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The Heart

Aham Sphurana

A Glimpse of Self Realisation

New Book about Sri Ramana Maharshi

Available Worldwide

On  www.openskypress.com  and Amazon:

A Glimpse of Self Realisation

New Book about Sri Ramana Maharshi

“In my opinion, Aham Sphurana, a Glimpse of Self Realisation, will become a Treasure Trove of Wisdom to the Seekers of Truth in general, and particularly to the devotees of Bhagavan.”

Swami Hamsananda – Athithi Ashram, Tiruvannamalai

Available Worldwide

on  www.openskypress.com  and Amazon:

Ramana Maharanis on the Heart

Q.: Will chanting “A-HAM” [Self] mentally lead to realisation of the Self?
B.: Whilst doing it, fix your attention at the source of the japam[    ] in you. That is, scrutinize where from within yourself the japam arises and retain your faculty of attention exclusively at such source.

 

Q.: Bhagavan means the right-hand side of the chest – am I correct?
B.: Trace back the feeling of “I” or the japam until it merges back there. Concentrating on that spot in the body may result in freedom from thoughts for the time being. If you are seeking Realisation the mind must be traced back into the Heart. Fixing one’s attention or concentration on anything is mental activity. Only subsidence or cessation of mental activity Reveals the Heart.
       When you are asked to merge back into the Heart, whence you have come, it does not mean this is to be accomplished by means of “doing”. To “do” is to use the mind or permit it to function, that is, to encourage it to drift away from the Heart. Not to “do” is to not stand in the way of the mind becoming permanently engulfed in the Shining of the Heart. You need not try to assist the mind to reach the Heart.
           Anything you try to do in facilitating the mind to sink into the Heart will only drive the mind farther away from the Heart. There is only one way to truly reach the Heart, and that is relinquishment of the realm of doing once and for all. Abandon trying to do anything with the mind. Keep the mind perfectly awake and alert but perfectly motionless and still.
           Effort made or volition entertained to remain motionless is also movement. If the mind is indefinitely kept up in jagrat-sushupti [wakeful sleep], it sinks into the Heart automatically and is dissolved there once and for all like a salt doll thrown into the ocean. So, rather than concentrating on the right-hand side of the chest, seek the source of the mind and in consequence practically discover it to be on the right-hand side of the chest.
          People ask what sadhana should be done to keep the mind still. What reply is to be given to this query? Stillness is one’s natural state. We ruin it by permitting thoughts to arise. Stop thinking and the mind is still. It is as simple as that.

 
Q.: I am trying to stop the flow of thought. I am not meeting with any success.
B.: Why? Because you endeavour to counter thought with thought. The thought “I must not think thought” cannot kill thought. Only stillness can extinguish thought. 


Q.: How can I cultivate this stillness?
B.: By giving up vrittis[ tendancies] of mind.


Q.: How is that to be done?
B.: “Who am I?” is the way.


Q.: Is effort a hindrance to Realisation of the Self?
B.: Yes.


Q.: Then why does Bhagavan exhort us to put in effort to
Realise the Self?
B.: Effort is necessary until it has become unnecessary.


Q.: I don’t understand what Bhagavan is telling me.
B.: Until the mind has become reduced into the primordial state of pure Subjective Consciousness to which possibility of expenditure of effort and accommodation of volition are altogether alien, effort is necessary to gain such natural state. Once this state is reached, further effort returns one to the quagmire of “doing”. So, make effort until it has become impossible to make any more effort, that is, until the sashwatamanonivritti [    ] state stands reached. This will not happen in a day. It needs relentless practice over a prolonged period of time.


Q.: But Bhagavan realised in twenty-seven minutes of practice in Madurai!
B.: Not all are born the same. At the time of birth some people have minds that are more introverted than those of others [also whose birth has just taken place].


Q.: Why this disparity?
B.: It is unnecessary and pointless to go into it. Work with what you have.”

Edited by John David Oct 2021

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Non-Doing

Ramana Maharshi, Aham Sphurana

Aham Sphurana

A Glimpse of Self Realisation

New Book about Sri Ramana Maharshi

Available Worldwide

On  www.openskypress.com  and Amazon:

A Glimpse of Self Realisation

New Book about Sri Ramana Maharshi

“In my opinion, Aham Sphurana, a Glimpse of Self Realisation, will become a Treasure Trove of Wisdom to the Seekers of Truth in general, and particularly to the devotees of Bhagavan.”

Swami Hamsananda – Athithi Ashram, Tiruvannamalai

Available Worldwide

on  www.openskypress.com  and Amazon:

Non-Doing

Q.: If I stay at the root of the mind or abide as pure consciousness, will I Realise the Self?                                      
B.: The question shows that the arbitrary mental conceptualisation, ‘Realising the Self’, is still present in the mind. Staying in the root of the mind should be a matter of course; it must be the natural state. On the other hand, you are trying to deliberately do it so that you can thereby gain the reward you call ‘Self-Realisation’. Can it work? No.

Stillness cannot be reached with the mind. Water cannot be made dry water. Subside as the mind and Stillness alone is left over. People want to know how this may be done. It cannot be done because doing is the anti-thesis of it. J.K. has said- ‘Total negation is the essence of the positive.‘ Do not do anything with the mind. That is Realisation.

Doing cannot bring about non-doing; absence of doing is known as non-doing. Non-doing is not an exotic variety of doing; it is simply not doing. Abstinence from or relinquishment of thought is not a positive act. It should therefore not require to be attended to with effort or volition. If there is any effort or volition involved you are still stuck in the realm of doing. The transition from the realm of doing to that of non-doing should be a natural collapse. It is pointless if forced.

Edited by John David Oct 2021

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