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Latest Blog

How we Sabotage Vichara

Ramana Group Picture

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:

How we Sabotage Vichara

Chadwick: [unhappily] I have been staying here for months. I see no improvement in me. If anything, my condition seems to be taking a turn for the worse. I am desperate to Realise in this lifetime
B: Give up the idea that you are striving for Realisation. 
 
C: [Aghast] What?! Bhagavan would have me abandon the quest? Has he decided I am unworthy to Realise? 
B: Did you pay attention to what was said to you? You were not asked to abandon the quest. You were asked to abandon the spurious idea that there is a ‘you’ which is trying to merge with a ‘super-you’.
 
C: [gloomily] I understand nothing. 
B: Throw away the belief in the existence of the personal self. It is only on that erroneous basis that you are now asking questions.
 
C: But I must remain to perform sadhana! 
B: What is the objective of sadhana? 
 
C: Destruction of the ego. 
B: No, transcendence of the idea of its existence. 
 
C: So, if I just free myself from the idea that I exist as an individual person, the Who am I? method is not needed? 
B: First discard that erroneous idea. In having discarded that idea, do not bring in any other idea in its place, such as Aham Brahmasmi [I am Brahman], I am being consciousness, etc. Remain free from all ideas, that is from all mental identification. Let the mind remain in the state of pure Subjective Consciousness free from all objectification or identification. 
      Then, as and when thoughts arise, tackle them with the counter-thought, ‘To whom has this thought arisen?’. This arrests the further development of the thought. Then return the mind to its native state of pure Subjective Consciousness. This is the way. 

Edited by John David Nov 2024

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Am I doing Vichara Correctly?

Ramana 3

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:

Am I doing Vichara Correctly?

Yes when Aham Sphurana flashes forth

Q: What are the indicators based on which I shall be enabled to find out for myself whether I am doing vichara correctly or not? 
B: If vichara has resulted in a state of mind wherein it abides as identical with pure Subjective Consciousness, then you have done it correctly. However, it is not easy for the neophyte to tell whether his mind is presently abiding as identical with pure Subjective Consciousness, because the torpid mental state of manolayam [state where mind structures are hazily projected] is often mistakenly regarded as being the tabula-rasa mental state of pure Subjective Consciousness. 
      When mind abides as identical with pure Subjective Consciousness, it unmistakeably scintillates ‘I’-’I’. Thus, the definitive answer to your question is that vichara has been done correctly when doing it has resulted in the Aham Sphurana flashing forth.
 

Q: And how to recognise the Aham Sphurana when it ‘flashes forth’? 
B: There is no possibility of mistaking it when the experience actually occurs. Whatever description is given, is not only useless but also counter-productive, because if a description of the experience of Aham Sphurana is given, the mind twists and contorts the present banal experience of outward protruding, satiation craving mental impulses into one that seems to perfectly match with the description given; because it wants to avoid getting destroyed.
       So, even if you have heard a description of the experience of the Aham Sphurana being furnished in this Hall, please make no effort to recollect it. When the Aham Sphurana actually flashes forth, you will know it alright. Cognition of the Aham Sphurana is not based on intellectual corroboration it is a direct experience of the Self, inferior only to the Sahajastithi of the Jnani.

Edited by John David Nov 2024

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Mixed Blogs

Ramana Maharshi, Aham Sphurana
Aham Sphurana

Mrs. Piggot Introduces the Ashram And Bhagavan’s Meetings in 1934

I had visited India on several occasions prior to this trip, but this was
my maiden venture off the beaten track.
I was told of Sri Ramana Maharshi, and even from the little I heard, I knew I would travel anywhere and put up with any inconvenience in order to meet him and experience the sanctity of his presence. The friend who gave me the welcome news of the Maharshi’s existence offered to take me to him, and so we arrived at Tiruvannamalai late one afternoon.

Mechanism
Blog Posts

Suppressing Our Mechanisms

I would say that that seeing of our nature is like the first step in an ongoing process that reveals everything that’s been suppressed or been jumped over, and in that process it’s really a fire, but ultimately the fire is not for any person, it’s actually for the benefit of all beings.

Blog Posts

Qualifications for Satsang

There are certain qualifications to be fulfilled before one goes to a teacher for freedom.

