Non-duality

The Self can Never be a Witness

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

The Self is not a witness at all, and it can never be a witness in Truth, but as long as we think we are a body-mind entity, and as long as we see a world outside of or apart from ourself, the Self is indicated or pointed out as being the Subject or the Witness merely for the purposes of the teaching.

When in Self-Enquiry we turn our attention away from the objects, which means we turn our attention away from the various gross and suble phenomena that are perceived, and towards the Subject or Self (‘Witness’), also known as the I AM or the 1st person, eventually the ego-mind which takes itself to be a body-mind entity dissolves or dies and all that is left is the Subject-Witness-Self.

This Self can no longer truly be said to be either a Subject (for there are no objects present), nor can it be said to be a Witness, as there is nothing to witness. It is All, it is the Sole Reality, ‘One without a second’, as it is often described as being in the Upanishads.

Hence Bhagavan Ramana is recorded as saying:

If you refrain from looking at this

Or that or any other object

Then by that overpowering look

Into absolute Being you become

Yourself the boundless space of pure

Awareness which alone is Real Being.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Guru Vachaka Kovai, Verse 647

The ego/mind, when attending to objects, considers itself to be an object (the body-mind). However, when the ego attends or pays attention to itself (also known as the I-sense, or first person, or I am), and in so doing no longer pays attention to the objects it was previously attending or paying attention to, it discovers its true nature without objects, ie it’s true formless nature, then it has actually discovered its actual or real nature which is Self.

This is why Sri Ramana states In Day by Day with Bhagavan:

‘The mind turned inwards is the Self; turned outwards, it becomes the ego and all the world’

🙏

No need to convince others | Non-duality & Advaita

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Everybody has their own path. Traditionally one is encouraged to follow one’s own path and allow others to follow their path, trusting that the One Power is guiding us all in the way that is most beneficial for each of us.

We are therefore encouraged NOT to convince others to adopt our own point of view, for this becomes another distraction on our own path as well as a dissipation of our own energies. Ultimately there are no others, and so this kind of discourse in which we try to convince others as to the superiority of our own view becomes a grand detour into illusion.

This does not mean that we cannot share our own spiritual insights and thoughts, but that we should tread lightly and lovingly in how we share. We can acknowledge that we do not necessarily have all the answers for everyone else, and that different teachings suit different people at different times.

All teachings and teachers have their place, even the ones we may not like!It is said in the Bhagavad Gita:

3.26 Let not the wise disrupt the minds of the ignorant who are attached to action. They should not be encouraged to refrain from work, but to engage in work in the spirit of devotion.

and

3.29 The person of knowledge should not confuse the mind of those people of imperfect understanding who, deluded by the Gunas [Energies or Forces] of Nature, are attached to action in the material world.

❤️❤️❤️ 🙏🙏🙏 ❤️❤️❤️

Conscious sleep (Jagrat Sushupti) is Self-knowledge | Sri Ramana Maharshi | Guru Vachaka Kovai

~ Tom Das ~ 2 Comments

959. O men who, caught by the dangerous snares of the world and struck by the sharp arrows of cruel miseries, are suffering greatly and are wandering in search of the attainment of supreme bliss, the sleep in which there is no loss of consciousness [i.e. wakeful sleep or jagrat-sushupti] alone is the imperishable happiness.

~Sri Ramana Maharshi, Guru Vachaka Kovai

Commentary by Sri Sadhu Om:

”The sleep in which there is no loss of consciousness’ [arivu-azhiya tukkam] means only the state of Self-knowledge.

‘Here consciousness [arivu] means prajna or the knowledge of one’s own existence, and not the knowledge of other things.

‘That which knows other things is not true knowledge [see Ulladu Narpadu verse 12]. The state we call sleep is the state in which we know no other things, not even the body.

‘The state we call waking is the state in which, along with the knowledge of one’s own existence [‘I am’], there is also knowledge of other things.

‘The state in which we remain conscious merely of our own existence, like in waking, but in which the mind [the knower of other things] does not rise, like in sleep, is called the state of conscious sleep or wakeful sleep.

‘Since no other thing is known in this state, it is a sleep; and since one’s own existence is shining clearly there, it is a state of consciousness or waking.’

