......In search of Self

Realising Self

2012-02-07T08:02:00.001+05:30

It is like this - Darkness wanting to see the Sun. Is it ever possible? The Sun ever is, does the passage of Nights mean the non existence of Sun? Sun still is. Does the waxing and waning of the moon mean the moon appears and disappears? The moon is as is (Jnaneshwar) Or it is like believing that the Sun disappears when there is an eclipse. Does the Sun disappear anytime?

Darkness never is. Even darkness is known only because of Sun. Behind darkness, there is the Sun!

Like the Sun ever is, and never not, we are ever present. Just that we mistake that during night that Sun is not, we believe that awareness is not in sleep.

But Who is asking this? Is the Sun asking this question? Is the Awareness asking this question? Enquire who is the I that is asking if it was not during sleep?

Bhagavan says, we are already that. Moreover, we are aware, during the sleep, otherwise, how are you able to recall your sleep experience as "I slept very well" You were there, just that it is covered by the clouds.

It is like the Sun, camouflaged by the clouds of avidya, ignorance. So long we believe we are not the Sun, we are not That. To See is to Be. We are That, the sun, which is always luminous and never obscure.

Awareness Ever is. To become aware of Awareness is not possible. We are getting lost in this cycle of trying to become aware of awareness. It is like trying to see the Sun which is Self Luminous with another light.

Its like, we have forgotten that "I am man" there is no need to know that I am a Man but yet, still, we have forgotten. Such is the Paradox. What is required to know that "I am Man" that is all is this "Brahma Vidya" or that is all is realisation of Self.

Similarly, Awareness ever is, and knowing awareness is being awareness. There is no way one can become aware of awareness!

We are choicelessly Aware all the time. Either you are aware of your ignorance or you are aware of your knowledge. There is no time you are not aware.

Truth & Conclusion

2012-02-01T16:57:00.002+05:30

Truth is not the final conclusion. It is beyond even the final conclusion. It is that which even facilitates the final conclusion!

Therefore, I felt, it is wisdom, to not trust the final conclusion.

Vasanas

2011-12-18T12:45:00.002+05:30

All Gurus have clearly re-iterated repeatedly over ages that the destruction or annihilation Vasanakshayam itself is Moksham. This "Moksham" is beyond all religions and philosophies. Moksha is the end of all Religion or belief or Knowledge. Be it any religion, and any faith, annihilation of our tendencies is very essential.

In the words of Sri Nochur Acharya, while the famous gospel of Bhagavan to His mother Azhagammal: "The Ordainer controls the fate of souls in accordance with their prarabdhakarma. Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may. Whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you may to prevent it. This is certain. The best course, therefore, is to remain silent.", pertains to the external world of the animate and the inanimate objects that we see, however with regard to the realisation or abidance of Self, Purashkara or effort or Tapas is very essential. Which is why Bhagavan said clearly that the only desire one can have or ought to have is the desire for Self and one has to put his utmost sincere efforts to realise one Self. And, surely the Grace of the Guru is essential above all these!

Only great barrier that all of us face, in-spite of some fleeting glimpses again and again and not being able to remain in that perfect abidance is only because of our tendencies or Vasanas. Our hold or the desires to experience the world is stronger than the desire for Self. Since the glimpses of Self are fleeting and very short, we often side towards the external experiences by default. This is only due to not being able to fully discern the unreality of the experiences of our Vasanas or even better, we are unable to see the REALITY OF THE SELF. We still want to watch that movie/cinema, even though we know for sure that it is unreal! That is the main issue! Perhaps, remotely we can roughly say that, we are watching the movie because, we don't know what to do, or for want of happiness, by a inherent belief that watching the movie would give us happiness atleast for that time.

Every action of ours is purely motivated by the same idea of watching a movie. There is really no purpose as it is known before hand that it is unreal, but still, we are forced to watch the movie only because, we have not yet discerned with absolute certainty the unreality of the Maya or illusion or the REALITY OF SELF. This is Prarabdha Karma. We are bound by our Vasanas.

Along with the annihilation of Vasanas, Prabdha Karma also disappears.

When we say that for a Jnani, there is no prarabha karma, it purely signifies the freedom He is in. He is not bound to act like us who end up watching the movie even after knowing its unreality. Hence, He, a Jnani is absolutely free!

Hence it is so very important to really look deeply and facilitate the annihilation of Vasanas. In coming posts, I wish to explore more into the ways and insights that bring forth the annihilation of our Vasanas.

Asatomah Satgamaya - Lead us from Unreality to the Reality

Tathaastu - (It shall be so, as you hope/wish)

Significance of Arunachala Deepam

2011-12-08T16:46:00.001+05:30

प्रबोधमेहि पश्यस्व मात्मानमुदितं सदा ।

निर्विकल्पं चिदाभासं प्रातःपद्यं रविं यथा ॥ (Yoga Vaasishta)

Rama, Return to your right understanding, and behold your soul in its clear light as a manifestation of the unchangeable luminary of the intellect; in the same manner as the unfolding lotus beholds the rising sun.

प्रबुध्यस्व प्रबुध्यस्व पुनःपुनरयं मया ।

प्रबोध्यसे महाबाहो पश्यात्मार्कमनामयम् ॥ (Yoga Vaasishta)

I exhort you repeatedly, O Rama! To wake from your drowsiness, and by remaining ever wakeful to your spiritual concerns; see the undeclining Sun of your soul at all times

Guru Vasishta's concern over Rama (ourselves) shows in itself, in the verse! Today being the Deepam day, Guru urges us to return to our right understanding with absolute clarity which manifests itself as clear Light of understanding. This light is the significance of Arunachala Deepam. Arunachala Deepam is only a symbolic significance of the lighting of the inner light of wisdom. What light we wish to see in the arunachala hill should occur within ourselves as a light of proper discernment.

Adi Shankara in his Eka Shloki reveals this Luminous Light which is Symbolically represented by the Arunachala Deepam:

Shankara's Ekashloki -

(Arunachala Deepam)

किं ज्योतिस्तवभानुमानहनि मे रात्रौ प्रदीपादिकं

स्यादेवं रविदीपदर्शनविधौ किं ज्योतिराख्याहि मे

चक्षुस्तस्य निमीलनादिसमये किं धीर्धियो दर्शने

किं तत्राहमतो भवान्परमकं ज्योतिस्तदस्मि प्रभो

इति श्रीमत्परमहंसपरिव्राजकाचार्यस्य

श्रीगोविन्दभगवत्पूज्यपादशिष्यस्य

Bhagavan Ramana adapted the same in Ulladu Naarpadu Anubandham (7)

Master : ‘By what light do you see?’

Disciple : ‘The sun by day, the lamp by night.’

M : ‘By what light do you see these lights?’

D : ‘The eye.’

M : ‘By what light do you see the eye?’

D : ‘The mind.’

M : ‘By what light do you know the mind?’

D : ‘My Self.’

M : ‘You then are the Light of Lights.’

D : ‘Yes, That I am.’

Arunachala Deepam symbolically represents the "I am, Brahman, Atma, Self" luminous light that which is within and without, that Light of Lights, that Mind of the Mind. In the Kena Upanishad, the Seer sings:

Not that which the eye can see, but that whereby the eye can see: know that to be Brahman the eternal, and not what people here adore;
Not that which the ear can hear, but that whereby the ear can hear: know that to be Brahman the eternal, and not what people here adore;
Not that which speech can illuminate, but that by which speech can be illuminated: know that to be Brahman the eternal, and not what people here adore;
Not that which the mind can think, but that whereby the mind can think: know that to be Brahman the eternal, and not what people here adore.

Arunachala Deepam represents the understanding/discernment of the spirit of the Kena Upanishad as above. Realising this inner light is the significance of Arunachala Deepam.

Guru Vasishta urges further with an intense compassion towards Rama (ourselves) to wake up from this drowsiness of ignorance and instead asks us to be very concerned with our spiritual quests and not let go off, this desire of realising the Self! It is very important for us to remain wakeful to our real purpose of Live, real purpose of Human Birth, that is to realise ourselves as Undecaying Atma.

This moment, let us remember the words of the Sages of the Yore, who are urging us by our own inner light, let us bow to those Sages and Saints who are none but our own Selves, who manifest externally as knowledge, forms, just out of intense love of itself.

Salutations to Ramanachala Deepam

Boredom

2011-11-17T12:42:00.001+05:30

Boredom

Boredom is the most troublesome defect, a sadhaka experiences in his intense sadhana. Why is it, that, all our anubhuti (being-experience) of the truth is always temporary? Why is it, that, each time, when we sit for enquiry on the self, we are unable to continue the focus after some time? After some time, we get tired, or bored and we are naturally forced to get up and do something else to relieve ourselves!

The fundamental problem with our sadhana is our boredom. Unfortunately, the reality, the truth, the Self is really not an exciting subject after a certain level of discernment for our minds to dwell in the subject, because, the mind eventually realises that, the Self is nothing new, it is nothing other than itself, there is nothing, anymore exciting in knowing what is already known, and then it is bored and looks for newer and other fresh experiences to dwell into. We usually, watch television, call some acquintance over the phone and chit chat, or go out for a walk or a round somewhere, aimlessly, sometimes, boredome culminates into hunger, want of new taste, so, one eats, or one picks up some books and reads, maybe spiritual or aspiritual. If all of these don't interest the mind, the mind tries to seek physical pleasures, enjoyments, wine, women and lavish money spendings or look for new Gurus and exciting sadhanas to keep itself occupied in some experiential transcendental bliss. If it has no activities to do, it feels sleepy and sleeps out of boredom.

Depression is a fine line here. When the mind is bored, and is also equally bored to, not do any activities, or do any thing new, such a mind falls into deep depression. Depression is basically the inability of the mind to remain occupied in something. It is at a loss for all ideas to keep itself engaged.

It is neither able to keep itself occupied in activity nor is able to discern further the enquiry into the Self, it is unable to remain as Self.

The whole problem of Samsara is the weakness of the mind to cope with itself about the fact that it itself is the personification of boredom.

Mind itself is Bored of itself, as it intuitively knows about itself but not experientially. It intuitively is aware that it is nothing but just a bunch of information and without information, it is nothing and this is its true nature, which is the pure Self.

The mind feeds on information and more precicely, newer information because, it is not content in having the same old information, which it already has.

How to cope with boredom? If we are able to win the boredom, which itself is the mind, we are at peace. We have to be with that boredom. Remain with boredom, just sit with it, be with that pain of boredom. Do not do any activity out of boredom. Be with boredom and bore the boredome itself.

Remaining with boredom is like being an erasor, so long we remain still with the boredom, the information is being erased. the sankalpa to raise above and do something is pulled down to source by not allowing the boredom to take over you. The Mind receives its light from you to act. Without your will and permission, the mind does not act. Therefore, deny any permission to the mind to act. If any important duty is there, just allow the mind to do that and remain.

This is Tapas. This is true Sadhana. Sometimes, if this sitting is really tough, one may excercise Self Enquiry. But it is even better to remain still without even thinking. The mind, the personification of boredom would tease and taunt you to think about various things and tease you like the damsels from the Sky. Do not give any room to it. Remain with awareness and not allowing the thinking. Remain Still with boredome, till it erases every other information and itself in the end. You will remain even after that.

Not allowing the mind to think is erasing the information and itself. Just observe. Be a passive observer of your mind, Do not act on whims and fancies of the mind. Just be. Ignore the mind. The mind is like the Ghost which resorts to silly tricks of fooling you by emotions and taking the guise of importance etc... do not give any room for anycomplacency and be still. Sit with boredome. Put the boredom as though you lock it in a cage and do not open the door. Do not open this door at any cost, the mind will play tricks to fool you.

If duty calls, you go and finish just the duty and come back here. You dont even have to allow the mind to perform the duty. You can!

Try, Try...

Patience is this. This is patience, bearing the mind - boredom. enduring boredom and not allowing it to emerge.

This is the non emergence of 'I' non emergence of ego, non emergence of boredom.

The easiest and quickest way to fight boredom is just being with it, sitting by it without doing a thing. Even chanting shlokams and japam are only secondary. It is only when the being with boredom becomes tough, we resort to chanting the names of God, instead of allowing the mind to exert its activities. It is basically to supress the activity of the mind. But even better than it is just being simply quiet with patience and enduring the boredome mind without doing anything.

while in the beginning, it is ok to chant shlokas, do japam, etc... eventually, culminate yourself in remaining simply by the side of the boredome mind. don't even do this. Then the mind will beg, and cry, oh God, ok I will not do other things, but at least please allow me to chant shlokas (it is here in this state, where many Bhaktas have sung so many songs on the inspiration of you (God, Self) who is a mute witness. The boredom, cries, please, I beg of you. even then at that advanced state, remain quiet, don't get trapped in the plays of the mind, which is boredom. Don't even allow the chanting of Shlokas to the mind, while it is ok to allow the mind to sing and chant shlokas for some time, do not allow that freedom for ever . Would you give amrit of immortality to the Asuras? the Rakshasas? Don't give. Recollect the Mohini, avatar of Vishnu.

Shivoham

Passing Time

2011-11-13T19:27:00.003+05:30

Today I realised how difficult it is to be free! Especially, deep spiritual aspirants, are usually caught up unaware, on how to pass time and specially, they somehow end up having so much free time at their disposal and they don't know what to do! Which is why the most common thing spiritual aspirants resort to are Puja(ritual worship), Japa, Dhyaana, Parayana, Satsang, Seva, etc...

But a time comes when the force of Nature of Self will push you to stop even that. That force strips you completely naked without any support, all alone! He is a master idler, the scriptures refer the Sthithaprajna.

Ashtavakra Gita:

व्यापारे खिद्यते यस्तु निमेषोन्मेषयोरपि ।
तस्यालस्यधुरीणस्य सुखं नान्यस्य कस्यचित् ।। 16, 4

Happiness belongs to no-one but that supremely lazy man for

whom even opening and closing his eyes is a bother

I can relate my predicament to that of a person who was under the influence of his drink so long, who has suddenly stopped drinking all together, who is unable to pass time the same way, when he was so long able to do it with great appeasement under the influence of alcohol (mind, ego, desires, etc...)

Like a prisoner who has lived in a prison for all these years, say 80% of his life and when he is finally released due to his good conduct, the freedom is like a prison now not knowing what to do!

Freedom is really not easy! and how many can understand this! And what we call our duty, our responsibility to our family, society is actually very less, now, when I see! we have plenty of time to spare, really!

Under the sway of maya, we are engrossed in so much work and occupation, of which 99% is for ones own self gratification and when that sway is broken, it is a tremendous energy to curtail! it is the dance of Shiva Thandavam!

Responsibility are sometimes, the biggest reasons we establish to continue to enjoy being under the sway of the mind, our desires, and our vasanas! For, our true responsibilities are really very little!

The Search Continues....

Suffering is Birth of Awareness - Recognition

2011-08-12T21:09:00.002+05:30

Dear Self,

I had previously decided to stop writing my blog, but as they say, its Bhagavan's will and desire that I continue to write as the journey is still to pass and not ended yet. As I have previously expressed in my old contribution, I write to my Self and since the Self is same for everyone, it may be of some use to some souls in search of truth. So here I am, once again where I had left previously! What has changed? That which changes has changed, but I remain. The journey continues with its shades of colours...

We are all on a journey and this journey has had and will have its share of humps and bumps and joy and fun and peace and so on. Its the earnest yearning of every soul to be happy and Bhagavan has said there is absolutely no wrong in desiring happiness. Its the most eligible desire one should have He says, but also with the right understanding. Understanding things properly and clearly is most important sadhana for everybody. This is the special power a human being is endowed with. But I also have happened to see animals trying to behave like humans. There is a street dog near my house which is really very beautiful. One of my past times is to observe "Rani" as and when I can. In a very bustling life of humans around it, Rani seems to be the only person to be really peaceful! It makes me wonder with awe and made me contemplate how much we have already complicated our lives for want of happiness and none of our choices we have previously made have really given us any happiness! That Dog looked really happy. It is secure and has the care & love of few people who stay around the place and Rani has nothing more to ask for. How wonderful! Rani, tries to sit like humans unlike a dog, its sits on the step with its foot down and next to a human too. The effort Rani makes is really worth getting inspired, it tries and it is contended with its efforts. Its such a valuable lesson. We humans too try and put lot of efforts but what we generally lack is that contentment with our efforts. We get frustrated when our efforts fail to yield results and this often leads to depression and we eventually end up undermining ourselves so badly that we even lose our intelligence and understanding capacity and give in to the situation and suffer.

One of the main reason we lack contentment in our life is because we don't know what we want out of our life, what we REALLY want! Firstly, we have to love ourselves much more than anybody. Most of us are so self deprived and it is most essential for us to feel good about ourselves just the way we are. "The external world is absolutely the reflection of our Inner Self" How can we expect a great atmosphere around us when we our-selves feel so lesser about our-selves? and the same is reflected out as well!

