Key sentences -2

So long as there is individuality, one is the enjoyer and doer.

 But when individuality is given up, the Divine Will prevails and guides the course of events. 

The individual is perceptible to others who cannot perceive divine force.

 Restrictions and discipline are for other individuals. 

Not for the liberated.

........

From part 12 Thayumanavar

The five senses, the five elements, the organs of action, and all the rest,
you are not. You are none of these.
Nor are you any of the qualities that pertain to these.
You are not the body, nor are you knowledge and ignorance.

You are chit, the real, which is like a crystal,

reflecting the qualities of whatever is placed before it,
and yet having no connection with it.

It is my inherent nature to enlighten you
when I find that you are ripe for it.’

‘If you desire to gain the vast, supreme reality
that is the temple of refreshing grace,
inseparable from all that is, becoming pure consciousness
and obtaining the indestructible state whose nature is bliss,

listen as I explain to you the proper means:

May you live long, 

winning in your heart

the reality that is devoid of all qualities!

May you attain the state of bliss-consciousness,
so that all the dense accumulation of ignorance disappears!
May you liberate yourself from bondage!’

Through his grace, he imparted to me the state of mauna,

the true knowledge in which bondage is abolished:

‘For that state, there is no thought, 

no “I” sense,

no space, no time, no directions, no pairs of opposites,

nothing lost, no other, no words,

no phenomena of night and day,
no beginning, no end, no middle, no inner or outer.
Nothing is.’

‘When I say: “It is not, it is not”, this is not a state of nothingness.

It is pure identity.

 It is the nature that eternally endures.

A state that cannot be expressed in words.

It is the swarupa which engulfs everything.

So that neither ‘I’ nor anything else appears.

As the day consumes the night, it consumes ignorance entirely.

Easily overcoming and swallowing up your personal consciousness,

it transforms your very self, here and now, into its own Self.

It is the state that distinguishes itself as 'self–luminous silence.’

‘Other than the nature that is its own Self,

it allows nothing else to arise.

Because there is no other consciousness.

Should anything attempt to arise there it will, like a camphor flame, vanish.

The knower, devoid of both knowledge and objects known, falls away,
without falling, since it still remains.

But who can tell of its greatness, and to whom?

By dint of becoming That, one exists only as That.
That alone will speak for itself.’

If we call it “That”, then the question will arise, “What is That?”

Therefore did Janaka and the other kings
and the rishis, foremost among whom is Suka,

lived happily, like bees intoxicated with honey,
entirely avoiding any mention of “That”.

Remain in this state.

’Thus did he speak.
Grant me the abundance of your grace
so that, in the nirvikalpa state of total tranquillity,
I may know and attain the condition of supreme bliss,

in accordance with your rule.
I shall not sleep or take up any other work until I attain this state. 

(‘Akarabuvanam-Chidambara Rahasya’, vv. 18-23)

.........

He who allows his mind to wander with the senses is an ignoramus, though he is learned. 

See as a witness, without the burden of seeing.

 See the world just as you see a drama.

 See without attachment. Look within. 

Look at the inner light unshaken by mental impressions. 

Then, floods of conscious bliss shall come pouring in and around you from all directions. 

 ........

The state in which you are not,
that is nishtha  

[Self-abidance].   

Unwaveringly established in the Self = Nishtha

.........

https://www.davidgodman.org/allama-prabhu-prabhulinga-leelai/

 [Allama replied:]

‘One who has eradicated as alien [to himself]
the dense, fundamental illusion of egoity
and has, in full clarity, realised the Self –

such a one will be able to know Me also.

What point is there in speaking to one
who remains attached to the perishable body?’

So proclaimed He who knows jnanis

who have realised the truth non-dually.

..........

Answer: Liberation is only delighting in the Self through tranquillity and without anxiety. 

When this is attained, books are of no use.

One may know the jnana sastras, or take up good sanyasa,

or attempt to experience mauna samadhi, 

but the indescribable bliss of liberation is only becoming the Self,

remaining without anxiety and experiencing bliss.

 ....................................................

part 16 Nitya Nivritta

That which is nitya nivritta [always removed, that is, never existing] need not be given any thought to. 

....

To remove the snake from the rope, it is not necessary to kill the snake. In the same way it is not necessary to kill the mind.

  By understanding the complete non-existence of the mind, the mind will go away.

The experience that is without the seer and the seen, 

that is without time and space, 

is the real experience.

.......

In the same way, a jnani knows that the world [being only a dream] is never created.

  Whatever is there is all his own Self, one and undivided.

......

Being 'aware of the Self' is the real meditation.

 When the mind gives up its habit of choosing and deciding,

 it turns towards its own real nature. 

At that time it gets into the established state. 

When the ego gets more powerful, entry into this state does not take place.

...........

You think that the world will be conquered by your power, 

but when you turn inwards towards the Self, 

you will know that a higher power is working everywhere.

.......

 Even if we think that God is formless, that very thought about God itself is a form – a mere mental conception. 

This is why Sri Bhagavan says in the second line of the third verse of Ashtakam,

 ‘If one tries to think of Your nature as formless, 

he is like one who wanders throughout the world to see the sky’.

.............................end...........................

 

Key sentences-1-Talks

Talks-

So long as there is individuality, one is the enjoyer and doer.

 But when individuality is given up, the Divine Will prevails and guides the course of events.

..........

211

D.: No. But still, I want to know how the Self could be realised. Is there any method leading to it? 

M.: Make effort. Just as water is got by boring a well, so also you realise the Self by investigation. 

....

D.: Yes. But some find water readily and others with difficulty. 

M.: But you already see the moisture on the surface. You are hazily aware of the Self. Pursue it. When the effort ceases the Self shines forth. 

 D.: How to train the mind to look within? 

M.: By practice. The mind is the intelligent phase leading to its own destruction, for Self to manifest.

D.: How to destroy the mind? 

M.: Water cannot be made dry water. Seek the Self; the mind will be destroyed.

............

The wrong knowledge consists in the false identification of the Self with the body, the mind, etc. 

This false identity must go and there remains the Self.

........

D.: But there should be the experience. Unless I have the experience how can I be free from these afflicting thoughts? 

M.: These are also in the mind. They are there because you have identified yourself with the body. If this false identity drops away, ignorance vanishes and Truth is revealed.

.......

M.: Abhyasa is only to prevent any disturbance to the inherent peace.

........

https://selfdefinition.org/ramana/Talks-with-Sri-Ramana-Maharshi--complete.pdf

D.: How is realisation made possible? 

M.: There is the absolute Self from which a spark proceeds as from fire. The spark is called the ego. 

In the case of an ignorant man it identifies itself with an object simultaneously with its rise.

 It cannot remain independent of such an association with objects. 

This association is ajnana or ignorance, whose destruction is the objective of our efforts. 

If its objectifying tendency is killed it remains pure, and also merges into the source. 

The wrong identification with the body is dehatmabuddhi (‘I-am-the-body’ idea). 

This must go before good results follow.

.........

