Q: Who am I? How is it to be found?
Ramana: Ask yourself the question. The body (annamaya kosa) and its functions are not ‘I’. Going deeper, the mind (manomaya kosa) and its functions are not ‘I’.
The next step takes on to the question. “Where from do these thoughts arise?” The thoughts are spontaneous, superficial or analytical. They operate in intellect. Then, who is aware of them? Continue reading
Ramana – Verse 5 of Ēkātma Pañcakam:
“That which always exists is only that ēkātma vastu [the one reality or substance, which is our own true self]. Since the ādi-guru at that time made that vastu to be known [only by] speaking without speaking, say, who can make it known [by] speaking?”
The word ēka means ‘one’, ātma means ‘self’, and vastu is the Sanskrit equivalent of the Tamil word poruḷ, which means the absolute reality, substance or essence. Therefore the ēkātma vastu, which Sri Ramana declares to be eppōdum uḷḷadu, ‘that which always is’, is the one absolute reality or essential substance, which is our own true self. Continue reading
We exist. That much we know. All else is conjecture. Our minds resist such a statement but let’s consider some aspects of it. No one has any idea how long this Existence has been going on. There is some talk of how long this universe has been around but even if that should be an accurate reflection of this complex phenomenon called “Existence” in relation to this universe, we still can look to the myriad other universes that we can perceive. Then the question arises: “When” did IT ALL begin?
We may look to humans who have lived here just like us and who give us the sense that they have come to peace with these questions. One such is Dakshinamurti.
Ramana once gave this account of the sage Dakshinamurti, who is often called the First Master:
Sri Bhagavan said, “When the four elderly Sanakadi rishis first beheld the sixteen-year-old Sri Dakshinamurti sitting under the banyan tree, they were at once attracted by Him, and understood that He was the real Sadguru. They approached Him, did three pradakshinas around Him, prostrated before Him, sat at His Feet and began to ask shrewd and pertinent questions about the nature of reality and the means of attaining it. Because of the great compassion and fatherly love (vatsalya) which He felt for His aged disciples, the young Sri Dakshinamurti was overjoyed to see their earnestness, wisdom and maturity, and gave apt replies to each of their questions. But as He answered each consecutive question, further doubts arose in their minds and they asked further questions. Thus they continued to question Sri Dakshinamurti for a whole year, and He continued to clear their doubts through His compassionate answers.
“Finally, however, Sri Dakshinamurti understood that if He continued answering their questions, more doubts would arise in their minds and their ignorance (ajnana) would never end. Therefore, suppressing even the feeling of compassion and fatherly love which was welling up within Him, He merged Himself into the Supreme Silence. Because of their great maturity (which had ripened to perfection through their year-long association with the Sadguru), as soon as Sri Dakshinamurti assumed Silence, they too automatically merged into Supreme Silence, the true state of the Self.”
“The Self alone, the Sole Reality,
Exists for ever.
If of yore the First of Teachers
Revealed it through unbroken silence
Say, who can reveal it in spoken words?”
– Ekatma Panchakam, Sri Bhagavan.“All that was, was only silence; and the doubts of the sishyas (disciples) were cleared. The significance is that there is nothing to be learnt, discussed and concluded. Everyone knows ‘I am’. There is the confusion that the ‘I’ is the body, because the ‘I’ arises from the Absolute and gives rise to buddhi (intellect). In buddhi the ‘I’ looks the size and shape of the body. Na medhaya means Brahman cannot be apprehended by buddhi.
Brahman > aham (‘I-I’) > buddhi (intellect)
“How can such buddhi crossing over aham discover Brahman? It is impossible. Just get over the false conception of the ‘I’ being the body.
“Discover to whom the thoughts arise. If the present ‘I-ness’ vanishes, the discovery is complete.
“What remains over is the pure Self.”
This account leaves us with the choice to continue to question or to acquiesce to just BEING – and to then see what happens, without expectations of anything to attain. This might be what is called “wu wei” (conscious non-action or non-doing or also natural action).
This is simplicity – just being.
“The mind,” I said, “is moon-clear, the world and its thousand shapes but dreams to shine upon.” Han Shan, Poet of Cold Mountain
Ramana Talks – Talk 41:
“We are in our Self. We are not in the world. … You carry heaven and hell with you. Your lust, anger, etc., produce these regions. They are like dreams. Continue reading
We are so heavily addicted to rational thinking that it seems at times almost impossible to open up to a direct realization of what Ramana is talking about. Of course we should be able to get a felt sense of this Fact that is all around us, in our face and completely obvious – but that is not the case. Most of our waking hours and in our dream experiences we move through a card-house made of living images that are ephemeral, fleeting and passing.
