold.

~ Krishna (Mahabharata) :

The greatest of all yoga's is Jnana yoga.

~ Misc (Miscellaneous) :

The land where books were first written and from where wisdom and knowledge sprang is India.

-- The Fourth Caliph, Ali bin Abi Talib (656 - 661 A.D.).

notes 2.8

Nurtureoneslife:

Attention pays attention to a lot of things,

but when attention pays attention to attention,

then there is a stillness,

and that stillness introduces you

to your Self.

🌻 Mooji

One whose mind is turned inward is ever in bliss. Sri sri

If you can win over your mind ,you can win over whole world. Sri sri

~ Krishna (Mahabharata) :

For the atma, there is never birth nor death.Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be.He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval.He is not slain when the body is slain.

Krishna :

Pleasure from the senses seems like nectar at first, but it is bitter as poison in the end.

विषयेन्द्रियसंयोगाद्यत्तदग्रेऽमृतोपमम्।

परिणामे विषमिव तत्सुखं राजसं स्मृतम्।।18.38।।

Krishna :

You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work. You should never engage in action for the sake of reward, nor should you long for inaction.

~ Krishna (Mahabharata) :

We behold what we are, and we are what we behold.

~ Krishna (Mahabharata) :

The greatest of all yoga's is Jnana yoga.

~ Misc (Miscellaneous) :

The land where books were first written and from where wisdom and knowledge sprang is India.

-- The Fourth Caliph, Ali bin Abi Talib (656 - 661 A.D.).

notes 2.7

Nurtureoneslife:

When we have vikalpas (false concepts) and are trying to give them up,

i.e. when we are still not perfected,

but have to make conscious effort to keep the mind one-pointed or free from thought,

it is Nirvikalpa Samadhi.

When through practice we are always in that state, not going into samadhi and coming out again, that is the sahaja (natural) state.

In sahaja one always sees oneself.

He sees the jagat (world) as swarupa

(Reality) or Brahmakara (form of Brahman).

Eventually, what was once the means becomes itself the goal, whatever method

one follows.

Dhyana (meditation), jnana, bhakti and samadhi are all names for ourselves, for our Real State.

Knowing one’s Self is only being one’s Self, as there is no second existence. This is Self-realization.

- GEMS from Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. Chapter: Self Realisation

Actually, you are the answer.

You without you.

The pure consciousness

beyond the concept of pure consciousness.

☀️ Mooji

Keep the remembrance of your real nature alive, even while working, and avoid haste which causes you to forget. Be deliberate. Practice meditation to still the mind and cause it to become aware of its true relationship to the Self which supports it.

Do not imagine that it is you who are doing the work. Think that is the underlying current which is doing it. Identify yourself with the current.

Sri Ramana Maharshi

"After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is.

Such a great soul is very rare."

Bhagavad Gita 7.19

MARCH 21st, 1953

I am reminded of the fateful day of twenty-first March, 1953. For many lives I had been working ‒ working upon myself, struggling, doing whatsoever can be done ‒ and nothing was happening.

Now I understand why nothing was happening. The very effort was the barrier, the very ladder was preventing, the very urge to seek was the obstacle. Not that one can reach without seeking. Seeking is needed, but then comes a point when seeking has to be dropped. The boat is needed to cross the river but then comes a moment when you have to get out of the boat and forget all about it and leave it behind. Effort is needed, without effort nothing is possible. And also only with effort, nothing is possible.

Just before twenty-first March, 1953, seven days before, I stopped working on myself. A moment comes when you see the whole futility of effort. You have done all that you can do and nothing is happening. You have done all that is humanly possible. Then what else can you do? In sheer helplessness one drops all search.

And the day the search stopped, the day I was not seeking for something, the day I was not expecting something to happen, it started happening. A new energy arose ‒ out of nowhere. It was not coming from any source. It was coming from nowhere and everywhere. It was in the trees and in the rocks and the sky and the sun and the air ‒ it was everywhere. And I was seeking so hard, and I was thinking it is very far away. And it was so near and so close.

Just because I was seeking I had become incapable of seeing the near. Seeking is always for the far, seeking is always for the distant ‒ and it was not distant. I had become far-sighted, I had lost the near-sightedness. The eyes had become focussed on the far away, the horizon, and they had lost the quality to see that which is just close, surrounding you.

The day effort ceased, I also ceased. Because you cannot exist without effort, and you cannot exist without desire, and you cannot exist without striving.

The phenomenon of the ego, of the self, is not a thing, it is a process. It is not a substance sitting there inside you; you have to create it each moment. It is like pedalling a bicycle. If you pedal it goes on and on, if you don’t pedal it stops. It may go a little because of the past momentum, but the moment you stop pedalling, in fact the bicycle starts stopping. It has no more energy, no more power to go anywhere. It is going to fall and collapse.

The ego exists because we go on pedalling desire, because we go on striving to get something, because we go on jumping ahead of ourselves. That is the very phenomenon of the ego ‒ the jump ahead of yourself, the jump in the future, the jump in the tomorrow. The jump in the non-existential creates the ego. Because it comes out of the non-existential it is like a mirage. It consists only of desire and nothing else. It consists only of thirst and nothing else. It consists only of future and nothing.

OSHO •THE DISCIPLINE OF TRANSCENDENCE

Turning one's purified awareness within on the witness as pure consciousness, one should gradually bring it to stillness and then become aware of the perfection of one's true nature.

~ Shankara, Vivekachudamani

चाह मिटी, चिंता मिटी, मनवा बेपरवाह

जिसको कुछ नही चाहिए, वो शाहेंशाह 💮

-“if your wishes ends, than your anxiety and troubles will also end, and your mind will be fearless. One who doesn't need anything, he is a real king”

-kabir saheb

notes 2.6

Nurtureoneslife:

The more you have learnt to let go, the happier you are and as you start being joyful, more will be given to you. Sri sri

You are alone, but you are alone as everything! Alone as diversity!

🍵 🌱 Moojibaba

🍁🍁🍁

True spirituality is without pride.

It neither judges nor dismisses

the diverse expressions of life.

In fact, it brings you back

into the true life of peace,

wisdom, joy and harmony.

~Mooji

🍁🍁🍁🍁

Nurtureoneslife:

The final truth is that ultimate understanding, in which there is no comprehender, to comprehend the final truth.

*******

🍁🍁🍁

It is the natural polarity of interdependent opposites, that constitutes the harmony of universal manifestation.

The inevitable result of man's egoic self-determination is disharmony, conflict and self-destruction.

Ramesh Balsekar

17th March

🍁🍁🍁

Many spiritual practices are pleasant.

They don’t challenge

your identity and its delusion,

therefore they are attractive

to your mind.

There’s nothing threatening

when someone tells you,

“We’re chanting because

it purifies the energy

and brings you closer to God.”

