tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post2733138637428797837..comments2023-10-16T13:06:42.360+01:00Comments on Happiness of Being: The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi: In what sense and to what extent do we remember what we were aware of in sleep?Michael Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03460943269122289281noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-31415690087188711662019-06-30T09:30:29.120+01:002019-06-30T09:30:29.120+01:00Lewis Oakwood,
as you have seen, not even your com...Lewis Oakwood,<br />as you have seen, not even your comment-deletion could you preserve from studying Michael's thorough explanation of the fundamental principles of Bhagavan's teaching.<br />So deletion of comments once posted is neither necessary nor effective.:-)anadi-anantahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08815024045988099944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-62317285291823887512019-06-29T23:54:42.663+01:002019-06-29T23:54:42.663+01:00Michael, thank you. Michael, thank you. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-91297306479101125452019-06-28T22:00:48.068+01:002019-06-28T22:00:48.068+01:00Lewis, I have replied to your first four comments ...Lewis, I have replied to your first four comments above (which I now see you have since deleted) in a new article: <a href="https://happinessofbeing.blogspot.com/2019/06/how-can-there-be-any-experience-without.html" rel="nofollow">How can there be any experience without something that is experiencing it?</a>Michael Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03460943269122289281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-4172387296899064002019-06-23T16:26:04.309+01:002019-06-23T16:26:04.309+01:00Rajat Sancheti
thanks much for the 2017 Houston d...Rajat Sancheti<br /><br />thanks much for the 2017 Houston discussion. I had not seen or read this before and suddenly it appears and it was just what I needed. <br /><br />cheers and best regardsBobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07610081562198460647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-86910831674011246432019-06-23T14:25:51.788+01:002019-06-23T14:25:51.788+01:002017-12-02 Sri Ramana Center, Houstan: discussion ...<a href="https://youtu.be/VJ_6gulQLFQ?t=3109" rel="nofollow">2017-12-02 Sri Ramana Center, Houstan: discussion with Michael James on Ulladu Narpadu verse 11</a><br /><br />"Why are we all sitting here talking about this subject? We could be doing so many other things. For you it is a Saturday morning, for me it is a Saturday afternoon. We could be watching football, we could be going to the pub and drinking. So many things people spend their weekends doing. They could go on a short holiday, on a skiing holiday...Why we choose to be sitting here and talking about this subject. Bhagavan has put a seed of interest in this subject in our heart, he has sown this seed, and now we find this subject more and more fascinating, we keep on being drawn to it. Though we know that this a suicide mission. Studying and practicing Bhagavan's teachings, we are on a suicide mission. We are like a moth flying around a flame. Sooner or later we are going to get too close to the flame, we are going to get burnt, and we know that. But still we can't leave this flame. Somehow it has attracted us and we can't leave it. Bhagavan has put the seed of love in our heart, and he is never going to cheat us. He himself prayed to Arunachala - <br /><br /><i>[verse 60 of Sri Arunachala Aksharamanamalai]<br /><b>Nē/sami/lenak/kun<br />Ā /saiyaik/kāt/tinī<br />Mō/sanje/yā/darul<br />Arunā/chalā.</b></i><br /><br />To me who has no love for you, you gave me that little bit of desire for you, do not cheat me. Though Bhagavan said that as a prayer, I take that as an assurance. Having once put the seed of love in our heart, having kindled that interest in our heart... we may not be sincerely following what Bhagavan has taught us, we may not yet have enough love, but Bhagavan is such a gardener, when he sows a seed, he will water it and nurture it, and he will make sure that seed grows into a beautiful flowering plant, We may not be ready to flower yet, but we are being tended by the best gardener in the world. He will ensure that he will give us the water, he will give us the nourishment, he will give us all the favourable circumstances.. When the winter comes he will take us into the greenhouse to protect us from the cold, he will do all that is necessary to ensure that one day we will be ready to flower. "Rajathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10446174099698255476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-17703504942536826412019-06-23T09:53:32.105+01:002019-06-23T09:53:32.105+01:00Anadi-ananta, thank you for your replies to my com...Anadi-ananta, thank you for your replies to my comments, much appreciated, especially: 'When you say to yourself 'I am the experience' and you mean 'I am (the) awareness' you should clarify to whom that awareness does appear.' Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-83910852402822462742019-06-21T15:54:25.567+01:002019-06-21T15:54:25.567+01:00Yes AsunAparicio,
