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If you want to know your past life, look at your present condition.
If you want to know your future life, look at your present actions.
If you want to know your future life, look at your present actions.
Drink water from the spring where horses drink.
The horse will never drink bad water.
Lay your bed where the cat sleeps.
Eat the fruit that has been touched by a worm.
Boldly pick the mushroom on which the insects sit.
Plant the tree where the mole digs.
Build your house where the snake sits to warm itself.
Dig your fountain where the birds hide from heat.
Go to sleep and wake up at the same time with the birds – you will reap all of the days golden grains.
Eat more green – you will have strong legs and a resistant heart, like the beings of the forest.
Swim often and you will feel on earth like the fish in the water.
Look at the sky as often as possible and your thoughts will become light and clear.
Be quiet a lot, speak little – and silence will come in your heart, and your spirit will be calm and full of peace.
The horse will never drink bad water.
Lay your bed where the cat sleeps.
Eat the fruit that has been touched by a worm.
Boldly pick the mushroom on which the insects sit.
Plant the tree where the mole digs.
Build your house where the snake sits to warm itself.
Dig your fountain where the birds hide from heat.
Go to sleep and wake up at the same time with the birds – you will reap all of the days golden grains.
Eat more green – you will have strong legs and a resistant heart, like the beings of the forest.
Swim often and you will feel on earth like the fish in the water.
Look at the sky as often as possible and your thoughts will become light and clear.
Be quiet a lot, speak little – and silence will come in your heart, and your spirit will be calm and full of peace.
You are really unbound and actionless, self-illuminating and spotless already. The cause of your bondage is that you are still resorting to stilling your mind.
Words reduce reality to something the human mind can grasp, which isn't very much.
He who could not complete his Yoga for some reason is called failed in Yoga. Such failure is only temporary, for there can be no defeat in Yoga. This battle is always won, for it is a battle between the true and the false. The false has no chance.
The greatest obstacle to enlightenment is getting past your delusion that you are not already enlightened.
It is the nature of the world of form that nothing stays fixed for very long - and so it starts to fall apart again. Forms dissolve; new forms arise. Watch the clouds. They will teach you about the world of form.
How you do what you do is more important than what you do. The 'how' refers to the underlining state of consciousness.
Suffering is necessary, until you realize it is unnecessary.
Give up something and feel happy about it. Forget that it was ever yours. To think that you have given up something is also wrong. Don’t feel that. Just feel relaxed; be at ease. Realize that you are free—free from that burden. The object was a burden and now it is gone. Only if you can feel the burden of attachment to objects will you be able to feel the relaxation or bliss that comes with detachment and renunciation.
4. Is the state of ‘being still’ a state involving effort or effortlessness?
It is not an effortless state of indolence. All mundane activities which are ordinarily called effort are performed with the aid of a portion of the mind and with frequent breaks. But the act of communion with the Self (atma vyavahara) or remaining still inwardly is intense activity which is performed with the entire mind and without break.
Maya (delusion or ignorance) which cannot be destroyed by any other act is completely destroyed by this intense activity which is called ‘silence’ (mauna).
5. What is the nature of maya?
Maya is that which makes us regard as nonexistent the Self, the Reality,
which is always and everywhere present, all-pervasive and Self-luminous, and as existent the individual soul (jiva), the world (jagat), and God (para) which have been
conclusively proved to be nonexistent at all times and places.
6. As the Self shines fully of its own accord why is it not generally recognised like the other objects of the world by all persons?
Wherever particular objects are known it is the Self which has known itself in the form of those objects. For what is known as knowledge or awareness is only the potency of the Self (atma shakti).
The Self is the only sentient object.
There is nothing apart from the Self. If there are such objects they are all insentient and therefore cannot either know themselves or mutually know one another.
It is because the Self does not know its true nature in this manner that it seems to be immersed and struggling in the ocean of birth (and death) in the form of
the individual soul.
~ Spiritual Instruction
CHAPTER II. PRACTICE. (Abhyasa)
It is not an effortless state of indolence. All mundane activities which are ordinarily called effort are performed with the aid of a portion of the mind and with frequent breaks. But the act of communion with the Self (atma vyavahara) or remaining still inwardly is intense activity which is performed with the entire mind and without break.
Maya (delusion or ignorance) which cannot be destroyed by any other act is completely destroyed by this intense activity which is called ‘silence’ (mauna).
5. What is the nature of maya?
Maya is that which makes us regard as nonexistent the Self, the Reality,
which is always and everywhere present, all-pervasive and Self-luminous, and as existent the individual soul (jiva), the world (jagat), and God (para) which have been
conclusively proved to be nonexistent at all times and places.
6. As the Self shines fully of its own accord why is it not generally recognised like the other objects of the world by all persons?
Wherever particular objects are known it is the Self which has known itself in the form of those objects. For what is known as knowledge or awareness is only the potency of the Self (atma shakti).
The Self is the only sentient object.
There is nothing apart from the Self. If there are such objects they are all insentient and therefore cannot either know themselves or mutually know one another.
