This is one of a series of introductory articles – please see the homepage of tomdas.com for more introductory articles.
Also see:
Recommended Reading: Books for Enlightenment, Liberation and Self-Realisation
The Most Direct Means To Eternal Bliss
Essential teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
Happiness
This teaching is about Happiness and Truth,
Learning to be happier in your daily life,
But ultimately finding that Inexhaustible Well
Of Happiness or Fullness within
That never wavers,
That always replenishes and guides us
With Truth and Love,
Wholesome and Healing,
Spiritual and Divine.
You are the Self
You are That.
You are the Self, already,
You are That, here and now:
You do not need to become anything,
You do not need to gain anything.
You are That,
Already and always.
Knowledge and Experience
You do not need to gain a new experience,
Neither do you need to gain new knowledge,
For you are already That,
Always, already,
Here and now.
Liberation is final and irrevocable
On discovering what you really are,
(it is not really ‘discovered’ though,
As words fail us here)
All suffering evaporates
Never to return again.
Once Truth (of what you are) has been ‘seen’
(it cannot be literally ‘seen’),
Never again will ignorance,
Or illusion,
Or duality,
(all of which are essentially the same)
Return.
Synonyms
Self, True Self, Liberation, Enlightenment,
Self-Knowledge, Freedom, Self-Realisation,
Buddha Nature, Nirvana, Bliss, Love, Light,
The Peace that Passeth All Understanding,
Transcendence, Paradise, Brahman, Union,
Heaven, Christ Consciousness, God, Salvation,
The Deathless, the Birthless, Eternal Life, the I Am
Oneness, Non-duality, Conscious Sleep, Om,
Silence, Truth, Grace. Reality, the Absolute,
Pure Consciousness, Pure Being, Isness;
These are some synonyms,
For what you already ARE
(which is beyond all words and ideas).
‘..the “I” consciousness which at first arises in respect of the body is referred to variously as self-conceit (tarbodham), egoity (ahankara), nescience (avidya), maya [illusion], impurity (mala), and individual soul [or person] (jiva) . Can we remain without enquiring into this? Is it not for our redemption through enquiry that all the scriptures declare that the destruction of “self-conceit” is release (mukti)?’
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Self Enquiry, answer to question 3
‘The way of charity, penance, sacrifice, dharma, yoga and Bhakti; and the Goal of Heaven, Reality, Peace, Truth, Grace, Silence, Stability, Deathless Death, Knowledge, Renunciation, Liberation, Bliss – all this is only ceasing to think that the body is the Self.‘
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Supplement to Forty Verses on Reality, verse 13
The verbal teachings
All genuinely liberating teachings
Can ultimately only point,
Or direct you,
To That which you truly Are,
And no more.
The outer teacher
The only thing the outer teacher,
(with an apparent body, mind and voice)
can ultimately do,
Is point you towards the True Teacher (or Truth) within you,
Nothing more.
Removal of ignorance
All true Spiritual Teachings,
are only there to remove ignorance/ illusion,
(which appears to exist,
but truly or actually does not exist,
Like the snake in the rope);
Their purpose is not to gain the Self,
(which is already ‘ever-gained’ or ‘ever-realised’).
You are the Source
And all Teachings come from That which you truly are
All wisdom comes from You;
All love and light comes from you;
All happiness and delight comes from you;
All teachers and teachings come from you;
– You are That.
Your Nature is Peace, Love and Happiness
– You Are That.
The true teaching is already within you
The True Teaching is already within you.
The words of the spoken teachings,
Only express and explain,
What is silently ever-present in the Heart.
The words of the True Teaching,
Which spring forth from the Heart,
(Your True Self),
And take you back to the Heart,
Can be found Silently within you,
In Loving Silence.
The True Teacher (or Guru) is only Your Self,
Your True Nature,
What you actually already Are.
You already know the way
You already know The Way,
You already know The Path,
You already know what you are.
So how to come Home?
– Trust yourself,
Trust your own Inner Knowing.
Self-Knowledge and Experiencing the True Self
You are ever-knowing
And ever-experiencing
Your True Nature.
But the body-mind can never know,
Or experience,
What you Truly Are
(despite the mind perhaps thinking otherwise).
Knowledge in the mind (ie. thoughts)
Is not True Knowledge (of Self).