to be swallowed by Arunachala, t...Yes AsunAparicio,<br />to be swallowed by Arunachala, the hill of bright light, will totally clarify our ignorance.anadi-anantahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08815024045988099944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-78491402191197998962019-06-21T15:46:15.757+01:002019-06-21T15:46:15.757+01:00Rajat Sancheti,
yes we are worse than that beggar....Rajat Sancheti,<br />yes we are worse than that beggar. But according to Michael no matter how inadequate our clarity, bhakti and vairāgya may be at present, we can try at least little by little to be self-attentive, and if we persevere patiently in our attempts, we will gradually cultivate the required clarity, bhakti and vairāgya and will therefore surely succeed.<br />anadi-anantahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08815024045988099944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-55175792274539427062019-06-21T14:15:34.215+01:002019-06-21T14:15:34.215+01:00This comment has been removed by the author..https://www.blogger.com/profile/12379570382779918899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-25200267114264636102019-06-21T12:54:10.484+01:002019-06-21T12:54:10.484+01:00Many thanks Michael for replying again to my repea...Many thanks Michael for replying again to my repeated insisting questions.<br />May even this little charioteer become able to fix the mind [my attention] in [or on] ātman [myself]. (mella mella), (śanaiḥ śanaiḥ).(:-)anadi-anantahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08815024045988099944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-39583354003286040462019-06-21T12:45:29.599+01:002019-06-21T12:45:29.599+01:00anadi-ananta,
In my comment, I was referring to an...anadi-ananta,<br />In my comment, I was referring to an analogy Michael gave in a video, sorry I don't recall in which video or even the exact context. The analogy was of a beggar who, even if he were offered all the wealth in the world in exchange for the few paisas (a low denomination coin) he owned, wouldn't let go of them. In my comment I recalled this analogy and applied it to my case - Bhagavan has revealed the path to eternal infinite happiness, and still I hold on to phenomena, which prevents me from following Bhagavan's path. Actually, I am worse than the beggar, because while the pennies may have been of at least a tiny bit of use to the beggar in providing sustenance, in my case, this dream provides no nourishment and only brings misery.Rajathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10446174099698255476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-15402266177117704952019-06-21T12:30:05.576+01:002019-06-21T12:30:05.576+01:00Anadi-ananta, in reply to your questions, ‘What sh...Anadi-ananta, in reply to <a href="#c8017382564405719611" rel="nofollow">your questions</a>, ‘What shall one do if one could not develop the required keenness of self-investigation? Will such one never see what (s)he actually is?’:<br /><br />The keenness of our self-investigation is determined by the strength of our <i>bhakti</i> (love to be aware of ourself alone) and <i>vairāgya</i> (freedom from desire to be aware of anything else), which are in turn determined by the purity and hence clarity of our mind and heart. If we had sufficient clarity, <i>bhakti</i> and <i>vairāgya</i>, we would be so keenly self-attentive that we would see what we actually are, thereby eradicating ego forever.<br /><br />Therefore none of us yet have sufficient clarity, <i>bhakti</i> and <i>vairāgya</i> to be so keenly self-attentive, but this does not mean that we are forever doomed to fail. No matter how inadequate our clarity, <i>bhakti</i> and <i>vairāgya</i> may be at present, we can try at least little by little to be self-attentive, and if we persevere patiently in our attempts, we will gradually cultivate the required clarity, <i>bhakti</i> and <i>vairāgya</i> and will therefore surely succeed.<br /><br />As Bhagavan says in <a href="https://happinessofbeing.blogspot.com/2018/09/like-everything-else-karma-is-created.html#bgs27" rel="nofollow">verse 27</a> of <i>Bhagavad Gītā Sāram</i> (which is his translation of <i>Bhagavad Gītā</i> 6.25):<br /><br />தீரஞ்சேர் புத்தியினாற் சித்தத்தை மெல்லமெல்ல<br />நேரச் செயவேண்டு நிச்சலன — மாரதனே<br />சித்தத்தை யான்மாவிற் சேர்த்திடுக மற்றெதுவு<br />மித்தனையு மெண்ணிடா தே.