Jun 26
Reality is simply the loss of ego.
Destroy the ego by seeking its identity.
Because the ego is no entity it will automatically vanish and reality will shine forth by itself.
-Be as you are, the teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi 💐🙏
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Reality is simply the loss of ego.
Destroy the ego by seeking its identity.
Because the ego is no entity it will automatically vanish and reality will shine forth by itself.
-Be as you are, the teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi 💐🙏
original post by bumlehri on instagram
Q: I am convinced that I am, but I am not convinced of what I am. Intellectually I know I am the Self but I don’t experience this. I have to make a lot of effort.
Annamalai Swami: To experience the Self you have to dive deep into the consciousness ‘I am’.
Q: You mean I should keep the mind there?
Annamalai Swami: Yes. When you see the rope as a rope there is no snake. You also know that there was never a snake. When you cease to imagine that you are a mere body and a mind, reality shines of its own accord. If you stabilize in this state you can see that the mind didn’t go anywhere; you understand that it never really existed. ‘Keeping the mind in its source’ is just another way of saying: ‘Understanding that it never existed.’
Q: But how is one to awaken from perpetual body-consciousness? For consciousness to manifest one must have a body.
Annamalai Swami: If there is constant meditation that consciousness is your own reality in which all phenomena are appearing and disappearing, that meditation is the activity of the sattvic (pure, clean) mind. It is this activity which erases and dissolves the tamas (e.g. inertia or dullness, inactivity) and rajas (selfish desires e.g. sexual lust) which cover the reality.
The human body is the only vehicle in which it is very convenient to realize the unmanifest Self. With the body and the mind we can investigate and discover the Reality that remains unaffected by the body and the mind.
We should regard the body in the same way we regard a car. …
Q: No matter how quiet I get or how still my mind is, I never get to see the world as an indivisible whole. Even when my mind is completely still, if I open my eyes I still see a world of separate objects.
Annamalai Swami: When the one who sees vanishes, the world of multiplicity goes with it. You don’t see the unity and indivisibility, you are it. You can never see the Self or Brahman, you can only be it.
The Guru may tell his disciples a thousand times, ‘You are the Self, you are not what you imagine yourself to be’, but none of them ever believes him. They all keep asking the Guru for methods and routes to reach the place where they already are.
Q: Why don’t we give up our false ideas as soon as we are told that they are false?
Annamalai Swami: We have identified with our false ideas for many previous lifetimes. The habit is very strong. But not so strong that it cannot be dissolved through constant meditation.
Q: The seeker has many ideas: ‘I am a jiva (personality), I am bound and have to do sadhana ("methodical discipline to attain desired knowledge or goal) to attain liberation’. Should we forget all these ideas?
Annamalai Swami: Yes, forget them all! ‘I am the Self, I am all’. Hold onto this awareness. All other paths are roundabouts.
Q: Bhagavan said that repeating, ‘I am the Self’ or ‘I am not this body’ is an aid to enquiry but does not constitute the enquiry itself.
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Annamalai Swami: The meditation, ‘I am not the body or the mind, I am the immanent Self’ is a great aid for as long as one is not able to do self-enquiry properly or constantly. Bhagavan said, ‘Keeping the mind in the Heart is self-enquiry’. If you cannot do this by asking ‘Who am I?’ or by taking the I-thought back to its source, then meditation on the awareness ‘I am the all-pervasive Self’ is a great aid.
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Bhagavan often said that we should read and study the Ribhu Gita regularly.
In the Ribhu Gita it is said: ‘That bhavana (mental attitude) ‘I am not the body, I am not the mind, I am Brahman, I am everything,’ is to be repeated again and again until this becomes the natural state.’ Bhagavan sat with us every day while we chanted extracts from the Ribhu Gita which affirm the reality of the Self. It is true that he said that these repetitions are only an aid to self-enquiry, but they are a very powerful aid.
By practicing this way the mind becomes more and more attuned with the reality. When the mind has become purified by this practice, it is easier to take it back to its source and keep it there. When one is able to abide in the Self directly, one doesn’t need aids like this. But if this is not possible these practices can definitely help one.
- Living by the Words of Bhagawan.
There is no means of knowing the truth other than one's own intuition.
Enquiry opens the door of intuition. Enquiry arises only in a pure mind that is endowed with the four means through Lord's grace and selfless work done in several births. This world is your best Teacher. This universe is a vast examination hall. Man has to learn many things in this world. If he passes here the gate of Life Immortal will be opened to him. Reject everything that stands in the way of your spiritual progress. Make yourself worthy of receiving the Divine grace through regular japa, satsanga, prayer and meditation. Be optimistic and patient. One day or other your life will be illumined with Babajl's grace.
Aum Namaha Babaji Maha Vishuddhi (I bow to Babaji, the Great Purity)
To Know the False as False
If we truly wish to know, not just intellectually but to penetrate through direct immersive apperception of that which is -- namely truth -- then we must first investigate and identify what is false, or what is not true.
We must identify all of our assumptions, all of our boundaries and definitions and concepts regarding who we are, what life is, what reality is, what existence is. We must identify whatever assumptions we hold regarding what appears. If we truly wish to know, we must first cut through what is false, for what is true simply is; what is false, isn't, nor was it ever, nor will it ever be.
If we wish to know, we must commit ourselves, not to a dogma or a religion or a person or a perceived authority or other -- we must commit ourselves to a radical inquiry, permanently perceiving the false as false. We must be ready to let go of all these chains which appear to bind us to "who we think ourselves to be," in order to truly see -- as it is, as it was, as it always will be.
Self-inquiry begins as a method and ends as a mirror, a mirror in which the timeless perceives its formless reflection. Mooji
Guided Self Enquiry
Teacher: Please look at the flower in front of us.
Student: Okay.
Teacher: Where exactly do you experience it?
Student: In the garden.
Teacher: Not the physical location, but the place of experience. The light rays are converted into electrical signals in your body and then your mind sees it. So, you experience it within you. Do you follow?
Student: Yes, I understand the basic physics and since mind is part of me who is looking at the image of the flower, so I am looking at the flower within me.
Teacher: Good, now how far is your Awareness from the flower?
Student: Well, my Awareness is right there where flower is. There is no gap between my Awareness and the flower.
Teacher: Can you now close your eyes and imagine the same flower. Now, how far is Awareness from the flower?
Student: Same as before. Whether eyes are open or close, there is no gap between my Awareness and the flower.
Teacher: Great! Awareness takes the shape of the flower. Now, how far are you from the Awareness?
Student: I am there where my Awareness is. There is no gap between myself and the Awareness.
Teacher: Excellent, since there is no gap between you and the Awareness, is there anything else that you realise?
Student: Well, let me think for a moment……. This is amazing! I am the Awareness.
What does stillness mean? It means destroy yourself. Because any form or shape is the cause for trouble. Give up the notion that 'I am so and so'. All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. What can be easier than that?
Ramana Maharshi, Talks With Sri Ramana Maharshi