Its most important to first sort out the differences within ourselves than anything else. But we try, try and keep trying to sort out the differences outside in order to be at peace and happy within ourselves! This is what Bhagavan meant when He said "Everyone desires happiness, there is nothing wrong in it, but only we desire it outside of ourselves, that is the only mistake we do"

Therefore, we should learn and begin to look for happiness within, that is the real wisdom and real happiness, which they call "Bliss" Bliss is different compared to happiness. Happiness can be temporary, but bliss is permanent. Happiness is what we derive from outside and it is bliss which we experience within ourselves. It is not wrong to enjoy the happiness outside, we can enjoy all the happiness life has to offer, but we should be aware not to give in to that happiness as everything because, external happiness is not permanent it keeps changing, its like the car, we need to keep investing on the fuel in order to enjoy commuting using the vehicle, when we no longer have money to buy fuel, the the vehicle will no longer run and there is no point is getting depressed with that fact and some day or the other, the car also is going to die out of wear and tear and not fit to run, we can then buy new car and continue again and again... but a day will come when we cannot escape from facing the truth of the reality of the external world. Such is the quality of happiness and pleasure we experience externally.

Where as our sages of yore have said that the Bliss which is already within is permanent and does not need any fuel or any money

This is definitely not easy. Its a constant practice, its verily the highest Tapas. Ramanar says in Upadesa Saaram (7):

आज्यधारया स्रोतसा समम् ।

सरलचिन्तनम् विरलतः परं ॥ (7)

Like an unbroken flow of oil or a stream of water,

continuous meditation is better than that which is interrupted.

Its the constant recognition and remembrance of this truth that is real Tapas like the unbroken flow of an oil without any interruption or breaks in the flow. That is graceful and any break in the flow is only disturbance.

Our mind is very disorganized like the number of hair in our head, that much activity is constantly going on in our mind and we are occupied in those activities without any awareness like how we get lost watching some character of a movie and merge with the character experiencing the same emotions! The moment we become aware of it, we get freed from the strangle hold of this mind, thoughts and its activities. This recognition is the key to be free.

Recognition is awareness and Forgetfulness is unawareness or obliviousness on our part that leads to suffering. This recognition or intelligence should be constant through out our life like a flow of river or the flow of oil as given in the verse.

This is the only real boon that we have been bestowed with when we took birth on Earth, the freedom to be free. Things are happening on their own accord. 99% of things happening before our eyes are happening on some force!

Contemplating on this popular story:

A person standing by side, sees a group of people running beside and behind and ahead of each other as though in some race and looking at them, a persons enquires with one of them as to why and for what are they all running like this to which he replied and asked "hmm... I don't know, I just saw them running and joined them! Whay don't you also join me?"

If we are unaware, oblivious of ourselves then we would chose to join them in the race to seek to win the race of the unknown.
But if we are aware of ourselves and recognize the situation, then we cannot escape thinking, "if they themselves don't know where they are going, why should I follow them? Let me just stay here, where I am and wait patiently till God comes over and guide me. This is recognition! He will realize that he is already running some race and there is no point in joining some other new race all over again. So where ever we are, whatever station we are in currently, we should be here with constant vigilance of remaining aware all the time!

This recognition has to be non stop and continues and without any breaks only then we will remain aware and never get lost. Even if for a small moment, we remain unaware, then we might given into ignorance of obliviousness and start running behind those people headed to nowhere and suffer the consequence and face the repercussions and return back to the same place where we started to look for again to the real happiness bliss.

Even before we dawn to this new recognition, suffering is the only indication that we will begin to experience in the mad race of life not even knowing what the race is all about. Suffering is the indication of the birth of awareness. Awareness always dawns at the reality of pain, suffering, like the pain mother experiences during her labor at the birth of her child.

Suffering, depression, pain, a feeling of defeat is actually an intuition within ourselves that begins to hint us about the futility of the journey we are currently going through. Some intuitive feeling we begin to feel that "what we are going behind, what we are desiring is not really true happiness" such intuitions leads to what we call sufferings. But when we realise that suffering is actually the birth of awareness, then the sufferings begin to disappear.

Instead of discerning our experiences of sufferings, pains of our life, what most of us try is, out of obliviousness, unawareness, we come to false understanding and try to re work our race and prepare ourselves better so as to outsmart others in the race. This is ignorance. Suffering is our friend and He will keep coming back reminding the person again and again till he is able to recognise the truth of his sufferings of his life as his own awareness! This has to dawn and only then will a person stop for moment, pause for a moment and begin to see things and begins to look within for Bliss as he is now able to recognize the futility of winning some unknown race for some illusive and elusive external happiness.

God touches the person in the form of pain, suffering, it is the स्पर्श Sparsh (touch) when ever we are in pain, then we should really focus all our attention on the pains experienced within as God is touching us, it is the touch of our Guru. It is a sign of grace of Guru.

Suffering is like that bitter medicine that cures us from disease and permanently too if we allow the process to take place. The mistake we make out of ignorance is to resist every bit of our sufferings and pains and thereby we even restrict the flow of awareness as well and eventually we remain in delusion of life and continue the race imagining that by winning the race of life, our suffering can be alleviated.

Everybody has to allow the birth of awareness, and unlike the physical birth of a child which only a woman is capable of giving birth to a baby, here everybody has to give birth to their own Selves in the form of awareness and this is the same process every person has to undergo like woman by nurturing the baby within and give a pleasant and natural birth to the child.

Suffering truly is the birth of Awareness, its the touch of God, Grace of Guru. We have to bear the pains and our sufferings like a woman in labor.

Thank you

2010-07-09T13:22:00.000+05:30

Dear I,

Thank you all for your patient reading of my humble musings in my blog so long.

Kindly ignore any mistakes thereon or any thoughts or ideas that might have been contradictory or misleading.

காந்தம் இரும்புபொல் கவர்ந்தெனை விடாமல் கலந்தெனொ டிருப்பாய் அருனாசலா

As a magnet draws iron, draw me to yourself,

O Arunachala: hold me fast, be one with me.

(Arunachala Akshara Mana Malai - 16)

Spirituality - Its flip-sides

2010-07-07T20:22:00.000+05:30

Spirituality is a great boon for one who has landed into it due to past good deeds. Spirituality is a life teacher. Spirituality transforms one into a human being from an animal with baser instincts (though I would still say, today animals are much better). A person comes to spirituality after he undergoes various difficulties in life by way of social problems, economic problems, relationship problems, Identity crises, exposure to crimes, or (rarely) through genuine devotion (carried forward by way of Karma or family set up) and many more.

Spirituality or devotion to God first makes one really alive, loving and caring. One learns about Dharma. Spirituality develops or brings forth the love, compassion, within us. Devotion to humanity is devotion to God. Spirituality opens the third eye, that of discrimination or viveka. It makes one courageous to face the Truth as it is. Not just facing the Truth, but completely accepting the truth as it is, is the hallmark of wisdom of a spiritual person.

But there are a lot of flipsides to “spirituality” which people fail to recognise. What usually happens is this - the spiritual person begins to attend Satsangs and develops affinity towards fellow “spiritual people”. Unknown to them, these qualities of Culture, Dharma, mistakenly create a standard or benchmark in their mind as to what is good and in keeping with culture. As life progresses, the “spiritual man” begins to categorise every event in his life, every person he meets in his life, based on the benchmark of the "Dharma, and culture" he has imbibed out of attending a few Satsangs. Whenever he comes across people who are different in nature, the mind reflects, “this guy is so unevolved, he does not know Dharma or have any culture”, and a sense of hate arises in the spiritual person, because he has preconditioned scales of what culture, dharma, etc are. Pause for a moment to ponder please ...Does our Dharma teach such hatred based on "culture"?

It is not Spirituality, if it teaches us to show kindness only to spiritual people. Showing kindness to a kindred spirit is tantamount to giving alms to an already rich man. To show kindness to one who is “barbaric”, (even if he actually be barbaric) is indeed real spirituality. That is giving of alms to a poor and needy soul, feeding the hungry of the soul.

Spirituality when misunderstood and misused creates too strong an impression of what is right and what is wrong. Perhaps, it is only due to this that social barriers and inequalities had evolved over the years. The Sense of what is right and wrong is purely based on personal experiences, and certainly spirituality isn't this! There is a great difference between 'Dharma' and 'Right'. The first lesson of true spirituality would be to teach a man to refrain from sitting on judgment on a fellow human.

It is only the flipside of this humbug “spirituality” that has dominated the last millennia. True spirituality is pure and never imposes anything on anyone. It is this unfair domination that has contributed to the hate, differences and inequality, caste barriers, etc...

Imposing on others in the name of spirituality, spiritual knowledge, a knowledge of what is right, how things ought to be, etc...all these have truly cost humanity a lot. There is a popular saying among agnostics and atheists, 'in the name of Love and Religion, more lives have been killed, more wars have been fought'! It is to a certain extent, a true statement. How spirituality can turn a person violent without even his being aware of it!!! This generally unnoticed aspect of spirituality is entirely responsible for the widespread antipathy towards spirituality that is so prevalent today.

It is really sad to see that true spirituality resides in an isolated corner these days.

True spirituality is simply a recognition of that 'principle' or sameness in all, in evil, good, bad, dirty, clean, beautiful, ugly, filthy, neat, excellence, corruption, etc... It is only when one has a strong feeling about what is right and wrong, that he creates hate, irritation, frustration within himself and the same is reflected externally.

The world is verily the reflection of our own self. What is within is reflected outside as it is.

In Mahabharatha, there is a parable which stands testimony to Yudhishtra’s inherent greatness when compared with Duriyodhana. One day Duriyodhana is summoned and asked to bring one good man from the earth. In the evening a disillusioned Duriyodhana returns, grumbling about how there isn’t one decent man left on the face of the earth. The very same day, Yudhishtra returns, shaking his head in utter dismay, genuinely unable to spot ONE BAD man, on which endeavour he was sent!! Each saw in the world what he found himself to be. Much as Duriyodana tried to rule the kingdom and prove his supremacy, it is proven beyond doubt that he must have been a tormented man, unhappy with himself on the core level. While Yudhishtra was intrinsically happy and contented even when he was in the forest, divested of the kingdom and the honours of a princely life!

This would be the greatest test of true spirituality – when one is unable to judge or condemn another human being, unable to hate, regardless of how different or even obnoxious he may be, it is only THEN that the individual is truly spiritual.

Every incidents that may result in raising our temper is the biggest grace of Guru, every people who test our patience are verily our Parama Guru. External divisions exist only for our upliftment alone. All sorrows, pains and worries are the greatest of Grace of Guru.

ॐ द्यौ: शान्तिरन्तरिक्षँ शान्ति:

पृथिवी शान्तिराप: शान्तिरोषधय: शान्ति: ।

वनस्पतये: शान्तिर्विश्वे देवा: शान्तिर्ब्रह्म शान्ति:

सर्वँ शान्ति: शान्तिरेव शान्ति: सा मा शान्तिरेधि ॥

ॐ शान्ति: शान्ति: शान्ति: ॥

May peace radiate there in the whole sky as well as in the vast ethereal space everywhere.

May peace reign all over this earth, in water and in all herbs, trees and creepers.

May peace flow over the whole universe.

May peace be in the Supreme Being Brahman.

And may there always exist in all peace and peace alone.

Om peace, peace and peace to us and all beings!

Ribhu and Nidagha

2010-06-20T12:11:00.000+05:30

Today, I began reading the Ribhu Gita, which forms the entire 6th Amsa of Shiva Rahasyam. I began reading the story of how this work began. This work has a tremendous impact on the one who reads it, even briefly, with least attention. This work is so potent with knowledge that imparts the knowledge of eternal Aatman in a very nice beautiful and straight way. Sri Bhagagvan used to say "These readings from Ribhu Gita are as good as samadhi." He used to tell to his devotees "it does not matter if you don't understand the book. Just go through it, it will be of immense benefit to you."

Ribhu Gita is knowledge imparted to Sage Ribhu in Kailasa by Shankara Himself

Ribhu who was the son of Brahma was a wise sage. Nidagha, who was the son of Pulastya, was his desciple. After receiving teaching about Knowledge from Ribhu, Nidagha went to city of Viranagara, situated on the banks of the Devika River, to live. In a beautiful grove near the river lived Nidagha, who acquainted himself with all the devotional practices. After the passage of a thousand celestial years, Ribhu was walking along the banks of the Devika River and went to the city of Viranagara to visit Nidagha to see how his disciple was progressing. He did so in disguise.

When Ribhu arrived, Nidagha had just performed the Vaisvadeva worship, which is a rite to please the gods that is performed prior to taking food, and was standing at the gate. Nidagha led Ribhu into the house to offer him food. When Ribhu's hands and feet were washed and he was seated, Nidagha respectfully requested him to eat.

Ribhu said to Nidagha, "O best among Brahmins, tell me what food you have in your house. I do not like unpleasant food."

Nidagha replied, "There are cakes made of rice meal, barley, and lentils. O Revered One, eat whatever pleases you most."

Ribhu said, "These are not pleasant food. Give me sweet things. Give me rice boiled with sugar, wheat cakes, and milk with curds and molasses."

But the sage, Ribhu, loved his disciple as deply as the later venerated his Master in the town, just to see how far the latter had outgrown his ritualism. At times, the sage went in disguise, as that he might observe how Nidagha would act when he did not know that he was being observed by his Master.

After the passage of another thousand celestial years, Ribhu again went to the place where Nidagha dwelled. On that occasion, Ribhu, who had put on the disguise of a village rustic, found Nidagha intently watching a royal procession. Unrecognised bu the town-dweller, Nidagha, the village rustic inquired as to what the bustle was all about and was told that the King was going in procession.

"Oh, It is the king. He goes in procession! But where is he?" asked the rustic.

"There, on the elephant," said Nidagha.

"You say that the king is on the elephant. Yes, I see the two," said the rustic, "but which is the king and which is the elephant?"

"What!" exclaimed Nidagha. "You see two, but do not know that the man above is the King and the animal below is the elephant? What is the use of talking to a man like you?"

"Pray, be not impatient with an ignorant man like me,"begged thge rustic, "but you said 'above' and 'below' What do they mean?"

Nidagha could stand it no more, "You see the king and the elephant, the one above and the other below. Yet you want to know what is meant by 'above' and 'below'?" burst out Nidagha. "If things seen and words spoken can convey so little to youm action alone can teach you. Bend forward, and you will know it all too well."

The rustic did as he was told. Nidagha got on his shoulders and said, "Know it now. I am above as the king, and you are below as the elephant. Is that clear enough?"

"No, not yet." was the rustic's quiet reply. "You say that you are like the king, and I am below like the elephnat. The 'king,' the elephant.' 'above,' 'below' - so far it is clear. But pray tell me what you mean by 'I' and 'you'?"

When Nidagha was confronted all of a sudden with the mighty problem of defining the "you" apart from the "I," light dawned on his mind. At once, he jumped down and fell at his Masters's feet, saying, "Who else but my venerable Master, Ribhu, could have thus drawn my mind from the superficialities of physocal existence to the true Being of the Self? O benign Master, I crave your blessings."

Ribhu said, "O Nidagha, I am Ribhu. Pleased with your approach towards me previously, I came here to give you, O high minded one, spiritual instruction. I have briefly described the divine Truth, the essence of which is the nondifferentiaion of all.

Nidagha said, "You are certainly my teacher. My mind has not been made free from dualistic bias by anyone else."

Ribhu continued, "I had come here to impart to you the Knowledge of Brahman. I have shown you the highest Truth, which is verily the essence, That which is One whithout a second."

The Ribhu Gita was one of the first books read by Sri Ramana Maharshi after His Self Realisation, one whose message clearly accorded with what he had realised within himself.

The inner revelation of the"I"-less "I,"the one absolute Self, which is ever-existent, is essential in the destruction of ignorance, which is alone the substance of bondage and illusion. The teachings of Ribhu are to be understood as pertaining to the destruction of ignorance by that which alone can truly do so - Knowledge - and the revelation of Reality. The Self is the one Reality. This is understood by those who inquire into their own nature and know it to be free of the limitations superimposed upon it due to misidentifications. The text of Ribhu Gita is, therefore, useful both as a description of the ineffable and as a detailed explanation of what is to be meditated upon in the course of inquiring within oneself to know the Self as it is.

(adapted from The Song of Ribhu, published by arrangement with Society of Abidance in Truth, California, USA)

I would like me to just quote one verse from this great work:

एतत्प्रकरणं यस्तु शृणोति सकृदस्ति वा ।

महापातकयुक्तोऽपि सर्वं त्य्क्त्वा परं गतः ॥ (69)

One who listens to this explanations even once perhaps, even if one should be associated with great sins, is freed from all, and reaches the Most High.

It may be noted that in all paths, each of their work would mention about the greatness of that work, that if it is read, it would save the one from great dangers and would singularly lead one to God. For me, this is the work that has really got me that feeling or belief. It really saves one from all sins possible, and would remove the doubts and misery for ever and naturally takes one to the eternal bliss of my beloved Guru Sri Bhagavan Ramana.

Salutations to Sri Bhagavan

Silence is our Natural (State) - Sat

2010-06-02T17:45:00.000+05:30

Silence is our Natural (State), the very essence of the first word of the famous description in Vedanta Tattva Vichaara - Sat Chit Aananda, which is popularly, loosely translated as Existence - Consciousness - Bliss. That which Is; the Ever; that which has always been there. Gaudapaada in his "Maandukya Karika" states the Ajaata Vaada, that is birthless and deathless. What is born only dies! But what is not born, which has forever been, is and will be, can that ever die, can that ever dissappear?

Therefore all the Vrittis, our thoughts, whose roots are our desires, are the ones that are born and die. That Birthless and Deathless (one) is Sat. Sat is your Real Nature, and That Thou Art - Tat Tvam Asi.