If feels nice for people

— adventurous and agreeable.

But I’m not interested in adventure,

I’m here only for liberation!

Not entertainment for your mind,

but the smelling salts that will

stun you into awakening.

💙 Mooji

🍁🍁🍁

“My love, stay here.

Going in search of Self (as a goal) is illusion;

You are already the One Self.

You will purchase the map,

Only to find you are already Here.”

― Mooji

#mooji #moojibaba #moojiquotes #nonduality #nondualism #advaita

🍁🍁🍁

Free movie show

The external universe is a cinema show to the realised man. It is free and the show goes on day and night. He lives and works in it knowing that the objects and bodies (persons ) are illusionary appearances just as an ordinary man knows the scenes and characters on the cinema screen at a theatre are illusions, and do not exist in real life. - Ramana Maharshi( in ". Conscious Immortality " )

🍁🍁🍁

notes 2.5

Nurtureoneslife:

You are Bhagavan. So you should know when I shall get jnana. Tell me when I shall be a jnani?

Sri Ramana Maharshi: If I am Bhagavan there is no one besides the Self- therefore no jnani or ajnani. If otherwise, I am as good as you are and know as much as yourself. Either way I cannot answer your question.

Coming here some people do not ask about themselves. They ask: ‘Does the jivan muktas see the world? Is he affected by Karma? What is liberation after being disembodied or while alive in the body? Should the body of the sage resolve itself in light or disappear from view in any other manner? Can he be liberated though the body is left behind as a corpse?

Their questions are endless. Why worry oneself in so many ways? Does liberation consist in knowing these things? Therefore I say to them, leave liberation alone. Is there bondage? Know this. See yourself first and foremost.

-Be As You Are

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The pure state

of being attached to grace [Self],

which is devoid of any attachment,

alone is one's own state of silence,

which is devoid of any other thing.

Know that one's ever abiding as that silence,

having experienced it as it is,

alone is true mental worship [manasika-puja].

Know that the performance of the unceasing, true and natural worship in which the mind is submissively established as the one Self,

having installed the Lord on the Heartthrone, is silence,

the best of all forms of worship.

Silence, which is devoid of the assertive ego, alone is liberation. .

- The teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi.

Be as you are.

🍁🍁🍁

When you can bear your own silence, you are free. ~Mooji

🍁🍁🍁

"Remove all becoming, you are Being. Becoming is effort,

Being is no effort.

You are always That so be like the breeze that is attached to neither the garbage nor the garden that it blows over."

~ PAPAJI

🍁🍁🍁

...

"Beware. To fall in love with a married woman or a married man is a disease. Look for reasons. It is not love. There is something else working behind your mind, in your unconscious.

Another thing: the married woman is not easily available. That too creates desire. Easy availability kills desire. The more unapproachable, the more inaccessible the woman is, the more the desire; you can dream about her. And, in fact, there is not much possibility that it will ever become an actuality. There is every opportunity to be romantic about a married woman: you can play with your fantasy. It is not easy to make her available to you. You are not interested in unmarried women because they will not leave much chance for romance. If you are interested, they are ready. There is no space left. There is not that long, long waiting.

Many people are interested not in love but in waiting; they say that waiting is far more beautiful than love. In a way it is so, because while you are waiting you are simply projecting, you are dreaming. Of course, your dream is your dream and you can make it as beautiful as you want.

The real woman is going to shatter all your dreams. People are afraid of the real woman. And a married woman becomes more unreal than real.

The same is the case with a married man: he is far away. There is not much possibility that he will really enter into a love-relationship with you.

I have heard... A young man went to a very wise old man, and the young man said 'I am lovesick, sir. Can you help me?' The wise man thought, and he said 'There is only one cure for love, and that is marriage. And if marriage cannot cure it, nothing can cure it! If you get married, you will be cured. Never again will you think about love!'

Yes, marriage cures it so certainly, so absolutely, that if marriage cannot cure love, then nothing can cure it. Then you are incurable. It is good to fall in love with a married woman because then there is no possibility of cure; you remain lovesick. There are people who enjoy their lovesickness tremendously: weeping. crying, waiting, fantasizing, poeticising, reading, writing poetry, painting, making music - all substitutes.

The real woman is dangerous. The real woman only looks musical from far away. Come close, and she is a REAL woman. She is not a fairy, not a fiction. Her reality will have to be reckoned with. And when a woman comes close to you, not only is she real, but she brings you down from your ivory towers to the earth."

💓Beloved Osho💓

🍁🍁🍁🍁

...

Just keep quiet and God

will do the rest.. Ramana..

🍁🍁🍁🍁

Day by day become more and more intimate with the inner stillness, joy, and love... which is the fragrance [of] your own pure heart. Keep quiet. ~Mooji

🍁🍁🍁

"जगाच्या प्रवाहात उलटे पोहोणे म्हणजेच भगवंताचे अनुसंधान टिकवणे होय" श्री राम समर्थ

🍁🍁🍁

God says: "Make your house into a temple of emptiness and I'll come and live there." Mooji

🍁🍁

There is an extremely important but subtle aspect of spiritual development, that is often lost sight of.

It is, that in each case, depending on the makeup of each psyche, the development is taking place spontaneously, according to nature and that any deliberate efforts on the part of the pseudo-entity, only create hazards and obstructions.

If this is kept in mind, one automatically evades the greatest spiritual danger, which is the uprising of the ego.

What, then, is the individual to do?

Merely to let true understanding deeply impregnate his very being, passively and patiently, so that all illusions and obstructions gradually fall off by themselves.

*******🍁🍁🍁🍁

True knowledge can come only when there is total vacancy.

Ramesh Balsekar

19th March

🍁🍁🍁

What is Vairagya

A young man from Trichy asked Sri Bhagavan on the mention in Upadesa Manjari of atyanta vairagyam (total dispassion) as the qualification of a ripe disciple. He continued: "What is vairagya? Detachment from worldly pursuits and desire for salvation. Is it not so?"

Maharshi: Who has not got it?

Each one seeks happiness but is misled into thinking of pain-associated pleasures as happiness. Such happiness is transient. His mistaken activity gives him short-lived pleasure. Pain and pleasure alternate with one another in the world. To discriminate between the pain-producing and pleasure-producing matters and to confine oneself to the happiness-producing pursuit only is vairagya. What is it that will not be followed by pain? He seeks it and engages in it. Otherwise, the man has one foot in the world and another foot in the spiritual pursuit (without progressing satisfactorily in either field).

— Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshii, No. 302

~ THE MAHARSHI

Nov / Dec 2006

Vol.16 No.6

notes 2.4

Nurtureoneslife:

That which is worth taking up is the self-enquiry that reveals jnana; that which is worth enjoying is the grandeur of the Self; that which is worth renouncing is the ego-mind; that in which it is worth taking refuge, to eliminate sorrow completely, is one’s own source, the Heart.

