Online Satsang with Tom Das | Advaita with loving devotion to Sri Ramana Maharshi | Online Non-duality meetings | Advaita Vedanta

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

See here for more details

Please join us – all are welcome and no prior knowledge is required.

We meet ONLINE twice every week (every Thursday 8pm and Sunday 3pm UK time).

We meet IN-PERSON on the first Sunday of every month at 2pm UK time and this meeting is also livestreamed on Zoom.

Meetings often start with some Silence followed by some readings, a talk and some questions. The initial silence is a wonderful opportunity for stillness and to put the teachings into practice.

After the meeting there is an opportunity to stay and connect with other people attending the meeting.

To join or find out more please see this link.

Ramana Maharshi: Jnanis and Avatars – Aurobindo, Meher Baba, Krishna, Jesus, Buddha | Ask and ye shall receive Aham Sphurana

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

The following is taken from the text Aham Sphurana, 7th July 1936. Please see here to find out more about this text:

Questioner: Yes, some say Aurobindo is the Avatar of the age, while others say it is Meher Baba; still others say it was the late Sai Baba. Yet others maintain that Sri Krishna was the last Avatar in the Anthropomorphic form, before Kalki Avatar arrives at the time of Cosmic Dissolution. For others it is Buddha, Ramakrishna or Confucius. Will Bhagavan tell us in what way His experience of consciousness is superior to that of these, since, allegedly, they seem to be mere Avatars, and not Jnanis? And really who is the Avatar corresponding to this Era in Mankind’s history, a particularly tumultous one – Germany has announced her intention to rearm herself, an indication of the belligerent attitude of the National Socialist Government? Surely an Avatar is necessary from age to age to look after the world to ensure that mankind’s evil-doing collectively remains lesser than his acts of benignness? Jnanis do not act in the world, except to ensure the merest existence of the physical body, is that not so? So, where is the Avatar who is going to look after our poor mortal selves- and also the world?

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi: Experience of Consciousness, if genuine, naturally precludes ‘others’; thus there is nothing superior or inferior, because there is no second, no other, nothing foreign or alien to or apart from the One Immutable Absolute Self – so the question of comparison is, simply, nullity.

All True Masters are ONE, not because they identify themselves with something in common, but because commonly the faculty of identification [of one thing with another] does not exist in any of them. As for Avatars, each one sees an Avatarapurusha [Tom: purusha means person] according to his own mental convictions and predispositions – to establish the finality of one’s own viewpoint admist others will result only in fruitless skirmishes. You may continue to believe in whatever pleases your own fancy, but expecting corroboration from others for your weltanschauung [Tom: world view] of the universe will serve only to increase your sense of mental unrest and agitate the mind further.

Q.: So the idea of the Avatarapurusha, God-manifest/God-incarnate, who comes down from age to age, is just… a fallacy, only as good as a fairy-tale? Do not the Holy books of the various faiths speak of these blessed beings, whom we might worship – since manifestation makes available a form to worship – so that we might elevate ourselves to the zenith of spiritual perfection and purity, puissance and divinity? Jesus, Mahomet, Zoraster, Buddha – what about them? Specifically does not Krishna say, parithranaya sadhunam… etc.? How can these considerations be ignored?

B.: Your mental predilections and proclivities foist upon you the erronous idea that there is a God outside your Self, and that He sends down messengers to guide you and show you the way to reach Him. If you keep on journeying, you will never reach. Therefore, I say, enough searching – call off the search and be yourself, nothing more. The great masters – each in his own tongue, but each from the same Heart – yearned to give you this message only – BE YOUR SELF.

The Masters you mentioned, and others, each doubtless had – and has and continues to have always – his specific, special or unique role in man’s spiritual evolution, but the zenith spoken of by you will certainly not be reached by discussing the question, ‘How can all of these Mahanubhavars be right? On what points do they contradict themselves? Is it not our imminent task-on-hand to clear up these apparent contradictions and seeming mutual inconsistencies? Will that not endow us with special spiritual merit?’ Men waste entire lifetimes – fruitlessly – like this. This effort, if harnessed fully to keeping one’s Latchiyam [Tom: aim or target or goal] fixed entirely on Self or Reality, would have resulted in Mukthi long ago. Instead, countless lives have been frittered away on account of these wrong and foolish ideas about reaching Truth by using the Buddhi or the resoning faculty, when, in fact, precisely subsidence of that faculty results in revelation of Self or Reality. What a pity.