Experience in the mind or of the body or senses
Is not True ‘Experience’ of the Self.
The Self is beyond both knowledge and experience
(of the body-mind-senses-world)
The true nature of the Self
Is sometimes spoken of as ‘Knowledge’ or ‘Experience’,
But know in Truth,
The Self is beyond all words and concepts,
And can never be understood by the mind
(despite the mind thinking otherwise)
Self-knowlege is merely to be the Self,
Nothing more!
Self-experience is merely to be the Self,
Nothing more!
How can the Self be known or experienced?!!
Only Self can ‘know’ Self.
In Ulladu Narpadu verse 12, Sri Ramana Maharshi writes:
True Knowledge is Being, devoid of knowledge as well as ignorance of objects. Knowledge of objects is not true knowledge. Since the Self shines self-luminous, with nothing else for It to know, with nothing else to know It, the Self is Knowledge. Nescience [ignorance] It is not.
In Upadesa Saram verse 27, Sri Ramana Maharshi writes:
That is true knowledge which transcends
Both knowledge and ignorance,
For in pure knowledge
Is no object to be known.
Liberation is not thoughts in the mind
Liberation is nothing to do with thoughts,
And nothing to do with mind,
And certainly is not thoughts
(or concepts, or understanding)
In the mind.
Nor is it a psychological view,
Or a philosophical view,
Or a set of concepts,
A conceptual lens with which to view the world;
(these are all for the ego-mind).
If it were,
Dementia, head trauma and even viral illness
Would be enough to dislodge so-called ‘permanent realisation’.
Some say ‘the Self is Eternal
But Self-Realisation is for the mind that knows this’.
But this would be a wholly dualistic teaching,
A distortion,
That allows the ego-mind to continue,
Not non-duality at all.
Radical Self-Honesty
Many so-called non-dual teachings
Are actually subtle conceptual views for the ego-mind,
ie. they are beliefs.
Radical self-honesty is required to see through this.
Common ‘non-dual’ beliefs
Common beliefs for the ego mind include:
‘There is nobody here’ (who could attain enlightenment)
or
‘There is no free will’, ‘There is no choice’;
These statements may or may not be true,
But are they subtle beliefs for the mind?
Radical and simple self-honesty is needed here
To prevent getting caught up in intellectual views,
Which may lessen (or increase) suffering,
But are nothing to do with genuine liberation,
Which is totally non-conceptual,
And therefore non-dependent
On adherence to specific conceptual views.
Spaciousness and Oneness
Experiences of spaciousness and or oneness
Come and go:
They are experiences for the ego-mind
And have nothing to do with liberation;
Oh ego-mind,
Do not pursue such things,
Do not pursue such things.
Life in ‘flow’
Experiencing life ‘in flow’,
Without a doer entity present,
Is an experience that comes and goes;
No experience is permanent,
No experience is liberation,
Experiences are for the ego/ person only:
Therefore,
Do not pursue such things,
Do not pursue such things.
Non-conceptual living
Living without concepts
Is not liberation at all,
But is a state of ignorance,
Similar to being like a young child or animal,
A lazy tamasic (dull) state.
No, this is not the way:
The ego remains intact,
And the root illusion (of being a body-mind entity) is not removed.
These are incomplete techniques and ideas for the ego only.
Seeing unity amidst diversity
Seeing oneness in many and many in the One,
Or seeing emptiness in form or form in emptiness,
Or seeing the relative and absolute as One:
– these things are all subtle concepts for the mind,
And nothing to do with liberation.
All seeing and knowing is for the ego-mind-person-jiva only.
All seeing and knowing,
No matter how subtle or refined,
Is for the ego-mind-person-jiva only.
Any sense of individuality whatsoever,
Or perspective, or view,
Is only for the ego-mind-person-jiva;
They are synonymous with ignorance or illusion.
Being radically honest with yourself,
Leave aside all such conceptual views,
However subtle,
and Abide as your Self,
One,
Whole,
Non-conceptual,
Beyond words, thoughts and experiences,
And without body, mind or world,
Without any perspective or individuality remaining whatsoever:
Be what you truly Are.
Have faith in yourself
Everything you need,
On the spiritual path,
Is already with you,
Is already within you,
As you.
Have faith in yourself.
You are That.
You already know the way,
The teacher is within.
