Behind My Hand

tasmād yah śabdasamskārah sā siddhih paramātmanah |                                                                                                 pravrttitattvajñas tad brahmāmrtam aśnute || “.... that which purifies the word is the attainment of the Supreme Self. One who knows the truth of its origin attains the immortal Brahman.”     (Bhartrhari’s Vakyapadiya, 1. 131; translated from Sanskrit by MWright) —- Sabdapurvayoga is the return to that state which is prior to the arising of the ego. Bhartrhari’s method of attaining the Self is clearly a tracing back of the mind 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, can there be...

ahamayamkuto bhavaticinvatah | ayipatatyaham nijavicAraNam ||19|| “Where does this ‘I’ come from?” For one who enquires …Aha! ... the ‘I’ falls away. This is Self-enquiry.     Notes When, at last, one pursues Self-enquiry with single-minded devotion, the inevitable result is for the ego-‘I’ simply to fall away, defeated, destroyed, leaving a spontaneous iteration of one’s true identity. All the ‘stuff’ that this ‘I’ had given substance to, vanishes in an instant. The subject/object relationship has shifted. (Excerpt From Essence of Instruction (Upadesa Saram) Ramana Maharshi, Miles Wright & Gabriele Ebert)

9th November, 1935 Talk 93. All are aware of their own Self only. Wonder of wonders! They take what is not as what is, or they see the phenomena apart from the Self. Only so long as there is the knower is there knowledge of all kinds (direct, inferential, intellectual etc.); should the knower vanish they all vanish together with him; their validity is of the same degree as his. (Ramana Maharshi) An interesting statement but who reads it?

D.: Which is the best of the different yogas, Karma, Jnana, Bhakti or Hatha? M.: See stanza 10 of “Upadesa Sara” [ see below ]. To remain in the Self amounts to all these in their highest sense. Maharshi added: In dreamless sleep there is no world, no ego and no unhappiness. But the Self remains. In the waking state there are all these; yet there is the Self. One has only to remove the transitory happenings in order to realise the ever-present beatitude of the Self. Your nature is Bliss. Find that on which all the rest are superimposed and you then remain as the pure Self. ( Ramana Maharshi in Talk 189 ) —- Upadesa Saram v. 10 hrtsthalemanah svasthatAkriyA / bhaktiyogabodhAScaniScitam // The act (kriyA) of abiding in one’s natural state, the mind set in the Heart, is without doubt, Devotion, Yoga and Knowledge.   Notes: Here, kriyA (action) refers to the one truly continuous, uncaused, meritorious ‘act’ (kriyAyoga). This is eternal Being, the Self. Where the m...

Talk 191. Mr. Cohen, a resident disciple, was speaking of yoga method. Maharshi remarked: Patanjali’s first sutra is applicable to all systems of yoga. The aim is the cessation of mental activities. The methods differ. So long as there is effort made towards that goal it is called yoga. The effort is the yoga. The cessation can be brought about in so many ways. (1) By examining the mind itself. When the mind is examined, its activities cease automatically. This is the method of jnana. The pure mind is the Self. (2) Looking for the source of the mind is another method. The source may be said to be God or Self or consciousness. (3) Concentrating upon one thought make all other thoughts disappear. Finally that thought also disappears; and (4) Hatha Yoga. All methods are one and the same inasmuch as they all tend to the same goal. ( Ramana Maharshi in Talks ) —- —- —- Note : Patanjali’s first and second sutras 1. atha yoganusasanam - “Now, the principle of yoga” 2. ...

There is no point in becoming “like” Buddha or Ramana or any other so-called enlightened being. In effect, that is simply mindstuff. “The ideas of enlightenment and need for vichara belong to ego alone. When ego searches within the foothills of its own existence and finds its source it settles down exhausted, vanquished. At that point there is no longer any need for vichara. Only wayward mind needs the map of vichara. Self is ever self-aware of its whereabouts.” ( Excerpt From  Talks on Self Enquiry ,  Miles Wright & Gabriele Ebert) Don't think, do it!

Having ears, the attentive sadhaka does not dwell on what is heard. Having eyes, the attentive sadhaka does not dwell on what is seen. Although immersed in the world, the attentive sadhaka does not react, inappropriately, to the world. —- “If you do not make Atma vichara, then loka vichara creeps in. That which is not, is sought for, but not that which is obvious.” (Ramana Maharshi in Talk 186) Note: loka - that which is seen (and heard), worldly affairs. —- Atma vichara includes pratyahara which is turning away or withdrawing from external affairs and holding to the ongoing internal question posed by Enquiry. Buddhi (mind) stands at the doorway to liberation. Turning one way buddhi, wanders, discriminates, vocalises and rationalises a sequential description of worldly affairs where multiple views dependent on ahamkara (ego) are observed. Then undifferentiated Brahman appears to be differentiated like the snake in the rope. Turning the other way buddhi stops dead in its tracks...