The Consciousness within, purged of the mind, is felt as God.
Understanding means a state of no-mind.
That's what meditation is all about.
Meditation is the art of putting the mind aside,
not allowing it to interfere, not allowing it to
stand between you and the real.
When you face the real without any
interference of any kind - philosophical,
political, religious - when there is no idea between
you and the real, when the real is simply reflected
in you like a tree is reflected in the lake or the face
is reflected in a mirror,
then there is understanding.
Understanding is a byproduct of meditation;
misunderstanding is a shadow of the mind.
And these are the only two ways a man can live:
either one can live as a mind or
one can live as meditation.
Understanding arises out of silence;
silence means no-mind.
That's what meditation is all about.
Meditation is the art of putting the mind aside,
not allowing it to interfere, not allowing it to
stand between you and the real.
When you face the real without any
interference of any kind - philosophical,
political, religious - when there is no idea between
you and the real, when the real is simply reflected
in you like a tree is reflected in the lake or the face
is reflected in a mirror,
then there is understanding.
Understanding is a byproduct of meditation;
misunderstanding is a shadow of the mind.
And these are the only two ways a man can live:
either one can live as a mind or
one can live as meditation.
Understanding arises out of silence;
silence means no-mind.
What ever kind of thought arises,
have the same reaction: 'Not me, not my business'.
It can be a good thought or a bad thought.
Treat them the same way.
To whom are these thoughts arising ?
To You.
That means you are not the thought.
You are the Self.
Remain as the Self, and don't latch onto anything that is not the Self.
have the same reaction: 'Not me, not my business'.
It can be a good thought or a bad thought.
Treat them the same way.
To whom are these thoughts arising ?
To You.
That means you are not the thought.
You are the Self.
Remain as the Self, and don't latch onto anything that is not the Self.
This body's existence is like a bubble's
may as well accept what happens
events and hopes seldom agree
but who can step back doesn't worry
we blossom and fade like flowers
gather and part like clouds
worldly thoughts I forgot long ago
relaxing all day on a peak.
may as well accept what happens
events and hopes seldom agree
but who can step back doesn't worry
we blossom and fade like flowers
gather and part like clouds
worldly thoughts I forgot long ago
relaxing all day on a peak.
Regarding Self as merely a "person"
is an insult to the Unlimited Consciousness one is.
is an insult to the Unlimited Consciousness one is.
The one who surrenders everything, including himself,
and the one who finds nothing, including himself,
discover the same Truth.
and the one who finds nothing, including himself,
discover the same Truth.
In Freedom, In Reality,
there is no process or way or path,
no here, no there,
no this, no that,
no 'me', no 'you',
no concepts, no name, no form,
no mind, no bondage, no duality.
Nothing has happened.
Nothing is happening.
Nothing ever will happen.
Only Self Is.
there is no process or way or path,
no here, no there,
no this, no that,
no 'me', no 'you',
no concepts, no name, no form,
no mind, no bondage, no duality.
Nothing has happened.
Nothing is happening.
Nothing ever will happen.
Only Self Is.
The small man
Builds cages
For everyone
He
Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.
Builds cages
For everyone
He
Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.
A true devotee realizes that his Lord is within and without, that He is all-knowing and all-powerful — omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. Understanding this, the devotee simply tries to express his total helplessness to the Lord and accepts Him as the sole protector and guide. In such sincere and open-hearted prayer, the devotee confesses the uselessness and the burden of his ego. Why should one keep a useless thing? Therefore, he prays to the Lord to remove it, to destroy it. This kind of prayer is real meditation, and it will definitely take one to the goal.
There never was and never will be a time when all are equally happy or rich or wise or healthy. In fact none of these terms has any meaning except in so far as the opposite to it exists. But that does not mean that when you come across any one who is less happy or more miserable than yourself, you are not to be moved to compassion or to seek to relieve him as best you can. On the contrary, you must love all and help all, since only in that way can you help yourself. When you seek to reduce the suffering of any fellowman or fellow-creature, whether your efforts succeed or not, you are yourself evolving spiritually thereby, especially if such service is rendered disinterestedly, not with the egoistic feeling 'I am doing this', but in the spirit 'God is making me the channel of this service; He is the doer and I the instrument'.