Our real nature is Sat alone. Silence. Silence is the Purest one. Silence is when there is absolutely no Vritti at all. The very first Aphorism of Patanjai in his Yoga Sutras is YogahChittaVritti Nirodhah. The very first aphorism is the sum of all the rest of the Sutras. Anything to do with thoughts, be it good or bad, is Vritti. Silence is immediately lost at the least bit of vritti.

The (state of) Silence is Samadhi. One cannot perceive silence. Any attempt or effort to understand that Silence is only Vritti. That is what we do not want to give up. How can we "understand" silence, wherein understanding is only thoughts, and thereby noise? Silence is intrinsically lost in it.

Desires become our Vasanas. All desires are just Vasanas. What tranforms desires into Vasanas is just a belief that those Desires will give us happiness. Every soul, deep inside, desires happiness. Regardless of whether one is a good or a bad human being.

The one who is tagged as a bad man engages in certain actions believeing that it would give him happiness, and one who is tagged as a good man does his deeds with the same faith.

A bad man would break "Rules" to derive happiness, a good man would perform charitable actions to derive happiness. The underlying desire in both of them is one and the same. But what causes Dvanda here is the inherent inability to recognise that One Underlying Desire in both.

Sri Ramana Maharshi says, the only desire one should have is the desire for realising the Self. That is the recognition of that underlying principle that everyone is looking for HAPPINESS in his/her own way. Once we recognise this, there will not be any difference between Good or a Bad Human being.

Sages are indifferent to a murderer and a great Bhakta. Of what need is the dichotomy to One who sees the same underlying principle in everybody?

That underlying principle which everybody is looking for, running in quest of, to attain which they perform numerous sadhanaas, Japa, Puja, Tapas, etc.. is this Happiness, Which is Ananda in the Vedanta Tattva - Sat Chit Ananda.

Ananda is our very nature - Silence. Silence is Ananda. When there is no Vritti there is Paramananda. Do we have any vritti in deep sleep? Sleep is the closest reference made to the Eternal Self's True nature. How can one say that he/she had a Good sleep? was he present during sleep observing that he was sleeping very well? Was there any Vritti? Still how is one able to recognise that he slept well? This is a great bewilderment for a Sadhaka!!

Sometimes it is best to leave questions aside and get back to the Self. These are all just Vrittis!

Sometimes, I try to not think at all and just remain! And then I wonder, am I practicing to not think at all? how could this be possible?

Sri Ramana says:

That which makes the enquiry is the Ego; the Self about which the enquiry is made is also is the Ego, as a result of enquiry Ego ceases to be and only Self is found effulgent.

Like how we need to remove a thorn using another, Vritti can only be removed through Vritti only.

Intellectually, the possibility of disappearing into oblivion would haunt a sadhaka, but what can happen to us? the one that is speaking is just the ego, we are not that Ego but we are the Silence - Sat. Our real nature is Waking Sleep, where there is no Vritti at all.

All sadhanas are only aimed at quietening our mind. They all serve only this purpose alone, and nothing else.We perform pujas, japas etc.. subconsciously hoping that we will get some special power, or some special siddhi, of reading others' mind, etc... or others may see our Tejas in our eyes and skin and we may earn respect, become a Guru and what not!

स्वं शक्तया परमस्य चालितमविज्ञायोद्यतो योऽखिमाः
सिद्धिः साधयितुं स एव मनुजो यद्वत् स पड्गुर्नरः ।
योऽवादीद्भविता श्रमो मम कियानेतान् विजेतुं रिपून्
मामुत्थप्य निवेशयेर्यदि रणे तेषां पुरस्तादिति ॥ ६१ ॥
(Ramana Hridayam)

He that seeks to win supernormal powers, not knowing that he himself is activated by the power of God, is like the cripple who said, "How easily would I defeat these foes if only you would lift me up and place in the battle field before them.'

We forget the very essence of Sadhana, that is to simply still our Vrittis. we get enamoured and entrapped without even our knowledge, this is Sukshma Ahamkara, we will not be even aware about our Ego-ness, we will be deluded in thinking that I am Divine now, I am in the company of God, I perform so much pujas, Japams, etc... I have gained so much Vibrations etc,... I am feeling so happy, I can feel some Energy movements in my body etc... Kundalini shakti is arising, etc...

These are all dangerous and could leave us deluded in a Heavenly world for a long time. Opening of Shiva's third eye, that of discriminination has to destroy all these. The Satva Rajas and Tamas - all of them have to be over come.

Once a devotee asked Sri Ramana - What would he ask the Lord Arunachala, if He appeared before him? Sri Ramana replied 'first I would tell him to please stop appearing before me now and then and let me be'

Even if we analyse the Puranas, we only see Gods manifesting physically before Asuras, Ravana did tapas and Shiva appeared before him, Tarakasura, Bhasmasura, etc... mostly, only to Asuraas we find that Gods appeared before them and gave them Boons etc...

Have we ever read anywhere in lives of Maharshi Vishwamitra, Vasihshta, that God appeared before them and gave them Jnana etc...?

Coming back to the primary thought -

Silence is our Real Nature.

या शान्तिर्मनसः स्वयं भवति सा मुक्तिर्बुधैः कीर्तिता
व्यापारैर्मनसोऽधिकैर्भवति यल्लभस्तु तास्सिद्धयः ।
ता मब्धुं जडधीर्यतेत मनुजो यस्तेन लभ्यं कथं
स्यान्मुक्तेस्सुखमन्तहीनममलं चित्तोपशान्त्यात्मकम्॥६२॥
(Ramana Hridayam)

Perfect stillness of the mind is declared by the sages to be Deliverance. Powers are to be won by more than common efforts of the mind. How can the man, who is so unintelligent as to seek to win those powers, win the timeless happiness of Deliverance, which is the same as Quiescence of mind!
.

Guru and Grace

2010-04-15T10:08:00.000+05:30

theLivu guruvin thirumEni kANDal
theLivu guruvin thirunAmam ceppal
theLivu guruvin thiruvArththai kETTal
theLivu guruvuru cinthiththal thAnE.

Clarity is seeing the holy Body of guru;
Clarity is saying the holy Name of guru;
Clarity is listening to the holy Words of guru;
Clarity is contemplating on the holy Form of guru.

There cannot be a better (Sadhana) than this one. Our mind or the little 'I' is so much conditioned or ruled by Vasanas that we fail to recognise the bountiful grace of Guru, God, the Self, Brahman. There cannot be a bigger irony than this one. We talk so much and have read so much about the famous verse of Kabir:

Kasturi kundal base, mrig dhoondhe van mahi'

The kasturi, a fragrant, is in naval of a particular specie of deer, but the deer having its fragrance runs in search of that in whole of forest, to whom it concerns?

We could possibly expect the deer to run about here and there in search of a fragrance that is found within itself. How much ridiculous could it be that, we, Humans, endowed with "Viveka" or Discriminative abiliy, roam about unaware of his own true nature? He goes and goes in search of Guru/Grace, evaluating each Gurus, and keeps searching for the right 'Guru' in quest of Truth. Grace is always available, only we fail to recognise it and suffer like the deer. Funny part is that even after being aware about this simile of Kabir, we still continue our quest in search of Guru or Grace. Grace is just another name for Guru.

But, this very attempt itself, will eventually lead one to hid Guru and what Guru does is to show the way to the Self within Himself. A true Guru is one who frees you from Himself.

Thirumoolar has said it all in his simple verses, quoted above, what else is there?

To watch the Holy Body of Guru is the greatest of great Punya that we have acquired. we may see pictures of Guru in our home, but there is a difference in seeing it with after Viveka has dawned. It remains no longer a picture. Guru Talks to you, in the eternal language of Mauna, Grace is so much available.

We are denying ourselves to be alive in todays world, we are getting lost in mundane activities very badly. We humans beings are now only acting based on instinct and not with Viveka. We have become worse than animals. Animals are definitely more alive than us Humans. Thats a fact.

Sad part is that, the society of animals (humans) have spread such venom in the name of competition and various standards of sophisticated living and people who seem to have such Viveka, budding souls are pulled away from the Truth and become Kabir's Deer in search of Happiness (Samsara Dukha). The society determines what you become. Not you, nor the dormant Viveka which is ever shining within. It is like, you know killing is bad and you resort to killing because, 4 people around you are doing it!

In Bhagavatam, we see, the Bull, Dharma standing with only one leg in this yuga, that of Satya and all the other 3 legs of the bull are cut signifying the erosion of values in the society. But none can destroy the single leg on which the bull is standing now, of Satya, or Truth. Can the truth ever be destroyed?

That one leg is the Viveka which is under the veil of ignorance. That Viveka is the Grace or the Guru, when this Viveka begins to manifest, it gets you to a physical Guru, that Viveka within manifest itself a a Guru in a Physical form and the Guru shows you his True from that is within ourselves as the eternal Self, the eternal Seer, Aatma.

At the dawn of this Viveka, seeing the form of Guru is seeing the real form of our True Self, Aatma

chanting the name of such a Guru is being one with our True Self.

Listening to the Holy words of Guru is to abide as the eternal Self as Brahman

contemplating on the Holy form of Guru is being Siva Himself.

theLivu guruvin thirumEni kANDal

theLivu guruvin thirunAmam ceppal
theLivu guruvin thiruvArththai kETTal
theLivu guruvuru cinthiththal thAnE.

Clarity is seeing the holy Body of guru;
Clarity is saying the holy Name of guru;
Clarity is listening to the holy Words of guru;
Clarity is contemplating on the holy Form of guru.

Ramana Maharshi has said:

"The grace of guru is like an Ocean. If you come with a cup, you will only receive a cupful. It is no use complaining of the niggardliness of the ocean; the bigger the vessel, the more you will be able to carry. It is entirely up to you"

Rest as peace. Let no thoughts spring up

Mauna. Silence.

Some Musings -

2010-02-25T23:53:00.000+05:30

It just occurred or flashed to me, that the best thing is just to be contended with No Answers at all. It is our keen interest and quest for such answers that lands us into so many humps and bumps in life. A want of some answer that can solve all our problems for us for an ideal life!

It sounded so simple and yet, it is so profound. Seeking answer or solution is I felt is cause for most problems. It implies to questioning the actions of the one who created everything, it is a second matter all together who created us, what purpose, etc... but, everything is happening on some formula, something predetermined. I am beginning to lose more and more (I would say) Grip on free will. The very idea of "Free Will" is under threat now. But yes, this topic on Free Will is very common one, and you would have read a lot about this free will and made a lot of analysis about it. If one deeply sees this, it is really horrifying, that there is absolutely noo Free Will at all. If at all some incident happened by our exercise of Free Will, then I learnt that it was only Co-Incidence, thats all. Every deliberation is Pre Determined! It ought to be like this only, you cant do a thing about this!

Where from these quest for answers have sprung? from want? well Want is just an another answer in requirement! Desire? Desire is also just an another answer in the form of want! Looking closely further, it is very simple, there is no analytics here, no big Tatvaa or big Vedantas, but simply, it has sprung from Questions within!

What are questions then? Where from are questions coming from? Questions implies Answers, they are inter-related. There cannot be a question without and Answer, and there cannot be an Answer without a Question!

Because, there existed a question, there arouse a need for Answer. Every Answer is a birth of (new) question and every question is a borth of (new) answer. This is just endless. Birth after Birth, Death after Death. If birth is question and death is answer, the cycle continues! But what our scriptures/Vedas/Upanishads say is that your are birthless, deathless, you are immortal! Birth and Death is just Samsara. Question and Answers are just Samsara.

I am trying consciously here not to end with some answer, but yet the very attempt is itself a question!

I'd just like to Be Here (end) with this - maybe rather abruptly!

Eternal Silence of Dakshinamurthy!

Just Be
Stay Still
Chumma Iru
Let not the thoughts come up

Tat Sat Brahmaarpanamastu. Let it all be sacrificed into Yajna. Casting off everything into the fire of Yajna - Mind thoughts and everything!

तथास्तु - So Let it be

Shiva Raathri - Crumbs from my last year's Shiva Raathri thoughts

2010-02-09T18:34:00.002+05:30

Shivarathri always falls on the Chaturdasi day of Krishna (Dark) Paksha or waning phase of the moon. The next day being Amavaasya. I feel its the dilution of the dualness into nothingness (amavasya). On the 14th day there is a small moon presence which is the sense of I'ness after all the austerities performed so long during the Uttaraayana and Dakshinaayana. This great day by staying awake the whole night the I gets merged into the Amavasya.

Amavasya is completely pure without any attributes.

People who long for Liberation do the Giri Pradakshinam on the Amavasya day and people who wish to enjoy the worldly life in their varnaashramas do the Giri Pradakshinam on the Pournami day (full foon day)

Shiva also stands for Pralaya, Death etc... all these events like death, pralaya according to our Shastras are considered as 'Mangalam' or auspicious events. Pralaya is dissolution of the world and merging back into where it came from. similarly on this Shivrathri day the I merges into Itself Siva.

The sound of Damaru in Sivas hand is one of the primordial sounds just like Aum, both sounds if carefully observed will begin with 'hmm...' and end with the same 'hmm...' humming sound from and into silence.

Sanyasa - No escape to it.

2010-01-29T00:24:00.000+05:30

No matter which ever way the river takes its course, it eventually will end up merging into ocean. Similarly, everyone, will end up taking up Sanyasa some point or the other in life. Sanyasa is not only wearing an orange garb and being introduced to some Mantras or some monastery or any other any other conventions that are in place today.

No matter what agenda you have, Sanyasam cannot be escaped. Like how one cannot escape death, for one who has birth, Sanyasam is inevitable.

Life is your Guru, at some stage, it will initiate you to Sanyasam, and you can't stop that. You will get into Sanyasa Ashrama and under go the life of a Sanyasa with or without yourself being aware. A wise one will know when he has become a sanyasi. I'd like to leave the life of Sanyasi which is a Pandora's box to you all.

As a Sadhaka, one aspires to be/become like his/her Guru and he will be ready to undergo any strife life as got to offer to be a Sanyasi. As a Sadhaka one will be ready to jump even from cliff to know the truth or realise Brahman, the Self.

But ordinary everyday life by itself, naturally offers the life of Sanyasam which cannot be ignored. It is only wise to accept Sanyasam as and when life offers it to you and not get deluded by the Maya of Life.

Sanyasa has become fancy, because of so many 'colours' seen in the lives of great Saints like Adi Shankara Bhagawat Padal, Vallabhacharya, Chandrashekhara Bharathi and Saraswathi Swamigal of Sringeri and Kamakoti respectively, and many more...

A Sadhaka wants orange Garb but not Sanyasam (' ',) But the fact is that so called Advanced Souls and Ordninary souls cannot escape from Sanyasam. Its like a medicine, nature feeds you and you cannot say no. You are already fed. You are a Sanyasi.

You cannot escape from this Truth. Some time or the other, this bullet will kill You:

Giving up actions based on desire This is real essence of renunciation.

In Srimad Bhagawatam, in Uddhava Gita 11.7.14
Yogesa Yoga Vinyasa
Yogatman Yoga Sambhava
Nihshreyasaya Proktas
Tyaagah Sanyasa Lakshanah

Uddhava said: My dear Lord, You alone award the results of yoga practice, and You are so kind that by Your own influence You distribute the perfection of yoga to Your devotee. Thus You are the Supreme Soul who is realized through yoga, and it is You who are the origin of all mystic power. For my supreme benefit You have explained the procedure for giving up the material world through the process of sannyāsa, or renunciation.

Thyaagah Sanyaasa Lakshnah

Pancha Bhuta Tatvam

2010-01-09T08:20:00.001+05:30

We have heard a lot about the Pancha Bhutas: Space, Water, Air, Earth, Fire. Today, I had been to Shirdi Baba temple and when I went near to the Dhuni - the fire, I was lost in contemplation, and then it flashed to me the essense of the Pancha Bhutas.

The very essence of these 5 Elements is the significance of God, Brahman, Aatma, Chaitanya, we just cannot measure it. But what the Mind/Ego/I/Thought does is that it keeps tying to measure these 5 elements, tries to understand it, tries to define the Aatma, Brahman, which is Pancha Bhuta Tatva. That is why the Vedas say, it is none of the Pancha Bhutas as well, because we try to fill the Pancha Bhutas.

Space - Whatever we try and fill the space, it will still remain unfilled. The Space can never be filled, no matter how much ever one tries to. Whatever we try to understand about the Space always remains Space, it cannot be filled. But the ego/mind/I/thought always keeps trying to occupy the space, but it will not succeed. The Tatva is that the Space consumes all - Ego/Mind/Thought/I, all Concepts, thoughts, knowledge, ignorance, everything.

Water - Whatever we try to consume the water, the water dissolves it all, Water known as a universal solvent, just dissolves everything one tries to define it. The Tatva is that Water dissolves everything - Ego/Mind/Thought/I, all Concepts, thoughts, knowledge, ignorance, everything.

Air - Whatever we try to define the Aatman, Brahman, Chaitanya, i.e. to define it. we try to forcibly push the Air in one direction. Will the air ever listen to you which is Ego/Mind/I/Thought? who just wants to define it based on its own knowledge, thoughts, idea, concepts. It just wont listen. The Tatva is that the Air just takes all - Ego/Mind/Thought/I, all Concepts, thoughts, knowledge, ignorance, everything in its own direction, and not the other way.