(Guru Vachaka Kovai)

There is no bondage...only consciousness,

Consciousness is the only reality, and only

The thought 'I am imprisoned' keeps you in prison.

There is no liberation because you are already the liberator.

~ Ribhu Gita

Every experience you are destined to have

you must go through.

But with the Master’s Grace,

everything becomes light and smooth,

and a power stays with you everywhere you go.

Sometimes He goes ahead of you.

Sometimes you notice He is beside you.

Sometimes He moves inside you.

He never leaves you.

💕 Mooji

To avoid being lost in the bewildering diversity of the play of maya, it is necessary to remember the essential unity between the Absolute and the relative, between the Unmanifest and the manifested.

*******

The understanding of Truth is not a matter of time.

Indeed, it is prior to the concept of time.

When it takes place, it happens suddenly, almost as a shock of timeless apprehension.

It means a sudden cessation of the process of duration, a split-second when the functioning of time itself is suspended and integration takes place, with what is prior to relativity ----direct apprehension of the Absolute.

Ramesh Balsekar

15th March

The Seer is most important.

You are. That is most important. Concentrate on the Seer, not on the seen.

All that you see is false and the Seer alone is true.

All knowledge you gather is useless, until you hold on to your Self.

You are the Truth, not what is being told to you, not what you see.

Sri Ramana Maharshi

(Face To Face)

D: Is it possible to enjoy samadhi while busy in worldly work?

M: The feeling ‘I work’ is the hindrance. Ask yourself ‘who works?’ Remember who you are. Then the work will not bind you; it will go on automatically. Make no effort either to work or to renounce; your effort is the bondage.

What is destined to happen will happen.

If you are destined not to work, work cannot be had even if you hunt for it; if you are destined to work, you will not be able to avoid it; you will be forced to engage yourself in it. So, leave it to the higher power; you cannot renounce or retain as you choose.

- Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi

notes 2.3

Nurtureoneslife:

A Guru is there to show you what you are. You are not different from Me. Whatever I am, that is what you are. This is your highest possibility.

- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

🍁🍁🍁

"When the mind adjusts to simply staying here,

then that mind is not called mind any more. It's just Self.

It's only ever Self."

~ Master Mooji

🍁🍁🍁

It is all your desires that you see, when you think. But when your mind is quiet, without desire, you are complete and as wonderful as you have always been.

~ Sri Poonjaji 'Papaji'

🍁🍁🍁

Questioner: How can I go through my devotional practices when I have always to think of my daily bread?

Sri Ramakrishna: He for whom you work will supply you with your necessaries. God made provisions for your support before He sent you into this world.

If you are curious, you will learn. If you are desperate, you will discover. Mooji

🍁🍁🍁

No eyes can see

nor can any word convey

that which you truly are.

And yet you undeniably exist.

Always.

~ Mooji

🍁🍁🍁

notes 2.2

notes 2.1

What is the nature of Awareness?

The nature of Awareness is existence-consciousness-bliss

When will the realization of the Self be gained?

When the world which is what-is-seen has been removed, there will be realization of the Self which is the seer.

Will there not be realization of the Self even while the world is there (taken as real)?

There will not be.

Why?

The seer and the object seen are like the rope and the snake.

Just as the knowledge of the rope which is the substrate will not arise unless the false knowledge of the illusory serpent goes,

so the realization of the Self which is the substrate will not be gained unless the belief that the world is real is removed.

When will the world which is the object seen be removed?

When the mind, which is the cause of all cognition’s and of all actions, becomes quiescent, the world will disappear.

- Who Am I? (Nan Yar?) ( 3 -7 )

The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁

🌿SHUBH MAHASHIVARATRI🌿

04)• A peaceful attitude, together with a ‘silent-flow’ of mind towards undeviating abidance in Self, Sat-Chit, is the best worship of Shiva.

165)• The real glory of Shiva Bhakti is the salvation of the devotee from the damnation caused by the delusion, “I am this filthy body”. This is the reason why Shiva accepted Kannappa’s(one of the devotee who was very proud of his beautiful eyes) eyes when he offered them.

190)• O people, not knowing that Shiva is dwelling within you, you fly about like birds from one holy place to another [seeking His Darshan]. Consciousness, when abiding still in the Heart, is the Supreme Shiva.

197)• Having eradicated the ego, which was wandering like a ghost in delusion, and having destroyed the duality of the sentient and the insentient, the soul which is thus drowned and well soaked in the light of the pure and blissful Sahaja Samadhi, is the Supreme Shiva.

198)• When the ego, the feeling of being separate entity, is removed, chittam remains as Shivam, the Supreme Chitta, having merged within the Heart as “I am Consciousness Itself”, and having thus destroyed all the false and dense mental conceptions.

296)• Having annihilated the delusive mind which always dwells upon worldly things, having killed the restless ego, and having completely erased the worldly vasanas, shine as Shiva, the pure Consciousness Itself.

334)• Hiding His own Form, taking another form as a human being, Lord Shiva enters the group of His enlightened devotees, who have staunch devotion to Him, as if He were one among them, taking immense pleasure in their holy company.

353)• Those who have sacrificed their mind as an offering to Shiva in the blazing fire of the supreme Jnana-Tapas [i.e. Self-enquiry], are Shiva Himself. Knowing thus, we should also perform this Sacrifice and attain the State of formless Shiva.

459)• When the triads [seer- seen- seeing, knower- known- knowing] disappear due to the destruction of the base, the foolish ego, and when the manyness [the states of waking and dream] is thus completely destroyed, the pure, broad Daylight [Self] that then shines like a hundred suns is the Night of Siva [Sivarathri].

487)• Unconditionally place your mind at the Feet of the Lord who has Sakti on His left. Then, since the tricky ‘I’ and ‘mine’ are dead, the glorious, blissful Supreme Self will shine triumphantly.

~Ramana Maharshi

•Verses from Guru Vachaka Kovai

•┈•❈••✦✾✦••❈•┈•

🍃🌸Wishing each and everyone of you a very auspicious Maha Shivaratri ! May on this divine day, you all be blessed with Self Knowledge and Devotion to the Shiva that resides within you.🌸🍃

•┈•❈••✦✾✦••❈•┈•

🌷@ramanamaharishi🌷

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It is the human mind that creates its own difficulties and then cries for help . #ramanamaharshi

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Nurtureoneslife:

A Guru is there to show you what you are. You are not different from Me. Whatever I am, that is what you are. This is your highest possibility.

- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁

"When the mind adjusts to simply staying here,

then that mind is not called mind any more. It's just Self.

It's only ever Self."

~ Master Mooji

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It is all your desires that you see, when you think. But when your mind is quiet, without desire, you are complete and as wonderful as you have always been.

