మహర్షి , భక్తులు , ఎండ , విశ్రాంతి

మొదట్లొ  మహర్షి వద్దకు వచ్చిపోవు భక్తులకు ఏ విధమైన
కట్టుబాట్లు ఉండేవి కాదు.  తర్వాత కాలములో మహర్షికి కొంచెం విశ్రాంతి అవసరమని దర్శనము వేళలలో కొన్ని మార్పులు చేయబడినవి.

ఈ మార్పు ఏర్పడిన క్రొత్తలో బయటి ఊళ్ళనుండి వచ్చు భక్తులకు ఇది తెలియదు.

ప్రక్క ఊరి నుండి ప్రతీ ఆదివారం ఒక భక్తుడు ఆశ్రమమునకు వచ్చు చుండెడివారు.  వచ్చినప్పుడెల్లా మహర్షి కొరకు ఏదో ఒక పిండి వంటను తీసుకొచ్చేవారు.

ఆశ్రమ సేవకురాలు  :  స్వామి!  ఏదైనా ఒక పిండి వంటను చేసి పట్టుకువస్తాను 

మహర్షి  :  ఈ రోజు ఆదివారం కదా!   ఆ భక్తుడు తప్పకుండా ఏదైనా ఒక ఫలహారం తెస్తారు!   వేరుగా మీరు ఎందుకు చేయటం?

ఆ భక్తుడు ఎప్పటివలె మహర్షి దర్శనము కొరకు తమ చేతిలో ఫలహారము తీసుకొని హాలుకు వచ్చుచుండెను . వారు వచ్చుట మహర్షి కిటికీ గుండా చూచిరి.   అయితే వారు ఎంత సేపటికిని హాలు లోపలికి రాలేదు.   మహర్షికి కారణము తెలియలేదు. 

అపుడు సుమారు పగలు ఒంటిగంట అయి ఉండును.   ఒక సేవకుడు ఆ భక్తుడిని ముందుకు వెళ్ళనీయక ఆపి,  మహర్షి విశ్రాంతి తీసికుంటున్నారు.   అందువల్ల ఇప్పుడు వెళ్ళవద్దని,   రెండు గంటలైన తరువాత వచ్చి మహర్షి దర్శనము చేసుకోండి అని చెప్పి వారిని పంపివేసెను.   ఆ భక్తుడు కూడా సరేనని వెళ్ళిపోయి తిరిగి మూడు గంటలకు మహర్షిని దర్శించుటకు వచ్చిరి. 

మహర్షి  :  మీరు ఒంటిగంటకు ఇక్కడకు రావడం నేను కిటికీ గుండా చూసాను!   మీరు లోపలికి రాలేదు !  అట్లే వెళ్ళిపోయారా!

భక్తుడు  :  అవును స్వామి! అలాగే వెళ్ళి పోయాను.  ఈ రోజు రైలు చాలా ఆలస్యముగ వచ్చినందున నేను
ఇక్కడకు వచ్చేసరికి టైము ఒంటిగంట అయ్యింది.   రాగానే  మహర్షిని దర్శించి పోదామని ఇక్కడకే నేరుగా వచ్చాను.   మహర్షికి ఇప్పుడు విశ్రాంతి అని మరలా రమ్మని చెప్పిరి.

మహర్షి  :  "అట్లాగా! సరే! సరే!!" అని చెప్పి వేసి యోగ క్షేమములు విచారించి,  వారు తీసుకొచ్చిన వాము కారప్పూసని అడిగి తీసుకొని తినిరి. 
   
భక్తుడు  :  రాత్రి భోజనమైన తరువాత ఊరికి పోవుటకై మహర్షి వద్దకు వచ్చి సెలవడిగి వెళ్లిపోయిరి. 

మరుసటి రోజు ఎప్పటివలె మహర్షి మధ్యాహ్నం భోజనము తర్వాత హాలుకు వచ్చిరి.   అపుడు పన్నెండు గంటలు అయి ఉండును.   బయట విపరీతమైన ఎండ కాస్తున్నది.    మహర్షి సోఫాను వదలి బయటవున్న తిన్నె మీదకు వచ్చి కూర్చొనిరి.    వెంటనున్న సేవకులకు ఏమీ అర్థము కాలేదు.    మహర్షిని అడుగుటకు ధైర్యము లేదు. ఏమి చేయుటకు తోచక నెమ్మదిగా మహర్షి వద్దకు పోయి , 'స్వామి! ఎండ తీవ్రముగా ఉన్నది.   రెండు గంటల వరకు లోపల ఉండి ఎండతగ్గిన తరువాత రావచ్చును' అని అనిరి.

