Mind tempting you with words

Don't be interested in the words that the mind is serving up for you. It is putting them there to tempt you into a stream of thoughts that will take you away from the Self. You have to ignore them all and focus on the light that is shining within you. (Cow Lakshmi Day)

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

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)

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.

There is no mind

Q: How to give up the false idea that the mind is real?

Annamalai Swamy: If this does not happen spontaneously when you hear the truth from the teacher, keep telling yourself, 'I am not the mind, I am not the mind. There is no mind; there is no mind. Consciousness alone exists.'

If you have a firm conviction that this is the truth, one day this firm conviction will mature to the point where it becomes your direct experience.

True Practice of Sri Ramana's teachings

The true practice of Sri Ramana's teachings is remaining quiet, remaining in a state of inner mental quiescence that allows the power of Sri Ramana to seep into your heart and transform you. This can be summarized in one of Sri Ramana's classic comments: 'Just keep quiet. Bhagavan will do the rest.'

If you use the phrase 'practicing the teachings,' the following sequence is assumed: that Sri Ramana speaks of some goal that has to be attained, that he gives you some route, some practice, to reach that goal, and that you then use your mind to vigorously move towards that goal. The mind wants to be in charge of this operation. It wants to listen to the Guru, understand what is required, and then use itself to move in the prescribed direction. All this is wrong. Mind is not the vehicle one uses to carry out the teachings; it is, instead, the obstacle that prevents one from directly experiencing them. The only useful, productive thing the mind can do is disappear.

-- From Living the inspiration of Sri Ramana Maharshi

The nature of the mind - II

D.: So one need not seek to control the mind?

Maharshi: There is no mind to control if you realise the Self. The mind vanishing, the Self shines forth. In the realised man the mind may be active or inactive, the Self alone remains for him. For the mind, the body and the world are not separate from the Self. They rise from and sink into the Self. They do not remain apart from the Self. Can they be different from the Self? Only be aware of the Self. Why worry about these shadows? How do they affect the Self?

--Talk 97

Is knowledge of any use?

Is it any use reading books for those who long for release?

Bhagavan: All the texts say that in order to gain release one should render the mind quiescent therefore their conclusive teaching is that the mind should be rendered quiescent once this has been understood there is no need for endless reading. In order to quieten the mind one has only to inquire within oneself what one's Self is how could this search be done in books? One should know one's Self with one's own eye of wisdom. The Self is within the five sheaths but books are outside them.

Since the Self has to be inquired into by discarding the five sheaths, it is futile to search for it in books. There will come a time when one will have to forget all that one has learned.
--Collected Works - Who Am I?

The nature of the mind - I

D.: Mind always wanders. I cannot control it.

Maharshi: It is the nature of the mind to wander. You are not the mind. The mind springs up and sinks down. It is impermanent, transitory, whereas you are eternal. There is nothing but the Self. To inhere in the Self is the thing. Never mind the mind. If its source is sought, it will vanish leaving the Self unaffected.
--Talk 97

The nature of the mind

What is called `mind' is a wondrous power residing in the Self. It causes all thoughts to arise. Apart from thoughts, there is no such thing as mind. Therefore, thought is the nature of mind. Apart from thoughts, there is no independent entity called the world. In deep sleep there are no thoughts, and there is no world. In the states of waking and dream, there are thoughts, and there is a world also.

Just as the spider emits the thread (of the web) out of itself and again withdraws it into itself, likewise the mind projects the world out of itself and again resolves it into itself. When the mind comes out of the Self, the world appears. Therefore, when the world appears (to be real), the Self does not appear and when the Self appears (shines) the world does not appear. When one persistently inquires into the nature of the mind, the mind will end leaving the Self (as the residue). What is referred to as the Self is the Atman.
--Collected Works - Who Am I?

Watch your mind

Watch over your thoughts, feelings, words and actions. This will clear your vision. 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.
-- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That

See also this.

Stay in silence

Nisargadatta Maharaj: It is the mind that tells you that the mind is there. Don't be deceived. All the endless arguments about the mind are produced by the mind itself, for its own protection, continuation and expansion. It is the blank refusal to consider the convolutions and convulsions of the mind that can take you beyond it.

