Maturity lies in understanding that anything else besides Self Attention (which constitutes Self Enquiry) is a waste of time.
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Uttisthita Jagrat
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Anything else is painful, sorrow producing, manufacturer of calamities.
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The mind which has obtained a burning desire for Self-attention,
which is Self-enquiry,
is said to be the fully mature one
(pakva manas)
Attending to 2nd/3rd person = vasana
Since it is not at all now inclined to attend to any second or third parson, it can be said that it has reached the pinnacle of vairagya.
For, do not all sorts of desires and attachments pertain only to second and third persons? Since this mind, which has very well understood that (as already seen in earlier chapters) the consciousness which shines as ‘I’ alone is the source of full and real happiness, now seeks Self because of its natural craving for happiness,
this intense desire to attend to Self is indeed the highest form of bhakti.
It is exactly this Self-attention of the mind which is thus fully mature through such devotion and desirelessness (bhakti-vairagya) that is to be called the enquiry
‘Who am I ?’
taught by Bhagavan Sri Ramana!
reworded:
A mature mind has no choice but to stay put in Self-Attention.
This itself is Self Enquiry.
..
Well, will not at least such a mature mind which has come to the path of Sri Ramana, willingly agreeing to engage in Self-attention, realize Self ?
No, no, it has started for its doom ! Agreeing to commit suicide, it places its neck (through Self-attention) on the scaffold where it is to be sacrificed !!
How ? Only so long as it was attending to second and third persons did it have the name ‘mind’,
but as soon as Self-attention is begun, its name and form (its name as mind and its form as thoughts) are lost.
So we can no longer say that Self-attention or Self-enquiry is performed by the mind, Neither is it the mind that attends to Self, nor is the natural spontaneous Self-attention of the consciousness aspect of Self (atma-chit-rupam), which is not the mind, an activity !
“A naked lie then it would be If any man were to say that he Realized the Self, diving within Through proper enquiry set in Not for knowing but for death The good-for-nothing ego’s worth ! ’This Arunachala alone, The Self, by which the Self is known !”
‘Sri Arunachala Venba’ verse 39
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157 chp 8 part in blog feb 2021
“Always keeping the mind (the attention) fixed In Self (in the feeling ‘I’) alone is called Self enquiry’
... Remaining firmly in Self-abidance, without giving even the least room to the rising of any thought other than the thought of Self (that is, without giving even the least attention to any second or third person, but only to Self)
is surrendering oneself to God (which alone is called para bhakti, the supreme devotion)”.
When Bhagavan was asked, ‘What is the means and technique to hold constantly on to the ‘I’ -consciousness?’,
He revealed in His works the technique of Self-enquiry which, as explained above, He had undertaken in His early age, but in a more detailed manner as follows:-
imp
“Self (atman) is that which is self-shining in the form ‘I am that I am’. One should not imagine it to be anything such as this or that (light or sound). Imagining’ or thinking thus is itself bondage.
Since Self is the consciousness which is neither light nor darkness, let it not be imagined as a light of any kind. That thought itself would be a bondage.
The annihilation of the ego (the primal thought) alone is liberation (mukti).
All the three bodies consisting of the five sheaths are contained in the feeling ‘I am the body’; therefore if, by the enquiry ‘Who is this I ?’ (that is, by Self attention), the identification with (attachment to) the gross body alone is removed, the identification with the other two bodies will automatically cease to exist.
As it is only by clinging to this that the identifications with the subtle and casual bodies live, there is no need to annihilate these identifications separately. “How to enquire? Can the body, which is insentient like a log and such things, shine and function as ‘I’? It cannot
“The body cannot say ‘I’ ...” ‘Ulladhu Narpadhu’, verse 23
Therefore, discarding the corpse-like body as an actual corpse and remaining without even uttering the word ‘I’ vocally -– “Discarding the body as a corpse, not uttering the word ‘I’ by mouth, but seeking with the mind diving inwards ‘Whence does this I rise ?’ alone is the path of knowledge (jnana marga) ...”
‘Ulladhu Narpadhu’, verse 29
–, if keenly observed what that feeling is which now shines’ as ‘I’, a sphurana alone will be experienced without sound as ‘I-I’ in the heart.
“When the mind reaches the Heart by enquiring within ‘Who am I ?’, he, ‘I’ (the ego), falling down abashed, the One (the Reality) appears spontaneously as ‘I-I’ (I am that I am) ...” ‘Ulladhu Narpadhu’,verse 30
“When sought within ‘What is the place from which it rises as I ?’, ‘I’ (the ego) will die.
This is Self-enquiry.” ‘Upadesa Undhiyar’, verse 19
“Where this ‘I’ dies, there and then shines forth spontaneously the One as ‘I-I’ That alone is the Whole (puranam)” ‘Upadesa Undhiyar’, verse 20
“If without leaving it we just be, the sphurana, completely annihilating the feeling of individuality – the ego, ‘I am the body’, finally will come to an end just as the camphor flame dies out. This alone is proclaimed to be liberation by Sages and scriptures.
“Although in the beginning, on account of the tendencies towards sense-objects (vishaya-vasanas) which have been recurring down the ages, thoughts rise in countless numbers like the waves of the ocean, they will all perish as the aforesaid Self-attention becomes more and more intense.
Since even the doubt “Is it possible to destroy all of them and to remain as Self alone ?’ is only a thought, without giving room even to that thought, one should persistently cling fast to Self-attention.
However great a sinner one may be, if, not lamenting ‘Oh, I am a sinner! How can I attain salvation?’ but completely giving up even the thought that one is a sinner, one is steadfast in Self attention, one will surely be saved.
Therefore everyone, diving deep within himself with (vairagya), can attain the pearl of Self.
“As long as there are tendencies towards sense-objects in the mind, (since they will always create some subtle or gross world-appearance) so long the enquiry ‘Who am I?’ is necessary.
As and when thoughts rise of their own accord, one should annihilate all of them through enquiry then and there in their very place of origin.
What is the means to annihilate them? If other thoughts rise disturbing Self-attention, one should, without attempting to complete them, enquire ‘To whom did they rise?, It will “then be known ‘To me’; immediately, if we observe ‘Who is this I that thinks?’, the mind (our power of attention which was hitherto engaged in thinking of second and third persons) will turn back to its source (Self). Hence (since no one is there to attend to them), the other thoughts which had risen
will also subside.