మహర్షి  :  ఓహో! అట్లాగా! రెండు గంటల వరకు ఎవరూ నన్ను చూచుటకు లోపలికి రాకూడదని చట్టం తీసుకొని వచ్చినారా!    భక్తులు ఎవ్వరూ లోపలికి రాకూడదని చెప్పి, త్రిప్పి పంపివేసితిరి.    నేను కూడ రెండు గంటల వరకు బయటికి రాకూడదని ఏదైనా చట్టము తీసుకొచ్చారా! వాళ్ళైతే లోపలికి రాకూడదు.    నేను బయటకు రావచ్చును కదా?    పాపం!   ఎండ కూడా లెక్క చేయకుండా తమకు దొరికిన సమయములో వచ్చి మహర్షిని దర్శించి పోవుదమని,   వచ్చినవారిని మహర్షి విశ్రాంతి తీసుకుంటున్నారు!   తరువాత రమ్మని చెప్పి పంపివేస్తే వారందరికి ఎంత బాధగా ఉంటుంది?   లోపల సోఫాలో సుఖముగా కూర్చున్న నాకు ఎండట!   బయట ఊళ్ళ నుంచి మండే ఎండలో వచ్చువారికి మాత్రము ఎండలేదు కాబోలు!  అని సున్నితముగా మందలించిరి.

Deaf Amercian with Ramanan

Subjugation of senses is prerequisite for Self realization


31st January, 1936
Talk 151.
Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi 
__


The American gentleman is a little hard of hearing. Being accustomed to be self-reliant from his youth he naturally feels worried on account of his hearing becoming defective.

Maharshi.: You were not self-reliant; you were ego-reliant. It is good that ego-reliance is banished and that you become truly Self-reliant.

Again Bhagavan said: 
"There is no cause for worry. Subjugation of senses is a necessary preliminary for Self-Realisation. One sense is subdued for you by God Himself. So much the better."

The questioner said that he appreciated the humour, but that still his self-respect suffered.

Maharshi: The Self is only one. Do you feel hurt if you blame yourself or scorn yourself for your errors? If you hold the Self there is no second person to scorn you.

When you see the world you have lost hold of the Self. On the contrary, hold the Self and the world will not appear.

సంసారాన్ని వొదిలేద్దామనుకుంటున్నాను

అరుణాచల:clap:
భగవాన్! నేను సంసారాన్ని వొదిలేద్దామనుకుంటున్నాను!

ఒకసారి మధ్యాహ్నం మూడు గంటలకు కొత్తగా వచ్చిన ఆంధ్రులొకరు, నడివయస్సు వారు, భగవాన్ ని సమీపించి 'స్వామీ! నేను రామనామం నియమంగా ఉదయం ఒక గంటా, సాయంత్రం ఒక గంటా జపిస్తూ వుంటే, కొంచెం సేపటికే తలపులు ఒకటొకటిగా బయలుదేరి, అంత కంతకు అధికమై, ఎప్పటికో మనం చేసే జపం మరచి పోయామే అని తోస్తుంది. ఏం చేసేది? ఈ అంతరాలు రావడానికి కారణం సంసారం గదా.
అందువల్ల సంసారం వదలివేద్దామా, అని యోచిస్తున్నానన్నాడు.

'ఓహో! అట్లాగా! అసలు సంసారమంటే యేమి? అది లోపల వున్నదా? బయట వున్నదా?' అన్నారు భగవాన్.

'భార్య పిల్లలూనూ ఇత్యాదులండీ ' అన్నాడాయన.

'అదేనా సంసారం? వారేం చేశారు? అసలు సంసారమంటే ఏదో తెలుసుకోండి ముందు. ఆ వెనక విడవటం యోచిద్దాం'. అన్నారు భగవాన్. ఆయన నిరుత్తరుడై తలవంచి వూరుకున్నాడు.

భగవాన్ కరుణాదృష్టితో చూస్తూ 'భార్యా పిల్లలను వదలి వచ్చి ఇక్కడుంటే ఇదొక విధమైన సంసారమవుతుంది. సన్యసిస్తే కఱ్ఱ, కమండలం ఇత్యాదులతో అదొకరకపు సంసారంగా పరిణమిస్తుంది. ఎందుకదీ? సంసారమంటే మనస్సంసారమే. ఆ సంసారాన్ని విడిస్తే ఎక్కడ వున్నా ఒకటే, ఏదీ బాధించదు ' అన్నారు భగవాన్

Parcel 1 - 25 April 2020

Troubles only arise with thoughts, as the whole world arises only from thoughts. 

Why get yourself in all of this trouble? 

Simply do not think. When you don't think you don't need to do anything else. 

This is quite enough. 

And don't make any effort to not think. 

~ Papaji

-----
Give yourself completely to the act of listening. 

Beyond the sounds there is something greater, a sacredness that cannot be understood through thought.

 ~ Eckhart Tolle

Closing the Eyes versus I thought/ aham vritti
__

D: Has closing the eyes during meditation any efficacy?

M: The eyes can be closed or open as one finds convenient. 

It is not the eyes that see. There is one who sees through the eyes. If he is turned inwards and is not looking through the eyes they can be open and yet nothing will be seen. 

If we keep our eyes closed it is the same to us whether the windows of this room are open or shut.

Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi

Investigation is direct & meditation is indirect method
___

D: Is not meditation better than investigation?

M: Meditation implies mental imagery, 
whereas 
investigation is for the Reality. 

The former is objective, whereas the latter is subjective.

Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi

Atma vichara is not intellectual it takes direct to the Self
__

D: If I go on rejecting thoughts, can I call it Vichara?

M: It may be a stepping stone. 
But really Vichara begins when you cling to your Self and are already off the mental movement, the thought-waves.

D: Then Vichara is not intellectual?

M: No, it is inner quest.

Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi

Nisargadatta , " I am That " Part 11 . Excerpt of a conversation with a Questioner .