Earth - The Tatva is very simple, the earth is the eternal Aatman, Brahman, Chaitanya - No matter how much the Mind/Ego/Thought/I tries to live permanently, it will eventually be consumed by the Earth. i.e. everybody- Mind/Ego/I/Thought will become ashes, become one with the Earth.

Fire - Fire consumes you - Mind/Ego/I/Thought. Can anything, any concept, understanding, knowledge stand near the fire? It will destroy you - Mind/Ego/I/Thought.

Like this, whatever we try to know and profess to know as the reality will always be nothing near the Aatman, Brahman, Chaitanya. The essence of these Pancha Bhuta Tatvas is this that you, which is just Mind/Thought/I/Ego can never ever understand the Brahman.

And this is exactly what the third eye of Shiva signifies, when the third eye opens, it just burns everything into Bhasma - all thoughts, knowledge, understanding, everything. It strips you absolutely naked, without anything to cling on. That hopelessness, Hopeless state, totally giving up. This is true Bhakti. This is Sharanagati.

The Pancha Bhutas signify this. Every temple, the deity in the sanctum sactoriam is just aa "Prathi Bimba" or Mirror image of your true Self. But what we see is only an image of our own little self in the mirror, an image of body, shirt, pants, body, eye, limbs, etc...

This is the real concept of Temples, the God in the temples is just our own real real reflection, this is the real mirror and not the ordinary mirror that only gives the reflection of Ego/Mind/Thought/I. The real mirror gives us the reflection of Godhood, Brahman, Aatman, Chaitanya, which we pray, Blindly. We should reflect more about this. The Pancha Bhutas are an excellent illustrations that gives us the Real Mirror-Image of our real Self.

Ramanarpanam

Late night musings

2009-12-31T23:29:00.001+05:30

Jiva,

Whether one thinks, he is on the path of Jnana or Bhakti, evenually, He will see the culmination of Jnana and Bhakti at one point, where He can be both - a Jnani and a Bhaktha.

Sometimes, it is so important to free oneself from all the intellectual struggle and just simply surrender oneself unconditionally to the One that runs the show. The mind or the ego is always on look out for something interesting, something more, something exciting that will give it a sense of contentment, a sense of achievement, a sense of being a Jnani. It cant just be with fact as it is. There is nothing there really, but the ego does not want to stop, it just cant be, it simply just does not want to retire! Basically, it does not want to die!

Amidst all these searches, the path can deviate the Sadhana/Student to various different routes that do not have any destiny at all. But the reality is that there is no destiny to reach at all. The very journey is illusion! The idea that there is realisation on attainment of something itself is a delusion. This very delusion itself is the reason for Self Enquiry even! Intellectually, one cannot 'find' the Self as such because the very 'One' in Search Himself is the Search or the Self! Such is the Irony!

But the pull of Vasanas are so strong that, even though, I am able to clearly write these without any second thought now, as there is so much clarity as write it now, will soon fade away when the day ends! That is because, Even the clarity that we perceive is only for quietening just the ego/mind. Would the Self ever want any clarity? Would the Self want any attainment at all? It just simply is, it is not really bothered about what the ego/mind does!

Therefore, the 'One' that really is seeking clarity or the Self is just the ego/mind.

But the greatest irony is that the ego/mind, due to delusion, believes that it is 'Jiva', 'I' is mind, ego and goes about searching for the Self endlessly.

When the culmination of Bhakti and Jnana occurs, the ego/mind (not reall ceasing to be) ceases to be. It casts of its agenda of searching the Self and remains as the Self, not even requiring to acknowlege to itself on attainment. There is no more any necessity for such activities. There are no activities at all here. The Self is absolutely free of anything. It does not have any agenda because there is no perception here. Perception exists only when there is ego/mind. But as its agenda ends, there is no more activity at all. N more activity meaning, "Just Be", "Being Still".

Bhagawans teaching on simply being "Just Be","Be Still" and the state of Jnani are of no use to the ego/mind. Whatever, it reads, analyses about the Self is a futile exercise because, It is not the Self. Just like how the Actor who plays the role cannot become the role itself in real life, similarly, the ego/mind cannot be the Self on defining, understanding, analysing the Self. Because Being Self, one is not interested in even knowing that it is Self. The Self just is.

The maximum the ego/mind can do is only understand its own limitedness and be humble.

Its really a futile exercise on part of Jiva to analyse how the transformation from Ego/Mind/Jiva to Self takes place. This itself is the delusion. When the Jiva stops this very exercise and just remains humbly, knowing its own limitedness, without having any agenda on analysing, Jnana, Bhakti, to becoming, to try to become, to try and understand or tries to be as the Self. That itself should be sufficient. The Jiva/ego/mind will not know that He has become the Self or the Jiva/ego/mind cannot know that it is Self.

Jiva

Essence of the Weigh Scales

2009-12-29T17:29:00.000+05:30

I just felt probably, my previous post may not end up conveying what exactly it means. Hence, this post.

In the first picture, in the weigh scale, the knowledge is more than the ignorance. The Sadhaka, here has enough enough knowledge, the power to discriminate between the real and the unreal. This question posted here is, "is this discrimination enough?"

In the second picture, ignorance is more than the knowledge, they say ignorance is bliss, most people could fit under this category, mostly, we can instantly fit some people here :) (well thats how the mind operates, finds some person whom it can relate to an idea). It is obvious here that there is total delusion.

In the third picture, is my favorite one, there is equal knowledge and ignorance, i.e. one is able to distinguish what is ignorance and the knowledge that is able to determine that ignorance! Thats it! This is simply, a machine. A Sadhaka gets easily stuck here. No where to go. just plain knowledge. In Advaita Bodha Deepika, the sage says, its only the Jiva that has the knowledge about the Brahman. This is a classic educated delusion that could potentially stagnate a Sadhaka. The Jiva after gaining so much knowledge, is able to clearly distinguish between the snake and rope, is itself still only a Jiva. This the Jiva does not realise, The Jiva can go about thinking, there is nothing more to know, that it is absolutely content and is in bliss. Here, the Jiva builds up ideas about Sat Chit Ananda. Here, the Jiva goes about with a Self defined Self Realised person.

In the fourth picture, the weigh scale is equal without knowledge and ignorance, but there is still the weigh scale - Jiva is still present. Here Weigh scale is Jiva. A Witness is still present, the Seer is still present. but he is not affected by either knowledge or ignorance. This is what the Shaiva Siddhanta defines as "Shudda Manas" or Pure Mind.

Lastly, the fifth picture, is there a fifth picture? am I joking? No, not at all, there is no picture at all, as long as there is Jiva, there is some picture, here there is no picture at all, Seer and Seen, both are one and the same! There is just This alone. It alone is. I am wrong to say it even Sat Chit Ananda, Brahman, etc... because if I say that then I is again just a Jiva right?

Here the Self alone is. There is no necessity for the Self to acknowledge itself, because even to acknowledge there has to be somebody apart from it. But when it alone is, what else can be?

I am unfit to write about the fifth picture, because, I - am the Jiva.

Ramanarpanam

Weighing Scale - Moksha, Bahman, Self Realised

2009-12-29T01:09:00.000+05:30

Choose the best you feel from the following. The choice is yours.

1.

Leopard Jnani - Ramana

2009-12-27T21:28:00.000+05:30

On a moonlit night some devotees were going round the holy Arunachala Hill, chanting the Vedas. Suddenly they saw a leopard standing right in the middle of the road and looking at them. The singers were paralysed with fear. They could neither sing nor walk ahead or run away. The leopard looked at them
quietly for quite a long time and then slowly crossed the road and disappeared into the jungle. The devotees thanked their stars, completed their round of the hill and, after returning to the Ashram, related their adventure to Bhagavan, who listened carefully and said, “There was no reason for fear. The leopard
is a jnani who came down from the hill to listen to your chanting the Vedas. He went away deeply disappointed because out of fright you broke off singing. Why were you afraid”?

Significance of Aarathi

2009-12-22T10:11:00.000+05:30

Its a common practice among Hindus to light camphor and rotate it around the idol worshiped, its very important to know the real significance of this act. Well there must be many interpretations by various learned people. But after some introspection, I understood thus:

Performing Puja is a Sadhana, effort made to please the God or more precisely the Self, to put it more simpler, it is carried out simply for our contentment. It is not made to please your God, its grave ignorance to believe so that by performing Puja, one can please the God and he shall grant boons to you, make your life easier and that the day will go off well. This is not so, the subtle essence in performing puja is to attain total sharanagati, absolutely not in my hands. I am not the Kartutva, doer but Thou art.

After performing Manas Shuddhi purificatory rituals to concentrate and not let the mind deviate due to the wind of Vasanas and the vibrations of Mantras steady the performers concentration and makes him stay still. That exalted state is a mere, we could say glimplse of the Self. A sincere performer will be aware about this. The sadhana of performing the puja makes the mind still. Sri Ramana Mahashi says - "Chumma Iru" or stay still. The eternal teaching of Dakshinamurthy is silence. Silence of Mind. This is what is attempted in performance of Puja.

At the conclusion of such Sadhana, we do Mangala Aarathi, by lighting a camphor and show it to the idol in clockwise.

The Camphor is the body or the Ego - I and the fire is the knowledge. When the body (camphor) is totally burnt, there is neither body, ego - I nor knowledge. What remains and still does not really remain is the eternal consciousness and rotating around the idol or any God is concentration without allowing the Vasanas take over you. Suppose Vasanas takes us over like a strong wind, the fire stops and camphor would still remain.

and finally we assume or become "one with" the fire/knowledge by touching the fire and taking the spirit in our heart - Tat Tvam Asi.

Tiruchuzhi, Birth, Rebirth

2009-12-17T10:37:00.000+05:30

Dear I

A couple of days back, I learnt that Sri Ramana Maharshi's birth house at Tiruchuzhi, a small town that is near to Madurai, which was over 150 years(I Presume), was dilapidated very badly and the Ashram decided to renovate the house for posterity. When I heard this, I was shocked tearfully. It was my deep desire to visit Sri Venkataraman's birth place at least once is life time. I was sad to know that the house is no more. I wanted to feel the flooring where Sri Venkataramaan would have played and walked. Sri Sundaram Iyer, Venkataraman's father had left one half portion of his house exclusively for pilgrims and the doors were always open. No one would pass by Sri Sundaram Iyer's house hungry. Infact it is said that even robbers would avoid only this house out of respect or gratitude to Sri Sundaram Iyers service. I wanted to see this place in its pristine-ity.

There was struggle going on within me as I was not able to make it just a few months back when I visited Madurai. I missed such a golden chance. So near yet so far! I reflected, I can never ever see the house again in its pristine-ity. Off course, I understand that its very natural that dilapidated buildings are renovated everywhere. Every temples and other religious structures that have deep sentiments in past were also renovated. But I clung so badly on visiting the birth house of Sri Ramana Maharshi.

I realise that all things are momentary, they don't last. But is this not what is called rebirth in a way? We always look for continuity, birth after birth, hope after hope. In this way we get used to the fact of such continuity and just don't give up. We will have to give up some time or the other. There has to arise a point where there is no hope, no continuity, no rebirth for this - "I" which is ego personified. Absolutely nothing to cling upon. Truly absolutely hopeless situation is when we are nearer to what is called "Sharanagati" absolute desolate position. We just postpone this!

A true Guru is one who frees himself to you and leave you absolutely alone as "Divya Chaitanya, or Sat Chit Ananda" and our beloved Sri Ramana Maharshi has illustrated this to so many devotees in various different ways. Things that we cling upon dies one day or the other. What is born dies and we forget what is not born at all.

Musings

2009-12-15T21:02:00.000+05:30

Dear I's

I am addressing to myself - I; who are seen by myself - I, as various other-selves or I's.

What more is there to write here on? Just writing on various topics is simply a repetition of the same things in various different ways! What purposes are all these posts going to serve? - I don't know. But still "I" wants to keep going, wants to keep writing some thing! "I" wants acknowledgement of "I". It is relishing the various
other-Selves - "I's" reading my posts. but really who is reading my post? Is not "YOU" is actually "I" only?

This I has to get dissolved some time or the other. Its death is not yet come. It is still pushing itself death forwards. It is still relishing plurality. It wants plurality. It wants its own acknowledgement!

What is all this? Silence - I, be quiet! when is the knot going to be broken Hritaya Granthi and release the "I" or the death of the "I". When "I" is not willing to face the truth even after seeing the truth. It still wants to watch the movie even after realizing that the emotions experienced by I is actually not "I's" but only the character in the movie!

the birth continues. Born again with more equipments to keep myself "I" going with more money to watch movie and experience more emotions, actions, Drama, spirituality, etc...

Another Birth Now !

Krishna, Radha and Flute

2009-12-09T09:44:00.002+05:30

Radha was very jealous of Krishna's flute. One day she asked it, how is it that you are so fortunate to always be in the the company of my beloved Krishna? even I also don't get to be with him as much as you do!

The Flute replied, O Radha, that is because, I am totally empty from inside and because of that Sri Krishna enters throughout me by his breath and he is the one who brings out all the beautiful sound from me - Himself!

Such a beautiful story! Being totally hollow from inside meaning totally ego-less, absolute surrender, no trace of I-ness. When we totally leave the "Kartrutvam" or "Doership" then the Lord takes over as he is all pervading. Then one abides as the Self, Aatma, Divya Chaitanya or abides as Sat-Chit-Ananda.

Ramana Maharshi used to joke, most people's Sharanagati is like that of offering Lord Ganesha a sugar piece picked up from the Ganesha murty or statue itself made by Sugar mould. Aatma Nivedhanam, one of the ways of Bhakti is total surrender of this Ego I-ness. That is Sharanagati. Is this not the spirit mentioned in our Puja Vidhi? before we commence any Puja, we chant this Shloka:

Deho Devayala Prokto Jivo-Deva Sanatanah
Tyajet Ajnana Nirmalyam Soham Bhavena Pujayet
The body is said to be a temple and the indweller is the eternal master.
Discard the withered flowers of ignorance and worship with the understanding “I am That.”

Sharanagati should be something like, when you are travelling in a Bus or a Plane, you totally leave everything into the hands of the Driver or the Pilot. It is his duty to take you to the destiny, you don't even think about the travel then. The spirit should be like this. Instead, most of our Sharanagati is like, even after knowing that it is only in the hands of the driver or the pilot, we begin to worry whether we would meet with some accident or some mishap could happen. Most of our lives is like this.

The stories of Radha and Krishna, each conversation between them is so precious, simple yet enlightening.

Radha is said to be Jeevatma and Krishna is said to be Paramatma and it is all about Radha merging with Krishna. Jeevatma becoming Paramatma. One should understand that there is no Becoming or Merging here because its just ignorance on part of Jeevatma that it is different from Paramatma. Like the rope mistaking itself as a snake.

One should constantly meditate of the Paramatma.

Eternal Happiness

2009-11-29T08:25:00.000+05:30

Why are we-'I' not able to abide in the eternal happiness always? This is very important valid question for our introspection. It is only because that we are not able to abide as the Self which is the eternal happiness itself, we look for momentary happiness which is very short lived. What we do is, we don't give up, once the momentary pleasure is over, we look for some other momentary happiness. We spend our entire life only in pursuit of momentary pleasures. Somehow we want happiness, we don't want even a moment of unhappiness. Whenever we are thrown into the abyss of unhappiness, we run back to momentary happiness, come out of the hell.

But, we don't realise that it is only in the dark abyss, unknown, fearful abyss, we can find the eternal happiness. Crossing the forest f Samsara is only this. nobody wants to cross this forest but, whenever we see this forest as dangerous, we turn backwards and stay back.

We say, God is everywhere, but in reality, we only find him in momentary pleasures alone and not else where. If God is everywhere then everything is God Himself, even the dirt as well!

Fearing the unknown is the problem, venturing into the realms of unknown, unheard is the fear which restricts one from Eternal Happiness which is verily the Self itself. How ridiculous? are we scared to venture into ourselves then? Naked truth, but yes! But in reality, all those momentary pleasures that we feel so good about, derive pleasures are in reality to be feared, for they are really unknown, to the Self. Its greatest Irony!

They say where there is a will, there is a way.

Where there is fear, there is God, more potent.

Nobody can take one there, ones Self is ones own Guru which is the Chaitanya, Aatma. External Guru that we are blessed to have only shows one his own Guru. A fast student reflects and identifies this and crosses the forest of Samsara.

They say, when the student is ready the Guru arrives, this external Guru, that we see is only the reflection of (our) the Self, Prathi Bimba or mirror image. there is no Guru out there as (we) or (I) thinks, its the Self alone.

The Self manifests first as the external Guru and then shows itself its own Self and abides as the Self.

A quick contemplative story

2009-11-20T20:51:00.000+05:30

A wealthy merchant went on a business trip. A thief in the disguise of a businessman joined him, intent on robbing him at the earliest suitable occasion. Every morning, before leaving the inn which they happened to have put up for the night, the merchant would count his money quite openly and then put it into his pocket. At night the merchant went to sleep seemingly without suspicion. While he was asleep the thief would frantically search through all the belongings of the merchant without being able to find the money. After several nights of frustrating searching, the thief finally in resignation confessed to the merchant his true intention and pleaded with him to tell him how he was able to hide his money so successfully. The merchant replied casually: "I knew from the very beginning what you were up to. So, every night I placed the money under YOUR pillow. I could safely sleep, knowing full well that that would be the one place where you would never look.