Q.: It is still not clear. The Avatara Purusha – is he just a mental concept like the gandharvas, rakshasas, bhutas, etc.? Has not this tangible world witnessed the advent of many such great men, Bhagavan himself not excluded?

B.: The trouble arises when we use their teachings to satisfy our intellectual palate and appetite. To the unwise, it does not occur to try and practise, instead of using it as a subject of discussion at gatherings of philosophers and metaphycists.

Therefore I say – Do not try to write essays on it. Do not try to present articles of great erudition on it. Do not try to gain followers for your newly discovered maxim or device-of-apotheosis or precept-of-ancient wisdom. Do not conceptualise it mentally and then, getting trapped in those very concepts, moan and complain that you ‘see no progress’. Do not go on discussing or talking about it. Do not tell yourself, ‘First I shall obtain intellectual mastery over the technique and subsequently shall begin the application thereof.’

Instead – plunge into the practice HERE and NOW; stick to the teachings of any one Mahanubhavar, and all will come right in the end.

Masters are there only to show you the way – man fogs the fulfilment of their purpose by merely theorising or intellectualising about their respective lives, advents and teachings, such as asking – Is this one or that one a Siddhapurusha, Muktha-purusha or an Avatara-purusha? Of course these are your mental concepts only. In fact, the Master, being not at all different from the formless Absolute seated in the tabernacle of the Sacred Heart of Man, is really synonymous with your own True Self – why seek him anywhere else?

Q.: For myself I am now convinced, but I am worried about the hopeless spiritual condition of the world, which seems to be enveloped in profuse darkness. When will all the people of the world wake up to the fact that they are living in the ghastly darkness of ignorance, and understand that the world around them is a dream, so that they can obtain genuine illumination? What about those unfortunate ignorant millions of the world, who have never met a genuine Sadhguru in their life? Supposing their prarabdha-karma dictates that they spend the entireity of their lives being relentlessly tossed around in the evil sea of avidya maya, as a result of the Guru’s accquaintance never coming to transpire- what then? For how many lifetimes more will their ordeal of ignorance have to last, and when at last would such unfortunate ones meet their Guru- so that through Him their redemption could be vouchsafed for certain? Such unfortunate persons, never having had the extreme good fortune of meeting B. during his blessed sojourn on this Earth, which, owing to his stay here has become itself a sanctified land, must needs count themselves exceedingly unlucky- what, therefore, would Bhagavan have them do? What can they do? What will be their fate?

B.: The fate of each one depends upon his merit. Take care of yourself and others can take care of themselves.

This answer was evidently not to the questioner’s liking. He seemed to toy with the idea of placing forth additional arguments before Bhagavan as to why mercy ought not to be showered in profusion upon the ‘ignorant’ masses of the world, until Chadwick pacified him with the following words:-

“Bhagawan has said that when longing for God or intensity of meditation has reached a feverish intensity/pitch, the Guru automatically manifests before the devotee.”

Even then, the man seemed about to say something, when the Hall’s attention was riveted by Bhagavan’s voice suddenly reading from Scripture the words of a Jewish Carpenter no less a genius in the realm of Spirit, the heartthrob of many a lonley, man-forsaken soul yearning for Divine acceptance –

“Ask, ye shall receive; Seek, ye shall find; Knock, it shall be opened unto thee.”

What Makes Bhagavan Ramana’s Teachings Unique And/Or Right For You?

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

This is part II, and follows the same theme of questions as the video, entitled, What Do You Like About Bhagavan Ramana’s Teachings? What Do You Like About The Way Tom Shares Them? 

