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Every being in the universe
is an expression of the Tao.
It springs into existence,
unconscious, perfect, free,
takes on a physical body,
lets circumstances complete it.
That is why every being
spontaneously honors the Tao.
The Tao gives birth to all beings,
nourishes them, maintains them,
cares for them, comforts them, protects them,
takes them back to itself,
creating without possessing,
acting without expecting,
guiding without interfering.
That is why love of the Tao
is in the very nature of things.
is an ex
It springs into existence,
unconscious, perfect, free,
takes on a physical body,
lets circumstances complete it.
That is why every being
spontaneously honors the Tao.
The Tao gives birth to all beings,
nourishes them, maintains them,
cares for them, comforts them, protects them,
takes them back to itself,
creating without possessing,
acting without expecting,
guiding without interfering.
That is why love of the Tao
is in the very nature of things.
SAGEHOOD AS AN IDEAL
Q. Do you have thoughts?
Sri Ramana: I usually have no thoughts.
Q. But when you are reading?
A. Then I have thoughts.
Q. And when someone asks you a question?
A. Then, too, I have thoughts when replying, not
otherwise.
Q. How can I keep the idea of that real state always
before me?
A. Because you think you are a body you are not able to keep that single idea, you are not firm!
The idea that you must go to Tiruvannamalai and see Maharshi is only a function of the intellect.
Really no help is required. You are already in your original state; how can anyone help you to arrive where you already are? The help given is only to clear out your wrong notions. The great men, the gurus can help only by removing the obstacles in your way.
A child and Jnani are in some ways similar. The child ceases to think of incidents after they have passed off. Thus
it shows that they do not leave deep impressions on the child's mind. So too with a Jnani.
Conscious Immortality
Q. Do you have thoughts?
Sri Ramana: I usually have no thoughts.
Q. But when you are reading?
A. Then I have thoughts.
Q. And when someone asks you a question?
A. Then, too, I have thoughts when replying, not
otherwise.
Q. How can I keep the idea of that real state always
before me?
A. Because you think you are a body you are not able to keep that single idea, you are not firm!
The idea that you must go to Tiruvannamalai and see Maharshi is only a function of the intellect.
Really no help is required. You are already in your original state; how can anyone help you to arrive where you already are? The help given is only to clear out your wrong notions. The great men, the gurus can help only by removing the obstacles in your way.
A child and Jnani are in some ways similar. The child ceases to think of incidents after they have passed off. Thus
it shows that they do not leave deep impressions on the child's mind. So too with a Jnani.
Conscious Immortality
When will you admit that you are the Infinite?
You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
I am not this hair,
I am not this skin,
I am the soul that lives within.
I am not this skin,
I am the soul that lives within.
What does stillness mean? It means ‘Destroy yourself’; because every name and form is the cause of trouble. ‘I-I’ is the Self. ‘I am this’ is the ego. When the ‘I’ is kept up as the ‘I’ only, it is the Self. When it flies off at a tangent and says, ‘I am this or that. I am such and such’, it is the ego.
Catch yourself. What are you thinking about? It’s those very thoughts that keep you from awakening. Always catch yourself thinking. And ask yourself: “To whom do these thoughts come?” even if they’re good thoughts. It makes no difference. There’s something within you that knows what to do. There is a power greater than you that knows how to take care of you without your help. All you’ve got to do is to surrender to it. Surrender your thoughts, your mind, your ego, to the current that knows the way. It will take care of you. It will take better care of you than you can ever imagine.
The false self grows out of unconscious being. It is a fragmented amalgam of many selves tenuously bound together by a façade of normalcy. It is a divided house built upon an imaginary foundation, a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.
What is to be done, O Moslems? for I do not recognize myself.
I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Gabr [Magian], nor Moslem.
I am not of the East, nor of the West, nor of the land, nor of the sea;
I am not of Nature’s mint, nor of the circling heavens.
I am not of earth, nor of water, nor of air, nor of fire;
I am not of the empyrean, nor of the dust, nor of existence, nor of entity.
I am not of India, nor of China, nor of Bulghar, nor of Saqsin;
I am not of the kingdom of ‘Iraqain, nor of the country of Khurasan.