By repeatedly practising thus, the power of the mind to, abide in its source increases.
When the mind thus abides in the Heart, the first thought, ‘I’ (‘I am the body’, the rising ‘I’), which is the root of all other thoughts, itself having vanished, the ever-existing Self (the being ‘I’) alone will shine. The place (or state) where even the slightest trace of the thought ‘I’ (‘I am this, that, the body, Brahman and so on’) does not exist, alone is Self. That alone is called Silence (maunam).
“After coming to know that the final decision of all the scriptures (sastras) is that such destruction of the mind alone is liberation (mukti), to read scriptures unlimitedly is fruitless.
In order to destroy the mind, it is necessary to enquire who one is; then how, instead of enquiring thus within oneself, to enquire and know who one, is in scriptures ?
For Rama to know himself to be Rama, is a mirror necessary ?
(That is to say, for one to know oneself through Self-attention to be ‘I am’, are scriptures necessary ?) ‘Oneself’ is within the five sheaths, whereas the scriptures are outside them. Therefore, how can oneself, who is to be attended to within, setting aside even the five sheaths, be found in scriptures? Since scripture-enquiry is futile, one should give it up and take to Self-enquiry” – thus says Bhagavan Sri Ramana.
“Just as one would dive in order to find something that had fallen into the water, so one should dive within with a keen (introverted) mind, controlling breath and speech, and know the rising-place of the rising ego. Know thus !”
- ‘Ulladhu Narpadhu’, verse 28
Some, taking only the words ‘should dive within controlling breath and speech’, set out to practise exercises of breath control (pranayama). Although it is a fact that the breath stops in the course of enquiry, for it to be stopped the roundabout way of pranayama is not necessary.
When the mind, with a tremendous longing to find the source which gives it light, turns inwards, the breath stops automatically
9! If the breath of the enquirer is exhaled at the time of his mind thus giving up knowing external sense objects (vishayas) and starting to attend to its original form of light, Self, it automatically remains outside without being again drawn in.
Likewise, if it is inhaled at that time, it automatically remains inside without being again exhaled ! These are to be taken as ‘external retention’ (bahya kumbhaka) and ‘internal retention’ (antara kumbhaka) respectively.
Until there is a rising of a thought on account of non-vigilance (pramada) in Self-attention, this retention (kumbhaka) will continue in an enquirer quite effortlessly.
By a little scrutiny, will it not be clear to anyone that even in our everyday life when some startling news is suddenly brought to us or when we try to recollect a forgotten thing....
“Therefore, by the practice of fixing the mind (the attention) in the Heart (Self), the pure consciousness, both the destruction of tendencies (vasanas) and the control of the breath are accomplished automatically.”
‘Ulladhu Narpadhu – Anubandham’ verse 24
with full concentration, the breath stops automatically on account of the keenness of mind (the intensity of concentration) that takes place then?
Similarly, the breath will stop automatically as soon as the mind, with an intense longing to see its original form of light and with earnest one-pointedness, begins to turn keenly and remain within.
In this state of retention (kumbhaka), no matter how long it continues, the enquirer does not experience suffocation, that is, the urge to exhale or inhale.
But while practicing pranayama, if the units of time (matras) of the retention are increased, one does experience suffocation.
If the enquirer’s attention is so intensely fixed on Self that he does not even care to know whether the breath has stopped or not, then his state of retention is involuntary and without struggle.
There are some aspirants, however, who try to know at that time whether or not the ‘breath has stopped. This is wrong, for since the attention is thus focusing on the breath, Self-attention will be lost and thereby various thoughts will shoot up and the flow of sadhana will be interrupted.
That is why Bhagavan advised, ‘Control breath and speech with a keen (introverted) mind’.
It would be wise to understand this verse thus, by adding ‘with a keen mind’ (kurnda matiyal) in all the three places,
‘Control the breath with a keen mind dive within with a keen mind, and know the rising-place with a keen mind’,
By his very moving along it, does not the man who positions his eyes on the reflected beam reduce its length?
Just as the length of the beam decreases as he advances, so also the mind’s tendency of expanding shrinks more and more as the aspirant perseveres in sincerely seeking its source. “…
When the attention goes deeper and deeper within along the (reflected) ray ‘I’, its length decrease more and more, and when the ray ‘I’ dies, that which shines as ‘I’ is Jnana, “
- ‘Atma Vichara Patikam’, verse 9
When the man finally reaches very near to the piece of mirror, he can be said to have reached the very source of the reflected ray.
This is similar to the aspirant diving within and reaching the source (Heart) whence he had risen.
Does not the man now attain a state where the length of the reflected ray is reduced to nothing – a state where no reflection is possible because he is so close to the mirror?
Similarly, when the aspirant, on account of his diving deeper and deeper within by an intense effort of Self-attention,
is so close to his source
that not even an iota of rising of the ego is possible,
he remains absorbed in the great dissolution of the ‘I am the body’
– feeling (dehatmabuddhi),
which he had hitherto had as a target of attention,
This dissolution is what Bhagavan refers to when He says, ‘I’ will die”, in ‘Upadesa Undhiyar’ verse 19.
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Because of his mere search for the source of the reflected ray of the sun, does not the man now, after leaving the dark room, stand in the open space in a state of void created by the non-existence of that reflected ray?
This is the state of the aspirant remaining in the Heart-space (hridayakasa) in the state of great void (maha sunya) created, through mere Self-attention, by the non-existence of the ego-’I’.
The man who has come out of the room into the open space is dazed and laments, “Alas ! The sun that guided me so far (the reflected sun) is now lost”, At this moment, a friend of his standing in the open space comes to him with these words of solace, “Where were you all this time? Were you not in the dark room! Where are you now? Are you not in the open space!
When you were in the dark room, that which guided you out was just one thin ray of light; but here (in this vast open space) are not the rays of light countless and in an unlimited mass? What you saw previously was not even the direct sunlight, but only a reflected ray! But what you are now experiencing is the direct (saksha) sunlight.