Realise this interval with the conviction gained by the study of avasthatraya (the three states of consciousness).

.......

When Aham represents the Self only it is Aham Sphurana.

 This is natural to the Jnani and is itself called jnana by jnanis, 

or bhakti by bhaktas.

...............

If the transitional ‘I’ be realised the substratum is found and that leads to the goal.

........

Therefore the pure ‘I’ of the transitional stage must be held for the experience of the Prajnanaghana.

 The ‘I’ of the waking state is impure and is not useful for such experience. 

.............

Hence the use of the transitional ‘I’ or the pure ‘I’. How is this pure ‘I’ to be realised? 

Viveka Chudamani says, Vijnana kose vilasatyajasram 

(He is always shining forth in the intellectual sheath, vijnana kosa). 

Tripura Rahasya and other works point out that the interval between two consecutive sankalpas (ideas or thoughts) represent the pure aham (‘I’). 

Therefore holding on to the pure ‘I’, one should have the Prajnanaghana for aim, and there is the vritti present in the attempt. 

All these have their proper and respective places and at the same time lead to realisation.

299

........

.............299....

External samadhi is holding on to the Reality while witnessing the world, without reacting to it from within. There is the stillness of a waveless ocean. 

The internal samadhi involves loss of body consciousness.

......

D.: Is loss of body-consciousness a pre-requisite to the attainment of sahaja samadhi? 

M.: What is body-consciousness? 

Analyse it. 

There must be a body and consciousness limited to it which together make up body consciousness. 

These must lie in another Consciousness which is absolute and unaffected. 

Hold it. That is samadhi.

 It exists when there is no body-consciousness 

because it transcends the latter, 

it also exists when there is the body-consciousness. 

So it is always there. 

What does it matter whether body-consciousness is lost or retained? 

When lost it is internal samadhi. When retained, it is external samadhi. That is all. 

A person must remain in any of the six samadhis so that sahaja samadhi may be easy for him.

D.: The mind does not sink into that state even for a second. 

M.: A strong conviction is necessary that I am the Self; 

transcending the mind and the phenomena. 

...

D.: Nevertheless, the mind proves to be a cord against attempts to sink it. 

M.: What does it matter if the mind is active?

 It is so only on the substratum of the Self. 

Hold the Self even during mental activities. 

.........

V imp: Analyze again-

D.: I cannot go within sufficiently deep. 

M.: It is wrong to say so. Where are you now if not in the Self? Where should you go? 

All that is necessary is the stern belief that you are the Self.

 Say rather that the other activities throw a veil on you. 

.........

D.: Yes, it is so. 

M.: That means that the conviction is weak.

.......

Talk 465. 

Sri Bhagavan explained to a retired Judge of the High Court some points in the Upadesa Saram as follows:- 

(1) Meditation should remain unbroken as a current. If unbroken it is called samadhi or Kundalini

sakti. 

(2) The mind may be latent and merge in the Self; it will rise up again; after it rises up one finds oneself only as ever before. 

For in this state the mental predispositions are present there in latent form to re-manifest under favourable conditions. 

(3) Again the mind activities can be completely destroyed. This differs from the former mind, for here the attachment is lost, never to reappear. Even though the man sees the world after he has been in the samadhi state, the world will be taken only at its worth, that is to say it is the phenomenon of the One Reality. 

The True Being can be realised only in samadhi; what was then is also now. 

Otherwise it cannot be Reality or Ever-present Being. 

What was in samadhi is here and now too. Hold it and it is your natural condition of Being. 

Samadhi practice must lead to it. 

Otherwise how can nirvikalpa samadhi be of any use in which a man remains as a log of wood? 

He must necessarily rise up from it sometime or other and face the world.

 But in sahaja samadhi he remains unaffected by the world. 

So many pictures pass over the cinema screen: fire burns away everything; water drenches all; but the screen remains unaffected. 

The scenes are only phenomena which pass away leaving the screen as it was. Similarly the world phenomena simply pass on before the Jnani, leaving him unaffected. You may say that people find pain or

pleasure in worldly phenomena. It is owing to superimposition. This must not happen. With this end in view practice is made. 

Practice lies in one of the two courses: devotion or knowledge. 

Even these are not the goals.

 Samadhi must be gained. 

It must be continuously practised until Sahaja Samadhi results. 

Then there remains nothing more to do.

..............

Mr. Vaidyalingam, an employee of the National Bank: By meditation manifestation disappears and then ananda results. It is short-lived. How is it made ever abiding? 

M.: By scorching the predispositions.

........

487

The Self is eternal and so also its Realisation. In the course of the discourse Sri Bhagavan also made a few points clearer:

  Abhyasa consists in withdrawal within the Self every time you are disturbed by thought.

It is not concentration or destruction of the mind but withdrawal into the Self. 

..........

M.: First surrender and see. 

The doubts arise because of the absence of surrender.

 Acquire strength by surrender and then your surroundings will be found to have improved to the degree of strength acquired by you

.............

From YV:

This alone is saṁsāra—the feeling ‘This is’. Its cessation is liberation or mokṣa. This is the essence of jñāna or wisdom.

The individual personality is vāsanā or mental conditioning which disappears on investigation.

 However, in a state of ignorance when one fails to observe it—this world-appearance arises.

When one is spiritually awakened 

and when one lives with his wakeful state resembling deep sleep

—the state is known as svabhāva or self-nature 

and this state leads one to liberation.

The self which is the Lord immediately confers mokṣa or final liberation when worshipped with inquiry into the nature of the self, 

with self-control and satsaṅga or company of the wise.

On this field known as the mind, the seed known as samādhi, which is turning away from the world—falls of its own accord when one is alone in the forest known as wisdom.

The yogi is then seen to be in a state of continuous and unbroken meditation, firmly established in

adamantine meditation, samādhi or vajra-samādhāna—like a mountain.

If one knows that the self is pure consciousness and not the physical body, then when he dies there is no saṁsāra or world-appearance in his consciousness. 

If one’s understanding is not thus purified by right understanding or wisdom—it does not remain without the support of saṁsāra

May my limbs be pulverized or may they become as powerful as Mount Meru. 

What is lost and what is gained or increased—when it is realized that I am pure consciousness?

.............................................

.....132.......

However well I realize ‘This is not real’, ‘This is not real’ after intense inquiry, the feeling ‘This is’ does not cease.

.........................

To those who know the truth or the supreme state—the states of waking, dream and sleep do not exist at all. Whatever is—is as it is.  

........

Knowledge does not have an object to know. 

Knowledge is independent and eternal; it is beyond description and definition. 

When this truth is directly realized—there is perfect knowledge.

............

By awakening, awakening is attained; and the concept of ‘awakening’ is clearly understood. 

Of course, all this is comprehensible only to people like you, not to us.

By the realization of the truth that all objects and substances exist in the Self or the infinite consciousness, as perverted notions, 

his hold on those substances and vice versa, comes to an end. 

The wheel of saṁsāra stops by and by.

....................