I am not of this world, nor of the next, nor of Paradise, nor of Hell;
I am not of Adam, nor of Eve, nor of Eden and Rizwan.
My place is the Placeless, my trace is the Traceless;
‘Tis neither body nor soul, for I belong to the soul of the Beloved.
I have put duality away, I have seen that the two worlds are one;
One I seek, One I know, One I see, One I call.
I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Gabr [Magian], nor Moslem.
I am not of the East, nor of the West, nor of the land, nor of the sea;
I am not of Nature’s mint, nor of the circling heavens.
I am not of earth, nor of water, nor of air, nor of fire;
I am not of the empyrean, nor of the dust, nor of existence, nor of entity.
I am not of India, nor of China, nor of Bulghar, nor of Saqsin;
I am not of the kingdom of ‘Iraqain, nor of the country of Khurasan.
I am not of this world, nor of the next, nor of Paradise, nor of Hell;
I am not of Adam, nor of Eve, nor of Eden and Rizwan.
My place is the Placeless, my trace is the Traceless;
‘Tis neither body nor soul, for I belong to the soul of the Beloved.
I have put duality away, I have seen that the two worlds are one;
One I seek, One I know, One I see, One I call.
Listening is an art that comes from a quiet mind and an open heart. Listening uses all of your senses and it is a very subtle skill. Listening, just listening - not only with the ear, with your being. Your being becomes the instrument of listening. Your sensing mechanism in life is not just your ears, eyes, skin sensitivity and analytic mind. It’s something deeper in you. It’s some intuitive quality of knowing. With all of your being you become an antenna to the nature of another person.
The most subtle of all thoughts is the concept of ‘I’ and from there ego is born. Without the ‘I’, you will clearly see that you are not the creator of your feelings or your thoughts. Thoughts simply pass by like clouds moving across the sky of consciousness. If you identify with either passing thoughts or feelings, you will give them life force and an egoic state resumes for you. Feelings and thoughts flow through you, that is life. They cannot bother you in any way without your identification with them.
We have tried everything to get rid of suffering. We have gone everywhere to get rid of suffering. We have bought everything to get rid of it. We have ingested everything to get rid of it. Finally, when one has tried enough, there arises the possibility of spiritual maturity with the willingness to stop the futile attempt to get rid of it and, instead, to actually experience suffering. In that momentous instant, there is the realization of that which is beyond suffering, of that which is untouched by suffering. There is the realization of who one truly is.
You cannot see clearly, because you are so full of expectations, hopes, desires. Your eyes are covered with many layers of dust: you need a deep cleansing of your eyes. That’s what meditation is. Let the thoughts disappear, the hopes disappear, the desires disappear. Then you have a clarity, then your eyes are perfect mirrors. Only then, in that silent state of your vision, will you know the secrets of the beyond.
Would you like to save the world from the degradation and destruction it seems destined for? Then step away from shallow mass movements and quietly go to work on your own self-awareness. If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.
We're fascinated by the words - but where we meet is in the silence behind them.
At any moment, you have a choice, that either leads you closer to your spirit or further away from it. Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything - anger, anxiety, or possessions - we cannot be free.
What is it that exists now and troubles you? It is 'I'. Get rid of it and be happy.
RETURN TO THE SOURCE
Going beyond thinking by jnana, beyond feeling by bhakti, beyond self-willed action by karma marga means going beyond that ‘I’ which was from the very beginning, the birth of a genuine reflexive Identity, a ‘wrong I’; it means nothing more or less than returning to the Source of Pure Consciousness. Thereafter...
“Your efforts can extend only thus far. Then the Beyond will take care of Itself. You are helpless there. No effort can reach It.” (Talks, 197).
Here finally we meet the Great Experience of Ramana, the Maharshi, in Its second aspect, as the pure Power of the Beyond, Sakti. “Some force, call it atmic power or anything else rose within me and took possession of me. I became a new man.” (Day by Day, 22.11.45).
‘I’ and ‘God’ melted again into the One without a second that they always had been, beyond name and form, time and space... the divine mystery of Man.
