*WORDS OF WISDOM* - RAMANA MAHARSHI

The ‘I’ which rises will also subside. That is the individual ‘I’ or the ‘I’- concept. That which does not rise will not subside. It 'IS' and will be for ever. That is the universal ‘I’, the perfect ‘I’, or realization of the Self.

-RAMANA MAHARSHI

*Glimpses of Self-Realization* - Realization is nothing to be gained afresh, it is already there. All that is necessary is to get rid of the thought ‘I have not realized’- RAMANA MAHARSHI

D: How can I attain Self-Realization?
M: Realization is nothing to be gained afresh, it is already
there. All that is necessary is to get rid of the thought
‘I have not realized’.
Stillness or peace is Realization. There is no moment
when the Self is not. So long as there is doubt or the
feeling of non-realization, the attempt should be
made to rid oneself of these thoughts. They are due
to the identification of the 'Self' with the 'not-Self'.
When the 'not-Self' disappears, the 'Self' alone remains.
To make room, it is enough that the cramping be
removed; room is not brought in from elsewhere.
D: Since Realization is not possible without vasanakshaya,
how am I to realize that State in which the
vasanas are effectively destroyed?
M: You are in that State now!
D: Does it mean that by holding on to the Self, the
vasanas should be destroyed as and when they
emerge?
M: They will themselves be destroyed if you remain as
you are.

-RAMANA MAHARSHI

*WORDS OF WISDOM* - 'EVERYBODY IS A BUDDHA (ENLIGHTENED or SELF-REALIZED) IN DISGUISE, UNAWARE OF - SWAATHMAA RAAMAN

'A Buddha Is Among You'
Spiritual Story by Unknown


The abbot of a once famous Buddhist monastery that had fallen into decline was deeply troubled. Monks were lax in their practice, novices were leaving and lay supporters deserting to other centers. He traveled far to a sage and recounted his tale of woe, of how much he desired to transform his monastery to the flourishing haven it had been in days of yore.

The sage looked him in the eye and said, "The reason your monastery has languished is that the Buddha is living among you in disguise, and you have not honored Him." The abbot hurried back, his mind in turmoil.

The Selfless One was at his monastery! Who could He be? Brother Hua?...No, he was full of sloth. Brother Po?...No, he was too dull. But then the Tathagata was in disguise. What better disguise than sloth or dull- wittedness? He called his monks to him and revealed the sage's words. They, too, were taken aback and looked at each other with suspicion and awe.

Which one of them was the Chosen One?

The disguise was perfect. Not knowing who He was they took to treating everyone with the respect due to a Buddha. Their faces started shining with an inner radiance that attracted novices and then lay supporters.

In no time at all the monastery far surpassed its previous glory.

And that 'STILLNESS' is the 'ZERO-STATION' of 'SELF-REALIZATION', 'SAHAJA SAMADHI' and 'LIBERATION-IN-LIFE. -SWAATHMAARAAMAN

"All that is required to realize the Self is to “Be Still.”
-RAMANA MAHARSHI.

*POINTS TO PONDER* - 'BUDDHA-HOOD' OR 'ENLIGHTENMENT' IS 'TRANSCENDENTAL', BEYOND 'THE MIND' AND 'NO-MIND' - SWAATHMAARAAMAN

'The Most Important Teaching'
(Spiritual Story by Unknown)

A renowned Zen master said that his greatest teaching was this: Buddha is your own mind. So impressed by how profound this idea was, one monk decided to leave the monastery and retreat to the wilderness to meditate on this insight. There he spent 20 years as a hermit probing the great teaching.

One day he met another monk who was traveling through the forest. Quickly the hermit monk learned that the traveler also had studied under the same Zen master. "Please, tell me what you know of the master's greatest teaching." The traveler's eyes lit up, "Ah, the master has been very clear about this. He says that his greatest teaching is this: Buddha is NOT your own mind."

