Self-enquiry as taught by Sri Bhagwan is enough

[Ravi.N]

Anil,
Wish you speedy recovery.May Sri Bhagavan fulfill your longing to visit Tiruvannamalai.
Namaskar.

[eranilkumarsinha]

Quote from Sri Ravi:
"One who thinks of God, day and night, beholds Him everywhere. It is like a man's seeing
flames on all sides after he has gazed fixedly at one flame for some time."
Sri Ramakrishna, who could read a man's inmost thought, said: "One doesn't lose
consciousness by thinking of Him who is all Spirit, all Consciousness. Shivanath once
remarked that too much thinking about God confounds the brain. Thereupon I said to him,
'How can one become unconscious by thinking of Consciousness?' "


Dear Sri Ravi,

Thanks very much, sir, for your kind words of solace. He gave it to stop me from reaching Him, and now that I have been stopped, He is taking it away fast.
Dear sir, thanks very much once again for the above wonderful quote. I am overwhelmed by these divine and nectar-like words of Bhagwan Sri Param Hansa.
Ji. Yes. How Blissful!
“It is like a man’s seeing flames on all sides after he has gazed fixedly at one flame for some time.”
WORDS OF GRACE:
“HOW CAN ONE BECOME UNCONSCIOUS BY THINKING OF CONSCIOUSNESS?”

 
Quote:

Quote:
MASTER (with pleasure): "It is through God's grace that you understand that. The doubts
of the mind will not disappear without His grace. Doubts do not disappear without Selfrealization.
"But one need not fear anything if one has received the grace of God.

Sri Bhagwan also teaches that so long as the doubter is there, doubts will not go away entirely.” Hold the doubter and the doubts will disappear”, says Sri Bhagwan.
Dear sir, AND HOLDING THE DOUBTER IS THE BEGINNING Of THE END OF THE EGO’S PALY.

Dear sir, I wish to be aware of Bhagwan Sri Param Hansa’s Teaching on suffering. Therefore, if possible, kindly post a few words of His Grace on a sadhaka’s agony and suffering.

Pranam,
  Anil 

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sri Subramanian Sir,

He gave it to stop me from reaching Him. Now that I am stopped He is taking it away fast. I prayed to the Hill Medicine as you prescribed, and I experienced relief then and there. Thanks very much, sir.
Dear sir, once you posted great Sage and Poet, Sri Manikkavachagar’s Secret Exclamation:
“See, see, how He is caught in the net of my Bhakti!”

Ji. Yes. He is captured by love alone. And this applies to the enquirer as well. Has Sri Bhagwan not taught that one who wants to know and be the Self must love the Self? His True Seat is the Core of one’s being, as the Self, as the Heart. Therefore, though I have been stopped from reaching Him in Tiruvannamalai, but, nevertheless, He beckons to reach Him there where He abides as the Pure Awareness. Has he not said that this and that place are only within you?
In this context I wish to post an anecdote from ‘Living by the Words of Bhagwan’ as follows:

Sri Annamalai Swami narrates:
Ramanatha Brahmachari first came in the days when Bhagwan was living in Virupaksha Cave. He had a very distinctive appearance because he was very short, wore thick glasses, and always covered his body with a large amount of vibhuti. In the Virupaksha days he used to go for bhiksha in town. He would bring whatever food he had managed to beg to Virupaksha Cave, serve it to Bhagwan, and then afterwards eat whatever remained.
One day, as he was bringing some food to Bhagwan, he met his father on the hill. He was sitting outside Guhai Namasivaya Temple about halfway between the town and Virupaksha Cave. His father said that he was hungry and asked for some of the food which his son had begged.
Ramanatha Brahmachari, thinking that it would be improper and disrespectful to feed anyone, even his own father, before Bhagwan had received his share, told his father, “Come with me to Bhagwan. We can share the food there.’
His father, who had no interest in Bhagwan, refused to come. He asked his son to give him some food and then leave, but Ramanatha Brahmachari refused.
Bhagwan had been observing all this from Virupaksha cave. When Ramanatha Brhamachari finally arrived there Bhagwan told him, ‘I will not take any of your food unless you first serve your father’.
Ramanatha Brahmachari went back to Guhai Namasivaya Temple, but instead of following Bhagwan’s instructions he again asked his father to come and eat with Bhagwan at Virupaksha Cave. When his father, for the second time, refused to come, Ramanatha Brahmachari went back to Viupaksha Cave without giving him any food.
Bhagwan again told him, this time more firmly, ‘I will only eat if you feed your father first. Go and feed him.’
This time Ramanatha obeyed the order, fed his father and returned to Virupaksha Cave with the remaining food. I mention this story only because it shows how great his devotion to Bhagwan was and how little he cared anything else, including his own family.
                                                              Source: Living by the Words of Bhagwan


