September 1, 1946

This video was taken on September 1st (Advent Day) 1946.

Shortcuts to liberation

Look carefully, one of Bhagavan's devotees has found the easiest and quickest path to liberation. Another picture of the same devotee, caught red-handed here.

Tricks of mind

Every thought that leads you away from self-awareness is a trick created by the imposter (false self).

The tiny seed

'I am' is a tiny seed which will grow into a mighty tree - quite naturally, without a trace of effort.

I am That, p.510

--
Ask of each activity: “Can this lead to eternal bliss, or does this just lead to that which is temporary?” - Michael Langford

Self-enquiry and "I am"

"I am"
Some excellent advice on Self-enquiry and the "I am" meditation may be found on this post (Robert Adams) -- posted to us by a little friend.

Focus the mind on 'I am'

I did not condition my mind by thinking: 'I am God, I am wonderful, I am beyond'. I simply followed his (my guru's) instruction which was to focus the mind on pure being 'I am'. and stay in it. I used to sit for hours together, with, nothing but the 'I am' in my mind and soon peace and joy and a deep all-embracing love became my normal state.

In it all disappeared - myself, my Guru, the life I lived, the world around me. Only peace remained and unfathomable silence.

I am That, p.239

Was I really born ?

Ask yourself such questions as: 'Was I really born?' 'Am I really so-and-so? 'How do I know that I exist?' 'Who are my parents?' 'Have they created me, or have I created them?' 'Must I believe all I am told about myself?' 'Who am I, anyhow?'

I Am That, p.296

Hurt no one

Live your life without hurting anybody. Harmlessness is a most powerful form of Yoga and it will take you speedily to your goal.

-- I am that (p.173)

Source link. Please also see this touching video created by a devotee of Bhagavan.

Maharshi Ramana's eyes - a video

Source: Look into No thing.

Bhagavan Ramana Quotes video

A friend sent this link. Thanks and wish you all a Happy Guru Purnima.

Bhagavan Ramana's Enlightenment Day

Dear readers,
Wishing you the best on Bhagavan's Enlightenment Day. On this day, in 1896, Bhagavan realized the Self. This day is an approximation, we do not for sure know which that day was when Venkataraman Iyer realized the Self, but it was close to July 17th.
Guru Poornima is tomorrow and Advent Day on Sept 1st.

Lakshmi Day 14/07/2008

July 14th is Cow Lakshmi Day this year, a day of immense grace for those committed to self-enquiry, or union with Bhagavan. Be sure to get as much Self-enquiry done as possible on the 14th.

Some beautiful words from Sri Nisargadatta.

My guru, before he died, told me: "Believe me, you are the Supreme Reality. Don't doubt my words, don't disbelieve me. I am telling you the truth, act on it". I could not forget his words and by not forgetting, I have realized. Once the guru told me: "You are the Supreme Reality", I ceased having visions and trances and became very quiet and simple. I found myself desiring and knowing less and less, until I could say in utter astonishment: "I know nothing, I want nothing."

I was undeceived, that is all. I used to create a world and populate it. Now I don't do it any more. Now I live in the void beyond being and non-being, beyond consciousness.

Worshipping the Unmanifest

"But those who are engaged in the worship of the Imperishable, the Indefinable, the Invisible, the Omnipresent, the Unthinkable, the Immutable, the Immovable, and fixed

"Controlling all the senses, maintaining equanimity everywhere, engaged in the welfare of all beings, they also come to Me only.

"It is very difficult for those whose minds are preoccupied with the Unmanifest because for the embodied souls it is indeed very painful to make progress towards the Unmanifest."

Lord Krishna, Chapter 12.

Mind fixed on Me

Asked Arjuna:

"Those devotees who are always engaged in Your worship,
or those who worship the Inexhaustible and the Unmanifested,
which of these two know the Yoga better?"

[Chapter 12 verse 1]

Said Lord Krishna:

" With their minds fixed on Me,
those who worship Me always,
with faith and sincerity,
they are considered to be the most qualified in the Yoga by Me."

[Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 12 verse 2]

Service to the Lord

Sri Ramana advises:

Keeping one's attention on the subtle consciousness that is experienced by the extremely subtle mind, is personal service to me.

-- From Bhagavan's Promises

Does this activity give me only temporary joy ?

Do not waste time in activities that lead only to that which is temporary and therefore futile.

