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SAHAJA SAMADHI IS INDEPENDENT FROM ACTIVITIES
M.: There are no two selves - for the self to speak of the non-realisation of the Self.
D.: It is still theoretical to me. How shall I get the samadhi?
M.: Samadhi is only temporary in its effects. There is happiness so long as it lasts. After rising from it the old vasanas return. Unless the vasanas are destroyed in sahaja samadhi (effortless samadhi), there is no good of trance.
D.: But samadhi must precede sahaja samadhi?
M.: Samadhi is the natural state. Although there are activities and phenomena, yet they do not affect the stillness. If they are realised to be not apart from the Self, the Self is realised. Where is the use of trance, unless it brings about enduring peace of mind? Know that even now you are in samadhi whatever happens. That is all.
Talks no 317
M.: There are no two selves - for the self to speak of the non-realisation of the Self.
D.: It is still theoretical to me. How shall I get the samadhi?
M.: Samadhi is only temporary in its effects. There is happiness so long as it lasts. After rising from it the old vasanas return. Unless the vasanas are destroyed in sahaja samadhi (effortless samadhi), there is no good of trance.
D.: But samadhi must precede sahaja samadhi?
M.: Samadhi is the natural state. Although there are activities and phenomena, yet they do not affect the stillness. If they are realised to be not apart from the Self, the Self is realised. Where is the use of trance, unless it brings about enduring peace of mind? Know that even now you are in samadhi whatever happens. That is all.
Talks no 317
Again people often ask how the mind is controlled. I say to them, “Show me the mind and then you will know what to do.”
BHAKTI AND JNANA
D: Sri Bhagavata outlines a way to find Krishna in
the heart by prostrating to all and looking on all
as the Lord Himself. Is this the right path leading
to Self-realization? Is it not easier thus to adore
Bhagavan in whatever meets the ‘mind’, than to
seek the supramental through the mental enquiry,
Who am I?
M: Yes, when you see God in all, do you think of God
or do you not? You must certainly think of God for
seeing God all round you. Keeping God in your
mind becomes dhyana and dhyana is the stage before
Realization. Realization can only be in and of the
Self. It can never be apart from the Self: and dhyana
must precede it. Whether you make dhyana on God
or on the Self, it is immaterial; for the goal is the
same. You cannot, by any means, escape the Self.
You want to see God in all, but not in yourself? If all
is God, are you not included in that all? Being God
yourself, is it a wonder that all is God? This is the
method advised in Sri Bhagavata, and elsewhere by
others. But even for this practice there must be the
seer or thinker. Who is he?
D: How to see God who is all-pervasive?
M: To see God is to be God. There is no ‘all’ apart from
God for Him to pervade. He alone is.
From Maharshi’s Gospel
D: Sri Bhagavata outlines a way to find Krishna in
the heart by prostrating to all and looking on all
as the Lord Himself. Is this the right path leading
to Self-realization? Is it not easier thus to adore
Bhagavan in whatever meets the ‘mind’, than to
seek the supramental through the mental enquiry,
Who am I?
M: Yes, when you see God in all, do you think of God
or do you not? You must certainly think of God for
seeing God all round you. Keeping God in your
mind becomes dhyana and dhyana is the stage before
Realization. Realization can only be in and of the
Self. It can never be apart from the Self: and dhyana
must precede it. Whether you make dhyana on God
or on the Self, it is immaterial; for the goal is the
same. You cannot, by any means, escape the Self.
You want to see God in all, but not in yourself? If all
is God, are you not included in that all? Being God
yourself, is it a wonder that all is God? This is the
method advised in Sri Bhagavata, and elsewhere by
others. But even for this practice there must be the
seer or thinker. Who is he?
D: How to see God who is all-pervasive?
M: To see God is to be God. There is no ‘all’ apart from
God for Him to pervade. He alone is.
From Maharshi’s Gospel
When the ‘I’ thought does not arise, and I unite [as pure being] with Him, He remains merged with me shining out as my very own fullness. However, the very moment
I raise my head [thinking ‘I’], to perceive his ancient [form] he sees my oddness, scorns me, and conceals himself from me.
Ramana Puranam, vs. 217-220
I raise my head [thinking ‘I’], to perceive his ancient [form] he sees my oddness, scorns me, and conceals himself from me.
Ramana Puranam, vs. 217-220
The wave said to the sea: "Could I be like you?"
The sea replied: "It's easy... just settle down."
The sea replied: "It's easy... just settle down."
