The following is from the text Aham Sphurana from the entry dated 15th September, 1936. Some of the language is quite difficult so I have summarised the points in my comments which, as usual, are in italicised red:
Questioner: The Jnani [Tom: knower, enlightened sage] and ajnani [Tom: non-knower, the ignorant one] both have a body; what is the difference between them?
Tom: See Sri Ramana’s text ’40 Verses on Reality’ (Ulladu Narpadu), Bhagavan writes in verse 17:
17. To those who do not know the Self and to those who do, the body is the ‘I’. But to those who do not know the Self the ‘I’ is bounded by the body; while to those who within the body know the Self the ‘I’ shines boundless. Such is the difference between them.
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi: The mistake made by the ajnani is that he limits his “I” to the body. Both the Jnani and the ajnani have a body, and both say ‘I am the body’. The difference lies in the fact that in the case of the Jnani the diaphanous [Tom: subtle] stream of consciousness needed to sustain life in the body is an upadhi [Tom: adjunct, superimposed object], whereas in the case of the other, that macilent [Tom: thin or subtle] ray of reflected consciousness [known as body-consciousness] is the one and only consciousness he is aware of.
I Am is the truth. Body-consciousness is an obnubilating [Tom: obscuring] limitation which obscures Revelation of the Self in the case of the ajnani and an upadhi in the case of the Jnani. You are always the same “I”, whatever state it is that may be passing in front of you. In sleep “I” remains without a body. That same “I” remains undisturbed and unmutilated in the jagrat [Tom: waking] and swapna [Tom: dream] states also.
Tom: To summarise the above paragraph, which contains some convoluted language, Bhagavan says that for the Jnani, the body is a mere appearance in Consciousness (Upadhi) which doesn’t cover his true identity as Self/Consciousness, whereas for the ajnani, the body is the sole identity and this obscures the vision of Truth of ‘I’ or ‘I AM’ or ‘True Self’. However, we will see below that this description is only from the relative point of view, and that truly there is no body for the Jnani in Truth.
Only, in these states, we abandon our actual identity with “I” and imagine ourselves to be perishable bodies made of matter. Despite this confusion on our part, “I” remains happily without a body in truth always, although we assume that we are within the body. Although by us imagined to be within the body, the Real “I” ever is without any body or other limitation, being the Absolute Immutable Self Itself. One’s ignorant outlook is not merely ‘I am the body.’; it lies in having confounded the Self with the not-Self, such as the mind, intellect or body. Does the Real “I” formulate or proclaim the idea of it being this or that? Is it not always perfectly silent? It is the spurious “I” which is capable of rumbustiousness or obstreperousness, and which says, ‘I am this.’ or ‘I am that.’.The body is insentient and cannot say so. Our mistake lies in thinking “I” to be what “I” is not. “I” cannot be insentient; therefore “I” is not the inert body. What then is this “I”? “I” means Sentience or Awareness which is not adumbrated by the faculty of thought-manufacture- i.e., the aham vritti.
The body’s movements are confounded with “I” and excruciating agony is the result. Whether the body and mind work or not, “I” remains free and happy i.e., in its nativistic or intrinsic state of ecstatic, Eternal Emancipation. The ajnani’s “I” is limited to his body and mind only; that is where his whole error lies. The Jnani’s “I” includes the body and everything else. For the Emancipated-one there cannot be anything apart from “I” the Self. He sees no other. Verily everything is only Himself. In the case of the ajnani, some phantasmagoric, intermediate entity known as ahankaram [Tom: ego] arises between the body and the Self and gives rise to all sorts of trouble. If its source is sought, it disappears, leaving the Self alone behind, as the solitary residue. Continuous and intense inward-pointed scrutiny of the mind results in its disappearance.
Tom: similar to my previous comments, Bhagavan is saying essentially the same thing here, namely that the Jnani is not identified with the body whereas the ajnani is. There is also a hint that in truth there is no body, and this is made slightly clearer below.
Bhagavan also says that it is this phantom ego which arises and claims to be I and also claims to be the body, and it is this that ‘gives rise to all sorts of trouble’. The method of self-enquiry is thereafter briefly described – seek the source of this ego, and via this continuous intense inward pointedness of mind, the mind disappears and Self-knowledge remains.