<br /><br /><i>dhīrañcēr buddhiyiṉāṯ cittattai mellamella<br />nērac ceyavēṇḍu niścalaṉa — mārathaṉē<br />cittattai yāṉmāviṟ cērttiḍuka maṯṟeduvu<br />mittaṉaiyu meṇṇiḍā dē</i>.<br /><br /><b>பதச்சேதம்:</b> தீரம் சேர் புத்தியினால் சித்தத்தை மெல்ல மெல்ல நேர செய வேண்டும் நிச்சலன. மா ரதனே, சித்தத்தை ஆன்மாவில் சேர்த்திடுக; மற்று எதுவும் இத்தனையும் எண்ணிடாதே.<br /><br /><b><i>Padacchēdam</i></b> (word-separation): <i>dhīram sēr buddhiyiṉāl cittattai mella mella nēra seya vēṇḍum niścalaṉa. mā rathaṉē, cittattai āṉmāvil sērttiḍuka; maṯṟu eduvum ittaṉaiyum eṇṇiḍādē</i>.<br /><br /><b>அன்வயம்:</b> தீரம் சேர் புத்தியினால் சித்தத்தை மெல்ல மெல்ல நிச்சலன நேர செய வேண்டும். மா ரதனே, சித்தத்தை ஆன்மாவில் சேர்த்திடுக; மற்று எதுவும் இத்தனையும் எண்ணிடாதே.<br /><br /><b><i>Anvayam</i></b> (words rearranged in natural prose order): <i>dhīram sēr buddhiyiṉāl cittattai mella mella niścalaṉa nēra seya vēṇḍum. mā rathaṉē, cittattai āṉmāvil sērttiḍuka; maṯṟu eduvum ittaṉaiyum eṇṇiḍādē</i>.<br /><br /><b>English translation:</b> It is necessary by a courage-imbued intellect to gently gently [calmly and gradually] make the mind achieve motionlessness. Great charioteer, fix the mind [your attention] in [or on] <i>ātman</i> [yourself]; do not think even the slightest of anything else at all.<br /><br />Here he says that the manner in which we should practise being self-attentive (and by which we can certainly succeed) is ‘மெல்ல மெல்ல’ (<i>mella mella</i>), which is a translation of ‘शनै: शनै:’ (<i>śanaiḥ śanaiḥ</i>) and which means slowly slowly, softly softly, gently gently, calmly calmly, quietly quietly, gradually gradually, steadily steadily, little by little, step by step.Michael Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03460943269122289281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-19681947402945374492019-06-21T10:46:41.014+01:002019-06-21T10:46:41.014+01:00In a second reply to the reply I reproduced in my ...In a second reply to the reply I reproduced in my comment of <a href="#c2281519102571966482" rel="nofollow">21 June 2019 at 09:07</a> the same friend wrote: ‘You have put brackets “... [called Nikola, Michael or whatever]”. How these brackets don’t imply that there are many egos?’<br /><br />In reply to this I wrote:<br /><br />The names in brackets are the names of different people, not of different egos, so they imply that though in this dream ego is aware of itself as one particular person, in each other dream it is aware of itself as some other person. That is, though ego is always aware of itself as ‘I am this person’, ‘this person’ does not always refer to the same person. It could be aware of itself as Nikola, Michael or any other person.Michael Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03460943269122289281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-61450204480923300572019-06-21T10:09:20.207+01:002019-06-21T10:09:20.207+01:00In reply to the reply I reproduced in my comment o...In reply to the reply I reproduced in my comment of <a href="#c2281519102571966482" rel="nofollow">21 June 2019 at 09:07</a> the same friend wrote: “What is the difference between Nikola, Michael and the ego? Isn’t Nikola just a “tale” of the ego head. So to be precise my question is, is that only ego attached to Michael or to Nikola, or both? And how can there be both?”<br /><br />In reply to this I wrote:<br /><br />Nikola, ego cannot be any particular person, because in each of its many dreams (of which the life of Nikola is just one) it is aware of itself as a different person. Now ego seems to be Nikola, because it is currently aware of itself as ‘I am Nikola’, but Nikola is not what it actually is, so it needs to investigate itself in order to see what it actually is.<br /><br />Though in each dream ego is aware of itself as a different person, it is never aware of itself as more than one person at a time, so in your present dream you are aware of yourself as Nikola, and Michael is just one of the many other people you see in this dream.Michael Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03460943269122289281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-12465966846262211682019-06-21T09:45:07.625+01:002019-06-21T09:45:07.625+01:00Thank you Michael for your reply. As you say deep ...Thank you Michael for your reply. As you say deep and abiding clarity can come only from nididhyāsana, deep contemplation on ourself, the original light of awareness that illumines our mind, enabling it to know all other things. Hope that even for such an unpolished mind like me all the subtle principles of Bhagavan’s teachings will become more clear to me and finally I will recognise that sleep is a state of pure self-awareness.:-)anadi-anantahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08815024045988099944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-80173825644057196112019-06-21T09:33:08.345+01:002019-06-21T09:33:08.345+01:00Michael,
