a spiritual scientist

Become a spiritual scientist. The fundamental element of our psyche is the sense of “I”, also often called the Ego. Focus your whole being on this element. Where does it originate within your being? Be a spiritual scientist and focus the powerful beam of your Inner Awareness on the “I” feeling. When you perceive anything, or think anything, direct your focus on that “I” sense and follow it to where it originates as our first thought.

Ramana Maharshi Self Inquiry Meditation

 

Question: You say one can realize the Self by a search for it. What is the character of this search?
Ramana Maharshi: You are the mind or think that you are the mind. The mind is nothing but thoughts. Now behind every particular thought there is a general thought, which is the ‘I’, that is yourself. Let us call this ‘I’ the first thought. Stick to this ‘I’ -thought and question it to find out what it is. When this question takes strong hold on you, you cannot think of other thoughts.

Question : When I do this and cling to my self, that is, the `I’-thought, other thoughts come and go, but I say to myself `Who am I ?’ and there is no answer forthcoming. To be in this condition is the practice. Is it so?
Ramana Maharshi :  This is a mistake that people often make. What happens when you make a serious quest for the Self is that the `I’-thought disappears and something else from the depths takes hold of you and that is not the `I’ which commenced the quest.

Question : What is this something else?
Ramana Maharshi :  That is the real Self, the import of `I’. It is not the ego. It is the Supreme Being itself.

I was not

 

“I didn’t know I was, presently I know I am, this is the same “I” with the knowingness mantle over it. This is the way the very Absolute transformed Itself into this grosser consciousness state, the state of appearance.”

“Nobody wants to inquire about the Self deeply and thoroughly, everybody inquires on a superficial level.” (Nisargadatta, Prior to Consciousness p. 54)

I was not. Then suddenly, I was. It feels like I am, but actually, I am not. If I had known what a trap I was getting into, I would not have gone into my mother’s womb. This sounds like a rejection of being alive, but it is not. It is neither rejection nor acceptance. This is the fine line of the paradox that my consciousness has to walk in order to find my way out of the labyrinth of consciousness.

what is the nature of the Self? – Ramana

Ramana Maharshi

The following nine answers to questions posed to Ramana, an excerpt from what is known as “Nan Yar” (Who am I?) speak to me especially these days.

Please see the very useful introduction by T. M. P. MAHADEVAN , University of Chennai, India, following this excerpt.

16. What is the nature of the Self?

What exists in truth is the Self alone. The world, the individual soul, and God are appearances in it. like silver in mother-of-pearl, these three appear at the same time, and disappear at the same time. The Self is that where there is absolutely no “I” thought. That is called “Silence”. The Self itself is the world; the Self itself is “I”; the Self itself is God; all is Siva, the Self.