Q.: Since the Jnani has a tangible body, what happens to the soul in that body after its death?
B.: Others say that the Jnani has a body, and talk of jivanmukti, videhamukti, mukti by means of making the body disappear in a flash of blazing light, etc.; the Jnani’s experience of Reality is altogether unconditioned and totally absolute. His experience is that he has no body. If others see him as being one with a body, or as possessing a body, can that affect him? He does not identify himself with the body even whilst the body is yet alive. Can the death of the body then affect him?
Tom: for a moment here Bhagavan Sri Ramana speaks in absolute terms, declaring that for the Self or Jnani, there is no body at all. Below, however, Bhagavan will flip back into speaking in relative terms, presumably due to the nature of the question and the state of the questioner:
Q.: But just now Bhagawan said that the Jnani also says “I am the body.”.
B.: Yes. His “I” includes the body. His experience is that for him there cannot be anything apart from “I”. If the body is destroyed there is no loss for the “I”. “I” remains the same as ever. If the body feels dead let it raise questions. Can it? No; being inert it cannot. “I” never dies and it does not ask any question. Who then dies and who asks questions?
Q.: For whom are all the sacred-books then? They cannot be for the real “I”. They must be for the unreal “I”. The real one would not require them. Am I correct?
B.: Yes, yes.
Q.: Is it not strange that an unreal entity should have so many sacred-books written for him?
B.: Quite so. Death is merely a thought and nothing more. He who thinks raises questions and experiences troubles. Let the thinker tell us what happens to him in death.
This is one of a series of introductory articles – please see the homepage of tomdas.com for more introductory articles.
The following was originally posted here on Facebook
For me, Guru Bhakti was such an important feature of my path. Worshipping the name and form of Bhagavan Sri Ramana took me, eventually, to the formless objectless Guru in my Heart, whereupon, through the revelation of self-inquiry, He consumed me, totally and utterly, making me One with Him:
(Non-Dual) Love, Being, Consciousness and Bliss, beyond (dualistic) love, being, consciousness and bliss.
It was only later, retrospectively, that I analysed and realised what had happened and what had been happening. The intellectual understanding and appreciation of His Teachings came later.
Prior to this I never cared much for Bhagavan Sri Ramana’s written/spoken teachings – in my mind I had actually dismissed them. I just, for some reason, had a love for Him. I actually preferred Buddhist-style teachings or intellectualised versions of Advaita Vedanta, or even the teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, as they made more sense to my rational scientific mind. Before I thought I had seen many flaws and holes in His Teachings.
Now, in retrospect, I can see how perfect His verbal and written teachings in fact are! Now I love to share his teachings. Sharing his teachings for me is a spontaneous expression of devotion, not an act of teaching at all!
At the time I was simply loving my Beloved, at the time I simply felt compelled to surrender myself to my Beloved, throw myself down at his feet. Everything else, such as Self Enquiry and Silence, spontaneously flowed from this Love and Bhakti without my being conscious at the time of what was happening or why.
This is why I often say that if you have some kind of connection to Sri Ramana, nurture that, and surrender to that, and know you are already saved. Metaphorically speaking, once you have come to Sri Ramana, your head is now in the tiger’s mouth!
Thus, in my experience, is the power of Genuine Heartfelt Guru Bhakti in which you surrender yourself to Him.
‘All that is necessary is to be rid of the thought: “I have not realised.”’
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, talk no. 245
This teaching sounds so simple, but let us see what this teaching actually means. To do this, we have to take a look at the context in which this teaching was given, and not merely cling to a single quote taken out of context. The quote was taken from talk 245 from the book ‘Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi’. Let us look at the talk in its entirely. We will see there are many wonderful and revealing teachings packed into this short talk. As usual my comments will be in italicised red and the text itself will be in black:
Devotee (D):“I understand that the Self is beyond the ego. My knowledge is theoretical and not practical. How shall I gain practical realisation of the Self?”
Sri Ramana Maharshi (M).: Realisation is nothing to be got afresh. It is already there. All that is necessary is to be rid of the thought: “I have not realised.”
