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Robert Adams

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As you look at the world without interpretation,
as you look at the world without attachment,
what the world is will be revealed to you.

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Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

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There is no non-self.

The non-self also exists in the Self. It is the Self which speaks of the non-self because it has forgotten itself. Having lost hold of itself, it conceives something as non-self, which is after all nothing but itself.

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Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may.
Whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you may to prevent it.
This is certain.
The best course, therefore, is to remain silent.

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Robert Adams

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How do you create a dream? Does it start with a beginning? As soon as you start dreaming, there’s no creation. The dream just starts. Everything is already there. The trees, the sky, the earth, the flowers, the grass, people, insects, birds, flowers, everything just appears. Does it die in the end? You just wake up, and it’s all gone.

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Annamalai Swami recorded conversations with Bhagavan in the late 1930s.

The following questions were asked by an aristocratic- looking American lady. Bhagavan's answers are a succinct summery of his practical teachings.

Q.: What is the truth that I have to attain? Please explain it and show it to me.

Bhagavan: What we have to attain and what is desired by everyone is endless happiness. Although we seek to attain it in various ways, it is not something to be sought or attained as a new experience. Our real nature is the 'I' feeling which is always experienced by everyone. It is within us and nowhere else. Although we are always experiencing it, our minds are wandering, always seeking it, thinking in ignorance it is something apart from us. This is like a person saying with his own tongue that he has no tongue.

Q.: If that is so, why did so many sadhanas come to be created?

Bhagavan: The sadhanas came to be formed only to get rid of the thought that the Self is something to be newly attained. The root of the illusion is the thought which ignores the Self and thinks instead, 'I am this body'. After this thought rises it expands in a moment into several thousand thoughts and conceals the Self. The reality of the Self will only shine if all these thoughts are removed. Afterwards, what remains is only Brahmananda, the bliss of Brahman.

Q.: I am now sitting peacefully without the thought 'I am this body'. Is this the state of reality?

Bhagavan: This state must remain as it is without any change. If it changes after a while you will know that other thoughts have not gone.

Q.: What is the way to get rid of other thoughts?

Bhagavan: They can only be removed through the powerful effect of the enquiry, 'To whom have these thoughts come'

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DIVINE FORCE

I went to the hall at 2-30 this afternoon. Bhagavan was there already, reading a slip of paper which someone had handed over to him. I sat there waiting to hear what Bhagavan would say. Bhagavan folded the paper with a smile and said, “All this will occur if one thinks that there is a difference between Bhagavan and oneself. If one thinks that there is no such difference, all this will not occur.”

Is it enough if we say that there is no difference between Bhagavan and ourselves? Is it not necessary to enquire who oneself is, and what one’s origin is, before one thinks that there is no difference between oneself and Bhagavan? Why is Bhagavan saying this? I was thinking of asking Bhagavan why he was thus misleading us but could not summon up enough courage to do so. I do not know if Bhagavan sensed this misgiving of mine; but anyway he himself began speaking again as follows:

“Before one could realise that there is no difference between him and Bhagavan, one should first discard all these unreal attributes which are really not his. One cannot perceive truth unless all these qualities are discarded. There is a Divine force (Chaitanya Sakti) which is the source of all things. All these other qualities cannot be discarded unless we get hold of that force. Sadhana is required to get hold of that force.”

I got courage as I heard those words and said unconsciously, “So there is a force?”

“Yes,” replied Bhagavan, “There is a force. It is that force that is called swasphurana (consciousness of the Self).”

I said with a quivering voice, “Bhagavan said casually that it is enough if we think that there is no difference between us and God. But we can discard these unreal attributes only if we are able to get hold of that force. Let it be the Divine force or the consciousness of the Self. Whatever it is, should we not know it? We are not able to know it however much we try.”

Never before this did I ask Bhagavan questions in the presence of others so boldly. Today, the inner urge was so great that words came out of my mouth of their own accord in the course of the conversation, and my eyes were filled with tears and so I turned my face towards the wall. A lady sitting next to me told me afterwards that Bhagavan’s eyes also became moist. How tender-hearted he is towards the humble!

Bhagavan sometimes used to say, “The Jnani weeps with the weeping, laughs with the laughing, plays with the playful, sings with those who sing, keeping time to the song. What does he lose? His presence is like a pure, transparent mirror. It reflects our image exactly as we are. It is we that play the several parts in life and reap the fruits of our actions. How is the mirror or the stand on which it is mounted affected? Nothing affects them, as they are mere supports. The actors in this world — the doers of all acts — must decide for themselves what song and what action is for the welfare of the world, what is in accordance with sastras, and what is practicable.” That is what Bhagavan used to say. This is a practical illustration.

Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, 2nd February, 1947

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Ancient Persian Saying

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Robert Adams

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--------------- Divine Ignorance ---------------

The first step in spiritual awakening is to realize you're divinely ignorant, and that's not an insult. I have had people walk out when I've said this. That's why I say, “divinely ignorant.” With all humility you must realize this first of all that you are divinely ignorant.

Which means that you don't really understand anything. All your conceptual ideas. All your preconceived ideas. Everything you've learnt as a boy or as a girl. All the ideas and feelings and emotions that you grew up with, are basically wrong. They're all erroneous and they must be transcended.

The only way to begin to transcend this is to admit to yourself, "I am divinely ignorant and I really do no know what anything is. I really know nothing. I don't know what anything is". <

As an example: We don't know what a human being is. We have no idea what it is. It just appears at birth and we take it for granted. We don't know what a dog is. Where did it come from? How did it arrive? We know that it has four legs and it's a dog, so we give it a name, dog. Like someone gave you the name Mark, Ed or Mary. But what are these things for real? We don't know what a tree is. We gave it a name tree, but what is it really? It has leaves. Some trees produce oranges, some trees produce grapefruits. Why? What's its purpose? Where did it come from originally? And what came first, the tree or the seed? We don't know, we have no idea. We don't know what the sun is, or the moon, or the stars. Oh we can figure out is what they do, to keep us warm, the sun does. But we have no idea what it really is, why it exists? Why does anything exist? Why do we exist? We have no idea.

But we're brought up in a world of effects and we begin to respond to the effects of the world at an early age. We develop traits of jealousy, anger, mistrust, envy, fear, all these feelings are developed at an early age. And we don't know why? We act accordingly, we cause problems for ourselves. We try to solve them and we spend all of our lives solving problems. Before you know it we turn around, we're eighty, ninety years old, it's time to go, where are we? We have no idea.

And those of us who think we've accomplished something materialistically. We think we're doing good deeds. We've become successful in business, in world affairs and politics. Yet we have to leave it all behind, everything we worked so hard for. Nothing remains. When it's time to leave the body, everything goes, and we're alone. Therefore doesn't it make sense that we should search for the answers of life. What is life all about? Doesn't that make sense to go after that, for if we find that we will become free. But if we keep involving ourselves in our affairs, gain, loss, happy, sad, sick, healthy and so forth, we're wasting our precious time.

Divine Ignorance - October 21, 1990

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NO ATTACHMENT AND TRUE BRAHMACHARYA

D.: Is work an obstruction to Self-realisation?

M.: No. For a realised being the Self alone is the Reality, and actions are only phenomenal, not affecting the Self. Even when he acts he has no sense of being an agent. His actions are only involuntary and he remains a witness to them without any attachment.
There is no aim for this action.

Even one who is still practicing the path of Wisdom (jnana) can practise while engaged in work. It may be difficult in the earlier stages for a beginner, but after some practice it will soon be effective and the work will not be found a hindrance to meditation.

D.: What is the practice?

M.: Constant search for `I', the source of the ego. Find out `Who am I?'
The pure `I' is the reality, the Absolute Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. When That is forgotten, all miseries crop up; when that is held fast, the miseries do not affect the person.

D.: Is not brahmacharya (celibacy) necessary for realisation of the Self?

M.: Brahmacharya is`living in Brahman'. It has no connection with celibacy as commonly understood. A real brahmachari, that is one who lives in Brahman, finds bliss in the Brahman which is the same as the Self. Why then should you look for other sources of happiness? In fact the emergence from the Self has been the cause of all the misery.

(Excerpt from Talk 17: Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi)

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Jiddu Krishnamurti

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Meditation, really, is a penetration into the unknown, and so the known, the memory, the experience, the knowledge which it has acquired during the day, or during a thousand days, must end. For it is only a free mind that can penetrate into the very heart of the immeasurable.

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Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

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Consciousness does not shine by itself. It shines by a light beyond it in which it appears, which gives it being. Don't be all the time immersed in your experience. Remember that you are beyond the experiencer, ever unborn and deathless. In remembering it, the quality of pure knowledge will emerge, the light of unconditional awareness.

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Sri Anandamayi Ma

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In the field of His play even getting means losing. This is but the nature of its movement. Think of Him Who cannot be lost. Meditate on Him alone, on Him, the Fountain of Goodness. Pray to Him; depend on Him. Try to give more time to japa and meditation. Surrender your mind at His Feet. Endeavour to sustain japa and meditation without a break.