God is within everyone, but man goes out in search of Him. This is what constitutes God's Play and God's Creation.

- Anandamayi Maa

A Prayer

2009-11-20T10:46:00.000+05:30

O God, I may not have that much love to reach you

I knoweth not a thing

Please show thy grace on me

O God, what am I, who am I, why am I

I knoweth not a thing

Please show thy grace on me

O God, I don't know what to do

I knoweth not a thing

Please show thy grace on me

O God, I am ridiculed here

I knoweth not a thing

Please show thy grace on me

O God, I am in a bottomless well

I knoweth not a thing

Please show thy grace on me

O God, I don't know how to live

I knoweth not a thing

Please show thy grace on me

O God, what is right and what is wrong?

I knoweth not a thing

Please show thy grace on me

O God, what to do, what not to do

I knoweth not a thing

Please show thy grace on me

O God, What to believe, what not to believe

I knoweth not a thing

Please show thy grace on me

O God, What do I want

I knoweth not a thing

Please show thy grace on me

O God, What is Happiness

I knoweth not a thing

Please show thy grace on me

O God, Please help me

O God, Please show me light

O God, I love you

Shloka

2009-11-17T10:24:00.001+05:30

I just couldn't resist writing one more post. Just after contemplating on the spiritual heart, I was reminded about some of my old thoughts which I had rendered in a BROKEN sanskrit verses. There was some urge in me to post it here. But, I would like to apologise first because, the following verses are definitely NOT grammatically error free. It was written out of compassion and love towards one person whom I adore as my Guru and on the Spiritual heart itself, the latter was written on some pain, agony, a sense of giving up! I hope you like it. Thank you.

Spiritual Heart

2009-11-17T09:08:00.001+05:30

The heart is the most spiritually abused word in Spirituality whose function is just beating whereas the Spiritual heart is the seat of spiritual experience. When we meditate, it is this seat of spirituality that is to be meditated upon. It is here that one will find the source of 'I'

Ramana Maharshi says - "The physical organ is on the left; that is not denied. But the Heart of which I speak is non-physical and is only on the right side. It is my experience, no authority is required by me. Still you can find confirmation in a Malayalam Ayurvedic book and in Sita Upanishad; and he produced the quotation (mantra) from the latter and repeated the text (sloka) from the former."

It is the centre of the Self. The Self is the centre of the centres. This heart represents psychic centre and not the physical centre. This is the Seat of the Self.

Ramana Maharshi Says - "Atman is in the Heart itself and IS the Heart itself"

Ramana Maharshi had studied in a Christian school in when he was in Madurai, hence he was well aware about the Bible. He once referred to the Bible for - "Be still and know that I am God", Psalm 46, found in Ecclesiates. "There is one alone and there is no second" and "the wise man's heart is on the right hand and a fool's heart is at the left."

The famous one from the bible is "I am That I am"

Also whenever we do Nyasa before we start some particular Parayanams, we use the Bija Mantras, etc... which goes like this

.......... Iti Bijam we keep our fingers on the right side of chest, signifying the centre of the Bija or source.
........... Iti Shaktihi on the left side of our chest.
............. Iti Keelakam on the centre of base of our chest.

It is simply a pure witness of all the activities of the Sukshma Aham-kara.

Prostrations to Sri Ramana

Enlightening encounter with Maharshi

2009-11-13T09:43:00.000+05:30

A Hindi gentleman asked how the fear of death could be got over.
M.: Find out if you were born before you think of death. Only he who
is born could die. You are as good as dead even in sleep. What fear
is there of death?

D.: How are we in sleep?
M.: Ask the question in sleep. You recall the experience of sleep only when
you are awake. You recall that state by saying “I slept happily”.

D.: What is the instrument by which we experience that state?
M.: We call it Mayakarana as opposed to the antahkarana to which
we are accustomed in our other states. The same instruments are
called differently in the different states, even as the anandatman
of sleep is termed the vijnanatman of the wakeful state.

D.: Please furnish me with an illustration for the mayakarana
experiencing the ananda.
M.: How can you say “I slept happily”? The experience is there to
prove your happiness. There cannot be the remembrance in the wakeful state in the absence of the experience in the sleep state.

D.: Agreed. But please give me an illustration.
M.: How can it be described? If you dive into water for recovering an article you speak of its recovery only after rising out of the water. You do not say anything while remaining sunk in water.

D.: I do not have fear in sleep whereas I have it now.
M.: Because dwiteeyadvai bhayam bhavati - fear is always of a second one. Of what are you afraid?

D.: By reason of the perception of the body, the senses, the world,
Isvara, doership, enjoyment etc.

M.: Why do you see them if they cause fear?

D.: Because they are inescapable.
M.: But it is you who sees them. For whom is the fear? Is it for them?

D.: No, it is for me.
M.: Because you see them, you fear them. Do not see them and there
will be no fear.

D.: What then should I do in the waking state?
M.: Be the Self; there will be no second thing to cause you fear.

D.: Yes. Now I understand. If I see my Self, then the sight is warded off
the non-self and there is happiness. Yet there is the fear of death.
M.: Only the one who is born should die. See if you have been born
at all in order that death should threaten you.

more on Self

2009-11-10T13:56:00.002+05:30

Dear I,

Well this is one more thought on death. In the past couple of years, I had to face the death news of some people whom I had known well and also one just yesterday. This person has been supplying us with provisions even before I was born. He was not so well to do person in terms of luxury. He had a shop of his own. He used to work very hard day in and day out. He had earned good name amongst his customers. His privileged customers never let him down even today when biggies like Reliance Marts, Food World, etc... are all eating away small businessmen. He had a dream for which he worked so hard. He made enough money to fund his children's education. He had two boys, he is now left with only one - the youngest one. How does it feel to have lost your eldest son?

The boy was very intelligent, rank holder all throughout. He got recruited in a very reputed company and was the youngest among his peers, just 23. He was transfered to Hyderabad on a critical project and was to head the entire team, all of whom were older than him. He had come down to home and celebrated Diwali with his family and flew back to Hyderabad. The next morning his father receives news about his death! The rest you can imagine!

not only this news but others in the recent past had kept lingering in my subconscious mind in my daily life. It put forth to me some very fundamental questions.

1. Whom am I communicating to?
2. Whom am I showering love?
3. Whose love I yearn for? and other similar questions... you - 'I' knows

We-'I' know it. The general understanding is that there is some thing, some power behind this body. This body is just "Jadam" or inert, lifeless.

Does a person die when his legs are amuptated?
Does a person die when his hands are ampputated?

I have seen a person without hands and legs. The body does not die. neither the legs or hands said "Please dont amputate me!"

Its such a fundamental knowledge, that the body is just a mass of flesh, bones, blood, tissues, you name it. When you-'I' say 'I' does it imply the body? this bone and flesh?

This body is just like stone!

So whom do I communicate to? is it this lifeless body?
Whom do I shower my love? is it to this lifeless body?
Whose love do I yearn for? is it the love of this body?....

Never. It was so clear, I am not communicating to this gross lifeless body! I am not showering my love to this gross lifeless body! I am not yearning the love from such gross lifeless body.

This is so very important to know very early in life. If any bondage exists, it is only this, bondage towards body.

Then on, I keep reminding myself whenever I am talking to somebody or watching somebody or even writing to somebody, I am not doing the act to the gross body but the power behind this gross body.

Further, I realised that this behind each person (Caitanya) is not different from 'I'; It was absurd to even assume that there are different 'Brahman', 'Aatma' for each body. Its the same power 'I' shining behind all the bodies.

So when I talk to somebody, I am talking to the same Self - 'I' and not to a different Self!

as you read this post, you are reading your own post! though it appears I have written this! This post is yours as you read it! these are all your own-my thoughts and as I write this post, I am writing all this to the Self-'I' you!

I am you, you am I

I alone am.

Nobody dies actually! If this is known, one will not feel any loss of any Body!

It helps if your-'I' keep reminding your-'I' Self each time your are talking to your loved ones that your are not talking to your loved ones body but to the Self, to the Aatma.

We cry at the loss-death of gross body. its purely ignorance. nobody dies in reality. because everybody is but the Self alone.

I

Ganga Herself

2009-11-09T10:13:00.000+05:30

One day a young man aged between 16 - 25 years came to Ramanashramam and began crying to the Maharshi about various problems he was facing in Samsara and lamenting that he was unable to lead life anymore. He pleaded with Ramana Maharshi to help him out. Ramana Maharshi just kept silent. The boy continued narrating his difficulties in greater detail. Ramana Maharshi still maintained his silence. They boy showed no cooling down; he continued his outburst and cried, "is there no Bhagawans grace for me?" Hearing the boy's pitiable lament, a devotee who was sitting just beside him consoled him by saying - young man, why do you worry? Is there anything to worry in the presence of of our beloved Guru?

Just then, Muruganar who entered the room and heard the conversations said, "Young man, why do you worry? Worrying in this Divine Presence is tantamount to standing near the Ganges herself and crying that you are dying out of thirst".

Ramana Maharshi, who kept silence so long, said - "It is more like Ganges herself feeling thirsty...!!!"

Bhagawan, at once wiped out any sense of duality. It is only because of ignorance that sees difference.

Bhagawan also used to tell, there is nt even a "Jnani" but only "Jnanam" alone because there should be somebody - "Sukshma Ahamkara" who would possess the knowledge that he is a "Jnani"

What a simple and yet profound truth!!! All the devotees who were present that day had the fortune of taking in the nectar of ambrosia!

Meditation on your form

2009-11-06T09:39:00.000+05:30

A certain foreign spiritual seeker, after attending a number of satsangs with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, after listening, confusing himself, pondering over the statements of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj for some time, finally came to a conclusion that he must meditate on Himself. He breathed a sigh of relief that he had atleast made some improvements in his Spiritual Sadhana.

He came to Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and asked him - "...In what form am I to mediate my Self?"

Maharaj replied... "meditate on your form which was 9 months before your came into your mother's womb"

The seeker kept silent, dumbfounded!

Prior to the appearance of form in the womb, the food stuffs take the form ‘I am’ and that appears in nine months.

As said earlier the ‘I am’ is distributed everywhere in nature, the food stuffs that the food-body consumes also contains the ‘I am’ which move on to the male or female gametes. The process of conception is the perpetuation of the ‘I am’ in the fetus. From birth till the age of three or so the ‘I am’ remains dormant and then spontaneously surfaces. So it is the ‘I am’ that appears and disappears which we take as birth and death.

- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Birth, Death and Rebirth

2009-11-02T16:39:00.001+05:30

Dear 'I'

I thought I must share one of my old writings from my diary. I wrote it few months back to myself. It is pretty hot topic and it is very likely that perspective may vary on this topic on birth, death and rebirth. Well this topic has been the most favorite topic of introspection over centuries across all religions and otherwise to aspirants of Truth.

The lion among the ancient seers was Sri Gaudapaada, Sri Adi Shankara Bhagawadpada's parama guru. He surely was a cynosure among the greats. His Karika on Mandukya Upanishad stands as a lamp to this fact. He was the one who showed light on "Ajaata Vaada" also he was bold to incorporate some very similar teachings of Buddha from works of Nagarjuna and others. He showed high respect to Buddha and his teachings in a time when Buddhism and "Hinduism" was on a tug of war. But "Hindusim" not really - being; but by the virtue of "Sanatana Dharma" the wisdom of our Seers stands high even today after turmoil from Mughals and East India Co and others. It has survived the toughest test of time.

This indeed is a pretty deep topic but I feel has some substance at least for our-'I' contemplation and introspection for this question about "Maranam" or death which has haunted every-'I' soul over Yugas. Let us all get into the shoes of Nachiketa - 'I' and ask Yama Deva = 'I' and seek solace in the Self. || Salulations to Sri Ramana ||

What is Birth and Death? This question haunted me for a long time. Then one day I understood thus:

What is called as Birth? We know what is birth by seeing a child being born, if a child is born, then we know it to be birth, we say a child is born. Similarly, we know what is death when we see some person die. We see a person lie flat as know im to be dead. We call this as death! Both the above points i.e. birth and death is known to us by seeing what is birth and by seeing what is dead. So we have only seen what is birth and what is death.

Do 'I' or 'you' know what birth are death is? Do you remember your birth? How much so ever you try to recollect where from, when you were born, you cannot recollect your own birth! The truth is 'You' 'I' are birth less. You know your your birth day, time of your birth only by what others have told you, for example, your parents have recorded your birth date and so on, but do you really know your own birth? you have been believing that you were born on this date this time etc...

The fact is, 'You' can never know your birth date at all by yourself, for you are actually birth less. Similarly, 'You' can never know your death at all because you can never know when you die? do you? So long what we know about death is only what we saw, but we have never experienced death or birth. The fact is you can never experience Death because you are Deathless.

So now what is Rebirth?

Is there a Rebirth? You are born every moment, and when every moment that passed by you died. to make it more simple, every new thought is
your rebirth and every thought that just passed by is your past life. You are born and dead innumerable number of times - countless.

This moment when you know this truth, now you can remember all your past life's. What you were and what you are now. What is called prarabdha is this. It because of your past actions you are now thus. You can recollect your past life. It is said Buddha recollected all his previous life's - It is this truth!

The Vedas, Upanishads say, you have now been born as a human being after ountless births and you have this rare opportunity to be born as a human. What is its essence? Does it mean you were something else in your past life and all? Just think about this. Let me take an example of a Terrorist, Does he know he is a human being? He does not, He has all animal instinct in him, He kills, destroys and all etc.. later at some point in his life, he then realizes his folly, he realizes how he has been so long like an animal, now when he realizes this truth, that moment he is born as a Human Being. He was animal in his past life as a terrorist. Now when he realized his folly he became a human being. This is the Truth!

I would like to illustrate this further with the srory of Jadabharatha.

As the story goes just when all his austerities were going to give him their fruits i.e. when he was just about to attain liberation, One day while offering prayers to the Sun God on the river bank, he saw a lone and heavily pregnant doe coming to quench its thirst in the river. Hardly had it touched the water when the forest echoed with the roar of a lion. The doe became terror-stricken and it just leaped into the water without even quenching its thirst and tried to ford it in a bid to escape to the other side of the river. Shocked by fear and overcome by the effort to negotiate the current, the doe gave birth to a young deer midstream. Without even being aware of it, the doe reached the other bank where it died of exhaustion. The royal sage who saw it all, was moved by compassion at the sight of the motherless infant deer being carried away by the river. He picked the young deer, took it to his ashrama and fed it with tender grass and protected it from wild beasts. Soon he grew very fond of it. In course of time the sage became so attached to it that he could not part from it even for a short while. He feared all sorts of harms to his pet and prayed for their removal. He forgot that he was a sage and behaved like a foolish householder doting over his child. In the end he died with thoughts of the deer in his mind.

The Vedic scriptures say that a man will be born in his next birth as that thing about which he was thinking most at the time of his death. So in this case, Jadabharatha thinking about the motherless deer, for the love for the deer, and hence he was born as a deer (He decided to be its caretaker, Mother deer), the essence is that he is not born again as a deer but in that love, he forgot himself and himself lost in the love of the deer became a (caretaker like a mother) deer to take care the motherless infant deer. He became a mother deer. Like How sometimes, young people are mesmarised on terror and become terrorist. Similarly, Jadabharatha became a deer. Then like the example being discussed how the terrorist realizes his folly and becomes human being, Jadabharatha realized - "regretted: "How foolish of me to have forgotten my tapas and become attached to an animal? And now I suffer for it, being born an animal. I shall not repeat the mistake." Saying this the deer left its mother and began living in the vicinity of a Rishi's ashrama spending all its time thinking of God. When death approached, the deer entered the water of a river and standing there, gave up its body. So the last thought at death was he realized his mistake and did not want to commit the same mistake (Note he dint die, his thought dies).

In the next birth the deer was born as the son of a pious Brahmana. The past tapas and mistakes lingered in the child's mind and so he did not want to commit the same mistake. As a child Bharata in his third birth did not show any attachment to his family. He did not even speak. People therefore called him Jada or a dunce. Hence the name Jada Bharata.

I have seen some people saying that they have wasted their life so far and they cannot do anything in this life and hope for the best in the next birth! The question is do they even have this birth like how they think? or is there another birth like they think? The truth is there is no "Next Birth" like how it sounds. Rebirth is now. Death is now. You dont die or take birth at all. So there is No Birth, no Rebirth, or Death at all as it is normally understood. The real essence of Birth, Rebirth and death is only your thoughts and not you.

In the Srimad Bhagavatam, Krishna said to Uddhava thus about death:

The mind combined with 5 indriyas and tendencies derived from Karma which constitute the linga sharira (Subtle Body) transmigrates from one body to another. The Atman though different from the Linga Sharira, also seems to follow it because of the absolute superimposition between them.

The mind of the dying man, swayed by his own actions and their impressions, thinks intensely on experiences he had in life, on what he had seen, heard and passed through. Consequently he feels that he has entered a new body that has manifested by its intense thought, and left the old one. With the coming of the consciousness of the new body, there is complete oblivion of the old body, its history in the world.

On account of the intensity of attraction felt for the new body for whatever reason, the memory of the of one is completely effaced.

Death means this complete forgetfulness of the old body and its affairs by the Jiva.

