Self-enquiry as taught by Sri Bhagwan is enough

[eranilkumarsinha]

Sri Bhagwan: There are not two minds, a good mind and a bad mind. THE MIND IS ONLY ONE.  Tendencies alone are of two kinds, auspicious and inauspicious. When the mind is under the influence of auspicious tendencies it is called a good mind, and when it is under the influence of inauspicious tendencies, a bad mind.
Prose Version of ‘Who am I?’


Dear Devotees,

There is only one mind. There is no such thing really as ‘my mind’ and ‘your mind’. When we say that this is my mind and that is your mind, it is erroneous, pure ignorance and the cause of bondage. But we should know that the Pure Mind is only one. When through the Enquiry, impurities and tendencies vanish, Mind shines as It is, as the Power of the Supreme Self-consciousness. It follows therefore that the Pure Mind is indeed only one, existing ever the same, as It is, as the as the Power of the Consciousness that remains merged non-dually with the Supreme Self.   

PURE MIND IS ONLY ONE. TRUE ‘I’ IS ONLY ONE. If there is only one True ‘I’, why are there so many ‘I’s in view? There appear many selves because It is viewed through the limitation ‘I am the body’. So, one true ‘I’, ever shining as the One Single Truth, appears as innumerable different ‘I’s.

Sri Muruganar: Know them all (the ‘I’s) to be collectively one, not different from each other, by viewing through the swarupa perspective that shines as the one deathless Self, pure being-consciousness.

Thus, dear devotees, the ego ‘I am the body’ is alone the one unique cause of all our suffering and miseries of life. This ‘I am the body’ ego is sorrow laden. Is it not?   

Sri Muruganar: Learning, listening, nidhidhyasana, clinging to Grace, divine silence, supreme abode, unassailable peace, performing yaga, devotion, distributing gifts, tapas, dharma, and yoga—ALL OF THEM MEAN THE SAME THING, THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ‘I AM THE BODY’ DELUSION.

Sri Bhagwan : Know that the eradication of the identification with the body is charity, spiritual austerity and ritual sacrifice; it is virtue, divine union and devotion; it is heaven, wealth, peace and truth; it is grace; it is the state of divine silence; it is the deathless death; it is Jnana, renunciation, final liberation and bliss. 

 Dear devotees, the purpose of all spiritual practices therefore amounts only to the destruction of the demeaning limitation ‘I am the body’ ego. However, we are, of late, discerning a very queer tendency in this Forum. Somebody reads somewhere ‘I am the Self’ and starts asserting and chanting ‘I am the Self’, ‘I am the Self’, while the ‘I am the body’ ego remains visibly intact, while the Chit-Jada Granti or the Knot between the Consciousness and the inert body has not been uprooted. Therefore, who is it that claims Enlightenment? Sri Bhagwan has taught that there remains no to claim in Enlightenment. Sri Bhagwan, in my knowledge, Himself never claimed. OBVIOUSLY, IT IS THE FLARED-UP EGO, GROWING STILL BIGGER AND BIGGER TO UNMANAGEABLE FORM.

But we know that the Authentic Peace, Sri Bhagwan speaks of, cannot spring forth except in a heart from which this obnoxious knot binding the Consciousness with the inert body is not uprooted through beneficial Vichara. SO, WE MUST ENQUIRE KEENLY, AND WITH THE SHARP, DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD OF JNANA-VICHARA CUTT OFF THE KNOT AND THE EGO, THAT MISERY GENERATING DELUSION AND BE FREE.

Thanks very much.
Pranam,
  Anil   


 

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

Yes. The Self or "I" is one for all. Only the egos/minds are different.  When the mind becomes Pure Mind, it becomes the Self.
What connects the Self and the ego? It is chit-jada-granthi, the knot as you have pointed out.  If the knot is cut off, there is
no mind,, there is no samsara, there is no bondage. The Self becomes egoless.  Egoless state is Mukti.  (Ullada Narpadu)

Arunachala Siva.   

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sri Subramanian Sir,


Ji. Yes. Thanks very much, sir. I wish to post following in continuation with my previous post.

Sri Bhagwan: That which IS does not even say ‘I Am’.

 Therefore, who claims that ‘I am the Self’ or ‘I know the Self’ or ‘I know the Truth’, and wish to share that precious knowledge with others? Obviously, it is wrong ‘I’, craving for name and fame. If this wrong ‘I’ goes away by Enquiry, no one remains to claim the knowledge of the Truth.   For, Sri Bhagwan has taught that there is no knowing the Self.  KNOWING THE SELF MEANS SIMPLY BEING THE SELF AND REVELLING AS THE SELF. It is the Supreme Silence or mere Presence or mere Awareness, devoid of name and form, EVER BLISSFUL. It does not say ‘I Am’ because there can never be a doubt arising in Being-Consciousness that ‘I am not’.