Ask of each activity: “Where can this lead?”

Ask of each activity: “Can this lead to eternal bliss, or does this just lead to that which is temporary?”

Grace manifests itself when ...

"Grace manifests itself when the quest for the Self begins. The quest itself is the result of Grace. There is not a single moment when Grace is not operating in us. Grace is beyond time and space. Grace is always there. It is the beginning, middle and end. Grace is the Self."

-- Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi.

Please see quest itself is the result of Grace.

Eagerness for liberation

Eagerness for liberation must be equal to the eagerness someone who is being held underwater has, for trying to rise to the surface.

-- Source.

Desire for freedom

If the desire for freedom is not great enough in you, the ego will always find a way to occupy your time with something other than spiritual practice.

-- Source.

Practice, not concepts

The ego keeps thoughts about spiritual concepts going, to avoid the practice that leads to the ego’s final end.

Spiritual concepts do not lead to freedom.
Only practice leads to freedom.

-- Source.

Meditating on the Lord

Knowing that what abides in your Heart is the Self, my true and real nature, you should search for it there. Only this can be regarded as meditating on me with devotion.

-- From Bhagavan's Promises.

The "I" thought

Thinking that thinking or thought is your self is a delusion, a dream-like illusion.

Thinking that you are a body living in a world is a delusion, a dream-like illusion.

Thought has created those delusions.


All sorrow, suffering and delusions have one single root.
The single root is thought.
The root of thought is the I thought.
The root of thought is the thought, I.

-- Michael Langford.

Bringing sense back to Sri Ramana's teachings

Over the years, Bhagavan Ramana's simple path of "clinging to oneself", or being as you are, holding onto awareness/ the feeling of "I", etc, has been complicated by various authors. This simple path has seemingly been lost in translation.

It is heartening, therefore, that Michael Langford has once again put it in simple words for all, in a manner that cannot be missed or confused. In addition, he puts in several chapters to motivate the reader to remain in self-awareness.

The seeker who has never experienced "the Self", is often confused by instructions such as "abide in the Self", "cling to the Self" etc, now understands that it was the most simple fundamental awareness of oneself that was being spoken of, the awareness that wakes up in the morning, the awareness that is looking at the computer screen at this moment -- focusing on that awareness.

At any rate, let me not confuse the reader again -- it is best to read it directly from Mr. Langford himself.
Link.

Awareness, not thought

Living from thought instead of living from Awareness is the cause of all human suffering.

Ego Tricks

However, to go on and on reading spiritual books is an ego preservation strategy, another of the ego’s tricks.

Most reading, discussing and thinking about spiritual teachings is an ego trick.

The ego keeps thoughts about spiritual concepts going to avoid the practice that leads to the ego’s final end.

Source.

Awareness

Turning one's attention away from thought, the body, the world, etc. and towards awareness watching awareness is the most direct means of ending the ego illusion.
Source.

Remember the Lord

These plaintive words moved Bhagavan, and his eyes became moist. After remaining grave and serious for a while, slowly and steadily these supreme words emerged from his mouth: ‘Hereafter, remember me whenever you face calamities.’

Full story on David Godman's blog.

Mahapuja 2008

Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

We wish our viewers a happy Mahapuja. This commemorates the day of Bhagavan's mother's Nirvana. May you receive Bhagavan's grace in abundance.

May 29, 2008

Audio resources

Two Earthen Pots

There is an incident in the life of Buddha. One day a young man came to him, very upset.‘What happened?’ asked the Buddha.
The young man said:
‘Sir, yesterday my father died. I have come to you with a special request. Please do something for my dead father. When ordinary priests perform some rites or rituals, he gains access to heaven. Sir, if a great man like you performs any rites or rituals for my father, he will gain not only entry but a permanent residence in heaven. Please sir, do something for my father!’

He was so unbalanced, so emotional. The Buddha knew that any kind of rational argument would have no effect at this stage but he had his own way of explaining things. He asked the young man to go to the market and buy two earthen pots.
The young man happily went and bought them, thinking that this was to prepare for some ritual. The Buddha asked him to fill one with butter and the other with stones and pebbles. He did all this. The Buddha told him to close and seal them properly, and put them both in a nearby pond. He did so and both the pots sank to the bottom. The Buddha now told him to bring a stout stick, strike at them, and break them open. He did so, thinking that now the Buddha would perform a wonderful ritual for his father.