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Mooji

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I can be neither lost nor found, for I am the absolute unchanging Awareness. I grant myself the joy of self-discovery through my instrument and servant, the body-mind. There is no 'other' than my own self to find me. I am the all-encompassing Reality.

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Robert Adams

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Get rid of all questions, all doubts, all fears, all apprehensions about spiritual life and live in the moment unafraid, full of total joy and happiness and peace. And you will see you have always been enlightened you already are enlightened everything is okay. But if you keep worrying about when it's going to happen aren't you really saying: "I don't have it yet, there is something really wrong? I am not that and I have to become that?" For in truth you are already that. For in reality you're already enlightened there is nothing you have to do and nowhere you have to go. Be yourself. Be the way you are, totally, completely. The way you are is not the body nor the mind nor the experience. The way you are is not the doer.

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Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

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Nothing you do will change you, for you need no change. You may change your mind or your body, but it is always something external to you that has changed, not yourself. Why bother at all to change? Realize once for all that neither your body nor your mind, nor even your consciousness is yourself and stand alone in your true nature beyond consciousness and unconsciousness. No effort can take you there, only the clarity of understanding.

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Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

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You say you are happy. Are you really happy, or are you merely trying to convince yourself. Look at yourself fearlessly and you will at once realize that your happiness depends on conditions and circumstances, hence it is momentary, not real. Real happiness flows from within.

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Jac O'Keeffe

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It's very simple. It's difficult only for the 'I', but it's totally natural to return to what you are, to what's underneath the 'I' story.

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Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

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There is no need of training. Awareness is always with you. The same attention that you give to the outer, you turn to the inner. No new, or special kind of awareness is needed.

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Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

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I do not say that you must keep on rejecting thoughts. If you cling to yourself, to the 'I-thought', and your interest keeps you to that single thought, other thoughts will get rejected and will automatically vanish.

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Ramesh Balsekar

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Robert Q shared a Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi quote         SHARE URL

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

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Sages say that the state in which the thought 'I' (the ego) does not rise in the least is Self which is silence. That silence, Self, alone is God; Self alone is the individual soul, Self alone is this ancient world. The experience of silence alone is the real and perfect knowledge.

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Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

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You need not stop thinking. Just cease being interested. It is disinterestedness that liberates. Don't hold on, that is all.

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Robert Adams

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The silence is another way of saying to keep your mind stayed on God all the time. God is the silence and you are that. Feel the silence right now. You can feel it. It's a thing of beauty. You know when you're getting into the true silence, you begin to become happier, and happier and happier for no reason. It makes no difference what's going on in the world. The world is in one place and you're in another place. In the deep silence you are identifying with the substratum of creation. Always remember to go into the silence. A sage is always in the silence. A sage may be talking, listening, partaking of activities, but to the sage there's only silence.

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Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

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Question: What is the sadhana for achieving the natural state? Maharaj: Hold on to the sense 'I am' to the exclusion of everything else. When thus the mind becomes completely silent, it shines with a new light and vibrates with new knowledge. It all comes spontaneously, you need only hold on to the 'I am'. Just like emerging from sleep or a state of rapture you feel rested and yet you cannot explain why and how you come to feel so well, in the same way on realisation you feel complete, fulfilled, free from the pleasure-pain complex, and yet not always able to explain what happened, why and how. You can put it only in negative terms: 'Nothing is wrong with me any longer.' It is only by comparison with the past that you know that you are out of it. Otherwise - you are just yourself. Don't try to convey it to others. If you can, it is not the real thing. Be silent and watch it expressing itself in action.

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Sri Muruganar

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For the man of Truth, seeking experience of the supreme state, the heroic action needed, is to draw in, the outward darting mind, and fix it firmly in the Heart.

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Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

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Take the instance of moving pictures on the screen in the cinema-show. What is there in front of you before the play begins? Merely the screen. On that screen you see the entire show, and for all appearances the pictures are real. But go and try to take hold of them. What do you take hold of? Merely the screen on which the pictures appeared so real. After the play, when the pictures disappear, what remains? The screen again!
So with the Self. That alone exists; the pictures come and go. If you hold on to the Self, you will not be deceived by the appearance of the pictures. Nor does it matter at all if the pictures appear or disappear.

Ignoring the Self the ajnani thinks the world is real, just as ignoring the screen he sees merely the pictures, as if they existed apart from it. If one knows that without the seer there is nothing to be seen, just as there are no pictures without the screen, one is not deluded. The jnani knows that the screen, the pictures and the sight thereof are but the Self. With the pictures the Self is in its manifest form; without the pictures It remains in the unmanifest form. To the jnani it is quite immaterial if the Self is in the one form or the other. He is always the Self. But the ajnani seeing the jnani active gets confounded.

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