The individual is an appearance

Do you not see how ridiculous all this is ? Your coming here day after day only shows that you are not prepared to accept my word that there is no such thing as an 'individual'; that the 'individual' is nothing but an appearance; that an appearance cannot have any 'bondage' and, therefore, there is no question of any 'liberation' for an appearance.

Do you even now realize that if the very basis of your seeking is wrong, what can you achieve ? Indeed, is there anything to be achieved ? By whom ? By an appearance ?

This is not all. Whatever I say is being tape-recorded by some people; some others take down their own notes. For what purpose ? To make the conditioning even more powerful ? Do you not realize that there never has been any question of 'who' ? Whatever has happened (if at all anything has happened) has been spontaneous. There never has been any room for an individual in the totality of manifestation; all the functioning is at the level of the conceptual physical space (Mahadakash), which is contained in a conceptual speck of consciousness the mental space of time, perception and cognition (Chidakash).

Nisargadatta Maharaj

Source Link

Be still

Once Sri Ramana said the whole truth is contained in the words”Be Still”.

So if one is self-aware and still, one has grasped the method.

A quiet, peaceful, and content mind that is awake and turned within to its source has grasped the method and the process of Self-Inquiry. This process itself turns into the goal when the mind merges into the Heart for Self-Revelation.

Source page

Therefore, the aspirant should with confidence maintain the inner gaze focusing the “I” on “I”. Remaining in stillness with awareness aware of itself is the practice. Remaining with the sense of “I AM” is the practice.

Mind is the false I

Know me as the true essence of jnana (wisdom) that shines uninterruptedly in your Heart. Destroy the objectifying awareness of the ego - mind that arrogantly cavorts as "I" .

-- Sri Ramana

Mahapuja 2009 - May 18th

For performing the supreme act of Self-enquiry, there is no other auspicious day than today.

(GVK 518)

Attention to the "I"

This path (attention to the "I") is the direct path; all others are indirect ways. The first leads to the Self, the others elsewhere.

Be as you are (p 110) - edited David Godman

Devote yourself to your practice all the time

Sadhakas (aspirants) should only work enough to maintain the body. Try to avoid unnecessary activities. Less work is good. Devote yourself to your sadhana (practice) all the time. You dissipate your desire for the Self by undertaking all kinds of useless activities that waste your time and lead to attachments.

You think that your life is endless and you can put off meditation till a later date. ...

If you have to engage in activity to support yourself or your family, then do it, but always be aware of the Self, while you work.

Who Am I ?

As long as there are impressions of objects in the mind, so long the enquiry "Who Am I?" is required.

Bhagavan is the "I"

Why despair ? Know with certainty by enquiry, that I myself am present as your "I".

-- Sri Ramana Maharshi

Pleasure and happiness

Pleasure depends on things, happiness does not. As long as we believe that we need things to make us happy, we shall also believe that in their absence we must be miserable. Mind always shapes itself according to it's beliefs. Hence the importance of convincing oneself that one need not be prodded into happiness; that, on the contrary, pleasure is a distraction and a nuisance, for it merely increases the false conviction that one needs to have and do things to be happy, when in reality it is
just the opposite.

But why talk of happiness at all? You do not think of happiness except when you are unhappy. A man who says "Now I am happy" is between two sorrows, past and future. This happiness is mere excitement caused by relief from pain. Real happiness is utterly
un-self-conscious. It is best expressed negatively as: "there is nothing wrong with me, I have nothing to worry about".

Once you have grasped the truth that the world is full of suffering, that to be born is a calamity, you will find the urge and the energy to go beyond. Pleasure puts you to sleep and pain wakes you up. If you do not want to suffer, don't go to sleep. You cannot know yourself through bliss alone, for bliss is your very nature. You must face the opposite, what you are not, to find enlightenment.

Worship of Siva

As consciousness is the real nature of Siva, only enquiry into consciousness is the true worship of Siva.

Today, April 22 2009, is Bhagavan's Aradhana

Throw your burdens on God

Whatever burdens are thrown on God, He bears them ...

Nothing happens except that which is divinely ordained.

Hold onto awareness

Self-enquiry is holding on to the awareness of being that ‘you already are’.

You must concentrate totally upon the awareness of ‘you’, without thought of any kind, or (alternatively) try to catch the ‘I-thought’ as it rises from within and then hold on to that firmly to the exclusion of all else.

Non-attachment

As thoughts arise, destroying them utterly without any residue in the very place of their origin is non-attachment.

(Who Am I?)

Drowning man

Bhagavan stated that self-enquiry should be performed with the same intensity as that of a drowning man struggling for air, only then can it succeed.

do not disturb your mind

Being pure consciousness, do not disturb your mind with thoughts of for and against. Be at peace and remain happily in yourself, the essence of joy.

Meditation all the time

Continuous meditation is required.
Don't allocate periods of time for this.
Don't regard it as something you do when you sit with your eyes closed. This meditation has to be continuous.
Do it while eating, walking, and even talking. It has to be continued all the time.