India is a vast and ancient land, full of diversities and extremes. There are people who have attained full enlightenment like the Buddha, and on the other hand, there are people in deep ignorance, immersed in blind faiths, beliefs, and dogmas. One belief is that when a parent dies, the son must take the corpse, put it on the funeral pyre and burn it; when it is half burned, he must take a strong stick, and break open the skull. The belief is that, as the skull is broken on earth, so the gateway of heaven is broken above, and the parent enters heaven.

The young man thought that, as his father was already dead and cremated yesterday, the Buddha was asking him to break open these earthen pots as a substitute. As he did so, the butter escaped from the first and floated to the surface; the pebbles escaped
from the second pot and settled at the bottom.

‘Now,’ said the Buddha, ‘this much I have done. Now call all your priests. Let them come here and pray: ‘Oh pebbles, rise to the surface! Oh butter, sink
to the bottom!’’
‘Are you joking, sir? How is this possible? It is against the law of nature, sir. The pebbles are heavier than water; they are bound to stay down, they can’t float. Butter is lighter than water, it is bound to float; it cannot go down.’
‘Young man, you know so much about the law of nature, and yet you do not want to understand the law that is applicable to one and all. If your father kept performing actions like pebbles and stones, he was bound to go down. Who can pull him up? If he kept performing actions which are light like butter, he is bound to go up. Who can push him down?’

Our difficulty is that we think that some invisible power will somehow favour us, even though we do nothing to change our own behaviour pattern, our own actions. When we understand this eternal law of nature—that the fruits depend on our actions—we will
be careful about our actions.

This discourse was given by the Buddha to Mahanama the Sakyan. This interesting story came to me in the Vipassana newsletter.

Atma hi Krishna Parthasya

AtmA hi Krishna pArthasya
krishnasyAtmA dhananjayaha

Source - Mahabharata, as spoken by Duryodhana.

Seek the Self within

Bhagavan says:

Abandon the drama (of the world) and seek the Self within. Remaining within, I will protect you, ensuring that no harm befalls you.

If you enquire and know me, the indweller, in that state there will be no reason for you to worry about the world.

Taken from Bhagavan's promises.
Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya.

April 14th, 1950

It was on this day in 1950 that our Father, Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi attained Mahanirvana.

By April 1950, Sri Ramana was too weak to go to the hall, and visiting hours were limited. Visitors would file past the small room where he spent his final days to get one final glimpse. By April 14th, it was evident the end was near. Swami Satyananda, the attendant at the time, reports, "On the evening of 14th April 1950, we were massaging Sri Ramana’s body. At about 5 o’clock, he asked us to help him to sit up. Precisely at that moment devotees started chanting ‘Arunachala Siva’, ‘Arunachala Siva’. When Sri Bhagavan heard this his face lit up with radiant joy. Tears began to flow from his eyes and continued to flow for a long time. I was wiping them from time to time. I was also giving him spoonfuls of water boiled with ginger. The doctor wanted to administer artificial respiration but Sri Bhagavan waved it away. Sri Bhagavan’s breathing became gradually slower and slower and at 8:47 p.m. it subsided quietly." At that very moment, in many places all over India, there were independent reports of seeing a bright light rising into the sky[41]. Henri Cartier-Bresson, the French photographer, who had been staying at the ashram for a fortnight prior to Sri Ramana’s passing, recounted the event to S. S. Cohen:

"It is a most astonishing experience. I was in the open space in front of my house, when my friends drew my attention to the sky, where I saw a vividly-luminous shooting star with a luminous tail, unlike any shooting star I had before seen, coming from the South, moving slowly across the sky and, reaching the top of Arunachala, disappeared behind it. Because of its singularity we all guessed its import and immediately looked at our watches – it was 8:47 – and then raced to the Ashram only to find that our premonition had been only too sadly true: the Master had passed into mahanirvana at that very minute."

-- From wikipedia.

We wish you Bhagavan's grace and blessings.
Bhagavan's Aradhana by the Indian Calendar will be observed on May 3rd.

Om Arunachala Shiva Naham Shivaya

Om Namah Shivaya Chant

Beautiful Om Namah Shivaya chant with Arunachaleshwara Temple and Arunachala Hill. Sung by P Balasubramaniam. Part One.


Part Two. Glory to our Father, Arunachala-Shiva !

Who looks out ?

Who looks out with my eyes?
What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.