There is nothing more you need
There is nothing you need to become,
There is nothing to gain;
You do not need special knowledge (knowledge in the mind),
For your nature is ‘knowledge’;
You do not need special experience (experience for the mind or sense organs),
for your true nature is ‘experience’.
All knowledge (in the mind)
And all experiences (in the mind or body-sense organs)
Come and go,
And do not lead to the Eternal Truth
That merely always and already IS.
This is not a teaching of deconstruction
This teaching does not break you down,
Or deconstruct you,
Or investigate your component parts,
So you can no longer find yourself;
This way of deconstruction does not end suffering at all;
That is the way of the ego-mind,
That is only a conceptual view.
The True way ‘builds you up’,
Not literally,
But rather it reveals what you Truly Are,
In all your Greatness,
Wordless, silently, intuitively;
And there you shine
Egoless, Bodiless, Partless,
Pure, Whole, Sublime,
Infinite Love, Light and Bliss,
Ever-free,
One without a second (another).
How to remove the False
Yes, falsehood must be removed,
Ego must be destroyed,
Ignorance must be banished,
But these are not done
By trying to do them.
It is not by trying to destroy the ego
That the ego is destroyed,
But by seeing truth,
All error/ego/ignorance/falsehood
Naturally falls away.
Mind can never know Truth
The mind can never know
What Truth is
Or what Liberation is like
No matter how much it may think otherwise.
The mind cannot remember
What it was like to be the Self.
The Self cannot be experienced
Or remembered.
All that is remembered,
Or thought,
Or known,
Is only in the field of experience.
Knowledge in the mind,
Which is a form of thought,
Is merely a type of (subtle) experience;
Neither of these are liberating or liberation.
Self vs No Self
The intellectually inclined prefer to talk of no-self,
Whereas the Heart prefers to speak of Self.
The mind,
Identifying with ego-self,
Prefers to talk about no-self (no ego),
For seeing its own distortion,
It is denying itself (ego).
However, when ego is no more,
And ego-self can barely be remembered,
All that remains is Reality;
And as I,
In Reality as Pure Being,
Also continue to Exist,
And as Reality is One without another,
That Reality is therefore also I,
Or Self.
Hence the realised tend to talk of (true) Self,
Whereas the (unrealised) intellectuals tend to talk of no-(ego) self,
Even though they are truly One and the Same.
There is another reason which is explained here
Nurture Connnection with the Divine
We all have
That Divinity within:
Connect with it.
Even if you feel something,
Very little,
Within,
As long as it is Genuine Divine Connection,
Allow that feeling to nurture and grow,
More and more,
Like the snowball becoming an avalanche.
Awakenings are not liberation
Liberation is not the same as
An awakening event
(that arose
and subsequently faded).
Liberation’s nature is fundamentally different.
Do not make the mistake of thinking
‘If I could only prolong
my awakening experience
That would be liberation’.
If that were Truly Liberation
Then duality, ignorance, ego and suffering
Would never have returned.
No stabilisation or integration of insight required
If your insight needs stabilisation,
Or integration,
It just means you are a seeker still,
And your insight is not True Realisation at all;
Stabilisation and/or integration
Are only for the ego-self;
Stay on the path,
Learn about genuine Self-Enquiry,
Continue your sadhana.
If you already understand the teachings…
If you think:
‘I already fully understand the non-dual teachings
But something is still missing,
eg. I cannot fully integrate/stabilise/experientially know them’,
It is likely because your understanding is incorrect.
The solution is to engage with Sri Ramana’s Teachings,
For he describes the correct and straightfoward path,
And to learn and engage with Self-Enquiry.
The role of the Outer Guru (Outer Teacher)
Wait! How can there be a role for the (outer) guru,
A teacher with a body mind and voice?
Haven’t we already said
That nothing is required,
Nothing outside is required?
All is within us already?
The True Guru is Within?
Please see the following:
If this writing has even in the least been useful to you,
Then you have to acknowledge the utility
And usefulness of the outer teaching;
And this outer teaching
Comes from the (apparent) outer teacher.
If this text has been even slightly useful to you,
Or illuminating or inspiring in any way,
Then you have to concede
The usefulness or helpfulness
Of an outer teaching;
And this outer teaching
Comes from the (apparent) outer teacher.