Please let us know in the comments below if you had any insights into the Satsang members responses after watching this video. Did you resonate with what people said? Do you feel drawn to Ramana and his teachings for different reasons?

Many of us are very grateful for the way Tom Das shares Ramana’s teachings. (This Satsang member is sure I wouldn’t understand them or be able to take them to heart if it wasn’t for Tom’s guidance and presence!) Is there anything about the way Tom teaches that supports you on your spiritual  journey?

We would love to hear from you if you are inspired to share. As you may see from these two videos, the sharing and reflections serve all of us.

This video was recorded live during a Satsang meeting with Tom Das on March 23rd, 2025 and put together by volunteers.

To download full unedited satsang recordings see here: https://payhip.com/tomdas

Talking to Ramana, channelling entities, channelling Jesus or Ramana or Buddha

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Hi Tom,
I couldn’t resist making a video of this great satsang, just so the message can sink in better.
Much gratitude and all the best to you.

———

Tom gives this teaching after an intimate exchange between himself and a satsang participant in which they discuss her experience of seeing Ramana as a friend, a buddy, who is always with her and guides her. But eventually ‘he’ morphs into a sort of disciplinarian who is constantly setting rules for her, changing these rules, and causing her suffering. Through a 1 on 1 meeting with Tom she had discovered that this was actually a projection of the ego talking to her, not Ramana at all.

Tom goes on to explain that when we have the experience of Ramana speaking to us as a separate entity, we run the risk of actually believing this entity is like a separate person talking to us when in fact this is the mind speaking to itself. It is not the Self, nor is it the historical person speaking to us, it is a projection of our mind, our ‘higher intuition.’

There is nothing wrong with this, it can in fact be very helpful, as long as we realise it is all happening in our mind, there is no ‘higher power’ telling us what to do, there is no actual person speaking to us.

Tom continues to discuss those teachers who claim to be channelling historical figures like Jesus or Ramana. This too can be very helpful, there can be much wisdom in these teachings, but they are talking to a figment of their imagination. There is a lot of distortion and ‘gobbledygook, ́ and in the end, these teachings are not liberating. Why? Because we all have access to higher wisdom, but that wisdom is limited by the ego’s distortions. If that were not the case, we wouldn’t need the outer guru, a satsang or any books of Ramana’s teachings. We could just follow this inner voice.

A helpful relationship we can have with Bhagavan is just the relationship with our Self, our true nature, not anything outside of us.

This video was recorded live during a Satsang meeting with Tom Das on February 19, 2026 and put together by volunteers. To download full unedited satsang recordings see here: https://payhip.com/tomdas

To attend satsang, see here: https://tomdas.com/events

The Role of Peace and Bliss on the Path of Liberation

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Is peace and bliss the goal? Or is the experience of peace and bliss just another attachment for the ego to get trapped by? Perhaps peace and bliss and happiness…have something helpful to offer seekers on their journeys to awakening?

Tom explores these questions in this video

Ramana Maharshi on Aurobindo’s Intergral Yoga – bringing Divinity back down into the world after Self-Realisation | Aham Sphurana

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

The following is taken from the text Aham Sphurana, 7th July 1936. Please see here to find out more about this text:

Questioner: I am aware that Bhagavan is a solipsist. However, to dismiss all human problems as being imaginary requires a giant leap of faith towards the Idealism end of the spectrum.

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi: It merely needs disillusionment with materialism.

Q.: According to Sri Aurobindo’s claims, he has probed beyond the experience of the Vedic Rishis. What is Sri Bhagavan’s opinion? Is it authentic or not?

B.: Aurobindo’s talk of bringing down divine consciousness from above overlooks the same being already Self-effulgent in the Heart. Reality simply IS. Where arises the question of moving it from place to place, etc.? People keep asking me about Sri Aurobindo’s yoga system; and if I give my reply according to my capacity, they go away disgruntled saying, “These Jnanis are always contradicting each other.” What can I do?

Q.: What about Sri Aurobindo’s claim that one must commence from Self-Realisation and then proceed to bring down the Divine to the Earth?

B.: Let us first Realize and then discuss, if need be; not now.