Waves rise in the ocean;
so waves of thought arise in the mind.
Yoga is to control thoughts as they arise.
Great ones say that Yoga means union.
If you want to take hold of something,
all the fingers must join together;
similarly, in order to reach God,
the mind must become one-pointed.
It is not a simple thing to control the mind.
It cannot be done in a day, or even in a year.
Through constant effort
thoughts can be controlled a little.
In this way the uncontrollable mind
can finally be brought under control.
This is the supreme victory.
so waves of thought arise in the mind.
Yoga is to control thoughts as they arise.
Great ones say that Yoga means union.
If you want to take hold of something,
all the fingers must join together;
similarly, in order to reach God,
the mind must become one-pointed.
It is not a simple thing to control the mind.
It cannot be done in a day, or even in a year.
Through constant effort
thoughts can be controlled a little.
In this way the uncontrollable mind
can finally be brought under control.
This is the supreme victory.
When you are doing work, do not think of anything beyond. Do it as worship, as the highest worship and devote your whole life to it for the time being.
Using the flutist’s flute
Does not make one
A flutist.
Wu Hsin has no tools,
No method to render.
He speaks of how it was for him,
Not implying that it will be
Likewise for another.
Does not make one
A flutist.
Wu Hsin has no tools,
No method to render.
He speaks of how it was for him,
Not implying that it will be
Likewise for another.
It is the 'I am' that investigates the 'I am' and on realizing its falsehood it disappears and merges into eternity...
All things pass except the Love and Presence of God. To know this inside your heart is eternal life, freedom and joy.
Love doesn't disappear at all,
but this word love is mistaken for lust.
Love is pure, it cannot change.
If you once fall in Love with your own Self,
there is no escape from it.
But when it comes and goes,
some person must be involved in it.
and that is called lust, not love.
but this word love is mistaken for lust.
Love is pure, it cannot change.
If you once fall in Love with your own Self,
there is no escape from it.
But when it comes and goes,
some person must be involved in it.
and that is called lust, not love.
Rest in your heart in the unchanging and indivisible consciousness. Live an active life, free from the false notion that 'I am the doer'.
Janaka said: Becoming first intolerant of action, then of excessive speech, then of thought itself, I come to be here. Neither sounds nor other sense perceptions attract my attention. Even the Self is unperceived. The mind is free, undistracted, one-pointed. And here I am. Effort is required to concentrate a distracted mind superimposed with illusion. Knowing this, I remain here. Nothing to reject, nothing to accept. No joy, no sorrow. Lord God I am here.
D.: How is one to overcome regrets?
M.: By realising the Divinity in him.
D.: How?
M.: By practice.
D.: What kind of practice?
M.: Meditation.
D.: Mind is not steady while meditating.
M.: It will be all right by practice.
D.: How is the mind to be steadied?
M.: By strengthening it.
D.: How to strengthen it?
M.: It grows strong by satsanga (the company of the wise).
D.: Shall we add prayers, etc.?
M.: Yes.
D.: What of the one who has no regrets?
M.: He is an accomplished Yogi. There is no question about him.
D.: People cite disasters, e.g., earthquakes, famines, etc., to disprove God. How shall we meet their contention?
M.: Wherefrom have they come - those who argue?
D.: They say, “Nature”.
M.: Some call it “Nature” - others “God”.
D.: Are we to keep anything against a rainy day; or to live a precarious life for spiritual attainments?
M.: God looks after everything.
Talk 377
M.: By realising the Divinity in him.
D.: How?
M.: By practice.
D.: What kind of practice?
M.: Meditation.
D.: Mind is not steady while meditating.
M.: It will be all right by practice.
D.: How is the mind to be steadied?
M.: By strengthening it.
D.: How to strengthen it?
M.: It grows strong by satsanga (the company of the wise).
D.: Shall we add prayers, etc.?
M.: Yes.
D.: What of the one who has no regrets?
M.: He is an accomplished Yogi. There is no question about him.
D.: People cite disasters, e.g., earthquakes, famines, etc., to disprove God. How shall we meet their contention?