Tom’s comments: we can see that the questioner is asking a very relevant question, namely how to covert their intellectual knowledge into genuine realisation. Bhagavan Sri Ramana is essentially pointing out that you are the Self already and that you simply have to remove any ideas of non-realisation. We will see below, based on the text itself, that this actually means removing the entirely of non-self, for any residue of non-self is synonymous with the idea ‘I have not realised’ or ‘the feeling of non-realisation’ (this term is used next below).
D.: Then one need not attempt it.
M.: No. Stillness of mind or peace is realisation. There is no moment when the Self is not. So long as there is doubt or the feeling of non-realisation, attempt must be made to rid oneself of these thoughts.
Tom: As Sri Ramana has said that you are already the Self, the questioner naturally follows up by asking – if that is the case, then there is no need to seek, no need to search, and by extension, no need to practice, correct? Bhagavan replies by stating ‘No’, this is not the case. As long as there is ‘the feeling of non-realisation’, one must attempt to remove or ‘rid oneself’ of these thought. He goes on to define realisation as ‘stillness of mind’. We will see later that this means cessation of mind, or pure mind, which is Self. But what is this ‘feeling of non-realisation’? What thoughts do we have to remove, and how? Do we have to remove some thoughts or all thoughts? Sri Ramana continues:
The thoughts are due to identification of the Self with the non-self. When the non-self disappears the Self alone remains. To make room anywhere it is enough that things are removed from there. Room is not brought in afresh. Nay, more – room is there even in cramping.
Absence of thoughts does not mean a blank. There must be one to know the blank. Knowledge and ignorance are of the mind. They are born of duality. But the Self is beyond knowledge and ignorance. It is light itself. There is no necessity to see the Self with another Self. There are no two selves. What is not Self is non-self. The non-self cannot see the Self. The Self has no sight or hearing. It lies beyond these – all alone, as pure consciousness.
Tom: there are a large number of points Sri Bhagavan makes in the above paragraph. Let us briefly go through them -each of the following can be derived from the above 2 paragraphs: -Thoughts appears due to identification with the non-self (ie. the body, the mind, the world) -Self alone remains when non-self disappears – Bhagavan gives the metaphor of clearing the rubbish from a room to make space. The idea is that we do not need to find the self or bring the self in from elsewhere, we just need to clear space and the self or room will remain over, self-shining. The junk we need to clear out is the non-self -The absence of thoughts is not a mere blank, but instead we are to know the One who knows the ‘blank, that is we must know the Self. -Knowledge and ignorance are both of the mind, whereas the Self is beyond the mind, Self is the Light that lights up knowledge and ignorance. -Knowledge and ignorance are born of duality, ie. they are false, non-self, born of primal ignorance or ego. They too must disappear, like all non-self, is the implication, for liberation to ensue. -The non-self (ie. body or mind in this case), cannot see the Self. It is the Self that ‘sees’ the Self by simply being the Self -The self has no sight and no hearing (because it has no body or mind, both of which are non-self, both of which must disappear for realisation to occur). -The Self is beyond all phenomena, it is Pure Consciousness. If we read carefully we will see that the word ‘Pure’ means without any objects or thoughts appearing in it. Bhagavan continues:
A woman, with her necklace round her neck, imagines that it has been lost and goes about searching for it, until she is reminded of it by a friend; she has created her own sense of loss, her own anxiety of search and then her own pleasure of recovery. Similarly the Self is all along there, whether you search for it or not. Again just as the woman feels as if the lost necklace has been regained, so also the removal of ignorance and the cessation of false identification reveal the Self which is always present – here and now. This is called realisation. It is not new. It amounts to elimination of ignorance and nothing more.
Tom: Here Bhagavan makes it very clear, using the traditional story of the woman and her necklace, that the Self is ever present. All we need to do is remove ignorance. This is the same as removal of the cessation of the false identification with non-self. Earlier Bhagavan said all we have to do is ‘be rid of the thought ‘I have not realised” and that we have to be rid of the ‘feelings of non-realisation’. It therefore follows that ignorance, identification with non-self, feelings or non-realisation and the thought ‘I have not realised’ are all the same thing.In each case, Bhagavan is simply saying ignorance must be removed. What does this actually mean? Bhagavan will explain further:
Blankness is the evil result of searching the mind. The mind must be cut off, root and branch. See who the thinker is, who the seeker is. Abide as the thinker, the seeker. All thoughts will disappear.