~ Sri Poonjaji 'Papaji'

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Questioner: How can I go through my devotional practices when I have always to think of my daily bread?

Sri Ramakrishna: He for whom you work will supply you with your necessaries. God made provisions for your support before He sent you into this world.

If you are curious, you will learn. If you are desperate, you will discover. Mooji

🍁🍁🍁🍁

No eyes can see

nor can any word convey

that which you truly are.

And yet you undeniably exist.

Always.

~ Mooji

🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁

quotes

1. Great fear on the earth is opinion of others and the moment you are unafraid of the crowd, you are no longer the sheep ,you become a lion.A great roar arises in your heart, roar of freedom. Osho

Nurtureoneslife

2 . Who gave us this crazy idea

that we should know how to live?

Does a tree know how to grow?

Does a cloud know how to rain?

Does the wind know how to blow?

Does a road know that it is going somewhere?

Please, don’t know how to live,

let life be its own spontaneous unfolding

and let joy flood your being.

~ Mooji

There is no such thing as a Self-realised person. When there is no "person" the Self is realised. When there is no "person" the question of coming and going cannot arise. The body is an appearance in the Self. When the body disappears the Self remains as it always was and is. Realisation is the understanding "I am not this body which comes and goes, I am that permanent, unchanging reality in which the body and all else appears".

~ Papaji

3/14/2021

notes 1.4

Robert: Yes, I realized I was doing all these things. It was like I was watching everything taking place. But there was never a time when I actually became the dream or the vision.

Student: Or felt totally caught up in it? You were always observing.

Robert: Right. I was always observing. But it was like an omnipresent observer. So that's the teaching. That's how you tell when you're getting close to self-realization. So, do you remember the four principles? Why don't you repeat them for those who came late?

Student: I don't think I remember the four.

Robert: I think they're very important to remember. Which ones do you remember?

(The students struggle with trying to remember the principles).

See how easy we forget?

(More struggle, and something close to the first one).

That's right. The whole universe is a manifestation of the mind. Everything. You've got to feel that and know it's true.

Student: As long as we're identified with the body or the mind, then we're not very far off.

Robert: Exactly. You're part of the world.

Student: Then how do you say the first one?

Robert: The first one is that everything, and I mean everything, the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human kingdom, everything your senses show you, is an emanation of the mind. You're projecting a picture, just like you project a moving picture, and everything you see right now, in this room, comes from your mind. You may say, "How can we collectively see the same thing?” That's because of the habit energy that we're brought up in. So collectively we seem to be seeing the same thing, the same picture. That's number one. What's number two? Who can tell me?

(Students try to remember).

Robert: That's right. We're not born. We have no existence. In between the time we're born and when we die we really have no existence. And we do not die. There's no disappearance.

Student: So how would you summarize it? That we are non-existent, or that we have no beginning and no end?

Robert: Both are right. We have no cause.

Student: So you're saying that existence implies a relative cause, and existence only takes place in a relative world, and we're not really a part of that.

Robert: Yes, exactly.

Student: And non-existence?

Robert: Non-existence also does not exist.

Student: But then couldn't you say the mind doesn't exist. I mean you say that everything that exists...

Robert: Nothing that you can explain exists.

Student: But earlier you said that everything emanates from the mind.

Robert: Yes. You're projecting the picture.

Student: But then you have a mind.

Robert: You don't have a mind.

Student: I think he means everything in the earth plane world.

Robert: In the relative world. In reality there's no mind. That's how the picture appears. The mind projects the whole universe. So if you get rid of the mind, there's no universe. We have to kill the mind. And the whole universe is annihilated, because it's the mind that projects the universe, and tells us all these stories. Think, for a moment, of all the problems that you believe you have. Think of what's bothering you. You can tell me your story for four hours. This is wrong and that's wrong. It's all a projection of the mind. So by getting rid of the mind, everything stops, and beauty, and joy and bliss ensue. But you're covering the beauty, and joy and bliss when you worry, when you fear, when you think something is wrong someplace. So that's precept number 2. What's number 3?

Student: Egoless.

Robert: Right. Everything is egoless. Not only human beings, but everything. Mountains, trees, the sun, nothing has an ego. That means it has no existence. So where did it come from? When you have a dream, where does the dream come from? Same place. From nowhere. From false imagination.

Student: I don't understand the expression "false imagination,” because the word imagination implies a certain falsity.

Robert: You're imagining a false world and a false ego.

Student: That's sort of a paradoxical saying.

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Robert: Sure. It's all paradoxical. Because it doesn't exist. But that's how we imagine it. This is the reason I always go back to the sky is blue. Somebody takes me outside and says, "Look at the beautiful blue sky.” And I agree with them, but I know deep inside that that's not true. There's no sky and there's no blue. It doesn't exist. Or the oasis in the desert. The water. It doesn't exist. It's a mirage. The world's the same thing. The universe only exists in the dream state. It's like a dream. Now what's the fourth precept? What's number four?

Student: It has something to do with we are nothing.

Robert: (laughs) Everything has to do with that. But it's actually to have an understanding, and a deep realization, of what Self Realization of Noble Wisdom is.

Student: And how is noble wisdom defined from regular wisdom?

Robert: It's the same thing, just more wordy. It's a Buddhist expression.

Student: They have all these real long expressions. And then they always say what it is.

Robert: The eight-fold path. And then they take years explaining it. But when you get into the highest teaching there's nothing. So the fourth one is, the only way to know what self-realization is, is by knowing what it is not. And whatever is left, that's what it is. So you say it's not the body, it's not the mind, it's not my organs, it's not my thoughts, it's not the world, it's not the sun, it's not the universe, it's not God, it's not creation, and you go on, and on and on. When you get out of breath and out of words, that's it.

Student: Is that what the expression, "neti, neti" means?

Robert: Yes.

Student: Is it boring? If all that goes away and there is nothing...

Robert: (laughs) No! See, that's what people think. That's why I explained before, the mind will make you say that because it doesn't want to be annihilated. It wants to rule you and control you completely, because that's its nature. That's the nature of the mind that doesn't exist.

Student: When you're meditating, are you totally separate from this physical world?

Robert: When who's meditating? When I'm meditating personally? Well, I don't usually meditate. I sit sometimes with my eyes closed but I just rest my eyelids.

Student: Because there's no one there, right? There's no one to meditate.

Robert: There has to be someone to meditate. That doesn't mean you should stop meditating. It means you should look at these four principles and compare them to where you are yourself, and work on yourself so that you can apply these principles to yourself everyday, until the day comes when you don't have to talk about it any longer. You just become a total manifestation of those principles.