What we call happiness are experiences within this card-house and they do not satisfy that deep longing inside for HOME that is the bed-rock of Existence rather than the shifting sands of the content of our consciousness.
The following statements express some views as to ‘how’ we can access our Natural State.
Krishnamurti:
How easy it is to deceive oneself, to project desirable states which are actually experienced, especially when they are pleasure. There’s no illusion, no deception, when there’s no desire, conscious or unconscious, for any experience of any kind, when one’s wholly indifferent to the coming and going of all experience, when one’s not asking for anything.
Why be mean when there are soaring mountains and flashing streams?
Krishnamurti Notebook July 26, 1961
Nisargadatta:
Here you will get to know what is, not what you expect to hear. Duality arises when consciousness arises. I am present and I know that I am present – that is duality. I am and I am not conscious of being present – that is unicity. There is only one, ‘but when this conscious presence is there, then there is a sense of duality.
Questioner: Is a Realized person aware of everything?
N. Actually no one is realized, there is only pure knowledge (the sense of I Am). It is only for reasons of communication that we say a person is realized. The knowledge has realized that it is knowledge; that is all that has happened. I am not the body, I am not the words; when knowledge recognizes this it is called Self-Realization.
Q: The knowledge Maharaj is giving is for jnanis (awakened ones). What happens to the very simple man who is not able to comprehend this?
N: Bhajans (devotional songs) and meditation. By meditation the knowledge which is immature will gradually grow into maturity.
Q. A thousand years ago people were primitive. They could not have understood this. It is only for developed minds.
N. Whether primitive or civilized, people can understand this. Even in those days there must have been some to whom this knowledge did appear and they instinctively understood.
This knowledge is not new; it has always been in existence. People came to know instinctively.
Q. Why is it that India seems to be the cradle of this knowledge? No other country seems to have this knowledge.
N: That is not so. This manifestation is the expression of the Absolute, and the manifestation may take various forms in various countries. Where it takes what kind of expression is immaterial; basically all is the manifestation of the Absolute. There is no cause and effect, no reason why one thing should be in one place and something else in another.
What is to be found out is what one is, by oneself.
Q. Can the Guru give a push toward that knowledge?
N. You think that you are one individual and the Guru is another individual but that is not so. Guru is the knower of this consciousness, which is temporary.
Understand this curious situation: while I am talking to you there is unbearable pain in the body (cancer).
I have understood firmly that there are no individuals separate from one another, no knowledge separate as worldly knowledge and spiritual knowledge. There is no Guru and no disciple, there is no God and no devotee. There are no opposites – they are a polaristic duality, not two separate parts, but two parts of the same one. I am convinced of that and yet I am talking to you. You accept it as knowledge and I give it as knowledge. Understand this amusing factor.
The talks emanate spontaneously out of me; prior to the emanation of the words there is no meaning fabricated inside. There is no part played by the mind. It is direct spontaneity.
Q. What is the definition of consciousness as used by Maharaj?
N. Consciousness, as it is used here, is this sense of being alive, of being present, the sense of existence. It is the love of being that is the source and cause of all desires.
source: Prior to Consciousness, December 9, 1980
My Comment:
I have posted below two sections from Anandamayi’s MATRI VANI that verbalizes the attitude that is most suitable for us to embody in our daily life once we have realized what Ramana points to. Continue reading
June 29, 1980
Nisargadatta Maharaj: Whatever concept you have about yourself cannot be true. The “I Amness” is the prime concept, and it has to be satisfied by letting it do its normal work in the world. The important thing is the realization of the fact that it is a concept.
Questioner: In the world this concept is always trying to be at the top. Even to the children we say, “You must be first in the examination.” Is it wrong to push your personality and individuality on others?
M. What is wrong is that you consider yourself to be limited to this body and shape. What knowledge I try to give is given to the knowledge “I Am” in each of you, which is the same. If you try to get that knowledge as an individual you will never get it. Continue reading
June 29, 1980
Nisargadatta Maharaj: Whatever concept you have about yourself cannot be true. The “I Amness” is the prime concept, and it has to be satisfied by letting it do its normal work in the world. The important thing is the realization of the fact that it is a concept.
Questioner: In the world this concept is always trying to be at the top. Even to the children we say, “You must be first in the examination.” Is it wrong to push your personality and individuality on others?
M. What is wrong is that you consider yourself to be limited to this body and shape. What knowledge I try to give is given to the knowledge “I Am” in each of you, which is the same. If you try to get that knowledge as an individual you will never get it. Continue reading
New Earth Heartbeat 