When the place where you are now is nothing but the unlimited space of light, can a darkness come into existence because of the void created by the disappearance of the reflected ray? Can its disappearance be a loss? Know that its disappearance itself is the true light; it is not darkness”. Similarly, by the experience of the great void (maha sunya) created by the annihilation of the ego, the aspirant is some-what taken aback, ‘Alas ! Even the ‘I’ consciousness (the ego) which I was attending to in my sadhana till now as a beacon-light is lost !
Then is there really no such thing at all as ‘Self’ (atman)?”. At that very moment, the Sadguru, who is ever shining as his Heart, points out to him thus, “Can the destruction of the ego, which is only an infinitesimal reflected consciousness, be really a loss? Are you not clearly aware not only of its former existence, but also of the present great void created by its disappearance?
Therefore, know that you, who know even the void as ‘this is a void’, alone are the true knowledge; you are not a void !”, in an instant as a direct experience of the shining of his own existence-consciousness by touching (flashing as sphurana) in Heart as Heart!
The aspirant who started the search ‘Whence am I?’ or ‘Who am I ?’ now attains the non dual Self-knowledge, the true knowledge ‘I am that I am’, which is devoid of the limitations of a particular place or time.
70 "...Know that I (Self) is the true knowledge; It is not a void!” 'Ulladhu Narpadhu', verse 12
Clinging to the consciousness ‘I’ and thereby acquiring a greater and greater intensity of concentration upon it, is diving deep within.
Did we sit to hold thus a court of enquiry, calling one thought after another! Is this the sadhana of diving within! Therefore, we should not remain watching ‘What is the next thought?’. Merely to keep on questioning in this manner is not Self-attention. Concerning those who thus merely float on the surface of the thought-waves; keeping their mind on these questions instead of diving within by attending to the existence -consciousness with a keen mind, thereby controlling mind, breath and all the activities of the body and senses, Sri Bhagavan says:
“Compare him who asks himself ‘Who am I?’ and ‘From which place am I?’, though he himself exists all the while as Self, to a drunken man who prattles ‘Who am I?’ and ‘Where am I?’.” ‘Ekatma Panchakam’, verse 2
and further, He asks: “…How to attain that state wherein ‘I’ does not rise the state of egolesness (the great void or maha sunya) – unless (instead of floating like this) we seek the place whence ‘I’ rises? And unless we attain that (egolesness), say, how to abide in the state of Self, where ‘We are That’ (soham)?”
‘Ulladhu Narpadhu’, verse 27
Therefore, all that we are to practise is to be still (summa iruppadu) with the remembrance of the feeling ‘I’.
It is only when there is a slackness of vigilance during Self attention that thoughts, which are an indication of it, will rise.
In other words, if thoughts rise it means that our Self-attention is lost. It is only as a contrivance to win back Self-attention from thought – attention that Bhagavan advised us to ask, ’To whom do these thoughts appear?’
Since the answer ‘To me’ is only a dative form of ‘I’, it will easily remind us of the nominative form, the feeling ‘I’. However, if we question, ‘Who thinks these thoughts?’, since the nominative form, the feeling ‘I’, is obtained as an answer, will not Self-attention, which has been lost unnoticed, be regained directly?
This regaining of Self-attention is actually being Self (that is, remaining or abiding as Self)! Such ‘being’ alone is the correct sadhana.
Sadhana is not doing, but being!!
“What our Lord Ramana firmly advises us to take to, as the greatest and most powerful tapas is only this much, ‘Be still’ (summa iru), and not anything else (dhyana, yoga and so on) as the duty to be performed by the mind.”
‘Guru Vachaka Kovai’ verse 773
The enquiry begins only during the leisure hours of the waking state when one sits for practice. Just as a thing comes to our memory when its name, is thought of, does not the first person feeling come to everyone’s memory as soon as the name (pronoun) ‘I’ is thought of? Although this first person feeling is only the ego, the pseudo ‘I’- consciousness, it does not matter. Having our attention withdrawn from second and third persons and clinging to the first person – that alone is sadhana. As soon as the attention turns towards the first person feeling, not only do other thoughts disappear, but also the first thought, the rising and expanding pseudo ‘I’-consciousness, itself begins contracting !
“When the mind, the ego, which wanders outside knowing only other objects (second and third persons), begins to attend to its own nature, all other objects will’ disappear and, by experiencing its true nature (Self), the pseudo ‘I’ will also die.”
‘Guru Vachaka Kovai’, verse 193
“...If the fickle mind turns towards the first person, the first person (the ego) will become non-existent and That which really exists will then shine forth…”
‘Atma Vichara Patikam’, verse 6
“...Attending to the first person is equal to committing suicide...”
‘Atma Vichara Patikam’, verse 7
Just as a rubber ball gains greater and greater momentum while bouncing down the staircase, the more the concentration in clinging to the first person consciousness is intensified the faster is the contraction of the first thought (the ego), till finally it merges in its source.
That which now merges thus is only the adjunct (upadhi), the feeling ‘so-and-so’ which, at the moment of waking, came and mixed with the pure existence-consciousness, which was shining in sleep as ‘I am’, to constitute the form of the ego, ‘I am so-and-so’, ‘I am this’ or ‘I am that’.
That is, what has come and mixed now slips away. All that an aspirant can experience in the beginning of his practice is only the slipping away (subsidence) of the ego.
Since the aspirant tracks down the ego from the waking state, where it is in full play, in the beginning it is possible for him to cognize only its removal.
But to cognize its rising (how it rises and holds on to ‘I am’) from sleep will be more difficult for him at this stage.
When the attention is focused deeper and deeper within towards the feeling ‘I am’ and when the ego thereby shrinks more and more into nothingness, our power of attention becomes subtler than the subtlest atom and thereby grows sharper and brighter.
Hence, the strength of abidance (nishtha-bala) will now be achieved to remain balanced between two states, that is, in a state after the end of sleep and before waking up, in other words, before being possessed by the first thought.
Through this strength, the skill will now be gained by the aspirant to find out the adjunct ‘so and so’, which comes and mixes, to be a mere second person (that is, although it has hitherto been appearing as if it were the first person, it will now be clearly seen to be his mere shadow, non-Self, the primal sheath, a thing alien to him).
This is what Janaka, the royal Sage, meant when he said, “I have found out the thief-
the time of his coming – the time and place. of the ego’s rising
who has been ruining me all along;
I will inflict the right punishment upon him”.