In the vast ocean of cause and effect, actions happen and impermanent results follow. If one takes them as ‘my’ actions the idea of having a free will gets stronger. This sense of personal doership gives rise to a feeling of guilt or pride and effectively blocks the spiritual understanding that everything happens according to the will of God.
Every place is a place of arrival,
every place is true home for the practitioner.
There is nothing that is not deep and wonderful,
there is nothing that is not liberated.
The most noble person is the person who has nothing to do.
The only thing you should avoid is thinking
about what you are going to do.
All you need to do is be an ordinary person,
be sovereign wherever you are and
use that place as your seat of awakening.
You should live your lives in a very natural way.
Do not put on airs.
When it is necessary to walk, walk.
When it is necessary to sit, sit.
every place is true home for the practitioner.
There is nothing that is not deep and wonderful,
there is nothing that is not liberated.
The most noble person is the person who has nothing to do.
The only thing you should avoid is thinking
about what you are going to do.
All you need to do is be an ordinary person,
be sovereign wherever you are and
use that place as your seat of awakening.
You should live your lives in a very natural way.
Do not put on airs.
When it is necessary to walk, walk.
When it is necessary to sit, sit.
The Self is like a powerful magnet within us. It draws us gradually to Itself, though we imagine we are going to It of our own accord: when we are near enough, It puts an end to our activities, makes us still, and then swallows up our personal current, thus killing our wrong personality. It overwhelms the intellect and overfloods the whole being. We think we are meditating upon It and developing towards It, whereas the truth is that we are iron filings and It is the Atman-magnet that is pulling us towards Itself. Thus the process of finding the Self is a form of Divine magnetism.
You are perfect and complete, so abandon the idea of incompleteness. There is nothing to be destroyed. Ahankara, the individual 'I', is not a real thing. It is the mind that makes the effort and the mind is not real. Just as it is not necessary to kill a rope that one imagines to be a snake, so also there is no need to kill the mind. Knowing the form of the mind makes the mind disappear. That which is forever non-existent is already removed.
D.: But the mind slips away from our control.
M.: Be it so. Do not think of it. When you recollect yourself bring it back and turn it inward. That is enough.
No one succeeds without effort. Mind control is not one’s birthright. The successful few owe their success to their perseverance.
A passenger in a train keeps his load on the head by his own folly. Let him put it down: he will find the load reaches the destination all the same. Similarly, let us not pose as the doers, but resign ourselves to the guiding Power.
M.: Be it so. Do not think of it. When you recollect yourself bring it back and turn it inward. That is enough.
No one succeeds without effort. Mind control is not one’s birthright. The successful few owe their success to their perseverance.
A passenger in a train keeps his load on the head by his own folly. Let him put it down: he will find the load reaches the destination all the same. Similarly, let us not pose as the doers, but resign ourselves to the guiding Power.
The idea of time is only in your mind. It is not in the Self. There is no time for the Self. Time arises as an idea after the ego arises. But you are the Self beyond time and space. You exist even in the absence of time and space.
There is a state beyond our efforts or effortlessness. Until it is realised effort is necessary. After tasting such Bliss, even once, one will repeatedly try to regain it. It is as difficult for a jnani to engage in thoughts as it is for an ajnani to be free from thoughts.
Turn your vision inwards and the whole world will be full of the Supreme Spirit. The world is said to be illusion. Illusion is really Truth. Even the material sciences trace the origin of the universe to some primordial matter... subtle, exceedingly subtle.
Turn your vision inwards and the whole world will be full of the Supreme Spirit. The world is said to be illusion. Illusion is really Truth. Even the material sciences trace the origin of the universe to some primordial matter... subtle, exceedingly subtle.
'I am Brahman' (Aham Brahmasmi )is only a thought.
Who says it?
Brahman himself does not say so.
What need is there for him to say it?
Nor can the real 'I' say so.
For 'I' always abides as Brahman. So it is only a thought.
Whose thought is it?
All thoughts come from the unreal 'I', that is the 'I-thought'.
Remain without thinking.
So long as there is thought, there will be fear.
Who says it?
Brahman himself does not say so.
What need is there for him to say it?
Nor can the real 'I' say so.
For 'I' always abides as Brahman. So it is only a thought.
Whose thought is it?
All thoughts come from the unreal 'I', that is the 'I-thought'.
Remain without thinking.
So long as there is thought, there will be fear.