Nisargadatta , " I am That " Part 11 . Excerpt of a conversation with a Questioner . 

Q: Do you see in the world a direction and a purpose?
M: The world is but a reflection of my imagination. Whatever I want to see, I can see. But why should I invent patterns of creation, evolution and destruction? I do not need them and have no desire to lock up the world in a mental picture.

Q: Coming back to sleep. Do you dream?

M: Of course. 
Q: What are your dreams?
M: Echoes of the waking state. 
Q: And your deep sleep?
M: The brain consciousness is suspended. 
Q: Are you then unconscious?
M: Unconscious of my surroundings -- yes. 
Q: Not quite unconscious?
M: I remain aware that I am unconscious. 
Q: You use the words 'aware' and 'conscious'. Are they not the same?

M: Awareness is primordial; it is the original state, beginningless, endless, uncaused, unsupported, without parts, without change. Consciousness is on contact, a reflection against a surface, a state of duality. There can be no consciousness without awareness, but there can be awareness without consciousness, as in deep sleep. Awareness is absolute, consciousness is relative to its content; consciousness is always of something. Consciousness is partial and changeful, awareness is total, changeless, calm and silent. And it is the common matrix of every experience.

Q: How does one go beyond consciousness into awareness?

M: Since it is awareness that makes consciousness possible, there is awareness in every state of consciousness. Therefore the very consciousness of being conscious is already a movement in awareness. Interest in your stream of consciousness takes you to awareness. It is not a new state. It is at once recognized as the original, basic existence, which is life itself, and also love and joy.

I AM THAT no 11

Ramanan on meditative and non meditative states

Sometimes I stayed with closed eyes and then, when I opened them, people said that I had come out of my blessed meditation. But I never knew the difference between no-meditation and meditation, blessed or otherwise. I simply lived a tranquil witness to whatever happened around me, but was never called upon to interfere. 

I could never feel any urge to do anything except to be, just be. I see that all is done by him and him alone, though we, poor puppets of maya, feel ourselves important as the doers, authors and reformers of everything! It is the ineradicable ego, the I-ness in each of us, which is responsible for the perpetuation of this maya with all its attendant sufferings and disenchantments. 

~ Ramana Maharshi

🌷రెండవ అధ్యాయం 53వ పాట 169వ పేజీ🌷

ఓం నమో భగవతే శ్రీ అరుణాచలరమణాయ.

                 🌸🌷🙏🏻🌷🌸

    🌷శ్రీ రమణ దాస లక్షణములు 🌷

🌷రెండవ అధ్యాయం 53వ పాట 169వ పేజీ🌷

       🌷రచన : శ్రీ సాధు ఓం స్వామి🌷

పుస్తకం : శ్రీ రమణ గీతం 🌷

3వ పద్యం : మెలుకువలో మనస్సు లేవకుండా ఆలోచనా రహిత స్థితి నీకు వచ్చిందా ? వాసనాలు మాడిపోయి మొలకెత్తకుండా నీకు అయిపోయినాయా ? 
నిన్ను నీవు విడవకుండ , కర్మ తాకలేని సహజస్థితికి , నీవు వచ్చినావా ? తపస్సు లేని పరమానందం నీతో కలసి పోయి నిన్ను నీకు తెలిపిందా ? 🌷 

4 వ పద్యం : మరపులేని తప్పించుకోజాలని సత్యం ప్రకాశించినదా ? నీ జీవితం 
జారి పడిపోవటం కాని , దోషం  లేకుండా కానీ కొనసాగుతున్నదా ? బాహ్య కన్నులాంటి అహంకారము పొడి అయిపోయిందా ? పొగ లేకుండా జ్వలించే జ్ఞానబోధము ప్రకాశిస్తుందా 
? 🌷

5 వ పద్యం : జన్మలేని మృత్యు మార్గమును నీవు పట్టుకొని ఉన్నావా ? హృదయం నుంచి దేహం విడిపోవటాన్ని నీవు కనుగొన్నావా ? వడగట్టిన మరుపులేని పరమానందాన్ని నీవు అనుభవించావా ? ఈ మానవజన్మను తీసుకున్న కర్తవ్యాన్ని నీవు పూర్తి చేసావా ? 

      🌷సకలం శ్రీ రమణార్పణమస్థు.🌷

                🌸🌷🙏🏻🌷🌸

ఓం నమో భగవతే శ్రీ అరుణాచలరమణాయ.

Anandamayi Ma Quote

Widen your shriveled heart, make the interests of others your own and serve them as much as you can by sympathy, kindness, presents and so forth.

So long as one enjoys the things of this world and has needs and wants, it is necessary to minister to the needs of one's fellow men. 

Otherwise one cannot be called a human being. Whenever you have the opportunity, give to the poor, feed the hungry, nurse the sick - do service as a religious duty and you will come to know by 
direct perception that the person served, the one who serves and the act of service are separate only in appearance.

Anandamayi Ma

" Combine Self Knowledge with Social Service " - Nisargadatta .

" Combine Self Knowledge with Social Service " - Nisargadatta .

1. " Q: Why do the Indian teachers advocate inactivity?
   Maharaj:
   Most of people?s activities are valueless, if not outright destructive.

   Dominated by desire and fear, they can do nothing good.

