Behind My Hand

Sri Ramana’s central teaching is: Self-inquiry. Instead of wanting to know this and that, seek to know the Self. Ask ‘Who am I?’ instead of asking about a hundred other things. Self-inquiry ought to be the easiest of all tasks. But it seems to be the most difficult because we have become strangers to our Self. What one has to do is simple - to abide as the Self. This is the ultimate Truth. This is one’s eternal, natural, inherent state. On account of ignorance we identify ourselves with the not-I. The most subtle of all these identifications is with the ego. Let us search for the root of the ego. Where from does this pseudo-I arise? At the end of this quest we shall find that the ego disappears letting the eternal Self shine. So the best discipline is the inquiry: ‘Who am I?’ This is the greatest japa. This is the true pranayama. The thought ‘I am not the body’ (naham) is exhalation (rechaka); the inquiry ‘Who am I?’ (koham) is inhalation (puraka); the realization ‘I am He’ (soham)

36 . Life is changing like a big wave, beauty of youth abides for a few days; earthly possessions are as transient as thought; the whole series of our enjoyments are like (occasional) flashes of lightning during the monsoons; the embrace round the neck given by our beloved ones lingers only for a while. To cross the ocean (of the fear) of the world, attach your mind to Brahman. Bhartrhari’s Vairagya Satakam,  trans. Swami Madhavananda

“It is false to speak of Realisation. What is there to realise? The real is as it is, ever. How to real-ise it? All that is required is this. We have real-ised the unreal, i.e., regarded as real what is unreal. We have to give up this attitude. That is all that is required for us to attain jnana. We are not creating anything new or achieving something which we did not have before. —- Ramana Maharshi, Day by Day, 9-11-46

When I entered the hall Bhagavan was already answering a question which, I gathered, was to the effect “Is the theory of evolution true?” and Bhagavan said, “The trouble with all of us is that we want to know the past, what we were, and also what we will be in the future. We know nothing about the past or the future. We do know the present and that we exist now. Both yesterday and tomorrow are only with reference to today.Yesterday was called ‘today’ in its time, and tomorrow will be called ‘today’ by us tomorrow. Today is ever present. What is ever present is pure existence. It has no past or future. Why not try and find out the real nature of the present and ever-present existence?” Another visitor asked, “The present is said to be due to past karma. Can we transcend the past karma by our free will now?” Bhagavan: See what the present is, as I told you. Then you will understand what is affected by or has a past or a future and also what is ever-present and always free, unaffecte

The atma is as it is. It is sakshat always. There are not two atmas, one to know and one to be known. To know it is to be it. It is not a state where one is conscious of anything else. It is consciousness itself. —- Ramana Maharshi, Day by Day, 28.12.45, afternoon  ————- The Atman does not love, it is love itself. It does not exist, it is existence itself. The Atman does not know; it is knowledge itself. —- Christopher Isherwood, Swami Prabhavananda, How to Know God, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, number 17 (commentary)

Question: When I think ‘Who am I?’, the answer comes ‘I am not this mortal body but I am chaitanya, atma, or paramatma.’ And suddenly another question arises — ‘Why has atma come into maya?’ or in other words ‘Why has God created this world?’ Answer: To enquire ‘Who am I?’ really means trying to find out the source of the ego or the ‘I’ thought. You are not to think of other thoughts, such as ‘I am not this body, etc.’ Seeking the source of ‘I’ serves as a means of getting rid of all other thoughts. We should not give scope to other thoughts, such as you mention, but must keep the attention fixed on finding out the source of the ‘I’ thought, by asking (as each thought arises) to whom the thought arises and if the answer is ‘I get the thought’ by asking further who is this ‘I’ and whence its source? —- Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, Day by Day, 28.12.45, afternoon

Talking of the innumerable ways of different seekers after God, Bhagavan said, “Each should be allowed to go his own way, the way for which alone he may be built. It will not do to convert him to another path by violence. The Guru will go with the disciple in his own path and then gradually turn him into the supreme path at the ripe moment. Suppose a car is going at top speed. To stop it at once or to turn it at once would be attended by disastrous consequences. —- Day by Day with Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi 22.11.45