The acceptance of the new body by the Jiva and his complete identification with it is called birth. How this happens is found in the examples of dreams and reveries. As in these states, the Jiva becomes completely oblivious of the old body and gets identified with the new one. The Identification is absolute that the Jiva forgets its pre-existence and comes to believe that he has come into being with a new body.

When Jada Bharatha saw the infant deer without its mother, he became its caretaker by becoming its mother. then when he realized his mistake, he left the old body as a mother - caretaker and also the infant deer and was born again as a pios Brahmana and attained the lord.

Aatma, Brahman, Chaitanya

2009-10-27T08:53:00.002+05:30

Aatma
What is Aatma? To define it in the simplest way, it is our Real-Nature, True-Nature or the Real-Self. The Scriptures say that our real nature is Sat-Chit-Ananda, literally translated to
IS-Knowledge-Bliss. Satyam or Sat is ever IS and never not. Hence it is Ajata, for it never had birth and since it never had birth, it does not have death as well. It ever IS.

Every spiritual aspirant wants to attain Moksha. Aatma is another name for Moksha.
So are we not Real Selves now? Am I not my real self? Something has made me feel, think that I am something else, something very little, let’s say as little as the Deha, the body. Since we don’t know what that ‘something’ is, we-‘I’ call it Maya. Maya is something that is Not-Real, Asat. Therefore that which is Not-Real cannot really exist and since it is believed to exist, it is Mithya or Illusion. Therefore whatever we call as Maya does not exist but we keep giving it existence by thinking, feeling that everything is Maya... How can everything be Maya when everything is but only the Aatma.

Where is this Aatma? Is it someplace that we-‘I’ can travel and reach it or attain it? Or is it with somebody that you need to go and collect it? Or is it in books and scriptures that you can read and get it? And many more such questions come to spiritual aspirants.

Ego or Aham-kara is of two kinds, one is the real egoistic behaviour without any morality and the other is very suttle where the Jiva is not aware of its Aham-kara. The Aham-kara vritti which the scriptures talk about is not the former but the latter one. It is very sukshmam to the aspirant.
Aatma is everywhere, all pervading. It IS everywhere you can think and even beyond your thought as well.

In Bhagawad Gita Krishna says –
Aksaram Brahma param (8-3)

Brahman is Imperishable, the supreme.
Isavaasyam idam sarvam yat kincha jagatyam jagat

All this manifest universe is enveloped by Isa or the Aatma.
There is no where, where the Aatma is not. Therefore when the question as to - “where is this Aatma” arises, it is to be understood that Aatma is everywhere absolutely everywhere. Inside our body and outside our body. Therefore, we-‘I’ the little self that we are, i.e. Deha is surely within this Aatma and not otherwise. we-‘I’ am in that Aatma, that Chaitanyam, Brahman.

Now it is like this –

In Avadhoota Gita, Dhathathreya says –

Ghato bhinne ghataakaasham sulinam bhedavarjitam

When the pot is broken, the space within is absorbed in the infinite space and becomes undifferentiated.

The pot is similar to we-‘I’. The pot is Maya. Again it has to be noted that the existence of pot here is only a way of explanation to the aspirant that we-‘I’ (the space inside) is outside unending.

Therefore we-‘I’ am in the unending Aatma, Chaitanya, Brahman. And since we-‘I’(Little Self) am in Aatma, I am still verily that Aatma itself for in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, we have –

Om Poornamadah Poornamidam
Poornaat Poornamudachyate
Poornasya Poornamaadaaya
Poornamevaavashishyate
Om Shanti Shanti Shantih
That (Brahman) Is Whole
This (Creation) Is Also Whole
From That Whole (I.E. Brahman Only)
This Whole Has Come Out (Creation)
But Even Though This Whole Has Come
Out Of That Whole Yet That Whole Remains Whole Only

Therefore, a sincere aspirant, with the awareness of the Sukshma Aham-kara, is the Infinite Aatma irrespective of whether he believes it or not or has realised that knowledge or not. He is still that Brahman.

Dhathathreya says –

Sarvatra Sarvada Sarvamaatmaanam satatam Dhruvam
Sarvam shunyamayam cha tanmaam vidhi na Sanshaya.

Know me- we-‘I’ to be that Self, Aatma, who is everything and everywhere at all times, who is eternal, steady, the All, the non existent, and the Existent. Have no doubt.

One need not be averse towards the Aham-kara, for the sincere aspirant after realizing this Sukshma Aham-kara be sure that He is himself the Self. Which was under the veil of Sukshma Aham-kara.

Which is why Ramana Maharshi has said –

“What happens to you when you make a serious quest of the Aatma or the self is that the ‘I’ – thought (Sukshma Aham-kara) disappears and something else from the depths takes hold of you and that is not the ‘I’ (Sukshma Aham-kara) which commenced the quest but the same Self or the Aatma.”

“That which makes the quest or enquiry is the ‘I’ and the ‘I’ about which the quest or enquiry is made is also the ‘I’ and as the result of the quest only the Self is found to exist which shines forth as Aham Aham, I, I

Hrithaya kuhara Madhye Kevalam Brahma Maatram Aham Aham iti Saakshat Aatma Rupena Bhaati.

In the deep cave of the heart, the sole Brahman shines by itself as the Atman in the feeling of I, I.

The Heart which is stated here is not the physical heart but the heart is the centre of the universe, the Aatma, the Chaitanya itself.

In Ramana Maharshi words – “The Heart is used in the Vedas and the scriptures to denote the place whence the notion ‘I’ springs. Does it spring only from the fleshy ball? It springs within us somewhere right in the middle of our being. The ‘I’ has no location. Everything is the Self. There is nothing but that. So the Heart must be said to be the entire body of ourselves and of the entire universe, conceived as ‘I’. But to help the practiser (abhyasi) we have to indicate a definite part of the Universe, or of the Body. So this Heart is pointed out as the seat of the Self. But in truth we are everywhere, we are all that is, and there is nothing else.

In Lalita Sahasranamam, we-‘I’ have

Antarmukha Samaradhya, Bahirmukha sudurlabha. Here Antarmukha does not going inside the body and searching the Aatma for searching it inside our little Self – Deha implies still looking outside – Bahirmukha. It is you – “ we-‘I’ “ within you is you or the ‘I’ the Sukshma Aham-kara itself.

The Self can only be found in ones own ego - Aham-kara alone. For This Sukahma Aham-kara is Asat – Not Real.

To see the Rope as snake is Purely ignorance, but to see the Rope as not Self is Mithya and Asat. For here the Rope is Aatma itself, all pervading, you cannot be seeing the Rope as to see implies having a seer and seen, Drik and Drishya.

Therefore, whatever we do, is actually is actually taking us away from the Aatma - going Bahirmukha. Most techniques stated in the scriptures such as Vayu Rodhana, Aasana, Yoga is all aimed at only staying still, not letting oneself go Bahirmukha.

Ramana Maharshi says –

“Moksha is to know that you were not born. ‘Be still and know that I am God’”
“to be still is to not think. Know and not think is the word” is what is meant by Antarmukha.

Thinking itself implies going away from the Self, Bahirmukha. Any sadhana that we call when it involves thinking, it is only taking away from the Aatma. The only Sadhana the scriptures aim at is to try and stay with the Self – Antarmukham. Ramana Maharshi Calls it as “Summa Iru” – simply be. Just be. Stay still. Sadhana is not something fantasising, thinking about the State of Aatma. Aatma is not a State, for if it is some kind of state then it is still Mithya. The Jiva believes that attaining that state would confer them Happiness, Bliss. If it is considered as some state, then it is no different from other materialistic states like Kama. Hence it is not even some state. There is no state to attain Aatma. For one self is ever the Aatma, Chaitanya.

Om Sri Ramana

Jivanmuktha, Sthithaprajna, Realised Soul

2009-10-23T21:16:00.004+05:30

I never found a better illustration which describes a "Jnani", "Sthithaprajna", "Jivanmuktha"

He is the "Purusha", "Achalam" He is verily "Arunachala"

Please take time to see this small video a couple of times and contemplate it as yourself. Arunachala - the holy hill is unaffected and stays still as the day dawns, sun rises, clouds pass by, wind blows, sun sets. It remains.... Remains. AS IS

Salutations to you, O' Holy Red Hill.

Sri Ramana Maharshi has summed up the entire Vedanta in just one simple verse. The very first verse in Arunachala Akshara Mana Malai, he sings...

Arunachala mena Ahame ninaippavar
Ahattaiveraruppay Arunachala

Thou dost root out the ego of those who meditate on thee as the self (Aham)

Hrithaya Kuhara Madhye Kevalam Brahma Maatram
Ahamaham iti Saakshaat Aatma Rupena Bhathi

In the interior of the Heart-cave Brahman alone shines in the form of the Atman with direct immediacy as I, I (Ahamaham iti..)

For every thought the source is the "I" thought, it is from this "I" alone everything is created. It is from this "I" alone the Seer and Seen originated, the differences.

Thus, investigating oneself, contemplating on the "I" center, the Aham, Aham... meditation, enquiring one self as Who am I, Who am I. What is the source of this thought, where from this thought has sprung? It has sprung from me, Who am I? Whence am I? 'I', 'I', 'I', .... ??? enquiring the source of this 'I' one gets fixed in self.

Hrithi visha Manasasvam chinvatha Majjatavaa
Pavanachalani Rodhaat Aatma Nishtho Bhavatvam

Enter into the Heart with questing mind or by diving
deep within or through control of breath and abide in the
Atman'

First, the Self sees itself as object, then the Self sees itself as void, and finally the self sees itself as the Self, only in the last, there is no seeing because seeing is being.

Initially, the difference i.e. the Seer and Seen - Maya exists. The aspirant sees the Brahman, the Eternal being as different(Seen) from himself (Seer), as Viveka advances, he sees that there is something void, nothingness, i.e. the seer sees nothing. and finally when the Aspirant is ripe, He sees that He, himself is the Seen as well. He has been seeing himself as the seen. The Seer seeing itself as Seen.

Hope you enjoy the video -

The Family - Venkataraman (Ramana Maharshi)

2009-10-19T08:20:00.002+05:30

The family Deity was Sri Venkateswara. Sundaram Iyer’s elder brother was named after him as Venkateswara Iyer – a fine person who used to offer half of his earnings to the goddess Sahayamba. He became disinterested in worldly affairs even by the time he was eighteen. Saying that he would pay a visit to Tirupparankundram near Madurai he left home for good. He lived as a renunciate at Chidambaram and spent his
time cleaning up the pathways surrounding the temple, for the benefit of devotees.

The new born was named Venkateswara after the paternal uncle and the family Deity. One of Sundaram Iyer’s paternal uncles was also a renunciate by name Sivananda Yogi, which was why when his father, Nagaswami Iyer passed away before the children
came of age, the burden of the family fell on Sundaram Iyer. As a boy of sixteen he took up a job as a clerk on a monthly wage of two rupees. Intelligent, hardworking
and popular he quickly learnt how to draft legal documents. He was tactful in his dealings with the officials as well as common people. Even without appearing for any tests he obtained a licence to be a pleader, a facility then available. He quickly established himself and became prosperous. He built a large house which had two portions – one to serve his domestic needs and the other to be a guest house.

Officials who were posted to Tiruchuzhi stayed there until they secured their own accommodation.

Sundaram Iyer knew what hardship was and so his was an open house for the needy. Alagamma never turned away anyone who needed food. She was Goddess Annapoorna herself! The couple became well known for their goodness, generosity and appropriate conduct. In fact both the words Sundaram and Alagu mean the same – beauty!

In the house, regular worship of Siva, Vishnu, Ganesa, Surya and Sakti (Panchaayatana Puja) was carried out. As one of the village elders Sundaram Iyer helped in organizing puranakalakshepas at the temple and was generally helpful in temple affairs also. He never went about exhibiting his devotion openly, possibly he had a preference for the jnanamarga. He was of a serious temperament and was not quite free with or very close to his wife, brothers or children. Alagamma, on the other hand was quite open about her devotion – she went about reciting the Dakshinamurti stotra and similar Vedantic hymns. She made it a point to learn as many devotional songs as possible and used to go to anybody’s house in the village to learn a new song. She got initiated into the sakti-panchakshari japa. She was quite orthodox and performed Surya namaskaras regularly.

Sundaram Iyer’s family belonged to the Dravida, Smarta, Brahacharana lineage. They followed the Yajus sakha, Apasthamba sutras. They belonged to the Parasara gotra with Vasista sakti Parasara rishis. Their family name was Tiruchuzhi.

Prostrations to Sri Ramana

Dialogue in Heaven

2009-10-11T15:22:00.002+05:30

There was a beautiful story in one of the books I read recently. It is about an interview in heaven. It seems a person went to heaven and knocked at the gates.

The gatekeeper asked him - "Who are you?"

The person answered - "I am Mr. So-and-So."

Gatekeeper - "I do not want your name on earth. Who are you?"

Person - "You want to know my occupation? I was a businessman before I died."

Gatekeeper - "I did not want to know what you were doing. Who are you?"

Person - "Oh, I am Mrs. So-and-So's husband."

Gatekeeper - "I don't want whose husband you were. Who are you?

...........

The dialogue continued for a long time. At last, the gatekeeper said - "So you do not know who you are? Then go back and know who you are."

_________________________
Thought provoking story !

The 25th Guru

2009-09-08T07:53:00.003+05:30

On 28.2.1939, one gentleman from Tiruchirapalli brought his young son, Dattatreya to Bhagavan Ramana. The boy was considered as an idiot not knowing anything in the world and always remaining silence and introverted. The father told Bhagavan: Bhagavan! We have tried all mantras, medicines etc., This boy is without any change. What can I do for him? Bhagavan Ramana looked at the young boy intently for a few minutes and then told the story of 24 gurus of Dattatreya in the legendary story. All devotees had the fortune of listening that story from Bhagavan. Finally, Bhagavan Ramana told: "There is one 25th Guru for everyone. It is one's own body. This body is responsible for both misery and happiness. It is also the cause for Vairagyam and Jnanam. The Vairagyam leads to one to get convinced that both birth and death are cause of misery. One should develop only love for Hari with utmost devotion and faith."

He then turned to the father and said: "This boy is in state of bliss
for ever. Leave him alone. Do not worry about anything."

Arunachala

(From the memories of Sri Ramana Maharshi, Annamalai Swami)

Gospel Truth

2009-08-02T16:28:00.008+05:30

Suddenly, during some contemplation, it flashed to me:

"You neither do nor you resist"

It felt this was one of the grandest truth to me. For a spiritual seeker, this question about fate and freewill is one of the most popular ones. Do we have a free will? Its actually a folly to think that we have a freewill. Freewill means having power to exercise our choice of events. If you feel you want to exercise your freewill inorder to get the best results, then you are performing the action with a desire - favorable fruits for your action! Every event that happens in our life is all predetermined. Circumstances and people just become a tool for such events to take place. But we mistake such events as a cause of our own actions and suffer the consequences.

But then people have some hyperthetical questions regarding this. Suppose you see a small insect being caught in a spider web struggling to free itself, what do you do? what is your duty here? Will you save the insect from the spider web? but then you will be denying the spider its food. Again, if you decide not to save the insect as it is a food for the spider, then you will be instrumental in taking away the life of the insect, for inspite of seeing the insect going to die, you cease from protecting it. What do you do?

In such instances, we can can never step into the right side at all. If we believe we have the power of freewill, what action can you take so as to take the right action? will you save the life of the insect or will you secure the food of the spider?

All these problems occur only when you think you have the power of freewill. This is a classic example of "Dharma Sankatam"

By saving, do we actually Give Life to the insect? or what makes us think that we are giving food to the Spider?

If it is destined that the insect be saved, it is also destined that you will be impelled to save it and if it is destined that the insect die as a food for the spider, you will be impelled to leave it as it is. Nobody did anything, or nobody does anything at any time.

Dot not take the Doership. for the real doer the the Supreme Godhood within you!

Whatever you do - you don't do
Whatever you don't do - you actually don't do it

Ramana Maharshi says: Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen try as you may and whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you may to prevent it.

All the rumble noise about all these is only the Ego's which is non existent and has got nothing to do with any thing that happens around us.

You are not the Doer at any cost at all times!

This is what Krishna said in the Gita:

Karmanyevadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana
Ma Karmaphala Hetur Bhurma Te Sangotsvakarmani (Ch.2 Verse. 47)

You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.

There for, you should not take the doership for once you take the doership, you are actually in reality analysing the fruits of your action.

In Upadesha Saaram, Bhagawan Ramana says:

kartur äjïayä präpyate phalam
karma kià paraà karma tajjaòam (Verse 1)

By the will of the Creator, action bears fruit. Is
action, then, supreme? No, it is inert, unconscious.

Therefore, if you perform your actions with the idea of having freewill, you are bound to suffer the consequences of your actions for you are exercising your freewill with the intention of some desirable fruits for your actions.

"You neither do nor you resist" is definetely a Gospel Truth

By this, I do not mean inaction, for inaction is impossible for any human being. whatever action is to happen will happen by you irrespective of your own efforts for your own efforts are decided by the Supreme Godhood within you!

Swami Ramanagiri -

2009-07-30T07:43:00.011+05:30

Article Source - http://sriramanagiriswamigal.com/

Swami Ramanagiri was born into an aristocratic Swedish family in 19.06.1921.Though he was related to the King of Sweden, it was the ‘royal’ yoga of Patanjali that finally claimed him. In his youth he came across Swami Vivekananda’s Raja Yoga and found he had an immediate affinity with the subject matter. He studied the book and began to practice the techniques it prescribed. Realizing that he needed a teacher to guide him, he came to India in 1945 and began to study philosophy held little attraction for him. Feeling a strong urge to pursue his yoga full time, he gave up his studies, renounced property worth more than eight million dollars and took sannyasa.

