Question: In this life beset with limitations can I ever realise the bliss of the Self?
Bhagavan: That bliss of the Self is always with you, and you will find it for yourself, if you would seek it earnestly.
The cause of your misery is not in the life without; it is in you as the ego. You impose limitations on yourself and then make a vain struggle to transcend them. All unhappiness is due to the ego; with it comes all your trouble. What does it avail you to attribute to the happenings in life the cause of misery which is really within you? What happiness can you get from things extraneous to yourself? When you get it, how long will it last?
If you would deny the ego and scorch it by ignoring it, you would be free. If you accept it, it will impose limitations on you and throw you into a vain struggle to transcend them. That was how the thief sought to ‘ruin’ King Janaka.
To be the Self that you really are is the only means to realise the bliss that is ever yours.
[Maharshi'sGospel - pp 47-48]
Monday
Whatever Appears is Impermanent - Ramana Maharshi
27 August 2007 - 13:20
"When the mind unceasingly investigates its own nature, it transpires that there is no such thing as mind. This is the direct path for all."
"What appears will also disappear and is therefore impermanent. The Self never appears and disappears and is therefore permanent It is the only Reality."
~ Ramana Maharshi
"When the mind unceasingly investigates its own nature, it transpires that there is no such thing as mind. This is the direct path for all."
"What appears will also disappear and is therefore impermanent. The Self never appears and disappears and is therefore permanent It is the only Reality."
~ Ramana Maharshi
Sunday
The Error of Duality
27 May 2007 - 17:56
Hello, welcome to The Silent Way, if this is your first visit you may want to start by reading the first post first - here - http://advaitaramana.blogspot.com/2007/02/silence-is-beyond-doubt.html
If you fix your attention on the sensation of 'I', you will notice that in addition to the sensation of 'I' there is the notion that there is a 'witness', someone watching the sensation of 'I'. This is clearly nonsense, as it implies that there are two 'Is' - one (unseen) watching the other. We also have the mistaken notion that we must get rid of the 'I' we can see to find the 'real I' that we cannot see.
You are not two people. The thought that there is one 'I' watching another 'I' is just that - a thought, and an erroneous thought at that. In reality there is no other 'I' watching the first 'I'. There is only one 'I' and its nature is awareness. 'I' is self-aware, it is aware of itself, it does not need any other 'I' to be aware of it.
Hello, welcome to The Silent Way, if this is your first visit you may want to start by reading the first post first - here - http://advaitaramana.blogspot.com/2007/02/silence-is-beyond-doubt.html
Duality and Non-Duality
We generally see the world in a dualistic way, i.e. 'I am here looking at the world out there'. How does this duality arise? It arises from the habit we have of looking at ourselves as if we were two people.If you fix your attention on the sensation of 'I', you will notice that in addition to the sensation of 'I' there is the notion that there is a 'witness', someone watching the sensation of 'I'. This is clearly nonsense, as it implies that there are two 'Is' - one (unseen) watching the other. We also have the mistaken notion that we must get rid of the 'I' we can see to find the 'real I' that we cannot see.
You are not two people. The thought that there is one 'I' watching another 'I' is just that - a thought, and an erroneous thought at that. In reality there is no other 'I' watching the first 'I'. There is only one 'I' and its nature is awareness. 'I' is self-aware, it is aware of itself, it does not need any other 'I' to be aware of it.
Thursday
Seeking What is Already There Before Seeking Starts
26 April 2007 - 18:06
Vivekachuadamani
"353. The wise man, discriminating thus the real and the unreal, ascertaining the Truth through his illuminative insight, and realizing his own Self which is Knowledge Absolute, gets rid of the obstructions and directly attains Peace."
So, you are knowledge, not an object of knowledge. This you see by "discriminating the real and the unreal". The problem here is that "real" and "unreal" are categories created by you. Your mind creates the categories of real and unreal and sets about trying to discriminate between the two in order to isolate the real in the belief that by knowing the real all will be well and Peace will be attained.
In the prior stanza Sri Sankara said "The Supreme Self is ever of the nature of eternal, indivisible knowledge, one without a second" . This is all well and good, but it does require that you believe what Sankara is saying. It also requires that you believe that Sankara existed or that what you are looking at now exists.
What you need to do is to find that which you cannot doubt. Something about which it is impossible to say "hmmmm maybe this doesn't exist". The only thing that fulfils this requirement is silence. If you remain silent you cannot deny or assert anything. But don't imagine silence to be something where there is no sound. 'Sound' is a concept and 'silence' is a concept. Remain without concepts, without definitions.
