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Remember this.
Self-Inquiry should be spontaneous.
It should not be a drudgery.
It should not be something you planned.
You simply begin to look at yourself.
Self-Inquiry should be spontaneous.
It should not be a drudgery.
It should not be something you planned.
You simply begin to look at yourself.
The love that you withhold is the pain that you carry.
When the mind [i.e., the ego’s attention] which wanders outside, knowing only other objects [2nd and 3rd persons] – begins to attend to its own nature, all other objects will disappear, and then, by experiencing its own true nature [i.e. Self], the pseudo-‘I’ will also die.
-GURU VACHAKA KOVAI, Verse 193.
-GURU VACHAKA KOVAI, Verse 193.
Many of you have been performing yoga practices, meditations, chanting, pranayama and various techniques in order to awaken.
But I say to you that this will never cause you to awaken.
It will bring you good feelings, it will bring you a semblance of peace, but you will never awaken through the practice of yoga unless the yoga leads to Self-Inquiry, or it leads to complete surrender of the ego.
If you practice anything else it inflates the ego.
T. 73 Renounce Everything Mentally - June 27, 1991
But I say to you that this will never cause you to awaken.
It will bring you good feelings, it will bring you a semblance of peace, but you will never awaken through the practice of yoga unless the yoga leads to Self-Inquiry, or it leads to complete surrender of the ego.
If you practice anything else it inflates the ego.
T. 73 Renounce Everything Mentally - June 27, 1991
Laugh with people laughing, cry with people crying, but don’t fall into the river of world illusion. Stay on the banks.
Notice how often your attention is in the past or future. Don’t judge or analyze what you observe. Watch the thought, feel the emotion, observe the reaction. Don’t make a personal problem out of them. You will then feel something more powerful than any of those things you observe: the still observing presence itself behind the content of your mind, the silent watcher.
Feelings are just visitors, let them come and go.
People are running, running, but there is no place in the world to which they can flee to escape themselves. Ultimately, each one must face himself.
When you are willing to stop looking for something in thought, you find everything in silence.
Kindness should be the natural way of life, not the exception.
Changes are inevitable in the changeful, but you are not subject to them. You are the changeless background, against which changes are perceived.
If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place. As soon as you honor the present moment, unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease. When you act out the present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love - even the most simple action.
Use the method that is gentle to you.
That does not irk you.
That feels right for you.
There are many ways to practice Self-Inquiry.
Self-Inquiry merely means,
«Inquiring».
And you can inquire whatever happens to you.
For instance if you want to know what method to use, inquire.
Ask yourself.
You can ask yourself,
«What shall I do to get closer to awakening?»
Ask yourself that question.
And all of a sudden like a flash something may come and respond and say, ‘I-am’.
Then you can practice the ‘I-am meditation’.
Sometimes nothing comes and you’re silent.
That means you should rest in the silence and be silent for a while.
But go with the flow.
Do not force yourself.
If you force yourself to do something you’ll hate it and you’ll say this doesn’t work and you’ll give it all up.
There is so many methods I share with you, you can either practice them all or practice one, the important thing is, is to always be doing something.
Never allow the world to get to you.
To grab a hold of you and make you worldly.
102 Awaken! - October 13, 1991
That does not irk you.
That feels right for you.
There are many ways to practice Self-Inquiry.
Self-Inquiry merely means,
«Inquiring».
And you can inquire whatever happens to you.
For instance if you want to know what method to use, inquire.
Ask yourself.
You can ask yourself,
«What shall I do to get closer to awakening?»
Ask yourself that question.
And all of a sudden like a flash something may come and respond and say, ‘I-am’.
Then you can practice the ‘I-am meditation’.
Sometimes nothing comes and you’re silent.
That means you should rest in the silence and be silent for a while.
But go with the flow.
Do not force yourself.
If you force yourself to do something you’ll hate it and you’ll say this doesn’t work and you’ll give it all up.
There is so many methods I share with you, you can either practice them all or practice one, the important thing is, is to always be doing something.
Never allow the world to get to you.
To grab a hold of you and make you worldly.
102 Awaken! - October 13, 1991
The moment you become aware of the ego in you, it is strictly speaking no longer the ego, but just an old, conditioned mind-pattern. Ego implies unawareness. Awareness and ego cannot coexist. The old mind-pattern or mental habit may still survive and reoccur for a while because it has the momentum of thousands of years of collective human unconsciousness behind it, but every time it is recognized, it is weakened.
Life without a reason, a purpose, a position… the mind is frightened of this because then “my life” is over with, and life lives itself and moves from itself in a totally different dimension. This way of living is just life moving. That’s all.
Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.
Surrender your existence to existence.
Discover your spontaneity.
To entertain the belief that you know what you are going to do in the future or next week is a madness.
What a restriction, a limitation and a repression.
Life flows spontaneously and is infinitely greater than all your plans or intensions put together.
Why spoil it with hasty and vain projections?
Let it be whatever it will be. Give up trying to manipulate.
This is Freedom.