Pranam,
  Anil

[eranilkumarsinha]

               Face To Face

Day after day, O lord of my life,
shall I stand before thee face to face.
With folded hands, O lord of all worlds,
shall I stand before thee face to face.

Under thy great sky in solitude and silence,
with humble heart shall I stand before thee face to face.

In this laborious world of thine, tumultuous with toil
and with struggle, among hurrying crowds
shall I stand before thee face to face.

And when my work shall be done in this world,
O King of kings, alone and speechless
shall I stand before thee face to face.

Sri Rabindranath Tagore



I shall stand before thee, caught up in the net of Thy Grace. Can the net of Thy Grace ever fail me, Oh Arunachala! As snow in water, let me melt as love in Thee, destroy ‘I’, ‘my’ and ‘mine’ altogether and grace me with the state of ever vibrant joy and bliss, Oh, Arunachala!

Anil

[eranilkumarsinha]

Quote from Sri cefnbrithdir:
“ Referring to Subject and Object(s) may sound clinical but I do think it helps discriminate and gives precision to sadhana. The ego really doesn't like living without objects and consciously and unconsciously tries to delay its extinction.”


Dear Sri cefnbrithdir,

I feel that your above post contains a very beautiful insight which elicited this response. Yes, it, in my view, certainly helps. There is no doubt about that in my mind. My understanding and experience regarding subject and object are as following:

Maya has two powers, namely, projecting power and veiling power. With these two powers, Maya unites the Self with the ego, which is the cause of this delusion; and through Its Gunas or qualities, keeps the man dangling like a ghost. However if Its veiling power is destroyed, the Self shines of Its own accord and that is the end of all doubt and obstruction. FOR, IF THE VEILING POWER OF THE MAYA IS DESTROYED BY ENQUIRY, ITS PROJECTING POWER IS ALSO, FOR SURE, VANISH. Sri Bhagwan says that even if it persists, its persistence will only be apparent. But the projecting power cannot vanish unless the veiling power does. AND SRI BHAGWAN SAYS IN HIS FREE TRANSLATION OF THE ‘VIVEKCHUDAMANI’ THAT ONLY WHEN THE SUBJECT IS PERFECTLY DISTINGUISHED FROM OBJECTS , LIKE MILK FROM WATER, WILL THE VEILING POWER BE DESTROYED.

Dear Sri cefnbrithdir, yes, ego is very tenacious with its impregnable defence mechanism. Being a superimposition on the Self, we must discard it by Self-enquiry as unreal. We must give up the ‘I’-sense in the ego by Enquiry, for it is only the reflected light of the Self. If we turn all thought-forms adhering to the ego inward, as taught by the Guru, the unreality of the ego is revealed if one persists with perseverance in this endeavour, sooner than later. We must therefore be vigilant, always on the watch-out for the surreptitious rise of thoughts. For, Sri Bhagwan has taught that if thought is given even for a moment to the ego, it revives and engages in activity, driving a man before it as the wind drives winter clouds. THEREFORE, WE MUST TURN INWARD ALL THOUGHT-FORMS, TO GET RID OF THE PERNICIOUS EGO.

Thanks very much.
Pranam,
  Anil

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Devotees,

“In the cavity of the intellect is the single truth of Brahman, distinct from being and non-being. He who remains eternally as that Truth itself is never drawn back again to birth in the body.”

Thus wrote Sri Bhagwan in His free translation of the sacred scripture ‘Vivekchudamani’. He writes further:

“Although  a man knows this to be true, the feeling of ‘I am the doer’, ‘I am the enjoyer’ arises strongly in him owing to the bondage (samsara) caused by the mighty, beginningless vasanas (innate tendencies) which often obstruct him. Curb these tendencies the moment they arise, by your own efforts, by abiding firmly in the Self, by a vision of the Self. Sages such as Vashishta have declared that the withering of the vasanas is indeed liberation. Realisation of the Self as it is does not come through tendencies to worldly or sense activity or through prolonged study of the scriptures.  To those who seek deliverance from the prison of samsara, THE ABOVE THREEFOLD TENDENCIES ARE IRON FETTERS, SAYS THOSE WHO ARE REALISED. Therefore attachment to the world, the scriptures, and the body must be given up and it must be fully realised that the body is sustained by the force of prarabdha (past karma). You should, therefore, courageously renounce these attachments and strive energetically to overcome tamas by the power of sattva and rajas, then rajas through mixed sattva, then mixed sattva through pure sattva. You should do this with a firm and calm mind, helped by the great texts such as ‘THAT THOU ART’ which proclaim the identity between the individual self and Brahman.”