The first requirement, discernment, is discrimination between what is real and what is unreal. This distinction is essential. You must desire what is real and reject what is unreal. What is real can only be truth. Your own Self. There is nothing beyond this. All the rest is falsehood…

Blog Posts

What is Spiritual Awakening?

The only sure way to step out of all the stories and all the nonsense is to really see with great clarity that this ‘me’ that we are so fond of referring everything to, simply doesn’t exist. Once you see it doesn’t exist then the whole thing falls away. Everything just falls away and you’re left with your essence.

Aham Sphurana

Jaws of the Tiger

Q.: Has anyone succeeded in winning the admiration of Maharshi himself?
B.: Oh! yes.
Q.: Who?
B.: You.
Q.: [face superciliously lights up with pompous joy, but manages to modestly utter] How can that be? I am a spectacularly worthless creature. Even after years of repeatedly visiting the sacred soil of Tiruvannamalai, I remain an unenlightened person.
B.: That is it.

Ramana Group Picture
Blog Posts

How we Sabotage Vichara

Chadwick: [unhappily] I have been staying here for months. I see no improvement in me. If anything, my condition seems to be taking a turn for the worse. I am desperate to Realise in this lifetime
B: Give up the idea that you are striving for Realisation.

Blog Posts

Stabilising in Truth

Andrew Cohen in his “Meeting with Remarkable People,” interview talked about the issue of stablising or embodying the new reality once a strong energetic opening has occurred. How easily the ego structures can close things down and therefore the need for work on strong inner mind patterns.

Blog Posts

Steve Jobs: The Crazy Ones

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes … the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. …

Blog Posts

Devotion Opens the Heart

JD: Hello Bhakti, which is the Hindi word for devotion.

BHA: This is my treasure. In the first three minutes of silence, already I noticed I’m always just in thoughts.
So busy in the thoughts, and then I go more into myself and the tears came. If I hear you talking, then in just a short time I really can go into my heart. I appreciate this so much and I really recognise your energy, like a mystery.

Sex and Spirituality
Blog Posts

Sex and Spirituality

Does sex help me to wake up or does it prevent me from that?

I think it can help and hinder. It depends. When sex is just pure, then actually it isn’t such a big deal. It’s an energy phenomenon.
Intimate relating creates an energy field, a circle between the two people. Normally, with sex, it’s between two people, but it could be the energy flowing through twenty people.

Blog Posts

Have the Conviction that You are Free

It’s simple, even if you don’t think you’re free, or even if you’re not completely free, have the conviction that you are free. Even if you know it intellectually that you’re free, hold on to that. It may be just intellectual, but it will help you because it won’t let your mind disturb you so much.

Aham Sphurana

I have a body

Q.: So, it is the thought ‘I have a body.’ that is responsible for creating the false impression that I have a body, whereas in truth I have none. Am I correct? _
B.: Yes. _
Q.: In that case, if I think, ‘I have no body.’, the body should disappear, but it does not disappear. Why is this so?
B.: Intensely thinking about the disappearance of the body does make it disappear; but accquisition of such worthless siddhis [Psychic Powers] is not our objective.

Blog Posts

Osho´s dentist left his Body

Devageet – Osho’s personal dentist recently left his body. He wrote this poem after having been diagnosed with cancer. He was a giant made of gold who left this world a better place through the richness of his generous sharing… I bow down in gratitude to his roaring sprit..

Aham Sphurana

Samadhi

Chad.: I asked my master if He would mind giving me a detailed explanation concerning the term Samadhi, and its various kinds. The Lord Ramana graciously assented and sweetly spoke the following words:—
B.: The meaning of the word Samadhi is generally given as Union with Reality, but it is not so. Samadhi means the State of non-differentiation from Reality or THAT-WHICH-IS. The following are its kinds:

Blog Posts

An Open Heart Is Beautiful – be a Knower,a Jnani

We all know it’s beautiful when the heart opens and the tears flow, and the love is gushing out. What more could we want at that time? Because when we are in that type of love – which is devotion itself – there’s almost no mind. The mind just disappears in that love and in that devotion, but as one teacher said to me, “And in that place no one wants to enquire.”