Q: Sir I am an humble seeker, while you are the Supreme Reality itself. Now the seeker approaches the Supreme in order to be enlightened. What does the Supreme do?

Maharaj: Listen to what I keep on telling you and do not move away from it. Think of it all the time and of nothing else. Having reached that far, abandon all thoughts, not only of the world, but of yourself also. Stay beyond all thoughts, in silent being-awareness.

Q: So you say I should try to stop thinking and stay steady in the idea: 'I am'.

Maharaj: Yes, and whatever thoughts come to you in connection with the 'I am', empty them of all meaning, pay them no attention.

Mind is not you

Remember that nothing that happens in the mind is 'you', and none of it is your business.

You don't have to worry about the thoughts that rise up inside you. It is enough that you remember that the thoughts are not you.
-- For more, see Final Talks.

Making the mind steady

One devotee asked: What method should I use to make my mind steady and firm?

Bhagavan told him, "It is sufficient to think only of one thing. If the mind does not obey, again start thinking of only one thing. In the course of time the mind will obey your orders."

Purity of Mind

Bhagavan Ramana explains about purity of mind and we link it with another question on why some seekers get a glimpse of the Self, but it is not permanent.

Mr K. R. V. Iyer (Talk 337, Jan 22, 1937): How is the mind to be purified?

Bhagavan: The sastras say: "By karma, bhakti and so on". My attendant
asked the same question once before. He was told, "By karma
dedicated to God". It is not enough that one thinks of God while
doing the karma, but one must continually and unceasingly think
of Him. Then alone will the mind become pure.

The attendant applies it to himself and says, "It is not enough that I
serve Sri Bhagavan physically. But I must unceasingly remember Him".

A question was raised as follows by Maj. A. W. Chadwick (Talk 95, Nov 13, 1935):-
 
Mr. Edward Carpenter, a certain mystic, has written in a book that he
had Self-Realisation on some occasions and that its effects lasted
sometimes afterwards, only to be gradually lost. Whereas Sri Ramana
Gita says, "Granthi (knot = bondage), snapped once, is snapped for
ever." In the case of this mystic, the bondage seems to have persisted
even after Self-Realisation. How can it be so?

Dev.: Having once experienced the Supreme Bliss, how can one stray
away from it?
Bhagavan: Oh yes! It happens. The predisposition adhering to him from time
immemorial will draw him out and so ignorance overtakes him.
D.: What are the obstacles to remaining steady in unbroken Bliss?
How can they be overcome?
B.: The obstacles are:
(1) Ignorance which is forgetfulness of one's pure being.
(2) Doubt which consists in wondering if even the experience was
of the Real or of the unreal.
(3) Error which consists in the "I-am-the-body" idea, and thinking
that the world is real. These are overcome by hearing the truth,
reflection on it and concentration.

The talk goes on ... and comes to the necessity for purity.

Devotee.: It looks then as if even hearing the Truth is limited to a very few.

Bhagavan: The seekers fall into two classes; kritopasaka and akritopasaka.
The former having already overcome his predisposition by steady
devotion, his mind thus made pure, has had some kind of experience
but does not comprehend it; as soon as instructed by a competent
master, permanent experience results.

The other class of seeker needs great effort to achieve this end.
How will the hearing of the Truth, reflection and concentration
help him?

(By a strange coincidence, this conversation happened exactly 71 years back)

Mental Connection with Guru

This flow of power from the Guru can be received by anyone whose attention is focused on the Self or on the form of the Guru; distance
is no impediment to its efficacy. This attention is often called sat-
sanga, which literally means `association with being'. Sri Ramana
wholeheartedly encouraged this practice and frequently said that it
was the most efficient way of bringing about a direct experience of
the Self. Traditionally it involves being in the physical presence of
one who has realized the Self, but Sri Ramana gave it a much wider
definition.

Sri Ramana Maharshi said that the most important element in sat-sanga was
the mental connection with the Guru; sat-sanga takes place not only
in his presence but whenever and wherever one thinks of him.

- Be As You Are, Chapter 9, Silence and Satsanga