[Tom’s comments: Sri Aurobindo’s view was that once the truth was realised, it should be ‘brought back down’ into the level of the world, in what he called Purna Yoga or Intergral Yoga. Sri Aurobindo rejected the notion of Shankara or Vedanta that the world was unreal or ‘maya’, stating that the world is a real expression of the divine, and that the purpose of spiritual teachings is not nirvana or escape from samsara, but instead to enrich and enliven the lives of people here in this world and help people live divine lives here on Earth. Sri Aurobindo felt that the Vedic rishi’s had discovered the Truth, but had not learnt to or were not able to or even inclined to bring it back down to Earth, and that the notion of the world being an illusion was a result of the failure to bring the Divine back down to the Earth.

Here is a link to a chapter on Integral Yoga by Sri Aurobindo for those interested on these points, where he defines Purna Yoga and explains his view on the above points I have made: https://sri-aurobindo.co.in/workings/sa/37_28/02_004_e.htm

Sri Ramana in response to the questioner is saying how can Truth be ‘moved’ anywhere, let alone ‘back down’ into the world? ‘Reality simply IS’. The implication is that the very notion of bringing truth back into the world is based on ignorance or non-realisation of the actual truth]

Q.: What is the ultimate purpose of a man’s life?

B.: To find an answer to the question of “Why am I, apparently, limited to, and therefore by, a body? Am I nothing more?”. This question finally resolves itself into the question of “Who am I, who am apparently bound by this limitation of being or carrying a body?”. This much is certain: one who foolishly takes his bodily existence for granted, who thinks that it is an inevitable finality that he is, in fact, born, will never succeed in the Quest no matter what austerities or penance he might perform.

Only the Unborn can know the Unborn. The Unborn knows itself only – that is, it knows no birth or death. The intellectual understanding that the bodily existence is futile, undesirable, useless and delusory is the very first step towards Realisation. If you accept the existence of limitations [Tom: eg. if you accept or start with the premise that you are a body-mind entity, or that the world is real], any Sadhana performed will have precisely only one result – it will make the Ego grow stronger and stronger and stronger. One who wants to transcend limitation should cease to imagine himself to be limited – that will do; yes, it indeed is as simple as that. Instead of simply giving up the unreal, people want to do Sadhana to eradicate it! Is it not funny?!

Q.: Is Sadhana not useful?

B.: Only if it is done without assuming the existence of limitations. The only useful Sadhana is the investigation “Who am I?”. Everything else is just “release-of-concept-gas” [movement of mental ideas or churning of vrittis within the mind], because existence of limitations is implicitly assumed and accepted. If non-existent limitations are accepted to exist, how can any Sadhana performed on the basis of that wrong acceptence have any use, and how can such spurious Sadhana help you transcend those very limitations?

Q.: The logic seems to suggest that the Self can be discovered by the mind.

B.: The dead mind becomes the Self or discovers itself to be the Self.

Q.: I understand Nietzsche talks about the concept of Eternal Reccurrance of the same in Also sprach Zarathustra. Does B. agree with it? Each time the universe is recreated after the cosmic dissolution, does it exactly repeat itself? If that were to be true, both free-will and Self-Realisation would be impossible. If everything is going to unfold now exactly as it did previously, my incumbent free will is obviously just a myth. If everything is going to unfold in exactly the same manner in the future as now, I am never going to escape from the cycle of births and deaths!

B.: All these are only mental concepts. Even now you are not born. Realize it.

Q.: The body was born.

B.: Are you it?

Q.: It is part of me – Bhagavan’s teachings tell me that I am Brahman and therefore immanent everywhere.

B.: Leave Brahman alone. Talk about yourself first. Who are you?

Q.: I really don’t know… I am Pure Consciousness, is it not?

B.: Is Pure Consciousness now conversing with me? Is it is saying, “I am Brahman.”, etc.?

Q.: Then what is the answer?

B.: The effortless thought-free state is the answer.

Q.: How to attain it?

B.: There is no question of attaining anything. BE – don’t ask how to be. It is your very nature.

