Mind

Oh mind, why struggle? Fall into the heart, drown in the ocean of your own bliss! Let what happens happen, yours is none of this!

~ Advahut Gita

Mind

Ramana Hridayam

“Once you have recognize the empty nature of mind, to allow love to rise for someone who is harming you becomes easy. 

But without that recognition, it is very hard to stop anger from arising instead, is it not? 

Look into it, and you will see that mind is what does positive actions, and mind is what makes circumstances negative.” 

~ H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Self

Q: Having heard this truth, why does not one remain content? 

Sri Ramana Maharshi : 

Because samskaras [innate mental tendencies] 
have not been destroyed. 

Unless the samskaras cease to exist, 
there will always be doubt and confusion. 

All efforts are directed to destroying doubt and confusion. 
To do so their roots must be cut.
Their roots are the samskaras. 

These are rendered ineffective by practice as prescribed 
by the Guru. 
The Guru leaves it to the seeker to do this much so that
he might himself find out that there is no ignorance. 

Hearing the truth [sravana] is the first stage. 
If the understanding is not firm one has to practise reflection [manana] and uninterrupted contemplation [nididhyasana] on it. 

These two processes scorch the seeds of samskaras 
so that they are rendered ineffective. 

Some extraordinary people get unshakable jnana after hearing the truth only once. 

These are the advanced seekers. 
Beginners take longer to gain it.

~ From Be as you are book

Shastra learning

Lectures and books are of little benefit and are useful only to
point out the way to beginners. 

The real work is done in meditation. 

As the Tamil Saint, Tayumanavar, points out in a poem, a person who sits still and silently can influence a whole country.

The force of meditation is infinitely more powerful than speech or writing. One who sits in silence, meditating on the Self, will draw a whole crowd of people to him, without his going out to anyone. 

Even books like the Bhagavad Gita, and Light on the Path,
must be given up to find the Self by looking within. 

Even the Gita says ,'Meditate on the Self.' It does not say:
“Meditate on the book of the Gita”.

I asked Maharshi why his books are in poem und song. He said
it was easier for people to learn and remember in this form.

Q: How do books help?

M: Only in that they may increase our spiritual aspiration. The study of the sacred books will not be enough to reveal the truth. So long as vasanas are latent in the mind, realization cannot be achieved. 

Shastra learning is itself a vasana. 
Samadhi alone can reveal realization. 
Thoughts cast a veil over reality. and so it cannot be clear in states other than samadhi.

- Conscious Immortality

mind peace

Question: How is the mind to be eliminated or relative consciousness transcended? 

Bhagavan: The mind is by nature restless. Begin liberating 
it from its restlessness; give it peace; make it free from 
distractions; train it to look inward; make this a habit. 
This is done by ignoring the external world and removing 
the obstacles to peace of mind. 

Question: How is restlessness removed from the mind? 

Bhagavan: External contacts - contacts with objects other than itself - make the mind restless. Loss of interest in non-Self [vairagya] is the first step. Then the habits of introspection and 
introspection and concentration follow. They are characterized by control of external senses, internal 
faculties, [sama, dama, etc.] ending in samadhi 
[undistracted mind].

- Talks 24

Self

Really there's nothing to do, nothing to become, in order for you to find total happiness. It's not finding something new to add on to yourself. It's letting go of everything you've been holding onto, becoming virtually empty, total emptiness, becoming a no one, a nobody, a nothing. Allowing all of your preconceived ideas, your conceptual thinking, to dissolve. Letting go of everything that you've been holding onto, your desires, your emotions. Becoming a simple person. Not worrying about the future. Being your Self, absolute reality, the Self which is God, allowing that to take place. Forgetting about time and space. Not trying to change the world or anyone else, not even trying to change yourself, but rather going deep within yourself, diving deep within yourself, deeper than you've ever gone before. The deeper you dive, the more the ego disappears. Remember, the ego, the body, the mind are one. They never existed really.

~ Robert Adams

Jivan mukta

Facets of Self-enquiry
Part Three: From Self-Abidance to Fulfilment by N.A Mohan Rao. 
January 2012 Mountain Path..

- Concepts of Jnani: Jivan-mukta and Videha-mukta 

Vasanas are of two kinds, bandha-hetuh (causative of bondage) and bhoga-hetuh (causative of enjoyment). To attain jnana, it is enough that the binding kind of vasanas are eliminated. One who attains to jnana thus is called a jivan-mukta (liberated while yet in the body). The bhoga-vasanas that may have been left in him are to be spent by enjoying the respective pleasures without getting attached to them. 

The jnani is said to have a remnant of a mind, and ego, to enable such enjoyment. Since he is without attachment, this ego cannot bind him, just as a burnt rope, though looking like a rope, cannot be of service to bind. The jnani is also credited with an intellect of an extremely subtle kind by which he experiences the ‘Self-bliss’ and knows that he is ever the Self. When the enjoyment of the bhoga-vasanas is completed, the body of the jivan-mukta falls, and he becomes a videha-mukta
(liberated having left the body). His subtle mind gets resolved, and the experience of Self-bliss too ceases: he becomes one with the Self bliss ‘without any differentiated existence.’ 

Jivan-muktas may be of four kinds, namely, brahma-vid, brahmavidvara, brahma-vidvarya and brahma-vidvarishta. They correspond to the last four jnana-bhoomikas respectively. They all mean ‘knower of Brahman’ on an increasing scale of greatness. The differences in greatness arise apparently due to the kinds of bhoga-vasanas left in them. The brahma-vidvarishta is thus the greatest of the four jivanmuktas and is alone said to experience Bliss. Bhagavan’s teaching that a jivan-mukta ripens from moment to moment, may therefore perhaps be taken to apply to the three lower levels. If a movie theatre is flooded with light to a certain level, one may not readily notice the picture on the screen. But if he bestows careful attention,he might see it faintly. In the same way, the jnani does not ordinarily see the world due to the illumination of jnana, but can see it faintly if he makes an effort. Even so, he sees it as not apart from his Self. Bhagavan has said that his awareness of his cancer was similar in nature.