From Annamalai Swami:

If you keep the light on all the time, darkness cannot enter your room. Even if you open the door and invite it to come in, it cannot enter. 

Darkness is just an absence of light. 

In the same way, mind is just a self- inflicted area of darkness in which the light of the Self has been deliberately shut out. 

You live in the darkness by insisting on believing ideas that have no validity, 

and you live in the light of the Self when you have given up all ideas, 

both good and bad.

.......

The mind only gets dissolved in the Self by constant practice.

 At that moment the ‘I am the body’ idea disappears, just as darkness disappears when the sun rises.

.........

Annamalai Swami: If the intensity to know yourself is strong enough, the intensity of your yearning will take you to the Self.

.......

Just as yellow turmeric powder loses its colour and becomes white under sunlight, this wholly mental world perishes before the sunlight of the knowledge of reality.

 Therefore, it is not a creation of God, the sun of true jnana. Like the many-hued eye

of the peacock feather, this bright world is only a vast picture, a reflection seen in the darkened mirror of the impure mind.

Bhagavan: If the obstacle of the ego-impurity is destroyed, the creation [srishti] that appeared as the world will become a mere appearance [drishti]. (Padamalai, p. 272, v. 16.)

Pramada

See verse 368 where a similar idea is expressed.

 Pramada is another key word in the text. 

It denotes the forgetfulness of the Self that arises when one puts one’s attention on anything that is not the Self. 

When attention is wholly on the Self, ‘this world, a vast and harmful illusion’ ceases to exist. 

The world only comes into an apparent existence when Self-awareness is absent.

Bhagavan: Through forgetfulness the villainous mind will throw away the Self, that which is, and will get agitated.

In the state in which one has known the truth without any pramada, all names and forms are Brahman.

The reason why the state of Brahman has become different from you is nothing other than your deceitful forgetfulness of the Self.

(Padamalai, p. 72, vv. 86, 87, 88)

41

This worldly life is a dreamlike appearance, sapless and deluding, that functions through the mixture of the pairs of opposites such as desire and aversion. 

It appears as if real only as long as one is under the spell of the maya-sleep.

  It will end up being totally false when one truly wakes up into the maya-free Self.

42

...........

The world scene that unfolds like a dream is nothing other than the mind, a deluded perspective. 

Its true nature will appear as it really is only to the true awareness, the distilled being-consciousness that shines, transcending the mind-maya.

..............................................end.............................

Sep 2022 -2..3 things. Be aware of the consciousness that is the origin of all your thoughts.

 from part 2 'Living by the words of Bhagvan'

69

AS: 

When I say, ‘Meditate on the Self’ I am asking you 'To be the Self'.

 Not think about it. 

Be aware of what remains when thoughts stop.

Be aware of the consciousness that is the origin of all your thoughts. 

Be that consciousness. 

Feel that that is what you really are. 

If you do this you are meditating on the Self. 

.........

But if you cannot stabilise in that consciousness because your vasanas are too strong and too active, it is beneficial to hold onto the thought ‘I am the Self; I am everything’. 

If you meditate in this way you will not be cooperating with the vasanas that are blocking your Self-awareness. 

If you don’t cooperate with your vasanas, sooner or later they are bound to leave you.

.........

If this method doesn’t appeal to you, then just watch the mind with full attention. Whenever the mind wanders, become aware of it.

See how thoughts connect with each other and watch how this ghost called mind catches hold of all your thoughts and says This is my thought’. 

Watch the ways of the mind without identifying with them in any way. If you give your mind your full, detached attention, you begin to understand the futility of all mental activities. 

Watch the mind wandering here and there, seeking out useless or unnecessary things or ideas which will ultimately only create misery for itself. 

Watching the mind gives us a knowledge of its inner processes. 

It gives us an incentive to stay detached from all our thoughts. 

Ultimately, if we try hard enough, it gives us the ability to remain as consciousness, unaffected by transient thoughts.

.......

Saint Manikkavachagar once said: ‘Lord Siva gave me the boon of not being able to give reality to this maya life.’

.....

Tayumanuvar once asked Siva to give him a boon:

You who carry all the troubles of the world, please take all my troubles too. 

Take the sense that I am the doer away from me. 

You alone act. 

You do everything through me. 

Surrender completely and accept that everything that happens to you and the world is God’s will.

...

Q: How to distinguish between acts which occur as God's will and acts which are brought about by the ego?

AS: This is very simple. When surrender is complete, everything is God. 

Everything that happens is then His action. In that state there is peace, harmony and an absence of

thoughts. 

Until that stage is reached, all acts are by the ego.

Liberation comes when you fully understand and experience that there is no one who needs liberation.

 That understanding and that experience only arise when the mind and its in-built ideas of time have ceased to function.

If you think about time and start to worry about how much longer it will be before you realise the Self, your attention will be on the mind and not on the Self. 

You can only make progress while the mind is on the Self.

76/144 part 2 ends..........

part 1

If you see the sastras , sastra jnana [knowledge of the scriptures] will come. 

(However),

If you see the Self, Self-knowledge will shine.

....

16/144

While he was looking at a small child in the hall he suddenly remarked, ‘One can attain the bliss of Brahman only when the mind becomes pure and humble, like this child’s’.

........

The one who does not think that he is the one who is doing all his actions is superior to the one who thinks that he has renounced everything.

......

To remain temporarily subsided in the reality, without any thought, is nirvikalpa samadhi. 

Permanently abiding in the Self without forgetting it is sahaja samadhi.

....

Bhagavan summarised these views a little later by saying,

 ‘Every jiva [individual self] is seeing a separate world but

a jnani does not see anything other than himself. 

This is the state of truth.’

..

Then Bhagavan quoted verse thirty-one of Ulladu Narpadu which describes the real state of liberation:

To one who has destroyed himself [his ego] and is awake to his nature as bliss, what remains to be accomplished? 

He does not see anything, as being other than himself. 

Who can comprehend his state?

36

Frydman: What is manonasa ?

Bhagavan: Remaining permanently as one is 

without the rising of any doubt or thought

 such as, ‘Nothing is known,’ or ‘Something is known’, alone is manonasa .

Sam: Remaining As Is = Mano-nasha.

Sam: Mano Nasha = staying as 'Sva-Bhava'.

....................

imp

39

Why do you think, ‘Why didn’t I meditate?’ or ‘Why didn’t I work?’ 

If the thoughts ‘I did’ and ‘I didn’t’ are given up, 

then all actions will end up as meditation. 

.....

In that state meditation cannot be given up. 

This is the state of sahaja samadhi

.............

AS: This ‘little self’ will only give way to the real Self if you meditate constantly. 

You cannot wish it away with a few stray thoughts.

......

Your vasanas [mental habits and tendencies] and all the wrong ideas you have about yourself are blocking and hiding the experience of the real Self. 

If you don’t identify with the wrong ideas, your Self-nature will not be hidden from you.

..........

If you can resist the impulse to claim each and every thought as your own, you will come to a startling conclusion: 

you will discover that you are the consciousness in which the thoughts appear and disappear.