Dear sir, Sri Annamalai Swami mentions that Sri Ramanatha Brahmachari used to feed Sri Bhagwan with such love and devotion that Sri Bhagwan felt that He had been captured by his love.
Sri Bhagwan once said, “I am only afraid of two devotees, Ramanatha Brahmachari and Mudaliar Patti.’
Sri Swami observes that it was not physical fear, it was more a feeling of helplessness.
Sri Swami, “If a devotee has a strong and burning love for his Guru, the Guru is compelled to do anything that the devotee asks. Bhagwan always felt apprehensive whenever Ramanatha Brahmachari appeared because He knew that he would be unable to resist any of his requests. Ramakrishna Paramahansa once expressed the same idea when He said: ‘When you have attained ecstatic love you have found the rope to tie God with.’

ECSTATIC LOVE AND DEVOTION RENDER EVEN GOD HELPLESS!

Pranam,
  Anil 

   

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

Ramanatha Brahmachari is a devout bhakta of Sri Bhagavan. He was, as you said, puny and not very good looking but his
love to Bhagavan was as large as this universe. He was also very dear to Mother Azhagamma and Mother used to take
his help to clean up vessels, wash clothes etc., because he was a brahmin!

Ramanatha Brahmachari merged in Arunachala in 1946.

As you said, his love for Sri Bhagavan was tremendous that Sri Bhagavan was 'afraid' whenever he comes asking for
something, because Sri Bhagavan could not say 'No'.

It is he who offered to take care of Cow Lakshmi, when she was brought by a devotee, though Sri Bhagavan was
reluctant since there was no separate space for her to live and there was none to take care of her.

Arunachala Siva.

[Ravi.N]

Anil,
You enquired about what Sri Ramakrishna has to say about suffering.
He says:
"A man verily becomes liberated in life if he feels: 'God is the Doer. He alone
is doing everything. I am doing nothing.' Man's sufferings and worries spring only from
his persistent thought that he is the doer".

In the following conversation,he emphasizes that the aim of Human Life is to attain Bhakti.

Why so much suffering in God's creation?

The Master explained the different kinds of samadhi to the devotees. The conversation then
turned to the joy and suffering of life. Why did God create so much suffering?

M: "Once Vidyasagar said in a mood of pique: 'What is the use of calling on God? Just
think of this incident: At one time Chenghiz Khan plundered a country and imprisoned
many people. The number of prisoners rose to about a hundred thousand. The commander
of his army said to him: "Your Majesty, who will feed them? It is risky to keep them with
us. It will be equally dangerous to release them. What shall I do?" Chenghiz Khan said:
"That's true. What can be done? Well, have them killed." The order was accordingly given
to cut them to pieces. Now, God saw this slaughter, didn't He? But He didn't stop it in any
way. Therefore I don't need God, whether He exists or not. I don't derive any good from
Him.'"

MASTER: "Is it possible to understand God's action and His motive? He creates, He
preserves, and He destroys. Can we ever understand why He destroys? I say to the Divine
Mother: 'O Mother, I do not need to understand. Please give me love for Thy Lotus Feet.'
The aim of human life is to attain bhakti. As for other things, the Mother knows best. I have
come to the garden to eat mangoes. What is the use of my calculating the number of trees,
branches, and leaves? I only eat the mangoes; I don't need to know the number of trees and
leaves."

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil, Ravi,

I am sometimes astonished how Jnanis speak the same truth even in worldly matters; See the Talks No. 17.

