The following is an excerpt from the book ‘Annamalai Swami Final Talks’ (bold added by me):
Question: One can have a temporary experience of the Self, the underlying reality, but then it goes away. Can you offer any guidance on how to stabilise in that state?
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There is no ‘you’
that is enlightened
or not enlightened:
there is only enlightenment. Continue reading
When things are seen for what they are,
it can be seen there is no doer:
there is just what’s happening
happening.
Suffering tends
to drastically lessen
as old ideologies fall away. Continue reading
You have never done a thing.
Why?
Because you do not exist.
You did not chose your gender (at birth),
the colour of your eyes, Continue reading
Questioner: If my real self is peace and love, why is it so restless?
Nisargadatta Mahara: It is not your real being that is restless, but its reflection in the mind appears restless because the mind is restless. It is just like the reflection of the moon in the water stirred by the wind. The wind of desire stirs the mind and the ‘me’, which is but a reflection of the Self in the mind, appears changeful. But these ideas of movement, of restlessness, of pleasure and pain are all in the mind. The Self stands beyond the mind, aware, but unconcerned.
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Questioner: …how to get peace?
Ramana Maharshi: As I said already, that which is, is peace. All that we need do is to keep quiet.
Peace is our real nature. We spoil it. What is required is that we cease to spoil it. We are not going to create peace anew. There is space in a hall, for instance. We fill up the place with various articles. If we want space, all that we need do is to remove all those articles, and we get space.
Similarly if we remove all the rubbish, all the thoughts, from our minds, the peace will become manifest. That which is obstructing the peace has to be removed. Peace is the only reality.
Excerpt taken from Day by Day with Bhagavan
There is no non-duality in non-duality. What do I mean by that? Non-duality is non-conceptual. This means there is also no sense of non-duality in it. If you think this is all about oneness, then that’s not non-duality. That’s a concept of oneness. Same with non-duality. If you think this is all about non-duality or ‘x’ ‘y’ or ‘z’ other concepts, then that’s also wrong. There are no concepts in non-duality, yet all concepts operate within it. Continue reading
Here is another chapter from the book ‘The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss’. For my initial (and brief) opinion on this controversial but useful book click here. This chapter focuses on thought and how thought gets in the way of direct communion with that which lies beyond thought. Continue reading
One of the problems of Ramana’s teachings is that they are so simple. Most people do not want to be still and keep the mind quiet. They want to avoid themselves by discussing and understanding the concepts.
Now conceptual discussion has its place, but once one has understood the import of the teachings, namely silence, then it is time to sit down and shut up. Muruganar, who is regarded as Ramana’s closest and most influential devotee, says the same about Ramana’s teachings in his masterpiece Guru Vachaka Kovai:
And in case you still haven’t got the message, here’s another quote from Who Am I, which is the publication that Ramana had issued at his Ashram as an introduction to his teachings. Note that the Sanskrit word ‘Jnana’ below literally means ‘knowledge’ and in a spiritual context refers to Self-Knowledge/Realisation or Liberation itself:
Questioner: When I look into myself, I find my strongest desire is to create a monument, to build something which will outlast me. Even when I think of a home, wife and child, it is because it is a lasting, solid, testimony to myself. Continue reading
Tom Das 