Again and again, we see Bhagavan Sri Ramana emphasising That which underlies phenomenal existence, and not the phenomena themselves.
Why is this?
What is Reality? Sri Ramana Maharshi
reality
Start to consider all this as a dream | Self-Enquiry | Sri Ramana Maharshi
Spend time in Reality, not in Illusion
(As much as you are able to)
Spend time in Reality,
Not in illusion.
_________________________
*Reality: Unchanging & Unmoving Silence, Stillness, Formless Objectless Consciousness-Being-Love-Bliss-Awareness devoid of body-mind-world. ie. Attending to the Subject-Self
*Illusion: Maya, the three states, name and form, identifying as a body-mind living in a world. ie. Attending to name & form & objects.
The true meaning of ‘real’ and ‘unreal’ in Vedanta (Sat and asat) | False Vedanta Teachings
Ramana Maharshi: There are not many Jivas/egos/people (Eka Jiva Vada)
(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
Why turn away from the world? The outer is a reflection of the inner
‘The mind is by nature restless. Begin liberating it from its restlessness; give it peace; make it free from distractions; train it to look inward; make this a habit. This is done by ignoring the external world and removing the obstacles to peace of mind’
~Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, talk no. 26
Objection: I have a slightly different view then Ramana perhaps did on ignoring the external world. It seems to me that the external world is the reflection of the inner. Becoming conscious of the beauty in nature resonates with the inner. This is perhaps a more indigenous view and is much older then even Vedanta and goes back even to the time when humans were Neanderthals as well as Homo sapiens when everything in nature was animating in presence.
Tom: Yes, being with nature is one of many things that can bring us in tune with the Self and bring us genuine peace and genuine insight, but ultimately for realisation to occur (and thus for suffering to end) one must turn within and all thoughts must cease. Otherwise the illusion of time and space are not seen through and suffering (and duality) continue, even if in a subtle way.
This is why Sri Ramana Maharshi writes in Who Am I?:
Q. When will the realization of the Self be gained?
Sri Ramana: When the world which is what-is-seen [ie. objects] has been removed, there will be realization of the Self which is the seer.
Q. Will there not be realization of the Self even while the world is there?
Sri Ramana: There will not be.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Who Am I?
Tom: What we call the world (ie. space and time and people) is actually a projection of mind/thought. Put simply, the world, space and time are simply thoughts. Again, this cannot be known unless we turn within, away from the world, towards the Self, and thoughts competely cease. From Sri Ramana Maharshi:
‘When the mind, which is the cause of all cognition’s and of all actions, becomes quiescent, the world will disappear…All the texts say that in order to gain release one should render the mind quiescent; therefore teaching is that the mind should be rendered quiescent.’
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Who Am I?
Tom: When thoughts completely cease, time and space disappear. If time and space are still appearing, it is because thought (namely the ‘I-thought’, which is the notion or thought or belief that ‘I am a body-mind’) still persists.
Therefore, when the world appears, the Self does not appear; and when the Self appears the world does not appear.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Who Am I?
When the mind comes out of the Self, the world appears.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Who Am I?
Is the world an illusion? Discover for yourself…
Life is an illusion?
What we truly desire
What we desire…
We desire to be happy always without misery. What is this happiness? It’s not normal happiness, what you might think of, but the peace of deep sleep. To put it differently, it’s the Peace of death whilst alive.
It’s when there is no mind. This is what we search for, we search for the mind to end. That’s what we really want.
When mind ends what you are is.
When you let go of everything…what is true, what is unchanging, what will never be destroyed, will be there fully.
When you let go of everything, that which is true, which cannot be destroyed, which is pure, that which always is…that God, that Divine, that One, that holiness, that will be there. Always…
So why worry?
If we can have faith in that, just let go of everything and That will be there. You don’t have to look for it, because it’s real. Everything else that is false will fall away. That which is real will be there.
And in your life you’ve got to do, what you’ve got to do. You have your responsibilities, you have to do those responsibilities. You just get on with it. They are not an obstacle. You look after your body, mind, you look after other body minds. Be as good person as you can be in this society. Knowing that this Divinity is always there.
‘Life is a dream…’
We have been given such a gift to have dreams. In the dream entire reality is created and projected by our minds, by our consciousness, and everything we see in the dream is our mind.
In this video Tom explains how taking on this conceptual view regarding waking life can help you to see your body mind as a projection and not what we truly are. The Guru is a projection, the teaching is a projection, the seeker is a projection – they are all ‘part of the dream’.
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Tom Das 