Realized Masters

Realized Masters

Following is a list of some enlightened/realized masters. Omitted are the controversial ones (by my reckoning). Please note that 'living' masters are clearly not required, as the realized master is not the body. (Pls see eternal sadguru). Also see advisory at bottom.

1. Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi - Still very alive in the hearts of his followers, still awakening inside people and taking them to realization. The eternal sadguru.

2. Gautama Buddha: Still enlightening thousands of aspirants through various paths including Zen which has flourished in East Asia, and is moving to the West. Where do you find Him - everywhere. Remember Him and He will be there. With a Guru there's no such thing as distance. Where is the Buddha not ?

Amma

Very good reports from all.

3. Shiva
Maybe remembered directly, or be found in Ramana Maharshi and Arunachala!

Arunachala, The Holy Hill, is located in South India at Tiruvannamalai, and is believed to be Lord Shiva (the Self) manifest as a hill. Arunachala is reputed to have enlightened many, including Ramana, and still calls aspirants.

5. Lord Krishna: The descriptions in the Bhagavad Gita of the enlightened state, and how to reach there are without doubt the utterances of an enlightened being, even though the Mahabharata may be suspected to be myth. Leave all dharmas and surrender all to Him - He will deliver you surely. Great for the devotionally inclined.

14. Ajja - featured here a while back, is still alive and available (i think in Anand Kutir Ashram, Pondicherry, South India). See comment below.

15. Check out Robert Adams and disciple Ed.

PLEASE BE WARNED OF THE SEVERELY DAMAGING AND HARMFUL EFFECTS OF THE *DEEKSHAS* AND *ENLIGHENMENT PROCESSES* OF SOME "GURUS" / GODMEN.

PEOPLE WE DEEPLY TRUST HAVE GIVEN US ACCOUNTS SIMILAR TO THIS ONE

Power of Arunachala

The cause of human suffering and conflict

The cause of human suffering and conflict

The cause of human suffering and conflict is our commitment to the illusions we call values, morals and ethics. Values, morals and ethics do not exist outside of our cultural- existential minds. They do not exist in reality and are therefore a figment of our culturally and existentially indoctrinated imagination. We believe or think values exist when in fact they do not. This describes the schizophrenic mind. The schizophrenic mind is separated from reality and centered in unreality or what psychologists call fantasy, believing this fantasy to be real.

Cultural/existential humanity exists entirely within the framework of illusionary values, morals and ethics and is therefore absolutely schizophrenic. We are either affirmatively committed to the existence of values, morals and ethics or we are not...
If we are committed to the existence of values, morals and ethics, we are schizophrenic and consequently insane. If we are not committed to values, morals and ethics, then confusion, conflict and insanity are not a part of our psychological nature. The term insane is used to describe the personal and social actions of the schizophrenic personality. There can be no conflict without the values of right or wrong being offended or defended. There can be no guilt or repression without the values of right or wrong, good or bad having been applied. There can be no psychological neurosis or psychosis without the fears associated with the loss or gain of that valued. There can be no anxiety without the anticipation or expectation concerning future uncertainties about success or failure. There can be no frustration without a desired goal being thwarted. The illusionary concepts of values, morals and ethics exist so that we may judge, separate and divide, and then pit the one side against the other. This enables the persons involved to feel either superior or inferior as the case may be. This is the underlying motivation for all cultural-existential activity. Due to the divisive and conflicting nature of duality, cultural/existential humanity can be described as being not only sociopathic (anti-social) in its attitude and response to humankind, but also psychopathic (aggressively anti-social) much of that time. Since confusion, conflict and insanity are the consequence of our commitment to values, morals and ethics, and peace exists when there is no confusion, conflict or insanity present, it can be concluded that peace is the consequence of having no values, no morals and no ethics. If values, morals and ethics are the direct cause of all human suffering and conflict and do not exist in the tao/eden/reality, and if peace and sanity are to be realized, we must refuse to take part in their use.

If you found this interesting, please see 30 minutes to enlightenment

admin – Thu, 08/09/2005 – 12:36pm

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Guru Disciple Relationship

Guru Disciple Relationship

It is common to demand entry into Enlightenmenti through someone else. This renders it needful to make clear that NOBODY, not even the best of gurus, can bestow final and lasting realization-- a glimpse is the most he can possibly pass on and there are not many with that capacity. Even in such cases, his disciples must work diligently and win it themselves. For complete article, See http://www.angelfire.com/realm/bodhisattva/brunton.html

Please see this article You are myself

Also see evaluating gurus and guides

admin – Thu, 08/09/2005 – 12:51pm

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Surrender

Surrender

This page will be updated with Teachings by various sources on the topic of Surrender.