Just as it is theoretically possible
To learn to play the violin without a teacher,
Just as it is theoretically possible
To learn to play tennis without a teacher,
For some, perhaps most, it will be very difficult
Without a teacher.
The outer teacher,
Whose True Nature is Self,
Can intuitively guide you,
Saving much time and hardship on the journey,
Pointing the way to your own Self.
The teacher does not give you anything new,
Anything you do not already have,
But they show you,
Spontaneously, intuitively, and energetically,
Both through words and Loving Silence,
How to unlock the treasure within yourself.
The Outer Teacher
The Outer Teacher
Whilst ultimately illusory and unnecessary
Teaches both through words
And through ‘their’ Silent Presence,
Which is not ‘theirs’ at all,
– It is your Self.
The purpose of the outer teacher
Is to free you from all teachings and teachers and things,
That is, to discover what you actually are.
Ultimately, everything you need is already within you,
And whilst the apparent outer teacher can help reveal this to you,
How can an (outer) teacher be needed for you to be what you already are?
Follow the guru
The mind (or our thinking),
Is full of ignorance,
And distorted by ignorance.
Following the mind (or our thoughts),
With its (apparent) logic and reason,
Leads us only to more ignorance,
And not to the liberation you seek.
Instead,
Have faith in the words of the true teacher,
Trust in the words of Sri Ramana Maharshi,
Adopt the reasoning he gives us as your own,
Take on the thoughts he gives you as your own thoughts;
This will lead you easily from ignorance to liberation;
Such is the importance of having faith in the guru’s teachings.
On Teachers
Many so-called spiritual or non-dual teachers,
Are narcissists,
And not genuine Sages at all;
Others are well-meaning,
But with a ‘partial awakening’
At best.
Discernment is therefore required,
For a true seeker of The Way.
The True Teacher/Teaching is rare
There are many teachers,
And many teachings,
And all may be part of our apparent journey,
Apparently helping us along the way.
However,
Rare is the True Teacher,
The True Teaching,
That leads us Fully Home
To genuine Self-Realisation;
This is my experience at least.
Self-Enquiry is the Way
Beloved Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi,
My Beloved Guru and Teacher,
Has clearly shown the path in His Teachings;
He explains the Most Direct Path,
Which is also the Easy Path for all,
And ultimately the Only Path,
It is the path of Self-Enquiry,
Also known as Silence or Being.
The path of Self-Enquiry,
Or the practice of Self-Enquiry,
Which is ultimately the Only True Way,
Will later be discovered
Not to be a path
Or a practice
Or a way.
(The actual practice of self-enquiry is explained in detail in the other introductory articles on tomdas.com)
Many Ways, One Way
There are infinite ways to liberation
And all of these are ultimately illusory.
All the apparent various ways,
Culminate in Self-Enquiry,
Like the many varied ways to your Home Address,
Culminate in your front door,
Through which all must pass,
(In this metaphor),
To gain access to the Inner Chamber.
Purification
Purification is not a cleansing process
In which the ego-ignorance
Is progressively thinned or reduced,
No:
Imagine a corridor with many doors in it,
Only one leading to liberation, the Self.
Through trying some of the various other doors,
And realising they do not lead to liberation,
The One Door (of Self-Enquiry) remaining,
The Way to Liberation becoming ever-clearer,
This is how the mind is purified.
Or better still,
Imagine facing a wall of doors,
None of which lead to liberation.
Through trying these various doors,
And seeing how they do not lead to liberation,
The True Path becomes ever clearer:
This is purification of the mind.
Eventually we ask
‘To whom do all these doors appear’?,
‘Who Am I?’,
We metaphorically turn to the Door Within,
Not the various doors without (outside).
Realising more and more that the outer doors
Do not lead to liberation,
And the only way is Within,
Ie. Self Enquiry,
This is purification of the mind.
We can do Self-Enquiry without delay
Those of wisdom and discernment,
Heeding Bhagavan Sri Ramana’s Teachings,
Following and taking on the logic he provides
(In texts like Nan Yar? (Who Am I?)),
Will attend to Self-Enquiry at the outset,
Without delay.
You already know how to do self enquiry
The so-called ‘path’ of Self Enquiry
Is often done incorrectly,
Due to the mind (or thought) and its nature,
Which is wholly ignorance.
