Posted by admin on February 24th, 2009 in Ramana Maharshi
Ramana Maharshi
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi was probably the most famous Indian sage of the twentieth century. He was renowned for his saintly life, for the fullness of his self-realization, and for the feelings of deep peace that visitors experienced in his presence. So many people came to see him at the holy hill of Arunchala where he spent his adult life that an ashram had to be built around him. He answered questions for hours every day, but never considered himself to be anyone’s guru.
He was born on December 30, 1879 in a village called Tirucculi about 30 miles south of Madurai in southern India. His middle-class parents named him Venkataraman. His father died when he was twelve, and he went to live with his uncle in Madurai, where he attended American Mission High School.
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Posted by admin on February 24th, 2009 in Ramana Maharshi
Quotes of Sri Ramana Maharshi
- There is no greater mystery than this, that being the reality yourself, you seek to gain reality.
- You think there is something binding your reality and that something must be destroyed before the reality is freed. This is ridiculous.
- A day will dawn when you will laugh at all your efforts. What is there to realize? The real is always as it is.
- You have realized the unreal, in other words, you regard the unreal as that which is real. Give up this attitude and you will attain wisdom.
- There is nothing new nor anything you do not already have which needs to be gained. The feeling that you have not yet realized is the sole obstruction to realization.
- In fact, you are already free. If it were not so, the realization would be new. If it has not existed so far, it must take place hereafter. What comes will also go, what can be gained can also be lost.
- If realization is not eternal it is not worth having. Therefore what you seek is not that which must happen afresh. It is only that which is eternal, but not now known due to obstruction.
- Remove the obstruction. That which is eternal is not known to be so because of ignorance. Ignorance is the obstruction. Get over the ignorance and all will be well.
- The ignorance is identical with the ‘I-thought’. Find its source and it will vanish. Then the Self alone will shine as it always has, in the stillness of being.
Posted by admin on February 17th, 2009 in Ramana Maharshi
Thus Spake Ramana - Quotes of Ramana Maharshi - III
- Inward seeking is the path to be gained by man’s intellect. The intellect itself realises after continuous practice that it is enabled by some Higher Power to function. It cannot itself reach this Power. So it ceases to function after a certain stage. Then the Supreme Power is still left there all alone. That is Realisation; that is finality; that is the goal… It is thus plain that the purpose of the intellect is to realise its own dependence upon the Higher Power and its inability to reach the same. So it must annihilate itself before the goal is reached. (Talks 502)
- Why is intellect developed? It has a purpose. The purpose is that it should show the way to realise the Self. It must be put to that use. (Talks 644)
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Posted by admin on February 17th, 2009 in Ramana Maharshi
Thus Spake Ramana - Quotes of Ramana Maharshi - II
- The mind is by nature restless. Begin liberating it from its restlessness; give it peace; make it free from distractedness; train it to look inward; make this a habit. This is done by ignoring the external world and removing the obstacles to peace of mind. (Talks 26)
- Is it the mind that wants to kill itself? The mind cannot kill itself. So your business is to find the real nature of the mind. Then you will know. that there is no mind. When the Self is sought, the mind is nowhere. Abiding in the Self, one need not worry about the mind. (Talks 146)
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Posted by admin on February 17th, 2009 in Ramana Maharshi
Thus Spake Ramana - Quotes of Ramana Maharshi - I
- You see, the one who eliminates all the not-I cannot eliminate the ‘I’. To say ‘I am not this’ or ‘I am that’ there must be the ‘I’. This ‘I’ is only the ego or the ‘I’-thought. After the rising up of this ‘I’-thought, all other thoughts arise. The ‘I’-thought is therefore the root-thought. If the root is pulled out, all others are at the same time uprooted. Therefore seek the root-’I’, question yourself ‘Who am I ?‘, find out its source. Then all these will vanish and the pure Self will remain over. (Talks 597)
- Only the annihilation of ‘I’ is Liberation. But it can be gained only by keeping the ‘I…I’ always in view. So the need for the investigation of the ‘I’-thought. There is only one ‘I’ all along; but what rises up from time to time is the mistaken ‘I’-thought; whereas the intuitive ‘I’ always remains Self-shining, i.e. even before it becomes manifest. (Talks 139)
- The ‘I’-thought is only limited ‘I’. The real ‘I’ is unlimited, universal, beyond time and space. They are absent in sleep, and before seeing the objective world, there is a state of awareness which is your pure Self. That must be known (Talks 311)
- Soul, mind and ego are words. There are no real entities of the kind. Consciousness is the only truth. (Talks 245) Continue reading this post…
Posted by admin on January 22nd, 2009 in Ramana Maharshi, Self Inquiry
Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
A Sanskrit term that was often used, both by Sri Ramana and by other more ancient sages such as Sri Adi Sankara, to describe this empirical practice of self-investigation or self-attentiveness is atma-vichara, which is often loosely translated in English as ’self-enquiry’ or ’self-inquiry’. However, rather than ‘enquiry’, the word vichara can be more accurately translated as ‘investigation’, ‘examination’ or ’scrutiny’. Therefore the term atma-vichara really means ’self-investigation’, ’self-examination’ or ’self-scrutiny’, and denotes the simple practice of closely examining, inspecting or scrutinising our fundamental and essential consciousness of our own being, ‘I am’, with a keen and concentrated power of attention.
