Vichara

[Nishta]

Disciple: How is one to realise the Self?
Maharshi: Whose Self? Find out.
D: Mine, but who am I?
M: Find out yourself.
D: I don't know how.
M: Just think over the question. Who is it that says "I don't know?" Who is the 'I' in your statement? What is not known?
D: Somebody or something in me.
M: Who is that somebody? In whom?
 
 
A wonderful Teaching!
As long as there is someone to know something, or something to be known, ego flourishes.
 

[Nishta]

The true nature of the Self is declared to be Peace. If the same Peace is not found, the non-finding is only a thought which is alien to the Self.  


the non-finding is only a thought....is this not a beautiful revelation!
 

[Nishta]

RM.: "The world is real." "No, it is a mere illusory appearance." "The world is conscious." "No." "The world is happiness." "No." What use is it to argue thus? That State is agreeable to all, wherein, having given up the objective outlook, one knows one's Self and loses all notions either of unity or duality, of oneself and the ego.

*All arguments, all words, all concepts, no matter how profound, no matter how sublime, become obsolete, irrelevant, when there is no mind.
 

[Nishta]

RM.: If [the mind] is turned within it becomes still in the course of time and that I-AM alone prevails. I AM is the whole truth.

*The sense of Am-ness is always with you. That Am-ness is your true Self. It may seem too ordinary, even boring. Maharshi says that is because it is mixed up with other things, namely mind-body-world. In time, with constant stillness, constant Am-ness, the limitations of mind-body-world fall away and "I-AM alone prevails". At that it is "realised" that "I AM is the whole truth".
 

[Nishta]

As you read this, and always, you are in possession of a sense of "I". That "I" is always with you and it is the same "I" that was/is in Maharshi, and all. That "I" is your true nature, the true Self. Surely you can sense it right now, it is undeniable. But it is likely unclear, unassuming. This is because it is tangled up with mind-body-world.

RM.: The meaning or significance of "I" is God...."I am"' is the whole truth.

RM.: Even if you do nothing more than unceasingly think of that first name 'I-I' with the attention focused on that "I" sense, that practice will take you to the Source.
 

[Nishta]

There are not 2 selves. A little self to search for and find a big Self. No!
The very self that you are right now is the Self you have been looking for. But it likely remains unclear to you because that true nature is tangled up with mind-body-world.

[Nishta]

RM.: When the "I" is kept up as the "I" only, it is the Self. When it flies off at a tangent and says, "I am this or that, I am such and such", it is the ego.

*What a gem from Maharshi. It is so simple isn't it! You can sense that "I" right now cant you. It is your True Self. The difficulty you will encounter is not dis-covering yourSelf, for Self-knowledge is very easy indeed, as Maharshi states, but ceasing to add "this and that" to "I-ness".

If you think yourself realised, if you think yourself a teacher, if you think yourself a sinner, each is equally problematic. You have smothered the pure "I", added this and that. Just be as you are, I-I-I-I-I....
 

[Nishta]

RM.: To see God is to be God....Be still - that is God.

*the theory is very simple, you cannot see God, you can only Be God. And to be Still is to be God. However, Maharshi does not refer to the temporary quiet mind that many of us reach during sadhana. He refers to a Stillness that is the complete and final cessation of "I am this, I am not that".

RM.: What does stillness mean? It means "destroy yourself". Give up the notion that "I am so and so".
 

[Nishta]

If He is walking along a path, and some people are coming in the opposite direction,
He does not like them to step aside for Him but instead He will Himself step aside and allow them to pass
and, until they do, He will not go a step farther.
(Suri Nagamma)

[Nishta]

RM.: When one unceasingly inquires "Who am I?" with an acute intellect the body-ego completely perishes.
There, Reality will rise and flourish as "I-I".

*the egoic "I", which is merely a concept, once completely perished, gives rise to a non-conceptual, "I-I-I-I-I", the True Self.
 

[Nishta]

RM.: If a man remains in a dark room one need not take a lamp to find him. If called, he answers. He does not require a lamp to announce his presence. Consciousness is thus self-shining.

*In a dark room do you require a lamp and mirror to know that YOU ARE? Do you require a Sage to tell you that YOU ARE? No, you do not!

Consciousness, the Natural State, is self-shining.

Where did you need to search, what "holy" place did you need to visit, what book did you have to read, to know that YOU ARE? Is it not self-evident and effortless that YOU ARE!

Consciousness, the Natural State, is self-shining.

That Consciousness is sensed by you right now, you cannot deny it! All are in possession of that same Consciousness. It is always, and never hidden.

Consciousness, the Natural State, is self-shining.

However,

For the Jnani, Consciousness blazes like a billion suns. For the ajnani, entanglement in concepts appears to dim the shining.

RM.: Attention to one's own Self, which is ever shining as "I", the one undivided and pure reality, is the only raft with which the individual, who is deluded by thinking "I am the body", can cross the ocean of unending births.

*All that is required is to give attention to one's own Self, which is ever shining as I-I-I-I-I......

[Nishta]

The quest for Self-Realisation is no doubt a noble cause. But for many aspirants it will, perhaps cruelly, become just another veiling. Unless the quest directly investigates and challenges the 'I', the 'me', that seeks Self-Realisation, then ones efforts paradoxically reinforce the imaginary ego.

Maharshi's vichara does exactly that; investigates and challenges the 'I' that seeks Self-Realisation. Maharshi's Teachings are not for building a better you, nor for manufacturing a new "spiritual" identity. His is an investigation of the very person that thinks they have to undertake sadhana and achieve Self-Realisation.

That said, Maharshi's Teachings are not nihilistic. When identification with the I-thought ends, Self, the non-conceptual pure 'I', remains.


Q.: Will not my present visit to you bring it (Self-Realisation) about?
M.: What is to be brought about? To whom? Consider; investigate.

M.: If we turn inwards enquiring "Where is this I?" all thoughts (including the I-thought) will come to an end and Self-knowledge will then spontaneously shine forth.

Q.: Grant me that my mind troubles me no more.
M.: Find out whether there is such a thing as mind. If so, what is its form? Does it have a moustache and a beard?

Q.: What should we do to make the mind still?M.: First let the mind be caught hold of and brought here, then we shall consider ways and means of stilling it.

[Nishta]

 RM.: 'I' is known to everyone. Brahman abides as 'I' in every one. Find out the 'I'. The 'I' is already Brahman. You need not think so. Simply find out the 'I'.

*Everyone can sense that 'I' right now, you do not require anyone to show you that you are. That 'I'-ness is your true nature. However there are many attachments and concepts obscuring the "fullness" of that pure 'I'. Maharshi advises that one remain still without thought so as to burn off the attachments and cease obscuring the "fullness" of the pure 'I'.

RM.: All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. On stilling all thoughts the Pure Consciousness remains.
 

[Nishta]

Q.: What should one do in order to remain free from thoughts as advised by you? Is it only the enquiry "Who am I?"
RM.: Only to remain still. Do it and see.
 
*The only purpose of asking "Who am I?" is to come back to Stillness. In fact one does not have to ask the question if they do not wish. Simply remain Still. That is enough.

Lord Ramana declares to be worthwhile and which the mind should firmly hold onto is this, and no more: "Being still". Other than this there are absolutely no thoughts to think, nor any duties to be contemplated. (Muruganar)