960. Those who are sleeping, having given up the habit of [going out through] the deceitful senses and having become established in the heart-lotus, are those who are awake in the abode of real knowledge [mey-jnana]. Others are those who are asleep, being immersed in the dense darkness of this unreal world [poy-jnala].

~Sri Ramana Maharshi, Guru Vachaka Kovai

Satsang meeting recordings now available for download from the ‘Shop’ at tomdas.com – OPENING 50% SALE | Satsang with Tom Das

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Dear all

Satsang recordings are now available to download from the ‘Shop’ here at tomdas.com, both as audio and/or video. Just click on ‘shop’ at the top banner to find them. Please allow me to take this opportunity to thank the volunteers who helped with this process.

To celebrate these recordings being available for the first time, for the next 7 days there will be an OPENING 50% SALE on all items – just enter the coupon code ‘OPENINGSALE‘ at the checkout.

There is an even greater discount available to those who regularly attend satsang – I have already shared this code on Thursday and will do so again at the next few satsang meetings.

I know some of you have been asking for this functionality for sometime now, so I hope this helps you better access the teachings.

There may be some initial teething issues, so do let me know if there is anything I need to address or improve upon.

With thanks & namaste

Tom

‘Bhagavan Ramana, sweet nectar of bliss’ – a poem by Markus

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

This beautiful poem was sent to me by Markus, someone who attends satsang with me, with the following note and is posted with his permission – many thanks to Markus for writing it and to Bhagavan Sri Ramana for inspiring us all:

‘Hi Tom! Being empowered by our 1-to-1, I wrote a thank you poem for Bhagavan and also for You:’

OM NAMO BHAGAVATE SRI RAMANAYA

Bhagavan, my Lord
You are my teacher
You are my savior
You are my protector
You are my Only One

Bhagavan Ramana, sweet nectar of bliss
where is pain, when You are here
where is confusion, when You destroy it all
where is destiny, when there is Your Self-Enquiry
where is isolation, when Your Love shines in every face

O, my Guru, my Bhagavan
Glory to You, master of the universe
Glory to You, my perfect friend
Glory to You, raging fire of wisdom
Glory to You, eternal peace

OM SRI ARUNACHALA RAMANAN
OM TAT SAT

Everyone has Self-Knowledge, the Self is ever-realised | Sri Ramana Maharshi

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Everyone has self-knowledge. Self knowledge is the Self. They are one and the same. Sri Ramana Maharshi says in Talks, no 280:

‘There is no moment when the Self is not nor when the Self is not realised.’

and

‘Even now you are Self-realised.’

The problem is ignorance, meaning thinking you are the body-mind entity. Both thinking and the body-mind themselves are mere superimpositions.

When this ignorance/superimposition has been removed, then only the Self remains. That is called Self-knowledge or the Self. Sri Ramana says in Talks 462:

‘Being the Self one remains always realised, only be free from thoughts [Tom: ie. superimpositions].’

And in Talks 490:

‘The Self is always realised. But only you do not recognise the fact. The Realisation is now obscured by the present world-idea.[Tom: ie. superimposition of the body-mind-world]’

This Self-knowledge is not knowledge in the mind, which is something that comes and goes, and this Self-Knowledge is not for the body-mind at all.

It is described as being unborn and eternal by the great sages. It cannot be taught, only obstacles (ie. ignorance) is to be removed by turning within. Sri Ramana Maharshi says in Talks 282:

‘The Guru does not bring about Self-Realisation. He simply removes the obstacles to it. The Self is always realised.’

And in Talks 164:

‘Seek within. The Self is always realised.’

And talks 490 this same point above in made again, but the importance of the desire for liberation is also stated by Bhagavan:

‘The Self is always realised. The Realisation is now obscured. When the veil is removed the person feels happy at rediscovering the ever-realised Self. The ever-present Realisation appears to be a new Realisation. Now, what should one do to overcome the present ignorance. Be eager to have the true knowledge. As this eagerness grows the wrong knowledge diminishes in strength until it finally disappears.’