Q.: I am unable to realize it.

B.: This is also only a thought. Get rid of it and all will be well.

Q. I have heard of the Jnana-vichara technique expounded by Sri Bhagavan. How could asking oneself the question ‘Who am I?’ lead to transcendence of mind, when asking the question itself is only an activity initiated and sustained on the level of the mind?

B.: The vichara begins with the mind and ends in the Self. Mind turned fully inward discovers itself to be the Self.

Chadwick was asked by Bhagavan to give the man Bhagavan’s ‘Who am I?’ to read. He read it and then asked –

Q.: I find it shocking to consider seriously Advaita’s proclamation that the Jagrat state [Tom: waking state] is nothing better than a dream. It amounts to saying that I am now dreaming whereas I believe to the contrary, that whatever I am experiencing through the senses exist independantly of my perception thereof… How is it that the numerous disciples of yours – or followers or devotees or worshippers or afficionados or whatever it is that one would be justified in calling them take gladly to the idea that the world – the same world they experience everyday – is a dream?

B.: You say it is the same world you saw yesterday that you are seeing today. How do you know that? Through memory. Memories are also illusory. They create a deceptive fabric of intellectual continuity where in fact none exists.

What actually exists is only Beingness or Self. Even in dreams you have memories, go to familiar places, etc. How is it? Jagrat or Swapna, the same mind draws the poisonous veil of objectification or differentiation over the pure Self, hiding it. This veil is called the screen of avidya maya. Don’t ask, who cast this veil? Instead, ask, who sees the veil? Then you will see there was never any veil. This is called Self-Realisation. The desire to do sadhana to attain it is itself meaningless because it presupposes the existence of someone apart from the Self who is doing Sadhana to reach the Self.

Q.: Is it the realisation you speak of as Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi? Should I not do any Sadhana? Is Sadhana useless then?

B.: Yes, it is the same realisation. Sadhana is the means to gain the Self. Only the idea “I am doing Sadhana” renders the Sadhana totally pointless and useless. Sadhana becomes natural if attraction to worldly pleasures stands removed. Desire for worldly pleasures take to their heels when you realise the world is only a dream.

Q.: I still find it impossible to believe this solid world could only be a mere dream.

B.: [smiling] Two different categories of spiritual aspirants or sadhakas exist. One is the Spülauftrag [Kritopasaka] and the other is the Wischauftrag [Akritopasaka]. [Bhagavan sometimes used words in the questioner’s native tongue to drive the impact home, or where technical terms were involved.]

[Tom: Kritopasaka refers to those who have done sadhana previously, eg. in a previous life, and so who are mature seekers, akriopasaka is the opposite; Spulauftrag (‘rinsing task’) means that task which only needs to be washed or rinsed, whereas Wischauftrag (‘wiping task’) refers to a task in which some wiping or scrubbing is first required before rinsing/washing can take place]

The former is born with the intellectual conviction, born of aeons of serious and steadfast spiritual practice directed along the correct channel [that of making the mind turn Selfwards or Sourcewards], that the cosmos he sees around him is the merest of illusions, and that expending one’s mental faculties upon it would be the ruin of one’s inherent nature of abiding peace and unshakeable happiness; whereas the latter is shocked and unsettled when informed that there is no difference – for all practical purposes – between the Jagrat [Tom: waking] and swapna [Tom: dream] states.

The firm intellectual conviction that the perceived cosmos is seen, owing to delusion, as being constituted by multiple disparate entities while the truth is that it is vested in the same Substratum, Adhishtanum [Tom: substratum], or Sadhvasthu [Tom: Sad = true or real; vastu = thing or substance or reality] as the Seer, is born only as a result of arduous spiritual practice which is possible only if the Sadhguru’s abundant Grace is available as a catalyst, which Grace descends unto him alone who perpetually bathes his heart in the effulgent glow of unselfish and non-reciprocation-expecting love of God, Humanity or any other single-minded ideal of pure, ecstatic devotion or parabhakti, and this intellectual conviction [as to the world’s objective unreality] is the seed of Jnana that grows into the tree that chokes the poisonous weed of Egotism or Ahankara at its root, destroying it once and for all, such seed having been planted long ago in the fathomless, dark misty depths of the mind by way of the Supremely merciful glance of Grace of the infinitely compassionate Sadhguru.

