Behind My Hand

  “The time has now come to turn inwards, to learn to explore the inner space within the heart , and to make that long and exciting journey to the Centre . Compared with this, the exploration of the moon and planets is the play of children."   (Daily Readings with Bede Griffiths . Darton, Longman &Tod. 1990)  

 Breath and mind arise from the same place and when one of them is controlled, the other is also controlled. As a matter of fact, in the quest method — which is more correctly ‘Whence am I?’ and not merely ‘Who am I?’ — we are not simply trying to eliminate saying ‘we are not the body, not the senses and so on,’ to reach what remains as the ultimate reality, but we are trying to find whence the ‘I’ thought for the ego arises within us. The method contains within it, though implicitly and not expressly, the watching of the breath. When we watch wherefrom the ‘I’-thought, the root of all thoughts, springs, we are necessarily watching the source of breath also, as the ‘I’-thought and the breath arise from the same source. - Ramana Maharshi, Day by Day with Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, 1.12.45

 Achievement of the Real alone matters. The loss of the ‘I’ is the main fact, and not the loss of the body. Identity of the Self with the body is the real bondage. Leave off the false notion and perceive intuitively the Real. That alone matters. If you melt a gold ornament before testing it to be gold, what matters it how it is melted, whole or in parts, or of what shape the ornament was? All that you are interested in is if it is gold. The dead man sees not his body. It is the survivor that thinks about the manner in which the body is parted from. The realised have no death with or without the body, the realised man is equally aware and sees no difference. To him the one state is not superior to the other. To an outsider also the fortunes of a liberated one’s body need not be of any concern; mind your business. Realise the Self; after realisation there will be time to think of what form of death is preferable to you. It is the false identity of the Self with the body that causes t...

  samudre na síndhavo y ā damānāḥ “ Like rivers longing for the ocean. ” (Rig-Veda VI. 19, 5) ————- “…the waters of the ocean evaporate, form clouds which are moved by winds, condense into water, fall as rain and the waters roll down the hill in streams and rivers, until they reach their original source, the ocean, reaching which they are at peace. Thus, you see, wherever there is a sense of separateness from the source there is agitation and movement until the sense of separateness is lost. So it is with yourself. Now that you identify yourself with the body you think that you are separate from the Spirit - the true Self. You must regain your source before the false identity ceases and you are happy.” (Ramana Maharshi in Talk 396) ————-

  granthamabhyasya medhAvI jnAnavijnAnatatparah / palAlamiva dhAnyArtho tyajedgranthamaSeshatah // 18 //   Having studied the word, the wise one, intent on knowledge and understanding, should abandon the word completely, like one who, in order to obtain grain, would discard the stalk. ( Amrtabindupanisad ) (Copyright: MWright)

  Faith, intense faith, in the words of your Guru will make everything easy for you. Without this all forms and rituals of religion are useless. So surrender yourself absolutely to your Guru as a kitten does to its mother. He will then look after you and provide you with everything; yours is only to have simple faith alone. Swami Brahmananda, Spiritual Teachings, p. 222 —- —- —- M.: So long as you think you are the individual you believe in God. On worshipping God, God appears to you as Guru. On serving Guru He manifests as the Self. This is the rationale. - Ramana Maharshi in Talk 271

  Under the impulse of name and fame, it is indeed easier to do a magnificent work, but through such work you cannot appraise the value of a man as he really is. In order to do so, you have to examine his daily actions; for it is the ordinary actions of a man which reveal the real man. Through such actions alone can you know how far the man has developed his character. A true Karma-Yogin (selfless worker) will lose himself heart and soul in any undertaking, even though it is of a most inferior kind. He is never actuated by the least desire of winning cheap popular applause. Swami Brahmananda in Spiritual Teachings, p. 167 —- x —- Karma yoga is that yoga in which the person does not arrogate to himself the function of being the actor. The actions go on automatically. Ramana Maharshi in Talk 643 ————-

  Sri Ramakrishna: "Meditate in your mind, in the forest, or in a quiet corner." The meaning of this is that all Sadhana must be done in strict privacy, that others may not come to know of it. If you steadily practise like this even for a little time, you will find what great joy and bliss will come to you. Swami Brahmananda in Spiritual Talks (1933), p. 227

  D.: So it is a great game of pretending?  M.:Yes. In Yoga Vasishtha it is said, “What is Real is hidden from us, but what is false, is revealed as true.” We are actually experiencing the Reality only; still, we do not know it. Is it not a wonder of wonders? The quest “Who am I?” is the axe with which to cut off the ego. - Ramana Maharshi in Talk 146