........

Establish yourself in the conviction that you are the Self and that nothing can stick to you or affect you.

 Once you have that conviction you will find that you automatically ignore the habits of the mind. 

When the rejection of mental activities becomes continuous and automatic, you will begin to have the

experience of the Self.

......

Rest quietly in the feeling of ‘I am’, which is consciousness, and cultivate the attitude that all thoughts, all perceptions are ‘not me’. 

When you have learned to regard your mind as a distant stranger, you will not pay any attention to all the obstacles it keeps inventing for you.

............................end..................

Sep 2022 notes-1-AS

 Bhagavan once said, ‘The jnanis are the only pure people. 

Others are polluted by their egos. Getting the association of jnanis is very important for people who want to make spiritual progress.’

AS: Bhagavan told me me, ‘Hold onto the Self. If you can do that you need no other practice. This is the ultimate and final sadhana .’

The path of jnana is for those who only have a little karma left. 

Those who still have many karmas to undergo cannot follow the path of jnana successfully because they don’t have the capacity to be still and quiet. 

Only those who have learnt how to be still can abide in the Self.

......

AS: If you enquire into the origin of a thought as soon as it appears, your attention is diverted towards the Self. 

The Self is always alert. That is its nature.

.......

AS: If you can focus your mind on this ‘I am’ you need not do anything else. 

You do not have to cultivate a particular attitude towards it. 

If you keep your attention on it, it will eventually reveal all its secrets to you.

.....

As we start to move inwards we experience the peace and bliss of the Self in a very diluted form. The deeper we go, the stronger the experience becomes. 

Eventually a time will come when we don’t want to leave this experience at all. 

Instead, there is a continuous urge to go deeper and deeper into the Self. 

When you lose all desires and attachments, the pure gold of the Self will reveal itself to you.

...........part 4 ends 

part 3

AS: To experience the Self you have to dive deep into the consciousness ‘I am’.

.......

When you cease to imagine that you are a body and a mind, reality shines of its own accord.

 If you stabilise in this state you can see that the mind didn’t go anywhere; you understand that it never really existed. 

‘Keeping the mind in its source’ is just another way of saying /understanding that it never existed’.

........

AS: We have identified with our false ideas for many previous lifetimes. The habit is very strong.

 But not so strong that it cannot be dissolved through constant meditation.

......

AS: Yes, forget them all. ‘I am the Self, I am all’. Hold onto this awareness. All other paths are roundabout.

....

Bhagavan said, ‘Keeping the mind in the Heart is self-enquiry’. 

AS: The meditation ‘I am not the body or the mind, I am the immanent Self is a great aid for as long as one is not able to do self-enquiry properly or constantly.

......

If you cannot do this by asking ‘Who am I?’ or by taking the T- thought back to its source, then meditation on the awareness ‘I am the all-pervasive Self is a great aid.

.........

Go deeply into this feeling of T. 

Be aware of it so strongly and so intensely that no other thoughts have the energy to arise and distract you. 

If you hold this feeling of T long enough and strongly enough, the false T will vanish leaving only the unbroken awareness of the real, immanent T, consciousness itself.

..................part 3 ends

part 2

The Self is the awareness or the consciousness in which the seeing and the experiencing take place.

...

Don’t worry about whether you are making progress or not. 

Just keep your attention on the Self twenty-four hours a day. 

Meditation is not something that should be done in a particular position at a particular time. 

It is an awareness and an attitude that must persist throughout the day. 

To be effective, meditation must be continuous.

........

You will not be able to reach the Self and stay there without a prolonged, continuous effort. 

Each time you give up trying, or get distracted, some of your previous effort goes to waste.

..........

Continuous inhalation and exhalation are necessary for the continuance of life. 

Similarly,

Continuous meditation is necessary for all those who want to stay in the Self.

.........

 Get rid of all these ideas and replace them with the single thought 'I' am the Self. 

Hold on to that idea and don’t let go. 

.....

Don’t give these I-am-the-body ideas any attention.

‘I must eat now’; ‘I will go to sleep now’; ‘I will have a bath now’: all thoughts like these are I-am-the-body thoughts. Learn to recognise them when they arise and learn to ignore them or deny them. 

Stay firmly in the Self  and don’t allow the mind to identify with anything that the body does.

....

Mind is only a collection of thoughts and the thinker who thinks them. 

The thinker is the 'I'-thought, the primal thought which rises from the Self before all others, which identifies with all other thoughts and says, ‘I am this body’. 

When you have eradicated all thoughts except for the thinker himself by ceaseless enquiry or by refusing to give them any attention, 

the 'I'-thought sinks into the Heart and surrenders, 

leaving behind it, 

only an awareness of consciousness. 

This surrender will only take place when the 'I'-thought has ceased to identify with rising thoughts.

While there are still stray thoughts which attract or evade your attention, the T-thought will always be directing its attention outwards rather than inwards. 

The purpose of self-enquiry is to make the 'I'-thought move inwards, towards the Self.

This will happen automatically as soon as you cease to be interested in any of your rising thoughts.

61

AS: The best mantra is 'I' am the Self. Everything is my Self. Everything is one’.

If you keep this in your mind all the time the Self will eventually reveal itself to you.

Don’t be satisfied with rituals and other kindergarten techniques. 

If you are serious, head directly for the Self. 

Hold onto it as tenaciously as you can. 

And don’t let anything or anyone loosen your grip.

.......

AS: If there are breaks in his Self-awareness this means that he is not yet a dnyani

Before one becomes established in this state without any breaks, without changes, one has to contact and enjoy this state many times. 

.....

By steady meditation it finally becomes permanent.

It is very difficult to attain Self-abidance, but once it is attained it is retained effortlessly and never lost.

...\

*******************************

Doing any form of sadhana without first understanding that the individual self is non-existent is self-indulgence. 

Sam: above is a golden sentence

...........*****************************************************

It is a form of spiritual entertainment in which the illusory 'I' plays games with itself.

........

Saint Tayumanuvar once said, ‘Why all these maha yogas? All these yogas are maya

If you try to meditate without understanding that your real nature is Self, and Self alone, 

your meditation practice will only lead you to more mental bondage.

.........................

Bhagavan once said, ‘To keep the mind in the Self, all you have to do is to 'Remain Still’.

.................

To realise the Self, you don’t actually have to do anything except be still. 

Just give up identifying with the mind and

 Hold onto the Self. 

That is enough. Be still and cultivate the awareness ‘I am the Self. The Self is all’.

Bhagvan:

‘The one who limits the Self by believing himself to be the body and the mind has killed his own Self.

 For killing the Self he has to be punished. 

The punishment is birth and death and continuous misery.’

................................

.....................................cont part 2 ..........................................................

Summary Talks -2

  https://selfdefinition.org/ramana/Talks-with-Sri-Ramana-Maharshi--complete.pdf

D.: How is realisation made possible? 

M.: There is the absolute Self from which a spark proceeds as from fire. The spark is called the ego. 