Discover your spontaneity.
To entertain the belief that you know what you are going to do in the future or next week is a madness.
What a restriction, a limitation and a repression.
Life flows spontaneously and is infinitely greater than all your plans or intensions put together.
Why spoil it with hasty and vain projections?
Let it be whatever it will be. Give up trying to manipulate.
This is Freedom.
Beloved, let me never imagine I am something.
Let me never forget I am nothing.
What grace you have showered upon my being.
To have filled this space with you.
Let me never forget I am nothing.
What grace you have showered upon my being.
To have filled this space with you.
Your duty is to be and not to be this or that.
Ramana Maharshi: You can never find the mind through mind. Pass beyond it in order to find it non-existent.
Questioner: Then one must directly go to seek the ego. Is it so?
Ramana Maharshi: That's it. Mind, ego, intellect are all different names for one single inner organ (antahkarana). The mind is only the aggregate of thoughts. Thoughts cannot exist but for the ego. So all thoughts are pervaded by ego (aham). Seek wherefrom the `I' rises and the other thoughts will disappear.
~ from 'Talk 473'; 15th March, 1938
Questioner: Then one must directly go to seek the ego. Is it so?
Ramana Maharshi: That's it. Mind, ego, intellect are all different names for one single inner organ (antahkarana). The mind is only the aggregate of thoughts. Thoughts cannot exist but for the ego. So all thoughts are pervaded by ego (aham). Seek wherefrom the `I' rises and the other thoughts will disappear.
~ from 'Talk 473'; 15th March, 1938
Lord Krishna told his disciple Arjuna:
"You have the right to the way you perform your prescribed duty, but the resulting outcome is not under your command. May you continue the march of your duties, unmindful of the outcome"
"You have the right to the way you perform your prescribed duty, but the resulting outcome is not under your command. May you continue the march of your duties, unmindful of the outcome"
I often think of the great masters and imagine beings who have their depth of realization as magnificent mountain eagles, who soar above both life and death and see them for what they are, in all their mysterious, intricate interrelation.
To see through the eyes of the mountain eagle, the view of realization, is to look down on a landscape in which the boundaries that we imagined existed between life and death shade into each other and dissolve...
What is seen directly and with total understanding by the masters is flowing movement and unbroken wholeness. What we, in our ignorance, call “life” and what we, in our ignorance, call “death” are merely different aspects of that wholeness and that movement.
To see through the eyes of the mountain eagle, the view of realization, is to look down on a landscape in which the boundaries that we imagined existed between life and death shade into each other and dissolve...
What is seen directly and with total understanding by the masters is flowing movement and unbroken wholeness. What we, in our ignorance, call “life” and what we, in our ignorance, call “death” are merely different aspects of that wholeness and that movement.
Be content within your own measure. If you over-reach yourself, you will have to suffer. You can hear the voice of God in everything and everyone.
Wisdom as such is an illusion. To be ourselves is the best that we can do.
Really a man can do all that he wants to do. He has merely to acquire the necessary ability. A knowledge of other people and other affairs is again as illusion. These must be given up.
The world is an ashram - a training ground for the achievement of freedom. Each one does his part according to his own measure. There is nothing that is evil.
A jack fruit is large in size, but it hangs by a slender stalk. Its power to hang lies in the strength of the stalk. In the same way, the whole world depends on an unknowable energy for all its activities. It is all the same whether this is called God, or given any other name.
Wisdom as such is an illusion. To be ourselves is the best that we can do.
Really a man can do all that he wants to do. He has merely to acquire the necessary ability. A knowledge of other people and other affairs is again as illusion. These must be given up.
The world is an ashram - a training ground for the achievement of freedom. Each one does his part according to his own measure. There is nothing that is evil.
A jack fruit is large in size, but it hangs by a slender stalk. Its power to hang lies in the strength of the stalk. In the same way, the whole world depends on an unknowable energy for all its activities. It is all the same whether this is called God, or given any other name.
Question: What is the easiest way to be free of the 'little self?
Annamalai Swami: Stop identifying with it. If you can convince yourself ‘This "little self” is not really me,’ it will just disappear.
Q: But how to do this?
AS: The 'little self’ is something which only appears to be real. If you understand that it has no real existence it will disappear, leaving behind it the experience of the real and only Self.
Understand that it has no real existence and it will stop troubling you.
Consciousness is universal. There is no limitation or little self in it. It is only when we identify with and limit ourselves to the body and the mind that this false self is born. If, through enquiry, you go to the source of this 'little self’, you find that it dissolves into nothingness.
Q: But I am very accustomed to feel I am this "little self". I cannot break this habit merely by thinking I am not this "little self."
AS: This 'little self’ will only give way to the real Self if you meditate constantly. You cannot wish it away with a few stray thoughts.
Try to remember the analogy of the rope which looks like a snake in the twilight. If you see the rope as a snake, the real nature of the rope is hidden from you. If you only see the rope, the snake is not there. Not only that, you know that there never was snake there. When you have that clear and correct perception that the snake never at any time existed, the question of how to kill the snake disappears. Apply this analogy to the 'little self’ that you are worrying about. If you can understand that this little self never at any time had any existence outside your imagination you will not be concerned about ways and means of getting rid of it.
