Never mind neti neti

CONVERSATIONS WITH ANNAMALAI SWAMI

Bhagavan once told a story about a man who wanted to bury his own shadow in a deep pit. He dug the pit and stood in such a position that his shadow was on the bottom of it. The man then tried to bury it by covering it with earth. Each time he threw some soil in the hole the shadow appeared on top of it. Of course, he never succeeded in burying the shadow.

Many people behave like this when they meditate. They take the mind to be real, try to fight it and kill it, and always fail. These fights against the mind are all mental activities which strengthen the mind instead of weakening it.

If you want to get rid of the mind, all you have to do is understand that it is 'not me’. Cultivate the awareness 'I am the immanent consciousness’.

When that understanding becomes firm, the non-existent mind will not trouble you.

- LWB, p. 266

Self is beloved by all

D.: How will the sexual impulse cease to be?

M.: When differentiation ceases.

D.: How can it be effected?

M.: The other sex and its relation are only mental concepts. The Upanishad says that all are dear because the Self is beloved of all. One’s happiness is within; the love is of the Self only. It is only within; do not think it to be without: then differentiation ceases to operate.

('Talks with Sri Ramana Maharishi', Talk 335)

Little self

CONVERSATIONS WITH ANNAMALAI SWAMI

Question: What is the easiest way to be free of the 'little self?

Annamalai Swami: Stop identifying with it. If you can convince yourself This "little self” is not really me’ it will just disappear.

Q: But how to do this?
AS: The 'little self’ is something which only appears to be real. If
you understand that it has no real existence it will disappear,
leaving behind it the experience of the real and only Self.
Understand that it has no real existence and it will stop troubling you.

Consciousness is universal. There is no limitation or 'little self’
in it. It is only when we identify with and limit ourselves to the body and the mind that this false self is ‘born’. If through enquiry, you go to the source of this 'little self’, you find that it dissolves into nothingness.
Q: But I am very accustomed to feel ‘I am this "little self”’.
I cannot break this habit merely by thinking ‘I am not this "little self “’.

AS: This 'little self will only give way to the real Self if you meditate constantly. You cannot wish it away with a few stray thoughts. Try to remember the analogy of the rope which looks like a snake in the twilight. If you see the rope as a snake, the real nature of the rope is hidden from you. If you only see the rope, the snake is not there. Not only that, you know that there never was a snake there. When you have that clear and correct perception that the snake never at any time existed, the question of how to kill the snake disappears.

- LWB p 264

Consciousness

Q. Is the state of unconsciousness close to Infinite Being?

A. Consciousness alone exists.

He who knows the Self has nothing more to do. Henceforth the Infinite Power will do all further actions that may be necessary through him. Nor has he any more thoughts.

During meditation that is directed towards the Self, the thoughts actually die down of their own accord. Meditation can be directed to different objects, but when directed to the true Self, it is sent to the highest object, or rather the Subject.

Thoughts are our enemy. When we are free of thoughts we are naturally blissful. The gap between two thoughts is our true state, it is the real Self. Get rid of thoughts, be empty of them, be in a state of perpetual thoughtlessness. Then you are consciously Self-Existent. Thoughts, desires and all qualities are alien to our true nature. The West may praise a man as a great thinker. But what is that? True greatness is to be free of thoughts.

The true answer to the question 'Who Am I?' does not come in thoughts. All thoughts disappear — even the thinker himself disappears.

- Conscious Immortality

प्रेम ,ध्यान ,समाधी

मौत और जीवन एक हीं घटना के दो हिस्से है - अन्योन्याश्रित है। एक दूसरे पर निर्भर है। तो जब ' पर , बिल्कुल छूट जाता है, तो स्वयं की उसकी निजता मे अंतत: स्वयं का होना भी मिट जाता है। शून्य रह जाता है। ध्यान की यही अवस्था है, उसको हमने समाधि कहा है।
दो शब्द बनाने चाहिए। ध्यान समाधि और प्रेम समाधि। समाधि तो दोनो मे एक हीं है, लेकिन दोनो के मार्ग बड़े अलग है। पुरुष को जो समाधि उपलब्ध होती है, जो बुध्द को उपलब्ध हुई, वह है ध्यान समाधि। पर को छोड़ा, स्व छूट गया, समाधि उपलब्ध हुई।
मीरा को जो समाधि उपलब्ध हुई, वह है प्रेम समाधि। पर को नहीं छोड़ा, स्व को समर्पित किया। इतना समर्पित किया कि स्व न बचा, पर हीं बचा। और जब पर अकेला बचा तो पर भी मिट गया, समाधि उपलब्ध हो गई। जहा दो मिट जाते है वहां समाधि। लेकिन मिरा की समाधि प्रेम से आयी। बुद्ध की समाधि ध्यान से आयी। समाधि तो एक ही है, लेकिन मार्ग बड़ा अलग - अलग है।     
स्त्री का मन का ढांचा हीं अलग है। पुरुष के मन का ढांचा अलग। इसलिए पुरुष महाबीर और बुद्ध बन जाता है। महाबीर को हमने नाम दिया है - जिन। जिसने जीत लिया। बुद्ध को हमने नाम दिया - बुद्ध। जो जाग गया। लेकिन मीरा से पुछो, जीता ? मीरा कहेगीहारे। कृष्ण को जीतने की बात ही बेहूदी है।मीरा कहेगी, तुम समझे ही नहीं प्रेम मे कही कोइ जीतता है, हारते है। मगर हार ही वहां जीत है। मिरा से पूछो, जागी ? मीरा कहेगी, जागना वहां कहां है ? वहां तो खोना है, वहां तो मिटना है..... * ओशो * एस धम्मो सनंतनो ।
( संकलन -  स्वामी जीवन संगीत  )
सभी मित्रों मे मेरा सादर नमन। जय ओशो।

Thought won't perform without u

Much like the actors in a play
won't come on stage
until the audience is seated;
thoughts won't perform without you,
the perceiver of them.
Thoughts cannot think themselves,
because thoughts are not sentient.
Therefore, they cannot,
by themselves, turn into thinking.
For thinking to occur,
thoughts need to link up
with the thinker-thought,
the 'I' that is interested
in the play and its outcome.

Mooji

(from: Vaster Than Sky, Greater Than Space:
what you are before you became)

Happiness

MAA ANANDAMAYI

Question: How can I find happiness?
Answer: First tell me whether you are willing to do as this body bids you to do?
Questioner: Yes, I am.
Answer: Are you really? Very well. Now suppose I ask you to remain here, will you be able to do that?.
Questioner: No, I will not. (Laughter...)
Answer: You see, happiness that depends on anything outside of you, be it your wife, children, money, fame, friends or anything else, cannot last. But to find happiness in Him who is everywhere, who is all-pervading, your own Self, this is real happiness.
Question: So you say happiness lies in finding my Self?
Answer: Yes. Finding your Self, discovering who you really are, means to find God, for there is nothing outside of Him.