   Ceasing to do evil precedes beginning to do good.

   Hence the need for stopping all activities for a time,to investigate one?s urges and their motives, see all that is false in one?s life,purge the mind of all evil and then only restart work, beginning with one's obvious duties.

   Of course, if you have a chance to help somebody, by all means do it and promptly too !

   Don' t keep him waiting till you are perfect !! For , Life is in the Here & Now 

Nisargadatta on consciousness

Take your consciousness as God and hold its feet. 

Always give attention to it. Be sure that you are consciousness, which has no shape and no form. There is no need for taking the trouble of going to any temple as it is within you. 

If your consciousness is absent, does God has any value? 

You have heard here that you are pure consciousness. Guard that knowledge carefully. Your ultimate achievement is like reaching Delhi. Now you have only heard about Delhi, which is far off. You have to be there."

- Nisargadatta Maharaj

" The World is within you " Ramanan

Special article on 
Corona - A biological war is on the screen of you (Self)
Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi 

Talk 487 :
___

D.: What is that Self-Realisation which removes the discontent? I am in the world and there are wars in it. Can Self-Realisation put an end to it?

M.: Are you in the world? Or is the world in you?

D.: I do not understand. The world is certainly around me.

M.: You speak of the world and happenings in it. They are mere ideas in you. The ideas are in the mind. The mind is within you. And so the world is within you.

D.: I do not follow you. Even if I do not think of the world, the world is still there.

M.: Do you mean to say that the world is apart from the mind and it can exist in the absence of the mind?

D.: Yes.

M.: Does the world exist in your deep sleep?

D.: It does.

M.: Do you see it in your sleep?

D.: No, I don’t. But others, who are awake, see it.

M.: Are you so aware in your sleep? Or do you become aware of the other’s knowledge now?

D.: In my waking state.

M.: So you speak of waking knowledge and not of sleep-experience. The existence of the world in your waking and dream states is admitted because they are the products of the mind. The mind is withdrawn in sleep and the world is in the condition of a seed. It becomes manifest over again when you wake up. The ego springs forth, identifies itself with the body and sees the world. So the world is a mental creation.

D.: How can it be?

M.: Do you not create a world in your dream? The waking state also is a long drawn out dream. There must be a seer behind the waking and dream experiences. Who is that seer? Is it the body?

D.: It cannot be.

M.: Is it the mind?

D.: It must be so.

M.: But you remain in the absence of the mind.

D.: How?

M.: In deep sleep.

D.: l do not know if I am then.

M.: If you were not how do you recollect yesterday’s experiences? Is it possible that there was a break in the continuity of the ‘I’ during sleep?

D.: It may be.

M.: If so, a Johnson may wake up as a Benson. How will the identity of the individual be established?

D.: I don’t know.

M.: If this argument is not clear, follow a different line. You admit “I slept well”, “I feel refreshed after a sound sleep”. So sleep was your experience. The experiencer now identifies himself with the ‘I’ in the speaker. So this ‘I’ must have been in sleep also.

D.: Yes.

M.: So ‘I’ was in sleep, if the world was then there, did it say that it existed?

D.: No. But the world tells me its existence now. Even if I deny its existence, I may knock myself against a stone and hurt my foot. The injury proves the existence of the stone and so of the world.

M.: Quite so. The stone hurts the foot. Does the foot say that there is the stone?

D.: No. - ‘I’.

M.: Who is this ‘I’? It cannot be the body nor the mind as we have seen before. This ‘I’ is the one who experiences the waking, dream and sleep states. The three states are changes which do not affect the individual. The experiences are like pictures passing on a screen in the cinema. The appearance and disappearance of the pictures do not affect the screen. So also, the three states alternate with one another leaving the Self unaffected. The waking and the dream states are creations of the mind. So the Self covers all. To know that the Self remains happy in its perfection is Self-Realisation. Its use lies in the realisation of Perfection and thus of Happiness.

D.: Can it be complete happiness to remain Self-realised if one does not contribute to the happiness of the world? How can one be so happy when there is a war in Spain, a war in China? Is it not selfishness to remain Self-realised without helping the world?

M.: The Self was pointed out to you to cover the universe and also transcend it. The world cannot remain apart from the Self. If the realisation of such Self be called selfishness that selfishness must cover the world also. It is nothing contemptible.

D.: Does not the realised man continue to live just like a non-realised being?

M.: Yes, with this difference that the realised being does not see the world as being apart from the Self, he possesses true knowledge and the internal happiness of being perfect, whereas the other person sees the world apart, feels imperfection and is miserable. Otherwise their physical actions are similar.

D.: The realised being also knows that there are wars being waged in the world, just like the other man.

M.: Yes.

D.: How then can he be happy?

M.: Is the cinema screen affected by a scene of fire burning or sea rising? So it is with the Self. The idea that I am the body or the mind is so deep that one cannot get over it even if convinced otherwise. One experiences a dream and knows it to be unreal on waking. Waking experience is unreal in other states. So each state contradicts the others. They are therefore mere changes taking place in the seer, or phenomena appearing in the Self, which is unbroken and remains unaffected by them. Just as the waking, dream and sleep states are phenomena, so also birth, growth and death are phenomena in the Self which continues to be unbroken and unaffected. Birth and death are only ideas. They pertain to the body or the mind. The Self exists before the birth of this body and will remain after the death of this body. So it is with the series of bodies taken up in succession. The Self is immortal. The phenomena are changeful and appear mortal. The fear of death is of the body. It is not true of the Self. Such fear is due to ignorance. Realisation means True Knowledge of the Perfection and Immortality of the Self. Mortality is only an idea and cause of misery. You get rid of it by realising the Immortal nature of the Self.

