Sri Ramana Maharshi on Self-Enquiry

    Self-Enquiry - What is it?

    To all deep-thinking minds, the enquiry about the “I” and its nature has an irresistible fascination. (Ramana Maharshi, MG, 72.)Self-enquiry is the one, infallible means, the only direct one, to realize the unconditioned, absolute Being that you really are. (Ramana Maharshi, MG, 50-1.)
    Disciple: Is it not funny that the “I” should be searching for the I”? Does not the enquiry, “Who am I?” turn out in the end [to be] an empty formula? Or, am I to put the question to myself endlessly, repeating it like [a] mantra? Master: Self-enquiry is certainly not an empty formula; it is more than repetition of any mantra. If the enquiry, "Who am I?”' were a mere mental questioning, it would not be of much value. The very purpose of Self-enquiry is to focus the entire mind at its Source. It is not, therefore, a case of one “I” searching for another “I.” …
    Where the “I” merges, another entity emerges as “I” - “I” of its own accord. That is the perfect Self. (Ramana Mahrashi, GFB.)
    Inquiring into the nature of one's self that is in bondage and realising one's true nature is release. (Ramana Maharshi, WHO, 21.)
    Though the “I” is always experienced, yet one's attention has to be drawn to it. Then only knowledge dawns. (Ramana Maharshi, TWSRM, Question 92.)
    If the ego is, everything else also is. If the ego is not, nothing else is. Indeed, the ego is all. Therefore the enquiry as to what this ego is is the only way of giving up everything. (Ramana Maharshi, FVR, verse 25.)
    Experiences such as "I went; I came; I was; I did" come naturally to everyone. From these experiences, does it not appear that the consciousness "I" is the subject of those various acts? Enquiry into the true nature of that consciousness, and remaining as oneself is the way to understand … one's true nature. (Ramana Maharshi, SE, answer to question 2.)

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Lama Gendun Rinpoche - "Nothing to do or undo"

Nothing to do or undo

“Happiness can not be found

through great effort and willpower,

but is already present,

in open relaxation and letting go.

Don’t strain yourself,

there is nothing to do or undo.

Whatever momentarily arises

in the body-mind

has no real importance at all,

has little reality whatsoever.

Why identify with,

and become attached to it,

passing judgement upon it and ourselves?

Far better to simply

let the entire game happen on its own,

springing up and falling back like waves

without changing or manipulating anything

and notice how everything vanishes and reappears, magically,

again and again, time without end.

Only our searching for happiness

prevents us from seeing it.

It’s like a vivid rainbow which you pursue

without ever chatching,

or a dog chasing its own tail.

Although peace and happiness

do not exist as an actual thing or place,

it is always available

and accompanies you every instant.

Don’t believe in the reality of good and bad experiences;

they are like today ephemeral weather,

like rainbows in the sky.

Wanting to grasp the ungraspable,

you exhaust yourself in vain.

As soon as you open and relax

this tight fist of grasping,

infinite space is there -

open, inviting and comfortable.

Make use of this spaciousness, this

freedom and natural ease.

Don’t search any further

looking for the great awakened elephant,

who is already resting quietly at home

in front of your own hearth.

Nothing to do or undo,

nothing to force,

nothing to want,

and nothing missing -

Emaho! Marvelous!

Everything happens by itself.”

About Venerable Lama Gendun Rinpoche

Excerpt from "Dialogues With a Modern Mystic" - Andrew Harvey and Mark Matousek.

 Andrew Harvey, in "Dialogues With a Modern Mystic" Andrew Harvey and Mark Matousek.

Advaita is not monism. Advaita means "not-two." We and the

universe are not "one": then all distinctions would be destroyed.

We are "not-two," intricately interrelated with everything, both separate,

unique *and* united. The astonishment of this dance of

"not-two" grows slowly as the mind and heart open in  divine love

and wisdom. Imagine that there was a heap of gold and a skillful

smith. The smith made fir trees, geraniums, tables, human beings, lamps.

Every object had a different shape, a different

purpose and identity but was made of the same thing. Look at the

sea. All waves are rising and falling differently, in different rhythms,

with different volumes. Some catch the light some do not. You can see the

separations between the waves but what you also see quite clearly is that

all the waves are water. That is what the knowledge

of "not-two" is like. Things retain the separateness which the

senses give them, which we use to negotiate this reality, but the illumined

mind knows that all things are Brahman, waves of one infinite sea of light.

You know, in other words, that you and everything and the light that  is at

all times manifesting everything

are "not-two," and "you" come to exist normally on all levels of

the divine creation, and meet "yourself" in all states, events, conditions,

beings. This is sahaja, spontaneous negotiation of

and union with all dimensions at all moments. Nisargadatta

Maharaj explains most lucidly the marvelous transitions to this

state: "When the I am myself goes, the I am all comes. When the

I am all goes, the I am comes. When even I am goes, Reality

alone is and in it every I am is preserved and glorified."

