Wednesday, 20 February 2019
Friday, 15 February 2019
Thoughts and dreams appear only in the self-ignorant view of ourself as ego, not in the clear view of ourself as we actually are
Posted by
Michael James
at
09:46
22
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, dream, ego, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), philosophy of Sri Ramana, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu
Tuesday, 12 February 2019
What is the correct meaning of ‘Be in the now’?
Posted by
Michael James
at
21:33
8
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, Ēkāṉma Pañcakam, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), philosophy of Sri Ramana, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu
Saturday, 2 February 2019
In a dream there is only one dreamer, and if the one dreamer wakes up the entire dream will come to an end
I understand that there is one ego, which creates the illusion of many people and a world. If one person in this illusion, i.e. you or I, becomes realized, how is that going to destroy the ego as a whole? When Ramana became realized, this didn’t stop the world appearing for me. I know Ramana when asked about others said there are no others and if all is a dream of course he is correct, but others myself including continue to dream we exist despite Ramana becoming enlightened. Is realization a gradual breaking down of the ego individual by individual?The following is adapted from the reply I wrote to her:
My second question: What is Shakti? I have looked it up and it seems to say it is energy which creates and that it is part of who we naturally are. This seems contradictory to how I now see realization as being. I now see realization as a kind of nothingness, not dissimilar to deep sleep. Can you remind me is this correct? Is shakti the same as ego and the cause of illusion?
Posted by
Michael James
at
19:50
22
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), philosophy of Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Upadēśa Taṉippākkaḷ
Thursday, 31 January 2019
To understand consciousness can we rely upon the observations and theories of neuroscience?
He also wrote about the connection between the changes that had been taking place in his mother’s perception, behaviour, understanding, character, response to stimuli and so on and the parts of her brain that were progressively affected by cancer cells, and what neuroscience says about such things, including the idea that ‘consciousness is only an emergent property of the brain’. He wrote that therefore ‘I have to surrender to the hard fact of the causal relation between brain and consciousness’, and asked what Bhagavan’s teachings have to say about such matters. The first section of this article is adapted from my reply to this, and the second section is adapted from my reply to what he wrote in response to my first reply.
Posted by
Michael James
at
11:13
6
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Labels: Āṉma-Viddai, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, consciousness, ego, philosophy of Sri Ramana, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Upadēśa Undiyār
Wednesday, 30 January 2019
What is deluded is not our real nature but only ego
Am I correct to say the following? At the beginning, there was only true self. Then, somehow or other, it deluded itself and believed it to be the ego — which is the root of everything. Then, the ego got reborn over and over. What we are trying to do now is to turn what seems to be the ego within and in so doing, the ego dissolves, revealing true self that it always has been — and thus, ending all our sufferings.
My question is: If our true self is always only aware of itself, how did it delude itself at the very beginning? The “I thought” arises only if one looks outside, correct? So, if our true self is only aware of itself, how does it delude itself to begin with?
Posted by
Michael James
at
11:49
7
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), philosophy of Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu
Tuesday, 29 January 2019
How to be self-attentive even while we are engaged in other activities?
The Tamil and Sanskrit terms that Bhagavan used to describe the practice mean or imply not only self-attentiveness but also self-investigation. In any investigation the primary tool is observation, but in self-investigation it is the only tool, so self-investigation and self-attentiveness mean the same and are therefore interchangeable terms. We investigate ourself by observing or attending to ourself.
Posted by
Michael James
at
18:00
10
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), self-surrender, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu
Sunday, 30 December 2018
Which is a more reasonable and useful explanation: dṛṣṭi-sṛṣṭi-vāda or sṛṣṭi-dṛṣṭi-vāda?
The philosophy of advaita is interpreted by people in various ways according to the purity of their minds, so there are many people who consider themselves to be advaitins yet who do not accept dṛṣṭi-sṛṣṭi-vāda [the contention (vāda) that perception (dṛṣṭi) is causally antecedent to creation (sṛṣṭi), or in other words that we create phenomena only by perceiving them, just as we do in dream], because for them it seems to be too radical an interpretation of advaita, so they interpret the ancient texts of advaita according to sṛṣṭi-dṛṣṭi-vāda, the contention that creation is causally antecedent to perception, and that the world therefore exists prior to and independent of our perception of it. Those who interpret advaita in this way do not accept ēka-jīva-vāda, the contention that there is only one jīva, ego or perceiver (which is one of the basic implications of dṛṣṭi-sṛṣṭi-vāda), and since they believe that phenomena exist independent of ego’s perception of them, they do not accept that ego alone is what projects all phenomena, and hence they interpret ancient texts to mean that what projects everything is not ego or mind but only brahman (or brahman as īśvara, God, rather than brahman as ego).