If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison for drunks.

I didn't come here of my own accord,
and I can't leave that way.
Whoever brought me here will have
to take me home.

Source

Be lost in the call

Remember God so much that you are forgotten.
Let the caller and the called disappear;
be lost in the Call.

Source: Be Lost in the Call

Self-enquiry

Self-inquiry will not make of you anything that you are not already, but it will, over time, destroy the false belief that you are this body, this mind, this story, this life.

That false belief is the root cause of all human suffering whatsoever.

— John Sherman

Self-enquiry

Maharshi: The intellect is useful thus far, it helps you to analyse yourself, and no further. It must then be merged into the ego, and the source of the ego must be sought. If that be done the ego disappears. Remain as that source and then the ego does not arise

Devotee: There is no happiness in that state.
M.: 'There is no happiness' is only a thought. The Self is bliss, pure and simple. You are the Self. So you cannot but be bliss, being so, you cannot say here is no happiness. That which says so cannot be the Self, it is the non-Self and must be got rid of in order to realise the bliss of the Self.

D.: How is that to be done?

Maharshi: See wherefrom the thought arises. It is the mind. See for whom the mind or intellect functions.

For the ego. Merge the intellect in the ego and seek the source of the ego. The ego disappears. 'I know' and 'I do not know' imply a subject and an object. They are due to duality. The Self is pure and absolute, One and alone. There are no two selves so that one may know the other.

What is duality then? It cannot be the Self which is One and alone. It must be non-Self. Duality is the characteristic of the ego. When thoughts arise duality is present, know it to be the ego, and seek its source. The degree of the absence of thoughts is the measure of your progress towards Self-Realisation. But Self-Realisation itself does not admit of progress, it is ever the same. The Self remains always in realisation.

The obstacles are thoughts. Progress is measured by the degree of removal of the obstacles to understanding that the Self is always realised. So thoughts must be checked by seeking to whom they arise. So you go to their Source, where they do not arise.

D.: Doubts are always arising. Hence my question.
Maharshi: A doubt arises and is cleared, another arises and that is cleared , making way for another, and so it goes on. So there is no possibility of clearing away all doubts. See to whom the doubts arise. Go to their source and abide in it. Then they cease to arise. That is how doubts are to be cleared.

Talk 618, Feb 1, 1939

Ramana Maharshi - Quotes

Arunachala Siva namah Sivaya

Om Namah Shivaya Chant

"Arunachala-Siva namah Sivaya"

Heart Sutra

Go, Go, Go beyond,
Go thoroughly beyond,
and establish yourself in enlightenment.

-- from The Heart Sutra

Wishing all readers a Happy Mahashivaratri.

Remain Still and peaceful

Having gained the experience that there is no creator, no maya, no duality, and no objects at all, and that pure Awareness-Self along exists, one should ever remain still and peaceful in that state of Self-hood.
Om Namah Shivaya.

The witness

Q: When you say, I am in the state beyond the witness, what is the experience that makes you say so? In what way does it differ from the stage of being a witness only?
Maharaj It is like washing printed cloth. First the design fades, then the background, and in the end the cloth is plain white. The personality gives place to the witness, then the witness goes and pure awareness remains. The cloth was white in the beginning and is white in the end; the patterns and colours just happened -- for a time.

Chapter 79, I am that, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

A dreamer dreams a dream

A dreamer dreams a dream.

He sees the dream world with pleasures, pains. etc. But he wakes up and then loses all interest in the dream world.

So it is with the waking world also. Just as the dream-world, being only a part of yourself and not different from you, ceases to interest you, so also the present world would cease to interest you if you awake from this waking dream (samsara) and realise that it is a part of your Self, and not an objective reality.

Because you think that you are apart from the objects around you, you desire a thing. But if you understand that the thing was only a thought-form, you would no longer desire it.

All things are like bubbles on water. You are the water and the objects are the bubbles. They cannot exist apart from the water, but they are not quite the same as the water.

Refer Talk 625, 7th Feb 1939

Happy Mahashivaratri (March 6th 2008)

Enjoy.

Om Namah Shivaya Chant

Witness and supreme

Q: Can there be awareness without an object of awareness?
Maharaj: Awareness with an object we called witnessing. When there is also self-identification with the object, caused by desire or fear, such a state is called a person.