The mind (or thought) inevitably distorts the teachings,
Despite it itself saying otherwise,
But in your Heart,
(Which has nothing to do with
The body or mind),
You already know The Way.
Trust Your (innermost True) Self,
And do not Trust
Your body or mind,
including the senses
And the world they perceive.
Trust your innermost Self
And not the body-mind,
Trust the Words and Presence
Of the True Guru,
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi,
Whose Words and Teachings,
Whilst being part of the illusion,
Guide us back to Truth (Self).
Just as a toddler instinctively knows
How to learn to walk,
You already know,
How to do Self-Enquiry:
In fact knowledge of Self
Is even more intimate and intrinsic
Than any other knowledge.
Three things that cannot be explained
These 3 cannot be ultimately explained (in words):
How ignorance came to be,
How to attain liberation,
And how to do the practice that takes one
From (apparent) ignorance to Liberation,
Ie. Self Enquiry.
These three are only ‘understood’ in the Heart,
In Silence.
The True Teaching is ‘Heart to Heart Transmission’,
From the Guru,
In Silence;
Ie. Self to Self transmission,
(Which initially may appear to be a transmission,
But is eventually seen not to be transmission at all,
For how can there be transmission,
Where there is only One?)
Body, Mind and World are Illusion
As long as belief that the body,
Or mind,
Or world,
Are real continues,
Even slightly,
So will ignorance and suffering.
Meditate on this point.
Evil never came to be
Did God create evil?
Did the Holy give rise to suffering?
Did Self give rise to non-self?
Did Non-duality give rise to duality?
Or did these things never really even come to be?
The truth is discovered,
Namely that ignorance never even came to be,
When we discover what we truly are:
Pure Being without another.
One Blissful Spirit
In truth you are without a body,
Or a mind,
Or a world:
As long as these exist,
Even slightly,
That is duality,
That is ego,
That is suffering.
In Truth,
You are That,
One without a second,
Formless (no forms),
Objectless (no objects),
Without appearances,
Total Bliss,
Infinite Love.
Your nature is Pure Knowledge,
Devoid of ignorance, mind and objects,
Pure Oneness-Consciousness-Beingness,
Without beginning or end.
The Law of Attraction
When the illusory nature of the body-mind-world is intuited,
And the Truth of Formless-Objectless-Blissful-Self rises up,
We feel Happy and Whole;
In this Happiness,
Our energy and vibration rising,
And we spontaneously attract good things to us.
This is God’s Grace;
It comes to us naturally, spontaneously,
Effortlessly and unasked for;
It is also known as the Law of Attraction.
Silence
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi gave out His Teachings
Drenched in a rich atmosphere of Silence.
Therefore to access his True Teachings,
(and thereby do Self-Enquiry)
Our minds must also be drenched in Silence.
The Guru aids Self-Enquiry
A great aid to self-enquiry,
Is to be in the Silent Presence
Of One who has Realised
Truth of Self.
Or to merely think of or visualise their Form,
Or repeat their Name,
(or the name or form of one
you genuinely consider to be Divine)
Is also a great aid
for this Self-Discovery.
Therefore,
Thinking of Sri Ramana,
His Name and Form,
Repeating his Name,
Visualising his Form,
Feeling his Silent Power,
Filled with loving affection and devotion,
or likewise with that of the Great Guru,
The Holy Mountain Arunachala,
These are all
Wonderful Aids to Self-Realisation.
Best of all is Self-Abidance
Better still,
However,
Is to Abide as the Self,
Where Love and Knowledge merge,
Self abiding as Self,
Self being Self,
Self beyond Self,
Only Self,
Pure Being,
I AM.
I love to praise Sri Ramana
I love to praise my Guru,
Beloved Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi
As if he were different to my True Self
(which he isn’t).
Praise to Sri Ramana
O! Sri Ramana!
Thank you for your marvellous and wonderful Teachings,
And your Eternal Presence,
Which confer the Delight and Light of Liberation in this life,
To all that turn towards you.
By merely connecting with you
In some or any way,
Liberation is assured,
Like the head (ego) in the tigers mouth.
May you consume me,
Devour me,
So I become one with You,
In Eternal Peace, Love, Light and Bliss.
I bow to you,
I surrender to you,
I give myself to you,
Lovingly,
Happily
Again and again,
You who are actually
Just my own True Self.
Tom Das 