…

Robert: There are three methods we use to help us on the path, so we can realize what we were talking about before. Number one is self-surrender, where we surrender completely to God, or to yourself. But that's hard to do for most people. It sounds easy, but it's not. It means that you have no life of your own. You surrender completely and totally everything to God. Totally. Every part of your life goes to God. "Not my will, but thine.” That's devotion, bhakti. Again, it sounds easy to some people, but it's not when you get into it, because it means every decision that you have to make is left up to God. You give your mind to God, totally, completely, absolutely. And that leads you to self-realization.

Number two is mindfulness, which we were talking about. Becoming the witness. Watching yourself continuously. Watching your thoughts. Watching your actions. Sitting in meditation and watching what goes on in your mind. Not trying to change anything or correct anything. Just observing. Becoming the witness to your thoughts in meditation, and to your actions in the waking state.

And number three is the one that I advocate, self-inquiry. Asking yourself, "To whom do these troubles come? To whom does this karma come? To whom does this suffering come? It comes to me? Well, what is me? I am me. Who am I? From where did the I come from?" And following the I to its source.

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You can use any of those three methods, the one that suits you best. But by all means do something. Don't waste your life with frivolities. Work on yourself, if you want to become free.

It doesn't mean you have to give up going to the movies, or going to work, or anything. You give nothing up. You just become aware of what you're doing. You become a conscious being. You become conscious of your actions. You become loving, compassionate, gentle to all people. You stop watching out for number one. Most of us say, "Number one. I'm number one.” Forget it. That's how you suffer. That's ego. It's hard to understand, when you give up your ego, how you can have a better life, but you do. Try it and you'll see.

When you stop thinking of yourself, and you start thinking on yourself, but yourself becomes omnipresence, that means you're thinking of everybody else as yourself. So if any human being suffers, you suffer too. But, in a way we differ from Buddhism. Not much, but a little. Because the bodhisattva says he will not be realized until everybody else is realized. But then they have a higher bodhisattva called the Arhat. It's like the Avadhut in Hinduism, who becomes self-realized, by himself, because he understands that his self is the self of all. And that's what we accept. In other words, if you want to help your fellow man, if you want to make this world a better world in which to live, find yourself first, and everything else will take care of itself.

🍁 Robert Adams

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remain with your facts, try to know them.

Don’t allow society to force its ideology on you.

Don’t look at yourself through others' eyes.

You have eyes; you are not blind.

0sho

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It is the human mind that creates its own difficulties and then cries for help .

#ramanamaharshi

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notes 1.3

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

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

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The Practice of the Truth

If one always sees

only the good qualities in others

instead of seeing any bad,

one’s life will be very pleasant,

having no room for any disgust.

Unless one follows the principle,

"That which is essential

to be reformed

is only my own mind",

one’s mind will become

more and more impure

by seeing the defects of others.

O mind,

it is not because you have attained

egoless, sweet qualities that

Great Ones are kind towards you;

it is only because of their greatness of forgiving all your accumulated defects without minding them.

Know thus.

- The teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi.

Guru Vachaka Kovai. Verses 787-789

Chapter 68. The Conduct of a Sadhaka.

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'What is the relation between desirelessness and wisdom?'

Desirelessness is wisdom. The two are not different; they are the same. Desirelessness is refraining from turning the mind towards any object. Wisdom means the appearance of no object. In other words, not seeking what is other than the Self is detachment or desirelessness; not leaving the Self is wisdom.

('Who Am I?', Q. 26)

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The nature of Śivam

~ ~ ~ ~

To call him ‘The Three-Eyed One who bears the three radiant entities [sun, moon and fire]’, is insulting to Śivam, whose nature is pure consciousness.

~ ~ ~ ~

Only the subtle space of consciousness, existing in the Heart, is the form of Śiva.

Everything else, described by words, is a concept.

~ ~ ~ ~

72*

The one who has realised the truth as his own real nature is assuredly of the form of Śivam.

~ ~ ~ ~

The existing truth of oneself is the great apple of the eye that deserves to be remembered, without forgetfulness, as the auspicious Śivam.

~ ~ ~ ~

The extremely pure clarity of Śiva-experience exists in the thought-free consciousness that is present in the Heart.

~ ~ ~ ~

The Realisation of the Self, pure consciousness of being, is the state of Śivahood, free from the mind-impurity.

~ ~ ~ ~

The state of union with Śivam, which is difficult to reach, is shining alone as being.

~ ~ ~ ~

There is not the slightest difference between Śiva, his devotees and the Purāṇa-s that describe their greatness.