Since the ego, which was acting till now as if it were the first person, is found to be a second person alien to us, the right punishment is to destroy it at its very place of rising (just as the reflected ray is destroyed at its place of rising) by clinging steadfastly to the real first person (the real import of the word ‘I’), existence-consciousness, through the method of regaining Self-attention taught by Bhagavan Sri Ramana (‘To whom? To me; who am I?’),
“As you practise more and more abiding in this existence-consciousness (that is, remaining in the state between sleep and waking), the ordinary sleep which had previously been taking possession of you will melt away, and the waking which was full of sense-knowledge (vishayas) will not creep in again, Therefore repeatedly and untiringly abide in it,”
‘Sadhanai Saram’
By greater and more steadfast practice of abiding in this existence-consciousness, we will experience that this state seems to come often and take possession of us of it's own accord whenever we are free from our daily work.
But, since this state of existence-consciousness is in fact nothing but ‘we’, it is wrong to think that such a state comes and takes possession of us!
While at work, we attend to other things; after that work is over and before we attend to some other second or third person, we naturally abide in our real state, existence-consciousness.
Though this happens to one and all every day,
it is only to those who have the experience of Self-consciousness through the aforesaid practice that the state of Self-abidance will be clearly discerned
after leaving one second person thought and before catching another one (that is, between two thoughts).
“Why has it been said (in the above two verses of ‘Sadhana Saram’) that one ought to make effort repeatedly to be in that state (our existence-consciousness) and ought to abide in it with more and more love?
Because, until all the tendencies (vasanas) which drive one out of it are completely exhausted, this state will seem to come and go.
Hence the need for continued effort and love to abide in Self.”
“When, through this practice, our state of existence consciousness is experienced always as inescapably natural, then there will be no harm even if waking, dream and sleep pass across,”
“For those who are well established in the unending Self-consciousness, which pervades and transcends all these three so-called states (waking, dream and sleep), there is but one state, the Whole, the All, and that alone is real!
This state, which is devoid even of the feeling ‘I am making effort’, is your natural state of being! Be!!”
‘Sadhanai Saram’.
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Just as the man came out into the open space from the dark room by steadfastly holding on to and moving along the reflected ray, so the enquirer reaches the open space of Heart, coming out of the prison – the attachment to the body through the nerves (nadis) -, by assiduously holding on to the feeling ‘I am’.
Let us now see how this process takes place in the body of an advanced enquirer.
Just on waking up from sleep, a consciousness ‘I’ shoots up like a flash of lightening from the Heart to the brain. From the brain, it then spreads throughout the body along the nerves (nadis).
This ‘I’ consciousness is like electrical energy. Its impetus or voltage is the force of attachment (abhimana-vega) with which it identifies a body as ‘I’.
This consciousness, which spreads with such a tremendous impetus and speed all over the body as ‘I’, remains pure, having no adjunct (upadhi) attached to it, till it reaches the brain from the Heart.
But, since its force of attachment (abhimana-vega) is so great that the time taken by it to shoot up from the Heart to the brain is extremely short, one millionth of a second so to speak, ordinary people are unable to cognize it in its pure condition, devoid of any adjunct.
This pure condition of the rising ‘I’ - consciousness is what was pointed out by Sri Bhagavan when He said, “In the space between two states or two thoughts, the pure ego (the pure condition or true nature of the ego) is experienced”, in ‘Maharshi’s Gospel’, Book One, chapter five, entitled ‘Self and Ego’.
For this ‘I’ – consciousness that spreads from the brain at a tremendous speed throughout the body, the nerves (nadis) are the transmission lines, like wires for electrical power, (How many they are is immaterial here.) The mixing of the pure consciousness ‘I am’, after reaching the brain, with an adjunct as ‘I am this, I am so-and-so, I am the body’ is what is called bondage (bandham) or the knot (granthi).
This knot has two forms: the knot of bondage to the nerves (nadi-bandha-granthi) and the knot of attachment (abhimana--granthi).
The connection of this power, the ‘I’- consciousness, with the gross nervous system is called ‘the knot of bondage to the nerves’ (nadi bandha granthi), and its connection (its dehabhimana) with the causal body, whose form is the latent tendencies, is called ‘the knot of attachment’ (abhimana-granthi),
The knot of bondage to the nerves pertains to the breath (prana), while the knot of attachment pertains to the mind.
“Mind and breath (prana) which have thought and action as their respective functions, are like two diverging branches of the trunk of a tree, but their root (the activating power) is one.” ‘Upadesa Undhiyar’, verse 12
Since the source of the mind and the prana is one (the Heart), when the knot of attachment (abhimana-granthi) is severed by the annihilation of the mind through Self-enquiry, the knot of bondage to the nerves (nadi
bandha-granthi) is also severed. In raja yoga, after removing the knot of bondage to the nerves by means of breath control, if the mind which is thus controlled is made to enter the Heart from the brain (sahasrara), since it reaches its source, then the knot of attachment is also severed.
“When the mind which has been subdued by breath control is led (to the Heart) through
the only path (the path of knowing Self), its form will die.” ‘Upadesa Undhiyar’, verse 14
However, since the knot of attachment is the basic one, until and unless the destruction of attachment (abhimana) is effected, by knowing self, even when the knot of bondage to the nerves is temporarily removed in sleep, swoon, death or by the use of anaesthetics, the knot of attachment remains unaffected in the form of tendencies (vasanas), which constitute the causal body, and, hence rebirths are inescapable.
This is why Bhagavan insists that one reaching kashta-nirvikalpa-samadhi through raja yoga should not stop there (since it is only mano-laya, a temporary absorption of the mind),
but that the mind so absorbed should be led to the Heart in order to attain sahaja-nirvikalpa-samildhi, which is the destruction of the mind (mano-nasa), the destruction of the attachment to the body (dehabhimana-nasa)
In the body of such a Self realized One (sahaja jnani), the coursing of the ‘I’ - consciousness along the nerves, even after the destruction of the knot of attachment, is like the water on a lotus leaf or like a burnt rope, and thus it cannot cause bondage. Therefore the destruction of the knot of attachment is anyway indispensable for the attainment of the natural state (Sahaja Sthiti), the state of the destruction of the tendencies (vasanakshaya).
The nerves (nadis) are gross, but the consciousness power (chaitanya-sakti) that courses through them is subtle.
