|
Nisargadatta
Maharaj - Excerpts
from I Am That.
The desire to find the Self will surely be fulfilled,
provided you want nothing else. But you must be honest with
yourself and really want nothing else. If in the meantime
you want many other things and are engaged in their pursuit,
your main purpose may be delayed until you grow wiser and
cease being torn between contradictory urges. Go within,
without swerving, without ever looking outward.
What is supremely important is to be free from
contradictions: the goal and the way must not be on
different levels; life and light must not quarrel; behavior
must not betray belief. Call it honesty, integrity,
wholeness; you must not go back, undo, uproot, abandon the
conquered ground. Tenacity of purpose and honesty in pursuit
will bring you to your goal.
Whatever name you give it: will, or steady purpose, or one
pointedness of mind, you come back to earnestness,
sincerity, honesty. When you are in dead earnestness, you
bend every incident, every second of your life to your
purpose. You do not waste time and energy on other things.
You are totally dedicated, call it will, or love, or plain
honesty. We are complex beings, at war within and without.
We contradict ourselves all the time, undoing today the work
of yesterday. No wonder we are stuck. A little of integrity
would make a lot of difference.
Go deep into the sense of 'I am' and you will find. How do
you find a thing you have mislaid or forgotten? You keep it
in your mind until you recall it. The sense of being, of 'I
am' is the first to emerge. Ask yourself whence it comes, or
just watch it quietly. When the mind stays in the 'I am',
without moving, you enter a state that cannot be verbalized
but can be experienced. All you need to do is to try and try
again.
I can tell you about myself. I was a simple man, but I
trusted my Guru. What he told me to do, I did. He told me to
concentrate on 'I am' - I did. He told me that I am beyond
all perceivables and conceivables - I believed. I gave him
my heart and soul, my entire attention and the whole of my
spare time (I had to work to keep my family alive). As a
result of faith and earnest application, I realized my Self
(swarupa) within three years.
Detach yourself from all that makes your mind restless.
Renounce all that disturbs its peace. If you want peace,
deserve it.
Emotional reactions, born of ignorance or inadvertence, are
never justified. Seek a clear mind and a clean heart. All
you need is to keep quietly alert, inquiring into the real
nature of yourself. This is the only way to peace.
For him, (the sincere seeker), the right procedure is to
adhere to the thought that he is the ground of all
knowledge, the immutable and perennial awareness of all that
happens to the senses and mind. If he keeps it in mind all
the time, aware and alert, he is bound to break the bounds
of non-awareness and emerge into pure life, light and love.
The idea - "I am the witness only" will purify the body and
the mind and open the eye of wisdom. Then man goes beyond
illusion and his heart is free of all desires. Just like ice
turns to water and water to vapour, and vapour dissolves in
air and disappears into space, so does the body dissolve
into pure awareness (chidakash), then into pure being
(paramakash), which is beyond all existence and
non-existence.
A spark of truth can burn up a mountain of lies. The
opposite is also true. The sun of truth remains hidden
behind the cloud of self-identification with the body.
I see what you too could see, here and now, but for the
wrong focus of your attention. You give no attention to your
Self. Your mind is all with things, people and ideas, never
with your self. Bring your Self into focus, become aware of
your own existence. See how you function, watch the motives
and results of your actions. Study the prison you have built
around yourself, by inadvertence.
We discover it by being earnest, by searching, inquiring,
questioning daily and hourly, by giving one's life to this
discovery.
Look at the net and its many contradictions. You do and undo
at every step. You want peace, love, happiness and work hard
to create pain, hatred and war. You want longevity and
overeat, you want friendship and exploit. See your net as
made of such contradictions and remove them - your very
seeing will make them go.
How do you go about finding anything? By keeping your mind
and heart on it. Interest there must be and steady
remembrance. To remember what needs to be remembered is the
secret of success. You come to it through earnestness.
First purify your vision. Learn to see instead of staring.
Also you must be eager to see. You need to both clarity and
earnestness for self-knowledge. You need purity of heart and
mind, which comes through earnest application in daily life
of whatever life you have understood. There is no such thing
as compromise in Yoga.
Take the first step first. All blessings come from within.
Turn within. 'I am' you know. Be with it all the time you
can spare, until you revert to it spontaneously. There is no
simpler and easier way.
We know the outer world of sensations and actions, but of
our inner world of thoughts and feelings we know very
little. The primary purpose of meditation is to become
conscious of, and familiar with, our inner life. The
ultimate purpose is to reach the source of life and
consciousness. Incidentally, practice of meditation affects
deeply our character. We are slaves to what we do not know;
of what we know we are masters. Whatever vice or weakness in
ourselves we discover and understand its causes and its
workings, we overcome it by the very knowing; the
unconscious dissolves when brought into the conscious. The
dissolution of the unconscious releases energy; the mind
feels adequate and becomes quiet.
Refuse all thoughts except one: the thought 'I am'. The mind
will rebel in the beginning, but with patience and
perseverance it will yield and keep quiet.