~ ~ ~ ~

dg: This is similar to the popular Vaishnava idea that Bhagavan (God), his bhaktas and the Bhagavatam are all the same. Bhagavan alluded to this when he answered a query about some of his own writings

~~~

Question: I have been reading the Five Hymns. I find that the hymns are addressed to Aruṇācala. You are an advaitin. How do you then address God as a separate being?

Bhagavan: The devotee, God and the hymns are all the Self.

15 Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, talk no. 273.

Padamalai

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We are always looking for solutions from someone else. We forget that if we turn our mind inward, we can get some ideas, some solutions.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar.

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Robert: I want to let you in on a little secret. There are no problems. There are no problems. There never were any problems, there are no problems today, and there will never be any problems. Problems just mean that the world isn't turning the way you want it to. But in truth, there are no problems. Everything is unfolding as it should. Everything is right. You have to forget about yourself and expand your consciousness until you become the whole universe. The reality in back of the universe is pure awareness. It has no problems. And you are that.

If you identify with your body, then there's a problem, because your body always gets into trouble of some kind. But if you learn to forget about your body and your mind, where is there a problem? In other words, leave your body alone. Take just enough care of it. Exercise it a little, feed it right foods, but don't think about it too much. Keep your mind on reality. Merge your mind with reality, and you will experience reality. You will live in a world without problems. The world may appear to have problems to others, but not to you. You will see things differently, from a higher point of view.

I had an interesting phone call this week. Someone asked me, "Do self-realized people dream, or have visions?" Now, in order to have a dream or a vision, there has to be somebody left to have it, and yet, if you're self-realized, there's nobody home. There's nobody left. So it's a contradiction, as truth is. All truth is a contradiction. It's a paradox. The answer is, sages do dream sometimes, and have visions. But they're aware of the dreamer. In other words they realize that they are not the person dreaming or having the vision. But as long as there's a body there someplace, there will be dreams and visions. Even though there's no one home, there will still, once in a while, be a dream or a vision.

As an example, Ramana Maharshi often dreamt and had visions. Nisargadatta dreamt and had visions. And they were both self-realized. But again, the question is, who dreams, who has the vision? There's no ego left. As long as the dreamer is separate from the I. I can only speak from my own experience. There's no difference, to me, in the waking state, the dreaming state, the sleeping state, or the vision state. They're all the same. I'm aware of all of them, but I am not them. I observe them. I see them happening. As a matter of fact, sometimes I can not tell the difference. Sometimes I don't know whether I'm dreaming, or awake, or having a vision, or I'm asleep. It's all the same, because I take a step backward, and I watch myself going through all these things.

So, for some reason, lately, I've been dreaming about the queen of England. She was coming to satsang. I don't know why... for about three nights in a row. But I did have an interesting vision this morning, about four o'clock, and we'll spend the rest of the time discussing it, because I found it very interesting.

As many of you know, I have had a constant vision, periodically, of myself going to Arunachala, the sacred mountain where Ramana Maharshi lived. And the mountain is hollow, in the vision. And I go through the mountain, to the center, where there's a bright light, a thousand times brighter than the sun, but yet it's pleasing and calm, and there's no heat. And then I meet Ramana, Jesus, Rama Krishna, Nisargadatta, Lao Tse, and others. And we smile at each other, we walk toward each other, and melt into one light, and become one. Then there's a blinding light and an explosion. And then I open my eyes. I've shared that with you before.

But this morning, for the first time, I had a very interesting vision, which I'll share with you again. I dreamt I was somewhere in an open field, a beautiful field. There was a lake nearby, trees, a forest. And I was sitting under a tree, in this open field. And I had on the orange garb of a renunciate. I must have been a Buddhist. All of a sudden hundreds of bodhisattvas and mahasattvas come from the forest and start walking toward me.

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And they all sit down in a semi-circle around me, in meditation. And I wondered what I was doing. Then I realized that I had become the Buddha. And we all sat in silence for about three hours.

Then one of the bodhisattvas got up and asked a question. He said, "Master, what is your teaching"? It was not in English. I don't know what language he spoke. But I understood it quite clearly. And without hesitation I said, "I teach Self Realization of Noble Wisdom.” And he sat down.

We sat for about another three hours in silence, and then another bodhisattva got up and asked a question. "Master, how can you tell when one is close to self-realization? How can you tell one is about to become self-realized? How does one tell?"

And this is what I'd like to discuss today. How can we tell if we're on the path correctly? I gave four principles, which I really never do in the waking state. I never have a teaching. But I was giving a teaching, so I'll share it with you. I explained four principles, where you know that you're close to self-realization. Of course, we're all self-realized already.

Principle number 1: You have a feeling, complete understanding that everything you see, everything in the universe, in the world, emanates from your mind. In other words, you feel this. You do not have to think about it, or try to bring it on. It comes by itself. It becomes a part of you. The realization that everything that you see, the universe, people, worms, insects, the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, your body, your mind, everything that appears, is a manifestation of your mind. You have to have that feeling, that deep understanding, without trying to.

So you ask yourself, "What do I think about all day long?" Of course, if you fear something, if you worry, if you believe something is wrong somewhere, if you think you're suffering from lack, or limitation, or sickness, anything, then you're out of it completely, because you're not understanding that all these things are simply a manifestation of your own mind. And if you worry about these things you become attached to false imagination. That's called false imagination. You've been attached to habit energy for many years, and all these attachments and beliefs come from habit energy.

It's like watching a TV show and becoming one of the characters, when you know that you're not even in the TV. But you believe you're one of the characters in the TV show. So it is with the world. Do not get involved. I don't mean you become passive. I mean your body does what it's supposed to do. Remember, your body came to this earth to do something. It will do something without your knowledge. It'll take care of itself. Don't worry. But do not identify your body with yourself. They're different. Your body is not yourself. And I'll prove this.

When you refer to your body what do you say? Don't you say "my body?" Who is this "my" you're referring to? You say "my finger,” "my eye.” Who are you referring to? You couldn't be talking about your body, because you’re saying it's my body, like you own it. Who owns it? This proves to yourself that you're not your body. So do not identify yourself with the body and the world.

Therefore the first principle, to see how close you are to self-realization is: You are not feeling that you are identified with the world. You're separate. And you're feeling happiness, because your natural state is pure happiness. Once you identify with worldly things, you spoil it. The happiness disappears, it dissipates. But when you're separate from worldly things happiness is automatic. Beautiful, pure happiness. It comes by itself. So that's the first principle.

Principle number 2: I explained to the bodhisattvas was this: You have to have a strong feeling, a deep realization, that you are unborn. You are not born, you do not experience a life, and you do not disappear, you do not die. You are not born, you have no life, and you do not die. You have to feel this, that you are of the unborn. Do you realize what this means? There is no cause for your existence.

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There is no cause for your suffering. There is no cause for your problems.

Some of you still believe in cause and effect. This is true in the relative world, but in the world of reality there is no cause. Nothing has ever been made. Nothing has ever been created. There is no creation. I know it's hard to comprehend. How do I exist if I was not born, I have no life and I do not disappear in old age? You exist as I am. You have always existed and you will always exist. You exist as pure intelligence, as absolute reality. That is your true nature. You exist as sat-chit-ananda. You exist as bliss consciousness, but you do exist. You exist as emptiness, as nirvana, but you do exist. So don't worry about being nonexistent. But you do not exist as the body. You do not exist as person, place or thing. Do you feel that? If you have a strong feeling about that, then you're close to self-realization.