Devotee: God being immanent in all, one should not take life of any kind. Is society right in taking the life of a murderer?
Can the State do it either? The Christian countries begin to think that it is wrong to do so.

Maharshi: What is that  prompted the murderer to commit the crime in the first place? The same power awards him the
punishment. Society or State is only a tool in the hands of the Power. You speak of one life taken away. But what about
innumerable lives lost in wars?

Devotee (Evan-Wentz): Quite so. Loss of lives is wrong in anyway. Are we justified?

Maharshi: for a realized man, the one who remains ever in the Self, the loss of one or several lives either in this world
or in all the three worlds makes no difference. Even if he happens to destroy them all, no sin can touch such a pure soul.
Maharshi quoted the Gita: Chapoter, 18, Verse 17 - "He who is free from the notion of ego, whose intellect is unattached,
though he annihilates all the worlds, he slayeth not, nor is he bound by results of his actions."

Devotee: Do not one's actions affect the person in after births?

Maharshi: Are you born now? Why do you think of other births? The fact is that there is neither birth nor death. Let him who
is born think of death and palliatives therefore.

Arunachala Siva.         

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sri Subramanian Sir,

Ji. Yes. Sri Ramanatha Brahmacharai  was an outstanding devotee who served Sri Bhagwan with great love and devotion. His love and devotion for Sri Bhagwan was so great that even Sri Bhagwan felt that he would not be able to resist any one of his requests.
Ji. I have read in books that it was because of Sri Brahmachari that the Mother Cow Lakshmi came to live at the Ashram. And all the cows in the Ashram today are said to be descendents of the Mother Lakshmi. So, in this way we all are grateful to him.
Sri Annamalai Swami says that Sri Brahmachari is an outstanding example of what a good devotee ought to be.

Dear sir, I have concentrated much on Talk—17. As I have understood, if one is established in Jnana-Nishtha or in the Self, no worry, no anxiety, no sorrow, can ever touch Him. A Jnani is the Consciousness and the Substratum.  Therefore, not one thousand people, nor countless number of people, but even if the whole universe is destroyed, It will not affect the Consciousness, the Substratum.  Jnana is indestructible.

WHEN THE WORLD APPEARS IN CONSCIOUSNESS, CONSCIOISNESS ITSELF DOES NOT UNDERGO ANY CHANGE. SO WHEN THE UNIVERSE DISAPPEARS, CONSCIOUSNESS AGAIN DOES NOT UNDERGO ANY CHANGE.
   
Thanks very much, sir.
Pranam,
  Anil   

[eranilkumarsinha]

The world that you are attached to is nothing more than a long dream. You may feel hungry in your dream and then wake up to find that you are suffering from indigestion pains because you ate too much the night before. How much reality do you then give to the hunger pains that you felt in your dream?
                                             Sri Annamalai Swami, Living by the Words of Bhhagwan


Dear Sri Ravi,

Ji. Yes. Teaching therefore essentially is the same whether it is taught by Sri Bhagwan or Sri Bhagwan Paramhamsa. Sri Bhawan also teaches that experience of suffering is only our thoughts. Happiness alone exists, and what comes and goes is the suffering. So, Happiness alone is our eternal nature.
Sri Bhagwan teaches that actions form no bondage. Bondage is only the illusory notions, ‘I am the body and I am the doer.’ But this body is the result of thoughts. We were not concerned with the body when asleep; so also we can always remain.

Dear sir, as I have understood, suffering is only a reflection of our own inner mental suffering.  And there are only two ways to alleviate the suffering. Either one surrenders to the Feet of Lord or the Guru and is done with the pleasures and sorrows forever, or one goes to the root cause, i.e. the ego-mind and immerse oneself in the Self, ending thus the maya dream and waking up to the Reality of Swarupa which lies beyond the mind, time and space.   


Thanks very much, sir.

Pranam,
  Anil

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

One Soundarya Lahari (By Sri Sankara, of 100 verses) says:

Brahma is closing his eyes and is dead. Vishnu is also closing his eyes  and is dead. The devas, including Indra,  one by one are dead.
The people on the earth are also dead.  All living  beings are also in deep sleep that is death.