All you need is to stop searching outside what can be found
only within. Set your vision right before you operate. You
are suffering from acute misapprehension. Clarify your mind,
purify your heart, sanctify your life - this is the quickest
way to a change of your world.
Have your Guru always in your heart and remember his
instructions - this is real abidance with the true.
True happiness cannot be found in things that change and
pass away. Pleasure and pain alternate inexorably. Happiness
comes from the Self and can be found in the Self only. Find
your real Self (swarupa) and all else will come with
it.
_______________________
Siddharmeshwar
Maharaj - Excerpts
from Amrut Laya
Detachment is absence of even a single desire. This leads to
fearlessness. Otherwise, there is no freedom from fear for
you. One should not depend on others, as in the case where
one thinks : "If I do not get anything to eat I will die."
Desire for the bliss of Self, is desire for the bliss
within. People who hoard millions and then go about telling
others the knowledge of Brahman do not do good to
themselves, instead they commit fraud.
Celibacy means not to be attached to the senses. With
strength, anything is possible. When one becomes dependent,
then one thinks of Rama for benefits. If there is strength,
there is less fear. It becomes easier to think of
'knowledge'. A strong man also understands knowledge better.
Virtue is indicated by control of the senses.
All pride must vanish. "I am the body, my wealth, my son, I
am a person with status, my wife, my relatives". So long as
all these ideas exist, there cannot be real knowledge. After
realization of the Self, the aspirant regards his Master as
the greatest of all. He feels that he belongs to the
Master.
Spiritual knowledge, unsupported by worship is baseless." If
there is no devotion (bhakti), there is no knowledge
(jnana). Devotion is the mother of knowledge. Without the
Master's grace, there is no knowledge. When will the
Master's grace flow? Only through steadfast devotion. Then,
even mud will turn into gold. The Satguru is your protector.
Why bother about others when the Satguru is your
guardian?
_______________________
Ramana
Maharshi - Excepts
from Five Verses on the Self and Thus Spake
Ramana
1. He who is forgetful of the Self, mistaking the
physical body for it, and goes through innumerable births,
is like one who wanders all over the world in a dream. Thus
realizing the Self would only be like waking up from the
dream-wanderings.
2. One who asks himself "Who am I?" and "Where am I?",
though existing all the while as the Self, is like a drunken
man who enquires about his own identity and whereabouts.
3. While in fact the body is in the Self, he who thinks that
the Self is within the insentient body is like one who
considers the cloth of the screen which supports a cinema
picture to be contained within the picture.
4. Does an ornament exist apart from the gold of which it is
made? Where is the body apart from the Self? He who
considers the body to be himself is an ignorant man. He who
regards himself as the Self is the Enlightened One who has
realized the Self.
5. The One Self, the Sole Reality, alone exists eternally.
When even the Ancient Teacher, Dakshinamurti, revealed It
through speechless eloquence, who else could convey it by
speech?
Since past and future have never been without the present,
to know the Eternal Now is to know the truth. The
changeless, infinite Self transcends time and space, which
are relative to the body and the mind. The Sage who has
realized the Self transcends both freewill and destiny, with
which only the ignorant are concerned. To the ignorant, the
'I' is the Self limited to the body; to the wise, the 'I' is
the Infinite Self.
_______________________
Ellâm
Onru - All Is One
(Anonymous Tamil 19th Century text)
The knower of Unity acts in the best of ways. It is the
knowledge of Unity which makes him act. He cannot make a
mistake. In the world, he is God having become visible. All
is One.
_______________________
Ranjit
Maharaj -
Excerpts from Talks in
Brittany.
Reality has no method. Illusion has many methods, many
problems and many concepts. To overcome illusion, or
concepts, one should ask, "From where does all this thinking
arise?" Thinking is always of other things. To know the
thoughtless Reality, no thinking is required. It is where
there is no thought. Whatever thing you think of doesn't
exist. Everything is He only, and apart from Him there is
nothing in the world. Whatever is thought of, makes Him
something other than what He is. When thinking ends, what
happens? You go to zero.
Reality is not to be achieved, it is there. After this
thorough understanding, nothing is required.
People don't understand that illusion is nothing. How can it
block you? How can nothing block you?
What you see and perceive is in you and not outside. You are
not the body, take it for granted. When the mind takes up
any thought and gets attached to it, then everything is seen
as 'other' than Him.
In human nature, fear is always there. Everyone has fear,
because, they believe "I am the body." Mind creates this
fear and is nothing but your own concept. Fear arises in the
mind due to the unsteadiness of the world. Every minute is
changing. If you go beyond darkness and knowledge, then
there is no fear at all. For example, a screen has no fear
of any picture because it is steady. So, that which is not
steady always has fear. Your mind changes every moment and
cannot remain steady by itself. If your mind knows its own
source or its own beginning, then only it can be happy. As
long as there is a body, there is fear. If you want to be
fearless, be what is fearless, because that which is has no
end. The final Reality has no end and no beginning, it is
limitless. It is so subtle, that all thoughts and concepts
stop. Duality contains fear, oneness has no fear.
Take out the thorn of the ego. Take out the name and the
shape and there is nothing. You see by your own
understanding that everything is illusion. Experience it!