3rd May, 1938

The same lady continued: If the world is only a dream, how should it be harmonised with the Eternal Reality?

M.: The harmony consists in the realisation of its inseparateness from the Self.

D.: But a dream is fleeting and unreal. It is also contradicted by the waking state.

M.: The waking experiences are similar.

D.: One lives fifty years and finds a continuity in the waking experience which is absent in dreams.

M.: You go to sleep and dream a dream in which the experiences of fifty years are condensed within the short duration of the dream, say five minutes. There is also a continuity in the dream. Which is real now? Is the period covering fifty years of your waking state real or the short duration of five minutes of your dream? The standards of time differ in the two states. That is all. There is no other difference between the experiences.

D.: The spirit remains unaffected by the passing phenomena and by the successive bodies of repeated births. How does each body get the life to set it acting?

M.: The spirit is differentiated from matter and is full of life. The body is animated by it.

D.: The realised being is then the spirit and unaware of the world.

M.: He sees the world but not as separate from the Self.

D.: If the world is full of pain why should he continue the world-idea?

M.: Does the realised being tell you that the world is full of pain? It is the other one who feels the pain and seeks the help of the wise saying that the world is painful. Then the wise one explains from his experience that if one withdraws within the Self there is an end of pain. The pain is felt so long as the object is different from oneself. But when the Self is found to be an undivided whole who and what is there to feel? The realised mind is the Holy Spirit and the other mind is the home of the devil. For the realised being this is the Kingdom of Heaven. “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.” That Kingdom is here and now.

Jaya Guru Ramana Raya 👣🙇‍♂💖🙏

Mooji on Quarantine / Lock Down and inner journey .

The gift of this time of quarantine and to use it for introspection and that the mind is always looking for a distraction from this.

“You have a chance today to see how restless your mind is when it’s confined like this. You may not be able to stop the mind from running about but you can begin to recognise that it is not who you are — that is a very powerful discovery.

This quarantine period is such a gift but you have to change your mindset. How often I’ve said that we are very often mislabelling our experiencing, when actually what is being offered right now by God, by life, is a chance to get a little bit more familiar with who you really are. Please use your time more for this.”

Mooji

Mountain Path - July 2010 " On Consciousness "

Consciousness
As Revealed in the Mandukya Upanishad
- Dennis Waite

The following is an extract from the second edition of The Book of One by Dennis Waite.
Dennis Waite is a well known author on Advaita Vedanta. 

 This Upanishad demonstrates how it is 
the same Consciousness that functions throughout and ‘witnesses’ all three states of waking, dream and deep sleep. It uses the states of consciousness in order to ‘talk about’ reality and begins by saying that 
the manifestation has four facets or aspect

The first of these states is called jAgrat. This is the waking state and the waker-ego, called vishva, is conscious of the gross, 
physical, external world of sense objects. 
In the waking state, the ‘individual’ is complete (vishva = whole) with all its faculties of senses and mind.

The second state is called svapna, meaning ‘sleep’, but only for the body — the mind remains active. This is the dreaming state and the dreamer is called taijasa. 
In this, the dreamer is conscious of the 
subtle or internal world of objects, i.e. thoughts, feelings, etc., but is unaware of the external world. In the dreaming state, Consciousness effectively projects the world of the dream from its own ‘light’ and 
the dream ‘consists’ of this ‘light’ of the mind (taijasa = ‘originating from or consisting of light’).

The third aspect is suShupti, meaning ‘excellent rest’ since both body and mind are now resting in the deep-sleep state. The sleeper-ego is called prAj~na, literally meaning ‘intelligent’, ‘wise’ or ‘intelligence’. 
In the deep-sleep state, the sleeper sees neither the external nor internal worlds of objects. The senses and mind are inactive and nothing is experienced, i.e. there is no perception or conception. The state is 
governed by ignorance (avidyA) but there must be some vestige of awareness since, for example, if someone calls our name, we will probably wake up. 
During this state there is no ‘knowing’ of anything nor appearances of any kind. prAj~na can also be translated as ‘the one 
who is nearly ignorant’. Because Consciousness is still present, the self is not totally ignorant, but nearly ignorant. It is said to be a state of pure consciousness and bliss, precisely because there is no mental agitation but, since there is no knowledge, we are not directly aware of this. It is said that here the Self is identified with avidyA. 

The fourth aspect is not actually a ‘state’ at all — it is called turIya
— and it is characterized by neither ignorance nor error. 
But I will not say anything more about this for the moment; it is not something with which most of us are familiar. The pure consciousness of deep sleep can be considered to emerge, either to illuminate the subtle world of thoughts and emotions, as we become the dreamer, or to illuminate the external world, as we become the waker. In deep sleep, there is only ignorance — we do not also misperceive the world, mistaking a rope for a snake for example, because there is no perception at all. 
There is thus ignorance but no error or misperception. This non-apprehension is the same as the ‘veiling power’ of mAyA – AvaraNa. 