Tom: Bhagavan makes it clear: ‘The mind must be cut off, root and branch’. This is what Bhagavan means by removing the thought ‘I have not realised’. This is what it means to remove ignorance. This is what it means to remove identification with non-self and rid one of ‘feelings of non-realisation’. This is what he means when he says ‘realisation is stillness of mind’. He is speaking of manonasa. It is not just the peripheral thoughts (branches) that must go, but the root thought too, the thought ‘I am the body-mind’ – ‘The mind must be cut off, root and branch‘.
How to do this? Bhagavan says ‘See who the thinker is, who the seeker is’, meaning find out the Subject, the Self, know your Self, ie. Self-enquiry is the way. Bhagavan says then ‘All thoughts will disappear’. Not some thoughts will disappear, but all thoughts will disappear.
D.: Then there will be the ego – the thinker.
M.: That ego is pure Ego purged of thoughts. It is the same as the Self. So long as false identification persists doubts will persist, questions will arise, there will be no end of them. Doubts will cease only when the non-self is put an end to. That will result in realisation of the Self. There will remain no other there to doubt or ask. All these doubts should be solved within oneself. No amount of words will satisfy. Hold the thinker. Only when the thinker is not held do objects appear outside or doubts arise in the mind.
Tom: Does Bhagavan want us to hold onto thoughts or the thinker? Does he want us to hold onto the mind or the Self? Clearly when Bhagavan says ‘only when the thinker is held’, he is not speaking of the mind, but of the Self. Especially as he has already said ‘The mind must be cut off, root and branch’ and ‘all thoughts will disappear’ a few moments earlier. Self knowledge is the way. Self Enquiry is the way.
The questioner asks this very question – are we to hold onto the ego then? The thinker? Bhagavan gives us another wonderful and revealing answer: the ego purified or ‘purged of thoughts’ – that purified ‘ego’ or ‘I’ is Self. The Jiva (purified, purged of thoughts) is Siva.
In the Skanda Upanishad it is stated:
‘Jiva is Siva. Siva is Jiva. That Jiva is Siva alone. Bound by husk [non-self], it is paddy [jiva]. Freed from husk, it is rice [Self]‘
Shankara also wrote in verse 20 of Brahma Jnanavali Mala ‘Brahma satyam, jagat mithya, jivo brahmaiva naparah’ which means ‘Brahman is Truth/Reality, the world is illusion, the Jiva [when enquired into] is nothing but Brahman’
Concluding points
We have seen that Bhagavan has said ‘When the non-self disappears self alone remains‘ and ‘the mind must be cut off, root and branch‘ and ‘it amounts to elimination of ignorance, nothing more‘ and ‘the self has no sight or hearing‘.
We can therefore deduce that ‘the mind’, ‘non-self’ and ‘ignorance’ are essentially synonyms, as in each case Bhagavan has said only these have to be removed. Sure, these words may be used in different ways in different contexts, but essentially they are one, one ignorance, one maya (illusion).
How to do this? How to remove ignorance? How to end Maya? How to still the mind? How to remove non-self and clear ‘space in the room’? And to come back to our original question, How to be rid of the thought ‘I am not realised’? By going back to the Subject, all thoughts and objects disappear and only Self remains. This is known as Self-Enquiry and it results in liberation.
Tom: Many people say ‘I know that I am not the body-mind’, not realising that:
1) if that were truly known, genuinely known, then that is full liberation, and there would be no more questions (or answers) possible, and that is the end of the spiritual journey/search, that is unending bliss and the end of all suffering forever*, transcendence of time and space and the sense of individuality.