At the time of his initiation his diksha guru stipulated that he should never ask for anything himself, and only accept what was offered to him. On the day following his initiation he passed by a friend’s house, but his friend failed to recognize him because of his shaved head and orange robes.

When he saw sannyasin he shouted to his wife, ‘A mendicant is going by! Give me the rotten bananas!’ this was his first bhiksha.

On the following day he was walking front of the palace of the Raja Benares when a soldier accosted him and asked him to step inside.

‘Why?’ asked the swami.

The soldier replied that it was the practice of the raja to offer food daily to the first sannyasin he saw walking in front of palace gates. So, on that day he was taken in, accorded a royal reception, and given a feast, personally served by the raja himself.

When he later narrated both of these incidents to his diksha guru, he was told that both should be treated with equal indifference, as food is only for physical sustenance. For the rest of his brief life he never asked for anything and never handled money.

Shortly afterwards he set off on a pilgrimage to visit some of India’s holy places. With the fire of liberation burning inside him it was perhaps inevitable that sooner or later he would end up at the feet of Sri Ramana Maharishi.

Though he had a natural inclination for Raja Yoga, Swami Ramanagiri felt an immediate attraction to Atma vichara, the path of Sri Ramana. He practiced intensively for forty days in Bhavan’s presence and was rewarded, on Sivaratri day 1949, with a direct experience of the Self. When asked later about what happened on that momentous day, he would usually say, ‘On that day I became a fool’. For the rest of his life he referred to himself in the third person as ‘this fool’. Speaking of the effect this experience had on him, he wrote in one of his notebooks:

I don’t know anything,
And that ‘I’ which knows is
Nothing but an ignorant fool.
I think, when I don’t think,
That I have no end and no beginning.
That which thinks has to take thousands of births.
When there is ‘I’,
He is not:
When he is, I am not.

How did he practice Atma vichara? It was his own method, combining classical vichara, pranayama, a little neti-neti, some imaginative visualizations. Some interesting insights into his method can be gleaned from the following long letter which he wrote to a devotee who was seeking guidance on the path:

“In the course of sadhana, maya comes to a sincere soul first in the form of worldly troubles, second in the form of desires, and third in the form of dear friends who keep him away from the quest.* Our own mind is the greatest cheater in the world. It will make thousands of different excuses to go its own way. There are three ways of handling this cheat, who is nothing but a bundle of thoughts creeping in the conscious mind.

“First, to treat him as a friend and give him full satisfaction. This is a very long and tiresome.

“Second, to treat him as an enemy and with all force try to get rid of him. This is only possible by the grace of the divine because the mind has got two very powerful weapons – the discriminating intellect and the imaginative faculty. These two fellows can convince even God Himself that black is white.

“The third way is the way taught by Sri Ramana in the days of silence at the foot of sacred Arunachala. This way, which has been adopted by this fool, is to treat the mind as a patient, or rather several patients who are coming to a doctor to complain about their various ailments. Just as a doctor sits in his room receiving different kinds of patients, this fool imagines himself sitting in the sacred cave of the Heart and receiving the different thought patients. You know that a sick person likes to babble for hours about his complaint. In the same way, a thought likes to multiply itself, but the doctor always cuts it short, saying, “Very good. Take this medicine. Thank you very much.” And then he calla for another patient.

This is how this fool decided to medicate. First the fool slows down the breath as much as possible, but only to the point where there is no discomfort. To this fool, two breaths per minute is the proper speed, but that may not be possible for you because this fool has practiced for a long time. You may be able to decrease your breathing to 8-10 per minute in the beginning. Don’t get to a level where you are uncomfortable, because that discomfort will give rise to thoughts.

“This fool then decided to receive twenty patients before closing the dispensary of the Heart. He calls out “Number one!” and he waits for thought patient number one to come. The thought patient may say, ‘Smt such-and-such is not well. Sri so-and so is worried.’

“Then this foolish doctor says, ‘Oh, you are number one. Very good. The name of Lord Murugan will cure you. Thank you very much.’

“Then he calls for number two, and he waits till the second patient is entering the room. ‘Mr. so and so may get mukti this life,’ he says.

“’Very good. You are number two. The whole world is benefited if one soul gets liberated. Thank you very much.’ Numbers three, four, five, etc. are dealt with in the same way.

“When all the twenty thought patients have come and gone, the doctor closes the room to the Heart and no one else is allowed to come inside. Now he is alone. Now there is time for Atma vichara. He asks himself, ‘To whom have all these thoughts come?’ Three times he slowly repeats the same question, along with the outgoing breaths. Then he, in that same slow manner, answers, ‘To me, tome, to me’. Then who am I?’ Then who am I?’ All questions and answers are repeated twice, very, very slowly.

“‘This “I” is not a thought. This “I” is not a thought. This “I” is not a thought.’

“’Then who is the receiver of the thought? Then who is the receiver of the thought?
Then who is the receiver of the thought?’

“’ “I” – “I” – “I”. Now the mind is centralized in the source itself.

“’Then who am I? ’Then who am I? ’Then who am I?’”

Now the breath comes to an end and the attention is concentrated 100% on the sound caused by the palpitation of the heart, as if the sound would give the answer to our questions. This is nothing but pranava itself. If, during this time, the sakti which was static is converted to movements or becomes dynamic, then trance will occur. If the primal energy reaches the space between the eyebrows, savikalpa samathi will occur. That is, God with form will be seen. If the energy rises up to the top of the head, nirvikalpa Samadhi will occur, which is nothing but the self itself.

“But ;you should also know that even if the doctor has closed the dispensary door, some patients may come and peep in through the window to complain about their ailments. At the beginning of the Atma vichara the patients at the window are many. In the same way, although the door to the cave of the Heart is closed, some thoughts may occur at the time of dhyana.For example a thought may come: ‘Mr. Iyer’s sushumna nadi has opened up.’ Since the patient has not come at the proper time, the doctor doesn’t attend to him. Instead, he continues the quest: ‘to whom has the thought of Mr. Iyer come|’

“’To me, to me, to me.’

“’Then who am I? - who am I? - who am I?’

“Dearest ‘S’. In all humility this fool has babbled something about how he tries to establish himself in the experience of ananda, which is no different from the Self itself.

“With all my love to you, Ramanagiri in Him Om”

After Bhagavan‘s Mahanirvana in 14th April 1950, Bhagavan appeared before Swami Ramanagiri in vision and directed him to go and stay in Sirumalai Hills, near Kutladampatti village falls, about twenty miles from Madurai.He spent most if his time there, continuing his practice of yoga and enquiry, and frequently became absorbed in ecstatic or blissful states, so much so that he had little awareness of his body or its needs. Of one experience he wrote:

The whole night
Nothing but Fire, Light, Bliss and pranava.
O Father! O Father! What happiness!
No thoughts, only the enjoyment and the enjoyer.
O Father! How near I was losing myself
completely in Your embrace.
O father, why do You turn me back to the
state of mind
Where I suffer from thoughts and where I am
tormented by an ego?

In a more sober and reflective mood he made the following assessment of the blissful states he was experiencing through his pranayama and Atma vichara:

Bliss not a product of fantasy, but the most convincing experience we are capable of. If this experience would be a product of the imagination, the hair would not stand on end, nor would tears of happiness come in streams from the eyes, nor would the nose start flowing, nor would there be any shivering of the body, the skin would not turn red-hot, and there would be no levitation of the body. How many times I have found the body at another place in the room after having enjoyed Mother’s bliss?In padmasana the body is not capable of moving.

In 1955, he spent his final days in the Perundurai Sanatorium. Though his body was lean and emaciated, his spirits were high.

“It is the body which suffers,” he told his visitors. “I am alright.Sakti is now stronger than ever before. And it is here (indicating the spot between eyebrows).”

It was summer and mangoes were just beginning to appear. Accepting some as an offering, he alluded to his forthcoming death by saying, “I will eat a nice mango now, but it will become garbage tomorrow morning”.

For more than an hour before his death he was completely withdrawn in a deep meditative state, with his hair standing on end. At the last moment he whispered, “Let us go,” and he left his body, in true yogic fashion, though the fontanelle in the top of his head. Blood was seen to ooze out of a hole there.

During his brief stay in the Sirumalai Hills, Swami Ramanagiri had attached a substantial following, although he always refused to take on a teaching role, saying that no such mission had been given to him by Bhagavan. His body was interred at the foot of the Sirumalai Hills at the place he had named Ramana Padam and a Siva lingam was installed over his samathi. Twice a year there are gatherings there to commemorate the day of his great experience with Bhagavan and the date of his final passing away. A poor feeding is conducted and crowds of over 2,000 assemble to pay homage to this foreign son of India.

Mother Nature

2009-07-16T07:42:00.005+05:30

How beautiful you are O’ nature!
Salutations to you Mother

O’ Playful Wind

Your soft touch nourishes me every moment;
You fill my heart with love,
You are the life giver
Your cool breeze calms my mind all the time
Salutations to you O’ great God of wind!
How beautiful you are O’ nature!
Salutations to you Mother

O’ Unending Ether
You indeed pervade the entire Universe,
Your presence is a fruit to my inspiration
You are the playground for the soul
O’ Great God, my salutations to you
How beautiful you are O’ nature!
Salutations to you Mother

O’ Mighty water

The sound of the beautiful river springs love in my heart
The still water unites me with you,
You cleanse me off all the dirt and sins
You quench my thirst of desires
O’ God what else can I say? My salutations to you!
How beautiful you are O’ nature!
Salutations to you Mother

O’ Destroyer of Darkness, Sun

You are the reason for me enjoying the beauty around me
You are the source of my living
You are my father, mother, God
You raise my intellect intelligence and bhakti
O’ Great God, my salutations to you
How beautiful you are O’ nature!
Salutations to you O’ Mother

In a Nutshell - All that is to be known

2009-07-14T08:10:00.017+05:30

Sri Ramana Maharshi left his home and came to Tiruvannamalai at the age of 16 and stayed there ever after. After some two years, his mother found his whereabouts and came to Arunachala.

The mother went to Tiruvannamalai accompanied by her eldest son Nagaswamy. Ramana was then living at Pavalakkunru, one of the eastern spurs of Arunachala. With tears in her eyes Alagammal entreated Ramana to go back with her. But, for the sage there was no going back. Nothing moved him – not pitiable sobs of his mother. He kept silent and sat still.

A devotee who had been observing the struggle of the mother for several days requested Ramana to write out at least what he had to say. The sage wrote on a piece of paper quite in an impersonal way:

The Ordainer controls the fate of souls in accordance with their prarabdhakarma. Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may. Whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you may to prevent it. This is certain. The best course, therefore, is to remain silent.

prarabdhakarma: destiny to be worked out in this life, resulting from the balance-sheet of actions in past lives

little Selves that we are, we keep planning everything thinking that we are the real doer. We absolutely have no 'freewill' at all! and coming to terms with this fact is absolute "Sharanagati".

Om Tat Sat

The Churning of the ocean

2009-07-10T13:55:00.003+05:30

Hi Friends,

I am happy that, finally, my blog is getting busier, and I am writing my blog posts frequently.

All Gods have some significance. Even the stories from the Puranas have deep meaning in them.

I happen to remember the story about how Shiva swallowed the HalaHala poison. How the Devas and the Asuras together churned the ocean of milk with Mandara Hill upon a Tortoise, using Vasuki the snake as the rope. The real essence of this story and the metaphor just flashed and fell in place.

1. Tortoise represents the 5 senses - when there is a threat or danger to the tortoise, the tortoise takes its hands and Legs and its face inside its shell. Hands, Legs and Head represents the 5 senses. Like wise it means to keep check of your senses.

2. The Snake Vasuki represents the Sadhana; the effort made in order to get Amrut. It was used for rotating the Mandara Hill clockwise and anticlockwise alternatively which signifies pulling the senses gradually from both the Asuras (Bad) and Suras(Good) taking it to a point when both of them disappear. Snake also represents 'Knowledge' according to several scriptures. Like how Krishna says in Gita Uddharet Atmanaatmanam - the Self is both your friend (Devas) and your enemy (Asuras). When your find yourself being pulled by your own bad self (Asuras), you have to pull yourself(Devas) back again to poise.

3. The Mandara Hill represents patience and Bhakti, No spiritual practice is possible without patience.

4. The Ocean represents the Knowledge bed within which lies all the knowledge the Brahman.

5. The Hala Hala poison represents the Ego

When Shva swallows the Hala Hala poison the Ego is Merged with Siva itself. It means the Self - Shiva, swallowing its own smaller self - ego. The Self itself consumes the ego.

Then what remains or is obtained is the Amrut, the Brahman the eternal being.

Shiva is the eternal witness of this event. when the Tortoise, Snake, Mandara hill and ocean, i.e. 5 senses, knowledge, Bhakti and knowledge are churned together, then all the dirt comes out finally till the Self, viz Shiva himself comes out to swallow the ego.

Om Tat Sat

Voice of the Upanishads

2009-07-03T15:52:00.036+05:30

No matter how much the scriptures talk about the Self as God, it is always the tendency of human mind to separate himself from God. The Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas and other Granthas shout this truth that the Self is everything. People engage themselves in debating and discussing intellectually the nature of the Self or Brahman which is beyond anything and everything. Discussions about what is Advaita, Dvaita, Visishtadvaita, etc..., But the fact is, all these analysis are futile.

People discuss and talk about the superiority of Bhakti Marga over Jnana Marga an vice versa. But, they don't understand that there is absolutely no difference between Bhakti Marga and Jnana Marga. Only a True Bhakta is a True Jnani and only a True Jnani is a True Bhakta. Now whether a Bhatha or a Jnani, he automaticallly becomes a Yogi as well, as his Kundallini is channelised automatically. Hence he is also a Raja Yogi. There can be no doubt that only such a person is a true Karma Yogi.

Only a True Jnani can have complete Sharanagathi. and only a True Bhaktha can know all that is to be known.

Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi says in Talks

Jnana Marga and Bhakti Marga (prapatti) are one and the same. Self-surrender leads to realisation just as enquiry does. Complete self-surrender means that you have no further thought of ‘I’. Then all your predispositions (samskaras) are washed off and you are free. You should not continue as a separate entity at the end of either course.

To differentiate between Jnana Marga, Bhakti Marga, Raja Yoga and Karma Yoga is to differentiate between Vishnu, Shiva and Shakti which is absurd!

There is a popular saying in the Puranas which say, if you pray to Vushnu, you become a great Bhakta, if you pray to Shiva you become a great Jnani and if you pray to Shakti (Devi) you become a great Yogi(Kundalini).

Coming back to the main topic of discussion about the Self which itself is everything. In Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, we have:

atmaivedam agra asīt puruṣavidhaḥ, so’nuvīkṣya nanyad atmanopasyat, soham asmity agre vyaharat; tatoham namabhavat, tasmad apy etarhy amantritaḥ; aham ayam ity evagra uktva, athanyan nama prabrute yad asya bhavati. sa yat purvosmat sarvasmat sarvan papmana auṣat, tasmat puruṣah; oṣati ha vai sa tam, yosmat purvo bubhusati, ya evaṁ veda

In the beginning, this (universe) was but the self (Viraj) of a human
form. He reflected and found nothing else but himself. He first uttered, '‘I am
he'’ Therefore he was called Aham (I). Hence, to this day, when a person is
addressed, he first says, ‘It is I,’ and then says the other name that he may
have. Because he was first and before this whole (band of aspirants) burnt all
evils, therefore he is called Purusha. He who knows thus indeed burns one
who wants to be (Viraj) before him.

In another verse, it says:

brahma va idam agra asīt, tad atmanam evAvet, aham brahmasmīti: tasmat tat sarvam abhavat, tad yo yo devanAm pratyabubhyata, sa eva tad abhavat, tatha ṛṣīṇam, tathA manuṣyaṇam. taddhaitat paśyan ṛṣir vama-devaḥ pratipede, aham manur abhavaṁ sῡryaś ceti, tad idam api etarhi ya evaṁ veda, aham brahmasmīti sa idaṁ sarvam bhavati; tasya ha na devaś ca nabhῡtya īśate, atma hy eṣaṁ sa bhavati. atha yo anyaṁ devatam upaste, anyosau anyoham asmīti, na sa veda; yatha paśur, evam sa devanam; yatha ha vai bahavaḥ paśavo manuṣyam bhuñjyuḥ, evam ekaikaḥ puruṣo devan bhunakti; ekasminn eva paśav adīyamane'priyam bhavati, kiṁ u bahuṣu? tasmad eṣam tan na priyam yad etan manuṣya vidyuḥ.

This (self) was indeed Brahman in the beginning. It knew only Itself
as, ‘I am Brahman’. Therefore It became all. And whoever among the gods
knew It also became That; and the same with sages and men. The sage
Vamadeva, while realising this (self) as That, knew, ‘I was Manu, and the
sun’. And to this day whoever in like manner knows It as, ‘I am Brahman’,
becomes all this (universe). Even the gods cannot prevail against him, for he
becomes their self. While he who worships another god thinking, ‘He is one,
and I am another’, does not know. He is like an animal to the gods. As many
animals serve a man, so does each man serve the gods. Even if one animal
is taken away, it causes anguish, what should one say of many animals ?
Therefore it is not liked by them that men should know this.