Q: It tis all very clear but I feel that I need some help.
I am not sure that I can generate this understanding by myself.
AS: The desire for assistance is part of your problem. Don't make the mistake of imagining that there is some goal to be reached or attained. If you think like this you will start looking for methods to practice and people to help you. This just perpetuates the problem you are trying to end. Instead, cultivate the strong awareness, ‘l am the Self. I am That. I am Brahman. I am everything.' You don't need any methods to get rid of the wrong ideas you have about yourself. All you have to do is stop believing them. The best way to do this is to replace them with ideas which more accurately reflect the real state of affairs. If you think and meditate ‘I am the Self’ it will do you a lot more good than thinking, ‘I am the "little self". How can I get rid of this "little self”.
The Self is always attained, it is always realized; it is not something that you have to seek, reach or discover. Your vasanas [mental habits and tendencies] and all the wrong ideas you have about yourself are blocking and hiding the experience of the real Self. If you don't identify with the wrong ideas, your Self-nature will not be hidden from you.
You said that you needed help. If your desire to gain a proper understanding of your real nature is intense enough, help will automatically come. If you want to generate an awareness of your real nature you will be immeasurably helped by having contact with a jnani. The power and grace which a jnani radiates quieten the mind and automatically eliminate the wrong ideas you have about yourself. You can make progress by having satsang of a realized Guru and by constant spiritual practice. The Guru cannot do everything for you. If you want to give up the limiting habits of many lifetimes, you must practice constantly.
Living by the Words of Bhagavan, pp 258-60
Annamalai Swami: Stop identifying with it. If you can convince yourself ‘This "little self” is not really me,’ it will just disappear.
Q: But how to do this?
AS: The 'little self’ is something which only appears to be real. If you understand that it has no real existence it will disappear, leaving behind it the experience of the real and only Self.
Understand that it has no real existence and it will stop troubling you.
Consciousness is universal. There is no limitation or little self in it. It is only when we identify with and limit ourselves to the body and the mind that this false self is born. If, through enquiry, you go to the source of this 'little self’, you find that it dissolves into nothingness.
Q: But I am very accustomed to feel I am this "little self". I cannot break this habit merely by thinking I am not this "little self."
AS: This 'little self’ will only give way to the real Self if you meditate constantly. You cannot wish it away with a few stray thoughts.
Try to remember the analogy of the rope which looks like a snake in the twilight. If you see the rope as a snake, the real nature of the rope is hidden from you. If you only see the rope, the snake is not there. Not only that, you know that there never was snake there. When you have that clear and correct perception that the snake never at any time existed, the question of how to kill the snake disappears. Apply this analogy to the 'little self’ that you are worrying about. If you can understand that this little self never at any time had any existence outside your imagination you will not be concerned about ways and means of getting rid of it.
Q: It tis all very clear but I feel that I need some help.
I am not sure that I can generate this understanding by myself.
AS: The desire for assistance is part of your problem. Don't make the mistake of imagining that there is some goal to be reached or attained. If you think like this you will start looking for methods to practice and people to help you. This just perpetuates the problem you are trying to end. Instead, cultivate the strong awareness, ‘l am the Self. I am That. I am Brahman. I am everything.' You don't need any methods to get rid of the wrong ideas you have about yourself. All you have to do is stop believing them. The best way to do this is to replace them with ideas which more accurately reflect the real state of affairs. If you think and meditate ‘I am the Self’ it will do you a lot more good than thinking, ‘I am the "little self". How can I get rid of this "little self”.
The Self is always attained, it is always realized; it is not something that you have to seek, reach or discover. Your vasanas [mental habits and tendencies] and all the wrong ideas you have about yourself are blocking and hiding the experience of the real Self. If you don't identify with the wrong ideas, your Self-nature will not be hidden from you.
You said that you needed help. If your desire to gain a proper understanding of your real nature is intense enough, help will automatically come. If you want to generate an awareness of your real nature you will be immeasurably helped by having contact with a jnani. The power and grace which a jnani radiates quieten the mind and automatically eliminate the wrong ideas you have about yourself. You can make progress by having satsang of a realized Guru and by constant spiritual practice. The Guru cannot do everything for you. If you want to give up the limiting habits of many lifetimes, you must practice constantly.
Living by the Words of Bhagavan, pp 258-60
You try to hold onto one thought in this moment and you will recognize pain. You let go of every thought in this moment and you will know ease. Directly.
A true warrior is never at war with the world. And it takes this understanding to begin a revolution with one self. There are no shortcuts in the human journey. As much as we dislike it, the mud in which we all swim is necessary to bloom. Many times we get confused and think we are the mud. We are not. In Eastern traditions the Lotus flower symbolizes perfection because the flower raises unstained above muddy waters. I choose to be the Lotus.
Beings
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