May we be desirous of Self-Realisation, that Realisation which ever-is.
May we be blessed by Sri Ramana’s Grace and Presence, that is our very Own Self.
May be receive the True Teaching that is created by our own Desire (for Liberation)

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

Attend for FREE – Tom Das speaking at ‘Many Paths, One Self’ conference this Saturday 22nd April 16:30pm UK time

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

This Saturday 22nd April I’ll be speaking at the ‘Many Paths, One Self’ conference at 16:30pm UK time.

Please use this afffiliate link to register and attend for free.


Who can conceive of the state of the Jnani? Sri Sadhu Om | The true nature of the Jnani. The true nature of Jnana | Advaita Vedanta | Sri Ramana Maharshi

~ Tom Das ~ 1 Comment

The following verse is taken from Guru Vachaka Kovai verse 1105 followed by commentary by Sri Sadhu Om, a direct devotee of Sri Ramana Maharshi’s who spent several years with him. Guru Vachaka Kovai is recognised as being the most authoritative exposition of Sri Ramana Maharshi’s verbal teachings, and can be downloaded in full here. For this particular verse, Sri Ramana Maharshi has also re-written the verse so we have 2 forms of the same verse:

1105. The Jnani, the unchanging one, who is sleeping naturally within the body, does not know His activities [vyavahara] in the world, His absorption [nishtha] and His sleep, just as one who is sleeping in the cart does not know the moving of the cart, its standing still and its lying [with the bullocks unyoked].

The above verse was rewritten by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi in the form of the following verse, which is also included in Ulladu Narpadu – Anubandham (Supplement to 40 verses on reality) as verse 31:

B21. To the knower of the reality [mey-jnani], who is asleep within the fleshy body, which is [like] a cart, His activities [in waking and in dream], His absorption [nishtha] and His sleep are similar to the moving of the cart, its standing still and the cart being unyoked, to one who is sleeping in the cart

Commentary by Sri Sadhu Om: The bodily life of a Jnani appears to be real only from the perspective of others. So ignorant people [ajnanis] think, “This Jnani is performing activities here in the waking state.”

But since the Jnani is verily bodiless, He does not know those activities; to Him the body and its activities are completely non-existent.

Just as the traveler who is sleeping in a bullock cart does not know the movement of the cart, and just as a sleeping child does not know that he is taking food, so also the Jnani does not know the state in which the body, the senses and the mind are active.

When the body, the senses and the mind of a Jnani remain without activities, people think, “This Jnani is in samadhi.” This is similar to the state where the oxen remain yoked to the cart but are motionless. Even this state of samadhi or nishtha is not known to the Jnani; for Him it is completely non-existent. When people think, “This Jnani is sleeping,” this state of apparent deep sleep in which his body, his senses and his mind seem to be unconscious, is similar to the cart that is with the unyoked oxen.

Just as the fact that the car is undone is not known to the traveler who sleeps in the car, so also the state of deep sleep is not known to the Jnani; for him this state it is completely non-existent.

Therefore, these three different states in the life of a Jnani seem to exist only under the erroneous perspective of the ajnanis, who see the bodiless Jnani as a body.

For the Jnani, the state of activity [wakefulness and sleep], the state of samadhi and the state of deep sleep do not really exist.

That is why Sri Bhagavan says in verse 31 of Ulladu Narpadu:

“Who can conceive and how what his [the Jnani’s] state is?”

~ above text is by Sri Sadhu Om in his commentary on Guru Vachaka Kovai verses 1105 and B21

For more on the same topic, please also see here:

For those attached to the world, the world is considered to be a divine manifestation. For the advanced seeker, the world is considered to be an illusion

What exactly is Jnana (self-knowledge) according to Shankara and Gaudapada and the scriptures?

How can the Jnani (sage) function with NO THOUGHTS? Sri Ramana Maharshi

Ramana Maharshi: how to abide as the Self, the world is not real, attend to yourself

Does the Sage (Jnani) see the world? Does the world appearance exist after liberation?

Multiplicity, plurality and polarity ARE duality | Non-duality | Sri Ramana Maharshi

The nature of liberation | Manonasa by Michael Langford | Ramana Maharshi | PDF download

Does the liberated Jnani or Sage see the body, the mind, the world or the 3 states of deep sleep, waking and dream according to Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Adi Shankara?