Q.: So, the widely held perception that without a Guru, even Atmajigyasa [Tom: the desire for self-knowledge], leave alone Atmasakshatkara [Tom: Self-realisation], is totally impossible, is…?

[he left his words trailing in the air, for the Sage to rythimically conclude,]

B.: Unequivocally and absolutely correct.

Facing Death, Finding the Eternal | Michael Langford Readings with Tom Das

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

In this Satsang with Tom Das, a participant shares two powerful readings from Michael Langford’s book How To Practice The Teachings—including the striking story of “The Cricket” and a contemplation on death, impermanence, and the Eternal.

He describes how, in the midst of a serious family health crisis and a very busy work period, these simple words brought him unexpected stillness, calm and peace. He calls Michael Langford’s writings “a breath of fresh air for anyone who wants to know the truth.”

Tom agrees and explores how deeply reflecting on the brevity of life reveals the urgency of turning inward now, rather than postponing our spiritual practice for “later.” The Eternal, the Self, and Bhagavan are pointed to as one and the same—our true nature, beyond change.


If you are going through stress, loss, illness or anxiety, this Satsang invites you to:
-Turn toward the Beloved when life feels overwhelming
-Remember that everything sensed and thought is temporary
-Rest in what really matters: knowing the Eternal within

Watch to the end to sit with Tom and this Satsang member in a field of honesty, vulnerability and genuine practice—and let these teachings point you back to the Eternal Beloved Self that never comes and goes.

#TomDas #Satsang #MichaelLangford #Nonduality #SelfInquiry #EternalSelf #SpiritualAwakening #InnerPeace #SpiritualPractice #Impermanence

This video was recorded live during a Satsang meeting with Tom Das on January 22nd, 2026 and put together by volunteers.

Sri Ramana Maharshi – Q. If Ajata-Advaita is the truth, then why do you recommend Bhakti to some? LET GO OF EVERYTHING | Aham Sphurana

~ Tom Das ~ 1 Comment

Questioner: When Sri Bhagavan is actually of the opinion that Ajata-advaita is the only truth, why does he recommend Bhakti to some people who come here? Is it not doing them an injustice?

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi: What do you know about Bhakti?

Q.: I know that it posits duality by making the sadhaka [Tom: seeker] presuppose the existence of a personal God; whereas, according to Bhagavan, from the stand-point of Truth or Reality the personal God does not exist at all.

B.: When, as a result of supreme unconditional Love for God, the mind melts away without the slightest trace of residue, it is Realisation of the non-dual Self.

Q.: My question is why people are not being discouraged by Bhagawan from continuing their dualistic practices of ritual worship, when the personal God does not even exist according to the Ajata-advaita school, which is the system of philosophy endorsed by Bhagawan.

B.: Worship of name and form is also a means to Realise the Nameless and Formless, provided there is motiveless Love- that is to say, unconditional surrender.

Q.: How so?

B.: Obsessive fixation on any one particular thought to the exclusion of all else, is the way. The one who does Jnana-vichara asks himself ‘Who-am-I?’ every time a thought occurs. The thought disappears and he is re-absorbed into the current of pure consciousness. The one who yearns in fathomlessly intense longing Love for God severs thoughts as and when they arise, by telling himself that it is not for him to think thoughts in which his beloved finds no place. Always immersed in thoughts of his beloved, he speedily reaches the stage where it has become fully obvious to him that rather than think about his beloved and thus cognise him indirectly, he might experience his beloved directly by feeeling-contact, which is the same as self-immersion in the current of divine Love latent in the sadhaka always. Is this current different from pure consciousness? No. So, Bhakti or Jnana, the aim is the same: total destruction of thought. Only those desperate to escape from samsara, no matter what the cost or price might be, Realise; the others remain sadhakas.