The visitor also asked, “When a man realises the Self, what will he see?” Bhagavan replied, “There is no seeing. Seeing is only Being. The state of Self-realisation, as we call it, is not attaining something new or reaching some goal which is far away, but simply being that which you always are and which you always have been. All that is needed is that you give up your realisation of the not-true as true. All of us are realising, i.e., regarding as real, that which is not real. We have only to give up this practice on our part. Then we shall realise the Self as the Self, or in other words, ‘Be the Self’. At one stage one would laugh at oneself that one tried to discover the Self which is so self-evident. So, what can we say to this question? “That stage transcends the seer and the seen. There is no seer there to see anything. The seer who is seeing all this now ceases to exist and the Self alone remains. —- Ramana Maharshi, Day by Day, 19.11.46

I ask you to see where the ‘I’ arises in your body, but it is really not quite correct to say that the ‘I’ rises from and merges in the heart in the right side of the chest. The heart is another name for the Reality and it is neither inside nor outside the body; there can be no in or out for it, since it alone is. I do not mean by ‘heart’ any physiological organ or any plexus of nerves or anything like that, but so long as one identifies oneself with the body and thinks he is in the body he is advised to see where in the body the ‘I’-thought rises and merges again. It must be the heart at the right side of the chest since every man, of whatever race and religion and in whatever language he may be saying ‘I’, points to the right side of the chest to indicate himself. This is so all over the world, so that must be the place. And by keenly watching the daily emergence of the ‘I’-thought on waking and its subsiding in sleep, one can see that it is in the heart on the right side. Ramana

There is no difference between dream and the waking state except that the dream is short and the waking long. Both are the result of the mind. Because the waking state is long, we imagine that it is our real state. But, as a matter of fact, our real state is what is sometimes called turiya or the fourth state which is always as it is and knows nothing of the three avasthas, viz., waking, dream or sleep. Because we call these three avasthas we call the fourth state also turiya avastha. But it is not an avastha, but the real and natural state of the Self. When this is realised, we know it is not a turiya or fourth state, for a fourth state is only relative, but turiyatita, the transcendent state called the fourth state. ( Ramana Maharshi, Day by Day, 5. 1. 46 )

https://archive.ashrama.org/newsletters/2016/jul-aug#article.2 Dennis Hartel “Remembering Graham Boyd” -  https://archive.ashrama.org/newsletters/2016/jul-aug#article.2 “Graham restored many photos and also produced digitally colored photos of Bhagavan which were excellent. He was a perfectionist in everything he did. I believe he was the first to take up the task of digital restoration of Ashrama photos. There was only one actual color photo of Bhagavan ever available, whereas all the other color prints we see of him were hand colored and reproduced. Graham took up the digital coloring of some popular photos of Bhagavan and whatever Graham did, he did it to the best of his ability in the way he conceived it best done. He would rarely compromise on quality or materials used to restore and print the photos. cwIn oder to settle on the colors to be used, Graham would do extensive research on each item in the photo to determine the correct color. He was quite successful in this endeavo

“...when the Self is realised this goes on without any effort and what was the means becomes the goal." - 6/6/46 Day by Day Paying attention is a process. A process which implies a frame of mind. We learn about and develop the ability to pay attention as we grow up. The practice of vichara is utilising this ability to pay attention in order to achieve a particular frame of mind. This is a temporary frame of mind during which "I" am paying attention. I am doing vichara. This frame of mind, this practice of vichara, is a part of one's own umwelt, one's individual world. Paying attention takes effort.  "...you must concentrate to see where the I-thought arises. Instead of looking outwards, look inwards and see where the I-thought arises.”  - 3/7/46 Day by Day Whether outwards or inwards, paying attention takes effort. This effort is subjective. It is performed by me. It is a part of 'my' umwelt. Dr. Srinivasa Rao asked Bhagavan, “When we enqui

न हि देहभृता शक्यं त्यक्तुं कर्माण्यशेषत: |  यस्तु कर्मफलत्यागी स त्यागीत्यभिधीयते ||11||  na hi dehabhṛtā śakyaṁ tyaktuṁ karmāṇyaśeṣataḥ  yastu karmaphalatyāgī sa tyāgītyabhidhīyate (Bhagavad Gita, 18. 11) “It is certainly not possible for the embodied being to abandon activities entirely. However, one who renounces the fruits of action is called “ the renouncer ”.” —- Note: When there is no “I”, can there be any karma! So long as egoity lasts the mind games go on. When egoity ceases to be, actions become spontaneous. The mind games might appear to go on but who on earth is playing them? —- Translation by MWright

I was fortunate to correspond with Swami Bhavyananda in the 80s and early 90s. This is an excellent interview which I highly recommend. He mentioned to me that, as a young monk, he met Sri Ramana Maharshi. This, in itself, was sufficient to encourage me to correspond with him. I am glad I did. His help in providing clarity was immense. Part two of this interview can be found here .

