Category Archives: 3. BE INSPIRED

(Quote) Ramana Maharshi – YOU ARE THE SELF.

“There is no reaching the Self. If the Self were to be reached, it would mean that the Self is not now and here, but that it should be got anew. What is got afresh, will also be lost. So it will be impermanent. What is not permanent is not worth striving for. So I say, the Self is not reached. You are the Self. You are already That.”  RM

This message is not mere semantics.  All great Saints and Seers have gifted us the same message.  Do not believe it.  Take it on faith, trust them and trim your sail in this direction.  Understanding is a slow awakening and it naturally takes a little time.  Realisation must follow and is hindered only by striving.  It is possible.  Don’t be discouraged.  Doubt is only Mind.

(Article) SPIRITUAL PSYCHOSIS & ALTERED STATES.

Many years ago now I ran the Guildford TM Centre with my then partner.  One day the centre taught a lovely gentle woman who turned up in all innocence to learn meditation.  From the outset of learning she started to see angels and divine beings and in the absence of any reasoned explanation it troubled her deeply. There was nothing we could say because the very notion of the Super Senses was of another order entirely. She came for counselling on several occasions but in the absence of any proper guidance she eventually stopped meditating.  What she experienced was almost certainly the super-sense altered state of sight triggered by starting meditation.

Experiences of altered states are not, however, confined to practitioners of meditation.  They can happen to any one of us and can last for a brief moment or for several weeks.  Many years ago when I ran meditation courses for Surrey Adult Education I first asked people how many were there because they had had what they would describe as a Spiritual Experience.  Most hands would be raised.

During the process of Yoga practice the experience of altered states is a natural, all be it relatively rare, occurrence. The general advice in practice is always that they should be ignored and not spoken about.  The reason being because exploiting the experience runs counter to what one is attempting to do in practicing Yoga – reveal the Self by sublimating the Ego.  This is a process that brings complete stillness to the Mind and not mental chaos that sometimes accompanies altered states.  This advice is therefore sound because ultimately these are stages one wants to pass through not enjoy, (or at least be aware of the consequences of indulgence).  One of these stages is the Transition of the Super Senses in which the ordinary senses are magnified and accompanied by feelings of ecstasy.

When I was taught this aspect of Samkhya I naively assumed on hearing of it that passing through this fire would be a process of simply ignoring these magnified experiences.  I did not realise; could not imagine the effect they might have on my Ego/Mind and its compulsion to exploit and possess any appearance of happiness in the form of Bliss.  Altered states do not come alone.  They are startlingly beautiful and can overwhelm the small self, fundamentally altering the core reality. They change lives and forever.

One quite literally Sees differently for a short while and without guidance it is nearly impossible to navigate this ocean.  The result of being drawn in and trying to possess the experience sets up a cyclic process that is anything but quiet.  It can produce a state of frantic mental activity and as such this should be a warning, particularly if that person suffers unduly from powerful negative emotions such as fear or shame or an ongoing feeling of flat greyness or depression.  Hence it is that psychotic episodes are more prevalent in those who have encountered abuse in their young lives. Add to this an intelligent mind and the condition worsens exponentially.

The experience itself profoundly opens up perception and it is this enhanced perception that appears to support the experience and the Bliss that accompanies it.  Unwittingly one starts to ‘talk it up’ in an attempt to perpetuate the exalted state.  This, (not the initial experience) is ‘Spiritual Psychosis’ and the episode can leave one emotionally devastated.  This is the realm of madness.  Naturally, after a period of sometimes destructive delusional activity, awareness descends back into an ordinary state.  This usually leaves one utterly bereft or in despair; a condition that is familiarly called the Dark Night of The Soul.  We treat people we find in this condition (note not with) as sick when in reality they have just sipped nectar at God’s table before they were prepared and for a while they have been intoxicated.   What they need, however, is guidance not drugs and therapy.

(Quote) by Ramana Maharshi – EFFORTLESS AND CHOICE-LESS AWARENESS IS ATTAINED WITH DELIBERATE MEDITATION

A young man from Colombo asked Bhagavan,

“J. Krishnamurti teaches the method of effortless and choiceless awareness as distinct from that of deliberate concentration. Would Sri Bhagavan be pleased to explain how best to practise meditation and what form the object of meditation should take?”

Bhagavan: Effortless and choiceless awareness is our real nature. If we can attain it or be in that state, it is all right. But one cannot reach it without effort, the effort of deliberate meditation. All the age-long vasanas (attachments) carry the mind outward and turn it to external objects. All such thoughts have to be given up and the mind turned inward.

For that, effort is necessary for most people. Of course everybody, every book says, “Be quiet or still”. But it is not easy. That is why all this effort is necessary. Even if we find one who has at once achieved the mauna or Supreme state, you may take it that the effort necessary has already been finished in a previous life.

So that, effortless and choiceless awareness is reached only after deliberate meditation. That meditation can take any form which appeals to you best. See what helps you to keep away all other thoughts and adopt that method for your meditation.

In this connection Bhagavan quoted verses 5 and 52 from ‘Udal Poyyuravu’ and 36 from ‘Payappuli’ of Saint Thayumanavar. Their gist is as follows:

‘Bliss will follow if you are still. But however much you may tell your mind about the truth, the mind will not keep quiet. It is the mind that won’t keep quiet. It is the mind which tells the mind “Be quiet and you will attain bliss”.’ Though all the scriptures have said it, though we hear about it every day from the great ones, and even though our Guru says it, we are never quiet, but stray into the world of maya and sense objects. That is why conscious deliberate effort is required to attain that mauna state or the state of being quiet.