Why i have chosen this topic is that Surrender is a very important path for self-realization as recommended by Ramana Maharshi, Sri Nisargadatta and others. To all those who find meditation, self-enquiry and other such practices difficult or tough, Ramana recommended complete surrender.

Bhagavan explains surrender

Surrender to Him and abide by His will whether he appears or vanishes; await His pleasure. If you ask Him to do as you please, it is not surrender but command to Him. You cannot have Him obey you and yet think that you have surrendered. He knows what is best and when and how to do it. Leave everything entirely to Him.
His is the burden: you have no longer any cares. All your cares are His. Such is surrender. This is bhaktii.
(Talks, p440)

Sri Krishna: Surrender is the surest path to Godi

The following lines from the Gita (spoken by Sri Krishna to the distraught Arjuna) highlight that complete surrender and trust in one's Guru, is the surest path to God.
(to see devanagri text please switch text-encoding on your browser to UTF-8)

सर्व धर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकम् शरणं व्रज ।
अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः ॥ ६६ ॥

Cast aside all ways/paths (dharma), and take refuge (sharanam, surrender) in me, i.e., surrender completely to me. I will liberate you from all sins, do not grieve. (18-66)

Please refer the link God for more on this topic, posts on Bhakti as well as articles on the lives of Mirabai, Tukaram, Namdev on wikipedia, as well as on dishq

The Bhagavad Gita is an excellent resource for people on the path of bhakti and surrender to the Guru or Lord.

From the Tirumantiram

Guru is none but Siva-thus spoke Nandi;
Guru is Siva Himself-this they realize not;
Guru will to you Siva be,
And your Guide too;
Guru in truth is Lord,
That surpasses speech and thought, all.

He is beyond worlds all
Yet, here below, He bestows His grace abundant
On the good and the devout,
And in love works for salvation of all;
Thus is the Holy Guru
Whose praise is beyond speech
Like unto Siva, the Being Pure.

1577: Compassionate Acts of Holy Guru

The Holy Guru is truly a Deva;
By his divine art he makes me perceive
All things in categories three;
By his sacred precepts sunders the bonds of Pasu-Pasa
And makes me drink of the milk of Mukti
All in benign compassion the Gurupara does.

1578: Discerning Holy Guru

The Guru comes, purifies and grants Godhood,
They see this not,
The witless ones of vision faulty;
But the holy ones take to him
In endearment as unto kith and kin,
And worship him as Lord Himself.

See this: Surrender

Source

Teachings – guru – bhakti – surrender

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Resources And Links

Hold onto the "I-feeling" as much as possible. A time will come when the I-feeling or awareness will start happening automatically without effort. After that the focus is on being, not doing. If "I-feeling" is not clear, just remain silent in the present moment, in the Now. Recognition of "I-feeling" will happen sooner or later.


This page once had plenty of links to sites, books, masters etc.

Today, I cut out all that, for it will only delay your starting on this path.

"Who Am I?" (alt) or being in silent self-awareness, is the only way to realizing one's true nature. It is the simplest thing and cannot be described without confusing the reader and preventing him from being able to do it.

Once one makes a habit of being in mental silence (or reverting to it again and again), enquiry will happen. Our attention will automatically begin to turn to oneself. Which is all that has to be done till all questions are over, till all thoughts are over.

All attempts by various authors to explain SE have created concepts in our mind, these concepts come to mind when we try to be silent. We struggle with "I-I", "I-thought", "awareness of awareness", "consciousness of consciousness" etc.


All the above, although correct, prevented me from being able to _do_ SE, and that prompted me to read *more* books, and crowd my mind even further. After giving up the whole drama, and abandoning all activities in total disgust, finally (a long while later) one day, the mind or whatever, just began going into silence, and (looking back) I realized that SE was happening. As this silent self-awarenss grew and began taking over, I then looked at some material and confirmed that it was the correct thing.

I hope not to myself complicate the matter.

SE should be described in one sentence or one para and left at that. Only *trying* will bring about success, not more and more reading.

SE is NOT difficult, however, it has been misrepresented as being difficult by almost all people, many have never really committed themselves to it. And all of them are too attached to their personalities to successfully do any form of meditation, let alone SE.



NOW GO HERE

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CONTENTS OF OLD PAGE FOLLOW:

I have removed all the gazillion links to scriptures and sites. However, I'd like to add that (I believe) Michael Langford has it correct. I endorse him - one or two have publicly mocked him on their websites and blogs, but he explains the direct path well, and does not complicate it as other authors/editors and compilers have done.

