Everything appears fresh,
Fresh, crisp and clear;
A sparkling mirror,
everything perfectly reflected.
Body, mind and senses function by themselves,
As they have always done,
Light! Sensations! Movement!
Self-enquiry
Annamalai Swami: How to stabilise in the Self
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 only enlightenment
There is no ‘you’
that is enlightened
or not enlightened:
there is only enlightenment. Continue reading
Nisargadatta Maharaj: If my real self is peace and love, why is it so restless?
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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Beyond self-realisation
No sadhanas are required
No sadhana (spiritual practice) can lead to self realisation. No map can take you to where you already are, and no practice can transform you into that which you always have been.
All sadhanas such as meditation, mindfulness, mantra, puja, selfless service and devotion – all sadhanas are for the illusory individual. They are an extension of greed/egotism. It is this web of illusion, all hinged upon the idea of being a person with a body and mind, that prevents the obvious from being ‘seen’. Continue reading
Ramana Maharshi: Be still
All the texts say that in order to gain release one should render the mind quiescent; therefore their conclusive teaching is that the mind should be rendered quiescent; once this has been understood there is no need for endless reading.
Ramana Maharshi (from Who Am I)
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:
What our Master clearly teaches by way of great, good, powerful tapas (spiritual effort) is only this and nothing more
BE STILL
Apart from this the mind has no task to do or thought to think
Guru Vachaka Kovai
(verse 773)
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: What is wisdom-insight (jnana-drsti)?
Ramana Maharshi: Remaining quiet is what is called wisdom-insight.
Ramana Maharshi (from Who Am I)
I find my strongest desire is to create a monument, to build something which will outlast me
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
Nisargadatta Maharaj: How can I make my mind steady?
Questioner: As a child fairly often I experienced states of complete happiness, verging on ecstasy: later, they ceased, but since I came to India they reappeared, particularly after I met you. Yet these states, however wonderful, are not lasting. They come and go and there is no knowing when they will come back.
Nisargadatta Maharaj: How can anything be steady in a mind which itself is not steady?
Q: How can I make my mind steady?
M: How can an unsteady mind make itself steady? Of course it cannot. It is the nature of the mind to roam about. All you can do is to shift the focus of consciousness beyond the mind.
Q: How is it done?
M: Refuse all thoughts except one: the thought ‘I am’. The mind will rebel in the beginning, but with patience and perseverance it will yield and keep quiet. Once you are quiet, things will begin to happen spontaneously and quite naturally without any interference on your part.
Q: Can I avoid this protracted battle with my mind?
M: Yes, you can. Just live your life as it comes, but alertly, watchfully, allowing everything to happen as it happens, doing the natural things the natural way, suffering, rejoicing — as life brings. This also is a way.
Q: Well, then I can as well marry, have children, run a business… be happy.
M: Sure. You may or may not be happy, take it in your stride.
Q: Yet I want happiness.
M: True happiness cannot be found in things that change and pass away. Pleasure and pain alternate inexorably. Happiness comes from the self and can be found in the self only. Find your real self (swarupa) and all else will come with it.
The above excerpt is from I Am That by Nisargadatta Maharaj
Tom’s comments:
There are so many gems in just this short passage! First Maharaj points out the mind need not be directly controlled and that the very nature of the mind is to roam, ruminate and be unsteady. Instead focus on something else: the sense ‘I AM’. Then the goal of a quiet mind will naturally arise.
Maharaj then gives us more: if we are not drawn to this sadhana (spiritual practice), then we can try an alternative. Instead we can surrender to whatever happens, keeping a watchfulness about ourselves whilst we do so. This, rather like the ‘I AM’ sadhana, also has the effect of quietening the mind and prevents the ego having room to manoevure. The ‘I’ which is always trying to meddle in things is cut off, restricted. There is much more to how these methods work and how they can be practised – I have written an article here explaining more on this.
Lastly Maharaj gives us a final nugget: ‘True happiness cannot be found in things that change and pass away.’
Experience, knowledge, insight and consciousness all come and go – so where does this leave us? Where can we seek if we do not seek in this world of impermanent things? Here we pass from the domain of the mind to that which is beyond words. Call it ‘true self’ (swarupa) or ‘no-self’, words do not apply.
Ramana Maharshi: The 4 paths to freedom (the 4 yogas)
In this passage below Ramana Maharshi talks about the four traditional Hindu paths to ending suffering or moksha (liberation/freedom). The four paths are traditionally called the paths of knowledge (jnana), love or devotion (bhakti), meditation (raja yoga), and doing good works (karma).
Almost every spiritual tradition around the world will fit into one of more of these four paths Continue reading
Sufism: Infinite ways to an infinite god (even if you don’t believe in God)
There are infinite ways to an infinite God; there are as many ways to God as there are people or beings: I have often thought this to myself, so whilst leafing through a newly purchased book (pictured above), I was pleasantly surprised to read a quote by Sheikh Abol-Hasan, a Sunni Muslim and Sufi from 10th century Persia, saying just this:
There are as many paths to the Lord as there are grains of sand and drops of rain…whomever seeks, eventually finds his way There
Sheikh Abol-Hasan, saying 141 from ‘The Soul and A Loaf of Bread’
These infinite ways are just variations of the One Way. And this One Way, for the purposes of exposition, can broadly be subdivided into two: one path for those who believe in God and one path for those who do not. Continue reading
Tom Das 