DAY BY DAY WITH BHAGAVAN

(Thoughts) on SELF REALISATION

Enlightenment is the constant realisation – in each successive moment of Now – of the nature of the Self.  It is not a destination like some cosmic hotel that we arrive at and where we cease to be vigilant and attentive to Reality.  It is a subtly dynamic state, not a passive one.

Ramana Maharishi  Recent Post affirms.

FLASHES, GLIMPSES AND REALIZATION

Before I came to India I had read of such people as Edward Carpenter, Tennyson and many more who had had flashes of what they called “Cosmic Consciousness.” I asked Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] about this. Was it possible that once having gained Self-Realization [for the individual] to lose it again? Certainly it was. To support this view Bhagavan took up a copy of Kaivalya Navanita and told the interpreter to read a page of it to me. In the early stages of Sadhana this was quite possible and even probable. So long as the least desire or tie was left, a person would be pulled back again into the phenomenal world, he explained. After all it is our Vasanas that prevent us from always being in our natural state, and Vasanas were not got rid of all of a sudden by a flash of Cosmic Consciousness. One may have worked them out in a previous existence leaving a little to be done in the present life, but in any case they must first be destroyed.

(Quote) by Ramana Marhashi – IS BEING STILL EFFORTLESS OR INVOLVE EFFORT?

Q. Is the state of ‘being still’ a state involving effort or effortless?

M. It is not an effortless state of indolence. All mundane activities which are ordinarily called effort are performed with the aid of a portion of the mind and with frequent breaks.

But the act of communion with the Self (atma vyavahara) or remaining still inwardly is intense activity which is performed with the entire mind and without break.

Q. As the Self shines fully of its own accord why is it not generally recognised like the other objects of the world by all persons?

M. Wherever particular objects are known it is the Self which has known itself in the form of those objects. For what is known as knowledge or awareness is only the patency of the Self (atma sakti). The Self is the only sentient object. There is nothing apart from the Self. If there are such objects they are all insentient and therefore cannot either know themselves or mutually know one another. It is because the Self does not know its true nature in this manner that it seems to be immersed and struggling in the ocean of birth (and death) in the form of the individual soul.

(Thoughts) on INTUITIVE KNOWLEDGE.

Our need to understand (on all material levels) has a subliminal cause and is ultimately driven by the need to know the Self and source of Consciousness.  Our natural evolutionary habitual instinct is to turn outwards and engage with the world and in doing so harvest worldly knowledge (Duality) in the belief that it will be satisfying.  We can, if we have the intelligence and the stamina, glean endless quantities of information about the gross and the subtle aspects of Nature (the Mother) by this process.  We will then in time, become clever, in that clever is a relative personal attribute.  Nature is infinite in its complexity and hence all this acquisition of knowledge, though it fills the Hallowed Halls of our universities, is an endless process and it can never be satisfied.  Neither is it ultimately True.  It is merely relative.

Analysis of the Mind falls into the same category as worldly knowledge because it too is dualistic.  Thus it is that analysis of mind, or a compulsive need to understand our personal suffering is also futile and can never bring peace of Mind.  Only by turning away from Ego/Mind towards the Self can enduring peace ever prevail.

So what is the proof of this assertion that the endless search for knowledge is driven by a longing to know the Self?  It is that if one turns inwards (through practice) one eventually begins to SEE knowledge in a way that is deeply fulfilling until such time as the Self is realised. The compulsive longing for relative knowledge then ceases to hold any fascination.  Our curiosity is sated and we are fulfilled by a profound sense of well-being.  Desire generated by Ego/Mind falls silent because all desire has been satisfied.

Then we only need to know as much as is required to satisfy our daily needs.  All Proper Knowledge; the knowledge of the Self, is revealed by turning inwards and asking, ‘Who am I’.  One needs no books.  And this Knowledge is different.  It is certain, unequivocal and doubtless. It is not speculative and when realised it is unifying and has a startling ‘charm’.  And slowly one acquires Wisdom as distinct from Cleverness. Hence you will find spiritual teachers who can instantly answer many spiritual questions, despite having limited worldly knowledge, and who are no match for a master of physics. This is not a contradiction.

During conversation Swami Bawra once said, ‘If you want Self Realisation what you need to understand is very simple, but if you want to teach then you must know a great deal more.’  Spiritual Practice (meditation) and the Guidance of a good teacher (one that has authority) will do the rest and is essential.

(Quotes) by Ramana Maharshi – SCIENCE OF THE SELF

“Without consciousness, time and space do not exist.”

Metaphysics is Awesome……

The mind turned inwards is the Self; turned outwards, it becomes the ego and all the world. Cotton made into various clothes we call by various names. Gold made into various ornaments, we call by various names. But all the clothes are cotton and all the ornaments gold. The one is real, the many are mere names and forms. But the mind does no exist apart from the Self, that is, it has not independent existence. The Self exists without the mind, never the mind without the Self.

(Quote) by Ramana Maharshi on DESTINY

“There is neither creation nor destruction,
neither destiny nor free will,
neither path nor achievement.
This is the final truth.”

I sometimes think he is listening.  See previous post.  And I also found his.

A devotee said to Bhagavan that she did not have peace of mind and probably destiny prevented it and broke into tears. Bhagavan said to her, “All right. What need be said has been said. Well. What is destiny? There is no destiny. Surrender, and all will be well. Throw all the responsibility on God. Do not bear the burden yourself. What can destiny do to you then?”

(Talk 244).