  Mr. P. Brunton: Why do religions speak of Gods, heaven, hell, etc.? M.: Only to make the people realise that they are on a par with this world and that the Self alone is real. The religions are according to the view-point of the seeker.  - from Talk 145

  Dr. Paul Brunton : What is the mystery of this Hill (Arunachala)? Maharshi : Just as you have said in Secret Egypt, “The mystery of the pyramid is the mystery of the Self,” so also the mystery of this Hill is the mystery of the Self. - from Talk 143

  21-11-45 Dr. Srinivasa Rao asked Bhagavan, “When we enquire within ‘who am I?’ what is that?” Bhagavan: It is the ego. It is only that which makes the vichara also. The Self has no vichara. That which makes the enquiry is the ego. The ‘I’ about which the enquiry is made is also the ego. As the result of the enquiry the ego ceases to exist and only the Self is found to exist. Ramana Maharshi in “Day by Day with Bhagavan”

  D.: In deep sleep I do not seem to exist. M.: You say so when awake. It is the mind which speaks now. You exist in deep sleep beyond mind.   - Ramana Maharshi in Talk 126

  mayy eva mana ādhatsva mayi buddhiṁ niveśaya | nivasiṣyasi mayy eva ata ūrdhvaṁ na saṁśayaḥ || Fix the mind on me alone, place the thought process in me. Hereafter, without doubt, you will abide in me alone.  (Bhagavad Gita 12.8, - Trans. MWright) Note: the thought process arises from “me”. Trace the source. Remain there.  The above Verse from Bhagavad Gita verse is a concise description of vicāra (Self-enquiry).  —- “Atma Vichara leads to the source of the ego. There the ego disappears. Remaining as that source the ego no longer arises.” (Excerpt From Talks on Self Enquiry, Miles Wright & Gabriele Ebert)  https://books.apple.com/gb/book/talks-on-self-enquiry/id1078197373)

11-1-46, Afternoon Bhagavan: There is no difference. The mind turned inwards is the Self; turned outwards, it becomes the ego and all the world. The cotton made into various clothes, we call by various names. The gold made into various ornaments, we call by various names. But all the clothes are cotton and all the ornaments gold. The one is real, the many are mere names and forms. But the mind does not exist apart from the Self, i.e., it has no independent existence. The Self exists without the mind, never the mind without the Self. (Ramana Maharshi in Day by Day with Bhagavan)

 “How are the three states of consciousness inferior in degree of reality to the fourth? What is the actual relation between these three states and the fourth?” Bhagavan: There is only one state, that of consciousness or awareness or existence. The three states of waking, dream and sleep cannot be real. They simply come and go. The real will always exist. The ‘I’ or existence that alone persists in all the three states is real. The other three are not real and so it is not possible to say they have such and such a degree of reality. We may roughly put it like this. Existence or consciousness is the only reality. Consciousness plus waking, we call waking. Consciousness plus sleep, we call sleep. Consciousness plus dream, we call dream. Consciousness is the screen on which all the pictures come and go. The screen is real, the pictures are mere shadows on it. Because by long habit we have been regarding these three states as real, we call the state of mere awareness or consciousness a...

liṅgam evāśrama-khyātāv anyonyāpatti-kāraṇam avṛttyā nyāya-daurbalyaṁ pāṇḍitye cāpalaṁ vacaḥ A person’s status in life will be known by external appearances alone, even as they change from one status to another.  A person without money will be considered weak while anyone using ill conceived or deceitful words will be considered to be a learned scholar. Bhagavata Purana, 12.2.4 (Trans. MWright) —- —- —- Kali Yuga is said to have commenced in 3102 B.C.E. marked by the death of Sri Krishna. Kali means “discord and argument”. Yuga means “age”. It is the age of hypocrisy, quarrel and discord.  —- From Day by Day with Bhagavan (Ramana Maharshi), 20-3-46 Girdhari Lal:   It is said that in the previous yugas e.g. satya yuga, man had not fallen to the low level in which he now is in this kaliyuga and that it was much easier for him then to attain liberation than now. Bhagavan:  On the other hand, it is said it is much easier to secure salvation in this yuga than in the saty...

 Parabrahman, which is of all forms, which is the Supreme Abode of this universe, which is the most subtle of the subtle and which is eternal, is only yourself. You are only That. One who knows himself to be that Parabrahman that shines as the universe in the waking, dreaming, dreamless and other states, will be relieved from all bondage.  - from Kaivalya Upanishad, trans. K. Narayanasvami Aiyar, 1914.