असतो मा सद्गमय । तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय । मृत्योर् मामृतं गमय ।  asato mā sadgamaya,  tamaso mā jyotirgamaya,  mṛtyor mā'mṛtaṃ gamaya, From untruth lead me to truth, From darkness lead me to light, From death lead me to immortality. —- Note: “Where truth is ... falsehood is not. Brahman is truth. The Self cannot be attained without practising truth. Suffering is the result of false relationships, false fears, false ideas. Liberation is truth. How is this liberation realised? Through right action of mind, speech and body. That is jnana, that is freedom, that is moksha. Self Enquiry is constant truth. Maintaining the quest even in the midst of worldly duties ensures right action.” Excerpt From Talks on Self Enquiry Miles Wright & Gabriele Ebert https://books.apple.com/gb/book/talks-on-self-enquiry/id1078197373 This material may be protected by copyright. —- A very nice musical rendition of the verse by Ravi Shankar and George Harrison. Being a fan of both

yathā somyai kena mrtpindena sarvam mrnmayam vijñātam syādvācārambhanam vikāro nāmadheyam mrttiketyeva satyam || 6. 1. 4 | “O gentle sir, as by knowing a lump of earth everything made of earth becomes known, the transformation begins with speech. It is name only. In fact, ‘earth’ is the reality.” ( Chandogya Upanishad) na so ’sti pratyayo loke yah śabdānugamād rte |  anuviddham iva jñānam sarvam śabdena bhāsate   ||   Bhartrhari’s   Vakyapadiya 1. 123 “In this world, there is no cognition which does not follow language. All knowledge appears as if permeated by words.” api prayoktur ātmānau śabdam antaravasthitam | prāhur mahāntam rsabham yena sāyujyam isyate || tasmād yah śabdasamskārah sā siddhih paramātmanah |  tasya pravrttitattvajñas tad brahmāmrtam aśnute || VP 1. 130-131 “It is also said that the self of the speaker is the word situated within, the Great Bull with whom one desires union. Therefore that which purifies the word is attainment of the Supr

"Bhagavan is among the most severely intellectual of our sages. And yet he warns us that the idea of the Absolute is only, to use the words of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the correlative of the relative. It is still a category of thought, whereas the final realization is the annihilation of the mind and all its categories. How shall that which shines with borrowed light illumine the source of its brightness?  - from K. Subrahmanyam's article, "Bhagavan Ramana the White Radiance of Truth" as it appears in Arunachala's Ramana volume 6, page 252.

.... the culture which most of us have inherited is too extroverted and too aggressively intellectual to permit us to understand within a short time what it all means to be a sadhaka, a practical aspirant for a truth of which in our homes and colleges we were not given an inkling. We are apt, moreover, to bring with us scraps of knowledge gleaned from a wide reading of miracle ridden theology and "occultism", including an endeavour to accommodate the Vedanta inside them. The result is that we return from the Guru (the qualified Teacher) and his Ashram with our doubts still in our heads, uncleared, and our minds, about truth and untruth, still befogged. -S. S. Cohen in " Advaitic Sadhana "  (note:  Cohen was an ashram resident during Ramana Maharshi's lifetime )

There is a telling paragraph at the beginning of Chapter One of S. S. Cohen's " Advaitic Sadhana -  The Yoga of Direct Liberation " - "This is the age of shortcuts. Time has shrunk and space more so, and the dual inconvenience has affected men's moods and temper. Even the supreme knowledge has nowadays to be given in massive doses and has to produce quick results too, or they will have none of it." Telling because it reveals that there was a deep seated impatience even back in the days when westerners used to flock to the Ashram on short visits to "bask" in the presence of Sri Ramana Maharshi. This essay was drafted during Ramana Maharshi's lifetime, although first published in 1975. If there was an impatience then what must one say of today! In his introduction to the book Cohen says that, "he used to watch their comings and goings and the haste with which most of them expected to pluck the plum of Self-realisation,

It has taken next to no time at all for young Venkataraman's gift of dis- cover -y to become largely disregarded. Pure simplicity having been replaced with the dullard's contrived attempt to explain that which he has never experienced [and never will] in a form which most appeals to his ego. Of course, this very act can, at best, only ever be counterproductive. Ego appealing to ego begets ego. How to perform Vichara (self enquiry)