Imagine you have fallen into a cataleptic condition caused by an unfortunate concussion to the head. You are mistaken for dead and deposited inside an opulent ebony-wood coffin. The exquisitely carved lid is nailed shut and you are lowered deep into the bowels of the earth. Next the earth is filled in, a monumental stela is erected over the spot, eulogies are read out and then everybody disperses. Minutes later you wake up and all the sensory information that your brain had been unconsiously registering all this while flashes in upon you in a moment. Being trapped in this situation, the same exact desperation you would feel then, if you are able to feel now for being stuck in samsara – for there is not much difference – Realisation is assured; else you may go on contentedly telling yourself, ‘Once I am done with these my toilsome wordly responsibilities, I shall focus myself exclusively to the cause of discovery of my true Self…’ or other similar drivel, life after imaginary life…

Have you seen fish captured in a net? The complacent ones become food, but some jump about so uncontrollably that they manage to fall back into the ocean. Likewise, Sri Ramakrishna describes a high-souled creature known as the Homa bird. For one who is wont to postpone Realisation to the future, this ‘future’ never arrives. Till he goes to the grave, one concern after the other occupies him. Increasingly frustrated, each time he tells himself, ‘Immediately after solving this problem I shall be in a position to commence my steadfast sadhana, which even the heavens will not be able to shake…

But let me wait until this one last fleeting problem is solved, for I do not want anything else to occupy my attention once I have commenced my assiduous sadhana…’. Invariably, once one problem is over the next reveals itself soon after. It is like chasing your own shadow when the sun is behind you. Can you ever catch it? Therefore, Realisation is in the here and now. When Hanuman was asked what day of the week it was, he said, ‘Brother, I know naught about these things. To me only Rama exists.’. So, that is the attitude of the ideal sadhaka. Mundane matters do not succeed in gaining access to his mind. Yet he may be impeccably discharging countless professional and household duties. The onlooker might think, ‘Oh! poor man. What an encumbered life is this!’. In fact one who has altogether surrrendered is not doing anything.

Q.: Should not one try to discover one’s true Self by the dint of one’s own efforts, rather than soliciting the assistance of imaginary deities, who really do not exist at all, according to Bhagavan’s teaching?

B.: If you are real in this body and mind they are too. You cannot be selective in your approach to the Truth.

Q.: My body is a tangible physical existence. The gods mentioned in the scriptures are not to be found anywhere.

B.: The one fiction is gross; the other is subtle.

Q.: How long should Jnana-vichara be practised?

B.: Until the natural state is regained. Consider this ancient story from Thracia:

Once upon a time, a hungry fox, seeing some bread and meat left behind by shepherds in the hollow of an aged oak-tree, stealthily crept into the hole and obtained for himself a hearty meal. When he finished eating, his stomach was so full that he was not able to get out. He began to groan and lament his fate.

Another Fox passing by heard his cries, and coming up, inquired the cause of his complaining. On learning what had happened, he said unto him, “Ah! you will have to remain there, my friend, until you become such as you were when you crept in; and then you will easily get out.”

So, without regaining the primal state of mind, escape from the infernal abyss known as samsara is not possible.

Q.: What is this natural state of the mind?

B.: Subjective-awareness-sustained-effortlessly-and-volitionlessly.

Q.: How can I not make an effort to do something and yet do it? It sounds quixotic and ridiculous.

B.: You are so used to doing that your true nature of restful non-doing has become alien to you. Since your departure from the natural state has plunged you into an ocean of unending activity, you are become quite alienated from your natural state of blissful inactivity. So you are framing the absurd question, ‘What can I do to regain the natural state?’. It is like asking, ‘In order for the maximum amount of light to be facilitated to spill forth from this lantern, in what position shall I hold my hand in front of the lens?’. If you simply take your hand away, the light shines clear and bright. So, let go of the ego, and the Self is revealed.

But people will not understand this. They want formulas, concepts, methods – in short, they want something they can ‘do’. Whenever they have wanted something in their lives, they have done something to obtain it, and probably succeeded. So they think Enlightenment can also be won this way.