Posted by
Michael James
at
22:17
95
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Labels: ajāta, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, Ēkāṉma Pañcakam, Guru Vācaka Kōvai, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Undiyār
Saturday, 29 December 2018
We should ignore all thoughts or mental activity and attend only to ourself, the fundamental awareness ‘I am’
If we mistake a rope to be a dangerous snake, we cannot kill that snake by beating it but only by looking at it very carefully, because if we look at it carefully enough we will see that it is only a harmless rope and was therefore never the snake that it seemed to be. Likewise, since we now mistake ourself to be ego, the false awareness ‘I am this body’, we cannot kill this ego by any means other than by looking at it very carefully, because if we look at it carefully enough we will see that it is only pure and infinite awareness and was therefore never the body-mixed and hence limited awareness that it seemed to be.
Posted by
Michael James
at
12:30
16
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu
Saturday, 22 December 2018
Why is self-investigation the only means to eradicate ego but not the only means to achieve citta-śuddhi?
Today a friend wrote to me:
I noticed today in GVK verse 622, Bhagavan is recorded as saying: “When rightly considered, nothing will be more wonderful and laughable than one’s toiling very much through some sadhana to attain Self in the same manner as one toils to attain other objects, even though one really ever remains as the non-dual Self.”
Posted by
Michael James
at
20:03
34
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, Guru Vācaka Kōvai, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), self-surrender
Thursday, 8 November 2018
Everything depends for its seeming existence on the seeming existence of ourself as ego
Posted by
Michael James
at
15:11
388
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Labels: ajāta, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, dream, ego, Guru Vācaka Kōvai, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Undiyār
Sunday, 7 October 2018
When Bhagavan says that we must look within, what does he mean by ‘within’?
Posted by
Michael James
at
00:52
622
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Upadēśa Undiyār
Tuesday, 25 September 2018
Must we purify our mind by other means before we can practise ātma-vicāra?
Posted by
Michael James
at
16:12
170
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, bhakti (devotion), Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), self-surrender, Upadēśa Undiyār
Saturday, 1 September 2018
Like everything else, karma is created solely by ego’s misuse of its will (cittam), so what needs to be rectified is its will
Posted by
Michael James
at
16:16
642
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, karma, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), self-surrender, Śrī Aruṇācala Stuti Pañcakam, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Undiyār
Sunday, 13 May 2018
The ego is the sole cause, creator, source, substance and foundation of all other things
Posted by
Michael James
at
11:55
1355
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, dream, ego, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), philosophy of Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Undiyār
Monday, 30 April 2018
The ego seems to exist only because we have not looked at it carefully enough to see that there is no such thing
Posted by
Michael James
at
09:30
80
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Labels: ajāta, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, just being (summa iruppadu), Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), self-surrender, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Undiyār
Wednesday, 18 April 2018
The ego does not actually exist, but it seems to exist, and only so long as it seems to exist do all other things seem to exist
Posted by
Michael James
at
12:50
213
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, karma, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), transitive awareness (suṭṭaṟivu), Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Undiyār
Saturday, 10 March 2018
If we investigate the ego closely enough we will see that it is only brahman, but however closely we investigate the world we can never thereby see that it is brahman
I am ‘excited’. For the first time I read about or understood the distinction between the illusory nature of the world and that of the individual — John Grimes’ book p. 147 and 148. Seeing the rope as snake and seeing the white conch shell as yellow conch shell due to the unseen or unrecognized yellow glass. Wonderful explanation that struck me.The following is adapted from the reply I wrote to him:
Brahman manifesting as world, but seeing only the world as real is illusion like seeing the rope as snake. The individual though only brahman, and also felt as I, but due to ego (yellow glass), mistaking I as me or mine.
Thus while both are illusions, the second one is that in aspect or nature of ‘I’, although I is seen or experienced. When the ignorance is removed, it will be known that it is brahman that was being all the while experienced hitherto also as ‘I’ — that is there are not two ‘I’s.