Believe nothing because a wise man said it;
Believe nothing because it is generally held;
Believe nothing because it is written;
Believe nothing because it is said to be divine;
Believe nothing because somebody else believes it;
Believe only what you yourself judge to be true

- Gautama Buddha

"Real Masters never charge for their services, nor do they accept payment
in any form or any sort of material benefits for their instructions.
This is a universal law among Masters, and yet it is an amazing fact that thousands of eager seekers in America and elsewhere, go on paying large sums of money for "spiritual instruction.".
Masters are always self-sustaining. They are never supported by their students or by public charity."

Above is someone's opinion to guide you along your long search, and here
are more details, be sure to read this.


There is also the "living versus non-living guru controversy". I think Ramana Maharshi put an end to that by saying:

They say that I am dying, but i am not going away. Where could i go? I am here.

See this for more of his "last" words. Krishna says the same thing to Arjuna in the gita.


Through thick and thin, remember these words:

One who has obtained the grace of the Guru would never be abandoned. He will undoubtedly be saved and never forsaken, just as the prey that has fallen into the tiger's jaw will never be allowed to escape.³

Disclaimer

The author of this site, is/are not "realized", "advanced", "evolved" etc. We do not attempt to explain, (mis)interpret or analyse Bhagavan Ramana's teachings. We only point you to His teachings.

Warning
Please beware of instant and quick enlightenment and deeksha programs. Read this fully for an idea of how harmful such programs can be.

NEXT PAGE

Meditation

Hold onto the "I-feeling" as much as possible. A time will come when the I-feeling or awareness will start happening automatically without effort. After that the focus is on being, not doing. If "I-feeling" is not clear, just remain silent in the present moment, in the Now. Recognition of "I-feeling" will happen sooner or later.

The I-Feeling may also be referred to as the simple awareness of being, or awareness of "you" (that is already there).

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The only effective meditation for liberation is the Direct Path of Self-enquiry (excerpt). All other meditations (deekshas, satsangs, initiations, rituals, programs, etc) are merely detours and/or excuses by the ego to perpetuate itself.
The thought that "I am not ready for SE and should try an easier path first" is caused by a lack of intensity in one's longing for liberation.
As long as the intensity is not there, the ego will manufacture excuses for NOT doing self-enquiry.
As long as one can find joy in the momentary pleasures and distractions of the material world the longing for liberation will never be strong. Realising the temporariness of all material pleasures and attachments, and the pain they consequently bring can increase your longing. Complete faith in the words of the sadguru could also bring about a longing for liberation.

A true and earnest longing for liberation will remove all obstacles from your path, as all obstacles are created or imagined only by the false self that wants to survive and control us.

1) Ramana Maharshi's Self-Enquiry is available in a small question and answer format amounting to a few pages. Click Who Am I (90KB pdf)

Added on 2008-06-09. Source - Michael Langford:

If the “I Am” is this present awareness, just the awareness that is now looking at this room, then paying attention to the "I Am" is just:

My awareness watching my awareness!
This was a revelation!
Instead of having some vague practice where one is told to pay attention to the feeling "I Am", without ever being sure exactly what the “I Am” is and feels like, here was an absolutely clear instruction:

My present awareness watching my present awareness.

Awareness watching awareness.

Sri Nisargadatta had said, "Be aware of being aware."

Sri Ramana had spoken of "clinging to oneself", being aware of oneself (BAYA-DG) ... being aware of the first person (Sri Sadhu Om).

From a recent comment by David Godman on his blog.

Sadhu Om always maintained that 'mere attention to the feeling "I"' was the correct and only way to do enquiry. Although Bhagavan himself, in his written works and spoken comments, asked devotees to ask themselves 'Who am I?', Sadhu Om rarely emphasized this point.

Programs for Spiritual Seekers

The following is a collection of programs for seekers. I do not endorse them unless specified. They are just pointers for you to follow, you must do some checking up before attending.

Before attending a program, or joining a new guru, please enquire about what commitments are expected of people who join, commitments such as monetary or recruiting more people, etc. Find out how much charges are taken for each level of program, what is your total expenditure if you take all the programs - don't just ask for the first level, this could be misleading.

Sadly, I have had to remove all entries from this page. Most such programs are either useless, or downright harmful, being conducted by people who are not themselves liberated, or who think they are. Please read this link fully, to get an idea how dangerous these deekshas and programs can be: Dangers and side-effects of some programs.