"...so to see through all its preten...Michael,<br />"...so to see through all its pretence this ego must investigate itself keenly enough to see what it actually is."<br />What shall one do if one could not develop the required keenness of self-investigation ?<br />Will such one never see what (s)he actually is ?anadi-anantahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08815024045988099944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-71505245520743740892019-06-21T09:30:20.977+01:002019-06-21T09:30:20.977+01:00Anadi-ananta, you have written many comments above...Anadi-ananta, you have written many comments above, and in most of them you are asking for further clarification on what I wrote in this article. If I had time I could try to answer each of your questions, but I doubt if my answers would help you any more than what I have already written here, because ultimately we have to find the clarity we are seeking within ouself. To a certain extent we can gain such clarity by <i>manana</i> (thinking deeply and carefully about all that Bhagavan has taught us), but <i>manana</i> by itself is inadequate, because deep and abiding clarity can come only from <i>nididhyāsana</i>, deep contemplation on ourself, the original light of awareness that illumines our mind, enabling it to know all other things.<br /><br />The more we attend to the fundamental awareness that is always shining in our heart as ‘I am’, the more clear all the subtle principles of Bhagavan’s teachings will become to us, and the more clearly we will recognise that sleep is a state of pure self-awareness.Michael Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03460943269122289281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-86744984968635992512019-06-21T09:13:20.798+01:002019-06-21T09:13:20.798+01:00Rajat Sancheti,
could you please tell the mentione...Rajat Sancheti,<br />could you please tell the mentioned story of the beggar who wouldn't exchange his pennies for all the wealth in the world, and what Michael explained in that context ?anadi-anantahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08815024045988099944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-22815191025719664822019-06-21T09:07:31.391+01:002019-06-21T09:07:31.391+01:00In a comment on one of my recent videos, 2019-06-1...In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1AGrczX9OE&lc=UgznsuVD5mZWRXHZ7vl4AaABAg" rel="nofollow">comment</a> on one of my recent videos, <a href="https://youtu.be/K1AGrczX9OE" rel="nofollow">2019-06-16 Yo Soy Tu Mismo: Michael James discusses vivarta vāda and the mistakes of neo-advaita</a>, a friend wrote: “Here is one crude but direct question, does Michael, this talk and everything else for that matter, just pretending to exist and have their life? Does it mean it never happened, the only things that "happened" are the ones I perceived? There is no I in other people independent of the I of this body(mine)? If answer is Yes, there are no lives then it is very understandable people won't accept, but that is even absurd if it is true, the only one who can accept is me, if I only exist. Otherwise drishti shisti vada is incorrect. I get that the compassion argument still stands.. Can someone please answer? Or pretend to answer? I know it seems like I am breaking the equality of same degree of reality of this and other bodies and minds, but let's just ignore that or you can trust me that I am not. Also the only logical explanation that nobody is asking this, is that it is actually true, so there is no one who can actually ask, besides me? Or if someone is asking he is just pretending? Oh my God, this actually means that I am also pretending right now.”<br /><br />In reply to this I wrote:<br /><br />Nikola, there are many people who can ask questions and provide answers, but all those people seem to exist and all their activities such as asking and answering seem to happen in the view of just one perceiver, just as all the people and their activities that appear in a dream seem to exist and happen in the view of just one perceiver, the dreamer of that dream.<br /><br />Who is that one perceiver? It is not Nikola, nor Michael, nor any other person, but only ego, the false ‘I’ that appears in waking and dream but disappears in sleep, and that is now aware of itself as ‘I am this person [called Nikola, Michael or whatever]’.