 In this Maha Pralaya, O Mother, You are playing with Sadasiva!

Arunachala Siva.

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sri Subramanian Sir,

The Soundarya Lahiri , the Great Hymn, composed by Sri Adi Sankara, deals with the Cult of the Mother worship. I bought a copy of the same some time back, but never studied it. I read in its very ‘Introduction’ that the first forty one Verses of the Hymn is the Source of various Mantras, dealing chiefly with Sri-Vidya, and thus the subject matter of Soundarya lahiri is highly technical, necessitating to be learnt and practiced only by a competent student and taught by a competent teacher who is well acquainted with the traditions of the Cult.

Having said as above, I wish to add that whenever I happen to read one of its Verses even in isolation, it strikes deep chord within.  For example, the verse you posted, ‘In this Maha Pralaya, O Mother, You are playing with Sadasiva.’ (Dear sir, kindly give the number of this Verse.)

And here is another:
“O Parabrhmamahisi! The knowers of Veda call you Vak-Devata the Consort of Brahma, Lakshmi the Consort of Vishnu, and Parvati the Consort of Siva. But Thou art the Fourth (Turiya) of inconceivable and limitless majesties—the indeterminable Mahamaya who revolves the wheel of the world.”

If possible, tell something more about the great Hymn, about how it should be studied and with what attitude. What exactly is the pre-requisite?

Thanks very much, sir.
Pranam,
  Anil   

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Devotees,
So long as there is thought there will be forgetfulness also.  So long as ‘I’ is a thought, so long as ‘I am Brahman’ is only a thought, forgetfulness  is certain to arise, and simultaneously the fear also. Real Enquiry begins when the ego begins gradually to partake less and less of the jada (insentience) and more and more of the Consciousness. Predispositions and thoughts are scorched and soon they   disappear for want of the subject’s attention. As a result, forgetfulness supervenes gradually less and less. THEN ONLY ENQUIRY IS ONE CONTINUOUS CURRENT, STEADY AS A STREAM OR AS A DOWNWARD FLOW OF OIL. ‘I’ becomes clearer for further investigation. THEN ONLY THE AWARENESS OF ONE’S BEING, OR ONE’S EXISTENCE , OR THE PURE FEELING OF ‘I AM’, CAN BE ATTENDED WITH THE ENTIRE MIND AS SRI BHAGWAN HAS TAUGHT.

As for ‘I am Brahman’ meditation, ‘I am Brahman’ is also only a thought and this method is another method of meditation. Attending only to one thought to the exclusion of all other thoughts is the method here.

Sri Bhagwan says that ‘I am Brahman’ is only a thought. Who says it? Brahman itself does not say so. What need is there for it to say so? A man does not go on saying, ‘I am a man, I am a man’. Nor can the real ‘I’ says so. For real ‘I’ always abides as Brahman. So, who says, ‘I am Brahman’. Whose thought is it? We now know, by His Grace, that all thoughts proceed from the unreal ‘I’, that is, from the ‘I’-thought.
Sri Bhagwan says, “There is the thought ‘I am Brahman’; forgetfulness supervenes, ‘I’-thought arises and simultaneously the fear of death also. Forgetfulness and thought are for ‘I’-thought only. Hold it; it will disappear as a phantom. What remains over is the real ‘I’. That is the Self (Talk—202).”

Therefore, Sri Bhawan says that ‘I am Brahman’ is an aid to concentration. That is all. It helps to keep off other thoughts at bay. That one thought  ‘I am Brahman’ alone persists.
SEE WHOSE IS THE THOUGHT ‘I AM BRAHMAN’. Of course it will be found to be from ‘I’-thought. WHEREFROM IS THE ‘I’-THOUGHT? Investigating it, it will vanish, and the Supreme Self will shine of Itself, requiring no further effort. So, here also in ‘I am Brahman’ method of meditation, one has ultimately  to resort to Enquiry for the Self-realisation.