2) when someone says ‘I know I am not the body-mind BUT…’ (and then goes on to ask a question/express some kind of doubt or dissatisfaction), this means the entity that (thinks it) knows it is not the body-mind is in fact the mind. ie. it is the mind that is stating ‘I know I am not the body-mind’. This is essentially conceptual knowledge for the mind, even if it is based in some deeper intuitive knowing. This means the basic reference point for knowledge is still the mind, ie. we are still looking to our mind/thoughts for knowledge, and this indicates ongoing identification with the (body-)mind.
3) it is not truly or actually possible for the mind to understand ‘I am not the body-mind’. It is not something the mind can ever understand or know. The mind can repeat the phrase ‘I know I am not the body-mind’ and convince itself it knows something but this is not the true understanding at all.
TRUE UNDERSTANDING
The true understanding is not of the mind at all. It is beyond the mind. The true understanding is not of the mind at all. The true understanding is simply being the Self, also known as Silence.
HOW TO KNOW TRUTH?
How to know or be the Self? And are we not already always the self?
Yes, we are already the self. We are always the self. This self-knowledge we are looking for is always and already here. We already know, in our hearts, not in our minds, all we need for the spiritual journey. Self-knowledge is always and already here with us. There is never a need to discover anything new. Never.
THE PROBLEM
So what is the problem, and why does it appear that ‘I am not liberated’?
The issue is we ignore our self knowledge, and instead we pay attention to our thoughts, our mind, and we believe the contents of our thoughts. All we have to do is come back to our own inner self knowing.
Again, the issue is that we pay attention to our thoughts and we believe the contents of our thoughts.
**READ THIS PART CAREFULLY**
Now here is an important point that many people miss: it is not possible to pay attention to thoughts and not eventually start to believe the contents of the thoughts. I repeat, it is not possible to pay attention to thoughts and not eventually get involved in the contents of the thoughts.
This is an important point which many people miss. Try this for yourself and see.
You may feel you can dispassionately observe or witness your thoughts for a short time, but they will always draw you back in again. For placing attention to thoughts is ALREADY believing their content at the root level. Placing attention to thoughts means the root thought, ‘I am the body-mind’ is ALREADY there.
For it is not possible to dispassionately pay attention to thoughts and not believe already in the concept ‘I am the body mind’.
AS SOON AS YOU PAY ATTENTION TO THOUGHTS, THE ROOT THOUGHT, THE ROOT IGNORANCE ‘I AM THE BODY-MIND’ IS ALREADY THERE.
Yes, the root thought is the thought ‘I am the body mind’. It is this root concept or thought that gives rise to all other thoughts. This root thought, also known as ignorance, also gives rise to all perception of all objects, but more on this another time perhaps.**
As soon as we pay attention to thought, this root thought ‘I am’ or ‘I am the body mind’ is already fully there.
The same goes for gross and subtle objects. As soon as we are aware of objects, even gross objects such as cars and trees or the body, the root thought ‘I am the body mind’ is ALREADY fully there. Ignorance is ALREADY fully there.
If you are not sure about this, you can try it for yourself. You can try to remain aware of objects without the idea that you are a person and see how that goes!
AS SOON AS YOU PAY ATTENTION TO THOUGHTS, OR ANY OBJECT, INCLUDING GROSS OBJECTS SUCH AS A CAR OR A TREE, THE ROOT THOUGHT, THE ROOT IGNORANCE ‘I AM THE BODY-MIND’ IS ALREADY THERE.
If this is not understood, then the solution to this ignorance, which is outlined below, may not be accepted by the mind, and liberation may not ensue.
To remove ignorance we must turn away from all gross and subtle objects, meaning all names and forms and external objects, as well as all internal objects such as thoughts and feelings.
The only way to do this is to attend to the subject, your very own self, your own inner self knowing, that which always is, and that which is always known. The clear way to do this becomes clear through the practice, which I explain more about below.
See Sri Ramana’s teaching in Guru Vachaka Kovai verse 291. Note he says that this is the ‘essential’ advice. Notice also the use of the word ‘alone’:
291. ‘If one wants to be saved, one is given the following true and essential advice: just as the tortoise draws all its five limbs within its shell, so one should draw the five senses within and turn one’s mind Selfward. This alone is happiness.’
Compare with Bhagavad Gita 2.58:
2.58 ‘One who is able to fully withdraw the senses from their objects, just as a tortoise withdraws its limbs into its shell, is established in Divine Knowledge’.