The connection of the ‘I’-consciousness with the nerves is similar to that of the electrical power with the wires, that is, it is so unstable that it can be disconnected or connected in a second. Is it not an experience common to one and all that this connection is daily broken in sleep and effected in the waking state? When this connection is effected, body consciousness rises, and when it is broken, body consciousness is lost. Here it is to be remembered what has already been stated, namely that body-consciousness and world-consciousness are one and the same. So, like our clothes and ornaments which are daily removed and put on, this knot is alien to us, a transitory and false entity hanging loosely on us! This is what Bhagavan referred to when He said, “We can detach ourself from what we are not”!
Disconnecting the knot in such a way that it will never again come into being is called by many names such as ‘the cutting of the knot’ (granthi-bheda). ‘the destruction of the mind’ (mano-nasa) and so on. ‘In such a way that it will never again come into being’ means this: by attending to it (the ego) through the enquiry ‘Does it in truth exist at present?
’ in order to find out whether it had ever really come into being, there takes place the dawn of knowledge
(jnana), the real waking, where it is clearly and firmly known that no such knot has ever come into being, that no such ego has ever risen, that ‘that which exists’ alone ever exists, and that which was existing as ‘I am’ is ever existing as ‘I am’!
The attainment of this knowledge (Self-knowledge or atma-jnana), the knowledge that the knot or bondage is at all times non-existent and has never risen, is the permanent disconnecting of the knot.
50% third wall
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Hence, attending to the first place (the first person) among the three places or attending to the present time among the three times is the only path to liberation.
Let us now again take up our original point. When the attention of an aspirant is turned towards second and third persons, the ‘I’-consciousness spreads from the brain all over the body through the nerves (nadis) in the form of the power of spreading.
But when the same attention is focused on the first person, since it is used in an opposite direction, the ‘I’ -consciousness, instead of functioning in the form of the power of spreading, takes the form of the power of Self-attention (that is, the power of ‘doing’ is transformed into the power of ‘being’).
This is what is called ‘the churning of the nadis’ (nadi-manthana).
By the churning thus taking place in the nadis, the ‘I’-consciousness scattered throughout the nadis turns back, withdraws and collects in the brain, the starting point of its spreading, and from there it reaches, drowns and is established in the Heart, the pure consciousness, the source of its rising.
In raja-yoga, the ‘I’-consciousness pervading all the nadis is forcibly pushed back to the starting point of its spreading by the power generated through the pressure of breath-retention (prana-kumbhaka). But this is a violent method.
The following is what Bhagavan used to say: “Forcibly pushing back the ‘I’ – consciousness by breath retention, as is done in raja yoga, is a violent method, like chasing a run-away cow, beating it, catching hold of it, dragging it forcibly to the shed and finally tying it there; on the other hand, bringing back the ‘I’-consciousness to its source by enquiry is a gentle and peaceful method, like tempting the cow by showing it a handful of green grass, cajoling and fondling it, making it follow us of its own accord to the shed and finally tying it there”.
While the ‘I’ – consciousness is withdrawing through the sushumna, an aspirant may have experiences of the places of the six yogic centres (shadchakras) on the way, or even without having them may reach the Heart directly.
However, due to the past devotional tendencies towards the different names and forms of God, which are bound by time and place, some aspirants may have experiences of the six yogic centres and of divine visions, sounds and so on therein. But for those who do not have such obstacles in the form of tendencies, the journey will be pleasant and without any distinguishing feature (visesha).
In the former case, these experiences are due to non-vigilance (pramada) in Self-attention, for they are nothing but a second person attention taking place there!
This itself betrays that the attention to Self is lost!
For those tremendously earnest aspirants who do not at all give room to non-vigilance in Self-attention, these objective experiences will never occur!
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Yet all these are only qualified mental experiences (visesha-manaanubhavas) and not the unqualified Self-experience (nirvisesha-ekatma-anubhava).
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190
Even though the ‘I’-consciousness while being withdrawn courses only along the sushumna nadi, on account of its extreme brilliance it illumines the five sense organs (jnanendriyas), which are near the sushumna, and hence the above–mentioned experiences happen.
How?
When the light of ‘I’-consciousness stationed in the sushumna illumines the eye, the organ of sight, there will be visions of Gods and many celestial worlds;
when it illumines the ear, the organ of hearing, celestial sounds will be heard such as the playing of divine instruments (deva dundubhi), the ringing of divine bells,
Omkara and so on;
when it illumines the organ of smell, delightful divine fragrances will be smelt;
when it illumines the organ of taste, delicious celestial nectar will be tasted;
and when it illumines the organ of touch, a feeling of extreme pleasure will permeate the entire body or a feeling of floating in an ocean of pleasantness will be experienced.
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80 ‘When the mind, giving up knowing external sense-object, knows its form of light’ (veli vidayangalai vittu manam tan oliyuru ordale): refer to ‘Upadesa Undhiyar’, verse 16.
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Self-consciousness, at which he has been aiming till now. Although his pure Self-existence, devoid of body consciousness or any other adjunct, will often be experienced by him, this is still the stage of practice and not the final attainment! Why? Since there are still the two alternating feelings, one of being sometimes extroverted and the other of being sometimes introverted, and since there is the feeling of making effort to become introverted and of losing such effort while becoming extroverted, this stage is said to be ‘not the final attainment’,
What Bhagavan reveals in this connection is :
“If the mind (the attention) is thus well fixed in sadhana (attending to Self), a power of divine Grace will then rise from within of its own accord.
And subjugating the mind, will take it to the Heart”.
What is this power of divine Grace ?
It is nothing but the perfect clarity of our existence the form of the Supreme Self (paramatman), ever shining with abundant Grace in the heart as ‘I-I’ !
All that we try to do by way of giving up second and third attention and clinging to Self-attention is similar to scraping off the rust.
So the result of all our endeavours is to make ourself it to become a prey to the attraction of the magnetic field of pure consciousness the Heart, which is ever shining engulfing all (that is reducing the whole universe to non-existence) with spreading rays of Self-effulgence.
Mature aspirants will willingly and without rebelling submit themselves to this magnetic power of the Grace of Self-effulgence.
Others, on the other hand, will become extroverted (that is, will turn their attention outwards) fearing the attraction of this power.