Posted by
Michael James
at
07:46
568
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, dream, ego, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), philosophy of Sri Ramana, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra)
Wednesday, 28 February 2018
Our existence is self-evident, because we shine by our own light of pure self-awareness
Michael once wrote to me (in reply to one of my emails):Referring to this, another friend using the pseudonym ‘ādhāra’ wrote a comment saying:
The mind knows that the chair is a chair, an object of wood, etc., but this is not what the chair actually is. If we analyse a little deeper, both the chair and the wood are ideas in our mind, and we have no way of proving to ourself that any chair or wood actually exists independent of our ideas of them. Hence Bhagavan says that the whole world is nothing but ideas or thoughts, as for example in the fourth and fourteenth paragraphs of Nan Yar?:
Except thoughts [or ideas], there is separately no such thing as ‘world’.
What is called the world is only thought.
However, Bhagavan did not say that we as an ego are excluded from the “world”. On the contrary it is said that we are part of the world in waking and dreaming. So we can conclude that we too are only an idea or a thought or a projection.The following is my reply to this:
We definitely do not even have proof/evidence that we exist independent of our idea of that. Therefore we cannot reasonable/well-founded have to presume that we are more than an idea. There is no evidence to support this thesis.
Nevertheless we can put our trust in Bhagavan Ramana because he inspires confidence and looks trustworthy. To follow Bhagavan’s teaching is even urgently necessary.
Posted by
Michael James
at
16:44
36
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), philosophy of Sri Ramana, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), sleep, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Undiyār
Wednesday, 24 January 2018
Why do viṣaya-vāsanās sprout as thoughts, and how to eradicate them?
Through self-inquiry every vasana comes up to the surface. Sometimes I am really lost, sometimes I am cool.The following is adapted from the reply I wrote to him:
I try to practise self-inquiry with every thought that comes up in my mind, but they are getting more and more.
Is it true that vasanas want to go, when they are on the surface?
The best thing is, I will not give up to practise, but I want to do it in the best way.
Posted by
Michael James
at
20:46
127
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, bhakti (devotion), ego, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu
Thursday, 4 January 2018
In what sense does Bhagavan generally use the terms பொருள் (poruḷ) and வஸ்து (vastu)?
In a comment on that article a friend called Mouna asked me why I chose to translate பொருள் (poruḷ) as ‘substance’ rather than ‘reality’:
Posted by
Michael James
at
13:21
115
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, Ēkāṉma Pañcakam, philosophy of Sri Ramana, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu
Monday, 1 January 2018
Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu first maṅgalam verse: what exists is only thought-free awareness, which is called ‘heart’, so being as it is is alone meditating on it
No commentary on the verses of Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu can be considered complete or entirely comprehensive, because however much one may explain and discuss them there will always be room for further explanations and discussions from different perspectives, so the explanations I will be giving in this series of articles will be far from complete. However my aim is to give at least a basic explanation of each verse, enough to make its profound and rich meaning clear and to enable each reader to do their own reflection (manana) on it.
Posted by
Michael James
at
16:01
6
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, philosophy of Sri Ramana, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu
Thursday, 28 December 2017
Upadēśa Kaliveṇbā: the extended version of Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu
Posted by
Michael James
at
22:15
15
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, philosophy of Sri Ramana, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu
Friday, 20 October 2017
Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu: Tamil text, transliteration and translation
Posted by
Michael James
at
23:54
733
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, philosophy of Sri Ramana, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu
Friday, 29 September 2017
Upadēśa Undiyār: Tamil text, transliteration and translation
Posted by
Michael James
at
15:50
271
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, bhakti (devotion), karma, manōnāśa (annihilation of mind), self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), sleep, Upadēśa Sāram, Upadēśa Undiyār
Sunday, 24 September 2017
We should not be concerned with anything happening outside but only with what is happening inside
Posted by
Michael James
at
16:00
102
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Labels: Arunachala, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, bhakti (devotion), practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), self-surrender, Śrī Aruṇācala Padikam
Monday, 18 September 2017
What creates all thoughts is only the ego, which is the root and essence of the mind
Posted by
Michael James
at
19:36
164
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, dream, ego, māyā, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Undiyār
Monday, 11 September 2017
How to find the source of ‘I’, the ego?