In the case of an ignorant man it identifies itself with an object simultaneously with its rise.

 It cannot remain independent of such an association with objects. 

This association is ajnana or ignorance, whose destruction is the objective of our efforts. 

If its objectifying tendency is killed it remains pure, and also merges into the source. 

The wrong identification with the body is dehatmabuddhi (‘I-am-the-body’ idea). 

This must go before good results follow.

................

M.: We exist in sushupti without being associated with the body and mind. 

But in the other two states we are associated with them. If one with the body, how can we exist without the body in sushupti? We can separate ourselves from that which is external to us and not from that which is one with us. Hence the ego is not one with the body. 

This must be realised in the waking state. 

Avasthatraya (the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep) should be studied only for gaining this outlook. 

The ego in its purity is experienced in intervals between two states or two thoughts. 

Ego is like that caterpillar which leaves its hold only after catching another.

 Its true nature can be found when it is out of contact with objects or thoughts. 

Realise this interval with the conviction gained by the study of avasthatraya (the three states of consciousness).

........

Talk 307. 

Mr. Shamanna from Mysore asked Sri Bhagavan: Kindly explain Aham Sphurana (the light of ‘I-I’). 

M.: ‘I’ is not known in sleep. On waking ‘I’ is perceived associated with the body, the world and non-self in general. Such associated ‘I’ is Aham vritti. 

When Aham represents the Self only it is Aham Sphurana.

 This is natural to the Jnani and is itself called jnana by jnanis, or bhakti by bhaktas. 

Though ever present, including in sleep, it is not perceived. It cannot be known in sleep all at once. It must first be realised in the waking state, for it is our true nature underlying all the three states. 

Efforts must be made only in the jagrat state and the Self realised here and now. 

It will afterwards be understood and realised to be continuous Self, uninterrupted by jagrat, svapna and sushupti. 

Thus it is akhandakara vritti (unbroken experience).

Vritti is used for lack of a better expression. It should not be understood to be literally a vritti. In that case, vritti will resemble an ‘ocean-like river’, which is absurd. Vritti is of short duration, it is qualified, directed consciousness; or absolute consciousness broken up by cognition of thoughts, senses, etc. Vritti is the function of the mind, whereas the continuous consciousness transcends the mind. This is the natural, primal state of the Jnani or the liberated being. That is unbroken experience. It asserts itself when relative consciousness subsides. 

Aham vritti (‘I-thought’) is broken.

 Aham sphurana (the light of ‘I-I’) is unbroken, continuous.

 After the thoughts subside, the light shines forth.

................

Talk 314. 

In yesterday’s answers, Sri Bhagavan said that the Self is pure consciousness in deep slumber, and He also indicated the Self of the transition from sleep to the waking state as the ideal for realisation. 

He was requested to explain the same. 

Sri Bhagavan graciously answered: 

The Self is pure consciousness in sleep; it evolves as aham (‘I’) without the idam (‘this’) in the transition stage; and manifests as aham (‘I’) and idam (‘this’) in the waking state. 

The individual’s experience is by means of aham (‘I’) only. 

So he must aim at realisation in the way indicated (i.e., by means of the transitional ‘I’). 

Otherwise the sleep-experience does not matter to him. 

If the transitional ‘I’ be realised the substratum is found and that leads to the goal.

........

Again, sleep is said to be ajnana (ignorance). That is only in relation to the wrong jnana (knowledge) prevalent in the wakeful state. The waking state is really ajnana (ignorance) and the sleep state is prajnana (full knowledge). Prajnana is Brahman, says the sruti. Brahman is eternal. The sleep-experiencer is called prajna. He is prajnanam in all the three states. Its particular significance in the sleep state is that He is full of knowledge (prajnanaghana). 

What is ghana? There are jnana and vijnana. 

Both together operate in all perceptions. Vijnana in the jagrat is viparita jnana (wrong knowledge) i.e. ajnana (ignorance). It always co-exists with the individual. When this becomes vispashta jnana (clear knowledge), It is Brahman. When wrong knowledge is totally absent, as in sleep, He remains pure prajnana only. That is Prajnanaghana.

Aitareya Upanishad says prajnana, vijnana, ajnana, samjnana are all names of Brahman. 

Being made up of knowledge alone how is He to be experienced? Experience is always with vijnana.

 Therefore the pure ‘I’ of the transitional stage must be held for the experience of the Prajnanaghana.

 The ‘I’ of the waking state is impure and is not useful for such experience. 

Hence the use of the transitional ‘I’ or the pure ‘I’. How is this pure ‘I’ to be realised? 

Viveka Chudamani says, Vijnana kose vilasatyajasram 

(He is always shining forth in the intellectual sheath, vijnana kosa). 

Tripura Rahasya and other works point out that the interval between two consecutive sankalpas (ideas or thoughts) represent the pure aham (‘I’). 

Therefore holding on to the pure ‘I’, one should have the Prajnanaghana for aim, and there is the vritti present in the attempt. 

All these have their proper and respective places and at the same time lead to realisation.

Again the pure Self has been described in Viveka Chudamani to be beyond asat, i.e. different from asat. Here asat is the contaminated waking ‘I’.

 Asadvilakshana means sat, i.e. the Self of sleep. He is also described as different from sat and asat. Both mean the same. He is also asesha sakshi (all-seeing witness).

If pure, how is He to be experienced by means of the impure ‘I’? 

A man says “I slept happily”. Happiness was his experience. If not, how could he speak of what he had not experienced? How did he experience happiness in sleep, if the Self was pure? Who is it that speaks of that experience now? The speaker is the vijnanatma (ignorant self) and he speaks of prajnanatma (pure self). How can that hold? Was this vijnanatma present in sleep? His present statement of the experience of happiness in sleep makes one infer his existence in sleep. How then did he remain? Surely not as in the waking state. He was there very subtle. Exceedingly subtle vijnanatma experiences the happy prajnanatma by means of maya mode. It is like the rays of the moon seen below the branches, twigs and leaves of a tree. The subtle vijnanatma seems apparently a stranger to the obvious vijnanatma of the present moment. Why should we infer his existence in sleep? Should we not deny the experience of happiness and be done with this inference? No. The fact of the experience of happiness cannot be denied, for everyone courts sleep and prepares a nice bed for the enjoyment of sound sleep. This brings us to the conclusion that the cogniser, cognition and the cognised are present in all the three states, though there are differences in their subtleties. In the transitional state, the aham (‘I’) is suddha (pure), because idam (‘this’) is suppressed. Aham (‘I’) predominates. 

‘Why is not that pure ‘I’ realised now or even remembered by us? 

Because of want of acquaintance (parichaya) with it. I

t can be recognised only if it is consciously attained. Therefore make the effort and gain consciously.

..............299....

External samadhi is holding on to the Reality while witnessing the world, without reacting to it from within. There is the stillness of a waveless ocean. The internal samadhi involves loss of body consciousness.

........

