Behind My Hand

 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

  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

  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”

  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)

Sabdapurvayoga is the return to that state prior to the arising of the ego. The Grammarian Bhartrhari’s method for attaining the Self involves tracing the mind back to its source. At that point the unreality of the ego is discovered. This is the true purification of the word. When Brahman is known to be all there is, there can no longer be any misunderstanding.  Bhartrhari has stated that Grammar is the straight road for those who would attain liberation in Brahman. The twentieth century Sage of Arunåcala, Ramana Maharshi, similarly referred to the discipline of åtmavicåra as the straight path to Self-realisation. The essence of Bhartrhari’s method is åtmavicåra. Sabdapurvayoga is atmavichara. Sabdapurvayoga and atma vicara

 Talk 49. Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi 24th April, 1935 Some men asked the Master questions which ultimately resolved themselves into one, that ‘I’ is not perceptible however much they might struggle. The Master’s reply was in the usual strain: “Who is it that says that ‘I’ is not perceptible? Is there an ‘I’ ignorant, and an ‘I’ elusive? Are there two ‘I’s in the same person? Ask yourself these questions. It is the mind which says that ‘I’ is not perceptible. Where is that mind from? Know the mind. You will find it a myth. King Janaka said, ‘I have discovered the thief who had been ruining me so long. I will now deal with him summarily. Then I shall be happy.’ Similarly it will be with others.”

Maharshi then read out from the Tamil version of Yoga Vasishta the story of Deerga Tapasi who had two sons, Punya and Papa. After the death of the parents the younger one mourned the loss and the elder brother consoled him as follows: “Why do you mourn the loss of our parents? I shall tell you where they are; they are only within ourselves and are ourselves. For the life-current has passed through innumerable incarnations, births and deaths, pleasures and pains, etc., just as the water current in a river flows over rocks, pits, sands, elevations and depressions on its way, but still the current is unaffected. Again the pleasures and pains, births and deaths, are like undulations on the surface of seeming water in the mirage of the ego. The only reality is the Self from where the ego appears, and runs through thoughts which manifest themselves as the universe and in which the mothers and fathers, friends and relatives appear and disappear. They are nothing but manifestations of the Self

  “When discrimination comes and man finds there are not two but one, he finds that he is himself this universe.” From The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,  Volume Two

 This succinct quotation, from Paul Brunton, which I came across in 1968, set me on the path of Self Enquiry. 

“|3| He, who seeks from where the ‘I’ arises,  with pure mind, turned inwards,  realising his own nature, O Arunachala,  merges in you... like the river in the sea.” (Excerpt From Arunachala Pancharatna by Ramana Maharshi)  “Atma-vichara is the means and the goal. The ‘I’ that rises and sets is not the real ‘I’. It is nothing more than the meandering cloud, which moves, changes, and finally empties when at last it approaches the mountain. When the mind becomes pure, it, naturally, rushes to its source, like a mountain stream rushing towards the sea, effortlessly overcoming all obstacles in its path. Atma-vichara is the purifying process which rids the mind of all impurities (mindstuff). Take up the quest ‘Who am I?’ Seek the impostor (ego-'I'). In the end, he is nowhere to be found!” (Excerpt from the commentary to  Ramana Maharshi’s above verse , by MNW. This material may be protected by copyright.)

 We are not different from the Reality. We imagine we are different, i.e., we create the bheda bhava (the feeling of difference) and then undergo great sadhanas to get rid of the bheda bhava and realize the oneness. Why imagine or create the bheda bhava and then destroy it? (Ramana Maharshi, Gems from Bhagavan , p. 26)

  Talk 54 Deho aham (I am the body) is limitation and is the root of all mean and selfish actions and desires. Brahma aham (I am Brahman) is passing beyond limitation and signifies sympathy, charity, love etc., which are divine and virtuous. - Ramana Maharshi in Talks

  Talk 227. The Master observed: “Being of the nature of Bliss why does one continue to crave for happiness? To be rid of that craving is itself salvation.  - Ramana Maharshi in Talks

  Talk 224. A disciple asked how he could recognise his own natural primal condition. M.: Absolute freedom from thoughts is the state conducive to such recognition. - Ramana Maharshi in Talks

 “20.6.2002 Truthfulness >Is truth in speech subjective and therefore varies according to ones conditioning?< 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

  Explanations are always expressed using existent knowledge.  If you do not share this knowledge, they have little value. While they may be considered to be pointers, without appropriate discrimination,  they are like decomposing heaps of dung.

  Talk 1 A wandering monk (sannyasi) was trying to clear his doubt: “How to realise that all the world is God?” Maharshi: If you make your outlook that of wisdom, you will find the world to be God. Without knowing the Supreme Spirit (Brahman), how will you find His all-pervasiveness? (Ramana Maharshi in Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi) ————- “Dealing with the world is part of the illusion. It is symptomatic of the human condition which, having forgotten its own Self, dwells in an external, material universe. As long as one does not see the Self as the origin of all, and one's very identity, so long can it (world and objects) be described as illusionary.”   (Excerpt From Talks on Self Enquiry, Miles Wright & edited by Gabriele Ebert) ————- naiva cintyam na cAcintyam na cintyam cintyameva tat /   pakshapAtavinirmuktam brahma sampadyate tadA // 6 //   'Neither is that, which is conceivable (the phenomenal manifestation), to be ignored (or dismissed as unreal), nor that which is

 Day by Day, 2-2-46 Morning A visitor told Bhagavan that he was working for Harijan uplift, that he and his co-workers in the cause had darshan of Mahatma Gandhi and got his blessings, that Mahatma Gandhi told them that if they could bring about marriages between Harijan girls and higher caste gentlemen, such marriages would have his blessings; and that he (visitor) would like to have Bhagavan’s views in the matter. Bhagavan said, “If Mahatma Gandhi has said so, we will all hear what he has said. What more is there for us to do? He is a distinguished man and is working in that field. What have we to do with that?” Turning to us, Bhagavan added, “If I open my mouth, something will appear in the papers that so-and-so has also said such-and-such a thing. The next day there will be people to criticise it. Our business is to keep quiet. If we enter into all these, people will naturally ask, and justifiably, ‘Why is he interfering in all these instead of keeping quiet?’ Similarly if Mahatma

tam yogam iti manyate sthiram indriya-dharanam                                                                     apramattas tada bhavati yogo hi prabhavapyayau Katha Upanishad 6.11 Yoga is considered to be the continuous concentration of the senses. One then becomes attentive, thereby yoking the coming and going (of thought). naiva vācā na manasā prāptum śakyō na cakṣuṣā    astīti bruvato’nyatra katham    tadupalabhyatē  Katha Upanishad 6.12   Not by speech, nor by mind, nor by eye is it to be obtained. How else can it be ascertained other than to ascertain for itself,  “It is!” ———— Trans. MWright

  From N.N.Rajan's diary, November 6, 1943 After a brief discussion between Major Chadwick and Bhagavan on the necessity of periodic action to ensure that the body remains healthy, there was a ten-minute silence. Then a devotee asked, "It is stated that one should dive into oneself with a keen one-pointed mind controlling speech and breath. Is it necessary to control the breath also?" Bhagavan replied, "If all thoughts are controlled, automatically the breath is also controlled. By intense and sustained practice it will become habitual. Controlling the breath through various yogic exercises is like putting brakes to the train when the entire engine is working. But by watching the source of the mind with full concentration, the thoughts would get controlled. This method will be more effective and easy. It is like shutting the power of the engine and thereby stopping the train completely."