In dreaming and waking, the ignorance is still there but, with the mind and senses now active, we additionally fall into error — we misapprehend reality. This misapprehension ‘effect’ follows from the 
ignorance ‘cause’ of non-apprehension. Misapprehension is vikShepa, described earlier as the projecting power of mAyA. 
If we could see the rope, we would not mistake it for a snake. 

The misapprehension occurs under the conditions in which there is partial ignorance — we can see that there is something there but not sufficiently clearly to make out that it is a rope. Thus, the (partial) ignorance is the effective cause for the error. 
(Note that, if there is total ignorance — i.e. we cannot see anything at all — there is no error either. If we do not see the rope in the first place, there is no way or scope to mistake it for a snake. Hence the expression ‘ignorance is bliss’!) 

This explains why the deep-sleep state is known as the ‘causal’ state. In that ignorance is the potentiality for all manifestation in the dream and waking states.

Consciousness is that in which all else appears. It is there when there appears to be nothing. It can be thought of as the silence between thoughts or as the screen, upon which the movie of life is projected, 
unaffected by all, yet without which there would be nothing. 

Sri Poonja asked what we would see if he put up a blackboard the size of the wall and marked a small white spot in the middle of it. Ninety nine percent of people, he said, would say that they saw a white spot. Almost invisible, this is what draws our attention such that we do not even see the big blackboard. It is in our nature to look for objects against the background and ignore the background itself. 

In just the same way, we see a cloud in the sky and miss the sky. And we see the thought arising in Consciousness and know nothing about Consciousness itself.

It is inevitable that our minds will search for an understanding of what Consciousness is, as though it were an object that we could observe, rather than that which enables observation to occur in the first place. All theories that we may come up with are going to fail and, worse, may delude us into thinking that we know something when we do not.

Ultimately, the scriptures summarize the matter very simply in one of the four great sayings or mahAvAkya-s from the Upanishads: 
praj~nAnam brahma — Consciousness is brahman. 
Consciousness equates to brahman, which is the one reality, all that there is. 

The four ‘great sayings’ from the Vedas are: ‘Consciousness is brahman’ 
from the Aitareya Upanishad, 
‘That thou art’ from the Chandogya 
Upanishad, 
‘This Self is brahman’ from the Mandukya Upanishad and 
‘I am brahman’ from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.)

Before looking in more detail at the three states of consciousness, it is important to note that all of these explanations are made from the vantage point of the waking mind. Strictly speaking, it can only speak from experience about the waking state, since it is, by definition, not present in the other states. 

The true situation is summed up in 
the Katha Upanishad (IV.4): 
‘Having realized that it is the great, all-
pervading Atman that sees the objects in the dream and the waking state, the wise man does not grieve.’

✅ MOUNTAIN PATH
July 2010

Annamalai Swami , on doership

ANNAMALAI SWAMI – FINAL TALKS

DOERSHIP

Thoughts will come as long as the potential for them is inside you. Good thoughts, bad thoughts, they will all keep coming. 
There is nothing you can do about this flow, but at the same time, this flow of thoughts need not be a problem. 

Be the Self, be the peace that is your real nature, and it will not matter what comes up. Walk, eat, drink, sleep, meditate, but never think that you are the one who is doing these things. The thought that you are doing something is the thought that is poisoning your life. 

Because once you think that you are doing something, you will start to think that you need to be doing something else to put yourself in a better situation. You don't have to do anything to experience the nectar of the Self. All you need to do is drop the idea that you are doing anything at all.

p. 95

Kundalini/ mukhya prana is related to ego

Kundalini/ mukhya prana is related to ego not the consciousness

Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi 
6th January, 1936
Talk 131.
__

Mr. Subba Rao asked: What is mukhya prana (the chief prana [?])?

Maharshi: It is that from which the ego and the prana rise. It is sometimes called Kundalini [?]. Consciousness is not born at any time, it remains eternal. But ego is born; so also the other thoughts. 

Associated with the absolute consciousness they shine forth; not otherwise.

D.: What is moksha [?] (liberation)?

Maharshi: Moksha [?] is to know that you were not born. "Be still and know that I am God." To be still is not to think. Know, and not think, is the word.
D.: There are said to be six organs of different colours in the chest , of which the heart is said to be two finger-breadths to the right of the middle line. But the Heart is also formless. Should we then imagine it to have a shape and meditate on it?

Maharshi: No. Only the quest "Who am I??" is necessary. What remains all through deep sleep and waking is the same. But in waking there is unhappiness and the effort to remove it. Asked who wakes up from sleep you say `I'. Now you are told to hold fast to this `I'. If it is done the eternal Being will reveal Itself. 

Investigation of `I' is the point and not meditation on the heart-centre. 

There is nothing like within or without. Both mean either the same thing or nothing. Of course there is also the practice of meditation on the heart- centre. It is only a practice and not investigation. 

Only the one who meditates on the heart can remain aware when the mind ceases to be active and remains still; whereas those who meditate on other centres cannot be so aware but infer that the mind was still only after it becomes again active.

“నేను ఎవరు ?” అని మంత్రంలాగా జపిస్తూ ఉండవలెనా?

