[atma_vichara] Turning Inward

[Guest guest]

Dear Correspondents on this thorny question .As I see it 'Turning Inwards by

turning round at 180

degrees' , a phrase coined by Dougas Harding amongst others ,means turning the

full attention

around from outside the skin to the interior inside or behind the skin ,to

discover the Source

of the I thought .It does not mean ignoring the world , but when you are giving

full attention to

being Aware of the Awareness , Diving into the Heart or Holding on to the I

thought etc. you are

focused internally and the world is not seen . Being Aware of the Awareness is

a method of Self

Enquiry developed by the late Sage Sadhu Om in His Book on Self Enquiry

downloaded on Michael L's

web site .It is one of the respected ways of Self Enquiry .Ramana says 'find

what is easiest for

you and begin with that' .I am sure Nichael L.will speak for himself but that is

my view .

 

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti in Sri Bhagavan's Grace .

Alan

 

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[Guest guest]

om namo bhagavate sri ramanaya

>From Talks 453:

''M. : ...So you become aware of yourself. Who becomes aware of whom? Are there two selves?...

So you see it is wrong to suppose that awareness has passing phases. The Self is

always aware. When the Self identifies itself as the seer it sees objects. The

creation of the subject and the object is the creation of the world. Subjects

and objects are created in Pure Consciousness. You see pictures moving on the

screen in a cinema show. When you are intent on the pictures you are not aware

of the screen. But the pictures cannot be seen without the screen behind. The

world stands for the pictures and Consciousness stands for the screen. The

Consciousness is pure. It is the same as the Self which is eternal and

unchanging. Get rid of the subject and object and Pure Consciousness will alone

remain.''

So...When there is talk of turning within, it really refers to 'abiding (or

remaining) as one truly is' without the separation into 'I, me, mine' (subject)

and everything else (object-world, mindstuff). Then after all :

"Vishnu is seated with Vishnu,

Vishnu is feeding Vishnu;

(Vishnu is eating Vishnu)

Why do you laugh, O Vishnu?

Whatever is, is Vishnu." 

Awareness is the pure witness consciousness which Sri Ramana compares

(metaphorically) to the sun (Talk 466). As the sun shines benignly on all,

wanting nothing, expecting nothing, yet all is reliant on the sun, so it is

with the Supreme Witness. We must know ourselves to be the witness which is

pure awareness. To split linguistic hairs, it is not then that we should watch

awareness...we must be 'Awareness'. Vicara is the easiest way to achieve the

pre-existent state of pure awareness. This involves holding onto the subject

and not letting it go out to a perceived object.

Regards,

Miles