In reality there is only one state; when distorted by self-identification it is called a person, when coloured with the sense of being, it is the witness; when colourless and limitless, it is called the Supreme.

Chapter 79, I am that.

Just be aware

Just be aware that you are, and remain aware.

Seek your identity

Reality is simply the loss of ego. Destroy the ego by seeking its identity. Because the ego is no entity it will automatically vanish and reality will shine forth by itself. This is the direct method, whereas all other methods are done only by retaining the ego.

In those paths there arise so many doubts and the eternal question: "Who am I ?" remains to be tackled finally. But in this method, the final question is the only one and it is raised from the beginning.

-- Sri Ramana Maharshi, from "Be As You are", Edited by David Godman

The pure 'I'

The common man is aware of himself only when modifications arise in the intellect (vijnanamaya kosa); these modifications are transient they arise and set. Hence the vijnanamaya (intellect) is called a kosa or sheath. When pure awareness is left over it is itself the Chit (Self) or the Supreme. To be in one's natural state on the subsidence of thoughts is bliss; if that bliss be transient - arising and setting - then it is only the sheath of bliss (Anandamaya kosa), not the pure Self.

What is needed is to fix the attention on the pure 'I' after the subsidence of all thoughts and not to lose hold of it. This has to be described as an extremely subtle thought, else it cannot be spoken of at all, since it is no other than the Real Self.

Who is to speak of it, to whom and how?

-- Talk 624, 4th February 1939.

There is another choice

Note: Hear the message, don't judge the messenger.

All you want is to know yourself

Attention to one's own self

Attention to one's own Self, which is ever shining as "I", the one undivided and pure reality, is the only raft with which the individual, who is deluded by thinking "I am the body", can cross the ocean of unending births.

-- Sri Ramana Maharshi, from "Be As You are", Edited by David Godman

Meditation and distraction

Visitor: What is the difference between meditation and distraction?
Maharshi: No difference. When there are thoughts, it is distraction: when there are no thoughts, it is meditation. However, meditation is only practice (as distinguished from the real state of Peace.)
She: How to practice meditation?
Maharshi: Keep off thoughts.
She: How to reconcile work with meditation?

Maharshi: Who is the worker? Let him who works ask the question. You are always the Self. You are not the mind. It is the mind which raises these questions. Work proceeds, always in the presence of the Self only. Work is no hindrance to realisation.

It is the mistaken identity of the worker that troubles one. Get rid of the false identity.

From Talk 68

Spiritual Traps

"I" shines through between all thoughts

Let us examine our own casual statements regarding our daily experiences. For example, we say: ‘ He comes’, ‘ He sits’, ‘ He goes’, and so on. In these statements, ‘coming’, "sitting" and "going" are somehow extraneous to ‘ Him’. As such, they do not at all go into the make of ‘ Him’.

‘ He ’ alone stands unqualified through all time, continuing without a break. So it is this pure ‘ he ’ or "I" (or Consciousness) which shines through and in between all thoughts, feelings, perceptions and states. During this interval (between mentations), one has no thought of the state in which one happens to be. So here, one is Peace itself; and that is the "I" , in its pure state.

Suppose you see a beautiful picture, painted on white paper. On closely examining the picture, you will be able to discover some parts of it where the original colour of the paper appears, unaffected by the shades of the picture. This proves to you the existence of the paper behind the picture, as its background. On further examination, you will see that the picture is nothing but the paper.

So also, if you succeed in discovering yourself between two mentations, you easily come to the conclusion that you are in the mentations as well.

-- Sri Atmananda

John Sherman on Sri Ramana

Who are you in this instant?

Atma-Vichara

Vichara is the process and the goal also. "I am" is the goal and the final reality. To hold to it with effort is vichara. When spontaneous and natural it is realization.

If one leaves aside vichara, the most efficacious sadhana, there are no other adequate means whatsoever to make the mind subside. If made to subside by other means, it will remain as if subsided but will rise again. Self-enquiry is the one infallible means, the only direct one, to realize the unconditioned, absolute being that you really are.

-- Sri Ramana Maharshi, from "Be As You are", Edited by David Godman

The Self and the world

Devotee: Why did the Self manifest as this miserable world?

Maharshi: In order that you might seek it. Your eyes cannot see themselves. Place a mirror before them and they see themselves. Similarly with the creation.

"See yourself first, and then see the whole world as the Self."

D.: So it amounts to this - that I should always look within.
Maharshi: Yes.