Many charlatans also cater to the psychological requirements of such gullible people, prescribing mental exercises for them that plunge their minds into a state of delibrately sustained bliss; thus, the poor victims think they have successfully Enlightened themselves! [laughs] Alas, no! No amount of doing or ‘meditating’ can reveal the Self. The loftiest, most useful and most legitimate advice that can be given to an aspirant for Realisation is simply Summa Iru [Tom: ‘Just be’ or ‘be still’].

But people want a formula by means of which this can be acheived: therefore the Jnana-vichara is prescribed. One who is desperate enough in his want to Realise will not waste time in gossip; he will abandon everything; thus, only the Self remains.

Do not be attached to the body and do not aim at satisfaction of the never-ending requirements of the personal self; these are transient, illusory appearances in the One Real THAT. Whatever is born will certainly die. What is perishable is bound to perish. Why entrust your attachment unto something that is doomed to disappear one day?

Samsara is like a glowing red iron rod that one holds in one’s hand, wearing the glove of avidya maya. The evil power of avidya maya never allows the full might of the misery of samsara to impress itself upon your mind; nor is the pain withheld altogether. If you were to actually feel the full heat of the iron rod, you would instantly drop it, and avidya maya would be cheated out of her fun. So, the pain is given to you in manageable doses, so that you think foolishly, ‘Oh! this life is a mixture of happiness and sorrow.’; such an attitude allows the yearning for more experience of samsara to be still present in you.

One who longs for God with all his heart is helped by God in the following manner: the glove is forcibly ripped apart. So, one who is a devout Bhakta may sometimes have to face stupendous tragedies that may make people remark, ‘This is how God rewards his most sincere worshippers.’. This sarcastic statement is actually true in the literal sense. Whilst the glove is still on you can never be persuaded into dropping the red iron rod; once it is gone, discarding the furiously hot rod is inevitable, because, now, unlike before, the pain is too enormous to manage. ‘Totally letting go of all the mind’s contents’ is the only sadhana that is effective for Realisation, not ‘destroying the mind’. Mind, being fictitious, cannot be destroyed anymore than it is possible to kill a snake that one sees in a rope. When we talk of manonasha, it merely refers to a state where the illusion of the world is absent: that is all. How are you going to destroy what never was and what cannot be? If you want Realisation, all you need to do is this: LET GO OF EVERYTHING. In fact, all who have Realised have done only this in the end, having given up all sadhana to be useless skulduggery.

Q.: Is sadhana not necessary to Realise?

B.: The only genuine sadhana is to give up all sadhana. The aim of all practices is only to give up all practices.

[Tom’s comments: ‘give up all practices means to give up all practices’ together with the ‘I’ that is doing them; if only the former is given up, ignorance or the ‘I thought’ still remains, and this is not liberating]

The above excerpt is taken from Aham Sphurana, 28th July 1936, see here for more information on this text.

Ramana, Birthdays & The Deathless | Sri Ramana Teachings

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

In this Satsang moment with Tom Das, we explore death, non‑duality and the deathless truth that is never born and never dies. In this short clip that follows a longer talk on death, recorded in the video “Facing Death, Finding The Eternal”, Tom shares why Ramana Maharshi felt it made no sense to celebrate his birthday, and points us back to the timeless Self beyond birth and death. Tom also speaks about the dangers of organized religion when it loses its living spirit, the importance of not throwing out the “baby with the bath water,” and the risks of so‑called new religions that claim to offer a brand‑new way to the same eternal truth. With a gentle tone and the occasional hard‑hitting insight, this satsang invites you to question second‑hand beliefs and look directly at the unchanging awareness that you are.

This video was recorded live during a Satsang meeting with Tom Das on January 22nd, 2026 and put together by volunteers.

To download full unedited satsang recordings see here: https://payhip.com/tomdas

To attend satsang, see here: https://tomdas.com/events

For guided meditations see the ‘guided meditation’ playlist here:     / tomdasnonduality  

For recommended reading for liberation see here: Recommended Reading: Books for Enlightenment, Liberation and Self-Realisation