Therefore, we should first make ourself fit by the intense love (bhakthi) to know Self and by the tremendous detachment (vairagya) of having no desire to attend to any second or third person.
Then, since our very individuality (as an aspirant) itself is devoured by that power, even the so-called ‘effort of ours’ becomes nil.
Thus, when the ‘I’ – consciousness that was spread all over the body is made to sink into the Heart, the real waking, the dawn of knowledge (jnana), takes place.
This happens in a split second !
“Death is a matter of a split second! The leaving off of sleep is a matter of a split second! Likewise, the removal of the delusion ‘I am an individual soul (jiva)’ is also a matter of a split second!
The dawn of true knowledge is not such that glimpses of it will be gained once and then lost!
If an aspirant feels that it appears and disappears, it is only the stage of practice (sadhana); he cannot be said to have attained true knowledge (jnana).
The perfect dawn of knowledge is a happening of a split second; its attainment is not a prolonged process.
All the age long practices are meant only for attaining maturity.
Let us give an example it takes a long lime to prepare a temple cannon-blast, first putting the gunpowder into the barrel, giving the wick, adding some stones and then ramming it, but when ignited it explodes as a thunder in a split second.
Similarly, after an age long period of listening and reading (sravana),
reflecting (manana),
practising (nidhi-dhyasana)
and weeping put in prayer (because of the inability to put what is heard into practice),
when the mind is thus perfectly purified,
then and then only does the dawn of self-knowledge suddenly break forth in a split second as ‘I am that I am’!
Since, as soon as this dawn breaks, the space of Self-consciousness is found, through the clear knowledge of the Reality, to be beginningless, natural and eternal, even the effort of attending to Self ceases then!
To abide thus, having nothing more to do and nothing further to achieve, is alone the real and supreme state.” ‘Sadhanai Saram
That which we are now experiencing as the waking state is not the real waking state.
This waking state is also a dream!
There is no difference at all between this waking and dream.
In both these states, the feeling ‘I am’ catches hold of a body as ‘I am this’ and, seeing external objects, involves itself in activities.
To awaken as described above from the dream of this waking state is the dawn of knowledge, our real state, or the real waking.
In this connection, some raise the following doubt: “If it is said that we have awakened from one dream and have come to another dream, the present waking state, why, after we awaken from this waking state, will even that not be another dream like this?
How are we to determine, ‘Another awakening is no longer necessary; this is the real waking’?”
Whatever state it may be which we feel to be waking, so long as there is an experience of the existence of any second or third persons, which are other than oneself, it is not at all the real waking state; it is only a dream!
Verify, our real waking (our real state) is that in which our existence alone (not attached to any kind of body) shines unaided and without cognizing anything other than ‘we’.
The definition of the correct waking is that state in which there is perfect Self-consciousness and singleness of Self- existence, without the knowledge of the existence of anything apart from Self!
From this one can determine the real waking. It is this waking that Sri Bhagavan refers to in the following verse:
“Forgetting Self, mistaking the body for Self, taking innumerable births, and at last knowing Self and being Self is just like waking from a dream of wandering all over the world. Know thus.”
-‘Ekatma Panchakam’, verse 1
Just as one place, a big hall, is divided into three chambers when two walls are newly erected in it, so our eternal, non-dual, natural and adjunctless existence consciousness appears to be three states, namely waking, dream and sleep, when the two imaginary walls of waking and dream, which are due to the two body-adjuncts (the waking body and the dream body), apparently rise in the midst of it on account of tendencies (vasanas). If these two new imaginary risings, waking and dream, are not there, that which remains will be the one state of Self-consciousness alone.
It is only for the sake of immature aspirants who think the three states to be real, that the sastras have named our natural, real state, the jnana-waking, as ‘the fourth state (turiya avastha). But since the other three states are truly unreal, this state (the fourth) is in fact the only existing state, the first, and so it need not at all be called ‘the fourth’ (turiya), nor even ‘a state’ (avastha).
It is therefore ‘that which transcends the states’ (avasthatita). It is also called that which transcends the fourth’ (turiyatita).
Hence, turiyatita should not be counted as a fifth state.
This is clearly said by Sri Bhagavan :
“It is only for those who experience the waking, dream and sleep states, that the state of wakeful sleep is named turiya, a state beyond these. Since that turiya alone really exists and since the apparent three states do not exist, turiya itself is turiyatita. Thus should you bravely understand !”
-‘UIladhu Narpadhu – Anubandha’, verse 32
“It is only for those who are not able to immerse and abide firmly in turiya (the state of Self), which shine piercing through the dark ignorance of sleep, that the difference between the first three dense states and the fourth and fifth states are (accepted in sastras).”
‘Guru Vachaka Kovai’, verse 567
When, through the aforesaid Self-attention, we are more and more firmly fixed in our existence-consciousness, the tendencies (vasanas) will be destroyed because there is no one to attend to them. Thus, the waking and dream states, which have been apparently created by these imaginary tendencies, will also be destroyed. Then the one state which survives should no more be called by the name ‘sleep’-
“When, the beginningless, impure tendencies, which were the cause for waking and dream, are destroyed, then sleep, which was (considered to be) leading to bad results (that is, to tama,) and which was said to be a void and ridiculed as nescience, will be found to be turiyatita itself !”
-‘Guru Vachaka Kovai’, verse 460
Since that which has been experienced till now as sleep by ordinary people was liable to be disturbed and removed by waking and dream, it appeared to be trivial and temporary. That is why it was said on pages 51 to 52 of this book that sleep is a defective state, and in the footnote of the same pages that the real nature of sleep would be explained later in the eighth chapter.
Therefore, our natural state, the real waking, alone is the supreme Reality.
Since this real waking is not experienced as a state newly attained, for a Liberated One (jivanmukta) the state of liberation does not become a thought! That is, since bondage is unreal for Him, He can have no thought of liberation.
Then how can the thought of bondage come to Him? The thought of bondage and liberation can occur only to the ignorant one (ajnani), who thinks that he is bound.
Therefore, to remain in this state of Self, having attained supreme bliss (the eternal happiness which is, as pointed out in chapter one. the sole aim of all living beings), which is devoid of both bondage and liberation, is truly to be in the service of the Lord in the manner enjoined by Bhagavan Ramana.
