Sadguru ..shishya

1. 'What are the marks of a real teacher (Sadguru)?'

Steady abidance in the Self, looking at all with an equal eye, unshakeable courage at all times, in all places and circumstances, etc.

2. 'What are the marks of an earnest disciple (sadsisya)?'

An intense longing for the removal of sorrow and attainment of joy and an intense aversion for all kinds of mundane pleasure.

(From 'Spiritual Instruction', Ch. I: INSTRUCTION (Upadesa).)

Consciousness

Get rid of subject and object
Pure consciousness remains.. #ramana

Dispassion

Drawing in the thoughts, restraining them and preventing them from going outwards is called vairagya (dispassion). Fixing them in the Self is sadhana (spiritual practice) or abhyasa (practice).

Day by Day with Bhagavan

Happiness

Happiness is the very nature of the Self; happiness and the Self are not different. There is no happiness in any object of the world. We imagine through our ignorance that we derive happiness from objects. When the mind goes out, it experiences misery. In truth, when its desires are fulfilled, it returns to its own place and enjoys the happiness that is the Self. Similarly, in the states of sleep, samadhi and fainting, and when the object desired is obtained or the object disliked is removed, the mind becomes inward-turned, and enjoys pure Self-Happiness. Thus the mind moves without rest alternately going out of the Self and returning to it. Under the tree the shade is pleasant; out in the open the heat is scorching. A person who has been going about in the sun feels cool when he reaches the shade. Someone who keeps on going from the shade into the sun and then back into the shade is a fool. A wise man stays permanently in the shade. Similarly, the mind of the one who knows the truth does not leave Brahman. The mind of the ignorant, on the contrary, revolves in the world, feeling miserable, and for a little time returns to Brahman to experience happiness. In fact, what is called the world is only thought. When the world disappears, i.e. when there is no thought, the mind experiences happiness; and when the world appears, it goes through misery.
('Who Am I?', Q. 24: 'What is happiness?')

I am

I, Awareness, cannot be enlightened. I am already the light that illumines all experience. Nor can a separate self be enlightened for when the separate self faces the light, it vanishes, just as does a shadow when exposed to the sun.

~ Rupert Spira

Reality

"In reality nothing happens.  Onto the screen of the mind destiny forever projects its pictures, memories of former projections, and thus illusion constantly renews itself.  The pictures come and go--light intercepted by ignorance.  See the light and disregard the picture."

Nisargadatta Maharaj

Jnani

The internal difference that makes a soul a jnani is that he knows who he is and who you are. He knows Truth, and he knows the lie. Another difference is that he knows his way around within the inner workings of the mind. He can travel here and there with his own 747, without extraneous external conveyances. He knows the goings-on in far-off places. He is consciously conscious of his own karma, dharma and that of others. For him there is no apartness, due to his attainment within the chakras previously described. His only gift to others, to the world, would be blessings, an outpouring of energy to all beings from the higher planes where he resides. It is the jnani, the enlightened being who sees beyond duality and knows the oneness of all. He is the illumined one, filled with light, filled with love. He sees God everywhere, in all men. He is the one who simply is and who sees no differences. That is his difference.
~~ Lesson 6 from Merging with Siva