Posted by
Michael James
at
18:12
136
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu
Thursday, 7 September 2017
To be aware of ourself as we actually are, what we need to investigate is only ourself and not anything else
Posted by
Michael James
at
08:04
105
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra)
Tuesday, 5 September 2017
If we choose to do any harmful actions, should we consider them to be done according to destiny (prārabdha)?
The discussion began with two comments in which Sanjay Lohia paraphrased something I had said about jñāna, karma, prārabdha and free will in the video 2017-07-08 Ramana Maharshi Foundation UK: discussion with Michael James on the power of silence, to which Salazar wrote a reply in which he said: ‘Prarabdha goes on in every second of our lives, every scratch, every little thing is prarabhda, and no outward action is determined by the ego. If we are vegetarian or eat meat, that’s prarabhda too. So if anybody of Bhagavan’s devotees still eats meat, don’t beat yourself up, that’s as much destiny as if a Hindu eats beef what may create inner turmoil unless one does atma-vichara. So we seem to be a puppet, at least what happens to the body, however we are not victims of prarabhda because we can transcend prarabdha with atma-vichara. The actions of the body will go on as destined, but the inward identification loses its hold’. This triggered a series of other comments in which various friends expressed their understanding of Bhagavan’s teachings in this regard, and during the early stages of this discussion Sanjay wrote an email to me asking me to clarify whether the type of food we eat is decided by our destiny, so this article is written in response to this.
Posted by
Michael James
at
08:18
189
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Labels: 1898 note for his mother, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, karma, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Undiyār
Thursday, 24 August 2017
The ego is a spurious entity, but an entity nonetheless, until we investigate it keenly enough to see that it does not actually exist
You prefer using ‘ourself’ or ‘oneself’ or ‘I’ instead of ‘the Self’. It is because by using ‘the Self’ we tend to objectify ourself. So this point is clear. But then why do we use ‘the ego’? Are we likewise not objectifying ourself by using ‘the ego’?The following is adapted from the reply I wrote to him:
Posted by
Michael James
at
09:21
277
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), philosophy of Sri Ramana, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu
Thursday, 27 July 2017
Any experience that is temporary is not manōnāśa and hence not ‘self-realisation’
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 about this. Was it possible that once having gained Self-realization 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 only our Vasanas that prevent us from always being in our natural state, and Vasanas were not got rid of all of a sudden or 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.Referring to this, a friend wrote to me: ‘Having once attained is there a chance of unattaining again? This question has confused me for many weeks. I was under the impression that once the ego had been completed annihilated it will never rise again. Yet discussions with fellow devotees on the Ramana Maharshi Foundation page seem to indicate that even once attained it is possible to be lost again if all vasanas [are] not destroyed. What was Bhagavan’s view on this? It disturbs me immensely that having attained one can fall again into the illusion, it also seems to render our practise quite meaningless if that is the case’. The following is my reply to her.
Posted by
Michael James
at
09:12
263
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Labels: ajāta, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, dream, ego, manōnāśa (annihilation of mind), Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), sleep, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Undiyār
Tuesday, 25 July 2017
What is aware of the absence of the ego and mind in sleep?
If pure awareness simply is and is not aware of anything else because only it exists, and the ego is not there during deep sleep, what knows the absence of the ego and mind during deep sleep?The following is what I replied to him:
After waking up, I know for a fact that the ego-mind wasn’t there (in deep sleep). I also know that (due to not having investigated keenly enough) it appears to be here now (in waking).
So my question is, what is aware of both the presence of the ego-mind in waking/dream and its absence in deep sleep? It can’t be pure awareness nor the ego-mind itself.
Posted by
Michael James
at
11:04
49
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, Ēkāṉma Pañcakam, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), philosophy of Sri Ramana, silence (mauna), sleep, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu Anubandham
Thursday, 13 July 2017
Pure self-awareness is not nothingness but the only thing that actually exists
Posted by
Michael James
at
13:37
262
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), sleep, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu
Friday, 7 July 2017
The non-existence of the ego, body and world in manōlaya is only temporary, whereas in manōnāśa it is permanent
Posted by
Michael James
at
08:56
148
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, manōnāśa (annihilation of mind), Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Upadēśa Undiyār
Thursday, 6 July 2017
What we actually are is just pure self-awareness: awareness that is aware of nothing other than itself
You say that the Self is always self-aware. What about then the concept of Parabrahman (where awareness isn’t aware that it is aware). Isn’t this a contradiction? Ramesh Balsekar used this phrase a lot in his teaching for instance.The following is adapted from the reply I wrote to him:
Can you comment on this please.