This alone is our duty. This alone is the path of Ramana.
“To remain in the state (of Self), having attained the supreme bliss, which is devoid of both bondage end liberation, is truly to be in the service of the Lord.”
- ‘Upadesa Undhiyar’, verse 29
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198 Path of Ramana - part 1 ends
......appendix 'who am i?
Remaining firmly in Self-abidance (atma-nishtha), without giving even the least room to the rising of any thought other than the thought of Self (atma-chintanai)*, is surrendering oneself to God.
Enquiring ‘Who am I that am in bondage?’ and knowing one’s real nature (swarupam) alone is liberation (mukti),
Always keeping the mind (the attention) fixed in Self (in the feeling ‘I’) alone is called ‘Self-enquiry’ (atma-vichara);
whereas meditation (dhyana) is thinking oneself to be the Absolute (brahman), which is existence-consciousness-bliss (sat-chit-ananda).
All that one has learnt will at one time have to be forgotten.
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214 Atma vichar Patikam
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Atma Vichara Patikam (Eleven Verses on Self-Enquiry)
1. Thinking is a mentation (vritti) ; being is not a mentation !
If enquired ‘Who thinks ?’, thinking will come to an end !
Even when thoughts do not exist, do not you exist?
To remain thus in the source of thoughts is the state of Self- abidance (nishtha) !
Be thus!
2 He who thinks is the individual soul (jiva).
He who is, is the Supreme (brahman) ! (shiva)
If the thinker thinks with great love of That which is 'still';
then this thought, the love to be, will become the thought free thought which kills all thinking.
When the thinker thus dies with all his thoughts, to remain surviving him is union with the Supreme (siva-sayujyam) !
3. He who thinks ‘I (am so-and-so)’ is himself one among the thoughts.
Of all thoughts, the thought ‘I (am so-and-so)’ is the very first. The jiva who thinks ‘I (am so-and- -so)’ is only our reflection.
For, we never think ‘I (am this or that)’ when we shine as That (the Supreme).
4. This thought, ‘I (am the body)’, does not exist in deep sleep.
This thought, ‘I (am the body)’, does not exist in the true state of jnana either.
Since it rises and slips away in between (two such states), this ‘I’ is unreal; hence, this ‘I’ is only a thought.
5. The waxing of this thought ‘I’ is indeed the waxing of misery!
This thought ‘I’ alone is what is called the ego. It is only because of non-enquiry that this ‘I’ has come into existence and is flourishing !
If, instead of being favoured, it is enquired into, ‘What is this !?’, it will disappear, losing its existence.
6. The second and third persons (the objects) live only because of the root, the first person (the subject or ego).
If the fickle mind turns towards the first person, the first person will become non-existent and That which really exists will then shine forth.
This indestructible, real Self is Jnana.
7. To think of second and third persons is sheer foolishness, for by thinking of second and third persons the mental activities (mano-vritlis) will wax.
(On the other hand,) attending to the first person is equal to committing suicide, for only by enquiring into the first person will the ego itself die.
8. Attending to second and third persons instead of turning towards and attending to the first person is an attention based only upon ignorance (ajnana).
If you ask, “Then is not the attention to the ego also an attention based upon ignorance? So why should we attend to this ‘I?’, then listen.
9. The reason why this ‘I’ dies when enquired into,
‘What am I? is as follows:
This thought ‘I’ is a reflected ray of Jnana (Self), (and it alone is directly connected with Self, whereas the other thoughts are not);
(so) when the attention goes deeper and deeper within along the ray ‘I’, its length decreases more and more, and when the ray I’ dies that which shines as ‘I’ is Jnana.
10. Do not perform any action thinking ‘It should be done by me’.
Nothing is done by you, (for) you are simply nothing !
By knowing this first, if you avoid the rising of doership, then everything will be done well by Him and your peace will remain undisturbed !
11. When scrutinizing ‘What is real?’, nothing in the world is (found to be) real;
Self alone is real (satyam).
Therefore, let us renounce everything and ever remain unshakably as the reality (sat).
This alone is the service enjoined upon us by Ramana, our eternal Lord!
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9. Give up trying to know whether so-and-so is a Jnani or an ajnani and enquire
‘Who is he who knows that there is so-and-so ?’
The reply will be ‘I’.
If you further enquire ‘Who is this I?’ then only will the true Jnani appear (as ‘I am that I am’) !!
10. Let anyone be a Jnani, what is it for us?
Until and unless we know our Self, it will be of no avail to us.
On scrutiny, it will be found that Jnana itself is the Jnani.
He is not a human form,
He is verily the supreme Space (of consciousness), and we are That.
11. Therefore, by means of enquiry, destroy the mind which tries to know’ This one or’ that one is a Jnani’.
It is therefore proper to know through Silence that the Jnana (the consciousness) which never rises as ‘I am this or that’ itself is the Jnani !
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220 japa
The main benefit is the complete surrender of oneself to God on account of heart-melting and over brimming love for Him.
2. Remembering once the name of God with an unwavering (one-pointed) mind is more valuable than doing a thousand crores of Japa with a wandering mind.
6. The mind that attends to the true import of the word ‘I’ through jnana japa dies in Self, losing its individuality. The mind that embraces the name of God, who is pure consciousness (chit), with melting love (through bhakti japa) transforms itself into the unbroken form of bliss (ananda); it cannot remain as a separate entity.
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He sings, “‘Turning Self wards, daily see thyself with an introverted look and it (the reality) will be known’ – thus didst Thou tell me, 0 my Arunachala”. I
-aksharmananmalai 44
At first one may not be able to maintain unbroken Self-attention even for a few minutes. Due to long habit, it is only natural that the mind will start to think of some second or third person objects.
Each time the attention thus turns outwards, the aspirant again tries to turn it back towards the first person. This process of slackening of Self-attention and then trying to regain it, will repeat itself again and again.
If the aspirant’s mind is weak due to deficiency in the love to know Self, the slackening of Self-attention will happen frequently, in which case a struggle will ensue and the mind will soon become tired.
Instead of thus repeatedly struggling to regain Self-attention, one should relax the mind for a while as soon as the initial attempt to fix the attention on the first person becomes un-steady, and then again make a fresh attempt.