D.: Should I not see the world at all?
Maharshi: You are not instructed to shut your eyes from the world. You are only to "see yourself first and then see the whole world as the Self". If you consider yourself as the body, the world appears to be external. If you are the Self, the world appears as Brahman.

See Talk 272

Most important question

I think the above video is continued in this one.

Some interesting videos

The Freedom Trap

Silent Awareness
Keep Quiet

Time is a succession of moments

Q: It takes time to know oneself.
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj: How can time help you? Time is a succession of moments; each moment appears out of nothing and disappears into nothing, never to reappear. How can you build on something so fleeting?
Q: What is permanent?
NM: Look to yourself for the permanent. Dive deep within and find what is real in you.
Q: How to look for myself?
NM: Whatever happens, it happens to you. What you do, the doer is in you. Find the subject of all that you are as a person.
Q: What else can I be?
NM: Find out. Even if I tell you that you are the witness, the silent watcher, it will mean nothing to you, unless you find the way to your own being.
Q: My question is: How to find the way to one's own being?
NM:

Give up all questions except one: "Who am I"?

After all, the only fact you are sure of is that you are. The "I am" is certain. The " I am this" is not. Struggle to find out what you are in reality.

I-Thought

Maintain awareness of the I-thought until it dissolves in the source from which it came.

-- Sri Ramana Maharshi, from "Be As You are", Edited by David Godman

Who makes the enquiries

Devotee: What are the obstacles which hinder realisation of the Self?
Sri Ramana: They are habits of mind (vasanas).

D.: How to overcome the mental habits (vasanas)?
Sri Ramana: By realising the Self.

D.: That is a vicious circle.
Sri Ramana: It is the ego which raises such difficulties, creating obstacles and then suffers from the perplexity of apparent paradoxes. Find out who makes the enquiries and the Self will be found.


D.: Yes, I still understand only theoretically.
Sri Ramana: Even the thought, "I do not realise" is a hindrance. In fact, the Self alone is.

-- Talk 13, 6th January 1935

Self-enquiry

Here’s the promise: if you will, whenever you can, whenever it occurs to you to do so, stop for just one moment and direct your conscious attention toward the naked, unmediated experience of being that is all there is to you, suffering will immediately begin to diminish and the thick, hot smoke of falseness, confusion, doubt and fear that fills the mind will begin to clear. And, in Sri Ramana’s words, all will come out right in the end.

In truth, this investigation, this self-inquiry, is not a path or a method to Realization, it IS Realization, and every moment spent with your attention resting in the experience of being is spent in full, conscious realization of Reality.

And, if you will continue with this practice and make it a part of your life, all falseness will finally vanish and what has always been here — peace and ease and love without condition — will stand fully, permanently revealed, once and for all.

John Sherman on Self-enquiry

Bondage can only be removed by oneself

Gazing on the Guru who says this, the disciple asks: "Oh Master, what is bondage? How did it come, how does it survive, and how is it to be destroyed? What is the non-Self? And what, indeed, is the Self? And what is discrimination between Self and non-Self? Graciously bless me with answers to these questions, so that by hearing your replies I may be blessed."

To this request of the disciple, the Master answers: "Dear soul! If you have felt the desire to be the Self, free from the bondage caused by ignorance, you are indeed blessed. You have achieved life's purpose. You have sanctified thereby your whole line. Just as sons and other relations pay off the debts of a father, so there are others who will free one from bearing a burden on one's head. But the distress caused by hunger can be cured only by eating for oneself, not by others eating for one.

And, if you are sick you must take medicine and keep a proper diet yourself; no one else can do it for you. Similarly, bondage comes to you through your own ignorance, and can only be removed by yourself. However learned a man may be, he cannot rid himself of the ignorance born of desire and fate, except by realizing Brahman with his own infinite knowledge. How does it help you if others see the moon? You must open your eyes and see it for yourself. Liberation cannot be obtained through sankhya, yoga, ritual, or learning but only through knowledge of the oneness of Brahman and Atman."

-- from Vivekachudamani (from Collected Works of Sri Ramana Maharshi)

Causality and time

Causality depends upon precedence and succession, for its very existence. In other words, time is the parent of causality. But on closer examination, we find that time depends upon thought for its existence and thought depends upon time for its existence. Therefore they cancel out each other, and
so time is not. Therefore causality is also not.