Thanks very much.
Pranam,
 Anil     

[eranilkumarsinha]

The authentic aham-swarupa [the true ‘I’] that shines in the Heart at the end of enquiry is, in fact, the pure Brahman, the consciousness that shines without distinctions. Therefore, when the ‘I am the body’ belief that arose through non-enquiry dies, the deluding bewilderment that engenders fear and sorrow will cease completely.

V. 866, GVK, Edited by Sri David Godman.

[eranilkumarsinha]

            Last Curtain


I know that the day will come
when my sight of this earth shall be lost,
and life will take its leave in silence,
drawing the last curtain over my eyes.

Yet stars will watch at night,
and morning rise as before,
and hours heave like sea waves casting up pleasures and pains.

When I think of this end of my moments,
the barrier of the moments breaks
and I see by the light of death
thy world with its careless treasures.
Rare is its lowliest seat,
rare is its meanest of lives.

Things that I longed for in vain
and things that I got
---let them pass.
Let me but truly possess
the things that I ever spurned
and overlooked.


Sri Rabindranath Tagore

[eranilkumarsinha]

                                         OM NAMO BHAGWATE SRI RAMANAYA


           
Jnana Guru of everyone is only the Supreme Self that is always revealing its own truth in every Heart through the Existence-Consciousness ‘I am, I am’.
Sri Bhagwan

Dear Devotees,

Traditionally there are various ways by which devotees are initiated into True Knowledge. Mantras, Mahavakyas, mudras, symbols, etc., are described as valid modes of initiation into Truth. Having been accustomed to associate Upadesa with such outward practices, almost everyone who approached Sri Bhagwan prayed to get some oral Upadesa from Him.

Dear devotees, I feel that Sri Bhagwan’s Words of Grace in this regard is of paramount importance to those who came to Him after He shed the mortal coil. It is well known that Sri Bhagwan, forever established in Pure Being, and forever remaining in the Egoless State, never attached much importance to such outward Upadesa and practices. He compassionately taught that Jnana is given neither from outside nor from another person.

Thus, when Sri Bhagwan taught that the Supreme Self is revealing its own Truth unceasingly in every Heart through the Existence-Consciousness, ‘I am, I am’, HE, IN TRUTH, AS I FEEL, TAUGHT HOW TO PRACTICE THE PRESENCE OF GOD WHEREVER ONE IS. Thus, He taught to stand before Him, face to face, here and now. BUT THOSE WHO TRULY CAME TO HIM KNOW FOR SURE THAT HE INITIATED THROUGH THE LANGUAGE OF HIS GAZE, AND GRACED BY GRANTING SUDDEN, CRYATAL-CLEAR AND  WITHOUT AMBIGUITY WHATEVER AN AWARENESS OF BEING-CONSCIOUSNESS.

So, What is Guru’s Grace? Guru’s Grace is THEREFORE only GRANTING of this Self-awareness that is our own True Nature. Can there ever be a greater manifestation of Guru’s Grace than bestowing of this Self-awareness? It is the Being-Consciousness alone by which He is unceasingly revealing His Existence. Is He not? Sri Bhagwan has taught that this divine Upadesa or the Teaching is always going on naturally in everyone and this Upadesa alone is what reveals the natural attainment of the Self experientially. Therefore, there is, in truth, no need to seek to obtain Upadesa from outside by another person in the form of mantras, sound, symbols, etc., which are mere mental concepts.
Dear devotees, since we ourselves are the Reality or the Self or the True ‘I’ that is shining in the Heart as Being-Consciousness, Sri Bhagwan taught that abiding as the Space of Being-Consciousness, that is, as the Self, is alone TRUE UPADESA. And therefore, it also follows that so long as we seek the Self from outside, SELF-REALISATION CANNOT BE ATTAINED AND THAT MEANS WE HAVE NOT TRULY ARRIVED, YET.
THUS SRI BHAGWAN TAUGHT THE EXCELLENCE OF THE AJAPA, THAT IS, SPONTANEOUS AND INVOLUNTARY CHANTING. HE THEN FIXED ONE ON THE PATH OF REMAINING STILL.

SAME IS HAPPENING EVEN NOW? For, It is the Being-Consciousness alone by which He is unceasingly revealing His Existence and initiating His adoring and loving devotees into Self-awareness.

