Ramana Maharshi: There are not many Jivas/egos/people (Eka Jiva Vada)

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

(Here a questioner asks are there not many jivas? Sri Ramana informs the questioner there is only one jiva)

A question was asked why it was wrong to say that there is a multiplicity of jivas. Jivas are certainly many. For a jiva is only the ego and forms the reflected light of the Self. Multiplicity of selves may be wrong but not of jivas.

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Jiva is called so because he sees the world. A dreamer sees many jivas in a dream but all of them are not real. The dreamer alone exists and he sees all. So it is with the individual and the world.

There is the creed of only one Self which is also called the creed of only one jiva*. It says that the jiva is only one who sees the whole world and the jivas therein.

~Talks 571

*Tom: This is called the doctrine of eka jiva vada (the view there is only a single jiva/ego/person). Our own body-mind, and the body-mind of apparent others are all projections of the Self. Like a dream, it appears we are many, but actually this entire dream world is an illusion, and there is only the Dreamer, the Self, the Consciousness from which all is projected. Tat Tvam Asi, You are That.

The above is an excerpt taken from this longer post that further explores this theme:

Ramana Maharshi: The world should be considered like a dream

Mind and Consciousness | Fully awake in Deep Sleep

~ Tom Das ~ 1 Comment

Q. I have a question. If mind guides us while we are awake and in dream, and in sleep we are not conscious (because mind is switched off), doesn’t that imply mind is what we mistake for ‘consciousness’ or ‘awareness’?

Tom: Yes, that is correct. We consider ourselves to be awake/conscious in both the waking state and the dream (whilst we are dreaming) and asleep/unconscious in deep sleep.

Actually it is just the mind, ie. ignorance/duality, that is awake in ‘waking’ and dream and we are actually fully conscious in deep sleep – it is just the mind that is ‘asleep’.

This is why the in the Bhagavad Gita verse 2:69 it states: ‘What all [ignorant] beings consider as day is the night of ignorance for the wise, and what all [ignorant] creatures see as night is the day for the introspective sage.’

Also see:

Ramana Maharshi on Deep Sleep and Self-Realisation

Ramana Maharshi: the method of wakeful sleep (Jagrat Sushupti) to attain liberation

Deep sleep is Brahman – the three states according to the Birhadaranyaka Upanishad with commentary by Shankara

Neti-Neti is not Self-Enquiry | Ramana Maharshi – The 5 Sheaths (Pancha-Koshas)

~ Tom Das ~ 3 Comments

For more on this topic see this article

Neti-Neti means ‘not this, not that’. Who am I? What am I? Not this, not that. In this context, this and that refers to objects, any object that arises. Notice, when you say neti-neti, not this, not that, it’s the mind saying it. Ramana makes this point, he says when you do neti-neti, you can only do so up to the mind. He’s talking about the teaching of the five sheaths.

This video was recorded live during a Satsang meeting with Tom Das and put together by volunteers.

To see all the guided meditations see the ‘guided meditation’ playlist 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 attend satsang, see here: https://tomdas.com/events.

To book a 1 to 1 session with Tom see here: https://tomdas.com/nondual-spiritual-counsellor/

What is the best way to deal with suffering? | Spiritual Bypassing | Vasanas and conditioning

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

There are two basic paths you can take with suffering. One is pure Self-Enquiry, and just like any other phenomena that is arising, you say “To whom does this occur? To me. Who am I?, in order to direct your attention away from the suffering and the thoughts and go back to the Self.

However, with strong vasanas, strong suffering, you may need to go into Maya and solve these on the level of cause and effect. Just like any other practical problem in life, we can try to solve them on the level of life.

This video was recorded live during a Satsang meeting with Tom Das and put together by volunteers.

To see all the guided meditations see the ‘guided meditation’ playlist 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 attend satsang, see here: https://tomdas.com/events.

To book a 1 to 1 session with Tom see here: https://tomdas.com/nondual-spiritual-counsellor/

Is there really an ‘I’ to be found? Tracing back the ‘I’

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

To the jiva, the individual, a pointer to It is the word ‘I’. It’s like this – if you go into the woods and you take a ball of wool with you, as you walk through the woods, you unwind the wool to leave a trail so you know the way out again so you don’t get lost. The ‘I am’, the ‘I’, is like the ball of wool that you follow to lead you out of the dark forest of ignorance.

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.

Intense fear during meditation, when staying with the I AM

~ Tom Das ~ 1 Comment

Dealing with deep layers of fear and conditioning

Q: Sometimes when my meditation becomes very deep and I stay with the I Am, there comes a sense of the whole world becoming very dark together with a sense of losing myself into something really bad and dark. My body starts to react strongly as well, and it feels like some kind of primal fear arising.

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.