D.: Is loss of body-consciousness a perquisite to the attainment of sahaja samadhi? 

M.: What is body-consciousness? 

Analyse it. 

There must be a body and consciousness limited to it which together make up body consciousness. These must lie in another Consciousness which is absolute and unaffected. 

Hold it. That is samadhi.

 It exists when there is no body-consciousness because it transcends the latter, it also exists when there is the body-consciousness. So it is always there. 

What does it matter whether body-consciousness is lost or retained? When lost it is internal samadhi: when retained, it is external samadhi. That is all. 

A person must remain in any of the six samadhis so that sahaja samadhi may be easy for him.

D.: The mind does not sink into that state even for a second. 

M.: A strong conviction is necessary that I am the Self; 

transcending the mind and the phenomena. 

.

D.: Nevertheless, the mind proves to be a cord against attempts to sink it. 

M.: What does it matter if the mind is active?

 It is so only on the substratum of the Self. 

Hold the Self even during mental activities. 

.......

D.: I cannot go within sufficiently deep. 

M.: It is wrong to say so. Where are you now if not in the Self? Where should you go? 

All that is necessary is the stern belief that you are the Self.

 Say rather that the other activities throw a veil on you. 

.........

D.: Yes, it is so. 

M.: That means that the conviction is weak.

Talk 465. 

Sri Bhagavan explained to a retired Judge of the High Court some points in the Upadesa Saram as follows:- 

(1) Meditation should remain unbroken as a current. If unbroken it is called samadhi or Kundalini

sakti. 

(2) The mind may be latent and merge in the Self; it must necessarily rise up again; after it rises up one finds oneself only as ever before. For in this state the mental predispositions are present there in latent form to re manifest under favourable conditions. 

(3) Again the mind activities can be completely destroyed. This differs from the former mind, for here the attachment is lost, never to reappear. Even though the man sees the world after he has been in the samadhi state, the world will be taken only at its worth, that is to say it is the phenomenon of the One Reality. 

The True Being can be realised only in samadhi; what was then is also now. 

Otherwise it cannot be Reality or Ever-present Being. 

What was in samadhi is here and now too. Hold it and it is your natural condition of Being. 

Samadhi practice must lead to it. 

Otherwise how can nirvikalpa samadhi be of any use in which a man remains as a log of wood? 

He must necessarily rise up from it sometime or other and face the world.

 But in sahaja samadhi he remains unaffected by the world. 

So many pictures pass over the cinema screen: fire burns away everything; water drenches all; but the screen remains unaffected. 

The scenes are only phenomena which pass away leaving the screen as it was. Similarly the world phenomena simply pass on before the Jnani, leaving him unaffected. You may say that people find pain or pleasure in worldly phenomena. It is owing to superimposition. This must not happen. With this end in view practice is made. 

Practice lies in one of the two courses: devotion or knowledge. 

Even these are not the goals.

 Samadhi must be gained. 

It must be continuously practised until Sahaja Samadhi results. 

Then there remains nothing more to do.

..........

Mr. Vaidyalingam, an employee of the National Bank: By meditation manifestation disappears and then ananda results. It is short-lived. How is it made ever abiding? 

M.: By scorching the predispositions.

...................

from march talks 20

487

The result will be the conclusion that the objective world is in the subjective consciousness. The Self is thus the only Reality which permeates and also envelops the world. 

Since there is no duality, no thoughts will arise to disturb your peace. This is Realisation of the Self. 

The Self is eternal and so also its Realisation. In the course of the discourse Sri Bhagavan also made a few points clearer:

  Abhyasa consists in withdrawal within the Self every time you are disturbed by thought.

It is not concentration or destruction of the mind but withdrawal into the Self. 

.......

525

D.: What is the ‘final emancipation’ according to the foregoing explanation? 

M.: The ativahika or the sukshma sarira corresponds to the pure light which one experiences just after sleep and before the rise of the ego. It is Cosmic Consciousness. 

..........

M.: First surrender and see. 

The doubts arise because of the absence of surrender.

 Acquire strength by surrender and then your surroundings will be found to have improved to the degree of strength acquired by you

..

D.: What is svarupa (form) and arupa (formless) of the mind? 

M.: When you wake up from sleep a light appears, 

that is the light of the Self passing through Mahat tattva. 

It is called cosmic consciousness. That is arupa. 

The light falls on the ego and is reflected therefrom. Then the body and the world are seen. 

This mind is svarupa. The objects appear in the light of this reflected consciousness. This light is called jyoti.

........................end,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

........................end..........................................

Summary: Talks-1

 58

D.: I meditate neti-neti (not this - not this). 

M.: No - that is not meditation. Find the source. 

You must reach the source without fail. 

The false ‘I’ will disappear and the real ‘I’ will be realised. 

The former cannot exist apart from the latter.

......

D.: We surrender; but still there is no help. 

M.: Yes. If you have surrendered, you must be able to abide by the will of God and not make a grievance of what may not please you. 

Things may turn out differently from what they look apparently. 

Distress often leads men to faith in God.

.....

Talk 47. A Malayalee visitor expressed his concern for the misery of the world and his opinion that ‘Quest for Self’ looked selfish in the midst of such suffering environments. His solution appeared to be selfless work. 

M.: The sea is not aware of its wave. Similarly the Self is not aware of its ego. 

Note: This makes clear what Sri Bhagavan means by quest for the source of ego.

...........

D.: How to know the ‘I’? 

The ‘I’ is always there. There is obstruction to its knowledge and it is called ignorance. Remove the ignorance and knowledge shines forth. In fact this ignorance or even knowledge is not for Atman.

  They are only overgrowths to be cleared off. That is why Atman is said to be beyond knowledge and ignorance. It remains as it naturally is - that is all.

.....

when the vasanas are removed, jnana becomes unshaken and bears fruit.

......

 When the senses are merged in darkness it is deep sleep; when merged in light it is samadhi. 

......

In samadhi the head does not bend down because the senses are there though inactive; 

whereas the head bends down in sleep because the senses are merged in darkness.

.........

M.: The seekers fall into two classes; kritopasaka and akritopasaka. 

The former having already overcome his predisposition by steady devotion, his mind thus made pure, has had some kind of experience but does not comprehend it; as soon as he is instructed by a competent master, permanent experience results. 

.........

M.: Surrender is Bhakti Yoga. 

To reach the source of the ‘I-thought’ is the destruction of the ego, is the attainment of the goal, is prapatti (surrender), jnana, etc.

.....

Talk 141. .........every sentence imp:

The same gentleman later, after quoting a verse from Kaivalya, asked: “Can jnana be lost after being once attained?” 

M.: Jnana, once revealed, takes time to steady itself. 

The Self is certainly within the direct experience of everyone, but not as one imagines it to be. 

It is only as it is. 

This Experience is samadhi. 

Just as fire remains without scorching against incantations or other devices but scorches otherwise, so also the Self remains veiled by vasanas and reveals itself when there are no vasanas. 

Owing to the fluctuation of the vasanas, jnana takes time to steady itself.