Many people try to distort the meaning of these verses, but the imagery of the tortoise is used to make the meaning clear. There are many more verses like this I could cite, and with these other verses, again the true meaning of these verses is very clear (see here for many more of these verses, and follow the links within that post for even more).
Please note THIS IS NOT A PATH OF SUPPRESSION OR REPRESSION OR AVOIDANCE. THIS IS NOT A PATH OF SPIRITUAL BYPASSING. It is actually a path of love, a flowering of love and self-knowledge. I touch upon this further below, and have written on this topic on tomdas.com (use the search bar). there are also many videos on this on my YouTube channel, explaining how this can be the case.
This is why all genuine spiritual traditions and teachings (ie. teachings that genuinely lead to liberation) tend towards introversion, meditation and silence in some way shape or form.
This is why, historically, many traditions across geography and time all end up in some form of silent contemplation or meditation.
It is also why, if we look inwards to our own hearts, we already intuitively know that the Truth (of ourselves) arises only in Silence, deep within our very own selves, and NOT through words, concepts or the mind.
This self-attention is also known as devotion or bhakti, for the true form of your self is God absolute, it is pure holiness, pure divinity, pure oneness devoid of ignorance and duality.
A PRACTICAL WAY FORWARD
How to practically put these teachings into practice? My suggestion, as this is what worked for me (you will need to find out what works for you!), is to listen to the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi. Personally I have not found another teacher or teaching that comes close, even though some other teachers and teachings sound very similar, as you go deeper you will start to see the differences more and more.**** At least this is my experience.
If you are lucky, you will feel some love and devotion and connection with Him. If this love, devotion and connection occurs, it is very wonderful and in my opinion this is something you should nurture and treasure. This connection and love and devotion is a very important part of the teaching in my experience. Unfortunately this aspect of the teaching cannot be taught and spontaneously arises when the time is right.
For most of my ‘seeking career’, not only did I NOT feel love and devotion for Ramana, but this is something I was not actively looking for, and something I actively looked down upon in fact. I never wanted a guru, I never wanted to follow another human being, I wanted to figure out for myself, like the Buddha or like J Krishnamurti. I share this as if you do not feel love or devotion in your hearts, please do not be deterred or discouraged, as this is how it was for me for many years.
But as the fates would have it, this was not to be my path, and the teachings I share are coloured by my own personal experience, so this is what I will share with you:
1) Allow the love and connection with Bhagavan Sri Ramana to develop and grow. Think about him, perhaps learn a little about his life, pray to him, praise him, adore him, prostrate yourself to him, bow to him, etc etc, as you please, find your way in this regard to connect with him and love him and, very importantly, surrender to him. This surrender is very important and often missed by some devotees. This is my view at least. At the same time know in your heart that He is You, meaning your true self. You are He, You are That, connect with that inner knowing that is your Self and that is also He.
2) regularly listen to his teachings (sravana, listening/being exposed to the teachings), regularly read his teachings, become familiar with his deeper teachings, not just the teachings he gave to the masses, many of whom were not truly interested in liberation***. See my recommended reading list for my suggestions of what to expose your mind to in terms of truly liberating teachings, and also read the introductory articles on the homepage of this site, which give a broad but thorough introduction to all aspects of the teaching. Everything you need for step two is available free of charge on tomdas.com and my YouTube channel. You will find the answer to almost any question you have somewhere on this website! There is enough content for about 20+ books on tomdas.com, all of it freely available, so use the search bar and explore the introductory articles too. Similarly my YouTube channel has hundreds of videos on it covering all aspects of the journey. Most of these videos were put together by volunteers, so hopefully the videos are particularly relevant to seekers as they have been selected and created by seekers. Do let me know if there are any areas that are not covered.