To get this experience we have to transcend the biological status of the ‘thinking mammal’, which alone we are, according to the teachings of our natural sciences. And inadvertently they help to keep us bound by this status, because only by this deep ignorance about our true Nature are we blind towards those negative ways in which we are misused by our ‘worldly’ civilisation.
Going beyond thinking by jnana, beyond feeling by bhakti, beyond self-willed action by karma marga means going beyond that ‘I’ which was from the very beginning, the birth of a genuine reflexive Identity, a ‘wrong I’; it means nothing more or less than returning to the Source of Pure Consciousness. Thereafter...
“Your efforts can extend only thus far. Then the Beyond will take care of Itself. You are helpless there. No effort can reach It.” (Talks, 197).
Here finally we meet the Great Experience of Ramana, the Maharshi, in Its second aspect, as the pure Power of the Beyond, Sakti. “Some force, call it atmic power or anything else rose within me and took possession of me. I became a new man.” (Day by Day, 22.11.45).
‘I’ and ‘God’ melted again into the One without a second that they always had been, beyond name and form, time and space... the divine mystery of Man.
To get this experience we have to transcend the biological status of the ‘thinking mammal’, which alone we are, according to the teachings of our natural sciences. And inadvertently they help to keep us bound by this status, because only by this deep ignorance about our true Nature are we blind towards those negative ways in which we are misused by our ‘worldly’ civilisation.
... not even uttering the word “I”, one should enquire keenly thus: “Now, what is it that rises as ‘I’”. Then, there would shine in the Heart a kind of wordless illumination of the form ‘I’ ‘I’. That is, there would shine of its own accord the pure consciousness which is unlimited and one, the limited and the many thoughts having disappeared. If one remains quiescent without abandoning that (experience), the egoity, the individual sense, of the form ‘I am the body’ will be totally destroyed, and at the end the final thought, viz. the ‘I’- form also will be quenched like the fire that burns camphor. The great sages and scriptures declare that this alone is release.
From 'Self-Enquiry'
From 'Self-Enquiry'
VEDANTA PANCHADASI
11. It is the Jiva, a ‘reflection’ of the Self, which is affected by the pain and pleasure of this transmigratory life, but not the real Self. This understanding is called knowledge. It is achieved through discrimination.
12. Therefore one should always enquire into the nature of the world, the individual Self and the supreme Self. When the ideas of Jiva and Jagat (world) are negated, the pure Atman alone remains.
13. By negation it does not mean that the world and Jiva cease to be perceptible to the senses, it means the conviction of their illusory character. Otherwise people would be automatically liberated in deep sleep or in a faint.
14. ‘The supreme Self alone remains’ also means a conviction about Its reality and not non-perceiving of the world. Otherwise there would be no such thing as liberation in life.
11. It is the Jiva, a ‘reflection’ of the Self, which is affected by the pain and pleasure of this transmigratory life, but not the real Self. This understanding is called knowledge. It is achieved through discrimination.
12. Therefore one should always enquire into the nature of the world, the individual Self and the supreme Self. When the ideas of Jiva and Jagat (world) are negated, the pure Atman alone remains.
13. By negation it does not mean that the world and Jiva cease to be perceptible to the senses, it means the conviction of their illusory character. Otherwise people would be automatically liberated in deep sleep or in a faint.
14. ‘The supreme Self alone remains’ also means a conviction about Its reality and not non-perceiving of the world. Otherwise there would be no such thing as liberation in life.
"Banks of Eternity" by Paramhansa Yogananda
At last I found the banks of eternity and there I sat, musing, to plunge, swim, and melt in that ocean of immortality. Melting myself within Myself I became the ocean of luminous light. All dream waves of many incarnations have melted into the sea of one flame.
All rivers of my desires have become one vast sea of desire for God. The loves of many lives have commingled to become one cosmic love. The joys of many centuries have gathered together and become the all-pervading joy.
Beloved of my heart, since Thou hast created me, it is in Thy power to release at once the atoms of my body into the freedom of Thy light. No longer do I want to play with this wave of life or with other waves of lives.
Bless me that I may expand this soul into Thy Spirit — expand my wisdom into Thy wisdom, and expand my bliss into Thy bliss. I, the tiny wave of life, must become the ever-expanding ocean of immortality.
