Author: Tom Das
What qualities do I need to realise the Self?
Should I get married & have kids or renounce the world and concentrate on Liberation? Self-Realisation
In this video Tom responds to a question whether to get married and have kids or stay single and concentrate on attaining liberation. Tom warns us to beware of the mind racing towards liberation, which can be egoic.
This video was recorded live during a Satsang meeting with Tom Das and put together by volunteers.
To attend satsang, see here: https://tomdas.com/events/
For ‘guided meditation’ playlist see here: https://www.youtube.com/c/TomDasNonduality/playlist/
For recommended reading for liberation see here: https://tomdas.com/2020/10/19/recommended-reading-books-for-enlightenment-liberation-and-self-realisation/
To book a 1 to 1 session with Tom see here: https://tomdas.com/nondual-spiritual-counsellor/
Q. Why does Advaita Vedanta more commonly refer to ‘Self’ rather than ‘no-self’?
Q. Why does Advaita Vedanta more commonly refer to ‘Self’ rather than ‘no-self’?
Tom: it is because the Non-Dual Reality that we Truly Are is only discovered when we turn towards the sense of ‘I’ or ‘I AM’, otherwise known as ‘Self’. This is the single factor that leads to realisation.
The language of the teaching is there to facilitate the method of discovery of the Self that we truly are, and this discovery is Total Liberation.
How so?
By stating that we are the Self, we are encouraged to discover this for our self in our own experience, and so turn our attention selfwards, ie. towards the Subject or ‘I AM’. When that Self that we are is discovered, only then do notions of Self or no-self themselves become obsolete (ie. in self-realisation there is no concept of self or true self or even of self-realisation).
For those who are interested this is explained in detail in the book The Path of Sri Ramana – Part 1, especially in Chapter 8
Here are 2 verses from Sri Ramana Maharshi (taken from the text Guru Vachaka Kovai):
393.One who has wisely chosen the straight path
Of self-enquiry can never go astray;
For like the bright, clear Sun, the Self
Reveals itself direct to whoso
Turns towards it.
391. Those who do not dive into the Heart
And there confront the Self in the five sheaths hid
Are only students answering out of books
Clever questions raised by books,
And not true seekers of the Self.
Many more verses like this can be found here.
Also see:
The perceived world is the ego! Do thoughts and desires create the Universe? How can physical objects be thoughts? Advaita | Non-duality
Is everything I see ego? Do thoughts create the world? What is ego? What is duality?
This video was recorded live during a Satsang meeting with Tom Das and put together by volunteers.
To attend satsang, see here: https://tomdas.com/events
For guided meditations see the ‘guided meditation’ playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/c/TomDasNonduality/playlists
For recommended reading for liberation see here: https://tomdas.com/2020/10/19/recommended-reading-books-for-enlightenment-liberation-and-self-realisation/
To book a 1 to 1 session with Tom see here: https://tomdas.com/nondual-spiritual-counsellor
The importance of spiritual practice to attain liberation | Sri Ramana Maharshi | Sri Shankara
The following is from a text written by Shankara called Vivekachudamani, as translated by Sri Ramana Maharshi. We will see the following points being made:
- Merely stating ‘I am Brahman’ does not in itself lead to liberation. Similarly we can infer that by mere affirmation of other similar spiritual slogans such as saying ‘I am free’ or ‘I am already the Self’ or ‘there is no ego/self’ or ‘all is already one’, etc, mere affirmation of these does not lead to liberation.
- In order to attain liberation, ignorance must be removed and the Self must directly be experienced.
- Similarly, merely by hearing the truth ‘I am Brahman’ , liberation is not (usually) attained
- One must first hear the truth from someone who has experienced the truth first-hand (for only they will be able to tell you the way to truth)
- Then one must meditate upon the truth heard and experience the truth directly though constant meditation.
- Unless this practice is carried out, maya (aka ignorance) will not be removed and liberation will not be attained.
- Every effort must be made to root out ignorance for liberation to result
‘Just as a person’s sickness is not removed without taking medicine, so too his state of bondage is not removed by scriptural texts such as “I am Brahman” without his own direct experience of the Self. One does not become a king by merely saying, “I am a king”, without destroying one’s enemies and obtaining the reality of power.
‘Similarly, one does not obtain liberation as Brahman Itself by merely repeating the scriptural text “I am Brahman”, without destroying the duality caused by ignorance and directly experiencing the Self.
‘A treasure trove hidden under the ground is not obtained by merely hearing about it, but only by being told by a friend who knows it, and then digging and removing the slab that hides it and taking it out from below the ground.
‘Similarly, one must hear about one’s true state from a Guru who knows Brahman, and then meditate upon It and experience It directly through constant meditation.
‘Without this, the true form of one’s own Self, that is hidden by maya [“that which is not”], cannot be realised through mere argumentation. Therefore, those who are wise themselves make every effort to remove the bondage of individual existence and obtain liberation, just as they would to get rid of some disease.’
Q. Should I bow to Sri Ramana Maharshi? Bhakti, devotion, non-duality & Self-Enquiry
Q. What is ego?
Q. What is ego?
Tom: if there is any sense of individuality whatsoever, then that is ego; if there is any sense or something apart or outside of you, then that is ego; if there is any sense of multiplicity, that is ego; if there is any notion ‘I am the body-mind’, then that is ego. The ego, no matter how refined, is suffering. The ego is the body-mind-world appearance.
In Reality, there has never been any ego, there has never been any duality or multiplicity, there has never been any suffering whatsoever. Reality is only Infinite Love & Bliss, Infinite Being-Consciousness, Formless-Spirit-Bliss.
To realise this one must turn within.
Furthermore:
To say ‘there is no ego’ without turning within and dissolving into Reality – that is merely the ego-mind saying ‘there is no ego’.
To say ‘all is One’ without venturing inwards and discovering the Self (by Being That) – that is merely the ego-mind saying ‘all is One’.
In this way (through not turning within, through not inquiring into the Subject-Self) ego-mind-suffering-duality continue.
Hence the instruction to turn within.
Furthermore:
The true teachings always emphasise the Subject (Reality or Self) and to turn towards and discover That, whereas false teachings emphasise objects, stating things like ‘all these objects are already That so no need to turn within’ and ‘there already is no ego so no need to turn within for what entity could even turn within?’. So egotism, duality and suffering are perpetuated.
Therefore turn within and discover what you truly are
🙏
Tom Das 