Posted by
Michael James
at
07:32
18
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, philosophy of Sri Ramana, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Undiyār
Wednesday, 28 June 2017
There is absolutely no difference between sleep and pure self-awareness (ātma-jñāna)
Posted by
Michael James
at
21:12
42
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, Guru Vācaka Kōvai, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), philosophy of Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), sleep, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu Anubandham, Upadēśa Undiyār
Tuesday, 27 June 2017
Māyā is nothing but our own mind, so it seems to exist only when we seem to be this mind
Someone wrote this on FB yesterday and I am getting confused again because I thought the idea of becoming realised is to put an end to Maya:The following is adapted from the reply I wrote to her:
“According to Adi Shankara (7th century father of modern non-dual philosophy), Maya is eternal. At no point does “form” cease to exist. It (maya/form) never had a beginning because it is eternal. It will also never have an end. The difference between enlightened and unenlightened is in the mind only. The universe doesn’t disappear. The mind ceases to be confused about the nature of one’s own Self. Bodies may come and go but the enlightened mind is not attached to them or identified with them. Yet they come and go like clouds in the sky.”
Why do people have different ideas on self-realisation?
Posted by
Michael James
at
20:34
14
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, māyā, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), philosophy of Sri Ramana, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Undiyār
Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Concern about fate and free will arises only when our mind is turned away from ourself
There seems to a problem with what you say. If whatever is to happen is decided by my prarabdha, then whatever motions the body is to go through and whatever the mind has to “think” to get the body to do actions as per prarabdha are also predetermined and “I, the ego” have no say in it. But you also say, “therefore we need not think”. And yet the mind will necessarily think some thoughts as per prarabdha. How do I distinguish thinking or thoughts associated with prarabdha and the other non-prarabdha associated thinking I seem to indulge in? Whenever any thought occurs, how do I know if it is prarabdha or the ego thinking? If I say, ok, whatever thoughts have to occur will occur to make the body do whatever it has to do, then it would seem that one has to be totally silent and not thinking and whenever any thought arises involuntarily I have to consider that as prarabdha thought and act accordingly? Is that what you are saying? Also, in that case will only such prarabdha thoughts then occur which require the body to do something or will such thoughts also occur which do not require the body to do something? I would really appreciate if you can clarify these doubts of mine.This article is my reply to this comment, and also less directly to some of the ideas expressed in subsequent comments on the same subject.
Posted by
Michael James
at
13:16
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Labels: 1898 note for his mother, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, dream, karma, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), self-surrender, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Undiyār
Wednesday, 7 June 2017
Why should we believe that dream is anything other than a fabrication of our dreaming mind?
Posted by
Michael James
at
09:11
211
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, dream, philosophy of Sri Ramana
Thursday, 1 June 2017
What is the purpose of questions such as ‘To whom have these thoughts arisen?’?
Posted by
Michael James
at
19:39
60
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra)
Saturday, 27 May 2017
Do we need to do anything at all?
Alasdair: OK, so, if I am lying in bed, and I manage to remind myself that the first thing I have got to think of is ‘who am I?’ and keep the ‘I’-current running, but I also know that shortly after I get out of bed I have got to do certain things in the kitchen, or I have got certain tasks to …
Michael: Who has all these tasks?
A: The little ‘I’, and it is precisely that which …
M: No, it is not the little ‘I’. The little ‘I’ doesn’t have any tasks. It’s Alasdair who has all these tasks, isn’t it?
Posted by
Michael James
at
10:21
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Labels: 1898 note for his mother, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), philosophy of Sri Ramana, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), self-surrender
Saturday, 13 May 2017
How to avoid following or completing any thought whatsoever?
I have a question on self-investigation:The following is adapted from the reply I wrote to her:
I clearly understand that I do not have to complete any of my thoughts when they arise, but, as you explain in your book, have, instead, to use my rising thoughts to remind myself of my thinking mind, that is ‘I’, which in its turn should remind me of ‘I am’.