At last I found the banks of eternity and there I sat, musing, to plunge, swim, and melt in that ocean of immortality. Melting myself within Myself I became the ocean of luminous light. All dream waves of many incarnations have melted into the sea of one flame.
All rivers of my desires have become one vast sea of desire for God. The loves of many lives have commingled to become one cosmic love. The joys of many centuries have gathered together and become the all-pervading joy.
Beloved of my heart, since Thou hast created me, it is in Thy power to release at once the atoms of my body into the freedom of Thy light. No longer do I want to play with this wave of life or with other waves of lives.
Bless me that I may expand this soul into Thy Spirit — expand my wisdom into Thy wisdom, and expand my bliss into Thy bliss. I, the tiny wave of life, must become the ever-expanding ocean of immortality.
He and I are one,
like the word and its meaning.
Behold union in separation,
like the eye and vision.
Not for a moment is He separate from me --
Behold us together everywhere,
like flower and fragrance.
like the word and its meaning.
Behold union in separation,
like the eye and vision.
Not for a moment is He separate from me --
Behold us together everywhere,
like flower and fragrance.
DO NOT STRUGGLE WITH YOUR MEMORIES AND THOUGHTS..
Q: How am I to think myself out when my thoughts come and go as they like. Their endless chatter distracts and exhausts me.
M: Watch your thoughts as you watch the street traffic. People come and go; you register without response. It may not be easy in the beginning, but with some practice you will find that your mind can function on many levels at the same time and you can be aware of them all.
It is only when you have a vested interest in any particular level, that your attention gets caught in it and you black out on other levels. Even then the work on the blacked out levels goes on, outside the field of consciousness.
Do not struggle with your memories and thoughts; try only to include in your field of attention the other, more important questions, like 'Who am l?' 'How did I happen to be born?' 'Whence this universe around me?'. 'What is real and what is momentary?' No memory will persist, if you lose interest in it, it is the emotional link that perpetuates the bondage.
You are always seeking pleasure, avoiding pain, always after happiness and peace. Don't you see that it is your very search for happiness that makes you feel miserable? Try the other way: indifferent to pain and pleasure, neither asking, nor refusing, give all your attention to the level on which 'I am' is timelessly present.
Soon you will realise that peace and happiness are in your very nature and it is only seeking them through some particular channels, that disturbs. Avoid the disturbance, that is all. To seek there is no need; you would not seek what you already have. You yourself are God, the Supreme Reality.
To begin with, trust me, trust the Teacher. It enables you to make the first step -- and then your trust is justified by your own experience.
Q: How am I to think myself out when my thoughts come and go as they like. Their endless chatter distracts and exhausts me.
M: Watch your thoughts as you watch the street traffic. People come and go; you register without response. It may not be easy in the beginning, but with some practice you will find that your mind can function on many levels at the same time and you can be aware of them all.
It is only when you have a vested interest in any particular level, that your attention gets caught in it and you black out on other levels. Even then the work on the blacked out levels goes on, outside the field of consciousness.
Do not struggle with your memories and thoughts; try only to include in your field of attention the other, more important questions, like 'Who am l?' 'How did I happen to be born?' 'Whence this universe around me?'. 'What is real and what is momentary?' No memory will persist, if you lose interest in it, it is the emotional link that perpetuates the bondage.
You are always seeking pleasure, avoiding pain, always after happiness and peace. Don't you see that it is your very search for happiness that makes you feel miserable? Try the other way: indifferent to pain and pleasure, neither asking, nor refusing, give all your attention to the level on which 'I am' is timelessly present.
Soon you will realise that peace and happiness are in your very nature and it is only seeking them through some particular channels, that disturbs. Avoid the disturbance, that is all. To seek there is no need; you would not seek what you already have. You yourself are God, the Supreme Reality.
To begin with, trust me, trust the Teacher. It enables you to make the first step -- and then your trust is justified by your own experience.
You cannot get closer to Truth.
You can only awaken to the Truth that you are.
You can only awaken to the Truth that you are.
Life is like music for its own sake. We are living in an eternal now, and when we listen to music we are not listening to the past, we are not listening to the future, we are listening to an expanded present.
Beings
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