constant practice - for vanaprashtas

[Guest guest]

from Ramana Maharshi's conversation with Paul Brunton, book conscious

immortality:

 

....

It is not by a single realisation of 'I am not the body but the Atman' that

the goal is reached. Do we become high in position by once seeing the king? One

must constantly enter into Samadhi and realise one's Self, and completely

blot out the old vasanas and the mind, before he becomes the Self.

If you keep to the thought of the Self, and be intently watching for it then

even that one thought which is used as a focus in concentration will disappear

and you will BE, the true Self.

 

Meditation on Self is our natural state: Only because we find it hard do we

imagine to be arbitrary and extraordinary state. We are all unnatural. The mind

resting in the Self is its natural condition, but instead of that our minds

are resting in outward objects.

 

....

Q: How to find Self?

 

A: There can be no real investigation into the Atma. [!!!]

The investigation can only be made into the non-Self. Elimination of the

non-Self is alone

possible. [see also the Neti neti in Sri Swamiji's explanation of Nirvana

Satka]

The Self being always Self-evident will shine of itself.

 

Knowing means being. It is not the relative knowledge.[not a subject that

knows about an object]

 

....

 

Q: How does Avidya arise?

 

Avidya is like Maya, that which is not. Therefore the question is avidya?

Avidya is ignorance. It implies subject and object. Become the subject and

there will be no object.

 

the statements of scriptures that the Self is perfect yet that removal of

ignorance is necessary, appear contradictory, but they are for the guidance of

earnest seekers, who cannot yet understand the plain truth. Krishna plainly said

that people confound him with the body whereas he was not born nor will die.

The Self is simple being. Be!- and there will be an end of ignorance. ... It

is not a new knowledge to be acquired. There is an obstruction to its knowledge

called ignorance. Remove it. But ignorance or knowledge is not for the Self.

They are over-growths to be cleared.

 

Q: Why do I not realise the Self?

 

A:...Who is ignorant of which? Ask the question and pursue the inquiry as to

who it is that is said to be ignorant. Once you put the question trying to

probe into the 'I' the 'I' disappears. Then what remains is true

Self-knowledge....

 

If you accept one philosophic system then you are forced to condemn the

others. A child and Jnani are similar. Incidents interest the child only so long

as

they last. It ceases to think of them after they have passed away. So then it

is apparent they don't leave any imprint or impressions on the child, and it

is not affected by them mentally. so it is with the sage, too.

 

Q: I understand this, but do not realise it.

 

A: ...the Self is found by practice alone, although it is here and now.

 

Q: Is the thought ' I am God' helpful?

 

A: 'I AM' is God- not thinking.

Realise I AM and do not think I am. Know[i.e.,experience] not think.

....

 

No attempt is required to be in that state. What is required is to give up

all the false ideas.

Whenever the idea comes trace out to whom it occurs. When a new thought

comes, trace it out by analysis. In course of time all thoughts are destroyed.

 

Q: Suppose the idea is a desire for a certain object.

 

A: Objects are many but the subject is one. Practice the same line--trace out

to whom the desire comes.

 

Concentration and all the other practices are meant for recognising the

absence, i.e. the non-existence of ignorance. No one can deny his existence.

Existence is knowledge, i.e. awareness. That implies absence of ignorance. and

yet,

why do they suffer? Because man thinks he is this or that. That is wrong.

[if I think I am German, I am a woman, I may never have a cottage in India

etc, then I suffer, but these identifications are wrong]

'I AM' alone is and not 'I am so and so.'

When existence is absolute, it is all right. When is is particularised [e.g.

any notion of 'we' against 'them']

it is wrong. That is the whole truth. Does a man look into a mirror to know

he exists? ...

Your duty is to be, not to be this or that. The method is summed up in 'Be

Still.'

 

It means destroy yourself

[the 'I am the body' notion, not the body itself] because any form is the

cause of trouble.

When the 'I' is kept up as 'I' only, not 'I am this' or 'I and this' it is

the Self, when it flies off at a tangent, it is the ego[i want this, I am this

and that, I am afraid of; I am hoping, planning,...is all ego]

The Real Self will not and cannot ask these questions. All these discussions

are a matter of competence of ripeness.

....Ego in its purity from objective identification is experienced in

intervals between two states or two thoughts. Ego is like that caterpillar which

leaves one hold only after catching another. Realize this interval with

conviction

gained by the study of the three states of consciousness.[wake, dream-sleep

and deep sleep, the fourth, turiya, persists in all three, is the true

awareness] This study helps to gain this outlook.....

[that's why morning meditation after getting up is so important, as one might

experience the interval between sleep state and wake and thus prolong the

moment that remains without identification with our personality of being this

and

that in our daily life. that's also probably why Sri Swamiji suggests to

listen to His music while falling asleep, as here,too is a change from one state

into another, i.e. from wake to sleep]

 

Jai Guru Datta