It is because the Self does not know its true nature in this manner that it seems to be immersed and struggling in the ocean of birth (and death) in the form of
the individual soul.
~ Spiritual Instruction
CHAPTER II. PRACTICE. (Abhyasa)
Being ungrateful for a blessing is the cause of its removal.
The worst brother is the one who keeps ties with you in good times but abandons you in times of difficulty.
The worst of your brothers is the one who flatters you and hides your faults from you.
Enmity with the honourable is safer than friendship with the wicked.
If you like to remain safe, then keep away from the companionship of a foolish person.
The one who is free of every and any intention, even the intention to be free, is free indeed.
Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.
Q: If you do not mind my asking a personal question...?
M: Yes, go ahead.
Q: I see you sitting on an antelope skin. How does it tally with non-violence?
M: All my working life I was a cigarette-maker, helping people to spoil their health. And in front of my door the municipality has put up a public lavatory, spoiling my health. In this violent world
how can one keep away from violence of some kind or other?
Q: Surely all avoidable violence should be avoided. And yet in India every holy man has his tiger, lion, leopard or antelope skin to sit on.
M: Maybes because no plastics were available in ancient times and a skin was best to keep the damp away. Rheumatism has no charm, even for a saint! Thus the tradition arose that for lengthy meditations a skin is needed. Just like the drum-hide in
a temple, so is the antelope skin of a Yogi. We hardly notice it.
Q: But the animal had to be killed.
M: I have never heard of a Yogi killing a tiger for his hide. The killers are not Yogis and the Yogis are not killers.
Q: Should you not express your disapproval by refusing to sit on a skin?
M: What an idea! I disapprove of the entire universe, why only a skin?
Q: What is wrong with the universe?
M: Forgetting your Self is the greatest injury; all the calamities flow from it.
Take care of the most important, the lesser will take care of itself. You do not tidy up a dark room. You open the windows first. Letting in the light makes everything easy. So, let us wait with improving others until we have seen ourselves as we are — and have changed. There is no need to turn round and round in endless questioning; find yourself and everything will fall into its proper place.
Q: The urge to return to the source is very rare. Is it at all natural?
M: Outgoing is natural in the beginning, ingoing — in the end.
But in reality the two are one, just like breathing in and out are one.
Q: In the same way are not the body and the dweller in the body one?
M: Events in time and space — birth and death, cause and effect — these may be taken as one; but the body and the embodied are not of the same order of reality. The body exists in time and space, transient and limited, while the dweller is timeless and spaceless, eternal and all-pervading. To identify the two is a grievous mistake and the cause of endless suffering.
You can speak of the mind and body as one, but the body-mind is not the underlying reality.
Q: Whoever he may be, the dweller is in control of the body and, therefore, responsible for it.
M: There is a universal power which is in control and is responsible.
Q: And so, I can do as I like and put the blame on some universal power? How easy!
M: Yes, very easy. Just realize the One Mover behind all that moves and leave all to Him. If you do not hesitate, or cheat, this
is the shortest way to reality. Stand without desire and fear, relinquishing all control and all responsibility.
Q: What madness!
M: Yes, divine madness. What is wrong in letting go the illusion of personal control and personal responsibility? Both are in the
mind only. Of course, as long as you imagine yourself to be in control, you should also imagine yourself to be responsible.
One implies the other.
Q: How can the universal be responsible for the particular?
M: All life on earth depends on the sun. Yet you cannot blame the sun for all that happens, though it is the ultimate cause. Light causes the colour of the flower, but it neither controls, nor is responsible for it directly. It makes it possible, that is all.
- Excerpt from: I AM THAT.
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Chapter 35.
M: Yes, go ahead.
Q: I see you sitting on an antelope skin. How does it tally with non-violence?
M: All my working life I was a cigarette-maker, helping people to spoil their health. And in front of my door the municipality has put up a public lavatory, spoiling my health. In this violent world
how can one keep away from violence of some kind or other?
Q: Surely all avoidable violence should be avoided. And yet in India every holy man has his tiger, lion, leopard or antelope skin to sit on.
M: Maybes because no plastics were available in ancient times and a skin was best to keep the damp away. Rheumatism has no charm, even for a saint! Thus the tradition arose that for lengthy meditations a skin is needed. Just like the drum-hide in
a temple, so is the antelope skin of a Yogi. We hardly notice it.
Q: But the animal had to be killed.
M: I have never heard of a Yogi killing a tiger for his hide. The killers are not Yogis and the Yogis are not killers.
Q: Should you not express your disapproval by refusing to sit on a skin?
M: What an idea! I disapprove of the entire universe, why only a skin?
Q: What is wrong with the universe?
M: Forgetting your Self is the greatest injury; all the calamities flow from it.
Take care of the most important, the lesser will take care of itself. You do not tidy up a dark room. You open the windows first. Letting in the light makes everything easy. So, let us wait with improving others until we have seen ourselves as we are — and have changed. There is no need to turn round and round in endless questioning; find yourself and everything will fall into its proper place.