<br /><br />The only pretender, and the original pretending, is just this ego, the false awareness ‘I am this person’, so to see through all its pretence this ego must investigate itself keenly enough to see what it actually is.Michael Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03460943269122289281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-24796210030958731102019-06-21T06:24:38.424+01:002019-06-21T06:24:38.424+01:00Trying to deal with my vasanas and my desire for ...Trying to deal with my vasanas and my desire for experiences, I try to consider the idea that for lifetimes I must have been experiencing all kinds of phenomena, but clearly I'm still dissatisfied. So I try to convince myself to give up running behind phenomena, and to follow Bhagavan's advice to finally turn within. However, the idea that I must have experienced so many phenomena in countless lifetimes, and should therefore be tired of them, is just an inference I make from Bhagavan's teachings, because obviously I have no recollection of these experiences. But at least I remember the experiences I have had so far in this lifetime and how they have been ultimately dissatisfactory, and I can conjecture that even future experiences won't really make me happy. Still, I keep running behind phenomena, trying to change things, that at least I may be less dissatisfied than I am now. But what Bhagavan taught is the path to complete happiness without any misery. How foolish then it must be to be running after only relatively less dissatisfaction! Like the beggar who wouldn't exchange his pennies for all the wealth in the world, as Michael explained.Rajathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10446174099698255476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-67836001368729257572019-06-20T22:36:15.250+01:002019-06-20T22:36:15.250+01:00Michael,
section 2.,
"...even though ego does...Michael,<br />section 2.,<br />"...even though ego does not exist in sleep, in waking and dream it is aware of the unbroken continuity of its fundamental awareness 'I am'."<br />"...we always exist and are always aware of our existence, whether we happen to be aware of ourself as 'I am this body', as in waking and dream, or just as 'I am', as in sleep."<br />"...our fundamental awareness of our own existence (our real self-awareness) does not ever appear or disappear, because it always remains as it is."<br /><br />Can these details be checked without the practice of self-investigation ?anadi-anantahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08815024045988099944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-73976683446361143062019-06-20T22:23:29.710+01:002019-06-20T22:23:29.710+01:00Michael,
section 2.,
"Though we did not exist...Michael,<br />section 2.,<br />"Though we did not exist as ego in sleep, we did exist as our fundamental self-awareness, which is the basis ...".<br />Apart from Bhagavan's advice in UN do we have any proof/evidence in support of the accuracy/faithfulness of this statement/theory ?anadi-anantahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08815024045988099944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-21760699753614949262019-06-20T22:01:50.516+01:002019-06-20T22:01:50.516+01:00Michael,
section 1.,
"We who were aware of ou...Michael,<br />section 1.,<br />"We who were aware of our existence in sleep are also aware of our existence in waking and dream, so our awareness of our existence is permanent...".<br />I do not really remember having had any awareness or existence in sleep. So I cannot be sure that I was aware of my existence in sleep. Only at or after awak(en)ing from deep sleep I notice that I was evidently not destroyed in sleep. anadi-anantahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08815024045988099944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-56375700077205186782019-06-20T21:33:53.521+01:002019-06-20T21:33:53.521+01:00Thank you, anadi-ananta. It is important for me th...Thank you, anadi-ananta. It is important for me this clarification.<br /><br />The quote is from "Talks with Ramana Maharshi" (talk 624).https://www.blogger.com/profile/12379570382779918899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345918888953765241.post-49857340891526920482019-06-20T20:44:20.332+01:002019-06-20T20:44:20.332+01:00AsunAparicio,
this extremely subtle thought is the...AsunAparicio,<br />this extremely subtle thought is the same as stillness.<br />By the way, from what text did you quote Bhagavan's ("R.M.") indeed interesting explanation ?anadi-anantahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08815024045988099944noreply@blogger.com