Principle number 3: You are aware and you have a deep understanding of the egolessness of all things; that everything has no ego. I'm not only speaking of sentient beings. I'm speaking of the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human kingdom. Nothing has an ego. There is no ego. And do you realize what this means? It means that everything is sacred. Everything is God. Only when the ego comes, does God disappear, what we call "God.” Everything becomes God. You have reverence for everything. When there is no ego, you have reverence for everybody and everything.

So you have to be aware of the egolessness of all things. Animals have no ego, minerals have no ego, vegetables have no ego, and humans have no ego. There is no cause, so there cannot be an effect. There is only divine consciousness, and everything becomes divine consciousness. So if you look at your fellow man and animals and everything else as being egolessness, you will see them as yourself. Can't you see that?

It's the ego that causes separation. When I am full of ego, I become strong within myself. I become totally separate. So the more you like yourself as a person, the bigger your ego is. You say, "Well, I'm not supposed to like myself?” You're supposed to love yourself, but what self are we talking about? We're not talking about your body self, because that comes and goes. We're talking about your permanent self that has always been here. And your permanent self is me, is you, is the world, is the universe, is everything. That's your permanent self.

Egolessness. That's the only time that you can love your fellow human beings, when you have no ego. That's how you can tell where you're at, if you're close to self-realization. That's principle number three.

Principle number 4: You understand the Self Realization of Noble Wisdom. You have a deep conviction, a deep understanding, a deep feeling of what self-realization of noble wisdom really is. What is Self Realization of Noble Wisdom to you? You can never know by trying to find out what it is, because it's absolute reality. You can only know by finding out what it is not.

So you say, “It is not my body, it is not my mind, it is not my organs, it is not my thoughts, it is not my world, it is not my universe, it is not the animals, or the trees, or the moon, or the sun, or the stars, it is not any of those things.” When you've gone through everything and there's nothing left, that's what it is. Nothing. Emptiness. Nirvana. Ultimate oneness.

Anyway, I explained these four principles to all the bodhisattvas and all the mahasattvas. Then we sat three hours in meditation and they got up and walked back into the forest. Then there was a flash of light, and I opened my eyes. What do you think of that? Any questions?

Student: Was it a dream or a vision, and how do you distinguish between the two?

Robert: Well, I don't really know, to tell you the truth. I'm usually aware of what's going on, so all the time I was aware of the vision/dream's taking place.

Student: Including this time.

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notes 1.2

When a man attains the Knowledge of Brahman he shows certain characteristics. The Bhagavata describes four of them: the state of a child, of an inert thing, of a madman, and of a ghoul. Sometimes the knower of Brahman acts like a five-year-old child. Sometimes he acts like a madman. Sometimes he remains like an inert thing. In this state he cannot work; he renounces all action. You may say that jnanis like Janaka were active. The truth is that people in olden times gave responsibility to their subordinate officers and thus freed themselves from worry. Further, at that time men possessed intense faith. ~ Ramkrishna Paramhans

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Visitor:

“When a man Realises The Self,

... What will he see?”

Bhagavan:

“There is no seeing.

... 'Seeing', is only 'Being'.

'The State Of Self-Realization' - as we call IT, is not attaining something new, or reaching some goal, which is far away, but simply Being that which 'You' always ARE, and which 'You' always have been.

All that is needed is that you give up your realization of 'the not-true' - as True.

All of us are realizing, i.e.; regarding 'as Real' - that which is 'Not Real'.

We have only to give up this practice, on our part. Then we shall Realize The Self, as The Self - or in other words, ‘BE' The Self.

At one stage, one would laugh at oneself; that one tried to discover The Self, which is so Self-Evident.

So, what can we say to this question?

That stage, Transcends 'the seer and the seen'.

... There is 'no seer' there, 'to see' anything;

'The seer' - who is 'seeing' all this, now ceases to exist, and The Self Alone remains.”

🕉 Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi

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Self-realization is not meant for one, whose intellect has been deadened by a firm belief, in the illusory reality of himself as an entity in the phenomenal world and who thus pursues fulfillment in the illusory pleasures of the senses.

Such a person, who has objectivized the phenomenal world in his own mind, does not realize that it is the same illusory mind which destroys both himself and his world.

He therefore remains subject to, and victim of, his own notions of birth, suffering and death.

*******

Peace or quietude is always there, until the mind intrudes.

Ramesh Balsekar

23rd February

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Visitor. I am taught that Mantra Japam is very potent in practice.

Bhagavan: The Self is the greatest of all mantras and goes on automatically and eternally. If you are not aware of this

internal mantra, you should take to do it consciously as japam, which is attended with effort, to ward off all other thoughts.

By constant attention to it, you will eventually become aware of the internal mantra, which is the state of

Realisation and is effortless.

Firmness in this awareness will keep you continually and effortlessly in the current,

however much you may be engaged on other activities.

Listening to Veda chanting and mantras has the same result as conscious repetitions of japam – its rhythm is the japam.

- GURU RAMANA.

Chapter XI

MEDITATION

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Nurtureoneslife:

The Jnani (sage) is the Self, and sees nothing apart from himself.

(Day by Day with Bhagavan)

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If you remain free from pain, there will be no pain anywhere. The trouble now is due to your seeing the world externally and also thinking that there is pain there. But both the world and the pain are within you. If you look within there will be no pain.

(Be As You Are, The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi)

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BOOKS

One morning in 1944, a disciple approached Bhagavan with an air of supplication and said, “Bhagavan, I would like to read books and find out a path whereby I can attain mukti, but I do not know how to read. What shall I do? How can I realise mukti?”

Bhagavan said,

“What does it matter if you are illiterate?

It is enough if you know your own Self.”

“All people here are reading books, but I am not able to do that. What shall I do?”

he said.

Stretching out his hand towards the disciple, Bhagavan said,

“What do you think the book is teaching? You see yourself and then see me. It is like asking you to see yourself in a mirror. The mirror shows only what is on the face. If

you see the mirror after washing your face, the face will appear to be clean. Otherwise the mirror will say there is dirt here, come back after washing. A book does the same

thing. If you read the book after realising the Self, everything will be easily understood. If you read it before realising the Self, you will see ever so many defects.

It will say, ‘First set yourself right and then see me.’ That is all. First see your Self. Why do you worry yourself about all that book

learning?”

The disciple was satisfied and went away encouraged.

Another disciple who has the courage to ask questions on such matters, took up the thread of the conversation and said, “Bhagavan, you have given him a peculiar

interpretation.”

Bhagavan replied, “What is peculiar in it?

It is all true. What books did I read when I was young? What did I learn from others?

I was always immersed in meditation. After some time, Palaniswamy used to bring from various people a number of books containing Vedantic literature and used to read them. He used to make many mistakes in reading. He was elderly and was not well-read. He was however anxious to read. He used to read with tenacity and religious faith. Because of that I used to feel happy. So, when I took those books in order to read them myself, and tell him what was in them, I found that what all was written therein had already been experienced by myself.

I was surprised. I wondered, ‘What is all this? It is already written here in these books about myself.’ That was so in every one of those books. As whatever is written there has already been experienced by myself, I used to understand the text in no time. What took him twenty days to read, I

used to finish reading in two days. He used to return the books and bring others. That was how I came to know about what was written in the books.”

One of the disciples said, “That is perhaps why Sivaprakasam Pillai, while writing Bhagavan’s biography, referred to Bhagavan even at the outset as ‘One who is a Brahma Jnani without knowing the name of Brahman’.”

Bhagavan said: “Yes, Yes, that is right. That is why it is said that one should first know about oneself before reading a book. If that is done, it will be known that what is written in the book is only an epitome of what is really experienced by oneself. If one does not see one’s Self but reads a book, one

finds a number of defects.”

“Is it possible for all to become like Bhagavan? The use of a book at least helps one to set right one’s defects,” said the disciple.