3) you will find that the more you do (1) and (2) above, the more your mind will be pulled inwards towards the self (nididhyasana, going towards or abiding as the self). When this happens, allow yourself to naturally go back to yourself. If you are unclear what this means, the more you do (1) and (2) above, the clearer it will become to you. Do not force this, allow it to happen naturally through exposure to Bhagavan Ramana’s Presence and His Teachings. (ie. nididhyasana naturally follows from sravana and manana) If you force this, it is just ego perpetuating itself. Everything should be allowed to happen naturally. THIS IS NOT A PATH OF SUPPRESSION OR REPRESSION (NO ‘SPIRITUAL BYPASSING‘ HERE PLEASE), but a natural outcome, a flowering of self-knowledge and love and bliss. 🙏❤️
4) consider attending a group, such as the satsang group I hold twice a week online, which supports both devotion (bhakti) to Sri Ramana and a knowledge and exploration of his deeper teachings (sravana and manana, manana means thinking about and reflecting upon the teachings), as well as allows time for meditation, silence and deep self attention (nididhyasana), ie. a group that supports (1), (2) and (3) above. Contact with a teacher can be very helpful, both for motivation, regular reminders and for clarification of the true way. This can supercharge and cut years off your spiritual path, as a teacher can often point something out in a few seconds that may have taken you years to realise yourself. If you don’t have access to a teacher, please don’t worry, as Devotion/Surrender and Connection will bring to you/attract to you all you need. See here for what Sri Ramana Maharshi said about satsang.
The above can be summarised as Intuitive Connection/Surrender/Bhakti, Satsang, Sravana, Manana and Nididhyasana, to use some of the traditional Sanskrit words. The term Self-Enquiry can be used to mean just Nididhyasana or alternatively it can mean the trio of sravana, manana and nididhyasana, depending on context. So we can summarise the above further as Bhakti, Satsang and Self-Enquiry being the essence of the path. Going further we will actually find that the true Satsang is to be with the Guru in our Heart, namely be with our Self as our Self, and that this is also the highest form of Bhakti, so all of these are actually One.
These are just my suggestions, and of course it is for you to decide if this is for you. My suggestion here is that if you resonate even slightly with this, then you should go with it, at least for a bit, give it a go. Of course if you do not resonate, there is likely a different way for you, at least for now… We all have our own path, at least superficially this is the way it seems. Eventually we have to come back to our self.
I hope this has been of help
Namaste and best wishes
Tom
❤️🙏 Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Arunachala Ramanaya Om 🙏❤️
❤️🙏❤️
*Forever is used figuratively as it is beyond time, not infinite time
**Bhagavan Sri Ramana explains this clearly in the first few paragraphs of his short text, ‘Who am I?’ Which explains all the teachings you need to know for liberation. The book I recommend to understand this is a book called The Path of Sri Ramana (click here to download for free) which fully explains the teachings found in the small booklet, ‘Who am I?’. This book also has a very good translation of ‘Who am I?’ in the appendix of the book, as many other translations of ‘Who am I?’ contain distortions added by the translator that are not present in the original Tamil.
***When somebody asks a question, and that seeker is not truly interested in liberation, the sage, who is like a mirror, merely reflects a superficial teaching back at them. This is spontaneous response, and not a deliberate attempt to give a superficial teaching. The teaching is given spontaneously by the true teacher according to the earnestness and sincerity and degree of desire for liberation in the seeker who is asking the question. Therefore the deeper teaching is usually only given when a seeker who has a deep and genuine desire for liberation asks a question or approaches the teacher.
****Some people think I am being partial towards my own guru (and maybe I am, despite my best efforts to be objective) but this is my personal experience, so this is what I share. If there were other teachers whose writings and teachings were as clear, I would happily say so! See my recommended reading list for the teachers that I think are equally as clear. Note I am not saying that Sri Ramana Maharshi is the only truly liberated sage, but I am merely commenting here on the quality and fidelity of the teachings that have come down to us. There may be other realised teachers, but the verbal/written teachings that have come to us may be less clear. Because we are relatively close in time to Sri Ramana, because we have his written works in his own handwriting, and because of the clarity and simplicity in which he explained the teachings, this is a huge advantage for those who are interested in these written/verbal formulations of his teaching. Of course, if you have another Guru, then by all means stick with your Guru. Ultimately, all is One and there is only truly One Guru anyway.
Om Nama Bhagavate Sri Arunachala Ramanaya Om 
Tom Das 