You don't want to see because the mind doesn't allow you to
see. The mind is the only hurdle which keeps you away from
you. The mind says, "It is true." Tell the mind, "It is not
true." Understand the mind, and then it doesn't remain.
Then, the aspirant may ask, "What should I do?" Do nothing!
Words only go up to the space. Lord Krishna says in the
Bhagavad Gita, "There, from where the words come, That is my
Self." That is my Self. In the Bible, Christ also said the
same thing: "Know thyself and you know the world." Go up to
where thinking ends, go up to That, and there is the Self.
So, I always call it, "Self without self". Self-realization
is Self without self. As long as 'realizing' remains, self
remains. The eyes have got the habit to see that which is
not. The Master takes you up to That, up to the Reality and
says, "Understand yourself."
First mental understanding is required and after that comes
a practical understanding. Intellectual talent is the
greatest thing. Without the intellect, one cannot
understand. So, you have to understand with the full
intellect and then, that knowledge, or that understanding
will submerge, because knowledge is a thought. A good
thought or a bad thought, both are thoughts. So, knowledge
is a golden thorn, and ignorance is an ordinary thorn and
both are bondage. Suppose your hands have been put in
handcuffs. Maybe they're iron cuffs or maybe they're golden,
but it's still bondage. So, both are thorns. One should
understand and throw them away. It is very difficult to
throw out the knowledge, because ego remains up till
knowledge. Knowledge is the ego, nothing else. To erase that
knowledge, one should say, "I know nothing." As Socrates
said; "I know that I don't know."
There is no experience in Reality. What experience have you
got when you sleep? That knowledge, or power is there and
everything else is not. It is beyond ignorance and
knowledge. For example, darkness and light go together. A
light goes off and darkness is there, and if you turn on the
light, darkness automatically goes away. They are one. In
the same way, knowledge and ignorance are both one. In my
Master's words, Siddharameshwar Maharaj, "Knowledge is the
greatest ignorance." Through knowledge, we know That, which
is nothing, and this is a trick, nothing else! One should
know this trick.
What you know today, what you are going to know tomorrow, is
all the same. In the same way, knowledge never changes. Due
to ignorance, the effects differ. When you place a cover
over the light, then there will be darkness, and when you
take off the cover, light returns.
Remove the veil of ignorance which has come upon you. Take
away the cloth in front of the light, and the light is
there! In sleep one goes to this 'end'. Go to the 'end' and
find your Self. Finding out means forgetting your mind, your
thoughts and your individuality.
Nothing needs to be demolished. Why demolish anything? What
are these things? Things don't trouble you, but you go in
and get troubles. This chair never says, "I am yours." You
say, "It is my chair." So, who is at fault? Not the chair,
but yourself. You have nothing to do with it. You should see
the world that way.
You have to keep going. Hurdles must be there, but the
hurdles should be overtaken. One should overcome the
problems. A problem is a thought. From your childhood, you
have accumulated many thoughts. Who has given you all those
thoughts? Your father, your mother, your friends in your
circle. Everything has come to you. They are all ignorant
people, so what can they give you? What can darkness give to
light? Tell me. Nothing, isn't it? What can you find in
darkness? Nothing! All thoughts, all habits are not true.
All have come to you due to ignorance. Go to the source from
where they arise and they dissolve! All bondage is only a
mental bondage which you have borrowed from someone else.
Money that is borrowed is not yours. In the same way, you
have borrowed the thoughts of others and have taken them as
your own bondage. How can it be? Throw off that bondage! Who
stops you? Give the money to the creditor, and you are free
of all debt! You have to be free of debt.
How can you know when you have found a Master? There is no
test or statistics. What is written in the books of
Knowledge by many saints and experienced persons, should be
experienced by you. A Master says, "This is salt". Books
also describe salt. Put it in your mouth and see for
yourself if it is salty. What the Master says, you must
experience. You can find out only by 'tasting'.
When the Master teaches you, you can get the experience.
Nothing is impossible in the world. You are He, so what is
impossible? You don't understand this, you don't take it to
heart. Due to the identification with body and mind, you say
that you are not perfect. Everything disappears in deep
sleep, so why can you not go to the end of yourself? From
where this power arises, find the source, and that is your
Self. One can understand the final Reality if the Master
gives you the right direction. If the address is wrong you
cannot reach the destination. The Master should be perfect,
only then he can show you the way to Reality.
All want to be a Master. Even between two boys, there is
always one who will be the Master of the other. It is the
nature of the power which is inside man. If you experience
for yourself what the Master says, if you can put your own
stamp on it, then it is true. Otherwise, separation between
Master and aspirant remains. In truth there is no duality
between them. So the question of fear does not exist. When
that is fully satisfied and there is the feeling that
nothing remains to be acquired in the world, then one feels
completely at peace. That satisfaction comes to you. One
should experience for himself and then speak, otherwise one
should keep quiet.
There is a saying in India, "With one piece of turmeric, one
cannot open a grocer's shop." Many people talk of God even
though they do not know God. Why? Because they are always
moving in the opposite direction from Him. If you want to go
to the mountains in the north, and you go to the south, how
can you reach the mountains? Where is God and Who is God?