🌺ఓం నమో భగవతే శ్రీ రమణాయ🌻

                  సాధువు : 
“నేను ఎవరు ?” అని మంత్రంలాగా జపిస్తూ ఉండవలెనా?

                  మహర్షి : 
  అవసరం లేదు. 'నేను ఎవరు' అన్నది మంత్రం కాదు. దానికి అర్థం అన్ని ఆలోచనలకు మూలమైన 'నేను' అనే ఆలోచన నీలో ఎక్కడ పుడుతోందో కనుక్కోవాలని. 
  
     కానీ నీకు ఈ విచారణా మార్గం కష్టమనిపిస్తే 'నేను', 'నేను' అని మరలా మరలా వల్లెవేస్తూ ఉండు. ఇది ఆ గమ్యానికి చేరుస్తుంది. 'నేను' ను మంత్రంగా ఉపయోగించుకుంటే కలిగే నష్టం ఏమీలేదు. అది దైవానికి మొదటి పేరు. 
     
   దైవం అంతటా ఉన్నాడు. కానీ దైవాన్ని ఆ విధంగా ఊహించడం చాలా కష్టం. అందుకే శాస్త్రాలు, “దైవం అంతటా ఉన్నాడు, నీలోనూ ఉన్నాడు, నీవే దైవం; కాబట్టి ఆ సంగతిని సదా జ్ఞాపకం చేసుకుంటూ ఉండు" అంటాయి. 
   
   'నేను' అని జపిస్తూ ఉంటే, అదే చివరకు నిన్ను 'నేనే బ్రహ్మాన్ని' అన్న స్థితికి చేరుస్తుంది.

               🌺ఓం తత్సత్🌻

Vichara & Self realization

Difference between vichara and Self realization- is only effort it's very direct instant method
__

D: Will vichara alone do in the absence of meditation?

M: Vichara is the process and the goal also. ‘I AM’ is the goal and the final Reality. 

To hold to it with effort is vichara. When spontaneous and natural it is Realisation.

D: In my meditation I try to eliminate the wrong ‘I’, but so far without success.

M: How can ‘I’ eliminate itself? 
All you have to do is to find its source and abide in it as your real Self. Your efforts can extend thus far, the Beyond will take care of itself.


Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi

Pure unbroken awareness

How is the Self- pure unbroken awareness
__

D: How to reach that centre, where what you call ‘The Consciousness’ – the ‘I’-‘I’- arises? Is it by simply thinking “Who am I?”

M: Yes, it will take you up. You must do it with a calm mind – mental calmness is essential.

D: How does that consciousness manifest itself when that centre – the Heart – is reached? Will I recognise it?

M: Certainly, as pure consciousness, free from all thoughts. 

It is pure unbroken awareness of your Self, rather of pure Being – there is no mistaking it when pure.

Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi

hindrances to self realization

Trace everything(thoughts)to the  source-presence awareness
___

D: What are the hindrances to Self-realisation?

M: Memory chiefly, habits of thought, accumulated tendencies.

D: How to get rid of these hindrances?

M: Seek the Self by meditation in this manner. Trace every thought to its origin which is only the mind. Never allow thought to run on. If you do, it would be unending. 

Take it back to its starting place again and again and the mind would die of inaction. Go back constantly to question ‘Who am I?” 


Tear everything away until only the source of all is left. And then live always in the present, only in it. There is no past or future except in the mind.

Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi

Ego of a Jnani

Ego of a Jnani

  ( Ramanan ) 
" A Jnani crushes the ego at it's source. It rises up again and again, for HIM  too,  as for the ignorant, impelled by nature i.e. PRAARABDHA ! 
 Both in the ignorant and the Jnani, ego sprouts up but with this difference ! 
Ignorant's ego when it rises up is quite ignorant of its SOURCE , or is not aware  of it in deep sleep, in the dream and waking states .  Whereas - a Jnani when his ego rises up, enjoys his transcendental experience with this ego, keeping his lakshya ( Goal ) always on it's source. His ego is not dangerous, it is only the ash skeleton of a burnt rope ! It is not a snake ! 
 Although it possesses a form it is ineffective. By constantly keeping our lakshya ( Goal )  on our source, our ego is dissolved.- 

Ramana Maharshi ( from 'Conscious Immortality')

ArunachalashTakam - 7

Until there is the `I-thought', there will be no other
thought. Until other thoughts arise, asking `To whom?' will
call forth the reply `To me'.
He who pursues this closely, questioning
`What is the origin of the I?'
and diving inwards reaches the seat of the mind in the Heart, becomes there the sovereign Lord of the Universe.

Oh boundless ocean of
grace and effulgence called Arunachala,
dancing motionless within the court of the Heart!
There is no longer any dream there of such dualities
as in and out, right and wrong, birth
and death, pleasure, and pain, or light and darkness.

- Arunachala Ashtakam, v 7

Witness, body and mind

Step back from action to consciousness, leave action to the body and the mind; 
it is their domain. 

Remain as  pure witness, till even witnessing dissolves in the 
Supreme. 

The dissolution of personality is followed 
always by a sense of great relief, as if a heavy burden has fallen off. 
• 
The personality gives way to the witness, then the witness goes, and pure awareness remains. 