 Unsteady jnana is not enough to check rebirths.

 Jnana cannot remain unshaken side by side with vasanas. 

True, that in the proximity of a great master, the vasanas will cease to be active, the mind becomes still and samadhi results, 

 similar to fire not scorching because of other devices.

 Thus the disciple gains true knowledge and right experience in the presence of the master. 

To remain unshaken in it, further efforts are necessary. 

He will know it to be his real Being and thus be liberated even while alive. 

Samadhi with closed eyes is certainly good, but one must go further until it is realised that actionlessness and action are not hostile to each other. 

Fear of loss of samadhi while one is active is the sign of ignorance. 

Samadhi must be the natural life of everyone. 

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.

Having once experienced the Bliss of Peace no one would like to be out of it or engaged himself otherwise.

 It is as difficult for a Jnani to engage in thoughts as it is for an ajnani to be free from thought. 

The common man says that he does not know himself. He thinks many thoughts and cannot remain without thinking. 

Any kind of activity does not affect a Jnani. 

His mind remains ever in eternal Peace.

.............

M.: Those who have discovered great Truths have done so in the still depths of the Self.

........

M.: Long for it intensely so that the mind melts in devotion. 

After the camphor burns away no residue is left. 

The mind is the camphor. When it has resolved itself into the Self without leaving even the slightest trace behind, it is Realisation of the Self.

.......

Knowledge can remain unshaken only after all the vasanas are rooted out.

........

D.: What is the difference between meditation and enquiry into the Self? 

M.: Meditation is possible only if the ego be kept up. There is the ego and the object meditated upon. The method is indirect. 

Whereas the Self is only one. Seeking the ego, i.e. its source, ego disappears. What is left over is the Self. This method is the direct one.

.......

D.: Even so, I do not understand. ‘I’, you say, is the wrong ‘I’ now. How to eliminate this wrong ‘I’? 

M.: You need not eliminate the wrong ‘I’. How can ‘I’ eliminate itself? 

All that you need to do is to find out its origin and abide there.

......

  Learn what surrender is.

It is to merge in the source of the ego

........

The fact is: There is Reality. It is not affected by any discussions. Let us abide as Reality and not engage in futile discussions as to its nature, etc.

185

........

Sam: I am bramha ...a mentation..a vritti...no use

M.: “I am Brahman” is only a thought. Who says it? Brahman itself does not say so. What need is there for it to say it? Nor can the real ‘I’ say so. For ‘I’ always abides as Brahman. To be saying it is only a thought. Whose thought is it? All thoughts are from the unreal ‘I’. i.e. the ‘I’- thought. Remain without thinking. So long as there is thought there will be fear.

.....

D.: On what should we meditate? 

M.: Who is the meditator? Ask the question first. Remain as the meditator. There is no need to meditate.

........

Talk 208. 

It is enough that one surrenders oneself. 

Surrender is to give oneself up to the original cause of one’s being. 

Do not delude yourself by imagining such a source to be some God outside you. 

One’s source is within yourself. Give yourself up to it. 

That means that you should seek the source and merge in it.

Because you imagine yourself to be out of it, you raise the question 

“Where is the source?” 

Some contend that the sugar cannot taste its own sweetness and that a taster must taste and enjoy it. Similarly, an individual cannot be the Supreme and enjoy the 

Bliss of that state; therefore the individuality must be maintained on the one hand and God-head on the other so that enjoyment may result!

Is God insentient like sugar? How can one surrender oneself and yet retain one’s individuality for supreme enjoyment? Furthermore they say also that the soul, reaching the divine region and remaining there, serves the Supreme Being.

Can the sound of the word “service” deceive the Lord? Does He not know? Is He waiting for these people’s service? Would not He - the Pure Consciousness - ask in turn: “Who are you apart from Me that presume to serve Me?”

Still more, they assume that the individual soul becomes pure by being divested of the ego and fit for being the body of the Lord. Thus the Lord is the Spirit and the purified souls constitute His body and limbs! Can there be a soul for the souls? How many souls are there? 

..............you may read further from march part 9 ..talks..,,

...........

So long as there is individuality, one is the enjoyer and doer.

 But when individuality is given up, the Divine Will prevails and guides the course of events. 

....

D.: How is annihilation of predispositions to be accomplished? 

M.: You are in that condition in realisation. 

D.: Does it mean that, holding on to the Self, the tendencies should be scorched as they begin to emerge? 

M.: They will themselves be scorched if only you remain as you truly are.

........

211

D.: No. But still, I want to know how the Self could be realised. Is there any method leading to it? 

M.: Make effort. Just as water is got by boring a well, so also you realise the Self by investigation. 

.........

D.: Yes. But some find water readily and others with difficulty. 

M.: But you already see the moisture on the surface. You are hazily aware of the Self. Pursue it. When the effort ceases the Self shines forth. 

D.: How to train the mind to look within? 

M.: By practice. The mind is the intelligent phase leading to its own destruction, for Self to manifest.

D.: How to destroy the mind? 

M.: Water cannot be made dry water. Seek the Self; the mind will be destroyed.

............

The wrong knowledge consists in the false identification of the Self with the body, the mind, etc. 

This false identity must go and there remains the Self.

........

D.: How is that to happen? 

M.: By enquiry into the Self.

 D.: It is difficult. Can I realise the Self, Maharaj? Kindly tell me. It looks so difficult. 

M.: You are already the Self. 

Therefore realisation is common to everyone. Realisation knows no difference in the aspirants. This very doubt, “

Can I realise?” or the feeling, “I have not realised” are the obstacles. Be free from these also.

..

D.: But there should be the experience. Unless I have the experience how can I be free from these afflicting thoughts? 

M.: These are also in the mind. 

They are there because you have identified yourself with the body. 

If this false identity drops away, ignorance vanishes and Truth is revealed.

........

Renunciation is non-identification of the Self with the non-self.

......

M.: Yes. When you see God in all, do you think of God or do you not?

 You should certainly keep God in your mind for seeing God all round you.

 Keeping God in your mind becomes dhyana. Dhyana is the stage before realisation.

Realisation is in the Self only. Dhyana must precede it. 

Whether you make dhyana of God or of Self, it is immaterial. The goal is the same. 

But you cannot escape the Self. 

You want to see God in all, but not in yourself? If all are God, are you not included in that all? Yourself being God, is it a wonder that all are God? There must be a seer and thinker for even the practice. Who is he?

.....

M.: Kevala nirvikalpa happens even in the tanumanasi stage (of attenuated mind). 

....

D.: The middling and superior jnanis are said to be jivanmuktas. Kevala nirvikalpa is in tanumanasa. Where does one whose jnana is weak fit in? 

M.: He comes in sattvapatti (realisation) - 

whereas the middling and the superior ones come in asamsakti and padarthabhavini respectively.

...

D.: Is tanumanasi the same as mumukshutva? 

M.: No. The six qualities, discrimination, dispassion and mumukshutva, etc., precede subhechcha. The first stage follows mumukshutva, then comes vicharana (search), then the tenuous mind. Direct perception is in sattvapatti (realisation).