REPEATING THE HIGHEST MANTRA
If you find the vichara marga [the path of self-enquiry] too hard, you can go on repeating 'I', 'I', and that will lead you to same goal. There is no harm in using 'I' as a mantra. It is the first name of God. (Day by Day with Bhagavan, 8th May 1946)
A housewife who complained that self-enquiry was too hard and that she had no time for meditation received a similar answer:
If you can do nothing more, at least continue saying 'I', 'I' to yourself all the time, as advised in Who Am I?, whatever you may be doing, and whether you are sitting, standing or walking, 'I' is the name of God. It is the first and greatest of all mantras. (Day by Day with Bhagavan, 28th June 1946)
If you find the vichara marga [the path of self-enquiry] too hard, you can go on repeating 'I', 'I', and that will lead you to same goal. There is no harm in using 'I' as a mantra. It is the first name of God. (Day by Day with Bhagavan, 8th May 1946)
A housewife who complained that self-enquiry was too hard and that she had no time for meditation received a similar answer:
If you can do nothing more, at least continue saying 'I', 'I' to yourself all the time, as advised in Who Am I?, whatever you may be doing, and whether you are sitting, standing or walking, 'I' is the name of God. It is the first and greatest of all mantras. (Day by Day with Bhagavan, 28th June 1946)
Even though the reality of the Self has been stated in many ways, it remains untold. The Self is known only by actual experience. That experiential Awareness of the Self is prevented by the mind due to the firmly established conviction that 'I am the body, ego/mind.'
This ‘I’-thought is not pure. It is contaminated with the association of the body and senses. See to whom the trouble is. It is to the ‘I’-thought. Hold it. Then the other thoughts vanish.
It is not the eyes that see. There is one who sees through the eyes.
DON'T FIGHT - JUST WATCH
There is only one way to ovecome the ghost...to watch it. Do not fight, do not resist. Only try to watch it, quietly but ceaselessly. In other words, develop an unconcerned witness- consciousness towards men, things and happenings without, but particularly towards yourself within. It means to carry on the calmness of the mind gained in your meditation to cover your whole day. You will distinctly feel it as an undercurrent of peace and detachment.
Of course, as soon as you succeed, the ghost-‘I’ will immediately try to hide itself in this witness-consciousness at the feeling ‘I am the witness’. This again is only a thought. But to be the witness without any I-consciousness is the pure mind at the threshold of Reality.
While following the transformation of your personal ‘I’ into the impersonal ‘witnessing’, you cut at the root of all your ‘personal’ shortcomings, vices and weaknesses, your passions and evil habits, because the root of all this unpleasant ‘you’ is just that personal ‘I’. Try to imagine yourself in the mood of the ‘unconcerned witness’ described above, and you will see that in that state it is impossible to think or act in a negative way, because in that mood you are, though only momentarily, beyond the personal ‘I’. Your sadhana is to keep yourself permanently in the state of ‘detached witnessing’ of all and everything, including the personal ‘I’ when and wherever it should try to raise its head.
In the silent Light of being witnessed it cannot survive. Such ‘witnessing’ will soon grow into pure Awareness, aware only of Itself.
In the words of Ramana Maharshi: “The Truth is that the Self is constant and unintermittent Awareness.” (Talks, 454)
' Lucy Cornelssen, 'Hunting the ‘I’
There is only one way to ovecome the ghost...to watch it. Do not fight, do not resist. Only try to watch it, quietly but ceaselessly. In other words, develop an unconcerned witness- consciousness towards men, things and happenings without, but particularly towards yourself within. It means to carry on the calmness of the mind gained in your meditation to cover your whole day. You will distinctly feel it as an undercurrent of peace and detachment.
Of course, as soon as you succeed, the ghost-‘I’ will immediately try to hide itself in this witness-consciousness at the feeling ‘I am the witness’. This again is only a thought. But to be the witness without any I-consciousness is the pure mind at the threshold of Reality.
While following the transformation of your personal ‘I’ into the impersonal ‘witnessing’, you cut at the root of all your ‘personal’ shortcomings, vices and weaknesses, your passions and evil habits, because the root of all this unpleasant ‘you’ is just that personal ‘I’. Try to imagine yourself in the mood of the ‘unconcerned witness’ described above, and you will see that in that state it is impossible to think or act in a negative way, because in that mood you are, though only momentarily, beyond the personal ‘I’. Your sadhana is to keep yourself permanently in the state of ‘detached witnessing’ of all and everything, including the personal ‘I’ when and wherever it should try to raise its head.
In the silent Light of being witnessed it cannot survive. Such ‘witnessing’ will soon grow into pure Awareness, aware only of Itself.
