Behind My Hand

We ARE the Self, it alone is,  ignorance causes us to imagine that we have not realised it.  Take up the Means, reach the Goal.

kiM bhadraM kimabhadram vA dvaitasyAvastunaH kiyat | vAcoditaM tadanRtaM manasA dhyAtameva ca || For this fleeting dual existence, what is auspicious, what is inauspicious, and, for that matter, to what extent - with regard to that, anything articulated with words, and thought of with mind, is, indeed, unreal! (Bhagavata Purana: 11; 28.4)

oṃ śrīśrīśrīgurudevāya  (the nine syllable Mantra for the vicharin) śrī -  honorific; represents surrender. śrī - invokes Sri Ganesa, lord of the host (first born amongst all others), the diffuser of light; remover of all obstacles. śrī - represents 'I am' guru - Self; Teacher; heavy with knowledge           \            –  Chief amongst teachers, Self          / deva - chief among (devāya is the dative case form)  oṃ śrī śrī śrī gurudevāya [om shree shree shree gurudevaaya] --------- M.: So long as you seek Self-Realisation the Guru is necessary. Guru is the Self. Take Guru to be the Real Self and your self as the individual self. The disappearance of this sense of duality is removal of ignorance. So long as duality persists in you the Guru is necessary. Because you identify yourself with the body you think the Guru, too, to be some body. You are not the body, nor is the Guru. You are the Self and so is the Guru. This knowledge is gained by w

To halt mindstuff, Self-enquiry (vichara) is employed. Self-enquiry is becoming aware of aberrant thought and asking to whom it appears. This is it. Anything more is mindstuff. In this method, awareness of the absurdity of thought becomes heightened and, through practice, Self-enquiry cuts in more and more often.

It's a bizarre state of affairs. Some people do not believe they can be happy without spending a fortune to achieve it. When ill they would rather go to the most expensive doctor, having no faith in one giving effective help freely. This yoga business is the same.

Delay is the not so subtle ploy of the ego.

satyam eva jayate nAnritam Truth alone triumphs, never falsehood.  (Mundaka Upanisad 3. 6)  In Truth, there can be no competition. Truth is immediate and insurmountable.

It is pointless to obsess over the words of others while the obsessing mind remains unknown.

Mr.C. sat near the Maharshi couch and read aloud the following verse from Vivekachudamani : “The blissful sheath ( Anandamayakosha ) has its fullest play in deep sleep, whilst in the dream and waking states it has only a partial manifestation, occasioned by the experience of agreeable objects.” Bhagavan commented: “In sushupti (deep sleep) one enjoys a whole ocean of bliss like a king; whereas in the other two states the range of bliss is as wide as are the classes of men, from the king down to the penniless.” Mr. C. Sushupti is often characterised as the state of ignorance. Bh. No, it is the pure state. There is full awareness in it and total ignorance in the waking state. It is said to be ajnana (ignorance) only in relation to the false jnana (knowledge) prevalent in jagrat . Really speaking jagrat is ajnana and sushupti prajnana (wisdom). If sushupti is not the real state where does the intense peace come from to the sleeper? It is everybody's experience that n

There is no self to be realised. That is the sum and substance of your search.

"Moments Remembered" by V. Ganesan (Sri Ramanasramam, 1994; 53) "In the course of tracing ourselves back to our source, when all thoughts have vanished, there arises a throb from the Hridaya on the right, manifesting as 'Aham' 'Aham' ' I-I '. This is the sign that Pure Consciousness is beginning to reveal itself. But that is not the end in itself. Watch wherefrom this sphurana (throbbing) arises and wait attentively and continually for the revelation of the Self. Then comes the awareness, oneness of existence." 

We start from 'I' and end in 'I'. But look for 'I' and 'I' is nowhere to be found. 

If only One is there, then everything has value. As soon as there are two, there is friction and conflict. Therefore, live in Unity, as One, Alone. One who discards completely the sense of the "you" and "me" is the real Son of the Sadguru (Guruputra). Evening, 24-11-1934 Sri Siddharameswar Maharaj, Master of Self Realization, Vol. 1

While one might keep in mind what has been read and heard one should discriminate constantly. 

"There is no such thing as the experience of the real. The real is beyond experience. All  experience is in the mind. You know the real by being real." - Nisargadatta Maharaj in "I Am That"

Take a firm stand that the mind cannot interpret you. What the mind says is not you, don't be dictated by the mind, you are not the mind. The mind takes you for a ride, you feel you are going for a ride, your mind-inclinations want to enjoy; you say I want to enjoy.  - Nisargadatta in I AM UNBORN (Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)