-- Sri Atmananda

God is perfect, world imperfect ... why ?

Devotee: God is perfect. Why did He create the world imperfect? The work shares the nature of the author. But here it is not so.

Maharshi: Who is it that raises the question?
D.: I - the individual.
Maharshi:

Are you apart from God that you ask this question?

So long as you consider yourself the body you see the world as external. The imperfections appear to you. God is perfection. His work also is perfection. But you see it as imperfection because of your wrong identification.

See Talk 272

Devotion is the best

Of all the means leading to liberation, bhakti or devotion is the best; and this bhakti means seeking the truth of one's own Self - so say the sages.

-- from Vivekachudamani (from Collected Works of Sri Ramana Maharshi)

Distractions

A question was asked by a monk (sannyasi) about how to prevent the mind from being distracted.

Sri Ramana.: You see the objects on forgetting your own Self. If you keep hold of your Self, you will not see the objective world.

-- Talk 6, 15th May, 1935

Hold the Self

The Self is only one. Do you feel hurt if you blame yourself or scorn yourself for your errors? If you hold the Self there is no second person to scorn you.

When you see the world you have lost hold of the Self. On the contrary, hold the Self and the world will not appear.

From Talks 151, Sri Ramana Maharshi.
Also, see Arunachala Ramana.

Be aware of being aware

What you need is to be aware of being aware.

Be aware deliberately and consciously, broaden and deepen the field of awareness. You are always conscious of the mind, but you are not aware of yourself as being conscious.

Stay as your being

If you stay as the "I", your being alone, without thought, the I-thought will disappear, and the delusion will vanish for ever.

-- Sri Ramana Maharshi, from "Be As You are", Edited by David Godman

Listen to the Guru

The best and the easiest method to attain that glorious goal of establishment in the Truth is to listen to the Guru over and over again.

But if such frequent personal contact with the Guru is not possible, the next best alternative is to take, as often as possible, a deep thought of the Truth as first visualized in the presence of the Guru. This brings you into the climate of the Truth everytime, and you experience it afresh.

-- Sri Atmananda

Dream state nearer to truth

The waking subject holds that sense perception is the highest test of Truth. From this position, it denounces dream objects as unreal, as they are not perceptible to the waking physical senses.

In the waking state – dominated as it is by the triad or triputi – the perceiver, perception and the percept are so clearly distinct and separate that it is very difficult to find anything common between them.

But as far as the dream state is concerned, there is a great difference. As soon as the dream is past, one can see clearly that the subject and the object series – appearing in that state – are both creations of the same mind, and therefore one in essence. So there is this much of non-duality in dream. To that extent, the dream is nearer the Truth. Therefore, the clear diversity of the waking state is first examined from the lesser diversity of the dream state, and the waking state is found to be nothing other than an idea.

Knowledge of the truth

Knowledge of the truth of the Self is obtained only by Self-enquiry, and not by any number of actions. One who mistakes a rope for a serpent is cast into fear, thereby and his fear and distress can be removed only by the knowledge that it is a rope.

A friend who knows this, tells him so and he investigates and finds that it is so. There is no other way.

-- Vivekachudamani (from Collected Works of Sri Ramana Maharshi)

Be aware

What you need is to be aware of being aware.

Being-awareness is the true guru

The Self, the Being-Awareness, shining
As all things and in all things
Is the true guru.

-- The Garland of Guru's Sayings

Examine the person

There is no point in fighting desires and fears which may be perfectly natural and justified; it is the person who is swayed by them, that is the cause of mistakes, past and future. This person should be carefully examined and its falseness seen; then its power over you will end. After all, it subsides each time you go to sleep.

All your preoccupations with yourself are only during waking hours and
partly in your dreams; in sleep all is put aside and forgotten. It shows
how little important is your waking life, even to yourself, that merely
lying down and closing the eyes can end it.

Each time you go to sleep, you do so without the least certainty of waking up and yet you accept
the risk.

-- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Stop imagining yourself to be mind or body

To know that you are neither body nor mind, watch yourself steadily and live unaffected by your body and mind, completely aloof, as if you were dead. It means you have no vested interests, either in the body or in the mind.

Just remain unaffected. This complete aloofness, unconcern with mind and body is the best proof that at the core of your being you are neither mind nor body.

What happens to the body and the mind may not be within your power to change, but you can always, put an end to your imagining yourself to be body and mind. Whatever happens, remind yourself that only your body and mind are affected, not yourself.