In the words of Ramana Maharshi: “The Truth is that the Self is constant and unintermittent Awareness.” (Talks, 454)
' Lucy Cornelssen, 'Hunting the ‘I’
PLEASURE BORNE OF SENSE OBJECTS IS DUE TO DELUSION
Question- If the Self is always pleasing and so are sense-objects at the time of enjoyment, let them also be regarded as pleasing.
Shri Ramana Maharshi answers-
The delight in any object is not lasting but what is now delightful soon yields its place to another more so. There are degrees of pleasure and succession of the objects liked. The pleasure in objects is only wanton and not steady. This is possible only if the pleasure is born of one's own delusion and not of the intrinsic value of the objects. For example, see how a dog chews a dry, marrowless bone until blood comes out of the wounds in its mouth, fancies that the taste of its own blood to be that of marrow of the bone and will not part with it. Should it find another similar bone, it drops down the one in its mouth and takes the other. In the same way, superimposing his own joyful nature on the detestable objects of fancy, the man delights in them by mistake, for joy is not their nature. Owing to the ignorance of man the objects which are really painful by nature seem to be pleasing. This seeming pleasure does not remain steady in one object but often shifts to other objects; it is wanton, graded, and not absolute, whereas the Joy of the Self is not captious.Even when the body etc., are cast off, this joy endures in the Self for ever; it is also absolute. Therefore the Self is Supreme Bliss. So far the Being-Knowledge-Bliss nature of the Self has been established.
- Advait Bodh Deepika(by Sri Ramanashram)
Question- If the Self is always pleasing and so are sense-objects at the time of enjoyment, let them also be regarded as pleasing.
Shri Ramana Maharshi answers-
The delight in any object is not lasting but what is now delightful soon yields its place to another more so. There are degrees of pleasure and succession of the objects liked. The pleasure in objects is only wanton and not steady. This is possible only if the pleasure is born of one's own delusion and not of the intrinsic value of the objects. For example, see how a dog chews a dry, marrowless bone until blood comes out of the wounds in its mouth, fancies that the taste of its own blood to be that of marrow of the bone and will not part with it. Should it find another similar bone, it drops down the one in its mouth and takes the other. In the same way, superimposing his own joyful nature on the detestable objects of fancy, the man delights in them by mistake, for joy is not their nature. Owing to the ignorance of man the objects which are really painful by nature seem to be pleasing. This seeming pleasure does not remain steady in one object but often shifts to other objects; it is wanton, graded, and not absolute, whereas the Joy of the Self is not captious.Even when the body etc., are cast off, this joy endures in the Self for ever; it is also absolute. Therefore the Self is Supreme Bliss. So far the Being-Knowledge-Bliss nature of the Self has been established.
- Advait Bodh Deepika(by Sri Ramanashram)
The state of being is permanent and the body and world are not. They are fleeting phenomena passing on the screen of being-consciousness which is eternal and stationary.
The state free from thoughts is the only real state.
He who thinks he is the doer is also the sufferer.
Mourning is not the index of true love. It betrays love of the object, of its shape only. That is not love. True love is shown by the certainty that the object of love is in the Self and that it can never become non-existent.
There is no need to sift through all the rubbish before throwing it out.
SEXUAL DESIRES
Question : Do you approve of sexual continence?
Ramana Maharshi : A true brahmachari [celibate] is one who dwells in Brahman. Then there is no question of desires any more.
Question : At Sri Aurobindo's ashram there is a rigid rule that married couples are permitted to live there on condition that they have no sexual intercourse.
Ramana Maharshi : What is the use of that ? If it exists in the mind, what use is it to force people to abstain ?
Question : Is marriage a bar to spiritual progress?
Ramana Maharshi : The householder's life is not a bar, but the householder must do his utmost to practise self-control. If a man has a strong desire for the higher life then the sex tendency will subside. When the mind is destroyed, the other desires are destroyed also.
Question : Do you approve of sexual continence?
Ramana Maharshi : A true brahmachari [celibate] is one who dwells in Brahman. Then there is no question of desires any more.
Question : At Sri Aurobindo's ashram there is a rigid rule that married couples are permitted to live there on condition that they have no sexual intercourse.
Ramana Maharshi : What is the use of that ? If it exists in the mind, what use is it to force people to abstain ?
Question : Is marriage a bar to spiritual progress?
Ramana Maharshi : The householder's life is not a bar, but the householder must do his utmost to practise self-control. If a man has a strong desire for the higher life then the sex tendency will subside. When the mind is destroyed, the other desires are destroyed also.
Unless one follows the principle, “That which is essential to be reformed is only my own mind”, one’s mind will become more and more impure by seeing the defects of others.
Beings
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