POONJAJI SAID:

“This is the Kali Yuga,

Even Rakshashas (demons) will incarnate as teachers to mislead you.

Those who must be destroyed by these demons will be.

Test the Guru by the teaching:

without inquiry there is no teaching.

Shun every teacher who does not teach inquiry.

Directly looking at your own face is the only teaching.

If the Guru says 'I am enlightened,'

it means the ego is enlightened so stay away.

Western teachers who say this are preachers so stay away

and only write books to load more garbage on seekers,

and more money in their pockets.

They will attract so many students,

but in Kali Yuga it is the falsehood which will draw the crowds.

The Truth and the true Gurus will be neglected.

(Source)

About this site

This site exists only to remind viewers of the teachings and life of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. Link this site on your Google Reader (or other RSS/Atom Reader) and be reminded of Bhagavan (almost) everyday.

Added 21/2/2008: The author of this blog does not know and is not affiliated with or promoting any gurus or teachers. This blog is about self-enquiry, self-awareness, and all posts are reminders to be in silent self-awareness at all times. Do not judge the messenger, hear the message.

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Would you give away everything you have, everything, including mind, body and soul, for just one grain of sand that has touched the Maharshi's feet ?

Having seen the eyes and smile of the Maharshi the first time, has all desire, all fascination for what this world offers, all identification with your body and senses, has all this left you forever?

Is your life an everlasting prostration at the Maharshi's dear Feet, a never-ending drowning in His unending love, a drowning in His eyes and smile, a continuous kissing of His Feet ?

Does hearing the name Ramana, Annamalai or Arunachala send a wave of ecstacy through you ?

This site and Words, then, is for you, who love Sri Ramana Maharshi.

This site is a joyous celebration of His presence, a celebration of His Feet and His smile.

I hope your moments here are joyous.

NOW GO HERE.

I seek refuge at the sacred feet of the blessed Ramana, who performs the entire work of creation, preservation and destruction, while remaining wholly unattached, and who makes us aware of what is real and thus protects us, that I may set down his words fittingly. (See )

More Links

Hold onto the "I-feeling" as much as possible. A time will come when the I-feeling or awareness will start happening automatically without effort. After that the focus is on being, not doing.

If "I-feeling" is not clear, just remain silent in the present moment, in the Now. Recognition of "I-feeling" will happen sooner or later. Trust that the Now will reveal the "I-feeling" and that it will become easier with time, and then second nature.

------------------------------------------
The line between the seeker and the Self (our true nature) is very fine. Only when one is exceedingly earnest and truthful with oneself can one discern this distinction.

I am fighting the deception of the seeker, and have been fighting it since I embarked on this "virtuous" path.
Everything I did, everything the seeker did, was the mind keeping me away from You, O Self.

What a grand deception.

Everything other than staying away from thought, being in the Self, other than enquiring, is the deception of the seeker. Everything.

And we in our innocence, in ignorance, fell for it.

Being in silence, in self-awareness is the simplest thing. The truthful path that you give us. But we invented our own paths and asked you to endorse them.

Activities that take us away from the personality, from mental noise into silent self-awareness are good.

All other activities are the activities of the personality. Attempting to be aware or enquire during activities of the personality is like wanting to be away from the Self, and then wanting to be in the Self (while wanting to be away from it.)

One cannot run in one direction, and talk of wanting to go in the opposite direction at the same time. The mind deceives us into choosing such paths.

To put it more directly, it is wanting to play the personality game for a while, but somehow be in the Self, while playing the personality game.
We CANNOT be the personality and the Self at the same time.

The tricks of the mind get more subtle as we go along, the seeker gets more refined and spiritual, and closer to the Self. But the seeker is the mind, trying to prevent us from just being.

Silent self-awareness is the only "activity" (or non-activity) the personality cannot pierce.

We must understand that all personality activities, are delaying our knowledge of our true nature, every moment not in silent self-awareness or enquiry is delaying our merger with You.

Every time we choose a non-silent activity (say, an entertainment activity), we choose against the Self, we shelve the Self, we put ourselves aside and invite the enemy in.


Now it is time to stop reading and be in silence. OR GO HERE.

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Warning: The following is the content of the OLD PAGE, and is meant for those who wish to talk about spirituality for the rest of their lives, not for those who wish to know their real nature as soon as possible.

 Links

(Removed all links as they were just time wasters)

The IMPOSTOR - "The Most Rapid and Direct Means to Eternal Bliss" (Michael Langford). Current link.