......

M.: The whole cosmos is contained in one pinhole in the Heart. These passions are part of the cosmos. They are avidya (ignorance).

.......

M.: Abhyasa is only to prevent any disturbance to the inherent peace.

........

D.: But saktipata is said to occur in karmasamya, i.e., when merit and demerit are equal. 

M.: Yes. Malaparipaka, karmasamya and saktipata mean the same, A man is running the course of his samskaras; when taught he is the Self, the teaching affects his mind and imagination runs riot. He feels helpless before the onrushing power. His experiences are only according to his imagination of the state “I

am the Self”, whatever he may conceive it to be. 

Saktipata alone confers the true and right experience. 

When the man is ripe for receiving the instruction and his mind is about to sink into the Heart, the instruction imparted works in a flash and he realises the Self all right.

Otherwise, there is always the struggle. 

Mano-nasa, jnana, and chittaikagrata (annihilation of the mind, knowledge and one-pointedness) means the same.

......................end......................................................

dd imp summary

There is no other way to succeed than to draw the mind back every time it turns outwards and fix it in the Self. 

There is no need for meditation or mantra or japa or dhyana or anything of the sort, because these are not(?) our real nature. 

Meditation is not so much thinking of the Self as giving up thinking of the not-Self. 

When you give up thinking of outward objects and prevent your mind from going outwards and turn it inward and fix it in the Self, the Self alone will remain.

All that is needed is to give up thinking of objects other than the Self. 

,,,,,,,,,,,,

Bhagavan: Find out whence the ‘I’ arises. 

Self-enquiry does not mean argument or reasoning such as goes on when you say, “I am not this body, I am not the senses,” etc.: all that may also help but it is not the enquiry. 

Watch and find out where in the body the ‘I’ arises and fix your mind on that.

.........

What is gayatri? It really means: “Let me concentrate on that which illumines all

But meditation is our real nature. 

If we give up other thoughts what remains is ‘I’ and its nature is dhyana or meditation or jnana, whichever we choose to call it. 

.........

What is at one time the means later becomes the end. 

Unless meditation or dhyana were the nature of the Self it could not take you to the Self. 

If the means were not of the nature of the goal, it could not bring you to the goal.

,.,,

“Initially,  one sees the Self as objects. 

Then, one sees the Self as void. 

Then, one sees the Self as Self. 

Only in this last, there is no seeing because seeing is being.”

..........

“That which rises as ‘I’ within us is the Self, is it not?”

 Bhagavan: No. It is the ego that rises as ‘I’. That from which it arises is the Self.

.....

All that you have to do is to give up being aware of other things, that is of the not-Self.

 If one gives up being aware of them then pure awareness alone remains, and that is the Self.”

.......

298

“Concentrating one’s thoughts solely on the Self will lead to happiness or bliss. 

Drawing in the thoughts, restraining them and preventing them from going outwards is called vairagya.

 Fixing them in the Self is sadhana or abhyasa. 

Concentrating on the Heart is the same as concentrating on the Self.

 The Heart is another name for the Self.”

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“You concede ‘I’ is not the body but something within it. See then from whence the ‘I’ arises within the body. See whether it arises and disappears, or is always present. 

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Then ask yourself if you are not the same ‘I’ during sleep and during the other states. Are there two ‘I’s?

 You are the same one person always. Now, which can be real, the ‘I’ which comes and goes, 

or the ‘I’ which always abides? 

Then you will know that you are the Self.

 This is called Self-realisation. 

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Self realisation is not however a state which is foreign to you, which is far from you, and which has to be reached by you. You are always in that state.

 You forget it, and identify yourself with the mind and its creation. 

To cease to identify yourself with the mind is all that is required. 

We have so long identified ourselves with the not-Self that we find it difficult to regard ourselves as the Self. 

Giving up this identification with the not-Self is all that is meant by Self-realisation. 

How to realise, i.e., make real, the Self? We have realised, i.e., regarded as real, what is unreal, the not-Self. 

To give up such false realisation is Self-realisation.”

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What way is there, except to draw in the mind as often as it strays or goes outward, and to fix it in the Self, as the Gita advises? 

Of course, it won’t be easy to do it. It will come only with practice or sadhana.” 

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We call this world sakshat or pratyaksha. What is changing, what appears and disappears, what is not sakshat, we regard as sakshat. 

We are always and nothing can be more directly present pratyaksha than we, 

and about that we say we have to attain sakshatkaram after all these sadhanas. 

Nothing can be more strange than this.

The Self is not attained by doing anything, but remaining still and being as we are.

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In the direct method, as you call it, by saying ask yourself ‘Who am I?’ you are told to concentrate within yourself where the I-thought (the root of all other thoughts) arises. 

As the Self is not outside but inside you, you are asked to dive within, instead of going without, and what can be more easy than going to yourself?

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All that is required of you is to give up the thought that you are this body and to give up all thoughts of the external things or the not-Self.

As often as the mind goes out towards outward objects, prevent it and fix it in the Self or ‘I’. 

That is all the effort required on your part. 

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But meditation being our nature, you will find when you realise the Self 

that what was once the means is now the goal, 

that while once you had to make an effort, now you cannot get away from the Self even if you want.”

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With the progressive increase of vichara, jagrat and swapna will merge in sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi.

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At one stage one would laugh at oneself that one tried to discover the Self which is so self-evident. 

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 “There is a stage in the beginning, when you identify yourself with the body, when you are still having the body consciousness. At that stage, you have the feeling you are different from the reality or God, and then it is, you think of yourself as a devotee of God or as a servant or lover of God. This is the first stage. 

The second stage is when you think of yourself as a spark of the divine fire or a ray from the divine Sun. Even then there is still that sense of difference and the body-consciousness. 

The third stage will come when all such difference ceases to exist, and you realise that the Self alone exists. 

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There is an ‘I’ which comes and goes, and another ‘I’ which always exists and abides. So long as the first ‘I’ exists, the body-consciousness and the sense of diversity or bheda buddhi will persist. 

Only when that ‘I’ dies, the reality will reveal itself.

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The enquiry ‘Who am I?’ means really the enquiry within oneself as to where from within the body the ‘I’-thought arises. 

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Bhagavan: You say this. You have a body and you say ‘my body’, etc. How do you see all this? 

Visitor: With the fleshy eye (oonakkan). I lead the life of egoism. 

Bhagavan: Exactly. So, to see where from this ahamkara rises and to go back to its source is the only way. 

You wanted the way. This is the only way, to go back by the same way by which you came.

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The pure mind attains jnana, which is what is meant by salvation. 

So, eventually jnana must be reached, i.e. the ego must be traced to its source. 

Sam: Dnyana must be reached = Ego must be traced to it's source.

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But to those to whom this does not appeal, 

we have to say sat karmas lead to chitta suddhi, and chitta suddhi will lead to right knowledge or jnana, and that in its turn gives salvation.”

 

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