“That is so. I did not say that reading is no help. I merely said that there is no need for illiterate people to think they can never attain moksha on that account and thereby feel disheartened. See how depressed he was when he asked me. If the facts are not

explained properly, he will feel still further depressed,” said Bhagavan.

___Letters from Sri Ramanasramam.(34)

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Bhagavan said,

“What does it matter if you are illiterate?

It is enough if you know your own Self.”

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Remain all the time steadfast in the heart.

God will determine the future for you to accomplish the work.

What is to be done will be done at the proper time.

Don't worry.

Abide in the heart.

~Sri Ramana Maharshi

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Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi

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Remain all the time steadfast in the heart.

God will determine the future for you to accomplish the work.

What is to be done will be done at the proper time.

Don't worry.

Abide in the heart.

~Sri Ramana Maharshi

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The person is merely the result of a misunderstanding.

In reality, there is no such thing.

Feelings, thoughts and actions race before the watcher in endless succession, leaving traces in the brain and creating an illusion of continuity.

A reflection of the watcher in the mind creates the sense of 'I' and the person acquires an apparently independent existence.

In reality there is no person,

only the watcher identifying himself with the 'I' and the 'mine'.

The teacher tells the watcher:

you are not this, there is nothing of yours in this, except the little point of 'I am', which is the bridge between the watcher and his dream. ‘I am this, I am that' is dream, while pure 'I am' has the stamp of reality on it.

You have tasted so many things -- all came to naught. Only the sense 'I am' persisted -- unchanged. Stay with the changeless among the changeful, until you are able to go beyond.

Break the bonds of memory and self-identification and the shell will break by itself.

There is a centre that imparts reality to whatever it perceives.

All you need is to understand that you are the source of reality, that you give reality instead of getting it, that you need no support and no confirmation.

Things are as they are, because you accept them as they are.

Stop accepting them and they will dissolve.

- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Excerpt from “I AM THAT”

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“The best austerity for realizing God is truthfulness. Unite the mind & speech. Truthfulness is the tapasya of Kaliyuga.

You must speak only what u think and feel at heart. Otherwise, where there is deceit - God will never manifest himself. The more the mind becomes pure through spiritual practices, the clearer it will reflect God.”

- Bhagawan Sri Ramakrishna Dev.

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Nothing belongs to you and yet everything is You.

🌿 Mooji

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Nurtureoneslife:

Nothing belongs to you and yet everything is You.

🌿 Mooji

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Q: I want to be further enlightened. Should I try to make no effort at all?

A: Here it is impossible for you to be without effort.

When you go deeper, it is impossible for you to make any effort.

If the mind becomes introverted through enquiry into the source of aham-vritti, the vasanas become extinct.

The light of the Self falls on the vasanas and produces the phenomenon of reflection we call the mind.

Thus, when the vasanas become extinct 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 onepointed enquiry into the source of the aham-vritti.

~ Be as you are

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The teachings of Sri Ramana Maharishi edited by David Godman

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

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

- Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk 188.

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It is the nature of the mind to wander. You are not the mind. The mind springs up and sinks down. It is impermanent, transitory, whereas you are eternal. There is nothing but the Self. To inhere in the Self is the thing. Never mind the mind. If its source is sought, it will vanish leaving the Self unaffected.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi (from Talk 79; 19th November, 1935)

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Among those who meditate upon space, only those who then give up that meditation upon vast space [by inquiring ''Who am I who meditates upon space?''] will attain the [true] greatness of birthlessness. Others will fall into the cycle of birth and death.

Garland of Guru's Sayings

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notes 1.1

Do not take this life too seriously. It will be gone before you know it. When our childhood was there, life seemed so beautiful. There were so many things to want, so many things to enjoy with so little responsibility. But now see how life is. All those dreams are gone. In the same way, this episode in life will pass away. But as long as it exists for you, have but one trend of thought in your mind - God.

If you seek Him earnestly, How can He resist your love? Constantly, inwardly, talk to Him; then He cannot remain away from you.

~Paramhansha Yogananda

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"If the longing is there, Realization will be forced on you even if you do not want it...sadhanas [spiritual practices] are needed so long as one has not realized it. They are for putting an end to obstacles. Finally, there comes a stage when a person feels helpless notwithstanding the sadhanas. He is unable to pursue the much-cherished sadhana, also. It is then that God's Power is realized. The Self reveals itself."

~ Maharishi Raman.

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Accept delightful words, sayings, and anything else that helps you towards Self-realization. Just as a thirsty person cannot forget water, so should one endeavor to keep the goal of Self-realization alive within oneself.

🌹 Anandamayi Ma

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Devotee.: Is it not the Advaita doctrine to become one with God?

Maharshi.: Where is becoming?

The thinker is all the while the Real.

He ultimately realises the fact.

Sometimes we forget our identities, as in sleep and dreams.

But God is perpetual consciousness. Ramana

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The anonymous chronicler, a B.Sc. final year student, met Sri Ramana in 1946.

I bowed down and sat in the hall before the Maharshi. There were many people present but the hall was quiet. I was unable to continue sitting in a quiet manner, but did not know what to speak to the Maharshi. There were a few books on a stand near the Maharshi. I picked up one of them and began to read. The book had concepts such as “Being is one”, “The world is unreal.” I could not understand them as my knowledge was confined to science. I could not help feeling confused on the following line of thoughts: “Why should God create me? Where was I? Where will I be? Is all that I see false? I do know the presence of objects before me. Don’t I see the Maharshi sitting before me?”

I could not read the book any more and fell into a contemplative mood. Just at that time the Maharshi addressed me thus: “What is the doubt?” I raised my head and said, “There is a human figure on the sofa. There is one on the floor. With my eyes I perceive these two very clearly. But you say that in reality there is only One. How can that be true?”

The Maharshi smiled and kept quiet. After a few minutes he said,

“You must be used to performing experiments in your laboratory.

If you are examining an object, the amount of details would depend upon the quality of the instrument you use to examine the object.

Now, even if your instrument is fine, but your eyesight is poor you will know little about the object.

If the eyesight is good but the brain is not normal, the object’s true nature will not be known to you.

Again, if the brain is fine but if the mind does not pay attention to what you are observing, the less you will know about the object.

In brief, the amount you know about an object is dependent on an entity called mind.

What is mind? It is thoughts. All the thoughts spring up from a single thought. This thought is ‘I am-the-body’ thought. It has two components. One is the body and the other is I. The body being of transient nature, is subject to change, and it depends on external factors for its existence, such as food. But the nature of ‘I’ is different from that of the body. What exists in truth should be existing always. The body does not exist all the time, so it is not the truth. The ‘I’ exists in all states including waking, dream sleep, and deep sleep. Hence ‘I’ is the truth; body is untrue. Both of these combined can not exit as one entity. How can night and day, light and darkness co-exist?

Similarly, there is no entity that has as its basis the co-existence of ‘I’ and the body. So ‘I am-the-body’ thought has no basis in truth. If we examine the world with this untrue thought as the basis, how can we learn the Truth?”

At that moment, I felt the foundation of my knowledge being shaken up, and my conviction in scientific pursuit as providing the ultimate fulfillment suddenly disappeared. Further, the Maharshi said that one can realize the truth about the world, after knowing the Truth about oneself. The upadesa I received changed my mental attitude and, subsequently my daily activities. I pursued life in the same environment I had before, but looked for life’s fulfillment in the spiritual path, blessed by the Maharshi. I felt that the grace of the Maharshi allowed me to lead a harmonious life.

- Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi

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