Awareness with an object we called witnessing. 
When there is  also self-identification with the object caused by desire 
or fear, such a state is called a person. 

In reality there  is only one state; 

when distorted by self-identification 
it is called a person, 

when colored with the sense of 
being, it is the witness; 

when colorless and limitless, it 
is called the Supreme. 

~ Guru Nisargadatta MaharajStep back from action to consciousness, leave action to the body and the mind; 
it is their domain. 

Remain as  pure witness, till even witnessing dissolves in the 
Supreme. 

The dissolution of personality is followed 
always by a sense of great relief, as if a heavy burden has fallen off. 
• 
The personality gives way to the witness, then the witness goes, and pure awareness remains. 

Awareness with an object we called witnessing. 
When there is  also self-identification with the object caused by desire 
or fear, such a state is called a person. 

In reality there  is only one state; 

when distorted by self-identification 
it is called a person, 

when colored with the sense of 
being, it is the witness; 

when colorless and limitless, it 
is called the Supreme. 

~ Guru Nisargadatta Maharaj

Peace of Dreamless sleep state

Just before waking up from sleep, there is a very brief state, free from thought. 
That should be made permanent.

In dreamless sleep there is no world, no ego and no unhappiness, but the Self remains. 
In the waking state there are all of these. Yet there is the Self. 

One has only to remove the transitory happenings in order to realize the ever-present beatitude of the Self.

Your nature is bliss. 
Find that on which all the rest are
imposed and you then remain as the pure Self.

In sleep there is no space or time. 
They are concepts, which arise after the ‘I-thought’ has arisen. 
You are beyond time and space. 
The ‘I-thought’ is the limited ‘I’. 
The real ‘I’ is unlimited, universal, beyond time and space. 

Just while rising from sleep and before seeing the objective world, there
is a state of awareness which is your Pure Self. That must be known.

~ Gems from Bhagavan

In Depth chat with Nisargadatta

In Depth Discussion with Nisargadatta Maharaj , where he replies patiently and with love, the questions posted perhaps by a Westerner / Foreigner .

Final ultimate discussions)

What we are discussing is both true & false- Absolute is beyond words - only for advanced sadhaks

Nisargadatta Maharaj

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Questioner: You say, reality is one. Oneness, unity, is the attribute of the person. Is then reality a

person, with the universe as its body?

Maharaj: Whatever you may say will be both true and false. Words do not reach beyond the mind.

Q: I am just trying to understand. You are telling us of the Person, the Self and the Supreme.

(vyakti, vyakta, avyakta). The light of Pure Awareness (pragna), focussed as 'I am' in the Self

(jivatma), as consciousness (chetana) illumines the mind (antahkarana) and as life (prana) vitalises

the body (deha). All this is fine as far as the words go. But when it comes to distinguishing in myself

the person from the Self and the Self from the Supreme, I get mixed up.

M: The person is never the subject. You can see a person, but you are not the person. You are always the Supreme which appears at a given point of time and space as the witness, a bridge between the pure awareness of the Supreme and the manifold consciousness of the person.

Q: When I look at myself, I find I am several persons fighting among themselves for the use of the

body.

M: They correspond to the various tendencies (samskara) of the mind.

Q: Can I make peace between them?

M: How can you?

They are so contradictory! See them as they are -- mere habits of thoughts and feelings, bundles of memories and urges.

Q: Yet they all say 'I am'.

M: It is only because you identify yourself with them.

Once you realise that whatever appears before you cannot be yourself, and cannot say 'I am', you are free of all your 'persons' and their demands.

The sense 'I am' is your own. You cannot part with it, but you can impart it to anything, asin saying: I am young.

I am rich etc.

But such self-identifications are patently false and the cause of bondage.

Q: I can now understand that I am not the person, but that which, when reflected in the person,

gives it a sense of being. Now, about the Supreme? In what way do I know myself as the Supreme?

M: The source of consciousness cannot be an object in consciousness.

To know the source is to be the source.

When you realise that you are not the person, but the pure and calm witness, and that fearless awareness is your very being, you are the being. It is the source, the Inexhaustible Possibility.

Q: Are there many sources or one for all?

M: It depends how you look at it, from which end.

The objects in the world are many, but the eye that sees them is one.

The higher always appears as one to the lower and the lower as many to the higher.

Q: Shapes and names are all of one and the same God?

M: Again, it all depends on how you look at it. On the verbal level everything is relative.

Absolutes should be experienced, not discussed.

Q: How is the Absolute experienced?

M: It is not an object to be recognised and stored up in memory.

It is in the present and in feeling rather.

It has more to do with the 'how' than with the 'what'. It is in the quality, in the value; being the source of everything, it is in everything.

Q: If it is the source, why and how does it manifest itself?

M: It gives birth to consciousness. All else is in consciousness.

Q: Why are there so many centres of consciousness?

M: The objective universe (mahadakash) is in constant movement, projecting and dissolving innumerable forms. Whenever a form is infused with life (prana), consciousness (chetana) appearsby reflection of awareness in matter.

Q: How is the Supreme affected?

M: What can affect it and how?

The source is not affected by the vagaries of the river nor is the metal -- by the shape of the jewellery. Is the light affected by the picture on the screen?

The Supreme makes everything possible, that is all.

Jai Nisargadatta Maharaj 🙇‍♂👣