One should know He is not outside, but within you! Thoughts
are naturally directed to the outside; they should turn
toward the Self with the help of the Master.
Find out, "Who you are." When all thoughts end, He is there.
Forget everything that you have learned up till now, then He
is there. In this way, one is at peace. Peace comes from
within ourselves. Christ says: "Know thyself and you will
know the world." When you go to the very end of yourself,
the question of peace does not arise. Nothing remains; you
are yourself.
Understand for yourself that death is nothing. Know that, "I
am birthless, I am deathless, I have never taken birth and I
will never die." Take the poisonous tooth out of the serpent
and play with him. You know it is not going to do any harm
to you. Death is nothing. Everyday, when you sleep it is
like a small death. Why to fear? Nothing is there.
Everything is illusion. Keep your mind in that fearless
state only. Just as the poisonous tooth is taken out, in the
same way, play with the world, play with the illusion, there
is no harm. It won't affect your mind. Live fearlessly; no
death, no fear, knowing "I am that real Power." There is
nothing! What will harm you?
I can tell you, but you have to take out the thorn. It
doesn't exist, take it for granted. It doesn't exist, but
you feel its existence. The difficulty is that you don't
leave it alone. You are afraid of what will happen. Nothing
else is going to happen. Nothing has happened up to now, and
so what is going to happen now? So, to take out the thorn of
the ego, always say: "I know nothing, I don't see, I don't
hear, I don't eat, I don't sleep, I don't walk, I do
nothing." Then, 'I' is not there and the ego must go.
One should be brave to truly live. When you are brave, fear
does not remain. Be brave and have faith in the Master. Do
what he says, because you and He are one. Throw off the
veil. It is easy to leave that which is nothing, but
difficult to see That which is present and which you have
forgotten. There is an Indian custom in which sweets are
distributed to all the relatives on the 13th day after
death. What is the meaning of this? It is: The person is not
dead, he never dies.
_______________________
Sant Samarth
Ramdas - Excerpt from
Dasbodh (the text on which Siddharameshwar Maharaj
commented as a form of Self-knowledge teaching)
Beware of the false prophets who pretend to be spiritual
Gurus, but are as worthless as straw. Posing himself as an
Advaitic Vedantin, he dismisses all distinctions of good and
bad, right and wrong, holy and unholy and behaves as
promiscuously as he wishes. One must take utmost care to see
that the Guru he wishes to resort to is one who has himself
realized God and who has the capacity to make others also
realize Him.
The world is as good as unreal to him who is absorbed in the
meditation on the Name of Râma (God); and then with
the vision of Râma, the whole of the phenomenal world
will appear as a dream.
To apprehend the Brahman (Absolute) is, no doubt impossible
for the speech, the mind and the intellect. But what this
really means is that it can be realized without their aid,
and that its bliss can be enjoyed without there being any
prior want or desire.
If you wish to see God, you must cross the front gate in the
form of this phenomenal world.
The chief characteristic of a saint is that he is always
intent in looking at the vision of God, whatever may be his
condition or activity while he is in society. He becomes as
fearless as Brahman and devoid of blemishes like anger,
jealousy, sensuous desires and so on.
What is very essential in spiritual life is the combination
of the realization of Brahman and the renunciation of all
other things. Without any disgust for God-less things, there
will only be a verbal knowledge about God, and the growth of
God-realization will be much hampered. And without
God-realization, renunciation will only be a pretence. One
must therefore make himself free internally as well as
externally.
_______________________
Anandamayi Ma
- Excerpts from
Words of Sri Anandamayi Ma
For a Self-realized being, neither the world with its pairs
of opposites exists, nor does the body. If there is no
world, there can obviously be no body either.
Who says, the body exists? There is no question at all of
name and form. To wonder whether a realized Being sees
anything outside of Himself, is also beside the point. Who
is there to whom he can say: "Give to my body"! Yet this
state of wanting is precisely the reason for one's belief in
the reality of the body. Therefore, since there is no world
and no body, there can be no action either; this stands to
reason. To make it quite clear : after Self-realization
there is no body, no world, and no action - not even the
faintest possibility of these - nor is there such an idea as
"there is not". To use words is exactly the same as not to
speak; to keep silent or not, is identical - all is THAT
alone.
Now you should understand that one who loves God is but out
to destroy identification with the body. When this has come
about, there is destruction of delusion, of bondage, in
other words, of desire, of not-Self. Your dwelling place at
present, is where the self manifests as not-Self; when that
is destroyed, it is only destruction that is destroyed.
Ask yourself: "Why do I find pleasure in the fleeting things
of this world?" If you crave for some outer thing or feel
very attracted to a person, you should pause and say to
yourself: "Look out, you are being fascinated by the glamour
of this!" Is there a place where God is not?
What obstruct one on the spiritual path bears within itself
seeds of future suffering. Yet the heartache, the anguish
over the effect of these obstructions, are the beginning of
an awakening to Consciousness.