*POINTS TO PONDER* - Absolute Reality is the omnipresent, omnipotent, eternal, all-pervading , transcendental and self-effulgent 'SELF' (Truth- Being- Existence- Consciousness and Bliss); beyond space, time and causation, unaffected by birth, growth, disease, old age and death; already attained by everybody, unaware of ; manifesting as the phenomenal world, which is nothing but 'pure consciousness with names and forms'. -Swaathmaaraaman.

  Ramana Maharshi on 'REALITY'


Bhagavan: "What is the standard of reality? That alone is real which exists by itself, which reveals itself by itself and which is eternal and unchanging."
-Maharshi’s Gospel, p. 61

Because the nature of Reality is Whole, Self-radiant Existence, transcending time and space, Jnanis will never deem as real this world, which is destroyed by Time’s Wheel.
- Guru Vachaka Kovai v. 65.

To the ignorant, who believe it to be real and revel in it, the world that appears before them is God’s creation, but to the steadfast jnanis, who have known the bondage-free Self by direct experience, it is merely a deluding and binding concept that is wholly mental.
- Guru Vachaka Kovai v. 21

Understand well that the world-scene of empty names and forms, comprising the objects of the five senses perceived in the perfectly pure swarupa, the Supreme Self, is merely the divine sport of the mind-maya that arises as an imaginary idea in that swarupa, being-consciousness.
- Guru Vachaka Kovai v. 22

Question: Are names and forms real?

Bhagavan: You won’t find them separate from adhistana [the substratum]. When you try to get at name and form, you will find reality only. Therefore attain the knowledge of that which is real in all three states [waking, dreaming and sleeping].
-The Power of the Presence, part one, pp. 251-2

Do not get confused by abandoning the state of clarity, the swarupa perspective, and then pursue appearances, taking them to be real. That which appears will disappear, and hence it is not real, but the true nature of the one who sees never ceases to exist. Know that it alone is real.
- Guru Vachaka Kovai v. 25

*WORDS OF WISDOM* - *SAHAJA SAMADHI* IS THE MATURED FORM OF INNER SAMADHI - The True Being can be realized only in samadhi; what was then is also now. Otherwise it cannot be Reality or Ever-present Being. What was in samadhi is here and now too. Hold it and it is your natural condition of Being - Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, no 465

Sri Bhagavan explained to a retired Judge of the High Court some points in the 'Upadesa Saram' as follows:-
(1) Meditation should remain unbroken as a current. If unbroken it is called Samadhi or Kundalini sakti.
(2) The mind may be latent and merge in the Self; it must necessarily rise up again; after it rises up one finds oneself only as ever before. For in this state the mental predispositions are present there in latent form to re manifest under favorable conditions.
(3) Again the mind activities can be completely destroyed. This differs from the former mind, for here the attachment is lost, never to reappear. Even though the man sees the world after he has been in the samadhi state, the world will be taken only at its worth, that is to say it is the phenomenon of the One Reality. The True Being can be realized only in samadhi; what was then is also now. Otherwise it cannot be Reality or Ever-present Being. What was in samadhi is here and now too. Hold it and it is your natural condition of Being. Samadhi practice must lead to it. Otherwise how can nirvikalpa samadhi be of any use in which a man remains as a log of wood? He must necessarily rise up from it sometime or other and face the world. But in 'sahaja samadhi' he remains unaffected by the world.
So many pictures pass over the cinema screen: fire burns away everything; water drenches all; but the screen remains unaffected. The scenes are only phenomena which pass away leaving the screen as it was. Similarly the world phenomena simply pass on before the Jnani, leaving him unaffected.
You may say that people find pain or pleasure in worldly phenomena. It is owing to superimposition. This must not happen. With this end in view practice is made.
Practice lies in one of the two courses: devotion or knowledge. Even these are not the goals. Samadhi must be gained; it must be continuously practiced until 'Sahaja Samadhi' results. Then there remains nothing more to do.

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, no 465
6th March, 1938