Behind My Hand

"Nididhyasana (one-pointedness of the mind) is the best posture."     (Ramana Maharshi in Talk 557)

Kalpataru Day Photo of Sri Ramakrishna  01 January 1886 I was sent this picture almost 40 years ago.

śivayogadīpikā 2 yāni kāni praśastāni hyāsanāni vaśāni ca | teṣvabhīṣṭāsanāsīno viviktasthānamāśrayet ||14|| “In truth, sitting in one, amongst all, of those asanas which, having been mastered, are considered appropriate, one should remain firm in one’s resolve.”

A. :  Yes. God is seen in the mind. The concrete form may be seen. Still, it is in the devotee's own mind. The form and appearance of the God-manifestation are determined by the mentality of the devotees. But the finality is not that for it has the sense of duality. It is like a dream vision. After God is perceived, vichara commences. That ends in realisation of the self. Vichara is the final method. from Paul Brunton's "Beyond Yoga" (conversations with Sri Ramana Maharshi) as found in The Mountain Path Vol. 20 No. IV, October 1983

Q. :  How to control the mind? A. :  Mind is intangible. In fact, it does not exist. The surest way of control is to seek it. Then its activities cease. from a conversation with Ramana Maharshi recorded by Paul Brunton and first published in "The Mountain Path" V0l. 21 No. I

Q. :  Should one keep a goal before one's eyes? M. :  What goal is there? The thing you conceive of as being the goal exists even prior to the ego's own existence. If we conceive ourselves as ego, or body or mind, then we are those things. But if we do not conceive ourselves as such then we are our real nature. It is the thinking which gives rise to such troubles. The very thought that there is such a thing as ego is wrong because ego is 'I'-thought and we are ourselves the real 'I'. The thought-less state is itself Realisation. from "The Ultimate As the Truth, Sri Bhagavan's Teaching" recorded by Paul Brunton and found in The Mountain Path Magazine, Vol. 20 No. II April 1983.

Dogen instructed: Nothing can be gained by extensive study and wide reading. Give them up immediately. Just focus your mind on one thing, absorb the old examples, study the actions of former Zen Masters, and penetrate deeply into a single form of practice. Do not think of yourself as someone's teacher or as someone's predecessor. Dogen's " A Primer of Soto Zen ", 1978, 8