If one thus makes intermittent attempts, each attempt will be found to have a fresh force and a more precise clarity of attention.
If one presses one’s thumb on a pressure scale, the dial may at first indicate a pressure of ten kilograms. But if one tries to maintain that pressure for a long period of time, the dial will show that it is gradually slackening and decreasing. On the other hand, if one releases the pressure and after a brief rest presses again with fresh vigour, the dial will show a little more than ten kilograms. Similar is the case with Self-attention. If one struggles for a long time to maintain Self-attention, the intensity and clarity of one’s attention will gradually slacken and decrease. But if instead one relaxes as soon as one finds that one’s Self-attention is slackening, and if after a brief rest one makes a fresh attempt to fix one’s attention on Self, that fresh attempt will have a greater intensity and clarity.
Therefore, what is important is not so much the length of time one spends trying to attend to Self, but the earnestness and intensity with which one makes each fresh attempt.
During the time of practice (sadhana) our attention, which is now focused on second and third person objects, has to turn back 180 degrees, so to speak to focus itself on the first person. In the beginning, however, one’s attention may be able to turn only 5, 10 or 15 degrees. This is because one’s turning is resisted by a powerful spring – the spring of one’s tendencies (vasanas) or subtle desires towards worldly objects.
Every time one tries to turn towards the first person, this spring of one’s worldly tendencies will tend to pull one’s mind back again towards second and third persons.
Therefore the number of degrees one is able to turn will depend upon the firmness of one’s desirelessness (vairagya) towards worldly objects and upon the strength of one’s longing (bhakti) to know Self.
Such vairagya and bhakti will be increased in one by regularly practising Self-attention, by earnestly praying to Sri Bhagavan
and by constantly associating with such persons or books as will repeatedly remind one,
“Only by knowing Self can we attain. real and enduring happiness.
So long as we do not know Self we will be endlessly courting and experiencing misery.
Therefore our first and foremost duty in life is to know Self; all other efforts will only end in vain.”
As one’s desirelesness and longing to know Self thus increase by prayer to the Guru, by study (sravana) of and reflection (manana) upon His teachings, and by practice (nididhyasana) of Self-attention, one’s ability to turn one’s attention towards the first person will also increase, until one will be able to turn it 90, 120 or even 150 degrees at each fresh attempt.
When one’s ability to turn one’s attention Self-wards thus increases, one will be able to experience a tenuous current of Self-awareness even while engaged in activity.
That is, one will be able to experience an awareness of one’s being, which will not be disturbed by whatever one’s mind, speech or body may be doing.
In other words, one will be able to remember the feeling ‘I am’ which always underlies all one’s activities.
However, this tenuous current of Self-awareness should not be taken to be the state of unceasing Self-attention,. because one will experience it only when one feels inclined to do so.
How then can one experience the state of unceasing Self-attention, the state of unswerving Self-abidance?
The Guru’s Grace will more and more help those aspirants who thus repeatedly practise Self-attention with great love (bhaktl) to know Self.
When a glowing fire and a blowing wind join together, they play wonders. Likewise, when the glowing fire of love for Self-knowledge and the blowing wind of the Guru’s Grace join together, a great wonder takes place.
During one of his fresh attempts, the aspirant will be able to turn his attention a complete 180 degrees towards Self (that is, he will be able to achieve a perfect clarity of Self-awareness, completely uncontaminated by even the least awareness of any second or third person), whereupon he will feel a great change taking place spontaneously and without his effort.
His power of attention, which he had previously tried so many times to turn towards Self and which had always slipped back towards second and third persons, will now be caught under the grip of a powerful clutch which will not allow it to turn again towards any second or third person.
This clutch is the clutch of Grace.
Though Grace has always been helping and guiding one, it is only when one is thus caught by its clutch that one becomes totally a prey to it.
If one once turns one’s attention a full 180 degrees towards Self, one is sure to be caught by this clutch of Grace, which will then take one as its own and will forever protect one from again turning towards second and third person objects.
This state in which the mind is thus caught by the clutch of Grace and is thereby drowned forever in its source,
is known as the experience of true knowledge (jnananubhutl),
Self-realization (atmasakshatkaram), l
iberation (moksha) and so on.
This alone can be called the state of unceasing Self-attention.
Some people doubt, “If it is so, will the mind then remain drowned forever in samadhi? Will it not be able to come out again and know all the second and third person objects of this world? Is it not a fact that even Bhagavan Sri Ramana spent nearly fifty-four years in the state of Self realization and that most of that time He was seen to be attending to second and third persons ?”
Yes, it is true that though Sri Bhagavan always remained in the state of Self realization, yet in the outlook of others He was seen to be knowing the world. How can this be accounted for?
To remain with the body and mind completely inert is not the only sign of samadhi.
Though after Self realization some Jnanis spend their entire lifetime completely oblivious of the body and world, not all Jnanis will necessarily remain thus.
The return of body consciousness (and consequently world-consciousness) after the attainment of Self-realization is according to the prarabdha of that body; in the case of some it might never return, while in the case of others it might return within a second or after a few hours or days.
But even in such cases where it does return, it will not be experienced as a knowledge of second or third persons! That is to say, the body and world are not experienced by the Jnani as second and third persons – objects other than Himself-but as His own unlimited and undivided Self.
So long as one is an aspirant one mistakes the limited form of one’s body to be oneself, and consequently the remaining portion of one’s unlimited real Self is experienced by one as the world-a collection of second and third person, objects.
But after attaining Self-realization, since one experiences oneself to be the unlimited Whole, one discovers that all the second and third persons which one was previously feeling to be other than oneself, are truly nothing but one’s own Self.
Therefore, even while a Jnani is (in the view of onlookers) attending to second and third person objects, He is (in His own view) attending only to Self.
Hence, even though He may appear to be engaged in so many activities, both physical and mental, He is in fact ever abiding in the natural state of unceasing Self--attention.
Therefore, unceasing Self-attention is possible only in the state of Self-realization and not in the state of practice (sadhana).
What one has to do during the period of sadhana is to cultivate ever-increasing love to attain Self-knowledge and to make intermittent but repeated attempts to turn one’s attention a full 180 degrees towards Self.
If one once succeeds in doing this, then unceasing Self-attention will be found to be natural and effortless.
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end of path of ramana part 1-2
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