                                       OM NAMO BHAGWATE SRI RAMANAYA



Thanks very much.
Pranam,
  Anil       

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

Sri Bhagavan's Grace is perennial. One can feel that more inside the Asramam and particularly in the Old Hall, where He
conducted His court for 30 years.  Even if one keeps His photo and meditate intently, he will be benefited.

Arunachala Siva. 

[eranilkumarsinha]

Quote from Sri Subramanian Sir:
“Sri Bhagavan's Grace is perennial. One can feel that more inside the Asramam and particularly in the Old Hall, where He
conducted His court for 30 years. Even if one keeps His photo and meditate intently, he will be benefited.”


Dear Sri Subramanian Sir,

Ji. Yes. That is true absolutely. His Grace is palpable inside the Ashramam with His Presence “I AM HERE AND NOW”. His photographs are miracles. It is not for nothing that He allowed so many photographers to capture His physical frame gleefully as many times as they wished. Only they didn’t know that the photographs that they were taking will be the means for the Spirit to transmit Gaze and initiate the chosen ones into Self-awareness, after He shed the mortal coil. These photographers little knew that the photographs that they were taking would, in future, turn out to be the divine weapon of the Guru, now the Innermost Self, to entice His preys into the Divine Jaw. 

The essential thing is to rest assured, for there is no need to have doubt in His Grace.

Q. Has God or the Guru any solicitude for me?
Sri Bhagwan : If you seek either—they are not really two but one and identical—rest assured that they are seeking you with a solicitude GREATER THAN YOU CAN EVER IMAGINE.

If such great is the Assurance, what is there to doubt for? IF WE ARE REALLY SEEKING AND MEDITATING ON THE ‘PADAM’ IN THE HEART, WE MUST REST ASSURED.MUST WE NOT?

Thanks very much, sir.
Pranam,
  Anil

[eranilkumarsinha]

                  Give Me Strength



This is my prayer to thee, my lord---strike,
strike at the root of penury in my heart.

Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows.

Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service.

Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might.

Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles.

And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love.


Sri Rabindranath Tagore

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Devotees,

Cessation of ignorance is liberation. So, we must, by any means, make effort to bring about cessation of ignorance. Ignorance is of the form of vasanas or predispositions.  AND ALL VASANAS HAVE AS THEIR ROOT THE I-AM-THE- BODY VASANA.  I-am-the-body vasana, like all other vasanas, is an idea. This idea is the root of all thoughts.  So long as the I-AM-THE-BODY vasana endures, it is impossible to completely destroy the attached vasanas. Thus, I-am-the-body idea is the primal ignorance and the resultant thoughts can be termed as gross ignorance though I-am-the –body belief is invariably present in each one of the attached or dependent thought.   

Mind is only a bundle of thoughts. Therefore, it follows that so long as the I-am-the-body idea does not cease, destruction of the mind is impossible.

I would like here to draw your attention to the story, often narrated by Sri Bhagwan, of the yogi on the bank of the Ganges, who asked for a glass of water, but by the time his disciple brought a glass of water, he was absorbed in the ‘laya Samadhi, without body consciousness and without any of the associated natural movements, for a very long period. However, when he came out of the ‘laya’, he at once asked for a glass of water.  Sri Bhagwan taught this story to drive the point home that when the minds of even such yogis are externalised after ‘laya samadhi’, they are seen to behave just like the ignorant people because the root evil called the ego has not been completely destroyed.   THHEREFORE, THE CESSATION OF THE I-AM-THE-BODY-BELIEF ALONE IS THE REMOVAL OF IGNORANCE.

Dear devotees, that which is posing in the state of ignorance as the greatest friend is, in fact, the greatest foe.  Such is the ego-ghost.  When this ego is subjected to the laser-like searchlight of Enquiry, it goes on taking subtler and subtler form and even starts identifying with the measures which are meant for its destruction. Such is its tenacity and such is its defence mechanism! Therefore, even if a remnant of egoism is still there as the inner attachment, one is not realised, however vociferously one may go declaring that one is liberated, one is ever revelling as the Self. This is certain. Even the King Sri Janaka seems to have recognised the SUBTLE NATURE of the ego only belatedly. This is obvious from his exclamation:

“I have discovered the thief who had been ruining me so long, POSING AS THE MOST INTIMATE FRIEND WHO IS MY ENEMY. I will now deal with him summarily. Then I shall be happy.”
I have learnt that the remnant of this PRIMAL IGNORANCE was hidden in Sri Adi Shankara under the cloak of the vedic belief, which was exposed by Lord Sri Vishhwanatha Himself, appearing in human garb.   I have read that even Sri Totapuri, who was a born renunciant, who was always wandering, could not realise the ROOT IGNORANCE hidden deep within his heart until Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa pointed it out to Him.
Similarly it will be the case with all of us.