Vivekachuadamani
"353. The wise man, discriminating thus the real and the unreal, ascertaining the Truth through his illuminative insight, and realizing his own Self which is Knowledge Absolute, gets rid of the obstructions and directly attains Peace."
So, you are knowledge, not an object of knowledge. This you see by "discriminating the real and the unreal". The problem here is that "real" and "unreal" are categories created by you. Your mind creates the categories of real and unreal and sets about trying to discriminate between the two in order to isolate the real in the belief that by knowing the real all will be well and Peace will be attained.
In the prior stanza Sri Sankara said "The Supreme Self is ever of the nature of eternal, indivisible knowledge, one without a second" . This is all well and good, but it does require that you believe what Sankara is saying. It also requires that you believe that Sankara existed or that what you are looking at now exists.
What you need to do is to find that which you cannot doubt. Something about which it is impossible to say "hmmmm maybe this doesn't exist". The only thing that fulfils this requirement is silence. If you remain silent you cannot deny or assert anything. But don't imagine silence to be something where there is no sound. 'Sound' is a concept and 'silence' is a concept. Remain without concepts, without definitions.
Tuesday
Dogen - 1200 - 1253
3 April 2007 - 23:21
"Just understand that birth-and-death is itself
nirvana. There is no such thing as birth and death
to be avoided; there is no such thing as nirvana to
be sought. Only when you realize this are you free
from birth and death."
~Dogen
"Just understand that birth-and-death is itself
nirvana. There is no such thing as birth and death
to be avoided; there is no such thing as nirvana to
be sought. Only when you realize this are you free
from birth and death."
~Dogen
Saturday
Vivekachudamani of Sankara
31 March 2007 - 19:28
"This entire universe, which is produced from Brahman (Consciousness), is Consciousness itself and nothing but That. Because there is nothing else whatever but Consciousness, and That is the only self-existent Reality, our very Self, therefore art thou that serene, pure, Supreme Consciousness, the One without a second"
Now is Consciousness. You are not aware of now, you are now. You are the present moment.
"This entire universe, which is produced from Brahman (Consciousness), is Consciousness itself and nothing but That. Because there is nothing else whatever but Consciousness, and That is the only self-existent Reality, our very Self, therefore art thou that serene, pure, Supreme Consciousness, the One without a second"
Now is Consciousness. You are not aware of now, you are now. You are the present moment.
Friday
Video Talks by John Sherman
30 March 2007 - 18:18
I have added a link in the sidebar to Satsang Talks by John Sherman. The talks are available on Youtube but Google links directly to them from this blog.
John Sherman is the clearest teacher of 'what needs to be done' that I have come across on the Internet. He seems totally natural and lacking in any desire for self-promotion. His talks and satsangs are free, which to me is important. He also gives live online talks/discussions via the Internet.
Ramana Maharshi never showed any interest in money whatsoever, when he arrived in Tiruvannamalai in 1896 at the age of 16, having left behind him a reasonably comfortable life with his mother and uncle, he threw away the last few pennies he had and, as far as I know, never touched any money again. If somebody hadn't found him meditating in a temple cellar and forced food into his mouth it is quite possible that he would have died. When asked about this time he said "People used to put food into my mouth, and it was easier to swallow it than to spit it out." After this and during his early years in Tiruvannamalai he lived by begging. Later on, as a community gathered around him he lived from the donations provided by disciples and visitors.
I have added a link in the sidebar to Satsang Talks by John Sherman. The talks are available on Youtube but Google links directly to them from this blog.
John Sherman is the clearest teacher of 'what needs to be done' that I have come across on the Internet. He seems totally natural and lacking in any desire for self-promotion. His talks and satsangs are free, which to me is important. He also gives live online talks/discussions via the Internet.
Ramana Maharshi never showed any interest in money whatsoever, when he arrived in Tiruvannamalai in 1896 at the age of 16, having left behind him a reasonably comfortable life with his mother and uncle, he threw away the last few pennies he had and, as far as I know, never touched any money again. If somebody hadn't found him meditating in a temple cellar and forced food into his mouth it is quite possible that he would have died. When asked about this time he said "People used to put food into my mouth, and it was easier to swallow it than to spit it out." After this and during his early years in Tiruvannamalai he lived by begging. Later on, as a community gathered around him he lived from the donations provided by disciples and visitors.
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