This is such an important verse, "He who worships Lord, thinking 'He is one and I am another' does not know." and again in another verse:

manasaivanudraṣṭavyam, naiha nanasti kiṁ cana: mṛtyoḥ sa mṛtyum apnoti ya iha naneva paśyati.

Through the mind alone (It) is to be realised. He goes from death to death who sees difference, as it were, in Brahman

Ramana Maharshi says:

‘AHAM’ is the first name of God. The first letter in Sanskrit is A and the last letter Ha ‘h’ and ‘Aha’ thus includes everything from beginning to end. The word ‘Ayam’ means that which exists, Self-shining and Self-evident. ‘Ayam’, ‘Atma’, ‘Aham’, all refer to the same thing. In the Bible also, ‘I AM’ is given as the name of God.

The four Mahavakyas also signify the Self itself:

Aham Brahasmi - I am Brahman
Ayamaatma Brahma - The Self is Brahman
Tatvamasi - That Thou Art
Pryagnanam Brahma - Consciousness is Brahman

The Mahavakya of Bible also says "I am That I am"
The Mahavakya of Islam also says "An-al-Haq" or 'That am I'

In continuation with my previous post about inquiring into the Self, one can have 'Atmaanubhuti'

Kena Upanishad (this is my favorite Upanishad), begins with the word 'Kena' which means 'by what' - Its a great 'Brain Treat for an aspiring student. it says:

Yachchakshusha Na Pashyati Kena Chakshumsi Pasyati
Tadeva Brahma Tvam Viddhi Tedam Yadidamupaste

That which sees not with the eye, that by which one sees the eye's seeing
Know that to be the Brahman, not this which men follow after here.

Similarly,

Yachchritrena Na Shrnoti Yena Shritramidam Shrutam
Tadeva Brahma Tvam Viddhi Tedam Yadidamupaste

That which hears not with the ear, that by which the ear's hearing is heard.
Know that to be the Brahman, not this which men follow after here.

The Self is so intimate and so near and so easily grasped, still people search only externally. If one carefully is able to perceive this Self through the exercises I wrote in my previous post or by right underdtanding of the scriptures. The knot of Samsara is broken then and there itself and he becomes a Jeevan Muktha. The Samsara does not burden him any more.

People have tendency of Imagining, Assuming a lot that one who is realised is totally out of this world, he wears Ocher Rob and leaves the house and family and goes away into solitude. Its all only myth. It need not be like that. People can realise the Self and still continue living as they are.

Who is the 'I' in our daily conversations we say "I'l take care..", "I'l get it done.." and "'I' did it..." so many passing phrases! But when they are asked "who are you - 'I'" they blink! they don't know who they are! such is the irony.

Without knowing the entity - Self of what purpose is all achievements and riches for which we strive for ceaselessly? The one struggling for all those achievements and victories, name and fame, etc... himself is not aware of his self. Who is the enjoyer of all these? It is so important to know this Self, just like the metaphor of the leader forgetting to count himself (please refer my previous post)

Even Krishna says the Self alone is ones guide, God and everything.

udharet atmana atmanama
na atmanam avasadayeta
atma eva hi atmanah bandhuh
atma eva ripuh atmanah

One should lift himself up by own efforts and should not degrade himself because one's own self is his own friend, and one's own self is his own enemy.

Everything originates from the Self alone. The 'I' originates from the Self. Just imagine the image of Padmanabha, who is in ananthashayanam in cosmic ocean and from his Naabhi or navel comes Brahma. and Brahma is the creater of this Universe. In the same way. The 'I' which has originaed from the Self is Brahma and the Self is Vishnu which is your real nature. Brahma can be equated with the 'ego' which has created everything. The Self is Vishnu. and You are that Vishnu. Vishnu simple means all pervading.

Krishna says:

aham atma gudakesa
sarva-bhutasaya-sthitah
aham adis ca madhyam ca
bhutanam anta eva ca

I am the Self, O Gudakesa, seated in the hearts of all creatures. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings.

Who is the 'I' - we use this 'I' is allmost every sentence that we talk, contemplate at all times. Krishna says 'I' am the Self. You are Krishna. the Self is you.

Where ever Krishna has used the word "I" it should be understood as your own Self and not as Krishna(as different from you)

The Self is the heart. in sanskrit heart is called Hrithayam. Hrt Ayama - This am I. It is the center of all. the mistake one makes is that people think the physical heart as the self and go on meditating on the physical heart in search of the Self. But actually Hrithyam is actually that from which everything sprang. That from which you or the 'I' has originated. It is not the physical heart as it is commonly understood. One should inquire the source of the feeling 'I' where from I originated... That is the real source of you or the 'I' and the universe.

People meditate looking for the Self within their Body searching in their heart, it is only futile exercise. Know that the the Body is in the Self and not the Self in the Body.

Looking within or meditation is to find the source of yourself - the 'I' and all other origination - the universe. Meditate where from I or you originated.

Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi says:

When you utter mantra, look from where the sound is coming. When you are doing Japa, look from where the Mantra or the sound is originating.

Ganapathi Muni

As a five year old boy, his father named him Ganapati. He became a treasure house of the Vedas, the Upanishads and other Sanskrit literature, and Sanskrit poetry was on the tip of his tongue. He had done plenty of mantras, japa, tyaga, tapasya. Still, he was discontented, not at peace.

Here is an interesting teaching by Ramana Maharshi to one of his earliest devotee, who was a great poet - "Kavyakanta"

He had met the yet-to-be-called Sri Ramana on the southern slopes of Arunachala. One day he was assailed by pains, troubles, doubts. He remembered that the young Swami was on the hill, and at midday, a little after noon, he climbed and found him sitting outside Virupaksha cave, alone. He prostrated and said, "All the scriptures that have to be read, I have read. All the mantras and japa that have to be done, I have done. Still I have no peace. Please save me." The young Swami took a little time. For at least fifteen minutes he silently gazed at him. Then in Tamil, he spoke. The English translation is simple:

"If one watches whence the notion 'I' arises, the mind is absorbed in That; that is tapas. When you recite a mantra, watch where the sound is coming from, within you; when you sing a song or prayer, watch where it is emanating from: your Heart. Put your attention on That. That is tyaga, that is TAPASYA, that is all."

All his doubts and delusions were washed away that day.

abide in peace.

My own musings....

2009-06-30T23:39:00.016+05:30

Hi Friends,

I have been in a contemplative mood for some days now. I happened to come across few grand truths that reduced some of my beliefs into Bhasma or ashes as if exposed to Shiva's third eye. I have always believed the third eye of Shiva to be our Consciousness itself. All the images of Gods have deep significance. The third eye, our consciousness when it comes face to face with the reality or the Truth, reduces any underlying false notion, illusion or Maya into ashes. This is the power of Shiva or Consciousness.

Shiva is nothing but auspiciousness, and the Self is ever Auspicious. The Self is the third eye. Let me share with you a Truth which has potential to awaken you as well - well, I hope your third eye also opens and reduces the illusion - existing ideas and notions into ashes.

How do you see things? Your immediate answer will be your pair of eyes. Well I would ask you to think again. I say, you don't see through the pair of eyes of yours. Let me explain this with an internal exercise:

1. imagine, your eyes have the ability to pop up out. Both your eyes come out and try to see each other. What do you see here? Can both eyes see each other? its also logically impossible! Only one of your eyes can see the other eye. So By this, it can be proved that pair of eyes are not the real eye (you - the seer). Here, it also goes to prove that there is in reality, only One Seer or only One Eye and not two eyes as it is commonly understood. One may be aware that there is only One seer inside our body theoritically but this exercise is only to have a live, real face to face with this reality. This awareness about the One Seer is the Consciousness.

2. Another exercise - focus your attention on some object. see the object for some time. Once your focus has been set. Inquire. See yourself, see who is seeing the object - "Ok, I am now seeing the object" (make sure even your eye balls don't move) focus, concentrate further. keep inquiring who is the seer. notice yourself that your balls are directly focussed on the object. now, don't move your eye balls, let them be focussed on the object of meditation. Now, turn your attention to the surroundings. You will be able to see all the objects around you, say for at least 180 degrees. As you are turning your attention to the surroundings, keep your eye balls focussed on the object. But still you are able to see the surroundings for about 180 degrees without even turning your eye balls around. This goes to prove that the pair of eyes are not the real seer. The real seer is different. This is the real seer, the real you.

Form the above two exercise, its clearly understood that there is something totally independent of whatever we see, i.e. the body and external world.

Who am I? Who are we in reality? We are that Supreme Pure Consciousness. We don't remember this and we suffer the consequences of Samsara

Why do we don't know that we are that Supreme Brahman? Imagine, you are watching your favorite movie in the theater. Its a perfect movie which has all sorts of emotions in it, Love, Passion, Anger, Fight, Drama, Confusion, Dilemma, etc... you just name it... and there it is.

What happens to you? Do this exercise next time you are watching a movie in a theater. If you notice, you begin to experience all the emotions of the character you are associating with, say the Hero in the movie. Since you are associating yourself with this character, you begin to experience all the emotions that the Hero experiences in the movie. You become the Hero. You cry, fight, you confront, you love, etc... In those moments, you would have even forgotten about the fact that you are just watching a movie, and you would have cried, wanted to take revenge, wanted to win, etc...

You forget your own real self and become the character in the movie. Well this is the same thing that happens to you in your life as well. Imagine, your current state today, what is it made up of? Think and analyse. As a child when you saw, say Kamal Hassan, you wanted to be passionate like him, when you saw Barrack Obama, you wanted to be charming as him. When you saw Abdul Kalam, you wanted to be respected like him. Like this, so many different people who are just like the characters in the movie have shaped what you are today. You don't realize that you are just watching a movie and experiencing all your idol's emotions.

Just like watching a movie, you are watching a different kind of movie. You want to be successful for those persons who will see you in awe, not for yourself. You want to be famous in front of those people who will jump and go crazy for you, not for yourself. Become aware and see that you are just watching a movie and you don't have to experience all those emotions of the world (Characters)

You have been associated with others always. You don't need anything all that you are doing when you realise that you are not the "character" but the real Self within.

So what does one do if one cannot grasp this truth? Bhagawan Ramana says, inquire "Who am I" Once you become aware of the fact that all of this is a movie, the next step is to come out of the movie for you don't need to sit there any more and experience all those emotions for it really does not belong to you.

Suppose you are feeling sad, emotionally down, inquire to whom all these feelings are felt? Suppose you are aroussed with passion - like I want to be like this, I want to be like Narayana Murty etc... enquire who is the entity who is being aroused with this passion.

Like this question every thought that comes to you. It is very important to know who you really are. There is one very popular story, wherein the leader of a group along with the 9 other members crosses the river and then counts his people to find out if all of them have safely crossed over to the other side. He counts everyone of them but leaves out himself. And this leaves him with a sense of loss, for he keeps missing one person; himself, but he is unaware of it. This is a good metaphor which can explain the importance of knowing one's Self.

What is the answer to this question = "Who am I"

More in next post.

Ganesh

Videos on Ramana Maharshi

2009-06-25T23:05:00.007+05:30

Hi,

This is an invitation to view my videos. Hope you enjoy them! Any feedback for improvements are always welcome

CLICK HERE

Link address: www.youtube.com/ramanainspirations

--
Best Regards,
Ganesh Balasubramanian

“Know yourself and know everything else”

Ramana Maharshi

2009-02-01T00:37:00.017+05:30

Hi

This time I got some inspiration to fill in my blogger which has been quiet for sometime now. I happened to listen to AR Rahman's devotional number on Vaidhyanatha Ashtakam and it was simply superb. I have been wanting to fill in this place many times and I found many and also got started but somehow they dint really appeal to me much. Wanted to write on current affairs, Philosophies, Poltical systems, and what not. I felt simply useless writing about them and also wasting your time reading them. today I got working at something that inspired me and may inspire you. Ramana Maharshi is one of the greatest saints of our era, a real jnani, realised soul in human flesh. He simplified the complicated Advaita philosophy. I believe that Ramana Maharshi is Adi Shankaracharya himself.

Sanskrit being the language of God's is becomming extinct due to the fanaticism of people and state governments who just focus on the states official language like its Kannada in Karnataka, Tamizh in Tamizh Nadu, Telugu in Andhra Pradesh and so on... Who is the guardian of Sanskrit language. God be with those who are doing their bit to preserve and spread Sanskrit to people and posterity. Sanskirt unfortunately has become a barrier to those who really long to go deep into the Vedanta. The translation of the Vedanta and upanishat's into vernacular languages has really not been able to do justice to the glory of the Vedanta. Ramana Maharshi appeared here to protect the grand Vedanta and Upanishat's in an all new way. God is known not by languages alone. The simple teaching of Ramana Maharshi is this - find out who are you or 'Who am I'.

For every thought that appears the source is I . If you trace the source of each and every thought running in your mind it will finally reach to this primal question - 'WHO AM I' on investigating further Sri Ramana Maharshi says is your real nature, is the real I or what is stated in the four Maha Vaakyas in the Vedanta - Aham Brahmaasmi, Ayamaatma Brahma, Pryagnaanam Brahma and Tatvamasi.

I collected some of his quotes created this video which is a contemplative meditation and reflection on ones own self.

Hope you like it. I am eager to know your views and thoughts on this.

Be happy

Ganesh

Movie - Dasavathaaram - My Review

2008-08-24T13:55:00.002+05:30

Greetings to all!!

Welcome to my world of Blogs! Here I will be sharing all that matters to me. Basically it will on Vedanta, Spirituality, Philosophy, Life, Mysticism, Personality, Movies and beyond. I chose Dasavathaaram this time as it was running in my mind for quite sometime now.

Kamal Haasan strikes big this time! There are many highlights about this movie like Kamal's 10 roles, Technical brilliance, Direction, 12th century set at Chidambaram, Big budget and offcourse Kamal's acting. The film starts on December 24th 2004, the day Tsunami created a havoc and swallowed so many lives. Kamal tries to bring in a very interesting point! The scene begins with a Masjid and a Church set in Nagapattinam and slowly takes us to 12th centuary to a time when there is neither Allah nor Jesus but only Siva and Vishnu. The scene set is Chidambaram temple where Vishnu and Siva are main deities. A time when Saivism was beginning to gain popularity and the Chola king of the place was a staunch Saivite and wanted to completely convert the entire tamil country into Saivism. In the name of Siva and Vishnu they fight for their supremacy which we see today between Allah, Jesus and Krishna!

The Chola King orders to remove the Vishnu Statue from the Chidamabaram temple and place a Siva Statue in place of it. There is a big public gathering on this historic occasion. Vaishnavites on one side and saivaites on the other. Vaishnavites being minority were helpless under the barbaric order of the Chola king. Kamal playes Nambi, a staunch vaishnavite who is Ramanuja's Daasan. He tries hard to protect the statue of Vishnu from the hands of the barbarians but in vain. The King orders to drown Nambi along with the Statue of Vishnu in the sea.

The scene began with a Masjid and a Church, intenting to point the religious supremacy craze going on today which also existed in the 12th centuary, it was no different then either. Then there was neither Allah nor Jesus but Vishnu and Siva alone!

The world has been bogged down with such crazy clash all the time since time immemorial! As the naration goes, Kamal tells that the reason for Nambi's death is not Vishnu's fault and Siva's for the barbaric order by the Chola king. There is tremendous passion or bhakti or whatever you may want to call it on people of both sides, Saivaites and Vaishnavites. Kamal wants to point out that God will not come to save you for all your problems you created! He tries to convey that in the name of religion, people are becomming barbarians!

Everybody wants to achieve something, wants a name for himself, a sense of achievement, victory, a creator! Govinda Ramasamy is a scientist in Bio Informatics working in the US. He develops a virus capable of destroying the whole world something very similar to that of the AIDS virus. He discovers this virus in his desire to make it big in life, very soon he realizes his folly and how dangerous his desire has been. His bosses and colleague tries to sell this virus to terorists to make money and on the other hand an Ex CIA, a criminal wants the custody of the virus.

Hallmark of human is to take complete responsibility of oneself and Kamal takes that responsibility onto himself from saving the Virus from getting it on to wrong hands. Here begins the cat and mouse game, this part sure shows us KS Ravikumar's brilliance and Kamal's versatility in various different characters he plays. The chase reaches to South India, to Chidambaram, Pondicheri, Nagapattinam, on the eve of the great Tsunami. The virus needs to be kept cool and once it is out, it needs abundant quantity of NACL which is found in common salt.

In this chase the Ex CIA gets his hands on the virus and also cornored at the same time, he decides to leak te virus and destroy the world, then comes Tsunami, the sea which has NACL in it. It is able to destroy the effects of the virus in the end. The remnents after the Tsunami and the death of Poovaragan, he dies the same way as Lord Krishna with a rod pearcing his toe and the love of an orthodox old Brahmin woman for Poovaragan a christian as his lost son depicts the pristine essence of the message of the Gita.

Lastly, Kamal asks a question intended the audiens, about the question of existence of God. Is he there?, not there? does it matter? ... should he come down to help you for our own stupidity? still there is Tsunami, destroying lakhs of people and also many saved miraculously. He neither says there is God nor there is no God. There is but only Human cravings which leads to everything!