Sri Ramana also referred to this empirical practice of self-investigation, self-examination, self-inspection, self-scrutiny, self-attention or self-attentiveness as the vichara ‘who am I?’ However, when he described it thus, he did not mean that it is a process of questioning ourself ‘who am I?’ either verbally or mentally. What he intended us to understand by this term is that this practice is a keenly attentive examination or scrutiny of our basic consciousness of our own being, which we always experience as ‘I am’, in order to discover the true nature of this ‘I’, our essential being or ‘am’-ness.
Posted by admin on January 22nd, 2009 in Ramana Maharshi, Self Inquiry
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
The philosophy of Sri Ramana derives solely from his experience of true, absolute and non-dual self-knowledge, an experience that transcends all thought, both rational and irrational. However, since we imagine the existence of duality, multiplicity and relativity, we seem to lack the non-dual and absolute knowledge of our own essential self-conscious being that Sri Ramana experienced as his natural state. Therefore he presented his philosophy to us in terms of a rational and logical analysis of our present experience of ourself as a finite individual consciousness, in order to enable us to be firmly convinced of the absolute reality that underlies this finite consciousness that we now mistake to be ourself. Continue reading this post…
Posted by admin on January 22nd, 2009 in Ramana Maharshi, Self Inquiry
Teachings of Ramana Bhagavan
Happiness lies deep within us, in the very core of our being. Happiness does not exist in any external object, but only in us, who are the consciousness that experiences happiness. Though we seem to derive happiness from external objects or experiences, the happiness that we thus enjoy in fact arises from within us.
Whatever turmoil our mind may be in, in the centre of our being there always exists a state of perfect peace and joy, like the calm in the eye of a storm. Desire and fear agitate our mind, and obscure from its vision the happiness that always exists within it. When a desire is satisfied, or the cause of a fear is removed, the surface agitation of our mind subsides, and in that temporary calm our mind enjoys a taste of its own innate happiness. Continue reading this post…
Posted by admin on January 22nd, 2009 in Ramana Maharshi
IV: `WHO AM I?’ — ENQUIRY
For all thoughts the source is the `I-thought’. The mind will merge only by Self-enquiry `Who am I?’ The thought `Who am I?l?’ will destroy all other thoughts and finally kill itself also. If other thoughts arise, without trying to complete them, one must enquire to whom did this thought arise. What does it matter how many thoughts arise? As each thought arises one must be watchful and ask to whom is this thought occurring. The answer will be `to me’. If you enquire `Who am I?’ the mind will return to its source (or where it issued from). The thought which arose will also submerge. As you practise like this more and more, the power of the mind to remain at its source is increased. Continue reading this post…
Posted by admin on January 22nd, 2009 in Ramana Maharshi
Sri Ramana Maharshi’s Life
In the very early hours of December 30th, 1879, in the village of Tiruchuzhi in Tamil Nadu, a baby boy was born to Azhagammal and Sundaram Iyer.
Tiruchuzhi is home to the Bhoominathar temple, and on the eve of the baby’s birth, the Andra darshan celebration was taking place. During this celebration, Bhoominatheswara (a name for Lord Shiva) is taken out of the temple along with his consort Sahayamba, and carried through the streets to bless devotees. About an hour after midnight, just as this pair were about to be carried across the threshold of the temple, the baby was born.
Sundaram Iyer’s mother, Lakshmi Ammal, who was in the room during the birth, immediately expressed her disappointment. She had been hoping the baby would be a girl who could have been married off to her daughter’s son. “How will the family tie continue? This is all I am destined for?” she complained. Continue reading this post…