But I have a problem: when some useful thought (in my opinion) rises, I lose my strong intention to not complete it and just use it as a reminder of everything that it has to remind me. When some thought that I think to be good or useful rises, I try to use it as a reminder, but unsuccessfully and the idea given me by that thought continues living in my mind. That is, usually I do not tend to just stop such thoughts and cannot help completing them.
Could you please tell me what you do in such cases? Sri Bhagavan says that we should not complete any of our thoughts, and as I understand he means exactly what he says: any of our thoughts. He calls them ‘enemies’ that must be destroyed. What does the situation which I describe should look like ideally? How can I ignore such thoughts in a sense of treating them as well as all other thoughts? Please give me an explanation based on your own experience and understanding.
Posted by
Michael James
at
12:13
48
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Labels: 1898 note for his mother, Bhagavad Gītā, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, God, guru, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), self-surrender, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu
Tuesday, 2 May 2017
Does anything exist independent of our perception of it?
Take the case of anesthesia. I may be undergoing an operation, for which anesthesia is given. Under the influence of anesthesia, I am unaware or do not perceive the world. But once the operation is done and the anesthetic wears off and I wake up, I might see a big scar with stitches on my abdomen. Can I not thereby conclude that the world existed during the anesthesia for the operation to have taken place even though I was not perceiving it due to the effect of anesthesia. Otherwise, how to account for the fact of the scar on the abdomen, and the consequent relief from pain I might be experiencing. If the world did not exist when I was under anesthesia, then how did the operation take place, as evidenced by the scar and relief of symptoms, and maybe, say, even a specimen of my gallbladder taken out. And if we so concede that the world existed during anesthesia, then analogously can we not conclude that the world exists even during deep sleep. Perception is not the only means to establish a fact, right, with inference and verbal testimony being the other means of knowledge to establish a fact. In the case of anesthesia and deep sleep, while I cannot resort to perception as a means of knowledge to establish the fact of the existence of the world during those states, but surely inference (with regard to cause-and-effect) and the verbal testimony of others can lead me to conclude that the world does indeed exist during anesthesia and deep sleep, right?In reply to this I wrote the following comment:
Posted by
Michael James
at
12:00
121
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, dream, Guru Vācaka Kōvai, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), philosophy of Sri Ramana, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra)
Sunday, 16 April 2017
Why is effort required for us to go deep in our practice of self-investigation?
My question about I-Alone is this: in relaxing attention from objects I can be keenly aware of my existence as Sat Chit. That is effortless, but it is not completely and exclusively ‘I’-Self-aware. Other objects are also ‘known’.The following is adapted from what I replied to him:
But, today I have read from you [in Our aim should be to experience ourself alone, in complete isolation from everything else]: “Our real aim should not be just longer durations of self-attentiveness but should be more deep, intense and clear self-attentiveness — that is, attentiveness that is more keenly and exclusively focused on ‘I’ alone, without the least trace of any awareness of anything else.”
First of all, wow! My experience so far is that this is not effortless, but an intense, actively engaged ‘focusing down’, so to speak, on Self.
I just wanted to ask you if that is correct. That intense active focusing is required.
Posted by
Michael James
at
09:30
53
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, effort, ego, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Upadēśa Undiyār
Friday, 24 March 2017
After the annihilation of the ego, no ‘I’ can rise to say ‘I have seen’
Posted by
Michael James
at
23:08
47
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Labels: Arunachala, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, manōnāśa (annihilation of mind), self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam, Sri Muruganar, Sri Sadhu Om, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Undiyār
Tuesday, 21 March 2017
To eradicate the mind we must watch only its first thought, the ego
Posted by
Michael James
at
13:51
16
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, manōnāśa (annihilation of mind), practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Undiyār
Sunday, 19 March 2017
What is ‘remembering the Lord’ or ‘remembrance of Arunachala’?
Posted by
Michael James
at
14:50
9
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Labels: Arunachala, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, ego, God, Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?), practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), self-surrender, Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai, Śrī Aruṇācala Padikam, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Undiyār
Tuesday, 14 March 2017
Is ‘guided meditation’ possible in Bhagavan’s path of self-investigation?
Posted by
Michael James
at
14:27
7
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), śravaṇa-manana-nididhyāsana
Wednesday, 8 March 2017
There is only one ego, and even that does not actually exist
Posted by
Michael James
at
21:33
30
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Labels: Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, dream, ego, practice taught by Sri Ramana, self-investigation (ātma-vicāra), Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Undiyār