Dear devotees, it is very difficult, if not impossible to destroy this INNER ATTACHMENT by the meditation alone.  So, as I have understood Sri Bhagwan’s Teaching, the realisation of that which subsists when all trace of ‘I’ is gone alone is true Tapas. Vichara alone reveals the fictitious nature of the I-AM-THE-BODY-BELIEF, which floats like a tiny bit of straw and foam on the surface of the infinite ocean of Consciousness. YES, IT IS RATHER EASILY POSSIBLE TO DESTROY THE INNER ATTACHMENT OR THE SUBTLE ROOT OF THE EGO BY THE PRACTICE OF REMAINING UNCEASINGLY IN THE STATE OF WITNESS OR ‘I AM’, BROUGHT ABOUT BY VICHARA, IN SUCH A WAY THAT THE EGO IS NOT ALLOWED TO RISE, TILL IT IS MERGED OR ITS FROM IS BURNT IN THE BLAZING FIRE OF KNOWLEDGE.


Thanks very much.
  Pranam,
    Anil   

[eranilkumarsinha]

             Little Of Me


Let only that little be left of me
whereby I may name thee my all.

Let only that little be left of my will
whereby I may feel thee on every side,
and come to thee in everything,
and offer to thee my love every moment.

Let only that little be left of me
whereby I may never hide thee.
Let only that little of my fetters be left
whereby I am bound with thy will,
and thy purpose is carried out in my life---and that is the fetter of thy love.

Sri Rabindranath Tagore

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Devotees,


Sri Bhagwan says in Verse 5 of the ‘Eight Stanzas to Sri Arunachala’ that if, like a gem when it is cut and polished, the impure mind is worked against the wheel of the Pure Mind to free it of its flaws, it will then take on the light of His Grace and shine like a ruby, whose fire is unaffected by any outward object.

Sandalwood is fragrant by nature, but we know that its fragrance is masked by a bad odour. However when it comes into contact with water and is rubbed, its fragrance is revealed. Constant practice of Self-enquiry is this rubbing. By this rubbing, the latent tendencies of the mind are removed, only to the extent to which it abides in the Self.  It is by such constant abidance that the mind of the devotee is destroyed.

Dear devotees, those who practice ‘Who am I?’ enquiry need not take up separate practice to achieve chit-sudhi or the purification of the mind. For, if, ‘Who am I?’ enquiry is practiced resolutely, the impurities of the mind are removed. SRI BHAGWAN SAYS THAT BY GRINDING THE MIND THROUGH REPEATEDLY RUBBING IT AGAINST THE GRINDING STONE OF ‘I AM’, THE LIGHT OF THE SELF OR JNANAGNI OR FIRE OF KNOWLEDGE  IS KINDLED AND FLARES UP WITHIN, UNAFFECTED BY ANY OUTWARD OBJECT. This grinding of the impure mind upon the Pure Mind, that is, ‘I Am’ or God, that is, abidance through enquiry ‘Who am I?’, removes all imperfections and the Light of His Grace is revealed unobstructed, just as when a gemstone is ground upon the grindstone, the lustre of the gemstone is revealed with no dependence on anything other than itself.

 Sri Muruganar in his Magnum Opus ‘Guru Vachaka Kovai’ has described Self-enquiry as the Philosopher’s stone:
“By contact with the philosopher’s stone—proper and unceasing enquiry—the ghostly jiva will lose the rust of mental impurities and will be turned into the supreme Shiva.”
V. 406, GVK

Dear devotees, the meaning and implication of the above verse of the GVK is the same as that of V. 5 of the ‘Eight Stanzas to Sri Arunachala’. Here Enquiry has been described as the Philosopher’s stone and mental impurities as mental rust. The jiva is here taken to be the base metal and Shiva to be the Gold.

When the mind is thus ground upon the Pure Mind, that is, I AM, through the enquiry ‘Who Am I?’, mind is utterly destroyed subsequently. And by the destruction of the mind the outer non-Self tendencies of the Heart are utterly eradicated. Then the shining forth of the Supreme Self, which was formerly veiled by the magic of vasanas, happens of its own accord like the fragrance of uncontaminated sandal-paste.

THIS IS WHY I ALWAYS SAY, MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, THAT ATMA-VICHARA IS EVERYTHING. VICHARA IS INDISPENSABLE AND PRACTICING IT IS TO PRACTICE THE PRESENCE OF GOD.  This indeed is the direct and straight sadhana. There is no doubt about that whatever.The essential point is whether one feels inclined towards it or not.


Thanks very much.   
Pranam,
  Anil