It is wonderful that this the most ultimate and holy of all

possible experiences in this world, that of unity, of advaita, has

to be enjoyed by everyone in their own profound solitude, at that

diamond point of solitude at which everyone secretly joins and

meets God and each other and all things. This final experience

kept for this most sacred and secret moment and is too vast an

precious to be ever completely communicated. This is the

moment when the created one returns to the source of creation

the moment at which all laws, dogmas and techniques that helped

the mystic arrive at that diamond point vanish in the silence of

return to origin.

Andrew Harvey

Ascetism.- Oil Pastels by Eleftheria Emmanouil

                     

to contact Eleftheria:
el.emman@hotmail.com 

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Ramana Maharshi - "Absolute Consciousness"

Consciousness is always Self-Conscious.

If you are conscious of anything, 

you are essentially conscious of yourself

Tony Parsons - I Am Not/I Am...

 I am not. . . 

            . . . my life story, the mind, the body, feelings, experiences of pain or pleasure, struggle, success or failure. I am not loneliness, stillness, frustration or compassion. I am not even what I think is my purpose, the seeking, the finding, or anything which is called a spiritual experience. 

            When I do not know what I am I sanctify these experiences, take ownership of them and give them great significance. I believe they mean something which, once understood, will give me answers and provide formulas. But these experiences are only consciousness concealing and revealing itself in order to be recognised. When I discover what I am I discover that I am not existence, I am the presence, which allows existence to be. Existence either blossoms in that presence or reflects back my sense of separation. 

I am. . . 

            . . .the divine expression exactly as I am, right here, right now. You are the divine expression exactly as you are, right here, right now. It is the divine expression, exactly as it is, right here, right now. Nothing, absolutely nothing, needs to be added or taken away. Nothing is more valid or sacred than anything else. No conditions need to be fulfilled. The infinite is not somewhere else waiting for us to become worthy. 

            I do not have to experience ‘the dark night of the soul’, or surrender, be purified, or go through any kind of change or process. How can the illusory separate self practise something in order to reveal that it is illusory?  

            I don’t need to be serious, honest, dishonest, moral or immoral, aesthetic or gross. There are no reference points. The life story that has apparently happened is uniquely and exactly appropriate for each awakening. All is just as it should be, right now. Not because it is a potential for something better, but simply because all that is, is divine expression. 

            The invitation to discover that there is no-one who needs liberating is constant. There is no need to wait for moments of transformation, to look for the non-doer, permanent bliss, an ego-less state, or a still mind. 

            I don’t even have to wait for grace to descend. For I am, you are, it is already the abiding grace.

Tony Parsons

Wei Wu Wei - To Hell with it All!

 To Hell with it All!


For goodness' sake let's give up all this objectivising nonsense! It has gone on altogether too long! Wasting our apparent lives objectivising from morning to night, and from night to morning - except for deep sleep when we go sane for a short respite.

Take the absurd idea people have about there being a moon in the sky! What is a 'moon', what is a 'sky', and where is either the one or the other to be 'inside' or 'outside' the other or the one? Did you ever hear such balderdash?

We know perfectly well, you who are reading this know perfectly well, where the so-called 'moon' comes from, where it belongs, and the so-called 'sky' along with it! They belong with all the other phenomenal objects we objectify day and night, dreaming 'asleep' or dreaming 'awake' - rhinos and roses, beetles and bodhisattvas, dandelions and dragons.

Aren't you heartily sick of them all? No? Very well, then, admire them, do what you like with them, but for Heaven's sake don't go on thinking that they 'exist' as such in some sort of way somewhere or other 'over there', 'up there', 'down there' or any other sort of 'where'!

You know quite well where they 'exist', how they 'exist', and that their only 'existence' is at home where they belong, which is where you perceive them.

That is living practice

Wei Wu Wei

Amata Natasha Goldie - "In Pure Joy"

Let there be no despair, my love,

For the Source is with you always,

When you gaze upon the spectrum of dusk

As the Sun God vanishes from view,

Dream of me

When the stage of play surmounts to nothing,

And you open your eyes to see a new tomorrow,

Then the Divine has danced her dance,

And released you from your bondage,

Awaken with me

If your longing in the still of night,

Has met with the heart of your soul,

Then you have cracked open the chains of fear,

And discovered your seed of courage,

Fly with me

When your prayer reaches to the heavens,

And your teardrops fall to Gaia,

Your love, unconditional blossoms,

And your breath of reverence dances as new light

Then divinity shall bow her head

In pure joy, in pure joy

Amata Natasha Goldie on facebook.