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

You study only those concepts which arise from within you. Those concepts which you do not like will not occur to you. Suppose you do not like mathematics, that subject will not appeal to you; it is a stranger to your concepts. You will be involved with only those subjects or matters which you like. Analyze your thoughts and see if this is not true. Find out the nature of your thoughts. Are they spiritual? I abide in the state where there is no mind. ————- Nisargadatta Maharaj, June 18, 1981.

“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