Q: The urge to return to the source is very rare. Is it at all natural?
M: Outgoing is natural in the beginning, ingoing — in the end.
But in reality the two are one, just like breathing in and out are one.
Q: In the same way are not the body and the dweller in the body one?
M: Events in time and space — birth and death, cause and effect — these may be taken as one; but the body and the embodied are not of the same order of reality. The body exists in time and space, transient and limited, while the dweller is timeless and spaceless, eternal and all-pervading. To identify the two is a grievous mistake and the cause of endless suffering.
You can speak of the mind and body as one, but the body-mind is not the underlying reality.
Q: Whoever he may be, the dweller is in control of the body and, therefore, responsible for it.
M: There is a universal power which is in control and is responsible.
Q: And so, I can do as I like and put the blame on some universal power? How easy!
M: Yes, very easy. Just realize the One Mover behind all that moves and leave all to Him. If you do not hesitate, or cheat, this
is the shortest way to reality. Stand without desire and fear, relinquishing all control and all responsibility.
Q: What madness!
M: Yes, divine madness. What is wrong in letting go the illusion of personal control and personal responsibility? Both are in the
mind only. Of course, as long as you imagine yourself to be in control, you should also imagine yourself to be responsible.
One implies the other.
Q: How can the universal be responsible for the particular?
M: All life on earth depends on the sun. Yet you cannot blame the sun for all that happens, though it is the ultimate cause. Light causes the colour of the flower, but it neither controls, nor is responsible for it directly. It makes it possible, that is all.
- Excerpt from: I AM THAT.
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Chapter 35.
You say you offer your body, soul and all possessions to God. Were they yours that you could offer them?
~ Day by Day
22-11-1945
~ Day by Day
22-11-1945
Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi
I had heard previously much about the spiritual pre-eminence of Sri Maharshi; it is only recently that I had the good fortune of coming into direct contact with him.
One of the most remarkable features about Sri Maharshi is that his teachings are mirrored to perfection in his life.
Abidance in the Self, declares the Sage, is the highest attainment, and it is in this State Transcendent does one find him at all times.
It is a still more remarkable fact that this harmony we now find between the Sage’s
precept and practice had commenced with his boyhood life at the Hill of Arunachala.
Sri Maharshi does not preach a complicated code of sadhana.
The simplicity of his teaching may be explained by the fact that the Sage himself had his realisation in its pristine purity and without the prop of scholastic learning. His teachings have a strong rational appeal,
evidently because his own realisation, being based entirely on his own experience, is independent of all extraneous authority. It is due to this rational appeal that we find today men of all castes and creeds, of all races and religions and from distant parts of the globe paying their homage to the venerable Sage.
Perhaps there is no instance in history where a sage, who, during his lifetime, had so influenced the thoughtful aspirants in his own country as well as in foreign lands, while he himself did not stir for more than fifty years from the place he chose for his abode.
What has appealed to me most is the divinity and grace that radiates from the countenance of the Sage, who has captivated the heart of the educated and illiterate, of the young and old, the prince and pauper, men, women and children, nay,
even animals and birds.
- Prof. S.V. Ram, M.A., Ph.D., was Head, Dept. of Political Science, Lucknow University.
I had heard previously much about the spiritual pre-eminence of Sri Maharshi; it is only recently that I had the good fortune of coming into direct contact with him.
One of the most remarkable features about Sri Maharshi is that his teachings are mirrored to perfection in his life.
Abidance in the Self, declares the Sage, is the highest attainment, and it is in this State Transcendent does one find him at all times.
It is a still more remarkable fact that this harmony we now find between the Sage’s
precept and practice had commenced with his boyhood life at the Hill of Arunachala.
Sri Maharshi does not preach a complicated code of sadhana.
The simplicity of his teaching may be explained by the fact that the Sage himself had his realisation in its pristine purity and without the prop of scholastic learning. His teachings have a strong rational appeal,
evidently because his own realisation, being based entirely on his own experience, is independent of all extraneous authority. It is due to this rational appeal that we find today men of all castes and creeds, of all races and religions and from distant parts of the globe paying their homage to the venerable Sage.
Perhaps there is no instance in history where a sage, who, during his lifetime, had so influenced the thoughtful aspirants in his own country as well as in foreign lands, while he himself did not stir for more than fifty years from the place he chose for his abode.
What has appealed to me most is the divinity and grace that radiates from the countenance of the Sage, who has captivated the heart of the educated and illiterate, of the young and old, the prince and pauper, men, women and children, nay,
even animals and birds.
- Prof. S.V. Ram, M.A., Ph.D., was Head, Dept. of Political Science, Lucknow University.
By all means be selfish — the right way. Wish yourself well, labour at what is good for you. Destroy all that stands between you and happiness. Be all — love all — be happy — make happy. No happiness is greater.
People insist on asking me questions and so I must reply. But the truth is beyond words.
Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.
Find solace in the privilege to pursue, most people are crushed into servitude.
Beings
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