You should try to arrive at the understanding that
everything originates from Him. Whatever power, whatever
skill you possess - why, even you yourself - from where does
everything arise? And does it not all have for purpose the
finding of Him, the destroying of the veil of ignorance?
To long for the cessation of want is your very nature, and
to explore and penetrate to the root of whatever you
perceive. When you buy clothes you choose durable material,
which will not wear quickly; even this is an indication of
your innate tendency to seek the Everlasting. It is your
nature to crave the revelation of That which IS, for the
Eternal, for Truth, for limitless Knowledge. This is why you
do not feel satisfied with the evanescent, the untrue, with
ignorance and limitation. your true nature is to yearn for
the revelation of what you ARE.
_______________________
Tukârâma
- Excerpts from The
Poems of Tukârâma.
Of what material is the
'I' made ; how difficult it is to look into its nature. We
cannot forget the idea, though it is nothing but ourself.
When darkness overpowers light, the ground under our feet is
changed. Tukâ says, If you take God with you, he will
show you where you are.
The mind serves as a crucible wherein all pleasures are
thrown together. One serves to make another deeper, but each
returns at last to its native form. When a drop of rain
falls into the sea, how can it be distinguished? Tukâ
says, The new drops cannot be recognized even by God.
I have renounced all vehicles of sense ; I shall not allow
any trouble to come near me hereafter. Why should we have to
clean our hands? Why should we put obstacles in a practised
path? What has God not created for you? Everything is in its
proper place. Tukâ says, When our pride disappears,
with it goes the relation of I and you.
He knows not what is right ; he is dragged along by the
organs of sense ; he continues prating in the words which he
has learned. Such a one goes to hell himself and would take
forty-two families and the world besides with him. He shuts
his eyes and utters things unfit for speech ; he talks idle
nonsense to gratify his pride. Tukâ says, I have
scrutinized him ; I know him for one who dances in imitation
of others.
If a man talks of divine knowledge, while his heart is full
of pride in wealth, what pleasure does it yield the soul to
serve him? Many in this Kali age have turned saints to full
their bellies. Rare indeed, says Tukâ, is the man whom
I fall down.
_______________________
Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa - Excerpts
from Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna
The mind steeped in affection for woman and wealth is like
the green betel-nut. So long as the nut is green, it remains
adherent to its shell, but when it dries, shell and nut
become separated; and on being shaken, the kernel moves
within. So when affection for women and wealth dries up from
within, the soul is perceived as quite different from the
body.
The Knowledge of Oneness makes me see that everything is but
a manifestation of God, the Absolute, on the plane of sense.
Thus do I realize that all women are so many forms in which
the Divine Mother appears. Hence I revere all women alike -
be it an unchaste woman, or an ideal wife who is an example
to others of conjugal love and devotion.
Unless one becomes as simple as a child, one cannot reach
divine illumination. Give up your vanity about the worldly
knowledge you have acquired, and know it to be futile in the
realm of higher truth. Be as simple as a child, and then
only you will reach the knowledge of the True.
Only two kinds of people can attain to Self-knowledge: those
whose minds are not encumbered at all with learning, that is
to say, not overcrowded with thoughts borrowed from others;
and those who after studying all the Scriptures and
sciences, have come to realize that they know nothing.
Jnana never comes without the renunciation of lust and
possession. With renunciation is destroyed all ignorance,
all avidya. Many things can be burnt by means of a lens held
directly in the rays of the sun. But you cannot use it in
the shadow of a room. Even so with the mind. You must take
it out of the dark cell of this world and expose it to the
full blaze of self-effulgent Divinity. Then alone will come
true renunciation, and all ignorance will be
destroyed.
_______________________
H.W.L.
Poonja -
Excerpts from This - Prose and Poetry of Dancing
Emptiness
Thinking happens when you want to become something. Then
you must think. But to not become something what is there to
do? Stay as you are!
Freedom is always Here, it is the Holiness that is missing.
What are you going to give the Supreme if you have given up
your Heart to something else. Only a pure unsmelt flower is
offered to God, only Love for the Self is needed. Be humble
and devoted to the Self.
The devotee, the true Devotee, is the Heart of the
Divine.
When your intoxication depends on somebody else you are
cheating yourself, you are deceiving yourself. No good
intoxication will come from any source other than your Self.
Nobody will give you Happiness, nobody will give you Peace.
Find out yourself. Only a confused mind will think that
there is happiness elsewhere. This Love and Beauty will
arise if you are Quiet for this single instant. Then you
will attain Everything.
Vichar (Self-inquiry) should continue every moment of your
life, naturally like the act of breathing, until your last
breath. As my Master, (Ramana Maharshi), says: "Inquire
until there is no one left to inquire."
Inquire "Who am I?". Patiently, wisely, honestly inquire,
turning your face, Awareness, within. When you are face to
face with Self only Keep Quiet. This Quietness is no
mentation, not even stirring the I-thought. This Quietness
is the Peace of "Let there be Peace". This Quietness is the
eternal Abode.
