https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymvj01q44o0
00:40
Ultimate aim to be continuously aware of I.
First thought, then feeling...then it vanishes. individuality ceases to exist.
Experience of being where individuality temporarily ceases to operate.
Experience intermittent at first.
But by repeated practise becomes easier and easier to reach and maintain.
When self enquiry reaches this level, there is an effortless awareness of being.in which individual
effort is not possible since i who makes the effort temporarily ceases to exist.
It is not Self Realistion.
..since the I thought periodicaly self asserts itself.
...but is the highest level of practise.
Repeated experiece of this state of being weakens and destroys the vasanas
Power of Self destroys residual tendencies...that the I thought never rises again.
This is the final and irreversible state of self realisation.
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32:00
When one thus practices more and more..the mind becomes exceedingly pure by removal of defects ...and the practise becomes so easy that the purified mind will plunge into the heart as soon as the enquiry is commenced.
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33:00 r
degree of removal of thoughts...= measure of progress towards Self Realisation
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Transcript from first 4 minutes of video
Self enquiry Practise
Beginners in self enquiry were advised by Sri Ramana to put their attention on the inner feeling of I
......and to hold that feeling as long as possible.
They would be told that if their attention was distracted by other thoughts, they should revert to the awareness of the I thought, when ever they became aware that their attention had wandered.
He suggested various aids to assist this process. One could ask ones self:
Who am I?
Or where does this I come from?
But the ultimate aim was to be continuously aware of the I. Which assumes that it is responsible for all the activities of the body and the mind.
In the early stages of practice the attention to the feeling I is a mental activity, which takes the form of a thought or a perception.
As the practice develops the thought I gives way to a subjectively experienced feeling of I.
When this feeling ceases to connect and identify with thoughts and objects it completely vanishes.
What remains is an experience of being in which the sense of individuality has temporarily ceased to operate.
The experience may be intermittent at first but with repeated practice it becomes easier and easier to reach and maintain. When self enquiry reaches this level there is an effortless awareness of Being. In which individual effort is no longer possible since the I who makes the effort has temporarily ceased to exist. It is not self realisation, since the I thought periodically reasserts itself but is the highest level of practice.
Repeated experience of this state of Being weakens and destroys the Vasana, mental tendencies which cause the I thought to rise and when their hold has been sufficiently weakened, the power of the Self destroys the residual tendencies so completely that the I thought never rises again.
This is the final and irreversible state of Self realisation. This practice of self attention or awareness of the I thought is a gentle technique. Which bypasses the usual repressive methods of controlling the mind. It is not an exercise in concentration nor does it aim at suppressing thoughts.
It merely evokes the awareness of the source from which the mind springs.
The method and goal of self enquiry is to abide in the source of the mind and to be aware of what one really is by withdrawing attention and interest from what one is not.
In the early stages, effort in the form of transferring the attention from the thoughts to the thinker is essential,
but once awareness of the 'I' feeling has been firmly established, then further effort is counter productive.
From then on, it is more a process of being than doing.
Of effortless 'being' rather than an effort to Be.
Being what one already is is effortless since being-ness is always present and always experienced.
On the other hand, Pretending to be what one is not, ie. the body and the mind requires continuous mental effort even though the effort is nearly always at a subconscious level.
It is therefore that in the higher stages
22:00
Temporary lulling of thoughts.
water water yogi long samadhi when he woke up
...
Enquire as to who it is that experiences this stillness.
for sadhakas it is difficult to distinguish between manolaya and manonasha
Therefore, one should watch their progress carefully.
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