M.: Wherefrom have they come - those who argue?
D.: They say, “Nature”.
M.: Some call it “Nature” - others “God”.
D.: Are we to keep anything against a rainy day; or to live a precarious life for spiritual attainments?
M.: God looks after everything.
Talk 377
Like a deer caught in the jaws of a tiger, those
who are trapped by the Sadguru's knowledge-
bestowing glance of grace will never be
abandoned. Rather, they are destined to lose
their individuality, their restricted nature, and
attain liberation.
who are trapped by the Sadguru's knowledge-
bestowing glance of grace will never be
abandoned. Rather, they are destined to lose
their individuality, their restricted nature, and
attain liberation.
Silence is a source of great strength.
I have had to experience so much stupidity, so many vices, so much error, so much nausea, disillusionment and sorrow, just in order to become a child again and begin anew. I had to experience despair, I had to sink to the greatest mental depths, to thoughts of suicide, in order to experience Grace.
The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others.
I have steered away this evening from talking about many of the positive aspects of enlightenment, but there is no way you could really see the truth and not be giggling in some way for the rest of your life. There is no way that you couldn’t just love this world to death, even though you know it’s not half as real as you thought it was. There is no way you could not love people a hundred times more, even though you know that they’re not what you thought they were. But I don’t want to speak too much about that because the mind starts to think it’s being handed candy when it’s not. It’s being handed a sword.
This is the kind of Friend
You are—
Without making me realize
My soul’s anguished history,
You slip into my house at night,
And while I am sleeping,
You silently carry off
All my suffering and sordid past
In Your beautiful
Hands.
You are—
Without making me realize
My soul’s anguished history,
You slip into my house at night,
And while I am sleeping,
You silently carry off
All my suffering and sordid past
In Your beautiful
Hands.
BHAGAVAN'S PROMISES
When devotees surrendered their problems to Sri Ramana, it was the same as surrendering them to God. They were submitting to the same divine authority, surrendering to a living manifestation of that same power. Here are some statements that Sri Ramana made on this subject. I have taken them from a book I am currently working on. Each sentence was originally recorded by Muruganar in Tamil verse:
My devotees have the qualifications to rejoice abundantly, like children of an emperor.
Abandon the drama [of the world] and seek the Self within. Remaining within, I will protect you, [ensuring] that no harm befalls you.
If you inquire and know me, the indweller, in that state there will be no reason for you to worry about the world.
For the cruel disease of burning samsara to end, the correct regimen is to entrust all your burdens on me.
In order that your needless anxieties cease, make sure that all your burdens are placed on me through the brave act of depending totally on grace.
If you completely surrender all your responsibilities to me, I will accept them as mine and manage them.
When bearing the entire burden remains my responsibility, why do you have any worries?
Long ago you offered your body, possessions and soul to me, making them mine, so why do you still regard these things as 'I' and 'mine' and associate yourself with them?
Seek my grace within the Heart. I will drive away your darkness and show you the light. This is my responsibility.
David Godman, Interviews
When devotees surrendered their problems to Sri Ramana, it was the same as surrendering them to God. They were submitting to the same divine authority, surrendering to a living manifestation of that same power. Here are some statements that Sri Ramana made on this subject. I have taken them from a book I am currently working on. Each sentence was originally recorded by Muruganar in Tamil verse:
My devotees have the qualifications to rejoice abundantly, like children of an emperor.
Abandon the drama [of the world] and seek the Self within. Remaining within, I will protect you, [ensuring] that no harm befalls you.
If you inquire and know me, the indweller, in that state there will be no reason for you to worry about the world.
For the cruel disease of burning samsara to end, the correct regimen is to entrust all your burdens on me.
In order that your needless anxieties cease, make sure that all your burdens are placed on me through the brave act of depending totally on grace.
If you completely surrender all your responsibilities to me, I will accept them as mine and manage them.
When bearing the entire burden remains my responsibility, why do you have any worries?
Long ago you offered your body, possessions and soul to me, making them mine, so why do you still regard these things as 'I' and 'mine' and associate yourself with them?
Seek my grace within the Heart. I will drive away your darkness and show you the light. This is my responsibility.
David Godman, Interviews