The Truth is beyond thought, concept, and conditioning and
this Truth is what you are, and only the Truth Is. So stop
your search, simply be Quiet, definitely do not stir a
thought or make an effort, and the Truth will Reveal Itself
to Itself.
Whatever you think you become so thinking of name and form
is thinking of ego-mind-world-senses-illusion. If you must
think, think of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss. Best is
to simply know " I am That Brahman. "
This is the Kali Yuga, even rakshashas will incarnate as
teachers to mislead you. Those who must be destroyed by
these demons will be. You must test your Guru! Look at their
Peace, their lineage and their teaching. Without Inquiry
there is no Teaching.
These misleading teachers are like the mind. Just stay as
Awareness beyond mind, much beyond it. Mind gives you
doubts, fears, and worry, and keeps you unaware of That
beyond the mind. The role of mind in the play is to keep the
person in the dark, in the past. Where there is no
attachment to mind there is no time or past. This is the
Ultimate Truth.
_______________________
Mata
Amritanandamayi -
Excerpts from For My Children
Children, meditation is not just sitting with our eyes
closed. We should take every action as worship. We should be
able to experience His presence everywhere.
By keeping our mind on God constantly, while engaged in any
work, the benefit will reach all members of the family. The
ultimate aim in life should not be to amass wealth for
children and relatives; it should be to focus on our own
spiritual development.
Children, we should not dislike those who do immoral acts.
Our aversion should be towards their deeds, not towards
them.
Exhaustion of vasanas and destruction of mind; both are the
same. That is Liberation.
Once one chooses the spiritual path, he must give up
attachment to family and relatives; otherwise, he will not
be able to progress. If a boat is anchored, one will not row
in vain; the boat will not move forward. You have dedicated
your lives to God; you must have strong faith that He will
look after your family.
_______________________
Kabir
- From The Bîjak
of Kabir
The mind is a nervous thief,
the mind is a pure cheat.
The ruin of sages, men and gods,
the mind has a hundred thousand gates.
Try your best with jewels,
decorate the clay.
Kabir came and went again,
Existence is a lie.
What's the world like?
A flock of sheep.
One falls in the ditch,
the rest jump in.
_______________________
Yogaswami
- From Songs and
Sayings of Yogaswami
Bear in mind the words
that I shall tell you,
That the whole world may rejoice and your heart may be
gladdened
One God, one world !
Always seek after what is good and put it into practise.
You are not gross matter ; you are perfect
consciousness.
'Tis difficult your greatness to describe !
Therefore - fire will not burn you ;
The friendly breezes will not parch you ;
Even the earth itself cannot harm you ;
And much praised water will not chill you.
You are that which has no end.
Keep in your heart the happiness that never suffers
change.
For you there is no caste and no religion.
Plant naught but justice in your mind,
And follow not the senses' path that will only bring you
sorrow.
Never will danger come your way.
Let everything you have to do be well and truly done.
Long, long ago were you redeemed !
Now all the world lies in your grasp !
Of this there is no doubt. Thus I have said. Now hearken
!
The sat-guru is there to help you. You be but a witness
!
All hail to the feet of the wonder-working Lord
!
_______________________
The Yoga
Vasishtha
It is childish and ignorant to talk of duality and
non-duality; the enlightened ones laugh at all this.
However, without such a discussion based on duality and
non-duality it is not possible to clean one's consciousness
of ignorance. It is only in that spirit that I have dealt
with all this, dear friend.
The mind abandons everything when the vision of the supreme
is gained. Hence, one should resolutely renounce everything
till the supreme vision is gained. Not till one renounces
everything is self-knowledge gained: when all points of view
are abandoned, what remains is the Self.
That which has no seed (cause) and which is indescribable is
therefore not the cause of another - naught is born of that.
Hence the self is neither the doer nor the action nor the
instrument. It is the truth. It is the eternal absolute
consciousness. It is self-knowledge. There is no creation in
the supreme Brahman. One may theoretically establish the
arising and the existence of a wave in the ocean on the
basis of time (of its arising) and space (in which it seems
to exist as a wave); but who has tried to establish such a
relationship between Brahman and the creation? For in
Brahman time and space do not exist. Thus, the world has no
basis at all.
It is the cessation of the awareness of action and of
experience, the giving up of conditioning and thus the
attainment of peace and the state of equilibrium that is
known by the expression "abandonment of action".
The infinite consciousness which alone appears as all this
is undying, unchanging and eternal. The unmoving
consciousness remains, appearing to be whatever notion
arises in it here and there. What is truth and what is
false? So let one experience bodies, actions, sorrow or
pleasure as and when they arise - or let them all go. There
is no meaning in all this. Let it be 'this' way or 'that'
way, let it be or not - give up this delusion and remain
enlightened.
What is inquiry? To enquire thus: "Who am I? How has this
evil of samsara (repetitive history) come into being?" is
true inquiry. Knowledge of truth arises in oneself; and from
such knowledge there follows tranquility in oneself; and
then there arises the supreme peace that passeth
understanding and the ending of all sorrow. Inquiry is not
reasoning or analysis; it is directly looking into
oneself.