Keep trying

Try to be, only to be.

The all-important word is "try". Allot enough time daily for sitting quietly and trying, just trying, to go beyond the personality with its addictions and obsessions.

Don't ask how, it cannot be explained. You just keep on trying until you succeed. If you persevere, there can be no failure. What matters supremely is sincerity, earnestness; you must really have had surfeit of being the person you are; now see the urgent need of being free of this unnecessary self-identification with a bundle of memories and habits. This steady resistance against the unnecessary is the secret of success.

You must be aware continuously

Discover all you are not. Body, feelings, thoughts, ideas, time, space, being and not-being, this or that - nothing concrete or abstract you can point out to is you.

A mere verbal statement will not do - you may repeat a formula endlessly without any result whatsoever. You must watch yourself continuously - particularly your mind - moment by moment, missing nothing. This witnessing is essential for the separation of the self from the not-self.

You shall never be a person

You are not what you think yourself to be, I assure you. The image you have of yourself is made up from memories and is purely accidental.

You have never been, nor shall ever be, a person.

Refuse to consider yourself as one. But as long as you do not even doubt yourself to be Mr So-and-so, there is little hope.

Not you that suffers

It is the person you imagine yourself to be that suffers, not you. Dissolve it in awareness. It is merely a bundle of memories and habits.

To be a person

To be a person, is to be asleep.

Thought is suffering

Realizing that suffering arises from nothing other than thought,
dropping all desires one rids oneself of it, and is happy and at peace
everywhere.

First of all I was averse to physical activity, then to lengthy
speech, and finally to thought itself, which is why I am now established.

-- from the Ashtavakra Gita (Song of Ashtavakra)

You are not the person

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".

Give up the sense of "I"

Give up the sense of "I", in the gross body, and all attachment
due to the mind, attachments to name and form, tribe and
family, caste and social order. Give up also the attachment to
the subtle body, and its nature and sense of being the doer.

Find the feeling of "I" in the Self, which is Truth, knowledge,
and eternity.

from Vivekachudamani (Collected works of Sri Ramana Maharshi)

All that is separate from me, is myself

All that appears as form apart from the sea, that is the bubble and the wave, is the sea.

All that is seen in a dream, is seen in him who sees the dream.

Similarly, in me as in the ocean or the man who dreams, all that seems separate from me, is myself.

--Vivekachudamani, Collected Works of Sri Ramana Maharshi.

I am not this person

I am not this person, this body-mind or anything.

The person is never the subject. You can see a person, but you are not the person.

Give up all thought

Remain indifferent to the body and senses, and outer things that follow
you like a shadow. Be one who discriminates, free from the stain of samsara,
and from tendencies and sense objects. Retain consciousness without
thought. Retain form, though formless.

Have no likes and dislikes in what is experienced at the moment, and no thought
of what may happen in the future. Give up all thought of inner and outer, and
concentrate permanently on the blissful experience of Brumm-hun. Through the
power of knowledge, maintain perfect equanimity in the face of all opposites
such as vice and virtue, likes and dislikes, or praise and blame, whether by
sadhus, or by the wicked.

--Vivekachudamani, Collected Works of Sri Ramana Maharshi.

Give no more thought to the body

Just as the cow does not care about the garland round its neck, so too
he (the yogi) does not care whether the body, bound by the strings of
past karma, lives or dies. So you too reject this inert, impure
body, and realize the pure and eternal Self of wisdom.

Give no more thought to the body.

--Vivekachudamani, Collected Works of Sri Ramana Maharshi.

I am not the body

The perfection of knowledge is when the "I-sense" no longer
pertains to the body.

Do not harm any living thing

69. Listen to me, Lady! Know that only the wise man
who never does anything which leads to the destruction of
any form of life, such as insects, worms, birds or plants, is a
person who is seeking true knowledge.

70. He (the true aspirant) should not pull out tender roots
(of fragrant plants, which is often done for worship); he
should not even pluck the leaves; he should not harm any
living thing out of anger; he should not heartlessly pluck
even flowers.

From Devikalottara - Collected Works of Sri Ramana Maharshi

Just be aware that you are

Just be aware that you are, and remain aware.

What is it that makes me conscious

Give all your attention to the question: "What is it that makes me conscious?", until your mind becomes the question itself and cannot think of anything else.