Dear devotees, the crux of the matter is that one real ‘I’ remains as ‘I’, alone. It will not go on repeating that ‘I am Brahman’.  Only if I mistake myself to be brute that I should say, ‘No, I am not a brute; I am a man.’ 
BESIDES, THERE IS NO ONE TO CHALLENGE BRAHMAN SO THAT THERE IS A NEED FOR IT TO REITERATE THAT ‘NO, I AM BRAHMAN.’

Pranam,
  Anil


 
   

[Ravi.N]

Anil/Subramanian,
You may like to download the Digest on Soundarya Lahari by Sri Mahaperiyava of Kanchi-Absolutely charming and full of deep insights.
Please download from this link:
http://www.advaitin.net/Articles/Soundaryalahari1.pdf
Namaskar.

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Ravi,

I shall down load the same. Thank you very much.

Arunachala Siva.

[eranilkumarsinha]

Without the shining light of grace, what can the insignificant jivas do to escape from the net of delusion and gain clarity?
                                         V. 634, Guru Vachaka Kovai

Perfect Jnanis have always said and will always say, “By the mere Grace of the Sadguru, the True Thing—the final Brhma-Jnana, which shines in the pure Silence, the rarely attainable Vedanta—will dawn of its own accord in the heart as ‘I-I’,”
                                           V. 287, Guru Vachaka Kovai


Dear Devotees,

Sadguru’s Grace is very real, though intangible and Its operation is very mysterious. But, nevertheless, very real, indeed very real!
God is none other than our own indwelling Reality as the Self. Therefore, in Truth, Self alone is the Source of what is called Grace, irrespective of whether one is aware of Him as the Self or Swarupa or not. However, of paramount importance is the practical implication of ‘Grace’. If there be no such thing as Grace, why do all religions in the world lay great emphasis on It?
Because if there be no such thing as ‘Grace’, SELF-KNOWLEDGE OR SELF-AWARENESS WOULD NEVER BE POSSIBLE FOR ANYONE.  For, what would the insignificant jivas do without the shining Light of the Grace?
CAN EVEN THE UTMOST  EFFORTS OF FINITE BEINGS CAN EVER PRODUCE AN INFINITE RESULT?

Dear Devotees, DEVOTEES call it ‘Grace’ which is the Power of the Truth that demolishes and vanquishes untruth. Sri Bhagwan says that manifestation of Self is the manifestation of Grace and vice-versa.

So, there is no doubt that the Grace is within and not outside and It is from the Self alone. However, having said as above I wish to reiterate once again that ‘our effort is a sine-qua-non’. Effort is necessary because Sri Bhagwan says, “It is you who should see the sun. Can spectacles and the sun see for you? You yourself have to see your true nature.”

 

“Divine Grace is essential for Realisation. It leads one to God-realisation. But such Grace is vouchsafed  only to Him who is a true devotee or a yogin, WHO HAS STRIVEN HARD AND CEASELESSLY ON THE PATH TOWARDS FREEDOM.”
                     Sri Bhagwan, Talk—29



Sri Bhagwan therefore says that obtaining the Grace is similar to obtaining the Self (Talk—271). As for Grace there is no moment when Grace is not operating in us.

Sri Bhagwan : Your remembrance is the forerunner of the Grace. That is the response, that is the stimulus, THAT IS THE SELF AND THAT IS GRACE.
THERE IS NO CAUSE FOR ANXIETY.

Thank you,
  Anil   

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

Nice post. Sri Bhagavan has mentioned about Grace is more than 15 conversations in Talks.

Talks 354:

An American lady, a theosophist asked inter alia:

D: Grace is necessary for the removal of ignorance.

Maharshi: Certainly. BUT GRACE IS ALL ALONG THERE. Grace is the Self. It is not something to be acquired. All that is
necessary is to know its existence. For example, the sun is brightness only. He does not see darkness. Whereas,
others speak of darkness fleeing away on the Sun approaching. Similarly, ignorance is also a phantom and not real.
Because of its unreality, its unreal nature being found, it is said to be removed.  Again, the sun is there and also
bright. You are surrounded by sunlight. Still, if you would know, you must turn your eyes in his direction and look at him.
So also Grace is found by practice alone although it is here and now.


Arunachala Siva.