Diversity has no real existence except in one's own
imagination. "All this is indeed the absolute Brahman" -
remain established in this truth. Give up all other notions.
Even as the waves are non-different from the ocean, all
these things are non-different from Brahman. Even as in the
seed is hidden the entire tree in potential, in Brahman
there exists the entire universe for ever. Even as the
multicolored rainbow is produced by sunlight, all this
diversity is seen in the one.
The universe is but a long dream. The egosense and also the
fancy that there are others, are as real as
dream-objects.
When the 'I' concept perishes, the body-sense will
necessarily perish like a great tree whose roots are sawn
off.
Desires arising from latent tendencies connected with
external objects constitute bondage. One who has got rid of
his latent tendencies along with their root cause and
attained equanimity, O Raghava, know him to be a person
liberated from the objects of perception.
Brahman, or the Supreme Self, is one without a second,
without a cause and without an effect, for it has no reason
(motivation or need) to do anything. It is therefore not the
doer, neither is there any action, instrument nor seed for
such activity. Hence it is not the cause for this creation
or the Creator.
He who has no likes or dislikes towards pleasant and
unpleasant objects, but goes about like one asleep, is said
to be a liberated person.
_______________________
Tripura
Rahasya
The current notion that one cannot escape one's destiny is
applicable to weak-minded and senseless wastrels.
Destiny seizes and holds only senseless people. Conforming
to and following nature, destiny forms part of nature.
Nature again is only the contrivance for enforcing God's
will. His purpose is always sure and cannot be prevented.
Its edge can, however, be blunted by devotion to Him and if
it is not so blunted, the predisposing cause must therefore
be considered a most powerful factor in a man's life.
Therefore, eschew high vanity and take refuge in Him. He
will spontaneously take you to the Highest State.
True experience of the Self is the unawareness of even 'I
am'. Can the world persist after such unawareness?
I will tell you the secret. The cycle of births and deaths
is from time immemorial caused by ignorance which displays
itself as pleasure and pain and yet is only a dream and
unreal. Being so, the wise say that it can be ended by
knowledge. By what kind of knowledge? Wisdom born of
realization : viz., "I am That".
_______________________
Chandogya
Upanishad
As the rivers flowing
east and west
Merge in the sea and become one with it,
Forgetting they were ever separate rivers,
So do all creatures lose their separateness
When they merge at last into pure Being.
The Self which is free
from sin, free from old age, from death and from grief, from
hunger and thirst, which desires nothing but what it ought
to desire, and imagines nothing but what it ought to
imagine, that it is which we must search out, that it is
which we must try to understand. He who has searched out
that Self and understands it, obtains all worlds and all
desires.
All this is Brahman. Let a man meditate on that (visible
world) as beginning, ending, and breathing in It (the
Brahman).
_______________________
Svetasvatara
Upanishad
That person, who is of
the measure of a thumb, is the inner Self dwelling in the
hearts of men, limited by the heart, the understanding and
the mind. Those who know this become immortal.
Its hands and feet are everywhere, its eyes and heads are
everywhere, its ears are everywhere. It (Brahman), stands
encompassing all in the world.
When identified with the ego, the Self appears other than
what it is. It may appear smaller than a hair's breadth. But
know the Self to be infinite.
Meditate and realize this world is filled with the presence
of God.
You are the supreme Brahman, infinite, yet hidden in the
hearts of all creatures. You pervade everything.
Subtler than the subtlest, greatest than the greatest, the
Self is hidden in the heart of the creature. By the grace of
the Lord the one who is freed from sorrow sees him who is
actionless and majestic.
The Eternal which dwells in the soul has to be known. Beyond
that there is nothing else to be known. By knowing the
enjoyer, the object of enjoyment and the ruler, everything
has been said. This is the threefold Brahman.
He who is subtler than the subtle, who in the midst of chaos
has created all things of manifold forms, who alone envelops
everything - by knowing Him as the auspicious Lord one
attains peace forever.
He is indeed the guardian of this world in time, the Lord of
all, hidden in all things. In Him are united the seers of
Brahman as well as the gods. By knowing Him one cuts the
cords of death.
Perishable is matter, imperishable and immortal is the Lord.
He, the only God, rules over both matter and the soul. By
meditating on Him, by uniting with Him and becoming one with
Him there is in the end complete cessation of the illusion
of the world.
The One who rules over every single cause, in whom all this
comes together and goes asunder again, who is the Lord, the
Bestower of blessings, the adorable God - by discerning Him
one attains the Eternal Peace.
_______________________
Kenopanishad
Brahman is known to
one who thinks it is unknowable and not known to one who
thinks he knows.
Only the knowledge
derived from the above hint is the real knowledge; as with
this immortality is gained; from the indwelling Lord is
obtained the power to know Him; and through vidya
(knowledge) the Supreme Lord is obtained.
If in this life the Lord is known, it is well and good; if
not, it is a great loss. So wise men taking the Supreme Lord
in every being, depart from this world and become
immortal.
There neither the eye
goes nor the speech (the organs of action and perception as
well are negated); nor does the mind; how to teach what the
Brahman is - we do not know from our own knowledge nor do we
know through hearing from others because that is different
from what is known and also from that which is not known
from mind, etc., and which is above and apart from
them.
_______________________
Katha
Upanishad
The Self is not
certainly adequately known when spoken of by an inferior
person ; for It is thought of variously. When taught by one
who has become identified with It, there is no further
cogitation with regards to It. For It is beyond
argumentation, being subtler even than the atomic
quantity.
The intelligent Self is neither born nor does It die. It did
not originate from anything, nor did anything originate from
It. It is birthless, eternal, undecaying, and ancient. It is
not injured even when the body is killed.
One who has not desisted from bad conduct, whose senses are
not under control, whose mind is not concentrated, whose
mind is not free from anxiety (about the result of
concentration), cannot attain this Self through
knowledge.
_______________________
Mandukya
Upanishad
As long as there is mental
preoccupation with causality, so long does the worldly state
continue. When engrossment with causality is exhausted, one
does not attain the worldly state.
Since it is stated in the Vedas, "There is no diversity
here", "The Lord on account of Maya (illusion) is perceived
as manifold", and "The Self, without being born, appears to
be born in various ways", it follows that He is born on
account of Maya alone.
_______________________
Adi
Shankaracharya -
Excerpts taken from Upadesa Sahasri
I always bow down to those teachers who are conversant with
words, sentences and sources of Knowledge and who, like
lamps, have shown clearly to us Brahman, the secret of the
Vedas.
The conception (of the existence) of the non-Self is what is
called ignorance, the destruction of which is known to be
liberation. This destruction is possible by means of
Knowledge only, which is incompatible with Ignorance.
Actions (compatible with Ignorance) cannot destroy it.
The learned know the Vedas to be one continuous whole the
only purpose of which is to demonstrate one thing viz.,
Knowledge inasmuch as the oneness of the Self is to be known
by the understanding of the Vedic sentences.
It is, therefore, reasonable that this universe is unreal.
Existence-Knowledge only is real. Existing prior to
everything, It is both the knower and the known. It is the
forms that are unreal.
Unperceived in deep sleep but perceived (in waking and
dreams) by those who are ignorant, the whole of this
universe is an outcome of Ignorance and therefore
unreal.
It is said in the Sruti (Vedas) that the consciousness of
the oneness (of the individual Self and Brahman) is
Knowledge, and that of a difference (between them) is
Ignorance. Knowledge is, therefore, demonstrated in the
Scriptures with great care.
What is called deep sleep, darkness or ignorance is the seed
of the waking and dream states. It gets perfectly burnt by
the fire of Self-knowledge, and it no more produces effects,
like a burnt seed that does not germinate.
That one seed, called Maya, is evolved into the three states
which come one after another again and again. The self, the
Substratum of Maya, though only one and immutable, appears
to be many, like reflections of the sun in water.
That which permeates all, which nothing transcends and
which, like the universal space around us, fills everything
completely from within and without, that Supreme non-dual
Brahman - That thou are.
_______________________
Adi
Shankaracharya -
Excerpts taken from Hammering of delusion
(Moha-Mudgarah)
O deluded one, give up the thirst for accumulation of
wealth. Create in your mind the thought of Reality, without
any thirst. What you get, the wealth acquired through your
past deeds, with that, satisfy your mind.
The water on the lotus leaf is very unsteady, likewise life
is extremely fickle. Know that the whole world is devoured
by disease and infatuation, and assailed by sorrow.
As long as one is fond of acquiring wealth, so long one's
circle is devoted. Later, one lives in a decrepit body, and
none in the house inquires about one's well-being.
As long as breath abides in one's body, so long she inquires
about one's health in the house. When the breath has
departed on the loss of one's body, the wife is afraid of
that body.
As a child, one keeps on being attached to playing. As a
youth, one keeps on being attached to maidens. Growing old,
one keeps on being attached to anxiety. To the supreme
Brahman, none is attached!
Who is your wife? Who is your son? This transmigratory world
is very strange! To whom do you belong? Who are you? Whence
have you come? Think of what is the Truth, bewildered as you
are.
When there is attachment to saints, there comes
non-attachment. When there is non-attachment, there comes
absence of delusion. When there is absence of delusion,
there comes steadiness. When there is steadiness, there
comes liberation in life.
When youth has gone, what play of desire is there? When
water has evaporated, what pond is there? When wealth has
decreased, what circle is there? When the Truth is known,
what transmigration is there?
Do not take pride in wealth, people and youth. Time takes
away everything in the twinkling of an eye! After leaving
all this which is illusory, having realized the state of
Brahman, enter into That.
Who are you? Who am I? Wherefrom have I come? Who is my
mother? Who is my father? Reflect over this, having left
aside all the universe which is an essenceless dream
perception.
Having given up desire, anger greed and delusion, inquire
into the Self - "Who am I?" Being without Self-knowledge and
the prisoners of hell, the deluded are tormented.
Being devoted completely to the lotus-feet of the Guru, be
liberated from transmigration without delay! Thus, by
controlling the mind and the senses, you will see the Divine
who is dwelling in your heart.
|